#sullitt

[woodswallow]

Somewhere in a parallel universe...

...Sergeant Sullivan has the friends he needs/deserves...

[woodswallow]

Another moodboard for "Static on the line" ("BOOTS"-fanfic by @paperclipsentimental)

...because I can't stop ❤️ This one here is mainly about chapter 1-3(4). See my first moodboard for this fic here.

And of course read the fic here! <3

[woodswallow]

Sullivan and Howitt through the episodes of "BOOTS" - Part 2/2

Read part one here! :)

Let's continue this little Sullitt-journey, shall we? :)

Episode 6

The last episode ended with Ochoa's death, which was a turning point for the whole series - and in a way also for the relationship of Sullivan and Howitt. We have that important scene between them in the duty hut, after Sullivan gave the alcohol to the recruits. Howitt asks Sullivan "What are they saying out there? That it's my fault?" He looks awfully pained and sad in that scene, it's undeniable that he's feeling horribly guilty and sad. I'm sure Howitt would feel the same if that happened with any other recruit - but it happened to Ochoa, who he just grew fond of (remember how proud he was of Ochoa when he shot "all fives" during his first time, calling him "my boy"?).

Sullivan has maybe heard that there are indeed such rumours among the recruits and doesn't want to confirm it to Howitt - or maybe it's just Sullivan's nature not being able to handle feelings (his own and his coworker's) properly by talking - anyway, he doesn't answer Howitt's questions. His face looks serious and tensed, I'm pretty sure he senses how devastated Howitt is. He turns around, shuts the blinds and hands Howitt a cup of alcohol.

Small sidequest from the Sullitt-story: The fact that Sullivan makes sure the blinds are shut and no one sees what's about to happen in the duty hut shows how Sullivan is used to keeping things secret. He knows they're about to touch a sensitive topic and he wants to keep the DI's privacy - not showing the recruits and alcohol consumption or maybe even possible tears or other emotional outbreaks from Howitt. And also: The fact that there is a bottle of alcohol standing in the duty hut! I guess Sullivan got it for the DI-team along with the alcohol for the recruits...but I'm wondering if any of this was arranged with Fajardo.

Anyway: Sullivan turns around, walks over to Howitt and hands him the cup, clinking their cups together with the words "Semper Fi, brother!" and takes a sip. Howitt replies "Semper Fi", drinking as well. It's obvious how much softer Sullivan's face and body language is after turning towards Howitt. When clinking their cups, he gently sways his shoulders a little (unusual for him, being always rigid and direct). He's tilting his head, a faint smile on his lips, his expression forgiving, trying to offer comfort. His "Semper Fi, brother" was another try to provide comfort when not knowing what else to say. It's his way of saying "we're in this together" and "remember why you're here", at least that's my guess. I think it's heartwarming that Sullivan tries to find a way to comfort Howitt, to be a Marine "brother" to him and support him (even if alcohol is a more than questionable way - it's Sullivan's way. And he's definitely better at providing comfort than Nicholas "Oprah" Slovacek :D ). I'm not sure how to read Howitt's face before saying "Semper Fi" in the 5th GIF - maybe he did expect different words from Sullivan and is a bit surprised, maybe I'm reading too much into it. I love characers showing vulnerability, and this here is such a lovely scene because of that - Howitt showing his pain and Sullivan being there, acknowledging it and trying to comfort him (in his own way). It drives me a little mad that we never truly know what Sullivan thinks of this incident with Ochoa - and what he thinks of Howitt.

(all GIFs were kindly created by lovely @laughing-from-my-dumpster-fire )

Episode 7

Oh boy, a lot to unpack in this episode! First the "I'll get him there"-scene: Howitt and Sullivan watch the recruits clean the shower. They're standing quite close to each other and Sullivan asks Howitt "What do you think of the new kid?", refering to Jones. It's the first time that we see Sullivan asking Howitt for his opinion. He probably wants to gather information about Jones to assess the situation with Jones and Cope and knows that Howitt is a great source for opinions and observations :D Howitt seems to be surprised by Sullivan's question (or by the fact that Sullivan asks him about his opinion), looking at the way his eyebrows shoot up. When he mentiones that he didn't expect Cope to last that long (4th GIF), Sullivan gives him a ...surprised/angry/attentive look... don't know how to interpret his face here. I think he's just taking notice here that Howitt picked up on Cam, too. When Howitt then says that he guesses Cope won't make it because he doesn't have "the kill" in him, Sullivan promises him "I'll get him there!". I think this little conversation is valuable to Sullivan and his little "Project Cope". Again, Howitt provides more information than being asked for - but I think this time Sullivan doesn't mind.

GIFs by @laughing-from-my-dumpster-fire

Then we have the "beer mug speech", a scene that always breaks my heart for Sullivan... but also my Sullitt-shipper heart :(

Howitt is waiting outside the duty hut, while Santos is calling his family. He hears the door, is surprised to see Sullivan entering - he's not on duty, after all! He turns around, saying "Hey, Sullivan! You Good?", to which Sullivan only replies "wake those fuckers up!". From this sentence and his body language alone, Howitt senses something is wrong - he lowly asks "Woah...hey man, have you been drinking?" He's clearly concerned, subtly trying to hold him back with (barely) touching his arm, keeping up with his pace. But Sullivan can't be stopped at this point anymore and after kicking that trash can and waking everything up, Howitt refrains from trying to hold him back - probably he doesn't want to undermine Sullivan's authority in front of the recruits, but also because he knows how bad tempered Sullivan can be, even when sober. So he just huffs, puts his hands on his hips in clear frustration and listens to Sullivan's speech. The frustration probably results from the fact that Sullivan rushes in during HIS shift, gaining the control of the situation without speaking to Howitt first. But maybe it also results from the fact that Howitt - once again! - was not able to "crack" Sullivan, to get him to talk to him about what's wrong, to make a connection to him (another clue to that we'll see in a later scene).

During his emotional (and in Howitt's eyes probably pathetic) speech, the camera shows Howitt once more, fighting with himself to keep his mouth shut. I think he does this after the line "it is your one true love. Nothing else lasts." Howitt takes a deep breath in, crosses his arms and swallows whatever he has on his tongue. He probably struggles hard not to interrupt. After his speech, Sullivan just rushes of without another word to Howitt.

GIFs by @laughing-from-my-dumpster-fire

The next day, during the recruits training, Howitt stands close to Sullivan muttering to him "Quite a... performance last night. You're... you're alright?" with a clearly concerned look on his face. Sullivan, charming as ever, just responds with "Never better!" and flees, again. Howitt is left behind, reacting like this:

GIF by @laughing-from-my-dumpster-fire

This time, it's not so much frustration, but clear concern and worry on his face. He breathes out through his nose, looks after him and turns his eyes down. He know something is seriously wrong with Sullivan for storming inside the squad bay at night, giving this kind of speech totally out of nowhere... but there's nothing he can do. And this drives me insane. Because we see that Howitt of course has his flaws, but he is a good comrade overall, a good guy who's supportive and looks after his recruits. He's emotional and able to learn from his mistakes – so I think he could have been able to offer some kind of comfort to Sullivan, if only he talked to him. Of course there would have been no way Sullivan could tell him the whole truth...but I'm pretty sure Howitt could have been a source of comfort for him.

Then we have the pit fight between Cope and Jones. When it's clear that Cope is winning, Howitt wants to separate the two of them – but Sullivan grabs his arm and holds him back, saying “give the recruit a chance to defend himself.” Sullivan obviously has no restraint in holding Howitt back (not like Howitt in the “beer mug speech-scene”). And another thing is: Howitt does listen to Sullivan! Although his initial thought of separating them was right, he follows Sullivan's “order” and steps back. I'm pretty sure he has huge respect for Sullivan, despite his anger issues and drunk speech. Of course Sullivan is using his power and Howitt's respect for him to achieve his goal (which is to strengthen and prepare Cope). He doesn't give a shit about correct training in this moment - he just wants to hold Howitt back to give Cam the experience of true rage, of striking back, sacrificing Jones for it.

GIFs by @laughing-from-my-dumpster-fire

Only when McKinnon,t(heir superior) oders to stop the fight, Howitt steps in again, immediately – while Sullivan first eyes Howitt for a second, then reluctantly follows him to separate Cope and Jones. Both of them use their whole body to push Cope back and get him away from Jones.

GIFs by @laughing-from-my-dumpster-fire

Episode 8

In the last episode, Sullivan and Howitt only have one scene together - this is also their last :(

Fajardo comes into their camp, immediately ordering Sullivan off with a "You! With me!" Both of them walk away, leaving McKinnon and Howitt behind. McKinnon shots Howitt a questioning look, who just answers by raising his eyebrows and shoulders a little (bad screenshot), suggesting a "no idea what it is this time!":

When Jones is nowhere to be found on the next morning, the three DIs meet up. Howitt let himself get carried away again, talking shit about Jones ("That Jones kid had a screw loose but I never thought he'd go UA!"). Sullivan seems to have enough, snarls back "He's impulsive, he's not stupid!"

GIFs by @pr-is-ci-ll-aa

He tells Howitt and McKinnon about Jones sleep disorder and adds "If he hit the swamps, he's in trouble.", Howitt reacting with a "oh shit!"-expression.

In this last interaction, again Sullivan is telling Howitt off, who doesn't even try to fight back. I think he sees Sullivan's point which is why he doesn't argue. But of course there's also the possibility that he's just annoyed by Sullivan and that's the reason why he shuts up - but I think after his experience with Ochoa, Howitt takes this situation seriously.

After that, Sullivan asks McKinnon to be "let off leash" - and disappears in the swamps.

Thank you so much for following me with these two :) I think they have such an interesting dynamic. It's a shame we never get a hint of Sullivan's opinion about Howitt (or do we? Did I overlook something? If yes, please somebody tell me!) and that we didn't get more of them together. They have some chemistry in my opinion and the series leaves much room for interpretations - I wrote some fanfics about them, you can find them on my ao3 :)

And also a huge thank you to all the wonderful GIF-creators (and in case of this post, especially THANK YOU to @laughing-from-my-dumpster-fire who created the used GIFs just for the sake of me writing this analysis <3 )

[woodswallow]

"Boots" - new Sullitt-fanfiction is up!

Sooo...here's my first (short) chapter for my new "Boots"-fanfiction with my second favourite pairing Sullivan x Howitt (Sullitt). I am so excited to share and I hope some people like to read it :D

https://archiveofourown.org/works/78426731/chapters/205598886

GIF by @pr-is-ci-ll-aa (thank you :)

I know that @laughing-from-my-dumpster-fire wanted to know when the first chapter is up - here we goooo :D

And last but not least Thank You to @allforreading-fandomthings for the motivation, exchange of thoughts and reassurrance :)

[woodswallow]

"BOOTS"-fanfiction (Sullivan x Howitt) - final chapter is up!! :)

Aaaw man, this was sooo much fun, I loved writing this and I am really happy with the result :) Writing smut in english is hard, but here we are!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/78426731/chapters/205598886

I hope you enjoy this last chapter, it's getting hot :) Little heads-up again for @laughing-from-my-dumpster-fire ;) Also I really fell in love with Sullivan's car and this video (showing the car and how the engine sounds) was part of my research and is a little "behind the scenes" for this story.

Oh, and also thank you sooo much for the many amazing comments I got on my last chapter - made me sooo incredibly happy!

I hope you enjoyed this fic as much as I did, I loved writing it <3 I will now work on another WIP, this time it's Sullicope again :)

[woodswallow]

"Boots"-fanfiction (Sullivan x Howitt) - Second chapter up!

I just uploaded another chapter of my current Sullitt-fanfiction...and this one is very dear to my heart, I LOVED writing it, so many emotions <3 I am excited to hear what you think! :)

Read it here:

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

I didn't create the GIF, it's again of course from @pr-is-ci-ll-aa

Another little heads up for @laughing-from-my-dumpster-fire

[woodswallow]

Hey! What do you think about the Sullivan/Cope and Jones/Cope pairing? I did my own research and found out that from a legal point of view their relationship is legal (without s*x, even if both agree, the consent may be considered invalid) The series takes place in the state of Louisiana, where the age of consent is 17. Eee....What's your favorite couple ?🥹

Hey :) Thank you so much for sending me this very interesting question, which I love to answer. Thank you so much for you interest in my opinion <3

About Cope/Jones: I loved their bonding-in-the-woods-scene, where they play that game and Cam can talk to someone about topics like lube for the first time ever. It's such a sweet and endearing scene and they really had some good chemistry there - I especially loved how clear it became how inexperienced Cam is, I really have a soft spot for this kind of vulnerability. Not gonna lie, I was also holding my breath during the sleepwalking-scene and was really excited that we would see a kiss...which we then didn't :D So, I have to admit, there were some sweet scenes between them. And I also see why people like this pairing.

But to be honest: I don't like Jones at all and I am very happy that this kiss never happened. Jones is"too much" for my taste. He is so "over the top gay" when he's with Cam, he's really playing with him. The way he grins at Cam and eyes him from top to bottom? My first thought was "uncomfortable", a bit predatory-like. And well yes, how he acted in episode 7, following Sullivan's orders to mess with him, rail him up to get his medical discharge...it showed that he was never really interested in Cam, he wasn't really caring about him, he was just playing with him and looking for his own advantage. I once wrote a post about their conversation in the woods, where they eat their meals - there I explain more into detail, what I hated about their conversation and why I think Jones was a hypocrite.

So while their relationship might be legal and "morally correct", because there's no age gap and no power imbalance - it's just not for me.

But I am a huge fan of "ship and let ship" and I am living by this. I see why people are shipping them!

But my personal favroutite couple by far is Sullivan/Cope (Sullicope). I couldn't care less that Cam's underage (by the end of the series it's just one month until he turns 18...) or that there's an age gap of 10 years and a power imbalance between them - they have so, soooo much chemistry if you ask me. That stairway to heaven scene killed me. The rifle range scene healed me. And the whole swamp-scene ripped me apart on multiple levels. I love imagining these two together, doesn't matter if in the canon Boots-universe or with a time skip - they are my OTP and I LOVE them dearly.

Little bonus, because I can't stop thinking about them right now: Second favourite pairing is Sullitt (Sullivan/Howitt). It's canon that Howitt is annoyed, suspicious and fascinated by Sullivan and also that he cares about him when he starts to spiral - Howitt discovering his bisexuality through Sullivan is one of my favourite headcanons :D I'm writing for both pairings (Sullicope and Sullitt) and it's so much fun :)

Thank you sooo much for being interested in my opinion <3 I just love talking about this series and my beloved characters!! :D

[woodswallow]

Moodboard for "Static on the line" ("Boots"-fanfic by paperclipsentimental)

Re-read that second chapter of the fascinating fanfic "Static on the line" by @paperclipsentimental and felt the urge to create a moodboard for it (because I love doing these at the moment and was in the flow and just had to do it :D

The fic is dark, a bit gory/violent and sexy as fuck and I love it :)