#he probably named his dog Goose

[tomcat-tapes]

Random Top Gun AU I thought about if anyone wants a brain rot with me

LABYRINTH AU

In which Ice is Jareth the goblin king.

A young Bradley upset with the passing of his father, and refuses to want anything to do with his stepfather, Ron, or his half sibling Jake.

One evening when his Mom and Step dad are away in a date and he’s stuck babysitting his kid brother who has not stopped crying. Frustrated and stressed, Bradley tells little Jake a tale of the Goblin King, the same story he heard from his father before his passing.

“Stop it! I’ll say the words! No I mustn’t,, I wish,, Oh I can bear it no longer! Goblin King! Goblin King! Where ever you may be, take this child of mine far away from me!”

And Jake vanished, the Goblins have taken him. Bradley was mortified, he thought they were just stories his dad made up! And that’s when He appeared. The Goblin King. He refused to give Jake back, told Bradley to forget about the child but he couldn’t. Deep down Bradley knew he loved his brother, and oh god what will his parents say? He needed to get Jake back.

“You have thirteen (13) hours in which to solve the labyrinth, before your baby brother becomes one of us,,forever.”

It was a piece of cake. Bradley walked with confidence until he realized there was no openings inside the labyrinth.. luckily a nice worm told him the trick. The labyrinth is not at all as it seemed. There were stoned hands pointing in every-which direction. Bradley pulls out a marker he had stashed in his one of his pockets, this place is so confusing, he writes an arrow in the direction he’s going to keep track of where he had been. “I’m coming Jake,”

“I saw my baby, crying hard as babe could cry, what could I do? My baby’s love has gone, and left my baby blue! Nobody knew, what kind of magic spell to use.”

Among the many failings in Bradley’s journey, he did meet a short cranky Goblin with the name Jester, something he found quite odd, Hester’s were supposed to be funny and he was nothing but disdain, he was however fascinated with Bradley’s bracelets. The next goblin he met was tall, shy, and enjoyed talking to rocks and making friends, he called himself Slider.

And after a run in with a bunch of Fierys they ended up in the big of enteral stench. Where the encountered yet another Goblin. Small feisty and energetic creature that looked to be a mix of a fox and a squirrel, everyone called him Mav.

Onward the party went to the Goblin Kingdom, Jester offered Bradley a peach. Once Bradley took a bite of the peach he collapsed, and he dreamed of a glamorous ball you’d read in those fantasy books. Bradley himself was dressed in layers of flowy fabric and glitter. He laughed and he danced, smiling and never wanting to wake up from it.

“There's such a fooled heart beatin' so fast. In search of new dreams, a love that will last within your heart. I'll place the moon within your heart. As the pain sweeps through, makes no sense for you, every thrill is gone, wasn’t too much fun at all. But I’ll be there for you, as the Word falls down.”

When Bradley did awake he was in the comfort of his room with foggy memories. All his cherished possessions were there. His stuffed animals, his books, his slippers and his favorite board game. The posters and playbills lining the wall, his music box and vinyl records that he was gifted from his dad before he passed. Everything was in place and as it was, but something was wrong. A little book on his desk caught his eye, Labyrinth. The words of strength echoed in his head, “you have no power over me,” looking around. This was a distraction! He needed to get out. Tearing at the posters and walls everything crashing around him. Out, out, out!

As the hole in the wall opened, Mav and Slider were there helping him out. They quickly made it to the gates of the goblin kingdom. They came across a giant metal gollum standing guard at the gates where Jester came into the rescue to defeat it! At last inside the City! Goblin guards flooded to town to try and stop the party but thankfully with the help of Slider’s rock friends it was a breeze.

They arrive at the castle, “I need to go in alone, thank you for all of your help” “if you should ever need us, for anything at all, we’ll be here.”

Inside the castle was even more twists and turns, stairwells that were sideways, and upside down, leading to one room and out another. “JAKE!” And there baby Jake sat on the stairs giggling like he’s been having a good stay inside the caste. He doesn’t notice Bradley as he begins to crawl up the stairs. “Jake wait?!” Bradley dashes down the stairwell where he ended up on the opposite side of the room from his brother. He tried again and again to no avail as the Goblin walked along the stairs as well to watch the chaos.

Finally Bradley and The Goblin King confront each other.

“Everything that you have wanted, I have done. You asked for the child to be taken, I took him. You cowered before me, I was frightening. I have reordered time. I have turned the world upside down and I have done it all for you! I am exhausted living up to your expectations of me. Isn’t that generous?”

Bradley was quiet as he tried his best to remember the lines from his book. The same book his dad always read, the one his dad worked hard to write and publish. His favorite story.

“Through dangers untold, and hardships unnumbered. I have fought my way here to the castle, beyond the Goblin City. For my will is as strong as yours, and my-“

“STOP! Wait, look Bradley, look what I’m offering you. Your dreams.”

“And my kingdom as great.”

The Goblin King became frantic, showing Bradley an orb that held his dreams

“I ask so little. Just let me rule you, and you can have everything that you want.”

Bradley thought hard, this was the part he had trouble remembering.

“Kingdom as great,, Damn. I can never remember that line.”

“Just fear me, love, do as I say. And I will be your slave.”

King Ice demanded, he was at the end of his rope and Bradley knew it. If he could just remember the line!

“My kingdom as great,,,my kingdom as great,, you have no power over me!”

The orb was thrown up in the air. And King Ice disappeared and a snowy owl is what remained. The world began to fall into itself. Everything went black.

Bradley woke up in his bed once again. Was this another trick? Was this real? He looked aver at his shelf and noticed a bear was missing. He quickly got out of bed and stumbled down the hall to his parents room where the crib stood to the side. Peering into and seeing his baby brother, Jake, lay sleeping peacefully with the missing bear in his clutches. All is well and Bradley finally breathed easy. Turning of the lights to the room and returned to his own.

His parents arrived home and for once he didn’t feel angry for once. He tidied his room, putting the books away, and the playbills in the drawer of his desk. He sits down at the desk and stares off into near by mirror.

“Goodbye, Bradley” he saw Slider in the mirror, turning around Bradley saw nothing there. He looked back in the mirror. “And remember Master Bradley, should you need us,,” Mav said solemnly. “Yes, should you need us, for any reason at all” Jester appeared looking solemn.

“I’ll always need you, I don’t know why, but every now and again, for no reason at all. I’ll need you.”

“Well why did you say so!”

Bradley turned around in his chair again and there they were his friends and other goblins he’s met on his journey. It was the best night of his life.

There was a snowy owl that sat outside the window. Watching as the small party go down. With a subtle nod it flapped it’s wings and flew away.

The return to the Goblin Kingdom, the snowy owl formed back to King Ice, and he smiled.

“Good job everyone” he greeted, “That went perfectly, I think Nick would have been proud!”

Long ago before there was Bradley there Nick Bradshaw, he found the Goblin Kingdom and had the adventure of a life time and in the end he had asked the Goblin King to do the same for his future child. Ice had agreed, it had been a long time since a human has visited the kingdom and he delighted everyone he befriended. Not only that but he also introduced Mav, a spirited Goblin, to Ice. Helping young Nick out was the least Ice could do..

Doodles below⬇️🔮

(Ft. Wolfman and Hollywood Goblins hehe)

#top gun #top gun art #top gun 1986 #top gun maverick #icemav as dads #sorta #iceman #tom kazansky #Ice is the Goblin King #Maverick #pete mitchell #Mav is sir Didymus #he probably named his dog Goose #Slider #slider as ludo #ron kerner #Ron keener is Brad Brads step dad #carole bradshaw #jake seresin #Jake is baby Toby #jester #jester as Hoggle #the worm is viper or Duke #labyrinth #Labyrinth AU #top gun au #implied Icemav #bradley bradshaw #Nick Bradshaw wrote the labyrinth for Bradley #tomcat writes

[ghouljams]

Ok so I know you don’t write Keegan into your AUs but I had a thought about the cowboy au like Keegan dating a barrel racer maybe she’s one of gooses friends but I see him with no one else other then a crazy horse girl .

It's funny that I keep thinking Goose is a barrel racer, but honestly she's probably in either bareback or saddle bronc riding. She is absolutely friends with every rider in the circuit though. This is also maybe sacrilege to the cowboy au point but I don't think Keegan has horses. I think he's a sheep farmer, so he's got dogs. Does that stop him from admiring a pretty barrel racer or having a thing for crazy chicks? Nope.

You kiss your filly's nose for about the hundredth time, her ears flicking back and forth with excitement. Everyone has their rituals, and yours win you buckles. You hold your horse's big head between your hands and assure her that if she wins this for you she can have as many carrots as she wants. That seems to spark her attention. Her big wet eyes staring into you with all the trust in the world. You give her another kiss for luck and turn to lead her to your gate.

There's a man in the center of the action, looking around like he's lost. Must've wandered in from the fair, that happens sometimes. As soon as the man lays eyes on you though he's making a bee line in your direction. You squeeze your horse's reigns and lean a little closer to her. Men don't usually approach you, or really any of the other riders in your division. You have a bit of a reputation.

The crowd parts for him. The glare in his eyes clearer the closer he gets. You wonder if maybe you accidentally blew this guy off at some point? Maybe he catcalled you and didn't like how you talked back. You gotta stop taking pointers from bronc riders.

The twisting white skull print on his mask distracts you from the dogtags. It's only when a man jumps out of the way of him that you notice he's holding a dog. That takes some of the scare out of his glare, and you laugh a little when it wags its tail. He stops in front of you and holds out his free hand.

"Keegan Russ," he introduces, his voice rumbles pleasantly in your chest. You stare at his offered hand, still wondering if he's here to enact some sort of revenge. "I don't bite, much." His eyes crinkle at the edges, it softens his face tremendously. Enough for you to take his hand and offer your name as well.

"Your dog looks uncomfortable," You point out, eyeing the large German shepherd that Keegan is carrying. The dog is resting almost limp in his grip, looking around at the horses with keen interest. It sniffs towards your filly.

"Him?" Keegan points at the shepherd under his arm, the dog wags its tail and licks his fingers. In response Keegan shifts his grip, hauling the dog up to his chest to hold like a baby. You don't miss the way his biceps flex, and tighten his sleeves. "He's fine."

The dog does look fine. Perfectly content to be carried around however his owner sees fit. You think it's a little silly looking, but that's all the more reason not to tell him to stop. You giggle, and quickly stop yourself. Oh god he's got you giggling.

"You're not supposed to bring dogs in here," You tell him, you're sure he would've seen the signs outside the doors.

"That's why I'm holdin' onto 'im." Keegan raises his brows, daring you to kick him out. Somehow it makes you smile. The full sentence really drives home the gruffness in his voice. The rough rumble that makes you think he could get anything he wanted from you if he just kept talking like that.

"Did great Riley," Keegan sets the dog down outside, and scratches between his ears, "gonna get you a mom in no time."

"Do you ride?" You ask him, trying to suss out what he'd come over for.

"Don't need to," he sniffs, "I got sheep."

"Really?" You grin, somehow you can't imagine this man with something so... cute. He nods, raising a questioning brow.

"Something wrong with that?" You shake your head.

"No, I just-" you turn to hide your laugh, stroking your filly's nose, "Why're you in here then?" You turn back to him, catch the tail end of another eye crinkle. It makes your chest feel warm and fuzzy.

"This is where the pretty girls are," He tells you plainly. You feel your face heat, a giggle rippling through your chest at the compliment. Keegan switches Riley to being held under one arm again and pats his pockets, drawing out a business card with two fingers. He holds it out to you, and you try not to think about how big his hand is as you take it.

"You're giving me your card?" You question, seems like a strange way to conduct business, but sure.

"My number," he corrects, "if you ever need wool, or dinner." He thinks for a moment, "or dick, 'm pretty good with it."

You open your mouth to respond and close it just as quickly.

"Good with my mouth too," Keegan tugs his mask up, and you get the briefest flash of silver on his tongue as he flicks it out. His mask is pulled back into place quick enough you think it might've been your imagination. "If you're interested."

The loudspeaker calls your name, and you glance up at it then back to him. You stuff his card in your pocket and give him a quick apology before leading your horse towards the ring. You wish you could promise to see him afterwards, but the thought makes you nervous. You've never had someone come on that strong before, you're not sure how to respond.

This guy better not fuck up your run.

Keegan watches you lead your horse towards the gates, swinging up onto the palamino with effortless grace. You were prettier up close, although he shouldve known that would be the case. He doesnt bother with trying to wait for you, you'll call. He's got a sense for these things.

It's an easy walk out of the holding area. People always jump out of the way for him, have since he was in basic. Now that he's outta the army it's funny to watch cities do it.

#cod x reader #x reader #keegan ghosts #keegan russ #cod keegan #keegan x reader #keegan p russ #keegan russ x reader #cowboy!keegan

[geminijade]

What Are We? Part 3

A/N: Any and All Military Mistakes Are My Own. I'd love to thank @mrsevans90 for helping me get the ball rolling on this installment. It would not be possible without their input and feedback!

Trigger Warnings: A Vague Disclaimer is Nobody's Friend. You and you alone are responsible for your reading material. Jake Seresin is a complete menace. I tried to tag as many as possible but it wouldn't let me tag everyone and for that I apologize. Angst in the form of parental death/drunk driving. Illusion to Goose's untimely passing. Airplane accidents. A little bit of smut because this is Jake we're talking about. I think that covers it. If I missed anything please feel free to let me know! Hearts, likes, comments and reblogs are always appreciated ❤ Happy Reading 📚

The next morning came bright and early with Jake's alarm clock waking him. He groaned and rolled over to stop the offending noise. He slammed his hand down until he made contact and all noise ceased. Lying on his back he roughly ran his hand over his face trying to wake up, he looked out his window and the sun was barely peaking over the horizon. Today was going to be a very long day of running drills and flight plans.

Jake wished that it was you waking him up with your warm, soft lips and hands instead of his shrill alarm clock. He grabbed his phone that was sitting on his bedside table and saw that he had a missed text from you. Just seeing your name first thing in the morning brought a smile to his face. Y/N: Good Morning, Handsome. You're probably still sleeping. Call me or text me when you see this. If I don't hear from you I hope that you have a wonderful day!! xoxo Y/N

Jake tossed his phone onto his slept in bed and made his way to the head to drain the snake. His dog tags rattling around his neck and his grey sweatpants slung low on his hips. He quickly took care of business and washed his hands. He was desperate to hear your voice hoping that it would make his day go by quicker. Checking the time he saw that it was only a little bit past 6 in the morning.

He wasn't sure why you were awake so early but you hadn't texted him that long ago, he dialed your number and listened to it ringing on the other end. You picked up on the 3rd ring and answered, "Hello?" "Good morning sunshine. What are you doing awake this early?" You could hear the humor in his voice, Jake knew that you weren't a morning person at all. "Oh, ya know just thought that I would be up before the sun. You do this every day? On purpose?"

Jake let out a chuckle "hazard of the job, Sweetheart. So what are you doing up this early?" You groaned that Nat had talked you into joining her on her daily juice and jog as she called it. Phoenix always starts her day with a juice cleanse and a jog and she roped you into it. You were changing into a pair of leggings and matching Tshirt plus some sensible shoes. You pulled your hair into a messy bun and resumed your conversation.

"Oh you know, trying to fit in some sister quality time before she goes to work." You took a good long hard look in the mirror and decided that you looked fine for an early morning run. You were pretty sure that muggers wouldn't care what you looked like. "Can I ask you for a favor?" "Anytime. What you got for me?" You felt awkward asking and you figured that Jake could sense that.

"You don't have to be shy around me, remember I know what you sound like when you cum. " You could pretend to be scandalized but he was in the right. "Could I drop you my location? I'd just feel better knowing that you know where I am incase anything happens. Logically, I know that nothing will but I've definitely seen one to many true crime shows and horror movies that start with this exact scenario: Hot young women go jogging and boom they either find a dead body or end up as said dead body. "You were aware that you were rambling but couldn't stop yourself.

Jake thought it was adorable but he didn't want to diminish your anxiety and he thought it was cute that you were still shy around him after everything. "Of course you can. Do you know where Phoenix is taking you?" You pulled your phone away from your ear and googled the directions. "Mission Beach Park," you let Jake know as you scrolled through the pictures. It looked really pretty and not secluded but it was still dark outside and you'd rather be safe than sorry.

You dropped your location to Jake's cell phone and he heard the ding a few seconds later. You felt a little bit of relief that someone else knew where you would be. Now that you got that out of the way, it was time to move on to why you really texted him so early in the morning. You weren't sure how to broach the subject so you just dove right in. "So, next week Nat and I are hosting a little get together at the house. It was actually Amelia's idea and Penny's too. Everyone's invited. "

You kind of let the silence fill the void, the implication being that you were looking forward to seeing him again in a more personal setting. Jake decided to put you out of your misery, "wild horses couldn't keep me away from seeing you again. " You released the breath that you weren't aware that you were holding. "Good." Jake could practically feel your smile through the phone.

Phoenix yelled up the stairs that she was going to get ready and your freshly squeezed juice was sitting on the kitchen counter. You gave him all of the information for next week's gathering and you were hesitant to end the call. "I gotta run, literally. " You let out a snort and Jake thought you were adorable and had no problems letting you know that. "You're so goddamn adorable it hurts me. "

"Oh no, we wouldn't want you to be in any pain. You might have to come over and let me kiss it and make it better. " A sly smile on your face had Jake groaning into the phone. "Don't be a tease Y/N, you know that I'll drop everything and be there so fast your head will spin. " You gave yourself a final glance in the mirror and went downstairs to the kitchen.

You saw your juice where she said that it would be and you could hear the shower running as you took a sip of the green juice. It was surprisingly good and you finished about half. "Don't threaten me with a good time, Seresin." That brought a smile to his face as he was changing into a pair of athletic shorts and tshirt, you could hear his dog tags rattling as he slid them under his shirt. "What's on the agenda for today?"

Jake tried to keep his tone light when he told you that he was joining Coyote on his run followed by breakfast in the main dining hall followed by a few flight test runs and then being debriefed. "Just a typical day, sunshine. I should be done around 6. I'd love to take you out for dinner and drinks, pick you up and take you out on a proper date. You put on your best dress and get all dolled up for me. How's that sound?"

"I know what you're trying to do here, you're trying to distract me from you training for life and death missions, Lieutenant. " That got a laugh out of Jake. "Tell me that it's working?" You begrudgingly acknowledged that yes the idea of being wined and dined by him was definitely working on you. "Good. " You heard a banging on his door and you caught bits and pieces of his conversation with Javy. "Tell Javy that I say hi and you guys have a safe flight training."

Jake could hear the worry in your voice and he hated it. "I'll see you at 7 sharp, Princess." You tried to take the fear out of your voice so that he wouldn't worry about you being worried about him. "I'm counting down the seconds" you whispered into the phone as Nat made her way further into the kitchen to put on her running shoes. You both quietly hung up and you turned to face her.

"You ready?" You nodded and grabbed your light athletic jacket and you made sure that you had your gps on and your pepper spray. You and Nat stepped out onto your front porch and she locked the door behind you. "What are your plans for the rest of the day?" Phoenix asked you as she did some pre run stretches and you followed suit. You looked at her warily and let her know that Jake was picking you up at 7 tonight for a date. "Oohhh, the plot thickens, " she smirked at you.

"That's not until later tonight. I think that I'll look for a job or maybe I'll go back to school. I'm not sure yet what I want to do." Phoenix nodded and linked your arms together as you started to walk together towards the beach. "I'm really happy that you're planning a future here, I honestly wasn't sure if asking you to move here and uproot your entire existence was the right thing to do but I'm willing to help you figure everything out. "

"I appreciate you offering and for everything else that you have done for me. I should plan at least one trip back home to get the rest of my stuff out of storage and finalize the sale of the house." Phoenix lightly punched you on your shoulder and you looked over at her. "You know that you don't have to do everything on your own, right? I mean I'm all for being a strong independent woman but sometimes the adult thing to do is ask for help. Let me help you."

Your sister's words brought tears to your eyes and you were too choked up to speak so you just nodded yes and hugged her. "I love you, Y/N. You're my family and the squad already considers you one of us. There's no escaping it now." That made you laugh through your tears "only a crazy lady wouldn't want to be surrounded by hot U.S. Navy men and live near the ocean. "

That elicited a groan and an eyeroll from your sister who playfully kicked you in the butt. "I should have known that would have been the deal breaker for you. " You put your hands on your hips and started jogging down the path. "Catch me if you can," you called over your shoulder and kept up a steady pace. You two jogged in comfortable silence for a few miles and made it home just as the sun was rising.

Phoenix made sure that you got home safely and got her stuff ready for work and soon the house was quiet again. You made yourself a light breakfast of egg whites and avocado toast and took a quick shower. You threw your dirty clothes into the washer and changed into a pair of shorts and tank top. You found your laptop and fired it up, you were quickly burning through what little savings you had and you desperately needed a source of income. You refused to sponge off of your sister as you browsed the help wanted section.

In your previous life back home you were going to school for nursing and working part time when your world was turned upside down. You didn't want to go back to school so work it was, you emailed a few different places with your resume and hoped that someone would reach out to you soon. You cleaned up the kitchen and switched your laundry and decided that you would need something pretty to wear on your night out with Jake. You looked at the clock and saw that it was only a little bit past noon and you figured that it was as good as a time as any to text him and ask him where he was taking you so you could decide on an outfit. Standing in the middle of your room you shot him a quick text.

JAKE'S POV:

Jake was standing in line for lunch when his phone vibrated in his shorts pocket. His morning and afternoon consisted of a 5 mile run with Rooster, Bob, Payback, Coyote and Fanboy. A few laps around the track to cool down and then they hit the showers just in time for lunch in the mess hall. His blonde hair was still damp from the shower and he was starved. After lunch they'd be practicing evasive flight maneuvers.

He reached into his pocket and pulled his phone out and saw that it was you asking for hints about how fancy should you dress up. He planned on taking you to the best steakhouse restaurant in San Diego. He fired off a quick text letting you know that he thought you would look stunning in a burlap sack. Two seconds later he got your response : not at all helpful, Seresin. Coyote was standing behind him and trying to look over Jake's shoulder to see who he was texting.

You had it narrowed down to a few different options and decided to send Jake some pictures and let him decide on which outfit was your best look. Unaware that Javy was still looking over Jake's shoulder he opened the picture messages and Coyote let out a wolf whistle. "Yo, who's the hottie sending you sexy pictures?!" Jake quickly put his phone back into his pocket but it was too late, the damage was done. All of the guys swarmed Jake trying to figure out who you were. Rooster and Phoenix walked in and saw the guys huddled around Jake.

"What's going on?" Phoenix asked and they all turned to look at her. Javy was the first to spill the beans, "Hangman has a hottie sending him sexy pictures and he won't share." If looks could kill there would be five mortally wounded men in the mess hall. Rooster glanced over at Phoenix and elbowed her in the side, "ain't that your sister, Y/N?" Phoenix slowly nodded her head and as she was walking towards them they at least had the common decency to scatter. "Before you attempt to rip me a new asshole she's not sending me nudes, she's asking for my opinion on outfits for our date tonight. "

That seemed to appease Phoenix as Jake showed her the pictures that you just sent him. "Tell her to go with the LBD and the black stilettos. " Jake quickly replied that he wanted to see you in that little black dress and sexy heels. With that decided the squad sat down and dug into their food. "What's on the agenda for after lunch?" Coyote asked Rooster. "We're going up in groups of four and practicing different counter strikes, basically the last two pilots flying are the winners. "

Hangman and Coyote fist bumped each other "Y'all might as well forfeit because you're looking at the winners right now. " That got a collective groan from the dagger squad as they made their way to their respective quarters to change into their flight suits. As they strode out onto the tarmac and waited for Maverick and the rest of the instructors to arrive Jake sent you one more text that he couldn't wait to see you tonight. Your reply was pretty much instantaneous: the feeling is completely mutual. See you soon 😉. The first four pilots got into their fighter jets and taxied down the runway.

Jake, Coyote, Phoenix and Bob were next. Everything was going according to plan, Hangman was in his element in the sky until he made a move to counteract Phoenix's attack and the sun was in his eyes and he didn't see the incoming flock of birds getting sucked into his plane's engine and everything started going haywire and he couldn't get it back under control. The next thing he knew was going into a spin and all of the fighter jets alarms started going off. "Pull up!" Coyote shouted at Jake as he struggled to bring it back under control. "I can't! All systems are in failure!! Eject!! Eject!! Eject!!"

Y/N POV

It was getting closer to 7 pm and Jake should be here any second now. You curled your hair and pulled it into a loose pony tail, you sprayed enough hair spray to put another hole in the ozone layer and once you were satisfied that not even a hurricane could move your hair you moved to put the finishing touches on your makeup. You went with a classic cat eye and fire engine red lipstick, you were spraying some perfume and getting your black clutch that matched your outfit and you heard the doorbell. You smiled as you grabbed a black leather jacket and made your way downstairs and opened the door expecting to see Jake but it was Maverick and Hondo instead. Your smile faltered and you felt your stomach sink.

"Hey Pete, Hondo. Is everything okay? Is Jake running late and he sent you to keep me preoccupied until he gets here?" Pete couldn't look at you and Hondo had his head down. Pete shook his head and cleared his throat, "I'm really sorry Y/N, earlier today we were flying flight maneuvers and patterns and there was an incident involving Hangman and Coyote. They lost contact with the control tower and ejected somewhere over the desert. Their GPS gave their last known location but it's not exact coordinates. Search and Rescue are out looking right now. "

You couldn't hear Pete but his lips were moving and Hondo looked to be on the verge of crying. You couldn't breathe, your chest felt tight and it hurt to inhale. Pete made a move to step inside your house and it all went silent. You must have dropped the stuff that you were holding but you didn't realize it. You tried to shove past them but they gently stopped you.

"No, I...we...he....had plans...." you weren't sure when you started crying but you were on the verge of hysterics and everything was happening at lightning speed while you felt like you were sinking in quicksand. Their words running through your head: Jake...Coyote....accident...desert....search and rescue. You couldn't focus, you couldn't breathe. You just knew that you couldn't sit here and wait for word if they were alive or dead. You must have made it to your room to change into jeans and a sweater.

It gets cold at night in the desert and you couldn't help but think are they hurt? Are they cold? Are they injured? Are they... no. Not possible. You wouldn't allow yourself to entertain the thought. You were frantically looking for a flashlight that you had somewhere and you found it under a pile of clothes, you saw Jake's brown bomber jacket and you grabbed that too. You ran down the stairs and grabbed your car keys sitting in the dish by the door.

Pete was chasing after you but you were quicker than him and Hondo. You got in your car and drove as fast as you could towards the base. "Shit, Hondo we have to get there before Y/N. She doesn't have the credentials to get on base and she's not thinking clearly. Text Phoenix and let her know that Y/N is headed that way. "

Hondo nodded and let Phoenix know that you knew what happened and were driving like a bat out of hell. The ride to the base was quiet and somber, Phoenix let them know that she was waiting for you at the gate. "Do you think that they're ok?" Pete took his eyes off the road for a split second and shook his head. "I honestly don't know, I really hope that they are. Y/N and Phoenix lost their parents not too long ago in a drunk driving accident. I don't think that Y/N would be able to recover losing someone who she cares about so soon after...."

You somehow made it to the base in record time without being pulled over for speeding. You barely put the car in park and jumped out leaving the keys in the ignition and the drivers side wide open. Pete and Hondo pulled in after you, "Y/N! Wait!" Their pleas fell on deaf ears and you barely recognized your sister standing at the entrance. "Natasha!! You were flying with him and Javy!! What happened?!" Pete parked your car in the visitors area and pocketed your keys and followed you onto the base and into a waiting vehicle designated to take you to the search and rescue site. "I'll fill you in on the way but you have to promise me that you'll stay out of the way and let the professionals do their job, promise me?"

You couldn't speak so you weakly nodded yes. Nat filled you in without going into to much detail. You felt stupid and weak for crying in front of your sister and her superiors but you didn't care. You couldn't lose Jake so soon after losing your parents. You made it to command central, military personnel and ATVs were scouring the desert.

Nat led you to the makeshift shelter that they had set up. It was at best controlled chaos and pandemonium. Radio chatter and flood lights overwhelmed your senses. You were numb and just standing under the white canvas tent staring into the inky darkness. You felt more than saw someone slip a wool blanket over your shoulders and hand you a cup of coffee.

You glanced over and saw that it was Rooster. He gave you a sad smile, you took the coffee into your ice cold hands and quietly thanked him. You took a sip and grimaced at the black bitterness but it was just what you needed. It was beginning to thaw out your hands and you were grateful. "We don't have to talk but just so you know I'm here for you. "

You were too overwhelmed with emotions to thank him but you hoped that he could tell you appreciated him and his efforts. Rooster led you over to a chair and you all about collapsed. Rooster sat next to you and ran his hand over your back in comfort. You had a million different questions and you wanted to ask but you thought it would be inconsiderate. You had a death grip on your coffee cup and your leg was bouncing wildly.

Rooster's big hand was on your leg trying to cease your jumpy movements. You put your hand over his and held on so tightly that your knuckles were turning white. There was a lull in the commotion and you could hear excited chatter throughout the crowd of military personnel. ".....found the wreckage ..... ejected....no sign of......bringing in trackers...."

Your head snapped up at the mention of trackers being brought in to help with the search. You looked at Rooster with hope in your tear stained eyes and he didn't have the heart to tell you that it wasn't always a good sign. He didn't have it in him to add to your heartbreak. "What does that mean? That's good, right? They walked away from the crash? They're still alive?!" Rooster silently pleaded with Maverick and he came and sat on your other side. "It's too early to tell but we should know something soon."

Dejected and overwhelmed with worry you felt a fresh set of tears forming behind your eyes. You were starting to succumb to exhaustion and fatigue. Your eyes drooping shut, you just decided to close your eyes and rest your head on Rooster's shoulder. Soon enough you let the comfort of darkness consume you completely with one last thought of Jake and Javy. Please let him come back to me.

~fin~

@tess-love @erindiggory @luna-lovethegood @scarlettwidow19 @ilack3 @imlilconcerned @sarahwasfound @sgt-barnesveins @angelbabyange @mini-bee-bee @supergirl000983 @mrsevans90 @trickphotography2 @jakeyzzz @jessa-21 @madisonmg @these-books-are-ruining-my-life @1111zxc @topgunfan1986 @tess-lecter-blog @tgmavericklover @hangmandruigandmav @hookslove1592 @the-romanian-is-bae @kyliesalvatore @runningawayfromsociety @awhitemanswhoresblog @halibshepherd @atarmychick007 @86laura11 @rockstxr-x @kissmunalodz @crispycitrus @dizzybee03 @caitsymichelle13 @bellaireland1981 @blah-blah-blah-bla @mamachasesmayhem @getmyprettynameoutofyourmouth @beautifulandvoid @rosiahills22 @erindiggory @tonkatesuramen @fandom-life-12 @tootser98 @ellianwhite @mamaskillerqueen @kyliesalvatore @toobouquet

#jake seresin x you #jake seresin #jake x y/n #jake x reader #jake hangman fic #jake hangman x you #jake smut #jake hangman x reader #jake hangman seresin #hangman fic #hangman fluff #hangman x reader #hangman smut #hangman imagine #top gun hangman #top gun tuesday #top gun men #top gun movie #top gun maverick #top gun fanfiction #fic wip #wip wip wip #my wips #current wip #wip wednesday #wip tag #wip #hangman angst #my fic writing #my fic

[seasonsbloom]

ocean in a seashell . ( rooster )

pairing ; bradley bradshaw x female!reader

synopsis ; bradley has lived with his father’s ghost for long enough to know he’ll never make the same mistakes he did. and then he meets you.

wc ; 10.5k i'm sorry

warnings ; 18+ only, minors do NOT interact; bradley bradshaw's sad, sad life; angst, literally SO much angst; mentions of canon past character death; near-death experience; alcohol abuse; explicit language; explicit sexual content (breeding kink, cumplay, p in v, dirty talk, fingering, idk?)

note: ... yeah i don't fucking know either goodbye. stole the title from "sidelines" by phoebe bridgers aka god.

sol. sunderlust... none of this would be possible without you, thank you forever.

Bradley doesn’t remember much about his father.

These days, he recalls him only in fractions: Hawaiian shirts, mustache, hair that stood up spikey like grass covered in the first tentative November frost. He had big hands, Bradley remembers that, and he used to swing him up on his shoulders and let him ride around living rooms in Army commissioned houses they never stayed in longer than a few months. He always smelled of engine oil, and he played pianos like he didn’t even know the meaning of the word embarrassment.

Bradley based his whole life on the fading glimpses of that man he carries locked in the chambers of his heart. The older he gets, the more gaps he finds.

Suddenly he’s taller than Goose ever was, older, ranked higher. He wants to say, wait, hold on, go back. Wants to rewind to a time when he felt closer to his father, when he could remember what his voice sounded like, what it felt like when he tucked him into bed. When he thought if he just sat by the front door long enough, his father would inevitably walk through it again, hoist him into the air, and press tickling kisses to his cheeks.

Sometimes, Bradley wishes he could go back to when he thought bad things happened only in movies. When he had a father and a mother and an uncle and the bone-deep, unconscious conviction that things would always stay this way.

He can’t remember the day Goose died. Can’t remember Mav coming to the house, can’t remember the dog tags pressed into his mother’s hands. Strange how the most significant day of his little life remains in his memory as just another day - morning cartoons and PB&J sandwiches and his mom reading him a bedtime story. Part of Bradley thinks it’s unfair, his whole world crashing down and him not even remembering it. Like he’s arriving late for a movie and can’t make sense of the plot.

Not once did he see his mother cry over his father. He’s sure she must have shed tears, remembers now the empty tissue boxes and the eyes rimmed in red, understands now what he was too young to see then. But Carol carried her grief like a secret. She locked it behind the mahogany of her bedroom door, she hid it behind the veneer of her smile.

Bradley is nineteen, standing at his mother’s open grave, when he decides he’s never going to do to someone what Goose did to her. What he did to him.

For a while, he wants nothing to do with the memory of that man. Wraps himself in his mother, toys with the idea of taking her maiden name. Goes to college and gets drunk, gets high, gets himself into trouble. Thinks sometimes, in his very darkest moments, that maybe the best thing he could do for the world is to stop existing.

One night lands him at the police station. And it’s not like he got arrested or anything, they just take him in to sober up and tell him to call somebody to come get him. Mav is in town, thank God, and he comes in wearing his old aviator jacket and a wistful expression. Bradley’s call probably pulled him out of some bar or some girl or both.

Mav doesn’t say much, just drives him back to his college dorm and pulls over to the curb, doesn’t even turn off the car. They sit there in silence, with the blinker going and the engine purring.

Finally, Mav says, “Sometimes, you remind me so much of your father, it scares me.”

Bradley doesn’t know what to say to that, so he says nothing. Sits there for a little longer and watches as frat bros and law students and cheerleaders cross the street on their way to hook-ups, to parties, to midnight fast food runs. Envies them just for a moment. Then, without saying goodbye, gets out of the car, goes to his room, and buries himself beneath the weight of his blankets.

So it’s like Bradley always suspected. It really is a futile thing, trying to escape the memory of his father. His ghost lives inside Bradley’s chest. Rattles against his bones.

And he loves him, even if he doesn’t remember him. Thinks that love is some intrinsic, primordial thing. Something that was there before he was born and will be there after he dies. Something he can’t fight. Unstoppable like the tide.

So he embraces it instead. Tries growing a mustache he’ll only be able to pull off much later in life, gets those old Hawaiian shirts out of storage. Decides to give into the underlying current of longing he’s felt every time he tipped his head back and looked at the sky.

Accepting that he loves his father is much easier than he thought it would be. Much easier than hating him.

It’s good for a while because it feels like he has a purpose, a goal. For so long, Bradley has been drifting at sea, unmoored, unbound, with no sense of direction. Now he’s swimming toward something, broad strokes, every move deliberate.

Then Mav pulls his papers.

The worst part of it all, worse than the betrayal, worse than the anger, is the confusion. He thought Mav would understand. Mav of all people. 

(It’s his mother, setting a casserole on the table, smiling at Bradley and saying Pete over here, he’s the craziest pilot the Navy’s ever seen. It’s his sixth Christmas, the second one without his dad, and Mav gives him a model of a plane they’ll build together. It’s Mav staring at him with eyes gleaming with moisture the time he stole the Navy hat from his uncle’s head. It’s Mav in every memory of his life, laced so tightly to him he thought they were inseparable, woven together. Now the seams are coming apart.)

Mav, who keeps flying, who seems only to be a real, complete person for those few, short, fleeting moments just after he steps off a plane. Who’s never happy unless he’s going break-neck speed miles and miles above the ground, jumping off death’s shovel, laughing, flipping the bird, and saying look, I can fly!

If Maverick doesn’t understand why Bradley wants to fly, why he needs to fly, then who ever could?

Mav wants to explain it, calls him, shows up at his apartment. Bradley declines the calls, turns off all the lights, and sits on his couch in perfect silence, pretending he isn’t in.

He doesn’t want to hear explanations, doesn’t want to listen to excuses. He wants to fly.

Back when his mother was alive, she wouldn’t even let him get on an airplane. His whole childhood, they only left their state once to go to a funeral of some distant aunt or cousin or uncle, Bradley can’t remember, and his mother drove the whole ten hours there and back. It didn’t even register as anything weird to him - it was all juice boxes and gas station ice cream and goldies on the radio. It was his mom’s laughter and her smile and her fingers carding strands of hair warmed by the sun out of his eyes.

So Bradley remembers his mother every time he gets into a car. But his dad? Him, he can only get above the clouds.

He doesn’t give up. He finishes college, works odd jobs for some money, drifts further and further from the orbit he used to inhabit. And then he applies to the academy again, and then he goes to Top Gun, and he graduates top of his class and wonders what it would feel like if there were somebody to be proud of him. If somebody were congratulating him, taking him out for a celebratory dinner, or just somebody to hug him. What it would feel like if he weren’t so alone.

It’s what he dreams about sometimes, in the very darkest pockets of the night. A house with a swing set and a big, smiling, dumb dog and a pretty wife and a whole gaggle of children running through the garden. Bradley would teach them how to throw a football, and he’d carry them to bed at night, and his wife would smile at him, and there would always be food in the fridge and brownies on the table, and every room would be filled with love, and there would be no ghosts to haunt him.

It’s a dangerous fantasy. It’s a trap door, a slippery slope, it’s a snare, it’s a cliff’s edge. If he stays in it too long, he’ll be lost.

His mother always used to say he was a functional dreamer. He had his head stuck in the clouds, sure, but he knew exactly when to pull it out of there too. Maybe that’s why he’s such a good pilot.

So Bradley still is a functional dreamer. He knows that this is something he can never have, can never allow himself to have. He knows the pain of it too well, too intimately, still feels it every time he catches sight of his reflection in a mirror, the golden streaks of sun in his hair, the mustache, the split second of pure, blank horror, of oh god I look like him, I look so much like him, and feels it slice right through him like a knife through butter. He’s been carrying his father’s ghost for so long, sometimes it feels like his spine will crack under the weight.

Maybe people that live life like he does, like Mav does, like his father did - up in the sky, heads in the clouds - aren’t meant to have anything on the ground. Inevitably, they always end up leaving it.

He decided the day of his mother’s funeral, before the long procession of I’m sorrys and If you need anythings, before he let real estate agents into a house overflowing with cards and flowers - flowers in every room, flowers blooming and wilting and dying like a garden watered by his grief, like a garden watered by his ghosts - that he would never have a family. Not a wife to mourn him, not a child to miss him.

So there’ll be nobody to carry the burden of him.

And then he meets you.

It’s not momentous - it’s easy. Natural. Quicker than he thought possible. It’s stolen glances across a room and a smile that brands him like a mark, that cuts right through to the bone. A smile that settles in his heart. A smile that’ll never leave again.

In the beginning, he tries to fight it. Tells himself not to engage, not to get involved, to stay out of the mess he knows he’ll make here inevitably. To shield him, but to shield you too, to protect you from whatever hurt he’s going to inflict sooner or later.

But then it goes like this:

“Are you never going to ask me out, Bradshaw?” you ask him, smiling as you pluck his Ray Bans from him, as you place them on your own nose, and blink at him from over the rims.

The sun is casting you in gold. Bradley wants to catch the moment in a mason jar and put it on his bedside table. Let the glow illuminate his nights.

“I don’t think….” He trails off, wonders why it’s so easy for him to talk to you, why he can’t stop spilling truths like leaking water taps. “I don’t think I’ll be good for you.”

You don’t miss a beat. One eyebrow raising, you say, “And don’t you think that should be my decision?”

That’s when he knows that for him, you will always be it. That it’ll never be this way again with someone else. It’s not even a question. It’s just the truth.

When he’s with you, for the first time since he sat shotgun in a car with his mother, head nodding along to Elvis on the radio, Bradley feels like he belongs somewhere. Like he’s reached a shore, maybe. Like he can breathe.

For the first time, it feels like he knows peace, even with his feet on the ground.

His mother would have loved you.

You have a long conversation about it. About how he knows you want it - the diapers and the first days of school and the family Christmases. The pitter-patter of children’s feet, the cribs, the tiny fingers curling around your thumb. He knows you’ve dreamed of it all your life. And Bradley also knows, as much as it hurts, as much as it aches, that he can never give it to you.

He needs to be honest. He needs to put all the cards on the table so you know your options, see the truth about him. So you can walk away before you get any deeper into this.

Part of him is sure you will. Thinks it might be better, the safest option for both of you. Hopes you will, fears you will.

It doesn’t matter that he loves you. It doesn’t matter that he only feels at peace when he’s with you. It doesn’t matter that for the first time since he was four years old, the ghosts have gone quiet.

What matters is that he wants you to be happy. What matters is that if that happiness lies somewhere else, with someone else, with someone who’ll give you everything you dream of, give you a life, give you a child… Bradley will let you go. It’ll be the hardest thing he’s ever done, but he will.

Only you don’t leave.

You think about it for a very, very long time. Sit at his kitchen table with your hands folded on the tablecloth like you’re praying, with your head turned down, without looking at him, and then finally you say, “Alright. Fine with me.”

And Bradley’s protesting, pushing, saying, “Honey, you want this, I know you do, you want a family, you….”

“I want you more,” you say, and that’s that.

There’s no lie to it. It’s the truth, naked and beautiful and awful.

And Bradley - selfish as he is - accepts it. Because he doesn’t want to lose you. Because as much as he tries to convince himself of the opposite, deep down, he knows he’s not a good man. Just like his father wasn’t. They’re both just men willing to leave the people they love behind. Brave enough to fight for the “greater good”, but never brave enough to stay.

Regardless of it all, it’s the happiest Bradley has been in years. With you, he doesn’t feel like something is missing from him. He actually feels whole.

Your job as a freelancer allows you to travel with him, and he’s unspeakably grateful for it. He tries to show you, tries to be good about bringing flowers and cooking dinner, thinks if he can make you even a fraction as happy as you make him, he’ll have succeeded. When he gets deployed, he spends days memorizing your face, the shape of your throat where your pulse point jumps, the pattern of your heartbeat, the feeling of you beneath his arm.

And sometimes, when you’re asleep, Bradley puts his hand on your stomach and imagines a bump there, imagines a baby growing beneath it, and that’s when the ache gets so strong he thinks he can’t breathe.

That’s when he hates himself for not being something else: a doctor, an accountant, a real estate agent. Anything other than what he is. Could he have it then, this thing you both want so much? Could he let himself have it?

But eventually, when the fantasies fade, he always circles back to the truth: Bradley isn’t a doctor or an accountant or a real estate agent. He’s a pilot. Always has been, always will be.

He’s just too much like his father. That’s the whole point.

When he gets called back to Top Gun, three years after he met you, something shifts. He doesn’t know to explain it, but from the very first moment he sets foot on North Island again, something about it tastes like the beginning of an end. At night, he can’t settle, roams through the little house you rent off base like a sleepwalker. Checks in on you like he’s afraid you’re going to disappear. Can’t concentrate up in the air, can’t shut his brain off.

It’s like his father’s ghost travels with him in his suitcases, tucked between his neatly folded shirts, climbs out when no one’s looking. No matter where he goes, that ghost goes too. He can’t shake him.

You love California. You like the sunshine and the ocean. Like the Hard Deck and Penny and Phoenix. Turn your face into the warmth like a sunflower, and then you bloom, go brighter and brighter as Bradley goes the opposite direction. As something in him dims.

“Is it because of Mav?” you ask him softly, in the quiet of your bedroom. You’re carding hair from his forehead, fingers gentle, voice gentler.

Bradley can’t look at you. Shame coils low in his stomach.

“Yes,” he says, even if it feels like a lie in his mouth.

You sigh, no annoyance, only affection. Your head is heavy on his shoulder as you press the shape of a yawn into his skin.

“I know he hurt you, Bradley,” you whisper. “It’s okay to be hurt. But I think you need to talk to him.”

He nods into the darkness. You’re right. You’re always right.

“I know,” he agrees, even though he knows he won’t.

When you’re asleep, Bradley slips out of bed. Pats into the living room and sits on the floor, back leaning against the couch. Pulls his knees up to his chest, closes his eyes, and then he dreams.

He dreams he’s four riding on his father’s shoulders through the living room. He dreams he’s ten, in a car with his mother, turning up the radio. He dreams he’s twenty, and he lets Mav explain. He dreams he’s thirty-five, and he marries you. He dreams he’s thirty-six and holding his baby. He dreams it’s a little girl with your smile and his eyes, and he loves her more than he thought he was capable of, so much it almost breaks him apart, so much it puts him back together. So much it’s worth it all.

Bradley’s earliest memory is of the giant, bone-white seashell on his grandmother’s mantlepiece. He remembers how heavy it was, remembers how cold it felt against the side of his face when he pressed it to his ear. He remembers hearing the distant, muffled hum of the waves, the song of the sea, remembers imagining what it might look like. 

It’s no comparison to the real thing, years and years and years later, he knows this, but it’s something. It’s better than nothing.

It’s all he can allow himself—an ocean in a seashell.

The mission is a disaster, even if it is successful. Later, Bradley won’t remember what he was thinking up in the air, when he hit the target, when Mav went down, when he decided to go after him. He won’t even be able to tell if that is because he’s in shock or because he really wasn’t thinking anything. Maybe for the first time in his life.

If he had been thinking, Bradley likes to believe he would have kept his plane on course. Would have flown back to the carrier and then back to you, home, home, home. Wouldn’t have gone back for a man he still hasn’t spoken to, not properly, someone he loved once and now barely knows.

But all the ghosts of the people he’s loved and lost crowd up on him in that cockpit - his father and his mother and even Admiral Kazansky and their sad, sad eyes. There’s no room for Mav to be up there, too, he thinks.

So at first, you don’t cross his mind at all. He just follows his instincts like he’s never done before, could never bring himself to do. So much of Bradley’s life has been about dissecting just those urges, dismantling them, disabling them. Making himself into a creature of logic and second-guessing. Now, for the first time, he gives in to the currents and lets himself be rushed away.

And then his plane goes down, and he drifts into the white white white of snow he hasn’t felt in so long - and still, he doesn’t think. But every instinct from the moment of impact on, the moment his feet hit the ground, every instinct centers on you.

Home, he thinks. I need to get home to her.

Up in that F-14, that’s when he realizes. The brink of death is a bleak place. It’s a place of memories, a place of despair. It’s a place of hope.

All he can think of is you. How he’s leaving you with nothing. How he’s going to die here, miles above the ocean, and what will happen then? Who’s going to bring you his dog tags, the way Mav had brought his father’s to Carole all those years ago? Phoenix? Hangman? How are they even going to retrieve them if he goes down in enemy territory? Will anybody even remember the girl in that house, the one he didn’t even marry? And why didn’t he anyway? Why didn’t he put a ring on your finger, buy you a house, get you a dog, give you a baby?

What will remain of him now, in this world after he’s gone?

Nothing, he thinks, and his lungs fill with water, high up in the sky. You made damn sure of that, Bradley.

There will be nobody to haunt. He will disappear, and he will take his mother with him, will take his father with him, will take Mav with him. Nobody to remember him. Nobody to mourn him except you, all alone, carrying the terrible burden of his ghost.

It used to be a relief. Nobody to mourn me after I’m gone. Now it feels like a punishment.

Home, he thinks, remembering the content of your smile and your eyes gleaming in the darkness and your face turning, always turning, toward the sun. Like a child, as he closes his eyes, as he tries to accept the inevitable, he thinks, I want to go home. I just want to go home.

And then that’s what he does—he and Mav. Incredibly, inexplicably, illogically, they go home.

From far away, as he walks up the driveway, the little house with the gardenias you planted blooming pink and red in front of the windows looks like an oasis at first. Then it seems to grow longer, taller, goes from beckoning to daunting. He almost doesn’t make it inside. Almost doesn’t dare to get out his keys, unlock the front door, push through and toe off his shoes. Feels like he’s doing something forbidden, like he’s an unwanted guest in his own home.

You’re in the kitchen, elbows deep in sudsy dishwater, and when he walks through the doorway, when you hear the pat of his socked feet against the tiled floors, you look up at him with an open face full of love, full of relief. It almost bowls him over.

“Bradley,” you whisper, voice soft, and then you’re crossing the room, bubbles and foam and water dripping from your wrists across the tile, and he blinks at the trail you leave for a moment. Then you’re there, arms wrapping around his neck, face pressing against his shoulder, saying his name again and again, like a benediction, like a prayer of thanks.

Automatically, he pulls you against him with both arms crossed over your hips. Inhales deep, lets the familiar scent of you envelop him. Listens to your breath echoing against the dip of his collarbone, to the steady rhythm of your heart.

Your hands leave wet prints against the fabric of his shirt, like something primeval pressed to cave walls, like something that’s been happening for centuries, something that is happening right now, something that will happen again tomorrow and next year and the year after that, and distantly, dumbly, Bradley thinks, Oh. I’m alive. I’m here.

He feels packed in cotton. He feels submerged. He feels not-real, not-present, not-normal. He feels like he’s going to fall apart, and no one will notice.

When you draw back, it takes you only a split second to realize something’s wrong. You frown, the furrow Bradley likes to smooth out with his thumb appearing between your eyebrows, eyes swimming with a concern he doesn’t deserve.

“What happened?”

It’s classified, all of it. There’s so much of his life Bradley isn’t allowed to share with you, even if he wants to. There’s so much he doesn’t want to share but knows he should.

From far away, he hears himself say, “My plane went down.”

He can feel the panic in your body, feels it go through you like a spasm. You try to draw back, but he holds you where you are, afraid he’s going to shatter all across the kitchen floor the moment you’re gone.

It’s not fair, he thinks, how he keeps looking to you to hold him together. It’s just that at the end of the day, you’ve always been so much stronger than him.

“Bradley…” you begin to say, but he can’t hear it. He doesn’t want to hear it. He doesn’t want to hear how scared you are every time he leaves, he doesn’t want to hear how it made you feel to know that he almost died because he already knows. He knows.

“I want…” he says into your hair, a fragment of a sentence, a statement that trails off halfway, that goes nowhere. He doesn’t even know what he’s trying to say.

In some ways, he feels stuck in that F-14. Like time kept moving, but he didn’t, remained static and crystallized like somebody dipped the moment in amber and preserved it on a bookshelf. Nothing makes sense to him. Rationally, he knows he’s standing here in his kitchen with you in his arms, knows he isn’t dead, knows he survived, but it doesn’t feel like it. 

So Bradley tries to remember grounding exercises, focuses on little things, mundane things, things that shouldn’t exist on the verge of death. The bubbles popping in the sink. The specks of dust dancing through the room. The curve of your spine beneath the worn fabric of his Navy shirt.

Suddenly, the thought of you alone in this house is unbearable. Waiting for a man that never comes back. History repeating itself in the worst of ways.

“I want to have a baby,” he says, out of nowhere, out of some madness that took hold of him up in the air, or maybe when he touched the ground, or maybe at some other point he can’t name, can’t even think.

And it’s not a conscious thought. It’s not a decision he makes. It’s just something that spills from him, something that has been there unnoticed all along, words taking shape on his tongue before he can overthink their meaning, but then they’re out, and they drop between you like an anvil, and it’s like a relief, it’s like a breath he’s been holding for years, it’s like a sigh, something inside of him finally unlatching, finally escaping the shackles he put on it himself.

Oh, he thinks. He’s known this about himself, always, but it’s the first time he says it out loud. It’s always been a want, an ache, a yearning, but now it goes from all that to a need, a thrumming inside of him, something that cannot be ignored. Something that demands to be felt instead of thought.

In his arms, you stiffen.

With your palms on his chest, you push him away from you, take a step back, take the warmth and the scent and the anchor with you. Bradley is surprised he doesn’t float right up to the ceiling.

The openness of your face has shuttered now. You look at him with something unreadable crossing your features, something unfamiliar, and say, “What did you just say?”

Bradley swallows around a lump in his throat. “I want to have a baby,” he repeats, his voice smaller now, quieter, but the words more assured.

Because he does. Because it’s true. Because he’s always wanted this and doesn’t know how to explain to you that now he needs it. How now it’s the only thing that makes sense in a world that’s gone off the rails.

Your face falls, something crumbles, and it hits him like a punch to the gut. 

“No,” you say, turning away from him. You step right into the trail of water you left earlier, it soaks into your socks, and then you’re leaving footprints too. Everywhere you go, you leave your mark like a brand. Not one part of Bradley has been left untouched.

Confusion zaps through him, but it’s a muted feeling. Muffled by all the chaos.

“I thought you….” It’s a great effort to form words, like pulling teeth. “You want children. Don’t you want this?”

“Not like…” You pause, rake your fingers through your hair, exasperation crackling from you like sparks from a burned-out socket, and Bradley can’t make sense of it.

You want this, he knows you do. So what’s the problem now? What did he do wrong?

“I don’t….”

“Don’t go there.”

There’s a finality to your voice, and he sees you drawing back from him, sees your shoulders come up, your face turning away, something wilting.

The idea of losing you, of pushing you away now that he’s finally decided to let you in, really let you in, the panic of it finally slices through the haze. Lifts the fog.

Bradley crosses the room and says, “It’s your decision too, honey, of course, it is, but I love you, and I want this, and….”

You whirl on him, and it punches the air out of his lungs. There’s real anger on your face now, your eyes sparkling with unshed tears, and Bradley’s heart clenches in answer.

“You don’t get to do this,” you say, voice heaving with the barely contained emotion, a ship on a stormy sea, “not after I compromised, not after I spent so long trying to get used to the idea of not having a baby, not after giving that up for you, Bradley. You don’t… don’t get to just come in here and change your mind just because it suits you, because you had some near-death experience and you’re full of adrenaline and… and….”

Bradley frowns, moves to touch you, but you flinch away from him, one arm going up to hug your own ribcage. As if you have to shield yourself from him.

Suddenly, he feels a sob building in his throat. To realize how much he’s hurt you, not just today by springing this on you, but by how selfish he was, again and again. By letting his past stand in the way of your future.

“It’s not that I changed my mind,” he begins, trying to string together something that will make you see the truth of it, make you understand what he means.

You interrupt, “You said you didn’t want kids.”

Bradley pauses. Did he say that? If he did… 

“And it…” You gasp for breath, the tears now streaming freely down your face, and god, it hurts, it hurts worse than thinking he lost Mav, hurts worse than thinking he’d die in that F-14 because all of that he’d been prepared for, had been practicing for his whole life. Losing Maverick, losing himself, all of that had been inevitable. But losing you… Bradley always assumed he was going to be the one to go first. 

“It’s fine,” you go on. “I was fine with it, Bradley, I gave that dream up because… because I wanted you more, and I was okay with it. It was my decision, and I don’t regret it, but for you to just… to just….”

“I do want children,” he says because he doesn’t know what to do except explain it, except make you see the truth of it all. “I’ve always… I’ve always wanted children, honey. I just… after what happened to my dad, after what that did to me, what it did to my mother, I didn’t… I didn’t want to do that to you. I couldn’t do that to you.”

For a moment, you say nothing, eyebrows furrowed, lower lip caught between your teeth.

“You…” You look like you’re trying very hard to understand it. “Are you saying you decided not to have children with me because you thought it would hurt me too much if you died?”

When you say it like that, out loud, logically, through your tears, it sounds so incredibly stupid.

Bradley opens and closes his mouth, once, twice. Finally, he nods.

He expects you to start crying harder, to hit him (all valid reactions, really), but instead, you do the one thing he doesn’t expect: You laugh. It’s a watery sound, barely amused, but it is a laugh.

You bury your face in your hands, then reemerge after a moment, eyes rimmed in red, and say, “God, Bradley, you’re so stupid.”

“I…” He doesn’t know what to say to that. Probably, you’re right. “What?”

“You just…” You exhale a long, shuddering breath. “You keep trying to make decisions without me.”

“... I do?”

“Yeah!” Your voice rises a little, then settles, and you say, “This is my decision as much as it’s yours. If I say I want it, if I say I know the risk and I know the danger, then you don’t get to tell me no. Do you think I’m dumb? Do you think I don’t understand what goes on when you get deployed? Do you think I don’t know that you’re risking your life all the time?”

“No, I… I know you know that.”

You shrug, and it’s a gesture of such helplessness that Bradley’s knees almost buckle.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. I don’t know if… if one day there’s going to be a mission you don’t come back from. I don’t know that, Bradley. I can’t know that. But until then… can’t you just let us be happy?”

Bradley’s shaking. Head to toe, tremors that run through him like the tides. Unstoppable. Unrelenting.

“I…” And he knows he’s the one who brought it up, but suddenly all the doubts come crashing down. Suddenly the ghosts crowd around him. “What if I die? What if I leave you? What if we have a baby and I’m not… there?”

“Oh, Bradley…” Something on your face melts. You step closer, put a hand on his cheek, fingertips still pruned from the water, and say, so gently it breaks something open inside of him, “Bradley. You’re not your father.”

And Bradley can’t help it - he cries. It’s an ugly sort of crying, the sort that leaves you with a headache and snot dripping down your face and eyes that hurt. The one you feel in the morning. But it’s a relief too. A release. Rain after years and years of drought.

For so long, Bradley was trying to let go of a world that didn’t want him to leave. He’s been preparing for an early exit since he entered, has been so caught up in dreaming he forgot to live. So caught up in thinking he forgot to do. He thought he would be content to go out of this world and leave nothing behind, to disappear without a trace, without a word, without a ghost.

But now he sees it clearly. Now he understands.

Bradley doesn’t want to stop existing. He wants to cling to this world like someone clinging to the edge of a cliff, like a leech, like a cancer. He wants to haunt someone.

Only there’s something else, too. 

A week before his mother died, when she had gone all quiet, when she had lost the vibrancy she used to carry around like a glow, when she had slept longer and spoke less and Bradley had known, somewhere deep inside of him, that things were ending, that they were truly ending, he’d gathered all his courage and asked a question he’d been rehearsing for weeks, months, years.

“Do you regret it?”

Do you regret loving my father now, knowing all that would come after? Knowing the landslide it really was?

And Carol had just smiled, something of that old light returning for a moment, a tenderness so big it felt like violence, and she’d said, “I could never regret him. Not even the heartbreak or the grief or the pain. After all, he gave me you, didn’t he?”

Maybe, he thinks, it’s time to let the past be in the past. Maybe it’s time to let himself have a future.

Maybe it’s time to let go of the ghost.

And you just hold him as he cries like he hasn’t since he locked himself in a bathroom stall after his mother’s funeral, cries until it feels like he’s going to throw up, cries until the gnashing teeth of grief of pain of hurt of anger finally leave him be.

After half an eternity, you pull away, warm hands cupping his face, tugging him gently away from the crook of your neck, so he has to look at you, can’t look anywhere but at you, and then you say, “Bradley, what happened to your father was a horrible, terrible accident. But he loved you. You know that, don’t you?”

He nods. His father, the hazy shape of him, the ghost he’s carried for so long - frosted tips and Hawaiian shirts and the smell of motor oil. Large hands and a mustache and rides around living rooms. So much of him is shadowed, fractioned, incomplete, but not this. This he knows. When he thinks of his father, there’s nothing now but the hazy, easy warmth of love. 

“Do you really think,” you say softly, “that they made a mistake when they had you? Your parents? Do you really think they shouldn’t have done it?”

Bradley has thought about his life in boxes. Big cardboard ones, the kind you get when you move apartments. He tucks the good parts away beneath his bed, stows them, hoards them like a secret. Like his mother kept her grief. But all the bad parts - the pain and the sadness and the sorrow - those he lets pile up everywhere, in hallways, in living rooms, on kitchen tables. He stumbles over them on his way to the bathroom. He stubs his toe halfway to the closet.

He never looks at those good parts, afraid they’ll become tainted somehow if he thinks about them for too long, afraid they’ll lose their appeal or their strength. But there’s so much good there too.

Goose loved him, he knows this without a doubt. Carole loved him. Mav loves him, Phoenix loves him, you love him… At the end of it all, even despite all the terrible things that have happened to him, even with the ghosts that have haunted him for so long, Bradley has been loved, and he has lived, and he has been happy.

Shouldn’t that be worth something, too?

“No,” he says, voice soft, “no, I’m glad they had me.”

His life has been a long, long road. Difficult to walk sometimes, full of potholes, some as big as canyons. But there’s so much happiness there, too - car rides with his mother, Mav telling him stories about his father, the moment when the wheels lift off the tarmac at take-off. This long, terrible, winding road that led him here. That led him to you.

You brush your fingertips across his cheekbone, and Bradley capsizes.

“I love you,” he says, and it’s the truest thing he’s ever said. It’s the truest thing he’s ever known. “I want… I want to have a life with you.”

“You do,” you answer. “You have one.”

Bradley’s tears have dried so the sound he makes isn’t really a sob, but it’s damn close to one. 

“Do you…” He clears his throat. “You love me, too?”

It’s a dumb question, unnecessary because he already knows the answer. But he needs to hear you say it anyway.

And when you smile, your whole face lights up. It echoes somewhere inside Bradley, somewhere at his core, goes through him like a current.

“Bradley Bradshaw,” you say, and there’s only a little bit of amusement in your voice, “you’re the love of my life.”

His heart jumps like a jackknife in his chest.

Before he recognizes that he’s made the conscious decision to do so, he’s bridged the space between you and has pulled you into a searing, soaring, slow kiss. He fumbles it a little, teeth knocking against yours, but you just laugh into it, going up on your tiptoes, arms wrapping around his neck, pulling yourself closer to him like you want to meld yourself to his bones. Bradley feels like somebody’s poured liquid sunlight into his chest.

Somewhere it goes heated, goes desperate, goes near frantic, all the adrenaline, all the fear, everything pouring from him in a shower of want. Somehow he’s got you pressed up against the counter, tongue tangled with yours, fingers in your hair, fingers on your back, fingers pulling up the edge of the shirt you’ve stolen from him to find the warm, soft skin beneath.

Breathless, heart stuttering, Bradley pulls away, looks at your lips swollen from the tug of his teeth, your eyes with the heavy lids, the hair mussed by his fingers, and he needs to hear it. Needs to know you want this as much as he does. The ache in him twists like a knife between the ribs.

“Tell me,” he whispers, afraid the moment will shatter if he makes a wrong move, speaks too loudly. It’s so fragile - he wants to protect it so fiercely. Presses the tips of his fingers into the place where your pulse hammers away. “Tell me you want to have a baby with me.”

“I want…” And you sigh, a sound like a spring day, a sound like a rushing mountain stream. “I want it.”

He surges forward, lips against yours again, and you’re so alive beneath him, heart racing, breath heaving, fingers grappling along his neck, his shoulders, his chest, his arms, and Bradley wants to devour you. Wants to sink his teeth into all this life and never let it go again. He wants to exist, right here, in this moment with you forever.

“I love you,” he mumbles into your neck, lets his mouth move over the column of your throat, down to the sharp points of your collarbones beneath the soft skin. Sinks to his knees on the kitchen tiles like he’s kneeling at an altar to pray.

“Bradley,” you whisper, fingers going to tangle in his hair, to smooth along the sides of his face, and the softness in your voice cracks something in him. He swears he could cry again.

He doesn’t even know what he’s doing as he nuzzles his nose against the sloping curve of your upper thigh, as his fingers tighten on your hips. He just wants to be close to you. And you’re so soft, so warm, you smell like home, and it tears through him, blazes everything in its wake, to realize just how close he came to losing it all.

“I’m gonna marry you,” he whispers, babbles, barely coherent, pressing his face against the fabric of your panties, inhaling your scent, opening his mouth to push his tongue where he knows your clit is. “Gonna make you so happy, baby, I promise, it’s all I want. I’m never letting you go again, I’m never….”

Above him, you whimper, hips knocking forward, arching into the movement of his tongue for a moment, and he wonders if you’re wet, thinks about the hot, tight vice of your cunt, and groans against you. His cock jumps.

Then you’re tugging him away from you by the hair, and Bradley goes reluctantly, mouth still open, wishing he could stay where he was forever. Drowning in you. 

You’re looking down at him with eyes blown wide.

“Bradley,” you say, and there’s something unsteady to your voice. “Take me to bed.”

He doesn’t need to be told twice. It’s a tumble all the way to your bedroom - he kicks off his shoes on the way, you lose your shirt, and he’s somehow, miraculously, gotten down to his boxers by the time he drags you backward with him onto the mattress.

“I love you,” he says as he drags you on top of him, your legs opening around his hips like the petals of a flower. The mattress dips where your knees press against the springs, your weight grounds him. “I love you, you’re so perfect, you’re….”

He has no idea what he’s saying. His brain checked out a while ago, and it’s all just feelings now, just emotions coursing through him, and every once in a while, one will plunge its head through the surface, and then he’ll tell you something nonsensical, something dumb, something important, something he needs you to know, something…

You lean down to kiss him, to shut him up, his brain buzzes, your breasts press to his bare chest, and he’s so hard in his boxers it hurts.

“I love you, too,” you whisper against his lips, smile into the kiss. The curve of it burns against Bradley’s face.

He sits up, grasps you by the thighs to drag you closer, drag your core across his cock, and you both moan against each other. Your fingernails scrape over the back of his neck, where his hair is buzzed so short he knows it feels like prickles, and he shudders, sighs, lets his tongue run across your teeth.

For a while, you just stay like that, rutting against each other like fucking teenagers, tongues lazy, fingers eager, mouths hungry. Even through your panties, he can feel your wetness, wonders if it’s going to leave stains on his underwear, across his thighs. Bradley thinks he’s going to die, but this time it’s nothing like it was up in the F-14.

It’s difficult in your position, awkward, but he gets a finger first on your clit, and then, when he finds you wet and swollen and open, he slides it right inside you. Watches your face as you squeeze your eyes shut, as your mouth falls open on a muffled gasp, as your head tips backward.

You’re the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen.

He fucks his finger in and out slowly, adds a second to stretch you, and then he’s saying, “Baby, honey, you’re so tight, you’re so fucking wet, god I….”

You whimper, and then you’re pulling off him, shimmying out of your panties, leaning down to tug his boxers off.

“Gotta have…” Your throat moves when you swallow as you clamber back into his lap. “Want you inside me, please, Bradley. I’m ready.”

He groans, something in his stomach yanking tight, and he’s pretty sure he’s leaking precum steadily by now.

There’s no time to tease, no need for it either, not when you’re both aching for it, not after what you’ve just gone through. The hot slide of him inside you, feeling you all around him, Bradley thinks that might be the only thing that could make him realize he’s actually back here, that it isn’t all just a dream, that he didn’t actually go down in that plane and has been stuck in some kind of cruel limbo for the past few days.

But there’s the other thing too. The need he can’t explain. The selfish, horrible, depraved thing he can share with nobody but you. That nobody but you would ever understand.

Slowly, tentatively, he places his palm on your stomach, fingers splaying wide, and leaves it there. He’s too scared to look at you, too scared of what you’ll think of him, too scared of what you’ll do once you find out how deep his desire runs, how desperately he wants this. Will you hate him? Will you be disgusted? Will you draw back, pull away, leave him alone with all his depravity and all his fears and all his sorrow? 

“I need… I want…” He can’t even finish the sentence, brain too foggy. Too scared to meet your eyes, Bradley just blinks at the sight in front of him, his big hand on your skin, and his heart seizes, his insides clench, and he can’t breathe, can’t, he’s going to…

Slowly, your fingers wrap around his wrist.

“Yes,” you breathe above him.

It’s a visceral thing. The words burn through him, wrap around him, curl into him. He surges forward to kiss you, desperate, a choked sound escaping him, and licks into your mouth. Around his wrist, your fingers tighten.

He pushes you back into the sheets, crawls over you and spreads your legs, slides between them where he belongs. When his gaze falls to your face, there’s so much trust there, so much love, and it cleaves him in two, just how much he loves you, just how much he needs you. He doesn’t have the words to express it, can only hope you understand what he means when he plunges into you without preamble, when he whispers your name against the shell of your ear, when he curves around you like he wants to shield you from everything bad in the world.

You moan, fingers coming up to grasp his arm where he’s balancing his weight on the elbows. Your mouth tips open, your eyes not straying from his for a second as he goes slow, as he goes deep, as he goes home. There’s an answer in that too.

“You’re so beautiful,” he says, voice choked as he bottoms out, as he holds himself perfectly still. “So tight and beautiful, and you’re all mine, and I’m yours and….”

“Bradley,” you stop him. Wrap your legs around his hips and pull him in. “It’s okay. You can move now.”

So he does.

It’s frantic from the first moment. It’s all the tension that’s been building up for years and years inside of him, all his love and all his longing finally laid open, and he can’t hold back anymore, not when he feels like he’s going to burst out of his own skin at any moment now.

The wet squeeze of your walls around his cock has his eyes rolling into the back of his head.

“Fuck,” he curses, hips pushing forward at an unsteady pace, as he leans down to kiss you again, as you open your mouth for him easily, as he nips at your lower lip.

And it’s so dumb - he’s inside of you, curled around you, his tongue tangled with your own, but Bradley wants you closer, still. Needs to know that you’re there with him, that he’s here with you, that he came home and he is letting himself have this, you’re letting him have it, and he loves you, he loves you, he…

Bradley takes his weight off his elbows, gets his arms around you, plasters himself to you, chest to chest, hip to hip, mouth finding the side of your neck, your collarbones. Like this, with his arms around your shoulders, it feels almost like he’s pulling you down to him with every thrust, like he slides just half an inch deeper into you.

You try to muffle a moan into his hair, but Bradley pulls your face away, keeps his pace as he says, “Wanna hear you. Let me hear you, baby, tell me how much you like it. You love it, don’t you? Love my cock, yeah? Love it when I fuck you?”

Maybe it’s pathetic, but Bradley needs to hear it. Needs to know you’re as desperate for him as he is for you. Needs to know you want it just as much.

On a thrust in, your walls flutter around him, and you whine, back arching a little, head sliding across the pillow as you nod.

“Yes,” you gasp, “I love it, Bradley, I love your cock. Thought about it while you were gone all the time, every night, I….”

Bradley groans, shudders, suddenly so close to the brink he needs to squeeze his eyes shut against the image of you - the glossy eyes, the swollen lips, the absolute ruin he’s reduced you to.

“Can’t say shit like that, baby,” he whispers, leaning to press tender kisses to the column of your throat. “Not when you’re this fucking wet, not when you’re making these sounds… you’re gonna make me cum.”

You giggle, then moan, head lolling to the side to give him better access. 

“Good,” you say, legs hiking higher up on his hips, his cock sliding deeper, “that’s the plan, isn’t it?”

If there were any air left in his lungs, Bradley would laugh with you. As it stands, he just ups the ante, going a little harder, watching as your eyelashes flutter, feeling your fingers spasm against the skin of his back.

It’s so hot in the room, both of you sticking to each other with sweat, and maybe that, too, should be disgusting, but Bradley doesn’t care. When he leans down to lick a long, wet stripe along the edge of your jaw, he tastes salt on his tongue.

“I’m gonna….” When he glances down at you, at the eyes wide with that much trust, as he realizes you would let him do just about anything to you, that you’ve both opened yourself to each other completely now, no barriers and no ghosts standing between you, it’s like a dam breaking. He moans, so loud it echoes through the room, leans to plunge his tongue into your mouth, desperate, and then he’s saying into it, “God, I’m gonna fuck you so full, honey, gonna fuck you until it takes, yeah? Gonna keep you right here and fill you up, again and again, gonna make sure to get a baby in you, fuck, you’d be so fucking pretty, honey, so pretty all full of me, I know it, I can….”

And you sob. Full-on. Back arching off the bed, legs sliding off his hips, spreading so wide it must hurt.

“Bradley,” you say, fingernails breaking skin, forehead pressing against his throat to hide your face. “Bradley, fuck, I… the pill….”

He’s shaking his head, cutting you off with his mouth on yours. Conveying what he can’t speak, what he’s too far gone to formulate, here where logic has become a distant, remote concept, here between your legs. Don’t say it. Let me live in this fantasy. Let me dream a little longer.

It’s the thought of it all - a bump beneath your dresses, a baby in your arms, tiny fingers wrapping around his thumb, it’s about the long, long stretch of life ahead of the two of you. It’s about a house filled with love and free of ghosts. It’s about the first glimpse of the ocean after listening to its roar in seashells all his life. It’s about giving himself over to you completely, after years of only dreaming of it.

Do you know? he wonders. Do you know that you’re holding his whole life in your hands?

“I love you,” he mumbles, repeats it as he sinks into you again and again, as he buries himself in you, as he holds onto you like he’ll be back in the cold, cold, cold of all that snow the moment he lets go, like he’ll go back to the cockpit with the ghosts like jailors around him, like he’ll float right off the face off the earth. You have always been his anchor. “I’m gonna give you a baby, honey, I promise, gonna cum inside of you, you want that, right? You want me to come right here in this pretty pussy, fill you up all nice and wet, and….”

Your mouth moves against his clavicle, the feel of it spreading like wildfire through him, and you’re saying, “Yes, yes, Bradley, give it to me, please, I wanna feel it, want you to come inside me, please, please, I need it, I….”

A yell punches from him as he thrusts inside one last time, buries himself to the hilt in your warmth, and then he’s panting, his ears are ringing, his veins are buzzing as he cums, as he paints you with his release. He can’t do anything except hold onto you, bury his face in your hair, inhaling your scent, jerking his hips forward erratically, little sounds escaping him. It’s never felt like this before - like dying and coming back alive. The release of it is so big he feels shattered under its weight. 

And you’re saying something to him, whispering words sticky with honey into his ear, pouring them right into his heart, and he can barely hear you over the hammering of his own heart, but it doesn’t matter. You hold him as he trembles, as he shakes, as he tries to collect himself, to control his breathing, hold him and stroke lazy, soft circles up and down his back, trace patterns against his spine, leave soft kisses on any inch of skin you can reach, trapped beneath his weight as you are.

Finally, after an eternity, Bradley pulls away an inch or two, careful not to let his cock slip out. There’s a little embarrassment spreading through his stomach now because he can’t believe he came that fast, can’t believe he didn’t even make sure to take you over the edge with him.

But you barely seem to think about your own lack of an orgasm.

“Are you okay?” you ask, voice gentle, face full of concern.

Bradley’s heart clenches. Maybe, he thinks, his ribcage is going to crack open. It seems impossible for one person to hold so much love inside.

“Are…” He clears his throat, suddenly unsure. “Are you?”

You nod immediately, smile, and the relief floods him. Then you shift, gasp, muscles fluttering around his softening cock.

“Well… I…”

He doesn’t let you finish, shakes his head, says, “You did so good for me, baby. Let me take care of you, yeah?”

He’s already looking at the place where you’re still connected, where his cum is beginning to drip from you in silvery trails. The sight of it is enough to make something like madness descend again, something like that earlier haze, the frenzy of the heat.

Bradley pulls out, sighs at the feeling, and your mouth opens as if in protest, but before you can form any words, he’s replaced his cock with two fingers.

You whimper, eyes closing, a muscle in your stomach jumping.

“I got you,” he says, keeps his eyes on the mess of your swollen cunt, the wet spot soaking into the mattress just beneath, the evidence of his pleasure, smooths his free hand over your chest to settle you. “Relax, honey. I got you.”

Your answer is a moan of his name, fingers twisting into the sheets. He can feel your walls bearing down on the motion of his fingers and knows you’re close, desperately, frantically, torturously close to the brink.

So he speeds up the movement of his digits, swipes his thumb through the sopping wetness, and then across your clit as he fucks his cum back into you. Not letting a single drop go to waste.

“Bradley,” you sob, mouth opening, fingers grappling for something.

Knowing what you need, knowing without you asking for it, he catches your hand with his own and interlaces your fingers. Then he leans down, leans over you, leans in. Finds the seam of your mouth with his own. It’s less of a kiss than both of you panting against each other, finding the same rhythm.

“You can let go now,” he whispers into you. “I’m here. I’ve got you, honey. My perfect girl.”

You come with his name on your lips, cunt clenching around his fingers, arching off the bed and into him, and it’s like a prayer. It’s like a song. 

It takes you a while to come down, and he coaxes you through it, brushes kisses against your lips and your jaw and your ear. Hopes he can ground you the same way you ground him.

Finally, softly, voice faint and fragile, you say, “That was… intense.”

Bradley hums in agreement, and then a laugh rips from him. Because it’s all so ridiculous and so monumental, and he doesn’t know where to go with all these emotions.

“I… yeah. It really was.” He pauses, feels shame curling through him. “I’m sorry I sprung that on you.”

You shake your head, lift one hand to run a finger across his mustache the way you like to do sometimes. 

“It’s okay,” you say, and he knows you mean it. “You must have carried that for a long time.”

It chokes him up, the way you know him so well. Better than anybody else.

“Yeah,” he agrees, drops his head into the crook of your neck. “It… I want you to know that I really want this. It’s not… it’s not adrenaline, and it’s not just almost dying, it’s… It’s you. I want this with you. Only with you.”

He can feel the curve of your smile against his temple, can hear it in your voice.

“I want it with you too, Bradley. Only with you.”

Bradley’s so afraid he’s going to start crying again that he springs into action instead. Reaches around you for a pillow to push beneath your hips, angle your lower body upwards.

“What are you doing?” you ask, laughing a little.

“I’m trying to keep my cum in you. Maybe we’re like super extra lucky, and it works out on the first try.”

Now you’re laughing in earnest, and he gets the impression it might be at his expanse.

“Still on the pill, Bradley,” you remind him, eyes luminous with your happiness.

Feeling a little sheepish, a little embarrassed, a little elated, he shrugs helplessly.

“Can’t hurt,” he says. Then adds, “Besides… I don’t want all my hard work to go to waste.”

Then you’re laughing together, breathless, loud laughter, the bending-at-the-waist kind. The belly-hurting kind. The kind that doesn’t come often.

And it’s good. It’s beautiful. It’s the kind of peace he’s never known before but has wanted always, always, always.

It’s so much better than anything he could have ever dreamed. Because it’s real. Because it’s true.

All his life, Bradley thinks, he’s been listening to oceans in seashells. It’s good, fun even, for a while, but it’s no replacement for the real thing. It’s no comparison to standing at the shore of the Pacific Ocean, watching waves crest and crash and throw themselves against the beach again and again, like a devotion that never ends. How big and beautiful and terrible the truth of it is.

And he’d thought the whole world was in that seashell.

Once the laughter has died down, once you’ve fallen back into the kind of comfortable silence that can exist only between people that really, truly love each other, Bradley strokes his thumb against your cheekbone, watches your eyes flutter closed.

“I love you,” he says, “more than I thought I could love someone. Thanks for loving me back.”

It’s bumbling, and it’s inadequate, and it doesn’t convey half of what it should.

But you smile at him, eyes opening, face so tender his heart stutters, and you whisper, “It’s an honor, Lieutenant Bradshaw.”

For the first time, Bradley doesn’t think about dying, doesn’t think about leaving. He thinks about living. He thinks about staying.

#rooster #bradley bradshaw #rooster x reader #rooster imagine #bradley bradshaw x reader #top gun imagine #mine #f: oias

[wearyeyebrow]

Pride and Shame

Summary: Beel tells you of an afternoon yelling match between Belphegor and Lucifer. While Belphie plans his revenge, you notice that Lucifer has skipped dinner.

Tags: Hurt/comfort, Lucifer x MC, SFW

-

Lucifer stands just outside your bedroom door, poised to knock, but even still he hesitates.

He almost turns on his heel just as the door creaks open. There you are, dressed down for the evening, in comfy clothes, looking surprised to see him.

“If you’re busy I can come back another time.” He isn’t about to make a nuisance of himself.

“No, no I was just about to come to you - I didn’t see you at dinner.” You frown, and he’s torn between the feelings of ease and discomfort.

“I had work to finish.”

“That may be so, but you should at least have something to eat. Come in - please.” You open the door wide for him and yet he hesitates.

“Lucifer?”

Before he can think too hard about it he crosses the threshold, immediately warmed by the atmosphere of your room.

He eyes your textbooks sprawled all over the floor. “Were you studying?”

“Something like that,” you sigh. “Solomon has me on a wild goose chase, all for a special ingredient. I know he knows what I’m supposed to be looking for, but all he’ll give me are cryptic hints. I’ll probably be here all night…” You plop down on the plush carpet, sitting cross legged. You pat the ground beside you and motion for him to sit.

“Would you like some help?”

“I mean yes, I would, but I shouldn’t.” You sigh and run a hand through your hair. “I would love a break though - tell me about your day.”

“My day?” Lucifer settles in, resting his back against the frame of your bed. He straightens the crease of his pant leg. “It’s all very boring, really. My next week is booked solid so I’m trying to finish as much groundwork as I can now. Most of the day was spent signing my name.”

‘Mm, how delightful.” You drawl.

“Indeed.”

He’s quiet, as if that’s all he came for. He can feel your expectant stare and it irks him.

“So I… I may have heard about something that happened from Beel.”

Lucifer sighs, “Yes, what of it?”

“What happened?”

“Didn’t Beel tell you?”

“He told me parts of it, yes… I’m unfamiliar with the other layers of hell. Why did Belphie want to go to the sixth?”

“Because he’s an imbecile, that’s why.” Lucifer rolls his eyes, “Because he has no regard for his or Beel’s safety, because he lives to give me trouble. I had to reason their lives out of the Hands of Ill Temper. I just barely managed by the skin of my teeth.”

“What was Belphie after?”

“I don’t know and I don’t particularly care to know. He shouldn’t have gone in the first place. He has no excuse, leaving me to clean up their messes, putting Beel’s life in danger. Again.” Lucifer needs to move, to pace, something - everything in him itches. He settles on adjusting his socks.

“You really chewed them out, huh.”

“Naturally,” he huffs, “How else will they learn?”

“...Belphie said something else, didn’t he?”

Lucifer stiffens. “It doesn’t matter.”

‘Are you sure?”

Lucifer would rather forget it. He would rather skip dinner and continue working, pen scratching on paper, waiting for the memory to subside. But it never does, it just replays over and over again.

“Belphie, that’s not true, Lucifer doesn’t-”

“Why are you so upset anyway? I assumed you’d want us dead, since we cause you so much trouble. I’d be doing you a favor-”

“Oh doesn’t he? Look - he won’t even deny it, and now he’s just walking away - fucking evil bastard.”

With a click Lucifer had closed the door to his study, put on a cursed record, and refilled his inkwell. Hours of ruminating did nothing. Hours of work did nothing. Now he’s here. What is he doing here? Why did he stop by your door on his way to look for table scraps like a dog? What is wrong with him?

“It… doesn’t matter.” He should leave.

“I think it’s eating you.” He says nothing. “I think that talking about it might help.”

“What is there to talk about?” He bites.“They were reckless. This is nothing new. I reminded them of their own stupidity and Belphie retaliated. Again, nothing new.”

“But… something still bothers you.”

Lucifer clears his throat. “Belphie put both himself and Beel in danger chasing some whim. They could have been imprisoned, they could have been killed for their transgressions - that’s what bothered me, and now it’s finished.”

“I assumed you’d want us dead, since we cause you so much trouble.”

“Is that all that bothers you?” When did you get so close to him? He can feel your softness resting against his side.

“What else would?” Your gentle hand tugs at his glove, taking one off and then the other. This perplexes him but he can’t find it in him to stop you.

“What he said, you know, about you wanting him dead?”

“Nonsense. He was angry.”

“Beel was worried.” Beel was? Lucifer turns to look at you. “That’s why he told me about what Belphie said.”

He sighs. “If… If Belphegor is angry with me, let him be angry. It doesn’t change how I think about the situation.”

“Lucifer.” Suddenly your too steady gaze is fixated on him. “You can deny it all you want, but I… it’s clearly still eating you.” Lucifer’s brow furrows - how dare you assume? As if you’ve read his mind, you clarify. “I know I’m being presumptuous, I know, but please - it hurts you, doesn’t it?”

“Let it.” What is he saying? “Let it hurt. Whatever it takes. He can’t go down there again.”

“But doesn’t it matter that it hurts you?”

“Why should it?” He’s of two minds, one that desperately wants to talk to you, the other screaming at him, a cacophony of voices, pushing it down, down.

“It’s just me, Lucifer.” He feels the comforting warmth of your human hands in his, of your body just barely touching his side. Your room smells like you. The door is locked. It’s after midnight, and the house is quiet.

“I think…” Lucifer swallows, “I think I…

If he could crawl inside you he would. If he could speak directly to your mind he would, spilling his innermost thoughts and feelings without having to say them out loud. He gags on the words, as if once he starts they won’t stop.

This is what it means to be your friend, to be your partner, his mind desperately reasons. How can he fit vulnerability into an acceptable narrative?

He still can’t look at you. "I think I... I was afraid. If they aren't - if I can't be there, if I can't keep them in line, what's stopping the world from-" his eyes water and he blinks rapidly, head tilted back staring at the ceiling. "If he needs to assume that I hate him, if that's what it will take, then so be it."

"Lucifer, sweetheart-"

He sucks in a rattled breath. You can’t speak to him like that, not when he’s at his lowest. He doesn’t need your saccharine tone because he’s better than this, better than comfort or mistakes. Yet here you are, on the floor at midnight, speaking with such kindness and understanding. It’s because you’re an exception to his inner monologue of rules that his brain finally quiets like an oil lamp snuffed out.

"Is that what you want?"

"Of course not, but-"

"I know you’re willing to play the villain if it’ll keep them safe. I mean, you've done it before, for entirely too long. But remember what happened when you were honest? Things got better. Belphie came around and I finally understood you."

He scoffs. "It was a catastrophic failure - any good that came of it was all your doing-"

“Don’t I?”

"We've all come a long way together. It doesn't have to be this way. I truly believe it doesn't, things have already changed.” You plead with him. “Habits are hard to break. I know that Belphie was hurting when he said that, but you don't deserve to hurt like this either, Lucifer." He can't look you in the eye. "Hey," you continue gently, softly, "you don't, truly."

“No. They don’t and you don’t.”

He looks up at the ceiling again.

"I'm here because you don’t have to handle it alone." You murmur. “Because I care about you.”

“You shouldn’t.”

“Too late.” You lean over him and place a gentle kiss on his cheek.

He swallows, blinking rapidly, and gathers you in his arms to place a fierce kiss to your temple. He wraps himself around you, all at once too separate from everything you are. The noise quiets when you move to hold him instead. Your arms wrap around him, and after everything he’s done to you, he doesn’t deserve you in his life like this, in love with what little good remains in him. But, he supposes, his pride as a demon will make space for you, and for that he is grateful.

"Thank you," he croaks, "for choosing to speak with me."

"That’s what I’m here for, dummy.”

“You’re meant for so much more than that.”

“I just think…” you kiss the crown of his head, “that I’m meant for whatever I want, and I want to figure this out with you.”

Lucifer closes his eyes in the quiet darkness of your arms. You are a gentle reprieve to whatever remains of his soul.

#lucifer obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me mc #obey me lucifer x reader #wearyeyebrow #my writing

[klbwriting]

Who Am I Really?

Chapter 3

Fandom: Aquaman

Pairing: Ormxfemale!Reader

Warnings: none

Summary: Orm and YN settle into a day at the shelter while trying to figure out who he is

The first day with YN at her shelter was fascinating for Orm. After breakfast she took him to see the cats where they started fixing up their area. There were around 6 cats and 3 kittens right now and they all needed litter changed, water, and food refills. She was patient as Orm couldn’t remember ever seeing a cat before. She taught him how to measure the right amount of food per cat, how to figure out if any were on a special diet, and how to clean litter, which was the worst thing he’d ever experienced. She laughed at his face when the smell hit his nose.

“Sorry, sometimes Goose has tummy trouble,” YN said as she cuddled the black and white kitten while he worked. “I’ll get the next one and then we can move on to the dogs. I have a couple volunteers coming in to walk some today, maybe we can ask them if any of them know you from town.” Orm nodded but had a feeling no one knew who he was. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he wasn’t a metahuman, that he was human at all.

The dogs were not much better smelling than the cats. They cleaned kennels, fed, and watered them and took a few into the play yard to run around. As volunteers arrived YN led them to meet Orm, explaining about him having an accident on a hike, the cover story they had come up with, and asking if they knew who he was or had seen him before. Just as he suspected no one had, but YN was undeterred.

“That’s fine,” she said as they were bathing a large German Shepard after most of the day was over. “We will go into town tonight, walk around, see if anyone put up missing posters or possibly just knows you on sight. How about we go to the mall? Its big and there’s a lot of people, do you think you could handle that? I don’t want to overwhelm you.” Orm thought about it as he caressed the animals head, keeping the boy calm as he was rinsed. The mall didn’t seem like a place he wanted to go, but it might help find someone who knows him. He should probably get it over with.

“Should be fine,” he said. YN noticed he was less than enthused and flicked some water at him. He jumped at the surprise and his mouth fell open before he started laughing. There was a sink near him for smaller animals, so he turned on the tap, got his hand wet and flicked water at her too. When he put his hand back under for more, he noticed the instant boost he got at the feeling off the water. It was invigorating, making him feel stronger than he had ever felt. It was heavenly. YN watched him closely.

“You must love the water,” she said. He looked over, not noticing that he had been entranced by it for longer than normal. He nodded. “Good, you won’t mind this then.” She turned the hose on him and sprayed his face. He sputtered from the sudden wet and then laughed and it felt good. He knew he didn’t have memories, but he felt like he hadn’t laughed like that in a long, long time. Maybe he never laughed, maybe he was miserable or angry, but right now, he wasn’t that. It felt good to laugh.

After finishing with the animals and closing up for the evening YN drove Orm to the mall. He hated it instantly. So many people, so much noise, so much excess. He didn’t know why he was bothered by how much stuff was around but he was. YN seemed to notice his annoyance and led him towards a cart that was selling food.

“I am starving,” she said. “What about you? You think you’re more salty or sweet?” Orm furrowed his brow, looking at the baked treats. Pretzels, his mind remembered that word without prompting. He was trying to figure out what he could remember, how to do basic things, how to read the language here, how to talk, and what he couldn’t remember, his name, past, family. He was trying desperately to pull anything out of his brain to help but nothing was coming. He sighed. “Don’t like pretzels?”

“No, I was lost in my mind,” he said. She looked at him with sympathy, but not pity, it was nice, he hated pity. Well, there was something he remembered. She reached out and took his hand. He felt a small spark in her touch and looked at her. She smiled back at him, and he almost moved closer but the guy at the counter asked for their order.

“2 regular pretzel sticks and 2 cinnamon sugar sticks,” YN said. She pulled her hand away to pay and Orm noticed the gap it left in his hand. Her hand should fill his, that’s all there was to it. She was here with him because she was made for him. And he was for her. Where was all this coming from? Why did he feel this way? She finished paying and he took the offered snacks. They walked towards the stores, and he watched her bite one before taking a bite of his small one. Butter, salt, bread, all tasted amazing on his tongue.

“These are good,” he said, taking a bite out of the sugar one. She nodded. “These are pretzels…”

“Yup, and maybe when we finish walking around we can get you more and try cheese sauce, will change your life,” she said. Orm chuckled. “While we’re here let’s stop and get you some more clothes, you look a little rumpled in those.” Orm looked at what he had been wearing for at least 2 days now. Ya, he could use a change. She led him into what she called a relatively cheap department store. She was asking people as they walked by if they might know him and checking any pieces of paper or notices on walls as they went. She cared so deeply that he be found, that if he had a family that they know he was ok. He was almost hoping he didn’t have anyone; he didn’t want to leave her side. He knew that his emotions couldn’t be trusted right now, anything could easily influence him, but he still had these feelings for her, and he didn’t want to leave her.

“So, clothes, anything?” he asked, motioning to the hundreds of items available. She looked at him, surveying his figure and honestly, enjoying her view, before walking with him and selecting some things. Once she had a few days’ worth of outfits she left him to try things on and find out right sizing. He wasn’t sure what else she did but when he came back out, she had some packets of other basics for him. “Are you sure you want to spend all this money on me?”

“Yes, because if I don’t, you’re going to start smelling like my dogs and I deal with that enough,” she said, a teasing smile on her face. Orm shot her a fake glare and she laughed. It was such a beautiful sound. They bought the clothes and decided to get out of there, heading home. YN couldn’t deny she was falling head over heels for this mysterious visitor. She would still do her best to find his family, help him get home, but deep inside, where her selfish impulses lay, she hoped she could keep him.

#orm marius #king orm #ormmarius #orm marius x reader #king orm x reader #kingorm #ormmariusxreader #kingormxreader #ormseries4

[callsigncrash]

Various Characters with an S/O Who Likes to Draw on Them

Thank you @leleouwu again for your request! You really keep my page going and I really appreciate it! I split your request into 2 parts, I really hope that’s alright. Enjoy!

________________________________________________

Tokyo Ghoul

________________________________________________

Yamori

He’s a bit annoyed at first since he likes to keep a clean look going but if you really feel that you “have” to draw on him, then he’ll let you.

He prefers if you doodle on his forearms or upper arms. Hands are a no go for work reasons.

One of the times that he was getting ready to “take care of someone” in his torture room he had a bit of an awkward situation because of it. Essentially, the person in question went from looking mortified to confused as he saw the little doodle on his upper arm from underneath his button up. Obviously this is quickly forgotten when some fingers were taken off but it got him thinking.

He’s used to your doodles that he doesn’t even notice them all too much. That is until one day when he notices a specific one.

He feels oddly proud and happy when he sees it. So, he decides to get it professionally tattooed to surprise you.

He’ll start walking around with his sleeves rolled up and let you draw more. Might even let you draw on his knuckles.

Naki

He’s kind of confused at first but once he sees that you’re just doodling cute designs on him, he wholeheartedly encourages it!

He’ll start carrying pens around when you’re together so that you can draw on him. As this goes on he’ll go ahead and get you those tattoo pens so that your designs will last longer.

He knows that the tattoo pens are better to have on your skin but he loves gel pens. He’s got a drawer full of glitter and rainbow gel pens. There’s an endless supply.

After a while he’d ask to start doing the same to you. His drawings are a little crude but the little smiling figures, flowers, hearts, and swirls are just too cute.

Like Yamori, he’d probably ask you to design him a tattoo. I can see Naki getting a sleeve done with your art no matter what it is. It’s your art and he loves it just as much as he loves you.

He’d also ask if y’all could doodle something meaningful on each other and then get matching tattoos that way.

________________________________________________

Ice Cream Man/Art Brut

I will be posting this to my side blog @lactoseandsuffering .

________________________________________________

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

I love Ben and after rewatching the series for the millionth time, have decided to write for him.

________________________________________________

Ben (The Solider)

He’s a silly guy, he likes silly things, he wants to see your silly drawings. Better yet, draw on him. That way, he can see them all the time!

He really likes ones with little animals like dogs. If you doodle a simple lizard on his hand or leg, he rocks his jorts and your drawings, he will absolutely love it.

He puts smiley faces on your arm sometimes, he’ll be happy if you do the same.

You might even catch him doodling on himself after a while. Heck, you might’ve kick started a whole hobby!

He loves when y’all can draw on each other or even paint on each other.

________________________________________________

The Boys

________________________________________________

Homelander

He scoffs. Just straight up. Does he love you? Yes. Does he want ink all over his “perfect body”? No.

He thinks it’s pointless but he’ll begrudgingly let you when he’s out of his suit. Even then, it’s not very often.

He wants things like eagles, stars, etc. He’d feel a lot of pride if you went ahead and put his name on yourself though.

He’ll start carrying around a small notepad and pen for you when you ask to draw on him. It feels a little hurtful at first but when you open it you see some very reassuring words.

“Draw on this in the meantime, silly goose.”

Black Noir

He doesn’t exactly take off his uniform, plus he also doodles frequently! Y’all will probably go back and forth drawing on random slips of paper, note pads, etc.

After you notice him drawing some specific characters, you start drawing ones of your own along with his!

This makes him absolutely elated!

He got an invisible marker for you to draw stuff on his uniform with. He’s got a beaver on his gauntlet now, nobody has to know about that of course.

His friends told him to draw you a picture after he found out that he was going to be gone for a lot longer than he thought he would.

You woke up to a handmade card of the both of you that said “I’ll miss you!” In cursive. He even made sure to draw a little heart with the both of y’all’s initials on your hand.

#the boys #homelander #homelander x reader #the boys homelander #homelander x you #black noir x reader #black noir fluff #black noir #the boys black noir #it’s always sunny in philly #its always sunny in philadelphia #ben the soldier #iasip headcanon #ben smith #tokyo ghoul naki #Naki #naki x reader #tokyo ghoul #tokyo ghoul fluff #tokyo ghoul anime #tokyo ghoul x reader #tokyo ghoul:re #yamori tokyo ghoul #yakumo oomori x reader #yakumo oomori #jason tokyo ghoul #yamori x reader #yamori

[pollyna]

Tw: contain slurs, it's a single word but it's there.

It's a rule not to talk to them. Nobody really knows who imposed that or why, but it's something everybody follows, religiously.

(The fact is they know pretty well why not to talk to any of them. Ask the sailor who ended up with two broken ribs or the pilot with the black eye and dislocated shoulder.)

The bigger group they see together is of four or five when the Admirality is feeling generous and the woman comes around. But it's not just the four of them, because an equally numbered group is in another carrier or country doing what that group is doing.

What precisely they are doing, all of them, is the real mystery.

(Every squadron that has them, as a couple or all four, spends weeks praying to not be in the same situation ever again. The situation is: jumping at three a.m. in your jet in your pyjamas, six am and running around the carrier, nine am and debriefing, and then hop on the jet again and again and again. There were no limits on how high or low they had to fly, and unmarked jets passing less than an inch from each other's wings. Everybody on the normal communication channel, if not them.)

The sailors don't know if they have names, and before the beginning of the mission, they all have to leave their dog tags with the captain. Nameless people, on nameless jets and in nameless, patchless, jumpsuits flying only God knows where.

(They know their callsigns, or at least a part of them. The four are Iceman, Maverick, Slider and Mother Goose. The other two couples are Wolfman, Hollywood, Sundown and Chipper.)

The woman's name is Carole and she kisses the two taller men when she comes around. A kiss on their lips and one on their cheeks.

(The real reason nobody's able to talk to them is because a sailor, some Matthews from Philly, once tried to insinuate that Carole was easy. You already share her, so one more won't hurt, wouldn't he? The same day, another one tried to call Ice faggot in front of an entire room of people and captains. What happened next is just speculations but, realistically speaking, a broken arm and a couple of bruises were probably what they got home with. Other than the longest disciplinary note in the history of notes.)

(Some tales say that the Iceman didn't have to open his mouth to kill the man; one look was enough. Others want that Matthews from Philly got slap in the face so hard he saw white for ten minutes.)

When they're on board, the entire crew reorganises itself. Iceman and Maverick have their own cabin, Slider and Goose have another one, and they get the bigger one if Carole is going to come around. The entire floor is to be clear and free two hours before they arrive, and the newbie refers to that deck as the Olympus.)

If all the stories are true, they must have felt like Gods. And sometimes Gods have privilges normal people can't dream about. Like kissing each other before going on the jet, having sex in the showers without being reported, or preparing breakfast for your pilot without sharing a little bit with anybody. Having visible tattoos, particularly colourful ones, under the jumpsuits.)

The only time they saw them all together was on land, in a bar in Miramar, where three carriers were sharing port for a week. All of them were sitting around a table, eating fries and burgers like normal people, so normal that, if you didn't know who they were, you couldn't even say what they did. What really leaves the entire bar without words is when Mother Goose sits in front of the piano and starts playing Great Balls of Fire!

It almost feels like any other night in San Diego. But almost is the key word.

#au what-if the '86 was chosen to be an elite squadron of black ops and not sent to top gun #tom iceman kazansky #pete maverick mitchell #ron slider kerner #nick goose bradshaw #leonard wolfman wolfe #rick hollywood neven #marcus sundown williams #charles chipper piper #carole bradshaw #icemav #slooserole #hollywolf #sunnychip #in order the think they do and not get punished for: kissing on the tarmac (icemav) fucking in the showers (hollywolf) preparing breakfast- #-for your pilot and fuck regs for another while (sunnychip) #having tattoes (all of them) #me back on my black ops bullshit? more than you can believe #ppl thing nick's callsign is mother goose bc everybody calls him that lol #it's funny #otp: things get old our love is gold #ot3: i even wrote you a love letter #that's how one doesn't fall asleep on her own phone: programmed posts. even if you still fall asleep on the #*it

[wren-of-the-woods]

This Accident and Flood of Fortune

Lizzy and William are looking forward to a quiet date watching their sisters perform in Twelfth Night — but when they discover that George Wickham is waiting in the wings, they must use Lizzy’s wits and their combined nerdery to help William get his revenge. Or: In which Lizzy comes up with a scheme, and even Shakespeare would be proud of the chaos that ensues.

This was written by @bloodsoaked-rainbows and I for @friendoftrees! It's the third installment in our Pride & Prejudice series Once Upon a Text, though it should be readable on its own. It's about 3k of silliness and can also be read on AO3 here!

~

Lizzy is finally going to see William again.

It has been over a week since their first date, and while they have managed to keep up their habit of texting regularly, the chaos of the holidays (and the inevitable Collins-avoiding that entailed) have kept them from being able to meet in person since that fateful day. Fortunately, their sisters have given them a way to escape their respective houses. 

The two of them are meeting at a public rendition of a Shakespeare play in which both Mary and William’s sister Georgiana will be performing. It should be highly enjoyable, or at least entertaining; it’s hard to do a performance of Twelfth Night without making somebody laugh. After the play, they plan to spend some time on their own, but at this point Lizzy thinks that she’d be satisfied to see William in any circumstances. Being stuck with her family throughout the holidays has started to make her feel mildly insane.

Her phone buzzes with yet another notification from its messages app. The Bennet Family Group Chat has been very active this morning, to no one’s surprise.

Lizzy checks the notification and rolls her eyes. 

Bennet Family Group Chat

Trouble 1: sooo lizzy are you excited for your ✨date✨

Typical Lydia behavior. The name Lizzy added as her contact has never proved to be inaccurate. Lizzy barely has time to sigh before her phone buzzes with another notification as Kitty and their mother chime in, and it hardly takes a minute for the chaos to spread to the rest of their family.

Bennet Family Group Chat

Trouble 2: OOH YEAH👀

Mama Goose: i hope you don’t scare him away to soon!

MaryBerry: *too

Mama Goose: he’s quite rich, you know

Father Goose: We know.

As usual, Jane comes to Lizzy’s rescue as the only sane one in the mess that was their group chat.

muffin: Just be nice to poor Lizzy, for heaven’s sake! She’s probably nervous enough

Lizzy: Thanks, Jane You’re my favorite Hope you and Charles have a good time at the play, too

Trouble 1: HEY favorite???? rUde

Trouble 2: :((

Lizzy: <3

Lizzy closes her phone and resolutely ignores the notifications that continue to flash across its screen. She has more important people to talk to than her family, after all. 

~

Lizzy gets to the theater with minimal trouble and, after she greets William with an enthusiastic hug, they go to find their seats. Jane and Charles are here as well, but they have settled in an opposite corner of the theater and are completely wrapped up in each other, so Lizzy thinks she will have William to herself today. 

“I trust you have been well since our last meeting?” asks William, completely genuine like the outdated dork he is. Lizzy cannot help but smile.

Lizzy sits down as they talk. William settles beside her. “I’ve been fine. A bit frazzled, but you already knew that from our texts.”

“I understand the feeling. I currently live with Caroline Bingley.”

Lizzy grimaces. “That must be unpleasant.”

William nods gravely. “There is little escape.”

“Oh! Fitzwilliam, dear!” calls a terribly, horribly familiar voice. “Fancy seeing you here! What a surprise.”

William sighs. “Speak of the devil.”

A dog barks as though in agreement. Lizzy turns to see Caroline Bingley, dressed to her usual ostentatious standards. In a flowery handbag, she carries the smallest, most absurd little poodle that Lizzy has seen in her entire life. Its curly white fur is shaved on most of its body coiffed neatly on top of its head and on the tip of its tail. In both places, it is finished off by a lacy pink ribbon tied in a bow. Lizzy is simultaneously awed by its absurdity and utterly unsurprised by Caroline’s idiocy. 

“Hello, Caroline,” says William tiredly. 

“I cannot wait to see our dear Georgiana perform,” says Caroline, flouncing closer.

“Nor can I,” William says unenthusiastically. 

There is an empty seat beside William. Caroline’s intentions are clear. Lizzy looks around in panic.

“How about we go sit over there, William?” she asks with false cheer, pointing at two empty seats surrounded by other strangers. “There’ll be a better view of Georgiana’s entrance, don’t you think?”

“What a fabulous idea,” William says, standing up. 

They hurriedly make their escape, leaving a somewhat confused Caroline and poodle behind. 

~

The play begins only a few moments later, and Lizzy sits back, enjoying the familiar opening lines of Twelfth Night as they are spoken across the stage. 

“If music be the food of love, play on,” William whispers into her ear, quoting along with the actor playing Duke Orsino. “Give me excess of it; that surfeiting, / The appetite may sicken, and so die.”

Lizzy giggles quietly. “Do you know the whole play?”

“Only most of it,” says William with a smile.

They quiet down and watch as the play begins to unfold. When Georgiana makes her entrance as a storm-disheveled Viola, William catches her eye and gives her a thumbs up. Lizzy thinks she sees Georgiana smile before she returns her attention to her role. 

Everything is going wonderfully, in short— right up until the middle of the next scene. 

When a handsome young man emerges onto the stage as Sir Andrew, Lizzy feels William go worryingly tense beside her. 

“Sir Toby Belch! How now, Sir Toby Belch?” cries the man. Lizzy thinks he is doing a rather good job of capturing the silliness of the role, but when she glances at William, he looks horrified.

“What’s wrong?” she whispers to him as Sir Andrew banters with the other characters. 

“I know that man,” William says quietly. Lizzy is rather concerned to note that his words sound more like a growl than a whisper. 

“Who? Sir Andrew?”

“His name is George Wickham.”

Lizzy’s eyes widen. She knows about William’s childhood friend and the way he had betrayed William by attempting to gain more than his fair share of William’s father’s inheritance and generally being an asshole. 

“That’s him? I thought you hadn’t seen him for years!”

“I haven’t,” says William grimly. “I have no idea why he’s here.”

“Why would he be playing Sir Andrew, of all people?” asks Lizzy as Sir Andrew — Wickham, apparently — pretends not to understand French.

William’s eyes go wide. “Fuck.”

Lizzy doesn’t think she’s ever heard her boyfriend curse in the entire time she’s known him. “What?”

“Georgiana’s been talking about a charming friend she made in theater. A friend named George.”

“Do you think he’s trying to befriend your sister to get revenge on you?”

“It’s certainly possible.”

Lizzy considers this. Onstage, Wickham and the other actors make their exit. 

“Shit,” she agrees. 

As they sit there, reeling, Georgiana enters the stage again. Her character, Viola, has now disguised herself as a man. Lizzy blinks. In this costume, Georgiana looks startlingly like her brother. 

Lizzy thinks about their new conundrum. She thinks about the play. She thinks about how the plot proceeds from here. She turns to William. 

“I have a brilliant idea.”

~

“This is a stupid plan,” William grumbles as Lizzy pushes him in the direction of Mary, who had managed to escape her place backstage and bring out a costume. 

“It’ll be great,” says Lizzy. “Trust me. I’ve been texting Mary and we figured the whole thing out.”

“And Mary is fine with this?” William asks doubtfully.

“Completely,” says Lizzy, conveniently failing to mention the part where she had offered a thirty-dollar Barnes & Noble gift card as a bribe.

“And the rest of the cast?”

“Absolutely on board,” says Lizzy confidently. She had promised them some of Jane’s cookies. “Just get changed and wait for the right moment.” 

“You’re going to owe me if this goes wrong,” William mutters darkly.

“And me,” Mary says, handing William the costume.

“Nothing is going to go wrong,” Lizzy says, grinning confidently.

She shoves William in the direction of the bathroom and hurries back to her seat before anyone can get suspicious about her absence. 

~

The play continues. Mary makes her entrance as Lady Olivia, looking commendably unruffled by the sudden change in plans backstage. They perform well, and for a few moments, Lizzy happily loses herself in the play and forgets about her nerves and her glee about her plan. 

Then things are set into motion. 

At the beginning of act two, it is revealed that Georgiana’s character, Viola, has a twin brother named Sebastian who survived the shipwreck in which everyone assumed he had met his demise. The actor who walks onstage at the beginning of the scene, conversing emphatically with his friend Antonio, is not the person who was originally cast. In fact, the actor who was going to play Sebastian has made his way into the audience, sitting next to Caroline Bingley. He is petting the poodle.

Onstage, the character is instead portrayed by a very wet William Darcy. 

“By your patience, no,” says William gravely. His voice is deep and carries well throughout the theater. “My stars shine darkly over me. The malignancy of my fate might perhaps distemper yours; therefore I shall crave of you your leave, that I may bear my evils alone. It were a bad recompense for your love, to lay any of them on you.”

William’s character has boots that are almost knee-high and a flowing white shirt with long sleeves. He has just survived a shipwreck, and as such, he is wet and disheveled. He is, in short, gorgeous. 

Lizzy hears a distant shriek that she assumes is Caroline Bingley. She feels rather similar. She realizes that she may have made a slight miscalculation. There is only one flaw in her genius plan. At the end of the play, Sebastian will marry Lady Olivia, which means that William will have to pretend to marry Mary. If he is going to look like this the whole time, Lizzy does not think she would be able to stand that. 

She watches him onstage. She thinks. She is interrupted when her phone buzzes.

Bennet Family Group Chat

muffin: LIZZY WHY IS WILLIAM ONSTAGE

Trouble 2: he’s WHAT

Mother Goose: i thought it was his sister who’s int he play

MaryBerry: *in the

Trouble 1: Lizzy WHAT IS GOING ON PLEASE TELL ME

Lizzy: It’s fine guys don’t worry

muffin: THAT DOESN’T CLARIFY ANYTHING

Lizzy: We have a plan It’s fine

muffin: What kind of plan could possibly require him to be IN THE PLAY

Lizzy: Remember when i told you about his childhood friend’s betrayal The friend is in the play He’s Sir Andrew

muffin: His childhood nemesis is Sir Andrew??

Lizzy: NO The actor

muffin: oh

Trouble 1: oOoOo

Father Goose: ???

Lizzy: Anyway y’know how in twelfth night there’re multiple duels In one of them the character Sebastian fights Wickham’s character

Trouble 1: OOOOO

Lizzy: So William is playing Sebastian now And he’ll have an excuse to beat Wickham’s ass :D

muffin: LIZZY LIZZY THIS IS PROBABLY UNETHICAL

Father Goose: Excellent scheming. I approve

Lizzy: Thanks dad <3

Lizzy sighs and puts her phone away. She looks back at William. He is still as unfairly handsome as he was before. He knows all the lines and is delivering them flawlessly because he is, deep down in his heart, beneath all the brooding and handsomeness, a complete and utter nerd. After a moment, he exits the stage with Antonio and the next scene begins. 

Lizzy heaves a sigh of relief at the success of the first part of their plan. Now all William has to do is hide backstage between his scenes and keep Wickham from noticing until their plan comes to fruition. 

Ignoring the notifications still coming from her family’s group chat, she opens her Discord conversation with William. 

TheWittyFool: good job out there babe!!!! TheWittyFool: you did great <3

Goodnight_Sweet_Prince: I’m hiding behind a barrel right now. Goodnight_Sweet_Prince: I think Mary is laughing at me. Goodnight_Sweet_Prince: I am so wet

TheWittyFool: rip

Goodnight_Sweet_Prince: I’m remembering why I never got into theatre. Goodnight_Sweet_Prince: Oh no Georgiana is back Goodnight_Sweet_Prince: She saw me

TheWittyFool: 🫡TheWittyFool: good luck lol TheWittyFool: maybe explain that her friend is actually an asshole?

Goodnight_Sweet_Prince: Now? Really?

TheWittyFool: i mean it’s better than later

Goodnight_Sweet_Prince: I guess Goodnight_Sweet_Prince: Wish me luck

TheWittyFool: gl :D

Goodnight_Sweet_Prince: D:

Lizzy’s Discord goes silent. It shows William as offline, presumably explaining things to his sister, so she puts her phone away again. She leans back in her seat. She watches the comedy unfolding on the stage. She thinks about the fact that, despite their vastly different personalities, she and Mary actually look fairly similar to each other. 

 After a moment, she opens her phone. 

Bennet Family Group Chat

Lizzy: I have another brilliant idea

MaryBerry: Oh no.

Lizzy: :)

~

“I can’t believe you convinced me to do this,” Mary sighs as she helps lace the back of Lizzy’s costume.

“I mean, you’ll get seventy dollars at Barnes & Noble out of it,” says Lizzy. “Seems like a pretty good deal to me. Besides, you can do the rest of the play in the next few performances.”

“This whole situation is absurd,” Mary continues, ignoring Lizzy. 

Lizzy ignores her in turn, flipping through the copy of Twelfth Night the actor playing Sir Toby had lent her and muttering lines to herself. When the costume is on properly, Mary sighs and leaves her be. She is typing something on her phone. Lizzy assumes the group chat is dissolving into further chaos. She does not care. 

Satisfied that she knows the part well enough, she puts the play aside and turns to peek at the performance from her place backstage. William is on the stage. It is the first scene of act four. Soon, the moment of truth will arrive. 

Indeed, after only a few minutes, Wickham makes his entrance onto the stage. Lizzy relishes the look of complete and utter shock on his face when he recognizes William. He stumbles. He opens and closes his mouth. His face goes pale. For a moment, Lizzy thinks he is going to completely abandon his part, but he recovers after a long minute of silence. 

“N- now, sir, have I met you again?” Wickham stutters after a moment. “There’s for you!”

Wickham attempts to glare at William threateningly. William is glowering at him, looking for all the world as though he actually intends to duel him to the death. 

Wickham takes a deep breath — Lizzy assumes he is trying desperately to remember his blocking — before he walks forward and slaps William in the face. 

William raises one eyebrow. He draws his fake dagger. He scowls, and then, like a striking panther, he lunges forward. 

“Why, there’s for thee,” he cries, striking Wickham in the stomach with the hilt of his dagger. “And there” —a hit to his side— “and there!”

As he delivers the final words, William gives him a blow to the shoulder that sends Wickham sprawling on the floor. 

“Are all the people mad?” growls William, and Lizzy swears she hears Wickham whimper. 

Another character, Sir Toby, intervenes in the fight. The actor appears genuinely concerned. “Hold, sir, or I’ll throw your dagger o’er the house!” 

One character delivers a line and exits the stage. Lizzy winks at him, and he stifles a laugh. 

Onstage, the actor playing Sir Toby takes William’s arm and holds him back. William is glaring daggers at Wickham, who is just now returning to his feet.

“Come on, sir, hold!” says the actor.

“Nay, let him alone,” Wickham pants, clutching his side. “I’ll go another way to work with him; I’ll have an action of battery against him, if there be any law in Illyria. Though I struck him first, yet it’s no matter for that.”

“Let go thy hand!” William snarls at the remaining actor, Sir Toby.

The character begins to protest, but before he can finish his line, William breaks free and draws his fake sword. Sir Toby says a few lines and draws his own sword, but Lizzy is no longer paying attention. Her turn has almost come.  

Taking a deep breath, she enters the stage as Olivia. 

“Hold, Toby,” she cries. “On thy life I charge thee hold!”

Everyone turns. The actors all stare at her, blinking. There are varying levels of shock on their faces. William’s eyes are very wide. 

“Madam—” says Sir Toby’s poor actor weakly.

“Will it ever be thus? Ungracious wretch,” she says, glaring directly at Wickham.

She launches into a series of insults until all the actors except William slink from the stage, then proceeds to deliver a series of loving lines to William. 

William looks just as confused as his character is supposed to be. 

“What relish is in this? How runs the stream?” he says weakly to the audience. “Or am I mad, or else is this a dream?”

They exchange a few more lines, as Lizzy’s character professes her adoration for William’s character.

“Nay, come, I prithee,” she says. “Would thou’dst be rul’d by me!”

“Madam, I will.”

“O say so, and so be!”

Lizzy walks up to William and, gently cupping his cheek, draws him into a kiss. It takes a moment for him to catch on, but soon he is kissing her back. The crowd applauds as they embrace and then walk offstage, hand in hand. Lizzy even hears a bark that sounds like a strangely approving poodle. 

The moment they leave the stage, William turns to glare at her halfheartedly. “Why didn’t you warn me?!” 

“There wasn’t time,” says Lizzy. “Also, this was funnier.”

William sighs, the effect slightly ruined by the smile he cannot quite hide. “You’re a menace.”

“Yep.”

William shakes his head. “Do you realize that was our first kiss?”

Lizzy blinks. “Huh.” She frowns. “I guess it was.” She turns to look at him. “Is that okay?”

William considers this for a moment. “It seems rather fitting, I suppose.”

“What do you mean?”

“Our relationship started with mistaken identities and general confusion. It was only right for us to continue the trend.”

Lizzy laughs, loud and bright. Mary runs up and hushes her.

“Give me your costume and get out of here!” she says. Beside her is the actor who was supposed to play Sebastian. “You’ve had your fun and given that barbarian something to remember you by. Now let us do the play properly.”

Lizzy and William change and surrender their costumes without complaint. They leave and return to their seats as everyone resumes their proper parts and brings the play to a close. Lizzy is satisfied to note that, when he comes back onstage, Wickham is sporting the beginnings of a rather spectacular black eye.

They applaud louder than anyone else as the actors take their bows. They leave the theater before Wickham can emerge from backstage. They are not disturbed by Caroline — she seems to have fled at some point after the onstage kiss. Lizzy and William hold hands as they walk down the street, enjoying the quiet and the sunshine after the chaos that had been the last few hours. 

“That was the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever done,” says William. “It was a terrible idea. I’m going to have to properly deal with Wickham eventually.”

“It was fun though, wasn’t it?” 

William is silent. Lizzy takes this as the agreement it is.

“You’re welcome,” she says with a grin. 

William sighs, rolls his eyes, and kisses her again. 

Together, they walk into the sunset.

~

(Two hours later…)

Bennet Family Group Chat

muffin: drama.mov I filmed the whole scene btw

Lizzy: wHAT

muffin: :)

*Many people are typing*

#pride and prejudice #pride & prejudice #p&p #elizabeth bennet #fitzwilliam darcy #jane austen #wren writes #bloodsoaked-rambles #i had so much fun with this ngl #bloodsoaked-rainbows and i laughed very much #and got to reread parts of twelfth night which is always a bonus

[kaunis-sielu]

Frozen: Home Sweet Home

You’re so grateful for Steve’s friends. He, Sam and Bucky have made moving in with Yelena very, very easy.

They can carry like three boxes to your one and Sam puts your bed frame together so fast that you would’ve sworn that he brought it up in one piece.

You pay them back with beer and pizza, which according to Cat is the absolute perfect way to thank the guys for their work.

You have some of the boxes empty, you’d ended up selling your couch but not your table and chairs. Yelena’s was a bit small, for the space it’s in, and it only had one chair. When Sam had asked about it she’d shrugged,

“I’m only one person. What do I need another chair for?”

Which honestly was so iconic you couldn’t stand it.

After the guys left you’d decided to take down some of the empty boxes. You probably shouldn’t have taken quite as many of the boxes as you did, they’re still big even if they’re flat. You hit the button for the elevator with your knee, it takes two attempts because you can’t really see around the boxes. When the doors slide open you start to enter the elevator.

“It’s customary to let people off of the elevator before entering.” A cool voice says and you know you know that voice.

“Loki?”

“The one and only darling.” He says cockily this time and you roll your eyes.

“Oh my god fuck off.” You tell him with a laugh and much to your surprise you hear another laugh that isn’t Loki’s.

“Hello Kattunge.” Thor. You’re fairly sure at least one butterfly flits around in your stomach. What are they doing here?

“Hi.”

“Wait, kit-“ you hear the sound of someone, probably Thor, hitting someone else, probably Loki, “Moxie?” Loki asks and you can’t help but laugh. It’s not like you didn’t look up what Thor had called you, Kitten did feel very Cat like but it didn’t bother you.

“Yes, can you please move out of my way? I’m not as ripped as you guys and these boxes are awkward.”

“Oh, let me.” Thor says taking some of the boxes from you, you don’t fight him. You can see them once he takes a couple, Loki is watching in amusement,

“What are you doing here?” Loki asks glancing between you and Thor.

“I just moved in. What about you?”

“I’ve lived here for a while now.” You don’t know why you’d assumed that all of the guys lived in houses and not apartments.

“Oh, nice. It’ll be good to know someone else in building.”

“Loki if you’re not going to help then can you move out of the doorway?” Thor asks as you join him in the small elevator. You didn’t think it was that small earlier but now that you’re in it with him it feels like a closet. “You’ve been in town for a while, did you just find this place?”

“No, this was just the first weekend that Steve, Bucky and Sam could help move me in.”

“You could’ve asked us to help you.”

“Steve and his friends where happy to. And Cat and Steve have the sweetest dog named Goose. I love her.”

“I don’t live far from Steve and Cat.” He tells you as the elevator doors slide open. You follow him to the recycling chute and after he dumps his boxes in you do the same.

“I didn’t know that.” You tell him, you’d probably have taken Goose on more walks if you had.

“It’s a safe neighborhood in a good school district.” He says punching the button for the elevator again. That catches your attention, he and Sif must’ve wanted to start a family, before everything.

“Yea, I used to take Goose for walks after dark and never felt too worried.”

“Good.” He leans back against the side of the elevator and studies you for a second. “You should come skating with us sometime.”

“I’m not like the most coordinated.” You admit and he gives you a little smile.

“I’d hold your hand Kattunge.” He flirts and you laugh but you won’t lie, you love it.

“All talk Odinson.” You tease and he steps closer to you and takes your hand.

“Not all talk, Kattunge, I’m very interested.” You blink up at him in surprise but when he goes to let go and step away you don’t let go of his hand.

“I might also be interested.”

“Oh?” The left side of his mouth quirks up in a little smile and he presses a soft kiss to the back of your hand and holy shit it’s so hot. “So, skating? Next weekend? A group of us go.”

“Can I bring my roommate Yelena?”

“You can bring whoever you want.” He says as the doors slide open, “can I walk you home?”

“You don’t have to.”

“I know.” He says but when the doors slide open he doesn’t let go of your hand. “Where are we going Kattunge?”

“715.” You tell him and he starts toward your apartment, “You know, it’s oddly fitting you call me kitten.” Thor stops in his tracks and looks down at you.

“How long have you known?”

“Since like, day one. I googled it.”

“You’re not upset?”

“No, I am curious though. Why?”

“Because you look sweet and small and you’re sweet but you’ve also got claws that you’re not afraid to use.”

“For the record, I am average. I just look small compared to you guys.”

“You know, Cat said the same thing to Steve and Bucky the first time they met.”

“The kitten doesn’t fall far from the tree then.” You tell him and he laughs,

“So you’ll come skating with everyone?”

“I’ll have to find my skates but yea, I’ll come.”

“I can get skates for you.”

“Figure skates?” You ask and he looks down at you in horror. You can’t help the laugh that bursts from you. “I know I know.”

“Hockey skates are easier to skate in.”

“I’ve only ever done figure skates.” You tell him stopping outside your door. “Thanks for walking me back.”

“Anytime.” He gives you a soft smile and you give his hand a squeeze before unlocking your door and slipping inside.

🏒🏒🏒

This is a series of one shots. If you have any suggestions or ideas for Thor and Moxie please let me know.

Tag list:

@foxyjwls007 @andahugaroundtheneck @also-fangirlinsweden @pagina16ps @princesssterek @valsworldofcreativity @dumblani @inkedaztec @loving-life-my-way @animegirlgeeky @shinycupcakebaker @eralen @sophham @gh0stgurl @wonderlandfandomkingdom @killcomet @abschaffer2 @sass-masterkittenmama

#hockey player!thor #hockey player au #hockey player!thor odinson x reader #hockey player!thor x reader #thor au #thor x reader #thor x reader au #thor odinson x reader #thor odison x reader #thor odinson x reader au

[stormyoceans]

As someone who doesn't like vice versa I dare you to try make me like jimmysea

SKFGDSKFGSKDGFSKDGF I—i mean if they're not really your thing i doubt anything i could say is gonna make you like them but YEAH OKAY SURE WHY NOT I CAN TRY

let's meet our boys separately first!!!!

jimmy. actor, doctor, babygirl. frankly has my undying admiration even just for being able to juggle his acting job while also studying to become a dermatologist and somehow succeeding at both literally could never be me. people tend to dislike him for his role as wai in bad buddy, but you only need to watch any bts video from the show to see how much he is adored by everyone and if anything that should be proof of the absolute range he has as an actor. avocado enthusiast and self proclaimed extrovert (is he tho. is he really), don’t get fooled by his quiet and responsible appearance, he’s actually the most deranged man in the industry. i still remember the day an anon told me he improvised nomming on his co-star's face and using a pillow to suggest stripping said co-star down and eating him out all in the name of Acting™ because i've never been the same ever since. the me before and after i was given this information are completely different people

sea. actor, athlete, dog dad. you won't get a single objective thought out of me because i am: Disgustingly Fond. debuted with a killer performance in the show 55:15 never too late as a supporting character, the fact that he's somehow still so underrated when he's one of the best actor in GMMTV makes me want to bark bite maim kill. he is an actual ray of sunshine with a smile that could light up the entire world and also the perfect example of an introvert: he has the innate ability to somehow disappear from any social gathering, but if he wakes up in a silly goose mood you will find him shamelessly twerking in front of everyone and being an absolute goofball. he's also a great singer and goes along with everything jimmy does because he is a big Simp™ (who's more deranged, the one who noms first, or the one who noms back, this is the question)

and now onto them as a pairing!!!!!

jimmysea. with a 5 years difference between them, they are actually the pair with the biggest age gap in GMMTV, which could have come in the way of their on- and off-screen relationship, but from what we are privy of i think you can see in every interaction they have that they clearly adore and are incredibly fond of each other. maybe it's because they share the same kind of derangement, or maybe it's because they both are very hardworking and humble boys who always try to give their best, but somehow they work. as the older one jimmy is always there to help and guide sea however he can, but when he needs it sea is ready to step up and carry the weight for him. they may not possess the kind of chemistry that's all sparks and fireworks, but they have a quiet gentle intimate one that makes them look like they've been married for years, which is also helped by their insane ability of looking at each other with so much love and adoration in their eyes it feels like your heart is getting curb stomped against the sidewalk. they don't really know what fan service is and they can go weeks without seeing each other (the drought eras), but when they do hang out they usually go out to eat and swim together (preferably at the pool in sea's condo after jimmy drives him back)

..not sure why this came out as a sales pitch tbh ;;;;;; honestly there are a lot of things i could add and if i were to convince you to like them i should probably send you links to videos and stuff like that but. im not really good with this sort of things ;;;;;; (i guess i could still suggest you to watch their praew interview to have an idea of their dynamic)

in the end all i can tell you is why i personally like them, which is mainly because what transpires of their relationship feels very genuine to me and they seem to be really sweet boys who just stand in their introverted corner minding their business doing their own thing portraying high romance and giving incomprehensible levels of adoration derangement goofiness talent ability skills. THEY ARE JUST SO COMFORT SHAPED TO ME IDK WHAT ELSE TO SAY

#me looking at myself in the mirror every single morning: today you're gonna be normal about jimmysea and vice versa and last twilight #me every single day without fail: [is embarrassingly deranged about them] #BUT IDK I FEEL LIKE I DIDN'T REALLY DO A GOOD JOB BECAUSE I SHOULD HAVE PROBABLY PULLED OUT VIDEOS AND PICS AND EVENTS BUT #can't believe i failed both my boys and anon #if anyone wants to add anything to this please feel free to do it!!!! #jimmy jitaraphol #sea tawinan #jimmysea #m: ask

[elizabeths-writing-corner]

Hello there! I couldn't help myself but to ask if you could maybe write a story about stargazing with mammon? ✨ it would truly be amazing if you could ♡

"Stargazing" Obey me! Mammon

☁ Thank you for your request ^^ This was literally the first time when I didn't write smut for an individual character... I had a hard time figuring out how to tell this story. I hope it's still to your liking even if I strayed from the idea a bit too much... :p

Mammon x gn!Reader

──────────────────────────────

"Y/N, I finally found you!" a familiar scream of enthusiasm fills the once quiet and peaceful planetarium you were gathering your thoughts in. "We're leavin' for dinner in ten minutes. Get your ass downstairs or Lucifer will be mad."

"Sure, give me just a moment."

It's hard to hide the grimace painted on your face as you raise yourself from the cold stone of the fountain located in the middle of the room. Every movement looks like put in slow motion; you've been frozen in one position for probably too long.

"Is somethin' wrong?" Mammon makes a few careful steps towards you. "Are ya fellin' sick?" he then asks politely, as if he encountered a wild animal and tried not to scare it away.

You fidged your fingers nervously, fighting yourself if you should open up and tell him about your worries or if you should stay silent and act like nothing's wrong. After all, he's just a friend; a friend who you were forced to make, no one but a housemate, really.

"I was just remembering..." you confess after a short consideration, "the human world," You turn over to Mammon with your whole body, suddenly feeling more energized but anxious at the same time. "It may seem out of the blue but I just looked at the sky and thought... it really doesn't differ too much from what I could observe from the window in my house. I do miss it sometimes," your voice undertoned so much that it's now drowning in the much louder noise caused by the squirting from the fountain water.

For the whole time, the demon didn't say a thing. He was listening carefully to all you had to throw out of yourself while making small steps in your direction.

He knows this feeling all too well. His and his brother's exclusion from the Celestial Realm caused his whole life to fall apart. At the time it seemed like a disaster, which drowned all his will to keep going. However, if that had never happened, would he be listening to your soothing voice every morning or have the opportunity to watch your beautiful face floodlit by the cold light of the moon, shining through the glass roof as he does right now?

"I'm sorry, that was unnecessary," you say quickly in defense, worried that you created a melancholic mood with your rambling but when you stand up and try to run past Mammon with your head down, he stops you by putting his arm around your waist and pinning you down to the cold, marble floor.

Your cheeks heat up and a blush sneaks onto them while he seems unfazed. You've never seen him so collected before. He pins you down by gripping your wrists but he soon lets go of them and lays beside you. Your confused gaze follows his every move until he raises his hand to point at the stars-scattered sky and says:

"Ya see this, Y/N? It's a constellation named Grus. Looks kinda like a crow, doesn't it?"

"Not really," you frown your forehead. "It's more like a goose to me."

"Oh, and what do ya know?!" the demon grunts with annoyance at your attempt to correct him. "And here's the little dog," he points at something again but he notices you visibly can't spot it so he cups your cheek with his hand and guides you. "Reminds me of Luke. And next to it is the big dog - Cerberus."

"You surely have your own way of interpreting things, Mammon," you chuckle under your nose. "But since when do you know so much about constellations? Did you swap minds with Belphie? Is this another curse?"

"What's that supposed to mean, huh?" He raises himself to his forearms and looks at you with a piercing, angry, but not threatening stare. "It's so hard to believe that The Great Mammon knows somethin'?"

A bubbly smile doesn't wash off your face. You gently grab Mammon's hand and squeeze it tightly, presumably sending a spark that travels all the way to his brain, because while he was calm just a second ago, now he's just a blushing and sweating mess.

The demon quickly glances at your hand holding his and immediately frees it from your grip as if it was burning his skin. He opens his mouth to say something, but you interrupt him.

"Either way, thank you, Mammon, for cheering me up."

"Where did that idiot wander off to?" you hear a muffled voice from the hall; a voice that means you're in big trouble.

"Shit, that's Lucifer!" Mammon whimpers in great fear of meeting a punishment. "We're late! Y/N get your ass up. I don't want to hang from the ceiling again..."

#obey me #obey me fluff #obey me mammon #mammon #mammon x yn #mammon x you #mammon x gn #mammon x reader #mammon x mc #mammon x y/n #mammon x gender neutral reader #mammon x oc #obey me anime

[pcrushinnerd]

Critical Passenger -- Chapter 10

Story Summary: Before he fully accepted his role as Moon Knight, as Jake Lockley he played hero and made a promise to someone who has come back into his life.

Pairings: Mostly Jake Lockley x femreader, but also Steven Grant x femreader and Marc Spector x femreader because well yeah.

Warnings: Allusions to alcohol use.

A/N: So uh.... it's been more than a hot minute since I've posted an update. Freakin' adulthood/reality strikes again.

previous chapter ||| masterlist

The Present

You looked upon the side table, loaded up with liquor bottles, with sadness.

The stacks of books around the flat were sheeted with dust, but the bottles were not.

"So I guess it's possible," Marc offered from across the room. "There's another alter."

You couldn't lift your eyes away from the Gray Goose, Bushmills, Patron....

"Do you want a drink?"

You looked over at Marc. He was relieved to see that you generally seemed a bit calmer, more at ease.

You shook your head. "Um, no. I'm fine. I...." You took a deep breath. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"Sorry that you have to.... Sorry, again, I'm probably assuming, I don't wanna seem like I'm talking down to you or anything," you started to babble, "I just...seems like that condition would be hard to deal with."

Marc wasn't quite sure how to process that. Kindness. It seemed genuine, but he didn't encounter that much of it to really know for sure. "Thank you."

You moved back to scanning the spines of his various books. You had to shake your head, because you were sure that not only would Jake not own this much...well, anything, but even if he inherited it or somehow came to own so much, it wouldn't be as haphazardly arranged as this veritable library was. There were books on the floor, on chairs, tables, cabinet tops, on top of a...was that really an old CRT TV complete with bunny ears?

Marc was unnerved by your obvious snooping, and that you didn't seem to care that you were obviously snooping.

He was, albeit, holding your smart phone in his hand, swiping through photos that, if they weren't of him, had to be of a twin brother or doppelganger, which seemed highly unlikely compared to the possibility that another alter had been with this woman. The photos showed him in various situations that indicated a past romantic relationship: couples selfies, photos of him cooking, across from the photo-taker at a cafe, in one of those cheesy Central Park carriage rides, smiling in bed....

"What are you looking for?" he asked.

You sighed. You figured it was sort of stupid to be looking through all this mess for such a needle in a haystack. "A copy of a book I gave you--Jake--a book of love poetry by Pablo Neruda?" You sounded mostly defeated, but there was a tinge of hope at the tail end of that inquiry.

Meanwhile, Marc's eyes widened a fraction. Yes, he did own such a book. Wordlessly, he rose from his perched seat on the edge of his small dining room table, to cross his large, open flat to a particular bookshelf that held all of Steven's poetry and related volumes. He searched the collection for a moment, before pulling out a semi-slim tome of sonnets by the Chilean poet.

You walked up to Marc and your heart did a little leap at seeing the dog-eared book. You had to hold back tears.

Marc held it out to you and you took it in hand.

You flipped to the title page inside, and sidled up to Marc as you pointed to an inscription there. "See." You indicated a single line written towards the bottom: "I <3 you in all these ways."

There was no name, but Marc figured this had to be another huge clue that you were who you claimed. The Neruda was out of place amongst all of Steven's French poetry, and the writing didn't look like Layla's. It was smaller, and slated to the left. He had noticed the out-of-place book, but had figured Steven bought it second-hand, and that was just there from the last owner....

March sighed out a tense breath. "When were we together, exactly?"

You lit up at that question. You were about to answer, when a heavy knock at his front door startled both of you.

"Are you expecting someone?" you asked warily. You knew full well you were likely the first guest he'd had in a long time, if ever, at this sad excuse for a bachelor pad.

"No...." He motioned for you stay where you were, before he tip-toed up to his door. "Don't move or say anything," he whisper-hissed to you over his shoulder.

Marc looked through the peep hole, and you could see his body tense.

"Y/N, do me a favor and head for the window in the corner. Go out and hide on the ledge." He turned around and locked eyes with you. "Right now."

#moon knight #moon knight fanfic #jake lockley x reader #jake lockley x y/n #jake lockley x you #jake lockley x fem!reader #marc spector x reader #steven grant x reader #moon knight x reader

[boysplanetrecaps]

Boys Planet Episode 11: Recap and Guide

Hey, fellow Star Creator! Are you ready to have your heart smashed to smithereens? …. No? Me either. In fact, I'm late getting this recap to you because it was hard to type with my heart next to me in a basin of saline solution. But I managed.

Let’s go!

At 0:38, we start off with the boys hanging out at their dorms after their third mission, high fiving each other and expressing some anxiety about the upcoming eliminations. They have to pack to go home now for a while. The staff has set up a photo booth for them to make some memories.  In case anyone thinks that there’s animosity between Woongki and Zhuang Shai Bo, there definitely isn’t.  

The trainees go back back home, awaiting the next elimination ceremony. 

Pretty sure that’s Ricky, just being mysterious and painting roses in a graffiti covered studio, because how else would Ricky spend his time when he’s not performing?

We spend a little time with Han Yujin and his very popular pretty mother. We also see Keita and Kum Junhyeon hanging out with Eunho from Younite and Hwi from Ciipher -- it seems that Junhyeon used to be a trainee at Rain company and trained with some or all of the Ciipher, which explains how they both know Hwi, but I’m not sure the impossibly faced Eunho fits in (seriously, who has a face like that? He looks like a Bratz doll come to life, in a good way). I also don’t know how we never knew that Junhyeon and Keita have been friends this whole time??? They’re just out having a meal and talking about how young Kum Junhyeon was when they used to train together. We see a lot of other stuff, including Kim JiWoong at a dog cafe, even though he’s apparently allergic to dogs. They’re all visiting with friends and family.

Then we see the guys all packing to go back to Planet Camp, even though many of them know that they probably won’t make it through this elimination ceremony. It’s pretty sad. But remember, they’re all going to be ok, right, team? A lot of them are signed with good companies and will probably debut in 2025, if not sooner. So deep breaths. It’s ok!

Then we visit with Park Hanbin, who is wearing a very soft looking blue sweater, as if anticipating future MNET shows. He says he’s worried about not being able to debut. Park Hanbin, you silly goose. You’re going to debut whether or not you make it into Bepler. Listen to BPR Noona. I know of what I speak.

6:15 Now it’s time for the elimination ceremony!

So, I actually watched the live streaming ceremony, which popped up on my phone as I was getting ready to go to sleep. Cannabis is legal where I live and so I might have been particularly ready to close my eyes, you know? But I watched, my eyes blinking heavily, because I wanted to know! The things the boys were saying weren’t translated, so I was only able to catch the gist. Also, the live broadcast was just a raw feed of them, and without the editing and background music, it felt like I was watching a first rehearsal. 

Anyway, as usual, we start with the boys backstage talking about how nervous they are -- us too, guys -- and then coming out in small groups based on their most recent challenge mission. They do various kinds of schtick, and once their whole team is out they do a combined schtick. It looked heckin’ awkward in the live broadcast, but edited down it looks much better.

Here’s the order they come out:

Kim Tae Rae, Na Kamden, and Zhang Shuai Bo (Switch)

Keita, Park Hanbin, and Yoon Jongwoo (Switch)

Wang Zi Hao, Ollie, and Haruto (Supercharger)

Woongki, Takuto, Seo Won (Supercharger)

Zhang Hao and Lee Jungheyon (Over Me)

Ricky, Chen Kuan Jui, Jay (Over Me)

Sung Hanbin and Han Yujin (Say My Name)

Yoo Seung Eon, Seok Matthew, and Kim Ji Woong (Say My Name)

Hui (Lee Hoe Taek), Hiroto, and Lee Seung Hwan (En Garde)

Kim Gyuvin, Kum Junhyeon, Park Gunwook (En Garde)

And who is their Star Master this time? In the live broadcast, she stood with her back to the camera for just a few seconds and then came in, but of course, in the edited version, there’s 15 minutes of guessing first. 

But it’s Jeon Somi! 

I would impale myself on those spikes every time I moved slightly, but she makes it look good.

If you’re not familiar with Jeon Somi, she is a successful soloist who went through the reality show gamut. First she was on a show called Sixteen, a reality competition show that created the kpop giants Twice (you know, the ones who sing “Feel Special”). She didn’t make the lineup of Twice, but she got pretty popular from being on the show. Then she was on the first season of Produce 101, the precursor of Girls Planet/Boys Planet, and ended up pretty much killing it, taking first place in the final episode and becoming the “center” of project group IOI (pronounced “eye-oh-eye”). Check out their song Very Very Very if you want to see what IOI is like.

After IOI disbanded, Somi became a soloist. I love her song Birthday -- my fella doesn’t like much kpop, but for whatever reason he loves Birthday. (He specifically loves how she she says “eyyy”.) Despite it being a pretty great song, Birthday wasn’t a huge hit because she was “f a a t “ at the time (she absolutely wasn’t, and even if she was, it shouldn’t matter, but people can really be The Worst, and also her stylist didn’t know how to dress a young woman with actual boobs). Anyway she has other songs now, like Dumb Dumb, and she’s frighteningly skinny now, so she’s a lot more successful. I think she’s always been a sparkly fun person. I wish she’d given her cue cards a bit of a read before she came out on stage, but… whatever. Oh, and if you’re wondering, she’s 22, half Korean and half white, and was born in Canada.

The boys go crazy when they realize it’s Somi -- Kamden says he won’t be able to sleep tonight, and a few of the others talk about how tall she is. She’s 5’8, which is fairly tall for a girl, especially in Korea. 

She reads some usual stuff off a cuecard, and then adds, “It’s not easy being on a survival show, is it? I remember HATING this studio myself” (as in, when she was on Produce 101). The boys give her some serious snaps. 

We find out that people in 182 countries voted a total of 31,750,293 votes, and that trainees ranked 1 through 18 will survive. We also find out that during the first phase of the announcement, they’ll only be announcing trainees from 11 through 17 inclusive, which is only seven people, so this is really silly. 

After that, in the live broadcast, Somi said something that MNET translated thusly: “I know how much effort and sweat they have put into this far because not only I but so many world star creators are sending their cheers to them. Believe in your time and the sweat dedicated, and get with it to the end.” That part didn’t make it into the final airing, as far as I can tell, but I think it’s funny. She read it at top speed, sounding like a bored flight attendant reading the same safety instructions for the millionth time, and not looking up from the cue cards once. Maybe that’s why they didn’t air it.

Anyway -- so now that the stakes have been established, we bring up two teams to start with: Switch and Engarde. 

First Round of Eliminations 

Here are the 12 trainees who are waiting to hear their fate, in order of their rank in episode 8:

6 Kim Gyu Vin Love Me Right - K / Love Killa/ En Garde

7 Kim Tae Rae Back Door - K/ Man in Love/ Switch

8 Keita Kill This Love - G/ Zoom /   Switch

9 Park Gunwook Kill This Love - K/ Tomboy/ En Garde

10 Kum Jun Hyeon Back Door - K /Gang /    En Garde

11 Hui Love Me Right - K / Tomboy /En Garde

13 Park Hanbin Hot Sauce - K   /   Law/ Switch

15 Yoon Jong Woo Back Door - K /Home/Switch

20 Na Kamden Back Door - G /Law /Switch

21 Lee Seung Hwan Danger - K/ Gang /En Garde

23 Zhang Shuai Bo Back Door - G/ Feel Special /Switch

28 Hiroto Very Nice - G/ Rush Hour/ En Garde

Somi announces that they’re going to announce the trainee who is 11th place, who got 2,365,604 points. It’s someone who did the killing part.

Then she gives the clue that the person in 11th has the family name “Park.” Well, that’s either Park Gunwook or Park Hanbin. Gunwook doesn’t want to be announced in 11th place; Hanbin would be delighted to be in 11th. So they sort of awkwardly grin at each other from across the aisle. 

At 17:13 And then we find out that it’s Park Hanbin! So they’re both happy! Everyone is proud of him and a little surprised.

Look how happy Z-Bo is for him, and everyone else, too! That’s their fearless leader! 

He says, “I won’t be able to be the shiniest star on Boys Planet, but I want to be the one and only star. Since this could be my last chance to shine the brightest, I’ll try to give a great performance.” Somi tells him he shines brightly already, and his gives her a huge, eye squinting grin. That’s doing to be a “happy memory for a sad day” for him -- one of those happy memories you return to when you need a boost. But hopefully Hanbin won’t have too many sad days in front of him.

Kum Junhyeon says to Park Gunwook, “he didn’t deserve the low ranking,” which is so true. Park Hanbin has been great since the first day. It was just hard to get to know his personality at first.

In the live broadcast, Somi asked him to show his “favorite facial expression,” and he did, but it’s all so weird. Does anyone else think that Kpop is getting a bit too codified? Can there be any mystery or general stage technique that isn’t parsed down into the tiniest bits? Anyway, that doesn’t make it into the final broadcast, which is all for the best 

As Hanbin walks up to lonely seat 11 all by himself, Jay says, “Park Hanbin serves and deserves,” which is a great way of putting it. 

Here’s the floor plan to help you figure out who is sitting where as the episode goes on-- that’s P-Hanbin in 11th. 

This is where the live broadcast ended, so I was a mixture of happy (I was so stoned and sleepy and just wanted to close my eyes) and contented (at least my Park Hanbin is safe!) and furious (seriously, MNET?). But that’s all they gave us, the fuckwits. 

Rank 12 is next, and it’s someone from En Garde, someone who stood out because of best friend energy, so that could be a lot of people. 

We find out that it’s Park Gunwook! He’s fallen from 9th place to 12 -- everyone is shocked, and there’s a silent pause before people start applauding. That peach, Lee Seunghwan, who probably isn’t going to make it through this elimination, gives him a high five and tries to cheer him up, but he looks really sad.

Sad, but still cute! I like the ruffly hair.

Ok, everyone’s super surprised that he fell out of the top9, but I’m not that surprised, really. Don’t get me wrong, I still quite like Park Gunwook and am rooting for him to succeed in life. I’ve heard that some people dislike him, but I think he’s essentially a sweet guy who jokes around in uncomfortable situations. I also think he’s talented, with a loveable face, and I hope that Jellyfish will figure out some way to promote him if he doesn’t make the top 9 here. 

That all said, he’s been showing the same part of himself again and again on the show. It’s that super masculine, powerful style of dancing that he always does, you know? I think people are just a tiny bit tired of the powerful powerhouse of power. I feel that way a tiny bit myself. I didn’t need him to do something super cute like Say My Name or something mega sexy like Over Me, exactly, but I think I would have liked to see him in something more like Switch -- something that requires a different, more lighthearted style of dancing. I think he can do it, so I hope that he can show that in the next episode. 

Who’s next? Rank 15. Who could it be?

It’s someone known for his unique facial expressions, and it’s an extrovert, so it could be a lot of them -- not Keita, Hui, Hiroto, or Lee Seunghwan who are introverts, but any of the rest. (Is anyone else surprised to hear that Kim Taerae is an extrovert? He comes across as more of an introvert -- probably MNET editing striking again.)  Anyway, it could be almost any of these six…

And at 22:45 we find out that it’s Yoon Jongwoo, who had been ranked 15th in episode 8. 

Everyone is super surprised, including Jongwoo himself. I think he was expected to be eliminated after his ignominious treatment in episodes 9 and 10, but seriously, watch his fancam from Switch. He’s such a good dancer and performer. He’d be a benefit to any team he’d be on. I really hope he does a cover of Over Me and puts it up on Youtube. Just putting that out into the universe. 

Kum Junhyeon and Kim Gyuvin have given up on casting spells. 

Who’s next? Rank 16. Who could it be? 

Park Hanbin mutters to himself, “This is daebak.” I should have mentioned this in an earlier recap, but for those of you newish to K-culture, “daebak” means something like “amazing” or “surprising” or even “cool.” Sometimes people just say “daebak” as an exclamation, in which case it means something like “wow!”

Everyone is anxious but Zhang Shuai Bo, who already knows that there is a 99.99999% chance that he is eliminated. He probably didn’t even pack anything in his suitcase. His new brown hair looks nice, though. 

It’s someone who’s rank has fallen, and someone who never had a killing part. That could be a lot of people. 

And at 25:49 we find out it’s Kum Junhyeon. (The Viki subtitler spells his name Guem -- the G/K sound in Korean is sort of halfway between G and K, so you see it either way depending on the transliteration system in use. And there’s a lot of variation in how people transliterate vowel sounds in Korean, which is one of the reasons I learned to read actual Korean sybmbols!)

Kum Junhyeon has dropped a lot from 10th place. I don’t have a specific theory as to why he dropped, but I kind of think that he’s stopped looking like one of the it-crowd, somehow. Put on a team with Gunwook and Gyuvin, he sort of faded into the background. I like Junhyeon a lot -- he’s charismatic, funny, open-hearted, and a really great singer -- and hope he debuts, but I don’t think he’s going to debut with Bepler. I think he knows that too -- he looks like he’s going to cry. 

We hear from each of them. 

Yoon Jongwoo says, “Since I came here without expecting anything, my memories here are so precious. I kept telling myself to be in the final, at least. And I ended up being here. I’d like to thank the Star Creators who support me one more time.” 

Park Gunwook says, “I really wanted to be on stage one more time. My goal coming here was moving on to the final.  Thankfully, I’d be able to join the final with such a high ranking. I’m relieved. I’d like to express my love and gratitude to the Star Creators who support me.”  

Then Somi asks Gunwook to do something aegyo, and he chooses instead to do something kawaii instead. He says, in Japanese, things like “I love you! I like you a lot!” (The on-screen words are transliterated Japanese with Korean translation underneath.)

Side note: “aegyo” is a thing in K-culture. It’s when idols and other performers do over-the-top, cloying, saccharine cuteness as a… mini performance. It’s quite popular among Koreans, and is often requested by variety show hosts, but international audiences often don’t like it. Personally, I don’t like it, but it’s not my culture and it’s not my place to say “stop doing thing because I don’t like thing,” you know? Though I really do wish they’d stop. 

Anyway, Gunwook speaking Japanese spurs Kum Junhyeon to do his speech in Japanese as well, and he sounds like a first semester Japanese student. It’s much cuter than his old “I am 5 years old” shtick, though, I’ll say that. 

So, this group takes their seats, and everyone wonders, Who’s next? But there isn’t anyone else in this group. 

Though the show plays danger music to make it seem otherwise, it’s fair to assume that Kim Gyu Vin, Kim Tae Rae, Keita, and Hui are probably in the top 10. But unless Na Kamden, Lee Seung Hwan, Zhang Shuai Bo, or Hiroto is ranked 18th, they’ve all been eliminated. 

The trainees think that Lee Hoetek/Hui might have been eliminated, but that seems extremely unlikely. The people who’ve been voting for him as of episode 8 are probably going to keep voting for him -- he just hasn’t done enough to attract new people to him. I don’t think he’ll make the final lineup, but I don’t think he’ll be eliminated today.

Then Somi announces that she’s heard that “on a beautiful day, the trainees spent a day full of doubts and suspicion.” 

Oh no.

It’s… 

30:05 FILLER TIME

If you’re not into Kpop -- and even if you are a little into it --  you may not know about the whole ecology that surrounds idol groups. There are these variety shows, such as After School Club and Weekly Idol, shows where idols come on and get made fun of and forced to do silly things, like dance to their songs at 2x speed, or chicken fight, or answer trivia questions, or whatever the show feels like doing to them. 

There’s also a custom of idols creating content specifically for their fans, to hold up their side of the parasocial relationship. They joke around, they play games, they cook or eat food, and most importantly, they talk to the camera like it’s their girlfriend and talk about how much they miss their fans and want to see them again. This stuff makes me uncomfortable, but I know a lot of people like it. 

Anyway, all the “filler” stuff we see on Boys Planet is a good introduction to the kind of content you often see on shows or videos like these. As such, even though it’s filler, it’s actually an audition for a big part of the job that they’ll be doing as idols. Plenty of idols are known as much for their reality show appearances as for their performance skills (if not more so). 

That said, there isn’t a lot to say about this stuff -- it’s just cute fan service. Here’s a super quick recap:

The boys gather outside at an area with big platform tents, on what must have been a lovely sprint day. Park Hanbin is wearing that same soft looking blue sweater, and Kim TaeRae is wearing a sweatshirt that says Thrasher on it, with just enough dark tape over the logo that they don’t have to blur it. My 17 year old self fainted dead away when she saw that Thrasher logo. Is there anything cuter than a skater boy? (Other than my fella, who is the cutest boy of all boys.)

The trainees are told they will have to dress like cute animals and spend a self-sufficient day in the forest - - which is complete bullshit, but that’s ok. 

First, they have to put on loose pajama pants without using their hands -- which is an excuse to help each other and touch each other’s crotchal areas with their feet and teeth -- in order to choose which team gets to wear which animal outfit. That part is actually pretty fun to watch, especially when Chen Kuan Jui uses his powers of stretchiness to get’er’done.

Once they get their animal outfit on (they’re just big loose onesie outfits), they’re all told that each team will have a “raccoon” in it (basically, like a mole -- someone who ruins everything) and that they have to figure out who it is. They have to go into a tent one by one to find out if they’re the raccoon or not -- it’s not as if they choose to be the mole. If the team can figure out who’s the raccoons amongst them, then everyone else wins the prize, but if they don’t, the raccoons win the prizes. The stakes are high.

Say My Name comes in first and chooses unicorn. 

Switch comes in second and chooses something red; I can’t tell what it is. 

En Garde comes in 3rd and chooses dinosaur.

Supercharger comes in 4th and chooses something pink; I can’t tell what it is.  

Over Me comes in last and chooses something black. 

Over Me’s raccoon is revealed immediately as Lee Jeonghyeon, and he says, “thank you” and that he’s confident he can do it. Just more MNET spotlighting him to try to get another K-group member in the top9 if possible. 

They’re hungry and have to play a game where they spin around until they’re dizzy and have to poke at a board with ingredients written on it. The best things are in tiny boxes, which are hard to target. But most of the trainees get at least something decent for food. 

Then they play another game to win dessert -- prizes range from shaved ice to “healthy tea” -- and this game is my least favorite Korean reality staple, “Scream in the dark.” It’s this game where they all wear huge headphones that block out most sound, and have to shout at each other and read each other’s lips. This game is played on all the idol shows, and it’s really not my favorite. Maybe it’d be more fun if I were a fluent Korean speaker…? Also, it’s obviously going to be hard for non native speakers from G-group. 

This part goes on for approximately 3,791 years, so if you’d like to skip to the end of it, go to 49:18. 

After that, the boys discuss who amongst them could be the raccoon (mole). We find out that each raccoon has a purple raccoon symbol stamped on his foot. So they choose who among them is the raccoon and then that person has to reveal their foot. 

Though Over Me’s team seems to suspect Lee Jeonghyeon, they cast out Jay, almost as if they are the general public viewing the show. Of course, Jay is innocent.

Switch team picks Keita, but he’s innocent as well. Turns out the mole was Park Hanbin! Back when he found out that he had to be the mole, he said -- with his face hidden and voice distorted -- “I can’t lie!” and collapsed on the floor. But he was good at it after all! Have I mentioned lately that I really like Park Hanbin? Because I do.

Say My Name team picks Sung Hanbin, and he’s also innocent. Turns out it was really Han Yujin. Interestingly, when he was chosen as the mole, he said, “I’m good at this kind of thing.” A rare glimpse into the personality of Han Yujin.

Supercharger picked Wang Zi Hao, and he is in fact the mole. 

En Garde team picked Kum Junhyeon, and he’s also innocent. Turns out the real mole was Park Gunwook. 

The raccoons have won! Their prize is a variety of high fashion outfits -- in other words, their animal onesies. (Ten bucks says they all got to keep their onesies anyway.)

And that’s the end of the filler!

56:50 SECOND ROUND OF ELIMINATIONS

They joke about the game for a bit longer, and then go back to the eliminations. 

Next up will be the other teams: Supercharger, Over Me, and Say My Name. 

Ricky says to Jay, in English, “Let’s survive together.” Kim JiWoong leans over to Matthew and says, quoting from Love Killa, “Oh I’m sorry, did I make you anxious?”

Here’s everyone who’s up on the chopping block, in case you would like a refresher as to who is who. I’ve listed their most recent rank as well as their three challenge missions.

1 Sung Hanbin Love Me Right - K / Tomboy / Say My Name

2 Zhang Hao Kill This Love - G/ Tomboy/ Over Me

3 Han Yu Jin Back Door - K   / Law / Say My Name

4 Seok Matthew Kill This Love - G/ Love Killa/ Say My Name

5 Kim Ji Woong Back Door - K /Love Killa /Say My Name

12 Jay Love Me Right - G/ Home /Over Me

14 Ricky Back Door - G/ Rush Hour /Over Me

16 Haruto Love Me Right - G / Zoom/ Supercharger

17 Yoo Seung Eon Very Nice - K Home Say My Name

18 Seo Won Very Nice - K Love Killa Supercharger

19 Wang Zi Hao Kill This Love - G Law Supercharger

22 Chen Kuan Jui Kill This Love - G Butterfly Over Me

24 Lee Jeong Hyeon Love Me Right - K Gang Over Me

25 Takuto Danger - G Rush Hour Supercharger

26 Cha Woong Ki Very Nice - K Feel Special Supercharger

27 Ollie Hot Sauce - G Zoom Supercharger

Who’s up first? 13th place. Who could it be? 

Someone who’s noted for their talent (thanks, that’s unhelpful). It’s someone from Over Me. We see Park Hanbin with his hands folded, as if in prayer -- he’s hopeful it’ll be his WakeOne teammate, Lee JeongHyeon. 

At 1:01:00, we find out it’s Jay. 

We see that Jay’s Korean support is painfully low -- only 62,829 votes, while everyone else announced so far has had 200,000+ -- while his global support is super high --  1,400,606 while no one else has broken into the millions. He’s a little sad because he’s dropped another spot, and it’s looking less and less likely that he’ll make top9 in the end.

Honestly, at this point, I think it’s better for Jay that he *not* debut in Bepler. Looking at what’s going on with Kepler, all the fan wars and stuff, I think he’s better of not in that kind of situation. Who wants to debut based on global vote and then have to go to fan meetings in Korea where literally no one acknowledges you? He’ll have a more fulfilling career using this as a spring board to make his own music and release it mostly online, the way that B.I. and Jackson Wang do. Let K-netz hate him all they want, and let him just sing in English like he’d probably prefer to do. I’d much rather have B.I.’s career than, say, Park Jihoon’s. (Though I do absolutely love all three of the songs I linked to, for the record. But Jihoon’s stylist noona deserves serious sanctions. His whole MV team does. Send them to the naughty step for a few hours to rethink their choices in life.) There’s life after Boys Planet and it doesn’t have to involve Bepler. 

Who’s next? 14th place. Who could it be? 

Someone indispensable -- so team Supercharger hopes it’s Haruto, as do we all, right? Haruto is everyone’s unproblematic fave. 

At 1:02:34, we find out it’s Yoo Seungeon.

Yoo Seungeon is signed to Yuehua, along with current trainees Ricky, Zhang Hao, Han Yujin, Ollie, and Kim Gyuvin, and eliminated trainees Brian and Ji Yun Seo.  He really is quite young to debut, and doesn’t really need to debut right now -- it seems quite likely that Zhang Hao and Han Yujin will make the final lineup, and Ricky and Gyuvin have a decent chance, so the Yuehua team that debuts in 2024 or 2025 will start off with a lot of momentum. It still can’t hurt for Seungeon to have more exposure, so it’s nice that he made it. He seems like a sweet kid and a genuine talent. All that said, I’m so worried about Haruto I can’t think straight. 

Who’s next? 17th place. Who could it be?

Everyone is hoping that it’ll be themselves, and this is so painful. Cha Woongki tries to keep from hoping. The person is known for their rapping, so of course I’m hoping for Haruto, but there are a lot of rappers here. 

Somi says that the person has two “ng” consonants. 

Korean reading time! The little circles you see in Korean have a few different roles. Often, they’re silent, like when they come before a vowel. For example, the family name “Lee” (which is really pronounced more like Ee) is spelled 이, as you see above on Lee Jeonghyun’s name. (That straight up and down line thing is the -ee part. You also see it in the final syllable of Woongki’s name -- 기.) When you see the circle thingy at the top of a name, it’s more like “w-” sound. When it’s at the bottom of a word, it’s a -ng sound. That’s why you see it in the top and bottom of 웅 for Woongki (and for Kim JiWoong, also) and in 왕 Wang. You also see it in the bottom of Lee Jeonghyun’s second syllable. 

Of course everyone has tons of little circles in their names since they do so much work in Korean writing -- even before I could read Korean I could always tell Korean from other writing systems by the little circles. 

Who could it be in 17th place? At 1:05:05 we find out it’s It’s Lee Jeonghyeon. He burst into tears, which seems to surprise his fellow WakeOne trainees Park Hanbin and Kim TaeRae. Of course people are happy for him but sad that they (or their other friends) didn’t survive. 

We get told that without the benefit, he would have been in 19th place. 

The surviving trainees get to make a speech. 

Jay says, in slow English (probably to make it easier for non-native speakers to understand): "To all my friends and family watching from all the way back in the states, I just want to say thank you so much for tuning in every week and screaming at the television.” Somi, who is Canadian and fluent in English, says “Blow them a kiss!” and he does.

Yoo Seung Eon says, “First of all, I never imagined that I’d survive in a high rank of 14, so I feel like I’m dreaming. I have no words to describe how I feel right now. Also, thanks to my Say My Name teammates who created the greatest performance, I really love you.” 

Lee Jeonghyeon says, “At every survivor announcement, I was always on the verge of disqualifications. So today, I thought that I wouldn’t be able to make it. But I’m really grateful to the Team Over Me who practiced hard, so we could get benefits.” Then he says, in extremely halting Chinese and Japanese, things like “I love you” and “thank you”, with Hiroto and other trainees helping him from the sidelines. 

They take their seats, and Lee Jeonghyeon regains his cool. 

1:09:00 THIRD ELIMINATION SEGMENT - TOP 10

So, let’s look at the list of trainees, in their episode 8 ranking order. Those marked in green have already been seated in 11th through 17th place. 

1 Sung Hanbin 2 Zhang Hao 3 Han Yu Jin 4 Seok Matthew 5 Kim Ji Woong 6 Kim Gyu Vin 7 Kim Tae Rae 8 Keita 9 Park Gunwook 10 Kum Jun Hyeon 11 Hui 12 Jay 13 Park Hanbin 14 Ricky 15 Yoon Jong Woo 16 Haruto 17 Yoo Seung Eon 18 Seo Won 19 Wang Zi Hao 20 Na Kamden 21 Lee Seung Hwan 22 Chen Kuan Jui 23 Zhang Shuai Bo 24 Lee Jeong Hyeon 25 Takuto 26 Cha Woong Ki 27 Ollie 28 Hiroto

Speaking of falling out and making room, Somi reminds us all that Park Gunwook has fallen out of top 9, leaving a space for a new person. From context, the only person it could be is Ricky -- unless in some weird world it’s Hui. I just don’t think Hui is doing well enough on the show to make top9.  So yeah, given the obsessive nature of of Ricky’s fandom, I’m assuming he’s a lot of people’s one-pick and will probably be in the top 10, along with Sung Hanbin, Zhang Hao, Han Yu Jin, Seok Matthew, Kim Ji Woong, Kim Gyu Vin, Kim Tae Rae, Keita, and Hui. I’m trying to think, could any of these have fallen out of the top 10, leaving room for Haruto? And I don’t think so. I think Matthew will have fallen a few ranks, but I don’t think he’s fallen out of the top 10.  And Hui -- I think he’s more nervous than he has to be. But we’ll see. 

Next up, we find out the “candidates for 9th place”, ie, the people ranked 9th and 10th. And it’s Hui and Matthew.

Hui is relieved, as he’s been thinking the whole time that he’s been eliminated, while Matthew is resigned to what to him is bad news. Matthew was ranked 2nd and then 4th, so falling to 9th or 10th is a steep drop. I really wish he’d just been sweet and nice about the part switch, because he did a great job in Say My Name -- I think the best in the group -- and he definitely lost some fans. I’ll add, however, that he might have lost those fans anyway as we moved from pick-3 to1-pick. The dynamics always change a lot when we get to the 1-pick.

Matthew and Hui come up to the front to find out who came in 9th -- and it's Matthew.

Matthew says, “I want to thank all the Star Creators for allowing me to stay in the Top 9. Hanbin hyung, Ji Woong Hyung, Yujin-ee and Seung Eon-ee, I was just so happy to be with you. I want to become more cool like Hanbin hyung and JiWoong hyung.  Thank you, and I also hope we’ll all be successful together.” Really putting on those retro-rockets, huh? I hope it helps -- I think he’s a great performer and would make a good member of Bepler.

Hui says, “I came worrying that I may have to go home today. I really want to thank the Star Creators for allowing me to get such an unexpectedly high rank. I also wanted to thank my En Guard team members who’ve worked so hard with me. I would like everyone to stay with me to the end, and although I cannot give amazing benefits like Boys Planet, I will becomes an amazing Hoe Taek and I will show you a good side of me.”

As Matthew goes to take his seat, you can hear Yoo Seungeon rush over to give Matthew-hyung a hug. Jay also comes over and says something in English but I can’t quite make it out. 

Next is 8th place. Who could it be? Well it’s one of Ricky, Han Yu Jin, Kim Ji Woong, Kim Gyu Vin, Kim Tae Rae, or Keita. And at 1:16:42, we find out it’s Ricky! 

Ricky says, “It’s so cool to enter the Top9 for the first time. I can’t believe it. Honestly, the sofa looked so comfy that I wanted to try sitting in it at least once. I will show an even more improved version of me during the final stage.” The show makes a big deal out of how “sofa” is probably not a Korean word or the right word for these chairs, but, whatever, everyone knew what he meant.

We hear Jay call “Ricky!” and it’s honestly very pleasant to hear someone pronounce it like that. (Not going to say “correctly,” just… correct to my ears, you know?)

Side note: with his hair styled down like this, I actually don’t recognize him. I mean, I know it’s him, but my brain doesn’t believe me. 

Now it’s time to find out who is in 7th place. Well it’s one of Han Yu Jin, Kim Ji Woong, Kim Gyu Vin, Kim Tae Rae, or Keita. 

And at 1:18:39, we find out it’s Kim Gyuvin.

I like the return to a messy mop of hair. 

He says, “I want to thank you all for allowing me to end up in such a high rank. Through this final stage, I will prove to you why I need to debut.” Then he adds in uncertain Japanese, “I will become a more improved GyuVin. I love you.” Hiroto coaches him from the other side of the room.

I mean, I know that that interim ranking showed him really low, but it never occurred to me for a second he’d fall below 17. I think he might have been worried, though. He’s gotten some hate online. He sits down in the comfy chair and gives that weird smile of his. 

Next is 6th place. Who could it be? Well, it’s one of Han Yu Jin, Kim Ji Woong, Kim Tae Rae, or Keita. Because it’s someone whose rank improved, it’s either TaeRae or Keita.

At 1:21:17, we find out it’s Keita. Nice! I knew he’d make it. I’m glad to see his rank improving. His Korean support is low, but his global support is insane. He’s the first person to outscore Jay in the global vote. (He outscored Jay’s Korean support, as well.) 

Keita says, “I am just so happy and grateful to be able to move onto the final. I will keep doing my best.” Then he bows. That’s Keita for you. 

Next is 5th place. Well, it’s either Han Yu Jin, Kim Ji Woong, Kim Tae Rae, or maybe Zhang Hao. The person is popular with teenagers, and his charming point is his shy smile. TaeRae doesn’t have a shy smile, but Yujin does. 

At 1:22:58 we find out it’s Han Yujin, who at previous eliminations was 4th and 3rd.

Lee Jeonghyun turns around to look up at Park Hanbin and wonder out loud, “What place is TaeRae in?” Again, all three of them are signed together at WakeOne. And hopefully will all debut together ASAP. 

Han Yujin says, “To the Star Creators who have shown me much love ever since Na Bina was released,  I will work even harder from now on.” Then he adds in Chinese, “Hello. I’m 17-year old Han Yujin. I love you all. You’re so pretty. Thank you.” It doesn’t sound too bad to me but I don’t know Chinese.

Somi teases him about his legendary “Noona, I love you” thing and she asks him to say it to her. (Other trainees watching, including Kum Junyheon and Kim Gyuvin, mutter that they’d be happy to tell her that too.) He says, “Somi-Noona, I love you!” and Somi melts. It’s actually pretty cute, even though I have very little patience for this shiz.

As he goes to his seat, he’s mobbed by some of his friends, including his Yuehua teammate Ricky, who jokingly asks him to say “I love you hyung” to him, and his other Yuehua teammate Kim Gyubin, who seems happier for Yujin than he was for himself. 

Next is 4th place, who only scraped past 5th place by a few thousand points -- I’ll do a point analysis at the end of this recap -- and it’s obviously  Kim Ji Woong or Kim Tae Rae, or maybe Zhang Hao. 

Almost immediately we find out it’s Tae Rae. 

Hair stylist noona was really feeling the ruffley bang look today, wasn’t she? 

TaeRae says, “To my Star Creators who have always supported me, thank you so much. I will do my best to repay you for your love and support with an even better performance on the final stage.” Then Somi makes him do a big weird laugh and it’s… weird. But he’s still cute. 

He goes to take his place, and someone runs to hug him -- I’m pretty sure it’s his WakeOne teammate Park Hanbin.

Somi says she’s going to announce top 3, and Chen Kuan Jui says, in a big, bright, almost-not-sarcastic voice, “who on earth could it be? I’m so curious,”  Big snaps for that, CKJ.

Obviously it’s Kim JiWoong, Zhang Hao, and Sung Hanbin. 

Ok, so the show reminds us that the top placing trainee in the final episode will get to do a solo song on the group’s debut album, and we’re shown a clip of Kepler performing, with a focus on the first-place-winning Kim Chaeyoung. Thing is, though Chaeyoung came in first (and though she’s talented and sweet and I like her), she is definitely not the most popular member of Kepler these days. I checked a few different random rankings and she was ranked anywhere from 4th to last depending on which list I looked at. She has fans, definitely -- I’m sure plenty of people like her! -- I’m just saying that she’s not the runaway queen of the group or anything. Focusing on her just reminds us that it doesn’t matter AT ALL who comes in first, not even on the final episode, and definitely not now, a week out from first. 

(Side note: Another example of this is Ni-Ki from Enhypen. He finished in fourth place in the show I-Land, and spent some time in the unfavored zone for the trainees, but is now the runaway king of the group, with his fancams showing millions of views. The public who votes for reality show trainees aren’t necessarily representative of the entire Kpop viewing population.)

Despite the show basically shoving that fact in our face, it continues to act as if we really care who will specifically will be first, second, and third. Also I think we all know who is third. But WHO COULD IT BE?

At 1:28:49, we find out it’s Kim JiWoong. 

He says, “I am grateful and think of it as an honor to be able to provide comfort and happiness to others. Thank you.” I actually adore this guy. He’s a complete mystery of a human and I adore that. 

Then there’s some dumb bit where Somi makes him do aegyo and it goes on way too long. 

So now it’s time to announce who came in first between Zhang Hao and the impossibly, ridiculously perfect Sung Hanbin.

They say a lot of the normal, “what if confident, but polite?” type things, and then we find out that apparently Sung Hanbin helped Zhang Hao with the “Over Me” choreography to add some waacking elements. They weren’t even on the same team, and Hanbin still took time out of his schedule of providing solar power with his smile to go help his friend. 

And at 1:34:19, we find out that Hanbin has taken first again. 

He says, “Well, for this past Artist Battle mission, there was such a big benefit on the line, so I wasn’t really able to predict this. Please continue to cheer for me so I can run for the finish line, shining as bright as I can. My Say My Name members, I love you.”

Hao says, in his halting way, “I am so grateful and happy to be able to rank 2nd place again. I will continue running without stopping. Please continue being happy through my passion.” Then he adds in extremely halting Japanese, “motto ganbarimasu” -- kind of “I’ll keep going/ I won’t give up.”  His vote tally shows that he is more than 800,000 points ahead of 3rd/4th/5th place (which are almost a tie).

But it’s nothing compared to Sung Hanbin, who is more than a million points ahead of Hao. 

Sung Hanbin is dominating first place in a way we’ve never seen on the produce series. To put this in perspective: 

In Produce 101 season 1, Jeon Somi and Kim Sejeong traded off between 1st and second, with Somi actually falling to 4th place at the 2nd elimination before finally finishing in first.

In Produce 101 season 2, Park Jihoon, Kim Jonghyeon, and Kang Daniel held first place at different times. 

In Produce 48, Sakura, Lee Gaeun, and Jang Wonyoung held first place at different times.

In Produce X 101, Kim Yohan and Kim Wooseok traded off in first place.

In Girls Planet 999, Yurina was in first place in ep 5 and didn’t even make it into Kepler. Shen Xiaoting was in first place for most of the rest of the time, and then only made it into Kepler in 9th place, and Kim Chaeyhun came in first despite not ever ranking above 8th place before that. 

Granted, all four Produce seasons were known for straight up vote rigging, so maybe one person really was the most popular the whole time. But regardless, Sung Hanbin’s DOMINATION of first place is completely unprecedented in previous seasons of this show, with or without vote rigging. If he comes in first on Friday morning, it will be something we’ve never seen before on this show. 

Anyway, our top 9 is seated. Hey, if this is the debuting team, I’ll definitely follow them. 

1:36:26 Chair 18

This is the part where they announce who is ranked 18th, ie, the very last survivor. I’m not going to go in much depth here because this part isn’t fun to recap, you know? 

Haruto notices that Supercharger is still completely seated in the gallery -- no one has made it through the elimination. That’s the worst. 

Here’s who’s left, with their episode 8 rank. 

16 Haruto 18 Seo Won 19 Wang Zi Hao 20 Na Kamden 21 Lee Seung Hwan 22 Chen Kuan Jui 23 Zhang Shuai Bo 25 Takuto 26 Cha Woong Ki 27 Ollie 28 Hiroto

Who’s most likely to take that last spot? I hope Haruto, but really it could be any of them other than Z-Bo, Takuto, and Ollie, in my opinion. Let’s find out. 

Somi announces the FOUR candidates for spot 18 -- that’s so cruel. 

They announce Wang Zihao, Na Kamden, Cha Woongki, and Hiroto -- representing China, USA, Korea, and Japan.

Of course, this means that Haruto, Seo Won, Lee Seung Hwan, Chen Kuan Jui, Zhang Shuai Bo, Takuto and Ollie all have been eliminated. 

I can’t believe it about Haruto. The way he hangs his head just breaks my heart. I don’t even want to screen cap it. I didn’t see it coming so it was just a punch in the gut.

I’m sad for all of them, really, but aside from Haruto, I’m also especially sad for Lee Seunghwan, who, you may not know, already went through the reality show ringer once and was a member of 1the9, a group whose promotions were severely impacted by covid-19. Poor Seunghwan -- luck just never seems to be on his side, though he’s handsome, sweet, and talented. 

Side note: I was all up to date and ready to get this recap out on Saturday or something, but I just… didn’t… want to write it. I watched the whole thing taking quick notes to use as the basis of my recap later, and when Haruto was eliminated I just fast forwarded to find out who did survive and then turned the episode off and didn’t come back for several days. So if that’s how you’re feeling about it, me too. I guess maybe Haruto didn’t look like a viable candidate, so people gave up? Or maybe people thought that other people would vote for him, that he’d be safe? It’s strange to me that Hiroto beat Haruto in the final ranking. Nothing against Hiroto at all, but I’m just surprised. 

Anyway, let’s finish this. 

21st place turns out to be Hiroto, the only eliminated member of En Garde. From his spot on stage, Park Gunwook mutters to himself, “If we’d just gotten 1st place….” A general to the end, worrying about his troops. I will hear no talk about Gunwook being “mean” or anything like that. 

Hiroto says (in slow, careful Korean), “I didn’t get a good result because I was lacking, but…” (Woongki interrupts quietly, saying “that’s not true,” and Somi looks heartbroken) “...I am happy if the Star Creators were happy while cheering for me.” It’s a very sweet speech.

Somi says, “You are not lacking!” and Hiroto’s face lights up. She continues: “None of you are lacking! All of you here are amazing!” There, that’s my girl. That’s my Somi. 💓 She is so much more human than pretty much any judge or host we’ve had on the show so far -- well, Sunmi was great too, but she was barely there. Somi knows exactly how these trainees feel and relates to them as equals, even though she’s successful and they’re not there yet. I’m glad she’s here. I bet she made this easier for them.

Next we announce 20th place: It’s Woongki. 

His final speech is at 1:39:55 and it’s great. He says, “When I said that I would appear on Boys Planet, people told me that what I want is different from what I can do, that my time is up, and that I would learn to face reality. But I feel like that’s not true. Through Boys Planet, I was able to learn more about my potential as Cha Woongki. Woongki boy is just beginning. Thank you!” and then with a bright smile, he bows. Yeah, Woongki! 

Somi says, shaking a cue card in the air for emphasis, “Don’t give up on your dream!” And Woongki cheerfully says, “I won’t!” 

Finally, we announce 18th place, which means announcing 19th place at the same time. 

18th place turns out to be Na Kamden. Jay practically falls out of his chair in relief, and we see Z-bo’s face is lit up with happiness. Ollie gives him a congratulatory hug -- probably the whole English speaking crew got pretty close at the show. Other trainees gather to console Wang Zi Hao, who is taking it in stride, as he takes basically everything in life. 

Kamden says, “Honestly, when I wasn’t called before, I was organizing my thoughts and emptied myself of expectations.   But thank you so much for allowing me to stand on such a large stage as the final.” Then he adds in English, “Love you Mom!” and then in Korean says, “I made it to the final!” 

We check in with Wang Zi Hao. he says, in Chinese, “I was grateful to be able to experience these times together with everyone. I will treasure the fact that I was able to make good memories with you all at this starting point of my life. Thank you.” He’s such a sweetheart. Haruto mentioned that Wang Zi Hao joined Supercharger voluntarily in order to help Haruto -- isn’t that sweet. There’s often a G R E A T   A G E N C Y   R E S H U F F L I N G following a show like this, so I’m hoping that WZH ends up signing at another agency so we can see more of him in the future. 

Somi wishes the ten eliminated trainees the best, and we pan over them. Haruto seems to be having the worst time of it -- the rest saw it coming, at least. 

Here is the complete final ranking -- filling in the last few spots with some help from the internet. 

Sung Hanbin

Zhang Hao

Kim Jiwoong 

Kim Taerae

Han Yujin

Keita

Kim Gyubin

Ricky  

Seok Matthew

Hui

Park Hanbin

Park Gunwook

Jay

Yoo Seungeon

Yoon Jongwoo

Kum Junhyeon

Lee Jeonghyeon

Na Kamden

Wang Zihao

Cha Woongki

Hiroto

Haruto

Chen Kuan Jui

Lee Seunghwan

Seo Won

Ollie

Takuto

Zhang Shuai Bo

Sung Hanbin is 1,046,481 points* ahead of Hao, who is 816,760 points ahead of 3rd place. However, JiWoong, TaeRae, and Yujin are all within about 25,000 points of each other, making them virtually tied. Then there’s 432,355 points between Yujin and Keita, so that puts Keita down kind of a tier. Keita is only 51,928 points ahead of Gyuvin, making them almost tied. The next few ranks are all about 130k-150k apart from each other, like a stair case, but then there’s a big gap (311,148) between Matthew and Hui. But from Hui down to Na Kamden, they’re all pretty close together, like 6000-60,000 apart --  especially if you remember that Lee Jeonghyeon got that 200,000 point benefit. 

*I say points because they’re not straight up votes, due to the K/G weighting thing.

What I’m saying is that unless something drastic happens, I think that Sung Hanbin and Hao will be 1-2 on Friday; JiWoong, TaeRae, and Yujin all look like locks as well, and from Keita down to Matthew, things could easily move around, but it’s not looking super-duper likely that many people from Hui down to Kamden will end up in the top 9 -- unless Park Hanbin continues his meteoric rise and Matthew continues his sharp fall.  If you're curious, here's the ranking of the top 18 if only Korean votes decided things:

Sung Hanbin

Kim Tae Rae

Kim Gyu Vin

Han Yu Jin

Kim Ji Woong

Zhang Hao

Yoo Seung Eon

Na Kamden

Kum Jun Hyeon

Park Hanbin

Hui

Lee Jeong Hyeon

Ricky

Park Gunwook

Yoon Jong Woo

Seok Matthew

Keita

Jay

And here's the ranking if only Global votes decided things:

Keita

Zhang Hao

Sung Hanbin

Jay

Seok Matthew

Kim Ji Woong

Han Yu Jin

Ricky

Park Gunwook

Yoon Jong Woo

Kim Tae Rae

Hui

Kim Gyu Vin

Park Hanbin

Kum Jun Hyeon

Yoo Seung Eon

Lee Jeong Hyeon

Na Kamden

I'll let you draw your own conclusions from that.

So... the next phase is the one-pick vote. I could rant at length about how dumb the one-pick system is in terms of creating a sustainable group. Groups that are truly successful tend to have multiple members that are popular among fans. There’s a popular boy group that I personally like only 2 members of, so I really can’t consider myself a fan of that group. Meanwhile in Exo, I basically can’t pick a favorite because I really like almost all of them. So letting us vote for multiple members would tend to create a situation in which the group is all loved by all the fans.

The rest of the episode was the boys preparing for their next song, and I have to admit, I don’t much care about those two last songs. The performances happen AT the finale, once the audience has already voted, so there’s kind of no point to them.  

Here are the two groups for the two songs:

Hot Summer Sung Hanbin  Kim Taerae  Kim Ji Woong  Ricky  Lee Jeong Hyeon  Kim Gyuvin  Han Yujin  Keita  Yoon Jongwoo  

Jelly Pop Hui  Yoo Seung Eon  Zhang Hao  Park Gunwook  Kum Junhyeon  Park Hanbin  Jay  Na Kamden  Seok Matthew 

Who knows, maybe I’ll recap the rest later, but I wanted to get this posted. 

Hope you’re all doing well, and I hope that your one-pick makes it. 

#boys planet #haruto #sung hanbin #park hanbin #seok matthew #hui #ricky boys planet #kim gyuvin #na kamden #zhang hao #wang zi hao

[topguncortez]

Day 14: Die a hero or live long enough to become a villain ➣prompt: Desperate Measures ➣Character: Henry "Wolfman" Ruth ➣warnings: death, TOPGUN shit, dog fighting, missiles, guns ➣word count: 1.7k

|| masterlist || whumptober || whumptober masterlist || library page ||

Henry had a plan. He always had a plan, it was part of his jump as a RIO. He had to have a plan A-Z in case something went wrong. That’s what made him so good, and what gave him the ticket to TOPGUN with his pilot, Hollywood. But somewhere along the line, those plans that he had come up with on how to get win first at TOPGUN were thrown out the window when he fell for one of the other pilots. 

He hadn’t even noticed she was there until she giggled at his hard-on joke to Hollywood. He had turned around and noticed her blushing. Wolfman then turned back to the front with a blush on his own cheeks. It wasn’t that he hadn’t ever talked to a woman before, it was that most of the women in his small town in Texas he had grown up with. But there was something different about her though. He knew that whatever he did, he couldn’t screw it up. 

But somehow he managed to do exactly that. The very first day, he had pissed her off by saying something dumb in the locker room. He didn’t even know she was there until she slammed her door shut, and stormed out of the locker room. He sat up quickly from his spot on the bench, and caught a glimpse of her hair as she walked out. Hollywood let out a low whistle and laughed at his RIO. 

“You fucked up, Wolf,” Hollywood laughed. 

Later that night, Wolfman showed up at her door with flowers in his hand and his stetson on his head. She stared at him with a wild expression, her eyes looking at the white hat on his head. When Wolfman noticed her not saying anything, he quickly started talking, once again scraping the plan he had come up with in his head. He tensed when she stepped forward, but relaxed when she plucked the cowboy hat off his head and put it on her own. 

“You uh know what you just did?” He asked her. 

“Sure do,” She smiled, “Now. . . you going to stand there dazed and confused or come in?” 

Since that night, the two of them had been inseparable. Everyone quickly knew that Bronco was off limits when she walked in with Wolfman’s white stetson on her head, and sat down next to her RIO. She could hear the comments behind her, but didn’t let them both her. That was probably the best thing about her, she didn’t care what others said. 

Wolfman’s next plan was to propose to her. He knew that it might’ve been a little too soon, only having known each other for 10 weeks, but he had never been so sure about something in his life (other than joining the Navy). His plan was to do it after TOPGUN graduation. Y/N had placed second, right behind Iceman and Slider. Wolfman was fourth behind Maverick. Wolfman beamed with pride as Viper announced Bronco’s name at second place, and could see the shy smile on her features. She knew that she was rightfully in third, still considering Mav and Goose to be ahead of her. 

When they were dismissed and could begin drinking and partying, Wolfman stood up and walked over to her. They had managed to hide their relationship from the command team the whole time, knowing that if they found out they would be kicked out. Y/N was laughing with Iceman and Slider, when Wolfman walked over to them. Iceman whispered something in Y/N’s ear, and she looked over her shoulder to see Wolfman walking over to her with a bright smile. 

“Hey, congrats,” Wolfman said and hugged her. 

“Thank you, Wolf,” Y/N smiled. 

“Can I steal you for a-” 

“I hate to end the celebration early but we have a crisis situation that needs our attention,” Viper said, getting everyone's attention. Y/N and Wolfman shared a look before going over to where Jester and Viper were. 

“Iceman, Slider,” Jester said, reading out names and handing out orders, “Wolfman, Hollywood. . . Bronco.

“Here, sir,” Bronco said, taking her orders from Jester. Wolfman gently squeezed her hip as she ripped open the letter and read it. It was the exact same as the one Hollywood held in his hands, “So much as a day off.” She smiled up at Wolfman, “Come by later?” Wolfman nodded and gave her hip one more squeeze before walking off with Hollywood. 

But Wolfman’s plans were once again scrapped, due to the pilots having to leave that night to get to the middle of the Indian ocean. He saw Bronco sitting on the opposite side of the helicopter, looking tired as ever as she watched the never ending ocean. Once they landed, it was straight to their quarters for much needed sleep. The next day he only saw glimpses of her as they were briefed on the mission, and what they were to do. She was to fly solo, as her RIO was needed back on the ship for radio comms. 

“Whatever you’re planning, quit thinking it through so much,” Hollywood said as they were getting ready to go to the flight deck for pre-flight. 

“What do you mean?” Wolfman asked. 

“You have been planning something for the past couple days. I can tell, you are weirdly quiet. But quit trying to plan something perfect. Just go for it,” Hollywood explained, “She’s over there.” 

Wolfman looked across the flight deck and watched as she did her pre-flight check. Wolfman took a deep breath and walked across the deck towards her. Hollywood was right, he couldn’t keep waiting for the perfect moment to execute his plan. There was never going to be a perfect time, not with the crazy lives they lived. 

“Bronco!” Wolfman called out as he ran up to her. 

“Yeah?” Bronco said, handing her helmet to her warrant officer. Wolfman didn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around her waist and pull her in for a kiss. She squeaked in surprise but kissed him back, before realizing where she was. She put her hands on his chest and pushed him back softly, “What are you-”

“Marry me?” 

“What?! Henry, we are about to-” 

“Please, marry me?” Henry asked, and pulled away from her, and got down on one knee. She looked around and noticed some of the crew looking over at them, “I have been waiting for the right time, you know how I am with planning things, but I couldn’t get the timing and I-” 

“Yes.” 

“What?” 

“Yes, you fool! I’ll marry you!” She smiled, and Wolfman stood up from the ground and hugged her again. He grabbed her face and kissed her, “Mmm, now go! We have a mission to complete!” She shoved him gently towards his plane. 

“Start thinking of wedding plans!” Wolfman yelled as he ran over to his plane. Hollywood leaned against the side with a smirk on his face. He high fived his RIO, before turning to climb into the cockpit. 

Bronco bit back a smile as she climbed into her own cockpit and closed the canopy. Wolfman and Hollywood launched first, and Y/N said a small prayer as she watched their tomcat become airborne. She was next and watched as ground control gave her the sign to go. She had flown alone before, so this was nothing new to her, except the fact that she was now wanted back at home. She flew behind Hollywood, listening over comms as Wolfman searched the sky for the enemy. 

“They’re around here, I’ve got a hard on,” Wolfman said. 

“Sure that’s not because Bronco is right there,” Hollywood joked. 

“Save the locker room talk for later, boys,” Bronco said. 

“Shit tally two, ‘Wood, 5 oclock,” Wolfman said, and Bronco could see the two enemy MiGs right behind them. 

“Break left!” Bronco yelled. 

Hollywood listened and pulled the joystick to the left, trying to lose them. The MiGs were smart, and sped up, going right after the pilots. Wolfman panicked slightly, as he watched them close the gap. He repeated their numbers back to Hollywood as him and Bronco came up with a plan to try and intercept them. 

“Shit! Smoke in the air! Smoke in the air!” Wolfman cried out. 

“Deploying flares!” Bronco called out, and hit the flares to try and throw off the missile. 

The MiGs seemed to split, one on each of the pilots. Hollywood and Bronco did their best to try and stick by each other, hoping to get behind one of the MiGs to try and shoot it down, but they were staying too far behind them. It was too dangerous to try and drop down or pull up. Wolfman called out when they took enemy fire, and Bronco could hear the bullets hitting their plane. 

“Out of flares! Dammit!” Hollywood called out, “He won’t fucking leave!” 

“Hollywood, on my call, break left and pull up high and tight,” Bronco said, seeing a gap in the position of the MiGs. She could hear the beeping of the MiG trying to get missile lock on them. 

“I don’t like-” 

“Just do it. . . now!” Bronco called out as she heard that loud familiar blare of the alarm letting them know they were in total missile lock. 

“Y/N, don’t!” Wolfman yelled out, but it was too late. He could see the look of determination on her face as she dropped into intercept the missile that was headed straight for them.  “No!” Wolfman closed his eyes at the sound of the missile and the plane as they collided. He pressed his hand to the canopy, looking as her plane split into two and hurled towards the ocean in a fireball. 

“Eject! Eject, Bronco!” Wolfman’s voice cracked. 

“Mayday! Mayday! We are totally covered by enemy MiGs, Bronco has been shot down. I repeat, Bronco has been shot down,” Hollywood called out, “Can’t take much more of this shit! Wolf! I need you!” 

Wolfman nodded, and pulled back from the side of the canopy. He wiped a tear from his cheek and went back to looking at the radar. He rambled off some numbers to Hollywood, and then went back looking over the side, only seeing a black cloud of smoke rising from the ocean.

#top gun #top gun fan fic #top gun fan fiction #top gun imagine #top gun 1986 #wolfman #wolfman fan fic #wolfman fan fiction #wolfman imagine #wolfman x reader #Henry ruth #Henry ruth fan fic #Henry ruth fan fiction #Henry ruth imagine #Henry ruth x reader #herny wolfman ruth

[suck4angststory]

Ambrosia (Series)

[Ambrosia means "immortality" in Greek; it is derived from the Greek word ambrotos ("immortal"), which combines the prefix a- (meaning "not") with mbrotos ("mortal").]

Pairing: Nick 'Goose' Bradshaw x Fem!Reader (Past), Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw x Fem!Reader

Author Note: This series is inspired by the movie 'The Age of Adaline'. If you want to be tagged, just let me know in the comment.

Ambrosia Masterlist

Prologue

***

San Diego, 2019

Natasha 'Phoenix' Trace walked side by side with a woman in a Navy blue gown with glitter on them. "Natasha, I think I don't belong here. All of them is Naval related. And I'm a tad overdressed" the woman told her, she glances at the hallway where the people dressed in suit and dress. Natasha rolled her eyes at her, she wear a grey cocktail dress, she then looped her arm with a woman beside her. They walked into the hall through the ballroom where the party is held.

"You are related to me. C'mon, Nana promised to me as my date to this party" She pouted and give her puppy dog eyes. The woman she called 'Nana' let out a sigh and place her hand on her cheek and caress it. "Okay darling, I'll try to acclimate myself with them" she smiled at Natasha. "Yea, you're the best Nana in the world." Natasha hugs her side and the woman caresses her back.

"And you're not overdressed, you're beautiful. I think you'll take one of the men in here, probably two and sleep with them." Natasha smiles teasingly and shrugs nonchalantly which makes her Nana let out a gasp. "Excuse me, young lady, I would never do such a thing like that"

"If I aged like you, I would sleep with every man I met. And living my life like there's no tomorrow" Phoenix daydreams. Her Nana just chuckles and they continue walking inside the ballroom.

Inside the ballroom, is filled with Navy soldiers. Natasha looked around when she spotted a man wearing a blue tuxedo and glasses on his face waving at her, she walked to his table with her Nana following her. Natasha sits beside the man and her Nana followed to sit beside her.

"Hey, Bob" Natasha hugs Bob's side and he hugs her back. Natasha then turn to another person that sat across the table.

"Hey Fanboy, Payback" She waves at them.

"Hey Phoenix"

"Hey"

They greet her back. "So, who's on your side" Fanboy jutted his head to her Nana and grinned while he check her out.

"Oh, this is my cousin, Diana Ross" Diana extend her hand to Fanboy. "Nice to meet you..," Diana lifts her eyebrows waiting for him to tell her his real name.

"Mike, but it's okay if you want to call me Fanboy" Fanboy take his hand and shakes it. Payback takes Diana's hand from Fanboy.

"Reuben or Payback, whatever you like to call me" he winks at her. Diana just give him a small and shook his hand. She then turns to Bob, Bob who's busy fixing his tie, then whipped his head when he saw someone's hand in front of him. He looked at Diana with wide eyes but Diana just smiles sweetly at him with her hand still extended to him.

Bob then took her hand "oh sorry, I'm-I'm Robert or Bob" he smiled at her.

"It's okay, Robert, I'm Diana Ross, Natasha Cousin" She turned her head to Natasha. Bob smile sheepishly at her. She retreats her hand back.

Then, unexpectedly someone sit beside Diana, he wore a black tuxedo with a bow tie and a glass of Champagne in his hand. He placed the glass on the table and turn to Diana.

"Hello, Lieutenant Jake Seresin, at your service Ma'am" he gives his hand to her. Diana lift her eyebrows to him and stared at his extended hand.

"Hangman, you're not invited in here" Phoenix interject and rolled her eyes at him. Hangman lowered his hand to the table.

"Is she with you?" he looked pass Diana to Phoenix, he looked at Diana "Are you with her sweetheart?"

Diana smile politely at him and placed her hand on her chest "I'm Diana Ross, Natasha Cousin"

"Oh you two are Cousin, couldn't believe it, a beautiful woman like you is related to her" he give her a smug smile. Natasha that heard that just rolled her eyes at him. Hangman is just being Hangman.

Diana smiled and turned her attention to Jake "Thank you for calling me beautiful, Lieutenant Seresin, but I believe every woman is beautiful because it is just desperate men that would compare them when they cannot get the women they want"

Everyone on the table looked at Diana with wide eyes, Fanboy snorted, Payback let out cheering, and Phoenix bit back a laugh.

Jack's smile faltered, he took his drink in one swig and gulp them down. He then gets up from their table and walked away. Diana smiled and shake her head. They begin to talk, but not with Diana, she didn't know what to say in their conversation because the conversation is about their latest mission. She sipped her champagne quietly and looked around the room. When her eyes wandered around, she meet with pair of green eyes that looked at her across her table, but when she looked, the owner turn his attention back to his plate.

He wears a black tuxedo with a bowtie, she saw him sit with men more older and in a higher position than him, he was probably one of their relatives. Diana turned back to her table and hide a smile.

After a while just to hear their conversation, she got up and took all of the attention at the table and make their conversation stop immediately.

"Where are you going?" Natasha asked when she was already in a standing position. Diana smiled and placed her hand on her shoulder.

"Outside, I just wanna take some air," She told her. Natasha frowned but nodded "Okay, just don't go too far". Diana nodded and walked outside the Ballroom.

***

Diana stood on the balcony of the hotel, watching the night of San Diego with waves hitting the shore as the sound of it. She stares at the night sky, lost in thoughts until someone interrupted her.

"Are you alone? Did you need company?" A man with blonde hair stood outside the door to Balcony. She looked at him and smile politely. "No, Thankyou, I just want to be with myself" Diana turned back again to watch the dark beach.

"I can give you company" Diana takes a step back when the man begins to walk toward her. But a voice interrupted him.

"The lady said, she doesn't want company. So you better get the fuck away from here" The man that she saw inside the ballroom walked toward the man with threatening looks. The man looked at him with wide eyes, terrified, and run away from them.

Diana now saw how she looked clearly, dark blond hair that almost brown, his moustache that adorns his face matching his hair colour, tanned skin, and kissable lips. She was stunned when she saw his features, but his voice snapped her out. "There you go, Ma'am. The floor is yours"

"Thank you" the man shove his hands in his suit pants and walked backwards. He nodded and give her a side smile."No problem, Ma'am" He turned around and leave her alone on the balcony. Diana shakes her head and turns again to watch the sky.

***

Diana step inside the lift and stood in it. She told Natasha she want to leave early because she have a headache that bother her. Natasha want to leave with her but she reassured her that she would be fine alone. Besides, she didn't want to interrupt her reunion with her squad, she decided to come in here because she just can't say no to her granddaughter.

A voice called out before the lift door closed. "Hold the lift!" Diana push the button to make the lift door open again. A man that helped her before stepping inside the lift. Diana steps aside to make a room for the man.

"Thank you" he smiled at her, Diana smiled back at him and they ride the lift in silence.

"I'm Bradley by the way." The man turned to her, but Diana didn't reply. "I saw you with Phoenix and the other back there" Bradley continued.

Diana turned to him "Yeah, she wants me to be her plus one" she smiled politely.

"Are you two..?" He lift her eyebrows and waited for her answer. Diana smiled sweetly. "No, I'm her cousin. Diana Ross" she placed her hand on her chest.

"Diana Ross? Like The Supremes personil" Bradley chuckled. Diana turned to him again and lift her eyebrows, surprised. "You know The Supremes?"

"Baby love, my baby love,

Why must we separate, my love,

All of my whole life through,

I never loved no one but you,

Why you do me like you do?

I get this need.

Ooh, ooh, need to hold you,

Once again, my love,

Feel your warm embrace, my love" he sing Baby Love by The Supremes in high pitched voice. Diana laughed impressed by his imitation of Diana Ross's part in the song.

"Wow, who hurt you.?" She chuckles. Bradley let out a chuckle "Nah, I just like to hear their song. I have their vinyl back home" he shrugs.

Diana nodded and turn her head back staring at the closed lift door " It's not common for people of your generation to recognise Diana Ross as The Supremes. They just know her as a singer Diana Ross"

"Your generation?" Bradley turned to her, but Diana refused to answer and looked uncomfortable. Bradley decided not to interject her any further. He clears his throat and shoves his hands in his Suit pants pocket. "That's why they name you Diana Ross because you like to hear her, huh?" The lift door opened and Diana looked at the floor number.

Diana turned to him and smiled politely "You could say that, Excuse me, Lieutenant" she walked past him. Bradley inhaled deeply at her scent. Lost in her scent he didn't aware that she already walked outside of the hotel.

Bradley that snap when he hear the lift door begin to closed, runs to catch her. When he's outside, she was already inside the cab. When the cab begins to drive away, he jumps in front of them and makes the driver hit the break abruptly.

"C'mon man, if you want to do suicide, please not with my car, will ya?" The driver shouts out to him inside the car. But Bradley just gestures his hand to tell him to wait a second. Bradley walked to the back seat where Diana shake her head at his actions. Bradley knock at her window and Diana lowered it.

Bradley breathing heavily, and his hair is damp with sweat. He lowered to her eye level and smile at her. " can I-can I ask for your number?" He asked breathlessly. Diana shake her head and smiled politely at him.

"Good Bye Lieutenant, Thank you once again. Please drive, sir" Diana raised her window closed and her cab begin to drive away leaving him alone on the sidewalk.

Bradley smiles and shakes his head. He wouldn't give up, he definitely will have her number.

****

Annapolis, Maryland, 1979.

Nick Bradshaw and Pete Mitchell wandered around the sidewalk. They dressed casually. Nick followed Pete lazily. "Pete, we're gonna get expelled if they know we're outside at this time" Nick looked over his shoulder, scared someone gonna follow them. They just got accepted to Naval Academy a month ago, and now his roommate wants to take him outside, he says he wants to buy a shoe that he saw on his way to the Academy on the first day.

But Nick knows, he just one to meet a girl he never shut up about this week that he met during their morning run in the neighbourhood. "Relax, Nick. If you go out with me, no one gonna know, and we're gonna be fine" Pete tries to put his hand on Nick's shoulder but since Nick is taller than him, he just pats his shoulder.

"Huft.." Nick let out a sigh and he walked side by side with Pete. When they walked near an alley, they heard a woman screaming. "Help me!!"

They stared at each other and run to the voice when they arrive outside of the alley, they saw a woman pinned by a man on the wall.

"Hey!" They screamed and the mugger run away scared of their voice. They run to the woman.

"Thank you." (Y/N) try to stand up properly but the mugger sprained her ankle in the process.

"Are you okay?" Nick looked at her concern, when (Y/N) saw his eyes, she got sucked in them. She has never seen a beautiful eye like him.

"Hey, your head is bleeding" Her friend's voice startled her. He pointed to her forehead. (Y/N) lift her hand to her forehead and saw there's a lot blood in her hand.

"It's fine" (Y/N) waves her hand to him and tries not to wince but it is still out of her mouth when she tries to stand up properly.

"No, It's a deep cut. I think you need stitches" Nick told her softly.

"We should take you to the hospital" Pete try to touch her shoulder but she back away. "No, not hospital" she shakes her head but it just makes the blood pour more and her head feels dizzy now. The blood begin to trailed down to her cheek.

"Why? You're freaking bleeding. You'll lose blood" Pete exclaimed. But his voice just scared her. She looked at him with wide eyes.

"Hey, if you don't get stitches, you'll lose a lot of blood. And you're gonna pass out" Nick tries to tell her in a calm voice, but his voice came out pleading.

"I'll be fine, you can take me to the Clinic on the corner, I work as a nurse there" She jutted her chin. Nick nodded and back away to give her room. She wipe the blood that got on her chin.

"Okay, can you walk?" He asked with concern. (Y/N) then try to stand up properly again but she gives her sprained ankle a pressure that makes her winces. "Aw shit!"

"You can hop onto my back" Nick then turns back and kneel in front of her. He pointed to his back.

"No, I'm gonna stain your shirt" (Y/N) declined and decide to stand up again but it just get worse.

"It's good then. It is better than I have to watch you die bleeding in this alley alone, helpless" Nick looked over his shoulder and shrugged.

Pete folded his arms on his chest and rolled his eyes at them. "She definitely gonna die if you guys keep talking and eye fucking each other"

They break their staring and (Y/N) looked down to hide her blushing. Pete then helped her to hop onto Nick's back. She circles her arms on Nick's neck and carefully presses her chin on her shoulder. Nick placed his arms under her knees and they begin to walk out of the Alley.

****

Pete waited in the hall in the Clinic while Nick brought her to the room that she pointed before. A middle-aged nurse that sat behind the desk looked at them with wide eyes, she adjust her glasses and follow them to the blue clinic bed.

Nick placed (Y/N) carefully and kneel to help her to remove her flat shoes.

"My god, (Y/N) what happened?" Donna, her co-worker stared at her with wide eyes, she places her hand on her mouth.

"She almost got mugged" Nick stood up and stared at the woman. He then sits beside (Y/N)

"Oh my god, are you okay sweetie? Oh god," Donna placed both hands on (Y/N) biceps and examined her.

"Did she look, okay? Her forehead is bleeding and she needs stitches, immediately. Maybe you can start worrying after you stitch her" Nick didn't want to be rude, but (Y/N) is in a lot of pain at this moment. She needs to be stitched as soon as possible.

Donna stared at him with wide eyes, shocked, but nodded "Okay" she then walked away to get her cart.

"Thank you" Nick smiled sweetly at her. He then looked at (Y/N) that bit her lip to bite back the smile.

Donna then backs with a cart. Donna take the gauze and alcohol to clean her blood. When they clean, Donna takes out a needle and yarn to stitch her.

"It's gonna hurt, Sweetie, because we run out of the anaesthetic" (Y/N) nodded, she know because this Clinic rarely got patients that need stitches. The last time someone needs stitches is two years ago and it was Donna's husband that hit his head with their kitchen cupboard.

"Here, hold my hand" Nick place his hand on (Y/N) lap, and she looked at him with wide eyes, Nick nodded at his hand and (Y/N) laced her fingers with his. Donna starts to stitch her up and every time the needle through her skin she'll wince and squeeze Nick's hand hard. She released his hand when Donna was done with her stitches.

"There, you're patched up again." Donna closed her stitches with gauze. Donna tidies up her cart.

"Thank you, Donna." (Y/N) placed her hand on Donna's arms and squeeze it a bit. Donna smiled and nodded.

"Thank you, Donna" Nick smiled at her but Donna smiled flattered when she looked at him. Donna looked away from him and walked with her cart leaving them.

Nick frowned and let out a sigh. (Y/N) chuckle "You don't have to be mean to her, she just worried about me"

"She can worry after this" Nick shrugged and move his legs back and forth that hanging on the bed.

"Thank you by the way" (Y/N) turned to Nick.

"You're welcome. Nick Bradshaw" Nick gives his hand to her.

"(Y/N) (Y/L/N)" She take his hand and smiled and looked at him.

(Y/N) didn't realise that this was a mistake that'll cost her in the future.

#top gun maverick #bradley rooster bradshaw #bradley bradshaw fic #bradley bradshaw x female reader #bradley bradshaw #bradley bradshaw x y/n #rooster x f!reader #bradley rooster bradshaw x female reader #rooster x female reader #nick bradshaw x female reader #nick bradshaw x y/n #nick goose bradshaw