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thevindicativevordan · 3 years ago

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On Livewire

You know Leslie is probably the most popular and well known female Superman Rogue mainly because they use her so heavily in outside media.

Which makes sense given her debut in Superman: The Animated Series, but it still kind of fascinates me. They didn't bring her into comics continuity until 2006 apparently, with Gail Simone and John Byrne (Byrne of all the creators!) being the ones to finally fold her in. Even after they brought her in, they still have never given her that much attention or focus which is a disappointment for me frankly, because Livewire is honestly fantastic in Scott McCloud and later Mark Millar's Superman Adventures runs, and I would say with complete sincerity that those two are probably her best writers. "Millar writing a female character well?" you scoff at in disbelief. I know, I was shocked too! But she's funny, clever, and a huge pain in the ass for Supes. Reading how she was used there, and rewatching her STAS incarnation recently, really made a big realization for the character hit me like a lightning bolt (couldn't resist):

She's basically an evil superpowered Lois Lane! I know I can't have been the first one to realize that, although I haven't seen anyone else actually outright state it anywhere, but c'mon it's so obvious! She's a reporter of a sorts as well thanks to being a disc jockey, her debut in STAS even has her interviewing Lois and Clark! She's got strong opinions on Superman that conflict with the general opinion about him (Lois being pro-Superman when everyone else is more hostile towards him at first, Livewire being anti-Superman when everyone else has embraced him as their hero). She's rude and abrasive, and doesn't care if her opinions offend people, which sure does remind me of Lois at her meanest.

Livewire to me is an examination of what Lois would be like if she abandoned her morals or never really had them in the first place. Leslie doesn't care about the "truth" which is the big difference between her and Lois. Lois can be headstrong, willful, and outright rude, but it's all in service of her pursuit of higher ideals. Livewire doesn't care about that, she carries about getting people to pay attention to her, and getting the recognition and wealth she believes she's owed.

What I'd Do With Livewire

It wasn't until I had that big realization about Leslie that I figured out what role she should play with regards to Clark: She should be Clark's old college ex who was the one who got him into journalism in the first place.

Clark's college years are unexplored territory narratively, typically we jump from his childhood in Smallville right into his debut in Metropolis. Now I know Clark dated Lori that mermaid back in Pre-Crisis during his college years, and while that's a fun bit of trivia, it doesn't really add anything meaningful in the same way that I think Leslie and Clark dating could. So I'd rather go with Leslie because I think she makes for a better foil for Clark and because the two of them would benefit from having a deeper connection established, plus Leslie could get fleshed out as a character more.

I like the explanation that Clark chose journalism in part because it challenges him in ways his powers can't, but in the comics they've rarely bothered to explain how he chose that field in the first place. I would have meeting Leslie at college be that big moment where he starts to figure himself out. She's assertive and confident, and Clark is attracted to that for similar reasons he's attracted to Lois. Leslie would start out as an optimist and idealist in the same way Clark is, and the two would bond and go into journalism together, with Leslie being the one who really believes in the field initially. They'd both be big believers in the duty of the press to inform and the presses ability to shape public opinion, with Clark attracted to investigative journalism and Leslie attracted more to broadcast and digital journalism. They start to date and for a moment, Clark seriously wonders if this is the one.

The big break between them comes when Clark and Leslie go on a trip around the world during their senior year of college. That trip would be where both of them learn how crappy the world is. Clark always had some idea of how bad things were because of his powers, but the trip is where he really starts to realize that there is a real need for someone of his powers to step up, and that there are hard limits to just how much he can accomplish as a member of the press. That same realization is what shatters Leslie's idealism and optimism. She loses faith in the ability to make a difference, to punch through the wall of public indifference, and as a result she gives up that dream. Instead she decides that if you can't beat them, join them: she switches instead to telling the masses what the powers that be want them to hear in exchange for money, to saying whatever the masses will give her attention and prestige for, embracing tabloid journalism that prioritizes clicks and engagement over information. Ultimately it destroys the relationship between Leslie and Clark with her viewing him as a sap and him viewing her as a sellout.

I think that origin really would help flesh out her worldview and motivation a lot more. She's a former idealist who has been broken by the world in a similar way to Poison Ivy. Leslie thus acts as a foil to Clark and Lois in that she's someone who let the world rob her of her idealism and sold out on the truth in exchange for material success. She's what Clark or Lois could've been if they took Lex's offer to work for him, and they should recognize that to some degree. Clark should have conflicting feelings for her, not romantically that relationship is dead, but in terms of sometimes he wonders if he's just wasting his life trying to fight for truth and justice. So few people seem to care about those principles, why hold on so tight to them? Why not just look out for his own self-interest the way everyone else seems to? It's the refusal to give up even when it looks pointless that makes the two of them different, and makes Clark a hero and Livewire a villain.

How I'd Like Livewire To Operate

There's a lack of imagination in how Livewire is used on the comic side as I see it.

Like most Superman Rogues the typical Superman writer doesn't seem to have a clue what to do with her beyond generic "villain" stuff, but that does a disservice to what Livewire brings to the table. Livewire does want to fry Superman to a crisp, but that's not what her daily goal is to accomplish. More importantly, she wants respect and she wants money, and the way she gets both is not by trying to rob banks, it's by leaning into her background as a media personality combined with her new powers. Unleashing electric bolts is honestly the least impressive part of her powerset in terms of her ability to manipulate anything and everything technology.

The Internet? Livewire can crash the entire thing with ease, or restrict access to portions of it. She can do the reverse and smash through firewalls and encryption like it's made of paper. Imagine Livewire shutting off the power grid or causing it to explode, secretly using your "smart" tech to record your every move, uploading ransomware to every piece of technology in Metropolis, emptying the bank accounts of anyone who annoys her, or bringing Metropolis to it's knees thanks to the "City of Tomorrow" being a test ground for the Internet of Things, so everything is connected and thus easily manipulated. Smart cars crash into each other, elevators randomly drop, trains are unable to stop and simply accelerate onward unceasingly, plans attempting to land find their instruments on the fritz, anything and everything is Livewire's to control. But terrorism, while entertaining and occasionally profitable, isn't Livewire's main focus either.

One of my favorite Superman Adventures stories with her had Livewire manipulating TV broadcast signals so that any time there was a male news reporter on screen, the signal wouldn't come through. Stuff like that, where Livewire is making life hell for people in a way that isn't immediately life-threatening is what I envision as her day to day operations, but her bread and butter is fake news. What Livewire is REALLY good at doing is manipulating the public due to her journalism background plus her powers. She can make fake videos that look totally authentic, fake articles that seem to come from credible sources, fake voice recordings, she can make anyone appear to do or say anything through the Internet, and then she can upload that to the devices of every single person in Metropolis.

You can get stories about the mayor being framed for taking bribes, local activists cast as grifters, and supposed upstanding citizens such as Lois Lane and Clark Kent appearing to take orders from criminals like Intergang on what stories to run. Basically you lean into the journalism aspect for Livewire stories where Clark and Lois have to investigate to see whether what Livewire is putting out there is fake or legit, with peoples lives and reputations at stake (including frequently their own).

And when Superman and Livewire actually do clash physically? I don't care how it gets justified, Livewire simply being that powerful, her lightning being "special", she has the ability to manipulate Superman's bioelectric field, whatever: she can hurt him. When she hits Supes with lightning, it burns. It's painful as all hell. Livewire needs to be a threat and I'd like her to be treated as a powerhouse since I don't see a reason why that shouldn't be the case. Livewire is a really cool Rogue, there's a reason she's managed to keep getting used long after the DCAU ended. I hope the comics creators start utilizing her to her full potential.

#superman #livewire #lois lane #dc comics

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lonelier-version-of-you · 2 years ago

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What do you think the significance is between Henrik's mother drowning herself in a lake, and John eventually doing the same?

Okay, it's taken me 2 days, but I'm finally answering this.

I think John had been fixated on the idea of dying by drowning for years, and I think that was because of Henrik. He'd been suicidal before, no doubt, but it was after pulling Henrik from the lake and finding out about Elisabet that he decided he wanted to die by drowning specifically.

John is someone obsessed with his own self-image. Fandom tends to boil this down to an idea of him thinking highly of himself, but I think it's a lot deeper and more complex than that. First of all, John does not hold anywhere near as strong a belief in his own superiority as many would think. He has essentially the same unstable self-perception as Henrik: he'll think himself a genius who's better and smarter than everyone one moment, and view himself as completely worthless the next. For some reason, a lot of people simplify both their characterisation into "John is arrogant and thinks he's a god, Henrik is self-hating and thinks he's unloveable", but that's just... not accurate at all. (Mr. Clarke the psychiatrist didn't call Henrik a narcissist for nothing!) I think this isn't helped by the fact that John is suffering increasingly from grandiose delusions throughout his storyline, something which I suppose it's easy for people, especially those without much experience with mental illness, to misread as him just being egotistical.

I've had a lot of conversations with Lucia (@prydon) about this, because it's an aspect of John's character we both find fascinating. John sees himself as less worthy because of his background. Sees himself as broken (in the same way Henrik sees himself). He feels he has to meet a ridiculously high standard of 'greatness' in order to deserve basic human respect like other people. In fact, I'd argue the path he went down makes much more sense if you read it as, at least in part, John going to more and more desperate lengths in an attempt to 'prove' himself and feel like he was worthy.

This does circle back to John's chosen suicide method, I promise. Part of that whole spiel was just me trying to introduce the fact that Lucia is responsible for, like, half my views on this subject!

So, John has a lot of terrible coping mechanisms for his poor self-image, and one of them is him developing a viewpoint of seeing certain things as "tragically beautiful". (I think things like his canon love of poetry can easily fit into this.) He can't romanticise his own past - much as he wishes he could (I've read fic that has him being jealous of Henrik's trauma because he thinks it's "prettier", which, as awful as it is, is utterly in character) - but he can try to romanticise his present. (See: what I said to you a few days ago about John trying to romanticise himself for being "insane".)

But that only goes so far.

It's basically canon that John romanticises just about anything to do with Henrik. His dialogue in Report To The Mirror part 2 as good as confirms it, sounding, basically, like John wondering how Henrik is able to carry his trauma with him in a "prettier" way (in John's mind) than John himself does:

"I know how you suffer. Every day, like the rest of us, you report to the mirror. But when you come into work, you come into a place where so much tragedy has befallen you. And yet you’re still able to carry on. For this vision. So that we can do this together. If we don’t have this, then… how do you do it, Henrik?"

So because John sees anything to do with Henrik as "beautiful", even the ugliest, most painful parts - like his mother drowning herself and him going on to try to do the same (see, we're getting there.....), it's no wonder he ends up romanticising the idea of dying by drowning. In particular, the idea of drowning with Henrik. Let's face it: you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn't, on some level, find the idea of dying alongside the love of their life to be romantic (or at least I assume you'd be hard-pressed? Maybe I'm just fucked up).

I don't think this desire was at all one-sided. I think John just felt it more intensely (story of his life right there, poor lad). But - look. There is no way those two didn't have a 30+ year long suicide pact.

You know how normal friends sometimes promise each other: "Hey, if we haven't found our soulmates by 50/60/70, we'll get married to each other"?

John and Henrik's equivalent was definitely "if things don't work out in our lives, we'll drown ourselves together". I don't know if they ever said it to each other and I don't know how seriously they said it, but on some level, even if just through their weird borderline-telepathic Understanding, they knew it was a possibility.

But they just kept putting it off. The years went by, they went their separate ways, floated in and out of contact. Henrik probably hardly ever thought of the idea by the time John turned up at Holby, although I think John was still obsessed with it and fully believed that drowning with Henrik was how he would die eventually.

I also think John and Henrik having made an agreement to drown themselves together if it came to that, in the past, would go some way to explaining why Henrik knew exactly where to find John when he disappeared in Report To The Mirror, and why John had equally been expecting Henrik to come. Still doesn't explain why Henrik knew it would be that specific lake, unless it's the only one in Holby lol, but it does add another layer to those scenes.

Lucia once said that John's mindset regarding the idea of drowning himself and especially of drowning with Henrik was him thinking "my entire life has been so ugly, I want at least my death to be something beautiful". And I mean... yeah. Yeah, that's the whole thing summed up. :(

(...I've just spent over an hour typing up this answer. I do apologise if it's not coherent.)

#Holby City #John Gaskell #Johnrik #my meta #long post #asks #backjustforberena #tw;suicide #tw;abuse mention #tw;child abuse mention #tw;trafficking mention #mentioned very vaguely but tagging anyway because better safe than sorry

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shieldedbythunder · 4 years ago

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As youve begun this business with superthundershield, I'd like to propose that ship with pre-serum Steve. Maybe a college AU, where Steve is an art major and Thor and Clark are his models. Their fantastic bodies make for excellent studies in musculature and they spend the entire session shamelessly flirting and showing off to Steve. Afterwards, they escort Steve back to his apartment and he... invites them in for a warm drink. One thing leads to another, and then it's morning and breakfast time.

Ooooh, yes PLEASE! 😍

Clark and Thor first meet when they sign up for as models for the college’s art department. Clark needs all the extra income he can get, while Thor’s just doing it for a laugh after being dared by some of his friends. But despite the differences in their situations and backgrounds, they find they get along pretty well and complement each other nicely; Thor helps bring Clark out of his shell, while Clark keeps Thor’s more boisterous tendencies grounded. They hang out in their spare time, going to the gym and studying together, and just feel they’ve got a really solid friendship going. And if one of them happens to have a passing thought about how the other has a nice ass every now and then, that’s perfectly fine.

About halfway through the semester, life drawing and modelling finally rolls around, with Clark blushing every time Thor reminds him with a nudge and a wink. But when the rosters are sent out, they find there’s been a mix-up after somebody in the class switched majors, meaning they’ve both been assigned to the same student. It’s a bit strange, but they’re getting paid for it, and at least they’ll get to hang out for a few hours. But when a short, cute blonde guy with gorgeous blue eyes walks in and introduces himself as their artist, they both sit right up in their seats, instantly smitten.

Steve’s never had much time for dating or other extracurricular activities; coming to college on an art scholarship from a poor single-parent family, he’s used to keeping his head down and focused on his studies. So when he turns up to class for life drawing and finds he’s been given these two Adonises to sketch naked for the next three hours, he honestly wonders for a moment if he’s still asleep and dreaming.

But he knows this is purely for class, and they’re all expected to keep things professional and respectful. Besides, the last thing these guys need is some skinny nobody like him mooning over them. It’s a pity he doesn’t seem to notice the way they’re mooning over him, eagerly asking if there’s anything he needs before they start.

So he maintains his composure and tries to keep himself from blushing too badly - though he’s sorely tested when Clark and Thor drop their flannel robes simultaneously and he finds himself faced with two naked mountains of godlike muscle. Ignoring the envious looks he’s getting from his fellow students (with just a hint of smug satisfaction), he picks up his pad and gets to work as the models begin their first poses.

It’s a little quiet at first, despite the chatter around them. Just the scratch of Steve’s pencil. But then they start chatting, Clark and Thor asking Steve about himself, complimenting his art whenever they catch a glimpse of his drawing pad. Steve finds them both surprisingly easy to talk to, having grown used to not having many friends, and Clark and Thor are utterly charmed by Steve’s kind and humble nature.

At first, Steve thinks he might be imagining it. But the longer their session goes on, the more he realises Thor and Clark are flirting with him, sending him coy smiles and looks between compliments, competing for his attention. Their poses slowly take on a provocative edge as they move closer and start winding their bodies around each other. Steve finds his attention to detail going into overdrive as he lovingly renders each muscle, laughing and joking with them all the while. He can’t remember the last time he had such a fun class, even with his heart fluttering every now and then as he catches Thor or Clark’s eye.

But eventually, the class comes to an end, and Steve regretfully packs away his things as the other two disappear to get changed. But he gets another surprise when he leaves the building to find Clark and Thor waiting outside for him, twin expressions of bashful hope on their faces as they offer to walk him home before it gets too dark. Flushed and flattered, Steve accepts the offer, and the three of them pick up where they left off as they set off. All too soon, they reach Steve’s tiny apartment and are about to part ways, when Steve plucks up his courage and asks them in. It’s a cold night, he says, and they might like something hot to drink before they head off.

The offered coffee doesn’t come up again until well into the next morning. But Steve finds he doesn’t much care as he settles at the table for a late breakfast, far too preoccupied with other things. It could be the smile he gets every time he sees of the trail of clothing leading from the front door to his bedroom. Or the deep, satisfying ache in his ass every time he moves. Or the sight of the two men who seem to fill the entire apartment, Clark seated across from him in a comically undersized robe and Thor sprawled naked across the sagging sofa as he channel-surfs, and how it already feels like they’ve always been around, a part of his home.

But sometimes, Steve reasons as he hoists himself up on the table and stretches out on his back, his head dangling over one end and level with Clark’s waiting cock as Thor sucks him off at the other, it’s best not to think too hard about these things.

#thundershield #superthundershield #(it's getting its own tag folks)#stevethor #thorsteve #conor answers #leisurelypanda #text post

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sophygurl · 6 years ago

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Here it goes my meta request. I felt really disconnected from AoS this year. I do love the characters and I still enjoyed some moments but I was like generally not interested in it. Weirdly enough the episode that made me go" YAS THIS IS MY SHOW" was the finale that very much everyone hated lmao. So I'd like to know your thoughts on the season and also your thought on the whole "Fitz has always been capable of being a Nazi" which I disagree with but I'd like to see your take on that too :)

(CONT) Or not only Fitz I guess also May and Coulson. The show overlooked the responsibility of those two in all of it because they were basically enablers of an evil empire and like I know we all are capable of doing bad things but they were playing in another level. All you want to write about the subject I'd love to hear :)

Thank you so much for giving me a meta request! And I apologize about how long it’s taken me to get to it.

I have to say that I also felt disconnected this season. I’m not sure what it was, exactly, but the whole mysteriously being sent into the future and stuck on the space station thing just didn’t work for me, I guess, and being thrown into this whole new world with new characters and situations sort of confused me for a time. Like WTF is going on? And not in the good-fun way of “I can’t wait to figure out what’s going on!” but more in a just lost and disinterested way?

I feel like they were maybe trying to make some parallels between the Nazi/Hydra conditions of the Framework but with our characters all scrambling together to fight the powers that be instead of being made to work against one another? Maybe? But I feel like that might have worked better if Fitz had been with them in the future since he was the main one they had to fight in the Framework?

Plus, all of the prophecies causing the things that affect the future circularity of it all just got be a bit too much for me. Perhaps if I had binge watched it all once vs. watching week to week it would have flowed better. I wonder if anyone who watched it that way felt differently about it??

Like, I’m reading a recap of the season to remind myself of everything that went down and I’m like - wait who was that character again? And what was the relevancy of this plot point to the overall arc? And whoa - wait - how did that even happen anyway?! It’s confusing. I like a good mystery in my fiction, but not outright confusion.

I do feel like the way the show has decided it has to become a whole new entity every season or half-season gets to be a bit much. AoS works better, imo, as a character-driven show. We don’t need all of these complex and ever-changing plots to be interested in what our heroes are doing.

They can have conflict and drama and climaxes and resolutions without these massive shifts where our characters never even get to take a breath before the next big thing happens. Some of the best stuff is what happens during those breaths, those beats, in between the action itself. And we rarely get to see that stuff anymore. We get a rushed confession here and a quickie kiss there and five seconds of emotional discovery and release before running off to do the next insane thing to save the world from something it turns out they caused in the first place and ENOUGH already, yk?

It just becomes really difficult to relate emotionally to the characters, and to understand the emotional motivations driving their actions, when we only get maybe half a minute per episode per character of actual character development. They want us to understand and connect with our group, but I feel like they are doing more telling than showing these days.

Quite possibly, a major reason for all of this extra extraness and convoluted plot twisting is due to their need to be linked with the movie franchise. So the writers of the show have these great ideas, but then they’re being controlled somewhat by what the movies are doing, but likely also aren’t getting all of the info on exactly what happens in the movies, so they just kinda slide around trying to fit it all together in ways that feel less than ideal when it all actually plays out on screen. But that’s just a guess.

I’m trying to recall, now, if I felt differently about the finale than the season as a whole, but I’m not sure. I did like the installation of Mack as the leader. That felt really called for and well deserved.

As far as the Fitz always having been capable of being a Nazi, or least Nazi-like, there is a shitton of problematicness going on with that whole deal that I don’t feel qualified to touch on.

But I did actually like the reveal that it was Fitz himself - and not some fictional other!Fitz - that was making the choices he did in the back half of the season. Because while he didn’t literally become the head of a genocidal fascistic regime, he did make some very immoral decisions. And they were decisions we didn’t think our Fitz was capable of. But he experienced that Framework world, and while he was ashamed and horrified by his role in it, it affected him as any experience would. And it led him to making a terrible decision that hurt a lot of people. Yes, he believed it was for the greater good - where greater good means the literal survival of the human race and the planet earth and all life upon it - so there were some heavy stakes attached there. But they were still immoral choices.

And we saw all of the team making some weird, and sometimes horrific, choices all season. Which, again, I guess, was trying to make some kind of parallel or at least connection to the Framework world. And these are characters who all, in their own way, already carry the burden of the world with them; and who in this past season were literally carrying the burden of the survival of the world with them. And I suppose the crisis of that burden could cause anyone to make some rough choices.

But I still have a lot of serious problems with the whole Hydra-Framework-Nazi thing. I mean, the agents aren’t Clark Kent - they don’t have to be perfectly decent and good at all times. But they’re still supposed to be our heroes, you know what I mean?

And heroes make heroic choices. And heroic choices don’t involve taking other people’s freedom or autonomy away from them. Not in any moral universe I want to take part in, anyway.

So yea, it’s tricky. I feel distanced from the show not just from the standpoint of the plot being overly and unnecessarily convoluted, but also from an emotional view of just not being sure what they’re trying to say about these characters that we’ve grown to love.

I guess we’ll see what next season brings. If they just continue to beat down and grind down our team until there’s nothing left of them, the show is likely to go from being one of my faves to something I just have on the background. I need a little light, a little grasp of hope and goodness. This past season just wasn’t giving me that.

#nightlocktime #agents of shield #aos #aos season 5 #meta me #aos meta #mcu #mcu meta

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musetotheworld · 7 years ago

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Hey, I know your link thing says you're always taking prompts, so I thought I'd send this your way hoping that's still the case! Anything Supercat and baby related? There's always a need for more of that in the world.

Kara nearly breaks the balcony in her haste to land, desperate to get inside. She’d been part way through her patrol when the distant sounds caught her attention, and she’d only barely managed to keep from breaking the sound barrier on the way home. Only the knowledge that would be far too risky for her identity kept her in check. There’s too much at stake now to ever take that chance.

“Cat?” Kara calls as soon as she’s inside, not bothering to change from her suit. She knows the rules, but this is an extenuating circumstance. She needs to hurry. “Cat, where are you?”

“In here.”

There’s no panic in Cat’s voice to match Kara’s, but that’s not reassuring. Not when Kara can still hear the rasping breaths in the background.In a flash she’s standing in the door of the nursery. Cat is sitting comfortably in the rocking chair, little Mia in her arms. But where Cat is calm, rocking slowly as she holds their daughter, Mia is red faced and fussy. Her breathing sounds off, raspy and uneven, loud enough for Kara to hear without her super hearing.

“What happened?” Kara asks, holding herself back to human speed as she crosses the room to kneel by Cat’s side.

As expected Cat levels a mild glare at the suit, but Kara is too focused on the baby in her wife’s arms. Six months old, and the light of her mothers’ lives.

Right now that light is whimpering softly, and Kara raises a gentle hand to trace along her daughter’s brow, brushing a lock of sweat soaked hair back from her eyes.

“Kara, she’s fine,” Cat promises, shifting her hold on Mia just enough to bring a free hand up to meet Kara’s. “She’s got a little cold, nothing serious. I gave her a little children’s Tylenol and sent Carter off for some Pedialyte about ten minutes ago, we’re just waiting for it to kick in.”Kara tries to remind herself that Cat’s been through this before, has raised two sons through the tumultuous time of infancy and into toddlerhood. She knows what a cold looks like, and what to do for one.

But it isn’t as easy to believe that when she’s staring down at their sick child, listening to the way each breath catches in Mia’s lungs. This is her little girl, so tiny and vulnerable in Cat’s arms. Their little girl, who in six months hasn’t had so much as a runny nose.

“Are we sure this is normal?” Kara says quickly, trying to seem concerned but not panicked and knowing she’s failed when Cat smiles knowingly. “I mean, she’s half-Kryptonian. And she hasn’t been sick before, even though you hear all the time about how often babies catch something. Maybe her Kryptonian half has been protecting her and something’s gone wrong.”

“Breathe, darling,” Cat says soothingly, directing their joined hands to rest over Mia’s chest as it rises and falls. “I promise, this is completely normal. We’ve kept her mostly isolated or disinfected everyone coming within twenty feet of her for the past few months, remember? Until last week, when we took her to CatCo to introduce Mia to her future empire.”

Kara remembers that trip, how happy she’d been to show off her beautiful daughter to her coworkers as Cat only half pretended she wasn’t loving every second of it. It had been their first real outing as a family, with Carter alternating between standing near Cat and holding Mia as he whispered every fun fact he could think of about CatCo and what their mother had accomplished.

“Are you saying someone at CatCo got her sick?” Kara asks, thinking back to everyone they’d met that day. They’d passed around hand sanitizer, but maybe that hadn’t been enough…

“I’m saying she’s a baby, and her immune system is about where yours is when you blow out your powers.” Cat’s voice is pointed, bringing back memories of every time Kara pushes too hard and solar flares. Most of the time, unless she’s stuck in the med bay with serious injuries, she catches at least one cold before her powers return.

Kara nods her understanding as she remembers the little details she’d forgotten until now. The little boy on the sidewalk in front of CatCo that had sneezed without quite managing to cover his mouth. The security guard with slightly glassy eyes and a nasal tone. Even the CatCo employees that hadn’t immediately flocked to see the baby could have coughed and spread their germs around. And what wasn’t a big deal to adults with fully functioning immune systems might be an entirely different story to an infant.Even a half-Kryptonian infant.

“I wish we knew more about how her Kryptonian side would affect her.” It’s a common refrain, one they’ve both voiced many times since the surprise discovery of Kara’s pregnancy.

Clark hasn’t had children yet, he and Lois both not sure they want to take that particular step just yet, if ever. But Kara and Cat hadn’t seen any reason to think pregnancy was possible for them, and hadn’t taken any precautions to lessen the chances of conception. There was just too much about Kryptonian physiology on Earth that they didn’t know, a lack that extends to how Mia will react to the yellow sun.

Cat nods in agreement, but there’s a smile on her face rather than a frown to match Kara’s. “We’ve known there would be challenges from the beginning. I don’t know about you, but I’m glad our first big one is a little cold, not Mia suddenly floating out of her crib in the middle of the night.”

“That reminds me, Alex finally finished work on that red sun nursery lamp, so she shouldn’t start that even if she does get powers.”

Alex had taken her role of aunt and godmother extremely seriously since they’d announced Kara’s pregnancy. From ensuring Kara’s medical needs were met to coming up with dozens of helpful tools for dealing with a potentially superpowered toddler, she’d worked nonstop to prepare for every possible contingency. The red sun night light was only the latest invention.

“Tell her we’ll pick it up tomorrow when we visit the DEO,” Cat says quietly, looking down at Mia. Her smile doesn’t fade in the slightest, but Kara still tenses up.

“The DEO? I thought you said everything is fine, why do we need to go to the DEO?” Extending her hearing and carefully X-raying Mia for any sign of trauma, Kara is near panic until Cat reaches out with a calming hand.

“She’s fine, Kara. I promise. But I also know you’ll want confirmation of that, and I can’t handle more than one night of you sleeping next to her crib listening to every breath. So we’ll go in tomorrow morning and let Alex give her a check up.”

Since Kara has to admit Cat has a point, all she does is nod sheepishly. She’d already been planning on spending the night in the nursery, ready to spring into action if Mia so much as coughed. Having scientific proof that their daughter is fine would go a long way towards settling her lingering unease.

“You get used to the panic eventually,” Cat offers as Kara settles into a more comfortable position, leaning her head against Cat’s leg where she can look up at both her wife and daughter. “It won’t go away, but after a while you’ll be able to hold her when she’s sick and not think of the worst things that could happen. And years after that, you’ll even be willing to let her out of your sight for hours and days at a time.”

That seems impossible at the moment, but Kara knows it’s the truth. She knows, because she’s seen Cat do it. Seen her send Carter off to a friend’s for the weekend, felt the tension in her shoulders for a moment as the door closed behind him only to see it fade with the next breath.

Not for the first time, Kara is grateful that of all the people in the world she could be doing this with, she’s lucky enough to have Cat by her side. It’s almost impossible to consider it ever being someone else, not when Cat always knows exactly what to say when Kara needs someone to lean on.

Slowly the rocking and medicine start to help, as to the constant presences of her mothers, and Mia slowly drifts off to sleep in Cat’s arms. Her breathing sounds better, and Kara feels the cold panic in her chest start to relax, finding it easier to draw her own breaths in turn.

“Do you want me to take her?” she asks quietly, having learned the hard way that their daughter is a very light sleeper. If not for the lack of evidence while she’s awake Kara would be certain super hearing was one power she did have.

“No, I’ve got her.” The words are quiet, but spoken quickly enough that Kara looks up in surprise.

Where Cat had looked so calm and in control earlier, now that Mia is asleep Kara can see the edges of worry in her eyes, and is reminded of the earlier warning that the feelings never go away. And while Cat has done this before, that doesn’t make it any easier.

So Kara leaves mother and daughter be, content to sit on the floor beside them and listen as Mia’s breathing gradually eases. Even if they can’t do anything more to help, they can still be there for their little girl. Their little girl, and each other.

#supergirl #supergirl fic #supercat #supercat fic #prompt fill

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chasholidays · 7 years ago

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Happy holiday season I guess?? As always, thanks for doing these! I love your writing so much. I'd love an alternate POV of The Nature of My Game.

Original fic here!

The first time Bellamy thinks about going into Flower Hour, it’s the week The Force Awakens comes out, when the sign is, for once, not names that will never be his, and is instead something that might apply. But If your favorite Star Wars character is LEIA, come inside for a free flower! must go up on a weekend, because he didn’t see it and there’s no way they just didn’t feature her as a potential favorite. He refuses to believe Leia was just skipped.

Most days, he checks the sign out of idle curiosity. He knows, with absolute certainty, that he will never walk past and find that his name is on the sign, but he still finds it kind of fun to what they have put up. There’s generally some cool letting and decoration, and it’s not like it’s hard to see the sign. It’s just this idle thing. He doesn’t expect to ever interact with it, not unless they do another “if your favorite X is Y” kind of deal because, again, Bellamy is never going to make it onto whatever random name generator they’re using for this. And he doesn’t ever plan on needing flowers, so, yeah. Just a weird diversion.

But then, one morning in February, he’s going to school early to do retests, and he sees a cute girl in a knitted beanie doing touch-ups on the sign, which has been on a Hamilton theme all week. And, okay, he’s not completely shallow, but he was already curious, so if he can strike up a conversation with a cute girl and find out more about the sign, that’s definitely a win.

Unfortunately, he doesn’t actually have a plan for the conversation, which is how, once he gets back to the store after work and finds the same cute girl behind the register, he ends up saying, “I have a complaint about your sign.”

She cocks her head, frowning a little. “Which one? I have a lot of signs.”

“The one outside. If your name is Angelica–”

“That was my first guess.” She straightens up, becoming visibly more professional as he watches. “What’s the complaint?”

“Don’t get me wrong, I like the Hamilton theme. But you know how much those signs suck for people who don’t have common names? Or, even worse, people who have common names, but don’t have common names in the US.”

She thinks this over for a second. “My name is Clarke. With an e at the end. So I get some of that. Not the non-US names, but still. Did you have a suggestion, or do you just like complaining?”

It’s a valid question. “I do like complaining. How do you pick the names?” he asks, mostly to make conversation. “I know it’s not Hamilton every week.”

“How long has this been building?”

“You’re on the way to the train station.” She seems more annoyed than upset, so it feels fairly safe to add, “And I named my little sister and then spent my entire childhood getting blamed for how she could never find anything with her name on it at souvenir shops.”

“What’s her name?”

“Octavia.”

“Oh, wow, yeah. That one never hit my radar, honestly.”

“I bet you’re out of Bort license plates too,” he says without thinking, but she gets the reference and laughs. Which is nice. Clarke-with-an-e is getting cuter by the minute, and she might not even find his attempts to make conversation completely awful. Weird names apparently isn’t as terrible a conversation starter as he thought.

“I don’t think there’s any natural way I can use Octavia for my giveaway without looking like I’m specifically targeting your sister. Is she local? Is she cute? Would she appreciate it?”

He makes a mental note that she seems to be interested in women, which doesn’t mean she can’t be interested in him, but he shouldn’t assume she is. Not that he’s really expecting it to go anywhere anyway, but it’s a good thing to keep in mind. “She’s got a boyfriend, so I don’t think there’s much point in you trying to lure her in with a free flower. But if they ever break up, I’ll let you know.”

“So your outrage is theoretical,” she says, and he nearly laughs.

“You haven’t hit my name yet either. I doubt you’re going to.”

“What is it?”

“That would be telling.”

She gives him a somewhat patronizing smile. “That’s exactly what it would be, yeah. The general response to asking is telling.”

The normal, logical thing to do would be to just tell her. She’d probably put his name up, if she has any control over the whole thing, which would be kind of cool. He wasn’t lying; he never has seen his name anywhere.

But they’ve been teasing each other, so it feels a lot more right to say, “If you find it, I’ll be sure to get my flower. But, like I said, there’s no way.”

“Well, thanks for that useful feedback, then,” says Clarke-with-an-e. “I’m looking forward to continuing to not putting your name up on my sign.”

��Me too,” he says. “Definitely the highlight of my day.”

He isn’t really expecting anything special on Monday, the start of a new theme week at best, but when he passes by late after his department meeting on Monday, he sees the name, written in the usual clear, bold hand is Rumpelstiltskin, and it feels like that has to be personal.

There’s certainly no harm in stopping by to check.

Clarke is behind the counter, looking a little bored, but she perks up at the sight of him, straightening up and grinning as if she’s been waiting. “Did I get it?” she asks.

“So close.”

“Getting warmer?”

“Much closer than any of the Schuyler sisters. Did you get anyone?” he can’t help asking. He’s sure most of her names get at least a few hits a day, but sacrificing a whole day of it to a joke seems ill-advised. Even the Hamilton names were pretty common, except for maybe Angelica and Peggy.

“For what?” she asks, confused.

“I guess any of it,” he admits. “It’s a cute gimmick, but I’m wondering how much it works.”

She leans in close, a smile lurking around her lips. “Want to know the secret?”

He mirrors the movement. “Sure.”

“It can’t fail. It creates business because it’s cute and people like coming in to talk about it,” she says, which makes him feel a little less special. Apparently he’s not the only one. “I don’t check IDs or anything; it’s worth a few free flowers.” But then she adds, “Okay, I’d check yours,” and he’s back to feeling special.

He snorts. “Hey, I haven’t been lying to you. I’m telling you things aren’t my name.”

“I’ll still want proof.”

“Yeah, okay. If you ever find my name, I’ll give you proof. Seriously, how many Rumpelstiltskins?”

“Eleven. It was a good day for me. They all thought it was hilarious. The sign is great for foot traffic.”

“Glad it’s working for you,” he says, and before he knows it, he’s a regular. He goes in once a week, chats to Clarke, finds out what the most popular names were for the week, and, when she asks, starts giving her hints about his own name.

Which is actually really fucking difficult, as it turns out. He’s never put much thought into the name Bellamy before, and now he feels as if he has to learn absolutely everything about it, which mostly just teaches him that, to the extent that Bellamy is a first name, it’s usually a woman’s first name, and Clarke is definitely never going to figure it out.

If she didn’t seem to be the most stubborn person in the entire universe, he’d consider just telling her, but he thinks if he did, she’s just be pissed at him for not giving her the chance to guess herself. Still, with the information she has–his year of birth, the etymology of the last name Bellamy, and his ethnic background–he thinks she could go for thirty years without even coming close to figuring it out.

So it’s probably good that she gets a little help.

It’s a fairly unremarkable day, just a random Sunday in March. In theory, he knew that Clarke closed early on Sundays, because he’s seen her hours in the window, but it’s not the kind of thing that he considers relevant to his life. He still hasn’t ever interacted with Clarke outside of the shop, after hours, or over the weekend, and he has no idea how to start. It seems weird to ask someone out when, after five months, she still doesn’t even know his name.

So he was not expecting to run into her at the park, especially not with Miller.

Miller only knows about Clarke because alcohol exists and Bellamy has been lamenting a little about how there is this smart, gorgeous, funny girl he’s definitely into, but does not know how to interact with further. Miller’s response to the situation is always, “I really can’t tell you anything about how to flirt with women.”

Which makes him a deeply unfortunate witness for their first non-store interaction.

It is, at least, in part Bellamy’s own fault. He’s the one who throws the frisbee in deliberately the wrong direction, and he’s the one who sees it hit the water.

They both run over to survey the damage, but Bellamy gets there first; he has to admit, he’s kind of proud.

“I got it really far, right?” he calls over his shoulder, and Miller glares.

“You’re a fucking asshole, Blake!”

“Takes one to know one, Miller,” he shoots back.

Miller catches up to him at the lake shore and shakes his head. “Dude. What the fuck.”

“It was an accident,” he lies.

Miller scowls at him. “I’m not getting it.”

“You want me to get it? I’d rather just give it up for dead. Buried at sea. Viking-style.”

“It’s my frisbee.”

“I’ll buy you a new one. It’s fucking fifty degrees. That water would give my hypothermia. You’d miss my junk if it froze off.”

In theory, he knew that other people were around, and he even noticed there was a person on the bench. He’d just sort of assumed that he didn’t know them and that they weren’t paying attention. No one is supposed to care about his shit-talking.

But then he hears Clarke says, “You’d have to stay in pretty long to get hypothermia.”

He jumps and turns, hoping against hope that he’s wrong, that he won’t actually see her there, but of course there she is, sitting on a bench with a sketchpad, smiling smugly in his general direction.

Miller loves it, of course. “Thanks for the medical advice, bench girl. See? It’s fine.”

“That’s Clarke,” he says, and adds, “She doesn’t know my name,” because that should clear it up. And prevent Miller from calling him Bellamy, as a bonus.

“Wow,” she teases. “I always wondered how you’d introduce me. That was even more awkward than I thought it would be.”

He focuses on her because he knows if he looks at Miller, he will probably just throw himself in the lake. He knew the whole Clarke thing was weird, but it was so much easier to pretend it wasn’t before anyone else was witnessing it.

So he gives her a sheepish smile and says, “Hi. Sorry about–everything about this.”

“Dude,” says Miller.

“Shut up. She runs that flower shop by the train station,” he adds, mostly so Clarke won’t think he’s been talking about her.

But this is Miller, so of course that just makes it worse. “Oh, you know he’s obsessed with your signs, right?”

Clarke grins. “Yeah, I was getting that impression.”

There’s nothing to do but try to get the conversation back on track. “So, uh, what are you doing here?”

“The correct line is Do you come here often?” says Miller.

“Go jump in the lake for your frisbee and leave us alone,” he says, glaring, and Miller actually listens. At least to the extent that he leaves, even if he doesn’t jump in the lake. So apparently his massive crush on Clarke is just as massive and obvious as he thought, and probably just as hopeless, given Miller is trying to help, for once “Sorry,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck. “I guess I just–I didn’t think you lived around here.”

He’s not sure what he’s apologizing for, except for his entire life, but Clarke doesn’t call him out on it. “Why would I ever live close to my work? Makes no sense.”

“Assume I’m really bad at thinking through basically every interaction I’ve ever had with you.”

“I got that impression too. I’m drawing and pretending it’s warmer than it is,” she adds, scooting over on the bench in clear invitation, and he joins her.

“Yeah, we were playing frisbee and pretending it’s warmer than it is.”

“Until you threw the frisbee in the lake.”

“By accident,” he protests. That’s his story and he’s sticking to it. “Miller’s the one who didn’t catch it.”

She grins. “Clearly entirely his fault. I don’t think your junk would actually freeze off, by the way. You’d come out relatively unharmed, with all your, uh. Vital organs.”

He’s pretty sure his entire body flushes, including all of his vital organs. “I’m still sorry, by the way.”

“I’m not. It was funny.”

“I guess that’s about the best I could hope for. What are you drawing?” he adds.

“Nothing special. Just some sketches.”

“They’re really good,” he says, truthfully. “Not that I didn’t–you do the signs, and those are good, so I knew you were good.”

“You know you don’t actually have to feel weird, right?” she teases. “I’m happy to see you.”

“Yeah?”

“If I didn’t like talking to you, I definitely wouldn’t encourage you. I would have just told you I didn’t care what your name was and told you to leave.”

“That seems like bad customer service.”

“Okay, not in those exact words.” She drums her fingers on her sketchpad. “I definitely scared away the guy who gave me the idea for the if your name is sign.”

“Really?”

“He was a douchebag! Just a douchebag with a good idea. In his honor, the featured name will never be Chad. So if that was your name–”

“Definitely not Chad, no.”

She hums, noncommittal, like she doesn’t totally believe him, which he doesn’t understand until he passes the store on Monday and sees her sign: If your name is BLAKE OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT, come inside for a free flower!

Miller did call him Blake, now that Bellamy thinks of it. He doesn’t always, but whenever they’re doing anything even vaguely resembling a sport, Miller switches into jock mode. But she couldn’t think that’s his name. It’s so normal.

He’d been booking it to make it before she closed, and from the way her whole face lights up when she sees him, she must not have been expecting him to show up.

“I should have said, the play is kicking into high gear, so I’m going to be scarce this week,” he explains. “Probably the whole month. Play then spring break. I’m going to be a mess until April.”

“So you’re not just running away because I finally figured out your name.”

She sounds so smug, he feels bad correcting her. “Yeah, uh–that’s my last name. Sorry.”

There’s a pause as she thinks this over, finally settling on, “So, your first name is some obscure French last name, and your last name is–Blake.”

“Yup.”

“Wow.” She cocks her head. “You ever consider switching them?”

“I like my name.” He wets his lips. “You know, last name is really pretty good. That basically counts as–”

“Nope. I got a taste of power. I’m going to figure out the first name.”

“You know, I honestly believe you. Even if I’m not sure Miller calling me Blake counts as figuring it out,” he can’t help teasing. She’s so competitive, it’s impossible not to bait her.

“You didn’t tell me. So it counts. Blake,” she adds, thoughtful. “Something Blake.”

“Something Blake,” he confirms. “Getting closer and closer.”

She waits until the play is over before she does a French last names theme week, which is so hilarious he can’t help stopping by on a Saturday, for the first time ever, just to see what she throws up. It’s busier than it usually is when he comes in, not shockingly, and Clarke doesn’t even notice him until he’s been browsing for ten minutes.

“Your name isn’t actually Mercier, is it?”

“No. But you know I don’t always come by on weekends, right? You could get it and we’d never know.”

“I was going to tell you on Monday.”

“I feel like it doesn’t count if I don’t see it. What’s tomorrow?”

“Lefevre.”

“I can confirm none of those are my name. Have you gotten any Merciers? Are people still coming in?”

“I’ve mostly gotten last names, and I’ll give flowers for last names.” She leans on the counter. “Almost recovered from the play?”

“Almost. Just in time for spring break.”

“Which is a bad thing.”

“It’s going to be fun, we’re going to Italy. But I’m going to want to murder the kids after about six hours.”

She hums, thoughtful. “I’d probably put up with a bunch of kids if I got to go to Italy.”

“Yeah, that’s basically what I’m telling myself.” He sighs. “I know this is pointless to say, but if you ever want me to just tell you my name, I will.”

“I can just call you Mr. Blake, right? That’s part of your name. It’s close enough.”

“That’s what students call me, please don’t.”

She laughs. “I’m going to get it. I keep telling you.”

“You do keep telling me.” He wets his lips. “So, I’m here, I want to relax. Anything I can do?”

“Your idea of relaxing is asking me if I have work for you?”

“I hear a lot of people use gardening to relax,” he says, with a shrug. “If there’s anything you need–”

To his relief, she looks pleased, not weirded out. “I think I can find you something, Mr. Blake.”

He very nearly screws up and says, Call me Bellamy, but he remembers at the last moment. Somehow, he doesn’t seem to have fucked this relationship up yet. There’s no reason to start now.

On Friday, she asks if he’ll be in on Saturday again, and he tells her, regretfully, that he’s got to get ready for the trip.

“Oh,” she says. “Well, have fun. I’ll see you when you get back?”

“Yeah,” he says. “Have a good week.”

“You too.”

He does, of course. He complains to his sister non-stop about everything, but that’s how he and his sister prefer to communicate, and he wishes he’d asked for Clarke’s number so he could send her pictures and tell her stories, just so he could talk to her.

His crush might be bigger than he thought, and he already thought it was pretty big.

When he gets back, he for once has nothing to do after school, so he can actually go right over to Clarke’s and say hi. It’s hard not to feel like he’s maybe making too big a deal of it, missed her more than their relationship really warrants, and then he sees the sign: If your name is BELLAMY BRADBURY BLAKE, come inside for a free flower!

He takes a picture, just for posterity, and heads inside to see Clarke rearranging rows of potted flowers. She perks up at the sound of the bell, breaks into a brilliant smile and, yeah.

He definitely has a shot.

“Were you stalking me while I was gone?” he teases, leaning against the wall next to her.

“Yup,” she says, unrepentant. “Did you know Bellamy doesn’t make the top one thousand last names in France? I was never going to figure it out.”

“Nope. I did try to warn you.” He frowns. “How did you?” Now that he thinks about it, it is kind of creepy. Maybe she tracked down Miller.

“Found your sister.”

That probably should have been his first guess. “So, actual stalking. Nice. I guess did give you her name.”

“I just put it on the sign. For three days,” she admits.

“I think it would have been easier to just ask me.”

“Don’t tell me you weren’t really excited to see your name on that board.”

He’s going to make the picture his new facebook profile picture, probably, so he can’t deny that.“Yeah, okay, I was. Is it weird if I say I missed you?” he asks, looking her up and down. Her hair’s kind of frizzing out and she looks tired, but gorgeous. “When I was gone.”

“I put out a beacon for your sister,” she points out. “I think it’s pretty safe to say I missed you too.”

“Awesome. Can I get a free flower, or do you need to see my ID first?”

“ID, definitely.”

He hands it over without complaint, watches her check it. “So, yeah. I’m Bellamy. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, Bellamy.”

He swallows hard, but–she’s not going to mind. She can say no. “So, this might be too soon, since we just introduced ourselves, but I was wondering if you wanted to get dinner with me sometime.”

She smiles, bright and beautiful. “Yeah?”

“Maybe Friday. If you’re free.”

“I’m free, yeah. Dinner would be great.”

It is great, and she comes home with him after, which is even better, and the next year, on their anniversary, the sign’s out again: If your name is BELLAMY, come in for a free flower!

“I’m probably going to be your only taker for that one,” he tells her, leaning down for a quick kiss.

“That’s okay,” she says. “I figure it never gets old, seeing your name on the sign.”

She does it every year for their anniversary, and she’s right. It never does get old.

#minimallyeschew

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prosciuttoe · 8 years ago

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HIYA! I thought I'd send through a quick prompt for the 100 s4 celebration countdown, if you get around to it :) Could you do Bellamy and Clarke sitting next to each other at some kind of sporting match, both passionately supporting opposite teams, please?? THANK YOU (and get hyped for s4) :)

A|N: Y’all, I have to preface this by saying that I know nothing about sports. When I was writing this, I literally turned to my friend and was like, “Give me two sports team names!” and here we are, so. Apologizing for any inaccuracies in advance!

also: I added a kiss cam in here because what is a sports game without a cute kiss cam moment??

_____________________

At this point, she’s pretty sure he’s doing it just to spite her.

“You’re kidding,” Clarke groans, when the enormous foam finger he’s toting smacks her right in the face. “Seriously, Bell? Up until last week, you had no idea who the Bulls were.”

He glances over at her, smug, before reaching over to knock her own Knicks hat out of place. “That’s a blatant lie, considering I’ve been an avid supporter of the Bulls since they kicked the Knicks ass in the last match.”

She rolls her eyes at that, swiping at the plate of nachos balanced delicately against his arm. “Actually, the Knicks won with a staggering 104 to 89 last match.”

“Ah,” he goes, faltering slightly. Then, as if taking strength from the fact that he’s surrounded by a thousand others dressed exactly like him, he continues, “Well, that was a fluke. So.”

“Oh, my god!” she hisses, letting her hands fall against her thighs with a loud smack. “Will you just stop, already? I said I was sorry!”

That pulls a scowl out of him, lips twisting into a stubborn pout. “No. Not until you take it back.”

It, she supposes, refers to the one time she had laughed (a little!) derisively when Bellamy had mentioned something along the lines of watching the occasional basketball match to unwind. The whole conversation had been a little hard to believe- considering she was pretty sure that he had only said it to impress a girl at the sports bar, and that she had actually witnessed him falling asleep during one of Miller’s many hockey matches.

Look, this is Bellamy they’re talking about, okay? She’s seen him actually get teary eyed over a documentary on the Byzantine empire. A bunch of sweaty guys dribbling a ball around is hardly going to hold his interest.

“I’m not taking it back because it’s true,” she huffs, taking a bite out of her stolen nacho. “Bell, you hate sports. Why can’t you just admit that?”

“Because you’re wrong.” He shoots back, easy as can be, before reluctantly dragging his gaze back to the game before him. “Yeah! Bulls!”

She can’t hold back her snort this time as she turns over to arch a single brow at him. “You do know that your team was just caught committing a foul, right?”

He stares blankly back at her for half a second before it seems to register that a foul isn’t exactly the best thing to happen. “That’s why I was cheering,” he blusters, folding his arms across his chest. “To be encouraging.”

“God, you’re so full of shit.” Clarke sighs, shifting a little closer so he could hear her above the din. “Alright, so a foul…”

She ends up explaining most of the mechanics of the game to him, even going so far as to pull up the Bulls team and player stats for the year. To his credit, he listens in rapt attention most of the time, even cheering a little when they’re granted a penalty shot, and it’s pretty fun, to be entirely honest. He’s rowdy and enthusiastic, albeit a little clueless, and Clarke has to admit that the company is nice.

“So, who’s in the lead now?”

“Knicks is leading by a ten point margin,” she explains, stealing a quick sip from his soda. “Which means that they have it in the bag, mostly, but I guess we’ll see how the Bulls do after the timeout. The most likely scenario being—”

The words die in her throat at the sudden roar that goes up, her attention directed back to the jumbo screen. Suppressing another groan, she slumps down in her seat, watching through her fingers.

He looks over at her, amused. “Huh. I didn’t think the Kiss Cam was an actual thing that happened, you know?”

“This should be a rude awakening for you then,” she cringes, as the booing starts up. “They’ll stop when the camera pans over to someone else, I swear.”

Bellamy remains strangely unruffled, despite the sheer amount of hostility directed their way. Shrugging, he goes, “I figured, but. It’s not like it’s a big deal, right?”

She straightens at that, doesn’t even attempt to conceal her surprise. “What?”

“It’s just a kiss,” he continues, oblivious, though she can’t help but notice a flush creeping over his neck. “No big deal, right? I’m game if you are.”

Clarke blinks, wondering if she should be surprised that she’s actually considering this. Pros: she would finally be able to find out if his lips are as soft as they look. Cons: it might possibly alter friendship entirely, though that seems a little hard to achieve from a tiny peck on the lips.

“Fine,” she goes, wetting her lips surreptitiously. “Let’s give the people what they want.”

“Sure,” he hums, before sliding his hands into her hair and kissing her.

It’s distinctly not a peck on the lips like she expected it to be. Bellamy kisses like how he talks; warm and firm and all confidence. Her breath hitches when he slides his tongue against hers, playful, and a small moan escapes as she pulls him closer, seeking more of his warmth.

The boos have turned into catcalls by the time they pull apart; their breathing ragged and lips swollen.

He swallows, his throat bobbing wildly. “So.”

“So,” she echoes, a breathless laugh escaping. Distantly, she recognizes that the game is starting up again, the announcer’s voice blaring in the background accompanied by the squeak of rubber against linoleum. It’s a little hard to bring herself to care, though, considering she’s thinking if Bellamy’s hair is as soft and pullable as it looks.

His smile is small, a little tentative. “You wanna get out of here?”

A small part of her is tempted to agree, even though she’s been looking forward to this game for weeks. Plus, the Knicks are actually winning. It’d be doubly satisfying, she tells herself, just to see how the Bulls fans react to their loss.

But also, she really wants Bellamy to do that thing with his tongue again.

“Let’s go.” She manages, grabbing at his hat and throwing it into the crowd before lacing their fingers together, pulling him up with her. And hey, at the very least, she’s getting the opportunity to rip a Bulls jersey right down the middle. It’s the small victories, really.

#bellarke fanfiction #bellarke #bffnet #ems writes #prompts #clarkeswalkabout #asks

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thevindicativevordan · 3 years ago

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Any thoughts on Manchester Black?

God I love the jackass so much.

He is without a doubt the most successful new Superman Rogue created in the 21st century so far. Part of Black's success can be attributed to Kelly giving him something many Superman Rogues do not have: motivation that isn't just killing Superman. Starting out as a Jenny Sparks expy, with the entire Elite being clear copies of the insanely popular (at the time) Authority team, Black's evolved from "anti-hero" to straight up villain. By far the most popular member of the team he endured and continued to be used even after the rest faded away.

Part of his appeal is obvious, at least to me: He has a really cool design. The purple hair, the Union Jack tatted on his stomach, the way his eyes glow when he's using his powers (in the animated movie anyway), the black leather trench coat, ninety percent of what makes a character take off is their look (see Venom for proof), and Black design wise stands out from the crowd of Superman Rogues.

His powerset is also an asset, they keep throwing new variations of villains who are strong enough to slug it out with Superman, but Black can kick the crap out of Clark in ways other than brute force thanks to his telekinesis as his debut story showed. Rarely outside of Doomsday do we see Clark get as fucked up as we did in that story.

His background also gives him a lot of intrigue. Being a British working class lad is another standout feature that distinguishes him from the rest of Superman's mainly American and alien Rogues,. He worked (unwillingly it seems) for the British black ops division and a lot of what he's done is shrouded in mystery that gives him an aura of "seen some shit mate" that makes him feel worldly. Claiming that he started out as a big fan of Superman and gradually was beaten down and turned into the spiteful creature he is by the cruelty of the world adds some poignancy and tragedy as well.

The ex-true believer in traditional heroism who turns into a deadly antagonist is a path that's made Jason Todd extremely popular after all. Some people have accused Black of just being a strawman, after all the Authority were a lot more nuanced than people gave them credit for. They were even inspired by their own version of Superman in the High! So how can Black possibly be anything more than a caricature? Well while he may have started as an expy, I see Black as representing more than that. Now he represents the endless swarm of people on the Internet who think Superman sucks, who think he needs to be darker, edgier, more violent, more "realistic". In that regard I'd say Black is a perfectly legitimate representation of those people and how they feel about Superman.

Ultimately the biggest appeal of him for me? He's fucking hilarious.

The sheer contempt he treats Superman with is amazing. Lex envies Superman, Mongul gives him a grudging respect, the rest of the Rogues still treat Superman as "Superman", this larger than life icon, although it inspires negative emotions in them as opposed to how Superman's fellow heroes and the population feel. But Manchester Black? Manchester is constantly trying to drag him down to the "real" world by insulting him, embarrassing him, provoking him, which is part of why Clark hates Black so much on a personal and visceral level. For Black, Superman is just a wanker who has pulled the wool over everyone's eyes by selling them that "a fucking dream world" can ever be real. Whenever he interacts with Black, Clark really has to try to avoid sinking to Black's level, which is really hard because Manchester knows how to push Clark's buttons and gets a petty glee out of doing exactly that. It's good to have a Rogue like that for Supes, someone who can remind us of Clark's humanity in a way that isn't positive. Wasn't just the good human traits we taught our alien adoptee after all.

Truthfully I think the best writing for Manchester Black is when you can find yourself agreeing (in part) with what he says, or trying not to laugh at how he goads Superman into dropping the "holier than thou" exterior, while also recognizing that this is a sad broken man who had ambitions and dreams at one point. All of which were kicked out of him to the point he reacts the only way he knows how, by killing people. Telling that neither he nor Superman really have any idea of how to solve the "real" issues, as seen when they argue about what to do with the slavers in Action 775:

Note that Superman doesn't disagree with Black's assessment of how corrupt the American judicial system is, but his solution is to bury his head in the sand. Black meanwhile isn't actually proposing to do anything about the corruption he's called out, he's just going to murder everyone who crosses his path, treating the symptoms and not the cause. Neither one really knows how to handle that type of problem, so they just fall back to what they do know how to do.

That exact overlap in methodology is why Black is such a great foil and why he's stuck around: he's got the power and the charisma to match Superman (he can make Clark bleed on his own, gathered a team to him, and won over most of the general population in a similar way to Superman after all), but what he lacks is the idealism. Manchester Black is what Superman could be if he gave up on compassion, and was motivated only by his wrath. Seems an obvious thing to state, but it's the root of Black's longevity.

Overall I've been pretty happy with how he's been used, he's one of the more versatile enemies Superman has. He can be the edgy anti-hero who competes with Superman as he was at the start. He can work as a straight up villain out to hurt Superman to the point Clark finally has to acknowledge how insufficient his methods are as he was in Ending Battle and Kelly's work on JL. The idea of Black trying to corrupt the next generation of heroes in Jon, to mold him into Black's ideal Superman, was one of the high points of Tomasi and Gleason's run on Superman for me.

And at last we come to Black's current status.

Right off the bat Morrison writing Manchester Black was like a dream come true for me. Who better to write the Superman Rogue who is a working class British lad, who grew up idolizing Superman and caped heroes before giving up on them, than the working class Scot who put in so much work to rebuild Superman and make him cool again? I knew right away that Morrison would be great because they've got an authentic background to draw on to characterize Black with, and so far they have not disappointed me. If anything I wish Morrison was spending longer with this incarnation of the Authority, it really feels brimming with energy in a way we haven't seen from them in a while (with work for hire storytelling anyway).

Reaching old age and realizing he's not content with his accomplishments it makes sense to me that Clark would reach out to Manchester. Chester after all is the guy who made his career in calling out Superman's inadequacies, and if Clark is willing to still try to bury the hatchet with Lex occasionally, I can see him making the same attempt with Black. Black was a "hero" in a way at the start and Superman is always going to believe that mankind's inner goodness will win out ultimately, that he would attempt to bring Black back to the side of the "angels" and maybe get him to brighten up a bit is the sort of "impossible" challenge Superman relishes.

So far I love that Morrison isn't writing Chester as reforming overnight, he's still an asshole to Clark on occasion, he still says crap that is offensive morally, he still has a ways to go before he can be a "hero". Love the interactions between the two of them, they're funny as hell which is what the interactions between the two should be like:

Whether Manchester does reform or slips back into his old ways remains to be seen, and PKJ will probably be the one to decide his ultimate fate (assuming Black being on the cover of Action isn't a fakeout and he survives Superman & the Authority). Either way I'm always happy to see him getting used, I think he's a great foil for Superman no matter which side of the hero/villain divide he's on. Don't know if this turn to heroism will stick, but as long as we get more stories with Manchester, I'll take him as Superman's shittalking partner.

Hopefully he'll start getting more usage in outside media as well, I'd love to see a new take on him for the rebooted post-Crisis continuity of S&L or see him pop up in the upcoming My Adventures of Superman cartoon series or in the new animated shared universe DC is building with their movies. If they redid Death of Superman again they can do another shot at utilizing Black, especially since the art style of Superman vs. the Elite was... weird. Also give me Ending Battle, especially since they're adapting Injustice, it's only fair that we get the story that gives the middle finger to the "if Lois dies Superman goes batshit insane" trope, and we'd get to see Superman fight the majority of his Rogues Gallery! I love when that happens!

#manchester black #superman #dc comics

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chasholidays · 7 years ago

Note

Thanks for taking holiday prompts again this year! My prompt: I would love to see some version of a Monty/Miller romcom a la Four Weddings and Funeral. Any background pairings are fine, though I'd love to see Bellarke in there somewhere.

this is really only related to four weddings and a funeral because it takes place at weddings, hope that’s cool!

one. Octavia & Lincoln

Nate can admit that Octavia Blake’s wedding is something of a wake-up call for him. Or, if not a wake up, exactly, at least a good reason to reassess his life. A happy occasion with an edge of panic, because his best friend’s little sister is getting married, and he hasn’t had a serious relationship since he and Bryan broke up. It doesn’t bother him, most of the time, but it’s impossible to avoid the thoughts in circumstances like this. He remembers when Octavia was a half-wild girl tagging along behind him and Bellamy, and now she’s in a serious enough relationship that she’s marrying someone. Nate still feels like he’s too irresponsible to own a dog, let alone commit himself for the rest of his life to another human being.

At least Bellamy is, one, older than he is and, two, currently trying to hide behind him. So he’s not the least competent person in the room.

“I can’t believe she came,” he says, not actually glaring at Clarke, but spiritually glaring at her. Glaring at her as much as he can without actually looking at her.

“Yeah, fuck her, coming to a wedding she was invited to.”

“It’s my sister’s wedding. She knew I was going to be here.”

“She’s friends with Lincoln, I assume he wanted her here. And you know your sister still wants you guys to get back together.”

Octavia isn’t the only one rooting for Bellamy and Clarke, of course; they broke up because Clarke was leaving town for a fellowship, but she’ll be back in a month or two, and Bellamy still isn’t over her, and judging from the careful, furtive way Clarke is scanning the reception hall, Nate is pretty sure she’s not over him either.

“My sister’s got wedding brain. She wants everyone to get together.”

“Yeah, that’s awful. How dare she.”

“Shut up. You think we can go to the drinks table?”

“I don’t think anyone’s going to stop us. But if there’s one place Clarke is likely to be, it’s with the alcohol. You can’t avoid her forever,” he adds.

“I don’t have to avoid her forever, I just have to avoid her tonight.”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” says Nate. “Whatever. I’m going to get a drink. And if I see your ex-girlfriend, I’m going to say hi and tell her where you are. Because this is ridiculous.”

“You’re a traitor.”

“You’re afraid if you talk to Clarke you’re going to sleep with her.”

Bellamy opens and closes his mouth, and then says, “I’m afraid if I talk to her, she’s not going to want to sleep with me. Or just want to sleep with me. Fuck, she’ll be back here soon. What if she comes back and she doesn’t–”

It’s a logical concern, for certain values of logical. If Bellamy never talks to her, she can’t tell him she’s not interested. But if she thinks he doesn’t want to see her, that’s not actually going to help.

“Only one way to find out,” he says, and Bellamy snorts.

“Yeah. That really helps.”

Clarke spots him and lights up, which is all the evidence Nate needs. He claps Bellamy on the shoulder. “You’ll be fine. I need booze.”

He doesn’t let himself look back, so when someone comes up next to him at the bar and says, “So, are you Miller?” he’s completely unprepared and nearly spills his drink on himself.

The guy is hot, with short, straight black hair and a slightly nervous smile, apparently a little uncomfortable in formal wear. Nate’s got a pretty good geek-dar, and whoever this is is pinging it hard.

Then the actual statement catches up and he blinks. “Uh, yeah. I’m Miller. Nathan Miller.”

“Awesome, I’m Monty, Clarke’s plus one. She told me you were her ex’s best friend and I was going to try to distract you for her, but I assume that’s him she’s talking to now?”

Nate lets himself glance over, finds Bellamy easily, his smile warm and soft, the expression he only ever wears for Clarke and his sister.

“That’s him, yeah.”

“Cool.” Monty drains his drink and offers Nate a smile, somewhere between nervous and flirty. “Can I distract you anyway?”

Nate smiles back. Maybe the best way to deal with his low key wedding crisis isn’t a one-night stand, but there are definitely worse ways to deal. “You already are. But you should keep doing it.”

two. Monroe & Harper

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me Nate was coming!”

Clarke frowns. “Honestly, I thought you knew. Aren’t you guys still together?”

“We’re not together,” says Monty, trying not to sound too petulant. “We’re just–fucking. Sometimes. When he texts me. Gah,” he adds, rubbing his face. “How did this happen? I try to be cool and hook up and I just–suck at it.”

“Sounds like you’re pretty good at it,” she teases. “Since you’re still hooking up with him.”

“Shut up.”

Apparently he’s convincingly petulant, because Clarke sobers. “I thought you’d know, but even if you didn’t, I thought you’d be, well–happy. You guys seem great together. We can all hang out, it’ll be fun.”

Monty’s glad Clarke and her ex worked everything else, and he does like Bellamy. But even with the two of them around, it’s hard to believe that his ex-girlfriend’s wedding is going to be improved with the inclusion of the guy he’s currently having occasional casual sex with.

But he doesn’t want to keep having that conversation, so he switches tactics. “Okay, but why are Bellamy and Miller coming to this? How do we all know the same people?”

“Bellamy’s my plus one,” she says. “Miller and Monroe went to college together, I think. And I don’t know how we know all the same people, but I assume that was part of why you wanted to move here in the first place. You knew people.”

“I didn’t want to know them all, together, at a wedding.”

“Yeah, okay,” Clarke grants. “But it’s not all bad, right? There’s still an open bar.”

Monty has to grin. “There is still an open bar.”

And, okay, Clarke’s right, it’s not terrible. Harper and Monroe are cute and everyone’s having a good time, and Nate looks really hot in formal wear. And Monty does like Nate. That’s part of why he wishes they weren’t just having casual sex. He thinks Nate could be a great boyfriend.

But in the meantime, they dance, and make out, and go home together, and when Nate rolls over and tells Monty he might as well stay the night, it’s not be perfect, but he’ll take it for now.

three. Bryan & Michael

“So, what am I doing, exactly? What’s my angle?”

Nate glances at Monty in the passenger seat, can’t help a smile. He looks so fucking focused. He’s dedicated to this. “Angle?”

“As your date, what am I doing? Do you want your ex to be, like, jealous? Wishing he hadn’t let you get away? Or do you just want to show off how much you’ve moved on?”

This is the problem with not just being upfront about what he wants. Nate could have just asked Monty to the wedding, as a normal date, because he wanted his company. Which he does. But it felt so–weighty. So he chickened out, added the rambling “it’s my ex’s wedding and I don’t want to be alone and pathetic and he knows Bellamy so I can’t bring him” explanation to the end of the invitation, making it sound less like he wanted to go with Monty and more like he wanted a warm body.

He’s bad at this. It’s not a new thing.

“You don’t have to do anything special,” he says. “Just be yourself.”

“Is this the last guy you dated?”

“Yeah, but it’s been a while.” He does the math quickly. “We’d already been broken up for like a year and a half when I met you. He and Michael have been together for almost that long.”

“So he’s marrying his rebound guy and you didn’t even have one,” Monty surmises. “Is this, like—did you want the wedding invitation, or is he rubbing it in your face? Do we like him?”

Nate has to laugh. “Dude, I dated him. Of course I like him. And I’m happy for him.”

“Yeah, but unofficially.”

“Unofficially, it’s a little weird. But the breakup was amicable. I wanted to bring you,” he adds, finally. “I like hanging out with you. I thought I’d have more fun if you were here.”

“Oh,” says Monty, surprised but apparently pleased. “So you really do just want me to be myself?”

“If I wanted to come with anyone else, I would have asked them. I’m, uh—I’m not good at this,” he admits, as he parks the car.

Monty thinks it over for a second. “So, is this a date?”

“I hope so.”

“Cool, I hope so too.” He leans over and kisses Nate, soft and quick, and most of the tension in Nate’s chest uncoils itself. “I’m still going to be an awesome date, don’t worry.”

“Obviously,” he says, and when he gets to introduce Monty as his boyfriend?

Best wedding ever.

four. Bellamy & Clarke

Monty will admit that he hasn’t actually been that excited about any of the weddings he’s gone to recently, at least not as weddings. Harper’s was nice, but it was complicated by being his (admittedly distant) ex and the way he didn’t really know Monroe at all. He was happy for them, but in a kind of intellectual way. And Bryan and Michael’s wedding was fun, but for reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with them and everything to do with his being on his first date. With his boyfriend.

Clarke and Bellamy’s wedding is nothing but awesome, though. Two of his favorite people are getting married, his boyfriend is the best man, and he has absolutely no responsibilities in the wedding party, so he doesn’t have to worry about anything except having a good time.

And, okay, providing backup as needed. He’s still running around doing whatever needs doing, but he’ll get to just watch the ceremony, and then they’ll all be getting drunk and dancing and celebrating.

That’s what weddings are supposed to be: the purest form of joy, directed at people you love.

It helps that the whole thing is fairly lowkey. Bellamy and Clarke have small families, and neither of them is religious or has much by way of family traditions. Clarke’s stepfather performs the ceremony, a quick introduction, a few readings, the vows, and then a kiss. It’s over in about fifteen minutes, all told, and then there are pictures and mingling and a reception.

Nate comes to find him when the pictures are done, leaning down for a kiss. “You didn’t want to be in pictures, huh?”

“I saw Lincoln with his camera, I think I’m going to be in pictures whether I like it or not. But, yeah, I can skip official posed stuff. You know what my face does when I try to smile on purpose.”

He laughs. “I do. We still would have liked to have you.”

“I know. It was a personal choice, not sacrificing myself for the greater good. That’s not really my thing. More Clarke and Bellamy.”

“Yeah, that sounds right.” He takes Monty’s flute of champagne and takes a sip. “Octavia asked if we were next.”

“That’s always such a weird question to me. Like, next by what measurement? If it was just you and her and Bellamy and Clarke, you’re kind of next by default, unless someone else gets divorced. No one else can be next. But other people are going to get married before we do, like, in the world.”

“You’ve put way too much thought into this,” Nate says, fond.

“Story of my life. I think about things.” He wets his lips, finds himself unaccountably nervous. Nate brought it up, and he’s not nervous. This is okay. “Do you want us to be next?”

“I don’t know about next. I’m not in a hurry. But I want us to be someday.”

His smile feels like a warm thing growing on his face, something a little foreign, but still welcome. “Yeah,” he says. “Someday is what I want too.”

five. Nate and Monty

Someday is about five years after the first time they met, when the wedding does happen. Not exactly five years, because having the same anniversary as Lincoln and Octavia would be awkward. But five years, give or take.

By the time it’s happening, Nate gets it. He’s grown up, he’s in love, and he’s more than ready.

By the time it’s happening, he can’t wait, actually.

It’s so easy, when he’s sure.

#thelittlestdoc

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