#thread: bradley2

[persephoneacts]

If the pout on his face hadn’t been enough to bowl her over with laughter – quite literally, given their current entanglement – then Seph was sure to lose it when Bradley announced that he bruised like a peach. Because of course he did, in all his lanky, somewhat anemic looking glory. She hadn’t found herself caring all that much about the potential of him bruised and aching from their tumblr to the floor, nor had she overly minded that her own ribcage seemed to pinch from all her laughing, her friend’s knee situated somewhere between her legs in a way that could’ve switched from uncomfortable to compromising in a matter of seconds if he only inched ever so slightly to the left... 

She blinked, flustered by her own traitorous mind. Jesus Christ. An eager reliance on drugs and alcohol had done a number on Persephone’s braincells over the years, but was she really so far gone that she was sprawled on the floor of her workplace daydreaming about riding Bradley Prestwick’s thigh? Shit, maybe she was. Or, worse than that, maybe it had nothing to do with her fight with addiction and everything to do with her inexplicable yet all-encompassing crush on the man. 

Suddenly she was grateful for the gunk that he’d smeared across her face, hopefully shielding the bright flush that had made its way up her neck to her cheeks. Looking for a distraction, she found herself scoffing at his words, another giggle spilling from her lips as she readied herself to disagree. She knew few people that would brave the wrath of Kit Fields and Bradley absolutely did not make that list. Before she could tease him, already internally cooking up scenarios in which Kit walked in on the pair of them, the woman in question did just that, startling Persephone out of her reverie. 

“Oh, shit,” Seph mumbled, giggling despite herself.  

Clumsily, every inch of the floor and her own body slippery from all the mess they’d made, she rested her hands on Bradley’s chest in an attempt to push herself up into a semi-seated position. Biting down on her lip to hide another smile, she allowed her friend to nudge her gently and allow him the space to sit up too, the two of them pushing to their faces looking like scolded children caught... Well, caught making a mess of their mom’s kitchen with an ill-advised food fight, actually. 

“Sorry, Kit. He totally started it, though,” Seph stated solemnly, undeterred by the eyeroll she was met with, as well as the look of betrayal that she caught on Bradley’s face beside her. 

Laughing harder, she shrugged as she pressed her weight against his, bumping her shoulder against his bicep, mismatched as they were in height. Turning her attention back to Kit, she frowned, noting the other woman’s raised brow and teasing smirk. Whatever the hell that meant. 

“We’re gonna clean all this shit up, I promise,” Seph ensured her, folding her arms across her chest as she edged a couple of inches away from Bradley, blushing deeper at the other blonde’s stare. 

He could feel the wet stickiness of the frosting and the cream dampen his clothes, seeping through the flannel he wore and the Spiderman shirt underneath it. He shuddered at the sensation, torn between enacting more food-related violence on his war against Sephy, and straight up peeling his skin off. His only comfort was that Sephy was covered in more flour than him.

He wrinkled his nose at how uncomfortable he felt. It was a sensory nightmare. He half wanted to let out a loud whine and complain about both his current appearance and the mess of the kitchen that he knew Kit wouldn’t be quiet about. But then another noise cut through the air and he lifted his head in surprise.

Sephy was full on belly-laughing, as in bent over, clutching her stomach as tears trailed down her face. He watched in awe as they tracked through the flour on her cheeks and before he knew it, he was laughing too.

“It’s not funny!” he told her, although the wild grin on his face said otherwise.

“I mean. You’re gonna be fine! Kit likes you, but then she’s gonna come in here and see this mess and immediately blame me because she already thinks I’m some sort of urban legend freak and she’s gonna start some creepypasta story about me and Reddit’s gonna go wild and I’m gonna get a reputation and I’m gonna try and walk down the street and people will stare at me and be like oh, here he is, it’s the Kitchen Annihilator and moms will pull their kids closer to them and - oof!” His rambling hypothetical was cut short when Sephy collided with him and sent them both careening to the floor.

He landed flat on his back, cushioning Sephy in the fall which rightfully should have made him feel like some sort of white knight. Instead, he couldn’t help but think about how that would hurt in the morning.

“Aw, Seph, come on! I bruise like a peach!” he complained, squinting up at her and realising she was still laughing. He felt her press her face into his neck and, despite himself, a smile made its way onto his own face.

“M’not scared of Kit,” he said again. 

“Oh really?” came a voice that suggested he should be.

His head snapped around as best as it could with Sephy still on top of him. Kit stood in the doorway, sans Jenna which probably meant one of the other waitresses had taken over looking after her. Bradley’s stomach sank as Kit looked around at the mess of her kitchen, hands propped on her hips as she surveyed the damage.

“You know I wish the two of you were dead, right?” she asked calmly.

Bradley gave a small nod. “That’s fair,” he said faintly, nudging Seph into standing so he could climb to his feet as well. He figured he should at least have the decency to look sheepish, although one sideways glance at Seph had him fighting a smile again.

[skyguywrites]

❗️= old or important threads/threads to prioritise. bold = ship thread. italics = important/defining plot.

dan owes.

❗️henry/diego3 - 27 june // 9 notes // opp: michaela

marley/poppy1 - 29 july // 2 notes // opp: michaela

ezra/kian1 - 8 aug // 4 notes // opp: michaela

teddy/amelia1 - 11 aug // 0 notes // opp: michaela

marley/jessie2 - 14 sept // 1 note // opp: michaela

teddy/olly1 - 23 sept // 0 notes // opp: michaela

keeley/théo1 - 24 sept // 3 notes // opp: michaela

teddy/colin1 - 24 sept // 3 notes // opp: michaela

❗️marley/harlow2 - 29 sept // 5 notes // opp: jenny

dante/marcus1 - 30 sept // 2 notes // opp: michaela

❗️max/ivy2 - 7 sept // 6 notes // opp: michaela

jude/olly1 - 13 oct // 0 notes // opp: michaela

rory/bonnie1 - 5 nov // 2 notes // opp: michaela

simon/billy2 - 10 nov // 3 notes // opp: michaela

ripley/amira1 - 15 nov // 5 notes // opp: michaela

lando/théo1 - 27 nov // 4 notes // opp: michaela

henry/diego4 - 27 nov // 4 notes // opp: michaela

henry/valentina1 - 13 nov // 1 note // opp: michaela

teddy/valentina1 - 13 dec // 1 note // opp: michaela

simon/billy3 (mini) - 4 jan // 0 notes // opp/ michaela

micah/joey1 - 5 jan // 3 notes // opp: michaela

eli/annie3 - 5 jan // 2 notes // opp: michaela

heath/elodie1 - 5 jan // 2 notes // opp: michaela

❗️rafferty/maverick2 - 6 jan // 6 notes // opp: michaela

jen owes.

❗️louis/wardo4 - 26 june // 3 notes // opp: danielle

❗️maggie/amelia1 - 13 aug // 4 notes // opp: michaela

jackson/dante2 - 12 sept // 3 notes // opp: danielle

ariadne/billy1 (mini) - 25 sept // 2 notes // opp: michaela

louis/wardo5 (mini) - 28 sept // 3 notes // opp: danielle

charlie/marcus1 (mini) - 29 sept // 2 notes // opp: michaela

❗️harlow/rafferty1 - 17 oct // 10 notes // opp: danielle

killian/amira4 - 08 nov // 4 notes // opp: michaela

chess/ivy3 - 10 nov // 4 notes // opp: michaela

noah/flynn1 - 11 nov // 3 notes // opp: michaela

matthias/colin3 (flashback, mini) - 14 nov // 6 notes // opp: michaela

maggie/marcus1 (mini) - 27 nov // 3 notes // opp: michaela

ariadne/valentina1 (mini) - 31 dec // 3 notes // opp: michaela

matthias/simon1 - 2 jan // 2 notes // opp: danielle

matthias/colin4 (mini) - 5 jan // 5 notes // opp: michaela

❗️harlow/raff/maverick1 - 6 jan // 6 notes // opp: danielle & michaela

michaela owes.

persephone/bradley2 - 16 oct // 2 notes // opp: danielle

théo/jax1 (mini) - 13 nov // 1 note // opp: jenny

persephone/charlie1 (mini) - 24 nov // 1 note // opp: jenny

poppy/noah3 - 24 nov // 1 note // opp: jenny

❗️jasper/ariadne1 (mini) - 24 nov // 4 notes // opp: jenny

kian/ezra2 (mini) - 5 dec // 4 notes // opp: michaela

amelia/ripley1 - 2nd jan // 3 notes // opp: danielle

ARCHIVED.

amira/joey1. | amira/killian1. amira/killian2. amira/killian3. annie/eli1. annie/eli2. | annie/jax1.

billy/simon1.

bradley/persephone1.

charlie/elodie1.

chess/diego1. | chess/henry1. chess/ivy1. chess/ivy2. | chess/joey1. | chess/matty1. chess/matty2.

colin/matthias1. colin/matthias2.

dante/jax1.

diego/henry1. diego/henry2. diego/henry3.

eli/matty1.

flynn/rae1. | flynn/wardo1.

harlow/ivy1. | harlow/marley1. | harlow/maverick1.

henry/ivy1. | henry/poppy1.

ivy/louis1. ivy/louis2. ivy/louis3. | ivy/max1. | ivy/raff1. | ivy/wardo1.

jax/matty1.

jess/marley1.

joey/scotty1.

kian/louis1.

killian/matty1.

louis/max1. | louis/scotty1. | louis/wardo1. louis/wardo2. louis/wardo3.

mav/raff1. | mav/wardo1.

noah/poppy1. noah/poppy2.

persephone/jax1. persephone/jax2. | persephone/ripley1.

poppy/wardo1.

[skyguywrites]

❗️= old or important threads/threads to prioritise. bold = ship thread. italics = important/defining plot.

dan owes.

❗️henry/diego3 - 27 june // 9 notes // opp: michaela

❗️eli/annie2 - 8 july // 4 notes // opp: michaela

wardo/flynn1 - 10 july // 3 notes // opp: michaela

marley/poppy1 - 29 july // 2 notes // opp: michaela

ezra/kian1 - 8 aug // 4 notes // opp: michaela

teddy/amelia1 - 11 aug // 0 notes // opp: michaela

marley/jessie2 - 14 sept // 1 note // opp: michaela

teddy/olly1 - 23 sept // 0 notes // opp: michaela

keeley/théo1 - 24 sept // 3 notes // opp: michaela

teddy/colin1 - 24 sept // 3 notes // opp: michaela

simon/matthias1 - 24 sept // 1 note // opp: jenny

❗️marley/harlow2 - 29 sept // 5 notes // opp: jenny

dante/marcus1 - 30 sept // 2 notes // opp: michaela

❗️max/ivy2 - 7 sept // 6 notes // opp: michaela

jude/olly1 - 13 oct // 0 notes // opp: michaela

ripley/amelia1 - 5 nov // 2 notes // opp: michaela

rory/bonnie1 - 5 nov // 2 notes // opp: michaela

simon/billy2 - 10 nov // 3 notes // opp: michaela

ezra/kian2 (mini) - 14 nov // 3 notes // opp: michaela

ripley/amira1 - 15 nov // 5 notes // opp: michaela

lando/théo1 - 27 nov // 4 notes // opp: michaela

henry/diego4 - 27 nov // 4 notes // opp: michaela

henry/valentina1 - 13 nov // 1 note // opp: michaela

teddy/valentina1 - 13 dec // 1 note // opp: michaela

jen owes.

❗️louis/wardo4 - 26 june // 3 notes // opp: danielle

maggie/amelia1 - 13 aug // 4 notes // opp: michaela

jackson/dante2 - 12 sept // 3 notes // opp: danielle

ariadne/billy1 - 25 sept // 2 notes // opp: michaela

louis/wardo1 (mini) - 28 sept // 3 notes // opp: danielle

charlie/marcus1 - 29 sept // 2 notes // opp: michaela

charlie/elodie1 - 02 oct // 3 notes // opp: michaela

❗️matthias/colin1 - 7 oct // 4 notes // opp: michaela

❗️harlow/rafferty1 - 17 oct // 10 notes // opp: danielle

killian/amira4 - 08 nov // 4 notes // opp: michaela

chess/ivy3 - 10 nov // 4 notes // opp: michaela

noah/flynn1 - 11 nov // 3 notes // opp: michaela

matthias/colin3 - 14 nov // 6 notes // opp: michaela

maggie/marcus1 - 27 nov // 3 notes // opp: michaela

michaela owes.

❗️flynn/rae1 - 29 sept // 6 notes // opp: danielle

micah/joey1 - 6 oct // 2 notes // opp: danielle

persephone/bradley2 - 16 oct // 2 notes // opp: danielle

❗️maverick/raff2 - 16 oct // 5 notes // opp: danielle

❗️maverick/harlow/raff1 - 17 oct // 5 notes // opp: jenny & danielle

théo/jax1 - 13 nov // 1 note // opp: jenny

persephone/charlie1 - 24 nov // 1 note // opp: jenny

poppy/noah3 - 24 nov // 1 note // opp: jenny

jasper/ariadne1 - 24 nov // 4 notes // opp: jenny

kian/ezra2 (mini) - 5 dec // 4 notes // opp: michaela

ARCHIVED.

amira/joey1. | amira/killian1. amira/killian2. amira/killian3. annie/eli1. | annie/jax1.

billy/simon1.

bradley/persephone1.

chess/diego1. | chess/henry1. chess/ivy1. chess/ivy2. | chess/joey1. | chess/matty1. chess/matty2.

colin/matthias2.

dante/jax1.

diego/henry1. diego/henry2. diego/henry3.

eli/matty1.

harlow/ivy1. | harlow/marley1. | harlow/maverick1.

henry/ivy1. | henry/poppy1.

ivy/louis1. ivy/louis2. ivy/louis3. | ivy/max1. | ivy/raff1. | ivy/wardo1.

jax/matty1.

jess/marley1.

joey/scotty1.

kian/louis1.

killian/matty1.

louis/max1. | louis/scotty1. | louis/wardo1. louis/wardo2. louis/wardo3.

mav/raff1. | mav/wardo1.

noah/poppy1. noah/poppy2.

persephone/jax1. persephone/jax2. | persephone/ripley1.

poppy/wardo1.

[skyguywrites]

❗️= old or important threads/threads to prioritise. bold = ship thread. italics = important/defining plot.

dan owes.

❗️henry/diego3 - 27 june // 9 notes // opp: michaela

❗️eli/annie2 - 8 july // 4 notes // opp: michaela

wardo/flynn1 - 10 july // 3 notes // opp: michaela

marley/poppy1 - 29 july // 2 notes // opp: michaela

henry/diego4 - 6 aug // 2 notes // opp: michaela

ezra/kian1 - 8 aug // 4 notes // opp: michaela

teddy/amelia1 - 11 aug // 0 notes // opp: michaela

marley/jessie2 - 14 sept // 1 note // opp: michaela

teddy/olly1 - 23 sept // 0 notes // opp: michaela

keeley/théo1 - 24 sept // 3 notes // opp: michaela

teddy/colin1 - 24 sept // 3 notes // opp: michaela

simon/matthias1 - 24 sept // 1 note // opp: jenny

❗️marley/harlow2 - 29 sept // 5 notes // opp: jenny

dante/marcus1 - 30 sept // 2 notes // opp: michaela

❗️max/ivy2 - 7 sept // 6 notes // opp: michaela

jude/olly1 - 13 oct // 0 notes // opp: michaela

ripley/amelia1 - 5 nov // 2 notes // opp: michaela

rory/bonnie1 - 5 nov // 2 notes // opp: michaela

simon/billy2 - 10 nov // 3 notes // opp: michaela

ezra/kian2 (mini) - 14 nov // 3 notes // opp: michaela

ripley/amira1 - 15 nov // 5 notes // opp: michaela

jen owes.

❗️louis/wardo4 - 26 june // 3 notes // opp: danielle

charlie/persephone1 - 7 aug // 0 notes // opp: michaela

maggie/amelia1 - 13 aug // 4 notes // opp: michaela

ariadne/jasper1 - 13 aug // 4 notes // opp: michaela

jackson/dante2 - 12 sept // 3 notes // opp: danielle

ariadne/billy1 - 25 sept // 2 notes // opp: michaela

louis/wardo1 (mini) - 28 sept // 3 notes // opp: danielle

charlie/marcus1 - 29 sept // 2 notes // opp: michaela

charlie/elodie1 - 02 oct // 3 notes // opp: michaela

❗️matthias/colin1 - 7 oct // 4 notes // opp: michaela

noah/poppy3 - 13 oct // 0 notes // opp: michaela

❗️harlow/rafferty1 - 17 oct // 10 notes // opp: danielle

killian/amira4 - 08 nov // 4 notes // opp: michaela

chess/ivy3 - 10 nov // 4 notes // opp: michaela

noah/flynn1 - 11 nov // 3 notes // opp: michaela

matthias/colin3 - 14 nov // 6 notes // opp: michaela

michaela owes.

marcus/maggie1 - 24 sept // 2 notes // opp: jenny

théo/lando1 - 28 sept // 3 notes // opp: danielle

❗️flynn/rae1 - 29 sept // 6 notes // opp: danielle

micah/joey1 - 6 oct // 2 notes // opp: danielle

persephone/bradley2 - 16 oct // 2 notes // opp: danielle

❗️maverick/raff2 - 16 oct // 5 notes // opp: danielle

❗️maverick/harlow/raff1 - 17 oct // 5 notes // opp: jenny & danielle

théo/jax1 - 13 nov // 1 note // opp: jenny

[persephoneacts]

Persephone snorted at Bradley’s quip, beaming from the safety of her hiding spot as she thought of Ripley. Platonic as the two of them were – Sephy’s heterosexuality a woeful reality that plagued both her and Maggie on a bad day – she'd give up just about anything for the chance to spend the last of her days with Ripley at her side, the two of grey and wrinkled in matching rocking chairs. She wasn’t sure she’d ever done anything to be worth the other girl’s overwhelming love and support, and yet she had it anyway. 

“So what if I do?” Persephone laughed, hardly daring to move an inch. She couldn’t chance a sneaky glance around the corner for fear that she’d land herself in his direct line of sight. Nope, she wasn’t giving up that easy. “Don’t go getting all jealous, Bradders!” 

Her words were only ever in jest, despite what Maia or Micah might think. She’d listened to the people closest to Bradley taunt and tease the pair of them, convinced he was a total softy for Sephy and Sephy alone. She heavily doubted there was any truth to their playful banter, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t have fun with it. Besides, she had fun teasing and flirting with Bradley, against her better judgement. He was cute and funny, totally hopeless, and he made her laugh like nobody else. 

Her stomach ached with laughter, the visual of him doused in whipped cream burned into her retinas. She could still picture his sulky little face, obscured as it was by sticky, white residue. She felt fairly secure in her hiding spot, especially as she heard that glimmer of doubt in his tone, the tremor as he loudly declared he wasn’t afraid of Kit. Sephy called bullshit, but she’d give him a minute or two to clean his face up before diving back into battle. 

Her own confidence seemed to rival his, however, the two of them working their way through ill-placed bluffs as Bradley steadily dropped a layer of flower over her head. Sephy shrieked with surprise, bouncing to her feet and spinning on the spot to face him, her hand’s shooting out to grip the edge of the counter-top as she fought to keep herself steady. The kitchen was an absolute dump, and she knew Kit would blow a casket if she saw it, but Seph would worry about the clean-up later. This was war. 

The laughter that bubbled from Bradley was infectious, the smug look on his face setting her off into her own fresh set of giggles as she watched him tear away across the room, hardly watching where he was doing. Almost as though in slow motion, Seph watched as his feet gave out beneath him, converse squelching on the cake batter below as his legs flailed cartoonishly in the air, his arms a perfect windmill as he covered himself in even more gunk. 

“Oh my God,” Sephy choked out, one hand reaching for her stomach as she doubled over with laughter. 

Her clothes were ruined, her hair was matted and sticky, and the kitchen currently looked like a diabetic war vet’s worst nightmare, yet Sephy found herself convulsed with laughter as she looked across at her friend. She hadn’t laughed like this in years – maybe even ever. Tears of laughter rolled down her cheeks as she edged towards Bradley, feet threatening to betray her as though she were on Willy Wonka’s version of a slip-n-slide. As she finally rounded on her idiot friend, the sole of her shoe caught on an especially thick dollop of cream and sent her gliding across the floor and straight into Bradley. 

Despite her slight frame and Bradley’s alarming height, the combination of the sticky floor and the weight of her impact sent the two crashing to the floor, Persephone’s hand grasping at his shoulder for purchase as she landed against his chest with a thump. Her whole body seemed to ache as their legs tangled together, yet laughter continued to peel from her lips as she buried her face in his neck in a poor attempt at regaining her composure. 

“Kit’s gonna kill us,” she snorted, finally lifting her gaze to Bradley’s face. With no way of checking her reflection, she could only assume she wore the look of a naughty school child waiting to be scolded. “You look like you taste delicious, though.” 

“Heyyy, language!” Bradley scolded the blonde, his tone full of mock-offense. “You kiss Ripley with that mouth?”

The more adept question would be to ask if she kissed her hot, rugged Formula 1 boyfriend with said mouth, but right now Bradley was intent on ignoring the fact that Sephy even had a hot, rugged Formula 1 boyfriend to begin with. Not for any particular reason. He just kind of hated jocks, so it was easier for him to refer to the other great love of Persephone Blake’s life.

He watched with keen eyes as Sephy moved, the two of them circling each other in the kitchen like they were about to engage in a good, old-fashioned Western shootout. He’d never been much of a Western guy himself, but he had seen Back to the Future 3 quite a few times and thought that perhaps that had given him all the gunslinging expertise that he needed. Still as Sephy grabbed her weapon of choice - a can of whipped cream that Bradley knew would be an absolute bitch to wash out of his hair once she assaulted him with it, he blindly reached out for a defense weapon of his own.

His hand wrapped around the first thing he could reach, drawing it into his grip. Looking down, he wrinkled his nose when he realised he’d picked up a whisk. Nothing that could remotely cause any sort of damage in a food fight, not unless he wanted to beat some eggs before tossing them Sephy’s way. Still, it was a cinematic moment, what with Sephy’s Charlie’s Angels stance - and wasn’t that the kind of moment that would have sent teenage Bradley into an absolute tizzy - so he supposed he’d have to make do with it.

With the only ace he had up his sleeve, Bradley twirled the whisk in his hand like it was a lightsaber, executing a perfect Obi-Ani spin like he’d been doing it for years.

(He very much had been doing it for years. Ever since he found that one tutorial on Youtube and smashed up half his mom’s plant pots in the backyard trying to perfect the trick.)

Bringing the whisk to a halt by his side, his eyes widened at Sephy’s comment and he only had time to squeeze his eyes shut and scrunch up his nose before he was covered head to toe in cream.

“Sephy, for fuck sake, this shit is sticky,” he whined, trying his best to wipe it off and only succeeding in smearing it everywhere that she hadn’t managed to reach yet.

Then, Sephy ducked down behind the counter like the kids from Jurassic Park. Maggie would have no reservations about referring to him as a raptor but in this instance, it would maybe work in his favour. He stalked forward as lightly as possible, the rubber soles of his Converse quiet on the linoleum.

“I’m not scared of Kit,” he declared with the confidence of a man who would promptly eat his words the moment Kit caught sight of what they’d done to her kitchen. But she wasn’t here right now, and there was a bowl of flour sitting on the counter that looked all too tempting.

Quickly, Bradley grabbed it, upturning the contents over where Sephy was hiding, turning the area around them into a veritable winter wonderland.

“Who’s looking pale now?” he crooned, gleefully skipping backwards only to slip on some of the cream from earlier. He slid on the spot, arms windmilling at his side before he grabbed onto one of the shelves for purchase, resulting in a whole tub of frosting to come tipping down, splattering over his clothes.

“Shit…”

[persephoneacts]

Truthfully, Persephone knew that if it had been anybody other than Bradley in the room with her now, her reaction might have been very different. She tried to visualise Candice – the human Barbie Doll who’d been fired two and a half shifts in when a customer had found her missing nail in the centre of his blueberry muffin – and was immediately overcome with an involuntary shiver of horror. Any cake mixture the other blonde might cover her in would no doubt be dotted with glitter and nail glue and deemed entirely inedible under Kit’s supervision. Bradley, on the other hand, kind of resembled a caricature come to life. Like somebody in the middle of Central Park had drawn him up and wished him into reality, flailing limbs and stretchy cheeks and all. 

As much as she wanted to be annoyed, she couldn’t find it in her. It was somehow far more hilarious to look up at him now, two great dollops of cookie batter stretched across his stubbled jaw, his nose crinkled in a way that was somehow both comedic and adorably endearing. She was all but ready to step back, reward herself with a few celebratory giggles, and get him started on the dreaded clean-up they were now in store for – only to find that Bradley had other ideas. 

“You motherfucker...” Persephone scoffed, a shocked giggle spilling from her lips as a ball of batter dripped down her nose, landing on her bottom lip and chin. 

She couldn’t hide the laughter that was bubbling from her chest as she watched him dart across the room, his movements clumsy as he stumbled backwards into the corner looking increasingly smug. Rolling her eyes, Sephy’s tongue darted out to run across her lower lip, lapping up as much as she could reach of the mixture. Then, she reached across her bowl of cake mix and, instead, wrapped her hand firmly around a bottle of squirty-cream that she’d forgotten to put away. 

There was really no subtle way to hide her very obvious thought pattern, so she didn’t bother. Instead, she held it out in front of her, opting her best Charlie’s Angels stance, weapon-in-hand, and pointed it towards Bradley. With slow, deliberate steps, she edged closer to her friend, a wide grin on her face as she fought the urge to completely charge at him. No, this was a warzone now. She’d give him the opportunity to arm himself, to flee the scene should he choose the coward’s way out, and then she’d attack. 

“Yellow might be my colour, sure, but... I dunno, Bradders, you’re looking kinda... pale over there?” Sephy deliberated, before finally pushing down on the nozzle and firing a spray of cold, white cream towards him. 

As dairy flew across the room, she ducked her head, howling with laughter as it showered him from head to toe in sticky residue. Then, copying his own earlier movements, she dove behind the counter and sank down into a crouch, peeking around the corner as she did so. 

“Stay where you are or I’ll set Kit on you!” she called out, hoping he’d call her bluff. She was pretty sure if Kit saw the state of her kitchen right now, they’d both have a lot to answer for. 

When his little sister had first found out that Bradley was in frequent contact with Persephone Blake (he’d been way too scared that calling their dynamic a ‘friendship’ would be presumptuous), he’d half-expected the full canine population of New York to show up outside his apartment what with the high-pitched shriek that Maia had emitted. He’d been forced to endure a play-by-play of each and every one of Persephone’s theatre roles, given to him in excruciating detail until he was pretty sure he knew the whole ins and outs of the blonde’s Broadway career. To say that his little sister was a fan would be an understatement, but it only served to make Bradey more uncomfortable than anything else.

Any decent big brother would have asked Sephy to sign something for Maia, wouldn’t they? He knew his sister was chomping at the damn bit to get a photo with Sephy in order to impress the kids on her college course, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask. Maybe he would have managed to find the words if he wasn’t already snowed under by the guilt of not being readily forthright with Sephy about already knowing her.

And not just in a ‘my little sister religiously listens to any and all of your Broadway cast recordings’ way. There was the whole mess in LA when he’d been the only one in a group of morally loose paparazzi losers to put his camera down and help the girl who was staggering about an alleyway, clearly not in her right mind. Somehow he’d managed to get her home and safely tucked into bed, with no idea whatsoever that a few years down the line he’d bump into her in a bakery and somehow become friends with her. In the middle of all of that, when was the right time to tell someone that you used to profit off of their misfortune? He was still too cowardly to ever bring it up.

Instead, he’d let himself fall into a friendship-of-sorts with the blonde. Truth be told, he could confidently say that he knew her as Persephone-the-baker, rather than Persephone-the-actor, which was a privilege he knew most people didn’t have the luxury of. What that meant for their specific relationship, he didn’t know. It didn’t seem wise for him to speculate too much.

Plus, it was possible that the duration of his friendship with Sephy had already run its course now that he was standing in the middle of the kitchen, staring at a flour-covered Sephy and knowing fine well there was little chance of her not being pissed off with him. 

A coward from the day he was born, Bradley’s first instinct was to step back, drop the remaining trays and try his best to flee the scene. It didn’t paint him in a particularly good light, but by the end of the day he’d still be able to say that he still had all his appendages attached and intact.

At her question, spat out at him through gritted teeth, he froze in place. Okay, so running was out of the question now, he guessed.

“Oh, nothing,” he said, trying his best to sound nonchalant and not at all like he was staring into the face of a hungry goddamn Rancor right now. “Just… maybe your expression and your tone and the fact that if this were a cartoon, you’d definitely have steam coming out of your ears right now and I’m not really helping my case, am I?”

His inane ramblings were cut off by the squelching noise of cake batter slapping against his face. Immediately, he screwed his nose up but made no move to flinch away, surrendering himself (and his flannel shirt) to be the victim of the lumpy, eggy, floury mess. It was cold and sticky as soon as it hit his jaw and he felt his whole frame wilt in defeat.

“Yeah, okay, I deserved that,” he acquiesced. So agreeable, it was kind of pathetic. He eyed Sephy for a moment, knowing that she would be satisfied with getting him back in this way. 

Hey, she looked happier already. And Bradley was an idiot. So after putting two and two together and getting ‘chaos’, he shoved the remaining trays he carried onto the table at his side and reached up to wipe the mix from his face, before quickly letting his hand dart out so he could smear it onto the tip of Sephy’s nose.

Then, he jumped back, to the far end of the kitchen where he hoped Sephy couldn’t reach him all that quickly.

“Hey, yellow’s your colour more than it’s mine!” he reasoned with her, face stretching wide in a grin.

[persephoneacts]

Even on a casual Wednesday afternoon, Persephone loathed the hustle and bustle of Whisk & Wonder. She hated listening to children – who, in her opinion, should be at school and nowhere near her direct line of sight – throw tantrums to exhausted and indifferent parents as they relentlessly insisted upon why the deserved an assortment of baked goods of their own choosing. Spoiler Alert: They didn’t deserve shit. She hated dealing with entitled, asshole businessmen who strutted on in like they owned the damn place; Making unreasonably large orders at the last possible minute while being far too impatient and self-involved to understand that baking and providing 36 red velvet cupcakes, 16 cronuts, 8 slices of gluten free raspberry cheesecake and 4 vegan salted caramel cookies would take a little time, sir and that no, we don’t have your extremely vast order of 64 baked goods of your own personal tastes on demand because, actually, other people like to order from us too, pal. 

So, considering that today was a Saturday and she was dealing with the frantic screams of 20 children at a 7th Birthday Party, it was probably fair to assume she was feeling a little stressed. 

Luckily, she and Kit had been relieved of one screaming baby when Bradley had sheepishly offered to take sweet Jenna off their hands for a little while. It gave them both the time to swap places every hour or so – Kit in the kitchen (where, frankly, she thrived far more than Persephone did) and Sephy serving up an endless supply of sugar to a room full of already hyperactive children. Currently, Sephy was tucked away in the kitchen, pouring all of her energy into a new batch of cupcakes; Apparently 4 and a half hours into a children’s party was the appropriate time to tell the bakers on hand that, actually, two of the children were vegan, three were gluten free, and one of them was a Type 2 Diabetic.  

The sound of Bradley clearing his throat caught her attention as she lifted her head to offer him a warm smile. As embarrassing as it was to admit it, she kind of loved seeing his stupid face. Days with Bradley usually always ended in aching cheeks, a sore stomach, and a sense of calm washing over her that she had rarely felt in recent years. And, given that he was no sans-Jenna, a tray in hand and with Kit nowhere to be seen, Sephy quietly delighted in the knowledge that Bradley would have no choice but to be her helper for the next 20 minutes or so. 

That delight, and the smile that went with it, were soon washed away as she watched him spill the contents of his dirty tray directly into the bowl of flour she’d set aside mere moments ago. 

If it had been anyone else, she might have been furious. Really, the fact that it was Bradley meant she should be even more furious, but something about the events that had just unfolded seemed entirely on brand for her lanky friend. As flour showered her, spilling directly into the bowl of gluten free cake mix that she’d just been tending to – now deeming it entirely useless – she stood stock-still, wincing slightly as soft, white specks dotted her cheeks and coated her hair. 

Sephy knew better than most – both from a lifetime on screen and stage, and as a byproduct of being friends with Ripley – that making a mess was much easier than cleaning it. Things didn’t go as smoothly as they often did on screen – a simple shake of her head wouldn’t free her from the layer of speckled dust that had made a home atop her head, so there was really no use even trying. 

Exhaling slowly, Persephone blinked in rapid succession, trying to clear her now-smoky vision so that she could take a better look at the absolute clown that she’d, inexplicably, laid so many of her affections upon of late. 

“Now what would possibly make you think I’m going to yell at you, Sasquatch?” she asked, through gritted teeth. 

Carefully, she lifted her hands out from the bowl of ruined mix that she’d been working on, and slowly rounded the counter. Taking a few, small steps towards him, her hands held up in surrender, she tipped her head to the side. 

“No, like. Seriously? Why would I yell at you...” she pondered, aiming her eyes to the sky as she came to a stop in front of him. “When I could do... this?” 

With that, she accented her final words by bringing both of her hands to either side of his face, a moist splat sound echoing through the kitchen as she caked his stubbly jawline in yellow mush. 

“I feel like you’re mocking me,” Bradley stated.

In response, the blonde in front of him slammed her hands down on the table with enough force to massacre the prettily frosted cupcake that had once been whole in front of her. Now, it was a flattened mess, crumbs flying in all directions - although most of them had decided to take up residence on Bradley’s Black Panther t-shirt. He let out a low moan of displeasure before looking back up at the offender.

Blue eyes blinked back at him and chubby hands raised once more.

“No,” he warned Jenna, who continued to stare at him with evil intent before mashing her little baby fists against the cake again. All the while her tiny eyebrows had puckered together in what everyone in the bakery had declared to be her ‘signature Bradley impression’. Apparently her imitation of his own furrowed brow whenever he was mildly confused, upset or frustrated was dead-on, but he couldn’t see the resemblance. Or maybe he just refused to.

“C’mon, man!” he chided the infant as she began smearing frosting all over the table, pink buttercream getting far too close to the edges of his Poe Dameron comic for his liking.

“It’s called artistic freedom,” Kit said as she bustled by them, the tray she carried piled high with empty cupcake wrappers, remnants of the 7th birthday party that had been making noise on the opposite side of the bakery earlier. Jenna had grown agitated by the sheer volume of them, up until Bradley had been elected to swoop in and distract her while her mom and Sephy continued to work. Jenna, suddenly placated by the arrival of her mama, began gurgling happily. Kit reached down to tickle her daughter under her chin before she lifted her head to smirk at Bradley.

“And she’s not mocking you. She’s just practicing her craft. She’s gonna be an actor like her Daddy.” Bradley opened his mouth and Kit’s face immediately flattened into a collection of unimpressed lines. “No, you can’t meet him.”

It hadn’t been the first time that Bradley had begged to meet Lo Fields and it probably wouldn’t be the last, but he doubted Kit was going to relent anytime soon. Apparently she’d only ever let Bradley fangirl over her husband “over her dead body”.

“Kit,” he pouted. “That stinks.”

He watched as she pulled a face, nose wrinkling. Then she grimaced.

“No, that’s just life. But something does stink.”

It was then that Bradley caught the same whiff Kit had cottoned onto moments before. A ripe, pungent smell that instantly had him screwing his face up. He tugged quickly at the collar of his t-shirt to hike it up over his nose as if that would keep the stench at bay. Eyes watering, he coughed out a gag that had Kit rolling her eyes at him.

“Quit being so dramatic, it’s just a dirty diaper,” she scolded him. She looked down at the tray in her hands and then at Jenna who still seemed happy as a clam and unaware that she was stinking up the place. Instead, she continued to scoop more frosting into her mouth as her mom looked around for somewhere to put the tray.

“I still need to take this through the back. Bradders, could you-?”

“Take the tray and not the baby? Absolutely!” he said, chair scraping back. He was on his feet in an instant, whipping the tray out of Kit’s hand and immediately backing up from Baby Chernobyl. He ignored Kit’s loud scoff as well as her warning that wasn’t even allowed to go into the kitchen. The last thing he wanted was to run the risk of being anywhere near a vicinity that could leave him as the prime contender to change Jenna’s diaper. Instead, he all but fell through the swing doors into the kitchen, foot clumsily catching the corner of one of them as it swung shut again. It was enough to trip him up and cause a commotion as he did his best attempt at an impression of Goofy in his bid to stay upright. A well-placed “Gawrsh!” would have helped him nail it but he was too busy watching Sephy.

She was pottering around the kitchen, too focused on her work to even take note of Hurricane Bradley tornado-ing his way in. Which meant it gave Bradley time to just watch her, a luxury he was never afforded. If he ever spent too much time looking at Sephy, she always caught him and narrowed her eyes and questioned why he was staring, which always led to him making up some sort of lie about there being something on her face - a stray crumb, a piece of fluff. On one occasion a booger, which had mortified them both. Not only did he try not to let himself get caught looking at Sephy, but Bradley also refused to watch her movies either. It felt like a violation of her privacy in a stupid way. He knew it was dumb. There were very few people he knew that hadn’t seen Persephone Blake in a movie, but even still. He supposed he didn’t like the idea of him watching her onscreen when she was unaware of him doing so. He’d already encroached on her privacy enough in the past, even if she didn’t know that; he didn’t want to run the risk of doing that again. It made him feel sick, like milk was curdling in his stomach.

Eventually, he cleared his throat.

“Hey,” he greeted her. “Kit told me to bring this tray through to-”

Before he could finish, the tray slipped from his hands and crashed into a bowl of flour on the table. It flipped over, sending up a cloud of white dust that coated Sephy’s whole face.

Immediately, Bradley’s own face paled - possibly enough for them to match in pallor.

“You know, we’re gonna look back on this and laugh one day,” he said quickly, already backing away like people told you to do when you encountered a grizzly bear. “We’re gonna look back and we’re gonna laugh and be so glad you didn’t immediately kill me for doing that, because where would we be if you did that? ‘Cause you know that was an accident, right? You know I didn’t mean to do that. You know I usually leave it up to Ripley to make you look all… cadaverous. So it’s so important that you don’t fly off the handle and yell at me, right?”