#its the curt mega affect

[itsjusteds]

AHHHHH LOOK ITS THE BOY ITS THE BLORBO

hi, ricky. i love your art style, and the way you do the lines is so cool! could you please draw duke keane from hatchetfield?

Howdy! Thank you so much, oh my goodness! Of course I can draw some more Duke for ya! He’s one of my favorite Hatchetfield characters, and criminally, i’ve only drawn him a few times.

Have a doodle page! <3

[cowardlykrow]

Gah, all this shout out stuff I'm seeing for my artist mutuals is so cute and deserved so lemme also do it cuz i love them 😔✨💛💛💛 [I actually have SOO many people i love and adore its ridiculous, but i'll keep this "short" by shouting out the very small circle I followed when i first started to make fanart 👉👈]

And by "Short" i mean im gonna add a cut cuz i never shut up :3c @booigi-boi ~the~ #1 Ted spankofski artist [no room for argument, this is just factual.] The way they draw face's and poses, and hair, and clothes, and joey in general is just absolutely incredible!!!! [The moment I saw her art I was just awestruck, and so ridiculously inspired to start drawing again that it's ended up with me right here now... so if you hate me blame her /J] She just has such beautiful line-work and an ability to create such expressive fun pieces, along with having such a talent of using minimal shading and yet making every art piece look totally decked out. Just!!! its literally all so beautiful. incredible. amazing. [Imagine this goes on for way too long and its incredibly obnoxious.] 🐐💛✨ [She's also just a very neat person in general]

@ricky-mortis [inhumane noises of affection✨💛✨] How do I even start? Their art style isn't only everything to me, but it also just has so much character and personality in it. I love the bold line work they often use, along with their coloring and just gah! everything made by this person makes me so happy every time it pops on my dash, i feel like it has to be impossible not to fall in love with their work! [Also have you seeen how they draw curt mega and all of his characters? god they are so brilliant and fantastic]

@szollibisz/szollibisz2 They have the kind of art that you look at and just can't help but let out a really dreamy sigh tbh✨💛. To me, a majority of their artwork comes off so warm and... nostalgic?[Granted it is probably because of the beautiful use of warm colors and also the time period that comes with Curtwen mostly... but still.] And just, i dunno man. i just really fricken adore this persons art. I remember one of my first thoughts being how much it made me think of those really beautiful short-film animations, usually silent except for some gorgeous instrumental soundtrack in the background... and, just, wow... anyway ~

[Does any of this make sense??? probably not...]

@its-short-for-jackalope this person is SO passionate! Their support towards the things they love, such as tinlightment and Pulp musicals, is everything. I also absolutely love the way their art manages to have this beautiful yet adorable style all while managing to capture the resemblance to the actors they are referencing perfectly! From their simplest drawings to their bigger pieces, i think they are all absolutely wonderful~ These people are just so crazy talented and i appreciate them very much 😔

[smytherines]

Tiktok doesn't properly embed here, but if y'all haven't seen the Curt Mega scene study tiktok for Spy Again... you need to. Just. It kills me how much respect he has for this character.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTLmasdPQ/

Also part two when?? The video ends before it gets to the big Owen lines that are most interesting to me, because other than A1P1 they're the only real indication in the show of what their relationship was like. That there was care and concern and genuine affection there.

And the way those lines are sung in the show is just heartbreaking, which makes you invest in this relationship before you even know the full extent of it. The staircase scene hits as hard as it does because the show gets you to buy into Curt's grief during Spy Again. Its an absolutely pivotal moment for understanding this character

I think the especially interesting bit is this:

"Owen, please if you could see what's become of me what would you think?

If a spy is a spy and I once was a spy, I think you'd want me to spy, again.

You'd put this drink down, turn my life around"

And of course:

"Owen would want me to do this, so I know that I'll get through it"

Spy Again is so interesting to me because for the rest of the show, Curt barely says Owen's name. I think he says it once when he's telling Tatiana, then the two flashbacks. He doesn't say it at all after the DMA reveal. He has so much grief around Owen's death, but (at least until Tatiana) can only really feel that grief privately

This is, I think, also the only moment in the show where Curt acknowledges the active role he played in Owen's death with "Doesn't even matter if I killed my best friend," because every other instance (except obviously his harmony in Torture Tango) he uses passive language, like I think what he says to Tatiana is "watched as my... partner was killed right in front of me."

And that's the conflict of the song. He wants to be the person he was before, but he's carrying around so much grief and guilt that he has to rationalize his desire to move on as something Owen would want for him. And in any other circumstance that would probably be true. That's what makes it so tragic.

I dunno, I'm probably just a little weirdo. I grew up in community theatre so scene studies and character studies are like catnip to me. I mean 90% of what I do on this website is just rant endlessly about plot and character minutiae, but I find that shit fascinating. I really enjoy getting to see the choices actors make, and especially finding out why.

Anyways its good, you should watch it

[wickerfox]

Would you like to tell us more about your curtwen in Hatchetfield AU? I'd love to hear more about it because it's such an interesting idea, especially because of the roles you've put Curt and Owen in!

And most importantly-- are there any Lords in Black shenannigans happening?

OH BOY WOULD I

Gonna start by answering, Yes there is Definitely Lords in Black shenanigans going on here

One of the things that I like and appreciate about the Hatchetfield series is that it takes very grounded characters and places them in situations that escalate in very insane ways, and when I think about Spies Are Forever, it's also a pretty crazy premise by the nature of it being a parody of classic spy films, but Curt and Owen at their cores are very grounded characters, so it made sense in a weird way to go "okay what if you added Hatchetfield weirdness"

There is Definitely something going on with Tinky and timelines in this universe and I mentioned it briefly in another ask, but the way I see it working is that the two of them experience similar timeline resets as Hatchetfield.

We see in Hatchetfield that the timeline resets, but time still moves forward (tgwdlm takes place in 2018, black friday takes place a month after that, nmpd takes places in 2021, all that stuff) and it's a similar idea for Curt and Owen. The events of saf still happen in this universe, and it doesn't stop repeating. With every reset the last time the two meet gets erased and placed further along the timeline as time keeps moving. So when Owen dies in 1961 and Curt dies years later, the next loop starts. Their story exists with different details in the 70's and 80's and 90's up until we see them here in 2022. But why is it that only these two are affected like this and why does it seem like the loops started so long ago if it's only just in this timeline that they're in Hatchetfield?

Well you see there's this Bastard of Time and Space-

Anyways as for Curt and Owen's rolls I had so much fun thinking of how details change in their lives and what constants keep showing up.

I mentioned it before but there are just events that keep repeating in each timeline, Curt loosing someone he cares about and being haunted by it, Owen just barely surviving and event that almost killed him and living with that trauma, and sadly, because this is saf and hatchetfield, one ends up dying in the end. Whether its because one has to kill the other or one gets the other killed, it's one of those tragic and unavoidable parts of their story.

As for the changes made in the au, Curt is a detective this time around for a number of reasons. One, I love the trope of the hardened detective left haunted by a case and thought it fit well with where we see Curt in the musical as well as the setting of Hatchetfield, and two, I had this idea that one of the weird constants for Curt is that he always has a title of some kind? It popped up as an idea for a much more meta reason, I know the way to differentiate the actor from the character is to call the character Agent Curt Mega, and there was a brief moment I considered making him an FBI agent Just so I could keep calling the character Agent Curt Mega, but I ended up falling in love with the idea of him being a detective. So we get Detective Curt Mega this time around.

As for Owen being an actor, I had this weird moment of "why would a British guy be visiting Hatchetfield of all places" and this is such a weird pull but I remember years back a detective show filming in my home town and went well what if there was some movie franchise filming in Hatchetfield and Owen was a part of it. It just felt like the kind of detail that you would see in a one off nightmare time story so it ended up sticking. From there Owen as an actor just ended up making sense to me, one as a reference to his act 2 monologue, two as a reason for why he would have a very varied skill set, and three, it felt like a good connection to his character as a spy.

(Also, Owen as an actor lets me make the very specific joke of him saying "Honestly, considering my spot-on aim and interest in foreign policy it's a wonder why I ever became an actor")

[uhhhitsme]

002 Tatiana :)

002 | Give me a character & I will tell you

How I feel about this character: 

All the people I ship romantically with this character: 

My non-romantic OTP for this character: 

My unpopular opinion about this character: 

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

my OTP:

my cross over ship:

a headcanon fact:

THANK YOU FOR THIS OH MY GOD GUYS I KNOW IM RESPONDING RIDICULOUSLY LATE BUT KEEP THESE COMING I LOVE WRITING THESE!! YOU CAN ALSO DO SHIPS OR THE OTHER ONE :3

HOW I FEEL ABOUT THIS CHARACTER: i need her carnally. i love her unlike anyone else. she deserves so much better than what she's been through. like i said i am a SUCKER for characters who go thru a lot and fight for a better future, i fucking love characters who care a lot, and tati does <3 also feels like one of those characters whos just really really tired of violence, and living so desensitized to it, someone who longs for a childhood and to have someone to lean on, who genuinely grieves the life she couldve lived. which. Always makes me feel a lot of emotions. also the most beautiful woman alive.

ALL THE PEOPLE I SHIP ROMANTICALLY WITH THIS CHARACTER: barb. spyentist rights oh my god i love the idea of their dynamic to have someone so loud and expressive and someone whos quiet and reserved. and on a perhaps Too Deep level two people who are naturally inclined to take care of others finally having someone who takes care of them. ALSO THINK OF THE SHENANIGANS LIKE PLEASE THE POTENTIAL IS LIMITLESS.

MY NON ROMANTIC OTP: CURT AND TATI!! i fucking love their canon bits together so much and love love love having two people who are very alone find comfort in each other. lesbian gay solidarity

MY UNPOPULAR OPINION ABOUT THIS CHARACTER: i dont think i really have one!! i guess shipping her with barb because i know some people dont see it which is so valid but not really anything other than that. OH i would say that she's very much a main character in the show. just as much as curt or owen

ONE THING I WISH WOULD HAPPEN: same thing with barb, it would be very nice to get more fandom content---she's such a complex and nuanced character and i think that deserves more acknowledgement!! i know this is hypocritical of me as curtwen occupies all of my thoughts and posts but one day.......

CROSSOVER SHIP: ok i dont ship them but i think it would be very fun to see a crossover where her and linda monroe interact because i know tatiana would just fucking EXPLODE her with her mind

HEADCANON: she takes up crochet and knitting ones she settles down and very much enjoys if!! she occasionally sends things to mrs. mega and curt. she also loves physical affection but only with those she trusts, and its hard for her to show it. decent cook, she makes edible food, but nothing really good---just survivable. in my mind she moves in with barb a while after post canon who absolutely CANNOT cook and they start learning together.

[findablog]

was there a particular scene or episode that made you want to write your favorite muse?

Dang this requires me to pick a favorite muse. So for this I will go over my most active ones and say what made me want to write them. Muses only on my hub though not my other two blogs that aren't connected here LOL. I also wont do my OCs because that's not fair. For them it was me filling a gap that their canon worlds left.

Will Byers - I think for him it was learning his story then watching the show and just that scene in season 1 right at the beginning then being like I need to know everything, and the show isn't giving it to me so I will write it myself.

Dodge Mason - The second he yelled about Panic in the diner and Heather was like "stop" and he was like "im not gonna"

Caleb Widogast - For him it was the moment he shared his backstory.

Scanlan Shorthalt - Bard's lament.

Vax - This is gonna possibly sound rude, but I wanted him to have more agency in his story. He is always giving giving giving and not really receiving back what he gives especially for certain stories. Like both he and Vex are raised by their father but that story is largely associated with Vex (even in their book). It felt like no one ever trusted him so I said I will trust you. You are mine now.

Orym - Honestly Liam describing him and I was like he's mine.

Sebastian Smythe - When he did what he could to gain forgiveness from Blaine, and made sure that was the apology he cared about because that was who he really hurt. And then the guilt he carries about Dave.

Rory Flanagan - Realizing after the first episode of his that they were gonna do him dirty I was like not on my watch bitch.

Nick Duval - When he finally got that solo. And actually a fan fic where he and Sebastian are roommates that is honestly my favorite glee fan fic ever.

Curt Mega - The second I saw him handling being interrogated really well only to be talked down to immediately after by his lover, and everyone else in his agency. I wanted to not only explain that but also make it known that Curt was very very good at his job, and at least from Cynthia's perspective she was trying to keep him humble because Curt would get a big head.

Luke Castellan - The entirety of Battle of the Labyrinth where you get the most insight into what is going on in Luke's head than any other book including his own damn diary.

Edmund Pevensie - His whole time with the White Witch followed by the slow forgiveness for himself that weighs on him in the years of his reign.

Billy Elliot - That last scene where he not only accepts himself, but also returns the affections of Michael. Also the entirety of the musical adaptation.

Link (BOTW and TOTK) - This one is hard, but I think it was the lack of story that was purely link's. Like he gets memories but they are all story beats for Zelda not for him. We learn very little about Link and I wanted to fill that. And its something that continues into the new game. Its my way of giving Link justice because the game is about Zelda link is just the narrator, whom I tend to care a bit more about.

[dust-of-embers]

Ember's SAF animatic ideas

these are just the more recent ones, if i actually listed all of them this post would be longer than the great wall of china

Would you be so kind? by dodie - curtwen, kinda duel sung, i feel like the lines work for both of them, but probably curt more, also the “do me a favour, can your heart-rate rise a little?” Is both of them using spy stuff to test if their heart beats increase while flirting, kinda like that scene in sherlock, but with less ace erasure. Maybe during the line “but that’s not enough” one of them wakes up from a nightmare of being sentenced to prison or death if anyone found out they were gay.

Poison from Hazbin Hotel - Owen Carvour while at chimera.

Loser, baby from Hazbin Hotel - Curt and Cynthia, cutting out the parts of “just like me”

Loser, baby (again) - curtwen after Curt messes something up and feels like shit, probably around the start of the partnership (i'm not to proud of this one but i think owen dancing around like husker while curt just sits there is hilarious)

Welcome to heaven whadda ya know, Hazbin Hotel - Owen and chimera if Owen took Curt back there, everything has very creepy imagery and while he talks about how perfect it all is each scene has something off about it.

You didn’t know also from Hazbin Hotel- curtwen, stops as soon as the hell is forever reprise starts, maybe continuing once Sara and Emily start fighting again, Curt as Charlie and Owen as Sara and Emily fighting with himself over wanting to go back to Curt and wanting to be angy, vaggie is Tatiana (i dont remember much about my brain story boards for this one, i might re-listen with the scene in mind, but idk)

Come with me by Chxrlotte (siri always pronounces it as "cuh-clot, its very fun) - curtwen, probably sung by Curt, and every time it goes to “the world ends eventually” the scene cuts to Owen falling backwards slowly after getting shot. The rest of the lyrics are their adventures and running from buildings and ppl with guns, laughing and having fun (granted they are running from bullets but hey, they pulled a fast one on an interrogator by Curt flirting and the guy passing out from poison… the reason the flirting happened was so the guy couldn’t shout for help while the poison took affect)

Poison from Hazbin Hotel, once more - Curt mega during the four years he thought Owen was dead (i know, i did a poison one for both of them!)

[smytherines]

I think he has good intentions here, he's just, well, wrong. To me, Curt convinced himself that Owen was a much bigger piece of Chimera than he actually was- that even if killing Owen wouldn't take the system offline, it would seriously harm Chimera's operations to lose him. He doesn't understand just how huge and poweful this organization is, that Owen was just as disposable to Chimera as he was to MI6.

He wants Tatiana to go be with her family, but also I think when Owen told Tatiana (doing this from memory) "if you choose to work with the infamous Curt Mega take caution, his partners don't tend to last" that really affected Curt. Owen was his partner, and look how that turned out. The Informant worked with him, and now he's dead too. He wants Tatiana to live, even if that means he has to work alone.

I think Curt truly believes in this moment that he can take Chimera down on his own. That Tatiana doesn't need to be involved. He knows how much Tatiana wants to be with her family, and he thinks that asking her to stay and work with him and be his partner would be selfish of him, so he lets her go without telling her that Chimera is still a threat.

He's trying to be a better person, but still sort of falling into the same pattern of making decisions for his partner without their knowledge or consent, even if its for a more altruistic reason this time

hey spies fanbase!!

how we feeling? decent? well! i'm here to make everything worse. i was watching spies with @richie-shitlips earlier today, and noticed this:

so. what does this mean? he was going to tell her about Chimera. he considered telling her. he was going to tell her, tell her that Chimera was still out there, the information about her family could still be out there, and then he chose not to.

this musical makes me sick /pos

[the-warmesthello]

can't even tell if i'm playing the devil's advocate, licking owen's boot entirely too much, or actually correct, but i'd kinda trust owen more than curt morally. even if i interpret owen's actions as entirely malicious and curt's as entirely the best he could.

curt has good intentions, but he's also impulsive and bases most of his decisions off how cool something would be assuming it goes right. it's not that he enjoys death, suffering, murder, etc., it's that he literally doesn't think about it first before hurting someone. it's like people don't really register as human beings to him unless they're on his side or useful in some way, but he has no idea of how fucked up that is or isn't even aware he thinks like that. if an explosion would look cool, who cares about the people with whole lives ahead of them just trying to do their job? it's only really when it affects him that he gets upset about it, and his conclusion was that he should've been more careful to save the one person he did care about while destroying people's place of work during working hours. if i were in a situation with curt, i'd never feel safe or like he was competent in any way. it's like with reckless drivers; they might not be out to kill someone but they don't care if they do. he has access to a gun and qualified immunity btw so anything could happen.

owen, on the other hand, will at least plan who to keep and who to get rid of first. he's more than ok with hurting people, but at least he knows that's what he's doing. he shows people exactly how dangerous he is within their first few times meeting him and anyone could tell that he's assessing whether to let them live or kill them. you can reason your way out of getting killed by him precisely because he thinks it through. if he thinks you're useful, he won't hurt you, and if he likes you, he'll make sure no one else will either. there aren't any accidents with him. beyond that, he can be kept from hurting people with sufficient evidence that it would materially affect him or get in the way of something he wants. his reasoning is cruel, but at least he uses reason. he isn't a random explosion out of nowhere that can't be planned for, he's an aimed weapon, which means you can get out of the way first.

in summary, a sharp knife cuts with less pressure, but a dull knife causes more accidents, and therefore, more injury.

[sonnetthebard]

Owen doesn't really like horror movies and he gets paranoid pretty easily because of them. He hates that it happens and never tells anyone about it, he thinks its embarrassing for someone like him to be set off by something as simple as a movie. Curt also didn't know, until he proposed watching a horror movie one night. Owen went along with it because he knew Curt wanted to watch it with him and tried his best to sit through it, but Curt picked up on how uncomfortable he was -S

I know this was supposed to be headcanons, but... I had to write this as a oneshot. I absolutely love it.

Genre: Fluff/ Romance/ Angst

Words: 3171

TL;DR: Owen is not a fan of horror movies.

TW: Anxiety/ Triggering, brief mention of violence, panic attack, minor implied ptsd.

"Darling, I'm home!" Owen called into his shared hotel room teasingly.

"What, you're done scoping out the venue already?" Curt smirked, making his way out of his room, already dressed down to just a dress shirt (with a few buttons undone) and dress pants.

Owen smirked at that. Evidently Curt had decided his work for the day was over. They were in the primary stages of a small mission- one that should be simple. Intercept the passing of information from the French to the Russians- no matter the cost. If they had to kill someone, so be it. It may be an easy mission, but it was a crucial one. It was set to happen at the ballroom in one of the biggest estates in London during a gala hosted by its owners- set to happen in two days. The owners weren’t royalty, but they were rich- which probably made them more powerful than royalty either way. The event was going to be massive. Royalty and dignitaries from all around the world would be there- and, of course, the informants they were there to stop. If they didn't intercept this information... well, let's just say the Soviets would have a rather large military advantage. And that wasn't something anyone wanted.

Earlier in the day, Curt and Owen had gone out and met the family hosting the gala- who were in full support of their work. They’d even offered to be so good as to give them a discreet signal when their marks arrived. Of course Owen had turned that down because, even with good intentions, the utilization of untrained assets was always a risk. Once they were done with that meeting, Curt and Owen had done some genuine espionage. They were lucky. Their informant had told them when and where their marks would be in preparation for the gala. So they'd alternated locations to watch their opponents. That way no one got suspicious seeing the same two people watching them everywhere they went. Then Owen, being the keener that he was, had gone to the ballroom and scoped it out. He always loved that part of planning. Plus, the house was practically a castle, and it was old. Owen just wanted to see it. It was a marvel of architecture. But it was at least a productive visit. He had a good sense of the place. 

Now, though... Now Owen was exhausted. He'd had a big day preparing for not only his physical game but his mental one. So he was more than happy to be back with the man he loved. And he really did love Curt, in spite of his flaws. Owen was well aware of those. He would have to have been dull not to take them into account when preparing for their romantic relationship. Owen knew he was the more fit spy. He knew Curt could be a bit... careless at best, reckless at worst. And boy, did Curt’s ego ever get the better of him sometimes. But Curt was one of the most affectionate people Owen had ever met. His heart was massive, and he was as loyal as a dog. That was more than enough for Owen. They would follow each other to the ends of the earth. Owen may not have the smartest lover in the world, but... he had never felt more loved by one person. Not even his own parents.

"Already? Love, I was there for nearly three hours." Owen chuckled softly.

"You must be exhausted." Curt rolled his eyes playfully.

"As a matter of fact I am!" Owen scoffed, smirking and setting his jacket on the rack. Curt walked over to him, wrapping his arms over his shoulders and kissing him gently. Owen hummed into it, snaking his arms around Curt's waist. "What are you up to, Mega? Trying to breathe some life back into me?"

"No... I just missed you." Curt blushed lightly, still smirking and trying to play this off as cool as he could. "Am I not allowed to kiss my favourite partner after a long day of work?"

"Oh, you're more than welcome to..." Owen winked, giving him another gentle peck. He rested his forehead on Curt's, sighing. "I would say you could kiss me any time you’d like, but... well... we both know the world isn't quite ready for that."

"I know." Curt sighed. "One day..."

"We can only hope." Owen agreed. He gave Curt one more small peck of reassurance before, pulling away, walking into their room. "So what have we got for plans tonight? I was thinking maybe we could grab a bite at the fish and chips stand down the street. It's quite good. Then... maybe we could go to the cinema?"

"Actually... I was thinking maybe we could stay here." Curt bit his lip. "We've got a television here, and... they're showing Creature From The Black Lagoon on one of the channels we pick up. I missed it in the theatres while we were in Germany, and I've been hoping to see it for a few years now. It's a horror movie, and I've heard the special effects in it are great! We could watch it together!"

"Oh..." Owen bit his lip, breath hitching a bit at that.

Now... there was a bit of a dilemma. Owen came off as very suave, very tough, and impenetrable but... he had a bit of a problem with horror films. That, and films surrounding espionage. He didn't know what it was about the visual medium of storytelling that was becoming so popular, but... it affected him deeply. It was as though it set off something deep inside him, and brought up all his own fears. Even if they weren’t the fears discussed in the movie. As tacky as the movies were with their corny monsters and questionable acting they sparked his anxietes. Even worse to Owen was the irrational paranoia that came with it. The fear of something that didn't even exist. Even the things that very clearly could *never* exist. Like Dracula. Still, if Curt wanted to watch one with him, he would do his best to sit through it. Maybe he could focus his attentions on Curt and not the movie. Or maybe this movie wouldn’t get to him so badly. 

"Oh what?" Curt checked, the smallest trace of concern riddling his features.

"It's nothing." Owen chuckled, trying to mask his lie. He didn't want Curt worrying about him for something so trivial. "I would love to. What are we doing for supper though?"

“I didn’t think that through.” Curt admitted. “We, um... well, we’ve got half an hour before the movie starts. Maybe we could grab fish and chips and eat it here while we watch?”

“Sure thing, love.” Owen sighed. “You want me to go and get it, then?”

“That works for me.” Curt nodded. 

“And do you want me to get some crisps for later in case you get a bit peckish?” Owen checked. 

“Can a get a translation of that?” Curt teased. He knew most of what Owen meant, he just loved bothering him and he knew how much his boyfriend hated Americanisms.

“Do I really have to?” Owen groaned. Curt just raised his brows in expectation. “Fine. You’re lucky I love you... Do you want me to get you some ‘potato chips’ for later in case you get the ‘munchies’?”

“I would love some potato chips.” Curt smirked triumphantly. 

“‘Potato chips’...” Owen grumbled, grabbing his jacket again. “Bloody Americans butchering our language...”

“Love you too!” Curt called out the door teasingly as Owen left. 

The fish and chips place wasn’t far down the street. It was one Owen knew well- his parents had even taken him there as a child. He remembered those days... Things were simpler. Not nearly as complicated as his life had become. But that wasn’t why Owen was so eager to get out of the hotel room. No, Owen wanted the space alone to brace himself and prepare himself for this movie. Because he’d always been strong for Curt. He didn’t want Curt seeing him weak. So he just needed a bit of fresh air. That’s also why he’d volunteered to get the crisps (no matter what Curt wanted to call them). Extra time to steel himself. He took his time, but even then he only spent twenty minutes out of the house. Still... it was better than having had no time at all to prepare. He took deep breaths, making his way back to the hotel room. 

“Alright, darling. I have the food.” Owen called him, taking his shoes off and walking into the hotel. He set the food down on the coffee table. Curt walked out, dress shirt completely gone now. In it’s place, a white tank top. He was in denim jeans now, likely so that he didn’t ruin his dress pants. Owen smirked. “I thought we were supposed to be watching a movie, love...”

“We are.” Curt furrowed his brows, confused. He sat down on the couch, taking one of the meals for himself. Owen shrugged his jacket off, hanging it back up. He then joined Curt on the couch, a teasing glint in his eyes. 

“Well... you’re very distracting...” Owen hummed. Curt blushed. 

“I can put my shirt back on...” Curt mumbled. 

“No, darling. Don’t do that.” Owen sighed contentedly, taking the meal Curt hadn’t taken and setting it in front of himself. Curt had taken out his multi-purpose hunting tool and a pocket knife to eat with, but Owen stopped him. He pulled out the provided cutlery. “Here, darling. We can eat like civilized people”

“Right.” Curt flushed again. 

“You’re adorable when you’re all worked up.” Owen chuckled. 

“You’re a bully, you know that?” Curt grumbled, getting up and walking over to their in-room television. They were lucky. Not many hotels had them, but... this one did. Their superiors didn’t mind splurging a little on their accomodations, because it usually meant they were better rested for their job. 

“I’m not a bully...” Owen chuckled, his heartrate picking up again at even the thought of what he was about to watch. “I’m just a tease, doll.”

“So you admit it?” Curt smirked triumphantly, fiddling with the knobs to adjust the channel. 

“Only this once.” Owen rolled his eyes playfully. 

“I think I... there we go!” Curt beamed as the television crackled onto the right station. The scoring to a typical horror movie started. Owen gulped, already not liking this. Curt seemed to pick up on that. “You okay?”

“Absolutely fine.” Owen lied. Curt sighed, coming back and sitting down. 

Both men sat in silence, eating and watching the movie. Owen tried to focus on his food, blocking out the movie and his surroundings. But... that was unfortunately very hard to do. Especially when Curt was so invested. The man was leaning as far forward onto his knees as he possibly could. He thought Curt might have said something about Owen being right about the fish and chips, but Owen didn’t really hear it. He was caught in his head, in a way. And in many other ways, he was totally and uterly absorbed in the movie, trapped without consent the the saga being recounted on the screen. He didn’t even notice when he finished his food, caught up in everything. 

And then... then came the moment Owen was dreading. The one that had his palms sweating and his body tense the entire night. Even with all that awful anticipation it caught him completely by surprise. Just as it was meant to. For some people, that was the thrill of the game. To him, it wasn’t. To him, it was not just truly terrifying, but also... humiliating. Totally and utterly humiliating. Especially in front of his Curt. Curt, who thought he was this suave, impenetrable rock. Curt, whom he was the foundation. Curt got to watch him cower like a child. The moment of dread was, of course, the first jumpscare. And just as Owen had predicted, he had jumped right out of his seat, yelping. Curt saw him and... he started to laugh. 

The world caved in for Owen. It was a mix of the genuine fear he’d experienced watching the movie, the fears that fear alone had resurface, and the humiliation. He felt in a way that he was disappointing Curt already. And the laughing... it rang in his ears even once Curt had finished. Because this time Curt wasn’t laughing with him- he was laughing at him. He tried to mask it, but he was far too caught up in his head to have any control over what his face did. He shook a little bit. He couldn’t even fear anything around him. He had tunnel vision, and everything sounded like it was underwater. Owen hated it. He knew then and there that trying to be tough had not been the right move. That he should have said no to Curt. But it was far too late for that realization to be any good. 

At first, Curt had admittedly thought it was funny that Mr. Tough Guy Owen Carvour himself had fallen victim to the classic jumpscare. And he would be the first to admit he had laughed a long time- especially when he thought that for once he had been the one to fluster Owen and not the other way around. But then, when Owen neglected to come back with any snide remarks... When he didn’t tell Curt to shut up, or even chuckle along with him... That was when Curt knew that now was not the time to be laughing. That something was genuinely wrong. That was when he finally took the time to notice that his lover was shaking, and the fear that had been in his eyes when he jumped had not vanished- even though the protegonists were safe. Curt took Owen’s hand’s carefully. Owen twitched in what could be a flinch, but put up no fight. That was the final tip-off for Curt that sommething was very wrong. He got in front of Owen carefully. 

“Hey... Hey, Owen. You’re okay.” Curt soothed. Owen seemed to snap a bit out of it- enough to see Curt in front of him and look him in the eyes. Curt suppressed his concern and put on a comforting smile for Owen. “That’s right, babe. Look at me. I’m right here. I’ve got you.”

There was a moment of Owen just staring into Curt’s eyes and reminding himself that Curt had his back. That he was safe. Once he had calmed enough to speak, he took a shaky sigh.

“I’m sorry.” Owen mumbled. 

“No... no, don’t be sorry!” Curt shook his head, giving Owen’s hands a squeeze. Immediately as thought that had awakened something in him, Owen was squeezing back as if it were the only thing keeping him on the ground. “You’ve got nothing to be sorry for.”

“Yes I do.” Owen spat, almost as though the words were poison. Self hatred oozed from his tone. “I’ve been lying to you. I’m a coward.”

“You are not a coward...” Curt stated firmly. 

“I bloody well near shit my pants at something I saw on the telly!” Owen pointed out, incredulous. “Something imaginary, on the other side of the screen where it could never harm me.”

“That’s what these movies are made to do, O.” Curt assured him. 

“They’re meant to give people a quick fright.” Owen shook his head. “But... that terrified me. Genuinely scared me.”

“Well... we’ve got pasts.” Curt bit his lip. “We’ve seen stuff. We’ve been the victims of real jumpscares where we could have died. Maybe it reminds you of those. Maybe the lines blurred.”

“Curt, it wasn’t anything we’ve been through that scared me.” Owen softened, nearly whimpering, both scared and embarassed but also pleasing for Curt to listen. “It was that that creature was going to show up behind us and do the same, or... take you away. That poorly dressed, hokey monster that could not be any further from being real. I’m not just a coward. I’m a bloody idiot.”

“You’re not a coward, Owen. And you’re not an idiot. Everyone’s brain is built a bit differently.” Curt soothed him. “You want to protect me... just like I want to protect you.”

“From something that could never hurt us either way.” Owen pointed out. 

“Sometimes that doesn’t matter to the mind.” Curt sighed. “I don’t know if this happens to you when you read all your books, but sometimes someone will tell me a story and I get so invested in it that I’ll feel like I’ve lived through it myself.”

“I know what you mean...” Owen nodded. 

“Well... maybe this movie did the same thing for you.” Curt reasoned. 

“I... suppose.” Owen blinked, realizing Curt made a lot of sense.

“Just like you feel things when you read... you’re feeling things watching this.” Curt sighed.

“Right...” Owen nodded, letting that sink in. 

“You think you can take a few breaths with me, O?” Curt soothed. Owen nodded, following Curt through a few deep breaths until he had stopped shaking and his grip on Curt’s hands had lightened. Once Curt was satisfied, he got up and changed the channel. I Love Lucy was on. He smirked, sitting back down on the couch. For once, he was the one pulling Owen close to cuddle. “We’re going to watch this channel for the rest of the night, okay? I think it’s got some of the good family shows on it.”

“Are you sure?” Owen checked. “I can go lay down. I know you really wanted to watch this film.”

“Yeah, but... not as much as I want to spend time with my handsome British boyfriend.” Curt teased. 

“I love you.” Owen sighed, resting his head on Curt’s chest. 

“I know.” Curt winked playfully, running a hand through Curt’s hair. “Hey, if you’re ever uncomfortable with what I want to do... just tell me, okay? No judgement.”

“Alright.” Owen nodded. 

And so they spent the rest of the night in each other’s arms. Eventually they did switch and Owen was back to holding Curt. He found immense comfort in that- and that Curt didn’t judge him. It was lovely to be totally and utterly enamoured with someone. And that was what he was with Curt- what he was certain they both were. He didn’t focus on the telly (though it did give him a few laughs- that Lucy was always getting into trouble). Instead, he focused on Curt’s hands running though his hair, or the little kisses he was being adornerd with. In other words, he chose to focus on how much he was loved. And that put him in an entirely better place. There was, at least, one thing they could take away from the whole fiasco: no more horror movie nights. They had enough horrors in their own life without needing to worry about anything on the tv. 

[skylarksof]

5 for Batman and Robin (because now I’m soft for their buddy-ness) and 1 for Cynthia and Curt?

MILES, YOU KEEP BLESSING ME WITH THESE BEAUTIFUL REQUESTS. Thank you @coldairballoons!! 💖 I am honored, simply honored.

1. “Don’t get kidnapped and don’t become a drug dealer.”

Curt Mega, Professional Mess

“Are you fucking kidding me?!”

Curt and Cynthia were having yet another one of their heated arguments. And as always, Curt noticed, Cynthia doggedly insisted on having the last word.

“Cynthia, please, he’s just not in good enough shape- it’s for his well-being, Cynthia-”

She slammed a defiant fist on her desk. “There is NO WAY IN HELL you’re going out on this mission without Owen. Those interrogators will eat you for breakfast. You’ll die within point five seconds, I assure you.”

“I am perfectly competent!”

“Hilarious. Fooling yourself won’t do you any good, you know. This is life and death, Curt, life and death. You need someone else with at least one brain cell to accompany you there.”

“Look,” Curt sighed exasperatedly, “if you think I’m just going to die, then why do you care so much?”

Cynthia scoffed, shaking her head, but Curt could have sworn he saw a touch of softness in her deep brown eyes.

“Why? Because I love you, you fucking idiot.”

Before Curt could even open his mouth to respond, Cynthia had already grabbed a tissue and begun screaming into it. When her face emerged, any previous hint of warmth had vanished.

“Ah, that’s better.” She began scribbling notes with swift ferocity, then looked up from her desk in surprise. “Oh, you’re still here? You can go now, Mega.” She waved a dismissive hand at him, carefully avoiding eye contact.

Curt took a tentative step towards the door, looking back at Cynthia just in case. With a heavy heart, he clicked open the door and-

“Wait, wait, wait. Just one more thing- Curt?”

He could feel Cynthia’s hawk-eyed gaze burning into the back of his head.

“You better not fuck it up this time. Don’t reveal your identity. Stand your ground. And most importantly...”

Cynthia strode over and slapped him on the arm.

“Ow! Jesus Christ!”

Now she looked him right in the eye. “Don’t get kidnapped and don’t become a drug dealer.”

Curt rubbed the place where Cynthia had just slapped him. “Ohh...come on, Cynthia. I’m the world’s greatest super-spy!” He laughed. “We both know that one or both of those things are going to happen.”

5. “Look at this, you made me all soft and sweet when in real life I’m an ungrateful ass.”

To Have A Papa

Father’s Day was always a tough holiday for Bruce Wayne.

Both of his parents had been mugged and shot in an alleyway when he was a young boy, so he‘d never truly had the experience of celebrating family holidays. He was a stranger to any form of familial affection.

Bruce had at least been hoping to spend the day with Robin, his one true companion and adopted son, but the Boy Wonder had disappeared without a trace early in the morning.

Batman sighed, burying his tear-stained face in a Bat-patterned pillow. Not even his beloved sidekick wanted to spend quality time with him...

Suddenly, there was a loud, jarring knock on the double doors of Wayne Manor.

“Bruce! Bruce!”

Batman would recognize that strikingly gleeful voice anywhere. “Robin?”

With the speed and agility of a Bat, Bruce raced out of his bedroom to greet his beloved bro.

Robin came sprinting up to him. “Batman, come to the Batcave. I took the Batmobile out for a spin, and, well...I’ve got something to show you!” He took Bruce’s hand, and off to the Batcave they zoomed.

To his amazement, Bruce saw that the Batmobile was not at all in its typical state. It was now laced with a banner that read:

“Happy Father’s Day to the most badass Bat in the whole wide world. You’ll always be my life-long friend. Love, Robin.”

Batman looked at Robin, stunned. “Does that mean...me?”

Robin giggled. “Of course it does, silly! You’re my father, aren’t you?”

Overcome with emotion, Bruce burst into tears and hugged his sidekick. “Yes, I am. I’m your father...I’m your papa!” He sniffled. “Look at this, you made me all soft and sweet when in real life I’m an ungrateful ass.”

“Oh, Batman. You’re not ungrateful!”

Robin hopped into the Batmobile, holding out a gloved hand to Bruce.

“Now, come on,” he said, grinning. “I want to have some quality crime-fighting time with my dad on his special day.”