#Dear August

[magnolia-among-the-stars]

dear august (bradley bradshaw pt. 4)

part one / part two / part three / part four / part five

Summary: You and Bradley have been best friends since college and when he was stationed in North Island, you were thrilled that he would be back in your life. When things start to sour with Bradley’s girlfriend and she breaks things off, Bradley comes to you for drunken comfort. What happens when an accidental hookup brings along an unexpected positive pregnancy test threatens the state of your friendship?

Tropes: friends to lovers, unexpected pregnancy, unrequited feelings

Word Count: 1500

Over the next days, you were able to stay distracted as you finished up the school year. Filling your days with snotty little shits and final projects, it was an easy way to keep your mind from the lack of texts from your best friend. Your best friend of which, you’d slept with in a drunken stupor after his girlfriend had broken up with him.

You hadn’t heard much from Bradley in the days after you slept together other than invitations to join the group at the Hard Deck after the school day ended. You were too concerned by what that meant, to return to the place when you two had fallen into each other’s arms and so you stayed away. He didn’t come looking for you, didn’t show up in the parking lot to drag you to join him so you’d figured it was a simmering effect.

He was, however, scheduled to come in on the last day of the school year to deliver some ice cream on behalf of the Navy and read a few stories but when you glanced up at the knock on the classroom door only to find Bob smiling sheepishly, you figured that something was wrong. Bob read and scooped out ice cream with you while he shared what had occurred for Bradley’s disappearance.

“He wanted to come,” Bob tries to share between scoops of ice cream and spurts of whipped cream for each kid. “Got stuck doing some extra maintenance on his plane ahead of our mission next week.”

“Mission next week?” you asked, eyes flittering up from your position of sprinkles duty. A frown fixated on your lips as you took in the information. You hadn’t heard about any mission, not from Jake or Bradley for that matter. And Jake had been keeping you company after everything that had happened.

“It’s a short two month stint,” Bob drops the scooper into the water and wipes his hands on his khakis. “Rooster didn’t tell you?”

“No…”

“I’m sure he was planning to,” Bob offers, glancing over at the giggling kids lost in their own world. What it must feel like to be them again, careless and without understanding of the world yet. “Why don’t you come with me to the Hard Deck after for our bonfire. I’m sure Bradley would love to see you.”

You weren’t sure you felt entirely welcomed or that Bradley would want you there after the radio silence on his part, but you went regardless. Wrapped up in a denim jacket and floral dress, you looked beautiful as you final roll up to the lot. Tugging your jacket closer to yourself, you grab the beach blanket from the back of your car and making your way over to where your friends were setting up the large pile of wood along the skirts of sand.

            “Dukes,” Jake shouts, looking up with a wide grin when he sees you crossing the spans of the beach. You smile back, moving more quickly as he pulls you into his arms tightly. “How was last day?” he asks as he places you back onto the pale sands and tugging you the rest of the way to the bonfire.

            “It was great Jakey,” you share, eyes locking with Bradley’s as he looks up from dropping another bundle down onto the pit. “Bob came for the ice cream social. Heard about this big mission coming up…” you trailed off, glancing back at Jake as Bradley adjusted his sunglasses atop his head and starting to move toward you.

            “Oh Dukes, I’m not…”

            “Dais, what are you doing here?” Bradley’s voice rasps as he finally makes it to where you are standing. Your shoulders sink slightly, a twisted look crossing your features.

            “Bob invited me,” you share, arm staying snug around Jake’s waist as you clear your throat, “After the Ice Cream Social today.” Bradley’s face falls at your words and you feel vindicated somehow. How was he going to ask what you were doing here after all this time? After the time that you spent getting to know each other’s bodies in a drunken haze? Like you were long lost strangers.

            “I’m,” he wipes a hand over his face and sighs, “I’m so sorry for that. I got caught up with my jet ahead of this thing and-,”

            “Yeah, Bob told me about that,” you nod, feeling suddenly exposed out on the beach in front of someone you’d known your whole life. “You two must’ve let it slip your minds.” Jake’s fingertips brush along your hipbone in comfort.

            “I won’t be on that mission actually Dukes,” Jake murmurs, “Just Rooster here.” You turn back to Rooster at Jake’s words and nod slightly. He stares back at you, an unreadable look on his face as his mouth lines tightly. You don’t end up spending most of the evening with Rooster, sticking to Jake’s side while laughing and taking sips of beer with Phoenix.

            “He’s been totally a mess since the two of them broke up, you know,” Nat shares as you both stare across the fire at Bradley playing football along the lapping waves of water with Fanboy.

            “I wouldn’t know,” you reply, taking another sip again of your beer as you settle down further into the sand, sliding your foot through the grains and then scooping it up with your toes. “It’s not like he’s even messaged me since we-,” you stop yourself, scoffing before placing your bottle down onto the ground. “Whatever.”

            “It’s not whatever,” Nat shakes her head, her hand coming up to wrap around your shoulder. “He’s just being an idiot right now.” You nod slowly, watching your best friend laughing and joking around as the sun starts to set in the distance. At some point, you grow tired both from the long day of keeping the kids at bay until Summer arrived and of Bradley ignoring your existence.

            Jake, at some point during the evening, had settled down beside you and had been humming along to the country music blaring from the radio. “I think I’m going to get going,” you told Jake lightly, placing your tempt along his shoulder as a yawn rolled through you.

            “Oh, come on,” Jake grumbles as you stretch and stand. “Stay a little longer.” Across the way, you catch eyes with Bradley and stand slowly.

            “Have a good night, everyone,” you call, hugging Nat, Bob and then Jake before catching eyes with Bradley one last time. He does nothing to rise up and say goodbye, so you nod and turn to head back to your car. You’re just at the steps to the parking lot when you hear a deep voice behind you.

            “Need a ride?” you turn around, staring down at your best friend for the top step. It’s the first time in a long time that you feel like you can look at him. His hair is tousled, perfect blond under the bright parking lot lights. Fuck him for looking so good. He’s pouting, his full lips flush under his mustache. “Please? I feel like I barely got a chance to catch up.”

            “And whose fault is that?” you sass, eyebrow raised as you roll your eyes. Your hip rests against the railing of the stairs as he climbs them to meet you. Bradley holds his hands up in defeat.

            “It’s fully mine,” he stifles a laugh and glances down at his feet. “But lemme make it up to you, please?”

            You take a slow breath, wrapping your arms around your elbows and pursing your lips. “Fine.” The ride home is quiet, peaceful. It’s something you haven’t felt in quite a few weeks, finally happy to feel a bit normal with Bradley again. You make small talk together, talking about each other’s days while he pulls up to the front of your house.

            “Well, thank you for the ride,” you say in the quiet of the bronco as he pulls to a stop. You unbuckle your seatbelt slowly before grabbing your purse and pulling the door open. “Stay safe on your trip alright?” you lean over and press a gentle kiss to his cheek.

            “Goodnight, Dais,” he murmurs and watches as you leave.

            It’s only three weeks later he leaves for his secret mission that you start to get sick. Your stomach turns at the slightest thing…a waft of salty sea through the windows of the Hard Deck while you’re having lunch with Penny or fried Haddock while going to dinner with Jake one night on the pier. At the drop of a dime, you lose your lunch and empty the contents of your stomach into the closest bin.

            “I’m worried about you,” Jake mumbles, rubbing your back on one early morning as you lose your breakfast from the smell of cooked eggs. “Should we go to the ER?” An eery thought washes through you, the sudden realization of a horror.

            “Jake…I think we might need to run to the closest CVS,” you mumble, whipping your mouth and leaning back against the wall. “I think I need to buy a pregnancy test.”

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comfortzonequeen

[chaotic-theatrical-weaver]

Noah Cyrus + morning/light/sun as hope

"Again" / “Dear August” / “The Worst of You” / "Noah (Stand Still) / “Everybody Needs Someone”

Bonus subversions under the cut:

"Make Me (Cry)" / "Cannonball"/ "Slow Train Comin'" / "Every Beginning Ends" / "I Burned LA Down"

[applesandjanaynays]

PJ Harding, Noah Cyrus - Dear August (Acoustic)

[dontyoufinditstrange]

People Don't Change Lyrics That Alter My Brain Chemistry

Dear August:

"why's the morning come so slowly when i got no one to hold me through the dark?" "they tell me that love is patient but it never wants to wait on my drunk heart" "so i'll take all of my wasted love, and turn it into wine in my cup" "tell me that there's light at the end of all this starless night" "cause i don't know where this road is headed anymore" "i spend every evening praying for the dawn" "looking for someone to save me"

You Belong To Somebody Else:

"maybe regret is a weakness" "all the jealous gods can burn me down and start again" "you belong to somebody else" "and i didn't want to but i couldn't help it" "i know its wrong to call this sweet hell upon myself" "its easier to let a heart wait than make a heart break for you" "i gave you pieces of my secrets like religion to believe in"

Cannonball:

"your disappointment stings like an ointment" "cold indifference, boredom and bitterness" "i can't keep doing this night after night" " i don't want this anymore" "my heart's a cannonball dragging me under these waves" "people don't change" "boys can be poison and still be rose-scented" "so i'll wash you off me, cocaine and coffee"

The Best Of You:

"the world is at your feet, so what you gonna do?" "oh my love, that's not the moon" "were singing old sad songs the whole night through" "as the stars look on, im just looking at you" "when the words do come, they feel heavy as the truth" "the best of me are just the pieces of the best of you"

Slow Train Comin':

"paints a funeral, so beautiful, to the memory of us" "a slowly breaking heart that knows you're gonna make me lonely when you go" "i sold my heart for stolen gold" "i played my heart so i suppose" "still got miles to go but even so, i feel the shaking still"

The Worst Of You:

"handed you another chance to disappoint me and again you did me wrong" "we're barely even trying anymore" "it feels like all i ever do i pay for your excuses to buy a little time" "you're never gonna change, hell, you're never gonna try" "why am i still tryna prove that i can love the worst of you? "living fast and dying slowly just two cold and lonely bodies nothing more" "i'll always love the worst of you"

[juicyfrui2]

[hephaestusshield]

it's somehow august. march feels like yesterday, and october feels like tomorrow. new versions of myself show up in the mirror faster than ever. i don't think i'll ever understand time. one day, it feels like i have control. the next day, everything's different, and so am i.

[hazelnutnebula]

and you'll always be the silly guy of all time 🧡🌻🐶

[llovelymoonn]

favourite poems of september

robin blaser the holy forest: collected poems of robin blaser: "[dear dusty moth]"

robin ekiss the mansion of happiness: "the bones of august"

e.e. cummings complete poems 1904-1962: "[anyone lived in a pretty how town]"

daisy fried econo motel, ocean city

david campos guilt shower and bad catholic

deborah a. miranda the zen of la llorona: "advice from la llorona"

v. penelope pelizzon blood memory

aimee nezhukumatathil invitation

jeffrey jullich portrait of colon dash paranthesis: "some materials may be inappropriate for children"

karina borowicz september tomatoes

patricia kirkpatrick survivor's guilt

kamau brathwaite born to slow horses: "i was wash-way in blood"

leslie adrienne miller the resurrection trade: "weaning"

allen edwin butt if briefly

gerrit lansing a february sheaf: selected writings, verse and prose: "how we sizzled in the pasture"

jayne cortez on the imperial highway: "in the morning"

stephen yenser preserves

ethan gilsdorf the imprint of september second

kathryn maris abc

paul zarzyski the antler tree

judith goldman vocoder: "rotten oasis"

tato laviera benedición: the complete poetry of tato laviera: "latero story"

tim seibles mosaic

ethan gilsdorf the imprint of september second

lucy wainger jiro dreams of sushi

robert duncan ground work: before the war: "a little language"

r.s. thomas the poems of r.s. thomas: "forest dwellers"

anthony wrynn saint john in the wilderness

reginald gibbons bear

walt whitman "are you the new person drawn toward me?"

kofi

[allegroghoul]

The ghoulettes vocals were ASTOUNDING btw . They truly have some of the most beautiful voices ever just. GAH. Ironically, they sound absolutely angelic hehe- And Swiss’s “Call me” during, well, Call Me Little Sunshine was insanely gorgeous as well!!! All of them are so so so talented!!!

[inbetweenhours]

[EDIT: Changed Mairieth’s face shape, and fixed the Mythlander’s titles]

[Shrub here | Roseblings, Pix, & Pearl here | Joel, Joey, & Katherine here]

So my art style took  withdrawal after finishing that wcsmp full piece so we are in doodle only territory for a hot minute. Did some headcanons for some esmp1 parents :]

I don’t have terribly many actual thoughts about the parents. The twins parents suck but aren’t individually really relevant to anything. Their mother, Queen Mairieth, is a descendant of Alinar and thusly the monarch by blood. Her husband Druindar married into the thrones power. I also 100% forgot Smajors wings and neither his brother or mums somehow,,, damn. His dad is the only wingless one I assure.

I don’t have any thoughts about Sausage’s dad but the fact that his mom is named Fable s very important to me. She also had a lot of impact of Mythlands more recent history regarding woman’s rights and generally instilled the idea of a maiden as a figure of  well placed power. Incredibly powerful and witty woman, love her dearly. and she loves her boy. Taught him lots about grabbing power he seeks...

Finally Angie is my favourite esmp parent if only because I know her very well on a character level where the others are just kinda, names and faces to fill in gaps. Angie plays a big role in my Flower Husbands Arranged Marriage AU that I have a massive outline for but lets be real god only knows if I’ll work on it. Anyways, Angie is very important to me as a ruler, but also as a mother and a source of guidance. She would bun the world for her kids and I think that’s very neat of her <3 

[eyezdrawz]

👁️🦇INTRO POST🦇👁️

Meet the artist!

Last updated: August 25th 2024

Hi! I'm Eyez or Ken or Margo! My pronouns are he/him🏳️‍⚧️!!

(purple: what I like most)

pfp by @/whattheheckins

dni: Homophobes, Transphobes, p3dos, pr0shippers, racists, and other idiots

I believe in peace and freedom for every country (ESPECIALLY FOR THOSE IN NEED RIGHT NOW!🍉)

✏️What I post!: Art, music rants, random thoughts, and reblogs

❤️Main interest!:

Camp here and there (my fav podcast and this is what I mainly draw/write about) (finished podcast)

Malevolent (finished podcast) (one EP behind)

TMA (finished podcast) (not caught up with tmagp)

Old gods of Appalachia (currently listening to)

Interview with the vampire (TV show and movie, currently ready the books)

Hannibal NBC

Midnight Mass

The Stanley parable

BG3

Dead plate

8:11

Tokyo ghoul

vampires

Cowboys

Vulture Culture/Bones

Heavy Gore/blood/body horror/Eldritch horror

Ocs (Santiago, Mikeal, and Andias)

And more!

🎵Music I listen to!

Will wood/will wood and the tapeworms (fav artist)

The Dear Hunter

Shayfer james

Hozier

Amigo the devil

Penelope Scott

Bear ghost

Tally Hall (and other tally hall related bands/members/projects)

Chonny Jash

And more!

All of my special interests/fixations: vampires, gore, gothic lit, bones, vulture culture, my favorite animals (deer, vampire deer (Siberian musk deer/Chinese water deer) , wolves, hyenas, shrikes, maned wolves) human anatomy+medical terms and examination

Characters I relate too:

Armand from iwtv (I kin him so much it's not normal)

will graham from Hannibal

the butcher from malevolent

John doe from malevolent

random blinkies I like✌️: (i did not make these blinkies, all credits go to the people who made these) (chnt hourglass blinkie made by @/delicatecentipede)

Are you a writer? A poet? An artist? A singer? A creative person? Consider joining the poets discord! (14+)

https://discord.com/invite/nvq4nRkkXx

[chaotic-theatrical-weaver]

Consider “Dear August” as Augustine’s internal monologue following the events of “august” and everything that happened with James. Yes, I know they were by different artists--I’m only positing this because of one of the playlists I have (Misguided Torchbearers, for anyone who was wondering), which features both.

[itstiannajkae]

august reminders for black women. ✍🏾🫶🏾🧠🤸🏾‍♀️

ig: blkgirlarchive

[every-sanji]

[meamiiikiii]

kagepro day...

[fluesterscherben]

The first piece I did for Arthuriana August Week One (because of course I couldn't decide on just one family dynamic to draw): The obligatory Orkney Brothers.