novō.

arby

seasian oceania-dweller in her 30s

fandom lurker since 03

favourite character haver

occasional writer, more than occasional reader

interests: films, books, history, scrapbooking & all things spooky

current fandom: project hail mary ◇ grocky ◇ bloodymary

archives: @brain-bookmarks ◇ @body-bookmarks ◇ @biro-bookmarks

warning: serial blocker ◇ adult content

(Bradley has ALWAYS been a loving, touchy child. He was always hugging Ice and Mav, and he never seemed to reach that teenage boy stage where physical contact with your parents was uncool.

With Bradley back in his life, Mav's enjoying getting to touch his son again. He refuses to admit he's jealous when Bradley snuggles up to Ice, but Ice didn't get deprived of Bradley cuddles for over ten years, so STOP LAUGHING AT ME, ICE.)

So they're at the store and Mav's holding Bradley's hand the way he did when Bradley was a little kid, and Bradley's letting it happen. When Bradley grabs the same brand of cookies he's loved since he was four, Mav can't help himself — he drags Bradley in and smooshes a kiss to his forehead.

This is the point Javy and Jake walk past. They see: Maverick and Bradley holding hands, Maverick having pulled Bradley down for a kiss. Their minds see 2 + 2 and get 69.

Javy takes a photo and sends it to the Daggers group chat. Everyone's demanding an explanation, but Bradley definitely has the chat muted, partly because he only believes in messages via carrier pigeon but also because he's a sap who would Never let anything interrupt his time with his parents.

Jake is in turmoil. He Knew Bradley was a catch, but he'd also known Bradley never let himself be caught. He thought he had time to pull all his best moves. Now his competition is Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, and Jake respects the old man enough to admit they're neck and neck in a few categories Rooster likely finds Very important.

It starts earlier than that, of course. He's always been prone to breaking bones, delicate in a way that worried Ice and Mav when he was growing up. He loved collecting little trinkets, and Slider joked about his hawk eyes. Golden, and a little too good at seeing in the distance.

He's thirteen when a man trying to get back at Ice attempts to kidnap him and he screeches so loudly it bursts the man's eardrums. He's fourteen when he gets his wings; iridescent feathers growing on his arms.

The armed forces don't allow mutants to serve.

At 30, he works as Ice's personal assistant. A privilege, because he knows if he wasn't the COMPACFLT's son, no one would hire him. Anti-mutant sentiment is on the rise, and he hides his arms and wears loose shirts and jumpers to try and blend in. He wishes he'd gotten an invisible mutation, or better yet, no mutation at all. He wishes his bones don't snap at the mildest of pressure, and that he could walk outside alone without fear of being attacked.

(Jake's mother had called him her little Superman. Born on a farm, his strength had been an advantage, and the first time a wound that should have been fatal had healed itself, his father had called it a miracle.

To his parents, he wasn't a mutant, but a gift from God.

But there'd been a younger girl with dragonfly wings at their high school. Gorgeous, with curly brown hair and large brown eyes. One day, she'd been walking to school when she'd been attacked. Brutalised. Murdered.

Jake learns to hide his abilities. But he also learns anger.

He's thirteen years old when the government passes legislation that prevents mutants from serving in the military. Sixteen years old, when he witnesses several boys beat someone they had called a friend when their friend is revealed to be a mutant. He's seventeen when his parents die, and he's forced to live with his mum's brother, a hateful preacher that called mutants demons.

It radicalises him. He's twenty and at the Naval Academy, and he wonders why he should be loyal to a government that persecutes his kind.)

They say the leader of the mutant terrorist group used to be in the Navy, and that the name 'Hangman' had been a callsign. It would explain why they always target military operations, but everything about them is so locked down, it's hard to know for sure.

Bradley has mixed feelings. They've saved thousands of mutants, but every time The Brotherhood strikes, the government retaliates with more anti-mutant legislation. He wonders if there's a place for mutants who aren't strong enough to fight.

He thinks of how he'd had to be homeschooled once his wings came in, and how many mutant teens become homeless. The Brotherhood saves mutants from experimentation. Someone needs to save them from starvation and homelessness.