thinking about that handler/guard dog trope post w/ durgetash
durge is happily and proudly gortash's attack/guard dog, to the point where they occasionally wear a muzzle
and it's not just like, any muzzle, it's fancy. intricate metalwork - all gold, ofc - straps made of the softest leather
AU where foxybro puts the collective group braincell together in his brain for a second there and realizes fredbear doesn't actually have any safety mechanism whatsoever and maybe they shouldnt put the kids head in the chomp chomp crusher 3000
i wish more ppl i knew were furries/openly into furry stuff bc ive been getting rlly back into that whole thing but im so turned off of the community just bc of the sheer amount of questionable people over there so nobody around me apart from a few ppl are enjoyers of this stuff :( if i was able to gush about my silly little animal guys more i think i would be unstoppable
dug into my inbox because i was CONTEMPLATING THEM...
shak/nikita is like...shakir and nikita discover the secrets of the universe, like discovering selfhood and independence and confidence and first loves and sexuality with men but. in san jose. a city of sunshine and income inequality and people who DON'T CARE about the sharks, but do care what language you speak at the grocery store... also nikita has gynecomastia. how do you navigate literally any of that as a 22yo (horny) russian (english language learner) hockey (no one cares about the sharks) player (if no one is watching, what do you have to lose???) and shakir is very much experiencing the secrets of the universe (falling in love with nikita)
rest under a cut cont bc i CANNOT shut up--
but i always worry about writing russian players bc i'm always like what fucked cold war neo-con nonsense am i accidentally projecting onto these players (<- op is a 90s kid) as well as what fucked up neo evangelical bullshit i am accidentally projecting onto these eastern orthodox players (<- op is a protestant 90s kid)...like i worry about writing non-american players pretty much constantly bc i'm like WHAT LENS AM I WRITING THIS THRU THAT I DON'T REALIZE I HAVE!!! but that's always especially panic-inducing when i think about writing russian players, because one half of my family is career military and the other half were nuclear physicists who worked at lockheed martin and while i do my best to like....make the opposite choices of literally all those people, it's very much, growing up in The Culture (american imperialism). so i'm always like i need to NOT woobify the russian players but i also also need to NOT pinkwash the entire country of russia but i also also need to NOT pretend that the culture queer sexuality in russia doesn't have complexities i will never be able to fully understand BUT I ALSO ALSO ALSO need to NOT accidentally start a second cold war on ao3 dot org
in conclusion, if my research holds up (lol), nikita's pet name would be nikusha which i think is nice. also i think a lot about how a lot of the russian guys have to translate for shakir to the media and to fans, but on ice he'll talk a lot to his teammates. and there is the you know allure of a locker room that has uhhh i think 8 languages of both the spoken and signed variety, in a city where all the government signage is in english, spanish, and vietnamese, and how you can play a lot with the slipperiness of identity in that kind of situation. i mean shakir got scared in a grocery store parking lot in utica and he's like 6'6 and looks like a supermodel so i'm desperate to know how he handles all the gay jocks in san jose.
tl;dr i want to write a lush coming of age story in san jose but have anxiety
that was more information than you cared to have so here is a line:
Guys make fun of Shakir at home, how he always strikes out with women. He’s not good at picking up women. He’s too awkward, doesn’t know what to do with his hands. The few occasions he’s kissed a girl, they’ve laughed as they walk away.