#of course i have to post it on 'felice friday' :)

[crownedwille]

Favourite Felice outfit in 1x2 prompt 31 from @youngroyals-events faves fest

[bluedalahorse]

Fandom-leaning writing residency updates! I have been watching my classmates do their lectures (I give mine on Friday) and it’s giving me some thoughts about the Characters, as always:

One of my classmates lectured on how she tried to find the line between devoted in a way that makes you go “aww” and obsessed in a way that makes you go “yikes!” in YA love interests. Of course, she pointed out that this is more a continuum than a strict binary, and that it’s worth approaching these issues with curiosity rather than condemnation. Anyway, it gave me some more language for articulating why, for me personally, Wilhelm and August exist in roughly similar parts of the devoted-aww to obsessed-yikes continuum. I can accept wilmon endgame but I have to jump through some mental hoops to get there, and to be honest? It’s about as many mental hoops as I would have jumped through for saraugust, if saraugust was canon endgame alongside it. I think that explains why I came away from s3 ready to envision second chance futures and canon divergences where saraugust would work, and haven’t really wavered from that. I don’t think I will be posting about this (Wille and August’s places on the aww to yikes continuum) on main more but maybe I’ll talk about it with you one-on-one.

Another of my classmates talked about teen boys and friendships in the YA genre, and how those are usually portrayed as very simplistic and/or nonexistent-but-don’t-worry-about-it. He had some ideas about how to approach teen boy friendships from a craft perspective that were pretty insightful. I feel like Simon and Ayub lined up with some of what he researched, and even August and Nils and Vincent in season 3 were trending a lot more toward what my classmate talked about. I think that reaffirmed why all of those scenes were precious to me. It also once again reaffirmed for me what is and isn’t working in Wille’s platonic friendship—I use the singular because it’s really just Felice that he’s platonically close with, right? And we know that relationship needs to be more of a two-way street, and that he gave her on-and-off mixed romantic signals for about half the show. Does Wille know how to get genuinely close to people outside of a romantic context? Like does he cultivate the kinds of platonic friendships that are as important for emotional support as his romantic relationship with Simon, but different qualitatively? I feel like he struggles with it. I feel like August struggles with it too obviously, but the show wants us to know that, and wants us to find catharsis in him holding on to his friends and seeking out family at the end of the show. Whereas I think Wille’s arc would have benefitted from him learning to be a better friend and the narrative actually holding him more accountable for that. Maybe I’ll feel differently on a rewatch though.

Is this a Wille-critical post? Possibly. Honestly, he’s kind of a butt sometimes.

I like that he’s such a flawed character, though. Sometimes I wanna talk about it more, instead of explaining the flaws away.

[saynomorefic]

Simon Month 2024 Masterlist - Saynomore

I'm so happy we all got to celebrate Simon's month together, and I truly can't BELIEVE it's already over. The amount of love that went into each fic, gifset, text post, fan art, and all other mediums is so astounding to me. The amount of talent and love you guys all possess is so unreal. Also, so much gratitude to the audience / readers for keeping this little community thriving the way it is <3

Simon's character is so dear to my heart, so it's meant a lot to me we all got to show this character so much love and attention. I've participated in a few fan events and ficathons, but this has far and away been the most amazing one I've been a part of. Thank you to everyone who has left comments or reblogged my fics, you guys make me smile in disbelief each time. And of course, thank you so much @youngroyals-events for organizing and hosting 💜💜

I've seen others do it, so I'll compile a little masterlist of the ten fics I wrote for Simon's Month 2024. You can find the series here, and each work is listed below.

Day One: Not just pencils // Pencil Case

Simon starts finding mysterious objects in his pencil case. He has his suspicions as to who is responsible. Post Season 1.

Day Seven: Purple like the colors of the moon // Purple

Simon thinks about dyeing his hair. (Other people have feelings about it.)

Day Eight: Gross negligence // Identity & Discrimination

Simon (finally) gets interviewed about his experience with discrimination and harassment at Hillerska.

Day Ten / Day Seventeen: Chasing waterfalls (1/2) // Travel, Venezuela

Ch 1: Simon and Wille hike Salto Ángel (Angel Falls) in Venezuela.

Ch 2: Rosh receives a suspiciously royal letter.

Day Seventeen: A fresh start // Friendship (bonus: Secrets)

Simon and Felice finally have *that* conversation.

Day Nineteen: As Wilhelm awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed into a fish // Fish

Basically Kafka's The Metamorphosis, except Wille freaky fridays into one of Simon's fish after Erik's death.

Day Twenty-Two: Labor of love // Labor Day

Sara goes into labor, naturally, on Labor Day. Simon is about to be an uncle, and Wilhelm is Sara's distracting pediatric nurse.

Day Twenty-Seven: When I'm in your arms // Physical Touch

It was that promise that he held onto in their weaker moments. That Wille’s words and actions were unreliable narrators when they always ended up in each other's arms despite not trying to, despite trying not to. Simon reflects on physical touch throughout his relationship.

Day Twenty-Nine: He sees stars and rocketships // Stars

Simon (accidentally) eats a weed brownie, Wilhelm is worried until he isn't, and somehow stars are involved.

Day Thirty-One: Photo flash focus record // Photos

When Wille started his photography class all those years ago, Simon had been more than wary. Wille began with nature photography, but he needed someone to practice on for the portraits unit. Being the good boyfriend that he was, Simon had swallowed his feelings and volunteered. That's how it started, anyway.

Thank you so much for reading <3 Don't be a stranger and come say hi!

[fertilize-my-eggs]

King of decay ch.4

Royal wedding

Ch.1 ch.2 ch.3 A03

A/n: I deeply apologize for this chapter begin late, I couldn't able to write it on last Friday, I was getting overwhelmed with fanfic at the same day but this story will be back to posting Fridays. Don't forget to check the trigger tags in A03 and shigaraki isn't a very nice man in this. Triggered warning this gets dark afterwards so you have been warned.

I slowly wake up as I pull you close, I begin to press kisses on your neck as I lightly hump your behind.

You whimper softly as you try to leave immediately but I hold your nude bare skin tight as I growl at you.

“ you better behave at the wedding otherwise I'll send you to my personal doctor to fix you. ”

You curl into a ball as you sob, there was a soft knock near the door.

“ your highest? Are you awake… I heard from maiden himiko about your bride. ” It was Kurogiri. I tilt my head towards the door, you begin to cry but louder.

“ please…. I want my husband Elijah, my children Leon, Felicity.. Back with me…. ” I roll my eyes at this as I speak.

“ yeah I'm awake, send maiden himiko into my room, we're going to have a wedding!! ”

“ as you wish, your Majesty! "It was faint but his footsteps moved away from the door as I rose up, you didn't look at me.

“ I'm not gonna marry you… OR HAVE YOUR DEMONIC BABIES! ” You scream at me as if you're having a temper tantrum on my bed.

I crossed my arms as I narrowed my eyes as I said cold as stone.” giving you a fair warning maiden, if you keep this up, he'll fix that little sick ill brain of yours into a better queen. ” you frown heavily as you turn away..

“ I shouldn't let you bump into me… ” you mumble quietly as I tilt my head.

“ What was that? ” you turn your head as you smile.

“ nothing… You look handsome today. ” I chuckle as I look away with a smile.

“ That's much better my love~! Keep that attitude and maybe I'll treat you on our honeymoon.” while I turn my back, you give a stank face filled with rage.

“ anyway.. let's take a bath together while miss toga will help you with the dress for our wedding.”

I smirk at you as I low my eyes towards your naked body.

“ can't stop imagining you… being full and round. ” I sigh softly as I bite my lips.

I grab your wrist as you try your best not to fight with me, I can tell by your body language.

I dragged you into the restroom as I began to bite your neck.

You whine from the feeling as you try to pull away.

“ soon… I'll give you a child of our own.. my beautiful queen~ ” I grip your wrists tight as I pull it backwards.

“ please… you're hurting me, let me go!! ” you yelp at me as I growl at you.

“ Treat me with respect as a king then I'll be nice to you.~ ” you nod your head too afraid to speak, I love the look in your eyes, fear and adrenaline turn me on.

I get into the tub as I pull you on top of me, I begin to scrub your body as I rub your skin tenderly.

“ If you keep this up, I'll have my doctor destroy that brain of yours so you can be my obedient little female.~ ” I lean in as I whisper.

“ you'll be my plaything… something for me to play with.~ if you escape from me, you’ll have a harsh punishment. ” I lick your ear as I begin to nip it.

“ Do you understand me, my pet? ” you sigh as you put on a fake smile.

“ yes of course… your majesty. ” I smirk as I press a kiss on your shoulder.

“ good girl.~ ” I play with your nipples as I pull at it.

“ Keep this up, I'll give you a special gift for our honeymoon. ” I begin to scrub your hair with soap as I lean in to smell the feminine scent, it's so erotic how I wanna put my cock inside of you so bad and to feel your sweet wall around me.

I sigh dreamily as I help you with your body parts, your woman's curvy body drives me crazy and how I want to bend you over and take you fast and hard like a wolf claiming their prey as a tasty meal.

I growl at you as I pull your neck towards me, I begin to make out with you, I grip your wrist as you try to escape.

I hear a faint knock as I growl heavily, stupid toga ruined the moment.

I sigh as I begin to clean myself, I watch you stare at me in shock as you pant heavily, afraid to be near me.

I slowly blink as I frown at you.” I'm sorry… for being like this and hurting you. I won't hurt you in the future. ” I spoke in a soft voice as you narrowed your eyes as you began to wash the soap out of your hair.

I sigh as I begin to clean my long white hair, I scrub my body parts.

I sigh as I begin to jerk off, your eyes wide in pure shock as I smirk at you.” bet you want this inside of your nasty cunt.~ ” you quickly look away as you wash the soap off your body.

“ don't worry baby.~ I'll give it to you once the wedding is done, we'll have a ton of sex once our honeymoon starts.. ”

“ your highest, I'm ready to dress the bride for the wedding~! ” I hear toga’s high pitch voice as I sigh.

“ you hear her, you stay with her while I'll get dressed once I'm done washing. But you better behave with toga and everyone else, otherwise I'll have my guards take you to the dungeon.” you nod your head as you quietly get out and you're quickly getting out the door to meet himko-chan.

I sigh as I finish washing myself for a few minutes, I get out of the tub to remove the dirty water as I get out to look for a formal outfit for breakfast.

My two maidens come rusting as they begin to help me with the clothes. I pick a nice silky red suit as the maiden begins to braid my hair into multiple braids as I sigh softly.

I hope you enjoy this and find me attractive in the outfit, I grab my cloak that has as silk deep red and white fur around the neck.

I put it on as I begin to walk to the dresser, I put my gold crown on my head as I turn in front of the maidens.

“ You look magnificent, your highness! ”

“ The red brings out your eyes nicely and bright lord shigaraki. ” I sigh heavily, I wanted to hear you say those words to me and not these females.

I began to walk out the door, into the huge hallway.

I headed into the dining room as the maiden fixed my outfit for a bit.

I see you at the table in full makeup and wearing a beautiful light blue dress, I begin to blush. Toga may have gone overboard on the makeup but you still look beautiful.

I sit next to you as you nervously look at the table and we begin to eat the food.

“ my lord shigaraki? What kind of wedding are you thinking of so I'll have my people work on it. ” Kurogiri said as he had a notepad.

I look up at him.” I would like a simple casual event where everyone is invited to the wedding, a priest just to do.’ I do’s ‘ and wedded us fast because I'm not waiting for too long. ”

I crossed my arms.” I already vow my undying love for you my bride to be.~ ” I smirk towards you.

“ I like the theme to be red, have red flowers and the tablecloth to be white with red ribbon and afterward I would like to be alone with her for weeks on our honeymoon in my room.~ ” I chuckle at you as I rub your hand.

“ There shall be a massive feast and lots of alcohol for us. Got it Kurogiri? ” he began to write it down as he nodded his head.

“ Of course lord shigaraki!! I'll have everything ready. ” I lean back as Kurogiri begins to quickly get people to work on the wedding.

“ Soon my love soon.. ” you flinch from me touching your skin, I begin to eat the food.

I basically eat it fast as I'm impatient when it comes to breakfast. You eat a bit as you feel like you're gonna throw up.

How can people be okay with a man like him kidnapping me, lying in front of them, focusing us on getting married and having his children afterwards? You thought to yourself as you try your best not to break down into an emotional state.

I watch your hand shake uncontrollably as I finish my meal. “ it'll be okay my queen, you get to have everything you wanted right? You get to live off of luxury in a kingdom like this. ”

You think to yourself, I only care about my family, I didn't want a better life and he happens to bump into me and destroy everything that I love… you can feel rage boiling inside your body as you're desperately trying not to cry.

I try to comfort you but you immediately move your hand away as I narrowed my eyes at you harshly.

I sigh softly as I watch you eat a bit of the food.

“ your highest shigaraki. ” I groan as I stare at Kurogiri, death stares at him.

“ We have your suit, my lord. ” I smirk as I begin to get up.

“ wonderful news.. have you got the wedding dress for her? ” he nodded his head as I looked down at you with a look.(Behave or you'll get sent to the doctor.)

I nod at toga as she understands it and she walks near you from behind.

I walk with Kurogiri into a dresser room where they have the suit.

“ Where did you find her, your highness? ” I tilt my head as I smirk.

“ It was like a fairytale where I bump into her in the flea market while I was walking along.. remember where I wasn't interested in those women who wanted to marry me.. they're so rude and entitled brats. ” Kurogiri nods his head as he bows his head low.

“ Forgive me your highness, those princesses were offered by the kingdoms with a better alliance with you. ” I rolled my eyes at this as the maiden removed my suit and was putting on the new suit. This one has small black diamonds on the collar, the suit was dark maroon color as I smirk at myself, I look stunning in this suit.

It's expensive and is soft to the touch.

“ You've forgiven Kurogiri but she's the one for me.. the way she looked at me, her smile went straight to my heart.” I look downward as I smirk.

“ I had to make her mine, she didn't have anyone and was homeless. ” Kurogiri nods his head, he doesn't say anything just accepts this woman as the new queen.

It only matters that now I'll bring new offspring to rule the kingdom.

I put my fur coat on as I begin to walk out and into the hallway where it leans to the wedding.

Everyone was already sitting but once I entered inside, every person stood up and watched me as I walked forward, everyone began to bow their head towards me.

I smirk wide as I feel pride in my chest as I get to the end, standing next to the priest Atsuhiro.

He bowed his head, and we waited for the bride to walk in.

A few minutes goes by as I'm getting impatient, Kurogiri does a hand moment towards the pianist as she begins the wedding music.

Everyone begins to stand up as the bride walks in with red spider lilies, some on her hair.

I didn't realize I was holding my breath as I watched you walk down the aisle, the blusher veil covering your face, the dress looking stunning on you. I couldn't help myself but get butterflies and that you look like a royal princess. You had jewelry from head to toes.

Once you're standing in front of me, I carefully pull the veil upwards as you had natural makeup, priest begins the I do.

“ Do you take this king to be your lawfully wedded husband? ” You look nervous as you put on a smile.

“ I… I do..” everyone cheers from it as he turn towards me.

“ Do you, your Majesty Tomura, take this woman as your lawfully wedded wife? ” I smirk wide as I said.” I do.~ ”

“ Then I pronounce you, husband and wife!! “

“ The new king and queen of the dragon kingdom! ” Everyone cheers and scream in joy as I look at you with loving eyes.

“ You may kiss the bride! ” I began to blush deep red as I started to feel nervous.

I lean in to peck your lips as everyone cheers in joy, I pull you close as I slide my tongue inside of your mouth a bit, I grab your hips tight as you yelp in pain.

I pull away with a devilish smirk.

“ Let the party begin. ”

[olivarryprompts]

Fanfic Friday #1

Welcome to Fanfic Friday! Each Friday I will post a new fanfic here and on A03. Enjoy x 

Read/Save it on A03 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/31733458

{training dates}

Ship: olivarry 

Status: dating

Warnings: none :)

WC: 1,646

Barry’s POV

It sort of all started when I got my powers. And I ran to Oliver. 

“I’ve spent my whole life searching for the impossible, never imagining that I would become the impossible.”

“So why come to me? Something tells me you didn’t just run 600 miles to say hi to a friend.” “All my life I’ve wanted to do, more. Be more. And now I am. And the first chance I get to help someone, I screw up. What if Wells is right? What if I’m not a hero? What if I am just some guy who got stuck by lighting?” 

“I don’t think that bolt of lighting struck you Barry,” Oliver paused, “I think it chose you.”

“I’m just not sure I’m like you, Oliver. I don’t know if I can be some, vigilante,” I whispered, looking down. 

“You can be better. You can inspire people. In a way I never could. Watching over your city like a guardian angel, making a difference. Saving people,” he smirked, “In a flash.” He walked to the edge of the building, “Take your own advice, wear a mask.”  Oliver then got out his bow to zipline off the rooftop. 

“Oliver, wait,” I called, thinking. 

“Yeah, Barry?” he said, turning around. 

“I-i can’t fight. I can’t be strong. And tough.” 

“Yes, you can. Meet me at my club, Verdant, in a week. Same time.”

“Your club?”

“Yes, my club.” 

And then he did his robin hood and swung away. 

A lot happens in a week. Take down metas, learn to swirl my arms to make wind, realize I have a bit of a crush on Oliver Queen. Please ignore the last one. 

I arrived at his club the following week at midday. During that time, I recalled that his secret lair was in the sublevel of his club.

“Hello Barry,” he greeted. 

“Hi. So, um-”

“Come at me. I’m going to hit you with an arrow.” “Sure you are,” I smirked. 

“Go, go.” I sped off 100 or so meters, and then ran straight at him. He fired an arrow, and it slowly made its way towards me. With a cheeky smile, I grabbed it and stopped. 

“Nice try Ollie, to-OCHHCHHC. Fuck-what?”

“Awareness of your surroundings,” Oliver said, pulling the arrows out of my back. 

“Ow ow it hurts.” “That was lesson one. The battlefield is just that, it’s a field. It’s not one person in one place, it's a network of people all trying to kill,” he places a finger on my chest, “You.”

I was still in pain, and not too fond of him. 

“You know there are less painful ways to teach that lesson?” “You showed up, you knew what you were getting yourself into,” he stated blatantly. “Well-no. No. I didn’t really want an arrow in my back.” “Would you prefer to train on a deserted Island on the coast of the China Sea?” he said jokingly. 

“No. Fine.”

He led me down to his base. 

“Come ‘ere,” he said, pointing to where a punching bag was set up. 

“This place gets cooler every time,” I mumbled under my breath.

“Punch,” he instructed. I started speed punching the bag, and it almost immediately broke. 

“Well I’d say that was pretty good,” I said, smiling.

“Horrible. No control.” “What? I broke the bag.” “Don’t speed punch. Punch normally,” he said, replacing the bag. 

I started punching as hard as I could. 

“Untuck your thumb,” he commented, “You’re going to break it.”

I kept punching, taking his feedback and applying it. 

“Wrist straight,” he said, taking my wrist into his hand and holding it steady. 

Almost 45 minutes later, I was exhausted. 

“My arms, I, I can’t feel them.” “Good, now fight me.” “Excuse me?” “Sparring, let's go. No fucking speedy shit, alright?” “Ollie, I don’t think I physically can.” “Oh yes you can.” He took my arm and dragged me onto the mat. I threw some weak punches at him, not moving. He was not holding back. 

“Oliver, are you just going to continue to BEAT me up?” “When you start trying, I will stop punching.” I gritted my teeth and started throwing more meaningful punches. 

“Good, come on, keep your feet right.”

I threw another punch.

“Don’t lean back, move forward.” After another 15 minutes of sparring, he called it. 

“Done.”

“Is that all?” I joked. 

“I mean we can do more,” he teased back. 

“Nah I’m good. I feel like I should get a certificate, like, ‘congrats you completed your first Oliver Queen superhero training session.’”

“Idiot,” he smirked. 

“Thanks.” “Right, I should get back to my city. Same time next week?”

“Yes.”

I reached out to hug him. 

“I’m not really a hugger, Barry.” “Well, technically I could just speed and hug you, so you might as well just…”

He smiled, and we briefly hugged. 

“Thanks Ollie.”

“See ya.”

Most sessions were similar to that. Well, not similar but the same vibe. He had me slap water for two hours once. He made me lift sand another time. Anyway, the training was hard and weird, but it seemed to be working. However, they started to shift. We were mainly sparring after three months, him giving me tips. 

“Good sessions,” he said, chucking me a bottle of water. 

“Thanks,” I huffed, collapsing into a chair. 

He walked over to his salmon ladder, and he pulled his shirt off. Update, the crush got much worse which could, really, only be expected. 

He started to go upwards, and I did definitely stare. Him jumping down caught my attention.

“You wanna get some food?” he asked. 

“Yeah, sure, yeah. Where?”

Where ended up being big belly burger, and, as the flash, I ate a shedload.  

“That. Is. Disgusting,” Ollie said, smiling endearingly.  

“You do you.” 

“So, how’s everything in Central?” 

“Yeah, it’s metahuman and that.” 

“Right, descriptive.” We both chuckled.  

“How’s everyone here?”

“Oh we’re hanging on as usual.” “Mine wasn’t descriptive enough,” I said, sarcastically. 

“What, you want me to give a rundown of every person in my life?”

No, I want to know if you and Felicity still have this weird “in love” thing going on. “You know what, sure,” I smirked. “You are a child, Barry Allen.”

I just laughed. 

We stayed a while just chatting, long after we’d finished eating. We were both red from laughter. and he was smiling brighter than I’d ever seen him. 

It became a tradition of sorts. Train and go get food. He’d take me to all his favorite spots, we’d eat, and stay for hours just talking. 

One day we were sparring, and I’d somehow ended up under him. He slowly leaned in, and I gave him a little nodd. The kiss lasted far too little time for my liking. 

I was smirking at him, “Does someone have a little crush?”

“Shut up, I see how you look at me shirtless.” “Fair. You look very hot shirtless,” I said, “Your heart is beating fast.’ “So is yours.” He leaned in again, and this kiss lasted longer. “You wanna go for dinner?” “As in a date?” I inquired. 

“As in dinner, you know. Maybe. People eat dinner.” “We’ve been dating for months now, neither of us cared to admit it,” I joked, walking towards a chair. 

“No,” he said, thinking. 

I shoot him a “really” look. 

“Aright so yes, we have. Do you wanna get dinner?”

“Yes, Ollie, I want to get dinner.”

So from there we basically just dated. Woah revolutionary I know. Training sessions became covers for dates. Sleeping at his became a late night’s work. In the chaos of everything, we found peace in each other. 

Oliver’s POV

“Can you run this through facial recognition please, Felicity?” “Yeah,” she said, tapping on her keyboard. 

My phone began to ring, and I saw it was Barry. 

I shot Felicity a look and headed to the backroom in the lair. 

“Hey Be-” “Hello,” a voice said. I recognized it to be Cisco. 

“Cisco?” “Yeah? Oliver?” “Why do you have Barry’s phone?” “Barry told me to call this number if he was ever in trouble?” I panicked, “Is, is h-he alright?” “Well, yes, no, he’s sorta-” “I’m coming now.”

“Felicity, I’m going to Central City, work stuff.” “What work exactly?” “Stuff.” “Secret girlfriend stuff?” “W-what?” “Come on, we all see you smiling at your texts, spending way too much time in Central City with'' Barry,” and the way your face lights up when you get a call.” “I-no. I don’t have a secret girlfriend.” Boyfriend, I have a secret boyfriend who happens to not be doing so well. 

“Where is he? Where’s Barry?”

“Med bed, right there,” Caitlin said, “Be careful, he’s resting.” “What the hell happened to him?” I said, fuming. 

“He got stabbed. Fight.” I ran over to his bed, grabbing his hand. 

“Barry,” I said softly. 

His eyes fluttered open softly. 

“Ollie, ollie. Y-you came.”

“Of course, baby, why would I not be here?”

He just tried to move closer to me. 

“Hey, hey, you stay still.”

“Cuddles? Please cuddles.”

I carefully made my way under the covers, and Barry immediately cuddled into me. He quickly fell asleep to the calming motion of my fingers running through his hair. 

“When did that happen?” I heard Cisco whisper. 

“Couldn’t tell you,” Caitlin said, equally baffed. 

I just held on to Barry, hoping he’d get better. Hoping he’d be fine. 

A few hours later his eyes fluttered open. 

“Ollie?”

“I’m right here, Bear.”

“I think they know,” he said, smiling. “They might have a suspicion.” “All this started from a bit of training.” I kissed his forehead, “God, you idiot, you had me worried there.”

“You can’t get rid of me that quick.” “And I’m so glad.”

His lips met mine, and we kissed for a short moment. 

“I think I love you Barry Allen.” He smiled his million dollar smile, “Oliver Queen? Love?”

“Only you.”

“I love you, too Ollie.”

Read/Save it on A03 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/31733458

[lilydalexf]

Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted every Tuesday.

Interview with Mara

Mara's first X-Files story on Gossamer was posted in 1996. From around then through the original run of the show and beyond, Mara (aka MaraKara) was actively involved with the online fandom and fic. As an example, she was one of the Primal Screamers, a group of X-Files fic fans who originally rallied around the fic Primal Sympathy by Lydia Bower after the season 4 finale. They "screamed," if you will, for "Primal." They continued rallying for other fics, even posting an X-Files fanfic primer of to-read classics that I've talked about before. Big thanks to Mara for doing this interview.

Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)?

I was much more of a reader but I'm thrilled when I see young fans finding great stories for the first time.  Like to engage a little in the "back in my day" stuff about checking atxc for story updates instead of finding a complete story archived on a website.

What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it?

It was fun.  It was a lot of smart people with different backgrounds and points of view all sharing in their love of Mulder and Scully.  With all the awful around (especially lately), chatting up the latest episode or the new story from your favorite author was fun.

Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)?

All of the above.  Message boards got spammy, so did atxc but the mailing lists were the best.  Great conversations there about everything from episodes and stories to real life milestones – all good.

What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general?

There were a lot of smart, talented people who enjoyed the show to the point of talking about it, writing about it and when the show sort of fell apart, the smart, talented people kept being smart and talented.  They wrote their own episodes, they recommended other good television programs, movies, books.  The community grew past the show.  That's what I took away – what started as an interest in sci-fi series on the (then) upstart FOX network, became a fandom of great people.

What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show?

I worked weekends during the show's first season so I was home on Fridays.  Once Mulder and Scully went to Alaska with Felicity Huffman, Jeff Kober and Xander Berkley, I had my show.

What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?

I was looking around for some reaction to "Pusher" and found a story called "Mercy".  I was all in after that.

What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom?

I made wonderful friends during that time so I will always have a positive relationship with the fandom.  The two reboot seasons brought some people back and it was great to see.  Again, it was a fandom with smart, talented people.  Who wouldn't want to hang with that?

Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files?

I've dabbled in a couple of obscure fandoms (no "Battlestar" or Marvel-verse for me).  With so many different entertainment choices and so many different ways to watch, everything just seems smaller.  The Wall Street Journal wrote an article about Mulder's dead for the summer turn in season four a few days after the season finale.  I just can't see any season finale on any series getting that kind of attention anymore.

Who are some of your favorite fictional characters? Why?

Of course after our heroes, I liked Gil Grissom and Sara Sidle on "CSI", I'm a fan of all things NCIS.  I'm a cop show fan – Mulder and Scully's FBI hook got me more than the sci-fi feel of the show.

Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully?

In my office, (back when I use to go to my office), I have a piece of paper behind my desk with a photo of Gillian Anderson shooting a basketball in the "Pusher" episode (it was a behind the scenes photo).  Under the photo there is a quote about "a very short heroine" and all she accomplished in a world of superheroes and bulked-up movie stars.  Scully is with me every day.

Do you ever still read X-Files fic? Fic in another fandom?

Dabble in my smaller fandom reads.  While there are talented and gifted writers, there just is not the volume of great stories – especially novel-length reads.  "The X-Files" had a whole group of authors who wrote nothing but 15-chapter mysteries.  Not as much of that anymore.

I do still read "the classics".  When I travel (back when I use to travel), a flight delay and decent wifi at the airport might mean revisiting an oldie but a goodie.

Do you have any favorite X-Files fanfic stories or authors?

I don't want to list anything here because I'll remember six other great stories as soon as I send them.  I will say I loved any Mulder as profiling wonder-boy story and I am pro-"Iolokus".

Do you still write fic now? Or other creative work?

The joys of being adult mean less time for fun, more time for the people keeping me employed and living indoors.

What's the story behind your pen name?

None.  AOL needed something and it was easy to type.

Do your friends and family know about your fic and, if so, what have been their reactions?

No.  They were into the joys of being an adult much earlier than I was.

Is there anything else you'd like to share with fans of X-Files fic?

Follow your bliss.  Read what you like, re-read what's good and be like our friend Lilydale who helps younger/new to the fandom/back to the fandom readers find the best of what's out there.

(Posted by Lilydale on November 17, 2020)

[olicitysecretsanta]

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

A Goodbye Olicity Exchange gift for Erin ( @canadianbeauty2 ).

 I hope you enjoy this fluffy Meet-cute! (Playlist will be posted with the story on AO3.)

xoxo Meegan ( @it-was-a-red-heeler, cfcureton)

“But—“ “I’m sorry, there’s nothing we can do.” The ticket agent didn’t look sorry. She looked more anxious than anything, and who could blame her? The skies outside the airport terminal were actually turning green. Felicity huffed a frustrated sigh. “What about tomorrow?” A snarky smile appeared and then vanished from the other woman’s face. “The airport won’t be open tomorrow. Or the next day. We’ll be lucky to be operational by the end of the week.” She stuck a hand on her hip behind the counter. “I suggest you find a hotel to hunker down in. Preferably on a high floor.”

The woman looked away then, back to her paperwork, back to shutting down her terminal so she and her fellow employees could skedaddle home as soon as they were given the go ahead. Felicity swallowed a very explicit swear word. She knew eastern seaboard hurricanes weren’t uncommon this time of year, she just never imagined one would hit while she happened to be in town. Sure, the labs at Wayne Enterprises had seemed empty these last couple of days, but she’d been too busy to ask why, and what little she’d been outside the weather hadn’t seemed all that threatening. It rained all the time in Gotham. By the time she’d realized she should get out of Dodge all the outbound flights that could make it before the storm hit had departed and her return ticket was useless; refunds weren’t an option for cancellations due to weather. Which she’d just learned. Felicity snatched the handle of her rolling bag and yanked it up as she spun on her heel—there had to be another solution to this problem—and walked straight into a solid wall. Wearing a plaid shirt. “Oof,” she said, staggering back a step with her glasses knocked askew. The wall had a hand, and it reached out to cover hers on the handle of the suitcase, stopping her in case she fell. “You okay?” The wall had a nice voice. Too bad she was not in the mood to appreciate it. “I’m fine. Sorry.” “No problem. Did you have any luck?” “None.” Felicity set her glasses right and finally looked up. The wall had piercing blue eyes, a good amount of scruff, and tousled hair that was either perfectly haphazard or intensively styled. The head tilt was a nice touch. “Are you trying to get out too?” she asked. “No, I just like hanging out at airports during natural disasters.” He shrugged both shoulders the slightest bit. “It’s a hobby.” Great. A comedian. She rolled her eyes internally and steered around him, determined not to let anything distract her from finding another way out of this city. The click of her heels was almost the only sound as she marched through the echoing terminal to the car rental counter. Only one employee manned the long line of counter space; he was at the very end, of course. He looked up with bored eyes as Felicity approached. “I need a car, please.” The clerk regarded her briefly before shuffling through a stack of papers. “You’re in luck. I have one left.” She sighed with relief even as she heard the zing of suitcase wheels approaching from behind. She couldn’t help glancing that direction to get a look at the poor bastard who’d just missed out on escaping the city. It was the wall. The paperwork slapped onto the counter as Felicity handed over her credit card and snatched up a pen, eager to get on the road. She was halfway through initialing all the boxes when the machine beeped and she heard the clerk grunt. “Your card’s declined.” “What?” He tossed it back on the counter. “Looks like it’s expired,” he offered by way of explanation. Dread flooded her veins. Oh, Frack. She could picture the new one, sitting on her kitchen counter at home. She’d meant to activate it before she left. The clerk must’ve read the expression on her face because he shot her a mildly incredulous look. “You don’t have another one?” “No,” she moaned. “I only carry one.” She heard the guy behind her shift his weight. “We take cash,” the clerk offered. “Here.” A hand reached around her from behind and laid a card on top of her paperwork. Felicity’s eyes went wide. “No, I—“ “We both need out of here ASAP. There’s only one car. We can share.” She whipped around so fast her ponytail flew. He met her eyes and smiled benignly. Felicity’s mouth opened and closed a couple of times, fish-like, as she tried to come up with an excuse to say no. She saw his eyes shift to glance at her mouth and her spine straightened in indignation. “I don’t think it would be appropriate, under the circumstances.” His smile never faltered. “Under the circumstances, I don’t think you have much of a choice. The airport’s closing, and no hotel will take your expired credit card either.” He spread his hands and waited. Felicity’s shoulders dropped, defeated, and she turned to finish signing her name. “Fine. But I’m driving.” ————————————————————————————————– The car was easy to spot in the otherwise empty lot. It was sporty. And red. Felicity suppressed an eye roll. He fit both their bags in the trunk—barely—without comment and waited patiently for her to unlock the doors before squeezing into the passenger seat. She was putting the key in the ignition when it hit her. “This isn’t going to work.” “Why not?” “It’s a stick shift. I can’t drive a manual.” The dread was back. She held her breath to keep from crying and scanned the empty space around her, praying this was just a crazy mistake and there was another vehicle waiting for her. “Can you?” she asked, still looking around. “Can I what?” “Drive a stick.” “I can.” Did he sound a little hesitant? Felicity looked at him. “So I’ll go back and add your name to the rental agreement and then you can drive. C’mon.” She was already unbuckling her belt, but he hadn’t moved. “What’s the matter?” “I don’t have my license.” “You’re traveling out of town but you don’t have your license?” He shook his head no once. “How does that even happen? Never mind. We don’t have time. What do I do first?” He stared at her, dumbfounded. “You want out of Gotham before this hurricane hits? Then teach me how to drive a manual.” He studied her for half a second, expressionless. “It would help if I knew your name.” Her eyes crinkled at the corners in a frown as she studied him. “First names only.” He nodded acceptance soberly. “I’m Felicity.” “Oliver. Nice to meet you.” “Tell me.” “Okay. Before you turn the key, make sure you’re in neutral. The pedal all the way to the left is the clutch…” ————————————————————————————————– “Do you learn everything this fast?” “Probably. Why?” “No reason. It’s just…impressive.” “Thanks. I think.” Felicity rolled up to the stop sign at the entrance to the parking lot and looked both directions to check for traffic. “And we’re off.” “Wait!” His hand fell to cover hers on the gear shift and she jumped in surprise. “Where are we going?” “To the nearest airport that’s still open.” “No, I mean ultimately. Where are you heading?” Felicity studied him. What if he was up to no good, this one? Her mother hadn’t raised a fool. Still… “Starling City,” she offered after a beat. His eyes lit with surprise. “Great! Me too.” “Huh.” “What?” She squinted at him, suspicious. “Nothing.” She checked both ways again and eased the sporty little car out into the street. “Let’s go.” Oliver looked uneasy. “You’re sure you have to fly?” “Fly? Yes. It’s how I got out here, so it’s how I’m getting back.” “But I can’t.” The gears ground a little. “I think you missed second.” Felicity grunted. “Fully aware.” They pulled up to a stop light at the entrance to the airport and waited for it to turn green. “Do I get on the highway from here?” “Am I supposed to know?” “You’re the navigator.” Oliver sighed but logged into his phone. “We should have a plan.” “We have a plan. Closest open airport. That’s the plan.” “What about a train?” “A train?!” “Yes. We could take the train.” “Like hobos?!” “There are still passenger trains in the 21st century, Felicity.” “Nope. No way. I have to be in Starling by Friday, no exceptions. I can’t poke across country by TRAIN.” “Okay, hear me out. Today’s Monday. It’s a twelve hour drive to Chicago. I have a buddy who’ll put us up for the night. From there it’s two days by train. Or,” he waved a hand around, “you can get yourself a flight outta O’Hare. Either way we’re back in Starling by Thursday at the latest. Straight ahead to the on ramp.” The light turned, and they rolled forward while Felicity made weird faces and fought with the gear shift. “Ungh.” “Just think about it. The closest major airport that’s still open is probably in Pennsylvania anyway. We’ve got time.” Traffic was heavy but moving as the last evacuees headed out of Gotham. They entered the highway and picked up speed, and Felicity shifted into fifth for the first time. “Smooth. Good job.” “Thanks. So tell me, when you showed up at the airport this morning you were planning to, what, use your boyish charm to get on a flight without government-issued ID?” “First of all, I’ve never heard anyone younger than my mother use the phrase ‘boyish charm’.” Felicity rolled her eyes. “Second?” “Second, I didn’t lose my license until late last night, so I haven’t exactly had a lot of time to come up with an alternate plan.” “No passport?” “Didn’t expect to leave the country so didn’t bring it.” “Guess that rules out taking any shortcuts through Canada.” “Funny.” Ten miles passed below the tires with neither of them speaking. Felicity watched him from the corner of her eye; he had his shirt sleeves rolled up and his jeans cuffed. Casual but very tidy. How his profile could be just as good as looking at him head on she would never know. Normal people never got that lucky. His thumbs danced around his phone screen before he glanced up. Her eyes flicked away and she prayed she hadn’t been caught looking. “My friend is willing to put us up if we decide to drive to Chicago.” Felicity’s nails tapped the steering wheel in a rapid pattern while she mulled over her choices. “Okay. We’re heading west in any event, so see if you can find me a flight from anywhere closer than Chicago. Otherwise we’ll plan to stay with your friend. Deal?” Oliver nodded once and got to work on his phone. ————————————————————————————————– She’d expected—probably irrationally—traffic to thin dramatically as soon as they left the city, but the lines of cars and trucks only increased as they caught up to the myriad of people who had left the path of the storm in a reasonable time frame. Before long the westbound lanes had slowed to a crawl. “Ugh, okay. Tell me again why people drive manuals on purpose,” she muttered, down shifting as taillights lit up in front of her. The sky was no longer green here, but the rain had started a few miles back and the air felt heavy. “Bad news, I’m afraid. No flights until we get to Cleveland, and those are going fast. It’s only five more hours to Chicago from there, and a free night’s stay.” Felicity spared him a glance and then wished she hadn’t; those eyebrows lifted in question and the faint puppy dog expression were her undoing. She sighed like a martyr. “Fine. But I get my own bed.” ————————————————————————————————– Hours passed. She discovered they liked the same music, or rather Oliver seemed to have no opinion on her tastes either way, so she didn’t have to pull rank to choose the radio station. He filled the car without asking, and always brought back some snack or treat she didn’t ask for when he returned from paying. Interstate traffic was back to normal, mostly just them and the big trucks, and Felicity was so grateful not to have to think about when to shift she wanted to fist pump. “I could drive,” he offered once. “That wouldn’t be legal.” “It would only be a problem if we got pulled over, which I would never let happen.” “Pulled over or involved in an accident.” “Well that’s morbid.” “That’s reality. I prefer being realistic. It keeps you from being disappointed.” Oliver was quiet then, staying so still she risked a glance at him. He was studying her. “Have you always been this way?” “What way?” “Closed off. Cynical.” Felicity’s mouth dropped open in shock. “I am NOT closed off. I have lots of friends. Many friends. A few…select…close friends. And ‘realistic’ and ‘cynical’ are two very different things.” “Is that so.” “Yes. People find me quite charming.” “People.” She shot him a look. “Historically.” This conversation was going nowhere good very quickly. Felicity could feel the beginnings of a babble bubbling up from her chest, and she didn’t dare let that happen. “We need to find a place to stop.” He said it in such an authoritative way she took her eyes off the road to stare at him. The nerve of him, ordering her like that. “Look, Mister—“ “Felicity, you’ve been driving practically non-stop for hours. You need to eat.” She waved the half-eaten candy bar in her lap at him in illustration, but he only huffed an annoyed sigh. “Real food. You need an actual meal, and time to move around. And relax.” “In my family, the driver gets to decide when and where we stop.” “Well in mine, the person paying makes the final call.” She was in the process of passing a semi so she could only throw a quick glare at him, but she didn’t miss the raised eyebrow he was giving her back. “The next exit has restaurants.” “Fine. But only if it’s fast food.” ————————————————————————————————– He chose a sit-down restaurant. Felicity sat on her side of the booth and tried to hold on to her annoyance, but everything on the menu looked amazing and she was so relieved not to be moving she wanted to weep with gratitude. When she glanced up Oliver was staring at her over his menu. “What?” “Nothing.” His eyes flicked down. “What are you going to get?” She watched him purse his lips as he considered. “The Monte Cristo, I think. You?” “An omelet sounds good. I can always go for breakfast.” He grunted agreement without looking up. The server came and went, and then Oliver leaned back and stretched his arms out across the back of the seat. He had an impressive wingspan, she noted. And those lovely ropey veins peeking out from under his sleeves— “So what’s waiting in Starling that has you rushing home?” Small talk now? Great. Okay. Felicity took a sip of water to stall. “I have, um, a presentation Friday. A present—a pres—an interview.” She shrugged and tried to pretend her face wasn’t turning red. “I have an interview.” “An interview.” “Yes.” “For a job.” “Yes for a job. What else?” His brow knit in concentration. “You just didn’t seem sure.” “It’s very, um, it’s a big step for me. You know, a challenge. Growth.” She shook her head enough to flick her ponytail over her shoulder and couldn’t meet his eye. “I’m excited about it.” “Yes. You look thrilled.” If this conversation didn’t end immediately Felicity was going to actually die. “I’m gonna go wash my hands,” she declared, already scooting out of her seat. The food was on the table by the time she returned, and they ate with little comment. Oliver made her get dessert, even after she protested that she was disgustingly full. When the check was paid he ushered her from the restaurant but snagged her arm to drag her three laps around the building to shake everything out. “Anything else, Coach?” she quipped as she rounded the front of the car to unlock the doors. He rolled his eyes, but she also thought she caught the hint of a smile as he ducked to get in on his side. The next few hours passed in a blur. Oliver quizzed her on trivia he unearthed on his phone, and once she’d explained the concept of Mad Libs to him, he went searching for those too. The sun was beginning to set when they pulled into the last rest stop before the final push to Chicago. “C’mon, Felicity, get those knees up,” he ordered, jogging in place in front of her on the sidewalk by the restrooms. “Oliver, this isn’t funny.” “You don’t wanna get a blood clot from sitting too long in one position.” “People are staring.” “Let ‘em.” Felicity called him a name under her breath but bounced around as instructed. Across the parking lot a trucker blew his horn in appreciation and she threw a hand out in that general direction. “You see what you’ve done?!” Oliver grinned and the sight of it made her a little light headed. She told herself it was all the jogging. A little before 10pm they pulled up to a big house in a nice suburban neighborhood; a McMansion, her mother would call it. Fittingly, Felicity killed the car in the driveway by accident, but neither of them commented as it shuddered to a halt, preferring to stare out the windshield at nothing. “That…was a long day,” she said finally. “Agreed.” He sighed. “Don’t forget the hand brake.” “Yup.” Oliver carried her suitcase up to the porch without being asked as a tall handsome stranger waited at the door. The two men hugged unabashedly while she stood a step below them, looking away discretely to allow them their moment. “Tommy, Felicity.” Oliver made the introductions with a motion of his head, his arms being full. Tommy smiled and stepped back to allow them to pass. “Welcome. It’s not often we get hurricane refugees this far west.” Tommy’s smile was rakish but friendly. “Guest room’s up and to the right. Bathroom’s across the hall.” Oliver set his suitcase down in the foyer and gestured with hers. “I’ll put this up there for you.” Felicity saw Tommy’s eyebrow twitch up in surprise and suddenly felt weird and exhausted and done with everything. “Thank you for your hospitality. I’m gonna go up now.” She caught Oliver glancing back at her from the stairs but ignored him in favor of shaking her host’s hand and wishing him a good night. “You okay?” Oliver asked quietly as she trailed him into the bedroom. “Fine. Just tired.” “You did an amazing job today. I still can’t believe how fast you picked up driving a stick.” “Thank you…for paying my way here…and for finding us a bed. Beds. A bed and a couch. Whatever.” Oliver chuckled at her accidental innuendo, but she could tell he was worn out too. “Good night, Felicity. Sleep well. I’ll be right downstairs if you need anything.” He showed himself out and closed the door as he went, and for the first time since the morning she thought about how crazy it was that she was trusting this virtual stranger—and now his friend—with her wellbeing. Felicity got ready for bed and was out by the time her head hit the pillow. Below her the low drone of male voices catching up carried on late into the night. ————————————————————————————————– It took Felicity a full minute the next morning to remember why she was waking up in a strange bedroom. “Oh God,” she muttered to no one as she collected her shower things and peeked out into the hall before scurrying to the bath. The house was silent. Felicity repacked her suitcase and perched on the bed to collect herself and check for flights out of O’Hare. She could get enough cash out of an ATM to cover a plane ticket, and then she’d arrange to repay Oliver for her share of the car rental and her meals. She could be home by dinner tonight. Easy peasy. A door downstairs closed and male voices drifted up the stairs, so she set her phone aside without picking a flight and went in search of breakfast. The house was nice, a little on the bachelor pad side, maybe, but clean enough. It appeared Tommy lived here alone. The man in question was perched on a bar stool at the kitchen island in sweats and a tee shirt, laughing at something Oliver was saying as he scrambled eggs in a skillet. It was such a domestic scene Felicity thought maybe she’d been under the wrong impression about her traveling companion. It was a strangely disappointing discovery. “Morning,” Tommy offered brightly. “Pull up a stool.” “How do you like your eggs?” Oliver asked. His hair was mussed from sleep, but even the flat spot on the side was endearingly sexy. Stop it, she admonished herself sharply. He’s gay. “I’m not, actually. Scrambled okay, or would you like another omelet?”

Oliver turned away smoothly to plate the current batch as Felicity’s jaw unhinged. Fracking frack, she’d said that out loud. Tommy was grinning openly at her. “He is awfully pretty, isn’t he? But he’s a total ladies’ man, I promise you.” Tommy gave her a bold wink. “We both are.” “Easy,” Oliver warned gently, sliding a plate of eggs and bacon to his friend and turning back to start again. “Scrambled’s fine,” Felicity muttered, mortified, from behind her hands. Next to her Tommy chortled. “I’m putting peppers and onions in it, just so you know. You don’t eat enough vegetables.” Felicity’s face popped up from behind her hands to protest. “Hey—“ He pointed at her without looking away from the stove. “Corn Nuts do not count. We’ve talked about this.” She huffed a sigh and looked away, only to find Tommy watching her with one curious eyebrow lifted. When her plate and his were ready Oliver circled the counter and threw a leg over the bar stool on Tommy’s other side. “Made up your mind about flying or taking the train?” Felicity stabbed her eggs. “I should fly. I have to finish my presentation.” “Plenty of time for that on a train.” “I need to fly. Besides, a train trip sounds expensive. I can’t ask you to cover both of us going.” Tommy’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You know who he is, right?” “Shut up, Tommy. It’s not a problem, but I’ll do whatever you want. I’m gonna go take a shower.” Felicity didn’t miss the warning look he shot his friend before setting his empty plate in the sink and walking out of the room, but Tommy flipped on the small tv at the end of the counter to watch sports and ended any chance of her asking questions. She hauled her suitcase downstairs on her own and was sitting primly on a leather ottoman in Tommy’s living room when Oliver reappeared in a dark blue sweater with just a hint of white tee shirt sticking out underneath. Felicity pressed her lips together firmly to keep her thoughts on the inside. “Do you have time before your flight to drop me at the train station? If not, Tommy said he could do it.” “I—oh. I, um, I haven’t picked a flight yet.” Oliver stood and considered her silently for a moment. “No?” She shook her head, feeling more ridiculous by the second. She’d made her choice, now she needed to follow through. “I can drop you at the station on my way,” she decided. He nodded at the same time Tommy materialized over his shoulder. “You kids all set?” Felicity stood and stepped forward as Oliver shifted their bags onto the porch. “Thank you for everything, Tommy. It was great to meet you.” He bussed her cheek and then smiled down at her. “See ya around, I’m sure.” She felt her brow contract in confusion but didn’t ask him to clarify since Oliver was back and the two of them were busy hugging and back slapping their goodbye. “Don’t be a stranger, yeah? And say hi to your folks for me.” “Will do. Thanks, Tommy.” “Any time, brother.” Felicity groaned under her breath when she got into the damned stick shift car but started it on the first try all the same. Oliver looked impressed. The ride out of the suburbs was mostly silent save for Oliver’s directions. He was a good navigator and seemed to know the city’s layout well. Felicity tried to imagine dropping him at the curb and driving on to the airport, never to see him again. She took a deep breath in through her nose and out her mouth before making her decision. “Is there, um, a rental car return near the train station?” ————————————————————————————————– Felicity waited with the bags and people watched while Oliver bought the tickets. The train station was certainly an interesting place. He was running a hand through his hair as he returned, but she didn’t know him well enough yet to figure out if that meant bad news was coming with him. “Did you get tickets?” “Yep. It’s boarding now, we should hurry.” “Is everything okay?” “What? Oh, sure. It’s fine. It has its own bathroom, which is nice.” “It?” There was a pregnant pause as Oliver grabbed the handle of his suitcase but wouldn’t meet her eye. “It,” he repeated. “They only had one bedroom compartment left. It has two beds,” he added quickly, already wincing at her potential explosion. Felicity could only shake her head. “This is like bad fan fiction,” she muttered to the air. She trailed him through the station, watching him check the train ticket and follow the overhead signs to their platform. The closer they got to their destination the more crowded it became; other travelers jostled them as they moved either to or away from the waiting trains. And then Oliver was glancing back at her and reaching a hand out to grab her and pull her closer, not allowing them to get separated. Felicity stuck close, one hand on her suitcase handle and the other held protectively inside his, her mind a blank as she tried to process this new development. His broad shoulders made a great shield, preventing her from being bumped or stepped on as they negotiated the crowd on their way to the correct platform. She could smell him from this range, a mix of an understated cologne—or maybe deodorant—and whatever detergent he used. He stopped suddenly and she face planted softly against his sleeve with a small “oof”. It made her want to giggle. “You okay?” “Fine,” she grinned, slightly loopy on his scent and the feel of his warm firm grip on her hand. “This is it.” She peeked out around his (very nice) bicep at the big silver train in front of them. Oliver looked back at her and winked. “Here we go.” ————————————————————————————————– Felicity realized she was staring as he lifted her suitcase up onto the shelf and made herself look away. If she didn’t get it together this was going to be two very long days. She smoothed a hand over her tightly cinched ponytail and sighed. “Well, what do you think?” The room had two twin sized bunks–the bottom of which converted to a couch during the day–and an upholstered armchair, a window, and a door to a minuscule bathroom. That was it. “It’s…small.” Like, a mobile prison you have to pay to stay in small, she added in her head. “We don’t have to spend all our time here, you know. There’s a dining car for meals, and an observation car. You can work on your presentation interview thing while you watch the world go by. You’ll love it. Trust me.” This was so not ideal, and she wanted to be mad, or at least annoyed, but she was finding she did trust him, dammit. “Do you prefer to be on top or bottom?” Felicity stiffened, her face going hot. “I beg your pardon?” Oliver huffed a laugh. “The bunks. Would you like the top or the bottom?” “Oh. Um.” She studied them in what she hoped was a thoughtful manner, though she was really just trying to stop blushing. Honestly, the idea of sleeping in the bottom bunk had always made her nervous. What if the person above suddenly fell through? Ugh. It gave her shivers. “Top,” she decided. Oliver nodded, apparently satisfied with that answer. “You hungry? Thirsty?” He looked so earnest  Felicity almost laughed. “I could eat,” she decided. “Lead the way.” The train started moving while they were walking down the hall; Felicity yelped as she lost her balance and Oliver shot an arm out to steady her. This time she was the one to reach for his hand and he took it immediately. They stayed that way until he ushered her in front of him at the entrance to the dining car and they were shown to their table. Felicity scooted into her side of the booth with an eye on the neighborhoods of Chicago sliding past the window as the train picked up speed on its way out of the city. Heading west. Heading home. The thought filled her with something other than anxiety for the first time since she realized a hurricane was bearing down on Gotham. “What?” Her head swiveled back to Oliver in surprise. “What, what?” “What has you smiling?” She shrugged and tried not to blush as the server handed them their menus. “Just excited, I guess. I’ve never traveled by train before, unless it was the subway. You seem like you have, though.” Oliver nodded without looking up from his menu but saved any further explanation until after they’d received their drinks and ordered lunch. When the server had moved on, he leaned his elbows on the table and gave her his full attention. “I’ve known Tommy for as long as I can remember. His family and mine were very close when we were growing up. But then his mother died when we were nine years old. His father—“ his eyes dropped to the table—“was never the same, after. When we were twelve he moved them to Chicago, so the next summer and every one after that my parents let me take the train—this route, actually—out to stay with them for a month.” “That’s why you know Chicago so well.” He flashed her a quick grin, but he was clearly revisiting the past. “They lived downtown back then, and Malcolm was not a vigilant parent. We had the run of the city from an early age.” He huffed a laugh. “Probably way too early, actually.” His soup and her salad showed up, so he paused his story to let them both take a few bites. “We picked the same college here in the Midwest so we could be roommates. It made my dad furious that I didn’t go to his alma mater, but…” He shrugged. “Se la vie?” “Exactly.” “When’s the last time you saw Tommy?” “Oh, we try to get together once or twice a year. We meet up to ski or travel when we get the chance. Europe, Southeast Asia, wherever.” “That’s pretty good though, considering.” She grinned, suddenly feeling flirty. “Do you still take the train?” He smiled too. “No. It’s been many years since I rode the train.” His eyes lifted to scan the space around him before settling back on her. “It’s nice to be back.” Their entrees arrived and they both focused on making a start before they resumed their conversation. “What about you? Where did you go for college?” he asked. “Boston. But I grew up in Las Vegas.” “Mmm, I love Vegas.” “Yeah? You wouldn’t say that if you lived there.” “Probably not, but that’s true of a lot of places.” He took another bite of his sandwich before he went on. “So how did you end up in Starling?” Felicity had been munching happily on her burger, but now her brow crinkled into a frown. “A job opportunity. Or at least that was the idea. Let’s just say it didn’t go as planned.” Oliver quirked a brow. “Hence the impending job interview?” “Sort of.” “I feel like I’m missing something.” Felicity sighed and set her burger down. “I thought I had my dream job lined up in Starling, so I moved across the country only to bomb my interview. Bomb isn’t the right word. I nuked it.” She paused to illustrate an explosion with her hands, complete with sound effects. Oliver winced in sympathy. “I’d already spent the money to move, so I had to stay and find something else. The job I got has been a soul-crushing experience, to say the least.” “That sucks. I’m sorry. But hopefully this interview on Friday will get you something better. Something you love.” Felicity turned her attention to the view out the window, but she wasn’t really seeing it. “Maybe,” she said finally. ————————————————————————————————– He hadn’t been exaggerating about her loving the observation car. It was crowded, but Oliver managed to find them two seats near the back and motioned for her to sit. The chairs were large and comfortable and swiveled so they could be turned toward the view out the windows. The windows themselves carried on up into the roof, which let in lots of sunlight and beautiful views of the clear blue sky. “Wow,” she managed finally. She’d brought her laptop but for several minutes only sat with it on her knees while she watched the scenery flying past. Oliver chuckled his agreement, leaning back in the neighboring chair and stretching out his legs to cross at the ankles. Felicity made herself look away to get some work done while Oliver drifted off to sleep, but she found herself glancing up to peek at him from time to time. Since they were headed the same direction as the sun it stayed almost directly overhead through the afternoon, making her deliciously warm and sleepy, and eventually she stopped fighting it and curled up in her seat, work temporarily abandoned, to nap. His head was tilted her direction when she woke; it was obvious he’d been watching her sleep. She blinked at him a couple of times, clearing the cobwebs from her brain, and the corners of his mouth lifted briefly. “I like train travel,” she decided quietly, making his smile come back. She sat up and stretched before collecting the laptop she’d abandoned at her feet. “Get much work done?” “Not much,” she admitted. “But I finished the research in Gotham, so now I just have to write it up. Shouldn’t take long.” “You get out to Gotham a lot?” He showed no sign of being eager to leave their spot so Felicity folded herself back into her chair and swiveled further to face him. “Hardly ever. I called in a favor with a friend at Wayne Enterprises and managed to get some time in their labs.” She made a motion with her hand. “On the down low.” Oliver’s eyebrows lifted. “Sneaking around behind Bruce Wayne’s back? Impressive.” “It’s worse than that.” She grinned. “My friend IS Bruce Wayne.” His brow contracted then, and Felicity felt a thrilling little shiver run up her spine: Oliver was clearly a bit jealous. The frown only lasted a second and then he readjusted to sit up straight. “So what are you working on?” Felicity fought the urge to glance over her shoulder before speaking. It had been her secret for so long; even Bruce didn’t know exactly what she was working on. The best policy, she decided as she opened her mouth, was to be as vague as possible. “It’s a bio stimulant implant the size of a microchip with a basically limitless battery that will hopefully help people with traumatic spinal injuries walk again.” They both realized what she’d said at the same time. Oliver’s brows shot up into his hairline; hers did too, but for an entirely different reason. “Frack,” she whispered under her breath. Oliver chuckled. “It’s okay, Felicity, your secret’s safe with me.” He shook his head in wonder. “That sounds amazing. Where did you say you went to college?” “I didn’t. MIT.” His expression of wonder didn’t change. “Well I don’t know what company you interviewed with, but they were crazy not to hire you.” Felicity rolled her eyes. “You had to be in that interview. Ugh.” “What was so bad about it?” He leaned forward and rubbed his hands together. “Run me through it. Break it down.” “What, like sports?” He grinned wickedly and she sighed. “I can’t believe you’re gonna Monday Morning Quarterback me.” Oliver laughed. “Only if you want.” He glanced up behind her head at something. “You thirsty? We could get a drink before dinner.” Felicity decided a little alcohol might help dull the pain from the memory and nodded. It seemed like the most natural thing in the world to slip her arm through his as they strolled to the club car. ————————————————————————————————– “So. The interview.” Felicity scooped up her wine glass and took a healthy swallow to fortify herself just as their appetizer appeared at the table. He raised an eyebrow. “You promised.” “I did no such thing!” Oliver indicated she should get first dibs on the mozzarella sticks before dipping his head to make her look at him. Felicity rolled her eyes dramatically and huffed a beleaguered sigh. “Okay.” She said it around a mouthful of cheese, dropping the remainder of her first stick back onto her plate and wiping her hands. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He grinned in that way he had, close-mouthed and dimples showing, and she almost choked on her bite; her eyes bugged as she swallowed. “First of all, the power went out in my hotel the morning of the interview, so—“ she waved a hand around her head—“my hair was still wet when I got there. And I’m pretty sure there was shampoo in it.” He chuckled and she pointed a warning finger at him. “Don’t laugh.” “Sorry. Please continue.” “You may have noticed I tend to babble when I’m nervous.” “It has not escaped my attention.” She nodded agreement. “And one of the heads of the company, I’m talking a VIP, was conducting the interview.” Felicity took another bite. “This is a woman I’ve seen on the cover of tech magazines. Sitting across the table from me. In Louboutins so new I could smell them.” Again with the smirk. He was too much. “I have no idea what all I said to her during those fifteen minutes. I’m pretty sure I blacked out for some of it. To top it all off my tablet wouldn’t talk to their system, so my presentation wouldn’t run. I basically had to explain my bio stimulant idea in interpretive dance, which is not a good look for someone with multiple degrees in Computer Science.” Oliver groaned in sympathy but then leaned forward on his elbows. “All that sounds like purely bad luck. You weren’t incompetent, Felicity, just a—“ he waved a hand around before selecting his own mozzarella stick—“victim of circumstance. Did they give you any feedback afterward?” She nodded as she swallowed her bite. “They said it was my lack of experience, which I can’t fault. I was coming straight out of graduate school. The degree looks good, but it doesn’t make up for actual work in the trenches. I think if the interview itself had gone better I might’ve convinced them to overlook that and give me a chance.” “Well,” Oliver decided after a sip of beer, “it still doesn’t sound like you nuked it. And it seems like you have a second chance to show them what you can do.” His eyes flicked from the marinara dipping sauce up to her. “I assume that’s where you’re interviewing Friday?” Felicity squirmed under his gaze. “The interview is actually with my current employer. For a promotion.” Oliver studied her. “The soul-sucking one? Do you really want to do that?” “I’m not sure I have much of a choice.” She sighed and shook her head quickly, wanting to change the subject so she didn’t have to think about it. “I’ve never asked what you do for a living. What had you out in Gotham just before a hurricane?” Oliver took his time finishing his bite; stalling, she thought. “I work for my family’s company. I was out on the coast entertaining clients.” “Entertaining.” “Yes. You know, wine, women, and song. Stuff like that.” Felicity tried to keep a serious face but failed miserably. “Is that your only job? Entertaining?” She pulled her lips in to keep from laughing, but he caught her anyway and mock glared. “I have other roles. Ribbon cutting, check presentation. This particular one just happens to play into some of my strengths from college.” “I see. Did you major in Wine, Women, and Song?” The stern look he was giving her was ruined by the twinkle in his eye. He took a sip of beer and shrugged. “More or less.” Felicity focused on dunking her last stick in sauce. “Well, there are worse jobs, I suppose.” “Very true.” He paused. “But the older I get the more I wish they’d give me a chance to be more than a glorified party host.” They chewed in silence for a moment, sucked down into temporary melancholy over the current state of their careers. Oliver swallowed and caught her eye. “Another drink?” “God yes.” ————————————————————————————————– Amtrak, as it turned out, made a pretty good steak. It wasn’t exactly a candlelit dinner in an intimate setting, but there were linen tablecloths and real napkins. Also, the baked potatoes were huge. “I know I’ve said this five times already, but yum.” Felicity wiped her mouth and sighed in contentment. “Better than an airplane, then?” There was a gleam in his eye as he said it. “Better than an airplane.” Felicity smiled at him. This felt good. It felt right, crazy as it sounded, sharing a meal with this man she’d known less than 48 hours as they rolled across the country chasing the sunset. Of course, after two and a half glasses of wine everything felt right. She swayed gently in her seat but told herself it was the train and not the alcohol. Trains were sway-ee. “I don’t think that’s a word.” “What?” Oliver smiled at her, a kind of indulgent look that transformed his face and told her she was adorable, even when she couldn’t control her brain-to-mouth conduit. It crinkled the skin around his eyes and exposed his utterly fantastic cheekbones. He was— “You’ll give me a complex if you’re not careful,” he said softly, looking down and brushing a crumb from the tablecloth. “Wha—what?” He chuckled. “You’re thinking out loud again. It might be time to call it a night.” “Really?” Felicity pouted. “Wait til you sleep on a train. It’s fantastic. Very soothing.” “Are you going to sleep with me?” Oliver coughed. “Sorry, what?” Felicity felt her face turn red. Her filter—or whatever passed for it in her brain—was gone. Washed away in a sea of red wine. The Red Wine Sea. She giggled self-consciously. “I didn’t mean SLEEP with you. I meant sleep with you. Sleep, sleep. Not…the other thing.” He was already scooting out of the booth and reaching for her hand, but he was smiling. “I know what you meant, Felicity. You’re safe with me.” She was on her feet suddenly, and close to him. So close she had to tip her head back to look at him. He was tall. And looking deep into her eyes. “You know that, right?” Felicity swallowed. “Know what?” She’d lost the thread of this conversation, but she didn’t really care. Everything was fuzzy and nice and she felt like giggling again. Oliver turned away with her hand in his but she pulled against him, leaning back on her heels and making him stop and turn to look over his shoulder. “I want to do something first.” ————————————————————————————————– The sunset was just a faint pink line separating the sky from the earth by the time they stepped into the observation car. The lights were dimmed, and the car was practically empty. Above them, unencumbered out here by light pollution, the night sky had exploded with stars; Felicity gasped when she saw it. Her hand slipped down from his arm and their fingers entwined as they took in the view. “It’s…” “Remarkable,” he finished, but when she glanced over, Oliver was looking at her, not the stars. ————————————————————————————————– Felicity awoke slowly, feeling fuzzy and parched and a little achy. The sunlight peeking around the edges of the window shade let her know it was probably time to be up, but the constant movement of the train was so comforting, she was tempted to let it lull her back to sleep. Wait. Train? Her eyes popped back open and she stared at the ceiling as she tried to puzzle out why the hell she was on a train. Train. Oliver. Oliver! She peeked her head slowly over the side of the bed, but the room appeared to be empty. His bed had been slept in, at least. Felicity sighed and ran her fingers through her hair and then flung the covers off and set about getting out—down? She had no memory of getting UP—from bed. She moved slowly down the ladder; the last thing she needed on this trip was a visit to the ER. How that would even be accomplished from a moving train she had no idea. Did the ambulance have to match speed, racing alongside as they passed her across on a stretcher? That didn’t seem right. She stopped thinking about it because thinking made her head hurt. A cursory inspection told her she was unharmed and dressed in her pjs. Had she dressed herself or… Too much. Too much to think about. Felicity squeezed into the ridiculously tiny bathroom—it was like camping at 60 miles per hour—to take care of things and put her hair in a haphazard ponytail. Her suitcase was basically unreachable on its high shelf in her current condition, but Oliver’s denim jacket was laying over the arm of the chair, waiting to be worn. Calling out to her. Felicity slipped her arms into the giant sleeves and wiggled her feet into her shoes. She found him in the observation car, in the same seat he’d occupied the day before. He was leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, cradling a cup of coffee in both hands. Oliver looked up as she approached and smiled softly; he looked exhausted. She opened her mouth to say hi but her eyes raised to the view out the window first and all thoughts vanished: sunrise over the northern plains had turned the world into a canvas of light and texture that, even hungover, she wanted to drink in. “Oh…” “Pretty cool, huh?” “It’s…” “I know.” The tone of his voice finally brought her around. Felicity dropped her gaze to his face and tried to process the way he was looking at her. Oliver waved to the empty chair next to him and she tucked herself up into it. When his eyes skimmed over the jacket she blushed. “Couldn’t get my suitcase down,” she explained. “It’s okay. Looks good on you.” She was swimming in it, so probably not, but it was sweet of him to say. He offered his coffee to her without comment, and any other day she would be sorely tempted, but her stomach flipped and she blanched and waved him off. Also, it appeared to be black; how someone could drink coffee with no cream or sugar or seasonal flavoring was beyond her. His mouth quirked into a brief smile. “A little rough this morning?” Felicity attempted a nod and immediately regretted it. “Mmhmm,” she offered instead. If she didn’t move her head, she could keep looking at the beautiful scenery without wanting to die. “What…exactly…happened last night? After the observation car?” Oliver took a sip of coffee. “I was wondering when you lost the thread.” His fingers rotated the paper cup as he spoke. “After the observation car you talked me into going back to the club car where you had one more drink and then sang karaoke for an hour.” Felicity cringed. “I didn’t know they even had karaoke on trains.” “They don’t.” Her eyes tracked slowly to him; he was expressionless except for an amused twinkle in his eye. “Oh.” “Yeah.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I am…SO sorry.” Oliver chuckled. “It’s okay. It was cute. The bartender was pretty good at harmonizing. You made a good team.” “Oh. God.” “Hey. Look at me.” She cracked open the eye closest to him. “It’s okay, Felicity. I didn’t mind taking care of you.” “Really?” “Really.” He stood and offered her his hand. “Ready to go get your suitcase down?” She unfolded from the seat and let him stabilize her as they moved through the car. “I still have questions.” “Shoot.” “How did I get into my pjs?” “You did that.” “And into bed?” “Well, I did that. You gave it a good try first, though.” “Oh God, Oliver.” He chuckled as he held the door for her. “You were adorable. Even the conductor thought so.” ————————————————————————————————– Felicity’s stomach rallied in time for lunch and then she climbed—unassisted—back into her bunk and fired up her laptop. She finished her presentation while Oliver napped below her; she would pause every few minutes to listen for his soft snores, and once she leaned out over the edge to look at him. He’d confessed over their meal that he’d feared she’d fall out of bed in the middle of the night and break her neck, so he’d hardly slept. He claimed she’d vehemently opposed the idea of sleeping on the bottom bunk when he suggested it, which had eventually brought the conductor down to check on all the commotion. She blushed fiercely every time she thought about it. Oliver stirred and sat up just as she saved her finished presentation and shut down her computer. “C’mon,” he said softly. “Let’s take a walk.” They grabbed a soda in the club car and wandered back to the observation car. The view out the windows had changed to oil fields and miles and miles of freight cars. Felicity jumped in surprise the first time a train passed them going the other direction at sixty miles an hour and they both laughed. Dinner was quiet; neither of them drank. They found little reason for small talk, preferring to say everything necessary with just looks and smiles. Every time Felicity thought of their arrival in Starling City the following morning she got an achy feeling in her chest, like the end of something precious was approaching. They sat up late in the club car and didn’t return to their compartment until almost midnight. Oliver waited in the hallway to give her privacy so she could get ready and tucked into her bunk before going to bed himself. They lay in the dark for several minutes before Felicity spoke up. “Oliver?” “Yeah?” “I have a confession.” “Okay.” “The presentation isn’t for my interview Friday. I don’t work at some fancy company. I work at a Tech Village. It was the only job I could find. I’m interviewing for a promotion to Assistant Manager.” She swallowed a lump in her throat. “The research on the implant is, well…I spent my entire savings on the plane ticket to Gotham just to prove to myself that my idea isn’t crazy. That I’m not actually a failure. I…I just thought you should know.” “Felicity, I think your idea is brilliant. And I think you should approach that first company and ask for another chance to prove yourself. You owe it to yourself to find out if things could be different.” She nodded into the dark but didn’t dare try to answer; a tear crept down her cheek. Below her Oliver sighed. “I have a confession too.” “‘Kay.” She sniffed discreetly. “I didn’t lose my driver’s license in Gotham. Not the way you think, anyway. The night before we met, I was entertaining clients, like I said, but things got out of hand and I ended up getting arrested. I spent several hours in the city jail and had my license revoked. As soon as we get to Starling, I have to come clean to my family and go to court and probably do community service.” He sighed into the dark and she turned over, tempted to climb down the ladder and give him a hug. “I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t tell you.” “Thank you,” she whispered, though it didn’t seem adequate for the way she felt. “You’re the one who deserves the thanks. I went to that airport having no idea how I would get home. If it wasn’t for you, I’d probably still be in Gotham somewhere, riding out a hurricane.” “Well I couldn’t have escaped without your credit card and your crash course in manual transmissions. No pun intended.” She heard him huff a laugh. “So really I should be thanking you.” “I guess we made a pretty good team.” She smiled into the dark. “Yeah, I guess so.” “Good night, Felicity.” “Night.” Far off in the distance, the mournful shriek of the train whistle announced their arrival at another crossing. ————————————————————————————————– Oliver Queen sat at his desk and stared out the window at the building across the street. The woman who had the office opposite him kept a variety of plants in the window and was giving them their daily drink of water. “Oliver? Your mother would like to see you.” “Okay. Thanks.” He ran a hand through his hair and grabbed his suit jacket. It was only four floors; he took the stairs. It had been exactly one week since he had parted from Felicity at the Starling City train station with a handshake. A handshake, for God’s sake, when what he’d really wanted to do was kiss her. He’d wanted to kiss her for days by that point, but at the last second he was afraid of ruining the bond they’d begun to form the second she demanded he teach her how to drive a stick. The memory made him shake his head as he flipped a wave to his mother’s EA and pushed through the glass door into her office. “Oliver, I want you to sit in on the interview I have in a few minutes.” “Okay. Any particular reason?” Moira Queen rolled her eyes without actually changing expression. It was one of her superpowers. “You’ve asked for more responsibility, so I’m giving it to you. I want your input on this potential new hire.” She passed him on her way out the door he was holding open. “Research and Development doesn’t really have an opening at the moment, but this person comes with a rather special referral letter.” “From who?” She glanced back at her son with a knowing smile. “Bruce Wayne.” Oliver groaned. The head of HR and a representative from R&D were already seated at the conference table when they took their seats. Oliver smoothed his tie, only half listening as his mother exchanged pleasantries. “Here we go again, eh?” the HR VP was saying. Moira pretended to fix her perfect hairdo. “Well it can’t be any worse than last time. I never did figure out what she was trying to say about my shoes. I assume it was an attempt at a compliment, though who could tell?” They both chuckled. “If what you’ve said about this idea of hers is legitimate,” the R&D rep put in, “I don’t care how awkward she is. A bio stimulant implant to reverse paralysis? That could be a game changer.” Oliver became very focused on the conversation going on around him. He sat forward and loosened his tie, suddenly warm. “But she has no experience,” his mother was saying. “Can we be sure the work is even hers?” “Mom…” “Exactly my point. Her resume says she currently works at…Tech Village.” “Mom, I…” Moira gestured through the glass at her EA, the signal to send in their victim. Oliver stood up. “Mom, I need to speak to you. Now.” She frowned at him. “Oliver, what—“ “Outside. Please.” She sighed elegantly and rose to follow him out into the hall opposite the one occupied by the EA. Damn Queen Consolidated’s glass offices; Oliver grabbed his mother’s elbow and gently steered her further away from the fishbowl of a conference room. “What is it, Oliver? I have a lot of appointments today—“ “Mom, the person you’re about to interview. I know it didn’t go well the last time, but I’m telling you, she’s the real deal. Felicity’s brilliant, and she learns so fast it’ll make your head spin. She has amazing ideas, and she’s funny, and kind, and you have to give her a second chance. You won’t regret it, I promise.” Moira searched her son’s face, confused. “Oliver, you know this young woman?” “Yes. She deserves this chance. Please.” She studied him a moment longer. “I’ll…I’ll keep your recommendation in mind. But right now we’re keeping her waiting.” He squeezed her elbow when she tried to turn away. “Mom, I—I can’t be in the interview.” She raised an eyebrow and waited. “It would be a conflict of interest.” “Oh, Oliver.” She sighed and gave him the look she usually reserved for Robert Queen. “No, it’s not like that. She’s a friend. I traveled cross country with her last week to get away from that hurricane. She learned to drive a stick in under ten minutes in an airport parking lot and then drove us twelve hours to Tommy’s, and…” He sighed. “I can’t.” Moira extracted her arm gently from his grip and smoothed a hand over his sleeve. “Alright, sweetheart. I’ll let you know how it goes.” “Thanks. And mom?” She turned to look over her shoulder and Oliver gave her a brief grin. “Be nice.” ————————————————————————————————– ONE YEAR LATER “Here ya go. I got you the big bottle, just in case.” “Ungh. Thanks.” Felicity fiddled with the cap ineffectually until he grabbed it back and opened it for her. Oliver watched her take a swig before popping a pill. She chased it with more water and wiped her mouth. She was sweating; actual beads of sweat were forming on her forehead. He laid the back of his hand there to check for fever. “I’m okay. I’ll be okay. This is fine. I’m fine.” “You don’t look fine, Felicity. Is this—“ “Normal?” She swiped the back of her hand across her mouth again. “Unfortunately, yes.” A flight attendant passed them with an eye out for seatbelt violators and Felicity handed him back the water bottle so she could check hers for the fifteenth time. “How come you never told me you were afraid to fly?” Oliver prodded gently, still stunned by what he’d witnessed over the previous twenty minutes. “Six months ago, when I insisted we drive seventeen hours to Las Vegas to visit my mother, I thought that would be a clue.” “I figured you just wanted a road trip.” She shook her head quickly and moaned as the plane shifted back from the gate. “Nope.” She closed the shade over her window quickly. “You’re sure there isn’t a train we could take this time?” That surprised a laugh out of him. “There is, in fact, no train that will get us all the way to Hawaii, Felicity.” Oliver clicked his tongue in sympathy and took her hand. “I wish you’d said something, honey. We could’ve picked somewhere closer for a honeymoon.” “No way. I’ve always wanted to go to Hawaii. This will be fun. As soon as the pills kick in.” Oliver was still trying to process. “The day we met. At the airport. You…you’d flown out from Starling and were trying to get back…” Felicity smiled for the first time in hours, though it was strained. “The pills work, I’m telling you.” “And until then?” “Until then…oh God.” The plane began accelerating toward take off. “Felicity, look at me.” He waited until she opened her eyes. “It’s going to be fine. I love you.” And then he leaned toward her and captured her lips with his own. She melted against him as the world dropped away.

[hope-for-olicity]

Fabulous Olicity Fanfic Friday - February 14th, 2020

Happy Friday and HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY! So this is my attempt to both thank awesome fanfic writers for their amazing work and offer my recommendations to anyone who is interested. Here are the fantastic fanfic stories I read this week! They are posted in the order I read them. This and all previous Fabulous Olicity Fanfic posts can be found on my blog. Please reblog and share these awesome writers’ works!

I Saw Him Standing There by @pr0fessi0nal-fangurl​ - Goodbye Olicity Exchange gift - Felicity is on her own raising baby Mia doing the best that she can when she gets some unexpected surprise guests that change the course of everything. What I would have liked to have seen happen post-crisis. Oliver and Felicity and their entire family deserved better than what they got. https://archiveofourown.org/works/22564942

It's a Long Story by @lupin72​ - Goodbye Olicity Exchange gift - Oliver and Felicity both tell various people the story of some firsts in their relationship. https://olicitysecretsanta.tumblr.com/post/190649619361/its-a-long-story

Once Upon a Valentine's by @spaztronautwriter​ - Goodbye Olicity Exchange gift - strange mix of fluffy and angst https://olicitysecretsanta.tumblr.com/post/190655040450/once-upon-a-valentines

The Last Words I Could Never Say (Gonna Come Out Anyway) by @lucyyh​ -  Goodbye Olicity Exchange gift -  It takes place in 2008, during the holidays. It’s an AU, mostly fluff with a side of feelings. https://olicitysecretsanta.tumblr.com/post/190655453637/hi-redpensandhoodies-this-is-my-little-gift-for

Love in an Elevator by @jennonthewire - Goodbye Olicity Exchange gift - Another way Oliver and Felicity could have met, involving elevators and mistaken identity. https://olicitysecretsanta.tumblr.com/post/190656280505/love-in-an-elevator

Dancing Around the Lies We Tell (Convergence) multi-chapter Complete by @allimariexf​ - Goodbye Olicity Exchange gift -  The anonymous hacker who’d been helping Oliver Queen in his mission had first contacted him seven months ago, though “contacted” hardly felt like the right term. He’d arrived at the foundry and booted up his computer one night only to find the entire system had been upgraded, and simple text document saved to the desktop: I’m truly stunned that no one managed to trace the redistribution of Adam Hunt’s funds back to you. No one else, I mean. She certainly had a way with words, and in their months together she’d often surprised him with her uncannily insightful observations. Before he realized it, she had come to haunt his thoughts. Who was she, in her normal life? He was resigned to never knowing. His life was his mission, and there was no room for anything else. Or so he told himself. https://archiveofourown.org/works/22593223/chapters/53993044

Helplessly Wrecked multi-chapter WIP by @cruzrogue​ - A very smart, passionate, woman. Worked to get her dual masters from MIT, it may have taken longer being a mother of triplets but at least she has her mother’s support. Oliver Queen still has a yacht incident and was marooned for shorter time frame on a real deserted island. He never flunked out of his Ivy League schooling and is a very sought-after bachelor. His relationships never last more than half a year and is known to throw himself into his work. His motto ‘work hard plays harder’. https://archiveofourown.org/works/19194103/chapters/45628978

Routines by @swiftletinthecloud​ - Goodbye Olicity Exchange gift - how a missed routine leads to an awesome meet cute https://olicitysecretsanta.tumblr.com/post/190655450823/routines

2315 N. Highbury Ave. multi-chapter WIP by @cruzrogue​ - Overnight Felicity becomes homeless and she keeps this from Oliver because their friendship is strained and he’s already stressed out enough. Its only a matter of time that some bottled-up feelings will come to the surface. https://archiveofourown.org/works/21447388/chapters/51108508

Make it Home (I'm Still Here) by @sparklesannie - Goodbye Olicity Exchange gift - Wanted hurt/comfort or angst with a happy ending. I’ve never written anything like this so here’s my take on it. I tried to make it close to canon so I did wait until last minute to write this. I added some scenes that I hope you will like and warm your heart as it did mine while I wrote this. https://olicitysecretsanta.tumblr.com/post/190646099371/make-it-home-im-still-here

The Untold Truth of the Nutcracker by @green-arrows-of-karamel​ - Goodbye Olicity Exchange gift - An Olicity nutcracker AU - https://olicitysecretsanta.tumblr.com/post/190646923881/dear-sammy-captainsammyangel-when-i-got-my

Type O multi-chapter WIP by @mindramblingsfics​ - Being a young Bratva captain, Oliver has had to go above and beyond to prove his worth. Despite some obstacles, he has made quite the name for himself in Starling City. When his life, family and empire are threatened from within, there are only a few people Oliver can truly trust and depend on. His fiery spirited wife, Felicity, is the first person he turns to. https://archiveofourown.org/works/20888546/chapters/49652453

It's in the Air multi-chapter WIP by @emmilynestill​ - December 23, 2016. It’s Mayor Queen’s first holiday party and love is in the air. No, wait, that’s tension in the air. Bitterness. Regret. Painful longing for one’s former love. Awkward interactions with current significant others. A little humiliation mixed in. Yup, this was one great party. Then the gas came. Maybe love was in the air Afterall. Just my usual lock Oliver and Felicity in a room with a mind-altering substance with a dash of holiday magic thrown in. And, by magic, I mean Sex Pollen. And maybe a little Truth Serum to stir things up. https://archiveofourown.org/works/21552481

We Ended as Lovers multi-chapter WIP by @smkkbert​ - Three years ago, Felicity’s life was perfect. She was offered a job at two great companies. Her boyfriend just started his own fashion label, and they picked a perfect apartment to live in together. The more heartbroken she was when Oliver got cold feet and it all ended. Now, Felicity is coming back to Starling City, well aware that she is destined to run into her ex-boyfriend there. While old feelings revive quickly, the pain still goes deep. Besides, for some reason Oliver seems to be angry with her. https://archiveofourown.org/works/22034827/chapters/52587292

Forget Me Not multi-chapter WIP by @mindramblingsfics​ - Felicity was presumed dead after The Gambit was shipwrecked and she went missing. As the one year anniversary of her death approaches, a miracle happens and she is found. Just when Oliver thinks the universe has given them a second chance, he learns Felicity barely remembers him and the memories of their love together are gone entirely. Oliver and Felicity’s journey after they reunite prove to be a tough road ahead, and then they learn that Felicity’s accident may have had a more sinister motive behind it. https://archiveofourown.org/works/18392291/chapters/43556987

If I Tremble - Unravel by @smoaking-greenarrow​ - Felicity finds some new ways to entertain herself in the paradise dimension. https://archiveofourown.org/works/15409122/chapters/54222400

Hope multi-chapter Complete by @missyriver​ and victoriaOlicity - Oliver Queen never thought he was the married with children kind of guy. But here he was, married to the love of his life, a son about to graduate, and a three-month-old daughter who had him wrapped around her finger. The road to Hope was a long one, but he never stopped looking, never stopped fighting. https://archiveofourown.org/works/10822968/chapters/24015198

Time for a Story multi-chapter WIP by @smkkbert​ - This fic shows Olicity and their life as a (married) couple with family. Although Olicity (and their kids) are the protagonists, other characters of Arrow and Flash make appearances. YOU NEED THIS STORY IN YOUR LIFE. https://archiveofourown.org/works/3912157/chapters/8757172

Faith in You by @starrnobella​ - When Oliver's in danger, there's only one person guaranteed to find him and bring him back home. https://archiveofourown.org/works/13686384

// @emmaamelia95 // @mel-loves-all // @oliverfel4 // @green-arrows-of-karamel // @coal000 // @miriam1779 // @memcjo// @captainolicitysbedroom // @tdgal1 // @spaztronautwriter // @lalawo1// @quiveringbunny // @wrongshipper // @thebookjumper// @vaelisamaza // @myhauntedblacksoul // @lovelycssefan // @laurabelle2930 // @laxit21 // - let me know if you want to be tagged or untagged! 

[babblingblondegenius]

Happy Felicity Friday

Arrow’s final season began this week without our favorite babbling blonde genius. ;) also :(   I can’t bear the thought of watching the show with no Felicity but I am keeping up with it through Tumblr, Twitter, and the fandom friends who are watching.  It appears that Oliver is reliving moments from past seasons and the premiere featured season one.  I’m in serious missing Felicity Smoak mode and thought it would be nice to relive some Felicity moments from season one. :)

The moment that saved Arrow from itself.  BLESS THIS GIRL AND HER RED PEN AND THE AMAZING CHEMISTRY THAT LAUNCHED A DREAM SHIP!

The script said that Felicity was the one who was supposed to be ‘smitten’ LOL

Little did we know those glasses would become iconic.

When you at work trying to eat lunch and keep getting interrupted...then you realize it’s the hot guy and your annoyance is replaced by appreciation (and the fleeting thought of ‘oh frack, do I have food stuck in my teeth?’)  ;p

We know this man memorizes every detail about her so should we be concerned that he was totally copying Felicity’s style with the blue button-up and sweater?  

Imagine Felicity ever being worried that QC would even think about firing her.

Amazingly, sometimes her mouth moves faster than her brain.  #multipletimes

She’s so nervous and doesn’t even realize she already has this dork billionaire playboy/scary vigilante wrapped around her finger.  

Felicity was just trying to go home so she could Netflix and chill.  Her evening plans did not include a vigilante bleeding in the backseat of her car.  A vigilante who trusts her enough to reveal his identity and put his life in her hands. <3

From the beginning, Felicity made the foundry a better place with her brilliance and unique brand of authenticity.   

“I’m a queen crowned in my curls” -- Keune.com

Amazing multi-tasker strategizing with the team and playing Cupid (minus the bows and arrows since that’s Oliver’s thing). 

Felicity’s thing is hacking, even if she doesn’t like that word.  

There are many awesome words that describe Felicity.  Brilliant, brave, badass...

.....remarkable (thank you for remarking on it, Oliver), genuine, adorkable, resplendent, intuitive, wise, empathetic, thoughtful, and sublimely smol.

Thanks for taking this walk down memory lane with me.  Please feel free to add your favorite season 1 Felicity moments.  We need all the Felicity we can get! I’m going to try to do a Felicity Friday post every week during season 8, real life permitting of course. :)  And of course, all the love and appreciation in the multi-verse for the fandom’s talented gifmakers!  <3

[tangled23works]

Do you take prompts? I saw you talking about 5x20 and had an idea. This sentence “I’ll carry you everywhere if you need me to” sounds like something Oliver would say and it’s super romantic. Can you write a fic about that?

Hi, anon!

It’s been a year since I received your request. I’m so sorry about that. Unfortunately, it couldn’t be helped due to work obligations. Anyway, I wrote you a story called Way Down We Go and it’s gonna be posted in three parts. Hope you like it!

Read it on Ao3 

Or read the first part here:

His mind was on the beautiful IT girl. Again. It would surprise the citizens of Starling City if they knew how much time their mayor spent fantasizing about a certain vivacious blonde woman. He was supposed to be thinking about the Glades or the council’s latest attempts to thwart his authority again. Thinking about a girl during boring meetings and solving the city’s problems was something the old Oliver would have done. The happy-go-lucky playboy Oliver Queen who had decided to run for mayor on a lark when his buddy Tommy had dared him.

God, he had been so stupid. And so out of his depth it wasn’t even funny.

It had taken the first few months after his win for Oliver to realize that Starling City was in trouble. Real trouble. The kind that could destroy people’s lives. They were basically bankrupt. His predecessor had not cared much about the city or the public servants or the Glades. But Oliver did to Tommy’s amazement. And his parents’ and Thea’s and anyone else who had ever met him.

He chuckled thinking of the time he had informed his parents - during Sunday brunch - that he planned on running for mayor. His father had laughed, his mother had narrowed her eyes at him and Raisa had dropped a very expensive bottle of Moët & Chandon that Oliver’s fast reflexes had literally saved at the last second. When Thea had woken up later (because his baby sister owned a nightclub and couldn’t wake up before 2 in the afternoon) she had laughed at his announcement so hard that she had rolled off a chair.

Oliver had expected this reaction but still it had hurt. A lot. It was one thing to choose to live your life free of personal entanglements or professional aspirations and another being told to your face by those who knew you best that you were incapable of becoming a better version of yourself. 

Then as he was trying to become someone worthy of the city’s trust, the rug was pulled out from under him. His opponent had dug up evidence that Oliver had left a girl pregnant in high school. Alex, the guy who ran his campaign had been horrified. Oliver had almost had a heart attack at the news. For a little while, both were sure that he had lost the election but even then Oliver had adamantly refused to sweep his son’s existence under the carpet.

He sighed and looked out of the window. If someone had told him a few years back that he would end up being responsible for Starling City as well as the happiness and well-being of a 11 year boy, he would have had them committed to a mental hospital.

“Mr. Mayor!”

Oliver looked up. He was a grown man for God’s sake. He was the father of a teenager. He was not supposed to be blushing and feeling guilty because his secretary had the habit of yelling at him.

“Yes, Denise?”

Denise did not look happy. It didn’t help that the older woman had the appearance of a very displeased schoolteacher. Thea had picked Denise when Oliver’s attempts at finding a capable assistant had failed. Half the population of the city had appeared during those interviews, flirting, batting eyelashes and asking him on a date. Thea claimed that since all of the women and some of the men were in love with Mayor Handsome, it was her responsibility to find the one person that Oliver would be incapable of charming. 

Turns out, there were two women that Oliver had tried repeatedly to win and failed. The first one was definitely Denise. The second… Well, the second was the star of some very inappropriate thoughts.

Denise was now tapping her foot impatiently. Either Oliver started paying attention immediately or he would be hearing her Loud Voice. And the small Portuguese woman had an impressive loud voice.

“What is it, Denise?”

“Why are you still here, Mr. Mayor?”

Oliver narrowed his eyes. “Because when I arrived this morning you told me that I had to finish reading this report tonight or else there would be consequences.”

“Well, of course,” she sputtered but composed herself quickly. “The report has been on your desk for one month. You should have read this already.” She wagged her finger threatening him. “Don’t you dare say this is my fault, Mr. Queen.”

Oliver was lost. Again. “What are you talking about?”

“It’s Friday night. Remember?”

“So?” Ever since he had become the sole parent of a thirteen-year old, his Friday nights were not that exciting.

“The science fair? Your son’s project? You were supposed…”

But Oliver was up and running before she even finished the sentence. He grabbed his keys, wallet and jacket in a blind panic and was out of the door in seconds.

“Denise?” he yelled as he was sprinting down the hallway, “you’re fired!”

“You can’t fire me! I quit!” she yelled even louder.

This made him smirk. He fired his assistant at least once a week and she quit at least once a day. And yet, every Monday both of them were at the office ready to do battle again.

The elevator doors opened as soon as he reached the car.

Oliver froze. 

There was a woman inside. A small, beautiful, genius and overall amazing IT specialist. 

Felicity Megan Smoak.

Well, there was nothing to be done about that. He took a deep breath to center himself and got in.

“Mr. Mayor.”

“Miss Smoak.”

“Going down?” At his nod she pushed the button to close the doors. Looking somewhere over his left shoulder, she commented, “Didn’t expect to see you here so late. On a Friday night.” 

She was probably implying that he spent his Friday nights out, clubbing or something. Which of course couldn’t be further from the truth.

“I was just leaving. I have a prior engagement I can’t miss.”

God he sounded snotty even to his own ears. Moira Queen’s genes must have been stronger than he thought. But he couldn’t help it. He was hopelessly fascinated by this woman and she was always prickly as a pear when they saw each other. 

“What about you, Miss Smoak? Why are you here at 7.30 on a Friday evening?”

“It’s my last day and I thought-”

But whatever she had been about to say got interrupted when the lights suddenly turned off. The elevator jerked and dropped several floors before coming to a violent halt. Oliver managed to sit on the floor quite fast and his body absorbed most of the impact without incident.

The same couldn’t be said for Felicity though. She lurched from side to side before finally landing on top of him in an awkward sprawl.

Not that he was complaining. Far from it.

[lilyvandersteen]

Out of the Blue: Chapter 2

Cover art: @redheadgleek​

Beta extraordinaire: @hkvoyage​

Links: AO3, FF.net

Author’s Note:

The Twitter feed mentioned in this chapter circulated around Tumblr a while back, and I just KNEW I had to turn it into a fic one day :D

This is the blog post in question: https://lilyvandersteen.tumblr.com/post/190456831744/thesorrowoflizards-awful-brew

Chapter 2: A Good Idea

“This was a lucky idea of mine, indeed!” said Mrs. Bennet, more than once, as if the credit of making it rain were all her own. Till the next morning, however, she was not aware of all the felicity of her contrivance.

(An excerpt from Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Kurt sipped from his cocktail and leaned back contently. It was Friday night, he didn’t have any shifts at the diner the following day, and all his favorite girls were here for a night out, even Mercedes and Brittany. Life was good.

It was fun catching up with everyone. He told them all about the photo shoots he’d helped his boss Isabelle with at Vogue, and the articles he’d written for the website. Quinn was interning with a district attorney at the moment, and talked about the court cases she’d attended so far. Tina had been helping out a vet treating farm animals exclusively, and told stories about cows calving and a horse that had to be put down after breaking its leg. Mercedes’ tour was a big success, and she was thinking of taking it overseas. Brittany, who was one of the back-up dancers at Mercedes’ concerts, was all for that plan, and summed up all the cities she wanted to visit.

Rachel, for once, wasn’t monopolizing the conversation, seeing as she was sad about another short relationship that hadn’t worked out. And Santana was more mellow than usual, seeing as she had Brittany with her.

The two of them were cuddling and whispering softly and smiling, and it sent a pang of jealousy through Kurt. He didn’t envy Santana the long-distance relationship. He’d witnessed first-hand how hard it was for her sometimes. But he did long for that bond that Santana and Brittany had. He too wanted someone who’d understand him with half a word, who’d move mountains just to be with him and who’d look at him as though he were the most precious jewel on earth.

All he’d ever had in the way of relationships was an admirer called Chandler when he was still in Ohio. Kurt had liked the compliments Chandler had showered him with, and had liked getting Chandler’s undivided attention. It was flattering, and it did wonders for his self-esteem. See? Someone thought he was worth talking to! Someone appreciated his fashion sense!

That was why he’d agreed to go on a date with Chandler, and after that a second one. They’d gone to the cinema together, and then shopping at the mall another time. And Kurt was pretty sure that Chandler expected more to come of it, looking at Kurt with hope in his eyes at the end of each date. But Kurt couldn’t bring himself to kiss Chandler. Not when he didn’t feel anything for him other than gratitude and kinship.

So their relationship petered out before it could even begin, and Kurt couldn’t say he regretted it. But he’d very much hoped that his dating prospects would improve upon moving to New York City, and that hadn’t been the case.

Yes, the leader of the Adam’s Apples show choir had recruited him with a serenade, but he’d made no move beyond that, and Kurt hadn’t dared ask him out.

And when he’d started his Madonna cover band, he’d developed a crush on Elliott – could you blame him? – and admitted to it one night after a gig, half-drunk and giggly, only to be told that he was about five years too late to make his move. That was how long Elliott had been dating his boyfriend, and when he brought Mark along to rehearsal the next time, they proved to be ridiculously happy and in love. So no luck there, either.

It wasn’t his looks, he knew that much. In his stage combat lessons, he could see other students check out his body, which had filled out nicely. But none of them ever came on to him, and anyway, Kurt wasn’t sure he’d be interested in just a hook-up.

Still, it wasn’t fun to be the only one of his friends who’d never even been kissed. Other than by a girl or a bully, but that didn’t count. It didn’t, okay?

When Kurt tuned back into the conversation, he heard that they were talking about a tweet Tina had found on her Twitter feed that encouraged people getting married to send an invitation to all billionaires they could find the address of. If you got lucky, those billionaires’ secretaries would think you were a friend or relative of their boss and would send you a gift.

“Wouldn’t it be great if one of us got married so we could get some decent stuff for the loft?” Santana asked. "We barely have anything, and we could ask for all of it! A blender. A coffee machine. A panini maker. And, you know, bedding. Sleeping on the sofa would feel a lot better if I had a decent pillow and comforter. And bath towels. Big and thick ones."

“Oh yes,” Kurt chimed in. “A wok, a food processor, a real Le Creuset pan. Good knives. Matching sets of plates and cutlery. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but just more. Now we have to wash up after every meal because we only have six of everything.”

“A vacuum cleaner that actually works,” Rachel sighed. “It was nice of Carole to give us her old one, but let’s face it, its best days are over. Oh, and what about a quality throw blanket to hang over the sofa, to hide the stains?”

Kurt nodded. “I also want a full-length mirror for the bathroom, and a nicer hamper for the dirty laundry. The kind that doubles as a bench.”

Rachel put her chin in her hands and stared dreamily into space. “Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

“It would,” Santana and Kurt agreed.

“Too bad none of us are getting married anytime soon,” Kurt mused.

“Well, I’m not seeing anyone, and neither are you,” Rachel said, “so technically, we could get fake hitched, but I don’t think anyone would buy you and I getting married. The wedding would be fabulous, of course, but obviously fake.”

Kurt suppressed a shudder, and Santana threw her head back and laughed.

Rachel pressed on, “But Santana could totally get married. What about it, Santana? At least you and Brittany are dating.”

The proposition shut Santana up at once. She stared at Rachel with her mouth wide open.

“I’d like to be married to you,” Brittany piped up, smiling softly and kissing Santana on the nose. “And I’m sure Kurt would help us plan the wedding, wouldn’t you, Kurt?”

Kurt grinned at her. “You know it!”

“And I know just what the invitation should look like!”

Brittany took a piece of crayon from behind her ear and started sketching a tree with hearts instead of leaves.

“That’s beautiful, honey,” Santana murmured, and Brittany beamed at her. “So we’re doing this?”

Santana nodded, and claimed Brittany’s lips for a lingering kiss.

“Okay, okay, that’s as much foreplay as I can stomach,” Kurt said. “Let’s get back to the loft. You can have my bed tonight if you promise not to be loud and not to get the bed linens dirty. Use a towel.”

Brittany kissed Kurt on the cheek. “Thank you, Kurtie!”

When they reached the loft, though, Brittany made no move to join Santana in Kurt’s bedroom. Instead, she badgered Kurt into opening Photoshop on his laptop so she could recreate the love tree in digital format. She added a recent picture of her and Santana, and looked up examples of wedding invitations on the internet to see what information should be on the card.

Before Kurt knew it, Brittany had commandeered all of his expensive ivory drawing paper to print the invitations on, and she set Rachel to work Googling names and addresses of billionaires.

Soon, Kurt was calligraphing these addresses onto hot pink and deep purple envelopes from Rachel’s stationary set, while Brittany was setting up an online wedding registry.

When that was done, she used up all of Rachel’s stamps to frank the invitations, and then ran out to go post them.

Rachel and Santana were already fast asleep by the time Brittany came back, and Kurt had almost drifted off when he heard a cheery, “There, all done!”

He chuckled at Brittany’s enthusiasm, closed his eyes and was out like a light.

The next day, they all woke up with hangovers and no recollection of their wacky wedding scheme nor the fake invitations Brittany had sent.

On Monday evening, though, Santana blanched and gasped when she checked her e-mails during dinner. “Dios mio!”

“What is it?” asked Rachel, spearing three green beans onto her fork.

“Brittany! She actually sent out wedding invites! And somebody has accepted the invitation. Who goes to a wedding of people they don’t know at all? And what on earth are we gonna do?”

“Wait, what? Who is this person?”

Rachel looked over Santana’s shoulder at the screen. “Cooper Anderson… Oh yeah, that’s the guy from those FreeCreditRating.com commercials, you remember? We all had that jingle as our ringtone for a while.”

“You mean YOU did,” Santana muttered, rolling his eyes.

Kurt wisely didn’t mention he’d had that ringtone, too.

Oh, he remembered the FreeCreditRating guy only too well. He even had a signed poster of him somewhere, that dated back to a talent show at the Westerville mall. Cooper Anderson had been one of the judges of the show, and Kurt had taken part just to get to see him in the flesh. Kurt had been the runner-up of the competition, after Rachel, and had gotten to shake Mr. Anderson’s hand and stammer about how much he admired him. And Mr. Anderson had been so gracious about it all, giving Kurt a 1,000 Watt smile and asking him if he’d like an autograph. So Kurt had whipped out his latest edition of Vogue and had Mr. Anderson sign a perfume ad he starred in.

Kurt smiled at the recollection, and nodded along when Rachel continued to gush about Mr. Anderson.

“He’s ever so handsome. And ever so rich. He’s a Westerville Anderson, so he comes from old money, and then he started this advertising company that everyone uses nowadays, so now he’s a billionaire ten times over.”

“Nice!” said Santana. “So whatever he buys us as a present, it’ll be worth it. But how are we going to pull this off in… What?! Less than a week! Britt put this Saturday as the wedding date!”

“WHAT?!!” Kurt and Rachel shrieked in unison.

Santana waved at the screen. “See for yourself. This Saturday, at 6.30 p.m., in our loft.”

Kurt shook his head in disbelief. “Five days! Neither of you have wedding dresses, we don’t have an officiant, we don’t have a wedding cake nor any other party food, we don’t have any flowers or decorations fit for a wedding. This is a disaster!”

“But you CAN do it, right?”

Santana’s hand clamped around Kurt’s arm like a vice, and she looked up at him beseechingly. “Please help us out? You organized Burt and Carole’s wedding in a week too, right?”

“Two weeks,” Kurt corrected absent-mindedly, his brain already working overtime. “I suppose I could manage it. But you’d owe me. Big time. I want at least half of the wedding present haul.”

“Done.”

Rachel clapped her hands and cheered. “Can we look at what people have bought you already?”

Santana clicked through to the wedding registry, and her face went slack with horror.

“What?” Kurt asked.

“Britt only put cat stuff on the list,” Santana groaned as she scrolled through the list. “Nothing but cat stuff.”

“She did what?” Rachel screeched.

Kurt didn’t say a word. He took over the mouse and checked what had been bought already. So far, Cooper Anderson was the only one who had chosen something. He had put his name down for a pet pavilion that was worth a cool 25 grand. 25 grand! For something so ridiculous! You could fit out an entire kitchen with that amount of money! What a waste!!

“Ugh, as much as I love Britt, I kind of hate her right now,” he murmured, and he heard Santana and Rachel hum in assent.

Kurt clicked on “Edit your wedding registry” and started to delete all of Brittany’s choices, one by one, muttering curses under his breath when he arrived at the costly pet pavilion that he couldn’t delete because it had already been bought.

“Now, before anyone else buys something we don’t want or need, let’s add all the stuff that we DO want,” he said, and between the three of them, they compiled a decent list.

When he’d clicked on “Save changes”, Kurt let out a deep breath. “Well, looks like I’ve got some wedding planning to do. This had better be worth it, San!”

Santana was still too shaken up to snark back. She just looked at Kurt like a deer caught in the headlights. “Can we do this?”

Kurt nodded. “We can do this. Calling Isabelle straight away!”

Isabelle, when she heard the story, laughed for five minutes straight, but then promised all the help she could offer. “Bring the brides along tomorrow, I’ll find them dresses and shoes, no problem. And you can use whatever decorations we have lying around here. What else do you need?”

“Rings for the brides. Dresses for two bridesmaids, I’ll bring them too. A three-piece suit for both me and the officiant,” Kurt started listing. “The others are on their own and will have to dig up whatever formal wear they’ve got lying around. Then, what else, let me think… Chairs for the ceremony. The weather will be nice on Saturday, thankfully, so we’ll have the ceremony and the reception on the roof of our building. There’s a railing all around, so it’s safe, and I’ve already made a cosy corner there that we sit in when the loft gets too hot. Very sturdy and well-made trelliswork. I will just have to decorate it.”

Isabelle hummed. “White roses. We’ve got tons of fake ones from the May issue, remember? You’re welcome to them, but make sure we get them back afterwards.”

“Will do,” Kurt promised. “The guests will have to go through our loft to get to the roof, though. You can only get there using the fire escape. So we will need a cover for our sofa. It’s in a terrible state. Stains all over. Ugh, we’ll have to start by cleaning the whole loft top to bottom. Girls, you WILL help!!”

Rachel and Santana murmured their agreement, and Santana went to look for cleaning supplies, while Rachel started to tackle the piled-up dishes in the sink.

“Oh, and could I borrow a few of those high tables people can stand around to eat finger food? We’ve got no room for a sit-down dinner.”

“Reception tables,” Isabelle said. “Yep, we have about twenty of them, and you’re not going to need that many, are you?”

“Nope. Five or six will do. Plus decent tablecloths for those tables, so that they don’t look cheap. I’d also like twinkle lights. As many as you can spare. And some sheer fabric or tulle I can wrap them in before I drape them all over the terrace.”

“Right, I’ll find you some,” Isabelle promised. “Do you need vases for flowers?”

Kurt hummed, thinking hard. “Nope, I’ll repurpose some empty wine bottles. Dipped in silver glitter, they’ll look fab. I’ll hang some on the railing and I’ll put the others on the reception tables. And some in the loft as well. And maybe some twinkle lights there, too. If you have some other decoration ideas, please let me know. Oh, and wedding favors! What do I do for wedding favors? For my dad and stepmom, I put a wheelbarrow with seed packets in the garden, with a sign that said, ‘Take one and watch love grow’. But that only works for a garden wedding.”

Isabelle hummed. “Let me think about it and get back to you. What are you going to do about the food?”

“Make it myself. Thank heavens we have a big fridge and freezer. We’re going to need every inch of space.”

Isabelle tutted. “Don’t overdo it, Kurt. You don’t want to fall asleep halfway through the wedding because you’ve been working day and night to make this perfect.”

“I’ll make everyone help.”

The steel in Kurt’s voice made Rachel and Santana look up from their work in alarm, but they didn’t protest. They knew all too well it was futile.

The rest of the week passed in a frenzy of cleaning, cooking, baking, decorating as well as inviting and briefing their other friends.

Elliott agreed to act as the officiant for the wedding, Artie offered his services as a DJ and Tina volunteered to be the photographer. Mercedes and Artie rehearsed the song for the first dance while the brides worked on the dance itself. Sam made himself invaluable running errands and assisting Kurt from dusk till dawn, and didn’t give a peep in protest when Kurt sat him down for a haircut.

By Saturday afternoon, the loft and the terrace both looked splendid. The twinkle lights wrapped in tulle gave the loft ceiling and the terrace a dreamy but festive air, and the silver bottles holding colorful flowers added to the splendor without making it tacky.

Kurt was hard at work decorating the top tier of the wedding cake while Elliott rehearsed the ceremony with San and Britt, Rachel prompting them whenever they faltered.

When the cake was safely stowed away in the fridge, Kurt checked the wedding registry one last time. It seemed like all his work had served some purpose after all. Their scheme had worked out pretty well. Brittany and Santana had received a gift from no less than eighteen billionaires, some of it pricey stuff. The Louis XV pet pavilion was a sad waste of money, of course, but Kurt was pleased with the other gifts, and was mentally already picking his favorites.

Humming happily, he helped zip up dresses and arrange the brides’ and bridesmaids’ hair, and then went to his bedroom to put his suit on and check on his coif.

When he headed back to the living room, he noticed that all their friends had arrived, and grimaced at all the noise they produced. He hadn’t slept properly in days, and he felt a headache coming on, throbbing at his temples.

Artie was testing the music installation, and soon all of the former Glee clubbers were singing and laughing and dancing. Kurt slunk away to the kitchen and put his head against the cool metal of the fridge to soothe the pain.

He’d almost dozed off when a loud voice rang through the loft. Mr. Anderson! He’d arrived!

[bluedalahorse]

Friday is for Felice and Sara’s friendship

I thought it might be nice to make a rambly, less polished post about Felice’s friendships, so I’m going to make it.

I’ll start by talking about Sara. I thought about adding other characters, but I might just have time for Sara today, so I’ll add other characters at another time.

This morning (and other times) I’ve been thinking about what Felice and Sara’s friendship will look like post-Hillerska. I’ve been thinking about this in terms of challenges they might face—not no a way where I want them to suffer or want to give them pointless arguments for the drama of it all, just in the way where most friendships have challenges as the participants grow up, and watching friends grow up and overcome challenges together is part of the joy of friendship stories.

The first thing I wonder about is distance. Are Sara and Felice going to be physically in the same space, in the future? It’s possible they aren’t. I do wonder about Simon and Sara moving to Göteborg to be with family, and maybe ending up there, while Felice ends up in another place altogether. In one of my fics I had her heading to a girls’ boarding school abroad in Scotland, which is an idea I’m still pretty fond of. (Even though I know single-sex school is not a thing that Nordic countries do, so maybe Felice’s family wouldn’t want her doing that, who knows.)

With and Felice and Sara physically far apart, how do they make time to connect? Weekly FaceTimes? Texting one another pictures of something specific from their day? Old-fashioned post cards? I imagine they’d come up with some sort of cute ritual that would be important to them during this time.

The next thing I wonder about would be new friend groups and new hobbies and areas of interest. Felice is Sara’s first friend, and Sara is Felice’s first honest friend. Having established that bond, I think they’d be able to make more friends in their new places.

I’d love to see Sara make other neurodivergent friends and gain some language around disability politics and self-advocacy. In the immediate aftermath of Hillerska, I also see her jumping from hobby to hobby, and trying out new things to fill the parts of her heart that are probably still a little sad about losing horses. I can see her trying out things like crochet and collaging. Maybe she does poetry and that sticks a little more. I read a friend’s fic snippet where Sara is trying ice skating and it lives rent free in my brain.

On Felice’s end, I’d love to see her in a very different friend clique than the one where she was part of at Hillerska, and potentially one organized around a shared pursuit. Maybe a girls’ sports team (football/soccer? field hockey? women’s rugby?) or a theatre troupe or something like that. Something where everyone could work toward a common goal. Of course I want Felice to continue to develop her cooking skills, and maybe she could have cooking friends. (Felice in a Just Add Magic AUfic?) That said it would also be fun if she had a cooking rival, where they dramatically compete one another but deeply respect one another deep down.

As the girls branch out, I can see that creating points of tension they need to work through. Felice might feel intimidated at first as Sara starts talking about ableism and activism, and there may also be times where Sara feels more comfortable talking to an AuDHD friend than Felice about something AuDHD-related. It might take them some emotionally stressful moments to realize that’s ok! Meanwhile if Felice goes to school abroad or even attends an international school in Stockholm, Sara might worry that Felice’s new friends are going to be more worldly and interesting than she is, and periodically feel insecure. There may be times where they don’t talk as much and perhaps worry that the other is growing away from them. I think they could work through it in time but it might take conversation and practice!

The other thing I have considered is how I work out the Felice-Sara-August interactions in a fic universe where I do a saraugust Second Chance Romance. If I’m writing that I don’t want Sara to have to sacrifice either relationship.

I have an idea about that, where Felice gets invited to the palace as part of a Young Chefs of Sweden event and August has an opportunity to apologize to her and they navigate a conversation as adults who’ve both learned a lot, but maybe I’ll share that on another post.

Anyway, what stories do you have in mind for future Felice and Sara? How does their friendship grow and change over the years?

Discussion welcome.

[annakie]

-----------

We're back for part two!  Remember the last time how I said....

And after that game... I parted ways with my friends once again.  Because I had tickets... to Critical Role.

Well... not only that, but I was finally meeting @thievinghippo​ IRL to see it!

CRITICAL ROLE (aka Friday Night)

I took off right after the previous game had ended and headed for the show.  My one big frustration was that it took 30 minutes for my Lyft driver to arrive from AROUND THE BLOCK (ok, about a quarter of a mile, but still).  In retrospect, I think he was hoping I'd cancel so he could get a bigger fare or something.  I think he just fucked himself over because he could have done that route twice in the time it took him to come get me.  So I got there with just a few minutes to spare and no time to get in the merch line.  But hey, I found Hippo and met a few other people from Tumblr whose names I recognized!  

It was so great to finally meet her, but we had almost no time to talk beforehand (but when we did, it was all about how mad we still are about Jaime / Brienne and also I tried to catch her up to what's happening in CR since she's pretty far behind.)

The show was AWESOME.  It was so fun to see live!  It was particularly awesome when the entire audience sang along with the theme song (See this video if you haven't yet for those of you not there: https://twitter.com/PhoenixHeart815/status/1157446225223962624 ).  It reminded me a lot of singing along with the Sparks Nevada theme the last few TAH shows, I got a little misty-eyed.

The bad?  It was really really hot in the theater.  At intermission I bolted out to the bathroom and buy cold waters.  I was about to get in the merch line but the lights already started flashing.  SIGH.  I gave Hippo a water and before we could settle in much, the show started again.  I told her my plan for the end of the show, though.

I will admit, my lack of sleep from the previous two nights was starting to catch up with me, and I had no caffeine available to combat it with.  I almost ducked out of the show early because I felt myself nodding off with the heat in the theater masked with the dark of the theater and that the second half of the show was less exciting (but still fun!) than the first.  Seeing the show live was amazing!

Just as Matt said they were ending the show there, I hopped out of my chair (I was in an aisle) and went into the lobby.  I was dying to get a set of the metal dice... and they were sold out of EVERYTHING except the big blue d20 and some pins.  ARGHGHGHGHGH.  So I got the d20, and watched the rest of the show including Liam's very surprising win, on the monitors.  (I'd voted for Liam because I assumed Sam would win.  I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome. :)  Though I love Sam to bits.)

Hippo joined me outside in the lobby early, and we left the theater just ahead of everyone else and she waited and we chatted while I called a Lyft.  She wanted to get out before traffic got too crazy, too, so she took off.  I am VERY MAD I didn't get a pic with the two of us at all.  Next year?!  

Then of course my Lyft driver didn't come to where I was exactly (literally at the Lyft pickup/dropoff designated location) and I had to walk around and look for him and by the time I found him, he'd gotten boxed in so we had to wait in traffic anyway.  Ah well.

At least the freeway was re-opened that night heading back to the airport, and thus, my hotel, for a shorter ride.  I ended up not falling asleep til close to 2.

I loved my evening and would do it all again but that Jeremy and Marcus told me that the Starfinder game they played in that night was AH-FUCKING-MAZING and was literally one of their favorite games of their entire lives, both of them.  It was a multi-table megagame that had a pass-fail condition and would shape the next season of the Society, and I'm sad I missed it while being really glad I did what I did.  Sometimes it's feast or feast, and you gotta pick which awesome meal you want.

I didn’t take many pics, just one as they were settling in after Sam came out in his costume, and one during intermission.  It’s all on Twitch, anyway!

SATURDAY

Oh man, for some really dumb reason we'd scheduled our Saturday morning for 8AM... but it was Starfinder!!  Uh, I will say I consumed more caffeine on that Saturday than maybe any other day of my life.  But it was needed.

What also helped keep me awake that it was FUCKING FREEZING IN THE ROOM.  The game itself was an absolute blast, though.  It was a brutal slog through a dead planet with hostile aliens everywhere and we had to stealth through, collect information and get out.  This was the game I felt the closest to death in all weekend, I'll say that for sure.  But we did it!

The very kind Felice(sp?) who was at the table decided she didn't want to carry her hoodie through the dealer hall, where she was going next, and her husband was working the main table at the Pathfinder room, so she told me to leave it there with him when I was done with it.  Since our next game was also in the Paizo room, I took her up on this offer and was warm and comfy the next few hours.

Our DM, an Operative, and Felice, plus the Hoodie of Warmth +2.

A very rare picture of me, on the internet, along with the guys.

And our next game was our first Pathfinder 2 game!  We were very excited to try out the system, and were put at a table with a father and son duo.  Jeremy and Marcus were excited because the DM was the same guy who'd DM'd their Starfinder game while I was at Critical Role.  

The only bad thing that happened here was that the El Paso Cielo Vista shooting news broke.  I grew up in El Paso, from when I was 12 to 22... it's Middle School through college for me.  Even though I've now lived in Dallas twice as long as I lived in El Paso and I haven't been there in like ten years, it's still... a little bit home.  So I left the table for a little bit to get on Facebook and make sure my friends there were all okay (they are), and text with my mom to make sure a family member who still lives there is okay (she is, though she took awhile to answer mom so we were worried.)  I have a lot of thoughts though, which belong in another post, and I'm still angry and upset about the shooting, even though it didn't affect me personally.  But for now, that's the end of talk of that terribleness.

At our table were a father and ~10 y/o son, who I'm cutting out of the pics because posting pics of minors without getting permission is not OK.  Also, the game was SHORT.  It turns out it was designed as an intro to Pathfinder 2 or maybe even RPGs in general so we knocked it out pretty quick, like 2.5 hours.

One very cool thing that Pazio was doing was that when you played in a game, you got a wooden token that you took up to the prize table, and rolled a d20 + d10.  No matter what you rolled, you got a prize, though most of them were cool little boons for your official characters.  However, if you critted, you got to pick a physical prize from the table.  Well, we played so much that Jeremy and Marcus both critted twice.  They ended up getting ALL THREE Token boxes (like cardboard minis, very nice quality) for Starfinder, plus the Starfinder Beginner's Box.  Pretty sure those four things together retailed for over $100.  Score!

So after the short game, with time to spare before our next game, the gang decided it was Dealer Hall time, literally the first time Jeremy or Marcus had time to go AT ALL.  I volunteered to be the stuff-holder.  After dropping off Felice's hoodie, I found a comfy seat near an outlet that was near the dealer hall and let everyone dump the stuff they didn't want to carry with me.  They came back and left stuff with me, and then after a couple of hours, also brought me dinner from the food trucks.  It was a fair trade.

I also asked Jeremy to stop by one particular booth and pick me up a set of dice I'd decided on, Blue Turquiose stone dice from Metallic Dice Games.  I took some pics of the dice below, though the next day I did have Jeremy swap out the d20 at the booth because I didn't like how some of the faces looked (by far the angle in the pic is the best side, there was too much solid color on the other sides of the die.)  These are going to be my official dice for my 4e character, who is a storm sorcerer reskinned as a druid.

LOVE THESE DICE, can’t wait to roll ‘em.

DM, Dad and blurred-out son.

A blurred-out boy and my guys.

Our final game of the day was the Cypher system, which is made by Monte Cook (one of the original D&D designers).  Cypher is a fairly simple system which mostly just uses a d20 and d6, and the DM never rolls dice.  The original system was made for a game called Numenera, which we'd played the beginner's box adventure for a few years ago but didn't feel like we got a good feel for the system, so we wanted to give it a go with a DM who knew the system well.

Overall, we enjoyed the game, it definitely wasn't "bad"!  But the problem was, we all agreed later, that the module that was being run was the kickoff module for a much longer campaign, there was a huge lore dump near the end and we also didn't really "get" everything that was going on.  

It also had the most memorable ending, though.  We ended the game by trying to escape from a base while being chased by some guys who greatly outmatched us.  My character was a pilot, and we needed to leave via a shuttlecraft.  One of the players who we didn't know was on the "get the door open and provide covering fire so everyone else can get to the shuttle" team.  And then he needed to make a roll in order to also GTFO and get to the shuttle.

He rolled.  Got a 5.  There's a mechanic where you can spend a card that you've collected in order to re-roll.  So he did that, got a 2.  Someone else gave him a card to re-roll.  He rolled a 3.  Someone else did.  He rolled a 5.  I was the last one with a card on the table, so I slapped it down.  He rolled a 4.

It was amazing.  Amazingly terrible rolling.

My pilot already had the craft powered up and was waiting for only him to get on.  I sighed, looked the player in the eye and said...

"I'm so sorry, but my character sheet says that I have a personality flaw.  I'm impulsive and impatient and have a setback to anything that requires patience, concentration or willpower.  I'm not waiting for you."  I looked at the DM and said "I decide that he's sacrificing himself to save us, and take off."

So I left him behind.  

The player was 100% cool with it, we had a laugh about it, and he agreed it was what my character would have done.  So it was kind of a tragic and funny way to end the game.  Also Brian needed to get some sleep that night so he hadn't come to that game, and Marcus left a little early to tend to the family, so just Jeremy and I closed out the night.

DM on the left, players I didn’t know in the center, and one on the right.  The guy in the bright blue shirt in the center?  I killed his character.  Sorry not sorry.

SUNDAY

The next morning, sadly, was the last day of GenCon.  We only had one game scheduled that morning, our second Pathfinder 2 game.  And EVERYONE was gonna be at the game!  

I hadn't even SEEN Gwen or Laura the entire con, and when they arrived at just about the same time Jeremy and I did, we joked that we hadn't believed the others were at the convention.  

We'd hoped that they'd let us put all 7 people at the table (Kirstyn had left late Saturday night to fly home and be at a concert she was playing in.)  They did not.  So we split up "Kids" and "Adults".

Sadly, this didn't work out super well for either table.  Gwen/Brian/Ally's table had a DM they did not enjoy and also a married couple who actually fought with each other uncomfortably at the table(!!).  

We had a good DM, but also an old guy who... I did not like.  At all.  He talked over the DM, even when the DM was explicitly trying to answer a question we'd asked him, things like rules questions on how game mechanics in PF2 had changed from PF1, since, you know, it was a system that had released THREE DAYS AGO.  Also, he was very... helpful... in telling me how skill checks worked and also questioning my decisions on how I was playing my character.  (YES, thanks I did consider carefully before casting Sanctuary on myself, and yes, it WAS THE RIGHT CALL.  I was the only healer in the party and had gargoyles flanking me, THANKS.)

I literally told the guy (as nicely as possible) "Sir, I've been playing RPGs for over twenty years, I'm well aware of how RPGs work, thank you" the second time he told me how skill checks worked as I was adding up my die roll with my skill modifier and took two seconds to do the math. And sure he'd probably been playing for thirty or more but um... I know how to roll a skill check.

After a short break, I told my friends I might need to leave the table.  Instead, Marcus and I switched seats so I wasn't sitting next to him anymore and the DM tried to refocus the game a bit.  It helped me at least.  I just did my best to ignore the guy.  I'm pretty sure he just didn't have the greatest social skills in the world but sometimes my tolerance for people like this can be... low.  His brother was also at the table and seemed okay, at least.  

The game itself was pretty good, ignoring everything having to do with that guy.  After the game the DM thanked me for sticking around and basically empathized that he was getting pretty annoyed, too.  

Not the greatest way to end gaming at the con, but hey, it also could have been worse.  I took pics of that game but decided not to put pics of someone I didn’t like on the internet.

Gwen, Brian and Ally's game ended like 45 minutes before ours (sadly, much to their relief) and they'd left to do one more run through the vendor hall and then left the con to start their drive home.  I had Gwen pick me up a set of dice that... I haven't even seen yet... and they were hella expensive.  I'm kinda feeling buyer's remorse about them right now, I didn't need to spend that much on dice this con but... well, we'll see how I feel when I see them in person.  If I hate 'em, I'll resell 'em.

All weekend long I'd been texting with my BFF from High School's husband, who is also my friend.  He was at the Con as well but doing his own thing and we'd been trying to arrange a meetup.  Well, we finally did it!  He came and saw me, and we hung out for about 45 minutes, just talking about the con, and old times and what we're doing now and the family etc. etc.  So that was great!  I was really glad to see him and catch up.

It’s Richard!

After he left because he had to go help tear down the booth he'd been working at, like the day before, I set up "basecamp" in the same place as before.  I had thought about going back to the vendor hall where Jeremy, Marcus and Laura were, but I'd already sent Jeremy off to ask him to pick me up the one last thing I wanted (the official GenCon dice tray.  I have a Wyrmwood Lacewood dice tray for home use, but wanted a nice travel dice tray.  I had a leather one for Kraken, but I'm real unhappy with Kraken Dice now and wanted something else.  I don’t plan on buying from them ever again in the future.  The official 2019 Gencon tray is very nice, and Jeremy had gotten one the day before, so he picked me up one as well.)

POST-CON

I only had to wait about an hour for the end of the con, and by that time the only ones from our group left were "the adults."  So once we were all gathered back up, the four of us headed out and walked a couple of blocks to a restaurant, which we couldn't get into, so we went to the restaurant next door, the Yard House.  

Wherein we had comically bad service, but they were very nice about it, and also WE were really nice about it, and ended up getting about half our meal comped.  Like our waiter had put in all the drink orders for all his tables to our table, so we had the wrong drinks delivered about five times.  We never got water refills.  Marcus had half a beer spilled on his leg (not even his beer, just another wrongly brought to our table), Laura's Appetizer-as-entree came out as an appetizer.  We asked for more chips for the chips and guac and queso we'd gotten as an app and never got it, etc.  Also while the manager was there assuring us we wouldn't have any more drinks brought to our table we didn't ask for... drinks were brought to our table we didn't ask for.  It was actually hilarious by that point.  

The waiter was brand new (his second day) so we got it.  It was just one of those things.  But they took care of us, we tipped well, it was all OK.

So that was the end of Gencon.  Back at my hotel, which Jeremy and I had long decided we wouldn't stay at again, I'd taken a shower very early Saturday morning after Critical Role.  Sunday morning when I showered again, the water still hadn't drained from the tub(!!) but I was in a hurry and just showered in gross cold water at my feet.  Then told the front desk.

They hadn't even been in my room all day to even clean up the room at all, much less do anything about the bathtub when I got back to my room Sunday night, so I switched rooms.  And then the room next to me had left the alarm clock on, and it went off at 9pm.  And my phone in that room didn't work, so I had to go downstairs a second time to get someone to go shut it off.  Also the AC in that room never turned off, the controls seemed to do nothing, so it was like 60 degrees in there the entire night.  It was actually a relief to leave the hotel the next day.  Next year... we'll pay a little more for a bit nicer hotel.

Annnd.. the next morning Jeremy and I got to the airport early enough, flight was full but not delayed, and had no problems getting home.  Spent most of the day from getting on the plane to going to sleep that night with a massive migraine so I spent the afternoon at home sleeping and drinking lots of water.. but yay... no con crud!

I miss the con, but being back in my own bed with my kitties is all worth it.  Still, I can't wait for Gencon again next year. :D

[melodyofgraves]

Road Trip (Chambers  x Konevi modern AU) - part one

A/N: I know it took me a long time to finish this (for a few reasons) but it’s here. This was really fun to write but I don’t know if it will be as fun to read. So please let me know if I should post future parts of this mess when I’m done with them.

The whole idea is just a bunch of little stories with an introduction (this part) and an end. And a lot of tropes and cliches. Hope you'll still enjoy!

Words: 1776

Tagging: @hellospunkiebrewster @queerchoicesblog @brightpinkpeppercorn @pixieferry @akrenich @itsbrindleybinch @thehonorarybeaumont @robbiessutcliffe @the-writerly-night-owl @inkandfables @choicesbyvera

“Please tell me you have ice cream.” weren’t exactly the words Annabelle was expecting to hear when she opened her door on a Friday night.

So after almost thirty minutes of watching her friend trying to pretend he “just wanted to hang out” while emptying her freezer of anything that contained enough sugar, she began to lose patience.

“What’s going on, Bart?” she asked, loudly enough to get his attention over the tv.

“I already told you…”

“Bullshit.” she cut him off before taking a deep breath and smiling gently. “You know I don’t have anything against you hanging out at my place. But I know that’s not the reason you’re here. So talk.”

He bit his lip and looked into the ice cream bucket in his hand as if it was the perfect place to find his answer. Then he just sighed, muting the show they were just watching.

“I saw Yusuf today.”

“Oh.” Parsons tilted her head. “How is he?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? You didn’t talk?”

“No.” Chambers pointed towards rack in the hallway he could barely see from his spot. “I also kinda stole his jacket.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The green one. Well, technically I didn’t steal it. He gave it to me so I could chase my bus and yelled that I can give it back later.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“I think he changed his number last year and probably forgot I don’t have a new one. So if I don’t find him myself, this stolen jacket is staying with me.”

“It’s not stolen.”

“Yeah. And it’s a nice jacket.”

“It is. So why do you have it again?” Annabelle would be lying if she said she wasn’t a little confused.

“Long story. In short, it was pouring rain earlier today and I was hiding under this tunnel with a bunch of people when I saw my bus. And I had two options – I wait however long it takes for the weather to calm down or I run for it to the nearest bus stop. Which would be far enough if there wasn’t a flood coming from the sky.”

“Why do I feel like you're being a little dramatic?"

“Hey, I didn’t have an umbrella. Or even a coat. Only this t-shirt.”

“Coward.”

“Shush. So I’m trying to make the decision when I feel someone tap me on the shoulder.”

“And by someone you mean Yusuf?”

“Yes, I mean Yusuf. I’m trying to add a little suspense to the story but since you don’t appreciate it then I give up.” he glared at his friend getting a chuckle in return. “He gave me his jacket and told me to run because he can wait. And then I caught the bus and came here. The end.”

“What do you mean the end? Why didn’t you stay there and talk to him? Ask when did he come back?”

“Yeah, I thought about it myself. Already sitting in the bus.” he sighed. ”Everything was happening so fast.”

“Kinda sounds like a plot of a bad fanfiction.” she joked, earning another glare.

“Glad you find my life funny.”

“Wait. I mean, you know he’s in town. So finding him shouldn't be that much of a problem.”

“I don’t know if he’s back for good. And we’re leaving tomorrow so he might be gone before we go back.”

“And if he isn’t, I’ll help you find him. Come on, you can’t be moping around at Lucy’s wedding.”

“I have a whole week before the actual ceremony.” he smiled slightly, feeling a little better. The groom was grumpy enough for the whole group so maybe he should focus on balancing it out. “Luke’s driving, right?”

Annabelle furrowed her brows at him.

“Wait, you mean they didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

“Briar asked if we could add Edmund to our car and he was supposed to call you and ask if you two could switch…”

“Oh.”

“Shit. We can kick him out tomorrow, Briar can live without…”

“No, no, it’s fine. I don’t mind,” he assured. No need to make a fuss about something so petty. “So who’s in the other car?”

-

Sitting in the backseat and being squeezed in between Theresa and Felicity wasn’t his best Saturday morning but it certainly wasn’t the worst one either. After all, he could’ve ended up like Arthur, gripping the steering wheel while trying to answer to Mr Westonly’s attempted conversations as politely and loudly as possible.

“Why are we even going all the way to Grovershire for this? Like the couldn't have chosen anything closer to home.” the blonde muttered, tapping her nails against her purse.

“But Lucy always wanted to get married in the same church as her parents did,” the grin appeared on Theresa's face as she was almost jumping in her seat. “It’s just so romantic when you think about it.”

“And cliche. I’m surprised Ernest even agreed to that nonsense.” a hint of a smile tugged on the corners of Holloway's lips, indicating she was starting an argument more out of boredom than anything else.

“I’m sure he thought it was a great idea…”

The ladies continued their banter so Bart just sighed and focused on the road. They left early enough to avoid too much traffic and he was thankful for that. Everything seemed so calm outside. On the inside, however…

“Young man, would you stop at the gas station? I need to stretch out these old legs.” Mr Westonly asked suddenly. Bart was initially pretty surprised that the old man was going with them but he was one of the very few family members Ernest had left so he decided to not even question it. Whatever made his friend happy.

“I was hoping we could go a little more without stopping so we could…” Arthur began to explain but was cut off by Felicity.

“Oh, come on, they can wait. I will not spend another hour in this car.”

"But..."

"Now."

So they stopped. A ten-minute break on the gas station before hitting the road again. That’s what they agreed on.

So imagine Bartholomew’s surprise when after returning from the bathroom, the car was gone. Nowhere in sight. Its previous spot completely empty.

They left him.

But that’s okay. He can just call them and ask what the hell happened, right?

He grabbed his phone from his pocket so quickly it almost dropped. Good thing he at least kept it in his jacket because his backpack and all of his other things were still in Wood’s car. But that’s okay, he was just going to call them and…

… and his phone was dead. Fantastic.

He kicked a nearby pebble in frustration. How the hell did they not notice he was gone? And should he just stand there in the hope they’d come back or find another transport?

He decided to wait for a few moments. It’s not like he had anything better to do.

-

Chambers sat on the sidewalk, watching the passing cars and getting more annoyed with each second. That was getting ridiculous. He always wanted to believe in people’s best intentions but how do you just forget about a person like that?

The gas station was pretty much in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by the woods. Aside from the store and small parking with barely any cars, there wasn’t really much for him to do or go to.

Going for a walk, while tempting, was out of the question. Even if his friends didn’t come back for him, he would probably get lost in the unknown forest and that was the last thing he wanted that day.

He finally stood up. Moping around won’t get him anywhere. Asking around for directions to the nearest form of transportation was probably a better option.

Turning around towards the store, he suddenly heard his name.

“Bart?” a black car stopped right next to him and a familiar face peeked through the window. “What are you doing here?”

“Hi!” he waved, trying to look as casual as possible. Almost three years without him and now they’re running into each other every day. “I’m just looking around. How about you?”

“Just getting gas.” Yusuf smiled at him and his heart fluttered just like years ago when they first met. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah. Not really.”

“Do you want to talk about this?”

“No, it’s fine. You’re driving somewhere and I don’t want to stop you.”

“I’ve got time. Just give me a minute to park.”

-

“How the hell could they forget about you?”

“I have no idea.” Chambers mumbled, sitting next to him on the sidewalk and munching on one of the ice cream sandwiches they've just bought. “And right now I’m left with nothing because all of my things are in the car."

“You don’t have anything?”

“I have some cash in my pocket but it’s not much. And my phone but it’s useless because the charger is in my backpack. Next to your jacket, actually.” he sighed. “Thank you for that, by the way. And sorry I can’t give it back to you yet.”

"Don't mention it. It's not your fault that you were abandoned." Yusuf nudged him lightly. "Why did you even brought it with you?"

Because it's yours and I wasn't going to just leave it at home for so long.

"I was thinking maybe you were going to the wedding too."

"Oh, I just found out about it from you." Konevi laughed and Bart could feel his cheeks get a little bit warmer. "I haven't really had a chance to talk to anyone yet so they probably don't even know I'm back."

"I'm sure they'd be happy to see you."

"I wouldn't want to show up uninvited." he stood up, dusting off his jeans and throwing the wrapper into the bin. "I could make sure you get there though."

“Really?”

“Of course. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I just left you here alone. And I'm going in the same direction anyway.” he grinned and extended his hand, helping Chambers stand up as well. "If you don't mind spending so much time with me, that is."

"That sounds... perfect."

Yusuf grinned again and got into the car, quickly joined by the other man.

"Are you sure you don't mind? The ride to the Grovershire is pretty long." Chambers asked, just to be sure, though he couldn't stop the hopeful smile from appearing on his face.

"I have time and good company. Everything I need." he chuckled, starting the car. “Besides, I really want that jacket back.”

[olivarryprompts]

Fanfic Friday #2

Welcome to Fanfic Friday! Each Friday I will post a new fanfic here and on A03. Enjoy x

Read/Save it on A03 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/31883764

{Elseworlds} 

Ship: olivarry 

Status: married

WC: 1503 

Barry’s POV

I woke up the normal smile on my face, and I reached over for Oliver. He wasn’t in bed, so I suspected that he’d started making breakfast for myself and William. I pulled on some sweatpants and my STAR Labs sweatshirt. 

“Oliver!” I called, entering the kitchen. This isn’t our kitchen. This isn’t our house. 

Iris was here.

“Hey babe, morning. Look at these, they’re perfect this time?” Iris went in to kiss me. 

“What-uh Oliver-could have just w-w? 

“Oliver? What about Oliver? Did you get enough sleep last night?” “Well he’s my, my-” 

I look down to my hand expecting to find my emerald wedding ring, but instead I am met with a standard silver wedding ring. 

“Where’s my ring? Where’s Will?”

“What ring? Who’s Will? Are you alright? Look, if it’s Cicada, we will catch him. And with Cayden J-”

“No. Uh, right, Cicada.” “Are you alright, Barry?”

“Just, tired I guess?” “It it my cooking because-” “No, no, no. These smell,” I take a whiff of the pancake she placed in front of me, “delicious.” They smelled beyond atrocious, and I would literally do anything for an omelet from Ollie. 

“-so he’s fine Caitlin?” She hummed a yes. 

“Really? There are no anomalies. I-i don’t have a brain tumor or-nothing?”

“Barry, you’re in perfect shape.” “Tell me about it? Look at these abs, all mine,” Iris said, laying her hands all over me. I very much disliked it. 

“Maybe lay off on the PDA?”

“You sa-” “I know I like touch. But, uh, I’m going to go home.” 

“Barry, you’ve been off all morning, what is going on?” I got up and headed into the hallway. I didn’t even bother waiting for one of them to come talk to me, I just sped off.  

As I made my way to star city, I had a scary thought. What if Ollie doesn’t remember me? What if Will doesn’t remember me? 

I ran straight to Star City and picked up Oliver from the scene he was fighting at. I sped Diggle back to Argus, and I took Oliver with me back to our place in Star City. 

“Barry?” he said, wrapping his arms around me. Relief flooded my body. 

“Oh thank god, Ollie, I was so scared that you wouldn’t remember me. Us.” “No, never.” We quickly kissed. 

“What the fuck is going on?” Oliver said. 

I showed my hand, “Seems like I’m married to Iris.” “And I’m married to Felicity.” “I woke up in her house.” “You woke up, in bed, with her?” “No need to get jealous, bear,” Oliver smirked. 

“Of course I’m going to get jealous. You’re mine, and we don’t even have our rings!” “Baby, come ‘ere.” He kept me in his arms. 

“We will figure this out. I promise you.” He kissed my head. I quickly changed out of my Flash suit and into some sweats and a hoodie from Oliver’s closet. 

“We need to figure this out. Asap.”

“Morning Dad,” William said, yawning. Dad. Not Dads. He doesn't remember me. 

“Hey kiddo,” Oliver said back. 

“Who’s that?”

“He’s, uh, a friend of mine. He’s helping me with some work. 

“Where’s Felicity? I need help with-” “Give me a second, Will. I need to figure this out. Can you stay here for a while on your own?” “Uhm, sure.” “Raisa will be here anytime now.” “O-okay. Dad is everything alright?” “It’s fine, kiddo. Promise. Right, I’m going to head to work.” Ollie kissed William on the forehead before heading out. 

I followed close behind. 

“Bye Will.” “Uh, bye?”

Once in the hallways, I started crying. 

“Hey, shh, we’ll figure this out.” “H-he doesn’t remember me. Will, our son, h-he doesn’t know me.” “I know, bear, but we’re going to fix this, I swear to you.” 

“I-i don’t know how Ollie, everyone one on this earth think I married Iris. S-she’s like my sister.”

He just held me close, and I buried my head in his neck. 

“Bear, I’ve got an idea. Everyone on THIS earth. Kara.”

“W-we’d need team flash to get to her earth.”

“We need to tell them what’s happened. They’re your best friends, they’ll know something is wrong.”

“I-i-” “Baby, I promise this will all be fine.”

“How? How can you Oliver? We have no idea what the hell is going on,” I was upset, admittedly, and angry. 

“Barry, calm down.” He wrapped his arms around my neck, resting his forehead on mine. I took a deep breath. Ollie was right, we’d figure this all out. 

“Through the good and the bad, right?”

He replied with a careful kiss on the lips. 

“Come on, let’s get to STAR Labs.”

Barry took my arm and sped us there. “Barry?” Caitlyn said, “You’re back, and Oliver?”

“Hello,” he said, calmly. “So, how do I say this. Ollie and I-well, we’re married.” Cisco laughed, “Y-you and Oliver.”

I shot him a look. “Oh, oh you’re serious?”

“Look, we got married on the 28th of August. You, you were his best man, Cisco. He both used to wear a ring with the other person's colour on it. I-i, we, I love him more than anything in the world.” 

“He-yeah.”

“Kiss then? Prove it,” Iris said, walking into the cortex. I carefully wrapped my arms around Barry’s neck, and leaned it. He was comfort, and love, and everything good in the world. When our lips met, it reminded me of that. I shifted my hands to run through his hair, and, a few moments later, we broke apart.

“Good enough?” I said, gesticulating wildly. 

“Yeah. That was no platonic kiss or whatever,” Cisco said, shocked.

“I tend to agree,” Caitlyn said. 

Iris just looked down, muttering, “I knew something was up this morning.”

“I-i’m so sorry Iris, it’s just that, that Ollie, he’s my everything and I need everyone to know that and remember that. And William he is my so-”

“Hey, hey Barry, I understand. I see how you look at him, it’s like the only thing in the world that matters is him. Y-you look at me with those same eyes, Barry Allen.”

“I promise this will all get fixed, I swear.”

“Go be a hero, Barry,” She whispered with a smile, laying a kiss on my cheek. I walked back over to Ollie, standing next to him. He wrapped a casual arm around me. Once a possessive git, always a possessive git. 

“Right, so we need to open a breach to earth 38.”

“Understood. I’ll grab the interdimensional extrapolator.” Cisco ran off, and we all stood there in somewhat of an awkward silence. 

“So, Barry, Oliver, when did you two meet?”

I looked at Ollie, silently begging him to answer the question.

“W-we met when he came to investigate a case similar to his mother's back in Starling. We ended up talking, going for dinner, but I thought he’d aired me. Turns out the whole coma thing was the reason he didn’t respond to my texts. Both our night jobs just pulled us together. It’s always been easy with Bear.“

“Right, one interdimenstionall extrapolator ready to go,” Cisco said, placing the small discus looking object in my hand. 

“Thanks,” I said, opening a breach. 

We quickly ended up on a farm on earth 28 greeted by, well, people threatening us. Well, that is, unti Kara showed up. 

“They’re friendlies, they’re friendlies!” she called, “Barry, Oliver!” 

“Hey.”

“Meet my cousin Clarke.”

“As in the super one?”

Kara nodded. “You can just call me Clarke,” he smiled. 

“Barry Allen-Queen.”

“Oliver Allen-Queen.”

“Lovely to meet you, two. This is my wife Lois.” We both greeted her. 

“Kara, you know we’re married right?”

“Of course, otp.”

“Oh thank god!” I exclaimed. 

“What, what’s happening?”

“Everyone on our earth thinks he’s married to Iris, and they think I married Felicity.”

“W-wait? Really?”

Oliver nodded his pensive nod.

Time skip to when the book resets them 

I woke up again, but this time in the right bedroom. I reached my hand over, and I felt Oliver’s chest. 

“Ollie! Ollie!” I said, tears rolling down my face as his eyes fluttered open. I immediately cuddled into his chest. 

“Barry- look,” he said, carefully taking my fingers into his hand, and glossing over my hand. 

We both sighed with relief. 

“This isn’t over, Bear,” he said.

“I know. I know it isn’t. I-i’m just glad to be here.”

“Yeah me too,” he placed a kiss on my lips. 

“I’m going to go check on Will,” I said, getting up. I threw on some sweats and a hoodie. 

He hummed in agreement. 

I made the small walk to Will’s room, carefully sliding open the door. Will was sitting at his desk, typing at his computer. 

“Hey dad,” he said, briefly looking up.

I quickly wrapped my arms around him, kissing his forehead. 

“Dad? You alright?”

‘Yeah, fine, Fine now,” I smiled. 

“You’re acting strange.”

“I-it’s nothing kiddo. All good.”

“Ok. Can you get Dad to make his pancakes for breakfast?” “I might need your help convincing him.”

“Let’s go, then.”

The battle was far from won, but Ollie and I, we could figure it out. 

Read it/save it on A03 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/31883764

[daryljdugdale]

RESULTS DAY !

I am writing this post on Tuesday 15th October, five days after the CT scan results day. Apologies for the more than tardy response, I appreciate some of you may have been waiting anxiously for news ........ but I have been busy celebrating. Yes the results were positive, signs of shrinkage up to 1.5 cm in the right lung. Shrinkage also in the lymph nodes from 1.2 cm to 0.7. The only news that carried some level of concern was the suggestion that my right acetabulum is at risk of a more significant fracture. For those uninitiated the acetabulum is the socket of the hip. As some of you will know I had ingress of the cancer into my acetabulum which has weakened it significantly. I now have to be very careful with any exercise I do and must make sure I don’t over do it, no contact sports for me, and sadly skiing is out of the question. I was planning an excursion with the kids over Xmas. With that caviat we were absolutely over the moon with the results. It is difficult to portray the sense of relief you get when your oncologist says with a smile, “off you go to Spain and have lots of fun.” Yeah, so the plan continues towards its execution. We still have one hurdle to over come, that’s bloods tomorrow. Hopefully they will be sufficient levels to allow the first immunotherapy only infusion on Friday. Assuming all is good we will climb into the van Sunday morning and drive to the ferry at Plymouth. We will then enjoy the 24 hour crossing to Santander with our usual three course silver service meal, a few vino tintos and a game of bingo!!! Who said we don’t know how to live??? We are also planning our journey through Spain and the couple of overnight stops in small villages or towns before we get to Orgiva. We have the olive harvest to prepare for and also undertaking the finishing touches to the yurt, with the intention of renting it out from January. The last five days has seen a progression of celebratory lunches and various states of inebriation for both of us. Now we have finally processed the great news, as you can imagine there is a shit load of emotional stuff to process, we can hunker down to the packing. Deciding what to take back and what to keep here isn’t as straight forward as you might think. We have to factor in the very real possibility of a no deal Brexit and there are lots of administrative things to sort out with respect to both our and smithy’s legal identity and freedom to roam. I’m sure I’ll be unpacking those at some point in the future!! But for now we immerse ourselves in the great news that my body with a bit of help from science and medicine, coupled with my attempts at healthy eating, exercise and positive thinking, appears to be working well. Long may this combination of factors continue to do its job. Our adventure continues and I know both of us can’t wait to get back to our little bit of paradise. Mis amigos nos vemos luego. estamos muy felices. vida amorosa xxx