#the marvelous mrs. maisel fic

[solongllondon]

hii!! little life update:

published a new fic just now:

it's a the marvelous mrs. maisel one, the first i've ever written for that fandom and the shortest thing I've ever written in general. if you love me, give it a read plsss <33

(warning; it is sad and deals with MCD)

[kingyasaid]

The photo

[theycallme-thejackal]

One MidgeLenny x TSwift Fic Per Day

188. Electric Touch

For once in her life, she's not running late. In fact, there's a full hour until he's coming to pick her up, and she's almost completely ready. Her makeup is done. Her hair is perfect. She tried on five different dresses before settling on this one for their date.

Their date. She's going on a date with Lenny Bruce.

She exhales a shuddering breath and resists the urge to bite her lip; she doesn't want to ruin the lipstick she'd so painstakingly applied just right. She reaches into her jewelry box, pulling out her earrings and putting them on with slightly shaky hands.

She's tried to fall in love. And it has always fallen apart. She even thought it had fallen apart with Lenny after Carnegie. But then, just as she was leaving to try to find her way home in that blizzard, his hand had circled her wrist, somehow both tender and firm. And he just said, "Look, I'm sorry I yelled, but I care about you too much to let you fuck up your career."

She stared at him, trying to muster up indignation, anger with him, but he was giving her those sad puppy dog eyes, and she couldn't manage anything other than gratitude.

Because she knew he was right. She knows he was right.

He offered to sleep on the couch, and she'd rolled her eyes. "We're adults. We can share a bed." He looked nervous at that, but he nodded and gave her one of his shirts to sleep in.

They turned their backs to one another under the covers, and she remembers being unable to sleep for the longest time with him so close and yet so far away.

Eventually, though, she had drifted off to sleep and woken up facing the other way, her head on his chest, his arms wrapped around her.

"Huh," he murmured as he woke up as well. "This is..."

She waited for a moment for him to finish, and when he didn't, she swallowed nervously and then said, "Nice?"

He chuckled. "I was gonna say 'unexpected', but yeah...it's nice."

She gets up from her vanity and slips into her shoes before going out into the living room. The kids are with Joel, and her parents are at the theatre, so there's not even someone in the apartment to distract her at the moment.

Fortunately the phone rings, and she grabs it on the first ring. "Hello?"

"Jesus, you're fuckin' nervous," Susie grumbles on the other end.

She huffs at that. "I'm not nervous," she insists petulantly.

"Hey, you saw me stumbling over my words and forgetting who the fuck I was the first time I met him," Susie tells her, surprisingly comforting in this moment.

Midge furrows her brow. "Wow. You usually hate the guys I date. I expected you to fight this a hell of a lot more."

Susie scoffs. "Look, I'm not thrilled you're gonna date a comic, but at least this one's funny. You could do a hell of a lot worse than Lenny Bruce. Hell, you have done worse. You had kids with worse."

"My kids are great," Midge retorts.

"Yeah, are you sure they're Joel's?" Susie quips.

"Yes, I'm sure!" Midge squeaks.

Susie laughs in response. "I was fuckin' kidding, Midge! Shit."

The younger woman takes another deep breath and exhales slowly. "I know," she mutters. "I just...yeah, I'm really nervous. I really...I really want this to work," she admits, her voice quiet.

Susie groans. "Miriam, the guy's been in love with you for...well, basically forever. Just get your shit together. I don't think there's anything you could do to send him screaming into the night."

"Maybe show up in a wedding dress?" Midge asks.

"He'd just take you to fuckin' Atlantic City and call your bluff," Susie responds with a chuckle.

"Ah! Shit!"

Midge furrows her brow and looks toward the door. "What time is it?" She asks Susie.

"Uh, it's seven-thirty," Susie answers. "What, you don't have clocks in that fancy apartment?"

"He's not supposed to be here until eight!" Midge squeaks.

"Fuck, doesn't he know you're never on time?" Susie grumbles.

"I've been ready for thirty minutes."

There's silence on the other end. And then, "Fuck! You're already fucking in love with him!"

"Susie, I have to go," Midge says.

"You fuckin' f--"

She puts the phone down and smooths her dress before heading toward the door and opening it slowly, finding Lenny in the hallway, rubbing his knee with one hand and holding a bouquet of flowers in the other.

She tilts her head as she watches him, not yet aware of her presence, and she feels a wave of deep affection for him. "Chair jump out at you?" She asks with a grin.

His head snaps up at her, and he chuckles sheepishly. "Yeah, I haven't had the best luck with this building."

"Maybe I should move," she offers. "Wouldn't want to keep putting you in danger."

He grins and shakes his head. "Or maybe I should just stop pacing nervously because I was forty minutes early getting here." He looks down at the flowers in his hand before moving closer to her. He holds them out. "These are for you. Or your mother if I need to get on her good side," he jokes.

She grins and takes them, inhaling their scent. "They're beautiful, Lenny," she replies, opening the door wider and inviting him in. "So...forty minutes, huh?" She asks as he steps inside.

He shrugs, giving her a sheepish smile.

She heads toward the kitchen, inviting him to follow. "I'm usually ten minutes late for everything," she tells him as she pulls out a vase and fills it with water. "Tonight I was ready an hour early."

His anxiety seems to fade a bit, and he breathes, "Yeah?"

She nods. "Yeah."

He moves toward her then, and once she puts the flowers in the water, he reaches out and brushes a tendril of hair away from her eyes. He cups her cheek in his hand and gazes down at her for a moment before closing the distance and kissing her gently.

She melts immediately, the remainder of her nerves fading, and she wraps her fingers around the lapels of his jacket.

It's a long moment before he breaks the kiss and rests his forehead against hers. "Hungry?" He asks. "I made a reservation like a responsible adult."

"Will you steal my food again?" She teases.

"You did say you love that," he replies, laughing quietly.

She smiles and nods, letting him take her hand and lead her toward the door, where she grabs her purse. As they head for the elevator, she thinks that this could either break her heart or bring it back to life.

She has a pretty good feeling it'll be the latter.

[darloe]

Can we not collectively forget the fact that Midge brought Susie to a lesbian bar? Let’s talk more about that.

Like, first of all, how did she even know where the bar is? Because, from what I remember, when she asks around, she doesn’t get that any results. How many people did she ask to get results?

I wonder how many strange looks Midge gets when she walks downtown, because she had to have asked multiple people. Especially since gay/lesbian bars were secret at that time, it wasn’t the coolest thing because of obvious homophobic reasons.

I think I read a fic where Lenny is drunk and when Midge helps him he says he saw her enter that bar and now it’s all I can think about. Just Lenny Bruce passing by and seeing Midge drag Susie into a lesbian bar.

[atlasshrugd]

CALLING ALL FANFIC WRITERS.

tits up bitches. now that the show is over us midgelenny truthers are going to need COMPENSATION. a will to live, if you will. those who have seen the finale will know which scenes need to be expanded upon. i am going to need fix-it’s, multi-chapter canon divergence, a whole spinoff as long as the torah. we need reinforcements. gather all your friends and double down. ALL BETS ARE OFF.

[katzell]

Midge and Lenny's alternative adventures

Enough luxuriating in my feelings about Midge and Lenny's goodbye at the airport. Here are some future adventures I'd love to see them have.

Midge and Lenny go on a tour together but after getting tossed off their train by some Christian fundamentalists they wind up roadtripping across the midwest trying to get to Chicago before their show. Susie forbids Midge from ever gigging with Lenny again.

While on a USO tour of military bases in Europe, Midge gets invited to perform at a diplomatic show in East Berlin. And what do you know? Lenny is also on the bill! It all would have been a fun little trip in and out through Checkpoint Charlie if that cat hadn't decided to adopt Lenny and Midge hadn't been convinced they could smuggle it out. How were they to know the cat already had a (high-ranking) family! Susie reaffirms that gigging with Lenny is verboten.

Midge gets offered obscene money to be one of the headliners on an international cruise. She's been in a dry spell because of some Watergate jokes that were honestly pretty tame! At the last minute Lenny gets added to the bill because the male headliner dropped out. Susie reluctantly agrees that they need the money. Of course trapped on a ship winds up being Lenny's worst nightmare so the two of them make a gettaway in Barcelona. Susie's life becomes a living nightmare for months dealing with the breach of contract.

Midge and Lenny never get married, never even properly date. But, yes, there is so much sex. Great sex. The best Midge has ever had. It's distracting really, which might be why she's always a little relieved when they inevitably have to go their separate ways. Love is one thing, but Midge can never let herself become part of someone else's life again. And Lenny is relieved not to carry that responsibility.

But sometimes they argue. Sometimes they have screaming fights and don't speak for months, even years. Lenny doesn't tell Midge things that Midge feels a real friend would know! (But they don't. Lenny doesn't really tell anyone everything). Midge gets stubborn and won't admit when she's wrong. And boy can she be wrong.

During one extended period, Lenny lets himself get talked into a marrying a nice, funny girl who is sweet to his kid and doesn't mind his dicier habits. She's not that sharp, but she's cool, you know. Easy to be with. Then Midge crashes the wedding and by the end of the night he's ready to follow Midge out to her car and speed away into the desert. The annulment goes through in a matter of weeks.

Midge marries three times. Lenny catches the first one in the paper. Some drunken shenanigans in Las Vegas that got out of hand. Lenny sends her a postcard saying "Mazel Tov." Mysteriously Midge writes back, "Once is an accident, twice a coincidence, three times a fucking problem." The second marriage to the singer was widely covered by the press from the moment they were caught exiting his hotel room in the middle of the night. Lenny sent another postcard, "The thing that concerns me most is your shit taste in music." Six months later Midge sends him a ticket to join her at a Diana Ross concert.

The marriage to the media mogul is the one that really pisses Lenny off. It's in the middle of one of their longest dry spells and Lenny sees it as the culmination of their argument: Midge tying herself to wealth, excess, and privilege instead of the subversive values he thought they shared. He almost doesn't go to the wedding, but a nasty part of him want to see this shitshow go down. The feeling deflates when he finds her crying in the bathroom, only an hour after the opulent ceremony. He offers to take her away, but Midge only dries her eyes and says, "Don't worry. I'm going to make him bleed." The divorce settlement becomes the stuff of legends and Midge has Lenny headline the benefit for Midge's new charitable foundation. The endowment will keep the organization is healthy financial shape for decades.

And maybe, just maybe, Midge and Lenny did get married after all. The captain of the cruiseliner said something about them being husband and wife that night they got tanked as they were heading into Barcelona. Neither properly remembers, or really minds. Marriages are dumb anyway. What matters is who sticks around.

[alixinwwonderland]

Prompt: Lenny finds out Midge is a pirate 

"There's no way I heard that right," Lenny's voice crackles down the phone line, and Midge mentally pats herself on the back for being able to shock the Lenny Bruce, however briefly.

"You did," she says primly.

"A pirate? Come on, Midge, you gotta be shitting me."

"With a pirate head and a pirate heart," she deadpans.

"I'm sorry, did you just quote Gilbert and Sullivan at me?"

"I'm sorry, did you just recognize Gilbert and Sullivan?"

"I am a man of many talents," Lenny protests.

"Now that I can attest to," Midge quips in return, and Lenny chuckles warmly.

"I just... I can't believe it," he says.

"What, that I'm a pirate? I'll have you know that I look absolutely darling with a feathered hat. The eye patch, maybe not so much."

"No, that's not it," Lenny says. "I'm just impressed — you got arrested for something I haven't."

[important-musings]

why are they so… 🥰😩👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨

[oddballtumbles]

The way the love breaks you down as it builds you into a new person, realizing that just because that they couldn’t be, the future can have it for you still.

[grace-williams-xo]

I have literally hundreds of downloaded fics on my phone (all sorted into fandom, sometimes by ship and length as well) but I don’t download until after I’ve finished reading it and I really liked it SO I think it’s time I stopped gatekeeping.

Drop requests here or in my asks for any fic recs! All lengths, all genres, all ratings, lots of ships. Be as specific or vague as you want. Mostly gay but there’s some straight lmao. (Gay/straight ratio also depends on the fandom).

Fandoms:

5SOS

One Direction

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Suits

The Big Bang Theory

Hawaii Five-0

The Marvellous Mrs Maisel

Hollywood

The Politician

Fellow Travellers

White Collar

Bridgerton

[charcubed]

Love Is The Opening Door –

A Midge/Susie fic

Pensacola – 1969 With no actual thoughts involved and no plan to do it, Midge leans forward and kisses her. Susie jerks back like she’s been shot. “What the FUCK?” she yells, scrambling off the bed.

---

New York City – 1990 For the first time in five years, Midge just spoke to her. Not about her; to her. It was more than an olive branch. It was the whole fucking tree. And Susie’s holding a piece of paper that proves she gets to talk to her again.

Rated T • 6,688 words

On AO3 here.

The parts of Midge and Susie's love story that exist in the margins, mentioned in canon but not shown on screen.

[gingerteaonthetardis]

i was tagged by the wonderful @deardiary17 to share 7 (or more) lines from my latest WIP, so that means y'all are getting some unasked for midgelenny! (ask me about this convoluted fic at your own risk <3 i can be so annoying about it for the low low price of one single tumblr ask):

"You missed your calling," she muses, squinting theatrically at the paper napkin.

"Hm?"

She flips it ninety degrees, then ninety degrees again, her pseudo-examination accompanied by a frown. "You should have been a doctor, with this handwriting."

He groans. "Don't put that in your set."

"Why, because it's not funny or because sloppy penmanship is your dirty little secret?"

"Oh, Mrs. Maisel," he says with a mocking smirk; he does so hate to be obvious with her. "I have more dirty little secrets than I know what to do with."

"So, it's just not funny. I'll workshop it," she says, and apparently she means now, because her mouth does not stop moving, even as she folds the napkin up at precise angles and slips it into her purse. "You know, I can sort of almost picture it: Dr. Leonard Bruce, writing bogus Benzedrine prescriptions."

"Still not funny. And 'Bruce' is a stage name. I'd be Dr. Schneider, which is not very sexy."

She winces. "No, it really isn't. Not sure how you'd look in a white coat either…"

"Okay," he tips his head back, draining the last of his drink. "You keep workshopping, I'm going now."

She pouts. "So soon?"

"You'll be glad to be rid of me."

"Yes," she agrees, nodding with slightly too much emphasis. She's tipsy, he realizes. She had to get tipsy to come over and talk to him? He knows the feeling. "You are a terrible bore."

"'Is Lenny Bruce boring at home?'" he quotes, flicking one final salute over his shoulder before he goes. He doesn't want to look back, but he does anyway.

Midge smiles at him, just a little. And crookedly, her perfect lips pursed.

And—my god, he really is so fucking screwed.

[theycallme-thejackal]

‘Til There Was You

Pairing: Lenny Bruce & Midge Maisel Warnings: 5x01 Spoilers

Midge stops in the middle of the hallway and swallows thickly, tears still burning in her eyes.

Suddenly it’s too hot. She feels panic rising in her chest, and every bit of her except her formerly frostbitten toe starts to sweat.

We don’t do that, right?

He was trying to open up to her. To give her what she insisted upon that morning outside of her apartment, and she threw it back in his face because...because...

Because I’m a fucking idiot.

He doesn’t know how long he’ll be out west. He has a lease. His daughter is coming to stay with him. For all she knows, he’ll stay out there. Meet a girl. Have a life.

Her feet start taking her the other direction. She’s moving quickly, rushing to catch him before he has the chance to board his flight to Los Angeles. Because if he leaves, if this is the last time she’s going to see him, she’s not going to let him leave without telling him what that night really meant to her.

What he really means to her.

“Lenny!” She calls as she spots him again, reaching into his pocket for his ticket.

His head is ducked, but he turns it to look at her, the cigarette still dangling from his lips as his face twists a little in confusion and...something else.

Relief, she realizes.

“We have to stop meeting like this,” he tells her, stepping away from the gate.

She takes a deep breath as he approaches, and when he removes the cigarette from his mouth and exhales, she rises onto her toes, ignoring the still present ache in the one, and presses a soft kiss to his lips as her hand cups his neck tenderly. It takes him a moment to reciprocate, but he finally does, moving his lips against hers and bending so she doesn’t have to stand on tiptoes anymore.

When they part a longer than decent moment later, she clutches his lapels and rests her forehead against his. “Thank you,” she whispers.

“For what?” He asks quietly.

“Everything.” She pulls away a little, looking up at him as the tears start to form again. “For...the Gaslight gig and the joint Susie stole from me and yelling at me at Carnegie Hall and...” 

She chokes out a quiet sob, and his thumb brushes a fallen tear from her cheek. “And for that night,” she finally adds once she’s regained her composure.

“The pleasure was all mine, I assure you,” he whispers.

“Oh I’m pretty sure I got there about three times before you had a chance,” she quips, earning a chuckle from him. “But aside from that, you...made me feel loved. In a way I don’t think I’ve ever felt before.”

Lenny gazes at her softly, his thumb trailing over her cheek and down her jaw. “Midge, I - ”

“Mr. Bruce?” The airline representative calls. “We’re on a bit of a schedule.”

He sighs and looks back at Midge. God, she hates how much this feels like goodbye. “I have to - ”

“I know,” she whispers, nodding furiously as she tries and fails not to cry anymore.

“If I call this time - ”

“I’ll pick up,” she promises.

He gives her a slow smile and one last tender kiss before going to board the plane.

[katesbridgerton]

midgelenny: till there was you.

"I can't-"

She touches his arm gently, and he doesn't hesitate to lean on her, resting his head on her chest, allowing himself to be held.

"You should be home with your kids, you should be working. What you really shouldn't be doing is being here trying to save someone who has no salvation."

Midge bites her lower lip. She's not trying to save him. He decided to save himself, if anything, she's trying to- to- oh fuck. She knew she loved Lenny, what she didn't know was that she was in love with Lenny.

"You promised you would only laugh at the end. This is not the end," she whispers, gently caressing his sweaty hair.

"You paid attention," he smiles weakly.

"To you? Always."

He looks up, their eyes meet for the first time that day.

"I'm going to laugh."

It's an affirmation. More than that, it's a promise.

"I know," she smiles, before kissing his forehead. "I'm not going anywhere."

Six months later Midge is watching from a safe distance Ethan, Esther and Kitty having what it seems like the best conversation of their lives with Rose, Abe, Shirley and Moishe. She's so absorbed in that moment that she doesn't notice when Joel stops next to her, not until he opens his mouth.

"So, you were really in love with Lenny Bruce, huh?"

She looks at him.

"Have I ever told you how wonderful you are?" she pauses for a second and smiles. "For leaving me that night? For cheating on me? I found myself after that. And consequently the greatest love of my life... comedy, of course."

He laughs and they keep having one of their deep meaningful conversations.

Later that day, when the house is empty, the three kids – who are far from being kids now – are already in bed, Midge stops in front of the guest room. The door is closed.

You were really in love with Lenny Bruce.

She still is, but he hasn't made a move on her since he recovered. Has he thanked her a thousand times per day? Yes. That's not what she wants though and she keeps waiting, because she knows he doesn't want her to think that he is only with her because she was there in a difficult moment.

However, Midge was never really a woman who liked waiting so she opens the door, a soft and surprised "hi" comes out of his mouth; she always knocks.

"The meeting was really good today," he says.

Midge doesn't answer, she closes the door behind her and walks towards him. He looks up, if he moves his arms he could hold her waist and bring her closer but he won't do it and she knows.

"I love you. I'm in love with you, Lenny. I think since the day we met. And I know you feel the same. I also know you feel grateful but you loved me before that and so did I. I don't like waiting, but if it's too soon for a relationship, I'll respect that. I just thought you should know that nothing made much sense till there was you."

She turns around and takes one step, when she feels his hand on her arm, he is standing when he makes her face him again. This time she is the one who has too look up.

The moment she does, he kisses her.

x

Outside the room, Ethan, Esther and Kitty are smiling at each other, then they decide to go to the kitchen and have ice cream to celebrate.

"Remember to act surprise when they tell us!" Esther whispers to them on the way.

[wonderlandleighleigh]

would you ever be willing to do like a top ten tmmm fanfic rec list ? i only recently start reading fic for the fandom now that the show is over and im a little lost where to start. love your fics though !!! im so glad i found them

Thanks for reading! I've been awake since 2 am, so I don't have the wherewithal to make up a list like this, and I feel like 10 slots isn't enough.

So here are my favorite Maisel fic writers

Theycallme-Thejackal

Alixinwonderland

Markwatneyandensemble

Quillbriar

Phoebeprufrock

Disaster_Lady

Theresawritesstuff

70sBabe

Theglamourfades

Originallyblonder

Lovepollution

Preseliavalon87

Elsie_Snuffin

Have at it. All of these people write great fic in a wide range of styles. And as an added bonus, I've chatted online with quite a few of them, and they're really cool, nice people. <3

I will totally admit that these are, by and large, Midge x Lenny writers. I haven't read much of anything else, but I assume there are writers for the fandom writing equally great fic for other ships. I just love muh poor doomed ship.

[welcomewithmetonight-thechaos]

Blue. A color that has been haunting her dreams ever since that night. Blue things in a very blue room. And now Lenny was alone in that very blue room, alone with that bag. What does it mean when not only the curtains but the very room is blue?

Or, the one where Bob Dylan has no reason to write "Lenny Bruce" till at least thirty years later than he did.

Hi :) I wrote a little something because I love them