#bradwalt

[jalapeno-peaches-andhersheybars]

[sempr-gumby]

@aces-low you sent me a BradWalt ask and got me thinking about them having a daughter, so this happened. It fits into the Half Measures AU that I’ve kind of started here and here. Maybe someday I’ll write a full fledged fic for it!

[sempr-gumby]

Brad/Walt "Stop trying to cheer me up!"

So this starts out a bit angsty, but I promise it’s light-hearted in the end. Thank you so much for sending the prompt. Sorry it took so long to finish it!

“Yeah, he’s not doing great,” Walt whispered into his phone, even though there was no need to do so - the music Brad was blasting in the garage blocked out just about everything, which was probably what he was going for. It still felt kind of wrong to talk about Brad in such close proximity to the man.

“Still working on his bike?” Ray asked, concern coloring his voice. It had become necessary to call for backup when all of Walt’s attempts to un-fuck his boyfriend’s emotional state had failed. While couldn’t Ray be there in person - being on the opposite coast and living with Nate in a totally platonic roommate situation got in the way of that -  but he was available for phone consultation.

“It’s been 3 hours.”

“Shit.” Ray summarized, followed by crunching sounds.

“Are you eating right now?”

“Lay off homes, I’m fucking starving,” Ray’s words were garbled by what Walt assumed was a mouthful of chips, “and I’m on the other side of the country, so I can enjoy a snack and offer words of wisdom to help guide you through the wake of Brad’s latest ex-fiancee related breakdown.”

Walt swallowed, embarrassed to find that his eyes were stinging, “I have no idea what to talk to do here, Ray. He won’t fucking talk to me.”

Two days ago, Brad found out that his ex-fiancee and ex-best friend were expecting their first child via a facebook update featuring a block of text bursting with excitement and an ultrasound photo. Brad, being Brad, had given a them a call to congratulate them. Walt stood by, watching his boyfriend’s face as he made the call and the fake smile plastered across it - it was the smile that made him want shake the ex-fiancee/friend duo until they understood. Can’t you see how much you hurt him? How much you keep on hurting him?

Walt hadn’t pressed the issue after Brad finished his call, understanding that Brad wasn’t going to talk until he was good and ready. It felt wrong to do nothing though. In the meantime, he resolved to try to, at the very least, keep Brad’s mind off of the expectant parents. Walt’s first attempts were sex-related, which his boyfriend was amenable to during the first few hours after discovering the status. After Brad became disinterested in physical affection, Walt fell back onto his mother’s teachings on how to comfort the grieving - because he was pretty sure that’s what was going on here - and switched to food based distractions. He made Brad’s favorite meal for dinner, drove all the way out to the greasy little sub place he loved to grab him lunch, and even attempted an omelette - which he somehow always managed to fuck up.

All of Walt’s attempts were met with indifference - until this morning that is. Brad was up at the ass-crack of dawn, clearly planning to take advantage of every brooding hour the day had to offer. Since they were up anyways, Walt suggested that they go surfing. Brad leapt out of bed like he’d been shocked - Stop trying to cheer me up! - and stormed off to the garage. The heavy metal music started a few minutes later. A few hours later, Walt called Ray.

“Listen, Walt, you know he’s not actually mad at you right?” Ray asked, uncharacteristically soft.

Walt shrugged in response before remembering that Ray couldn’t actually see him, “Kinda seems like it.”

Ray sighed, “Want me to give him a call and rant at him a bit?”

“I want him to feel better, not worse.”

“Shut up, he fucking loves it and you know it,” a beat of silence passes between them, “Listen, I am unfortunately well acquainted with the inner machinations of our dear iceman. He’s the most insecure dude I’ve ever met in my life. He’s going to look at satan and her mister taking the next big step in their committed relationship and feel like his own is somehow inadequate and that it’s all his fault…Brad ruins shit so it can’t ruin him, you know?”

“I do,” Walt sat down on the front stoop of the small house he and Brad shared, having walked away from the garage, “So what do I do about it?”

“Don’t let him ruin it. Show him that you’re here to stay.”

Walt nodded, an idea starting to take shape, “Thanks Ray…I’m going to let you go and try something. Say hi to your boyfriend for me?”

“Sure - hey! No! Walt you fucker, that doesn’t count - ”

Walt hung up the phone, laughing softly to himself, and headed back into the house. This idea was something he’d been thinking of for a while. Granted, he imagined having a bit more time to plan and a more romantic setting, but the USMC had taught him flexibility, if nothing else. He searched the house high and low for a good stand in, finally finding something that would work in the pantry. Canned goods in hand, he headed out to the garage.

The first thing he did was unplug Brad’s stereo. The silence that rose up was almost as loud as the music itself. Brad set down the tools he’d been holding and wiped his hands on the pajama pants he hadn’t bothered to change out of after his early morning outburst. Walt could tell by his body language that he was nervous. Brad stood, stooped over slightly in an attempt to make himself smaller, with his hands shoved into this pockets. He probably thinks I came in here to dump him. Time to prove him wrong.

Walt knelt down on one knee and held out a can of sliced pineapples, “Brad - ”

“What the fuck, Walt - ”

Walt shushed him and Brad’s mouth snapped shut. He took a deep breath and continued, “Brad Colbert. Will you marry me?”

Brad stared at him and the can of pineapples for an uncomfortably long time before speaking up and when he did, he did so slowly, like he was attempting to process to much information at one time, “You want to marry me?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve been an asshole to you for several consecutive days and you’re proposing to me?”

Walt let out an exasperated sigh, “I love you. Even when you’re an asshole. Don’t get me wrong, you still owe me one hell of an apology, but none of the shit you pulled made me even consider the the thought of leaving you, not even for a second. It never has. I want us to spend the rest of our lives figuring out how to be better at this - better at us … Marry me?”

For a heart stopping moment Walt was sure Brad was going to turn tail and run, but he reached out his hand slowly, taking the can from him. He turned it over in his hands a few times before speaking up, “Pineapple?”

“It looks like rings when it’s sliced,” Walt shrugged, “Marines make do.”

“Marines make do,” Brad repeated softly, still making a show of closely examining the can.

“So?”

Brad offered a hand to Walt, helped him up, and pulled him close. He leaned in and Walt tilted his head back, expecting a kiss. Brad stopped just shy of his lips, “Yes.”

[sempr-gumby]

I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not in my nature. - Jane Austen

make me choose: BradWalt or NateRay 

@wordsfly-writes-ff

[sempr-gumby]

WIP Meme

Rules: List all the things you’re currently working on in as much or little detail as you’d like, then tag some friends to see what they’re working on.

This can be writing, art, vids, gifsets - anything at all!

Was tagged by @msridcully

Thank you so much for the tag!

Monster Hospital AU - Some Other Beginning’s End

Brad/Walt + Nate/Ray (possible eventual OT4, but that will be much later in the series)

A story of unwanted superpowers, falling in love, possibly starting a revolution and, most importantly, breaking out of prison.

It’s an X-men/Breaking out of prison AU. There are two chapters currently up on AO3 and the third one is in the works! The current plan is to have updates about every two weeks (if life and work don’t get in the way :P)

world building stuff , playlist , Brad Edit , Ray Edit

Pacific Rim AU

Brad/Ray

I don’t have too much for this one yet other than a rough outline and this edit. Brad and Ray are drift compatible (I feel very strongly about this and would totally fight you about it if I was any good at it). I kind of want their Jaeger to be called Whiskey Tango, but that’s probably too much lol

X-Files AU - Coalescence: a love story told in multiple parts

Nate/Mike + Brad/Ray

Nate wanted nothing more than to blame this entire mess on Ray - or even Brad. But that would be too easy and, ultimately, misdirected. The steps that had led him to this point in his life - halfway through falling head over heels in love with Mike Wynn - were entirely his own.

“Halfway” was possibly an understatement.

Maybe.

Definitely.

There’s one chapter of this and I swear that there’s going to be more someday ( @msridcully this was a request you sent me and I’m sorry I haven’t made much progress with it recently!). Ray is Mulder and Nate is Scully respectively. They hunt down aliens, urban legends, and government conspiracies while falling hard for fellow FBI agents Brad and Mike. The first installment is based off of the episode that still haunts my nightmares to this day (season 1 episode 3).

Brad and Walt get together after Walt leaves the USMC AU - Half Measures (Working Title)

Brad/Walt

This one is still pretty half baked and resides mostly in my head. This short fic and this edit exist within this AU. Walt leaves the USMC and isn’t really sure what to do with his life. He starts writing music and finds that he has a knack for it - unfortunately, this is not super lucrative so he ends up crashing on Brad’s (who is still in the corps) couch. Basically Brad is terrible at feelings and Walt is in denial about his own and writes songs about them instead of just telling Brad, but they end up together eventually and get married. How exactly they get there is still a mystery to me!

Tagging: I’m going to try tagging some people who have shown up in my activity feed (if this isn’t your thing, please don’t feel any obligation to do it) (also, sorry if I tag you and you’ve already done this/been tagged) @quietborderline @unaduessa @astreetsussserenade @pappysmoustache

[sempr-gumby]

BradWalt

Thank you so much for the ask! I absolutely love this pairing (and may have gotten a bit carried away with some of these)

-who cries when someone dies in a movie

Neither of them are big criers when it comes to movies - at least not when  people are dying. For the longest time, Walt thought that Brad didn’t enjoy movies about dogs (which was odd because Brad loves real-life dogs, but, whatever, movies about a boy and his dog aren’t everyone’s cup of tea). One night, Walt rents Marley and Me for one of their date nights and Brad doesn’t have the heart to veto because he knows his boyfriend’s been wanting to see it for a while. Towards the end of the movie, he hears a sniffle and tries to look up (their laying together on the couch, Walt’s head resting against Brad’s chest and Brad’s arms wrapped around his middle), but Brad holds him still.

Brad?

Eyes on the screen, Hasser.

Y’know, it’s okay if you’re -

Eyes on he screen. Nothing else interesting to see here

Okay then…there’s a box of tissues on the end table on the off chance you should find yourself needing them

…thank you

-who wears the ugly holiday garb

Walt

Only because Ray has gifted them many ugly holiday sweaters and Walt’s too polite to not wear something given to him as a gift. Plus, it’s fun for holiday parties

-who pays for the meals

Both

Brad pays from them more often though. He’s more comfortable with gestures (like treating his boyfriend to a nice meal or buying him an ice cream cone) than verbal declarations of love, so Walt lets him get away with it.

-who slams the oven door and who plays the trombone

I’ve thought a bit about this one and I’m going to have to say that this isn’t something they would likely do together. Walt might be involved - provided there a significant amount of alcohol and a certain RTO in the mix - but the whole thing would be too undignified for even a very drunk Brad.

-who brings home stray animals

Brad

Walt, we need to move

Why? Is there a problem with the landlord?

Our lease doesn’t allow for dogs

…we don’t have a dog

We have two now…and a cat

-who leaves the bathroom door open

Neither, they both value their privacy 

-who tells the ‘dad jokes’

Brad

Walt loves it - their daughter is less amused

Dad, can you make me a sandwich?

*waves hand* Poof! You’re a sandwich

…

-who wants kids more

Brad

Don’t get me wrong, he’s absolutely terrified of screwing up (all that talk about how much kids cost is a smokescreen - he figures he can’t screw up what he doesn’t have), but he really wants them. It takes Walt a while to get him to admit it, but it’s well worth the time spent.

-who travels more

Brad

He has to travel more for his job. Don’t worry though, he and Walt take vacations together when they can

-who spends more cash

Brad

Between his love of technology and his motorcycle, Brad spends more. He also likes buying presents for Walt and, later, their daughter (souvenirs from his time abroad, a new guitar for Walt, a guitar for their daughter so Walt can teach her how to play too)

-who buys the things in infomercials

Walt

Only when he gets drunk and hangs out with Ray - Both Brad and Nate have taken to unplugging the cable box when they know they’re getting together

Walter

Yeah

Why is there a delivery man on our front porch asking me to sign for a massage chair?

-who draws in the dust on their cars

Walt

As much as it pains Brad to let dust build up on his bike and car, he loves the little messages that Walt leaves him more. Their daughter picks up the habit when she’s old enough, so he learns to make peace with a little extra dust.

-who starts the snowball fights

Walt

He grew up in Virginia, so snows still pretty exciting to him (especially when there’s enough to make a decent snow fort)

-who throws away the directions to things

Brad

I imagine that Brad approaches most projects like Ron Swanson from Parks and Rec (think the home depot scene hi there, is there a project you’re working on / / I know more than you). He also likes puzzles, so he’ll usually throw out the instructions and figures it out himself. Walt rescues the directions (secretly of course) and keeps them on hand just in case. 

-who puts up holiday decor

Walt

Brad helps, but Walt is the one who’s more into decorating the house for the holidays. When it’s just them, they only decorate for Christmas/Hanukkah, but they branch out a bit after they have their daughter (their house is littered with hand-made paper hearts for Valentine’s Day and there are several jack-o-lanterns on their porch because she can’t carve just one). 

-who is more likely to forget to bathe

Neither - after spending stretches of time unable to shower while in the marines, they aren’t likely to pass up the opportunity when it’s readily available

-who gets more obsessed about things

Brad

Brad tries his best to keep his nerdy side a secret, but Walt’s seen his multi-franchise sci-fi model spaceship collection. He’ll tease (lightly - because he thinks it’s adorable when Brad gets really into things) him about it every so often

Oh, so you’re building the Millennium Falcon now?

Goddammit Walt, it’s the USS Enterprise and you know it

-who sings in the shower more often

Walt

As always, Walt is the only person who has a pass on Brad’s no-country-music rule. (the pass is later extended to cover their daughter)

[sempr-gumby]

Favorite AU ideas for [Bradwalt]?

Thank you for sending this ask! Sorry it took me a bit to respond (I feel like I always say that - I’m so bad at responding to things promptly!). I love AU’s and BradWalt, so this was fun to answer.

Okay, so I have many AU ideas bouncing around in my head. I’m going to talk about the one that I’ve been developing more for the GK bingo event (yes I will be writing something again - finally!) and hopefully that will help me stay motivated. Anyways, here we go:

Horror Movie/College AU- Brad and Ray are college students who have just managed to secure off campus housing. Sure, the landlord is thrilled when they agree to sign the lease (disconcertingly so, considering that Ray proclaimed, that’s a perfect place to keep the kegs, when she’d pointed out the storage space under the stairs during the walk through)and the locals choose to cross the street rather than walk in front of the building, but the rent is stupidly low so who cares?- Brad and Ray end up caring. Because, yah know, the place is hella haunted.- Ray puts a request for help on an online forum. Nate (a history/classics nerd who’s super down to fight with ghosts) and Walt (a medium with no formal training) answer the call. This may or may not be their first time investigating an actual haunting.- Brad may or may not develop inconvenient feelings for the cute medium trying to de-ghost his place of residence. But hey, at least they’ll have an interesting meet-cute?

[sempr-gumby]

BradWalt for that heart thing!

Thank you so much for this! As you know, I absolutely love this pairing - I need to get back into writing stuff for them!

❤: who is more affectionate in public? in private?

- Neither of them are super affectionate in public because of DADT. If they’re in a public space that they know is safe, Walt is the one who initiates displays of affection, but it’s never anything over the top - lacing their fingers together, a quick kiss, prompting Brad to put his arm around him.

- Brad is more affectionate in private - it’s at home that he allows himself to seek out physical contact. When they’re sitting on the couch watching a movie or reading, he likes to have Walt leaning against his chest or resting his head on his thigh. At the dinner table, he hooks his foot around Walt’s ankle.

♡: who is the bigger romantic openly? secretly?

- Walt is more openly romantic. He sets up dates for their anniversaries, asks for kisses under mistletoe, and is the one who proposes when they get around to that stage in their relationship.

- Brad is definitely a secret romantic. He’s quieter about how he expresses it. When the tin of mints Walt keeps in his his car is empty, Brad replaces it. When Walt texts him that he’s having a bad day, Brad makes sure his favorite flavor of ice cream is in the fridge when he gets home.

❥: who is more likely to plan something big for valentine’s day?

- I don’t picture either of them being into typical Valentine’s Day displays (rose petals, boxes of choc, etc. Plus, I’ve got a feeling that Brad could work up a scathing criticism of the commercial aspects of Valentine’s Day). I think they might chose to spend a nice day in together, rather than plan anything big.

ღ: who is more likely to initiate hand-holding in public?

- Walt

💕: who is more likely to make huge declarations of love in front of other people?

- Neither - the people closest to them definitely know they’re together, but they save any major declarations of love for when it’s just the two of them.

💘: who developed a crush on the other first?

- BRAD (I may or may not have strong feelings about this one) - What started out as mere physical attraction, snowballed into genuine feelings pretty quickly for Brad. It was easy enough to avoid these feelings when Walt was assigned to a different team, but we all know how that worked out. 

💝: who spends more time (possibly overthinking) what presents to get the other?

- Brad is most certainly an overthinker when it comes to gift giving (he’s got a tendency to spend more time thinking about - agonizing over - relationship things, than actually doing relationship things). He does give good gifts though, after he finally makes a decision.

💓: who initiates most physical contact?

- see the answer for ❤

💌: who is more likely to send cutesy texts to the other?

- Walt - mostly as a joke when they’re in the same room together, just to see Brad’s reactions

💟: who spends time reading their zodiac compatibilities?

- Neither - Brad thinks it’s absolute nonsense and Walt doesn’t care either way. 

💙: who is more protective?

- They’re both pretty protective of one another, but Brad is more prone to obvious displays of protectiveness. If someone hassles Walt at a bar, they’re liable to turn around to find Brad looming behind them

💜: who said “i love you” first? or, if neither has said it yet, who is more likely to say it first?

- Brad is the one who actually says it first. Walt is ready to earlier, but holds back because he’s afraid of scaring Brad away.

💛: who believes in soulmates?

- Walt - Soulmates, like zodiac sign compatibility, is complete nonsense in Brad’s eyes, but he may or may not get the tiniest bit emotional when Walt tells him he believes he’s his soulmate.