thebackwardsstep
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“Bradley Bradshaw?”
Sleep is snatched like a rug from under him so fast his head swims.
The headlights to a teal pickup truck bellow down the road before him, the engine stalling. The woman that leans out of the driver’s window looks familiar. Her hair is longer these days, but, if Bradley’s addled brain isn’t failing him, it’s not a face he can ever really forget.
“Oh no,” he accidentally blurts.
“It is you,” Penny Benjamin awes.
It’s been years since Bradley last saw Penny and he can’t deny how much he’s missed her company. Now, four years later she happens to find him drunk on the side of the road after escaping the cops. With so many years behind them after such an abrupt goodbye, what will they learn about each other’s lives since they’ve been apart?
Or: Penny finds Bradley drunk at 2am; the partners-in-crime reunite to give Mav a big headache.
Series
- Part 4 of Try Until It Kills Me [Parental!Mav AU]
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“I’ve brought something back with me.”
As predictable as the seasons, Bradley bites, “Huh? Like a gift? What is it? Where is it? Can I see? It better not be dumb.”
Mav laughs, “I hope not.” Then, he takes a step to open the door, “But it might be a shock, so don’t get too excited, okay?”
…
“Why do you have a dog, Mav?”
After the passing of Bradley’s childhood cat, he’s struggling with losing the last Bradshaw he had left. So, when Mav accidentally stumbles upon a retired military dog on her way to the block, he acts on an impulse that will either mend or sever his strained relationship with his kid.
Or, Mav ends up with a three-legged K9 and hopes Bradley doesn’t tear his head off.
Series
- Part 2 of Try Until It Kills Me [Parental!Mav AU]
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“Well, you were so brave running in here to get me,” Mav slurs with sleep, “leaving your stuffies there to fight the monsters off.”
His mind is slipping away somewhere else, so those words weren’t something he’d thought through even the slightest bit. His error came with thinking that Bradley is tired enough to ignore the implication. Turns out, a terrified six-year-old with a fearsome love for his stuffed animals will, in fact, begin sobbing again.
Or: Bradley has a nightmare, Mav tries to comfort him, and somewhere along the way they end up in Mav’s bed with every single stuffie Bradley owns.
Series
- Part 1 of Try Until It Kills Me [Parental!Mav AU]
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Summary
“Hey, hey, wait a minute, kid.”
The boy stops at the door handle, albeit impatiently, as Mav scans him again. Suddenly, it all clicks.
“Are you going on a date?”
What had appeared as Bradley's first date takes a drastic turn into a midnight trip to the police station to bail him out of jail. Ever since, Bradley refuses to talk about what happened, only becoming more distant. Mav is at a loss. He swears, he's had suicide missions easier than this whole parenting thing. Nonetheless, he keeps trying and won't stop until he makes sure his boy is okay.
Or, Bradley comes out to Mav but it's a long road to get there.
Series
- Part 3 of Try Until It Kills Me [Parental!Mav AU]
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All's Hell That Ends Well by thebackwardsstep
Fandoms: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes - Suzanne Collins, Hunger Games Series - All Media Types
18 Feb 2024
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This isn't just a story about Panem's President and the First Gentleman; it's all the pieces that the history books leave out. From warm beds and all things unsaid, held together by loving arms. A tale of games and lies, and love and poison: this is the truth of the Snow-Plinths' rise to power, and the bloody trail that follows it.
Coriolanus and Sejanus are forced into an arranged marriage and discover the fragile piece of their life they'd been missing. Watch them pave history and pose the question, how much can love really change?
Recent series
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Summary
Carole dies when Bradley is two years old and he's left to be raised by his dad and Uncle Mav. When a deployment goes wrong three years later and Goose is killed in action, on the mission Maverick was supposed to fly, young Bradley is left to be raised by the only person he has left, and Mav has to learn to balance his own grief with this precious responsibility.
- Words:
- 28,305
- Works:
- 4
- Bookmarks:
- 20
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Rich boyfriend shenanigans [Sugar Daddy Chuuya, Modern AU] by thebackwardsstep
Fandom: 文豪ストレイドッグス | Bungou Stray Dogs
17 Mar 2022
- Words:
- 96,703
- Works:
- 2
- Bookmarks:
- 51
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a death in the ocean would be beautiful by Youhavetolikebooksifpeopledontlikeyou
Fandoms: 文豪ストレイドッグス | Bungou Stray Dogs
09 Dec 2021
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Summary
“Now I have neither happiness nor unhappiness.
Everything passes.
That is the one and only thing that I have thought resembled a truth in the society of human beings where I have dwelled up to now as in a burning hell.
Everything passes.”
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Glimpses from the memory of Osamu Dazai.
Please enjoy, reader, the story of his life.- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 20,540
- Chapters:
- 5/5
- Collections:
- 2
- Comments:
- 108
- Kudos:
- 635
- Bookmarks:
- 111
- Hits:
- 13,116
Bookmarked by thebackwardsstep
12 Sep 2025
Bookmarker's Notes
This was a darker read than what im used to. But this author captures dispare and hopelessness so well. The horrors of what happened to Dazai in this story never leave and infect every aspect of his life. The structure takes on a an interesting approach as you’re reminded that this is a retelling of a dark past blended with his eventual escape (but the way we get there is both surprising in his tragedy and something that has been seeded in every chapter until that point).
I this was a hard read for topic but a rewarding one for execution.
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lonely houses off the road by Etharei
Fandoms: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
28 May 2014
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Barnes is now glaring at him for some reason. It's somewhat terrifying but also, oddly, a little reassuring— because that's emotion right there, which means there's still somebody behind those eyes. Somebody who seems to think Sam is being a bit slow on the uptake. "Time parameters exceeded. Mission failed."
"Wait." Sam narrows his eyes. "Is this some kind of... report? Debriefing?"
"Mission report," confirms Barnes, looking pleased. Well, looking slightly less murderous than before.
In which various people deal with things they never signed up for, but at the end of the day no one's particularly surprised.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 17,454
- Chapters:
- 2/2
- Collections:
- 15
- Comments:
- 539
- Kudos:
- 22,114
- Bookmarks:
- 5,554
- Hits:
- 294,768
Bookmarked by thebackwardsstep
17 Jun 2025
Bookmarker's Notes
This was such an interesting explanation on how Bucky chooses to heal. I’m so here for it.
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Summary
The thing about Bucky these days is that, while he might be a semi-mythical assassin, he's also vulnerable—the kind of vulnerable that makes total strangers want to drape a blanket over his shoulders and take him to safety. The problem is, of course, that Bucky is already safe.
The first time it happens, Bucky has no idea how to react. He and Steve are walking down the street, when a slight woman takes in Bucky’s terrified eyes, the dark circles so bad they almost look like bruises, and Steve’s protective hand resting on his lower back, guiding him down the busy sidewalk (but it must look possessive, to someone looking for a sign), and comes to the wrong conclusion.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 7,875
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Collections:
- 13
- Comments:
- 441
- Kudos:
- 15,602
- Bookmarks:
- 3,625
- Hits:
- 175,729
Bookmarked by thebackwardsstep
03 Jun 2025
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No Such Thing as Fighting Dirty by leveragehunters (Monkeygreen)
Fandoms: Captain America (Movies)
03 Apr 2016
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Summary
Bucky wants to be touched – he wants Steve to touch him – but seventy years of torture and captivity have left body and mind hardwired to perceive touch as a threat. They're working on it, but Bucky should have remembered that Steve will use every weapon in his arsenal – even the unconventional ones, the ones no one else would consider a weapon – when he's fighting for Bucky.
Series
- Part 2 of The Things You Know
Bookmarked by thebackwardsstep
09 May 2025
Bookmarker's Notes
Soft and intimate portrayal of healing with a partner.
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Not Easily Conquered by dropdeaddream, WhatAreFears
Fandom: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
07 Jul 2015
- Words:
- 117,692
- Works:
- 3
- Bookmarks:
- 9,164
Bookmarked by thebackwardsstep
22 May 2025
Bookmarker's Notes
A captivating series with a wonderful pay-off. I’d argue that you wouldn’t even need to know much about Marvel to read this, it’s so engaging. Each side character is so well fleshed out; it’s like multiple story threads all weaving together at the end. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.