vvvv (in response to an ask about my grif/bitters ship) vvv ngl, i started shipping grif/bitters as a very miserable ship, cuz realistically they're both repressed and unhealthy individuals dealing with their own angst when they know each other, so i was capitalizing on that and making them drown together, but i gave it some thought cuz i didn't wanna just hand you a bunch of angst out of nowhere and i'm now equally a fan of healthy and fluffy grif/bitters, so ty for that HDHDBV welcome to our ship, it's just you and me in a little rowboat together
i kind of see them both as cats, very "leave me the fuck alone unless i approach you in which case give me attention exactly how i want until i decide to up and fuck off again". they're both also somehow the most and least chill people on the planet, they both care a lot but would rather die than have anyone know they care, so their relationship starts as sort of this dance they do around each other where they're constantly testing the waters, figuring out how much they can get away with saying while trying to not let the other in on the fact that they are human and have human thoughts and emotions. this dance culminates in the mutual understanding that they can be "uncool" around each other and neither of them will call the other out. there is the mutual understanding that their lives suck and they both feel like they're drowning but at least they have each other and understand each other, and when they walk out from behind closed doors they'll keep each others' secret. their relationship, to me, is about companionship and making the best of a bad situation and...maybe not growing as people by leaps and bounds, but trying to stay afloat so the other has something to hang onto.
so, in no particular order, some gritters headcanons:
-they don't actively sit down and cuddle as much, but they're big fans of casually getting in each others' space. putting their feet on each others' lap, leaning over each other to reach things, shoving past each other as opposed to simply adjusting wherever they're walking, smacking each others' ass as they pass by
-when they do cuddle, it's usually because one of them walked up to the other and plopped themselves down directly in their space without asking, and the other may bitch and act annoyed but if anyone could see how tight they hold each other they wouldn't fool anyone
-they readily share snacks, even though they pretend to be annoyed about it. grif is pretty horrified how snackless bitters' life has been up until now. grif has both the know-how and the influence around base to get or trade for as many snacks as his heart desires, and sharing food is a love language for both of them, so they share snacks and eat meals together a lot. they also both steal off each others' tray in the mess hall and half the time they're chill about it, the other half they start fighting LMAO
-they like to smoke together, although grif doesn't like that bitters smokes because bitters is fucking up his health at such a young age, but anytime he speaks up about it bitters just blows smoke in his face and says something along the lines of "it's not like i'll live long enough to see the consequences". grif obviously doesn't like that but doesn't push it too hard because he understands the fatalistic outlook and knows if he challenges bitters on it bitters will just get up and leave. grif doesn't necessarily mentor bitters, but he does know he's got a few things to teach him and if he doesn't pick and choose his battles he'll never get anywhere with bitters
-speaking of smoking, bitters does have a tenuous pot hookup and he starts sharing his stash with grif. they hole up in grif's room (grif shares with simmons but they kick him out for the night unless simmons agrees to smoke with them, which he rarely does) (side headcanon, they can't use bitters' room because bitters rooms with matthews and matthews has copd from a chemical bombing by the feds and the smoke that lingers fucks with him). grif and bitters do shotgun hits OBVIOUSLY as every good ship does. they're both too depressed to have much of a sex drive, but half the time they smoke together they end up at third base
-NAPS NAPS NAPS they love to nap together anywhere anytime. they've turned napping into a sport, one of their collective activities is hunting down and sharing places to sneak away from everyone and get some sleep. they share all their favorite storage closet locations and together they can reach new heights, such as the rafters of the training compound or that attic space in the armory both of them have been eyeing but neither of them can quite reach alone
-bitters has a crappy old ipod-type thing he has really dated rock music on and he and grif each put one earbud in and listen because it's something to do. they talk about music together and bitters tells grif about how if he somehow survives the war, the one thing he wants is an electric guitar, it's the only thing he ever dares to hope for (and then makes a joke about grif being his groupie which gets him a smack upside the head) (grif: "no way, there isn't a single universe out there in which i'd be your fucking groupie, you'd be mine" bitters: "you can't really have a groupie if you don't play, that's not how it works" grif: "trust me, i'm gonna invent a new kind of groupie just so i don't have to be yours" and then this ends in grif promising he'll take bitters to a concert one day, but bitters is doubtful because he doesn't believe in "one day"s)
-bitters can play acoustic guitar and has one in his room, he only plays for matthews really but occasionally plays for grif (and the other lieutenants as time goes on). matthews has a ukulele he keeps trying to teach grif to play but grif is always too distracted watching bitters' fingers work the strings of his guitar to really pick it up
-the first time grif realizes he likes bitters more than he thought is the first time he makes bitters laugh. up until then, he hadn't ever heard anyone make bitters laugh, he was half-convinced bitters wasn't capable of laughing. grif doesn't even remember what he said, some dumb pun or remark, but bitters hadn't been expecting to find it funny so when he laughs he doesn't have time to tone it down or bite it back, he laughs genuinely. when grif sees bitters face light up and get 5 years younger, the way his eyes close and his eyebrows raise, when he hears that bitters snorts when he laughs??? forget it, he's gone, he's so fucked, he can't stop blushing and staring, it's over for him
-the first time bitters realizes he like grif more than he thought he did is the first time bitters sees grif give a fuck. the first time he runs into grif up late at night stress snacking in the mess hall (bitters went there to do the same thing), when grif tries to hide what's bothering him but it hits bitters like a semi truck, holy shit grif is stressing. not about his missing friends this time, about the new republic. about kimball, about matthews, about bitters. it's the push bitters needs to commit to liking grif, seeing concrete proof that grif is capable of giving a fuck despite all his pretending that he doesn't
(here is the original posting of the first image!) (here is the original posting of the headcanons!) (here is the original posting of the second image!) @rvbrarepairweekdos tagging you to make sure this in particular gets reblogged and doesn't slip through the cracks! thank you! :D
