FOUND OUT THE CAT KING IN DBD IS PLAYED BY THE SAME GUY AS BRANDON "TWO IN THE PINK ONE IN THE STINK" GALLOWAY FROM AMERICAN VANDAL ??!??!?!?!??? SEND HELP
I have a gigantic list of Fallout OCs. No, really. We're currently at 13 reasonably developed for FO4, then 4 or so more I haven't been investing much time into lately, plus a courier and their kid. And to be quite honest the only reason I'm not obsessed with 76 is that it's laggy as shit because of high ping. Alright let's talk about the fave four:
🖊 my beloved, my idiot, my golden boy, Brandon. 35 year old prime dad material who laughs way too hard at fart jokes and is far, far deadlier than anyone gives him credit for. Bran had a horrible childhood, ran away at 16 to join the army, married young, incurred severe PTSD from fighting at the front lines and later settled into a boring life working for RobCo as an engineer. He finally sees his dreams coming true with Shaun's birth, only for it all to be dismantled when his wife serves him some nice divorce papers and implies that the kid isn't really his to begin with. The bombs fall and they are rushed to the vault approximately half an hour later. A freshly thawed Brandon returns to his soldier roots and cuts a path through the wasteland in search for Shaun, joining the Brotherhood of Steel as a way to point his anger towards something that isn't his wife or himself, very content in being given orders and not having to think about the consequences of his actions. It's Danse's situation that shatters his views on the BoS, and for a while he wanders without purpose, later deciding to accept Preston's offer to lead the Minutemen. He then simultaneously becomes the most adored and feared figure in the Commonwealth, a very 'women want me fish fear me' situation. Only 'fish' in this case is code for anyone who dares hurt the little people.
🖊 then we have Abigail, history professor and cryptid aficionado from West Virginia. She had a worse childhood than Bran, and is the kind of person who grew up too fast because of all the responsibilities on her shoulders. In her early teens she loses both parents, and is left to raise her little brother by herself. Also marries super young, and quickly finds out that her husband is a walking trash bin - but Abby's toxic trait is that she always, always bends over backwards to please the men in her life. She basically carries them both throughout their relationship, dude remains a mediocre fellow leeching off his increasingly successful, increasingly stressed wife. She graduates, she gets her master's, she's working on her doctorate, and she gets the opportunity to teach at college level as well as an invitation to join the war effort as a military history and strategy consultant before she turns 30. Her career is on an insane, meteoric rise, she finds out she's pregnant and for once it feels like her love life is also going to improve; then her husband finds himself a new fling, starts treating her like garbage in hopes she'll leave him so he'll get to drag her name through the mud, and finally hits a very pregnant Abigail, who still cannot find it in herself to kick this man out. He is the one who gives up and leaves shortly after Shaun is born, leaving her in debt, completely alone and heartbroken. Shaun is around six months old when she starts putting the pieces together again, finds herself a best friend in a similar situation who she ends up dating for a while, then the whole nuclear bombing happens and it all goes to shit again. I quite enjoy giving my OCs a slightly different route from canon, and in Abby's case, she leaves the vault a good three years before old man Shaun begins looking for her. During that time she works as a mercenary, builds a reputation for being incredibly ruthless and professional, and really just tries not to think much about anything. But deep down Abby is an optimist and truly believes in humanity - which is why she jumps at the opportunity to be part of the Minutemen.
bonus: in one of my AUs, Bran and Abby are neighbors who did not know each other and thus both survive the blast. Bran takes the position of General with Abby as his strategist and second in command, a partnership that works frighteningly well.
🖊 Bruno, better known as Sal, was born out of my desire to have a character closer to me in culture and roots. In his canon he is a Brazilian, come from very, very humble beginnings, whose luck turns when his mother remarries and the family moves to the US. By then he is already in his late teens, has massive trouble adapting to the culture, and gets more and more rebellious as time goes on. He is pressured into joining the army in order to be taught 'discipline', but ends up joining the navy instead and hating the whole experience with all his might. But it's there that he meets his wife, Debra, a tough as fuck, no nonsense lady with a very militaristic mindset. They quit at the same time, before the bigger conflicts that lead to the bombs happen, and in order to appease his in-laws, Sal leaves behind his rebellious ways and becomes a hard working, proper man. He changes quite a bit, hides his tattoos (two full sleeves, colorful and referencing his homeland), cuts his very long hair short, and for a while everything is good, even though he is miserable. Then Shaun happens, he never wanted kids and was not ready for it at all, him and Debra no longer see eye to eye, and are consciously trying to make their marriage work by the time they enter the vault. Though he feels like a shit for it, Sal is relieved when he wakes up and Shaun is nowhere to be found - with his wife dead, that's the end of that, in his mind. He has no interest in finding his son and takes the mercenary path instead, remaining untethered to any factions and trying to take one day at a time.
🖊 finally, we have Bastian, my latest sole survivor. I had a last name I really wanted to use, then some characteristics that sounded interesting, and I went on collecting details that kind of had little to do with each other to see if I could connect the dots later. The result is Sebastian Aguirre, born in Iceland, built like a stereotypical 'viking' dude, abandoned as a toddler near Barcelona, adopted and named by a young, single and ready to mingle Spanish woman, raised in a small village. Mother later married an Irish man who'd taken a vacation to find himself again after a bad breakup, he becomes Sebastian Crowe Aguirre, the family travels around Europe for a couple of years before deciding to settle down for good in Ireland and expand the family. Soon enough he finds himself the eldest of nine children, all adopted, and takes to the role of big brother incredibly well. When the time comes to get an education and fly solo, he leans into his penchant for finance and administration, and though he is quite unusual for a businessman, being a 6'10ish heavily tattooed dude built like a tank and all, he becomes incredibly successful. When war comes knocking he is drafted and doesn't much mind it - he's not glad for war, of course, but he sees it as an opportunity to protect his people. His connections in the corporate world see to it that he doesn't stay in the army for long, however, and he is discharged and offered a job in Boston. In Bastian's canon, Shaun is his step-son, and though he does see him as his own he also feels like he has failed and there is no point in looking for him when he comes out of the vault. He decides to try and better the Commonwealth in his honor instead, and does it the best way he knows how: even 200 years ago money is what made the world go round, and he'll need plenty of it. He joins the raiders in Nuka-World with the intentions of reopening the parks as a business venture, all while playing along to the whole raiders 4 lyfe thing. Despite his good intentions, Sebastian is 100% a 'the end justifies the means' kind of guy, and feels absolutely no shame for manipulating everyone knowing full well he always had plans to wipe all gangs out.
the sad dad™ has made his way into another universe
he is now the proud owner of a rundown farm he inherited from his grandpa. he has no money in his pocket and not much else but a bush and his sleeping bag. i started the sims 4 country livin’ challenge but haven’t had much time to play yet. oh, and i have a simblr now! it’s here if you want to take a look (it’s a lil empty)
Characters: Peter Maldonado, Sam Ecklund, Dylan Maxwell, Gabi Granger, & Brandon Galloway
Summary: “It’s ‘cause you love him, dipshit,” Dylan says.Or Peter is jealous, Sam is dense, and somehow Dylan is the smartest person in the room.
Read it here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20748782
Or read it below!
Gabi Granger and Brandon Galloway break up. It’s messy.
Gabi texts Sam Ecklund about it when he’s over at Peter Maldonado’s house. Sam’s scrolling through memes and Peter’s responding to an email from Netflix about them picking up American Vandal. He hasn’t told Sam about it yet. It’s early days, he doesn’t want to get Sam’s hopes up.
“Holy shit,” Peter says. He’s hanging off Peter’s bed, the blood rushing to color his cheeks. “Holy shit.”
Peter swivels in his desk chair, indulging Sam. “What’s up?”
“They broke up,” Sam says, grinning wildly, as if it explains everything.
“Am I supposed to know who you’re talking about?” Peter asks, eyebrows furrowed behind his thick glasses.
“Gabi and Brandon. They broke up. Gabi just texted me,” Sam explains. He’s sat up now, drawing one of Peter’s pillows into his lap. He’s still smiling gleefully. “Peter, the world really is good.”
Something twists in the pit of Peter’s stomach. He turns back to his computer. “Good for Gabi. Brandon’s kind of the worst.”
“He’s objectively the pits,” Sam confirms. He throws himself across Peter’s bed, shouting, “The world is good!”
The thing in Peter’s stomach twists tighter.
*
“Hey, are you busy Friday night? They’re planning that shitty rom-com you like at the Aladdin, uh… what’s it called… the one with that lady? And the rich dude and the hotel?” Peter says. He’s nervous for some reason, like he doesn’t ask Sam to hang out all the time. For some reason, this feels more charged than normal.
By some miracle, Sam knows what Peter is talking about. “Pretty Woman? Aw, fuck, that sounds amazing, Pete, but I already asked Gabi to go mini-golfing with me.”
Asked Gabi.
Peter’s heart sinks. He hadn’t even realized how stupidly hopeful he’d been until that hope is crushed. Sam’s asked Gabi out, now that she’s single. And Gabi said yes. She’d be stupid not to, Sam’s a catch. Disappointment shoots through Peter’s veins. Disappointment, and something like sorrow.
“Oh, congratulations,” Peter says, even though he doesn’t mean it. He doesn’t mean it at all.
Sam’s eyebrows pull together in vague confusion. “Um… thanks, I guess?”
Peter excuses himself. In the most dignified manner possible, he cries in the bathroom for three minutes, even though he can’t figure out why.
*
“It’s ‘cause you love him, dipshit,” Dylan says.
It’s Friday night. Peter’s at Dylan’s house, because he doesn’t want to be alone and Dylan isn’t bad company. Sam keeps sending Peter snapchats of him and Gabi, and every time Peter has to look at them smiling together, he feels more and more shattered. He tosses him phone across the room after Sam sends him a photo where he has an arm slung around Gabi’s shoulders, an easy smile on his face. “Why am I like this?” Peter mutters, mainly to himself.
Then Dylan drops the bombshell, “It’s ‘cause you love him, dipshit.”
Peter blinks. “What?”
Dylan’s smoking a joint that Peter rolled for him (every time Dylan rolled one himself it would be tapered on one end, which sent Peter’s OCD on the fritz), languidly stretched across an armchair. “You love him. Your boy.”
“I don’t–– Sam’s not… he’s not my boy,” Peter says, lamely.
“Nah, he is,” Dylan says, taking a drag. “Course he is. And you love him.”
“I– what? No, Dylan, I––”
“You loveeeeeeeee him,” Dylan drawls out which the classic middle-school intonation. “Love-love-love!”
“I… I have no idea how I feel about him,” Peter admits, knowing it’s the only way he’ll be able to shut Dylan up. “It doesn’t matter anyway. He asked Gabi out.”
Dylan’s eyebrows shoot up. “Gabi Granger?”
Peter wraps his arms around himself protectively. “Yeah.”
“Damn. She’s hot,” Dylan notes. “You’re sure he asked her out?”
“They’re mini-golfing now. Sam keeps sending me pictures,” Peter says. He’s watching his phone from across the room. It buzzes with a notification. Probably from Sam. “He hates mini-golf. But he looks happy.”
Dylan frowns. “Fuckin’ weird. Can’t be right–– Sam’s your boy. You’re sure it’s a date?”
“Yeah,” Peter says. Sam hadn’t said that it was a date, but context clues were a reliable informant.
“Shit,” Dylan says. “You should tell him how you feel.”
“I can’t do that,” Peter says. “I don’t even know how I feel. I just… I feel gross about the whole thing.”
“Heavy,” Dylan says. “I’d offer you a smoke, but your lungs are all fucked up, right?”
Peter nods. It’s a surprisingly touching offer for Dylan. He watches his phone from across the room. It buzzes again.
*
They’re filming for the Morning Show. Peter’s making sure all his cue cards are lined up. Madison’s doing vocal exercises next to him.
Sam’s alternating between looking at Peter and looking at his phone. He stares at Peter for a moment, texts someone, and then heads over to Peter.
Peter tries to control his heartbeat. He doesn’t know when his heart stopped registering Sam as “friend” and started seeing him as “Sam”.
“You’ve got an eyelash,” Sam whispers. He leans in and sweeps the pad of his finger under Peter’s eye. Peter’s heart thunders. He looks to Sam’s finger–– there’s no eyelash. Sam smiles. “All clean.”
Sam lingers there, in Peter’s space, Peter shivery and uncertain under Sam’s gaze until Randall, carrying a camera rig says, “Sam, we gotta start filming and you’re kind of in the shot.”
Sam apologizes and breezes away, leaving Peter to contemplate what just happened.
He pictures Sam in front of him–– his warm eyes, his dimples, his smile that makes everything brighter–– and muses to himself, how could I ever want anyone else?
*
Sam’s at Peter’s house. They’re watching a girl on YouTube explain her shaky theory on why Peter and Sam did the dicks together. It’s stupid and indulgent, but they watch videos like this together sometimes.
Peter loves it, because it always ends with them lying together on Peter’s bed, shoulders pressed together. Sam’s always warm.
An alarm goes off on Sam’s phone. “Fuck, it’s 4:30 already?” Sam exclaims. “Sorry Pete, I gotta bounce. Gabi’s waiting for me.”
And just like that, Peter’s stomach plummets. He likes Gabi, he does, which makes the whole thing worse. “Oh,” is all Peter can manage to say.
Sam clambers off the bed and starts to put his sneakers back on.
Peter sits up and shuts his computer. He feels like there’s a wall between the two of them–– something nameless and strange that only he can feel. Jealousy wells up inside him and he can’t help it, he mutters, “Don’t go.”
Sam freezes. He looks up at Peter, confused. “What?”
Peter swallows. Carefully, louder this time, he says, “Don’t go.”
“What? Peter, I… I mean, I’m supposed to meet Gabi? We were gonna get milkshakes?” Sam says.
“I know, I just…” Peter sucks in a breath. “I just don’t want you to leave.”
Sam’s finished lacing up his shoes, and he stands up. “Why?”
“I know that Gabi and Brandon broke up, and you finally got to ask Gabi out and I’m really happy for you because you’re happy and all that, but at the same time I feel really stupidly jealous?” Peter says, the words tumbling out of him.
“I… what? Peter, we’re just getting milkshakes,” Sam says, like it explains everything.
“Still,” Peter says. “I kind of… I guess I want us to get milkshakes.”
Peter’s staring at Sam’s shoes now because he can’t bring himself to look into Sam’s eyes. Sam says, “Peter, do you like me?”
Peter says, “Yeah. Yeah, I think I do.”
“Oh,” Sam rubs at the back of his neck, uncertain. “Well. Okay.”
Peter feels queasy. This isn’t going as poorly as it could have, but it still isn’t going great. “Okay,” Peter says.
Sam walks up to the bed, his fingers nervously messing with the hem of his shirt. “You like me?”
Peter looks up at Sam. “Yeah, I think we already established that.”
“Yeah, okay,” Sam says. And then he climbs onto the bed, shoes and all, and then into Peter’s lap.
Peter feels like he’s been set on fire. “What a-are… what are you doing?” He asks as Sam places his hands on Peter’s shoulders.
“I’m gonna kiss you, if that’s okay,” Sam says. He’s taking off Peter’s glasses off now, folding them up neatly and then placing them on Peter’s bedside table.
Peter feels like his heart is going to beat right out of his chest. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s okay,” he says, still watching at Sam. He’s a little blurrier when Peter doesn’t have his glasses on, but Peter can still see when Sam leans in and kisses him.
It’s a messy kiss, uncoordinated and unpracticed. Both of them don’t really know what they’re doing. Their teeth click together when Peter manages to get Sam’s mouth open. Still, it’s marvelous. It's a revelry, a triumph. It’s better than Peter could have ever imagined. Sam tastes like minty gum. They kiss until Peter’s lungs can’t take it anymore, and then they rest their foreheads together, panting.
“What… what about Gabi?” Peter asks.
“For someone so smart, you’re really fucking stupid.” Sam laughs. “We were just going to get milkshakes, Peter. Just milkshakes.”
“But I thought––”
“I’m not dating Gabi,” Sam says. “We’re just friends.”
“But you were so happy when she and Brandon broke up?”
“‘Course I was,” Sam says, like it’s obvious. “Gabi’s my best friend. Brandon's a dick. She deserved better.”
Peter mulls this over. He’s about to open his both to speak, but Sam cuts him off. “How about you kiss me instead of asking another idiotic question,” Sam says.
Peter’s happy to comply.
*
Hours later, Peter calls Dylan.
“Dylan? This is Peter Maldonado.”
“Don’t be so fuckin’ weird, Peter. I know who you are, I have caller ID.”
“Sorry.” Pause. “Anyway, I was just calling to tell you that you were right.”
“Damn right I was.” Pause. “What are we talking about again?”
