John had strung Benny along for months, with Johnny's stupid nickname and feigned ignorance, waiting until the most comedically timed moment to reveal his con. Forcing Johnny to apologize for his machinations, and Benny to accept the apology with a barely hidden grin and an even less hidden interest in his eyes. And John had picked well, Benny was handsome. Stout and strong and steady in a way that had Johnny sweating through his shirt slightly, tugging the light fabric away from his chest before the sweat dimpled it. He'd given Benny his number, taken his, and weathered the triumphant crowing from John as Meatball had wound himself between their legs.
The exchanging of phone numbers had felt like a massive step off a flight of stairs into the darkness, Johnny taking it without realizing how perilous his footing really was. And so though he and Benny had chatted for a bit over text, a lump had begun to form in Johnny's throat that grew larger and larger until it choked away all his ability to reply.
Johnny had enough going on. He had enough baggage without trying to teach someone how to carry any of it. He was too busy with his work.
thank you to my dearest @reallylilyreally for editing this one for me <33
"Here I am (right here with you)" by StevieWicks45
Johnny Brady watches “Our Baby” piloted by Cleven and Demarco take off ahead of them. For some reason, there’s a nasty feeling in the pit of his stomach he can’t place.
On Oct 8th 1943 Benny Demarco bails from his airplane over enemy German territory leaving omega John Brady behind. 2 days later Brady follows suit, not knowing he didn't go up alone.
The Finale Chapter and Epilogue of Here I Am on Ao3 :)
Link: Chapter 45 & Epilogue
Thank you to every who has beta'd this pic for me @stars-remain2 @soft-mama-main, @roseszirnheld & @winter _ girl for all the late nights, tears and hours upon hours of yapping and personal time dedicating to helping me complete this monster of a project. Especially @stars-remain2 I love you so much, thank you for being there with me since the early days.
Gif by @buckpregnant I still love it so much and it makes me smile on the worst days!
Finally got round to making this masterpost! One year, 315K words, four side fics, three pieces of art, a Pinterest board, a playlist, and countless posts, headcanons and asks later...
Fics
That Ol' Devil Called Love
"D'you think you're a sinning man, John?"
It's 1940s America, and street racing has passed from the gangs of the '30s to the youth of the '40s. John never started the Bloody 100th to make a name for himself in the criminal belly of racing; he just liked their money. It kept the shop open and his mechanics from the unemployment line. And his ma and sisters happy. But when he meets Gale Cleven, son of the local pastor who hates John and his crew with near religious fervour, John finds himself stumbling into a new kind of trouble - one that might just bring down everything he's worked for.
TODCL Side Stories
A collection of side stories that take place in the That Ol' Devil Called Love Universe, that don't make it into the main fic. Buddy DeMarco confronts the Stalag Six. Gale shows John just how much he likes to drive fast. Curt helps Marge connect to her wild side. Benny and Brady share a dance
Bleeding Hearts
After the events of TODCL, Bucky receives a much needed phonecall.
Testing, Testing
Gale makes a discovery. and sets out to test his hypothesis.
Posts, Headcanons, Asks and more
Explore the TODCL tumblr tag
Art and visuals
Title card artwork commission by @swifty-fox.
Final scene by @artisttess
Did you even mean it? When you told me you loved me? plus timelapse by @swifty-fox
TODCL art tag
Pinterest board
A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (and Accidentally Falling in Love) - Chapter 2
By @steviewicks45 & @stars-remain2
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
He’s so tired of dealing with alpha males in his life who think they have autonomy over his every move right down to where he fucking sits. He won’t stand for it. In fact, he won’t stand at all. “Fine Major Egan, you want this seat?”
Gale watches Bucky’s face carefully, and Bucky simply nods, his face puzzled that Gale is suddenly acquiescing. Gale smiles ever so slightly, crosses his arms to match Bucky’s stance and says, “Then you’re gonna have to sit on my lap.”
—————————————————————————
Huge shoutout to @soft-mama-reads for the beta read and putting up with our shenanigans.
Tagging our ever faithful @roseszirnheld @buckpregnant ❤️ Let us know if you’d like to be tagged going forward!
Thorpe Abbots Hospital & Rehabilitation Center has seen a lot of things, it’s been included in more things than the regular average Joe would be able to list off. It’s housed women crying, men praying, doctors and nurses hustling to save lives. Its had new life born into it and other lives lost in it.
Character Study/Synopsis
John ‘Bucky’ Egan
21 - senior in college
TBI/thoracic and lumbar spine injuries/lower extremity paralysis/dissociative disorder/PTSD from the accident
Ham was drunk driving and crashed into a tree, sending him through the windshield, breaking his spine in three places, almost severing his spinal cord.
Will be an absolute menace with the wheelchair he has to use, popping wheelies always, crashes into stuff at least once an hour. Works hard at his PT but pushes himself too much, doesn’t know the meaning of rest.
He tries to treat it all as a joke, tries to not let others see how much it’s affected him. But deep down he’s angry, he’s angry that his football scholarship is gone, he’s angry his studies have been paused, he’s angry that he can’t walk, he’s angry he can’t pop a boner anymore, he’s angry because his girlfriend broke up with him. he’s just angry but trying to mask it, trying to bottle it up and shove it down deep.
Gives Gale the nickname ‘Buck’ because he saw the blond sitting by himself at lunch one day, and made it his mission to make the other man smile at least once a day. Usually pulls his nonsense with his chair to get a chuckle and ‘you’re an idiot John’ out of Gale.
Gale ‘Buck’ Cleven
19 - would be a sophomore in college but hasn’t started yet due to home issues
eating disorder/bipolar/depressive disorder
Is a self admit, after Marge begged him to get help due to an incredibly high manic cycle for him. He’s been at Thorpe Abbots the longest out of all of them, almost at the six week mark when John comes into the picture.
He’s usually well mannered, well tempered, but gets snippy/bitchy and impulsive when he’s cycling. struggles with making connections with people because he’s scared they’ll find out he has bipolar/depression and think he’s a screw up.
Almost always has his nose buried in a book of some kind, they’ve always been his escape from the real world. If he isn’t reading he’s sketching something in a drawing pad.
Cannot stand John at first, does not understand why the man is here in the first place. who willingly comes over to the mental rehabilitation area, but finds out John is doing extensive therapies on the same floor. and they are remodeling the floor he should be on, so he’s down the hall from Gale.
John ‘Little John’ Brady
18 - freshly graduated from high school
OCD/anxiety/mysophobia - stemming from an experience he had as a little boy.
Was admitted by his mother when he wouldn’t sleep because he had to count the panels of floor boards. She often found him out in the backyard in the middle of the night pacing back and forth.
Has awful social anxiety, panics with touch because he feels dirty from it. Scrubs his hands raw, carries his rosary with him ALWAYS but uses it more as counting beads than anything else.
Him and Gale tend to gravitate towards one another because Gale doesn’t like talking and Brady is more than okay with the silence. but he does encourage the older boy to eat his food, does it in such a gentle manner that Gale doesn’t even realize he’s doing it the majority of the time.
Really really likes Benny, but always talks himself out of really talking to Benny. Panics when Benny brings in Meatball for his twice monthly visits, the dog is well mannered but it makes Brady’s skin crawl when Meatball drools.
Bernard ‘Benny’ DeMarco & Meatball
20 - sophomore in college
Volunteer that comes in and visits everyone, tries to get them to smile. always has Meatball because the husky is a therapy dog.
He first notices Brady walking in the courtyard, fiddling with his rosary. goes out to offer him a pet or cuddle with Meatball, and has to watch the panic set in for Brady. which makes Benny feel awful, because what if he’s had a bad experience with a dog before?
But when he finds out that it’s his OCD (from Gale when he was in a manic episode and couldn’t keep himself from talking), that forces Brady out of touching animals because in his mind they are dirty.
So slowly Benny starts introducing Brady and Meatball to one another. never forcing Brady to touch the dog, and Brady can see how well taken care of Meatball is. and when Benny nonchalantly drops that Meatball just had a grooming appointment earlier that day, he smells like sugar cookies right now.
Brady finally touches the dog, just a quick pet of his ears but it has Benny smiling so widely that Brady feels the pride rolling off of the older boy in waves.
Marjorie ‘Marge’ Spencer
19 - sophomore in college
Absolutely adores Gale, they grew up together, always had each other’s backs, and she’s had to watch him suffer. his abusive father, his mom who struggled with her own bipolar, leaving little Gale to his own devices. He lived with her essentially once they hit middle school.
But she’s also seen first hand how volatile Gale can get when he’s cycling, and she knows he tries hard not to. takes his medicine diligently, goes to therapy, reads his books, draws in his sketch books. She begged Gale to go into rehab when she realized he wasn’t eating due to his bipolar disorder.
She does weekly visits with Gale, always bringing food for him from a place that she knows he likes. and quietly applauds him when he finishes even 1/4 of it, she’s his biggest supporter.
She absolutely thinks John is kind of funny, even if he reminds her of a frat boy. She can also absolutely see that Gale actually really likes the dingus boy in his wheel chair. Tries to strike up conversation with John, just to watch the way Gale will flush from the older boy’s attention.
Curtis ‘Curt’ Biddick
22 - super senior in college - his own nickname for himself
He was in the car with John and Ham when the accident happened, suffered significantly less injuries than John. but feels immense guilt because he shouldn’t have let Ham drive, he knew the guy had been drinking. They all had been but it still wasn’t an excuse in Curt’s mind.
He has been best friends with John since they were in kindergarten. Always causing mischief and havoc wherever they went. Absolutely known as the dynamic duo and had to be separated in any of their classes together.
Him and John haven’t talked since before the accident, and one incident when John was still in the hospital. John essentially banned him from coming back to see him, telling him he didn’t want his pity. He didn’t want Curt’s sorries, he wants to be able to fucking walk again.
Slowly weasels his way back into John’s good graces, enough that he can make weekly visits with the boy. it doesn’t erase the guilt, but it helps not eat away at him so much. Gale has a small hand in getting John to accept the first visit with Curt, telling him how awful Curt looked sitting out in the visitation room by himself.
The conversation sputters out, clock ticking too loud, skin on the back of his neck starting to prickle.
“Pick it up.”
Johnny startles, glancing up at him.
“What?”
“The fork,” Benny says, calm as ever, flicking his eyes between him and the aforementioned silverware. “Pick it up.”
Johnny’s hand twitches toward it but doesn’t close all the way, pulse rising in his throat. Marjorie shifts in her chair, lips pressed tight.
“Think I should go bring some coffee to the others,” She says quickly, napkin dropped onto the table. Her chair legs scrape, sharp, and then she’s gone.
Johnny feels heat flushing in his cheeks- but when he looks back towards Benny, his face is the same.
“You’ve hardly touched a thing,” He says, voice lower. “Not letting you sit here and waste away, don’t care what she’s been lettin’ you get away with.”
Johnny shakes his head, more at the implication there about Marjorie than anything else.
“Not tryin’ to insult her.” Benny adds. “Pick it up.”
Johnny spears a bit of potato onto his fork, lifts it and chews because it’s easier than refusing. The taste is flat, cold with how long he’s let the food sit there untouched, but Benny doesn’t take his eyes off of his throat until he swallows.
“That’s it,” Benny says, quieter now, gaze moving back up to his face. He nudges his head back at the plate. “Keep going.”
The words slip under Johnny’s skin, leaving him feeling warm and restless all at once. It’s embarrassing, the way Benny talking at him like a stern father steadies him- like taking a magnet to an out of commission compass needle, twitching it back north. Like a figure he hasn’t had in any real sense since he was twelve.
They’d talked about it once, in Benny's apartment in Chicago, a few months ago back in what felt like another life entirely, now.
He forces down another bite, then another, throat tight, but a fourth feels like asking too much.
Hey MOTA crew, the deadline to sign up for the @fanartfrenzy event is coming up fast. Join us to show your support for the awesome writers in the fandom and encourage creating and sharing all kind of arts. Sign ups close December 21st! Details below:
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