#it's all there liiiiiike are we watching the same show?

[goodnight-islanders]

Some of y'all have weirdly high expectations for a trashy game about a problematic TV show

Most of this stuff is 10000000% on brand

[quickspinner]

Month of Miracles - Moments of Wonder

Well my plans for this prompt month definitely tanked but that’s okay, I’m still gonna finish this Hallmark AU at least. I’m gonna try not to write a ten paragraph authors note detailing all my struggles with this piece and just say, I hope the intention comes through even with all the life interruptions.

Find the prompt list here!

Hallmark Movie AU Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 (end) | Read Month of Miracles on AO3

“Spaghetti?” Rose screeched. “Luka, nobody looks good eating spaghetti. She’ll be uncomfortable. Make something else.”

Luka looked at the ceiling for a moment and prayed for patience. “It’s not like this is a date,” he muttered, going to look through the pantry to see what else he could make. Rose’s pestering was making him nervous, and his hand hovered over several options before he shook himself and picked up a bag of rice. Casserole seemed like such a homely option but—

Not a date , he reminded himself resolutely. He didn’t want to make Marinette uncomfortable. She hadn’t agreed to a date, so it wasn’t one, and he wasn’t going to let Rose’s fantasizing make him treat it like one.

“Casserole?” Rose said doubtfully when he got out the pan. 

Luka groaned. “Out, Rose.” He grabbed the kitchen towel hanging on the oven rail and snapped it at her, making her squeak and jump back. She folded her arms with a pout. “Nope. Not gonna work on me,” he told her, flapping her out of the kitchen with the towel like a fly. “Get lost.” 

“I’m just trying to help,” Rose wailed as she backed away. 

“And stay out,” Luka told her shortly, and turned to go back in the kitchen. He leaned on the counter and sighed. He was a patient guy, and he liked Rose, and okay so she was right that he and Marinette would hit it off, but— enough , already. He was nervous enough about whether she would understand what he wanted to show her tonight, and not really sure why it was important to him anyway. 

Maybe it was lingering guilt for disappearing without any real explanation or apology to his fans. Maybe if he could make even one fan understand, he’d feel better. 

Orrrr maybe it has nothing to do with your fans and you just want Marinette to understand, Rose’s voice sing-songed in his head, because you liiiiiike her. Luka sighed. 

He did like her. He liked her, and he wanted to know her, and the only way he knew of to do that was to invite her to know him. He sighed again, and went back to his dinner preparations.

Marinette knocked on the Couffaines’ door with so many butterflies in her stomach that she wasn’t at all sure she was going to be able to eat. It had been easy to accept the invitation with Luka there in front of her, with his relaxed smile and calm presence, but by the time she got back to her grandmother’s house, her brain had gone into a panicked spiral of overthinking that had her feeling jumpy and on edge. She always put thought into her appearance, but she’d agonized over it tonight, afraid of looking too...date-like. In the end she’d kept her pigtails and kept her makeup light, and worn a slightly oversized cream sweater over red leggings. Easy, seasonally appropriate, not unflattering but not aiming to attract, either. 

When the door flew open, Rose’s excited, beaming face did nothing to ease her nerves. As Rose dragged her inside, bouncing a little, Marinette had an unsettling feeling like she had been caught in a trap of some kind, and it didn’t get any better when Rose introduced her to Luka’s sister. Juleka gave her a quick once over and smirked, and Marinette was struck by an urge to flee the premises.  

Then Luka was there, taking her elbow gently and somehow getting everyone moving to the table. He wasn’t dressed for a date either, wearing a slightly worn navy pullover with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows and jeans that had seen better days. The look he gave her as he escorted her to the dining room said please ignore them, we both know better, and Marinette began to relax a little bit. That’s right. Rose might be scheming but she and Luka had already talked it out, and they knew where they stood. They were friends, and whatever he wanted to show her tonight had nothing to do with...with wooing her, or whatever Rose seemed to think was going on.

Dinner wasn’t fancy, either, and that made her feel better too. She managed to strike up a conversation with Juleka after Luka pointed out that many of the photographs on the walls were Juleka’s work. He turned all of Rose’s attempts to get them started on personal topics into casual conversation, and Marinette honestly could have kissed him just for making everything so... easy.

Not that she would. Not that he wanted her to. Not that she wanted to! Oh no, she was starting again…

Marinette nearly jumped out of her seat when a peppy tune blared out seemingly from nowhere. Luka put a steadying hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile while Rose pulled her phone out of her pocket, frowning. 

“Excuse me a second,” Rose said apologetically, “It’s work so I better see what they want.” 

Marinette had to blink for a moment. She’d forgotten that normal people didn’t take phone calls during dinner.

“Sabrina, what’s up?” Rose chirped, dabbing at her mouth with her napkin as she held the phone to her ear and slipped out of her chair to walk into the other side of the room—not that it really made a difference since they could all still hear her. “Well, finally, what took so long? So, what’s the big deal?” There was a pause, and Rose frowned. “Come down there? Why are you being so dramatic, Sabrina, can’t you just tell me?” 

That got Luka’s attention. He shot Rose an alarmed look, and Rose rolled her eyes at him. “Okay, fine. I’m on my way.” She hung up the phone and came back over to kiss Juleka’s cheek. “I have to go. There’s something up with the costumes for the children’s pageant and Sabrina’s making a big deal about it. I’ll come back after I find out what’s going on.” She grinned at Luka and Marinette. “Have fun without me.” She fluttered her hand and left the table, blowing a kiss to them all as she flounced out of the door.

Luka gaped after her for a moment. No, no, this was no good. Rose’s excited fluttering aside, she and Juleka were supposed to go do their own thing and get so distracted with each other that he could talk to Marinette in peace, but without Rose—Luka glanced at his sister, and saw her smirking at him. Luka tried to convey with nothing but his eyes that if she ruined this for him he’d never forgive her. Juleka just rolled her eyes and went back to eating. 

“Children’s pageant?” Marinette was repeating next to him in confusion. “At the library? I thought that was usually a church thing.” 

“Oh, it is,” Juleka smirked. “The church has one every year too, and Rose...Rose has a beef with it. Let’s just say they’ve had the same Joseph and Mary for the last three years and Rose doesn’t feel like it represents the proper Christmas spirit.” 

“Oh,” Marinette said, blinking. “Huh.” 

“Are you finished, Juleka?” Luka asked a little too quickly, standing up. “I can take your plate.” 

Juleka gave him a look that said she knew what he was doing, but she got up too. “Yeah. Thanks. It was nice to meet you Marinette.” She went to the stairs, but couldn’t resist a parting “You two have fun,” before she thunked up them.

Luka sighed, and took Juleka’s plate and his own to the kitchen. He nearly bumped into Marinette when he turned around, standing behind him with her own mostly-empty plate. “Oh, sorry,” he said, taking it from her automatically. “I didn’t mean to rush you, if you weren’t done.” 

“No, I’m good,” Marinette said, with a nervous little flutter of her hands. “I was done. Can I help you clean up?”

“Nah, Jules can get it later,” he said, opening the cabinet to dump the last of the food in the trash before he put the plate in the sink. “I cooked, so dishes are her job. Let me just put the leftovers in the fridge. Why don’t you come on into the great room while I do that?” 

He led her out of the kitchen into the two-story great room, with its huge windows and exposed beams and the large crackling fireplace. 

“Wow, this is lovely,” Marinette breathed, looking around.

“I like it,” Luka shrugged with a self-conscious smile. “Great acoustics in here, actually. Just have a seat wherever you’re comfortable and I’ll be right back. Watch your step, we’re...not exactly neat freaks, if you know what I mean.” 

“It looks lived in,” Marinette agreed diplomatically. The furniture was all mismatched and...unique. Some of it looked so old and rickety that she wasn’t sure it was safe to sit on, and there were...boxes everywhere. Not really boxes, but old army footlockers, heavy-looking chests, and a dozen other things. They were mostly tucked in the corners of the room, leaving the floor clear for the enormous Christmas tree that took up an entire corner of the huge room. 

Marinette made her way to one of the couches as Luka went back to the kitchen. It looked like an antique, with an old brocade fabric that was slightly faded but otherwise in good condition, and sturdy enough. Marinette perched on the end of it, feeling a little awkward. She looked around the room. Despite the size, it was cozy, with a rustic air, much like all the other buildings she’d been in around town, and though she’d been being polite, her statement was accurate. It didn’t look so much cluttered as lived-in, as if this room was used a lot by the entire family. As she looked at the Christmas tree, she had to smile. The decorations were a bit...eccentric. Several of the ornaments on the tree were little bats wearing tiny knitted scarves or carrying miniature instruments that looked like they might have come from a doll collection. Music seemed to feature prominently in the tree, she realized. Many of the figures had instruments, not just the bats (there were spiders, too, she saw with amusement). Some of the ornaments were cheap, clearly mass manufactured things, but others were carefully crafted and looked like they’d come from far away places. Guitars weren’t the only instruments featured, but they did outnumber the others by quite a bit. Luka wasn’t the only musical one in the family, she concluded. His father was Jagged Stone, after all, and boy there was probably a story there, but she’d never dare ask. 

Her eyes widened slightly when Luka reappeared with an electric guitar in one hand. Marinette blushed, one hand fluttering up to fuss nervously with her hair. Surely he wasn’t going to play now? For her? 

Luka smirked a little at the expression on her face, and winked at her as he set the guitar down in a stand she hadn’t noticed. “In a minute,” he told her, and Marinette wanted to sink into the couch and disappear. Could she act more like a starstruck fan? Luka crossed to a funny looking cabinet that turned out to have a CD player inside. “You know Blue Lightning, right?

“Yes, of course,” Marinette said, blinking. It was one of the singles off his most recent album—his last album, she realized with a pang.  

Luka nodded as he put the CD he’d been holding in the player. “This was the demo I pitched to the label when I wrote it.” 

He pressed play, and turned the volume up. He walked over to one of the windows and stuck his hands in his pockets as the music began to play.

Marinette’s mouth dropped open. It sounded so...different. Of course a demo would sound different, she’d heard demo tracks before and they didn’t necessarily have full instrumentation or backup vocals, but...the whole feel of the song was different. Peppier, more fluid, less...angry. Still a rock song, but not so...gritty, or harsh, as the version she knew. 

Luka kept his eyes down as he switched off the CD player and closed the cabinet, and then went to sit next to Marinette on the couch. Only then did he look up at her.

“The execs said they loved it,” he told her softly, “but it didn’t fit my brand. They didn’t think it would sell. Later, they told me. When I was a bigger star, then I could put out something like that, but not yet.”

“That’s—” a shame, Marinette wanted to say, but instead she twined her fingers together and looked down. “Well, I guess they know what sells, right? It makes sense that you would take their advice.”

“That’s what I thought.” Luka nodded. “So I agreed to change it. And then in post production they ‘tweaked it’ some more, and…” He grimaced. “And then I had to go up on stage and perform it like that, and even though it made sense at the time, I just...hated it. When I complained, they told me I wasn’t bringing in enough sales yet to be such a diva and that if I wanted to make the music I wanted to make, then I needed to work harder.”

“It’s hard, isn’t it,” Marinette sighed. “But you have to make your bones, right? It’s the same with fashion. That’s just...part of the industry.” She glanced at him uncertainly.

“So they told me,” Luka gave her a wry smile. 

Marinette looked back at her hands. “Well, if it was making you unhappy, then it’s good that you left,” she said, but she said it without conviction, and she knew that he could hear it. 

Luka sighed. “Well. There was more to it than just that.” He got to his feet. “You’ve been to one of my shows, right? I think you said you had.” He picked up the guitar from the stand, and slung the strap across his shoulders. 

Marinette nodded. “Mmhmm.” She watched as he rummaged behind one of the chairs, pulled out an amp cord, and plugged it into the guitar.

“Good,” Luka said, sitting down across from her in one of the rickety-looking chairs. Marinette’s hands moved involuntarily before fluttering back into her lap. He lived here; surely he knew the hazards of the furniture. She curled her fingers under and tried not to fidget. He grinned without looking at her as he tuned the guitar.

“It’ll hold,” he said, as if he’d read her mind. “I promise nothing around here is as fragile as it looks.” 

“Right,” Marinette said, hunching her shoulders slightly. “Of course.” She didn’t know where to look, and she suddenly felt very stupid. Why was she here again?. 

“Just relax,” Luka’s deep voice soothed, and she glanced up, color deepening. He sounded like Luke Stone in that moment, with the smooth, musical tone of his voice. “Just listen. If you don’t understand when I’m done, then...then that’ll be okay. But I’d like to try and show you what I mean. The difference between Luke Stone, and...me.” 

He took a breath, blew it out slowly...and played. Marinette’s breath caught. It was just White Christmas, which she’d heard a thousand times over in a hundred different styles. Even so, it was beautiful, embellished with unique touches that face it the same evocative quality that had first drawn her to Luke’s—to Luka’s music. 

Apparently he was just warming up, though, because he took another deep breath, and the music segued into a different tune—one she didn’t recognize. 

It resonated somewhere deep inside her, touched a well of pain she’d been trying to ignore for months. Not only the music, which by itself was beautiful and seemed to vibrate in her soul—but the artistry. And when she looked at him— 

Luka’s eyes were half closed, and his face was serene, with just a slight wrinkle of concentration between his brows. His hands, rough and abused as they were, moved easily and gracefully, with a confidence that Marinette suddenly realized was familiar. She’d had that once, back when she’d been young and inexperienced and thought too highly of herself. Before she’d learned better, and seen how far she still had to go. 

She found that she envied Luka in that moment. It must be nice, to be away from all that pressure and just...create for yourself again. Not to be constantly questioning your instincts, because you only had yourself to please anyway. 

Her chest suddenly felt tight, and her eyes stung. She swallowed hard and tore her eyes away from him, looking down at her hands. She closed her eyes and put her hand on her heart, determined to listen until the end. 

It was so beautiful. Poignant. 

She recognized now what he’d been trying to show her with the demo track. She had been too distracted at the time by the other differences, but...there had been so much more feeling in the demo version. Because Luka had loved it, she realized. He’d been excited about that song, and by the time the studio was done with it, that enthusiasm was lost. He played the studio version well, with all the technical skill he possessed, but it lacked the passion of the original. If anything, it sounded angry because Luka was angry when he played it.

That’s part of the process, though. It’s just part of the industry. Editing is important, even if it isn’t fun. Of course you’re tired of a project before it’s finished. You’ve still got to see it through. You don’t just quit or give up on a project because you feel pouty that people told you what was wrong.

It was the truth, so...why did watching Luka, and hearing him play, make it feel like such a lie?

The studio was wrong, she admitted to herself. Even if it was an objectively better song when they were done, even if the sales numbers said they were right...what they lost along the way was so much more precious than perfection. 

Luka’s song ended softly, but on a questioning note, without really concluding. He looked up at her, and then came over to sit next to her on the couch, his expression concerned. 

She wasn’t sure why until Luka reached out, and wiped away the tear trickling down her face with the rough pad of his thumb. “Are you okay?” he asked gently.

“Yeah, I’m—” Marinette began, trying to smile, but she couldn’t finish. Her face crumpled and she buried in her hands before she began to cry in earnest. 

Luka put the guitar down, and came to sit beside her. His hands curled around her shoulders and tugged her to him. Marinette yielded, letting him pull her close. One arm wrapped around her back and one big hand gently cradled her head, guiding it down to his shoulder, and he held her, swaying gently, while she hid her face in his shirt and wept. 

“I didn’t mean to make you cry,” Luka said apologetically, and Marinette shook her head without lifting it. He held her for a long moment, until she finally managed to pull herself together and pull away from him, sitting up and wiping at her eyes.

“I’m so sorry,” she muttered, embarrassed. “I’m so sorry, I was enjoying it so much, I can’t believe I just...lost it like that, ugh.” 

“It’s okay,” Luka soothed, putting his hand on her shoulder. He squeezed and rubbed it lightly. “Do you feel better?” 

“I...think I do, actually,” Marinette gave him a quick smile. “Thank you.” She was still embarrassed, but she meant it. It felt like a pressure valve had opened somewhere inside of her, and while nothing had really changed, it all felt just a little bit less oppressive. “I think I understand, at least a little. Why you left. But…” Marinette pressed her lips together, like she wasn’t sure she wanted to go on. Luka squeezed her shoulder again lightly, waiting for her to continue.

“I just...was quitting really the only way? Wasn’t it your dream? Wasn’t it worth fighting for?”

Luka swallowed and drew his hand back. He folded his hands together between his knees, looking at the floor, and hoped he could say what he wanted to without sounding like a pretentious drama queen or a weakling. 

“What happened between us just now,” Luka began slowly, “Luke Stone could never do that. I didn’t mind the work, or the hours, or even the touring. It’s just, the more we ‘refined’ Luke Stone’s image, the less it felt like me, and it put up this...wall between me and the rest of the world. It wasn’t just the label interfering with my music, it was the image they wanted me to project. The brand. It was harder and harder to be somebody different off-stage, because after a certain point, there’s really no such thing as off-stage. Jagged, you know, he can turn it on and off like that.” He snapped his fingers. “He tried to help me, he really did, but...I just...wasn’t connecting with people the way I needed to, for the music to really flow. I felt so alone, and unhappy, and I was still making music but it wasn’t mine, anymore. It was just something I did to keep the label happy. Finally I decided that clinging to the dream for the sake of the dream wasn’t very smart if it didn’t actually make me happy, and it was more important to be me than to be a star.” Luka glanced up. Marinette was staring at him, her eyes huge in her pale face. He felt himself beginning to blush and dropped his eyes again. “So I told Dad I was done,” he went on quickly. “He was disappointed, but he understood. I finished out my contract and came home to figure out what in the world comes next.” 

Marinette was silent for a moment. Luka swallowed nervously, and was trying to think of a graceful way to end the conversation when she finally said, “You’re really brave, Luka.”

He blinked, the words he’d been about to force out dying on his tongue. “What?” he said instead.

“I think it takes a lot of courage to admit that,” Marinette said quietly. “Even to yourself, let alone actually making the break and leaving it all behind. I’m glad you did it. I loved your music, but…” She reached out hesitantly, and slid her hand over Luka’s. He released his clasped hands to turn his fingers up to lace with hers. “I’m glad that you did what was right for you, instead of…”

“Flaming out and becoming an alcoholic drug addict?” he asked with a sardonic grin. Her hand was so small in his, he couldn’t help noticing. 

Marinette giggled. “Something like that. I’m sorry if I made you feel bad. You really didn’t have to rehash all of that for me.” 

Luka shrugged and repeated, “I wanted you to understand.” She had no idea how bad he wanted her to understand. He was grateful and relieved that she did...and at the same time, it was a little frightening. Things might have been simpler if she had scoffed and blown him off. Then he wouldn’t be sitting here, holding her hand and looking into her soft, beautiful eyes, feeling like all of the oxygen had been sucked out of the room. 

Marinette bit her lip, and his gaze dropped to it. “I should...if it’s okay with you, I think I should go home now.” 

Luka shook himself back to reality. “Of course. Are you sure you’re alright? Will you be okay to get home?”

Marinette nodded and tried a smile. It mostly looked steady, so Luka smiled back. He stood up, still holding her hand, and drew her up after him. “Thanks for taking the time to listen to me, Marinette.” Luka let her hand slide out of his. “It actually feels good to be able to explain it to someone.” 

“Thank you for sharing it with me,” Marinette told him, and they didn’t say anything more as Luka got her coat and held it for her. 

Once she was gone, he barely made it back to a chair before his knees gave way. He rubbed a hand over his face and then leaned into it, sighing. That had been…intense. All of it, not just Marinette, but...playing like that, when he hadn’t played for anyone but his family in so long, and trying to help her understand...he hadn’t realized how much it would take out of him.

He was still sitting there when Rose burst in. “Marinette!” she cried, looking at Luka with wide eyes. “Where is she?” 

“She went home,” Luka mumbled, leaning back in the chair.

“What? No, I need her!” Rose exclaimed, throwing her hands up. “Why did she leave? What happened?”

“Nothing happened—” Luka began, but a voice from the doorway interrupted him.

“He made her cry,” Juleka smirked. 

Rose whirled to look at her, while Luka glared at her over Rose’s head, but Juleka just grinned wider when Rose turned back and began to hit Luka in the arm over and over with her tiny yet surprisingly hard fist. “You idiot! You did not! You made her cry? What’s the matter with you?” 

Luka put up his hands in defense. “Rose,” he whined. “Look, I told you this wasn’t a date, and it’s not going to happen—”

“Who cares about your pathetic excuse for a love life?” Rose roared, hitting him faster. “You can’t run her off, I need her! The pageant’s going to be a disaster!”

“Wait, what?” Juleka frowned, coming into the room. 

“That’s what Sabrina was calling about!” Rose exclaimed. “The costumes that were in storage—they’re a disaster! Moths or rats or water or all three, I don’t even know. And here I made friends with someone who designs and sews and then like a bonehead I had to set her up with your stupid socially inept—”  

“He played for her,” Juleka broke in, and Rose stopped hitting him long enough to look at her. It took a moment for the words to sink in, and then Rose’s eyes widened. She turned back to Luka and he flinched. “You did not!”

“I did,” Luka admitted, running his fingers through his hair. “I really did,” he realized, feeling suddenly weak again. He covered his mouth with his hand and tried to pretend like he wasn’t suppressing the urge to scream. 

“Tell me everything right now!” Rose demanded, grabbing a fistful of his sweater and dragging him out of his chair and over to the couch. She sat down next to him with a determined expression. Luka looked up at Juleka pleadingly, but she just grinned. 

That’s for eating all the cookies, she mouthed, and left before Luka could make a rude gesture. 

Fiction Master Post | Month of Miracles

[bigfan-fanfic]

Everybody’s Favorite Stark 6

Requested by @moviequotes23 for “ Hey, sorry to bother you but if you seen Far From Home can you do one with Peter and the Stark reader like the last ones. Only if you want ”

Thank you thank you thank you thank you! Thank you. Super excited to do this one, and I will welcome any AUs, such as Tony never really having died, hint hint. For now though, I’ll stick as close to canon as possible.

Morgan raises an eyebrow at you when she sees you packing your suitcase.

“Whatcha doin’?”

“Minding my own business.”

She waits. Making you feel guilty.

“Fine. I’m going to Europe for about a week with Peter...’s class. Peter’s class. They’re taking a science trip, and I asked to tag along.”

Morgan tilts her head. “You liiiiiike him!”

Pepper chooses that moment to stick her head into your room. “Are we talking about Peter?”

“Oh, come on! Does everybody know I like him?”

Pepper gives you a sympathetic look that says it all. “So are you gonna tell him?”

“Well, it’s not like I have a plan or anything. Just... you know, we’ll be in Europe. Paris. Maybe something will happen in the vicinity of the Eiffel Tower?”

Pepper chuckles.

“I have a plan, Ned. Y/N said he’s going fly in the same section as us, so I got a dual headphone adapter, and we can watch movies on the flight. Then, in Venice, I’m gonna find a glass blower and have him make a wrench - cause he helped make my suit and made his own suit and-”

Ned frowns. “Isn’t Y/N, like, super rich?”

Peter sighs. “It’s the meaning behind it! Look, I really like him, okay? And I want to tell him, just... it has to be the right moment, okay?” Peter sighs.

MJ interrupts his thoughts. “Why don’t you just tell him?”

“Excuse me?”

“Ever since you got that Stark internship, you’ve been mooning over Y/N Stark. And he’s coming along on our class trip. I think it’s safe to say he likes you too.”

“He could just be nice.” Ned says thoughtfully. “I met him. Before. Peter introduced me. He’s really nice.”

MJ rolls her eyes.

You wear a baseball cap and sunglasses at the airport, but still the airline recognizes you and bumps you up to first class anyway without taking no for an answer. You look apologetically back at Peter before Flash sweeps you away into an unwilling guest appearance for the “Flash Mob.”

Peter’s sitting next to MJ and glances back to where Ned seems to be having trouble talking to Betty.

Anyway, finally you get to Venice.

Peter seems to avoid you the whole time, which kind of sucks. And you get treated to a few hours of the new couple of Ned and Betty.

Approximately nine hundred “babe”s later, you feel the stone beneath your feet tremble. And then the water from the canal forms a monster.

Peter is suddenly at your side. “What is that thing?”

You activate your suit. “Suit up, Pete.”

“Uh... I didn’t bring it.”

“You what?”

Peter pulls you out of the way of a blast of water. The strange fishbowl-headed man seems to have the monster under control, so you focus on evacuating civilians after a quick conversation.

Something’s... off. There’s something about the damage to the buildings... the way the monster’s noises feel just slightly out of sync... You’re suspicious of the man.

But when Nick Fury shows up, you go with him and Peter to the hideout.

Quentin Beck... why does that name seem familiar?

You get angry at Fury. “You know what, what is your problem?” (Maria Hill looks surprised at your outburst.) “It isn’t Peter’s fault that you don’t know where anyone is. How dare you tell him to ‘step up,’ like you know anything about what we’ve gone through. Where were you at the Battle for Earth, Fury? It’s his choice alone what he wants to do with his life, not yours.”

But your righteous anger finds a different target when Fury seems to allow you two out. He seems to find it amusing to give EDITH, your father’s last gift, to someone else in front of you.

He almost immediately offers it to you. “Why would he give it to me? You’re way more qualified than I am.”

You sigh. “No, Peter. I’ll be honest, I’m a little ticked off, but if Dad left them to you, he had a reason. Although I am concerned about the quality of your education. Is there any actual science planned for this science trip?”

The next morning, both you and Peter are especially annoyed at the change of destination.

Your resolve is shaken when Peter accidentally calls in a drone strike - apparently a classmate caught him in a rest stop with some lady in a compromising position.

“Why didn’t you talk to me, Peter? I could have helped you! I helped my dad design some of the protocols in EDITH, and you didn’t think to ask for my advice?”

You decide to ignore Fury’s request, even though Peter abandons the Festival of Lights (or rather, the opera during it) to go fight the fire monster.

You groan and follow him, followed by MJ, followed by Betty, followed by Ned.

Everything goes pretty much the same. Mysterio warns you that using your lasers on the creature would only give it energy, and again you evacuate civilians, including Ned and Betty.

And afterward, Peter goes off instead with Mysterio, leaving you alone. Fueled by jealousy, you start thinking, and you have a brainwave. And then MJ comes to your room with a strange device and things start falling into place.

Peter comes to visit you that night in your hotel room. “I finally found a solution.”

“Where’s EDITH, Peter?”

“I gave her to Mr. Beck! Tony wanted me to find the next Iron Man, and it definitely isn’t me, so I...”

“You... you just gave away my dad’s legacy to HIM?”

You explain to Peter his mistake. How Beck was a disgruntled Stark ex-employee. How the technology he’s been using was a collaboration of enemies your father made over the years. “...Oh, and MJ knows you’re Spider-Man.”

So now Peter heads to Germany to warn Fury, and you go with Peter’s class to protect MJ and Ned while you figure out where Beck and his gang will strike next.

You notice Gutermann immediately. “Everybody, off of the bus!”

You notice the Stark Industries jet in the air before anyone else

And you immediately link up with Peter to communicate. “Alright, Peter. You messed up, you fix it. How’re we doing this?”

Together, you and Peter are unstoppable. His powers and creativity combined with your intellect and suit are a powerful combination. You taunt Mysterio and use EMPs to knock out some of the drones while Peter takes on the others.

And while Peter takes on Mysterio, you fight the last remaining drones.

Afterwards, you hug Peter tightly. “Peter, I like you. Really, really like you. And I thought, for a second, that you might die without knowing that, and it really freaked me out.”

“I like you too. But there’s one thing I need to do.” Peter says. “EDITH, transfer full control to Y/N Stark.”

“Of course, Peter. Tony left a message in case of this circumstance: Nice choice, kid. And to Y/N...tell him.”

“One step ahead of you, Dad.” you tell him, and you and Peter kiss.

Bonus:

It’s some time later, and you are at home with Morgan and Pepper, watching the news.

“This just in: controversial news site TheDailyBugle just released a shocking video claiming to...”

Your mouth falls open in horror as Peter’s face flashes across the screen. “What the f-”

“Language.” Pepper doesn’t miss a beat. Her “CEO face” is on, and she’s already dialing on her phone. “We’re getting ahead of this. Get Peter on the phone.”

“Mom? You’re awesome.”

“I know. But Peter’s part of the family, now. We take care of family here.”

[mdelpin]

To Kill A Dragon - Chapter 3

Previously: Ch 2 | Ch 3 | Next: Ch 4

Chapter 3: The Red Dragon Pt 1

Natsu entered the Fairy Tail guild hall early in the morning. He was in good spirits, the team had just returned from a successful mission, earning enough jewel to allow them to rest for a few days. He was in the mood for a fight.

He looked around for either Gray or Gajeel, but neither of them had arrived yet. It was just as well, his stomach had started rumbling so he decided he might as well eat while he waited. He got Mira's attention and ordered some breakfast.

Natsu wandered over to the table where Lucy was sitting with Levy and sat down to wait for his food. They were talking about Lucy's novel again, and though he tried to join in the conversation, Natsu soon found himself losing interest. He couldn't be bothered with complicated plots about romance, he much preferred action and adventure. He slumped down on the table, bored out of his mind and wondered where Gray could be.

"What's the matter, Natsu?" Lucy asked, unused to seeing him sit quietly.

"I'm bored," He whined, "When's Gray gonna get here?"

"You're looking for Gray?" Lucy asked in disbelief. Considering how often the two of them were at each other's throats she'd think Gray was the last person he'd be waiting for.

"Well yeah," Natsu replied absently, his mind already full of the fight he was eagerly anticipating. "There's a couple of moves I want to try on him."

He'd been working on one move in particular for weeks now which combined with his magic should wipe the smirk off Gray's arrogant face. The last time they'd fought, Erza had interrupted before he'd had a chance to use it, but she wasn't here now. He grinned, anticipating his victory.

Both girls stared at him in surprise before bursting into giggles.

"What's so funny?" Natsu glanced at them, his eyes narrowing in confusion.

"Natsu's going to put the moooooooves on Gray!" An excited Happy exclaimed, "He liiiiiikes him!"

Natsu knew better than to give any importance to Happy's teasing, all it would do was encourage his Exceed, so he pretended not to hear him and glanced towards the kitchen instead as his stomach gave another loud rumble.

Happy quickly lost interest in the conversation when Natsu didn't react to his teasing and made his way back to Carla.

Lucy and Levy laughed even harder. Mira finally brought his food to the table, and he ignored the two girls in favor of eating his breakfast. He shrugged to himself.

Girls are weird. What's so funny about wanting to fight Gray?

Gray and Gajeel had yet to arrive by the time he'd finished eating. Now that he had even more energy, there was no way he could sit still for much longer. Natsu tried to think of other options. He considered going fishing, but one look at Happy's infatuated face as he talked to Carla was enough for him to realize he was out of luck.

Since there was nothing for him to do at the guild, Natsu decided to walk around the city, there was bound to be something exciting going on.

It was then Natsu remembered Romeo mentioning he was taking magic lessons from Totomaru. With no other plan in mind, he decided to seek him out. It was always fun to fight against another fire mage, and Totomaru's flames were more interesting than most. He headed out in the direction of Totomaru's school, conveniently ignoring that the Rainbow Mage hated his guts.

xxx

Tiamat couldn't believe her luck, the dragon slayer was finally alone. She seized the opportunity, swiftly walking into a dark alley and transforming into a perfect replica of Erza Scarlet.

She was confident she could get what she wanted quickly, after all, it had taken almost no effort to seduce the White Dragon Slayer. Even though it was risky to approach Natsu in broad daylight, she felt they were far enough away from the guild hall for it to be a problem.

She approached her target with confidence, already looking forward to the pleasure she was sure to experience before absorbing his magic.

Natsu felt a hand touch his shoulder roughly and tensed, ready for a fight. He turned to look at his would-be opponent and relaxed when he saw it was only Erza, wearing her usual Heart Kreuz armor.

"Oh, hey Erza. What do you want?" Natsu ran his hand through his hair awkwardly. As much as he admired his older sister figure, he didn't always know how to talk to her without others around.

"You," Erza spoke in a tone of voice Natsu had never heard before. It was oddly throaty, making him wonder if maybe she wasn't feeling well.

"I'm so hungry," Erza stared at him intently, as though he were the only thing on the menu.

"Oh," Natsu smiled at her in understanding. Well, that explained it, Mavis knew he could act oddly when he was hungry. He checked his pockets, relieved when he found some jewels. "Come on, I can help you with that."

The dragon slayer grabbed her by the arm and started leading her away.

"You can?" Tiamat licked her lips in anticipation, "I know a place nearby we can go to."

She was thrilled, she'd known this would be easy. She ogled the dragon slayer's body shamelessly, as Natsu dragged her along with him, already thinking of some of the things she planned to do to it.

"No need to wait, there's a place right here!" Natsu smiled at her happily, utterly unaware of her intentions. He led her inside a building and walked up to the counter.

"Can I have a large piece of strawberry cake for my friend?" Natsu ordered for Erza, eagerly paying for her dessert, something he was seldom able to do since he was almost always broke. A dragon slayer's appetite was not cheap.

Tiamat could only stare at him in bewilderment. Why the hell is the fool buying me cake, doesn't he get that I'm trying to seduce him?

They sat down at a table in the busy bakery, and she ate her cake, watching him warily as they sat in uncomfortable silence.

"Feeling better?" Natsu asked her once she'd finished eating.

She nodded at him slowly.

"Well then, it was nice bumping into you. I'll see you later," Natsu got up, waved and left the bakery. Tiamat ran after him.

"Wait!" She exclaimed, hurrying to catch up to her prey. Natsu stopped and looked at her expectantly. She led him to a nearby alley.

"I want you," She told him, placing emphasis on you and once again trying to insinuate her intentions with her voice.

"What do you want me for?" Natsu couldn't for the life of him figure out what the hell was up with Erza, but he was growing weary of it. "Are we going on a job or something?"

Tiamat peered at him with no understanding as to why her plan wasn't working. What was wrong with this guy? Clearly, it was time to change her approach, maybe the girl's usual violence would be the answer. She punched him in the jaw and waited for him to react.

"Hey, what the hell?" Natsu complained, "What's wrong with you?"

"Aren't you going to hit me back?" she asked, perplexed when Natsu didn't immediately retaliate. This wasn't going at all the way she'd expected.

"Why would I?"

Tiamat punched him again, this time harder.

"Seriously Erza, quit it," Natsu snapped, getting fed up with Erza's strange antics, "You're starting to piss me off."

This was clearly not working, Tiamat bit her lip in frustration and decided to change tactics once again. The dragon slayer seemed a bit dense, perhaps she needed to be bolder to get him to understand what she wanted.

She started to move her hand slowly up his right arm, squeezing his bulging bicep and tracing his guild mark with her fingers. She moved her body close enough to touch his.

"Don't you want to show me how strong you are?" She whispered in his ear in that same husky voice.

Natsu raised an eyebrow, "What are you doing?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

Unknown to them, Gray had noticed Natsu leaving the guild just as he was arriving and had decided to follow him. He was in the mood for a brawl, and he could see from the way Natsu was walking that the fire mage had a lot of excess energy.

Gray was anticipating a good fight when he noticed Erza walk up to Natsu. He was a little disappointed. This probably meant they wouldn't get their brawl, but maybe they were going on a job instead.

He hurried to catch up to his friends but lost them in the crowd. He finally spotted them leaving a bakery, and when he witnessed Erza feeling up Natsu's arm muscles and practically throwing herself at his friend he rubbed his eyes to make sure he didn't imagine it.

'What the hell?' Gray thought as the circumstances in front of him remained the same.

Nothing was making sense, so Gray decided to hold back and watch for a bit longer, ignoring the ache he felt as he watched what was transpiring between his two friends.

Tiamat snuck one of her hands inside Natsu's black waistcoat and started running her fingers over his bare chest suggestively while tracing the bulge in his pants with the other.

"You know," She purred as she squeezed the bulge in his pants lightly, "I could make you feel incredible, why don't we go somewhere more private and I'll show you."

Natsu grabbed both of her hands in his and held them away from his body. "Okay, that's enough. I don't know what's gotten into you, but this is seriously weirding me out," Natsu declared, brow furrowed in concern.

"Let's get you back to the guild, you're not acting like yourself."

Gray was following all this, his mouth gaped open in utter disbelief. What the hell was Erza doing? Did Erza like Natsu? Even if she did, this wasn't like her at all. A voice behind him made him startle.

"What are you doing standing there like that?" Erza asked him curiously.

"I'm watching Erza try to get into Natsu's pants," Gray muttered absently. "I can't decide what's stranger, her coming on to him, or him not being interested."

He was so perplexed by the whole situation happening in front of him, he couldn't be bothered to even notice who he was talking to.

"WHAT?! That's impossible!" Erza screeched indignantly. Her face had turned a bright red and in no time at all she had requipped, one sword in each hand.

"Erza?" Gray immediately recognized Erza's distressed voice and turned to look at her.

"How can you be here?" Gray turned back to the scene so quickly he almost gave himself whiplash as he desperately tried to make sense of the situation.

"Where are they?" Erza yelled, eyes darting around the area as she searched for what Gray had seen.

Gray pointed to where Natsu had been only moments before, but he was no longer there. Erza and Gray ran to the alley, but neither could find any sign of Natsu or Erza's doppelganger.

"Tell me everything you saw," Erza demanded as they rushed back to the guild.

xxx

Natsu looked around, hoping to spot someone that could help him get Erza back to the guild while she was in this state. Finding no one, he started moving them in the direction of the guild, dragging her behind him.

Natsu was worried about his friend, he knew she'd never act like this towards him. Erza had always been more like a sister to him.

He was also furious. Someone had done this to Erza, and once he'd gotten her to safety, he intended to find out who and make them pay.

Tiamat struggled to free herself from the dragon slayer's firm grip. She was furious but even more humiliated. Tiamat wasn't used to being refused.

The dragon slayer's reactions confused her, he wasn't acting as a red dragon would, and this left her in a definite quandary. Nothing had gone according to her plan, and she was at a loss as to how to get at his magic, given the constraints inherent in the transfer.

Why was it always the damn red dragons that gave her trouble?

Tiamat thought with irritation as she focused on Natsu in a last ditch effort to figure out how she could salvage this situation. That's when she felt it, there was another presence inside of the dragon slayer.

It reminded her of what she'd sensed inside of the White Dragon Slayer. Tiamat focused on that presence, realizing it felt familiar. She cackled evilly, not quite believing her luck.

Igneel. Fucking Igneel was inside of the Fire Dragon Slayer.

Almost giddy with delight, Tiamat disregarded her original plan of taking the dragon slayer's magic and letting him go as she'd done with the Sabertooth Master. She was being given a chance to exact her revenge on the so-called Dragon King for all his transgressions, and she was not about to waste it.

With her White Dragon magic, she formed small lances of light that shot out through her eyes. She carefully aimed them at Natsu's skull rendering him unconscious, quietly and painlessly.

'Your pain will come later,' Tiamat thought with malice.

Natsu's world faded to black, and he collapsed.

xxx

Erza and Gray called out to Natsu as they ran back to the guild, but there was no response from the dragon slayer. They slammed through the doors of the guild hall, forcing them open as they ran inside. The guild watched in silence as everyone took notice of the pair's troubled expressions.

"Has anyone seen Natsu?" Erza yelled urgently, placing her hands on her knees as she caught her breath from the run.

"He was here for breakfast earlier," Lucy responded, immediately concerned, as she noticed the obvious distress on her teammates' expressions. "What's wrong?"

"Master!" Erza called out, ignoring Lucy for the moment.

"Gray, go check outside. Happy fly home and see if he's there. Max Speed!"

"Aye, sir!" Happy knew better than to ask questions, he immediately flew out of the guild and headed home, going as fast as his magic would allow.

Gray nodded and ran outside, followed by Lisanna who kept watching his face, as if she could figure out what was wrong just by looking at him.

"Gray, what is going on?" Lisanna entreated after a few moments of silence, "Is Natsu okay?"

Gray ignored her questions in favor of searching all around the guild building, it's not like he really had any answers to give anyway. He had no idea what was going on, and his search came up empty, just as he'd expected.

Lisanna continued to look at him with her big earnest blue eyes, obviously wanting to do something to help and it gave him an idea.

"Lisanna, can you fly around the town and see if you can spot him?"

Lisanna nodded, she was worried, but she would save her questions for later. She changed into her Animal Soul: Wings takeover and flew away in search of Natsu.

Gray went back inside, meeting Erza's eyes and shaking his head. They were both baffled as to how they could have lost the fire mage when he'd been so close.

"I asked Lisanna to fly around Magnolia."

"Good thinking, Gray." Erza praised the ice mage, but her voice lacked any enthusiasm.

Happy returned at that moment. They looked at him expectantly, but he shook his head.

Makarov finally came out of his office, drawn by the uproar that seemed different from the general rowdiness of the guild. "What's all the commotion about?"

"We think Natsu has been taken," Erza announced, finally giving voice to her and Gray's biggest fear. "I'm sorry Master, we lost him."

"What happened?" Makarov demanded, Natsu was not exactly the easiest person to get a drop on, none of the dragon slayers were.

Gray recounted what he had seen, much to everyone's amusement and Erza's embarrassment.

"I lost sight of him for a moment when Erza showed up, and then they were gone," Gray finished, he still couldn't get those images out of his head. The woman had been a perfect replica of Erza, good enough to fool even a dragon slayer's enhanced senses.

"There are a lot of hotels in that area, maybe they just checked into one," Makarov suggested evenly. It sounded unlikely, based on what Gray had recounted but they should investigate every possibility and time was of the essence.

"Gramps, I'm telling you, he wasn't interested. I heard him tell her he was bringing her back here," Gray pointed out stubbornly.

"Wendy, I'm sorry to ask this of you, but Laxus and Gajeel aren't here. Do you think you can track Natsu?" Makarov asked, "At least that way we can rule out the hotel angle. Gray and Lucy will go with you."

"Hai! I'll do my best, Master, " Wendy agreed nervously.

"Take communication lacrimas with you and keep me up to date," Makarov ordered as he tried to think of what else they could do.

Wendy, Gray, and Lucy hurried out of the guild, communication lacrimas in hand.

The guild was quiet and tense. Everyone waited for the search parties to return. After some hours had passed everyone returned to the guild. Lisanna had seen no trace of Natsu anywhere in Magnolia. Wendy and the others hadn't been able to pick up his scent past where Gray had last seen him.

Natsu had simply disappeared.

It was official, their beloved dragon slayer had been taken. Makarov went to his office to call Sabertooth.

xxx

Tiamat had changed back to her regular appearance after Natsu lost consciousness. She was quickly joined by a cloaked member of the Penta Dragons who teleported them back to Margaret Town. He was pretty sure that taking the dragon slayer hadn't been part of the plan, but he wasn't about to argue with the deity. He placed Natsu inside of a magic sealing stone, it was the same kind used by the Magic Council to incarcerate mages. Natsu wouldn't be able to use his magic while contained. He hurried to inform his Master of their return.

The Penta Dragon's Master stormed out of his office in search of the Dragon Goddess.

"What were you thinking?" The Master snarled, "This was never part of our plan.

"You need to absorb his magic and return him to his guild," He demanded.

"I will do no such thing," Tiamat replied haughtily, "I have my own plans for the Fire Dragon Slayer."

"We can't risk the wrath of the Fairy Tail Guild just because you want to keep a pet."

"Pet? Oh, no, nothing like that." Tiamat laughed, and the sound sent shivers of fear down the Penta Dragon's Master's back.

"Don't worry, they have no way to connect me to you," She told him, in an attempt to alleviate the man's fear.

The Master wasn't convinced, he seemed unsettled, and Tiamat allowed him to place her back into her own magic sealing stone. She needed time to plot her revenge properly. She was going to take her time with Natsu, by the time she was through with him, Igneel was going to suffer dearly.

She'd already come to a decision, after she'd absorbed Natsu's magic she would no longer need her "caretakers". She would burn everything to the ground and go forth on her own. This world would soon be hers.

A/N: Ok so this is the first big difference, I cringe at how much work this chapter needed. All action is the same, it should just flow smoother and there is a bit more description. About 909 words were added, I hope you enjoy the changes.

[spoonfulofsexy]

Nervous

PART 2 (SHAWN MENDES X READER)

Part 1   Part 3  Part 4  Part 5

AN: Okay so part 2 is done! hope you like it! I’m trying to make these smaller posts so I can keep the story moving with out getting stuck.  Please let me know how you feel about it and if I should keep posting! Any feedback would be amazing! thank you for the notes on the first one!! 

Sunday rolled around again and Shawn spent almost an hour trying to figure out what to wear.  It was a cooler day so he went through his button ups since he was obviously going to wear his black jeans like always.  With every shirt he tried on he got nervous you wouldn’t like it.  The room was covered in his button ups and the time to leave was creeping up on him.

“Fuck”, he groans to himself seeing the mess and yet still not having a shirt picked out.  He runs a frustrated hand through his hair and just closes his eyes and grabs a random one.  Shawn has no other choice but to put it on because of the time crunch.  He snazzes up his outfit with one of his favorite watches and heads out the door.  

His shaky hands open the door to the cafe and he looks down at his watch to check the time, just a couple minutes late. Shawn takes one more deep breath and walks in looking for you, the stranger that makes his heart race.  His eyes finally land on you, you are sitting at a booth by the window.  The way the sun shines through the glass makes it look like your glowing and he finds himself slowly walking to you.

“H-hey”, he nervously smiles as he finally reaches the table.  

You turn your head from the window to the voice and when you see him a smile instantly grows on your face. “Hi”, you smile and shift in your seat to make yourself seem more inviting.

Shawn slowly slides into the seat in front of you and he checks his phone, not sure what to say.

You watch him feeling an awkward silence fall on the two of you and the corner of your mouth tugs into a frown as you try to think of a conversation. “Oh- I’m (Y/N) by the way. I probably should’ve introduced myself first”, you sheepishly say.

He looks up to meet your eyes and instantly gets red cheeked again. “Right”, he chuckles, “I’m Shawn, it’s nice to meet you.” Shawn flashes the most charming yet genuine smile you ‘ve probably ever gotten from a guy.  His perfect white teeth sink into his bottom lip as he tries not to smile at your blushing.  “So I see Teddy is late”, he laughs which of course gets a little giggle out of you that has his stomach tumbling.  

He’s been on so many dates before but somehow you make him feel like he’s never done this before. Shawn didn’t even realize he was just looking at you with so much admiration till your laugh broke him out of his thoughts.

“What?”, you smirk as you try to play off the fact that he totally had you blushing.

Shawn blinks and realizes he was lost in his thoughts. “Oh- uh nothing… sorry”, he rubs the back of his neck slightly embarrassed.

Thankfully Teddy finally decides to show up, “I’m so sorry I’m late”, she sighs.  “Shawn this is (Y/N), (Y/N) this is Shawn.”

“We know, we did that ten minutes before you showed up looking like a hot mess”, you say jokingly totally teasing her which makes Shawn laugh at your sass.

Teddy gasps “offended” and rolls her eyes, “Alright, I should’ve said your name was Ms.Sassypants!”

“I think that fits you better”, Shawn teases you back, trying to test the water. He figured maybe being playful would help make this feel less forced.

“Oh yeah?”, you raise a brow and look at him impressed that he’s taking that step. Of course you couldn’t let him get away with that so you look him up and down trying to see what you can tease him about.  The way you’re looking at him makes him shift a little, now aware of your gaze on him. “Well I guess I can be honest and say Mr. long legs fits you better”, you smirk.

“You mean daddy longlegs”, Teddy laughs at her own joke that definitely gets Shawn and you. Shawn laughed it off with a hint of pink on his cheeks since that word never fails to make his face heat up.  

“Oh Teddy I didn’t know you had a daddy kink”, you look at her “shocked” and send him a wink to make him feel less embarrassed about the nickname.  

Shawn instantly starts to feel more comfortable around you.  He finally was able to push his nerves to the side so he can act like himself.  Everytime you smile he finds himself staring at your beautiful smile.  He hopes he's not being too obvious because he doesn’t want to come off as creepy!  He tries really tries to keep his staring to a minimum as the three of you just talk about everything that comes to mind.

You all order drinks and some refills so you don’t get kicked out for staying so long. After 2 hours you have to break the conversation. “Hey, I really hate to ruin this deep conversation about elephants we’re having but I kinda need to go”, you chuckle.

Shawn tries to hide his pout and he nods. “Aw but I had a really good argument”, he says as a joke to hide his disappointment. “Well it was really nice meeting you”, he sticks his hand out to shake yours.

You shake it back with a smile, “Yeah you too. We shouuuld… do this again.” You can feel your face heating up hoping he feels the same or you’re about to get rejected.

“Yeah how about next sunday?”, Shawn asks nervously finally realizing he should let go of your hand.

“I’d like that”, you smile and say bye to Teddy before having to leave.

When you’re gone and out of sight Teddy smirks at Shawn and leans back in her seat. “You liiiiiike heeeeerrr”, she wiggles her brows.

“Shut up”, he looks away with a smile and sinks into his seat. “Don’t tell her”, he peaks back at her.

“Secrets safe with me”, she “zips” her lips and finishes up her drink.  

Shawn looks out the window and watches you walk away. There was something about you that left him always had him feeling some type of way, and it wasn’t just nervousness.  He didn’t know what the feeling was but he was starting to like it.

[agentelmo]

The X-Files MSR Analysis Series: Season 1 Episode 10

“Fallen Angel”

Previous episode analysis - 1x09 Space.

From an MSR angle, Fallen Angel tells the story of Mulder’s personal angel, and how different his life might have been if he had never met her.  We see here (and many times in the future) that when Mulder tries to go it alone, he doesn’t get very far.  There are parts of this episode which feel like a glimpse into the life Mulder might have led if Scully had never came into his world.  A crazy man running around the forest with a gun and a camera, getting nowhere fast and most likely winding up in prison, and/or fired from the FBI.  Or living the life of a nomadic hermit, holed up in a tin can clipping away at newspapers and squinting at blurry photographs.

Then perhaps he might have turned to squatching much earlier in life, and you know that 90′s Mulder squatching would have only led to bad things.  Very bad.

So the episode starts with Mulder in Wisconsin about to 007 his way into a quarantined area.  The news is reporting it as an ecological disaster, but thanks to Grandpa Deep Throat, Mulder knows it is actually a UFO crash site.  Papa Throat tells Mulder he has 24 hours tops to get in there and check out this downed UFO before the cleaners break out the military strength Mr. Muscle.

Fuck me, can I please jump into this screencap and suck on that bottom lip? HNNNNNGGGGGG...  I feel like I am channelling someone.  Is that you @defnotmeyo?

Clearly Mulder has failed to inform Scully of his escapade.  At this point in time, Scully is still completely unaware of Deep Throat and the fact Mulder gets a lot of his information from him.

This failure points to the fact that Mulder is still holding off from completely trusting Scully.  He can see she has integrity; despite her assignment to the X-Files being a means to an ends - a surreptitious attempt to spy on Mulder - she takes this assignment seriously and applies her scientific rigour to his work honestly and faithfully, and he sees that. 

She has supported him steadfastly throughout their short partnership, but he still cannot shake that she was sent to spy on him.  He cannot trust her with this greatest of secrets - the knowledge of Deep Throat’s existence.

It’s fair enough really, because as much as he really wants to trust Scully (and he really does want to trust her) he is still uncertain.  The way he behaves around her says to me that he has a deep affinity for her.  

Superficially he’s definitely low key attracted to her from the word go - she’s a beautiful woman - but deeper than that, they fall into sync with one another almost effortlessly at times, even when they’re at odds yelling at one another, they’re both learning that they can push each other and it will be okay.  They will have each others back.  The events of Ice taught them that.

But Ice also asked a question that Fallen Angel continues to pose.  Can Mulder trust Scully?  He desperately wants to trust her, but old habits die hard.  Mulder’s motto is trust no one, after all.  What if Scully’s entire purpose is to gain his trust and smoke out the insider leaking information to Mulder?  While it’s no fun from an MSR angle, it does make sense that Mulder still doesn’t entirely trust Scully - he’s still weighing her up.  

So he goes it alone.  First mistake.  And Mulder decides to go on this jolly jaunt through the forest cosplaying as the Milk Tray Man.

“All because the lady loves...” 

Sorry non-Brits, you’ll have to look that one up.

He poodles through the forest trying to look bad ass, but fails spectacularly owing to the fact he has probably the dorkiest run ever.  Sorry Mulder, you just can’t look cool running over hill and dale.  

We know Mulder can look sexy running - he has a lovely bit of sexy running in season 6′s Milagro, for example.

Phwoooaaaaar, keep running G-Man.

But here, in this episode?  

Yeeeeeah, not so much.  

Look at him... boing, boing, boing!

What’s actually most surprising about this whole sequence is that he gets away with it!  He dangles underneath a military vehicle and very obviously plonks on the floor with a soldier so close by he must have been asleep not to hear it let alone see it.

I think it’s safe to say that Mulder’s knowledge on stealthiness was probably lifted exclusively from Tom Clancy novels.  

Either that, or he has stealth cheat codes enabled.

Now I can’t decide if this is Mulder’s “I can’t believe I just got away with that” face, or his “I think I just rolled in badger shit” face.  Hmmm... 

So Mulder bounds through the forest until he approaches a light in a clearing...

Creepy X-Files forest aesthetic on fleek.

He then reveals his true passion in life, as a photographer for Alien Vogue.

Work it, baby.

Going solo out here turns out to be pretty dangerous, so with no one to watch his back, Mulder finds himself getting butt-stroked.  

Wait, what?

Honestly, that’s what getting pummelled in the face with a rifle butt is called!  To be honest, I’d butt-stroke Mulder any day of the week.  Know what I’m sayin’?

After a serious talk about breaking federal law with the designated bad guy of the piece, Colonel Henderson.... 

...Mulder is imprisoned.  

Divine intervention is unlikely, Mulder.

So quick run down.  Mulder gets a hot tip, tells no one about it, runs off without Scully and ends up in military prison.  What a thoroughly unsurprising turn of events.  When Mulder goes it alone and tries to do anything without Scully, he gets his arse handed to him.  

Sorry Mulder, them’s the rules.

But it’s here we are introduced to Mulder’s mirror image.  The man Mulder might have become himself had it not been for a lucky sequence of events in his life that led him to having the right people around him at the right times, whereas Max Fenig clearly did not.

Say hi Max.

Nawww... Max is instantly endearing in his overt politeness and kooky appearance.  What we come to understand later is that Max recognises Mulder and he’s being such a try hard, wanting to be buddies with Mulder, because from observing his life from afar he feels he knows him.  I mean, we can all relate, right?

But Mulder is actually surprisingly dismissive of Max, and I think even somewhat judgemental.  He gets one look at Max and thinks he has the measure of him.  He ignores his polite invitation to talk and rolls his eyes as he turns away. 

I think Mulder might at times think himself above these kinds of people, the crazies who sit in fields on garden furniture holding up colourful “take me to your leader!” signs.  I think that’s what Mulder sees when he first looks at Max - the archetypal UFO wackjob.  The living embodiment of why his work isn’t taken seriously.

For a moment here, Mulder treats Max with the same dismissive disdain that other people have treated Mulder in the past.

Just to drive home the comparison between Max and Mulder, he utters Mulder’s favourite catchphrase of all time - trust no one.  Mulder might not want to admit it now, but despite their personalities being very different, these two men clearly think alike in many ways.

Side note, Max is quite possibly one of the best supporting characters the show ever had.  In all 10 seasons.

Mulder continues to roll his eyes ignoring Max, until Max asks if Mulder saw anything.  Mulder plays his usual trick, to get information out of others rather than giving up any of his own, by playing the contrarian.

But Max isn’t so easily fooled, it seems.

Notice how Max is rubbing his ear in this moment?  What makes him so sure?  Well maybe it’s the fact he’s been abducted by these “alieums!” several times already - hint, hint, rub scar.  FORESHADOWINGGGGGG!

Now finally, finally.  Scully arrives... I mean, it’s only been a good quarter of the flipping episode without her.  Geez... so her big dramatic entrance is entirely appropriate.

And glorious.

Imagine a church chorus as she enters, because the symbolism is so heavy handed here.  Scully arrives, bathed in bright white light - blinding Mulder with her brilliance - liiiiiike.... an angel perhaps?!

While the crashed UFOs are referred to as fallen angels, Scully is the true angel of the piece.  Mulder’s guardian angel.  A supposed proxy of his enemies, sent to spy on him to do the bidding of the Syndicate, essentially.  But in actuality is the only one truly looking out for him - and him alone.

But of course, Mulder knows he’s about to get a royal roasting.  So makes a ill-considered attempt at being charming.

I love that comment though, “I didn’t order room service.”  Because when Mulder does order room service, he orders a hot red head in a trench coat?  I’m not sure we’re thinking of the same kind of room service here, Mulder.  Rawr.

But Scully isn’t interested in banter, she’s here to tell Mulder he’s really done fucked up this time.  That the higher ups are using his latest tomfoolery as an excuse to cashier Mulder out of the FBI.

Poor Scully.  How frustrating this man must be to her in this moment.  She’s trying to save the X-Files here, Mulder, did you miss that?  She’s trying to save you too.  Without Scully, Mulder is heading for a personal disaster, because he frequently cannot see the forest through the trees.  So focused on his present goal he fails to see the larger consequences - or rather sees them, but doesn’t care - the sacrifice is worth it to him.  The Truth™ is all that matters.

Only Scully is fighting to pull him back from the edge, and when he seems utterly blasé about the fact the X-Files might be shut down, she loses her cool.

In fact, I think this is the first time we see Scully genuinely pissed off at him – like really furious.  She’s been varying levels of irritated, but this time she’s actually livid with his behaviour, and not just because he’s disregarding the rules.  

In past episodes Mulder’s lack of respect for protocol saw Scully concerned about her career and what the consequences of being associated with this man and the X-Files would mean for her, but now she’s trying her damnedest to save both.  

She’s angry because she cares and not just about their work, it’s established as far back as Conduit that she has more than just a professional interest in Mulder.  She cares about him.  She sees something in him worth caring about.

Steady on, we’re not quite at that point yet.

She cares about him as a friend and knows the X-Files are important to him - he would later refer to the X-Files as his life’s work - so of course she’s frustrated because she is trying to understand him, but can’t grasp why he would put the X-Files in jeopardy like this.  To her, it makes no sense.  To a new audience it makes no sense either.

Except that it does.  What we will eventually establish with hindsight, is that this kind of behaviour is Fox Mulder all over.  For merely a glimpse at the elusive truth, Mulder would risk everything.  He is a master of self-sabotage - he is determined to barrel headfirst into self destruction - and the fact Scully is there to save him time and again is such an incredible stroke of fortuitousness on his part that, sometimes, I’d swear the Cigarette Smoking Man chose Scully for this purpose all along.

So moving on, and Mulder is being pretty flippant about Scully’s explanation of what was out in the woods; he mocks her, even.  His attitude towards her similar to his dismissal of Max earlier.  A slight “you-have-no-idea-what-you’re-dealing-with” smugness.

But is this really fair of Mulder?  I mean, this disarming as fuck smile is definitely not fair of Mulder because hot dayum... But yeah - not what I meant.

What I meant is Mulder has information she doesn’t and that puts her at a disadvantage that she cannot overcome as a scientist who works off of evidence - proof.

She only sees Mulder seemingly pull this information out of his arse, so of course she isn’t going to believe him.  Like in Ghost in the Machine, he’s not giving her enough to go on.  It’s his own fault that she is so resistant to his version of events.  His lack of trust in her is what is bringing this all down.

This is when we see why trust is so key to their relationship, as Scully will say much later in season 6′s The Beginning - it has always come down to a matter of trust between them.  When they don’t trust each other, they both spin their wheels in frustration.  

This is another episode where we see the outline of their working dynamic being drawn.  As Scully will poetically put it one day, they are perfect opposites of each other, and as such their relationship only soars when they both trust in each other’s judgement, abilities and dedication to the truth - whatever that might be.

When mistrust, doubt and even resentment seep in, the differences that when perfectly aligned make them so strong, can instead work full force against each other, tearing them apart.  Funnily enough, a good example of that is in The Beginning too.  

But in this moment, Mulder doesn’t believe Scully puts the truth above protocol and he still isn’t sure if he can trust her not to report everything he tells her to the people he believes work against him.  So he continues to hold out about Deep Throat... and, for now at least, they continue to grate against each other.

But hey, don’t worry about it.  Any time you start to feel down about how Mulder and Scully are at odds with each other, just remember that one day these two Spooky babies will be having kinky handcuff sex.  Canon kinky handcuff sex.

The next little scene with them has it’s MSR charm in a way.  Because Scully is effectively Mulder’s jailer (a fact he amusingly references later with a bit of 70′s pop culture).  She’s escorting him back to D.C. to face an Office of Professional Responsibility hearing - OPR!  

We hear about OPR quite a bit over the coming years with these two, don’t we.  Which is why these early brushes with pissing off the higher ups are so interesting to go back and look at, because it’s such a stark reminder of how their love and dedication to one another eventually takes over all reason - for both of them.  

We know there will come a time when there will be no lengths to which Scully will not go for Mulder.  From being thrown into prison, to sacrificing her job, to going on the run and harbouring him as a criminal fugitive for 6 years.  This episode serves to highlight the beginnings of this behaviour in Scully.  Her going against the rules for Mulder.

So, knowing she’s been sent there to take him back to D.C., Mulder changes tack, he wants her on board, he values her insight and abilities so he wants her to help him on this now that she’s here.  When she’s there, undeniable and in his presence, it’s almost like he can’t help himself but to put his faith in her.

Scully, bless her, does her best to hold on to being angry at him.  But Mulder’s incessant charm always screws her over in the end.  She can’t resist him - and I don’t mean sexually, I mean just his boyish enthusiasm and unshakeable determination seems to always chip away at her resolve.  

It is, after all, as she says much later in I Want To Believe, why she fell in love with him.  So it makes sense that in hindsight she often gave in to him like this because she secretly found his stubbornness equally as endearing as she found it exasperating. 

The Last Detail, starring Dana Scully!  Ha, back in the 90’s you could quote 70’s movie classics and you’d have half a hope in hell anyone knew what you were talking about, Mulder.  

So The Last Detail is a movie about a young naval officer being escorted across country to prison.  But before his two jailers take him there they decide that, since he will be going away for a long time, he should first get to enjoy what life has to offer.  The film stars Jack Nicholson so I think that voice Mulder puts on is his Nicholson impression.  Yikes.

So is Scully going to show Mulder what life has to offer before hauling him off to OPR?  WINK WINK.

Maybe that’s what Mulder was hoping for ey?  Although, for Mulder, the height of what life most has to offer is bumming around Wisconsin looking for downed UFOs.  Pfft.  Spoil sport.

What I also like about this exchange before they enter Mulder’s motel room, is the fact that not so long ago Mulder was completely at odds with Scully, but Mulder so easily lets their disagreements go and slips straight back into their comfortable bantering.

It’s like whenever he is with her, he is unconsciously trying to charm her - he seems to turn it on whenever they’re alone together - it’s that little bubble they have that we’ve talked about in the past; once they’re in there together they are in a world of their own.  While she is still clearly annoyed with him, he’s trying to entice her in to that bubble with a bit of casual flirting and she fights to hold on to her annoyance.

Course, the banter bus is forced to a sudden halt when Mulder and Scully realise someone has broken into and trashed his motel room.

Check out Mulder’s Ken doll pose.

I like how Mulder gets his quip in about how house keeping hasn’t been yet, but when Scully goes to say something in response, Mulder shushes her.  

Piss taker.

The way Mulder goes for his gun, forgetting he doesn’t have it anymore - because of course he doesn’t, Mulder losing his gun is like, his favourite thing to do after secretly staring at Scully.  His little head shake and her face fully communicating her thoughts on the matter.  You don’t need me to translate, just look at that face.

“Soooo um... do you think she’s still mad at me?”

Yes, Mulder.  Yes I do.

So the intruder turns out to be Max, and they drag him out of the bathroom so he can explain himself.

The best part of this conversation is when protective!Mulder body checks Max when he attempts to shake Scully’s hand.

Sit the fuck down, son.

It’s the only time Mulder becomes defensive in this whole scene, even though he’s just heard people have been spying on him for years, it’s only when Max makes a move towards Scully that Mulder gets visibly agitated.

Nobody touches bae, Max.  No touchie.

There’s an entertaining beat later in this conversation, when Max explains that he read Mulder’s Omni article on the Gulf Breeze UFO sightings.  Omni, interestingly enough, was a real magazine that was published in the 70′s through to the mid 90′s.  It contained articles on both science, science fiction and the paranormal.  Sounds right up Mulder’s passage.  What?

Mulder seems to be slightly embarrassed to have this revealed in front of Scully, as his eyes dart to her immediately and he stutters before responding.

That’s his ‘please don’t judge me’ face.

He already knows from The Jersey Devil that Scully thinks he has no life, and so to have his personal pursuits just openly revealed - that in his free time he writes articles for a paranormal magazine under an assumed name, no less.  Yeah, he doesn’t want Scully to pity his spartan existence any more than he thinks she already does.

Now I want to take a moment to dissect this phrase Max uses.  

“The enigmatic Agent Scully.”

Because where does Max get the notion that Scully is enigmatic?  Enigmatic, of course, meaning mysterious, indecipherable, puzzling etc.   Max says that he’s been following Mulder’s career – meaning following his cases – through viewing his travel expenses.  He would have been able to see where he was going, but not necessarily what he did when he was there.  So I wonder if these NICAP groups are actually spying on Mulder and Scully?  Do they go and hunt them down, look into what they’re investigating – observe them?  

It might then explain why Scully is described as enigmatic – these people, who are clearly believers like Mulder - would find Scully completely inscrutable.  A huge sceptic investigating the paranormal? Questioning her partner at every turn?  From their perspective Scully would seem a rather enigmatic figure.  An oddity. As Max himself says....

Perhaps these people were paying far more attention than Mulder realises.

While Mulder is clearly flattered by the attention, Scully finds it all rather tiresome.

Bless Max, he does not pick up on Scully’s unimpressed tone of voice whatsoever.

Mulder does though, and attempts to appeal to her own vanity.

 Although to be entirely precise, Max did say enigmatic agent Scully, so despite apparently having a photographic memory, Mulder couldn’t accurately remember what was said only 2 minutes ago.

Look at the smile on his face though, keep trying to reel her in, Mulder.  She’ll crack eventually!  Mulder seems quite tickled at the idea of Scully being described as enigmatic.  I think Mulder likes to think Scully is actually quite predictable, but she proves him wrong on that count several times as the series progresses.  She can certainly keep him guessing.

So Max then invites Mulder and Scully into his trailer home, and Mulder can barely contain himself.

I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to see Mulder so tickled by something, and the first thing he does is look down at Scully to share the moment with her.

She’s fighting not to smile, look at her face.  She still wants to be annoyed at him.  But he’s still chipping away at her resolve... chip, chip, chip.

This scene is quite heavily contrasted with Mulder’s first meeting with Max, where he was so dismissive of him.  It kind of shows how Mulder’s single-minded focus on seeking the truth can actually dehumanise him.  Because now he’s like a kid in the UFO candy store.  He’s charmed by the hokeyness of Max’s trailer; in fact, the manner of decor - the haphazardly placed belongings mixed with newspapers clippings, photographs and stacks of books - bears some resemblance to the ordered chaos of Mulder’s basement office at the FBI.

Later, in season 4′s Tempus Fugit, Scully will remark that Max and Mulder are kindred spirits in “a deep, strange way”.  That only the two of them could appreciate living like this - the nomadic, frugal life of a UFO hunter.  Singularly obsessed, pinning newspaper articles and blurry photographs to every blank surface available.

She didn’t know how right she was, did she.

And that’s the MSR angle here, because I genuinely believe that Mulder could have easily ended up like Max if he hadn’t met Scully.  In fact, we see in I Want To Believe how close Mulder is to the Max Fenig lifestyle.  Without Scully working by his side, and the FBI to channel his energy, he effectively turns into Max - a recluse who sifts through paranormal paraphernalia by the ton, looking for some kernel of truth to prove the existence of extraterrestrials to the world, all the while slowly disappearing into himself in the process.

We see in season 10 that his home office that once kept his obsession contained - away from the rest of the house - away from the rest of his life, has now expanded out into pretty much everywhere -  consuming everything, including his relationship with Scully.  

What that says to me is that he really needs Scully to keep him balanced, and that’s what we see the first glimmers of here, in Fallen Angel - a need for someone to balance his obsessive nature, his single-mindedness, his propensity for self-destruction.  

Oy... this got depressing.

So Max plays Mulder and Scully a recording he lifted from a police dispatcher radio transmission to a deputy who was the first to respond to the UFO crash - of course not knowing what it was he was dealing with.  It sounds like this deputy and a fire crew were attacked.  This spurs Mulder on, the look in his eyes as he turns to Scully tells her everything she needs to know - he’s not gonna let this one go.  

DUN! DUN! DUUUUUUN!

She’s equally surprised to hear what happened out there, and now Mulder has finally cracked her - she’s on board.  Even if she doesn’t believe the truth is “alieums!” she sees there is more going on here than meets the eye, and this is how these two work together so well.

Because even if they don’t agree on what is happening, they can still work together so long as they always share the core goal of finding the truth.

Now we are going to take a side step into Mulder’s Kitchen.  Pull up a seat, we’re gonna delve into some mythology stuff for a moment.

So, this episode is a mythology episode before the mythology even existed.  So some elements of this episode tally up with what we come to know later of the aliens, but then other things certainly do not.  For example, the alien here is clearly incredibly powerful, much more powerful than the aliens we will encounter later - it’s main abilities being that it can turn invisible and PASS THROUGH SOLID OBJECTS.  We don’t ever see that again - thank God!

The alien bounty hunters we see later are significantly nerfed - their greatest abilities are shape-shifting and super human strength.  So is this alien here something different?  

Something infinitely more interesting that this alien does do, is exhibit an ability which reappears in season 10.  It’s this high pitched squealing noise that causes damage through the auditory cortex in the brain.  

In season 10′s Founder’s Mutation, Dr. Augustus Goldman’s children that were experimented on with alien DNA are also able to exhibit this high pitched frequency which causes a very similar painful reaction.  It’s literally the same sound, but a different pitch.  Go compare them!

Towards the end of Fallen Angel, Max also hears this sound and he repeats over and over that he’s in pain, clutching at his ear that pours with blood.

Similarly, this ability the children have in Founder’s Mutation causes blood to pour from the ears, nose, mouth and eyes of Dr. Goldman.  

I have no idea if this is intentional or not, but it’s shockingly similar.  If it is intentional, then will we find that William has this strange ability too?  

But that’s getting away from Fallen Angel, and into season 11 speculation territory.. so moving on!

Mulder and Scully visit the hospital to find out what happened to the deputy and the fire crew, and as Scully chats with the Doctor in charge about radiation burns, we discover a fascinating factoid about Scully.

Forensic medicine, ay?  I mean, that’s not surprising at all, really, but still... GOOD TO KNOW!

Next we get a Mulder-Scully walk and talk.  Hospital corridor too, classic!

Mulder, stop looking at your hot partners lips and concentrate, man!

Mulder is actually positively buzzing; hearing that the deputy and fire crew had severe radiation burns.

Look at how closely they walk together too, they’re bumping shoulders the whole time.  Mulder really has no concept of personal space. 

I like this scene because it’s Mulder being as excited as a kid at Christmas, and Scully is throwing out an alternative explanation, but he just keeps coming back at her.  It’s a very familiar song and dance.

But this is what they do - Scully makes Mulder work for it, and completely opposite to what was intended, she ends up not debunking his work, but makes it stronger - actually gives it more weight, rather than less.

So what happens is that surprisingly, Scully doesn’t outright dismiss what Mulder is saying, but she is still relentlessly focused on keeping Mulder out of trouble, by getting him to the OPR hearing.

Mulder, however, remains pretty indifferent about it.  He listens to her, but he’s not really all that concerned.  He feels he is so close to catching a glimpse of something here, that he is willing to sacrifice even the X-Files to stick around and follow it through.  

But ultimately what he’s doing here is incredibly reckless because he hasn’t actually seen anything.  I mean, let’s go back and review.  All he’s seen is a mangled crash site which could have been anything - let’s be honest - and some emergency services personnel with reported radiation burns.  What it comes down to, is that he’s risking this mainly on the word of Deep Throat.

He needs Scully to remind him of what he needs to do – to think of the bigger picture.  But poor Scully is just ignored – again.  She’s trying really hard to save his ass, but seems intent on going down in flames.  

Ah I do love a good walk and talk though.  This is how I like my baby agents. Walking and talking and arguing and Mulder being a little bitch, and Scully exasperatedly trying and failing to get Mulder to see sense.  Ah good times!

It’s at this moment, Colonel Henderson arrives with several of his men suffering from more radiation burns.  GASP!  Mulder tries to reason with Henderson about hunting the alien down, but is thrown out of the hospital, while Scully - she’s a medical doctor don’tcha know - is asked to stick around and help treat the soldiers.

Mulder decides to return to his motel to look for Max - what an irony, the only one with the means to help him continue his search is the UFO wacko.

But Mulder arrives to find Max having an epileptic seizure.

And Mulder is a pretty sweet guy really, right?  Taking care of Max.  He’s pretty caring when he wants to be.

Holding him through his seizure...

...getting him a glass of water... even if Max looks terrified of glasses of water...

...and tucking him into bed.  

Naww… Mulder’s paternal instincts on display here.  

Oh...

Oh God.

I need a minute.

Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

So after playing daddy to Max, Mulder notices that Max has a scar behind his ear.  A rather grim looking scar, too.  Eugh.

Mulder has seen this before... in an X-File of course, because everything is in an X-File.

I have bad thoughts looking at those pianist fingers.  Seriously.  No more fanfic for me.

Mulder has clearly had these documents faxed over to him, but who exactly did that?  Who would he trust at the FBI to go through his files, not to mention the fact he’s currently up for disciplinary action right now, so who would OK these documents being sent?

Meh.

Who cares, we have got some hot glasses!Mulder action for you.  KAPOW!

SHAZAM!

Mmm, yes.  Ring Ring... It’s OPR here!  We’ve decided to drop all disciplinary action, Mulder.  Just be sure to wear those glasses from time to time and all is forgiven.  HNNNNGGG....  Ahem.

Scully arrives back from her voluntary stint at the hospital - I hope she got paid for that.  And she’s exhausted and dejected.  Mulder has his theories, but wants to know what Scully’s thoughts are.

Nice one.  Excellent theory there, Scully.  Well thought out; good reasoning.

I kid.  I kid.

I like this conversation, because for Mulder’s part, he’s showing that he values and respects her opinion, even when she hasn’t got one ha.  Even though Mulder is used to her going against him, he’s willing to hear it - he’s willing to be challenged, and that’s why their dynamic works for him, because he doesn’t take her stance personally.  He understands and values where she’s coming from, even when he doesn’t agree.

And the same goes for her, it’s why their dynamic works between them and them alone - because Scully listens to Mulder when most sane people wouldn’t, lets be honest.

But ever the guardian angel, Scully continues to remind Mulder to keep his eye on the ball. 

His trust in her is building, because even though he’s aware her primary goal is to get him back to D.C., he trusts her to tell him the truth when he asks her to do him a favour and examine Max’s scar.

In a demonstration of her integrity, and her loyalty to Mulder, when Scully asks...

and Mulder responds by being a fucking tease...

Scully agrees to examine Max, not based on any claim Max is making - Mulder points out that it’s not Max who thinks he’s an abductee.

She agrees to examine Max against her better judgement and only because Mulder asks her to. 

Nothing more than that.  Which is a pretty big deal.  “I do it all for you, Mulder.”

Unfortunately when they go to find Max, he’s missing and they overhear on his radio scanner that someone from Colonel Henderson’s patrol has spotted someone trespassing where they shouldn’t be.

Mulder and Scully both realise this must be Max.  

Scully realises first what this means though, that Mulder isn’t going to be catching that flight to D.C.   

The frustrated look on her face is the look of someone who knows exactly what’s about to happen... she knows this man well enough by now.  He’s not going to do anything he doesn’t want to do - but she will still try to fight him on it.  She isn’t going to give up that easily.

Mulder, on the other hand, looks at her with a face that says “I wholeheartedly concur Scully, lets go save Max!”

Wait, what?!

There’s a hint of desperation in Scully’s voice, she really is trying so hard to keep him out of trouble and protect their work - protect him.

He literally ignores every word she says though, and continues to obsessively pursue this lead.  I honestly think the only reason he stops and engages Scully, is because he can’t find the damn car keys.  I think if he had the keys and she didn’t get in the car, he would have just took off without her, because we all know he’s very capable of that.

But because he knows she has the keys, he takes a moment to explain his thinking.  

Mulder’s theory is basically that Max wasn’t chasing the UFO, that it was in fact the other way around.  The UFO was there for Max. 

I don’t think Scully believes Max is being abducted by aliens - we know she doesn’t believe in that; but what she does know is that she cannot stop Mulder when he’s like this; he’s going with or without her.  She knows trying to get through to him will only push him away, so she gives up trying to fight back.  

She really should have just clobbered him with one of their FBI issue torches and shipped the stupid fucker back to D.C. in a suitcase.

As it stands, her only course of action is to go with him - to try and stop him doing something he might later regret.  So reluctantly, she hands over the keys.

This is a dynamic that plays out again and again from this point onward.  Mulder bullheadedly wanting to plough on ahead regardless of the consequences to himself (and frankly to Scully too sometimes) and she trying desperately to pull him back, only to end up being swept along for the ride in the end.

This dynamic is usually balanced out by then Scully serving some pivotal role in being there – usually saving Mulder’s life.

But oddly, not this time.

They find Max who is babbling about the alieums coming to get him, but then Mulder bizarrely sends Scully outside.

His confidence in her ability to hold off a shadowy military clean up crew is sweet, but she had no chance.  

She’s grabbed immediately and Colonel Henderson completely ignores all of her protests.  

In the end, Scully being there this time served no purpose at all.

But then again, Mulder being there served no purpose either.  He wasn’t able to stop Max being abducted and he gets flung across the warehouse by the invisible alien for his trouble.

Mulder is lucky that this alien knows he’s one of the the main characters of this show and didn’t decide to irradiate him to death like every other human being it had encountered thus far.

When Mulder gets up, Max is being abducted, and Mulder cannot do anything to stop it.

The next thing we know, Max is gone and Mulder is left with nothing but his NICAP cap.

I got abducted by alieums and all I got was this lousy cap.

The next scene is of Mulder and Scully finally at the OPR hearing.  Somehow Scully managed to get him there on time, it seems.  This scene ultimately foreshadows what occurs at the end of season 1 which is the closure of the X-Files.

By rights, it should have happened here – it’s almost like Mulder knew someone would swoop in to save his ass, because he really didn’t give two shits about getting back in time.

We see at the very end of the episode that Section Chief McGrath is on the Syndicate books, and has been working to get rid of of Mulder.  

But is saved by Deep Throat. 

However, his motives are suddenly cast in shadow.  Is Deep Throat on Mulder’s side or not?  

What it does reveal is that, without Deep Throat, Mulder and Scully were doomed before they even stepped foot in the OPR hearing.

Scully, again, being the bastion of loyalty and integrity that she is, tries to defend Mulder until the very last.  Even when she’s denied permission to make a statement on Mulder’s behalf she does it anyway.  Or at least tries to.

She really doesn’t want their work together to end.  That’s my greatest take away from this episode.  That Scully wants to be out there with Mulder - and she’s willing to fight for it.  If she didn’t, then she could have just let this play out, but she fights and fights - until someone shuts her down - to stay by Mulder’s side and continue with him on the X-Files. 

You know what I said about Mulder’s charm earlier?  He turns it on for Scully, and he’s trying to be charming here - but it’s not working.

When Scully wishes Mulder luck, he banters about how he’s surprised he lasted this long.

This is probably the most touching scene between the two of them in the whole episode, because for the first time, Mulder acknowledges Scully’s feelings when he tells her not to worry.  He can see she’s feeling defeated and is concerned for him.

What I think he fails to realise is that she’s not just worried about him for his sake.  She doesn’t want to stop working with him too.

The look of utter defeat on her face when she thinks it’s over - it’s almost like she can’t look him in the eye because she thinks she’s failed him in there.

He keeps putting on the brave face though.  Trying not to worry her.  He looks so sickeningly vulnerable hobbling away on those crutches.  And this quip..

Ugh it just hits you in the heart, doesn’t it?!

Maybe he should have been fired here, then he could have asked her on a date because they’re not partners anymore and he’s out of the FBI.  Then they might have got married and had babies and AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

No, brain.  Stop.

Being serious now... because as disarmingly charming as Mulder is being, isn’t this all a little bit too casual for a man who is about to lose everything?

It’s actually in moments like these that we see how easily Mulder becomes his most reckless and self-destructive.  He wants to believe so badly, that all else falls to the wayside when someone dangles a tantalising piece of the whole in front of him.  His singular obsessive nature is so easily turned against him in this way.

Which is why he needs Scully to look out for him.

Mulder thinks he’s grasped something huge here, but we know that it’s merely a fragment of the whole, and those greater truths he will discover in the next 9 years would have been utterly lost to him if he didn’t have Scully there to keep him on the right path - keep him grounded. 

He seems to have all but given up hope of continuing on the X-Files in this scene.  Perhaps that was the reason for his casual attitude all along - he knew they would use this to get rid of him no matter what he did.

Perhaps he’s about ready to jump full blown into Max’s lifestyle – forget procedure and the FBI – that’s all just getting in the way. 

Mulder gives an incredible speech here which seems to point to that conclusion, in a way.   That the truth will out, regardless of the machinations of the FBI, whomever they serve and whether or not they fire him.  He will keep pursuing the truth.

Man, what a mic drop moment.

But if he had been sacked here, Scully would have been reassigned and he would have gone right down the rabbit hole without her.  See season 2.

Again, it’s incredibly fortuitous for Mulder that he met Scully.  She really did save him from a life of ridicule and obscurity, a life in his season 1 youth he might have embraced in some petulant act of defiance against the world.  But that ultimately only he would have suffered from... and Scully.

Mulder was, and always has been, walking a very fine line between obscurity and legitimacy… and while Mulder is indeed a brilliant man with an incredible mind – a beautiful mind as Scully would later describe it in The Sixth Extinction – he is constantly under attack, whether that be from his traumatic past, or the forces within and without the FBI that seek to turn him on himself or on those around him. 

In short, he could have very easily fallen off the edge if he had no one to hold him back. 

Scully truly is his guardian angel.

Next up... 1x11 - Eve.

[rollinsbabe]

Car Naps and Feelings (Seth Rollins) - the reader rides along to the next location for the next WWE RAW show with Finn Balor, Sami Zayn, and Seth Rollins. Things get a little cozy and personal in the car with the reader and Seth, causing some feelings to get exposed. fluff

another seth rollins story for y’all as requested! this is primarily just fluff, with little bits of sexual tension here and there. enjoy

WARNING: language

******

I just had one of the most grueling matches of my career so far and was looking forward to the 5 hour drive to our next RAW location. I was thrilled to be able to relax and joke around with my friends, but if we’re being completely honest, I was most looking forward to sleeping in the car. 

I gathered my bags and set out on a search for my driving buddies: Finn and Sami. It took me a while, but eventually I heard the cackling laugh that could belong to none other than my little ginger Canadian. I rounded the set of equipment trunks and saw the two losers leaning against the wall, near the exit door. When they saw me, they both raised their hands and called my name. 

“So y'all can talk to me when I get here but you can’t answer my calls?” I crossed my arms and scolded them jokingly. 

Finn pulled out his phone and saw the “3 missed calls” notification. He shrugged his shoulders and glanced up at me sheepishly. “Sorry about that.”

I rolled my eyes and wheeled my gear towards the door. “Well, all is forgiven. Let’s just get in that car and get going.“ 

Sami grabbed my upper arm, stopping me. I furrowed my eyebrows in question. “What? Why aren’t we leaving right now?" 

Sami looked at me guiltily and mumbled, "Someone else is coming too." 

I wasn’t sure I heard him correctly, so I turned to Finn and said, "Huh?”

“Well you see, the thing is,” he began, “Cesaro rides with Sheamus most of the time nowadays so Seth has been hung out to dry a bit and since me and Sami are both really good friends with him, we offered for him to come with us." 

Both Sami and Finn looked at me pointedly, trying to gauge my reaction. 

Honestly, I knew Seth and had worked with him before, both in NXT and here on RAW, but I didn’t have much of a personal relationship with him. I’ve never been one to turn away new friends, so I didn’t really care. It was sharing the backseat that I most annoyed about. 

"Well pretty boy better hurry it up if he’s trying to catch a ride with us. I’m hungry and tired and he’s wearing my patience. Him and his slow moving ass,” I said. 

Sami’s cheeks turned red and he looked as though he was holding in a laugh. I turned my attention to Finn and he looked the same. I felt a hand on my shoulder and his voice was in my ear faster than I could comprehend. 

“Pretty boy and his ‘slow moving ass’ is here and ready to go. Sorry for keeping you, your majesty,” Seth huskily whispered to me. 

I flinched away and turned to see an obnoxious smirk plastered across his face. The other two boys broke out in laughter and my cheeks heated with my slight embarrassment. "I’ll forgive you,“ I muttered and then added more clearly, "just don’t let it happen again, pretty boy." 

Eventually we all made it to our car with our bags loaded. Finn was driving with Sami in the passenger seat and Seth and I occupied the back. Before we got going too far, I begged Finn to stop somewhere to eat and Seth and Sami jumped to my defense, so we made a quick stop at Arby’s before getting on the highway, en route to Knoxville. 

"So (y/n), I saw your match tonight,” Seth started in between bits of a roast beef sandwich. “That was some pretty badass stuff you were throwing out in the ring. You really gave Sasha a run for her money.”

“Thanks. We really push each other to be our best and most extreme selves." Me and Sasha loved any excuse to kick each other’s asses and we both had a love for nitty gritty, hardcore wrestling like the Attitude Era. It made us both better at our game and that’s why we were on top of the Women’s Division. 

"Ya know," Finn piped up from the front, "if the hardcore title was still around, you would definitely be the holder.” 

I smirked, my ego boosted. That was my favorite belt the WWE had ever had. When I was little, I made my own Hardcore belt and wore it to school everyday.

Seth snorted, "Guess the Women’s championship belt will just have to do for now.” He side eyed me from his seat and gave me a wink. 

My face flushed and Sami caught my gaze from the rear view mirror, giving me a questioning look. "Guess so,“ he said with a smile. 

Small talk ensued from there. Talk of us all missing our homes, our workout routines, cheating on calories, etc. 2 hours into the trip, I began to get sleepy, so I grabbed my small blanket from my go bag and covered myself up. 

"Going to sleep?” Sami asked. 

“Yeah, just a small nap. I really had my ass kicked tonight,” I yawned.

“Sleep tight, ugly." 

I fell asleep relatively quickly to the soft hum of the car moving and the sound of the boys voices. I woke up not much later to the same noises. My neck was surprisingly not stiff from sleeping in the car, but I felt like I was overheating. I rubbed my eyes and looked around the small car to try to establish my surroundings.

It was dark, but I quickly realized that my head was leaned over onto Seth’s shoulder with one of my legs tossed over his. I sat up so quickly I got dizzy and slid myself off of him. 

"Good morning, sleepy.” Seth sounded bemused at the situation, which only added to my utter embarrassment. 

“Hey,” I mumbled. 

Sami turned so he was facing us in the backseat and I regretted making eye contact with him. He had a shit-eating grin plastered across his face and he wiggles his eyebrows at me. “Did you sleep well, dude? You sure looked comfortable." 

There was a small silence before all 3 guys bust out in laughter. I ducked my head and pretended to answer a text from Bayley. "Fuck you, guys." 

Seth playfully hit my arm. ”(y/n), it’s okay. I know I’m irresistible,“ he joked. 

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes and continued to pretend as though I was preoccupied. "Yeah, that’s what you are. Irresistible. Not annoying or egotistical or slow as hell. Not at all." 

By this time their laughter had started to die down, but at Finn’s comment, it immediately started up again. "If he really was those things, then you wouldn’t be moaning his name in your sleep and cuddling up to him." 

My head snapped up and a look of horror passed my features. I hadn’t remembered dreaming, much less dreaming about Seth, but I wouldn’t put it past me either. I was definitely a sleep talker. "Are you serious?” I asked. 

Seth threw his arm around me and pulled me in for a side hug. “It’s okay, princess. Really. I’d be moaning your name in my sleep too, if I had the chance to sleep,” and he winked at me again. 

I pushed his arm off of me like I was disgusted with him, even though my chest tightened with excitement at our closeness. He didn’t buy into my attitude though, because he just continued to smirk at me and moved his hand to my knee instead. I slipped out from underneath his grasp and slide back to my side of the backseat, my cheeks still flushed, but this time with more than just embarrassment. 

The car quieted to just normal bickering and talking again so I seized the opportunity to tell Bayley and Sasha about what happened. I furiously typed the message out to our group chat and waited for a response from the girls.

My phone pinged a few minutes later and I opened the message: 

Sasha - “HOLY SHIT! I just wanna say that I called that! I told Bay that you’d be doing Seth by Wrestlemania time.” 

Me - “Wait, why did you think that I’d be doing Seth by Wrestlemania???”

Bayley - “Hahaha!! Because Seth is definitely into your crazy ass. He liiiiiikes you, loser.”

Me - “What???" 

Sasha - "Yeah, I don’t get it either, babe. lol" 

Bayley - "Cesaro told us about Seth’s crush when we went out for drinks after the show in Pittsburg a couple weeks ago.” 

I locked my phone and shoved it roughly into the front pocket of my bag. Seth raised an eyebrow at me, but I just shook my head at him. 

While he was talking to Finn and Sami for the rest of the ride, I watched him from the corner of my eye. He was pretty handsome, but I had always thought that. He had a warm laugh and seemed to be a really big nerd. In all honesty, I had a crush on him. And apparently he had a crush on me. Eventually he caught my eye and I looked away before he could smile at me and make me blush again. 

We finally arrived at our hotel in Knoxville around 1 am. The boys were already heading into the hotel while I was still getting my bags. I lifted the heaving suitcase out of the back of the SUV when I felt a hand on my waist. I spun to come eye to eye with Seth. This time I didn’t have the time or want to pull away from his touch.

He pulled me in close to his chest and brought his lips to my ear. "I really didn’t mind your little nap in the car earlier,“ he whispered. His voice was thick and full of lust. "I could go for another nap like that sometime.” My breath caught in my throat when he bit my earlobe. 

He pulled away and gave me a charming smile, pulling the rest of my bags out of the car for me, “Here you go.”

I thanked him quietly, my head still reeling with what just happened. We walked into the hotel together and checked in to our rooms, discovering we were right across the hall from each other. The ride in the elevator was quiet, thick clouds of sexual tension hanging over us. 

We came to our rooms and I paused, my hand resting on the doorknob. I looked over my shoulder and saw Seth was staring at me. A small smile appeared on my lips and I opened my door, pausing at the threshold. “Goodnight pretty boy,” I said smugly.

“Goodnight, princess. Nap with you later,” he joked. 

 And just like that, we both retired to our rooms for the night. I laid face down on the bed and groaned. Fuck Seth Rollins for being so damn charming and making me fall for him.

I only laid for a while before a knock on my door sounded. I don’t know who or what I expected, but I checked my hair in the bathroom mirror before opening the door. Sasha and Bayley stood in the hall, giving me mischievous and questioning looks. 

Bayley spoke up when they both pushed their way into my room. “Dude, what was all that? We saw you from down the hall and it looked like maybe someone has a little cru-”

“Shut up!” I cut her off. “It’s nothing." 

But that night, I found myself dreaming about Seth and I realized that it was slowly becoming something.