#margo x Sergei

[h4t08]

@bluetrekker12 I am so glad that you added to this gif set with this information!! I love the tidbit with Margo’s clothing and the unscripted moment in 03x07.

1984  •  1985  •  1988  •  1991  •  1992

FOR ALL MANKIND | Season 3 Episode 3

[midnight-els]

For All Mankind | Margo and Sergei + Apollo-Soyuz/Soyuz-Apollo

2x06 "Best Laid Plans" 4x09 "Brazil"

[thinkmanythingsofit]

We would also suggest "Soyus-Apollo" as the name of the mission. For the sake of convenience.

[ddagent]

Thank you for coming. Oh. Of course.

[nadia-el-mansours]

[mysticalpostbouquet]

I'm a native Houstonian and just got word that Nippon will be closing after 38 yrs.

Did Margo and Sergei ever get to visit 😢 ??

https://www.chron.com/food/article/houston-nippon-closure-19853705.php

[onekisstotakewithme]

put those internationals in relations!

[h4t08]

👀

[wickedwitzh]

Something short that I wrote last night when I couldn’t sleep - fits within my broad AU from 2x10 onwards that so far only exists in my head.

Margo x Sergei, 670 words, mature

December 1984

Stockholm is, for the lack of a better word, nice.

Freezing, for sure. Loud, but at the same time, startlingly quiet for a capital. A bit bleak. With streets more narrow than what Margo is used to, and more cars, somehow.

It’s also quite breathtaking, in a very understated sort of way.

And there is snow. Margo has only seen snow a handful times in her life, and seeing the white-ish mass brings her a disproportionate amount of joy that she tries (and fails) to hide from her fellow attendees, especially the Russians.

She is still not quite sure why they are here. Technically it’s a four-way meeting about the future of the international space programme, where the United States and the USSR, flanked by South Korea and China respectively, are supposed to discuss their future endeavours. It’s hosted by the ESA, because the four countries in question could not agree on the logistics and besides, Europe wants its slice of the space cake. And so Margo, and Molly, and Bill, and Aleida, all end up in Stockholm, arguing with the Soviets and the Chinese and even with the Europeans, sometimes.

It’s simultaneously worse and better than the ICA, Margo thinks. Like, sure, the ICA is less interactive, which, on the other hand, means that she doesn’t get tired so easily. And the ICA is about scientific progress, not politics. And the hotels usually have better bars. And the conferences are held in early Autumn, mostly in London, where the temperatures are bearable, and not in Sweden in December, just after the Nobel week.

Margo doesn’t take well to the cold climate. Her nose is running constantly and she doesn’t have proper gloves and she is cold almost all the time, but then… But then. Sergei’s hands are warm against her skin; the heat hits her cheeks when his fingers trace intricate patterns on the inside of her thighs; and when he pushes her against the mattress — gently, but decisively, in such perfect proportions that it makes her go insane with want — for a few moments, the chill disappears.

When he buries himself deep inside her, Margo only sighs with pleasure and twists her hips, all thoughts banished from her head. It’s only after, when they lay, panting, buried under the ridiculously puffy comforter, that she realizes that he’s still, technically, married.

She doesn’t see the ring anymore, though.

“We’ve started the divorce proceedings,” Sergei says into her hair. “It’s as amicable as possible. Jurij has already proposed; Yulia will marry him as soon as our divorce is through.”

It still amazes Margo sometimes, this strange geometric shape of human affairs that Sergei is able to navigate, but she’s met Yulia, she knows that his marriage has been over for quite some time already. It makes her feel a tiny bit better about sleeping with a married man.

They discuss other things too, of course. The Mars programme. The new nuclear fuels. Their coworkers and their bosses and the insane timelines imposed on them.

They talk about these things in between the conference proceedings; on a wooden bench overlooking Skeppsbron; under the bare cherry trees in Kungsträdgården; as they stroll down Kastanjgatan, a little behind the rest of the group that is on the lookout for the next pub where they’ve been told to ask for something called “Norrlands guld”.

They vaguely remember that their babysitters — the KGB and the CIA alike — are trailing somewhere behind them, but it’s terrifyingly easy to pretend that it’s only the two of them, in this strange city that’s oozing European charm but is not popular enough to serve as a backdrop in Hollywood movies.

They get careless, though. They are too open with each other, too happy in each other’s presence. Not to mention the other, more intimate stuff. It’s a stupid mistake that only two people absurdly in love could make. But it’s still a mistake, and as it turns out a few months later, there will be a price to pay.

[bluetrekker12]

Margo x Sergei (overly sentimental) head canon:

Sergei was given his grandmother’s wedding ring many years ago. For reasons he never understood, it didn’t feel right to give it to his first wife.

Then he met Margo. In the chaos of his defection, he made sure to take the ring with him to the US.

He’s carried it with him ever since, tucked inside his wallet. It was in his pocket when he drove to Houston. It was in his pocket when he died.

[moocowmoocow]

A prompt: In an AU-version in which they somehow simply have time to talk, or maybe at an IAC-dinner outing, Margo asks Sergei "would you have kissed me in the docking module if we hadn't been interrupted?"

He had held his breath when Margo hadn’t pushed the button to her floor. He didn’t want to tempt fate to throw one more obstacle in their way. Now he stroked her hair as she placed a kiss on his bare chest before she rested her head there. “I’ve wanted to do that for awhile,” he whispered into her hair.

She hummed in response before she kissed his chest again. “Worth the wait?”

“Yes.”

He felt her smile against his skin. “How long have you waited?”

“Since I convinced you to crawl into the Soyuz-Apollo docking module.”

“Apol - wait. Is that why you messed up the coin flip?”

He brought his fingers to follow the line of her shoulders. “No. That happened naturally. But you were so beautiful and laughing and right there. I confess I wanted to kiss you.”

“I am glad you didn’t. I wasn’t ready back then.”

He kissed the top of her head as he pulled her closer. “Now is perfect.”

[gabolange]

Kiss the eighth, where it hurts.

For All Mankind, Margo x Sergei. Set in the same universe as acts of survival made generous, Sergei's cough returns.

[midnight-els]

For All Mankind | 4x09 "Brazil"

Wrenn Schmidt as Margo Madison Piotr Adamczyk as Sergei Orestovich Nikulov

[thinkmanythingsofit]

For all Mankind 2x10 - Margo and Sergei and saying each others names 3 times each during a 1 minute 12 seconds preventing-the-end-of-the-world phonecall. Plus one last "Margo--".

[ddagent]

Margo/Sergei AU: Sergei Nikulov defects in 1968. He becomes close to fellow engineer, Margo Madison.

Bonus:

[nadia-el-mansours]

I dunk a lot on how flustered Margo gets in this scene but... oh, Sergei...