#kate seemed better suited for other tasks

[maschotch]

for the opinion thing, if i ever hear someone say "reid carries the team" i automatically don't trust them. but if i hear "reid and garcia carry the team" then i automatically do trust them. like something about the vibes is so different. even as a reidgirl, genuinely do not trust anyone who thinks reid was the only important member of the team.

AKDHSLHD people really say that??

tbh the only indispensable person is garcia. they literally would not be able to function without her breaking privacy laws left and right lmao

i dont even think reid is the best profiler? if it was just one char and garcia for each case, this is the order i think would succeed the fastest: hotch -> morgan -> gideon -> emily -> walker -> tara -> elle -> matt -> luke -> reid -> blake -> rossi -> kate -> jj

not to say he isnt useful. but he’s not the most well rounded. he’s a specialist, like blake, and he’s lacking in some areas. akdhsk maybe a bit too harsh, but he could be replaced by google pretty easily. im

[m4tthewmurd0ck]

Congratulations on 200! For your ‘200 Followers Celebrarion’ can I request 3 from the MCU list for Tom Holland’s Peter Parker?

thank you so much! ahh that was my favorite prompt from the mcu list hahaha i’m so happy it’s the first request! love my babies kate and yelena! also i did a little more than the prompt, had to include the scene because it’s one of my favorites. click *HERE* to check out my writing celebration and send in a request!

𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐌𝐘 ~ (𝚃𝚘𝚖 𝙷𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍) 𝙿𝚎𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚔𝚎𝚛 𝚡 (𝙵𝚎𝚖) 𝙰𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛! 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛

word count: 5.8k

a/n: DON’T LOOK AT THE TAGS, CONTAINS SPOILERS hehe. this takes place after nwh. obviously an au, so any differences you note from the films and disney+ shows are on purpose just for the sake of easier writing for this story :) just to name a few: tony is alive, steve didn’t go back to be with peggy but he did step down and give the shield to sam, who accepted it + no john walker storyline, i also couldn’t kill my baby nat, and yelena is in the picture too. there are a few other differences which will be obvious once you read but i won’t give too much away. enjoy!

Your task was simple. Find out who Spider-Man is, so that you can bring him to the compound. There were understandably a lot of questions. The biggest one being how can someone fight alongside the Avengers, be part of the Avengers, and then turn around and do… all of this? You were just as shocked as anyone, considering that Spider-Man had been your partner on missions ever since he joined the team.

But now that you thought about it, it was a little odd. How had you worked alongside whoever was under that suit for so long and you’d never seen their face? Of course, you didn’t remember any of it. Not only did you at one point know the boy under the mask, but for the past year up until Strange made everyone forget, you and Peter had been more than just friends / partners.

Now, all you remembered was your time working with Spider-Man. And all you ever heard about him now was that he was the reason that Mysterio was dead, and that not only was he not a hero, but he should be considered an enemy. It seemed a little dramatic, but given that you were a former Black Widow, you figured you didn’t have much room to talk.

There were guesses going around within the team about who Spider-Man might actually be. Little did you all know, that you were all way off.

Bucky had guessed that he was a former assassin like the 2 of you. And while you both had gotten a second chance, maybe he didn’t have anyone to show him that he didn’t have to resort to his old ways, so he went back to what he knew. You were then quick to point out that it would then mean that you all failed him, because it wasn’t that long ago that Spider-Man was part of the team.

Thor briefly considered that it might be Loki behind it all. After all, as he loved to remind everyone, he once transformed himself into a snake and when Thor picked the snake up, Loki transformed back into himself and stabbed his brother. But that seemed to be a big stretch. Ever since you had known the trickster, he’d never done anything as big as this. Thor then countered, saying that Spider-Man and Loki had never been in the same room at the same time. But you reminded Thor how far his brother had come. And you spoke to Loki, who was not-so-secretly terrified that everyone would think it was him. He gave you his word that it wasn’t, and you believed him. Especially after hearing him say how he would’ve chosen a much better name and suit.

Other guesses ranged from Yelena thinking he was just a wannabe Avenger who didn’t plan ahead and ended up killing someone he didn’t mean to, Sam thought maybe he was on the FBI’s Most Wanted list and this disguise was a way for him to get away with more crimes, and you’d all just missed the signs, and Tony was mostly with Yelena, saying maybe he was just a super fan who took things too far trying to prove himself. You and the others preferred not to guess. There didn’t seem to be a point.

Then one day, Sam pulled you aside and asked if you’d be up for a solo mission. You were the youngest one on the team, and at first questioned if he was talking to the right Avenger. But, he was the captain, and you’d always had faith that he knew what he was doing, so you said yes. And then he told you exactly what the mission was.

“But why me? How am I supposed to find this person when we don’t even know where he lives anymore?”

“If he ends up being some young kid, we’ll all go to jail if Bucky is the one who’s basically stalking him. Nat already said don’t send her because she’d have some things to say to whoever that is, and by things to say I assume she means she’d kick his ass, so that leaves you and Yelena as the best choices. My little assassin spies!” He ruffled your hair, knowing how much you hated that. “Really though, before I even considered who / how to go about this, she approached me and asked that it not be her because she isn’t ready for solo stuff yet. You’re the best option anyway, you know how to move quietly, and your powers would be the most useful in this situation.”

(((because i’m unoriginal as fuck when it comes to thinking of powers, let’s just say you’re basically a younger wanda + the energy glows whatever color you want it to lol)))

“Okay,” you sighed, finally caving in. “But where do I even start?”

“Well he’s obviously not working with us anymore so that’s out, and he doesn’t patrol like he used to, but there have been sightings of him around at night in Queen’s so maybe start there. We can put you up in a temporary safe house, it’s actually a unit in an apartment building. Maybe do your sleuthing stuff, follow him if you can, and see if he’ll voluntarily come in and talk to us?”

It was just 24 hours later that Happy dropped you off in front of your new temporary home. You didn’t want to draw too much attention to yourself, so you convinced Sam to let you just go in alone from the beginning. It wouldn’t do any good if Captain America was seen escorting you to your new apartment. All you had was a large suitcase and a box. They were filled with clothes, plus ‘any spy shit you might need’ as Sam had put it. It wasn’t much, but you had done that on purpose. Either you’d work out who Spider-Man was within a few days, or you’d return to the compound and figure out a backup plan.

After spending half an hour unpacking the few decor items you brought, you weren’t sure what to do. Spider-Man only ever went out at night, and it was now 4pm so you still had hours to go until the sun went down.

Time went by agonizingly slow. You flicked through every single channel on TV, and couldn’t find any interesting shows or films to watch. Then, just to pass more time, you forced yourself to take a nap. That ends up being interrupted when Bucky calls you half an hour after you fall asleep, to settle an argument about who you’d save first if the compound was on fire, him or Sam.

“…in this scenario why can’t you both get yourselves out?”

“Because… just answer the question! If the building was on fire and you only had time to knock on one of our doors and help one of us escape, it would be me, right? The former Winter Soldier who helped you through a tough time when you first joined the team because I could relate to you more than anyone else? Me, your old pal Bucky, right?”

You could hear Sam in the background “shared trauma is NOT allowed in this discussion!”

“The hell it isn’t! Your suit can also make you fly! I can’t. Doll, seriously, you’d save me right?”

“I— how did this even come up? You know what, you two just use your best guess who I would save. I have to go find Spider-Man now goodbye!” You laughed as you hung up, hearing them both shout at each other that they know you’d pick them.

Eventually, the sun sets and you change into the suit that Tony had made for you just for this. Your normal one was white, and he made you a different one, similar to what you wore to train, that was black since you’d be going out at night.

(((suit by earthsangxl on pinterest)))

Once you slipped out of your window and were up on the roof, you realized that you really had no idea where to begin. Sure, there were Spider-Man sightings at night, but were they every night? And the land that was considered Queen’s was technically over 100 miles, so you also had no idea if you were even in the right area.

For the first half an hour, you stood on the roof and looked around, tried to listen for… you had no idea what. Then you decided that standing around was only going to get you so far, so you began to make your way across the rooftops, pausing every couple of minutes to look down at the people below.

That first night was a complete fail. Not only did you not find Spider-Man, but you hadn’t even caught a glimpse of him. You did manage, however, to stop 2 attempted robberies. And you could already read the headlines about how the Avengers were now sending out their younger members to take care of smaller crimes.

You immediately considered calling Sam and telling him you needed a better way to do this, maybe you could come back and just hack into the street cameras and see if you’d spot him that way. But you knew that he chose you for a reason, so you decided to tough it out. 3 nights, that was how long you gave yourself. Night 1 was a fail, but you’d do this 2 more times and if at the end of night 3 you still hadn’t made any progress, you’d call and ask the team for help.

Night 2 was interesting, but ultimately also failed. You ventured a lot further this time, and ended up in Hell’s Kitchen since it wasn’t that far from Queen’s. You saw Daredevil on the roof of a building across the street from where you were, and whispered-yelled “hey Matt!” knowing damn well he could hear you. He froze, then chuckled before giving you a little wave. You figured out his secret a long time ago, and he often confided in you if he needed someone to listen.

Just 20 minutes later, you found yourself lounging around on Matt’s couch, while he made you both coffee using some new fancy machine that Foggy had gifted him for his birthday. “Why are you all the way in Hell’s Kitchen, this late at night?”

You were an only child, and while the Avengers were definitely your family now, it still made you happy when Matt went into protective big-brother mode.

“I wasn’t fighting off any bad guys, I promise. Well not that many anyway. Though if I happen to come across more— I’m getting off topic, I’m looking for someone. You’ll probably lie even if you do know who he is but do you know Spider-Man?”

He shook his head, “no. And doesn’t he usually stick to Queens?”

“Yeah but I’ve been looking for him for hours and I got bored, you can only jump or swing across so many rooftops before you feel like you’re going crazy. I don’t know how I’m supposed to find this guy. He obviously doesn’t want to be found, which makes it that much harder.”

“But why are you by yourself?”

“Because I think a few alarms might go off in peoples heads if they noticed all of the Avengers trying to sneak around at night. Besides, I can defend myself.”

Matt sighed, knowing you were right, but that didn’t stop him from worrying. “At least let me know next time you’ll be out by yourself, alright?”

“Well I’ll be out every night until I find this guy.”

“What’s the Avenger’s big interest with him again?”

“He used to be one of us,” you sighed, “and I worked closely with him for years. If I do find him, I’m not saying I’ll let the others know right away. I just… I want to know why. I have these memories, but they don’t make sense.”

An hour later, you were back at your apartment. Matt had insisted on going with you to make sure you got home safe, and you agreed because you knew even if you said you’d be fine, he’d do that creepy thing where he followed from a somewhat decent distance and then he’d just lurk in the shadows anyway.

Day 3, AKA your final day before you called Sam and asked for help, you were bored out of your mind. You did whatever you could to occupy yourself all day, but that only got you so far. You even went out in normal clothes and a baseball cap and just walked around aimlessly. But you weren’t even sure what you expected to find. It’s not like you’d look up and see Spider-Man waving his arms, telling you to come talk to him.

At 2pm, you realized that you had yet to eat lunch, so you wandered in search of somewhere to get food.

Delmar’s, you tilted your head as you stood across the street. Why was that so familiar to you? You tried to think, and then remembered that you’d gone a couple of times, not long after you started being partnered with Spider-Man. Could this place be a clue?

A little bell above the door announced your arrival, and a few seconds later you were greeted by a kind man. “There she is! I was wondering when you’d come back.”

A little fragment of an old memory came back to you. You did know this man. Mr. Delmar, he owned the place and just the 2nd time you went, he had already remembered your order. But who were you here with? You didn’t know anyone in Queen’s.

“Sorry it’s been so long, I haven’t had much time to myself.”

“You want the usual?”

You nodded, ashamed to admit that you didn’t remember what your usual actually was. “That’d be great, thanks.”

Mr. Delmar refused your money, but you snuck $20 into the tip jar when he wasn’t looking. He insisted that it was on the house, he loved the Avengers and it was an honor that you were eating his sandwiches.

“Ah there he is! My other regular!”

You turned around and saw a brown hair brown eyed boy who looked to be about your age. When he saw you, he froze for a couple of seconds. Then he quickly recovered and stepped up to the counter to order. You didn’t think anything of it. Some people tended to freak out whenever they were around you or anyone else on the team.

“Number five with pickles, smashed down real flat?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

Weird, it didn’t seem to be a common thing to order your sandwiches that way, so what are the odds this stranger had the exact same order as you? The menu was pretty limited at Delmar’s though, so you once again brushed it off.

“Peter, meet my other best customer. She hasn’t come around in a while, but now she might give you a run for your money!”

You and Mr. Delmar were completely unaware of the fact that Peter already knew you, and that he was the one that introduced you to this place. It killed him to have to smile and nod and act like he was meeting you for the first time.

“I-it’s nice to meet you. I’m Peter,” he stuck his hand out, cringing at how awkward you must think he is. But you smiled and shook his hand, and he hated the fact that your touch still felt so familiar to him, while he was nobody to you.

You introduced yourself again, then felt your phone buzzing in your back pocket. “Well I should get going. It was nice meeting you Peter, and bye Mr. Delmar. I promise I’ll come back tomorrow.”

“I’m gonna hold you to that!”

You couldn’t shake the weird feeling you got all the way back to your apartment. Why the hell was Peter so familiar to you?

That feeling hadn’t gone away by the time it was dark out, but you forced all thoughts of him out of your mind as you suited up and made your way to the roof again. You looked down at the other buildings and people just going about their lives, and just hoped that tonight worked. You’d find Spider-Man, and you’d be able to talk to him.

No. Fucking. Way.

Your eyes widened as you glanced down and saw… Spider-Man? Climb out of one of the windows below you. He lived in your apartment?! You immediately ducked, not wanting to risk being seen. Now that you knew where he lived, perhaps it was better to wait until he came back from patrolling or whatever he did. You saw what unit it was, now maybe you could just go knock on his door and then you’d right away know the man behind the mask.

After a minute, you slowly looked over the edge again, and saw Spider-Man already a few buildings away. Luckily he was heading in the opposite direction, so he didn’t see you. Once he was out of sight, you made your way back to your apartment. What the hell were you supposed to do now? You had no idea how long he patrolled for. Would he be back in an hour? 2? Would he be out until the sun came up? You supposed there was only one way to guarantee that you’d know exactly when he came home, without risking him leaving again before you had the chance to knock.

Using the lock picking skills that Nat taught you (and that Yelena helped you perfect), you soon found yourself inside Spider-Man’s apartment.

Whoever he was, you already felt bad for him. The apartment was so… bare. While you didn’t go poking around in drawers or cabinets, you looked at whatever was already out, and that wasn’t much. No photographs, no art on the walls, no furniture other than a small table in the kitchen / dining room, and was a studio apartment so if you looked just last the kitchen, you could see his ‘bedroom’ too. But even that held no clues to his identity.

As much as you wanted to look around for other clues, you forced yourself to sit on the only chair at the table. But after only a few minutes, you got up and paced back and forth.

What would you say when Spider-Man climbed back through the window? What if he just freaked out and called 9-1-1? How would you even explain how you found him without sounding like a stalker? Although, I did break into his apartment, you think to yourself. The time for feeling worried about breaking any laws has long passed.

After another 10 minutes of wandering around the tiny apartment, you began to feel hungry.

Shit. You’d forgotten to eat in your excitement to get over here. You could run back to your apartment and quickly have something, but then you risk him coming back and possibly leaving before you return.

You turn your head a little to the left, and your eyes light up when you see a familiar blue and yellow box sticking out of one of the cabinets.

Hmm, haven’t had Kraft Macaroni & Cheese since I was a kid.

As you scooped some of the macaroni into a bowl once you’d finished, it occurred to you that this was a little rude. But you were hungry and determined to talk to Spider-Man tonight, so those thoughts left your mind fairly quickly.

Just as you’d taken your second bite, you heard the window slide up. You instantly stood up and placed your mask back on. Bucky had insisted that you take it and wear it. You pointed out that you never fought with one and the whole world knew what you looked like, but he insisted anyway.

Spider-Man jumped through his window, then turned around to slide it closed. How the hell has he not seen you yet?? You decide you should make your presence known before he finally realizes there’s someone else in the room.

“Hi, I know you don’t know me but I just want to—”

“Ah!” Without thinking, Peter grabbed the closest object within reach and threw it at you. Luckily, it was just a small lamp. Unfortunately, it was a lot heavier than it looked.

When it hit you on the forehead, you fell. Enhanced healing caused you to just jump back up, not worried because you knew whatever injury you sustained would be completely gone by morning.

“Okay… ouch.”

Peter turned on the lights and once again froze, recognizing you instantly. “OH MY GOD I AM SO SORRY!” He took a few steps towards you, but stopped when he noticed you taking just as many steps back.

“Are you always this apologetic when people break into your apartment?”

Oh, right. He had to pretend he didn’t know you. But the Avengers were pretty famous, so at least he could pretend to know of you. “N-no. No. I just… ohmygodyourheadisbleeding—”

“I’m fine,” you reassured him, using the back of your hand to wipe away some of the blood. “I’ll heal fast, trust me. Now can we talk? I’m guessing by your reaction that you know who I am?”

He nodded, mumbling your superhero name.

“Well, you must be hungry from… being Spider-Man, right? Mac and cheese?” You motioned to the stove, where Peter only just noticed the pot on top.

“I— you made food in my kitchen??”

“Well I was starving and I had no idea how long you were going to be, you took forever! So I just made myself some food. I promise I’ll come back and bring you a box to replace the one I used. Are you honestly telling me you’re not hungry right now? It’s really tasty.” You walked over to the drawers in the kitchen and began to open and shut them, looking for the cutlery drawer.

“Yeah I know what boxed mac and cheese tastes like, y— my old girlfriend used to make it for us all the time okay I know… I know it’s delicious.”

“Forks, forks…” You paused, having finally found the drawer. You picked up the one object in your hand and turned around, “no… you have ONE fork?!”

Peter scoffed, crossing his arms. He was really having to put on a show that he didn’t know who you were. Truth is, he knew this was exactly how you’d react even if you did remember him and this was just your first time at his new apartment. “I— I’m one person.”

“That’s so weird. What’s your name?”

“What?”

You slid the mask off of your face. “Come on. I know where you live. You know who I am, I think you can trust me with your name.”

“I… Peter… Parker,” he sighed, knowing you were right. As he removed his mask, he knew that even if he didn’t tell you, you’d be able to figure it out since you were able to find out where he lived. You didn’t even seem phased that the name he just uttered and the person behind the mask was the same one from Delmar’s not too long ago.

“Peter, this is not cutlery. This is not cutlery.” Now you felt even more bad for the guy. If he only owns a single fork, he must not have people over.

Okay, think, Peter thought to himself. He had to act like he thought you were just a crazy Avenger who broke into his house because you somehow figured out he was Spider-Man. “I am not just gonna sit and have dinner with you after you tried to kill me and then just broke into my house.”

Now it was your turn to scoff. “I did not try to kill you! A, I’m an Avenger and that probably wouldn’t look good on my resume if I killed our friendly although not-so-friendly according to the news Spider-Man. B, I didn’t break anything to get into your apartment so did I really break in? Your lock is very easy to pick, you’re lucky I’m the first one that tried. And C… you’re literally Spider-Man so maybe stop being so defensive, please? I really am just here to talk.”

I didn’t think it was possible for my heart to literally shatter into pieces, but yup, it’s happening, Peter thought. When he first joined the team, being that you were the same age, Tony sent you to talk to him. And when he opened the door to May’s apartment and saw you standing there, he must’ve been thinking the worst because you hadn’t ever seen him so terrified. “I really am just here to talk,” you’d reassured him then. How different those same words sounded now.

“O—okay.”

You went to the kitchen sink and washed your bowl and fork. You decided to take matters into your own hands, where the food was involved, so you scooped the remainder of the mac and cheese into another bowl and got a fork. On a whim, you then opened Peter’s fridge and bent down, an ‘aha!’ let out as you found a bottle of sriracha. You squirted some of the red sauce into the bowl, then handed it over to Peter.

He was a little in shock. You remembered that he like sriracha with his mac and cheese. How was this possible? He decided not to question you, instead mumbling a soft “thank you”.

“What happened? With Mysterio?”

“Haven’t you watched the news?” Even as he spoke, when Peter looked at you, he was amazed that despite the fact that he was still essentially a stranger to you, he could tell you genuinely cared and wanted to hear his side of the story. “I just mean… people seem to already know what happened.”

“I want to hear it from you. And I know you don’t know me, well like personally outside of the fact that I’m an Avenger and we used to work together on missions, and this is the first time I’ve seen your face, but you can trust me. I’ve done my fair share of bad things too.”

This caught his attention. You very rarely (and completely understandably) talked about your time as a Black Widow. In fact, he knew that Bucky and Nat were the only ones that you were comfortable enough to really confide in. You’d confessed one night that you didn’t want to talk about it with him too much because you were worried it would scare him away.

Seeing the way he looked at you as you spoke, you told him more. Not all the details, but the basics of how you came to be enrolled in the Black Widow program, how you were freed by Nat and Yelena, and how you still partially blamed yourself for the things that you were forced to do. “I know— Bucky says it’s not my fault, it’s not any of our fault, but I still can’t help but think it is, you know? And I just want to do good now, I want to help people. So when I saw you on the news, I thought there had to be more to the story. I may not know you, Peter, but I know Spider-Man. He was only ever good the entire time I knew him. So if you want to tell me what happened, I’ll listen.”

“How did you know I liked sriracha on my mac and cheese?”

You were silent, not expecting him to ask that of all questions. “I… huh?”

“After you put it in the bowl. You put some sriracha before giving it to me. Why?” He was trying to gauge just how much you remembered. You seemed to have some memories, just unaware that they were with him.

“I— I don’t know. I just did it. Sorry,” you leaned against the counter, now puzzled about why you did that too.

“If I tell you everything, you’ll think I’m crazy.”

You laughed, trying to make him feel more comfortable, “Peter I share a floor on the Avengers compound with a former Winter Soldier who’s over one hundred years old. And I can do this,” you raised your left hand, causing the energy to glow around it and Peter’s bowl to lift just a few inches off of the table. Once the bowl was set back down, you shrugged. “Nothing seems crazy to me anymore.”

He closed his eyes, wondering what he should do. But then he looked back at you, and you were looking at him the same way you always did, before you forgot who he was. With the same sense of kindness, and care, and he knew that he could trust you.

So… he told you everything. You both moved to the couch to be a little more comfortable, and Peter spent the next hour telling you every single thing, giving you the long-story-short version of events from the moment he was bit by the spider, to right now sitting here with you. You sat back, not doubting him for a second. It all sounded so crazy that it had to be true. He didn’t want to scare you off with how much he knew, but he told you little facts and stories that there’s no way he could’ve known unless you’d told him. And you wouldn’t have told him unless you knew him.

“And we… we were together?” You looked at him, and noticed him quickly wiping away a few tears.

“Yeah, we were.”

You scooted closer, suddenly feeling like you needed to be near him. When you gently put a hand on his face, he leans in to your touch, sighing as he closes his eyes. He missed you more than anything in the world. “I wish I could remember all of it. I’m sorry I don’t.”

“No, it’s my fault. I— I was the one who asked Dr. Strange to make everyone forget. And I thought yeah it might take awhile, but I’d come find you and make everything alright again. But life got complicated and I thought after all of this stuff with Mysterio, you wouldn’t want to know me anymore.”

“But I do know you Peter,” you smiled, reaching up to run your hands through his hair. “My mind may not remember you as a person, but I have these memories and I don’t think I could explain it other than the fact that my heart somehow remembers, as cheesy as that sounds. Like you said, little things like remembering your hot sauce on your mac and cheese, and even at Delmar’s I couldn’t put my finger on it but you felt so familiar. I swore I knew you even though to me I hadn’t seen you before.”

You were both silent for a moment. When you slowly removed your hand, Peter took it in his, now desperately craving your touch after having felt it again. “I just, I didn’t know what to do. And I still don’t. The world won’t believe me as quick as you did sweetheart.”

“Stephen.”

“Huh?”

“We need to talk to Stephen. He helped make everyone forget, and I’m not saying he should help make everyone remember after you told me what happened, but he’ll know what to do. And even if he doesn’t believe you at first, I’ll be right there. There has to be something we can do, the whole world can’t just keep on hating you for something that you didn’t even do.”

For the first time since losing May and everyone forgetting who he was, Peter was filled with hope. You may not remember him 100%, but you were now on his side and you believed everything he told you. Maybe things really could be fixed, at least on some level.

You both sat and talked for a little while longer, mostly you asking Peter questions about your relationship, and occasionally him asking you about how you’ve been doing since forgetting him. Then you came up with a rough plan, that wasn’t really a plan. You’d go to visit Stephen, and Peter would go to but he’d wait outside while you talked and explained as best you could. Although you didn’t work closely together, Stephen knew what you could do and he trusted you enough that you hoped he’d believe you.

“Maybe we should wait until it’s not, you know, pitch black outside,” you walked over to the window and glanced up at the moon. In both of your excitement at now having a plan, you were ready to rush out of the door right then and there. “I can come back first thing in the morning and then we can—”

“Will you stay, please?” Peter was terrified that if you left and went to bed, you’d somehow forget who he was by the time morning came around.

You nodded, standing up and finally stretching your arms. “I’m just gonna go take a shower and change, I’ll come back as soon as I’m done okay?” You put a hand over Peter’s reassuringly, and were a little surprised when he pulled you in for a hug, squeezing you tight. But after being in his arms for only a second, you wrapped your arms around him too. And this was another moment your body confirmed he was telling the truth. He felt like home.

“I’m gonna shower and change too, get out of this suit. I’ll leave my door unlocked incase you’re done before I am. You can just come in.”

After you went your separate ways, you took the fastest shower possible and changed into sweatpants and a plain shirt. When you made your way back to Peter’s apartment, you knocked before opening the door. You heard the shower still going from the bathroom, so you wandered around the apartment again, this time feeling a lot more comfortable.

On the other side of the couch, was a box that you hadn’t noticed before. It just one of those small brown boxes that had all 4 sides folded to keep it shut. Unable to contain your curiosity, you opened the box. And nothing in the world could’ve prepared you for the photograph you were looking at.

You didn’t know but it was taken the day Stephen made everyone forget. And it wasn’t you, or Peter, or MJ, or Ned, or anyone that took the photo. It was Karen, a photo taken by Peter’s suit, so it was from his point of view. When Peter was looking through all that Karen had captured on his old laptop one night, he stumbled upon the photo. And he knew it was stupid, but he printed a copy, wanting to remember them even if they’d forget him too.

Your hands shook just a little as you brought the photo closer to your face, wondering how all of this was connected.

“Hey I heard you come in, sorry I took so long—” Peter froze when he saw what photo you were holding. “Oh, t-that’s just—”

You cut him off, and just as nothing could’ve prepared you for the photo, nothing could’ve prepared Peter for what you said next.

“The one on the right, I know him.”

(((you’re referring to Andrew’s Peter)))

a;sdlkfjasg;hv.a,fights;gjsdf this was so fun to write!

[goddessofthundathighs]

*Taps mic* Is this thing on? Okay, I know it's been AGES since I blessed your dashboards with new content, but listen... Shit happens, okay? This is my submission to @nahimjustfeelingit-writes Smut Challenge. And in the words of the great Erykah Badu, keep in mind that I'm an artist, & I'm sensitive about my shit. Enjoy!

**

“The story you 'bout to hear is complete fiction

It is however made up of a group of stories

True stories about real people

Thus creating real characters going through real things

Thus making the story itself real, true, and a real story, a true story

Is non-fiction…”

Non-Fiction x Ne-Yo

**

“Wait a damn minute! He did what?!” Alexandria screeched, nearly choking on the smoke of the freshly pearled blunt she’d rolled. Her eyes were wide with excitement and mild disbelief at what I had just told her.

“You heard me, bitch,” I replied, sipping my glass of wine. This was girl’s weekend and what better way to kick it off than spilling the details of the day’s freaky deeky adventure.

“How the fuck did that even happen?” Kenya inquired, crossing the threshold to the kitchen. I smirked, biting my lip at the memory of what had happened only a few hours prior.

“Chill out,” I giggled. “I’ll start from the beginning…”

**

The day started like any other. After my morning meditation and journal session, I grabbed my phone, smiling wide at a particularly generous tip on my latest CamSoda release. Public masturbation was the theme this week and everyone seemed to love the clip of me in the back of the music hall, including my music professor.

“Thank you, Dr. Turner,” I said aloud as I ventured to my bathroom to begin my skincare routine. Once my face and body were squeaky clean, I slid over to my perfume wall to pick the day’s scent.

“Champagne Toast or Sunrise Woods?” I mused before settling on the Sunrise Woods. I’d picked it up during my latest mall adventure. Upon smelling it, I fell in love with the way the sandalwood and cashmere notes complimented my mocha skin as well as the way it layered with my cocoa vanilla shea butter. For it to be a Bath & Body Work scent, the combination was very grown and sexy. I then slid over to my closet to pick the day’s outfit. I was working from the office today so I needed something that was sexy, but still professional. I decided on a white mid-length blouse with a black pencil skirt and sheer black thigh highs with my favorite pair of So Kates.

The commute to work was surprisingly short, given the amount of traffic on the freeway. I parked in my usual spot and made my way to our shared office suite.

“Good morning, Ms. Baptiste. You look stunning as usual.”

“Thank you, Mr. Stevens,” I replied in the sweetest voice. “Give me a few minutes and I’ll have your schedule ready.”

“Take your time,” he replied, his voice laced with mild seduction. “I have something to handle before I get my morning started.”

“That sounds nasty, but I’m gonna let you have it,” I said with a chuckle. “Did you still want me to organize your email inbox?”

“Would you please? Every time I try, I get overwhelmed and frustrated and shut down the whole damn system,” he admits.

“No problem, I can get started on that right now. Would you mind bringing me a coffee since it looks like you were headed down to Starbucks?”

“Sure, caramel macchiato, right?”

“Look at my boss, remembering what I like! You get brownie points for that, Mr. Stevens.”

He huffed a laugh before turning on his heels to leave the suite. After compiling his schedule and sitting it on his desk, I began the gruesome task of organizing his emails. I compiled everything into folders based on importance and was about to click off before another tab caught my attention.

“What is this?” I ask aloud, clicking the folder. My eyes grew to the size of saucers when I saw the contents.

**

“So you are a freak.”

I lift my eyes slowly to meet his gaze. How he managed to get to Starbucks and back so fast is beyond me, but here he was standing in front of my desk.

“Did you like what you saw in the video, Ms. Baptiste?” he asked, seeming to stare directly into my soul.

I nodded as he began stripping out of his suit jacket and tie.

“Good, because I wanna see if you can do better.”

He casually strolls to my side of the desk, unbuttoning his shirt to reveal the most beautiful body I had ever seen. Each ab was perfectly sculpted and riddled with intricately placed crocodile scars. When he was within arm's length, I reached out to touch, rubbing my hands along each scar. The sensation was electrifying. He grabbed my hand, sliding it down to the growing bulge in his pants, licking his lips when he noticed my mouth watering.

“Wanna taste?”

“Yes Daddy,” I moan.

“Good girl. Pull him out.”

I wasted no time undoing his belt, taking his dick as far back as my throat would allow. The moan I got in return sent the blood rushing to the apex of my thighs. He was bigger than I was used to, but that didn’t faze me as I continued to lick and slurp.

“So how do you wanna do this, baby girl? You wanna be cute and suck this dick like a lady, or can I fuck that face like the slut I know you are.”

I pulled off with a pop, lifting my head to meet his gaze.

“First of all, I’m a Princess and you will address me as such. Second of all, I’ll take the face fucking for $500 Alex.”

He grins slyly before his hand fisted my hair, using that as leverage to fuck my face at a ferocious pace. Spit dripped down my chin and onto my shirt as he pushed past my gag reflex. I groan, sliding my hand between my legs to ease the pressure building at my core.

“Who told you to touch my pussy?” he growls softly.

“N-Nobody, Daddy,” I whine, stroking his balls with my free hand.

“But you're doing it anyway. Disobedient little girl,” he chuckled darkly. “So how are you gonna make it up to me?”

Before I could answer, a shrill voice caught my attention.

“Lyric!”

My head whipped around at the sound of my name. I didn’t even realize that I had disassociated until I saw Ariana standing in front of me with her hands on her exceptionally wide hips.

“Huh?” I answered after realizing where I was.

“I asked of Mr. Stevens was back in his office. He and I have some things to discuss regarding my internship.”

“Oh yeah, he’s in there. Give me a second and I’ll let him know you’re here.”

She nodded as I walked to the adjacent door.

“Mr. Stevens, Ariana is here to see you. Umm, quick question.. Did you ever bring me my coffee?”

He blinked, before flashing an innocent smile. “You got your coffee three hours ago, Ms. Baptiste. It’s about time for your lunch break isn’t it?”

I checked the time and sure enough, it was 12:30 in the afternoon. Had I really been watching his homemade porn for 3 hours?

What the hell? I thought to myself, trying to wrap my mind around what the fuck was happening and whether or not I was losing my damn mind. He seemed to notice my struggle as he leaned forward on his elbows.

“You aight?” he asks with a raised eyebrow.

I nodded quickly, smoothing my hands down my skirt. “Yes I’m fine, I opened the window to let in a little fresh air and it must've gotten too hot in my office. I’ll see you in an hour.”

“See you then, Lyric. You can send Ms. Banks in.”

**

There’s something so hot about doing something spicy where you really shouldn’t be doing it. After finishing my lunch, I made my way down to the employee parking lot. I pulled up the CamSoda app, opting to go live instead of filming a regular video.

“Who wants to see their goddess masturbating on her lunch break?” I asked seductively, pulling my rose toy from my bag. Once the video had a substantial amount of views, I began the show.

“Oooh fuck,” I moaned as the vibrator sucked my clit with precision. With one leg propped on my console and the other on my dashboard, I went to town on myself, occasionally looking around to make sure no one important could see. I imagined that the toy was Erik’s tongue, licking and sucking until there was nothing left. My eyes rolled to the back of my head as I remembered one of the videos in the hidden folder. He had one of the other interns bent over his desk while he stroked her pussy with a vengeance.

“Oh shit, I’m about to cum,” I moaned, burying my face in my hair as my orgasm began to build. I squirmed and bucked against the seat and was just about to squirt when I heard a knock on my window. I opened my eyes to see Mr. Stevens staring back at me with a stern look on his face.

“Aww fuck,” I said readjusting my clothes. “Gotta cut this one short, babies. Love you guys!” I blew a kiss at the screen before ending the steam. I tucked the toy back into my bag and stepped out of the car, looking down at the pavement sheepishly.

“My office, 5 minutes,” was all he said before walking away.

“Mr. Stevens!” I called after him but he just kept walking. “Man damn!” I cursed loudly as I followed him. When I made it to our shared suite, I noticed that his office door was closed. I sat my purse on my desk before knocking softly.

“Mr. Stevens?”

“Come in, Lyric.”

I stepped into his office and before I could think, the words began flowing like diarrhea.

“Mr. Stevens, I’m so sorry. Please don’t fire me. It was a stupid mistake and I promise it’ll never happen again.”

He looks up from the legal pad that he had been writing on, twirling a pen between his hands.

“Ms. Baptiste I’ve only said two words to you. Calm down.”

I nodded, sitting down in the chair across from his desk to collect myself. I stared at the floor awaiting my punishment.

“Look at me.” His tone was soft, but his voice was stern. I bit my lip before lifting my head to meet his gaze.

“We’re both grown, Ms. Baptiste. So be honest with me, that’s not the first time you’ve done something like that, is it?”

I sighed softly. “No.”

“How many times have you done it before?”

“Four.”

“So you’ve recorded yourself masturbating on my time in my parking lot four times, correct?” he repeats, almost tauntingly.

“Yes, Mr. Stevens. But--” he puts a hand up to stop me from continuing.

“Do you think of me when you touch yourself, Ms. Baptiste?”

My mind went blank as I stared back at him. He simply chuckled before continuing.

“You know,” he said, scooting back from the desk. “If you’re gonna show the internet how wet your pussy gets from thinking about me, at least invite me so I can show them how messy she can really get.”

I’m sorry, what?

“O-Oh... I .. Umm,” I stuttered, watching him.

“C’mere,” he instructs. I comply, moving to sit on top of his desk.

“Thinking about me fucking you the way I fuck the girls in those videos gets you wet, huh?” He asked, sliding his hands up my thighs as he placed his body between my legs. My words were dead in my throat so I could only nod, but he understood.

“Tell me how bad you want it,” he said, stroking my still throbbing pussy through my panties.

“I want it bad,” I replied in a needy tone. In a flash, my panties were pulled to the side and he was stroking me like a prisoner fresh out of a 20-year stint. My moans were loud and uncontrollable, but that didn’t stop him.

“You never answered my question, Lyric,” he teased, licking the shell of my ear. “Do you think about me when you touch yourself?”

“Yeeesss,” I moaned, digging my nails in his thigh as he plunged deeper.

“You've been dreaming of the day I fucked you, huh? You've been wanting this dick bad, haven’t you?”

Why do men feel the need to ask questions when they’re tap-dancing on your g-spot? As if the answers they’re going to receive will be coherent or make sense. My pussy answered for me, sending a wave of juices down both of our thighs.

“Gushy ass, fat ass pussy,” he growled, sliding his hand up my body to grip my throat.

“Oh shit!” I screamed as I squirted, successfully wetting his entire lower half.

“Oh she’s a Super Soaker,” he laughed. “Do it again.”

He pulls out, slapping his dick on my clit, before diving back in.

“Eriiiiik!”

“Yeah, gimme that shit, Princess,” he encouraged, sending over the edge once more. Once his thrusts became erratic, I knew he was close.

“Where you want it, ma?”

I slid down off the desk and onto my knees, opening my mouth wide. He granted my wishes, releasing his thick load down my throat.

“Good fucking girl,” he moaned, smoothing his hand down the back of my head. I drank his unborns happily, before standing up to fix my skirt. He grabbed my chin, kissing me sloppily before pulling away.

“See you Monday, Ms. Baptiste.”

[caylusromanoff]

Can I request a Yelena x Kate x little!male reader where reader and Kate where already dating and she takes him with her to her mission but when they get separated and she realizes that yelena mit have gotten him she looks all over for him but when she finds him it’s not what she expected reader has slipped into little space and crying but instead of taking him out yelena was cuddling and comforting him. So when reader has calmed down and Kate wants to take him home reader refuses and wants Kate and yelena to be his mommies.

"baby? Come on love. we have to go now" Kate shouts into your bedroom at the compound. You sigh and do one last check, making sure you have everything before checking your suit one last time and meeting her outside. This was a mission for just you and Kate.

Somehow after Natasha had taken down the red Room and rescued Yelena, hydra had gotten a hold of her and she was now under their mind control. Fury had discovered that they were planning to use Yelena to attack an orphanage where she could retrieve young boys for hydras next experiments.

The two of you were tasked to stop her and bring her back to shield. Where we would cut her mind control and safely get her back to her sister. What you didn't know through all of this was that in the short six months that Yelena had been with the group, her and Kate formed a bond stronger than you ever realised.

They both knew deep down that the three of you would be in each others futures. You just didn't realise that it would be together. Dragging for feet you walk behind Kate nervous for the mission. You weren't scared about getting hurt. You were just scared about ma- Kate! Kate getting hurt. She meant the world to you and you don't know what you'd do without her.

The flight in the quinjet was quiet. You both stealing kisses here and there and sweet words of reassurance being shared between you. You knew this would be a successful mission giving the history the three of you had. You were just unsure of the level of injury that would follow.

When you for to the orphanage everything seemed ordinary. What you had seemed to have forgotten about was that fury had sent out a team earlier than the pair of you to evacuate everybody and move them into a higher standard orphanage with better security.

After about an hour of scoping the area you began to panic. You hadn't seen a sign of anyone yet. Including Kate. And you were starting to feel yourself slipping. You head down the stairs to the middle floor and freeze when you hear footsteps.

You quickly rush to grab your gun but whimper when it slips out of your hands and crashes to the floor. You cower in the corner and curl up into a ball. Sobbing louder than you had intended to. Having slipped to one of your littlest headspaces.

You suddenly hear the footsteps coming closer and closer and whimper louder. Lifting your head to see the blonde now standing over you. Gun pointing at your head. "N-no 'urt me. M-me s-sowwy" you cry out. Begging to struggle to breathe as you feel the panic set in.

This seems to break something inside Yelena and the shift would have been visible to anyone who could understand. "Y-y/n?" She whispers and falls to her knees Infront of you. Leaning over to cup you cheeks.

"NO!!! no s-sowwy i-i"

"hey hey. Breathe little detka. Breathe. It's Yelena. It's me. I'm good. I'm good I promise." This seems to do the trick for you and you rush forward into her arms. Knocking her backwards so she's now sat with her back against the wall. You hide away in her neck. Hiccuping and sobbing, trying to focus on her voice and heartbeat so you can calm down.

Little did the both of you realise that Kate had heard your screams of no. And was rushing towards the direction it came from faster than she had ever moved before. Bursting through the door she startles you and you almost fall out of Yelena's hold but she wraps her arms around you tighter.

Kate gasps in shock and looks between you and Yelena. You looked so peaceful minus your red eyes and nose. You were cuddled into Yelena and turned your head to face Kate. "Mommy. 'ook! Me gots mama. She 'afe now" you babble adorably. Again causing both Kate and Yelena to gasp this time.

"uhm listen little man. Yelena has to go somewhere safe okay. Auntie Nat is waiting for her" she tries to pick you up but you whine and hold on tighter

"NO! 'ena is mama now. Otay! You's mommy. 'ena mama. No leavin' wifout both of you's. I yous baby. You's my mamas" you state in a firm tone taking Kate back. She had never heard you talk with such authority in your tone. Let alone when little. She takes a deep breath and sighs. Once again going to object but you speak again. Now seemingly big. You stand up and point to both of them.

"oh come on this is simple. It's obvious no? You love me and I love you. more than anything. But you also love Yelena. Yelena. You love me and you also love Kate. I love you. And I love Kate too. So we're leaving together. I want both of you. As girlfriends. Wives. Mommies. I want it all. And in not leaving here unless we all leave together"

Yelena now had tears running down her cheeks and she jumps up and hugs the pair of you. Kate nods in agreement and pulls you into a kiss. Before doing the same to Yelena. Who then kisses you too.

The three of your board the quinjet on the way home. You make a call to Natasha to inform her that Yelena is safe and that your on the way back.

You couldn't be happier. You just hoped everything would work out

[unsettlingconclusions]

Conversation over pizza

Pairing: Ayna Seth x F!MC (Kennedy) Genre: Fluff Rating: T Word Count: 3k+ Notes: I got inspired by @samanthadalton and @iamsimpforpoppy talking about pizza and food one day. I know this might not be a pairing of your particular interest, but I tagged you to show my appreciation for the inspiration (if you’d like me to remove it, please just let me know!). Story is not reviewed because if I stop to review I’d never post anything. Enjoy.

“So, I decided what we can do as your introduction to fine cuisine. Pizza!”

The sound of Ayna’s excitement came all the way from the kitchen to find Kennedy comfortably nestled against the cushions in Ayna’s couch. It was a lazy Sunday afternoon and for once Ayna wasn’t swamped in deadlines or planning for classes, so they had been spending the past few hours curled up cuddling and watching cheesy romcoms. It was the perfect setting for peace and relaxation, and Kennedy would have voted to glue herself to the couch and to her girlfriend had it not been for the sound of grumbling stomachs. They were only human, afterall, and humans do need to eat.

“Pizza? Ayna, thank you for believing in me, but there’s no way I can get making pizza from scratch right.” Kennedy moved to the kitchen counter, voice a little less enthusiastic than her girlfriend’s.

But Ayna wasn’t to be deterred. “This one you can,” she replied, showcasing a package of frosted premade pizza dough. “Making it from scratch can be a challenge, I’ll admit. That’s why we’re gonna skip the make your own dough step.”

“But then it won’t be ‘fine cuisine’. It will just be like making a sandwich.”

“Ok, one, don’t talk like you even make sandwiches. And two, try to have some faith in me. Let’s make our own fresh tomato sauce. It makes a world of difference.”

It was a few weeks back when Ayna promised to teach Kennedy how to cook, starting with something easy, of course. This deal was brought by after a nice surprise romantic dinner Ayna had prepared for them in celebration of going public and finally being free to properly date.

“I thought you didn’t cook.”

“Usually I don’t, but I can make an exception if I feel the circumstances are special enough.”

“No, I mean, you said sometimes coffee is all you have.”

Ayna chuckles lightheartedly. “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I can’t cook, it means I unfortunately don’t have much time for it.”

“So, does that mean I’m special?” Kennedy can't help the fluttering of her heart and the wide grin from reaching her face at the thought of Ayna dedicating so much to their date.

“You’re the most special of circumstances," resting her hands on Kennedy's shoulders, Ayna gently coaxes the younger woman towards the dinner table. "Now come, before the food gets cold. I hope you enjoy it.”

Kennedy was surprised by how rich and flavorful it all tasted, and as the thick and sweet aroma filling the air lured her into a deep sense of comfort, she was amazed to keep discovering all these layers to her girlfriend.

She learned that cooking was soothing for Ayna, as it reminded the woman of her daadi, who used to say there could be no warmth of heart with an empty stomach. Kennedy was wooed through and through that night, and if cooking was an activity Ayna enjoyed, she wanted to be able to enjoy it with her. But the truth was she couldn't cook if her life dependend on it, so by the end of the night she made Ayna agree to teach her something someday.

"Why pizza? I thought we were going for something Indian."

"You're the one who said you wanted to start easy. Let's hold on the spices for now."

"Fine, I'll trust you. Teach me like I'm one of your French girls." Kennedy grinned, doing as close to a Kate Winslet impersonation as she managed.

"Preferably not naked, though," Ayna teased as she approached Kennedy with an apron, motioning for Kennedy to pass her head through it. "Tomato sauce sometimes gets a little explosive and I don't want you to get burned", she continued as she circled around Kennedy to fasten the straps behind her back.

As expected, Ayna was no less of a teacher in the kitchen than she was in the classroom. She calmly explained everything they were doing and why, from why they needed to boil water to peel off and seed the tomatoes, to how to properly cut them and remove their stem and core to make the process easier.

“We’ll just cook them for little while so the skin comes off easier.”

Once the tomatoes had been set in the boiling water, they moved onto all the other steps. "No respectable sauce lacks onion," Ayna explained, "but chopping them can be tricky. If you get too uncomfortable, tell me and I can do it by myself."

"No way, I'm having the full experience." Kennedy replied, although her eyes did make her almost regret her choice.

When the tomatoes cooked to the right point and they shocked them in iced water, Kennedy was almost amazed by how easily the skin came off.

“Nice trick,” she remarked, as she quickly took care of her task.

“Yeah it is. And it works with potatoes too.”

“You mean I don’t have to spend an hour peeling potatoes?”

“You mean you have peeled potatoes before?” Ayna raised her eyebrows in genuine curiosity.

“Mom tried taking cooking classes once and got me into it too. It didn’t go very well,” Kennedy grinned sheepishly.

“And how is it going now?”

“A lot better. It turns out I just had the wrong teacher,” this time Kennedy offered Ayna a wink and a huge smile, being then rewarded with a peck on the lips.

“Here, let’s sievel the seeds and dice them.”

When it came to dicing the tomatoes, Kennedy felt like she finally could use a more hands-on approach to compensate the fact she was losing some precious cuddling time, so she made sure Ayna would notice she was doing it the wrong way.

“You’re cutting them too big.”

"Oh no, silly me. Can you come over here and show me how to do it? I might do it better if you guide my hand,” Kennedy stated, feigning as much innocence as she could.

"You’re just baiting me."

"Is it working?"

"Yes."

Ayna came closer from behind and wrapped her arms around Kennedy, resting her hands atop the younger woman’s, guiding her movements gently. Kennedy took advantage of the moment as she could, leaning back and sinking further into Ayna’s embrace. She would definitely sign up for more cooking sessions if it involved this kind of teaching.

After many demonstrations more than it was actually necessary, Ayna rested her hands on Kennedy’s waist and moved her head to the side so her lips could softly brush against Kennedy’s ear, “Do you think you can get it right now?” She whispered.

“Y-yeah, I think,” Kennedy stuttered, tilting her head to the side to expose more of her neck.

Ayna nuzzled her nose into Kennedy’s neck for a few seconds before saying  “Good, let’s finish this.”

“Buzzkill.”

“Try hungry.”

With the ingredients now all set to go, they moved the chopped onions to a pot and let them fry for a little while. As Kennedy stirs the pot to keep the onions from burning, the sound of them sizzling mixed with its heavenly smell set such a mood of domesticity, Kennedy felt a weird sense of nostalgia for something she never really had.

“Hey, thank you for teaching me. This feels nice.”

“Of course,” Ayna smiled broadly, brushing a loose lock of Kennedy’s hair behind her ear fondly, because the truth was there was little Kennedy could ask of her that she wouldn’t give. “Here comes the tomatoes.”

A few minutes of simmering later and the sauce was ready and good to go, its bright red color contrasting with the paleness of the dough.

With Ayna’s guidance, Kennedy assembled the pizza with their homemade sauce, lots of cheese (the true secret was to use good cheese, Ayna had said) and fresh basil leaves for extra flavor, and they set it to the oven. All they had to do now was wait.

“Have you thought about what you’re gonna do now?” Ayna asked as she setted up the oven timer.

“Hmm, wait for it to bake so we can eat?”  

“I mean about Vancross. You came to help your mom with the Summit, didn’t you? To make allies?” She clarified, moving to help Kennedy out of her apron and taking her own off as well.

“Not just that. I came to study really.”

Once both were free of their aprons, Ayna started going about the kitchen, storing back everything they haven’t used. “Didn’t you tell me once you weren’t sure if going into politics was really what you wanted?”

“You remember that?” Kennedy asked surprised, the memory kind of distant. It was the first time they talked outside of the classroom.

“I remember everything about you.”

“Sappy.” It really was and Kennedy wouldn’t not remark on it, but on the inside she was very much melting. Ayna only smiled in return and raised her eyebrows, challenging Kennedy to not deviate from the subject. "But you're right. I came mostly because she wanted me to."

"Well, you seemed to thrive here, so I’m just curious as to how you feel about continuing your studies."

"I haven’t thought about it yet." Kennedy replied honestly, now sitting on a high stool by the kitchen counter, eyes fixed on Ayna, watching her move around.

"I think it suits you."

"You see me as a politician?"

"Not just in the sense you’re thinking. There’s a lot to this world that doesn’t involve you actually being a candidate and running for office." With a bottle of wine in each hand, Ayna showed both to Kennedy at the same time. "Red or white?"

"Hmm, white." To Kennedy's answer, Ayna just nodded and went for a corckscrew to open it.

"You know, I’ve been listening for so long how I should follow in my mom's footsteps that I guess I never really contemplated anything else."

"You do have a knack for making people feel at ease, and I’ve seen you do great at solving issues and leaving everyone involved satisfied. And you did great at avoiding conflict too." Ayna said as she approached with two glasses of wine, offering one to Kennedy. "Watching your debate was nice, it felt like you were in your element."

Kennedy took the offered glass and spent  a few seconds twirling the wine around it before sipping. "Yeah, I thought I’d be going through a minefield with that assignment, but working with Blaine was surprisingly easy and not that conflituous,” she said, reaching for and pulling Ayna closer to her, scooting backwards and giving Ayna more space to settle in the space between her legs.

“Hmpf, I’d rather not think of how exactly you avoided conflict with him.” Ayna retorted, gulping down a very big sip of her own glass of wine.

"What? You don’t like picturing me charming Blaine off?"

"Uh, no?" Ayna moved away swiftly, her demeanor challenging, as if saying “did you really just ask me that?”

“You’re cute when you’re jealous.”

“Is that why you love pushing my buttons?” Ayna asked narrowing her eyes.

“I mean, it can get pretty intense sometimes. Jealous you is hot,” Kennedy replied teasingly.

“So you really do just do it to get a rise out of me.” Annoyed, Ayna took a step back and started to fully distance herself from Kennedy’s reach.

“Hey, I’m sorry, ok?” Kennedy hurried to apologize, realizing she missed the mark on this one. “I didn’t mean to upset you,” she added, drawing Ayna back to her. To her relief, Ayna offered no resistance, and Kennedy took advantage of it wrapping her into her arms, guiding Ayna’s head to rest on her shoulder. “It was dumb of me, I’m sorry.”

“No, I am sorry. I’m not usually jealous like this, I just— oof,” Ayna shaked her head, sighing dramatically before settling back into the comfort of her girlfriend’s arms, “I’m not used to this feeling.”

“If it makes you feel better, I promise when we were working on that debate, we were really just working on the debate.”

“Really?” Ayna lifted her head up to look at Kennedy, her own eyes holding such a look of childlike hope Kennedy just found it damn adorable.

“Yes, I swear. By then, I was already completely charmed off by a certain TA. Getting you out of my head was no easy task.”

Ayna flashed a bright smile, cheeks flushing slightly as she lowered her gaze, feeling shy all of a sudden.

“See? You can’t smile like that and expect me to not think about that all day.” Kennedy exclaimed, gently lifting Ayna’s head back again  and leaning in for a kiss.

It was supposed to be a quick reaffirming kiss only, but Kennedy decided she had spent far too long of today already not kissing her girlfriend, so she jumped off the stool to be able do it properly. She placed one hand on Ayna’s lower back and the other at the back of her head, entangling her fingers into Ayna’s locks and bringing their bodies as close as possible.

“We’re digressing,” Ayna grinned through the kiss.

“I like this subject better.” Kennedy replied quickly, just as quickly diving in for another kiss, only to be met with a smirking and uncooperative Ayna. “Nice try, but I’m not about to let our pizza burn. And I know where this will lead us."

“Would that be so bad?”

“It would if we end up setting the apartment on fire.”

Kennedy was ready to retort, or whine, to be more specific, when the oven timer set off.  “Saved by the bell.”

To follow on the theme of having the full experience, Kennedy was the one to take the pizza out, with Ayna hovering around her fearful she would burn herself.

“Relax, I got this. Go sit by the table and let me pamper you for a little bit.”

Ayna complied, albeit reluctantly, and Kennedy did the best she could cutting and serving the pizza (it shouldn’t be that difficult, right?). The looks and smell of it were incredibly promising of a good meal. The bright yellow mixed with the few golden spots of over baked cheese coupled with the contrast given by the green leaves against the red sauce certainly provided a sight for hungry eyes, and the heavenly smell of any fresh off the oven pizza certainly didn’t hurt either.

“Whoa, this turned out to be really good,” Kennedy exclaimed in between bites, munching excitedly and occasionaly closing her eyes to further appreciate it, letting out satisfied little grunts. She would never have guessed pre made frozen dough could actually turn into a perfect crunchy crust.

With a hint of amusement at Kennedy's eagerness over pizza, Ayna teased, “You sound surprised."

“Well, yeah, it had me involved."

“Hey, don’t ditch your sous chef.” Ayna said, feigning indignation. Kennedy bends over in Ayna's direction, placing a quick chaste kiss on her cheek. "You're a really great cook. Thank you for this."

The rest of the dinner went by much in the same manner. Kennedy was reveling in the fact her audience wouldn't berate her for not being the image of the prim and proper lady, and at some point she may even have indulged in foregoing the silverware and going straight for the kill with her hands. Truth be told, Ayna was delighted by the sight, and vowed to always make sure Kennedy could be whoever she wanted to be with her.

Once they were belly filled and satisfied, they moved back to the living room, glasses of wine in hand, a recently new opened bottle resting on the coffee table. The reality of it was that none wished for their night to end just yet, and they talked about as many meaningless and trivial subjects as they could think of, conversation flowing freely. But by the time their second bottle was nearly done with, Kennedy noticed Ayna was getting more and more quiet, almost as if lost in thought.

"Penny for your thoughts?" She inquired softly, nudging Ayna lightly, trying to prompt the woman to share what had her suddenly silent.

"I was just thinking about what we were talking earlier."

"We talked about many things," Kennedy replied, leaving both their glasses on the coffee table and moving back to the couch. She sprawled herself on the lenght of it, resting her head on Ayna's lap. "What has gotten you so pensive?"

"You", Ayna stated matter of factly, adjusting herself so Kennedy could fit in better. She brought both her hands to Kennedy's hair, caressing it tenderly, before continuing. “And your mom. You don’t have to antagonize her to follow your own path but you don’t need to follow in her footsteps either."

Kennedy remained silent. She didn't know exactly what to answer to that, for one, and she was sure Ayna would have more to say. She limited herself to closing her eyes, enjoying the soothing feeling of Ayna's hands on her hair.

Taking Kennedy's silence as encouragement (or at least not discouragement), Ayna added, "Sure, you’ll always face some level of scrutiny and expectations, even when she steps down from office, but you can still make choices of your own. I’m sure your mom would be supportive and proud of you.”

“You sure about that? I doubt it sometimes.”

“She may come off as distant and nonchalant, but I think it’s just because she’s really busy. She really cares about you.”

“Yeah, I know this whole mess brought us closer, but sometimes I wonder why we drifted apart in the first place. I miss her.”

"You don’t have to miss her, she’s right there. And you don’t have to hinder your future because you decided to stick yourself with the rebel role. There’s nothing wrong with changing your mind."

“I love you so much, you know that?" Kennedy inquired, a glint of admiration in her eyes as she sits herself back up to place a kiss on Ayna's lips. She then moved to take one of Ayna's hand on hers, squeezing tightly. "You say the greatest things. And you’re right. I thought at some point about leaving just so I could go against her, but truth is I kind of enjoyed this year here”.

As Kennedy was about to drop Ayna's hand, the older woman just incresead her own hold, not letting Kennedy go. “Whatever you choose, I’m sure you’re gonna do great. You’re hard working and focused, you could make anything work. And I’ll be rooting for you every step of the way.”

“Even if it means I leave Vancross?” Kennedy tilted her head to the side, an expression of incredulity and maybe disbelief on her face.

“Why not? I want you to be happy. If you realize that’s what you want, go for it. I like believing we're strong enough to survive us not being so close together all the time.”

“I like believing that too.”

“In any case, I don't think I wish Vancross to be my endgame anymore.”

“No? But you love teaching?”

“I do. But Vancross is not the only educational institution in the world. I could finish my thesis here and leave, or I could leave and finish it somewhere else. Assuming I can have a nice recommendation from here that is.”

Kennedy's expression softened considerably after that, now holding as many emotions as the number of beats per minute her racing heart is doing. It was hope, delight, caring, love. "What are you really saying?"

"I'm saying I'll go wherever you will if you'll have me."

Goddamn. With that sentence Ayna managed to increase Kennedy’s heart rate by tenfold and the younger woman loved it. She realized she hasn’t been this excited and hopeful for the future in the longest while, and she was eager to show Ayna just how much. Smiling widely she wasted no time in straddling the TA’s lap, moving her hips against Ayna’s, just to make sure her point would come across perfectly. When she felt Ayna bringing her hands against her back, letting out a low, quiet moan, Kennedy leaned in.

"Can we go back to digressing now? There’s no more pizza left to burn."

[kncrowder88]

Voyager and Romance

So, the thing about Voyager and romance that sticks with me is they seem to do one couple really, or more accurately two characters, any real justice overall. And that is B’Elanna and Tom. While moments for that relationship may not be perfect that is rather realistic for relationships, as no relationship is perfect all the time so that is tolerable. This post though isn’t going to be about looking at that particular relationship though but primarily at other relationships. Largely because a discord server I am in was talking about Counterpoint and I realized why I both love the episode but also have weird feelings with it. Which, I’ll touch more on that specifically after I discuss the relationship stuff (as that plays a part).

So, I will preface this with it has been a bit since I’ve done a binge of Voyager and really a full binge of Star Trek in general. As such, I may forget a few relationships on the show and overall, throughout Trek in general. From what I can really toss together … I honestly am beginning to believe that when it comes to Voyager and the other shows (the older ones not the new ones – I am not including any NEW Trek in this) that for some reason the relationship writing with Voyager was rather different. Like, they gave 3 characters active relationships prior to being stranded. That being Harry Kim, Kathryn Janeway, and Tuvok. Out of these three we get Janeway and Tuvok holding onto those relationships in their own way while … it seemed mildly convenient for Harry to mention it when it suited him, I guess (like that time Tom wanted to set them up for a double date or you know when he ended up in that alternate timeline but still wanted back with Voyager even more like). Like, the reason I don’t list Tuvok-T’Pel above is because we don’t actually get to SEE that in full, we just get to see Tuvok’s side of it and his dedication – we don’t see the relationship, we don’t see the couple.

Harry and Tom, prior to his relationship with B’Elanna, seem to frequently do this sort of two bros dating around thing which is fine but like … same time the show used them for that. And once they settled Tom with B’Elanna they used Harry in those plot lines when it worked. Thus the alien STD episode and the “how dare you not get the standard permission from your CO and CMO” line (like they really put that into a Trek ep and I’m still unable to not picture Riker, Kirk, Picard, and everyone other Trek character constantly getting permission for their latest romance – just remember Jadzia and Worf likely had to get permission from Sisko and Bashir if the Trill and Klingon weren’t already approved of in the system just saying, that’s a thing that happened). Anyways … my point is they went out of their way on this. Like, when Kes was with Neelix they wrote Neelix to be that jealous judgmental boyfriend who literally got upset she knew where other people’s quarters where, she was nice to Tom, she was … just yeah. They wrote Tom to come off as a player pulling Harry into it, when Tom settled down Harry seems to pick that up (I mean you got his “omg Seven” phase and the alien STD stuff and lord knows what else I’m forgetting with him).

And to top this off I haven’t even touched on the “Janeway can’t have a romance” stuff yet. Which is where my real problem is. Like, its bad enough they brought in Jeri for the sex appeal (which lets be honest stems from the fact they couldn’t use Janeway for that – which I get, Kate was right in the whole concept of the audience target having to keep respect for a female lead and sex appeal couldn’t be a focal point but they could have balanced it right and regrettably because they couldn’t that meant Jeri got all of the other side of the coin). Many of Seven’s eps center on romance or social stuff and honestly that is a whole other WTF post in its own right because it all leads up to the sudden get with the one person on the ship who didn’t want you here in the first place and who also would have served better as the male adult guidance figure/father figure than as a ROMANTIC partner but hey BS happened behind scenes to cause that chaotic romantic on screen set up. But yeah … this is just another example of the poor Voyager romantic plot lines.

Chakotay’s romantic plot lines are usually – and by that, I mean pretty much always – with these strong independent women. But usually, at least from what I recall, they are also typically the “needs help” (damsel in distress/can’t do it alone/etc.) plot. Like, Riley was strong independent but also set up to need help in regard to getting her little collective put back together on the planet. You got Kellin, again another strong lady who yet again also needed help. At least in the ep she’s in and if I recall much of the info on how they fell in love during that time as well – primarily with getting away from danger at the start and then during the initial romance finding her target. Valerie is the only one who doesn’t fall into the needs help plot and that’s largely because she was being manipulated by Chakotay for information – which honestly just goes to show how well Chakotay was at the whole undercover stuff (which tells us a lot about what he could have been doing as a Maquis). Seska was the plot point of “you once dated her, now she is going to badger you to get with her again and when that fails, she’s going to assault you” …. like all of Chakotay’s romances are literally him either 1) being manipulated (as that’s what Seska and Riley did) or 2) being the kind guy or 3) not an actual relationship (either because its undercover work or because the writers were too cowardly to make him and Janeway canon).

Then you got Janeway. Then you got KATHRYN JANEWAY. You know, the one where Kate Mulgrew said no romance, no sexualizing, no doing that sort of stuff because the audience had to maintain respect for the character. I’m sure someone has the exact various quotes out there. Like … this is why we don’t have JC as canon. But what we do got instead is …. Janeway in Prime Factors being flirted with by the administrator as if that’s going to get him what he wants because “female leader means flirt with her”. We got Janeway and a period drama holodeck adventure in the early years which was clearly meant to be her romantic tête-à-tête early on that never got followed up with. We got “delete the wife” with the Fair Haven plot point (because its totally respectable to see the FEMALE LEAD, the STARFLEET CAPTAIN, just straight up DELETE THE WIFE of another individual - yeah, I get its meant to be humor factor because hologram but come on). You have her whole thing with Mark which we get tidbits off but again similar to Tuvok we literally only get to see her side of it – the only couple moment of theirs we get is the comm call in Caretaker.

But Jaffen? You are correct. We got that lovely and touching and wonderful romance with Jaffen …. Oh wait … they had to remove her from the ship, strip her of her memory, and her autonomy in order for her to have a relationship with another individual. And yes, by losing her memories, by losing what made her who she was as a person, she did lose a sense of autonomy. She entered into a relationship without a full sense of independent choice. The point in which she made a choice in that episode, the point in which she – Kathryn Janeway – made a choice with all of the person, the individual she is, was at the end when she had her memories back and could decide based on the values and beliefs and all that she is. What I’m getting at is the people on that planet deliberately took away who she was, they took her memories and her ability to make the decisions they knew she would make --- they did that deliberately (that’s even established in the episode) --- and as such her decisions while in that state are not truly her full independent decisions but the ones impacted by the state she was forced into.

And while I love Resolutions, while I love all the JC goodies, we get in that ep … Yet again the only time we get to see Janeway in any sort of romantic situation is when they remove her from the ship. When they remove her from command. When they strip her of that setting. This time, though – well the first time – she keeps awareness and has to go through lose of it all in order to even start to let it all happen. I love the episode, I do, but I just find it rather amusing they went “’Hey we gotta strand them what should their tasks be on the planet?” and they immediately went “Well Janeway is scientist how about that” “Okay and he can build, Chakotay can start building. Man builds house, right?” and then like went “oh and then she can start a garden” …. Like really? Really? That’s what you got for me. Oh, and then there is the monkey. That’s the romance this ep. Boat, science, monkey.

Then we got Kashyk. We have dealt with Kathryn throughout this series dealing with various leaders of various styles. As mentioned, Prime Factors guy attempted flirting. Other leaders pulled similar or worse or even dismissed her …. Like the list goes on. Counterpoint is a great episode because it deals with prejudice and is rather dark. The thing is, had Janeway been able to have a healthy romantic relationship on screen to counter this episode this episode probably would have come off better. Episodes like Prime Factor could have been done different (that leader didn’t need to be as flirty for example). One or two eps through the series having creepy dudes she had to deal with, fine, whatever … that be a nice impact for the audience. But when you have to many prior to Counterpoint – even if its minor, small stuff – it makes this episode so much harder for fans. Especially the female fans who deal with this constantly.

See, here’s the thing with this ep…. Some of the fans who watch … we know Kashyk well. We know that character. He is that male leader, that male power figure, who uses the power he has to manipulate those in his control to get what he wants. And Kathryn … Kathryn was in his control. Kashyk is listed as a relationship on memory-alpha. But much like how I view Seska with Chakotay … I do not view Kashyk as a proper relationship. In Devore space, Kathryn did not have proper power. She had people in her command, on her ship, that she had to protect. That she knew she had to protect. Her own best friend … lives in her hand … and Kashyk right there willing to kill them. Willing to snatch them up and destroy them. And he used that power to manipulate her and play her. Yes, she played him right back but … did she truly have a choice? Did she have any other choice but to play his game? What would have happened if she said no? And that … that is why this episode is so unsettling for some people. And why this relationship being considered on is so off putting … that the writers, that memory-alpha, that the fact I’m putting it on this list as one of the ones on here for Voyager says so much … they wrote this as one of her relationships while out there … she had to do what so many women had to do to stay safe, to keep people she loves safe, and that’s not a relationship.

Voyager could have done romance/relationships such better justice.

[degrassi-fanatic]

Hey babie,would you like to write some hotchreid fic about "choose reid over haley",like after hotch divorce,he always deny his feelings about reid,but when some unsub mentions about "the one you most care about is in danger ",he try to save reid but the one exactly in danger is haley.And after these there will be hurt/comfort thing and happy ending...I don’t know if I’m asking too much ,just wanna say I enjoy your hotchreid fics so much.Anyway wish you have a good day!!Love you!!

thank you for sending an ask !!! ily 

i changed up the prompt a bit because i personally do think, even as a hotchreid shipper, that hotch cared a lot about haley and loved her till the end. so i replaced haley in this prompt with kate joyner instead

hope you like it !!

Having just returned from their latest crime scene, Hotch wracks his brain around for any theories on their latest unsub as he steps out of the driver’s side of the SUV. 

The BAU team had been sent out to the FBI Office in New York at the request of Agent Kate Joyner to assist with a case involving the abduction and subsequent murder of federal agents. Their unsub somehow managed to pluck highly intelligent and capable agents off the street and lure them away to a secondary location where he would riddle them with bullets, only to bring their corpses back to the city and leave them strung up in areas with high foot traffic; all without being seen. 

It was no surprise that Kate had decided to amass as many resources as possible, she had even created an FBI-NYPD task force. This case was going nowhere and their volume of victims was only increasing as time went on. 

He knows he’s not the only one desperately hoping that they’ll get any sort of lead soon. 

As Hotch makes his way towards the glass doors of the New York FBI office, he feels his cellphone vibrate in the pocket of his suit jacket. Without looking at the caller ID, he assumes it’s one of his team members and accepts the call.

Before he can greet whoever it is on the other line, a gravelly voice begins speaking, one he does not recognize.

“Agent Hotchner.” the unknown man says. 

“Yes, who is this?”

“Oh, me?” he asks flippantly, “Who I am doesn’t matter right now. It’s what I have, or rather who I have.”

In the middle of the sidewalk just outside the office, Hotch stops in his tracks; ignoring all the passive aggressive looks sent his way as people wade around him and the occasional shove against his shoulder. 

“Excuse me?”

“Did you really think you could come after me and not suffer the consequences?” the man sneers through the phone, “You’re going to regret coming to New York.”

“Who do you have?” he asks, not caring for any of the vague threats the man was sending his way. 

“The one you care for the most.”

His stomach drops and immediately, Hotch tries to remember the last time he called Reid, the last time he saw him, and for some reason both instances seem so long ago that he wonders if Reid hasn’t already been shot yet. 

“Goodbye, Agent Hotchner.” the man says.

And with that, he hangs up and the call ends. 

For a moment, his feet stay planted where they are against the pavement and he cannot move. 

Then, it feels as though someone has dragged his head under freezing water and he begins racing into the office; darting past everyone as he makes his way towards the board room where they had been instructed to use as their home base. 

As he makes it to the door, his eyes survey the room frantically as he checks to see if anyone else is missing; Rossi is arguing with Prentiss over something trivial, JJ is flipping through case files with Morgan, Garcia has her laptop opened in front of her and is typing away, and…

Reid.

Reid is there, staring at the crime scene board as he pushes his thumb between his lips in deep thought. 

“Spencer!” he calls out as he rushes over to him, garnering the attention of everyone in the room.

He watches Reid twist around to look at him, a confused expression spreading across the features of his face. The only expression only grows as Hotch rushes over to him, dragging him into a tight hug. It’s a tad bit awkward at first as Reid’s arms are squished between their chests and his whole body has grown stiff but he cannot bring himself to care about that because he has Reid warm and alive in his arms. 

It only gets better once Reid retracts his arms from between them to wrap around Hotch’s back as he returns the embrace.

Reid was okay, he realizes as he pushes his face into Reid’s hair, ignoring the tickling sensation caused by his tousled tufts.

He was fine. 

“I thought you were… Thank God that you’re alright.” he says breathlessly as he pulls away, “But, the unsub, he said on the phone that—”

Wait, if Reid wasn’t the one the unsub had abducted, then who was? It couldn’t have been anyone from his team since they were all here and accounted for. Perhaps, the man had gotten a hold of the wrong agent’s phone number or maybe he had simply…

Oh no, Hotch thinks as dread pools somewhere deep inside of him.

“Where’s Kate?” 

“We thought she was with you.” 

It had taken them a couple of gruelling hours but eventually they had managed to figure out where their unsub, who they discovered to be thirty-three year old Peter Samuels, was holding Kate captive. Although Samuels was clearly a man with an above average level of intelligence, he was clearly lacking when it came to fighting and was overpowered by Prentiss and Morgan within minutes. 

In the end, Kate was alright. A bit bruised and a little worse for wear than Hotch would have preferred but she was alive and that’s what mattered. He was still rather reluctant leaving her so soon after such a traumatic event and would have stayed in New York for a bit longer but Kate had all but shooed him off, stating that she didn’t need him coddling her for her entire leave. 

Now, the team is back on board the jet and well on their way back home. It’s dark outside the windows and the cabin lights have been dimmed. The team, with the exception of Reid and Hotch, are fast asleep in their own seats; the exhaustion of the last couple of days finally catching up to them. 

Hotch fishes his cellphone out of his pocket and pulls up Kate’s contact information; she never explicitly stated if texting was considered coddling. 

“Is Agent Joyner going to be alright?” Reid whispers from beside him, in an effort to not wake the others.

“Yeah,” he answers as he finishes sending a message, “It’s going to take some time but she’ll recover.”

“That’s good.” Reid murmurs. 

Hotch makes a soft noise in agreement as he tucks in his cellphone back into his pocket. Shifting around in his seat as quietly as he can, he attempts to get into a comfortable position so he too can rest up before they land; he ends up sinking into his chair with his arms folded across his chest, his eyes closed. 

“Can I ask you a question?” Reid pipes up again. 

“Sure.” he mumbles back. 

“Why did you think I was the one Samuels took?” 

For a brief moment, Hotch considers feigning sleep but, then Reid is gently shaking his arm to gather his attention once more. 

“Hotch?” he whispers, “Aaron?”

“It’s something he said on the phone.” he admits quietly, “He said he took the one I cared for the most.”

“Oh.”

The hand on his bicep falls away and the absence of it feels like a gaping wound. 

Right away, Hotch is opening his eyes and sitting up right. 

“I’m sorry.” he says frantically, “I know this is inappropriate and you’re probably uncomfortable—”

Oh God, why did Hotch say that? Maybe he could blame it on a lack of sleep? Or he could say he misspoke somehow?

“No, wait, listen—” 

He wouldn’t fault Reid if he wanted to file a complaint against him for inappropriate advances or some other form of misconduct. Any formal punishment was far better than the torture he would endure if the rest of the team learned that he was preying on their youngest member. 

“I completely understand if you want to file a complaint—”

“Hotch, that’s the last thing—”

Now, Reid will most likely want to transfer out of the BAU. Who wouldn’t after learning their boss had more-than platonic feelings for them? No, he couldn’t do that to Reid. He knows how much the BAU means to the other man; he’ll be the one to leave. 

“It probably disturbs you to be on the receiving end of my feelings.” Hotch says “I know I’m old and I’m not enjoyable to be around and that I come with far too much—”

Before he can get another word out, he feels a pair of hands fly to both sides of Hotch’s face, followed by a pair of lips slotting between his own. 

It takes a second for his brain and body to realize what’s going on but, once he does, he reels Reid in closer; practically pulling the other man into his lap. 

Far too soon for his liking, however, Reid pulls his mouth away. 

“Hmm?” Hotch hums questioningly, his eyes still closed. 

“I care for you too.” Reid whispers. 

“That’s nice.”

“That’s all you have to say?” he questions, his breath fanning out over Hotch’s mouth.

“Sorry, my brain is coming back online.”

Hotch hears him let out a soft laugh and that alone is incentive enough to finally open his eyes again. He’s greeted by the sight of Reid smiling in the feeble lighting of the cabin, his lips glistening with spit and a faint flush across his cheeks that is almost undetectable with how dark it is. 

“Well, when it does,” Reid says fondly, “Tell it to ask me out on a date.”

“Will do.”

[invisibleinorange]

A Different Ending |  7/?

Chapters: 7/? Fandom: Bridgerton Rating: M Warnings:  Only be forewarned that this is an AU from the Adrift saga but Colin actually died in this one, so if he’s mentioned he’s actually gone. Relationships: Benedict Bridgerton/Penelope Featherington, Colin Bridgerton/Penelope Featherington (past feelings),  Eloise Bridgerton/Penelope Featherington(besties),  Bridgerton Family Dynamics,  Daphne Bridgerton/Simon Hastings Characters:  Penelope Featherington, Eloise Bridgerton, Benedict Bridgerton, Daphne Bridgerton, Anthony Bridgerton Additional Tags:  Bridgerton, Penadict (do we have a ship name yet?)

Summary:  There were some requests for an alternate/Parallel word to "Bridgerton's Adrift" where Benedict and Penelope actually did get married. So this is the result of that peer pressure.

Benedict was grateful to have found reasonable contractors who knew the urgency to have his and Penelope’s new home finished.  While they’d managed to make the most of his bachelor home, he wanted to provide more for her.  That was why he spent the majority of his days in Kensington, watching the progress and ensuring that everything was falling into place.

Despite the fact he didn’t want to be without his wife for any extended period of time, his mother had practically begged that Penelope be allowed to join the family at Aubrey Hall.  The plan was to seal the deal on Anthony’s match to Edwina Sheffield.  Benedict had his doubts that it would happen if only because Penelope seemed fairly certain that Anthony was better suited to Kate. He knew better than to bet against his wife.

It made sense for Penelope to help chaperone at Aubrey Hall. Her presence allowed her to stay abreast on the happenings of the parties and he could make sure their home was completed before the worst of the rainy seasons arrived.  It was only a matter of a week but it felt like a century without her.

He’d been fully prepared to show her how much he missed her upon her return.  He’d planned to have her favorite meal ready for her when she got home. They’d be able to sit together and she could tell him about everything he’d missed while they ate.

He knew that Anthony would escort her home but he was not quite prepared for her to him to practically be keeping her up right.  He’d known Penelope most of her life and while he hadn’t been around her while she was ill, he instinctively knew that her coloring was wrong.

“Pen,” he murmured moving to collect her from his brother. Concern creased her features as he moved her inside and to a small sitting room, so he could sit her down.

“I’m okay. Just a little carriage sick,” she said, protest clear in her voice though she wasn’t quite in a carriage anymore and she looked as if she was struggling to not retch. “I don’t need all this fuss.”

Benedict gave his older brother a look, as if waiting to verify the veracity of that statement.  If she’d been fine before departing Aubrey Hall he might could pass it off as carriage sickness. He’d been in many carriages with her at this point and not once had she been ill though.

“That’s a lie,” Anthony confirmed. “She’s been sickly since the last dinner party. She gave us all a bit of a laugh though.  She apparently tried to excuse herself from that miserable Cressida Cowper and she wouldn’t stop talking.”

“You didn’t?”  Benedict said trying not to laugh at the thought of Cressida covered in vomitus.  He was actually concerned for his wife but even he wasn’t foolish enough to note see the humor in that.

Penelope nodded though when she attempted to open her mouth, her eyes widened and she covered mouth. She was to her feet trying to run and find somewhere to properly retch.  Benedict’s eyes followed with concern. He really was going to have to go take care of her.

“Trying to upstage my engagement with a baby?” Anthony asked raising an eyebrow.

The two parts hit Benedict with equal force.  Anthony was engaged and he was going to have a baby?  They’d both seen their mother pregnant so many times that it was almost foolish that it didn’t hit him immediately. In a matter of seconds, his face flickered from confusion to excitement to absolute elation.

“Does she know?” he found himself asking.

“About my engagement to Kate? Of course. They’re strangely fond of each other. I daresay Kate might like Penelope more than she likes me,” Anthony said.

Kate. Penelope had been right about that one.

He shook his head though. That wasn’t what he was inquiring about.

“As happy as I am that you’ve selected a wife. I meant about the baby. Does Penelope think she’s with child?” he asked again.

“No. She seems to think she’s had a bad run of food poisoning and travel sickness,” Anthony said with a laugh. “Should I have a physician stop drop by tomorrow?”

“No – yes,” Benedict said after a long moment.  “Does anyone else share in your suspicion?”

“Mother,” Anthony said after a moment. “She didn’t verbalize it to me but I did see her and Mrs. Featherington chatting rather suspiciously in recent days. They’ve been peddling a ‘digestion’ tonic toward her for days.”

“Well thank you for returning her safely home,” he said. “I should probably go take care of her but please forward my congratulations to Kate.  We’ll have to have you both over for dinner while you plan your wedding.”

Anthony nodded before taking his leave.

--

Benedict took the steps to the wash room two at a time.  They’d only ever vaguely discussed children in the sense that they knew that they wanted children to be part of their life and not just because it was what society dictated that children should be a product of marriages.

He hadn’t really given much thought to when it would happen. He’d been so busy focusing on the construction of their home and finding his stride with her that he hadn’t imagined it happening so soon. He was honestly thrilled at the prospect of being a father.

“Everything okay?” he asked gently from the doorway when he found her, bent over though no longer retching. The smell let him know that she definitely had been. She was breathing fairly heavily from the effort.  He crossed the space to lean sit in the floor next to her and rub her back.

“You shouldn’t see me like this,” she told him, embarrassed by the whole thing. Penelope felt dirty. She honestly hadn’t planned to be ill upon her return to him.  God how she’d missed him while at Aubrey Hall though.  Her bed felt empty without him.  Her days were boring without the conversations or the company.

“Sorry but you’re stuck with me,” he told her stubbornly. It had been quite a few years since his mother’s last pregnancy and he admittedly tried to block out those memories. It was painful to look back and think of Hyacinth growing in his mother’s belly and the way his father had absolutely doted over her until his death.  He didn’t care if other men chose to be absent. He fully intended to dote over Penelope. “I’ve seen worse. If I had known you were ill, I would have come to you.”

She offered a weak smile as she managed to sit up.

“I’m home now,” she told him quietly. “You’re not going to be mad if I just want to bath and sleep, will you?”

He pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head.

“No, I’ll even prepare a hot bath for you,” he told her.

“You really don’t have to,” she told protested. “I can do it.”

“No. Go grab yourself a cup of tea and a biscuit from the kitchen if you can stomach it and I’ll come get you when it’s ready.”

He didn’t tend to keep staff here full-time. It wasn’t like in the family home.  He did have people who came and went during the day to ensure cleaning and cooking was done. He had little complaint of handling basic things like starting fires or preparing water on his own.

He stood, rolling up his sleeves before setting into motion, helping her to her feet first before he set off on his task.  It wasn’t quick a quick task but he did manage to heat up water over a fire and fill the movable tub in the washroom until it was at a satisfactory temperature.

He was pleased to see a little color back in her when she came by up to try and help him.  He’d been about to go grab her though so there was little left to be done aside from enjoy.

“I’m spoiled,” she told him, curling into him slightly for a moment in gratitude. “I saw the dinner you had prepared. I’m honestly so sorry for being sickly. Tomorrow when I’m better, I’m going to make it up to you.”

He shook his head.

“You don’t have anything to make up to me,” he insisted. He debated telling her of his suspicion but he also didn’t want to get ahead of himself.  If it turned out she was just ill and not carrying his child, he would feel foolish for suggesting it. He turned his head enough so he could lean down and kiss her appreciatively. “I’ll leave you to your bath, Mrs. Bridgerton.  Please do call if you need any further assistance. I’m pretty good with a wash cloth.”

“Don’t go,” she told him when he started to pull and walk away. Her hand reached out to grab his arm in an attempt to stop him. It worked quite effectively.  “I want to hear about everything I’ve missed in London while I was away.”

Benedict smiled, helping her out of her clothing and into the tub. He couldn’t help but envisioned how her form might change if she was carrying his child. He pushed the thought out of his head though so he could comply with her request. He had a lot to tell her and even more he wanted to hear from her.

He loved his wife.

[randomoranges]

drag meeting au part 30

The day before the holiday madness descended upon his parents’ house, Edward made his usual pilgrimage across town and to the heart of the city. It was a similar route he had borrowed many times before, over the course of the years he’d lived here, and whenever he was in town, he returned to this particular place; Kate’s original stomping grounds.

 Evolution Wounderlounge had come into his life at an odd point and quite by accident. At the height of his sixteen years of life, Edward had been questioning his entire existence quite a lot, as well as his sexuality and general identity. There were times when he felt as though two different Edwards lived inside of him and fought on a daily basis. There was the one that liked to watch hockey, had a fascination for motorcycles and liked manual work. Then, there was the softer side – the one whose gaze lingered on the display of pretty dresses, who yearned to try on a lipstick to see how it would look on him and who had more opinions than he cared to share. The overlap between both versions of himself was how he never seemed to find interest in girls, when most of his friends were now starting to date and related their experiences later on. Instead, Edward was starting to notice the way shirts looked on some of the older boys in school, on how one particular boy looked after gym class and of course, his never ending infatuation with Wayne Gretzky.

 He was starting to wonder if there wasn’t more to this – if this didn’t mean something else – something he couldn’t even bring himself to admit to himself, but it lingered at the back of his mind and festered with time.

 And of course, mixed in with all of that was the fear that something was very wrong with him, that his parents would institutionalise him if he spoke a word of this on top of disowning him on the spot. (Luckily, that hadn’t happened; his parents had been very accepting and had spent the better part of that particular evening reassuring him that he was loved and that there was nothing wrong with him. But that wasn’t for now.)

 It was how he’d found himself one day walking aimlessly down the streets, trying to sort through his thoughts. He hadn’t really been paying attention to where he’d been going, but he’d found himself standing in front of the door to a – club of sorts. There were posters on the door announcing the week’s upcoming shows and Edward had been – intrigued by the people on the poster as well as their names; Lady Ruby, Peach Bosom, and Fibonaci Sequins to name a few.

 The shows were late in the evening – night-time really, but Edward had tried the door and found it unlocked. He figured he had nothing to lose and so he had entered the darkened corridor and had followed the sound of voices and faint music, wondering where exactly he had stepped in.

 Once he’d walked down the narrow corridor, he found an open space of sorts, which was probably filled with chairs and tables when there were shows, as well as a small stage and a bar-counter on the other side. He’d never been in such a place before and he was completely shocked and surprised by what he saw on stage.

 People – majestic creatures of sorts – were rehearsing something or other before a woman sitting in the “audience.” They looked otherworldly, what with their elaborate hairdos, sequined dresses, and high-heeled shoes. Edward wasn’t sure who they were or where they had come from, but he tried to make himself invisible and watched as they practiced their craft before his eyes, hoping no one would notice him.

 “Excuse me, who let in the little boy? Are you lost, darling?” One performer asked some time later. She had a high-pitched voice that couldn’t have been natural, but Edward wasn’t paying attention to that at the moment, too mesmerized by the opulent details of her dress and the jewelry dangling from her arms.

 “I’m not a little boy!” He blurted out and that caught the attention of some of the other women who came out to see what was going on. Edward felt his cheeks flush, but stood his ground, even if he did want the floor to swallow him whole.

 “Ooh, he’s feisty,” Another lady commented and this one had bright pink hair and really thick make-up on, but it suited her immensely.

 “Settle down, girls,” The – matron of the place – for that was how she looked and acted, almost regal like, said and the other women quieted down some. “Who let you in, young man?” She asked and motioned for Edward to step forward. He did and felt oddly scrutinised by the others, but he focused on her instead.

 “No one; the door was unlocked.”

 “Sugar Candy, weren’t you the last one in?” The matron said and turned in the direction of one of the girls.

 “Ah shit – I forgot to lock the door when I got in!” She disappeared in a sea of bright green ruffles and Edward blinked, wondering if he hadn’t imagined her.

 “Well then, I’m afraid this is no place for lost young men such as you. We’re in the middle of a rehearsal you see,” The matron went on, calm and soothing in her quasi-deep voice. Edward felt – safe with her, somehow, even though he’d just met her. It may have had something to do with her long, cascading sleeves or the deep colour of her eyes, or the kindness behind her smile,  but Edward felt as though he could tell her his darkest secrets and she would guard them with her life.

 “I’m not here to spy; honest.” He defended and that got a good laugh from the others.

 “Oh, he’s funny! Can we keep him, Miss Adore, please? He’s so cute! I could just bite those cute little cheeks of his!” Another one said and Edward brought a hand to his cheeks as though wanting to protect them from this woman’s teeth – in case.

 “Girls, please, you’re making our guest uncomfortable, show some respect.” She told them before turning back towards him, “I doubt you’re a spy, darling boy, but we don’t usually let outsiders come to our rehearsals.” She offered him an apologetic smile and for some reason, Edward was upset he couldn’t stay.

 “What if – what if I worked here? Could I stay if I worked here?”

 There was something about this place – something about the poster, the names and these women that kept drawing him in – that called out to him. He wasn’t sure what it was, couldn’t put a name to it, but he felt a pull and knew that he needed to be here, somehow.

 Miss Adore blinked, seemingly perplexed by this proposal. She had clearly not been expecting this and Edward couldn’t blame her – he hadn’t expected this from himself either. “I’ll need some time, darling. It’s not every day we get such kind offers. I’m not quite sure we have employment suited for someone like you.”

 Edward wasn’t sure what she meant by that, but – he was willing to do anything, even if it sounded all quite impulsive to him. “I can clean tables – I can mop the floors or set up the tables before the shows. Whatever you need me to do.” He implored. Miss Adore studied him for a moment, took in his appearance and the desperate look upon his face, and then nodded to herself, as though she had read something in him that Edward ignored himself, but that was the answer she needed.

 “Very well, come back tomorrow around four; we’ll discuss your tasks and your wages.”

 Edward couldn’t believe his luck and thanked her profusely, before being told to leave. Edward did as he was told and then headed back out, not entirely convinced this had at all happened.

 It took him a while afterwards to piece everything together; to realise that the women he had been so impressed with were not actually women – that they were drag queens, but he had never heard of such a term and had been afraid to bring it up around his parents or anyone else in his entourage, fearing that they would judge him. Of what, he wasn’t sure, but Edward knew that it wasn’t exactly an everyday thing for men to dress up as women.

  Luckily, Miss Adore was there to guide him; to answer his questions as she gave him tasks to complete around the club. She always made sure he was there when there weren’t any shows, seeing as he was only sixteen, but she sat with him when he had a break to talk and see how he was doing.

 Miss Adore became Edward’s mentor and confidant. It took Edward six months before he told her he thought he was gay and another four others before he admitted to liking women’s clothes.

 It was Miss Adore who saw Edward’s early sketches of what Klondike Kate could be and she was the one who helped him fine-tune the persona and the costume. She was there to coach Edward, there to show him the ropes, learn how to apply makeup properly, how to lace up the boots correctly and finally, nearly three years later, it was Miss Adore who had the great pleasure to introduce Klondike Kate to the stage for the very first time.

 And now, much as he had when he’d been young, Edward was going back to see his dearest Miss Adore for some much needed advice.

--

PREVIOUS: XXIX CURRENT: XXX NEXT: XXXI

[that-shamrock-vibe]

TV Review: Crisis on Infinite Earths (Spoilers)

Part One: Supergirl

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review the day after the episode airs in the U.S. so if you have not yet seen the first part of the crossover or are waiting for the entire crossover to become available then don’t read on until you have.

Overview:

We have SO MUCH to discuss! So much so that my Easter-Egg section which is usually more or less a minor tag-on at the end of these reviews is possibly going to be the same size as a lot of these other sections we are going through because, as promised by Marc Guggenheim, Easter has come early and we were treated to quite a few very tasty Easter-Eggs, one of which had me cheering at the screen.

But with Part One of this 5-episode crossover already giving us so much action, drama and emotion, it’s not only a question on how the Multiverse survives, but how the rest of the crossover does as well.

In the Beginning:

I love a good theory of evolution story, and we have heard in Arrow over the past season that The Monitor has been around for eons so it stands to reason he was around at the start of creation itself.

I just the sentiment of “In the beginning there was one singularity that soon spawned a multiverse”. It’s a lot like Doctor Who’s first rock theory from “The Runaway Bride”. I don’t know enough about the beginning of all life to actually determine what created the universe, I am more inclined to believe evolution than creationism, but I do like this idea of one reality spawning many.

I wasn’t so crazy about the visuals of this, especially considering in the past whenever we have viewed the Multiverse it’s always been within the Speed Force so we’re used to that blue energy rather than this red darker energy but it seems to be in-keeping with the theme of the crossover so I’m going with it.

Also LaMonica Garrett, who deserves some sort of award recognition not only for appearing as a series regular in both Arrow and The Flash this season but also wearing what I’m sure is the heaviest outfit created, but selling it very well, even the cheesy prophet of doom voice he has down rather well.

Multiverse Annihilation:

Alright so this was obviously to be expected that we would see some if not a lot of Earths be destroyed during this crossover, but my god they don’t pull punches in starting by letting you know “Yeah we’re killing off a lot”.

Now the Earths we see erased during the opening of this episode are Earth-9, Earth-66, Earth-89 and Earth-X. Of those four, we have only ever seen Earth-X which was the Nazi-ruled Earth from two crossovers ago.

Now while there was a great and uncredited cameo here from it and we’ll discuss that further down, would anyone really be sad if a reality where the Nazis won and ruled was wiped out? I know there are inhabitants on that world and for the most part they are innocent and good people, but you would think just maybe find a way to evacuate them like they do on Earth-38 later and then if it goes extinct then fine because it’s not exactly a good reality.

Both Earth-66 and Earth-89 also has great Easter-Eggs just in the name and we’ll discuss that also further down but it is interesting that both Earths-66 and 89 only focused on Gotham City whereas this was the Supergirl episode of the crossover.

Rallying the Team:

Okay so Harbinger, who either was Lyla Michaels but is now an emissary of the Anti-Monitor or simply likes using her Task Force X codename, appears to all the major heroes just as we saw her do in last week’s episode of Arrow and summons them all to Earth-38 aka Supergirl’s Earth.

I have to say as well, I know they’re on a TV budget and can’t really afford to have as many characters in one scene as say Avengers: Endgame did, but the fact they cheapened out and only gave us two Legends (Sara and Ray), rather then also showing Nate, Constantine, Mick and Charlie as well does seem a tad unfair especially considering they’ve been absent from screens the longest, some may say for the better considering the way their show is going.

Also, I will probably talk about this more with the Batwoman episode tomorrow, but they need to clarify the timeline of her show. When we first met her in Elseworlds last year she was Batwoman, but the start of her season saw her become Batwoman, and now she’s still hunting for Alice? How long has it been?

Also, as expected, Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman and his Lois Lane join the party after Argo City is destroyed and they send of their newborn son in a pod to safety. Argo City’s destruction also sees the death of Kara’s mother Alura played by Erica Durance but because I know who’s coming in tonight’s episode and the possibly jokes they’ll make about it I am okay with that as a Smallville fan.

I do always like it in these crossovers when the heroes either first meet or reunite, this time Oliver’s daughter but from the future Mia Smoak and Batwoman are officially introduced as Batwoman reveals herself as Kate Kane, to Oliver’s bemusement.

I do wish also that there was more time spent on character interaction because that is usually what I enjoy most about these crossovers, we had a little bit of that with Brainy and Ray, but Elseworlds I felt established a great repour for Batwoman and the Trinity yet that wasn’t really seen here.

My biggest complaint in this Supergirl episode though is that both Brainy and J’onn were never seen in their natural forms. I know it’s costly and timely to have them look like Brainiac 5 and the Martian Manhunter, but when they just look like Jesse Rath and David Harewood, no matter how great these guys are it’s a comic book crossover event and I would love to see more comic-booky character looks.

Alright so, Harbinger sits down the newly formed or reformed or updated team because they’ve come together now four times to help save a world or multiple worlds or now reality itself and just need to be called the Justice League and get it over with, but anyway I digress.

She instructs the team that the tower that randomly appears was one of many placed by the Monitor on Earths he thought were at risk...why he didn’t just place them on every god damn Earth if he could see the future is beyond me but that’s what we’re getting.

I did like a couple of interactions before going into action where Oliver seamlessly interacted with Barry, Sara and Mia without making it seem forced.

My favourite was the interaction with daughter Mia when he effectively passes on the mantle of Green Arrow to her despite the fact she’s not ready to lose him. I don’t know whether or not the spin-off series focusing on Mia as New Green Arrow has been confirmed yet but we know she will become Green Arrow in the near future.

So Oliver, Mia, Ray and Kate go off and battle the Shadow Demon army that are swarming the tower trying to destroy it for the Anti-Monitor, while Barry, Kara and Clark are off trying to save the people.

I will admit Ray didn’t annoy me quite as much as he has done in recent seasons of Legends during this episode. I did love his interactions with Kate about her suit getting an upgrade and then her asking him to upgrade her batarangs, when Brandon Routh is good he is good and he is pulling double duty in this crossover so let’s hope he’s very good.

Also at this time Lois, because she needs something to do, has gone to Earth-16 with Brainy and Sara to retrieve baby Jonathan who wound up going through a wormhole and ending up on a parallel world...in the future...2046 to be exact.

This was, I feel, there for two reasons. 1) Another Easter-Egg appearance but this time in-house as it references Legends Season 1, but also 2) To still keep the events of “Star City 2046) canon despite the fact that in that episode Connor Hawke was actually John Diggle Jr. and in present day they are not only two separate people but also adoptive brothers...and also we know Oliver is supposed to die so how is he alive in 2046? Well it’s an alternate reality version who apparently can’t remember meeting Earth-1 Sara before.

Our two other teams rallying really only serve to give the rest of the Supergirl cast something to do as Alex enlists Lena to help either build or activate portals to get the inhabitants of Earth-38 to safety while Dreamer and Kelly help get those inhabitants onto ships including the Legion Cruiser that J’onn is piloting because apparently Brainy was given it by the Legion before they left with Winn despite the fact they left in the Legion Cruiser. It doesn’t really make sense but I enjoy seeing that ship again so I am letting it slide.

Saving the Multiverse, Take 1:

This may be quite cynical for me to say but this is what the remainder of the episode was, the first attempt at saving the multiverse because Earth-38 is where The Monitor wanted the heroes to make their stand against the Anti-Monitor.

The Anti-Monitor does not appear in this episode and his army of Shadow Demons are 1) Poorly rendered compared to the likes of the Time Wraiths and 2) Quite easy to defeat when you consider Darkseid has Parademons and even Thanos with his legion of horribles.

In any case while the Supers are trying to fix the tower to make the sky not red which works margingly well before they exhaust themselves, the other heroes are on the ground battling the Shadow Demons. I would have maybe liked if Ray had to cover the Supers while they were doing what they do because it seemed slightly daft that the Shadow Demons wouldn’t try and stop them but that’s what we got.

It was a very small-scale battle and I know we’re only in part 1 and usually it’s the final episode we get the big battle but this was still small scale considering what is at stake here.

The biggest surprise of the battle was Kelly Olsen, who I haven’t really liked all season as she seems pointless other than just being Alex’s girlfriend who always needs saving, apparently has the Guardian armour left to her by James who retired from vigilantism to take over a newspaper in his old hometown and that’s why he left despite never actually being part of these crossovers, his dopplegangers were.

This was also a very low-powered battle. Think about it, the Supers, Flash and Atom all have CGI powers or tech yet we didn’t really see much of it, aside from the Supers trying to fix the tower. Maybe they’re saving the budget for later episodes but it better pay off.

The Monitor comes in as the prophet of doom to basically tell them that they’ve lost this battle but the war still rages, so transports everyone aside from Oliver to Earth-1 Star City.

Oliver refuses to leave and makes one of the most poignent comments I have ever heard him say when The Monitor says “It’s time” and Oliver asks “Has everyone been evacuated” The Monitor responds with “No” so Oliver responds “Then it’s not yet time”. From the trailer I thought this to mean it was time for his death, but actually this was something The Monitor was trying to prevent as he did not see him dying this way, but he does.

Stephen Amell delivers both this line and scene very well. I have never been the biggest Stephen Amell fan and do feel as if he goes to the corny side a little too much but here, given the interactions he had with Barry, Mia and Sara in the episode, and knowing that Arrow is ending and he is supposed to die, it was minorly emotional which is the most emotion he’s ever got out of me.

Fallen Arrow:

The Monitor returns a battered and bleeding Oliver to the Arrowcave in Star City Earth-1 where the rest of the heroes have returned to. Along with the news that they were somewhat successful at evacuating Earth-38 before it was destroyed, it seems that Oliver does actually die in this episode.

First of all, the fact that Supergirl is disheartened to know they didn’t save everyone is stupid because they only worked to evacuate one city compared to the entire planet. Secondly, we know that the episode of Arrow after this crossover will not include Stephen Amell...but to lose him on part one of the crossover does seem like a red herring.

Also I do not think he would die on any other show but his own and that part isn’t until January 14, so I don’t think this is the last of Oliver we’ve seen.

However, out of nowhere, Pariah appears. Pariah is Harrison “Nash” Wells who is the latest Harrison Wells to appear on The Flash and was the main focus of the Crisis teaser at the end of every Arrowverse show over the last two weeks.

I have to say 1) His suit makes him look like Doctor Doom and 2) I haven’t had the time to be as invested with this Wells as I was with Harry Wells or H.R. Wells or even Sherloque Wells to supposedly feel bad for him that he has become Pariah as his penance for freeing the Anti-Monitor.

He is however another harbinger which sounds stupid to say as there is a character literally called Harbinger but not only is Lyla one but so is the Monitor and now Pariah. I’ll be curious to see where this leaves him after the crossover because, unlike almost every crossover before, this is the one that promises ramifications across the multiverse.

Easter-Eggs:

Alright here we go, as I said in the opening Multiverse Annihilation alone, there were multiple Easter-Eggs that not only connect the Arrowverse to various other DC properties but also just have some very cool cameos.

I do have mixed feelings on what they’re doing, as it does look like they are actually trying to combine every DC TV property and possibly movie into the same multiverse which is crazy but it could possibly work.

Titans:

This is the one I cheered at my screen for in a similar way to when they played the Smallville theme while showing their version of the Kent Farm in Elseworlds last year.

As mentioned before, one of the Earths wiped out by Antimatter is Earth-9. On this Earth we focus on San Francisco and two costumed heroes as Antimatter obliterates everything, Hawk and Jason Todd’s Robin. These characters are portrayed by Alan Ritchson and Curran Walters who are the actors portraying these characters in these suits in Titans over on DC Universe.

It was rumoured some time back that Titans would appear in this crossover but never confirmed, I know because for my job I’ve reported on everything to do with Crisis.

Now clearly there’s nothing to say these are the same characters from Titans, particularly as the end of Titans Season 2 saw Jason Todd leave the Titans and we don’t see Nightwing, Dove, Starfire, Raven or Gar, but considering Black Lightning is joining the Multiverse it stands to reason that Titans can as well.

This does also mean that Titans is now on Earth-9, while Arrow, The Flash, Batwoman and Legends are primarily on Earth-1 and Supergirl is on Earth-38.

Batman ‘66

Speaking of other Earths, we have two others that are wiped out in the opening and both focus on Gotham City, why? Well we have Earth-66 which features an elderly gentleman in red walking his dog and seeing the red skies exclaims “Holy Crimson Skies of Death!”.

This gentleman is portrayed by Robin veteran Burt Ward and the character is confirmed to be Dick Grayson of the Batman 1960s series.

This is wrapped up very nicely and honoured in the fact that the Earth is numbered 66 to pay homage to the fact that 1966 is the year the Batman series begun.

Batman ‘89

Similarly, the other Earth we see obliterated is Earth-89. Here we see another Gotham City with a man reading an edition of the Gotham City Gazette that shows a distorted image of Batman with the headline “Batman Captures Joker”.

The man reading the paper is revealed to be Alexander Knox portrayed by Robert Wuhl, reprising his role from the 1989 Batman movie starring Michael Keaton as the Dark Knight and Jack Nicholson as The Joker.

It has also been rumoured before that Michael Keaton would reprise his role as Batman in this crossover, while I still choose to debunk these rumours, it’s official that the 1989 Batman is now canon within the Arrowverse. This takes the Arrowverse from simply being the DC TV Universe to an actual Multiverse spanning TV and Film, something the MCU hasn’t properly managed to do yet.

Star City 2046:

So as mentioned before, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow’s first season had an episode titled “Star City 2046″ where the Legends arrived in a dystopian Star City where Deathstroke’s son Grant Wilson was the new Deathstroke and Connor Hawke was the new Green Arrow and revealed as John Diggle Jr, Diggle’s son which at the time was crazy because Diggle had a daughter Sara before Barry created Flashpoint and replaced Sara with John Diggle Jr...keeping up?

So in the future of this Post-Flashpoint timeline that this universe is now in, we see that Connor Hawke and John Diggle Jr. are two separate people with Connor being the biological son of Ben Turner aka Bronze Tiger and John Diggle Jr now being the leader of the Deathstroke Gang.

This of course caused conflict with that episode of Legends, but because Legends never really follows the rules anyway I think everyone simply let it slide but now we have a loophole way of explaining things.

It turns out that when the Legends travelled to Star City in the year 2046, they also travelled to a parallel Earth, Earth-16. Now this is still in the future so I don’t think they’re saying it’s set, but what they are saying is it still happened and they didn’t overwrite their own lore basically.

We do only see Oliver here, who still has a cybernetic arm from before which Sara remembers and uses to her advantage, but Oliver doesn’t seem to remember that this Sara is not his Sara despite them having a rather candid conversation in that episode.

Also Joseph David-Jones portrayed Connor Hawke of that Earth in “Star City 2046″ so of course it makes sense for him to return as the Connor Hawke of Earth-1 in the future, but why didn’t he appear in this episode if he is already part of the cast of Arrow this season?

The Ray:

Briefest of cameos and unfairly uncredited in my opinion but we see a brief glimpse of Ray Terrill aka The Ray portrayed by Russell Tovey flying through the skies of Earth-X before being obliterated. Tovey first portrayed The Ray in “Crisis on Earth-X” two years ago and was part of the first openly gay male relationship in comic-book history with Wentworth Miller’s Leo Snart.

He then went on to voice the character in his own short-lived animated web series Freedom Fighters, but to see him return in live-action even for a brief uncredited cameo shows how much Tovey respects both the character and this universe and I love him even more for that.

Jonathan Kent:

Alright so I’ve mentioned baby Jonathan a couple of times because we knew Lois was pregnant at the end of Elseworlds last years however now seeing Jonathan Kent Jr. I am excited for what this could mean going forward.

In the comics, Jonathan is the son of Superman and Lois Lane given the full name Jonathan Samuel Kent to honour both his grandfathers and is a Kryptonian-Human hybrid who becomes the new Superboy and teams up with Damian Wayne, the Teen Titans and the Legion of Superheroes.

So when Brainy mentioned him going through a wormhole and time-travelling I thought they may be setting up that he’ll be taken in by the Legion, Mon-El may return with a grown-up version of him later in the season or something, but no he’s safe and Lois has him back.

The one thing I will say about him is I hope the writers don’t relegate Tyler Hoechlin’s already minimal Super-Antics into simply being Super-Dad. The odd dad line is funny but I hope that’s not all he is.

I am going to wait until Part 5 to rank the entire crossover but if they keep the momentum that Part 1 managed to accelerate then this could be the greatest TV accomplishment ever and could even rival Avengers: Endgame in how they literally bring worlds together.

So that’s my review of Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part One, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more DC TV Reviews as well as other TV Reviews and posts.

[balmacedapascal-archive]

summary: weddings are always a bit of a pain to deal with and being maid of honor certainly isn’t an easy task. so kate’s more than grateful to have her lovely dweeb of a boyfriend around to swoop in and save her when the night gets a little chaotic.  pairing: joe mazzello x original female character words: 4096 (holy crap wtf) a/n: so this whole idea came up after these gorgeous pictures of joe started popping up on my dash and then i rambled off a random idea to the lovely, wonderful kyra. and for that reason and the fact that she’s the absolute sweetest and keeps me going and ilysm, this is 100% dedicated to @mrbenhardys thank you for encouraging me and being an absolute angel, you’re so lovely. also, guys, this is my first time really writing anything for joe (and not a character of his) so please be gentle. i hope people enjoy this. 

It was safe to say that, by the time the wedding party had arrived in the hotel ballroom for the reception, Kate was ready to call it a day. Ready to just ditch the heels and the slightly painful updo and just hide out in the room waiting for her upstairs. But it wasn’t that simple. When it’s your baby sister’s wedding and you’re the maid of honor, sneaking away from all the excitement is not that easy. Which means Kate hadn’t so much as had time to breathe since she’d reluctantly crawled out of bed that morning and headed off to begin the whole crazy process of getting ready for the big day. And really it hadn’t been that bad. She’d been over the moon when Megan and Tom had announced their engagement last year. And she’d been more than willing to step as maid of honor and deal with all the headaches that thankless job entailed. But she couldn’t help but feel exhausted by the time the photographer had finished with the countless snapshots of the wedding party in various poses and groups and settings. She could feel the muscles in her cheeks straining from the number of smiles she’d had to force in the face of the camera. And now there was going to be at least a good three hours of the reception that she’d have to power through before she could even think of calling it a night. Thank god for the open bar that Tom’s family had paid for for the reception. It was going to take more drinks than she’d like to pay for to get through all the polite conversation and family bullshit that came with a gathering of this size.

“Excuse me, do you think you could help me out? I’m looking for my girlfriend. About your height, probably looks like she might be ready to beat someone to death with a bouquet, wearing the exact same dress you’ve got on.”

A smile was pulling at her lips the second she heard the sound of her boyfriend’s voice behind her. That was the other downside of the whole maid of honor nonsense. They hadn’t gotten more than five minutes together since Kate had left the apartment that morning, dashing out the front door in a pair of track pants and one of his old Yankees tees to go and get all dolled up for the day while he continued to lay in bed with one eye cracked and a sleepy pout over the fact she’d hadn’t still been in bed with him when he’d woken up. Spinning on her heel, she found Joe standing behind her, a little smirk showing just how funny he found himself at the moment. He still had the suit jacket on for the moment but the knot of his tie had been loosened a bit at some point since she’d seen him after the ceremony. This was definitely the highlight of the day so far, finally getting a moment with him and the added bonus of seeing him decked out in a well tailored suit.

“You’re in luck, I think I know exactly who you’re talking about,” Kate played along, taking the few steps to be right next to him. Wrapping an arm around his shoulders, she leaned against his chest, his own arm looping around her waist without hesitation. It was a wonderful moment of not only getting a break from the wedding party but also using him for a bit of relief off her already sore feet. “You have no idea how ready I am for this all to finally be over with.”

“Are you kidding me? I’m just as ready as you are. Finally get to cross hook up with a bridesmaid off my bucket list.” She let out a small snort of laughter, giving his chest a small smack and shaking her head. “Ow, hey! It’s gonna be you! Why are you getting all violent on me woman? Keep it up and I’ll see if Tessa’s free tonight.”

Another snort of laughter slipped out as she pulled back a bit to look up at him with an eyebrow raised. “Tessa? As in the one who’s about six months pregnant? That’s your backup plan for your bridesmaid hookup?”

“Wait - Tessa’s the pregnant one? I thought that was Jill.”

“No, Jill’s the one with the undercut and the gorgeous half sleeve.”

“Then who’s the one with the pink highlights and the Russian studies degree?”

“That’s Lena, she was Meg’s roommate sophomore year.”

“Ohhh….well, shit. I got everybody all mixed up.”

“Well, how many of them have you actually addressed by their first name?”

“All of them. You know I talk too much when left alone with new people in weird settings. And you abandoned me at the rehearsal dinner.”

“Abandon is such a strong word.”

“I was left alone with a group of women whose name’s I apparently didn’t remember. That feels like abandonment.”

“MAID OF HONOR! You’re needed for a few more photos please!”

Kate let out a heavy sigh, slumping against Joe’s shoulder for a moment before straightening up and glancing over to where the call had come from. The photographer was across the room with the bride and groom, all of them gather under the large floral archway set up by the entrance to the ballroom. Joe offered a sympathetic smile, giving her a quick squeeze before they both heard another call for her presence. “Look, I’ll come find you as soon as I can. And if you can come rescue me even sooner, I will love you forever.”

“You got it, babe,” Joe replied, leaning down for a quick kiss before she reluctantly returned to the chaos of the day.

An hour later and unfortunately, Kate still hadn’t managed to make her way back to Joe. Between another round of photos and then all the other pomp and circumstance that came with the demands of being a member of the wedding party, she’d gone back to not having a moment to catch her breath. She’d been pulled in a dozen different directions, having to deal with people from the catering company, employees from the hotel, and family members who were eager to give her their two cents on everything from the ceremony to her own status as an unmarried woman. She wasn’t particularly surprised by the number of “you’re not getting any younger” comments but she was definitely getting more and more jealous of Joe, who had the easy task of just sitting with the handful of cousins she actually got along with. He was definitely much better off at that table than he had been sitting with the other bridesmaids the other night. And she was beyond ready to finally be able to join him.

Finally, much to her relief, things seemed to be calming down a bit. Dinner had come and gone with no major issues that she was aware of. The happy couple had gone out onto the dance floor for their first dance as husband and wife and now everyone seemed to be settling into the more relaxed portion of the evening. It was time for dancing and drinks and finally a chance for her to ditch the rest of the wedding party in favor of the guy she had waiting for her.

“Oh, Katie darling! There you are!” She’d only gotten about ten steps from the table they’d all been sitting at at the front of the room when a familiar voice stopped her. Great-Aunt Linda, the last person she really felt like dealing with and the one who could easily keep the most boring conversation going as long as humanly possible, had shown up all of a sudden and Kate was stuck like a deer in the headlights. “Oh, don’t you just look lovely! Such a beautiful bridesmaid!”

“Hey Aunt Linda,” she greeted with a polite smile, trying not to breathe in the overwhelmingly strong perfume she was wearing as they hugged. “How’ve you been? You enjoy the wedding?”

“Oh, it was such a gorgeous ceremony. Absolutely gorgeous. And you’re sister - well, she looks absolutely stunning in that dress of hers. And the groom’s not a bad catch either. But what about you, darling? Not too upset about seeing your baby sister walk down the aisle before you?” Here we go again. “I mean if you’re grandmother had gotten married before me back in the day I would’ve just been beside myself. But I guess times are changing and you’ve still got a few years left to have children and all of that so-”

“There you are!” Both women turned at the sound of Joe’s voice coming up to the table and in that instant Kate was pretty sure she’d never loved him more. It was a whole two seconds before he’d swopped in and wrapped an arm around her, pressing a warm kiss to her cheek. “I’ve been looking all over for you. You promised me dancing and I fully intend to make you keep that promise. Oh, hey Aunt Linda, how’s it going?”

“You remember my boyfriend, Joe, right? He was with me at Gran’s house last Christmas.” She wrapped her arm around his waist, leaning against him and hoping they could both escape sooner rather than later.

“Oh, of course, so good to see you again, dear. Hope you’re taking good care of our Katie here.”

“Absolutely. Only the best for our Katie.” She normally was annoyed by the childhood nickname but at the moment, she didn’t care. All she was hoping for was for them to escape from the conversation quickly. “But you’ll have to excuse us. This one here owes her dance card for the evening and I fully intend to take advantage of that.”

Grabbing her hand, he managed to navigate the both of them away to the table he’d been sitting at without any more interferences from staff or family. She dropped down onto one of the empty chairs with a heavy sigh, immediately reaching down and pulling off the heels she’d been stuck in all day. “You have no idea how much I love you right now. I thought I was going to be stuck back there forever.”

Joe chuckled as he sat down on the empty chair to her right, scooting closer so that they could hear each other over the music being played. “Yeah, you looked like you might be in need of some rescuing. What was the unfortunate subject this time?”

“Oh, just the fact that I should apparently be mortified that my baby sister managed to get herself a husband before me and that I’ve only got a few good childbearing years left before my eggs shrivel up and die and I’m left a childless, unwed disappointment to everyone in my family over the age of sixty.”

His eyebrows both shot up at that and he was quick to give her a sympathetic look despite the initial breath of a laugh that slipped out. “Okay, yeah, you definitely need a drink. Or like seven. C’mon, let’s go get you several drinks. I promise to keep all the elderly with intrusive questions at bay.”

The couple made their way over to the bar, heels left behind at the table and making her grateful fo the floor length dress that had been selected for the bridal party months ago. Joe kept an arm around her shoulders, keeping close as they maneuvered past the various wedding guests talking and moving about the room. A few people said polite hellos as they passed but most of them simply kept to themselves to Kate’s absolute joy. And once they reached the bar and a screwdriver was in her hands, she was much happier with the evening. “Yeah, I definitely think I’m going to need about seven of these. Honestly though, like how are we in the twenty-first century and I’m still getting these bullshit questions about when I’m going to get married. I’m not even thirty. I have a month left to that milestone but I might as well be fifty-two for all the comments I’ve gotten tonight.”

“I mean, I can probably go track down the priest and we can make an honest woman out of you, right here right now, if that’s what you really want,” Joe offered as he sipped at his own rum and Coke.

That made her laugh, a quiet chuckle into the glass as she finished off the drink and proceeded to swap it out for the second one already mixed and waiting for her. “Yeah, I don’t think that would be a good idea. Meg would probably throttle you without hesitation for stealing her spotlight. But I appreciate the offer.”

“Anytime, babe.”

It wasn’t the first time a joke had been made about the two of them getting married. They’d been together for a little over three years and both of their families had made their fair share of inquiries about whether or not there’d be a wedding for them sometime in the near future. It didn’t help that Kate had been his date to his younger brother’s wedding six months into their relationship. Both of their mothers had had several discussions about what the wedding would look like one day. And Kate might have spotted a ring box  tucked into the back corner of one of his dresser drawers sometime last year but she’d chosen to just let that little detail fade to the background for the time being. It was easier not to stress about the idea of marriage and they were both happy with how things were going, ring or no ring.

By the time she’d finished her second drink, Joe was dropping a ten in the tip jar and pulling her back across the room to where the dance floor had been set up. Making an exaggerated gesture for her hand, he was quick to pull her onto the dance floor with a spin before wrapping an arm around her waist and leading to the jazzy Ella Fitzgerald tune playing.

Another three hours and finally it seemed that the night was winding down. Speeches had been given by Kate and the best man, Lucas, as well as one by father of the bride who’d done his best not to start crying front of everyone and then Aunt Linda had managed to get her hands on the mic after a few too many glasses of wine and rambled on for a minute before someone stopped her. The bouquet had been thrown and the garter had been tossed and they’d all cheered and laughed as the newlyweds had shoved cake into each other’s faces. For the most part, Joe had been her partner on the dance floor all night long, spinning her round and round to fast songs and slow songs and several of the cheesy wedding reception classics. At some point his jacket had been left at the same table as her shoes and his sleeves had been rolled up to the elbows, a look she was particularly fond of. And by ten o’clock, everything had wound down enough that Kate didn’t feel too guilty about giving her sister a tight hug and quick kiss on the cheek as she announced that they were going to call it a night. Megan had hugged her back just as tight, a little wobbly in her shoes but still smiling like she was on top of the world. She’d cracked a joke about making sure they used protection and a promise that they’d see each other in the morning before the sisters parted in search of their respective partners.

The lobby was empty for the most part as the two of them made their way to the elevators, her fingers laced through Joe’s as they walked. She’d graded her bouquet before they’d headed out and he had the heels she’d ditched in his free hand with his jacket tucked into the crook of his elbow. There were a couple employees still on the clock, offering polite greetings as the couple passed but for the most part it was quiet and Kate was rather grateful for that. The elevator was called and thankfully empty when it arrived. They stepped inside and pushed the button for the ninth floor and, as soon as the door were closed, his arms were wrapped around her waist. Kate didn’t hesitate in leaning against his chest, humming softly as he bent his head and pressed a few lazy kisses along the side of her neck. “Did I mention just how good you look in this?” he mumbled against her bare shoulder, the arms around her waist giving her a quick squeeze. “Because you look really fucking gorgeous. Like normally bridesmaid dresses are some of the worst things out there but this? I won’t complain if you decide to wear this around the apartment every now and then.”

“Is that so?” she asked, head tilting back against his shoulder as she looked up at him with an amused smile. His hair was a little messy and she was glad he’d chosen not to shave the layer of stubble long his jaw that morning. The five o’clock shadow tickled her skin as he nuzzled into the crook of her neck and it sent a quick shiver up her spine.

“Definitely. Just for like lounging around or whatever. Mainly so I can repeat the fun part of being the one to toss it across the room.”

Another well placed kiss sent more shivers and it took everything not to start fidgeting and turning around to face him. Instead, she turned her head just enough to press a kiss to his cheek as the elevator came to a stop on their floor. “How about we make it to our room before you try and act out that fantasy?”

He didn’t need any more encouragement to grab her hand and all but drag her down the hallway to their room, leaving Kate trying not to giggle too hard at his enthusiasm for them to finally be alone. The door was barely closed before she was being pressed back against it, Joe’s lips connecting with hers without another moment of hesitation. It was a deep kiss, deeper than anything they’d been able to share while in a room filled with her family and friends and it was enough to make her toes curl against the carpeted floor. Everything they’d been carrying with them was dropped to the floor, none of it important in comparison to removing any space from between them. Her hands quickly made their way into his hair, loving the soft feel between her fingers and the way he pressed closer as she gave the auburn locks a little tug. His own hands had mapped their way up and down her spine before wrapping around her waist, leaving absolutely no distance between the two of them.

“You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to do this all day,” he mumbled against her lips, giving her hip a squeezes his lips traced their way down from her jaw to the hint of cleavage the dress offered and earning a soft whimper for his efforts. “You really do look so gorgeous in this dress, baby.”

“Think I’d rather be out of the dress at this point,” Kate replied, hands moving down his chest and pulling at the tie still hanging loosely around his neck. He hummed his approval at that idea before they started stumbling over towards the bed, still kissing and touching and keeping close to one another before finally hitting the bed suddenly. With a few more playful nips along the side of her neck, Kate propped herself up on her elbows, watching as Joe finally undid the knot of his tie and tossed it aside before popping the first couple buttons on his dress shirt. The night was finally taking a turn that they both could get excited about when a long yawn slipped out despite her best efforts to hold it back.

Joe’s face immediately shifted, a small frown pulling at his lips. “Well, that’s not exactly the reaction that I was hoping for. I’d like to think we’ve got at least another five years before the sex gets yawn worthy.”

Kate offered an apologetic look, sitting up and letting her hands rest against his chest. “It definitely hasn’t hit yawn worthy status. I think I’m just running on fumes. All this bridesmaid bullshit is apparently very tiring. And I think sitting on a bed was like the trigger to remind me how much I love sleep and how much more I can get now that this stupid wedding is over.”

“You’re very lucky you’re cute. And I’m a very understanding fella. And that the shower looks like it’d be really damn enjoyable even if I didn’t need a cool down.”

“Give me coffee and waffles in the morning and I promise to make it up to you?” she offered with a smile, earning a laugh from Joe.

“I’m gonna hole you to that one, pretty lady,” he replied, leaning down to press a softer to her lips, slow and sweet and just as toe curling as the others but in a different way. “So late night TV and cuddles instead?”

“Sounds perfect,” she agreed, smile widening as she stretched up to press a few quick kisses to his lips in return. “You go shower while I take out the five million bobby pins I’ve go stuck in my hair.”

“Yes ma’am.” A quick peck to her nose and a mock salute and then Joe disappeared into the bathroom, the sound of the shower quickly filling the room. Kate sat there for a moment, enjoying the comfort of finally being off her feet and sitting on something soft before going over to the overnight bag they’d brought with them for the night. The dress was a little tricky to get out of, some careful maneuvering needed to get a hold of the zipper and get that pulled down but thankfully she managed okay on her own. The gown was left in a pile at the end of the bed and she quickly changed into the old Yankees tee she’d been wearing when she left the apartment that morning. It was came down to the middle of her thighs and it was all she really needed before going back to make herself comfortable on the bed. Flipping through the channels on the television, she settled in in the middle of the bed, working her way through the numerous pins keeping her hair in place. By the time Joe came out about twenty minutes later with a just a towel wrapped around his waist, she’d settled on a marathon of Chopped reruns and had a growing pile of hair pins in front of her. He grabbed his own clothes, lingering long enough for her to give a little wolf whistle before disappearing back into the bathroom. Another few minutes and he was back, clad in a pair of boxers and the Jurassic Park tee she’d given him as a gag gift for his last birthday. Crawling across the bed to where she was seated, he made himself comfortable behind her, taking over the process of undoing the intricate hairdo and carefully pulling out the last handful of pins. By the time he’d finished and her hair was hanging loose around her shoulders, Kate was more than ready to just curl up with him for the rest of the night.

“Promise me we don’t have to go to anymore weddings for like at least a year?” she requested, stretching out with arm draped over his stomach and her head resting on his shoulder comfortably.

“Hey, this one was because of you. Tell your sister not to get married again any time soon. I’ll tell my siblings the same.”

“Fine. And we can just tell our friends we’re gonna be out of town if any of them are crazy enough to get hitched.”

“Sounds like a plan babe.”

“A good plan. Cuz I make the best plans.”

“Someone’s a little cocky when they’re sleepy.”

“Shush. I need to see who’s going to get chopped this round.”

“Fine. But waffles and sexy times in the morning?”

“Waffles and sexy times. Promise.”

“Excellent.” He pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head, cuddling up as the episode played out and Kate slowly drifted off to sleep.

[shootstraight-nevermiss]

Task 001: Lagos

@sgt-barnes, @logan-t78a

Trigger Warnings: Blood, Gore, Murder

Transcript of Mission below:

Bucky: James tightened his grip around the shield's leather handles. This was it. This was going to end today or never. They had everything they needed. Sin's intel about Zemo's course of actions and locations and some other agents Bucky might have bullied. He still wasn't sure if bringing Clint with them was the best idea, but he promised it to him. Seemed... right? "Alright we got one shot at this. We wait for the exact location, then we enter the structure. Wanda you cover the back exit to prevent our target to leave. Sam, you got the other one as planned, Nat will have your back." He looked up at Clint "And we go fetch the bastard. Seems good for everyone ?"

Clint: Clint was technically retired. After getting his family back, he just couldn't do it anymore so he had left. It always somewhat pained him that he never got the opportunity to put an arrow in Zemo, but his family needed him more than ever. But then Clint got the call. They found him. So he suited up and now here he was, in Lagos with the rest of the team. He was barely paying attention to what Bucky was saying because he just wanted to get started, find the bastard and kill him for sure. He owed it to the him. But what Bucky didn't know was that Clint had called in someone else. Someone who also wanted a piece of him to give him a hand. They had a plan, he just had to wait. So, like the Hawk that he was, he kept a watch around the place until he saw Bucky's eyes on him. He just gave him a silent nod as he walked off. Nothing against the rest of them - he was here for one thing and one thing only.

Bucky: He waited for everyone's approval before reaching the edge of the roof they were standing on, waiting for the exact location of Zemo. He kneeled as he waited, keeping his doubts for himself. Maybe too loud however as he sensed Natasha putting her hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her, reassuring himself in her eyes for a second before looking at the team. "And don't forget. I know it's important for everyone here to catch him... But the team goes first, you hear me? Don't play vigilantes, for once." he found smart to add.

Clint: Clint heard what Bucky said and he was sure that it was more directed at him. No offense, Bucky, but this isn't your fight. He wasn't there to help the team. He was here for his own reasons. So when everyone began to disperse to their given objectives, Clint gave Nat a look, telling her that he was sorry for what he was about to do but that he needed to do it. That's when he pulled out his Avenger com and out in the one he had linked with Logan. "Alright, give me some good news, Wolvie. I think Barnes might be catching on to me here."

Logan: The plan was easy, logical and Logan only agreed when Bucky asked him to go and confirm the location, see if it was a trap and if something had to explode, well, he could handle it. He stayed in the shadows but saw their target, stealing him a small smile. He followed him at a reasonable distance and didn't stop when Clint's voice resonated in his com. "Oh really? Good job Barton. Maybe it gonna be a solo date then, if you can't handle the kid." He knew that the plan was to catch the man, but he didn't care, Zemo had to die, that was all, no bargain, no prison, just death. He didn't care what the justice could say, what the government could decided, Zemo was a personal problem since the moment who he started to lay into the kids. "6°33'27.5"N 3°22'54.7"E" He finally shared after checking his gimmick. "Barnes." He continued, changing his com. "6°27'00.5"N 3°26'21.7"E, this bastard still liked luxury." He lied for him, sending him in the opposite place than the real one where Zemo was.

Bucky: Jams waited for the moment Logan would share the location, and when it came into his coms, he didn't wait any longer. "Alright. We're going in." The team didn't need a look to go to their respective spots. Bucky waited for Clint before going in the building by one of the back doors, punching the few guards in their way. The element of surprise was their main advantage as Zemo was not expecting betrayal from his own ranks, selling intel to the Avengers directly. "Big room, north, we gotta be quick before he can do anything. come on."

Clint: "Just stick to the plan, Logan, and we'll be right as rain," Clint replied after memorizing the coordinates and sticking back in the other com. It was action time which meant Clint had to stick with Bucky before finding the opportune moment to slip away. So he stuck by him, pretending he was going along with him..if everything worked, Bucky wouldn't realize he was sneaking off before it was too late. "He still there, Logan?" He asked in the communal com. His hands were gripping his bow tightly. He was ready for this.

Logan: Logan managed to stay patient but he sighed at Barton's words. "I ain't sure it's working like that, just move your birdy ass." He replied to this com before waiting for the rest. "Yup." He just added at the question, he remembered this big room, he didn't really lie about the location shared to the big team, Zemo was there, his mobs were probably still in the building, but their main target left 2 hours ago. He was now busy with what seemed to be a transaction. "Not sure he will stay there much longer tho."

Bucky: Bucky was a soldier, but he was far away from being stupid. He worked with too many men and women in this area of their job to know certain things. For now he acted blind, but he could tell things were off, he could tell things were untold and so kept an eye on everything. It wouldn't be the first time someone tried to... betray him. He tightened his grip on his shield and moved toward the location, addressing Clint a look before going in. He opened the door, shoot the shield at the men in the room, gave some punches. But then he froze as he realized. "Bloody hell, Logan, where is he?"

Clint: Clint knew that he was going to have to move fast if they were going to catch the bastard, but he couldn't just leave Bucky. Not yet. They needed to get to the spot Logan had told Bucky first so he didn't raise too much suspicion. So he played along, counting down the seconds until he could make his move. He nodded at Bucky before they entered the room, letting Bucky take down the lone man while holding up his bone. "He must have just left the room," he lied, knowing full well that that wasn't the case at all. "I'll do a perimeter check outside. He can't have gone too far." He slid the arrow back into his quiver but held firm on his bow. It would be easier to run like that.

Logan: "Must be there, I'm still smelling his Dolce & Gabbana bullshit perfume." He lied but not on the details. He had nothing else to do than wait, so he did, lighting a cigar to deal with the time being long. "Want to me to check somewhere kid?" He asked but calmly started to smoke.

Bucky: He was most of all afraid of losing their advantage of taking them by surprise. Zemo didn't know. Seemed like their only weapon right now. He gritted his teeth. "Negative." he answered Logan. "Stay put. We got the others around. He can't escape." He turned towards Clint. "Check those rooms instead, I'll go over there. Stay on this side don't let them divide us."

Clint: Clint was expecting different orders from Bucky, which is why he had his own excuse all lined up. "If he's in one of the other rooms, chances are he saw us come in. It would be better if one of us what outside incase he tried to jackrabbit. In this case, it's better to split up."

Bucky: James squinted a bit as he looked at Clint. "The exits are guarded by the others already." He wouldn't let him go alone, they needed to work as a team. But then James heard people coming at them rather quickly from behind the doors. "Do it quick then. I'll go this way."

Clint: It went over a lot better than Clint expected and gave him a nod. Now that he was free of Bucky, he could go do what he actually came to Lagos to do. Once he was out of sight of Bucky he put in his com he had with Logan. "Alright, I got away. I'm heading to you. You still remember the plan, right?"

Logan: His cigar was almost finished when Clint voice showed up again. "'Bout time." He replied and raised an eyebrow at his question. "'Might be old but I ain't senile yet." Logan stubbed out his cigar and finally left his hideout. "I'm going to set the table, don't be late for the dessert." He joked, meaning to catch this bastard, kill his few guards and get him ready for the rest of the night.

Clint: "Don't worry, I won't be," Clint replied. He had been waiting for this moment for a long time and he wasn't about to mess it all up. Not now, when he was so close. Zemo was not planning on this, and Clint was counting on it. Clint got to the rendezvous spot and notched an arrow. "Alright, Logan, I'm in position. I'm ready to set the bait. Just give me the word when he's clear."

Logan: "Still waiting..." Logan pointed out and moved to clear the way, killing some guards here and there, taking his time 'cause damn this idiot wasn't that fast and avoided the alarms. The last ones were sharing the same warehouse that Zemo, so they had to wait, lucky them. He couldn't see them, but he was surely hearing their beating hearts. "Clear. His 3 boyfriends are still there tho." Logan sighed and took his lighter to heat his blades.

Clint: "Don't worry, I got this. Just wait for my word." Clint pulled back the bow just a little bit more, adding more tension for a brief second as he took a breath. This was it. It was now or never. He had a brief thought. He could not do this. He could call Bucky, tell him he found Zemo and back out. He could walk away. Maybe it was better if he did, but he didn't want to. He wanted to end this. Clint thought about everything Zemo had destroyed. Himself, Wanda, Kate, Logan, Barney, Laura, Tony.....it just angered him more and more the more he thought about everything Zemo had done. No, keeping him alive was too risky. Clint knew what he had to do. And with that thought, he aimed the flare arrow up into the sky and launched it.

The red light exploded in the air, giving anyone a good read as to where he was. Zemo surely would know who sent it, especially when he saw the arrow shaft fall back to the ground. He would pick it up later....maybe. Just to give it that extra little oomph, Clint yelled, "ZEMO! COME FACE ME, YOU COWARD!"

Clint waited and waited until he spotted Zemo appear with his "boyfriends," as Logan called them. "Agent Barton." Clint sneered when he saw that smug-ass look on his face. "Where are your friends?"

"Doesn't matter. This is between you and me." Zemo seemed amused by Clint's statement, but Clint expected that. His hubris would be his downfall. "Why don't you send your little goons away so we can pick up where we left off? Unless you're too much of a coward to hide behind our henchmen."

There was something in Zemo's eyes telling Clint he was much too eager to show Clint what he could do. With a simple wave of his hand, Zemo's goons left just before he casually strolled back towards him. "Last I remembered, you were no match for me, Barton."

"Yeah, well last time I was injured and starved. Not exactly fair. Now, we're on even playing ground."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that. I know you can hit me with that bow of yours before I get too close."

"That's why I brought something else." Clint put his bow away and pulled out the extra toy he had brought along - a sword. It was one he had "borrowed" from the compound. He'd give it back....maybe. "Doesn't matter what I use, though, you're not leaving this place."

"Is that a promise?" Zemo pulled his sword from his own sheath, getting into a stance that Clint remembered all too well from their last encounter. "Yes, it is."

Maybe it was reckless, maybe it was stupid, but Clint rushed Zemo, sword, back and ready to strike. He knew Zemo would see it coming and block with ease, but this was all part of the plan. He just had to occupy Zemo enough before the plan fell in place. Swords clashed with a ring of metal in the air as they stuck, parried and danced around one another in a deadly dance of dueling. "You've gotten better, Agent Barton," Zemo commented as he parried another blow and struck out.

"It's amazing what someone can do when they're determined."

Zemo chuckled as he parried Clint's next blow. "Your determination will get you nowhere, though. Your angry, which blinds you. I can see it in your eyes. Your anger will be your downfall."

Clint did a few more strikes before their swords met again and they pushed against one another. It was now or never. "And your self-inflated ego will be yours. You see, you're not the only one who you managed to piss off." With that cue for Logan, Clint pushed Zemo back to give Logan the room he would need.

Logan: Deep breaths, Logan couldn't lose his control right now, waiting was playing on his nerves but it was the last act, he could manage this last wait. The old man felt the movement, he slowly moved in the shadows. He let Clint do the distraction, swords fight? Meh, who was he to judge? He only came closer to the remaining guards, tacking advantage that Zemo was busy fighting to deal with them. And just like he did before, Logan killed them before they could understand what was happening, clean work. And god the timing was perfect. "Hi." Logan simply said when Clint pushed off Zemo. His hands were already bloody. "Sorry for your guys, they were in the way."

Oh he could hear heart beat climbing up and damn it felt good, walking closer, Logan only sped up when Zemo moved his hand to call back up. With no warning the mutant cut his hand but didn't flinch when Zemo groaned in pain and reacted by stabbing Logan in the chest with his sword. "..." It was probably fair enough but of course useless. "Right... no more stupid moves then." 'Cause Zemo just did two. The bastard wasn't bleeding, he was missing a hand but Logan's claws were still burning from the preparation he did, it would have been a shame to lose the man from a stupid anemia. Logan pulled out the sword from his body and threw it away before stabbing the fucking bastard in his right knee, forcing him to kneel. The man might scream, he might not, actually Logan didn't give a shit, he wanted the man dead. It was personal right but most of that it had to be done. He was too old and too fucked up to believe in justice, he couldn't give him a chance to survive this, to escape. Maybe it wasn't the right thing to do but Logan never cared about that, not this time at least, not when the list of the victims was already too long. "Yours." He finally said, sharing a look to Clint. Again, involving Clint wasn't probably the best thing to do, but, Logan could respect his need for revenge, it will obviously not solve everything but it will for sure help.

Clint: Clint stood to the side, letting Logan get his hits in. Logan needed a few, especially what happened to the kids that Zemo had grabbed. But they had a deal. He didn't even flinch when Logan cut off his hand. Zemo wasn't going to need it anymore. He stood by, watching with each blow, waiting until Logan was done. With Zemo on his knees, Clint sheathed his own sword and grabbed his bow. "You've taken too much. You've taken away friendships," he paused, firing an arrow into Zemo's left shoulder, "You've taken away kids," another arrow, into Zemo's right, "Sanity." That arrow had gone in his leg, keeping him pinned to the floor. Each name he would speak would come with another arrow in some place Clint deemed. "Kate, Wanda, Kitty, Bobby, Tony.....Laura." At this point, Zemo, was essentially a human pin cushion. A:rrows were protruding from Zemo's body and Clint knew that eventually, he'd die from the these wounds, but it wasn't enough.

"Last I saw you, I told you that you would lose and I would personally be there when you did." Without warning, Clint took his hunting knife and stuck in the same spot Zemo had speared him with a sword all those years ago. "I've thought about this moment for a long damn time, asshole." With a slow turn of his wrist, he twisted the knife in Zemo's abdomen, finally getting a bit of a yell, even if it was more guttural from the bastard. But when Clint stopped, Zemo actually began to laugh. "What's so funny, asshole?"

"You think you've won, but you haven't. I have, Agent Barton. You became the monster once again. You are finally broken." Clint ground his teeth, leaving the knife as he grabbed Zemo's sword that Logan had thrown away. In his other, he grabbed his own and scissored them around Zemo's neck. "You will be haunted by this moment for the rest of your life, Barton. This will not save your soul."

"Maybe not," Clint muttered, his voice straight and level, "But I'll live with it. See you in Hell." And with a swift move, Clint closed the swords, slicing right through Zemo's neck and cutting his head clean off. Zemo's head rolled a few feet away and while Clint could have left him like that, he had one more thing to do. He sheathed both of the swords this time and grabbed two arrows. He pierced the man's dead eyeballs with them and speared the head onto one of the arrows protruding from his body. It was finally over.

Logan: Was it a good idea to let this idiot take the responsibility of this kill? Probably not. But Logan didn't stop him, Zemo wasn't totally wrong but the mutant could understand this need of vengeance. He wasn't an example to follow about that, like he was actually the worst but he knew. He knew that this death will not resolve everything but it will probably be a good start despite the consequences. So Logan shut the fuck up, he didn't look away when Clint killed the man, he didn't flinch and he definitively didn't say a thing. It was over, the bastard was dead and it felt less good than Logan still expected. The mutant sighed, with no smile and cocked an eyebrow when Clint played the put all the body pieces together, he wasn't here to judge but god this was overkilled, even for him. Anyway, he finally came closer to Clint and the dead body and spoke. "C'mon man. Let's move." His claws withdrawn since a while now, Logan put a hand on the shoulder's man, inviting him to move. And if he could have ask of he was feeling ok, he just didn't, he bloody knew the feeling, he wasn't discovering it this night and he bloody knew that a drink will be more helpful than a little pep talk.

Clint: Yeah, sure, it was probably overkill, but Clint felt he needed to do it. To show the world he was finally gone. No tricks, no surprise appearances. He needed to see it, but yet somehow, he still felt hollow. Clint thought that if he killed Zemo, it would be done and he would feel better. More fulfilled. Yet, Clint didn't feel that way. Why didn't he feel right? As he stared down at the corpse, he muddled through his thoughts, trying to make sense of it until Logan broke his trance. "Yeah," he said softly, letting Logan guide him away while he still tried to make sense of his lack of feelings.

[falkenscreen]

JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 - PARABELLUM

These films are better the second you realise they don’t take place on earth.

Yes it looks like our world but New York et al is merely the stage not the setting on which this tale elapses. With the Greek, Roman and altogether classical symbolism more blatantly rampant here than ever before, John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is not of our world, he is a Demigod; scrambling to complete his tasks before the high table of Olympus.

References to rowboats, passage to the underworld, Dante etc being only a little more complex than can be found in a Dan Brown novel are by the by however. Returning Director Chad Stahelski, too Reeves’ stunt double across innumerable projects, assures us this universe is never so interested in it’s symbolism than the creative ways Wick can kill his ever-growing horde of pursuers.

Having John dispatch his first with a copy of Dante’s Inferno should drive the point home for anyone still thinking that this series has aspirations far beyond some of the most captivating, kinetically staged fight sequences in recent mainstream cinema.  

And the sequences are thrilling, with Reeves and his long-time collaborator behind the camera sharing a partnership rarely seen in film. Permitting a dynamism between cast and crew as interchangeable and seamless as ever, the talented creatives and indeed star being familiar and able to rely on each other to such a degree both grounds and illuminates the action either when Reeves is so evidently performing a dangerous stunt or one by it’s nature near-imperceptibly demands a stand-in.

It near goes without saying that Reeves is excellent in this role. It’s his best one to date; ideally suited to his emphatic if finite acting range. Fans of one of Hollywood’s most debated stars will relish his deadpan, rage-filled return.

Parabellum ramps it up for several sequences featuring among several prominent martial artists Yayan Ruhian and Cecep Arif Rahman, both veterans of The Raid series; too a clear influence on the Wick films. One mirror-filled encounter, if a carbon copy in respects of John Wick 2’spenultimate clanger, is still transfixing to watch; the nicely foreshadowed addition of something as seemingly mundane as a belt being handled beautifully.

Mark Dacascos is the best of the bunch as Zero; a Wick fanboy and biggest foe. He is the only counter who is given much personality in this, save Asia Kate Dillon’s ‘Adjudicator,’ yet another symbol-ridden advent well-framed against the conveniently fiery dungeons of the Continental. Lance Reddick’s Concierge Charon, here returning for a third outing, gets a little bit more to do this time around with some welcome character development beyond being relegated to the wallflowers. Ian McShane does his God/Demigod thing.

Halle Berry joins proceedings as another Continental manager who deserves a film all on her own. Game of Thrones veteran/90’s heartthrob Jerome Flynn rocks up with a terrible Vito Corleone impression to cash in a paycheck.

Now to the plot dear me. Yes the answer to whether a film doesn’t have a plot is sometimes “but did you enjoy it” yet good films, and the first two Wick flicks certainly count among those, almost always have one to speak of.

Immediately picking up from the first sequel’s conclusion, John is now excommunicado (one of the film’s most entertainingly symbolic flourishes); running for his life from everyone in New York City – because everyone in New York is an assassin. Keeping this up for the better part of the first hour the initial action sequences, including one that takes place in what can only be an antique knife store, are the best of the film as fights, if brazen, become heavily repetitive.

Introducing a plot sometime around the second act it’s all over in 20 minutes and just a pretext for John to reunite with some other folk before carnage reignites. No the plot was not the best thing about the first John Wick film but it gave it a fun basis for striving in such creative directions; it’s simplicity endearing beyond all else. The absence of anything even remotely constituting the thought that went into the backbones of the first two films does not recommend Parabellum, nor do the attitudes of the villains to John.

Much of what drove John Wick was the incessant underestimation of John as his opponents, alongside us, gradually come to reckon with the extent of his destructive power. There’s no such turnaround here; with everyone primed and ready we get no such satisfactory arc for our main guy.

Moreover, for a film built on a universe of stated order, it annoyingly breaks its own rules. Seen not just in a needless subversion of the Continental rules at the moment John makes it to the hotel, the Adjudicator strangely goes out of their way to punish one of John’s allies for collaborating with him in the last entry even though they had clearly been acting according to the same laws handed down to everyone else.

When John does visit a locale that is not his home, the energy of the world wanes as the premise of simply anyone and everyone being an assassin nay resonates so strong. What makes the New York setting so palpable is simply, as McShane’s Winston pointedly elucidates, that such a world can exist within the hilariously exaggerated confines of this city as many are predictably busy doing their own thing and might not bother so much as to whether assassins’ games were going on around them. It doesn’t ring true in Parabellum’s other, much more traditional setting, nor in a confrontation in the middle of New York’s busiest transport hub where characters can inexplicably, frustratingly vanish.

It’s fine to imagine this world, as this author prefers, as one that only resembles our own to the extent that it is a backdrop, or otherwise a version of our planet where seeming millions of well-trained slaughterers can teem just beneath the surface. Recommending the Wick series as a classical, modern-set parable is fine, yet that doesn’t fly when this sequel makes ostensible strides to affirm the real-world setting while having characters miraculously evaporate into thin air or survive things no mortal possibly could.

Either direction is fine, you just can’t have it both ways. To note even Hercules, in most adaptations, had well-defined physical limits; no such luck for stretches here. When the symbolism does reach its height during an escapade in the wilderness it’s to diminishing effect in what is the least impressive sequence in the entire now saga.

We do thankfully get a little more insight into John’s world or underworld as you might have it with Anjelica Huston entering the fray, though why Belarus is always the go-to nondescript reference for intendedly clandestine action films where they don’t want to make up a country I’ll never know; it’s not that difficult to find on a map.

The ending embraces John Wick’s B movie roots more than anything to date; the series’ strongest departure from that otherwise roundly evinced as prestige schlock fare. Resembling favourite third person shooters in whole episodes as Wick dispatches differently-uniformed assailants depending on their garb with increasing numbers of shots, come for the action but really try not to think too hard about all this.  

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum is in cinemas now

[aliteraryprincess]

Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

Warning: May contain spoilers

Since “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” is my favorite fairy tale, it’s fitting that I kick off Fairy Tale Friday with a retelling of it!  I originally read Princess of the Midnight Ball when I was in high school, and it was actually the first retelling of the tale I ever read.  I’m fond of it, so rereading it is always a pleasure!   

I’m breaking this post into three parts: the book as a retelling, my thoughts on the book as a whole, and related reading suggestions.  This is a new feature, so I’m naturally still experimenting with the format I want.  I might end up changing it for later posts.

As a Retelling:

Princess of the Midnight Ball is a fairly straight retelling of “The Twelve Dancing Princesses.”  George mostly draws on the German version of the story collected by the Brothers Grimm, which is generally the one people are familiar with.  She includes all the key elements: twelve princesses who wear out their shoes each night, a soldier with an invisibility cloak, many princes trying and failing to solve the mystery, a garden of silver trees, an underground lake and palace where the princesses dance each night, and a marriage at the end between the soldier and the eldest princess.

George does bring in some aspects from other variants of the tale.  The hero of the French and Romanian versions of the tale is a gardener instead of a soldier.  Galen in Princess of the Midnight Ball is both a soldier and a gardener.  After returning to Westfalin from the war in Analousia, Galen’s uncle gives him a job in the royal gardens.  The princesses also become dangerously ill but are still forced to continue dancing each night, which occurs in the similar Scottish tale “Kate Crackernuts” though with a prince instead of princesses. 

In some respects, “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” lends itself to retelling.  It provides authors with plenty of chances to be creative, especially in regards to the villain of the story.  The original story doesn’t actually have a villain, unless you count the princesses, who seem rather blasé about the trouble they’ve caused.  Some variants mention a curse, but it is very vague and we never learn who cursed them or why.  The German version of the story also does not include an explanation for the underground realm the princesses dance in.  Some do provide one, but they vary depending on the tale’s location; in the Scottish tale it is a fairy dance under a hill, in one Russian version it is the Accursed Tsar’s realm, and in the Hungarian variant it is Hell.

The lack of villain and vagueness about the underground realm allows authors to create characters and explanations that will suit the story they want to tell.  George creates the King Under Stone as her villain, a formerly human sorcerer who was trapped underground by twelve good magicians.  There is a whole backstory on how Under Stone forced the girls into dancing for him.  Their mother made a deal with him in order to have children and for Westfalin to win the war.  When she died, the terms of the bargain transferred to her daughters, which was Under Stone’s plan all along.  This backstory also provides explanations for other elements of the original story, such as a silver grove the princesses walk through.

The idea of the princesses being under a curse comes from original versions of the tale, such as the Romanian and French variants, though George greatly expands on it.  In the German version, there is no curse.  The princesses go dancing at night and refuse to reveal their secret because they want to.  They are completely happy with the arrangement despite the anguish they’re causing their father and the resulting deaths of everyone who tries to solve the mystery. Overall, they aren’t the most likable characters in the tale, and they would be even less likable in something as long as the novel.  By using the curse aspect, George ensures readers will sympathize with and root for her princesses.

George also gets creative with the fate of the unsuccessful suitors.  In the version I was given as a child, the punishment for failing to solve the mystery of the slippers is banishment from the kingdom.  In some variants of the story, the suitors are enchanted and go to dance in the underground realm as well.  In these versions, they marry the remaining princesses at the end.  However, in the German version, the punishment for failing the task is death.  This also does not make for sympathetic princesses or a sympathetic king, but George does not shy away from killing off the failed suitors.  Instead, she wraps this into the King Under Stone’s plot.  The suitors, who are princes from other countries, die only after leaving Westfalin in what appear to be terrible accidents, though it is actually Under Stone orchestrating each one.  Despite the seemingly accidental nature of the deaths, the royal family faces consequences from them, unlike the in the original tale.  The already tense foreign relationships become further strained, and the princesses are eventually accused of witchcraft.

My Thoughts:

As I mentioned, I’m very fond of this book, and I think it’s a great retelling.  George does a great job building off the elements from the original fairy tale.  I really like that she shows the consequences of the whole ordeal, both on the personal scale and the larger, political scale.  The princesses grieve over the dead princes even though they didn’t like most of them, and being forced to dance every night traumatizes them.  One of the youngest princesses can’t even hear the world “ball” without bursting into tears.  The deaths of the princes and the accusation of witchcraft raises the stakes higher and further increases the tension of the story.  A bishop from the Church comes to investigate the girls, their governess is arrested, and the people of the city begin a riot.

I think the two main characters, Galen and Princess Rose, are very likable. Galen is a genuinely good person; he just wants to help the princesses and has no ulterior motive.  He comes forward to solve the mystery without the expectation of the reward even though he’s completely in love with Rose at this point.  As much as I love bad boys and anti-heroes, it’s wonderful to see a male protagonist who is just actually nice.  Plus he knits, and that’s just adorable!  Rose is not just a damsel waiting to be rescued; she’s the leader among her sisters and tries to be strong for them.  She even comes up with the plan to try to get them out of the King Under Stone’s realm.  But despite her strength, we do see the cracks in her armor.  Sometimes she feels hopeless and sometimes she snaps at her sisters because she’s overwhelmed.  She’s a wonderful balance of strength and vulnerability, and it makes her feel real.

I have two main problems that keep this from being a five star read.  The first is the lack of development in the other princesses.  It’s a common problem in retellings of this story; I also noticed in in Entwined and The Thirteenth Princess.  Fleshing out each of the princesses plus the other characters in addition to telling an intriguing and fast-paced story is just difficult. I’ve found that the best way to get around it is to trim down the number of princesses, as Juliet Marillier does in Wildwood Dancing.  Most of the princesses other than Rose only have one defining quality, and some of them don’t even have that.  I can’t tell most of the middle princesses apart or even remember their names and places in the birth order.  While I understand why this happened, I would have liked to see them developed more.

My second problem is that certain aspects of the plot and subplots feel rushed.  The best example I can give is the romance between Lily, the second eldest princess, and Heinrich, Galen’s cousin.  While it is hinted at and even briefly mentioned a few times throughout the book, very little time is spent on it.  Heinrich is presumed dead until the final chapter, and we don’t really see Lily’s feelings about it.  We don’t know either of them well, so when Heinrich shows up at the end and they get together, it feels rushed.  While it’s not a major part of the story, I wish there had been more development of both their characters and their relationship.

My rating: 4 stars              

Other Reading Recommendations:

The starred titles are ones I have read myself.  The others are ones I want to read and may end up being future Fairy Tale Friday books.  To keep the list from getting too long, I’m limiting it to four that I’ve read and four that I haven’t.

Other Retellings of “The Twelve Dancing Princesses”:

Entwined by Heather Dixon*

Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier*

The Thirteenth Princess by Diana Zahler*

The Door in the Hedge by Robin McKinley*

The Firethorn Crown by Lea Doué

A Branch of Silver, A Branch of Gold by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

A Dance of Silver and Shadow by Melanie Cellier

The Phoenix Dance by Dia Calhoun

More Retellings by Jessica Day George:

Princess of Glass*

Princess of the Silver Woods

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow*

About the Fairy Tale:  

Twelve Dancing Princesses Tales from Around the World by Heidi Anne Heiner*

Have a recommendation for me to read or a suggestion to make Fairy Tale Friday better?  Feel free to send me an ask!

[sapphicscholar]

A/N: Thanks so much to everyone who has stuck with the story all the way through, especially to everyone who commented or messaged me! Your words of encouragement never failed to make me smile!  I know I’ve gotten a few asks about what’s next. Right now I’ve been posting a Carol AU, though I know Sanvers isn’t a main pairing in that one. The next multi-chapter work with a Sanvers slow burn (gotta love the slow burn) is going to be a political AU. I’m trying to pace myself and hold off on posting the first chapter until at least mid-January in the hopes that I’ll have the first few chapters at least drafted by then, but we’ll see if I get impatient! If anyone is here for Supercat, though, I’d love your thoughts on the Carol AU as well. Hope you all had a safe and happy New Year!

Chapter Text:

“Dr. McKenna, might I have the pleasure of a dance?”

Alex looked up, letting a small smile curl up the sides of her mouth at the sight of Jack Martino, one of the partners from the firm where she’d been working as a paralegal for the last two months. Even she could admit that he looked rather dashing in a full tuxedo, a few locks of his wavy dark hair falling down into his eyes as he bowed slightly in front of her, right hand extended.

“I suppose there’s no harm in a dance,” Alex teased, letting herself be led to the dancefloor in the middle of the large ballroom the firm had booked for their annual end-of-year celebration.

“You really do look stunning tonight,” Jack murmured, his mouth by her ear as he moved them in position to dance properly.

“You clean up well too, Martino.” He grinned and spun her out, drawing her back into his chest and letting his hand fall to its place on her lower back.

“Oh but we already knew that,” he laughed—a rich, deep sound that seemed to fill the air and drew the eyes of several of the other dancers to them. Alex couldn’t help but notice how many of them looked curious—some, a little envious too. But soon enough her attention returned to two of the other partners who had been her targets for the past couple of months. As they made their way around the floor, Alex watched and waited for them to move from their seats at the head table. Now that dessert had been served, it was only a matter of time, and truth be told, Alex was looking forward to returning home to National City. The work had been interesting, but the hours were long—better suited for single, young people with few responsibilities and the energy to bound in each morning on only a few hours of sleep and enough espresso to power a small motor vehicle.

“Are the partners giving a toast tonight?” Alex asked, biting back a satisfied grin at the sight of her team moving into first position. The thrill of taking down the bad guys was the one part of her job that she’d never tired of, even all these years later.

The arrival of another woman in a floor-length black gown cut off Jack’s answer. “Mind if I cut in?”

“I suppose I really can’t deny you a proper dance with your wife,” Jack said, raising Alex’s hand to his mouth and barely pressing his lips to her knuckles before stepping back. “And if you ever want to tell me how it is you lure Marina to these events, it might be nice to finally have Kevin by my side.”

“Mm, I don’t know how work appropriate that answer would be,” Alex mused, grinning at Jack’s loud laugh.

“Sneaky! Though I suppose if you ever get to meet Kevin outside of our little dinners, you’ll know just what I had to do.” With a dip of his head, Jack made his way back to the table, figuring perhaps the senior partners could do with a push of encouragement to get the toast on the way. After all, Harold already looked like he was just a drink or two away from passing out in the middle of the dancefloor…again.

Alex let herself be spun out once more as they found their way into a rhythm with the new song and edged closer and closer to the back entrance to the hall.

“Where are you two off to this early?” Harold asked, his voice loud and his words slurring together. “You wouldn’t want to miss the gift bags!”

Laughing softly, Alex agreed, “No, no, wouldn’t want to miss the end-of-year bonuses in there at all. We just need to…freshen up.” She let her hand dip lower on her wife’s back, skirting the line between affectionate and suggestive as her team began spreading out, pairs of “caterers” moving toward each of the entrances and other undercover attendees skirting around to the partners’ table where Green and Blackwell of Blackwell, Green, Jules, and Associates were slowly beginning to make their exit.

“Oh, right you are,” he laughed, winking without the slightest care for subtlety before stumbling back to the open bar.

“Perimeter secure. Vans detained,” crackled a voice in Alex’s ear, and with a firm nod, she watched her team slide seamlessly into action, moving to intercept the partners on their way to the back exit and swiftly carrying away the table of gift bags full of laundered money.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed one of the junior partners who’d only been hired in the past week reaching to pull something strapped to his waist. “Gun!” she yelled, flinging herself forward and tackling him to the ground, watching as the weapon went skidding across the floor, finally stopped by a stilettoed foot.

“Always on your 6, babe,” Maggie said with a grin as she reached down and picked up the gun, pointing it at their newest arrestee as Alex read him his rights and secured his hands behind his back with twist ties that she pulled as discreetly as possible from inside her dress.

---

“Good work, agents,” J’onn commended them as they stepped into the DEO after their flight back to National City.

“She’s still not one of yours,” Kate corrected him, pulling Maggie in for a hug. “I’m so proud of you,” she whispered, squeezing Maggie just a little tighter.

“Ah yes, the joys of enforced collaboration.” Kate just barely bit back a laugh as she shook her head and let go of Maggie.

“Not our fault we’re so perfect as a team,” Alex murmured, drawing Maggie back and kissing her soundly.

“Would be a shame to let this perfect chemistry go to waste,” Maggie agreed.

“If anyone is interested in an actual report…” J’onn cleared his throat, waiting until all eyes had returned to him. “Thanks to months of work, we were able to apprehend Brenda Green and William Blackwell, as well as their team of associates, and have helped to find temporary shelter for the aliens they were trafficking.”

“And my end-of-year bonus?” Alex asked, fluttering her eyelashes and giving J’onn her most innocent smile.

“Has tragically been confiscated for a federal investigation,” he deadpanned.

Once the debriefing ended, Alex led Maggie outside and over to her motorcycle. “Up for a little adventure?”

“With you? Always.”

With a wink, Alex threw her leg over the saddle and motioned for Maggie to get on behind her. “Hold on tight.” And she did, as Alex zig-zagged through traffic—a bit more cautious these days, but still fast enough that Maggie felt a thrill run through her as she clung even more tightly to Alex’s waist.

Maggie’s face lit up as they pulled into a parking spot outside of Julie’s, a small diner that was really just a converted rowhome that served some of the best coffee and stuffed French toast in National City. It also happened to be the same place they’d gone after returning from each and every mission.

“Hey there!” Emma, Julie’s daughter and the newest proprietor, called out, waving to them. “Sit wherever you’d like.”

Tangling her fingers in Maggie’s, Alex dragged them over to the corner table right by the window. “For tradition,” she whispered, taking her usual seat.

“I guess that means you know what today is too, huh?”

“Ten years.”

“And two days.”

“Not my fault the partners pushed back the end-of-year party,” Alex huffed.

“Not in the slightest. We still had our fun on the day of…”

Alex’s eyes fluttered closed and a flush of warmth spread through her whole body, tingling all the way down to her fingers and toes as she thought back to how they’d spent that night. “Yes, yes we did.”

“I’m glad we finally pulled our heads out of our asses and made it work,” Maggie added, her tone suddenly serious.

Alex shook her head; she still wasn’t sure how they had possibly thought that they’d be able to walk away. Of course, it did seem to be part of the job—losing people, being abandoned and abandoning them in turn, watching relationships crumble from afar. But it had been different with Maggie from the start.

After finally healing up from their showdown with Cadmus—a process made significantly more enjoyable by Maggie’s near-constant presence as they shuffled back and forth between their two apartments—they’d both found themselves assigned to new tasks. Maggie boarded a plane for DC, while Alex piled into a van with a team of agents and trundled off to Colorado, and they promised to remember each other fondly. But it wasn’t like losing people in the way she was used to doing. She was still competent and capable, but she never felt like she was at her best anymore. Her team worked well enough together, but her heart wasn’t in it. And by the time she got back to National City once more, she still hadn’t stopped missing Maggie, feeling like a part of her had been wrenched away. And for weeks, she’d gone over to Maggie’s apartment once a night, knocking on the door and feeling her heart break a little each time her knock went unanswered. Until finally, an absolutely exhausted, jetlagged Maggie swung the door open, still rubbing sleep from her eyes. And they both knew they needed to talk, needed to figure out what it was they were doing. But in that moment, all that mattered was feeling Maggie’s lips on hers once more, holding the other woman in her arms again. She got her first full night’s sleep in two months, and the next morning she brought Maggie down to Julie’s where they finally talked, putting everything that could be said aloud in a public location out on the table as they brainstormed possible solutions. In the end, it was Kate who finally suggested a more permanent inter-agency partnership. She maintained that she still steadfastly loathed the DEO—and Alex was fairly certain that, as an organization, she really did—but, as she put it, “I can’t have my best agent out there moping around like a lovesick puppy.”

“I think the whole getting our heads out of our asses thing has pretty much been our motto from the start,” Alex laughed, thanking Emma as she set down their two coffees, already knowing their order by heart.

“Kara said as much in her toast at the wedding.”

“Better than Winn’s hashtag…what was it, idiots in love?”

Maggie nearly snorted into her coffee. “Glad we didn’t put that on the invitations.”

[jerseydeanne]

Lyndsay Edwards updated after the wedding date was announced.

"I have had SO many messages and comments asking for more info and updates about the Prince Harry and Meghan Markle break up psychic prediction so rather than reply to everyone individually I thought it’s best to update on here and then everyone who wants to read it can 🙂 The previous predictions are copied in below so you can refer back to them but here’s what my spirit guide has to say today…

My spirit guide tells me that Meghan and Harry are caught up in a whirlwind romance, there is no true malicious meant from either side – they both genuinely care about each other it’s just that they’re not right for each other. The whirlwind can only last for so long before they are truly in each others pockets with no escaping each other and that’s when the arguing begins. The arguments are a shock to both of them and they get pretty heated fairly quickly – it is the heated arguments which separates them as they realise that they’ve moved too quickly and perhaps didn’t get to know each other as well as they thought. Prince Harry will be devastated when they split up as will Meghan. Spirit do feel that the girl Harry meets not long after the split from Meghan is better suited and they’re sending her his way purposely. Prince Harry does have spiritual protection to an extent and spirit can work to block him from making huge mistakes. Meghan can’t quite believe her luck meeting Prince Harry but she has developed genuine feelings for him to an extent and doesn’t wish him any harm, they’re both caught up in the whirlwind of lust and excitement. Meghan is very ambitious and focused but she’s not a bad person, she’s career driven and wants to succeed in everything she does so the break up being so publicly known will hit her hard but she’ll bounce back because of her desire to succeed in life. My spirit guides concern is for Prince Harry as he doesn’t want him to be in an unhappy marriage, Prince Harry’s spirit guides and guardian angels are working to try and help guide him into making the best decision for his future happiness. Meghan is attracted to successful and wealthy people but that is because she is so focused on achieving herself and wouldn’t want to date anyone without huge ambition or success, she wants someone she can share her journey to the top with and someone who shares her desires to achieve great things in life. Meghan and Prince Harry get on really really well but they’re still in the honeymoon period of their relationship and they’re yet to see every side to each other, once this honeymoon phrase passes there will be heated arguments which they’ll struggle to repair from and each argument will become bigger than the last. It’s a shame as at the beginning of their relationship they were so happy together and really in a state of bliss, this is why they’ll both struggle emotionally after the split and wonder how it could have gone so wrong and so quickly.  I am shown that Prince Harry will tell Meghan that the wedding is off because he can’t go through with it after all the arguing and the strain that it’s put on the relationship, Meghan will fight for the relationship initially when she’s in shock but this won’t last long as she’s very head strong and won’t beg someone to stay with her. It won’t be easy for Prince Harry to break up with Meghan as he truly adores her but after becoming so unhappy in the relationship due to all of the arguments he confides in those closest to him and they support him through the difficult task of breaking up with her. Prince Harry does feel the pressure to get this right due to being in the public eye and he doesn’t want a failed marriage and know’s that a failed engagement is better than a failed marriage – it’s this thought which gives him the push to get out before it’s too late. Spirit are very much around Prince Harry trying to protect him as best they can, right now he can’t see what’s about to come but the arguments will start in January and continue consistently. I am given March/April time for them breaking up and it will be announced publicly fairly quickly due to having to cancel the wedding. Meghan will fly back home within a day or two of Prince Harry telling her that it’s over, she’ll want to hide low for a while to get her head around it all and get over the break up. I am given October 2018 for Meghan returning to the public eye, she will do a come back in style to give her career a boost, she might change something about her style/appearance or do something unexpected to relaunch herself into the public eye. Meghan is a star in her own right and she doesn’t need Prince Harry to have a career in the spotlight, she’ll be totally fine without him. Spirit do say that we’ll see a different side to Meghan going in to 2019 and she’ll have a lot of media attention during her comeback. Prince Harry will lay low for a good while and we won’t hear about his new partner for a significant amount of time, his new partner is totally different to Meghan and very low key, she won’t want any media attention or attention from the public. Prince Harry and his next partner will develop their romantic relationship in private for sometime with absolutely no rush or pressure on making it public, they will build a strong foundation for their relationship and spend a lot of time getting to know each other very well before even going public about their love for each other. Spirit do mention that their relationship could be leaked to the public after 18 months together or so and even then they won’t feel pressured to confirm or deny anything as they’re too focused on just being real and having an adult relationship which has huge true potential to last a life time. Spirit speak very fondly of Prince Harry’s next partner and that is because they know how happy Prince Harry will be with her and their wish is for him to be truly happy. I do see the horse connection again with Prince Harry’s next partner, spirit have hand picked this girl for him and she’s truly lovely and genuine, she will get on very well with Prince Harry’s loved one’s and fit in perfectly as anyone who meets her just know’s instantly that she doesn’t have a bad bone in her body. This relationship feels very long and drawn out before there is any mention of weddings, Prince Harry is so cautious to get it right and the girl doesn’t want to rush either, they both are serious in taking it slow and that it has to be right otherwise they don’t want it. They both respect each other greatly due to this and know that their relationship is built on mutual respect and true love for each other, they will be together forever as it were and have beautiful children together after getting married. Prince Harry’s next relationship seems very similar to William & Kate’s, it’ll be very private and classy just how the Royal Family like it. I do see Prince Harry’s wedding to this new girl who spirit are sending his way and I feel it’ll take place around 3 years after splitting up with Meghan."