#kelly grayson x ed mercer

[madmaxified]

my orville oc, fae!! cause the silly space show is rotting my brain

her species ( who have yet to be name ) are very yeti like, with horns, pairs of sharp teeth, and fur and claws. they have been hunted for sport for such a long time that they no longer really have a home planet, which means they can’t really be protected by the union :(

she joins the orville and ends up working in a brand new agricultural department, and as a sort of diplomat to help her species join the union

her and alara hold hands and kiss 🫣🤭

her sister lorna ( who is an evil space fugitive ) and her little brother darius ( who is doomed by the narrative 😞😞 )

[wicca-wicca-whack]

Care, pt 2

Gordon Malloy x Reader

Word Count: 2229

PT 1

Shockingly, making out with Gordon didn’t lead to anything.

Well, at least, you were shocked.

After hanging up on Kevin, you’d maybe made out for ten more minutes before he gently peeled himself from you, laughing awkwardly at the way you grabbed for him.

“You should go to bed,” he reasoned, sitting back on his knees, eyes drawn to the pout on your lips.

“I don’t wanna go to bed yet.”

“Come on. It’s been a long night.” He stood, taking your hands and pulling you up.

“Come with me.”

“I’ll put you to bed.”

“And lay with me.”

He sighed, shaking his head. “You’re not gonna let this go, are you?”

“No.” You grinned, pulling him along towards your bed.

“No funny business,” he tried, watching you let go of his hands and scramble into bed.

“Mmhm.” You waved him down, and he’d shed his shoes before joining you, arms open in offering, which you’d taken, pressing your face into his shirt with a sigh.

He’d been gone when you woke up. And you haven’t seen him since.

Which, in such a big ship, you hadn’t been too worried about. At first. But a day turned into two, which turned into a week, and you were a little worried. You were starting to think he didn’t actually want to kiss you.

But Talla had waved that concern away when you brought it up. “Oh, come on, the way he was looking at you? Of course he wanted to kiss you!”

It had made you feel better for a day until you decided you must have done something else wrong. He was obviously avoiding you. Sure, he was stationed on the bridge, and you were always in the lab, but to not even spot him in passing, or in the mess?

Gordon figured it was for the best. Really, while you two had never really been close, like ever, he’d heard from people who knew you better how on and off you and D’Acunto had been. 

The pair of you were never broken up long, and he’d definitely seen the dozen messages from him waiting for you when he’d woken up the morning after. He didn’t read them, though he desperately wanted to, only seeing the preview of a message that looked to be some kind of apology. 

Regardless of how shitty D’Acunto was, there was no way he could compete with an on-and-off over ten-year relationship. He cursed himself for even thinking D’Acunto would let someone like you go, grabbing his jacket on his way out your door that morning.

Avoiding you felt like it was burning him a little, a feeling he wasn’t really used to. But it made it easier for him, not having to hear you tell him it was a mistake.

Your quarters weren’t on the same deck as his, so coming and going from the bridge to his quarters, there was little risk of overlap. He could get just about anything he got in the mess from the synthesizer in his own quarters.

Ed told him he was stupid after about a week, showing up at his door to hang out and have a drink.

“You don’t even know if she’s actually going to forgive him,” he’d pointed out, beer bottle in hand.

“Except that she always does,” Gordon returned with a sigh, taking a long drink.

“Didn’t you say you made out even after he called? That doesn’t feel like someone who’s gonna take a guy back.”

“She was drunk.”

“She was barely tipsy, according to Talla.”

“Talla made her spill half her drink down her shirt, dude.”

“Yeah, which she’s saying she did on purpose.”

He groans, rubbing his forehead. “I know what she said, man.”

“She also said she’s been asking about you.”

He feels himself freeze up, glancing at his dark-haired friend. “Yeah, well… It’s not a big deal,” he tries.

“Dude, do you hear yourself? If the roles were reversed, you’d be on my ass about it!”

He snorts, setting down his empty beer bottle. “Good thing for you that they aren’t. How’s Lieutenant Q-”

“Don’t change the subject, dude.”

He puts his hands up defensively. “Fine, fine. But it’s not that big of a deal.”

“Gordon,” Ed sighs, resting his beer bottle on his knee. “It’s been years since you’ve been interested in, like, an actual person. She seems nice.”

“She’s cool,” he admits slowly, picking at his pants idly.

“I still don’t get why you’re avoiding her.”

They ended up going in circles about it almost the whole time he was there, saying their goodbyes at nearly 0100 hours.

Another week passes before he braves the mess, John’s arm over his shoulder as he loudly regales him with a story about him flirting with one of the newest additions to the science lab.

He can feel the moment your eyes light on him, nearly burning through his skull as he takes a seat with his friend.

You can feel rage bubbling in your chest when you spot him, annoyed that he’d almost met eyes with you before he sat with his back to you.

Ada- the Lieutenant you’d seen with the Captain at Lamarr’s party- clicks her tongue, waving a hand. “Ignore him. Seriously. He’s been super weird lately.”

You’d become quick friends in the time following the party, making an effort to branch out and find your own friends, hoping to distract yourself from the way Gordon had been ignoring you.

“Seriously. He’s missing out,” Talla agrees easily, glancing over her shoulder at the pair. “He needs to get over himself.”

You sigh, pulling your eyes from him. “I just don’t get what’s going on. I thought-”

“You thought correctly, really,” Talla assures. “He’s just being an idiot.”

“Should I say something?” You question, as Kelly returns to your table with a few shots.

“I wouldn’t,” she advises.

“I probably would,” Ada scrunches her face up a little.

“Kevin still blowing you up?” Talla peeks at you as you all grab a shot, clinking the small glasses together and tossing it back.

“No, thankfully.” You sigh, setting the glass down. “I think he’s finally accepted that it’s over.”

“Good. I don’t know how he thought he was gonna get you back after all that mess.”

“Yeah, an argument and breaking up is one thing, but no contact for that long is just insane,” Kelly adds.

“Time to get back out there!”

You can’t help but glance at Gordon again. “I’m gonna go say something.”

“Are you sure about that?” Kelly sounds concerned. “In front of LaMarr?”

“Yup.” You hop down from the tall chair, heading towards the table.

LaMarr’s eyes find you first, and he gives you a friendly grin as Gordon slowly turns to peek back, and he looks like he nearly bites his tongue when he sees you stalking towards him.

“We need to talk.”

He flounders a little, looking nervous. “I’m bus-”

“That’s my queue,” John gives you a nod, raising a hand towards the girls you’d just left and standing from his seat, heading towards them. “I’ll see you later, man.”

“...Busy,” he finishes lamely, eyes on the other man’s retreating form.

You take the seat right next to him, and he jumps a little as his eyes refocus on you. 

“Listen-”

“I know-”

You start talking at the same time, voices dying off quickly. You can’t help but think he looks like he thinks you’re going to execute him, and you sigh, all too aware the nosy group at the previous table you occupied is probably watching you.

“Come on.” You stand, hauling him by the collar. He yelps, but follows, finding your grip dragging him along to be too firm.

It’s silly, he knows, but he tries slyly to shirk his uniform jacket, only for you to turn on him and grab his hand instead.

“You’re not getting away from me that easy, Malloy.”

You drag him all the way to your quarters, punching in your code and sort of pushing him in. He lets another yelp out but doesn’t fight, seemingly resigned.

“Why are you avoiding me?” You stand in front of your door, arms crossed, watching him deflate a little.

“I’m not.” You don’t even have to know him very well to know he's lying.

“You haven’t been in the mess for two entire weeks,” you argue.

“Taking some personal time.” He stumbles back when you step towards him, and if you weren’t angry, it would probably make you laugh.

“You haven’t answered any of my messages.”

That earns you an awkward laugh. “I’ve, uh… been busy.”

You sigh. “Look, Gordon, if you’re not interested in me-”

“Not interested?” He looks at you like you’ve grown an extra head.

“-you just have to tell me that. I won’t hold it against you.”

“Woah,” he lets out another awkward laugh, “that's not- No! You’re cool. I’m definitely interested.” He isn’t looking you in the eyes at all anymore, and you deflate a little.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“No! No. I just… I don’t wanna get in the way.”

“In the way of what?”

“You and D’Acunto.”

You feel like everything stops for a minute, confused. “Gordon, you don’t even like Kevin.”

“No, I don’t.”

You scoff. “Gordon, me and Kevin aren’t together anymore.”

“No, I know you weren’t-”

“We aren’t. Still aren’t.”

You watch the gears in his brain whirr.

“Did you think I was going to take him back?”

You can see him wince. “Maybe.”

“Why?”

“Well, I know you guys were pretty… off and on to start with. When I left, you had, like, 20 messages from him.”

“You read my-”

“I didn’t read them!” He defends quickly. “Your desk just kept pinging.”

You sigh, rubbing your forehead and moving to sit on your couch. “Yes, Kevin was messaging me. He was going back and forth between calling me a cheater-”

“A what?”

“-and pleading with me.” The couch dips as Gordon takes a seat next to you. “I told him we were done. It’s over. I’d already wasted 10 years of my life waiting for him to show me some kind of concern or care. It took me, what, a few months to find friends who care about me more than Kevin does. I didn’t realize how low the bar was.”

He’s silent, just watching you like he doesn’t know what to say. 

You take your uniform jacket off, folding it over the back of the couch. “Kevin never even walked me back from a party. Granted, we all stay on a Union ship, it's generally safe,” you concede, “but you offered to walk me home just because my drink got spilled down my top.”

He flushes. “Well, that was-”

“-A setup, I know. But still. You were right. Kevin is a massive jerk. I liked hanging out with you. I was hoping we could do more of that, you know?”

There’s a few beats of silence before he shimmies his own jacket off, tossing it haphazardly over the back of the couch. “Okay.”

“I don’t wanna pressure you, I mean, I know it’s been a while since you’ve dated-”

“Who told you that?” He sounds fully embarrassed.

“Captain Mercer.” 

He’d come into the lab, in fact, urging you to give Gordon grace, just not too much.

“I’m here… unofficially,” The Captain started, taking a seat in one of the chairs in your office.

“Oh… kay.” You gave him a wary look. “Have I done something?”

“No! No. I just…” He looks uncomfortable, crossing his legs. “It’s about you and Gordon.”

You flush quickly, clearing your throat.

“Not anything serious! Just… he hasn’t had a girlfriend or anything in, like… a long time.”

“Why are you telling me this?” You tilt your head at him, curious.

“Just… asking you to give him a little time. Grace, even. Just not too much. He’s no good at this kind of thing.”

“Women?” tumbles from your mouth, unbidden, but thankfully, he just laughs as he stands.

“Yeah. It’s definitely good to give him a couple of days, but… he gets in his head a lot.” 

He’d headed for your office door. “I’m sure I’ll see you around, Lieutenant.”

He groans, putting his head in his hands. “Of course he did.”

“Your friends like to meddle.”

“Some of those people are your friends, too,” he points out, sighing as he raises his head.

You hum an acknowledgment, leaning into his side. “If it helps, it’s not like I’ve had a new relationship in a long time, either.”

You can feel him relax just a little, hands dropping from his face. “This is still mortifying.”

“Yeah, definitely.”

“I should kill him.”

“Murder is a little far,” you chuckle, leaning up to press a soft kiss to his scruffy cheek before patting his knee and moving to stand. “Come on. I booked some sim time to decompress, let's go together. I’ve got this really cool hack-and-slash sim based off a 21st-century video game we can do.”

He looks excited, which is a relief to you, quickly moving to follow. “Sounds like a plan. I love that kind of stuff.”

You grin, shaking your head. “I know. It’ll be our first date.”

His grin widens, and you have a feeling this will be the most fun first date you’ve been on… probably ever.

[fanfic-designs]

fanfic cover inspired by Moment of Truth by RomanoffDynasty

[fellow-human32]

Guys did y'all get the news about season 4 of the Orville?

[ineffablecaptain]

I was wondering out of the ships on The Orville, which is the most popular on here, so here’s a poll with some of them on. If yours is not on here click other and tell me which one, I’m intrigued.

[tigereyes45]

Tell Ur Girlfriend MEP - Part 7 - The Orville

A MEP part that focuses on the love square (I guess) of Teleya x Ed, Ed x Kelly, and Kelly x Cassius.

[tailorvizsla]

The Diplomatic Incident

My brand new Orville fic! It is waiting for editing and then that's it :D Here is a snippet:

Cataloging was generally regarded as the worst possible duty a crew could be assigned.

Ed was in full agreement. Patrol duty was generally boring, but at least there was a chance of something interesting happening. Unfortunately, while cataloging, their orders were to catalog, and to call in anything that looked interesting so another ship could investigate. So they would not neglect their duties. Sometimes, these cataloging duties took a few weeks, and sometimes they took several months. They were stuck with the latter, which made him wonder if someone back at HQ had a vendetta against him.

Ed reclined in his seat, crossing one ankle over the other knee. He took a moment to observe his crew. Everyone was busy at their station, and no one looked like they needed his help, so he went back to his boredom. For the past three weeks, the Orville had been cataloging nebulas in this particular region of space. His crew were all professionals at work, but he could sense that even the nerds in cartography were getting bored, too.

For the past twenty-one days, there had not been a single blip. No errant artifacts causing time travel. No distress signals that originated from beyond the edge of known space. Not even the tiniest hiccup of an anomaly. Hell, he would settle for second contact if it meant doing something else.

He exhaled quietly and tried to remain positive. At least they had not been assigned to cataloging asteroids like the poor bastards on the Kilauea.

[commandergraysonorville]

Chapters: 3/3 Fandom: The Orville (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Kelly Grayson & Ed Mercer (The Orville), Kelly Grayson/Ed Mercer Characters: Kelly Grayson (The Orville), Admiral Halsey (The Orville), Admiral Perry (The Orville), Ed Mercer (The Orville) Additional Tags: Prequel, Romance, Post-Divorce, Anniversary Summary:

Kelly Grayson deals with her first wedding anniversary after the divorce.

[jusvibbbin]

Deep Denial

Ed Mercer x Female!Reader

“Lay in a course for…”

Captain Ed Mercer could barely pay attention to what Commander Grayson was saying as he gazed at the newly transferred navigator. Lieutenant (Y/N). She was cute, a bright and eager smile was on her face when she first came onboard. He’d never admit it, but from that moment on, she took up a significant portion of his thoughts.

It didn’t help that she seemed to be getting along well with the rest of the bridge crew, Gordon taking a shine to her instantly. Which led to him inviting her to get drinks with a few of them after shift. Which led to the events of the previous night…

After a long and fairly boring day, about half the bridge crew was in the mess having a drink. Gordon, in his infinite wisdom, had insisted on saving Ed a seat, so he had to sit in between his helmsman and his new navigator. He walked in while Gordon was telling some long and highly embarrassing story from their time at Point and he tried not to groan as he sat down. 

“Yeah and then Ed totally fell in the pool. It was nuts!” The table chuckled collectively as Ed just shook his head and jerked his thumb towards the new navigator.

“Trying to humiliate me in front of the newbie?”

“Always, man,” the ginger chuckled before launching into another tale. Ed had glanced over to find said newbie eyeing him. She looked flustered at getting caught, burying her face in her glass as he looked back at his friend, the smallest of smiles on his face.

As the night winded down, he offered to walk her to her quarters.

It’s the captain-ly thing to do. I’m just being nice. It’s on the way.

All not quite lies but not total truths as they walked in silence.

“So…how do you like it so far?”

“Oh! Uh, I mean it's only been a couple days…”

“Right, duh sorry.” He kicked himself a little.

“Everyone has been really nice so far, if that’s any indication,” she offered.

“Sounds about right. Can’t be hard to be nice to someone so-” His brain finally stopped his tipsy train of thought dead in its tracks, but (Y/N) had looked at him expectantly as they stopped in front of her door.

“Well uh, this is you. See you tomorrow, Lieutenant,” he had quickly, and loudly, announced before high-tailing it out of there.

“Ed?”

“Hm?” He pulls himself out of his thoughts with a little start, looking over at Kelly and her quirked eyebrow.

“Is that alright with you?”

“Yeah, definitely.” He nods but has no idea what she asked him. Kelly relaxes back into her seat so it must’ve been the right answer and Ed attempts to shake off his wandering thoughts for the remainder of the day.

Later that day Ed is in the mess, sharing a beer with the empty chair across from him as he looks over daily reports. His attention is quickly stolen by a flash of orange moving near him. As he glances behind him, he can see his new navigator taking a seat at the table over with some other lieutenant dressed in green. He quickly looks back at his work, not wanting to seem weird, but a small, quiet part of him wishes he could look at her for longer.

“How are you liking it here so far?” The other woman asks.

“I mean, it's okay,” she answers hesitantly. “I’m just worried I’m not gonna find my fit here, Lux.” He can hear the other woman, presumably called Lux, hum in response. He knows he definitely shouldn’t be eavesdropping but he can’t help being a little nosey.

“What do you think of the bridge at least?’

There’s a short pause as she seems to think over her answer.

“I like everyone, I think. Lieutenant Malloy is pretty funny.”

“Sounds like you’re interested. He’s cute!” 

“No, no, no. Not like that,” she chuckles awkwardly.

“Good. I’ve already called dibs,” Lux chuckles, and Ed can almost feel (Y/N)’s eyeroll.

“Have at it. No, I think I would rather wait for Ed.”

Said captain chokes on his beer as the two women look over at him.

“Are you alright, sir?” The navigator gives him a look of concern that he attempts to wave off.

“I’m fine,” he insists. Both women eye him warily before turning back to their conversation.

“Yeah, I would rather wait instead. Someone can approach me, you know?”

Ed flushes a bright red as he curses himself softly. He had completely misheard her and now he felt rather foolish. He quickly gathers his things, deciding it’s probably for the best that he avoids Lieutenant (Y/N) for the time being as he hastily exits the mess, much to the confusion of the two women.

--

Unfortunately for Ed, avoiding social interaction is easier said than done. Gordon’s birthday rolls around only a week later and the captain finds himself heading to his ginger friend’s quarters. As he heads in, he’s instantly amused at seeing Lux chatting up the birthday boy as the bridge crew and a few people from engineering mill about. He scans the room as he moves to drop his present on the table, spotting (Y/N) speaking with Talla. He’s content to look for a moment before moving to get a drink.

“Oh, good idea,” he can hear Gordon say to the woman before addressing the whole group. “Truth or dare,” he calls. Most everybody moves towards the couches and Ed makes his way over to sit on the floor by the coffee table. A few timid rounds pass as he works his way through a couple beers before John dares Gordon to kiss someone. The ginger man grins before grabbing Lux’s face and planting a kiss on her lips. There’s a couple little oohs before he pulls away, and the woman’s flushed face only makes his grin wider. Ed rolls his eyes, finishing off a beer as his friend points at him.

“Truth or dare, Ed?”

He does his best not to groan, tipsiness already taking over his body.

“Uh, truth?”

“Lame!” John heckles as Gordon waves him off.

“Okay uh… when did you have your first kiss?” He grins at Lux who just playfully rolls her eyes.

Ed pauses for a good few moments, trying to really answer the question.

“I was twenty I think? Which I know is pretty late, but I thought it should be like special so I was saving it. I don’t think that anymore. In fact, I keep kissing people when I should be saving them for something special. Not like that’s happened anytime recently… I don’t know.”

He flushes a deep red when he realizes he’d started rambling, sharing way more than was asked or that anyone would be comfortable with. He wants to just about die when he looks up and locks eyes with (Y/N), looking at him with concern. He chuckles awkwardly as his eyes dart to literally anyone else and land on Bortus. “Truth or dare, man.”

“Dare. It is the only option.”

“I uh… dare you to eat that,” he points at one of Gordon’s couch pillows, getting up to slip away during the chaos as the birthday boy tries to wrestle the pillow out of the Moclan’s hands.

--

After the incredibly awkward exit from the night before, Ed is doing his best to avoid as many party goers as he can. He’s doing well, staying at home for most of the day, until Kelly calls him to pick up some reports with no time to drop them off. He groans but gets into some casual clothes to go to his XO’s office. It’s a quick trip, and he’s almost home free when he spots a couch in the middle of the corridor. He pauses, looking around for an owner before Lieutenant (Y/N) pops out of her nearby quarters.

��Oh, captain!” She stands at attention as he waves her to relax.

“Making the place a home?”

She chuckles awkwardly, nodding.

“I’m trying, but clearly it’s not going well…”

He mulls over his next words very carefully.

“Let me help you,” he offers with a smile.

“You don’t have to! I wouldn’t want you to waste your free day!”

“I’ve moved a few couches in my day,” he tries to joke before calling over a few crewmen to help him lift her sofa and move it into her living room area. Once it's in the perfect spot and the other crewmen have left, Ed goes to take his leave.

“Thank you again, captain.”

“Really, it's no trouble, Lieutenant,” he assures with a smile. “What was I gonna do? Let a pretty girl like you move it all by herself?”

The heat rises to each of their faces simultaneously as the silence between them thickens.

“I should uh,” he gestures back to the door.

“Yeah, I really need to uh,” she gestures back into her quarters.

Ed gives her a tight-lipped look and nods as he skedaddles his way home, beyond embarrassed.

--

A few days later and Ed is still doing his best to avoid looking at (Y/N) whenever he can. But it’s even more noticeable on the bridge and Kelly can’t help but mention it to someone else as she heads towards the shuttle bay with Gordon.

“Hey.”

“Yeah?” The ginger looks over at her questioningly.

“Ed seem weird with the new girl?”

“Oh thank god, let’s talk about it.”

Kelly chuckles as they get into the elevator.

“Yeah, he’s been really weird this whole week. I think he likes her.”

“No, he definitely does,” Gordon nods as the doors open and they walk into the bay.

“Maybe… No, I don’t want to overstep,” Kelly waves a dismissive hand.

“I do. Are we gonna play matchmaker, Commander?”

“If you’re down, I’m down, Lieutenant.”

And as the shuttle heads towards the planet, Kelly and Gordon come up with a perfect plan.

Ed sighs as Gordon finishes telling him about the night’s plans.

“I don’t really feel up to a party dude…”

“Come on, Mercer. It’ll be fun, aaaand a great way to welcome (Y/N) to the Bridge Babes.” The brunette gives his ginger friend a look at the dorky nickname before shrugging.

“Fine. But I’m not gonna stay very late, I’m tired.”

“Sick! You won’t regret it. Kelly and I have everything all planned out…”

Ed gives Gordon a suspicious look.

“You said that weird.”

“No I didn’t,” the red-head denies instantly, and Ed just rolls his eyes.

“Whatever, man. I’ll see you at 1900.”

Far too soon for Ed’s liking the appointed hour rolls around and he forces himself to head to the simulator. When the doors open, he can see the bridge crew milling about a small, 21st century bar. As he walks in, he scans the room until his eyes land on (Y/N). She’s far too busy talking to Kelly to notice his gaze and he quickly turns to order a beer from the bar.

“Hey glad you made it!” Gordon quickly wraps an arm around his best friend’s shoulders as he gives him his best smile.

“I said I would come.”

“Yeaaaah but I’m still glad you’re here.” 

“Yeah, me too.” He glances back at the two women again, seeing them move to sit at a table.

“Wanna go sit?” Gordon tries his best to be casual as he turns to get himself another beer.

“Oh, uh, nah. I’d rather sit up here. Can get drinks faster,” he jokes as Gordon chuckles.

“Sure, man. Sure.”

A few downed beers later, Ed is a bit more malleable and Gordon migrates them over to the table. As they take a seat, the tipsy Captain sends his navigator a warm smile.

“Hey Ed. How are you?” Kelly’s voice pulls his gaze and he nods.

“I’m good. How are you two?”

“I’m fine. Gordon and I are gonna get more drinks. Want anything?”

The brunette shakes his head as the Commander stands and looks to (Y/N). She shakes her head as well and the other two head for the bar.

“So, I asked how you were…”

“Oh! Oh, um… I’m okay, captain. Thank you.”

“Ed is fine when we’re off duty.”

“Alright, Ed.” She hums, trying it out as he smiles at her.

“Have you decided if you like it here yet?”

She shrugs a little. 

“I think so,” she takes a sip as Ed moves to follow suit.

“You think or you know?”

She gives him a confused look.

“Capt- Ed… Why are you so worried about what I think of the Orville?”

He blinks for a minute, trying to formulate a good answer.

“I just… want you to feel welcome,” he says honestly. He glances over at her as she gives him a little smile. He can’t help but return it with that signature grin of his.

Their conversation flows easily after this, Ed asking her questions about herself and retelling some of the crew’s best adventures. As they gab and polish off their drinks, Ed offers to get them another round. But as he turns to stand and moves to the bar, he notices the rest of the bridge crew is gone.

“Uh…I think we got ditched.”

(Y/N) looks over and tilts her head.

“Oh…I guess we did.”

Ed moves to get them drinks anyway before returning to the table to find the woman chuckling.

“What’s so funny?” He slides the drink over to her.

“I just am surprised I guess,” she says as she reaches for her glass.

“Surprised about what?”

“About you.”

He looks a little worried and she waves his anxiety away.

“Honestly, up until now, I thought you just weren’t able to talk to me. Maybe you didn’t like me, I don’t know,” she admits.

Ed brow furrows as he tries to think clearly about the past few days. 

“No… No, (Y/N), I like you a lot.”

She gives him a smile as she sets her glass back down.

“I like you too, Ed.”

He takes a gulp of his beer and, feeling brave, speaks again.

“No, I like really like you. A lot.”

Her face definitely heats up as she smiles into her glass.

“Yeah?”

“Absolutely, yeah,” he hiccups.

The lieutenant looks around the bar before downing her drink and standing.

“Did you wanna get out of here?”

Ed blinks up at her for a moment then stands, beer long forgotten.

“Yeah. May I?” He holds out a hand to her and she takes it. Ed gives her that damn smile of his as he leads her out of the sim and into the corridor.

They stroll through the ship until they reach her quarters and she releases him. He preps himself to bid her a goodnight once her door is open, but instead she pulls him inside.

“Stay?”

Ed makes a skeptical face.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea…”

She scoffs out a chuckle.

“I asked if you would stay, not if you would have sex with me,” she teases drunkenly as he chuckles.

“...okay sure, I’ll stay.”

She takes his hand and leads him to her bedroom. She disappears into the bathroom to change as Ed takes off his shoes and lays down. When she comes back out, she turns the lights off and slips under the covers beside him.

“Hey, Ed?”

“Yeah, (Y/N)?”

“I really like you, too.”

He smiles at her, tucking some hair behind her ear before getting comfy and falling asleep.

The next morning, Ed groans as he rubs his eyes. When he finally opens them, he sees a painkiller and water on an unfamiliar nightstand. He takes it quickly before rolling over to see (Y/N) peeking at him.

“Hi,” she says softly as his face pales.

“Did we…?”

“No, no…”

“Oh good.”

They lay in silence for about a minute as they each think about what to say.

“I should go…” He says as he sits up, (Y/N) quickly sitting up as well. 

“Yeah, okay…”

“Last night was fun, from what I remember,” he offers as he gets out of bed.

“Yeah it was.” She follows him out of her room and into the living room while he attempts to tug his shoes on.

“See you on the bridge.”

Before the door can swish open, she grabs his hand to stop him.

“Wait!”

As he turns back to her, (Y/N) gives him a quick peck. Ed is sure he’s a bright red as he looks at her, surprised. Before her anxiety can catch up with her, he leans down to capture her lips for longer.

“Think they fell for it?”

“Are you doubting my sim programming abilities?”

“No, no. It definitely looked like the whole bridge was there. But if they talk to anyone besides us they’ll find out.”

“That’s okay,” the ginger shrugs. “Once they figure it out, they’ll be too into each other to care.”

[succysphere]

so uh. my dad pulled me down the orville rabbit hole. i love isaac.

[sethymacfarlanes]

A Theory

This is gonna be like, not professionally done because I just had 3 exams today and I am TUCKERED out man.

But I just watch 1x09 and as soon as it was over I KNEW what they were doing. They are setting up another Mercer x Grayson relationship.

Cheating is something that should not be forgiven - but perhaps if it was never Kelly’s fault to begin with - if she just could not help herself due to Derulio’s (?) heat, they can work something out, and there wouldn’t be this insane backlash of “but she cheated!” (she did, but now it might have been mind control or whatever the fuck just happened).

Either way I’m like, super excited. I sense the tension. But I also don’t want the relationship to happen right away. I want a few seasons at least.

ALSO SETH WAS HOT AF DURING THAT ONE SCENE, YOU KNOW WHICH SCENE IM TALKIN ABOUT

[mceproductions]

Best of 2022 TV Shows #1: The Orville: New Horizons (Hulu)

For Seth Macfarlane his little show that could somehow managed to do the unthinkable.

Be the best show of the year.

All it took was a new network partner, upgrades in effects, story and quality to bring us some very compelling sci-fi.

With the timeline reset the Orville crew pick up the pieces and strained relationships in the process.

While not showing it, hurting most is the Kaylon Issac having burned all his bridges with the crew including newbie Charly who directly lost someone based on the attack.

But what this actually does is gives a real reason to root for the unthinkable.

Like Issac and Claire going the distance.

A peace summit between the Union and Krill that unfortunately dove into real world issues resulting in a coup.

Bortus going through the wringer of fatherhood with Topa and identity issues with his race and mate.

Kelly with mentoring an asylum seeker in the ways of the galaxy.

Lamar seeking advancement in command and love with his and Tallas unexpected connection.

Even Gordon who is given TVs single best episode this year as he unexpectedly makes a life for himself in 2025 Pasadena.

Pure wonder is brought within these 10 episodes.

11 if you count the Audible novella.

But if this is the last time we get to see the crew, we might as well take Gordon Malloys advice from his James Taylor Cover.

“Since we’re on our way down, might as Well Enjoy the ride.”

Oh, we enjoyed it Seth we certainly did.

SUM 22: Hulu gives New Horizons to the Crew of the Orville and delivers this years best show for it.

[wicca-wicca-whack]

The Maid of Honor and the Best Man

Modern!Au Gordon Malloy x Reader

Word count: 3035

//I'm back on my bs

You could feel your irritation with your best friend bubbling the longer she spoke. 

“I don't know, I don't really need anything elaborate!”

“Kel, this is your bachelorette party! After that you're spewing out vows and tying your life to this dude,” you gesture haphazardly towards Ed, who just chuckles.

“I mean I'd rather just do something easy. You know, we were talking about doing a joint party,” she offers. 

“A joint party!” You try really hard to sound excited, but it sounds kind of lame, at least to you.

“I mean, I don't really feel like I need any of those things you would even do separate parties for, like strippers or anything, and it'll be way cheaper for you and Gordon if you're just pooling resources.” She reaches her hand out for your phone, and knowing her, you can easily assume she wants to give you his number. 

You bite your tongue, handing your phone over. “Yeah, for sure.” 

“I'm sure you guys will get along great.”

You know from experience she's wrong, but you just smile and nod. 

You and the best man have butt heads at every event, and he's made it pretty clear he doesn't like Kelly much, and by extension you. After all, she's marrying his best friend and you're, apparently, a stick in the mud, partially because you won't talk trash about her. You haven’t even seen him in over a month, which makes you question his dedication to helping out with this wedding.

Hours go by before you even open your phone to text the ginger. You settle for something simple.

It's the MOH. Let me know when you're ready to talk about the joint party.

Shockingly, you've only just set your phone down when he texts back. 

Whz ths nd whtz a MOH?

He must be drunk, you figure, to be texting like that. 

The maid of honor?

O. U.

You decide not to respond, between the drunk texting and the response to him knowing it's you on the other end, settling down to watch your trash TV. 

It’s maybe four hours later your phone rings, and you glance at the caller ID of Dickhead before picking up. 

“We didn’t need to, like, have a conversation about like, tonight,” you try, the only thing coming from the receiver being the sound of cars and and the wind.

“Nah, I wasn’t doing anything. Can we just make it, like, not lame?” You can hear Gordon sigh, and the scuff of his shoes as he walks.

“What do you mean not lame?” You try not to sound amused.

“I mean, a joint party is already super lame. No strippers, nothing, like, fun.”

“You don’t know how to have fun without strippers?”

“I mean I do,” he insists quickly, “but, like, when I imagined throwing my best friend's bachelor party…”

“Well, they decided they wanted a joint party.” You pull a notepad on your table close. “So, their wedding colors are blues and greens, I’m thinking for the decor we should stick to that.”

You can hear him sigh again.

“What?”

“They’re just, like, such, uh… kinda lame colors together.”

You bite your tongue for a moment, annoyed. “Let’s just do this another time, it's late.”

“No! No,” you can hear him jostling something around. “Uh, why don’t we meet up?”

Your eyes drift to your clock. “It’s two am.”

You hear muffled cursing. “Right, yeah. Uh, night.” The receiver clicks before you can respond, and you can’t help but roll your eyes. If he’s lost his grip on time, this was gonna be a whole other kind of difficult.

When you wake up the next morning, you have two missed calls from Kelly. You can't help but sigh, looking at the time to see it's barely even 10 AM. 

You roll from your bed, working your way through your morning ritual before returning her call.

“Kels, you basically blew my phone up,” you half-whine. 

“Sorry! Sorry, I didn't realize how early it was the first time I called.” You can hear her rustling around. 

“What on earth are you doing?”

“Ed and I are making party favors.” The audio changes, and you assume she must've put you on speaker. 

“Hey. Morning,” Ed's voice rings through, and you sigh. 

“Morning. Did you guys need help?”

“Could use a hand. Gordon's coming too.”

You almost groan. Or maybe you do, because Ed laughs. 

“I'll see you in an hour!” Kelly calls cheerfully. 

“Yeah, okay. In an hour,” you agree, calling your goodbyes and moving to get ready. 

You get there more like an hour and a half later, and Kelly looks like she might be upset, until you press a fresh coffee into her hand and bring one to her fiance, and she seems to calm down.

“Sorry, sorry! I come bearing caffeine,” you soothe, moving to plop next to Gordon, who gives you a weird look. “What are you making?”

She motions to the table, grinning. “Snack and drink boxes.”

“...What?” You can’t help but give her a look.

“Little boxes of snacks and, like, shooters and edible glitter,” Ed supplies, and Kelly claps her hands, clearly excited.

“I thought it was a good idea!”

“It is, babe,” Ed assures, and Gordon groans loudly.

“Do you have to be all gross in front of other people?” He complains.

“Dude-”

“It's a word,” you interrupt Ed, turning to look at the scruffy ginger man. “He said the word babe.”

“Yeah, and it was gross, obviously,” he scoffs, reaching to grab one of the little decorative boxes Kelly put out.

“What are you, twelve? Babe is one of the tamest things he could call her right now.”

“How? Any of those weird PDA names is gross to use in front of your friends.”

You give Kelly an exasperated look, but both she and Ed just look on, amused. “Please be so fucking for real right now, man.”

“I’m not in this argument,” she tries.

“You’re kind of in it,” you shoot back.

“Let’s just get back to these favors,” Ed offers, taking a box, “they’re super easy but we have a ton to make.”

You’re annoyed, but you move to get to work anyway, taking a long drink of your coffee.

A couple of hours go by in relative silence, though Gordon can’t resist shooting jabs and jokes around, before Kelly and Ed step away to take a wedding call, and you turn to Gordon.

“So for their party, I was just thinking the wedding party all meet at mine, and I’ll decorate, and then we can do, like, a bar crawl. Something easy but still fun.”

He stares at you for a long time. “...What?”

“Dude. Their joint bachelor/bachelorette party. Obviously.”

“Oh. Right. Sounds cool.” A beat of silence. “We should make one of those stops a strip clu-”

You whack him in the arm, and he yelps. “No.”

“I thought we were planning this together!”

“We are. Make a list of bars. I will vet them.”

He opens his mouth to protest, but the couple returns. “Did I hear Gordon yell?” Ed looks between you, both suspicious and amused.

“No,” you answer casually, tying a ribbon over the last snack box. “And we’re done! I need to head out, but text me that list,” you remind Gordon, grabbing your purse and standing. “Kels, I love you, I will see you Friday for your bachelorette. Two days. And in three you will be hitched. Text me or call me if you need me.”

You don’t give her a chance to answer before you’re out the front door.

When Gordon sends you a list of bars that night, you skim the list before calling him.

“Yello?”

“Gordon, half of those are strip clubs. Not bars. Good strip clubs don't even serve alcohol!”

“How do you know that?”

“Gordon.” You don’t dignify that with an answer. “Be real. There are so many bars down this strip, why those? Hell, I will pay for a limo or something to take us further from this stip you started on.”

“When I pictured throwing Ed’s bachelor-”

“You pictured strippers, I get it. This is what they wanna do. Save the strippers for your wedding.”

He snorts, but he’s quiet for a minute. “Fine. I’ll fix it.”

“Are you pouting?”

“Do I sound like I’m pouting?”

“Yes, you do.”

“Are you gonna need help getting your place set up?” You can hear the clink of a glass and someone shouting something in the background.

“I can handle it,” you sigh, confused at the rapid subject change.

“I’m offering.” His voice is almost soft, at least compared to the rest of the conversation. “I can come over and help you put up all that ugly blue and green crap. That’s what you’re doing, right?”

You can’t help but snort a little. “Yeah, I am. But you can show up with everyone else an-”

“I’ll be there at six.” He hangs up before you can even protest more, and you can’t help giving your phone a weird look.

In the morning, to your shock, you do wake up to a new list of bars, ones that are actually all bars, and you almost smile.

When Friday comes around, you feel like you’re insanely busy, between work and making sure you have everything, and when you open your door to see Gordon, promptly at six, you pause, staring at him in shock.

“You’re here.”

“Uh, yeah. I said I’d be.” He gives you a confused look.

“At six.”

“That’s what I told you.”

“You’re not late.”

“I’m not always late.”

“You’ve been late to, like, every event since the wedding planning started.”

He huffs, carefully pushing past you to grab some streamers, looking up at your ceiling. “Are we just going to town or what?”

It pivots from there, Gordon seemingly content to decorate however you instruct, though more than once he argues when you correct him, its… almost fun. Almost.

You’re done just in time for the rest of the wedding party to start showing up, and then, finally, the couple of the night, accompanied by shouting and whooping as you and Gordon pour a round of shots for the large party as a sort of pre-game.

You give each of them an obnoxious crown and sash, and both Kelly and Ed laugh as they’re ushered back down towards the limo you had, in fact, ended up renting for the party, the whole of you piling into the seats, a couple of the others squishing you into Gordon.

“Sorry,” he mumbles, leaning towards you a little.

“It’s cool,” you assure softly, jostling a bit as the ride starts. There’s a lot of shouting, and you think someone else is trying to pour more shots in the bumpy ride, but thankfully, the first bar is a quick drive, and before anyone can crack a bottle open, Kelly is ushering people out with Ed’s help, and into the western-themed bar.

Looking left to right, you can spot a line dance happening on the floor and at least eight cowboy hats.

“Yeah, this is a good one to start a night,” Gordon sighs, moving towards the bar and taking orders from people. The bartender looks familiar with Gordon as he orders the drinks, both laughing it up, and you can’t help but soften a little.

You turn your eyes from him as quickly as you can when Kels elbow connects with your arm. “Ow! What?”

“You’re staring.”

“I wasn’t staring.”

“You were damn near making eyes,” Ed adds in.

“No one asked you.”

“Our opinion is joint now,” Kelly tries, giving a smile to a stranger handing her a drink and congratulating them.

“I didn’t ask you either.”

“Technically, you did.”

You’re cut off by a cold glass hitting your hand, and you carefully take it from Gordon, who just looks between the three of you before setting another drink down and heading to collect more, giving you all a weird look.

You groan, moving to knock your drink back as Kelly laughs. “It isn’t like that.”

“Right, yeah. For sure.”

You huff, annoyed. Sure, Gordon was cute. And while prepping for this party, he’d even been… nice. But you had no intention of throwing yourself all over a guy who never really seemed interested in you.

But God help you, part of you wants to.

You quickly learn, after another drink or two, it's incredibly hard to keep such a large party on track. When you finally round everyone into the limo, you were supposed to head to the next bar an hour ago, and everyone is considerably more trashed than you expected them to be. Someone calls for shots, and your protests go unheard as a bottle gets opened and shots get passed around. You’re once again smushed into Gordon’s side, and everything is fine until something warm splashes your chest.

“Damnit!”

“Shit! I’m sorry,” Gordon calls quickly, sounding a little surprised, and one of his hands comes down like he’s going to wipe the vodka from you before his senses catch up, and he pulls his hand back.

“It's fine,” you huff, glad for the dim lighting and green shirt. 

You can sort of see him shuffling for something, and you hear a muffled ‘aha!’ as he presses a cloth to your chest.

It takes him all of two seconds to snatch his hand away, and, thankfully, no one seems to have seen the interaction. 

You let out an awkward chuckle, dabbing at the wet spot with the cloth. “Thanks… I, uh… think I’ll head home maybe. Do you think you can handle them?”

“Y-yeah, for sure,” he agrees, nodding, and you swear he’s never looked quite so nervous. “Honestly, they’re probably not gonna make it past this bar,” he agrees as the limo stops and the doors open.

You nod, moving to hug your friend goodbye with a hurried explanation. She gives you a pout, but presses taxi money into your hand, despite your protesting, and you can’t get Ed to take it from you either.

The minute you make it home, you make sure your alarm is set, and you crash.

Six A.M. comes way too quickly, but you’re up, and heading to pick up Kelly, coffee in hand. Somehow, she’s full of energy when she gets into your passenger seat, taking her drink from you. You start the trek to the venue, listening to her ramble about the night before.

Thankfully, the actual getting-ready part of the wedding, and the wedding itself, goes pretty smoothly. You, for one, are relieved, not wanting to deal with disasters. You can’t help but tear up, watching your best friend pledge her life away to a man, but you almost laugh when she ushers people towards the reception while the wedding party gets ready for pictures.

For most of them, you’re opposite Gordon, who hasn’t made eye contact with you once, including your walk down the aisle. You don’t even really hear him speak until you’re taking a picture where Kelly wants everyone paired up like when they walked down the aisle. 

His hand hovers over your waist as he mumbles, “I’m sorry. Again. For last night.”

You wait for the photographer to take the picture. “It’s fine, really. Water under the bridge. It’s not like alcohol’s never been spilled on me.”

“I just don’t want you to think I was, like, using it to cop a feel or something.”

“What? No, of course not.”

“Not that you aren’t, like, pretty, but that would be, like-”

“-Really weird of you, yeah.” You hesitate, bringing your hand to pat his arm. “It’s cool.”

“Right, yeah. Cool.”

You’re being ushered towards the reception before either of you can break the tension, and you’re at opposite sides of the table once everyone’s sat, and the interaction barely crosses your mind until after the first few dances, when Kelly is insisting the bridal party go dance, and as everyone more or less pairs up with the person they walked with, you look at Gordon, who looks halfway terrified.

“Well? Come on,” you motion him towards the floor, holding a hand out. 

One, two, three seconds pass before he takes your hand, heading towards the floor for an awkward sort of slow dance.

“I don’t dance,” he admits awkwardly.

“Yeah, I can tell.” You’re content to sway, though, his hands barely resting on your waist, yours resting on his shoulders.

“You, uh, look nice,” he offers.

“With how much Kel paid to get our hair and makeup done, I hope so,” you snort.

“You, uh, look nice the rest of the time too.”

You look at him slowly, a little amused and pretty confused. “Thanks?”

“I mean,” you can’t tell if he’s blushing or his face is always that red, “you’re pretty. A pretty person.”

You’re pretty sure he’s blushing.

“You’re not too bad yourself,” you offer.

“You, uh, seem like a lot of fun.”

“So do you. When you’re not being an ass,” you nudge him gently, but he chuckles.

“It’s kind of my default. Total douche.” He waves one of his hands before he returns it to your waist, more pressure than before, and looks over your shoulder, making a face.

You turn just in time to see Kelly pushing Ed’s thumb down, and you turn back to Gordon, who looks embarrassed. “What’s that about?”

“Did you wanna, I don’t know, maybe… go out sometime?” He braces, like he’s waiting anxiously for your answer, and you can even feel his shoulders tense.

“That sounds like fun.”

There’s one, two, three seconds of silence before his eyes return to yours. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Cool,” he sighs, relieved, a muffled sort of ‘oomph’ coming from him as you lean up to press a soft kiss to his lips.

“We can count this as a first date,” you joke, and he chuckles a little, pulling you closer.

“Yeah, sure. Fits for me. Total douche thing to do, having your first date at your best friend's wedding.”

You chuckle, reaching to punch at his arm.

Maybe he wasn’t as bad as he pretended to be.

[curator-on-ao3]

Chapters: 1/1 (1,383 words) Fandom: The Orville (TV) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Kelly Grayson/Ed Mercer Characters: Ed Mercer (The Orville), Kelly Grayson (The Orville) Additional Tags: Trying again, Episode: s03e10 Future Unknown, Post-Episode: s03e10 Future Unknown, they never stopped loving each other, and that hand-hold gave me hope, so here we go Summary: At Isaac and Claire’s wedding, Ed decides that he wants to try again with Kelly. But will she feel the same way?

[i-dreamthedream]

Rhapsody in Blue

Fandom: The Orville Pairing: Kelly Grayson/Ed Mercer Raiting: Teen and Up Audiences Status: 1/1 chapter - 3,9k words Summary:

"Ed felt Kelly take his hand as they listened to Gordon sing. It had been a beautiful wedding, Bortus’ ill-advised attempt at a best man speech notwithstanding. Claire looked happy, surrounded by her sons with Isaac’s hand on Ty’s shoulder. Crewmembers and Kaylons were mingling and enjoying themselves around them, something Ed still couldn’t believe was possible given the past year. If only Charly could see this, he thought."

Or: what comes after the wedding

[lordofthevegetablepatch]

Ed is so smitten with Kelly in every time line at any time and it’s so cute.