#this might be more supercorp adjacent

[imawholeassmood]

Supercortober Day 29: Tea

AO3 if you prefer. I apologize in advance for this :)

“Ok, spill.”

Alex turns from the monitor to Nia, her brows twisted in confusion. “Spill what?”

“The tea,” Nia says with conviction.

“Is that supposed to mean something? Why would I spill tea, there’s not even tea here,” Alex says and looks around the tower.

Nia looks at her like she sprouted a second head.

“Who spilled tea?” J’onn’s booming voice fills the room when he enters. “This might be a Martian ship, but there’s plenty of Earth technology here that could be damaged with uncontained liquids.” He draws his hands to his hips and lets out a sigh. “Perhaps I should install a break room.” “What?” Nia says, “no, J’onn, that’s not what-”

“A breakroom is a fantastic idea.” Brainy follows M’Gann into the control room and cuts Nia off. “Studies show regular breaks can help prevent burnout.” He draws his fingers together and tents them in front of his chest. “Having a separate space reduces the temptation to eat your lunch while you work. I’m guilty of doing that myself.”

M’gann nods and says, “I’m partial to flexible work hours. The bar was really great for setting my own schedule.”

“Well,” Kelly says as she walks in and settles next to Alex, “having more control over your work and schedule for some, correlates to having a greater sense of control over your life as a whole. Whenever people feel they’ve lost control, it can be very overwhelming.”

Beside her, Alex agrees and leans in to drop a kiss on Kelly’s cheek.

“It sounds like we could all benefit from a retreat,” J’onn says, “maybe we could find one off-world.”

Alex adds, “we could arrange it with Barry or the Legends to look after National City for a few days.” She shrugs. “Take advantage of having us all on the same earth, right?”

Nia stands in awe, wondering how the conversation got so far away from her original request. She tries to get things back in line. “Not that I wouldn’t love a vacation,” she says, “but I was actually asking about Kara.” “Oh, yes,” J’onn says, “Kara’s certainly been through a lot this year. If anyone’s earned some time off, it’s her. Good thinking, Dreamer.” He drops his bearclaw of a hand on her shoulder and pats twice.

“Thanks,” she says and scrunches her nose, “I think.” Nia surveys the room and her eyes jump from one face to another, everyone mulling over the idea of a collective retreat. She pushes on. “It’s just, well, has anybody else noticed that Kara seems different lately?”

“Different how?” Brainy says. “I’ve noticed no changes in her composition.”

“I don’t know,” Nia says and hunches under the weight of the anticipatory stares setting upon her. This whole conversation feels lightyears away from where it started and she mentally kicks herself for prying in the first place. She kicks herself again for not having the good sense to keep her mouth shut. “She seems happy.”

“Is that not one of the desired benefits of taking a vacation?” Brainy says and looks like he’s cycling through all of his mental indexes to see where his information might have gotten crossed.

M’gann gives him a look to reassure him. “What’s wrong with Kara being happy?”

“I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with it,” Nia says, “but we just agreed that Kara’s had a rough year so it just seems like maybe a little off.” Her voice trails off as she falters in her conviction. “You know what? It’s none of my business. Forget I said anything.”

“No, wait,” Alex says with concern. She steps away from Kelly and shakes a finger in the air. “Nia might have a point here. Kara has been acting really happy lately, like too happy. Maybe she’s been infected with something.”

“She could be masking,” J’onn says.

“Now, wait a minute,” Kelly says, “before we go making any diagnoses, maybe we should just talk to her.”

“Talk to who?”

“Kara,” Alex says and almost chokes trying to cough down her nervous laugh. Kara eyes her with more confusion than concern while Kelly rubs Alex’s back. Nia covers her mouth to hide her smile. When Alex recovers, she says, “when did you get here?”

“I’ve been here,” she says and Alex’s eyes bulge. “I was with Lena in the lab. We were uh…” she waves her hand in a circle looking for the right word.

“Testing a hypothesis.” Lena finishes for her and steps in behind Kara.

“Yes! Yep, that,” Kara says, “experimenting.”

The laugh bursts out of Nia and bounces up the walls into the air above them. Even as every pair of eyes turns to her, Nia makes no effort to contain herself. She bends at the waste and raspy squeals leak out of her between each labored intake of air. By the time she composes herself enough to stand at attention, mascara filled tears stain her face and mask. She waves a hand in front of her face to dry her eyes.

Alex casts her eyes to Kara before landing back on Nia with a scrutinizing glare. “Is everything ok?”

“Yeah,” Nia says, “it’s more than ok. Everything is,” she walks towards the door and stops in front of Kara, “perfect.” When Kara scrunches her brows in question, Nia drops her voice and does her best to indicate a spot on her own neck at the base of her ear. “You got a little uh,” and Kara’s eyes widen a split second before she snaps her hand to the spot and rubs away the final remnants of deep red lipstick.

Alex interrupts the moment. “Where are you going?”

Nia turns back to Alex and the others who appear none the wiser. She steps backwards towards the door. “I’m gonna go,” she says, “have some tea.”

[mssirey]

2018 Fic Writing Roundup

Total 2018 Word Count: 12430

Total 2018 Hits: 11529

Other 2018 AO3 Stats

Kudos - 699

Comment Threads - 27

Bookmarks - 54

Subscriptions - 90

Links & Titles to 2018 Works:

Antidote: Best summed up as the poison scene, but with the twist of established Supercorp. 

Off the Rails and Falling Fast:  Basically the train station scene, with Reign, but with a bit more drama and some extended aftermath. It is a bit violent, but has some nice Danvarias to mend all wounds. 

To Want It All: A recreation of Sango’s threeway bangfest--Lena, Kara, and Supergirl. Pure smut, with a follow up chapter to come (which will cover the rest of the images).

All Down to Trial and Error: Part of this year’s holiday exchange. Lena wants to know more about Kara and it leads to a sort of experiment. Much smut, with all the soft loving trust. And a hint of science. Or maybe science adjacent. 

Favorite Fic

This is hard, cause they all have different things I like, and things that make me more iffy. I think that, in terms of accomplishing what I set out to do, OTRaFF was my most successful. I haven’t written much danvarias, but I love them so much. Having been given an action/angst prompt, I still wanted to capture the essence of their strength, together. I think because of that, I find it to ultimately be my favorite.

Hardest Fic

Oh, hm, I suppose that was All Down to Trial and Error. Of the four pieces I wrote this year, three of them were prompt driven and the last was based on art. So, while I definitely put my own spin on prompts and deviate a lot from the most direct path, I haven’t exactly been bursting with ideas. But ADtTaE was the most open prompt I was given and holy shit, I could not figure out where to go with it. And then, when I had an idea, I got over 2k words in and hated it, so I deleted it and started from scratch. And I am glad I did, cause the second attempt worked so much better and it ended up being my largest single chapter to date, but I was working on it up to the last possible second. (I actually ended up cutting a whole planned scene, cause I wanted quality over quantity when it was posted… rip rip rip rip). And with all of that, I walked away feeling like I could have done so much more with it (which, while that is a kinda sucky feeling, it also leads me to think that my next attempt will be that much better, cause I know what I want to work on).

Do you plan on taking prompts in 2019?

Ha! Well, maybe. At this point, I have two set projects that are already in the works, another that is at drawing board stages, and a possible fourth that might happen but is very up in the air. So, when I square that all up, I’ll consider where 2019 is headed regarding me taking prompts and other projects.

What was the best thing about 2018?

OH, I actually had something really amazing happen. Okay, so I have an original work that I have had on the table for 6 years. And, granted, a lot of those six years have been spent not opening a single doc attached to that project. But, towards the end of the summer, I went up to Maine with a number of my partner’s family members (Ash wasn’t there, but I went, lolol) and we stayed on this island where part of the family owns four little houses (with no electricity and limited running water). Anywho, nice place to get away--I brought a book (the only one I fucking read this year) and it was just so relaxing. 

Towards the end of the stay, I was talking to Ashley’s cousin about the book I read and the conversation led into my original work. And this blessed soul listened to me break down the skeleton of my idea for EIGHT HOURS. She asked questions and got super pumped when I pointed out how things connected and lost her shit over some of the surprises I have in mind. It was like I got a year’s dose of feeling good all at once. She kept being like “i want this book in my hands” and “i need to read this” and I don’t think I have ever felt better about my ideas. And so I ended up revisiting my work, and while nothing new has been written, I made so many breakthroughs on major character arcs and underlying information and so much life has been breathed into it. I want to cry thinking about it.

What was the worst thing about 2018?

There wasn’t really a singular worst thing, it just kinda overall sucked. 2018 wasn’t the best for me, writing wise. I lacked motivation, my ideas felt stale, and writing didn’t feel natural for the majority of it. Don’t get me wrong, I feel like I made strides in other areas of life, and I am hopeful that will translate into my creative pursuits…

Any last thoughts for 2018?

So long! On to 20-bi-teen!

Goals for 2019: Be more proactive about scheduling time to write Be more conscious of my specific objectives, hangups, and accomplishments Complete one project a month Allot time to my original work Be generous, to myself and others

[queercapwriting]

Can we get some good old fluff for Sanvers and Supercorp?? Much love cap!

[I added WestAllen because I was in the mood for a triple homedate with these nerds, I couldn’t help myself]

Alex is curled up on Maggie’s lap and leaning over to whisper in Iris’s ear as they both giggle about the perks of dating ethical science-y cops or cops adjacent.

Barry is trying (and failing) not to blush, both because he knows exactly what Iris and Alex are giggling about, and because Maggie’s hand is casually slipped up the back of Alex’s sweater, stroking her wife’s skin as she leans back to chat with Barry about the latest advances in forensic science.

Iris is holding her husband’s hand as Alex makes her laugh and laugh, appreciating Barry’s supportive squeeze because she knows that he knows that she knows that he knows that Alex Danvers makes her stomach flutter in much the same way that Oliver Queen does.

Maggie is adjusting her glasses – a habit she’s picked up from her sister-in-law, a new comfort she’s found in being able to take out her contacts in the company of other humans – and peppering Barry with questions about STAR Labs’ latest this or that gadget. 

And then all four of them jump, because an oddly-shaped figure suddenly appears right outside their window, rapping on the glass insistently.

Iris nearly topples off of Barry with her laughter, but Alex just groans and shakes her head with a roll of her eyes.

“Does this… happen often?” Barry leans in to ask Maggie, his hands protectively around Iris’s waist so she doesn’t veer sideways onto the floor.

“You’d be surprised,” Maggie smirks as Alex stands and strolls over to the window, still rolling her eyes, but with a smile forming irresistably, now.

She sighs as she opens the window for Kara and Lena.

Lena’s reclined casually in Kara’s arms, bridal style, her arms draped around Kara’s neck and a broad smile on her face.

“Do you two have to travel like that all the time?” Alex teases as she steps back to let Kara fly in, carefully turning sideways so Lena doesn’t hit her feet on the window.

“No better way to travel than with a beautiful woman in your arms,” Kara kisses Lena soundly before putting her down carefully.

“At least it looks good when you carry her,” Iris stands to hug Lena, then Kara. “When Barry carries me, it’s not always pretty.”

“Carrying someone at superspeed’s hard!” Barry protests, standing now too, his hands in the air helplessly.

“And to be fair, when you catch me, you don’t carry me bridal style,” Alex chimes, taking Maggie’s hand as she sits back down and pulling her down on her own lap, this time.

Maggie groans and Lena laughs, collapsing next to her on the couch.

“I know you don’t like when your superhero wife swan dives out of the DEO and waits for my superhero wife to catch her,” she leans into Maggie, pouting playfully. “But you should try it sometime, Detective. It really is quite exhilarating.”

“I’ll pass,” Maggie grins, tapping Alex’s thighs so they can both move to make room on the couch for Barry and Iris, too.

“Wanna sit in my lap this time, babe? Alex and Maggie switched,” Iris sits heavily next to Alex, kissing Barry’s hand as she pulls him tentatively to sit on her lap.

“That’s because Alex and Maggie are – “

“No more words out of you, Little Danvers!” Maggie tickles a pleased shriek out of Kara, who retreats into Lena’s arms, breathlessly laughing.

“I think I might be too heavy for – “

“You’re a stick, Allen!”

“Can’t you just vibrate so you’re holding up your own weight or something?”

“Who wouldn’t want to sit in your wife’s lap, Allen?”

“Okay, okay, I’m sitting, god,” Barry runs a hand over the back of his neck with a smile, perching carefully onto Iris’s lap, making her smile and coo as she rubs her cheek against the back of his shirt.

“Awwww,” Kara beams, leaning even closer into Lena. 

“So who’s ordering food?” Maggie asks after a contented moment of silence between the three couples.

“I got it,” Barry offers, getting a kiss from Iris and a squeal from Kara. “It’s only fair,” he grins. “Kara and I’ll eat the first eight pizzas just between the two of us.”

“Does STAR Labs have a food budget for your metabolism?” Lena tilts forward to meet Barry’s eyes across Maggie and Alex’s entangled forms. “Because I’m thinking about setting one up at CatCo for this one, to compliment the DEO’s.”

Alex snorts. “It’s most of our budget.”

“At least potstickers aren’t that expensive!” Kara adjusts her glasses and blushes as Lena peppers her shoulder with kisses.

“Caitlin keeps trying to design something that’ll fill him up that’s tasty, too,” Iris chimes.

Barry shudders good-naturedly. “She’d an amazing doctor, but I think she should work with a chef on this one,” she grins.

“Don’t volunteer my wife for that,” Maggie teases, earning herself four giggles and one mock-dirty look.

It goes on like that, the entire rest of the evening.

Just three couples, one family.

Together, at peace. Teasing and laughing and loving and eating and letting themselves, for the first time in a long time, truly relax.