#rosieblogstuff

[lailuhhh]

🌹🌹 🌹

Jack was coherent enough to hear what Mac was saying, but not for the words to make any sense. But Mac’s voice had an edge to it, something that was only there in tense situations. He was fine though; upright and talking, and taking on all of Jack’s own weight like it was nothing.

[appalachianapologies]

Ok I realize you’re probably asleep and not writing drabbles right this very second butttttt I missed this earlier and I love your drabbles. Would you maybe have a Mac & Jack sandbox idea in you? 🥺

I’ve been doing a good job keeping my house clean lately which might not sound like a very good compliment but it’s usually very cluttered and messy. But right now it’s really clean.

no worries! i totally get it and honestly when i write a prompt post, just assume that it's open until the end of eternity/when people stop sending asks in about it. and i get the cluttered space as well! believe me, i am the last person who is going to assume that that's a weak compliment- cleaning spaces is no small feat, especially when it comes to a whole house!

give yourself a compliment and i'll write you a drabble

The kid gets weird around holidays.

It’s something that Jack had previously clocked, registering somewhere in his head early on when he was assigned to watch over the tech, but had been since pushed to the back. Everything took second place when it came to trying to survive out in a desert that wants nothing more but to send him back in a bodybag.

Now that things have cooled down a bit, now that Jack decided to stay out downrange just to make sure that he wouldn’t be at the kid’s funeral a week later, the thought comes back to him. Mac doesn’t like holidays.

It isn’t just his birthday—which Mac has made his opinion abundantly clear about—but the smaller ones, too. While Jack and his buddies, along with nearly everyone else on the base would make the effort to have a good day, celebrate with snacks and care packages, Mac wouldn’t do anything.

He acts like every day is a normal day, that besides the shifting seasons, there ain’t no difference between one day and the next. And while it might be nothing more than a coping mechanism to get through his tour, Jack has a nagging feeling that there’s something else behind that. 

Something that puts a sour taste in his mouth and causes Jack to stuff a few more paperclips in his pockets. 

Despite what Mac thinks, Jack isn’t just some brute, and he doesn’t constantly run his mouth for the sole reason of running his mouth. He knows better than to ask all of the burning questions that he has when it comes to Mac.

Eventually, Jack’s able to draw his own conclusions. A mother that’s not once mentioned, a father only in passing. In the few times that Mac has ever told a “happy” story or anything even close to that about his childhood, there are undertones that make Jack’s stomach sink. 

There wasn’t much time for play in Mac’s life, and Jack quickly realizes that that included holidays as well. Mac never got a day off as a child, and now that he’s working EOD, he ain’t gonna have a day off anytime soon, either.

[ad-astrah]

Hmmm...quite a lot of browns. But I don't hate it. Got some nice fall vibes.

tagged by the lovely @cirilla-geralt. Thanks for tagging me!

name color palette: use this website to make a color palette out of your name.

I'mma tag: @crowleyaj @kingkrem @kenobion @nurcechapel @pikechris @rosieblogstuff @appalachianapologies @thisisarebeljyn but anyone who'd like to try this out, feel free to tag me!

[authorangelita]

Questions for you! :)

How did you discover the show?

Have you adopted any headcanons?

Have you learned any Mac Hacks?

Hi! 👋🏻 Thanks for the questions!

How did you discover the show?

I was looking for something to watch and remembered that I pay for Paramount+, lol.  It came up on the suggested shows list (this was during Season 5), and my roommate and I decided to give it a try.  It took us a couple of episodes, but we were hooked pretty quickly.  We binged several episodes a day until we caught up to the last few episodes of Season 5. 

I started reading fic when we were binging season 2, and I started writing it after X-Ray + Penny, I think. Because there's just so much of that episode that we didn't get to see.

Have you adopted any headcanons?

I've made my own, for sure.  I can't think of any that I've adopted.  There are some that I like, but I don't think they've found their way into my fics – like Mac being hard to drug or drugs not working correctly on him. 

Have you learned any Mac Hacks?

I haven't learned any Mac hacks :(  I don't generally have any reason to use a hack, sadly.  I did buy a SAK though, and it's been super useful. 

[gala1981]

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who reblogged something from you. Spread the positivity! ❤️

A walk in the park on a sunny autumm day

A hot bubble bath

Spending time with friends

Reading a good story

A nice slice of black forest cake

[impossiblepluto]

Which Macgyver fic can you recommend? With Mac whump and a big one

Lately rally trying to find some new good fics, but I have a sad feelings that there is no good whump fics I haven't read :(

Hello friend,

Oh that's a tough one. The Mac fandom is blessed with an abundance of great fic but it's hard for me to make a recommendation if you think you've already read them all. I'm assuming this is on AO3? The first thing I'd ask is if you've checked out FFN? There are quite a few fics over there that haven't been crossposted on AO3, Ridley C. James and Objessions come to mind.

The next thing I'd ask is if you're looking specifically at the "whump" tag because a lot of authors, including myself, don't necessarily tag things as "whump" and you may be unwittingly excluding fics you would love.

Have you read Haven126? There's probably not a week that goes by that I don't think about the Turkey Day series (specifically the second one has me in a death grip)

I haven't finished it yet but The Chair + The Box + The Board by @rosieblogstuff is delightfully intense

Sat Phones + Heat Stroke + GPS by Project7723 (@improvidus) is based off of one of my favorite Star Trek Enterprise episodes. It's more emotional whump but I would also recommend "In the Wake of Him"

Stakeout + Bridal Carry by tangocharlie

Have you ready from SabbyStarlight? TetrodotoxinB ("Old Fish in the State of Denmark" killed me dead)? I have to assume you've read AppalachianApologies' 144 MacGyver fics already, right? Nativestar's "Living Death" is *chef's kiss*. CommanderBunnBunn's Sandbox + Possum is a favorite.

Have you gone back far enough that you've read Katikat or Tinkerbella?

I guess it's just hard for me to know what you're looking for, especially if you think you've read everything already. I sadly don't have a secret hidden cache of fics. There are thousands of wonderful fics and I barely brushed across the surface with my brief overview

[simplysummers]

Thank you @cyclopsandphoenix for the tag!

No pressure tags: @wouldvecouldveshouldve @quinn-my-beloved @rosieblogstuff @practically-an-x-man @aurumjank @shortnsweetgf @doctor-whu @binch-i-might-be @sscrambledmeggss

[beseeingyou]

lucas' burthday is coming up in 20 days (yeah i know im getting to this a little late 😭 im so sorry) and i have put together this project so we can show him how much we appreciate him!

https://forms.gle/mMXrfXMtxpRLPVCN

@boolger @cannibalisticcorpse @nursestardust @desparikon @rosieblogstuff

https://forms.gle/mMXrfXMtxpRLPVCN

[nativestarwrites]

RULES: Post the last sentence you wrote (fanfic / original / anything) and tag as many people as there are words in the sentence.

Thanks for the tag @jamietarttsnorthernattitude!

I thought about saving this until after I'd written tonight but then I looked at my last line (from the wip Hostages) and thought it was actually worth sharing. Vague and slightly ominous...

“Yeah, ‘cept I ain’t got time, do I?”

I'm going to tag just a few people, no pressure, @appalachianapologies @rosieblogstuff @abubblingcandle @altschmerzes and anyone else who feels like it!

[lailuhhh]

16. "God, I'm so sorry, it'll be over soon, I promise."

It wasn’t the first time they’d been in that situation, but god did Jack hope it was going to be the last.

He wouldn’t be able to get that day out of his head for a long time. He wouldn’t be able to get Mac screaming out of his head for a long time.

Mac had been flung cross Jack’s back in a fireman’s carry, paling at every rough step Jack had to make through the forest, away from still pursuing captors.

Muffled screams through a makeshift gag made Jack sick, but they needed to be quiet, and there was no way Mac was going to be able to do that with two bullets in his leg, one most likely touching bone.

“God, I'm so sorry, Mac." Jack could only apologize for how rough he was. He couldn’t afford to go slow at any cost. “Almost there.”

Mac had no energy, and could only let out whimpers from under the gag.

Jack wanted to stop, to sit and comfort him, to do anything to make everything stop. But until then, Jack would run, to the ends of the earth, if it meant keeping Mac safe.

“It'll be over soon, bud, I promise.”

[appalachianapologies]

🎁 🎁

more ted lasso bc this fic has a vice hold over me and i stayed up until midnight writing it

“I know what it’s like to feel invincible at your age.” Scoffing, Jamie replied, “I don’t feel invincible.”

[boolger]

Thank you for tagging me @stellewriites !!! <3

rules: answer the questions and tag 9 people.

favorite color: purple, esp in the colder tones

last song listened to: Lay all your love on me - ABBA

currently reading: I picked up recursion by blake crouch yesterday, which im hopefully gonna start on soon!! first book that i'm reading for 'fun' in like 6 years.

currently watching: Under the banner of heaven on disney+, tho im very slow at watching series. On YT im watching youtuber drama, lol.

currently craving: a piece of brunsviger, which is a danish cake, but i dont have the energy to leave the house lol.

coffee or tea: tea Coffee !! coffeecofffeeecoffee, im a big coffee fan. Started drinking it when i was 11 and im 27 now, so we can think about how that affected my anxiety throughout the years, lmao

tagging: (if u have already been tagged or dont want to join, dw about it and just ignore this!! no pressure!) @rosieblogstuff @onebigfangirlworld @pfhwrittes @syoddeye @kyletogaz @rojemacyarn

If anybody wants to do this, consider this your tag!!

[authorangelita]

☺️ Share a happy line.

🤯 Share a surprising line, or one where a character realizes something.

Hello and thank you for the asks! ❤️

☺️ Share a happy line. From the Out is Through sequel 😃

"Mac!" Charlie called out, grinning when Mac saw him and smiled. They met halfway between the entrance and the SUV, clasping hands and giving each other a brief hug.  "It's been too long, Charlie.  You should really come out to the ranch when this is all over." "I'll take you up on that." 

🤯 Share a surprising line, or one where a character realizes something.  From an amnesia!Mac fic:

More hours passed before Mac's hand twitched.  Then, his legs moved restlessly.  Finally, his eyes fluttered open.  "Hey, bud," Jack said softly.  His hand hovered over the nurse call button while he waited to see if Mac's eyes would stay open, if he would say anything. Mac's eyebrows furrowed as he squinted up at Jack.  He opened his mouth and whispered three devastating words, "Who are you?" Jack's heart dropped, and he felt sick.  Mac looked confused and scared.  Of Jack.  Of his Overwatch and best friend.  Something was very, very wrong.  "I'll get a nurse," he said as he stood and rushed out of the room. 

[macgyverbingo]

MacGyver Fanwork Bingo FAQ - September 2023

Who is this for?

Every MacGyver fan is invited to participate. Post a fanwork on Tumblr or AO3 to mark off a square. 

What type of fanworks count?

Any type of fanwork counts! Gifs, videos, artwork, and fiction are all welcome. You could also post a story analysis, tell us your feelings on a scene in the show, post a new incorrect quote, or some other related work. 

We’ve arranged the prompts to ensure that there are multiple bingo options for fanworks of canon like gifs of the show. 

How do I use the bingo card?

There are two bingo cards to choose from: the regular 5x5 square bingo card, and the mini 3x3 square card. You choose which card to use and whether you want to try to cross off one line of 5, one line of 3, or go for a blackout on the mini or regular bingo card.

Each bingo square on the bingo card contains two prompts. Cross off the square after using either prompt. You don’t have to use both.

We’ve also provided two alternate squares. Replace any square on either card with an alternate square to customize your bingo board & change up your prompt options.

Is this a whump challenge thing?

No. Each square contains one casual affection or comfort prompt, and one whump or hurt/comfort prompt. Make any kind of work you want with the prompts you choose. 

What about AI-generated or assisted fanwork?

AI generated or AI assisted fic or art is NOT welcome.

I wrote a thing! When do I post it?

The target posting date is every Friday in September, because the show aired on Fridays. (Also there are conveniently 5 Fridays in the month so it’s perfect for bingo!)

What if I miss the target date? Can I post it later?

Yes! Your bingo entries are always welcome.  

Is there an AO3 collection?

The collection will be MacGyver Fanwork Bingo 2023. The collection will open on September 1, 2023. Please add your work! :)

What about Tumblr tags?

Tag the event ( #macgyverbingo ) and add a tag for the prompt(s) you used. And please please please don’t forget to @ this blog so we can reblog it.

Who’s running this thing?

The shadowy faces behind the curtain for this event are @impossiblepluto and @rosieblogstuff 👋 

[bloodfromthethorn]

Some Assembly Required

Filling in a few of the prompts for @rosieblogstuff's June MacGyver Flashfic Writealong.

Also on Ao3

..

For a genuine, certified genius, Jack didn't think he'd met anyone as goddamn stupid as Angus Macgyver. The kid had brains and statistics and sheer, unstoppable determination in spades, but even after eight weeks in the field as a government agent he still hadn't quite picked up the habit of not charging headlong into active gunfire. He'd been warned about it repeatedly and occasionally with diagrams and yet, here they were again. Sure, Mac had insisted that he had a plan and, yes, technically his actions had been directly responsible for both neutralising the gunmen and incapacitating their target ready for capture, but it was the principle of the thing.

He genuinely didn't seem to grasp that the mission didn't matter to Jack if it got Mac killed.

Bizarrely, it made Jack think of flat pack furniture: the kid had all the right parts to become an incredible agent – clever, bold, determined,  good  – but getting it all to come together just right was still going to take some work. Some assembly required, as the saying goes. Which, on reflection, was pretty ironic considering Jack was sure Mac could put together an IKEA bookcase the same way that math whizzes could solve Rubik's cubes. All he'd need to do was blink and boom, there'd be a Kallax in the middle of his living room. 

…He might be getting off-topic.

The point was, the kid had the potential to be good. To be great, even. Jack was damn near certain that with the right guidance and a long enough lifespan to get some experience behind him, Mac could become one of the finest agents the US government had ever seen. The only problem was, he didn’t seem particularly invested in living long enough for that to happen. 

If it had been the first time, Jack might have been willing to let it go as youthful inexperience but if twice was a coincidence and three times was a pattern, then what did that make six times? In Jack's book, nothing good. Certainly nothing that he could allow to stand any longer. It had been a pressure point of their partnership ever since Mac graduated from spy school – with flying colours, needless to say – and it was long past time they sat down and dealt with it like adults.

At least, that's what he would have said if Mac hadn't rabbited the second he had the chance.

To be fair, hours later and more level-headed, Jack could admit that Mac was having a rough day. He’d had to tolerate Jack yelling in his face in the field, followed by getting the silent treatment the whole flight home, despite Mac’s multiple attempts at having a civil conversation. Then he’d arrived back in LA only to be absolutely reamed by Thornton for a solid twenty minutes, locked at Attention, staring straight ahead as the words washed over him. He hadn’t complained, he hadn’t flinched. Hell, he’d barely even blinked. 

And then, entirely unsurprisingly to anyone who’d been paying the slightest bit of attention, he’d done the one thing Jack hadn’t wanted him to: he’d taken himself home alone, and hadn’t been heard from since. 

In hindsight, he should have expected it. Mac was more open and pushy with Jack than with just about anyone, but he still had moments of doubt. Moments when Jack's rough edges had him concerned he'd somehow overstepped a line and ended up with him backing off like he was afraid he'd only do more harm if he stuck close. In their year and a half together, Jack had seen it a handful of times and it never failed to make him feel like an ass. Mac's trust in Jack's abilities was immense and nearly unbearable, but at the same time his belief in Jack's affection for him was fragile and gun-shy. All it took some days was a few harsh words, and the kid would retreat into himself like he'd been hit. 

After a long, stressful mission that was capped off by Jack kicking off over Mac's repeated failure to watch out for his own safety? Of course he'd make himself scarce. 

It was, coincidentally, the exact same reasoning for why Jack wasn't about to let him shut himself away.

He showed up at Mac's door roughly two hours after they'd landed back in LA. He'd been able to use the flight time to write most of his after-action report since he'd been looking for distractions to avoid talking to Mac, and debrief had been pretty short and sweet from his side. A quick detour to the showers to wash off the worst of the grime, and here he was, ready to mend some bridges. All he needed to do was keep his cool, the way he hadn't out in the field. He could do this.

On opening the front door to find the house eerily still and an opened first aid kit scattered across the kitchen counter, Jack rapidly started revising that statement.

“Mac?” He called out, automatically putting one hand on the sidearm tucked into the back of his jeans just in case. “You in here, bud?”

There was a long, tense pause. Then, quietly from down the hall, “Bedroom.”

Jack was moving before Mac had a chance to reach the end of the word. He didn't sound distressed or in pain, though there was definitely a lowness of tone that spoke of despondency, or perhaps resignation. He sounded a thousand miles from being happy that Jack was there.

Mac’s bedroom door was ajar, so Jack pushed it open with light fingers, still battling down the swell of adrenaline and panic so that he could at least try to start this conversation from a rational position. The room beyond was empty. “Mac?”

Fortunately for everyone involved, Mac didn’t give him long enough to freak out further before he appeared, whole and seemingly well, in the doorway to the ensuite. “Here,” he said lowly, raising one hand in a vaguely sarcastic wave. “What are you doing here? I thought you wanted to head home to get some sleep.”

“I– uh,” Jack started haltingly, automatically scanning Mac for anything that would justify someone scavenging the first aid kit and coming up empty. The dissonance between what he’d feared and the truth of what he could see before him clanged hollowly in his gut. “Uh, yeah. But I wanted to make sure you were alright first.”

Instead of rolling his eyes like Jack had expected him to, Mac just sighed. “I’m fine. Tired.”

“I’ll bet.” He paused, evaluating how he could push without forcing Mac to retreat even further. “Sorry, I’m not trying to get all up in your business, I promise, but– I saw the first aid kit and I thought… I dunno. Maybe something happened?”

Considering he’d walked up to Mac’s front door with a firm plan in mind, this was already going terribly. In all the time since they’d been back in the States, Jack had never felt so viscerally unwelcome in Mac’s home, and his own confusing jumble of emotions was certainly not about to help matters. Mac looked… exhausted. Worn down. Like Jack was just another in a long series of things Mac had had to put up with, when his daily quota for dealing with shit was already maxed out. Abruptly, Jack wondered if he hadn't actually made a huge mistake in coming here.

“It's nothing,” Mac responded woodenly. “Just a scratch.”

Jack's eyebrow crept up. “You trip and fall on your way through the door or something?”

“No, it's– Look. Why are you here? You seemed pretty keen to be rid of me earlier.”

It was Jack's turn to sigh, mentally rallying all the talking points he'd cued up on the drive over. “That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about. I owe you an apology. What you did back there was reckless as all hell and we do need to have a conversation about how you handle yourself on missions, but I shouldn't have yelled at you, and certainly not when we were still in the field. It was a shit way of handling my own panic and worse, it was absolutely the wrong way of trying to correct you. I'm sorry about it. I'll do my best to make sure it doesn't happen again.”

The apology felt lessened somehow, delivered as it was across the wide emptiness of Mac's bedroom. Neither of them had moved from their posts by the room's respective doors. It was a far cry from the friendly chat around the firepit Jack had half-expected. 

The strain of it compelled him to continue. “You know, I forget how new you are to this. When we're out there and you're doing your thing, it's so hard to remember that you've only been doing this a few weeks. I shouldn't be surprised when you make a bad judgement call because you don't know any better yet. That's my bad, and I'll work on it, I promise.”

Mac still stood, unresponsive, gazing back at him with a faintly blank expression. He looked surprised, to a certain extent, but anything more was guarded away too carefully for Jack to parse. It was more than a little unnerving considering how easily Jack was usually able to read him.

“Mac?” He asked gently, caught off-guard by the complete lack of response. He’d expected either anger (likely) or warm relief (substantially less likely), so the absence of both felt out of place. Mac wasn’t usually one to take things like this lying down. “You okay bud?”

That drew a reaction out of him, finally, though not entirely the one Jack had hoped for. A line appeared between his eyebrows and he bit his lip for a moment, evidently weighing up what he wanted to say. And, of course, it was only now that Jack properly registered the kid didn’t just look tired – he looked pale. Alarm bells sprang into life so loudly, he nearly missed it when Mac finally responded. 

“There’s something I should have told you. You’ll be mad.” That was the only warning he gave before Mac reached up to tug at his loose-fitting shirt – one of Jack’s, he realised distantly – pulling the neck wide enough to reveal the neat line of stitches marching over the rise of his trapezius. The skin around it was red and puffy, freshly irritated. “One of those bullets got a little closer than I’d thought,” he explained before Jack could demand answers. “It’s shallow and it’ll be fine, but I know I should have told you about it.”

Jack’s first response was, unsurprisingly, to just about lose his shit. Finding out Mac was hurt was never an easy transition, but finding out he was hurt and that he’d purposefully hidden that fact? In any other circumstance, Jack would already be yelling. But. 

But. 

He’d already made that mistake once today. 

It didn’t help that it was obvious that was precisely what Mac was expecting from him, and that he’d already braced for it. He'd acquired that vacant, distant stare familiar to soldiers the world over who knew they were about to get the dressing down of a lifetime. Mac knew he was in trouble and he knew he couldn't talk his way out of it, so until the yelling was done, he'd checked out of the conversation. He'd just let it wash over him and do nothing more than hope that none of it was vicious enough to get through his armour. It was the same expression he’d worn when facing down Thornton. 

Except maybe Jack wanted to be done making that mistake. Maybe this time he could do what he should have done back out in the field. It wouldn’t make up for what he’d done, but maybe that wasn’t the point. 

“Ah, kid,” he said softly and tried not to wince when Mac’s head came up sharply in surprise. “What have you done to yourself?” 

He crossed the room slowly, like he was trying to approach a spooked horse, but it didn’t seem necessary. Mac had frozen in place to watch him. The view up close wasn’t actually as bad as he’d feared; as promised, the wound was relatively small – just skimming through the very top of his shoulder – and Mac had done a good job on the stitches. The wound was bad, but it could have been so much worse. 

Jack’s hand skimmed lightly over the ball of Mac’s shoulder, watching carefully as the damaged skin shifted and the stitches held. He’d still far rather that they’d been put in by a medical professional, but it was done and done well, so Jack made himself let it go with a quiet sigh. 

“You take some pain meds?”

Mac nodded. 

“And you cleaned it out good?”

“Yes. Honestly, I didn’t even know it was there until I got home and I… I just didn’t want to have to go all the way back to the office.”

Didn’t want to have to face Jack or Thornton again is what he didn’t say, but Jack fought not to let the sting of it show on his face. It was nothing he didn’t deserve. “Okay,” he said instead of arguing. Mac twitched in surprise again. “Just make sure you keep an eye on it for infection. If it gets worse, you’ll need to see a doctor, alright?”

“I can do that,” Mac said haltingly, clearly caught off guard. He let his shirt – Jack’s shirt – fall back into place, hiding the offending stitches from view. “I promise, I didn’t know about it before.”

“I believe you,” he said simply. It wasn’t the conversation he’d come here to have, and against all odds, the gunshot wound was somehow the lower priority topic. It was a testament to how badly the day had gone that Jack could admit that. 

Mac’s faint relief was palpable in the thin air between them and Jack hated to break it, but it had to be done. “We do need to talk though. About earlier.”

Instantly, all of Mac’s slack muscles snapped taut. He straightened up sharply, but didn’t speak.

All on Jack then. Okay. “Like I said, I didn’t handle it well earlier and I’m sorry for that. I shouldn’t have yelled. But we do need to talk about you putting yourself in danger like that. You can’t be doing it, Mac. Not if you want to stay in the field.”

Carefully, Mac stepped away. Ostensibly it was so he could perch on the end of his bed, but it was pretty clear it was so he could put some distance between them again. Given that they’d probably need it, Jack couldn’t fault the decision. 

“I didn’t take this job to be safe,” Mac said at length.

“You didn’t take it to die young neither.”

For the first time since Jack had arrived at his door unannounced, Mac showed a hint of frustration with a sharp sigh. “I’m not trying to get killed, you know.”

“That doesn’t mean you’re trying all that hard not to. Mac, you ran right into the middle of a gunfight. No vest or nothing. That scratch on your shoulder is nothing compared to what could have happened if you’d been even slightly less lucky.”

“I know that, but it worked, didn’t it?”

“That wouldn’ta mattered if you’d got killed doing it. Do you understand that? The mission don’t mean anything if I’m bringing you back to Bozer in a box.”

It was a low blow and the scowl on Mac’s face said he knew it. Still, he didn't snap back right away, something pensive buried in his expression beneath the frustration. The thing was, Mac knew he’d fucked up. He knew it wasn’t the first time either. Every time he put himself on the line, he saw his own failure in the abject panic that threatened to tear Jack apart at the seams, and yet he couldn’t seem to stop himself. He saw a path forwards and he took it, without ever really wanting to consider what it might mean for himself. 

In truth, he missed his own competence. He’d been a bad soldier, with his personal brand of conscientious objection and his chronic inability to follow orders, but he’d been an incredible EOD technician. He’d had some of the best stats in US Army history and he’d been quietly proud of that every day he’d woken up in the hell of the Sandbox. He hadn’t had a lot to feel proud about, lately. 

“I know,” he admitted lowly, dropping his gaze to stare hard at the floor between them. The last of his failing energy bled out of him in a rush. He slumped where he sat. “I know.”

Silence sat between them, Jack too surprised by the resigned admission to come up with anything intelligent to say and Mac too shamefaced to continue defending indefensible actions. Eventually, Mac decided that the only way forward was the truth. It couldn’t hurt more than the secrets had done, surely. 

“I don’t know that I’m cut out for this job,” he confessed. “Doesn’t feel like I’m doing all that well.”

Jack just barely refrained from snorting before he realised Mac was entirely serious. His eyebrows pinched up in strained disbelief. “Man, are you kidding? You’re the best recruit I’ve ever seen. Do you have any idea how many agencies would kill to get someone with even an ounce of your talent?”

Mac huffed, unconvinced.

“Look,” Jack pressed, caught out that this was something he even needed to say. Maybe he’d been being too hard on the kid all along. “I wasn’t joking when I said I forget how new you are to this. You’ve got some improving to do, sure, but that’ll come with experience. For someone who’s only been out of spy school two months, you’ve been doing insanely well. I mean it. I’ve never seen anyone adapt to this work better than you. There’s people who’ve been in the business for decades who couldn’t do what you do.”

He paused for a minute to let that sink in – though he had a sneaking suspicion it wouldn’t for a long time – then opted for a softer tone. “If you decide that you don’t want this job, then we’re out, no questions asked. I’ll fight Patty myself before I let her put you in the field when you don’t want to be there, but if it’s a matter of you thinking you’re not good enough? I promise you that you are.”

Mac’s whole body seemed to judder at that, eyes bright and wide. He looked lost, desperate for something – anything – to cling to. In the heat of his own anger, Jack had somehow missed just how much the day’s mishaps had shaken his partner. 

Slowly, he crossed the space between them and crouched down to put himself on eye level with where Mac was sitting. He didn’t reach out, wary of touching when it may be unwelcome, but tried to put on his best reassuring expression. “You hear me Angus? You’re doing just fine.”

There was a long, expectant pause and Jack felt his heart faltering in his chest before Mac gave a very hesitant nod, accepting the comfort if only just. Jack breathed out in a rush. Without stopping to let himself think about it anymore, he sat up and leaned in to pull Mac into a hug, pressing his head down against Jack’s shoulder and holding him there. A few heartstopping moments later, Mac reached out and wrapped his arms around Jack in return. 

“Thank you,” he mumbled quietly after a long moment. 

Jack just squeezed him a little tighter, mindful of his shoulder. It was still a long road ahead of them, but Jack had never been so certain of anything as he was that Mac was strong enough to take it. The kid had never once let a little hardship slow him down, and Jack was determined to be beside him every step of the way, ready to lend a shoulder to lean on whenever he needed it. He might have been too focused on everything else to notice the cracks starting to form in Mac’s supports, but he wasn’t about to make the same mistake twice.

“It ain’t nothing,” he told him. “We’re going to be okay, hoss. Promise.”

[hoss-acm]

As I already have went back and did a old challenge I was tagged in I might as well do this one too, I guess I'm bored or something.. thank you for tagging me @loves-2-read I really do enjoy your account and presence on this app.

-9 People You Want to Know Better-

Three ships: It honestly took me a moment to realize what this means but I got it now! I don't honestly have any, I don't really care to much for romance.

Last movie: it was "Looks that Kill" I honestly didn't know what to expect with that movie but it actually is a pretty good movie past the stupid story of it.

Last song: I still.. don't know, sorry.

Currently reading: I probably have like a lot I'm in the middle of.

Currently watching: let me try to find a different answer then my last challenge. um, nothing specifically, just old classic shows.

Currently eating: I still fail to understand these questions... l'm not eating but I did eat a peanut butter toast earlier, as I do every morning.

Currently craving: I probably shouldn't have done two challenges back to back, now it fills weird answering the same questions. I don't crave much of anything.

I now am pretty sure I'm awful at this.

Well, If you have any extra questions just let me know and I hope you have a great day.

I tag these lovely people @rosieblogstuff @skylocesbooks @starboltz