Finally got to reading each others skin. Why Herbert medic canon now 😭
The answer is fourfold:
1. Word of God. Jay Pinkerton said so when someone asked him, so why not? I know that it's a "grain of salt" thing whenever the writer of something says stuff like that outside of canonical examples but at the same time we have such loose canon to work with as it is, I don't mind taking it at face value. Plus, because it's from Pinkerton it's technically more canon than Sniper's name of Mick, which iirc came from the box of a piece of merch, and the fans have largely accepted that just fine.
2. Herbert West: Re-animator. I'm very sure that's why Herbert was chosen, and it's a perfect reference for the doc, especially the movie version. Campy, a little queer, a lot of hubris, a dark sense of humour ("Cat dead, details later."). Plus I could totally see mid-40s Jeffrey Combs playing Medic live action. Also it's my favourite horror movie. <3
3. It's a German name without being too stereotypical. It's not Fritz or Wolfgang or something. And that tracks with other merc names. Tavish is Scottish but isn't, like, Angus or something. Mick yes is the same first name as Crocodile Dundee but it also isn't Bruce. Mihail is stereotypically Russian but it isn't Ivan or Vladimir, and Heavy's also only ever called by its diminutive: Misha. And diminutives don't often get used in American media, particularly not ones for masc names. So Herbert fits right in the pocket for the way the mercs tend to be named.
4. It's a fucking dorky name and in spite of how the fandom loves to make him into some memitic kinky sex god, Medic is a huge fucking dork. Is he a hot piece of ass? Absolutely. Is he a giggly fruitcake who stage whispers to his birds? Also yes.
Bonus answer: "Bertie" sounds like "birdie" and is thus the perfect pet name for him. :3 ESPECIALLY for Monstrous Intent bird-man-ass Medic lol
Medic's utterly bushed after a week of hard pushes and losses, and finally capturing a win at the cost of the last of his energy. He returns to his quarters from cleaning up completely drained, only to find his lovers waiting to dote on him.
Ao3 Link!
It's all fluff, bay-bee! Enjoy! :D
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"Ach, my body," Medic groused, slipping through the door to his quarters and shutting it quietly behind him, sagging. He leaned his forehead against the door, unwilling to move just yet, finding it difficult to will himself the last gasp of energy to turn and flop onto his bed.
He was exhausted beyond compare, fatigued past synonym, tired down to the marrow and barely holding himself upright. A long week of difficult pushes had seen loss after loss after loss, unable to breach RED's defenses to deliver the payload. Today, the team had rallied, hammering at the defensive line until they finally prevailed, but it had taxed Medic to his limits, calling pushes and directing his teammates as he built charges and dove out of the line of fire from every angle.
Once the adrenaline had worn off as he showered away the grime and sweat and blood, Medic had found himself growing progressively more boneless as he sluggishly schlepped his way back to the dormitory hall, and his quarters thereby. Whoops and hollers from his teammates as they partook in post-victory celebrations and afternoon rituals faded past his closed door, leaving him in the relative quiet of his own space, able to finally just stop for what felt like the first time in days.
When he finally mustered the herculean amount of energy required to merely turn on his heel to face his room, Medic's eyes snapped open in sleepy surprise. "Was?"
Heavy and Scout reclined on his bed, half-covered by his sheets, shirtless. He was sure neither man was wearing a stitch of clothing, but honestly he couldn't bring himself to get excited about it. His weariness drove away any lurid thoughts.
"'Bout time you got here," Scout teased, stretching languidly to show off his body to his oldest lover. "Bed's awful cold without ya, Doc."
"But we help make it warm for you," Heavy assured him with a warm smile, scooting onto his side and patting the space between them.
"My men," Medic hummed softly, a smile crossing his lips. "I'm too tired for any fun, I fear," he cautioned, tossing his gloves onto his desk and unbuttoning his coat.
"This is fine," Heavy dismissed with a wave. "Want to hold you, give you nice cuddle after big win. You did well, Doktor. Work hard all week. You deserve reward."
"A reward?" Medic asked, smirking a little.
Heavy merely rubbed his furry chest in reply, smiling knowingly.
Medic shed his coat and tie and set to his waistcoat and shirt, chuckling. He couldn't resist Heavy's fluff, to be sure. "You spoil me."
Scout hopped to his feet as he noticed Medic fumbling with his buttons, wobbly with exhaustion. "Here, Doc. Lemme," he offered, making quick work of the man's too-many buttons and helping him strip. Layers fell to the floor to be dealt with later, Medic laughing as Scout lifted his arms to illustrate what he wanted him to do, pulling his undershirt free once the doctor complied. "I feel like a child being undressed for bath time," he chuckled, his arms falling to his sides.
"Well you already got cleaned up, so I guess it's time to wrestle you into some footie pajamas and read you a bedtime story," Scout teased, unbuckling Medic's belt and opening his fly, shimmying his trousers and underwear down together until they bunched around his thighs. He gestured for Medic to sit, and the doctor complied, perching on the side of the bed and watching with a smile as Scout carefully pulled his boots off and set them aside.
"I don't think even Pyro has a set of footie pajamas big enough for me," Medic laughed.
"Yeah, that's true. I guess you gotta sleep naked, then." Scout grinned and tugged Medic's clothes the rest of the way off, his socks ending up in the bundle of trousers and underwear that now sat in a pile on the floor with his shirts and waistcoat.
"Do I still get a bedtime story?"
"You really want me to tell you a big long story right now?" Scout threatened knowingly, ushering Medic to lie down and drawing the covers gently up over him.
"Only if you don't mind if I fall asleep during it."
Scout smirked, climbing into bed after him. "See now that's why I ain't gonna bother. Don't want you to miss any good parts."
Heavy wrapped an arm around Medic and tugged him close, letting him bury his nose into the fluffy hair at the middle of his chest with a contented sigh. One arm limply flopped over the giant, fingers lazily petting at the hair on his back.
Behind Medic, Scout slotted in, tangling his legs with the taller man's as he hugged him close and pressed soft kisses to the nape of his neck. "Just let it all melt away," he murmured, wrapping his arm around Medic and cuddled up close. "We got the day off tomorrow, and you got a nice long night's sleep between us before that. Nothin' to do but relax an' enjoy it."
Medic hummed out a soft sound of comfort, nuzzling Heavy's chest as he felt the tension drain from his body. Heavy's massive hand cupped his hip, surrounding him in the warmth of his lovers and blanket tucked up around his shoulders. Softly, he yawned. "Mm, I love you both," he murmured drowsily, sleep already tugging at him.
"We love you too," Scout soothed, giving him a squeeze.
"Good night, Doktor," Heavy whispered, pressing a kiss to the crown of Medic's head, snickering softly as a quiet snore answered him.
Wow what a compliment too ;3; weeeehhhhhhhhh I'm so touched it's hard to, like, coherently express how emotional I am rn sittin' at this laptop like adnasjfnaslkdnsDKjfnaKSJNFasdf
And oh man the day comic 7 got fukken posted I was literally at AAA with my husband (getting info on ways to dispose of our old car) and happened to check tumblr while he was talking with the receptionist and almost screamed. The look on my face was enough for him to ask if I was okay because I was just staring at my phone in shock. WAITING TO GET HOME TO READ IT WAS AGONY LMAO
That said, it's not heavymedic but I did write a post-comic 7 demosniper story called Mistletoe you can point them at. :3
A scream ripped through the woods.
Sniper's shot went wide. The pheasant dashed out of sight, other birds took wing, and everything else disappeared as quickly as their feet could carry them, leaving the mighty hunter alone and annoyed.
Another scream followed. It was horrible and strange, guttural, alien. It sounded somewhere between the bellow of an elk, the howl of a hound, and the screech of a woman if it were a sound made while inhaling. It curled Sniper's insides to hear it, and he froze, eyes wide, straining his ears for its direction.
Some sort of monster was in this forest.
The scream cut through the air once more, and Sniper turned to follow its echo, leading up the mountain, deeper and deeper into the trees.
Some sort of monster was in this forest, and he needed to know what kind.
💖 What do you like most about your own writing?
Jokes. I'm a humour guy. A comedy guy. Even when things are sexy or scary, I need jokes in there. Even bitter jokes to break up tragedy sometimes. It's a great way to relieve tension while maintaining stakes, and moreso it's an amazing way to develop characters. What they find funny, the kinds of jokes they're willing to make, what humour is a step too far for them, and so much more helps to round out a character's personality and really breathe life into them. People joke around and banter a lot irl, so it stands to reason that people who're around each other a lot (like the mercs) do the same. Plus, idk I like funny things. :3
Okay forgive me for being sappy here but I still can’t believe how lucky I was to be into tf2 now instead of like four years ago. Imagine coming across this awesome series and when you reach the bottom it just. Stops. It stopped and ended with red demo and blu Solly only sort of making up and the rest of the gang are just gone and you’ll never know what happened to them. And you leave the fandom eventually and wouldn’t ever know that BANG six years later you come back with vacation all I ever wanted and everything’s back again, you get to see these characters again and write and head canon and think up scenarios in bed for them again. And I didn’t even have to go through the six “weh this series is dead” years.
So yeah. I’m lucky I think
I felt like such a villain for years because of this, no longer able to write and screaming into the void about it. I lost my sex drive, my passion, and myself, all because of a cluster of unusual side effects of my medication (methylphenidate HCL, aka ritalin), which because they were such unusual side effects (literally the polar opposite of every common side effect) my doctor thought were hormonal issues related to my birth control for YEARS. Constant retooling and dialing in of those meds and completely ignoring that my ritalin was barely doing what it was supposed to do and doing everything to give me literal dysphoria because I was no longer the person I had been my entire fucking life. It was affecting my marriage a lot, too, making my husband doubt my attraction to him. It was hell.
When a friend of mine posted her experience starting ADHD meds after 40, and described how dramatic it was, like flicking a switch, I realized that my meds were not doing what they were supposed to do. So I talked to my doctor and suggested I go off of them, see where I'm at, and maybe try a different med from there. She was like hell yeah make sure you have a day or two off of work in case you feel like dogshit when you go off (I did lol). Two days later I wrote Ain't Seen Nothin' Yeti. The first fiction piece I'd written in six fucking years. I did a lot of crying.
I've rebounded so much, (a bit more than I was before in ways that make my husband very secure in his attractiveness lmao) and I've decided not to bother trying more meds. At least not right now. And since then it's been an explosion of the stories I've wanted to write for years but couldn't, and it feels so good.
The big thing is, though, during those years I stopped checking Ao3, because I felt so guilty that I was sure there were going to be bitter messages asking where I'd gone, why I hadn't updated, or worse, anger over it. So I didn't look. After I put out Ain't Seen Nothin' Yeti, I worked up my courage and checked my Ao3 inbox.
It was an outpouring of love, joy, laughter, and yes lamentations that there isn't more, that it stopped, but no anger, no bitterness, no blame, just oh man I hope someday there's more I love this so much.
And that meant the world to me.
I did a lot of crying.
So yeah, you did get lucky. And so did I; that I could come back and keep writing and keep telling these stories. <3 I just hope that anyone who loved thes stories can find out that I'm back.
