#heartsam

[raiden-brannigan]

Calling all Porters! 👍👍👍

The Beach discord server is now live! Whether you're looking to share fanworks, metas, or just gush over ships, we've got it all here! Come join our unhinged theories while we wait for more information on DS2, I'll be waiting for you on The Beach ❤️⬆️👶👻👍

[JOIN THE BEACH]

[krissmnasi]

Asleep between the living corpse and the walking dead

[heartmans-lost-cargo]

Ran into a group of porters at Mountain Knot City the other day. Altogether unconsciously, I sent out an Odradek scan and looked for "Heartman's Lab" — the only two words I seem to give a shit about anymore. None of them were carrying any cargo for the researcher, but I began to wonder, "What if they had been?" Would I have asked the porters politely to hand it over? And what if they'd said no? What would I do to get my hands on Heartman's cargo? 😳 Scared me to think about...

Anyway — I'm somewhat shaken at the moment, and not just because of the theoretical porter scenario. 😣 The cargo duplication anomaly has been disturbing me enough that I knocked on Heartman's door, hoping I could share my upsetting conclusion. 'Multiverse' is what my mind's been gnawing on for days now. Makes sense, doesn't it — those duplicated containers are likely from another universe, parallel to ours. And the times pieces go missing — that's other Sam's picking them up, has to be. 📦

Heartman didn't answer, but I didn't knock again, either. 🚪 Afraid he might be dead in there, and I'm not talking three-minute-dead — I mean dead-for-good-dead. But I s'pose that's what the bastard wants, isn't it? 😭

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[vyragosa]

i like most tasteful pairings i really only rate things in indifference or interest

but i was more uncomfortable seeing sam recoiling in the shower so much from deadman than seeing him higgs lick 2 different peoples face who didn't only stood up to him but were ready to throw hands with him and unfazed about the act itself

[farharbour]

y'all will never know how wild i got about death stranding earlier this year. i had to ration my playtime so i wouldn't speed through it in one weekend because i loved it so much. i wrote SO much meta. i agonized over making a timeline of events so i could shoehorn jesse into the story as higgs' partner. there are so many heartsam stories that will never see the light of day b/c the embarrassment of even thinking about posting my writing publicly is about to explode me into a million billion pieces

[magic-space-games]

9 Fandom Peeps to get to know better:

Tagged by @disasterdrvid ! Thank you!!!

3 Ships You Like: Shakarian (Mass Effect), FenHawke (Dragon Age), HeartSam (Death Stranding)

First Ship Ever: Hamtaro/Bijou (had to dig pretty deep to remember that one)

Last Song You Heard: It was either Pretty Girls by Renee Rapp or Call on Me by Starley (the remix version)

Favourite Childhood Book: Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede

Currently Reading: A Beautiful Friendship by David Weber (there is a dearth of content for the Stephanie Harrington series, even though I feel like the treecats would do numbers here.)

Currently Watching: Delusional Monthly Magazine, WWE Raw (2012), and Halo Season 2

Currently Consuming: Japanese flower candies, but I'm about to get a piece of sour bubble gum.

Currently Craving: Milk and cookies

As with the last tag, I am a coward and will not be tagging anyone, but again, if you wanna do this and say I tagged you please do so!

[voidoutbt]

Merry [hic]mas Death Stranding

A sweet scene I wrote for Xmas featuring mostly Higgs x Sam, with a cameo from Deadman and Heartman (there's a hint of Deadsam and HeartSam shipping too if you look very closely!)

Set in an alternative universe where Higgs is a Bridges employee, hence being at the staff party!

No smut warnings, only some very cheesy bad chat up lines from drunk Higgs and mild M/M.

------------

(Photo of Norman not mine! Posted by @goddamnparticle with thanks!)

The music was loud, the atmosphere merry, and the food and drink were free. Sam was swigging Time Fall Porter beer, a fluffy red Xmas hat slouched upon his head, and a pair of glittery festive glasses on his face. Higgs was in a corner alone eating pizza, he had on a black 'Bah Humbug' hat, with gold tinsel wrapped around himself like a boa. Deadman was playing the part of Santa Claus, all dressed up in costume, complete with fake beard and jolly demeanor.

"Ho Ho Ho!" santa Deadman bellowed as he went round the hall giving out hugs and little gifts. Higgs scowled under his hat, "Who are you calling a Hoe?" Deadman handed him a small gold wrapped box, explaining "No one! It's a representation of laughter and mirth." Higgs looked at the small box confused, "This... This is for.. Me?!" turning it and inspecting it in his hand. Deadman inclined his head, "Looks like you've got a secret admirer! There's no label." Higgs carefully opened the lid. Inside was a bejeweled scarab beetle, some kind of Egyptian style brooch. Higgs' blue eyes lit up and sparkled, entranced by the gold, blue, green and red colours. He'd never been given a gift like this before, and wasn't sure what to say. "How did you.."

Higgs tore his eyes away from it for a second, to see Deadman was now across the room forcing Sam into an awkward hug and cuddle. Higgs caught Sam's eye, and hollered across to him "Sam! Come sit on my lap, and we can talk about what's coming UP for Christmas." followed by a cheeky wink. Sam's eyes narrowed and he shook his head at the quip. Higgs tucked his gift away safe, and took a long swig of mulled wine straight from the bottle. "Suit yourself Sammy, I'll get you later..." he mumbled to himself, grabbing another slice of pizza and lowering it into his wide mouth.

"Hey Sam." a hand gently touched Sam's shoulder, he looked round to see Heartman peering at him through his glasses, pushing them up his nose. "Merry Christmas." his eyes dipped slightly, "I presume this lovely 'secret santa' present was from you Sam?" holding up a vibrant blue glass ornament in shape of a heart. Sam scratched the back of his neck, looking down. Deadman jumped in to the conversation, "Secret Santa is meant to be kept secret Heartman, you know that!" Heartman looked at them both in turn, and winked, making a thumbs up sign to an invisible camera (+20 likes). 👍💙

Higgs was quaffing the festive spiced wine by the glugful as he watched Sam with the other men, getting more and more drunk by the second. "Fuck it..." he grumbled, attempting to get up. He wobbled slightly, partially tripping over his own large foot. But he had honed in on his target and was not going to let a slightly fuzzy head stop him. "Oh Saaaamm..." He sauntered over with the grace of a very tall newborn deer. Sam clocked him approaching and groaned. Higgs flung his arms around him, pulling him in close. "That's not a candy [hic]cane in my pocket Sam..." He 'whispered', rather loudly in Sam's ear, "...I'm just glad to see you!" pulling back slightly to grin at Sam, pleased with his own joke. Sam looked a bit embarrassed to know him. Heartman eyed them both with a kindly smirk, before he disappeared into a back room, his heart sensor bleeping.

"Higgs-" Sam hissed, but he was cut off before he could say anything. Higgs pressed his lips sloppily to his. Sam froze. His cheeks flushed red, he was sure everyone was looking at them. Higgs didn't seem to care, or rather he seemed to revel in the attention. Higgs' long tongue snaked into his mouth, his hand grabbing his ass, but Sam gently and begrudgingly pushed him away, making eye contact. "Higgs, you have had too much to drink." Higgs pouted, "Awww!". Sam looked around mumbling, "I think it's time we left." Higgs swayed on the spot, the half empty mulled wine bottle still in his hand "Are you going to walk me home Sammy [hic]boy?" Sam hooked an arm around him to support him, and quietly said "No, you're staying here..."

Sam lead the inebriated Higgs out of the hall. Once they were away from the loud music and people, Sam scoped him up fully in a fireman's lift, over his shoulder. Higgs giggled, "Weeee!" as he was carried back to the BRIDGES private room. Sam went to lay him down on the bed, but Higgs was clinging on tightly like a Limpet. "Higgs, let go!" Black tears of eyeliner ran down Higgs' high cheeks. He sobbed, "Don't leave me Sam!" Sam touched his shoulder gently and murmered, "I won't. I'm here...Get some sleep Higgs."

Higgs sniffled and settled down, looking up at him with big blue eyes, his eyelids drooping, his long eyelashes fluttering "All I want for Christmas Sam, is you.... Your package is the first present I want to open on Christmas day..." said with a cheeky smile, before the pull of dark slumber was too much for him. Sam studied his peaceful face for a moment, he sighed and wiped away a black inky tear mark with his thumb. He climbed carefully over higgs' sleeping form and curled up behind him, pulling a Blanket over them both.

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For @samfrancis94 @astrandofgold @pandora-writes-stuff and all my other followers who enjoy my writing! (if you would like to be tagged in my posts, please say!)

❤️❤️❤️

[lovesomehate]

List of ships that I love but it gets more ✨problematic✨ as it goes on: 9/??

✨Vanilla side✨

Heartman & Sam Porter Bridges - Death Stranding

[mxgicdave]

pretty much my approach to shipping in death stranding

[lessoninfutility]

Heartman and sam :’)

The middle outfit in the top pic is NWR’s outfit with the shorts bc i love it

[princesslink25]

Death Stranding But I Made it Gayer

Sam gets into a love triangle with Deadman and Heartman and also knows how awful his wife was.

[thingsandstuffyousee]

Kojima back at it with his shipping ways. He might be a big fan of shipping in general but he does seem to prefer Sam/Higgs and Sam/Heartman

[heartshapedstrand]

Not meaning to be rude or anything, but I was wondering what makes you see compatibility in Sam and Heartman? I've always seen Sam as too standoffish to reciprocate anything and Heartman being more needy than he could handle.

So here’s the rub, I sincerely hope you weren’t trying to be rude, cause, I dunno, I do still feel like your wording was a bit… rude. But that is okay. Its my choice to be a little offended, but I’m not gonna hold that against you.

Let’s break things down, starting with canon. 

Canonically, Sam shows little interest in anyone, and onlykind of opens up friendship-wise with Fragile, being playful with her over the cryptobiotes, and allowing her to touch him, willingly, because of story-drive necessity.

Canonically, there IS no romantic relationship for Sam, after the loss of his family. Fragile came a hair closer to being a possible canon ship, and I know there are people who can put up a decent argument for Deadman as a possible canon ship, but. Kojima left everything open ended on purpose. He left it open for each person’s interpretation, just like the story, the ambiguity of it gave everyone a different perspective on what happened. Some people saw Amelie as a manipulative, unfeeling monster (me), and some people thought she genuinely didn’t want to end the world. Its opinion, its perspective. Moving on.

Canonically, no, there’s nothing to truly show there’s any kind of interest between Sam and Heartman. But that is the point of fandom, to take what we know of canon and extrapolate from it the possibilities of deeper relationships. It’s true that in canon game story Heartman and Sam’s interactions are few, so those no room to see more development of their friendship dynamics.

So, my perspective on the compatibility of these two starts with these things:

They both have suffered the loss of their families.

Neither of them were interested in the “reunite America” bandwagon. 

Heartman was a father once, he could offer Sam advice on caring for Lou

Sam gave Heartman his first step in moving past his grief and obsession

You used the term “standoffish” to describe Sam, and I can agree for the most part, Sam is standoffish, but to everyone he doesn’t know. He was like that with Fragile, Deadman, Mama, Lockne. But. He did thaw a little to each of them because for one reason or another, he’d come to care for them. Heartman is the same.

However, Heartman is the only person in-game Sam willingly talked about the loss of his family to. Deadman looked up his records to find that information, and when he brought it up, Sam was terse and didn’t want to talk about it.

With Heartman, it was Heartman himself speaking about the loss of his family. Sam relates to his loss, the sentiment that he’s “already dead” by saying “I know that feeling. Lost my family in an accident.” Only then, does Heartman mention he’d read about Sam’s history. It’s that interaction and dynamic that gives me the idea that there’s potential for at the least a deeper friendship than some of the others. 

Stepping to the next thing, the fact that they share the lack of enthusiasm for “Reunited America” also gives them a connection. Heartman’s only desire to work with Bridges and the UCA is that he has access to the chiral network, and research materials. They keep him set up in a remote lab with equipment he needs for his medical issues, and lets him carry on toward his eventual death as long as he’s providing them with his findings in the meantime. I think that gives Sam reason to relax a bit, around Heartman. And, it was Sam’s coming that I think was Heartman’s first step to moving on from his endless search for his family. I wrote all that out in this post a week or so ago, go give it a read if you like. 

And as for Heartman being needy…. I mean? He is starved of human contact, god only knows how long he’s been at his remote lab without contact from another living soul. He’s a bit awkward because of that, and I suspect he’s always been a little strange. Most scientists are in games or other media, pretty sure its a trope, even.

But! Heartman is a grown ass man, he probably knows he’s a bit needy, but also had self-control. It’s clear that even though he does want to talk to Sam about more than the research, Mama’s corpse, and whatnot, he doesn’t invade Sam’s boundaries. Two different times, he tries to shake hands with Sam, and once, he vaguely offers him a hug. My feeling from it was… He’s a scientist, and he’s fascinated by Sam for a number of scientific reasons. Testing his boundaries was just one of the things he could do to analyze him unobtrusively. 

Once he had a feel for Sam’s personal space, he never tries to invade it, just offering thumbs up or down as a gesture of social interaction without the need for physical contact. If Heartman was needy, to an unhealthy degree, he wouldn’t respect Sam’s boundaries.

And lastly, post-game, Heartman was a father once. And as far as we know, Sam’s never actually handled babies or children. He clearly didn’t trust returning to the heart of the UCA after violating a directive by the ‘president’ of the UCA. 

Heartman worked remotely, away from the rest of the Bridges/UCA people. He had knowledge, he had room to spare, and we also know he would spoof the system to hide conversations from the UCA’s 24/7 surveillance. Why not call on him to help?

As for romantic/sexual shipping, well. We don’t actually know what attracts Sam or Heartman to anyone, do we? 

Hell, that crush you had in high school, do you remember why? Was there a reason? You see that one person, and suddenly there’s a flutter in your stomach, but why? Did their smile make your heart skip a beat, did the way they wore their clothes make you a little hot under the collar? I love nicely shaped shoulders, and men with wide hips. Why? I have no clue, but it’s what I like. It just is. It was a spark, something inside me said “this is attractive”. Hell, I had a crush on the biggest bitch in my school. I hated her personality, she was a bitch to everyone but her friends(which i was not), and she was a snobby rich kid. Pretty sure she didn’t even know I existed, but every goddamned time I saw her, my stomach fluttered, and I couldn’t function when she was in my presence, and I’d blush if I was within 5 feet of her, even though she never even glanced my way. Why? I will never know.

Sooooo. Why not provide that spark, myself? No, it isn’t canon, but so what? Neither is Sam/Fragile, or Sam/Deadman. Or Sam/Higgs, which is the popular ship in the fandom so far. Other than the heroxvillain trope, how the hell would we ever see Sam/Higgs together? Hate ships and enemies to lovers ships are out there, though, and they make delicious art. ;]

Ya wanna know an even less likely ship? Higgs/Heartman. Why? Because I can. Deal with it. 

ANYWAY. I’m frank, sassy, and sometimes an ass. But, I hope that this gives some insight into why I think Sam and Heartman could work out as a ship. 

And I keep typing, but that’s just how I go.

The ship isn’t perfect, either. I have shown, and plan to continue to show, moments where there is friction between Sam and Heartman. Sam still has trouble with touch, sometimes. Sam will push Heartman away, and at some points Heartman may feel hurt by that, even though he knows its not his fault.

And Sam does have trouble showing emotion or talking. Heartman will experience frustration with that. Sam broods, and if Heartman can’t deal with it, Sam will run off until he’s done brooding.

Also if this was sparked by the silly post about Samantha Spade, I was having fun, i tagged it with my tag for things that are silly, said tag being “ ;;shenanigans ”. It’s the first tag I put on the post. Please don’t take anything I post with that tag seriously, I like to have fun, and my goofy little hopeless romantic heart was a flutter at the silly idea.

P.S. If you wanna continue to question my view in compatibility between characters, you can keep throwing those question to me. As long as I’m not getting hate, I won’t be giving hate. If you don’t like my answers, I can only politely suggest you find someone else to bother.

If you wanna know me better, I am actually a really nice person, fiercely loyal, and fun to plot and chat with. Come talk to me, I won’t bite, I promise. ;] 

Oh, and I’ve always loved rare pairs. They need love.

[heartmans-lost-cargo]

All Emails from Sam Strand Porter Bridges

Email #1: Heart-Shaped Lake

Email #2: All-Loving Spa

Email #3: Serendipity

Email #4: The Beach Scientist

Email #5: Heartman's Lost Cargo

Email #6: Home

Email #7: Multiverse

Email #8: The Lab

Email #9: Leaving

Email #10: Doppelgängers

Email #11: Recollection

Email #12: Birth

Email #13: On the Beach

Email #14: So Sorry, Sam

[queen-beefcake-sqx]

Me, after scouring the entire Death Stranding AO3: goddamn it I’m going to have to write HeartSam myself, aren’t I?

[savage-rhi]

Oh no HeartSam is new discovery and they’re cute 🥺🥺🥺 Romantic HeartSam or Sam listens to Heartman’s heart? ❤️

Here you go mein fwend :D!

The sun was beginning to rise. The light from the rays gently flowing through the large windows of Heartman’s office, cascading a warmth into the quiet space. Sam and Heartman were on the couch, bundled up in each other's arms and resting. The two had passed out hours before, having been caught up in a deep conversation that only ended when their bodies could no longer keep awake. Heartman was the first to collapse, and shortly after Sam passed out. They were on opposite ends of the couch but ended up together, Heartman lying on his back with Sam sleeping on top of him lazily. 

As the light began to hit Sam’s eyes, he grimaced a little, opening up his left eye followed by the right. He didn’t move, however. He was still tired and very much yearning to go back to sleep. A light beating buzzed in his ear, causing Sam to lift his head as he grunted and realized he was sleeping on top of Heartman. A flush of pink hit his face as he gulped. As tempted as Sam was to scurry back and give space, he was growing more curious by the minute. 

Sam debated with himself before lying back down, his ear pressed to Heartman’s chest as he could hear the thumps of his heartbeat radiating in his ear. It was soft but rapid, reminding Sam of a time he caught a baby bird as a child and could feel its little organ beating away. The AED was on silent, not messing around with the natural rhythm of Heartman’s pulse. Sam wondered if Heartman purposefully turned it down, furrowing his brows before he shut his eyes and began to count out the beats, eventually lulling himself back into slumber. 

A few hours later, Heartman awoke and looked down to find Sam listening to the tempo of his heart, his fingers gently tapping out the melody of the organ pumping away while he slept. Heartman couldn’t help but smile, finding Sam’s actions endearing as he sighed and lied his head back against the couch, closing his eyes. 

It wasn’t everyday anybody got to be so close with the porter, and Heartman figured he might as well savor the contact. He didn’t have much time left after all. 

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