An untimely blizzard forces Jamie’s hand to do the one thing he never thought he would again: spend the night at Gary’s place.
He can still barely feel his toes, and when he steps out of his shoes his wet socks leave marks on Gary’s floor. “Right,” Gary says, polite and business like, as he carefully hangs the keys on their hook by the door. “I can take your coat and I imagine you fancy a shower.” He takes Jamie’s coat and disappears upstairs with a speed that would have made Sir Alex proud in their playing days.
hello! i'm officially opening a new FOOTBALL RPF PROMPT (AND/OR KINK) MEME HERE and i invite you to leave a prompt or write a fic, as short or as long as you want to.
it's open to any and all prompts regardless of team or ship, active or retired players.
new season, new yaoi, would love to see you over at the meme!
standing tall (1313, marcheron) - fic about marchy walking onto the ice as captain for the first time. fic that got me added to the bruins writing server somehow (??? !!!!!!)
crossing the line (2542, sidcros/nhl official) - remember that time the linesman stuck his hand down sid's pants last season? porn. about that
as dogs it makes sense (8369, swaymark, ONGOING) - goalie nesting au set at the end of last season. they both start at the same time. good for world-building i hear
i'll keep the king (3572, marcheron) - knight!marchy realizes something has replaced his king, bruins captain!bergy isn't in kansas anymore. world-building abound
as in love or sleep (4214, swaymark) - hyper catboy!ully wakes sway up in the small hours of the morning. they are unbearably in love (there's some world-building in here too)
i knead you (3426, pasta/tuukka) - catboy tuukka kneads pasta (chapter 1) and then needs him (chapter 2)
my heart's an autoclave (1117, debrusk/cmac) - another short and sweet! its locker room clean-out and far too late for charlie to be in love with jake
i loved you like the sun (1048, willypasta) - short and sweet bedsharing from rookies to grown adults. sun/moon element thrown in because i can't deny lav anything
with a heart that won't show its face (35450, swaymark) - The Big One. sway learns how to be a decent omega ally through the power of being down so bad. there may possibly be a touch of world-building in this one also
someone to lose (1363, swaymark) - short and sweet, sway is harassed by the bruins' social media manager until he's ready to face the concept of change and also make a bad tiktok
nothing else to give (1334, btkachuk/qhughes) - short and sweet for lav again, best friends who are pining for each other but won't do anything about it vibes
some of these children end up just like me (1031, btkachuk/qhughes) - short and sweet for lav again again; some high school flavored homophobia and pining
held / felled (1027, swaymark) - omega!ully taking sway for a ride. salvaged from a longer fic i will hopefully one day post
Carraville is like. What if you and I were the opposite sides of the same coin, what if we understood and challenged and completed each another, and we could have found one another much sooner, (how far is Liverpool to Manchester when you think about it?) played together on the same pitch like brothers, and more, under the same floodlights with the wind and a never ending song of a sea of red and white in the stands in our ears, when we were younger and unbruised, and that fire in your gut that I'm in awe of every day means we never could have.
And isn't it beautiful in its own way, the long road we took to one another? That you were there for me when I hung up my boots and the ground was still so very shaky under my feet, showing me the ropes in a television studio? Isn't it beautiful too how we had to build this thing between us from the ground up, casting aside a history of differing shades of red? The world starts and ends in a football pitch when you play and the after, the retirement you know is coming, and even long for sometimes, is a dark unknown netherworld. Isn't it beautiful that in it, I found you? I love you. And I could never look you in the eye and say those three words to you with the gravity they deserve, but do i need to? Tell you? When every quip we make when the cameras are rolling - and when they aren't - every hand i put on your arm, every football argument and late night drink and early morning workout, every smile tells you the same without words, over and over and over again? I found you too late. I found you exactly when I needed to. Isn't it a strange and bewildering thing, how unlikely and fierce and beautiful that is?
standing tall (1313, marcheron) - fic about marchy walking onto the ice as captain for the first time
crossing the line (2542, sidcros/nhl official) - remember that time the linesman stuck his hand down sid's pants last season? porn. about that
as dogs it makes sense (8369, swaymark, ONGOING) - goalie nesting au set at the end of last season. they both start at the same time. good for world-building i hear
i'll keep the king (3572, marcheron) - knight!marchy realizes something has replaced his king, captain!bergy isn't in kansas anymore. world-building abound
as in love or sleep (4214, swaymark) - hyper catboy!ully wakes sway up in the small hours of the morning. they are unbearably in love (there's some world-building in here too)
i knead you (1155, pasta/tuukka) - part of my short and sweet prompt fill series. catboy!tuukka uses pasta's curls as stress relief
my heart's an autoclave (1117, debrusk/cmac) - another short and sweet! its locker room clean-out and far too late for charlie to be in love with jake
i loved you like the sun (1048, willypasta) - short and sweet bedsharing from rookies to grown adults. sun/moon element thrown in because i can't deny lav anything
with a heart that won't show its face (35450, swaymark) - The Big One. sway learns how to be a decent omega ally through the power of being down so bad. there may possibly be a touch of world-building in this one also
someone to lose (1363, swaymark) - short and sweet, sway is harassed by the bruins' social media manager until he's ready to face the concept of change and also make a bad tiktok
the bruins fic exchange reveals in TWO hours. its on anon for the first week so you'll have to guess which one is mine but i doubt it will be that hard god bless
I hung out with @k-ky all day and she literally activated the sleeper carraville agent that lives inside my brain at all times. I really and truly do not have time to start on a whole new WIP right now, so please enjoy this little 1k teaser in the meanwhile.
By the time Jamie parked the car and trudged to the house, the front door was already open with Gary looming behind. Between the dusk falling quietly outside and the hallway light he had not bothered to turn on, the way he would not meet Jamie’s eyes, he resembled a ghost. Jamie ignored the raw spot the thought touched in his chest—the still too fresh panic a call from the hospital saying that your friend collapsed tends to inspire.
“Traffic was mad.” He chuckled as he walked in. It sounded strained and echoed ominously in Gary’s minimalist, unpleasant house. “I should have honestly taken the train.”
Honestly, if Gary had died and come back as a ghost, he would be a poltergeist. An annoying, self-righteous, argumentative poltergeist that drives property values down by his sheer potential to drive any people unfortunate enough to buy the house up the wall. Neither did he bother to so much as crane his neck to look at Jamie as he led them into the bowels of the house.
“Thought you’d changed your mind.”
Jamie rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well, it was a close thing,” he huffed, and regretted it instantly when Gary’s step faltered. It was a fucking joke. After everything they have been through, did he, could he think–
And while he meant no disrespect to the witches, Jamie struggled to understand why they had to drag him into the curse they rightfully wanted to cast upon Gary. Bloody hell. “But if you died, who would I rib after every time United bottle yet another game?”
With that they reached the living room. Gary sat down on the sofa and for the first time since Jamie came in, deigned to meet his eyes. It wasn’t just the light, he definitely looked haggard. His ugly face pale and with deep bruises under his eyes. He wasn’t happy either, judging by the thin line of his mouth.
If anything I am shocked that it took you this long to get yourself cursed, the way you carry on, was what Jamie wanted to say but someone needed to be the adult in the room so he held his tongue, choosing to plop himself down on the sofa next to Gary instead. He wrapped a firm arm around Gary’s shoulder and popped his feet on the coffee table.
“Get your feet down,” was all the thanks Gary could be bothered to give, alongside a vicious poke at his ankle with his big toe.
“No, you get your feet up.”
“I don’t know how you live in Bootle, but we for one have standards here–”
“No, you idiot, we ought to maximise the surface area, innit?”
“You mean–?”
“Press our legs together, yeah.”
Whatever little colour there was in Gary’s face drained at Jamie’s words. It was daft—it was so mind-bogglingly daft that Jamie had no words for it—but then again, they were ex-footballers for God’s sake. They had spent 30-odd years watching their teammates strut around naked in the showers, getting pulled into hugs and shoving and, in Gary’s case, cuddling up with Beckham to watch telly. Sure the two of them did not hug, and Jamie did not cuddle with blokes, but given they were where they were, neither was there any reason for—this. To act like petulant children. Or prisoners on death row.
Jamie glared at him, withdrawing his arm.
“I’m sorry, do you want to die?”
Not really, but I want to cuddle with you even less, the dark look that crossed Gary’s face seemed to say.
The git. He just had to be so stubborn about everything, make life as difficult as possible for whoever was trying to give him a hand.
Jamie closed his eyes, breathing through his nose to try and get a lid on the anger he felt burning in every cell of his body. Honestly, who in their right mind would pick an argument for example with a coven of witches on the definition of what constituted witchcraft in the first place?
But when he explained the curse, and what seemed to keep Gary alive, his mum had smiled and said– he is lucky to have a friend like you then, isn’t he? And Beckham, who for some reason felt he had the right to give Jamie a call, let alone to order him around, had said– cut him some slack will you, it’s a bit awkward for him. And yeah, if Jamie put himself in Gary’s shoes, he could see why having to–
“Look,” he said through gritted teeth, his eyes still shut. “I don’t like this either but you are my friend and I happen to care about you. You scared the hell out of me, Gary. And if this is what we have to do to manage until we find a way to break the curse, I’d–” His voice betrayed him, crushed under the weight of a singular truth. Taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes and looked at Gary. “I’d do anything, alright? And I think you’d do the same for me, if our places were swapped. So.”
Gary nodded, very faintly. Is it so awful, Jamie wondered, having to cuddle with me that you made me say all of that out loud? Even at the hospital, when he was quite out of it, he had tried to protest, to push him away. Said, I can’t.
“Take off your shoes.”
Cut him some slack. Yeah.
Jamie did as he was told. Besides, for one of the few times in his life, he wasn’t sure he had any more words in him left. Gary was already taking off his own.
When he was done he put his feet up on the coffee table and Jamie followed suit, shifting closer towards him to bring their bodies flush against one another. With one hand he turned the telly on while the other arm he wrapped around Gary’s shoulder again. Gary for his part even made a tiny effort to lean into the touch this time, whether from guilt or self-preservation, Jamie could not tell.
All these years they’d known each other—and Jamie could count the number of times they hugged on one hand. In Valencia, after that defeat, once. Once when Jamie had been hammered out of his mind in London—though that was more Gary taking on his weight as he half-carried Jamie back to the hotel than anything else. He’d been warm beside him then, too, like he was now, strong, a little soft, just—good.
The two of them fit. There was no use thinking about that. They certainly did not fit in this way. He could smell Gary’s aftershave, feel his shoulders rise and fall with each breath. It felt awful--a force threatening to rip apart the walls of his cells.
No wonder, he thought, no fucking wonder.
Next time, he would make sure to get laid before coming over, so his body would not mistake affection, at once mechanical and friendly, for genuine desire.
this week's theme was ✨ hurt/comfort and/or whump ✨ but before then let me plug @bostonbruinsficexchange - the sign ups for are currently open for this bruins-specific fic exchange. please come join, it will be a blast!
be for real by blindbatalex || marcheron || 8,523 words || reccer's notes: This gave me the worst case of brain rot that I've experienced in a long time and I'm still suffering from it, I'm p sure it's terminal. Made me fuckin neurotic, I don't think I'll ever be normal about it. I literally messaged a friend about it and she doesn't even follow any of this stuff just sat there for like 2 hours listening to me rant. I will never recover and it's your fault 🫵
Crash Into Me by @thebluejayawe || marcheron || 1,829 words || reccer's notes: this is thee comfort fic for me and has been since I got the notification for it one late night while on an uber home after a very long and frustrating day at work - and the actual hospital scene in it? fucking showstopping, brilliant, incredible, I have no words.
fight until you don’t fade away by Maeve_of_Winter || prefix boys; marcheron || 46,549 words
Found by @thebluejayawe || bergy & zee; marcheron || 4,194 words || reccer's notes: written for my first lovely bruins bestie alex, and the thing that got me into Bergy hurt/comfort
Highway by Aaron_The_8th_Demon || marcheron || 3,259 words || reccer's notes: really enjoyed this - between the hurt/comfort and the fact that Bradley would, in fact, pull something like this
How do you live with the team knowing you failed yourself? by @buck-stars || brandochard || 1,964 words || reccer's notes: It's placed after the Seattle game and Marchy has a little bit of self doubt about his status as Captain. Thankfully Brando (and the boys) catch him when he needs it. Just soft cuddles
like the old times by blindbatalex || marcheron || 2,690 words || reccer's notes: (I almost rec’ed this for magical au week but am glad I saved it for this week instead.) Love this fic for the economy of its worldbuilding, the cinematic way it opens _in media res_, the evocative details of its central scene (the falling snow! The fox! Down to the lack of smell!), the emotional whiplash—from panic and pain to soft wistfulness and love and back again and back again—it packs in less than 2700 words. Particularly this line, which kills me every single time: “Not to be scared. Never with me.”
someone (very much) like you by blindbatalex || marcheron || 3,541 words || reccer's notes: this fic holds a special place in my heart because it was the first time I let my dabble in (light) whump and indulgent h/c. and realised just how much I love writing from the pov of characters who are out of it, whether thru illness or injury
I don't have time to coordinate a server fic rec list this week, so instead, dear followers, let me turn the mic over to you.
Send me (anonymously if you would like!) any and all bruins and/or football rpf fic that is dear to your heart, with a note on why that is so if you would like, and I will publish it here ❣️
Hello - this is a bit out of the blue but tumblr just served me the 🌹 snippet you shared for the marcheron curse au a few days ago thru the tag (which I follow) and it looks so delicious, I'd love to know more about it! As well as whether you have fic for them on ao3 👀 (can you tell that I'm a bit of a vacuum for the two of them heheh 😅)
hiiii!! sorry for the late answer (😅), but yes, i’d be more than happy to tell you about the fic!
so, of course, being a curse fic, this takes place in a sort of modern with magic au. it starts out with the bruins having just won a home game against the flyers (sorry, flyers fans, this fic is not exactly kind to you), and they’re all about to crash into the locker room to debrief and get to celebrating when patrice, one of the only players on the team who’s a magic-user, senses the presence of a curse hanging over the locker room. a bad one. there’s much panic that follows this, of course - assuming that the curse has been cast over the locker room itself, and knowing that curses cast over a location will just randomly attach itself to people who enter the space he gets the few players who went into the locker room ahead of him back over the threshold, blocks the entrance for the rest of the team, and after explaining the situation since most of the team is confused and concerned as to how he’s acting (brad most of all, naturally), gets someone to run and get one of the trained team mages so they can diffuse the curse.
only, they have a weird amount of trouble doing it. there are several tried-and-true methods that can diffuse any spell cast over a location, curse or not, as long as it hasn’t already attached to someone, but it takes a while for any of them to work when the team mages try them. eventually, though, the energy of the curse is gone from hanging over the locker room, so everyone figures one of the dissipation rituals must have worked and patrice can finally relax. and if he gets a weird, sickly feeling in his stomach as he’s saying goodnight to brad, a feeling that somehow seems like his inner magic trying to tell him something, well, he ignores it, because the curse is gone now, right?
but then, the next morning when he’s getting ready to leave for practice, brad doesn’t text him like he usually does. and when he gets to the garden, already a bit late because he’s been worrying about brad not texting him, he’s told that brad hasn’t shown up yet either, and suddenly, like his inner magic slapping him in the face, the odd feeling he got last night makes sense. the curse hadn’t been cast over the locker room - it had been cast on brad, but since the caster couldn’t get to him personally, they’d cast it in the locker room and let it wait to get hold of him. that’s why none of the team mages’ rituals worked, and the only reason they thought they’d worked was because the curse had latched onto its intended target.
and so patrice, now filled with horror at what a curse that had felt that bad against his own magic might be doing to his best friend, rushes straight back out of practice and to brad’s house, only to find him curled up on his bedroom floor, running a fever and seeming to be having horrifying hallucinations that have him crying and alternating between begging somebody to stop and telling them he’s sorry for something that patrice can’t figure out. panicking yet again, he calls linus, another of the team’s magic-users, and tells him what’s going on. after a break while linus confers with the team mages and patrice attempts to care for brad when he has a break of lucidity, only to start hallucinating again soon after, linus gets back to him… only to tell him that brad has been struck with one of the worst curses imaginable, one that leaves the victim hallucinating their worst fears until their body gives out from sheer terror - and one that has no known counter-curse or cure.
and so patrice is left in brad’s house, trying to keep him alive and as comfortable as possible given the circumstances while the team’s magic-using players and mages attempt to figure out a way to get rid of the curse. and all the while, patrice is left thinking about how the one guaranteed way to get rid of any curse, no matter how bad, is through true love’s kiss, something that’s so rare it’s barely even tried as a counter-spell.
he’s also left thinking about the fact that he’s been in love with brad for years, and wondering if it would be worth the heartbreak to try the cure if brad doesn’t love him back.
and to answer your question, no, i sadly don’t have any fic on ao3 for them yet (😔). i’m still relatively new to hockey, but i am working on quite a few wips right now, so hopefully this and other marcheron fics will be up on my ao3 soon!
thanks so much again for the ask, and i hope you’re doing well!! <3
this week's theme was ✨ hurt/comfort and/or whump ✨ but before then let me plug @bostonbruinsficexchange - the sign ups for are currently open for this bruins-specific fic exchange. please come join, it will be a blast!
be for real by blindbatalex || marcheron || 8,523 words || reccer's notes: This gave me the worst case of brain rot that I've experienced in a long time and I'm still suffering from it, I'm p sure it's terminal. Made me fuckin neurotic, I don't think I'll ever be normal about it. I literally messaged a friend about it and she doesn't even follow any of this stuff just sat there for like 2 hours listening to me rant. I will never recover and it's your fault 🫵
Crash Into Me by @thebluejayawe || marcheron || 1,829 words || reccer's notes: this is thee comfort fic for me and has been since I got the notification for it one late night while on an uber home after a very long and frustrating day at work - and the actual hospital scene in it? fucking showstopping, brilliant, incredible, I have no words.
fight until you don’t fade away by Maeve_of_Winter || prefix boys; marcheron || 46,549 words
Found by @thebluejayawe || bergy & zee; marcheron || 4,194 words || reccer's notes: written for my first lovely bruins bestie alex, and the thing that got me into Bergy hurt/comfort
Highway by Aaron_The_8th_Demon || marcheron || 3,259 words || reccer's notes: really enjoyed this - between the hurt/comfort and the fact that Bradley would, in fact, pull something like this
How do you live with the team knowing you failed yourself? by @buck-stars || brandochard || 1,964 words || reccer's notes: It's placed after the Seattle game and Marchy has a little bit of self doubt about his status as Captain. Thankfully Brando (and the boys) catch him when he needs it. Just soft cuddles
like the old times by blindbatalex || marcheron || 2,690 words || reccer's notes: (I almost rec’ed this for magical au week but am glad I saved it for this week instead.) Love this fic for the economy of its worldbuilding, the cinematic way it opens _in media res_, the evocative details of its central scene (the falling snow! The fox! Down to the lack of smell!), the emotional whiplash—from panic and pain to soft wistfulness and love and back again and back again—it packs in less than 2700 words. Particularly this line, which kills me every single time: “Not to be scared. Never with me.”
someone (very much) like you by blindbatalex || marcheron || 3,541 words || reccer's notes: this fic holds a special place in my heart because it was the first time I let my dabble in (light) whump and indulgent h/c. and realised just how much I love writing from the pov of characters who are out of it, whether thru illness or injury
Hello everyone! Here we have the first post for the first year of the Boston Bruins fic exchange! We're a little new to this but we hope to have a lot of fun :)
ao3 || faq || rules || schedule || asks
Firstly -- This is an exchange event. You will be assigned to another creator to create something for, and vice versa. While we ask for prompts in your sign-up, this is not a prompt fest.
Schedule:
Nominations open: June 10
Nominations end: June 23
Signups start: June 23
Signups end: July 21
Assignments sent out by: July 28
Check in: September 1
Drafts due: September 15
Reveals: September 22
Author reveals: September 29
Rules:
1. Fics must be at least 1,000 words in length. There is no “maximum” limit.
2. This is a Bruins exchange. As such, all works should be about and include the Bruins. Current Bruin/current Bruin pairings are allowed. Current Bruin/former Bruin pairings are allowed. Former Bruin/former Bruin pairings are allowed. Current Bruin/non-Bruin pairings are allowed. Former Bruin/non-Bruin pairings are NOT allowed.
3. Please be considerate of the likes and dislikes your recipient provides, as well as any other information they give you to work with. We’ll do our best to match people up with things they’ll be excited about writing, but remember you are writing a gift to cater to someone else’s preferences. We expect all DNW's to be respected.
4. Do not post your fic anywhere else before reveals!
5. When posting, please tag appropriately. If you would prefer not to warn for the default archive warnings, use “Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings” instead of “No Archive Warnings Apply”.
6. No requests or offers about Milan Lucic are allowed.
A post with the full FAQ is on its way, as well as a small mod introduction! We have pushed back the nominations a little bit so people have more time and we can polish off all the sign-up information.
A (Little) Slice of Heaven by Anonymous || willypasta || 11,541 words || reccer's notes: this fic rewired my brain. I read it months and months and months ago and I have yet to recover. 11/10 I come back to it way more than I probably should
(and i’ve got a plane to catch) you drove me all the way back by @fvcking-damage || mcgryz || 2,862 words || reccer's notes: this is some self-indulgent mcgryz angst i wrote a couple of years ago, idk what i was writing out with this one but. yeah
and turns to dust by adjacently || Jordan Eberle/Taylor Hall || 2,130 words || reccer's notes: i can eat taylor hall angst for breakfast, lunch, and dinner
between your love and mine by @blindbatalex || willypasta || 6,360 words || reccer's notes: This is a story about trying to reconcile two sides of your identity that are at irreconcilable conflict with one another, and what having your wings clipped like that at a young age does to a person. I certainly broke my own heart while writing it.
dancing by @rasksmoustache || marcheron || 1,111 words || reccer's notes: This fic is so vivid and visceral and sad, it permanently altered my brain chemistry. Unrequited (but is it really?) marcheron which gets the feeling of loving someone and being just a little too late so so well
Done & Undone by @ghostgeno || marcheron || 14,428 words || reccer's notes: 2023 Game 7, the aftermath. Fair warning: I don’t reread this very often because of how effectively it puts you in Brad’s headspace immediately after the game, in brutal, excruciating detail. And yet. And yet. If you feel like being taken apart and then put back together, if you want to feel all the loss and tenderness and love that remains despite the loss, read this fic.
good at secrets by @fridgefishwrites || prefix boys; mcgryz || 4,017 words || reccer's notes: this fic meant (and means) so much to me because it just gets what trying to live your life and build something beautiful while faced with unrelenting homophobia is like. I love the non-linear narrative and the prefix boys but it was always Matt who stole the show for me in this story
like a stranger by blindbatalex || marcheron || 13,142 words || reccer's notes: not a fic alex hasn't read before (sorry bud) but i'm Obsessed with fics where the characters talk past each other and the angst compounds and this fic is a perfect example of that, amongst other things!!!
make no apologies by @sphesphe || marcheron || 3,757 words || reccer's notes: Brad gets himself suspended before the Winter Classic and Patrice takes it harder than he thinks he should. He plays it off as fine, things happen, just be better Marchy but it isn't true. He's angry. After the game, Brad stops by, they have a talk and lo and behold, feelings emerge! (And much more!)
Sixth Borough by bookhousegirl || Jimmy Hayes/Frank Vatrano || 3,067 words || reccer's notes: The third in a trilogy of fics featuring this pairing. This is a very quiet little vignette featuring two former Bruins who were not stars and did not end up experiencing great success in their time here. It exists entirely in the gray of adult complications and disappointments, and refuses any easy catharsis, and is beautiful for those reasons. For those of us who cared about the Bruins in the (relatively) dismal era between 2015-17 it may come across as a tiny time capsule; for everyone else, I hope the delicate way it honors the hopes and dreams of those who don’t become hometown heroes, who don’t get the happily everafter ending, stays with you.
Westward Expansion by bookhousegirl || Jimmy Hayes/Frank Vatrano || 3,625 words || reccer's notes: Jimmy stares out vacantly at the coaster climbing the track. “Just because we’re from the same place doesn’t mean we’re from the same place.” When Frank takes Jimmy to Six Flags, he expects it to be a fun day, showing Jimmy all the rides he used to love growing up. Jimmy is distracted though, melancholy because Frank has so much promise and Jimmy took so long to get to where he is.
Wolverine Feed by @sphesphe || swaymark || 10,659 words || reccer's notes: fic that makes me ill each and every time i think about it
