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lesbianlotties · 3 years

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the only touchstone of truth - I Care A Lot (2020) - Marla x Fran

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: I Care A Lot (2020) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Fran/Marla Grayson Characters: Marla Grayson, Fran (I Care A Lot) Additional Tags: Canon Compliant, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Origin Story, Canon Backstory, First Meetings, First Kiss, First Dates, Getting Together, Morally Ambiguous Character, Illegal Activities, Eventual Smut, Flirting, Partners in Crime, crime wives Summary: The American dream. The small business that Marla Grayson built from nothing. And now it's all crumbling down back to... nothing. Marla is left to pick up the pieces of the broken dream, but this time she's determined to start a fire with what she has left. The problem, or rather, the solution, comes in the shape of Fran, a gorgeous woman that, unlikely as it seems, has just as many tricks under her sleeve as Marla. This is how they meet, this is how they fall into each other's dangerous games, and most importantly, this is how they fall in love. Love, the only honest thing about each other, and the most important part of their story.

Chapter 1:

Marla was sitting behind the counter in her shop, wearing a sharp white shirt and her blonde hair falling in soft waves on her shoulders. The place was desolated, only Curtis stood by, idly reorganizing the shelves for maybe the hundredth time. Restlessness disgusted Marla. When she caught herself starting to lazily spin from side to side on her swivel chair she shook herself out of it by planting her feet firmly on the floor and picking up her vape pen. She’d only started using it to become a master of the trade she’s decided to pursue, but she’d grown quickly attached to it. Like an assassins’ favorite knife, it could be used as a weapon, but it brought comfort in unexplainable ways too.

“Curtis,” Marla exhaled, staring at her friend, “What is… the most American thing you can think of?”

The man smiled, an objectively beautiful smile, and said, “Cowboys.”

Instead of laughing, Marla nodded very seriously. That was, indeed, a very American thing. Men proudly resorting to childish ideals of what it is to be a man, hoping to use boyish charm to earn points in a game nobody could possibly win something worthy of. The problem was, Curtis wasn’t like that, not with Marla at least, and his answer was genuine. Besides, the fictional idea of a traditional cowboy was very American indeed. “What would a cowboy do,” Marla wondered slowly, “when facing a god-awful rival?”

“Get rid of them?” the young man replied. That was a certain answer, and the impulse of making it sound like a question at the end was just a consequence of answering to Marla. It was a common thing, he wasn’t immune to it, and she actually relished the fact that she could make people doubt the most obvious things they should be confident in.

“Exactly,” Marla clicked her teeth and winked, adding a playful gesture as if she’d just shoot him with an invisible gun.

Her friend and employee chuckled fondly at her. “Yeah, sorry, Marla, but I don’t think you can get rid of them.”

Gracefully, Marla stood up from the chair. What she’d been staring at so intently on her computer’s screen was the view from one of the security cameras outside, pointing across the street at the line of people waiting to get in at the bigger and flashier vape shop that recently opened up. “I know,” she said, almost soft enough to hide the venom in the words of acceptance of her downfall. She spread both hands on the counter and stared. It was the beginning of goodbye. She wasn’t an overly emotional person, she didn’t exactly hold a sentimental attachment with the place, not even to the person she had been when she started this journey. But, she had to say goodbye. However, “I won’t go down without a fight,” Marla stated. She walked around the counter and toward the front of the shop.

Personally, Marla had a different idea of what was the most American thing a person could do. Walk away from a suffocating family to the big city, make the most of what the world currently wants and turn it into a business, build it all from the ground up, turn it into an empire, make yourself rich enough to become a challenge to royalty and deities alike. It was a perfect plan as long as nobody warned you of the impossible to overcome obstacles that would appear in your path. Marla had done her work, she had spent the better part of her youth working inconceivable schedules and begging for loans. She had studied the market, the competition, the ins and outs of one smart investment, and it had worked. Until the grand opening of a monstrous shop close enough for it to be humiliating. They sold a brand, and Marla couldn’t compete. She’d done everything right, perhaps it was time to do a little bit of wrong in order to come out as a winner.

Marla had chosen that particular place to set up her shop because it was convenient for her type of business, but she never liked the place very much. That was something she could admit now that she was saying goodbye to it. She was staring out the glass windows and almost grimacing at the view. She’d always wanted an office that would be at least one floor up from the ground, before reaching the highest level of the building, of course. Now she was making herself the promise not to rest until she achieved her real goals and desires, the bigger the better, no space for conformity with accomplishing the bare minimum, not anymore.

“Maybe they can get rid of me,” Marla finally said, much to the confusion of the young man listening to her. She didn’t have just an idea, she’d just come up with an entire plan

------------

The police sirens were a perfect soundtrack, just like Marla had imagined it. But they carried, along with the blinking red and blue lights, unexpected effects. It was the perfect background for a few of Marla’s nightmares, and for most of her dreams. If only she didn’t have to hold back for one reason or another. If the men that threatened her ever came to something. If only she listened to that little voice in the back of her head that encouraged her to push further and harder against life. It felt like every “ what if ” of her life ended up with police sirens and red and blue lights at her back. Only one slight movement of her shoes on the broken glass that covered the floor of her shop was enough to pull her out of her deep thoughts. Only of discreet shake of her head to push her hair off her face was enough to bring her back to the conversation at hand.

“I didn’t see it, at first,” she said in a frail tone of someone retelling an awful nightmare, “it wasn’t until Curtis pointed it out that… Christ. It looks bad.”

Marla, her loyal employee, and the police officer were, of course, discussing the broken windows, trashed shelves and, more specifically at that instant, the graffiti painted on the floor of her place, it was the logo of the big store just down the road.

“There are a few options,” the detective mumbled, “Could be the competition, of course, but could be simple, overenthusiastic buyers with an interest in causing trouble. Nothing out of the ordinary. I’m positive we’ll catch the people responsible for the attack to your shop, Miss Grayson.” After a pause, she added, “I wonder how far they went. May I look over the office, the storage?”

The blonde looked away with a pained expression, “I don’t think I could,” she forced herself to take a deep and steadying breath and when she looked back at the other women she had a perfectly sweet smile on, “Curtis will accompany you, detective.”

As the two of them walked further inside the store, Marla walked out. She’d left her own car parked out front, so she leaned her back against it and put her vape pen on her lips. Only a couple of seconds later, the second officer that had shown up to the place had joined her.

“That’s not going to work,” was the first thing Fran said to Marla.

“Excuse me?”

“Using that guy as bait.”

Marla blinked, reeling back her slight surprise. “And why is that?” she inquired.

Fran shrugged, staring straight at the broken windows of the shop. “Lou’s my ex,” she mentioned as nonchalantly as she should have introduced herself but instead had only nodded when her partner was the one to remember the protocol, “she’s not gonna fall for your boy’s charm.” She finally turned to look at Marla, as if it were the first time, but knowing that since she arrived at the place she’d been casting furtive glances at the striking and intriguing blonde. “You, on the other hand, give her another one of those smiles of yours,” Fran said, with barely a hint of a smile on her pink lips, “and it might work.”

Along with a breathy and quick chuckle, Marla did smile. She wasn’t used to being so blatantly called out for her strategies. People complained all the time about the way she constantly managed to get what she wanted, but nobody ever seemed to know exactly what about her they were upset about. Then there was this complete stranger that with one look and right from the first sentence she spoke, she caught Marla. And the best part, she didn’t even seem to be complaining about it. Marla would have been lying if she said it didn’t feel strangely good. Partially, because she knew she was good at her games, and if no one played at her level then nobody could actually appreciate her. It was pleasant to be seen. Partially, too, it was just because of the way the other woman was looking at her.

“Not that one, though,” Fran continued. She leaned in closer, talked in conspirative whispers, and for some reason was displeased with Marla’s smile. She was fascinating almost to a point of dizziness. Her presence, to anyone of slightly weaker disposition than Marla, would have brought them to their knees. “That one’s sincere,” she said of the smile they were discussing, “and that’s dangerous.”

This time Marla scoffed. She looked away, hoping that the brunette, without looking into her eyes, wouldn’t be able to read how much Marla was struggling to draw the line between being fed a flirtatious line out of the millions of them, and the shockingly unique feeling of it all, something that she’d only seen in Fran.

“You look too young to be a detective,” Marla said, as a way to change the course of the conversation. Only after she said the words she started thinking about what they meant. What could this woman, with the imperfect ponytail, worn leather jacket, and secretive smile, have done in order to get to where she was in life?

“And you look,” Fran started to say, pausing just long enough for Marla to think that if she dared called her old she would simply walk away and never return to the damned shop, “too smart to own a place like this.”

She wasn’t the first person to point out the fact that simply something about Marla’s eyes revealed that she was meant for things greater than a vape shop. She would’ve laughed, or smiled, but that would’ve made things too easy for Fran. “It’s just business,” the blonde said slowly.

“Is that why you did all this?” Fran nodded toward the broken windows and the mess beyond.

Marla turned to look at her and remained speechless for a moment, even if her cold expression did nothing to reveal the spark of surprise that Fran was fueling with every word she spoke. The silence wasn’t as uncomfortable as expected. Marla quickly figured out that if Fran was smart enough to figure out in a few minutes the complexities of her carefully crafted smile, then it wasn’t all that shocking to see her solve a case that she’d probably even seen before.

“Do you think she’ll notice?” Marla finally asked, talking about Fran’s partner. For some reason, she wasn’t worried in the slightest about Fran being the one to ruin her plans.

The younger woman tilted her head from side to side, genuinely thinking it through. The impulse to talk shit about her ex was strong. But she knew and respected the woman as a professional. Plus, a consequence of being so good at pulling the truth out of unwilling people was that she wasn’t that interested in the effort it took to lie.

“There’s a chance,” she replied at last. “But, really, give her one smile,” Fran continued, “and she’ll probably give you that signature you want to take this to court.”

This time, the two women laughed together. When they made eye contact then, it was completely different. No careful glances, no studying the other one, simply looking for the sake of a beautiful and frightening view. Right from the first night, they came across that feeling of absolute freedom and awe of standing at the edge of a cliff that would paralyze in fear those of faint heart, but that they would eventually come to fondly associate with each other.

“And you?” Marla dropped the smile. If Fran could see her tricks, she could return the favor. It was her turn to lean in closer, whisper, and look just disinterested enough as she asked, “What do you want before you give me what I want?”

Fran looked away for just one instant, but they both knew this game well enough to know that such small action would count as a big win for the blonde. When she looked back up at those striking blue eyes, Fran thought for a moment, about what she wanted, what Marla could give, and how far she could push or pull at this unlikely and tremendously exciting situation so she could get the best deal possible.

“I’ll let you know,” Fran announced, pulling out a presentation card and offering it to Marla with a smile. “Someone might break into your business again. So dangerous,” she playfully shook her head and pulled herself away from the car they’d been leaning against, “Call me when you’ll need me.”

#hellooo i posted a new fic bc i can't get the crime wives out of my head!!!#i care a lot #marla x fran #fran x marla #marla grayson #fran #rosamund pike #eiza gonzalez #i care a lot fanfic #i care a lot fanfiction #ical #my fic

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eva-novakov · 3 years

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Eva’s boots tapped on the wooden floor as she stepped off the last stair and turned into the kitchen. “Morning mom.”

“Hi sweetie.”

“Good morning pumpkin.” Eva leaned down to kiss the top of Asteria’s golden crown. Isaac liked to say she was 100% mini-Eva, but the fact that she was always up before the crack of dawn was a sign that pointed straight to him.

“Gram is teaching me bikkits!” Her blue eyes were bright as she spread her tiny hands to show Eva the dough between her fingers.

“Good. That was one of the first things I had to learn.” She exchanged a smile with Mara at the memory. “Grams biscuits are Papa’s favorite.”

Mara’s smile faded into a smaller one. “He left earlier.”

Eva nodded and planted a kiss to the older woman’s cheek in passing. “I’ll be back.”

“We’ll be here.” Mara smudged flour onto Asteria’s nose and Eva let the screen door shut gently on her daughter’s giggles.

She walked past the porch swing, his usual morning spot, now empty. She knew where she would find him on today of all days.

Eva slid effortlessly from the bare back of her horse, letting the reins drop as soon as her feet touched the ground.

“Hey baby.”

“Hi my love.” Her hand touched one of his shoulders and slid to the other as she walked behind him before sitting next to him in the two seater lounge. Isaac’s lips found hers in a quick kiss and she linked their fingers before throwing her legs over his lap to lean back against the arm of the chair. The rustle of the green leaves over their heads couldn’t be heard past the bubbling of the river a short distance from them, but she watched them flutter with the breeze. She breathed in the fresh air, feeling Isaac’s thumb stroking the back of her hand and they sat in comfortable silence. Whatever heaven was, she thought as she gazed out onto the wide expanse of fields of wildflowers, this was it.

She knew what he was thinking about. “I still think you should go.”

“Eva.”

“It’s an honor, Isaac.”

“We talked about this.”

They didn’t fight often. But the week leading up to today had been peppered with spats about this particular subject and Isaac’s stubbornness had eventually won out, but something in her said it was too important to let go. "I hear what you're saying. I just don't agree with you.” They both smiled when she used his own words against him.

“Why does this mean so much to you?”

“Last time you spoke at a war anniversary benefit, I can’t tell you the amount of people who came up to me and said how much better it made them feel. Women who had lost their children, wives that had lost their husbands… everyone wants to know that it was all worth something. That it made a difference. You do that for them, Isaac. People take comfort in what you say.”

He sighed, deep and heavy. “This year is a big anniversary, so it’s going to be a big deal. You know how much I love big deals.” She smiled at his sarcasm, tracing the lines of his palm with the tips of her fingers. “I don’t know why anyone would want to hear from a dusty, old, retired ex admiral anyway.”

“You know as well as I do, once an Admiral, always an Admiral.” She was fully aware of the ‘sir’s he still received when encountering any military personnel. “Even if they are old and dusty.”

His grin matched Eva’s before she continued. “We could take Aster. She needs to know the importance of today, and she’s living, breathing proof of the beauty that came from the ashes. Examples of why it wasn’t all meaningless:” She tapped the locket around her neck that held their daughter’s picture inside, a solution Isaac had found when Eva mentioned years ago she felt too naked without the ever-present dog tags she had worn for too many years. “This one.”

It took a minute for the realization to reach his face when she took his hand and raised her shirt to slide it onto her bare belly. “And in about nine months or so,” She smiled when his eyes grew wide. “This one.”

#isaac cerrillo #eva novakov #post war

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0-solshroom-0 · 4 years

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My Top Five Songs from Each Musical On My Musicals Playlist

(as of November 25, 2020)

these are in no particular order and are completely opinion based

Les Misérables:

Drink With Me

I Dreamed A Dream

One Day More

ABC Cafe / Red and Black

Master Of The House

(honorable mentions: the entire goddamn musical tbh)

Hamilton

Satisfied

What’d I Miss

Wait For It

Burn

Washington On Your Side

(Honorable Mentions: Say No To This and Best Of Wives And Best Of Women)

Hadestown

Way Down Hadestown

Wait For Me

Wait For Me Reprise

If It’s True

When The Chips Are Down

Moulin Rouge (Broadway Version)

So Exciting!

Come What May

El Tango De Roxanne

Backstage Romance

The Sparkling Diamond

Six

All You Wanna Do

Don’t Lose Ur Head

Haus of Holbein

Ex Wives

Six

Wicked

(Before I start i’m gonna say that i don’t actually like Wicked that much but it was the first musical i saw live so yeah it holds a special place in my heart. that’s why it’s here)

As Long As Your Mine (aka the only song i genuinely enjoy)

No Good Deed

What Is This Feeling

Popular

Defying Gravity

Sweeney Todd

The Worst Pies In London

Johanna

Pirelli’s Miracle Elixir

Green Finch and Linnet Bird

A Little Priest

Newsies

King Of New York

Carrying The Banner

That’s Rich

The World Will Know

Watch What Happens Reprise

(honorable mention: Letter From The Refuge)

Heathers

(another musical i’m kind of eh about but it’s here anyway)

Big Fun

Candy Store

Fight For Me

Lifeboat

Seventeen

(honorable mention: Yo Girl)

Be More Chill

Upgrade

The Smartphone Hour

Michael in the Bathroom

The Pitiful Children

A Guy That Id Kinda Be Into

Rent

Light My Candle

Tango: Maureen

Out Tonight

La Vie Boheme

Take Me Or Leave Me

The Greatest Showman

Never Enough

Come Alive

The Other Side

Tightrope

This Is Me

Mamma Mia

Does Your Mother Know

The Winner Takes It All

Take a Chance On Me

I Have a Dream

Lay All Your Love On Me

Mamma Mia 2

(Judge all you want but i liked this movie and i said movie musicals too and this counts probably)

Waterloo

Andante, Andante

Super Trouper

When I Kissed The Teacher

Why Did It Have To Be Me?

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Time Warp

Eddie

Rose Tint My World

Touch-A, Touch-A, Touch Me

Science Fiction/Double Feature

The Clockmakers Daughter

The Turning Of The Key

Impossible

Spindlewood

Keep It To Yourself

Clockwork

Waitress

What’s Inside

Opening Up

The Negative

When He Sees Me

She Used To Be Mine

21 Chump Street

Not gonna bother listing them out because the musical is only five songs long but if anyone’s curious Cousin is my favorite song

Repo! The Genetic Opera

(i seriously only like three songs in total i don’t even know why this album is on here)

Infected

Zydrate Anatomy

Chase The Morning

And that’s it! If you wanna suggest musicals for me to listen to then feel free to.

(Note) the playlist consists of pretty much every musical i even vaguely liked (both stage musicals and movie musicals) and is being updated consistently as i discover new ones so yeah

also yeah i did make this whole post because 1 whole mutual told me to and i value what my mutuals say that much.

here’s the link if anyone wants it (Yes Les Mis is on there twice i couldn’t decide which version to put on there so i put them both i’m SORRY but i’m actually not because ITS MY PLAYLIST AND I GET TO MAKE THE DECISIONS sorry that was aggressive for some reason. anyway ignore the playlist cover because i just chose something random)

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bangtancentricsblog · 3 years

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For @suhdays numbers 27 & 6 from this list, I hope you like it 🙂 please ignore any mistakes I don’t usually type directly on tumblr 🙃 anyways idk if I did it justice and it got away from me lol

It’s odd, the situation that is. Never in a million years would Yoongi have believed to be sitting opposite you in the diner he vividly remembered being your favorite place when you two had been dating. He remembers the happier times, the days and hours you’d spent tucked into his side wearing his letterman jacket, sharing a milkshake listening to the old rock songs playing from the jukebox. It’s strange that he can still vividly remember those feelings, even now years later after high school. After having gone off to college and gotten married to what he’d called the love of his life.

And yet despite all those obstacles, the long distance and the petty fights he’d married you. Your high school romance just wasn’t meant to last not when two years into marriage it had fallen apart. The divorce had been amicable, too clean cut almost as if you two hadn’t loved one another as long as you had, his coworkers that had later become his close friends had said it was a good thing. His marriage to you had been doomed to fail when he’d wanted to settle down and you’d still had so much life in you, so much you’d wanted to do. That you weren’t meant for the married housewife life. And he had somehow agreed, buried his life with you in the depths of his closet almost as he’d never wanted to be reminded of it. Never wanted to see just where his life had taken a turn, a life where he would have to live without you.

He’s staring at you with a furrow to his brow, his expression is one of distaste. Annoyance maybe, you aren’t quite sure anymore. Though if you’re sure about one thing it had to be just how much more handsome he’s gotten with age. The two of you are pushing your thirties but time has only done his wonders. If Yoongi was handsome as a young adult he was downright lethal as a man in his prime.

“What did you call me out here?” He asks face never portraying any emotion.

“You make it seem as we don’t regularly see each other at charity events.”

“That may be, but it’s not because I want to see you.” He almost spits taking note of the way you slightly flinch back at his words.

“Right, I could never dream of that. It’d be silly of me.” You laugh with a small smile he takes note of the way it doesn’t reach your eyes.

“So what did you want?” He asks again.

“Just to catch up, I heard you were engaged.”

“Let’s not do this ____, I know you’ll only hurt yourself.” You nod somewhat timidly a anguished look crossing your features.

“Right, I’m sorry to have called you out for something so mundane. I’ll take my leave then.” You say dropping a few bills on the table to pay for your untouched milkshake. It’s the same flavor you used to share all those years ago.

“So you just let her believe you were engaged?” Hoseok asks somewhat disgusted.

“It’s not important, do we have anything scheduled today?”

“I mean you have to pick up your daughter from your ex-wives house. The same one you let think you were engaged. The one who I’ve seen you make puppy eyes at like some lovesick teenager.” Yoongi scowls, but Hoseok is right. He hates to admit it but he’s still very much in love with you as he was when you got divorced. Now he has one more thing to love about you, his daughter was an unexpected surprise. One he’d received after your divorce, and he hated you just a little bit for keeping her a secret until the very day of her birth. But he knows why you did it, his career had taken off shortly after the divorce and you’d made yourself scarce. Virtually disappearing after he’d signed those papers, only popping back up when you’d gone into labor.

He’d made it his mission to avoid you at all cost, because even if he loved you he couldn’t handle the way you just left him. Had hidden your pregnancy from him, had stolen all the precious moments of your pregnancy from him because you were selfish. You wanted out and in the end it had hurt him. He sighs heavily, rubbing at his temples in exhaustion not because of his daughter but because he’d have to see you again after lying to you.

It’s some odd weeks later that he finally sees you again. After his little lie you’d done everything in your power to avoid him. You’d sent your daughter to his house with your best friend Taehyung, started skipping charity events, even had your nanny pick her up when he’d pulled up to your house. Frankly he was tired of it, more so because it seemed even Hoseok had seen you more than he had. Perhaps he was jealous, though did he really have any right to be? He’s thoroughly annoyed when he finally catches sight of you across the ballroom, dressed in a black dress that molds to your figure oh so perfectly. He’s more that a little annoyed at the way some of the men stare, and who wouldn’t. You look more than beautiful, it would take a lesser man to not see how beautiful you look, but his gaze it particularly glued to the low neckline that shows a little too much of your ample chest, what’s more is the way your dress not only dips too low in the front, it’s completely missing the back. From here he catches a faint glimmer, something that sparkles just so and disappears into your dress. It sends a rush of blood to his cock, a reaction that forces him to tear his gaze away for just a moment.

It seems though that he isn’t the only one interested in you this evening, but he will be as he easily makes his way over to you. There’s surprise written in your features with something like dread as he smiles politely while asking you to dance. He’s surprised when you take his hand easily allowing him to lead you onto the dance floor. You haven’t been this close since your wedding, he thinks as his hand finds the small of your back. Your skin is cool to the touch, shivering lightly as the warmth of his palm grazes the thin body chain that sits pretty against your spine. He wonders briefly what it’d look like without the dress, he’s quick to push the thought away as you avert your gaze.

“You’ve been avoiding me.” He says as he spins you following the slow waltz he’s lead you into.

“I haven’t.” He scoffs pulling you closer to avoid a possible collision with another couple just behind you.

“You have, and I want to know why.”

“You have a fiancé.” You say.

“So what? I also have a daughter with you, does that mean my fiancé should avoid her?”

“No, but I don’t want to cause a scandal for you.”

“Who would think to cause a scandal.”

“I don’t know but I’m the ex wife, and you’re the ceo of a successful music company. I can see it now, ‘jealous ex wife clings to affianced ceo’ the women who hate me would make my life even more difficult.” You sigh.

“What women.” He asks suddenly interested in your life.

“It doesn’t matter, it’s enough for me that you love our daughter as much as you do.”

“And what about you?” He whispers. You pause, gaze meeting his, taking a moment to really look.

“Do you love me?” You ask afraid of his answer.

“Do I love you? Yes. Do I like you? That’s still up for debate.” He says smirking at you in a way that breathes life into the butterflies that had laid dorment for too long. You look away embarrassed, because the simple truth is that you love him too, will never stop loving him because Yoongi made loving him easy but you couldn’t be with him.

“You’re fiancé will be upset if she hears you.” You almost laugh.

“I don’t have a fiancé.” He says somewhat nonchalantly, noting the way you step on his toes. He’s not sure if it’s by mistake or on purpose.

“You’re the worst.” You say trying to hide a grin. He feels a warmth spread through his being, and here holding you close he considers proposing to you again. It feels like the stars are finally aligning, someone somewhere is blessing them and this time he knows it’ll work out. Because the simple fact is you two were meant to be.

#an emm writes production #emm writes #drabble games #ask games #emm answers #yoongi ask Drabble #emms yoongi content

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eeveedel · 4 years

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Hi all, I haven’t recced some fics in awhile but...today is fic writers appreciation day! And there are so many fics that I love so very much and have brought so much happiness into my life.

And it just so happens I have a personal document where i’ve kept track of fics I’ve read for the past 3-4 years, categorized by tropes. So I thought it would be fun to rec you my all-time favorite fic from each of my personal categories! There are so many good fics so I hope you enjoy. And if you want a full fic rec list for any of these categories, please tell me!

And a big thank you again to all of the lovely authors out there, I hope you have a lovely day and now how valued your work is.

A/B/O

Sisterwives by jaerie

This was it, the moment Louis had been waiting for his entire life. Giddy excitement bubbled up as he held hands and stared up at his soon-to-be alpha and husband and grinned. The ceremony was small and simple, but Louis didn’t mind. Fresh flowers pinned into his hair and a brand new outfit was all he needed to feel special in front of their few witnesses. It was just some members of his family and a few of the church elders in attendance as was customary for any marriage beyond the first wife within the faith.

First wives were the ones to have elaborate weddings with the whole community involved. An alpha’s first wedding was a celebration of an their coming of age, his first steps into fulfilling God’s prophecy. There were many glories for an omega that came with being a first wife but also many responsibilities. Louis had never aspired to be a first wife or even a second. He wasn’t experienced enough to be the leader of an alpha’s many wives and children and he didn’t think he’d be up to the task.

Louis was just fine in the position he was stepping into as the seventh.

Or Louis thinks he's getting everything he's ever dreamed of. Harry helps him find what makes him truly happy.

Action/Adventure

The Dead of July by whimsicule

Harry is Captain America, and Louis’ been dead for 70 years.

Age Gap

White Pages, White Lace, Big Hands, Pretty Face by thechesirepussycat

“He touches his sides, his neck, his lips, all the places Harry has just been, all the places that still tingle from Harry’s touch. Such a strange feeling Louis has, so unreal and nerve-racking. He can’t begin to describe what Harry has done to him, what about Harry makes Louis want to call him… Daddy.“

Or, a gratuitous Sugar Daddy!Harry and Student!Louis AU.

Angst

Bot by tomlinsunshine (11k)

Zayn builds robots; Harry is a big fan of his latest model.

Break Up

got the sunshine on my shoulders by hattalove

five years ago, harry styles left his tiny home town to make it big as a recording artist. he didn't have much regard for what he left behind - a life, a family, and a husband, who woke up one morning to find him gone.

now, harry has everything he could possibly want: he's rich, famous, and adored by everyone he meets, including his boyfriend. but when said boyfriend proposes to him, he's forced to face the uncomfortable facts of his past - and louis, who's spent the last five years returning every set of divorce papers harry sent him.

(or, an au based on the movie sweet home alabama.)

Canon

nonstop earthquake dreams of you by lumineres

And there's heat behind it, blazing, plasmatic, like stars crashing together, like an explosion in space, like a supernova, like a black hole--everything else sucked out of existence. There's no bed and there's no pillow and they're not lying down, just floating somewhere, somehow, and there's no room and there's no X Factor house and there's no Niall snuffling or Liam's deep, even breathing and there's no wind or traffic outside and there's no hum of the heating unit and it's all just Louis. All encompassingly Louis.

or, harry falls hard and finds louis already at the bottom

Classics

Love Is A Rebellious Bird by 100percentsassy and gloria_andrews

AU in which the boys still make music. Louis is the concertmaster of the London Symphony Orchestra, Harry is the New! and Exciting! interim conductor/ex-cello prodigy who "has made Mozart cool again" according to Esquire Magazine (Louis hates him immediately, which is definitely why he internet stalked him in his dark bedroom late at night that one time), and Niall is the best. Zayn and Liam are around too.

College/Uni

Could be Kissing My Fruit Punch Lips by thechesirepussycat

Harry happens upon a porn site that specializes in live videos and sort of falls in love with the cute boy he only knows as Kitty.

And then he gets the surprise of his life when he finds out Kitty attends his university...

Crime

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by haroldslouis

1997 AU where Harry is a bank robber and Louis falls in love with him

Dom/Sub

No Control Club series by SadaVeniren

Harry, a popular BDSM blogger, writes a negative review about Louis’ club. Louis wants to have a chance to make it up to him.

Dunkirk/Alex

Poison & Wine by tilthesundies

Alex comes home from the war to find a stranger living in his flat.

Dystopian/Apocalypse

things have gotten closer to the sun by starseas

when a solar flare is announced to end the world in twelve days, harry reunites with the people that he used to know better than the back of his own hand.

Enemies to Lovers

you flower, you feast by stylinsoncity

He's King of the Underworld, but don't assume Louis has it all. He could stand for some excitement in his monotonous, eternal life and maybe, even.....a soulmate.

(Despite not having a soul.)

And along came "Harry"

Established Relationship

I Only Ever Want You by itsmiz

Louis and Harry's relationship goes through a series of changes while Liam and Zayn discover new things about themselves, as well.

Or: Louis & Harry and Liam & Zayn begin to have sex in front of each other and a lot of kink-discovery results from that.

Fairy Tale

Red by frosteddream

Shockwaves were sent through the village after the McPherson family was savagely killed. There were people who feared the beast that did it, and then there was Louis, or, as most people liked to call him, Red. (Little Red Riding Hood AU.)

Fake Dating

And Then a Bit by infinitelymint

Harry and Louis fake a relationship for publicity. Eventually it becomes a lot less fake and a lot more real.

Famous (non-1D AU)

a million roses (bathed in rock n roll) by deLILah

au. harry sings in smoky dive bars; louis misses his flight home. they go to coney island in the morning.

(aka - harry is lana del rey, and louis makes him a star.)

Fashion

Just my style by thoughtsickles

Harry is sick, and the only thing that might help him is the pheromones from his mate--problem is, he hasn't got a mate.

Louis' just been disowned, and taking part in a medical study where he has to cuddle with some strange alpha seems to be his only option for earning a bit of cash.

The hippies and Omega Rights campaigners are busy changing the world--but all Harry wants is a chance to live.

Fluff

Dreaming of You by velvetoscar

The Begrudging Starbucks AU.

The world is winter and steamed milk and creamy espresso shots. The world is a never ending queue. The world is a Starbucks logo and a pink-cheeked smile from Niall and a bored scowl from Zayn and the world is Louis watching his best mate, Liam, fall in love with their newest customer, Harry. Who may or may not be in love with Louis. The world is cruel.

Frat

Soft Feet, Fast Hands, Can’t Lose by dolce_piccante

American Uni AU. Harry Styles is a frat boy football star from the wealthy Styles Family athletic dynasty. A celebrity among football fans, he knows how to play, he knows how to party, and he knows how to fuck (all of which is well known among his legion of admirers).

Louis Tomlinson is a student and an athlete, but his similarities to Harry end there. Intelligent, focused, independent, and completely uninterested in Harry’s charms, Louis is an anomaly in a world ruled by football.

A bet about the pair, who might be more similar than they originally thought, brings them together. Shakespeare, ballet, Disney, football, library chats, running, accidental spooning, Daredevil and Domino’s Pizza all blend into one big friendship Frappucino, but who will win in the end?

Friends to Lovers

OmegaVision by jaerie

Tomlin Networks Presents: OmegaVision starring Louis Tomlinson! The world's first 24/7 reality channel available in over 150 countries worldwide following the life of the first male omega born in over a century. Follow Louis through his daily routine, the ups and downs of growing up or just leave him on for comfort. There are many reasons to tune in but, no matter what yours may be, there's always a part of Louis that is just like you!

Or a Truman Show au that nobody asked for where Louis is Truman and Harry just wants to be his mate

Girl Direction

Never Enough by idekboo

Louis couldn't get enough of Harry and that gorgeous body of hers. She wasn't shy about letting her know.

High School

I found a love (darling just dive right in) by wonderlou

Louis, an omega with very little control. Harry, an alpha with a lot of emotion. Neither of them have any idea what do to with this little thing called love, but they'll be damned if they don't put up a good fight.

Historical

Coax the Cold by MediaWhore

England, 1897.

English Professor Louis Tomlinson’s passion for the occult has been a source of mockery and derision for most of his life. When he hears whispers of a travelling freak show newly established in London claiming the existence of a monstrous sea hybrid, half-man, half-fish, Louis sees it as his ticket to credibility amongst his peers. The summer he spends undercover working on the show, however, gives him much more than that.

Miscellaneous/Unique

the impossible now by stylinsoncity

A wish on Christmas Eve sends Louis to an alternate dimension where Harry is a member of One Direction.

Mpreg

The Things I’d Do to Wake Up Next to You by dirtymattress (36k)

Harry wakes up to a pregnant Louis Tomlinson and a wedding band on his finger.

Mythology

Say Hallelujah, Say Goodnight by alivingfire

Louis is an angel who is just a little too bad to be good, Harry is a demon who is just a little too good to be bad, and they're both a little too in love to be impartial when angels and demons go to war.

PWP

mr. tomlinson by iwillpaintasongforlou

Louis is a billionaire CEO who makes grown men cry and rival companies crumble. He's also an omega. Harry is the quiet cupcake of a man he calls his alpha and the only one who gets to see Louis as anything less than fearsome.

Roommates

streetwise hercules by bottomlinsons

Uni AU, where Louis pretends to be Harry's boyfriend to scare away his one night stands.

Royalty

feel the chemicals burn in my bloodstream by togetherwecouldbealright

Harry is a journalist with a lot of secrets and Louis is the future king of the United Kingdom; they live together for 60 days.

Spies

never gonna dance again by togetherwecouldbealright

Louis is a spy and Harry is a dancer. The only real thing they know is each other.

Soulmates

Nameless Night by green_feelings

For their 18th birthday, every person receives a letter that reads a simple date. That is the date you'll meet your soulmate.

Harry and Louis have different beliefs, live in different worlds and have different dreams, hopes and fears. Yet, they're not so different from each other when it comes to love. When their paths cross, there is no doubt they belong together. Except for that one, essential difference: they didn't receive the same date.

Or, a fic about differences that make no difference at all: Harry and Louis are soulmates. In every way possible. Featuring Niall as a role model, and Liam and Zayn as a different kind of role models.

Summer Romance

Rivers til I Reach You by embodied

AU. Louis studies astronomy; Harry studies Louis. They spend their summers on the water and it shouldn't be complicated (spoiler: it is).

Supernatural

Howls Like a Beast (You Flower, You Feast) by indiaalaphawhiskey (16k)

France, 1754. Château de Versailles.

“You don’t love me,” Louis had said, utterly blasé as he callously fractured the heart of a Harry that was just barely eighteen.

“I do,” Harry had insisted pleadingly, green eyes already watering.

Louis had rolled his eyes, exasperated and flippant in the way only beautiful, young boys could be when faced with the affections of a baby prince. He had run his finger down Harry’s cheek then, had forced him to look into his eyes as he delivered the final blow.

“You’ll change your mind once you’ve seen more of the world,” Louis had teased, pressing a brutally delicate kiss onto Harry’s lovely, pure cheek. “Once you’ve been properly defiled.” He had whispered filthily, delighted by the gasp he heard, the frantic pink blush that had rested high on Harry’s cheeks, the power he had felt at knowing he could make the Crown Prince squirm.

#larry fic rec #larry fanfiction #larry fan fic #god tier fic recs

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qsdblogging · 3 years

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10 More TV Shows You Need To See

This is the second installment of my recommendations of shows for you to add to your own lists. I watch a lot of television and I’ve got, what I consider to be at least, a wide variety of shows under my favorites.

If you haven’t seen the first list, you don’t need to unless you want to see another list of ten shows you may want to check out if you’re looking for anything new to watch.

Warning, though, some of these don’t end the best way and may end up more as a disappointment. I’ll leave that up to you to decide.

I. Warehouse 13.

Pete and Myka, U.S Secret Service Agents, are deployed to South Dakota’s Warehouse 13 with a new assignment from an authority above and outside the government.

Intrigued?

With the Warehouse comes assignments regarding objects that hold some sort of abilities that can cause people to do wild and crazy things. It’s their job to find the artifacts (as they all hold significance to history) and bring them back to the Warehouse for safe keeping.

Things get wild and some serious topics get handled, but the show isn’t alone. It’s connected to another on this list, Eureka. More on that when you get to Eureka.

Some familiar faces are Eddie McClintock who played a part in Bones, one episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Joanne Kelly who played a role in The Dresden Files television series, Allison Scagliotti who played roles in Stitchers, The Vampire Diaries, and Drake & Josh, Aaron Ashmore (twin brother to Shawn Ashmore, who has been in the X-Men movies alongside appearing in The Boys, and voicing Conrad in Man of Medan) from Killjoys, Lost Girl, and Smallville, and Jamie Murray from Castelvania, Gotham, The Originals, Once Upon a Time, Defiance, and Dexter.

I highly recommend, especially because the dynamic of the characters is really interesting and covers a lot.

II. Eureka.

As mentioned above, this is connected to Warehouse 13. But only in the last two seasons of this show are the two connected.

Eureka is a town full of geniuses and advanced technology that the government funds, and when a new sheriff comes to town, he’s exposed to all the daily occurrences the locals get up to. And maybe a couple instances of time travel that may or may not have to do with the connection.

The town is full of faces you may recognize. Colin Ferguson who has roles in Haven, The Vampire Diaries, and Maytag commercials, Erica Cerra who has roles in The 100, Supernatural, Deadly Class, and the first Percy Jackson film, Felicia Day who has roles in The Magicians, Supernatural, Con Man, The Guild, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Trevor Jackson who has roles in Grown-ish, and a couple Disney productions.

It’s a huge science fiction show and if you’re into that, give it a watch.

III. Alphas.

Now, like the two above is, Alphas is a science fiction packed drama. And it’s rumored to be connected, like be in the same universe, as Warehouse 13 and Eureka. It’s never been confirmed, but there is one character (same name and job) that plays a part in both Alphas and Warehouse 13, which is the stem for the theory. (Plus, some other ideas floating around).

But Alphas focuses on a team that investigates people with supernatural abilities while they, themselves, have abilities. These powered people are referred to as Alphas, due to their nature.

Unfortunately, this show ends on a cliffhanger in its second season.

Yet, I still recommend giving it a shot because it truly is an interesting show and it’s got some people you may recognize.

IV. Haven.

If you’re a fan of Stephen King’s “Colorado Kid”, you’ll most likely enjoy this show since it’s loosely based off of it.

Set in the coastal town of Haven, Maine, FBI Agent Audrey Parker comes to town to find that the residents have dormant curses, or rather troubles, that can be triggered at any given moment. She, along with the Sheriff and the town’s black sheep, must deal with the troubles’ deadly effects. And a few things may be revealed about herself too along the way.

It’s pretty interesting and I enjoyed it quite a lot when I first watched it. I’m not the biggest fan of Stephen King, and the connection seems to barely be there, but I wouldn’t know given my dislike for King.

I highly recommend giving Haven a shot, however, especially if you’re a crime and fantasy fan.

V. Lost Girl.

Lost Girl focuses on the gorgeous and charismatic Bo, a supernatural being called a succubus who feeds on the energy of humans, sometimes with fatal results. Refusing to embrace her supernatural clan system and its rigid hierarchy, Bo is a renegade who takes up the fight for the underdog while searching for the truth of her own mysterious origins. (Taken from IMDB).

Plus, there a lesbian romance or two.

Now, the show itself is pretty strong holding in its own storyline and lore, but the last season does get a bit rocky feeling. It could’ve been better, and it definitely feels a little rushed, but it wasn’t too bad of an ending. However, it’s not a show that got cancelled before it could wrap things up and it leaves things pretty open-ended.

In my books, that’s a point. I highly recommend this is if you’re a fan of fantasy.

VI. Almost Human.

Unfortunately, this is one of the ones in the list that only has one season (that seems to be out of order and frankly I’m not entirely sure of the order myself, so rely on googling it yourself and hopefully you find the right order) and was cancelled not long after airing.

BUT, it’s a good watch. It’s set in the distant future, where cops are assigned an android partner to protect and serve. Things get pretty wild and I’m quite sure there are some bombs involved at some point, but there’s a bonus to all the madness of Almost Human.

Minka Kelly and Karl Urban. Two incredibly beautiful human beings.

I highly recommend bingeing this single season show.

VII. American Gods.

This shows feels very confusing. But it’s still a good watch.

It centers on a recently released ex-con named Shadow Moon. He runs into a man full of mystery named Wednesday (and you’ll later come to find out who he really is, or you may already know given your knowledge on the book of the same name or just how well you know mythology) who seems to know more than Shadow about his own life and past.

There are Gods, mischief, and a lot of crazy shit in this show. So far it’s on it’s third season as far as I know (I have to rewatch the first two before I pick it back up).

You should give it a shot, but I won’t blame you if you feel way too confused about the whole thing.

VIII. The Boys.

Now, there’s a lot of controversy regarding this Amazon Original Series, but honestly, I think everyone should at least give it a chance. I know a lot of Tumblr users were put off on trying to due to the advertisements on the site.

If you don’t know what this series is about, it follows a group of vigilantes set on taking down the corrupt superheroes that are abusing their powers and status.

It covers a lot of ground. Murder, sabotage, terrorism, capitalism, and a lot more. Feminism and sexual harassment occur, but there are warning before each episode for what you may see in the contents.

Some familiar faces include Karl Urban, who’s known for his roles in Thor: Ragnarok, the newer Star Trek movies, Almost Human, Lord of the Rings, and more, Erin Moriarty from Jessica Jones, Laz Alonso from The Mysteries of Laura, Chace Crawford from Gossip Girl and The Covenant, and Jensen Ackles from Supernatural has been confirmed to be joining the cast for its third season.

The Boys is currently on it’s second season, being released on a weekly schedule. So, if you like superheroes and graphic content, this show might be it for you.

IX. Chuck.

Chuck is the result of when a twenty-eight year old computer geek inadvertently downloads critical government secrets into his brain, the C.I.A. and the N.S.A. assign two agents to protect him and exploit the knowledge, turning Chuck Bartowski’s life upside down. (Taken from IMDB).

This is one of the shows I cannot recommend enough to people. It’s the right mixture of action and comedy, plus a little romance. Spies, love, and murder, oh my! What more could you want?

Plus, Zachery Levi plays Chuck. If you don’t know him by name, you probably would recognize him from some of his roles with the most recent being in Shazam!, Fandral in the second and third Thor films, voicing Eugene Fitzherbert (or Flynn Rider) in Tangled, and Heroes: Reborn.

If Zachery Levi playing a lovable computer geek turned spy doesn’t interest you, maybe some more familiar faces will.

Yvonne Strahovski from The Handmaid’s Tale, The Astronaut Wives Club, acting as Daenerys in a Princess Rap Battle on Youtube, and Dexter. Adam Baldwin from Firefly/Serenity, Bones, Angel, The Last Ship, and Independence Day. Brandon Routh who plays Ray Palmer from the DC Shows. Matt Bomer from Doom Patrol, American Horror Story, White Collar, Magic Mike, and True Calling.

X. Deadly Class.

Unfortunately, I have a truly bad streak with new shows. Deadly Class, like others that have been mentioned in these lists of mine, got cancelled and on a cliffhanger no less. However, that shouldn’t stop you from enjoying the action-packed coming-of-age story set in the 1980s.

Following a new recruit for a high school training assassins, things get pretty wild when you pair death and teenagers.

#deadlyclass #watchlist #tvshows #chuck #eureka #americangods #alphas #theboys #almosthuman #lostgirl #haven #warehouse13 #qsdblogging #qsdbloggingpopculture #qsdpopculture #findingqsd

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valentino-red · 4 years

Text

sinnerman

Chapter 1

coney island queen

Why Sol didn’t just walk out of the cineplex after Murray asked her to choose what ‘movie’ to star in was beyond her. Not taking part of all this madness was the smart, rational thing to do-- and then she saw tawny eyes across a smoky room, and suddenly she forgot what it meant to be rational.

Nicky Valentino. It was obvious that he was a gangster. There was something in the way he looked across the room that spoke of a man protecting his spot at the top. Then there was his cousin, Ralph della Rosa, who was acting much too cautious to just be ordinary family. And finally, Floyd Capo; he stunk so much of tobacco that Sol’s late grandfather, who himself smoked cigars, would have blanched.

“You gotta get your arms around this lifestyle and embrace it.”

Sol snorted. Only a person with one and a half braincells wouldn’t figure out what lifestyle Floyd was talking about. If Sol was smart, she would run to the nearest church and beg to enter a convent.

But she was still stunned by the roses in her room and the gorgeous breakfast. It was embarrassing to realise just how easily she was won over by opulence. These were things that she didn’t let herself enjoy in the twenty-first century; her bed was way too soft to be comfortable, and the housekeeping staff was suspiciously polite. Sol remembered her old room fondly; a cheap mattress on the floor for a bed, a threadbare blanket to fight the heat of tropical nights, and instant coffee to go with a piece of pan de sal, her favorite bread.

“Miss Diaz? Mr. Valentino is on the line.”

Sol looked up from the cup of coffee she was drinking. The bellhop, standing as though he were a statue, gestured at the old-fashioned telephone. “He wishes to speak to you.”

Nodding, Sol took the telephone receiver from the bellhop.

“Good morning, love. Hope I didn’t wake you.”

Sol didn’t notice the smile on her face when she heard Nicky’s voice. “Don’t worry about it; I’ve been up since five.”

“Oh?” Nicky’s voice was smooth like scotch. “Had a hard time sleeping?”

Sol rolled her eyes. “Force of habit,” she replied. “I rise with the sun.”

“A man would reckon that a broad like you got a lot of beauty sleep.”

She couldn’t help but snort. “Yeah, and I bet you’ll find my eye bags real attractive.” Soledad took another sip of her coffee. “Anyways, thanks so much for the breakfast. I don’t think I’ll be able to walk today.”

“That good, huh?”

“I usually have a piece of bread in the morning, so this was really… a lot. Makes me wonder if someone has ulterior motives for the food and flowers.”

“Maybe someone was trottin’ around like a horse’s ass last night, and wanted to apologize.”

Sol laughed, a deep sound from her belly. “Don’t worry about it, Nicky. I understand.”

“Well. I just wanted you to know when I tell you ‘I’m sorry,’ I really mean it. I know I was out of line leaving you in the cold like that, but it couldn’t be avoided.”

The grin on her face couldn’t be helped, and Sol felt her face heat up.

“Thanks, Nick,” she said. “But really, I know that men like Floyd can be difficult. Besides, Ralph set me up in a really fancy place. Sorta makes me wonder if a certain someone would need to rob a bakery after he sees my bill.”

Nicky laughed at the other end of the line. “Don’t worry about it, kid.”

“Are you sure?” Sol smiled. “I’m pretty great at worrying.”

“And I’m pretty great at making money.” Sol could practically hear the smirk in his voice. “How about the flowers? I was dreaming about you all night, so I woke up at the crack of dawn to pick each one.”

“Nicky,” she said. “I don’t think I have a heart anymore. It just melted.”

He laughed again, and Soledad imagined him-- the brunette hair in a razor cut, tawny eyes crinkling at the corners and sparkling in dim lights. The way he tilted his head back to let out a laugh. She wanted to make him laugh again.

“I’m afraid that I’ll have to let you go for now, toots,” Nicky said. The smile in his voice was still there. “Enjoy your breakfast and meet me outside in an hour. Capisce?”

Soledad suddenly realised that she had no clothes, and only a small makeup bag that she had in the purse she was carrying to the cineplex. She sighed.

“Capisce.”

She handed the telephone over to the bellhop, mind still running. The majority of the hotel staff were still in the room, trying to look like they weren’t eavesdropping. Oh, well-- it couldn’t be helped.

“Mr…”

“Jonathan Smith, at your service,” the bellhop said.

“Mr. Smith, I have a few requests,” Soledad said. “First, I was wondering if you could procure me a fresh set of clothing-- in yellow, if available. Please charge it to the room. And if I could have a fresh cup of coffee, that would be wonderful.”

Jonathan Smith, the bellhop, did a small bow. “Of course, Miss Diaz. And how would you like your coffee?”

“Black, Mr. Smith.”

“No sugar or cream, Miss Diaz?”

“Have you broken up with a lover before, Mr. Smith?”

“Yes, madam,” he said in a straight face. Sol nodded in approval at his professionalism.

“I want the coffee to be as black as your ex’s soul.”

Jonathan Smith’s stoic demeanor broke into a grin. “I see, Miss Diaz. Your clothes and coffee will be brought to you right away.”

“Thank you so much, Mr. Smith. And do take a croissant. If I try to eat everything, perhaps the bed will become too small for me.”

Even when the bellhop left, Soledad chatted a bit with the remaining staff. By the end of it, two other busboys got their own shares of roses to give their wives, and the maids had a sample of some of the food. As Sol went to the bathroom to take a quick shower, she felt a little bit confident that maybe her telephone call with Nicky wouldn’t be the talk of the Waldorf Astoria’s help that afternoon. Or at the very least, they wouldn’t say that she was a bitch.

***

Ralph didn’t expect Soledad to be chatting his head off about the Rolls Royce’s specs, and he didn’t expect her to clean up so well. She was in a yellow dress with long sleeves and a sailor style collar, curly black hair brushed neatly, framing her long face. The kid wasn’t Ralph’s style in any stretch of the imagination-- she had a face that could have been a man’s-- but he could see how Nicky would fall for her. She was sun touched and radiant. When the kid walked, it was as if she had already conquered the world.

The plan had been to let the kid in, and to drive off to Nicky’s surprise, but the girl had been talking his head off about the car for a minute already.

“Listen, Sol,” Ralph said, cutting off another of her questions. “The Royce is a sweet ride, and the sooner you get in the back seat, the sooner you can see how she drives.”

Jesus, he thought to himself. And I thought I liked cars.

Sol slipped into the backseat, and the sudden luxury of the car’s interiors flooded her senses. The seats were in a plush camel colored leather, with intricate flower embroidery. She ran her hand on the seat, looking up to see a certain someone looking at her with warm eyes.

“There she is,” Nicky Valentino said. “The sweetest of the sweet.”

Soledad did her best not to blush. She failed. “Hello to you, too.”

She settled into her seat, trying not to notice how close she was to Nicky. It was a bit crazy; she had hung around good looking men in bespoke suits before, and never had she felt as woozy as she did now.

“You sure did take your time out there with Ralph, didn’t ya, toots? Made me sorta feel like you were a bit sore about last night and was tryna not see me.” Soledad rolled her eyes. “Your car is beautiful, Nicky. And frankly, I’d kill to take her for a spin.”

“Oh, yeah? You’re only finding the car beautiful?”

There was a challenge in his eyes, and Soledad couldn’t help her raised brow. Nicky was smirking at her, a blush on his face, and it was obvious that he was fishing for compliments. She wouldn’t give him any.

“Well, Ralph looks better in the daylight.”

The two men broke into laughter, with Soledad joining them after a beat. The mischief in Nicky’s eyes only became more pronounced.

“Hey,” Nicky said. “Just so that things are clear-- I really do feel bad for leavin’ ya on your lonesome last night. So what’d ya say? Would you let this sorry sap do something nice for you?”

“If you’re talking about lettin’ me have a spin, then absolutely,” she laughed. “But it’s still a yes for me with anything else. I’m not mad, Nicky. I’m really not.”

“Thank God,” he replied. “I’d drink to that. Hey, how about that? Care for a drink, sugar? They call these things mimosas.”

Soledad shook her head. “I would, Nicky, but I’m running on four cups of coffee. Liquor is the last thing I need. Besides, isn’t that illegal?”

“It’s illegal to drink. Period.” Nicky winked at her. “But you wouldn’t be here if it was, would you?”

“If it was legal to drink? What are you talking about?”

Nicky’s smile stretched to a Cheshire cat grin, the entirety of his focus on Soledad. If she felt lightheaded before, now Sol felt like she could faint.

“You think that guys like me are a dice roll away from getting bumped off or going to the big house. And I think there’s a part of you that likes that. Otherwise you wouldn’t have decided to be in this movie or whatever you think this is.”

The smile from Soledad’s face faded, and she couldn’t help but reach for Nicky’s hand. His eyes met hers, surprised by her sudden seriousness.

“Nicky, remember what you told me last night, when I gave you my hand?”

“I do,” he said. “You feel like home.”

Soledad nodded, lost in thought and looking at their now entwined fingers. “I’m in this for you, Nicky. I’m not here for the money, the power, or the thrill of it. If I wanted that, I would have stayed back home in the Philippines. But for some reason, I went back here to the past and met an amazing man that I feel I’ve known all my life. If anything, you being a gangster worries me more than it excites me.”

Nicky brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. “There ain’t no reason for you to worry ‘bout me, sweet thing. I got ya by my side, and you’re my lucky charm.”

The ride continued on, with Nicky teasing her with his ‘surprise’, and the pair of them almost getting a poor puppy off the street. Soledad almost wanted to get it, before thinking that it might actually belong to someone else. Nicky had been a bit distraught at the thought of leaving the little thing by itself, but they continued on with their banter, with Ralph sometimes chiming in.

“Hey, Nicky,” she said, eyes flickering to his. “I was hoping that you’ll help me get something.”

“Alright,” he replied, without missing a beat. “What is it?”

“A job.”

“A job?” He raised his eyebrows at her. “Why would you want that?”

“Well,” Sol said. “I’m practically destitute--”

“No, you’re not.”

“Look, I’ve got no job, no home, and no money to buy my own food. I am destitute.”

Nicky frowned, clearly not liking the idea.

“Hey, Nick. It’s alright. I’ve got a wide skill set. I’ve got a degree in financial management and law-- I mean, it’s Filipino law, and the constitution I know is the 1987 version, but I’ve needed to do more readings anyway.”

“I don’t really think that you need to work, toots. Trust me, I’m more than capable of providing for you.”

Sol laughed, a sound that came deep from her belly. “A hotshot gangster like you. Of course you can.”

Nicky exchanged a look with Ralph, their mood sobering. Sol noticed the pair, snorting at their surprise.

“I ain’t no gangster, toots.”

Soledad shot him a dirty look, only a bit annoyed that he wasn’t coming clean. “I know a lie when I hear it, Nicky.”

He raised an eyebrow at her in response, but the mood got heavier anyway. “Look,” he said, voice dropping a few octaves lower. “I’m from a town with rules that cutthroats invented four hundred years ago in the old country. And I still got friends who think that’s the only way to live. But I ain’t one of them. I never broke the bank by breaking someone’s bones.”

“And Floyd Capo is one of those friends.”

“Yeah,” Nicky sighed. “Ya know, toots, before you showed up, I was a wheeler dealer who made his money in real estate and spent it faster than he could count it. I ain’t no gangster.”

“That was a weak close,” Soledad sighed. “You’re not exactly subtle. Anybody that knows what a mobster is could tell, Nicky.”

“Huh. You wasn’t so prickly last night.”

“I was boozed out, confused and touch starved.”

“And now?

She smiled. “Caffeinated, confused, and touch starved.”

“And why is a pretty lady like you so prickly?”

Sol snorted, looking out the window. “You don’t get to be single for twenty-nine years without a bit of paranoia.”

Nicky was going to say something until he caught her reflection in the mirror. Her eyebrows were drawn tight, and her mouth was set in a thin flat line. There was something that was bothering her, and he wanted to know what it was. He squeezed her hand.

“Hey,” Nicky said as she looked up at him. “You got me, kid. Before you waltzed into that speakeasy, I was a mobster with the world at my feet. And now I’m something completely different, ‘cos of you.”

“And what are you now?”

Nicky smiled at her and it put all the stars in the world to shame. “Now, I’m a romantic.”

***

When they got to Coney Island, Soledad’s face lit up like the Hollywood sign. Nicky smiled down at her; the kid was so small she didn’t reach his shoulders. He could pick her up easy, like a child.

“Omigod, Nicky,” she squealed. “We have to ride everything.”

“I’m not quite sure I can handle the carousel, toots.”

Sol snorted. “‘Cos those horses are gonna take a bite off your ass.”

“Haha,” Nicky said, offering his arm. “You’re a riot, ya know that?”

She slipped her hand into his instead, and when he looked down at her in surprise, he caught her blushing. Nicky could feel his own ears heat up.

“I know,” Sol said. “I know.”

They spent the rest of the day going to the rides. Nicky liked the way Sol’s eyebrows raised when she noticed him bribing the ticketmasters. He had asked her about it, and with a shrug she replied that he grandfather would bribe his way out of speeding tickets all the time. Nicky had laughed, noticing the way Soledad would preen at the sound. By the looks of it, she enjoyed making him laugh. The thought made Nicky want to go to the nearest stranger and tell them that he was crazy for his little lady.

They went and rode the Ferris Wheel, with Sol still tucked under his arm. Her short black hair tickled, and he couldn’t help but smile at the feel of it.

Nicky thought that telling Sol about his sister would be a hard thing to do, but the doll was patient and understanding, giving him none of her pity and all of her empathy. She was quiet while he told her how they’d slip over to the rides, and how his sister spent a night in jail.

“My pops cleaned my clock fierce that night,” Nicky said. From their height in the Ferris Wheel, he could see the whole of Coney Island. “But that wasn’t what got me. It was that I abandoned my sister when she needed me the most.”

Nicky did his best to crack a smile. “But to save you from seeing a grown man get all misty eyes, I’m gonna save that story for another day.”

He threw his arms around Sol’s shoulder as the gondola swayed. She leaned into him.

“You know,” she said, “I don’t have any siblings. Sort of wish I do, but I had this little cousin, Micky, who was three years younger than I was, and at the time we lived close to each other. One day I saw him at an empty lot crying his eyes out, and he told me that his friends bullied him, telling him that he was a nobody and couldn’t do anything right. They told him that his family had no money, which was stupid because we’re were old money rich.”

Sol was looking at him, a fond smile on her face. “I took a stick and went to the kid’s house. Tampered with their water line. The next day, their house flooded. Man, my grandfather was so angry at me, I think I spent a good ten minutes under the belt. My tito was mad at me too. He never let me see Micky again.”

Nicky drew her closer to him. “I guess we’re really written in the stars, toots.”

She laughed, high in his embrace. “Yeah,” she said. “I guess so.”

The rest of the day was filled with banter. Nicky kept her under his arm, and she kept him laughing. They were strolling on the boardwalk, and he couldn’t help but notice the way her hair curled under her ears. She was blushing and fumbling over her explanation of how the bracelet was lost, but Nicky couldn’t care less. He used to think that the bracelet was important, but seeing her in the daylight and in his arms was worth fifty of those bracelets.

“Hey,” Nicky said. “I noticed that you ain’t wearing those rags you had on last night.”

Soledad blushed. “Oh, uh. Well, I figured that a hotel as swanky as the Waldorf had some clothes lying around.”

“And let me guess,” Nicky said in a deadpan. “I’m paying for it.”

She answered with a shrug. “What can I say? I don’t have a job, so you’ll have to be my keeper.”

“Then I guess you won’t be prickly when I tell you that ya don’t have to ask a hotel for new clothes no more.”

“Nicky,” she said, eyes wide. “Don’t tell me you bought me clothes.”

Nicky leaned against the railing in a knowingly devious pose, winking at her as the noon time sun made his tawny eyes look like molten gold.

“Let’s just say that your wardrobe is gonna be full of designer dresses, stilettos from France, diamonds, minks--”

Sol dropped her head on his solar plexus hard enough for it to almost hurt. On reflex, he put his arms around her. She hugged him back.

“Why are you spoiling me so much,” she mumbled into his shirt. “I just met you last night.”

“You don’t have to know someone to know that you want them.”

There was a true heat in his voice and gaze. Soledad swallowed hard as he pulled her close. They were just a few inches away from each other, and she could see the small mole under his left eyes and his beet red ears.

“‘Cause I know what I want.”

Soledad thought that they were going to kiss, until Ralph came up to them, coughing into his hand awkwardly.

“Sorry to break you two lovebirds apart,” he said. “But there’s some coppers by the docks.”

“There’s always going to be some flatfoots in this town,” was Nick’s answer. He sighed in frustration. Soledad took a few steps away from him to catch her own breath.

“They’re looking for you, Nick.”

In a few quick heartbeats, Nicky spilled out orders to Ralph, and the two of them were on the run. They were able to get past a few officers, but a big man in the blue uniform saw them and gave chase.

“Meet me at the alley, toots,” Nicky said, before sprinting away from the police officer. Soledad looked at the man grimly. She could outrun him, or she could buy Nicky some time.

“Hello, officer,” she said, as the burly man took a pair of handcuffs out.

“You’re under arrest.” His voice was gruff, and his moustache was severe. Soledad almost wanted to laugh; he looked like a caricature of a policeman.

“I want my rights read to me,” Sol replied. “Mainly because I have no idea what you’re arresting me for.”

“Nobody is reading anyone’s rights,” he said, handcuffing her. “Besides, I saw you with Valentino on the dock.”

“Then it’s your word against mine, Detective.” The man huffed. “I ain’t no detective. Just an honest officer doin’ his job, and you’re a no one, kid.”

“Then,” Sol said, “I’m really sorry that I have to do this.”

There were three things that she did in quick succession. First, she spun around and kicked him square in the jaw. He fumbled back, surprised. Then she kicked him again in the solar plexus, knocking the wind out of his lungs. Finally, she kicked the back of his knees, sending him to the ground in a loud thud. The policeman groaned in pain, and when he tried to get up, she kicked him in the stomach again.

“I’m a twenty-nine year old captain of the Philippine Commonwealth’s army, not some kid,” Sol said, foot on his chest. “And between you and me, there’s no such thing as an honest officer these days.”

She could see a familiar black beauty roll into the street-- it was Nicky’s Rolls Royce. Sol took her foot off the officer’s chest.

“Just for the record,” she said. “I’m retired. And we both know what retired army captains are asked to do by their governments.”

The officer’s eyes widened, and Sol resisted the urge to smirk. She was a professional, after all.

“I’m not on the wrong side of the law.” She stepped away from the police officer. “Anyway, if you want to get promoted, remember this: have as many good friends in high places. Stray dogs turn into hungry wolves very quickly.”

The officer groaned, trying to sit up. “Is that a threat, or a warning?”

“It’s advice,” she replied. Sol bit her lip as she looked at the officer’s broken nose. “I’m really sorry that I had to hit you,” she said, voice soft, “but circumstances called for it, Officer…”

“Marquez,” he replied. Soledad nodded.

“If I ever see you again, I hope you won’t try to handcuff me,” she said.

The older man grunted. “Try not to hang around shady characters, Captain, and then we’ll see.”

She gave a quick nod before jogging to the Rolls Royce. Ralphie opened the door for her, and Nicky gave her a look that turned her knees to jell-o. But this was a look that was heated for all the wrong reasons.

“So,” he said conversationally. “What does the government ask retired army captains to do?”

#fictif #tatw #nicky valentino #fanfiction #nicky valentino x oc #nicky valentino/oc #two against the world #pls go easy on me this is my first fic uwu

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hellyeahheroes · 4 years

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Marvel Teen Romance: Girls Edition Part 1

Solo Boys Edition

Romance is a dying art in superhero comics.

In a medium rife with sexism, the idea of romance becomes tainted with unfortunate cliches in a wave of women’s empowerment. Terms like Damsel-in-Distress becomes less of a person benefiting of a hero’s altruism to ranging from the unfortunate burden of being the one who needs to be saved as a sign of a weakness.

Marvel best example of the romance is Peter Parker and Mary Jane. A romance rife with editorial backlash that never liked the former and did their damnest and are doing their damnest to demean the character for their own ideal partner for Spider-man or Peter. MJ was making grown ass men who resented their wives and marriages project onto Peter. If you want to see an example of the sexism of Marvel, look up Christopher Priest’s opinion of Peter Parker and MJ and then after you pick up your jaw, keep reading.

Now women in Marvel have to appeal to the girls reading them. They have to be strong and strength is often interpreted as independence from men. There is rarely moments of weakness or yearning for these characters. They do not fawn for men or anyone at all and if they do long for anyone, it is for another woman, Today’s Marvel female youth opt for solitude and hyperfocus on the mission because writers refuse to even approach the hormone addled teenaged girl which has been derided as a stereotype. There is no swooning or rarely hint of attraction towards anybody, especially the opposite sex.

The pros are that stories are more varied and page space is not wasted on smitten teen girls being smitten on useless boys.

The cons is that it creates an archetype of stereotypical strong independent female in which their only characteristic is that they are strong and/or independent which contrasts men because men can be more varied in attitude and personality while women writers opt not to even engage in romance while also not addressing the character’s sexuality. They are not allowed to be young or be emotional.

Also, because of classism, the superhero woman opts for her equal in terms of status and usually only date men or women who are also superheroes while men, again are more varied. Men in romances with superheroic women are never powerless and usually fill an utility role. There is a need for them to want to help a perfectly capable woman. There is only one teenaged hero with a solo and a non-superhero partner and even then most of the male partners who aren’t have to be of use to the heroine in their vigilantism. They cannot just have their own lives separate from what the hero is doing like a Mary Jane Watson. They have to be hyper-competent and be apart of the heroines lives. Again, it wouldn’t be a problem if it weren’t for the implied sexism/classism. Spider-Gwen does not get the same fantasy as Peter Parker(will get to that later).

On a side note: To Mayday fans, Anya fans, Pei from Iron Fist fans, Moon Girl fans, Squirrel Girl fans, and any girl that I excluded from this post, they will definitely be in part two. I am sorry, but I just couldn’t. You will see how long this post is and this isn’t malicious on my part, but I hope you understand and forgive me. I mean I have to go back and update the boys edition. Cut me some slack. Anya and Pei were part of the original draft but shit got too long and it didn’t feel right to include them as a footnote.

Here are Marvel’s main solo teen women, romances, and romance history:

Kate Bishop a.k.a Hawkeye

Gender: Female

Orientation: ...Questioning? We’ll just say questioning

Love Interests: Johnny Watts aka Fuse(current), Noh-Var, Tommy Shepherd, Eli Bradley(retconned), Clown

We are starting with Kate Bishop because she is the closest to a modern woman’s love life. She has a cult following made of predominantly white women because Kate is empowered white girl embodied. And her dating life is modern in that Kate is one of the few women in Marvel that has relationships like men and is never shamed for it. Of all the women on this list, Kate was never not the focus or seen as codependent one. In fact, she is the capable and strong personality in her current relationship with Johnny Watts. He plays the supporting role for her. However varied Kate’s romantic history is, it is the prototypical love life of a teenaged Marvel woman. Every single one of her romances are by definition superheroes or vigilantes or villains. She does not have ordinary men in her life.

Now you are probably thinking that Kate is a team character. You would be right, but I think I speak for all Kate fans is that she is exceptional in that she can and has held books before alone where her other Young Avengers can’t be assed to have an appearance. And I like Kate. She is my favorite white girl in Marvel. So here we go.

And no, I am not going to consider her rapists in Central Park as love interests, but I will say that her relationship with men and her overall independence from them even while she is in relationship with them is because of this assault. There...I said it.

Eli Bradley aka the Patriot. Kate and Eli started off from a rocky place. Kate wanting to be super strong and independent rich girl and Eli being super prideful and somewhat sexist. Eli wants to fulfill his grandfather’s legacy and feels that he has to immediately live up to him no matter what probably did not like Kate upstaging him, and Kate mistook what Eli was saying as sexist. It wasn’t that Kate was a girl that was the problem. It was that Kate was a rich white girl who chose to make rescuing herself and then making he and the Young Avengers look like idiots that was the problem. So they argue and fuss at each other all of the time.

Kate misinterprets Eli’s reluctance to have her and Cassie on the team as sexist when in fact, the team was constructed for a specific purpose and have a specific roster pool to draw from. Cassie and Kate just aren’t in it.

So Eli and Kate take each other apart and both take shots at each other.

So Kate and Eli have this tic for tac relationship which is something Kate seems to relish in while Eli seems to be abrupt with her about it.

And also, the two both have Strong Type A personalities. They both want to be the leader of the Young Avengers.

But during a fight with Kang the Conqueror, both Kate and Eli reach an impasse.

Kate’s and Eli’s relationship starts to develop a bit and after some revelations about Eli come to the surface and the Avengers disband the Young Avengers only for the team to regroup out of spite of the Avengers. They start recruiting again, then come across Tommy Shepherd, Billy Kaplan’s brother and son of Wanda Maximoff.

And Eli doesn’t like him because Tommy seems to be a little too okay with murder and wanton acts of violence.

Kate and Eli start getting along to an extent. Eli is more of a stern individual and cuts Kate no slack. But Kate often challenges him.

And eventually they go on a date.

Uh. Excuse me. Not a date.

After getting jumped by Ronin on their Central Park, Not-A-Date carriage ride, Kate tried to calm him down after a disastrous evening.

So enough about Eli, let’s move on to Tommy.

Tommy Shepherd is the prototypical fun bad boy. He doesn’t challenge Kate to be better. He dares her to keep up. So after Kate loses her bow and arrow to the original Hawkeye aka Clint Barton in a shooting contest, she goes home feeling ashamed. Eli, still raw from their not-a-date, starts relentlessly criticizing her. Kate did not need that on-top of her embarrassment so she told Eli to fuck off and walked away. Tommy, being less stringent than Eli, talks to Kate. Tommy flirts with Kate, in front of Eli, and they both decide to go out. Tommy was not there for Eli’s and Kate’s fight so he has no idea what is going on. Kate catches him up to speed and well...

Tommy is such an awesome dude when he isn’t murderous. So Kate and Tommy break into Avengers manor and steal back her bow and arrows.

Fun and exciting, bad boy.

The two steal back her bow and arrows and it was a fun date.

Now this triangle business and Kate’s indecisiveness plays a role because eventually she starts teaming up with Clint Barton and she witnesses first hand how disastrous his love life is. But I’ll get to that later. But just to be clear, she doesn’t choose to be with either, Tommy or Eli.

Eli quit the Young Avengers after accidentally having a role in the death of Cassie Lang? It’s confusing. So with Eli’s departure, Young Avengers disbanded and thus Kate decided to team up with the other Hawkeye, Clint Barton, when the other members decided to quit.

Kate Bishop takes up an apprenticeship role under the tutelage of Clint and she helps him out on missions from time to time. There is some hint that Kate is somewhat attracted to him, but she realizes that is nasty and Clint is like twice her age. Clint, however, likes teaching her because Kate is a fast learner.

So this pairing of the Hawkeye’s became somewhat of sensation that propelled Kate to mainstream attraction. The crime busting duo became the bane of low level street thugs all over Brooklyn. But under his mentorship, Kate also saw how much of a wreck Clint’s life was. More specifically, his love life.

Clint was dating Jessica Drew at the time. But he slept with Penny, some woman he rescued, while he was dating her. Natasha is more of his work wife in a sense, you’ll have to ask Hawkeye fans if they ever dated, but she is more concerned with the fact that Clint robbed some gangsters and got arrested. Bobbi was Clint’s ex-wife...well at the time of the comic, she was his separated wife. She wants to find Clint to finalize their divorce. So Kate is dragged into this mess.

Kate witnesses what a mess Clint’s life is, and she gains one fear: to not be like Clint Barton.

Fast forward to the Young Avengers relaunch.

Kate wakes up from a booty call. And it is not some ordinary booty call. No-nonono.

Enter Noh-Varr. Like the narration says, she met Noh-Varr and he collectively kicked all of the Young Avengers asses. And I guess she is over that now and Kate and he hooked up. Noh-Varr is the silly himbo. Stupid but pretty as heck to look at.

It is hard to classify what she and Noh-Varr were because to me, they weren’t really an item as he was more like a one night stand that became a multiple night stand... Good dick is hard to find so if you find one, might as well hold on to it for awhile, am I right ladies?

Anyways, I couldn’t tell you the plot of Young Avengers 2015 because...even I was confused by it. Regardless, we are here for Kate’s love life.While facing the final...whatever the fuck they are fighting, Noh decides to confess to Kate.

And telling Kate that he was semi-seeing someone else on the side kind of drove the relationship to hell.

Anyways, we moving on. Also, America suggests something to Kate.

Another oddity in Kate’s love life is that most, if not all, of her lovers are bi. Juries out on Eli(and will probably stay that way), but both Johnny(we’ll get to him) and Noh-Varr, her only serious relationships, are bi and are attracted to each other. The irreverence that Kate has for dating should be dating because she rarely pontificates on her partners. There is no, “I wonder what X is doing.” It is all business, and rarely play. Also, we are not suggesting that women dating exclusively bi-women are bi by association. We are saying that Kate Bishop isn’t as straight as she thinks she is.

What she fears is having a love life like her mentor, Clint Barton: A fucking mess. Kate is the only young woman who has had multiple booty calls and has pulled the, “Well last night is fun, but you got to get the fuck up out of here” on a dude.

And by doing this, she is acting as self-destructive as Clint who is notorious for doing the same thing. Kate declares that she doesn’t need attachments and that the above boy was too clingy for wanting to hang out after knocking boots. He was a distraction for Kate. Miss America points out the irony of her saying something like that.

On top of everything, Kate decides to get away from Clint and heads out to Los Angeles to start a detective agency. She gets up to some high class hijinx there and in the midst of the chaos, she meets a boy.

Johnny Watts.

What I like about Johnny is that he isn’t overstepping of Kate. He is lax and is perfectly willing to step aside and let Kate be a hero and not let his male ego get wounded by the fact that his girlfriend is a kick ass superhero. Johnny also unlike Eli can keep up with Kate’s wit so their banter/flirtation is quick and rapid.

He is also supportive and understanding.

They hook up after Kate defeats Madame Masque again.

Johnny seems like a normal dude, right. There is nothing strange about him at all. So what is with the above preamble if the first Marvel heroine you mention has a normal boyfriend? Well...

Johnny absorbs the matter of anything he touches and can briefly become the item. It ranges from concrete to even vibranium. Why vibranium? Well he has a nose ring that is made of vibranium. Why does he have a nose ring made from a precious Wakandan resource? Johnny and his sister are Wakandan exiles and they kept a piece of vibranium as keepsakes.

So Johnny has powers like all of Kate’s other boyfriends and exes. When Kate forms the new West Coast Avengers, she enlists her boyfriend as her first recruit. He has issues adjusting into being a superhero, but he is learning. He takes up the alias as Fuse and he and Kate continue with their relationship without much trepidation. Until Noh-Varr comes back.

And Noh-Varr being a himbo doesn’t necessarily jive well with the relationship because Noh-Varr has no tact or grace. He is also really attractive and a pretty boy.

And then it dons on Kate that her boyfriend and her ex are attracted to one another.

All and all, Kate is the standard for super-heroine women in Marvel in.

Miss America Chavez

Gender: Female

Orientation: Lesbian

Love Interests: Ramone Watts(current),Lisa, Ultimate Nullifier

Yes, she is lesbian. Ultimate Nullifier was simply an experiment that she didn’t like after the first kiss. Like one kiss with a guy and she said, “umm nope.”

She is lesbian. She likes girls and from the general reception of the character, girls like her too.I am not going to bother covering her relationship with Ultimate Nullifier because who the fuck really cares about that guy?

I can’t tell you much about Lisa other than America isn’t necessarily a good girlfriend.

Well she isn’t? Like there was this whole convoluted thing that made America break up with Lisa for a reason I can’t really explain and the narrative tried to paint America as in the right when she was a shitty girlfriend. I just wanted to put Lisa in there because I like to confirm that she existed and still doesn’t have a last name.

Anyways, on to the good shit.

America and Ramone met through mutual colleague and also shared friend, Kate Bishop. Kate was dating Ramone’s brother and America kept Kate around so Kate could ogle her. Anyways, Ramone was trapped in a collapsing building and America saved her and caused Ramone to have what could only be described as gay panic. So naturally, the two decided to date because...well have you seen Miss. America Chavez. If one could describe her, she would be the one woman “reason why I’m gay” justification for women.

That image alone just created like 10 lesbians.

Anyways, the two are just cute. Like I can’t even describe how the two are just cute around each other.

But no one wants to be like deadweight as Nero from Devil May Cry can attest to. So Ramone, like her brother, turn out to be exiles from Wakanda.

And then this happened.

And Allow was born. So after Alloy rescues America and the West Coast Avengers, let’s just say that America was very excited about the new development that her girlfriend has powers just like her.

And they lived happily ever after and are still the item until this day.

Laura Kinney aka X-23 aka Wolverine

Orientation: Indecisive

Love Interests: Julian Keller, Warren Worthington(ewwwwww)

tw: sex trafficking, rape, and incest mentions

I don’t know what I expect out of franchise spawned the likes of Wolverine being with anybody or the idea that Wanda and Pietro practicing incest or Professor Xavier being in love with Jean Grey. I honestly don’t know why I hoped they would handle this character with tact as she is the most popular X-character made in the past 20 years. God forbid I expected that the franchise that insisted on Emma Frost mind raping Cyclops and then being an item would actually think about Laura Kinney as a character and not do some inappropriate shit...but here we are.

Let me explain the life of one Laura Kinney in the Marvel comics and why everything about her being in a relationship with a man who is the same age physically as her father is a bad idea. We all know about the X-periment and how she was the gender flipped clone of Wolverine...or is she her biological daughter? Who the fuck knows or even cares, let me get to the point.

Laura Kinney is a victim of sex trafficking. She was pimped out and did some weird dark shitty shit and yes, it involved her claws. So her history with sex in general should be handled tactfully. Her life has been nothing but violence and death and dismemberment. And I am not saying that Laura should not find love. I am saying that a girl like Laura should not be with older men, but what do I know. It seems the X-men franchise seems to be looking for writers whose only criteria is that you have to have a creepy fascination with Kitty Pryde.

Granted, Julian Keller aka Hellion had a relationship with Laura that allowed her to express emotions like a teenaged girl should be allowed to express without the influence of an older men. Julian’s relationship was born of resentment because Laura was not a real mutant, whatever that mean to fear that Laura was nothing but an assassin to admiration after witnessing how much Laura endured. Notice how Julian could never push or influence Laura to do things that she did not want to do.

Warren is the same fucking age as Cyclops. If you are going to make a stink about Rachne being with Josh Foley, then why in the fuck is this 30+ year old man with a fresh faced teenaged abused girl?

I’m just saying that any character with rape and/or sex trafficking as their backstory should be handled as gracefully as possible in regards to romantic interests and sexuality. Her being with Adam is not handling gracefully.

Gwen Stacy aka Ghost Spider

Gender: Female

Orientation: ?

Love Interests: Peter Parker, Harry Osborn, Miles Morales, ...fuck it, I am going to go ahead in put Mary Jane Watson in here

Okay.

“But, Gwemj isn’t canon so why would you put that in here?”

First off, Spider-Gwen is the quintessential pinnacle of everything that is wrong with how Marvel deals with superhero romances with solo women. There is no reason why in the 4 years as of this writing, that you have yet to introduce a love interest that is Spider-man viable in the 50 issues she has starred in. There is no excuse that her first kiss was not with anybody within her supporting cast, but with another established hero. Spider-Gwen, you have an underdeveloped supporting cast and setting, and it fucking shows.

Second, it was clear that the original plan was Gwemj, but Gwen Stacy became popular and marketable so they derailed the sapphic train and landed on the most forced and out of theme romance in recent comic book history. Like for fuck’s sake, she is Spider-man for girls and women. You know how many superheroes Peter Parker dated, 3-4 if you count Kitty Pryde and every time it never worked out because they could never relate to Peter Parker.

That is the fucking point, Marvel/Latour/McGuire although the last person isn’t the biggest offender.

Giving Gwen a superhero love interest negates the fucking point of Spider-man. It is against theme and it is really sexist as shit because every male hero has a love interest that is not superpowered. Not a one woman can hook up with a non-powered boy if they are in hetero romances.

Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy is the most cynical pairing shill that I’ve ever seen.

The fact of the matter is that Gwen has the most chemistry with Mary Jane and most of her romances have been bouts of forced heterosexuality. And it is not that she is possibly heterosexual that is the problem. It is that you refuse to develop said romances and try to make sure the man involved is just as empowered as the girl for no fucking reason.

It’s pure laziness.

Anyways, it’s hard to pindown where I should start this because the comic creates Gwen’s origin out of flashbacks so it’s hard to figure what came first.. And I guess it begins with Peter.

I’m working with assumption in trying to nail down the chronological order. Okay, Peter noted Gwen’s music in her headphones and identified it. Gwen was on that Neku Sakuraba tip except without the angry at the world attitude so she was this disheveled girl who listened to music openly and isolated herself from cast. But she wasn’t bullied or anything like Pete.

She was a cool loser.

So after their shared taste in music, Peter and Gwen become fast friends, but it is hinted that Peter had a crush on her and it more than platonic feeling for her. Anyways, Gwen’t and Peter’s duet became a 3 man band as they added residnet outcast, Harry Osborm to the crew.

Now do the math, two boys and one girl.

It is obvious that both boys have a crush on the one girl. Now it is hard to discern Gwen’s feelings for either of the two boys because there isn’t a lot shown. But the main takeaway is that Peter was broken down by bullying. He channelled his inner Vergil because he wanted power. This universe’s Peter is the Peter we see in Ditko’s early Spider-man run without the powers and none of the growth he received later. Harry, on the otherhand, is well aware of how broken Peter is and resolves to not be like him while hoping to move in on the cute blonde.

“...They won’t break me like they broken [Peter]”

So Peter is not exactly the kid you’d say after a school shooting, no one would expect that he was the culprit. I’m pretty sure no one at Midtown would be surprised. So guess what sends Peter over the edge?

No surprise here that Peter Parker without the character growth of becoming Spider-man becomes an incel asshole.

Anyways, some time passes and Prom happens. Guess who is going stag?

No that is an actual question because I am not sure who went with whom. Did Gwen decide to go out with Harry? Are they dating? Who the fuck knows because there isn’t a lot to infer from these panels.

Judging by the clothes, Gwen isn’t dressed up or gussied up. She is wearing a white T-shirt at Prom. She doesn’t appear to be with anybody. Harry isn’t with anybody either and Peter definitely isn’t. And this is why when you make a character, you start at the beginning. This shouldn’t be background or filer. This is essential information because I assumed that we had a love triangle going on with two wayward boys pining after the same girl. It’s clear that Harry has a crush on Gwen. It’s implied that Peter had a crush on Gwen as well with his reaction and calling Harry a traitor.

It’s really unclear and it is a situation that defines Gwen’s story and stories going forward. We really don’t know what happened at prom and the first Midtown attack. We really don’t know exactly what led to Peter turning himself into the Lizard. There are inferences and implications, but nothing is concrete. This series is built on the idea that Peter Parker’s death matters without giving a reason why to care about Peter Parker. And just to remind you that while the Night Gwen Stacy Died didn’t focus on Gwen Stacy, you had nearly a hundred issues to care about her prior to her death. Gwen is not just some iconography and symbolism. She was an actual character. A bad one, but nonetheless, she had more than a few pages to get represent a character.

So after Prom was a murderous incel Lizard shitshow and Gwen stopped and accidentally killed the Lizard(Key word: accidentally because it’s not clear if Gwen killed him because it was weirdly effective punch and she toyed with him like she usually does), Spider-Gwen goes on a severe depression and isolation streak and doesn’t talk to anyone ever...possibly. Again, it is the case of Gwen’s origin not exactly being clear. We don’t know much and what we are shown was presented through flashbacks.

Until she gets wrapped up in Spider-verse and she meets several Spider-folks with most of them looking like her Peter Parker and falls into a depressive episode realizing that maybe her Peter should have been the one who was bittem and she was destined to be miserable all of her life. Following a confrontation with a grief-stricken 616 Peter Parker stating that she isn’t ‘his’ Gwen, Gwen just doesn’t want to deal with any Spider-men that look like Peter Parker or are Peter Parker. And also, she is still being tormented in her own universe by a smear campaign that unfairly places the blame of Peter’s death on her shoulders. Because of said campaign, Gwen is a fugitive and her enemy, Matthew Murderdock, is extorting her for her own powers that only he has access to and her father’s life in exchange for working with him.

In summary, Gwen is stressed and is at a breaking point. She is miserable and facing an existential crisis that every adaptation of herself has died or suffered horrible consequences and questions if she is incapable of experiencing happiness. She has lost her Spider-power and has to rely on her sworn enemy to have them. And her whole city sees her as a murderer.

Enter Miles Morales.

I already explained why Miles was in E-65 in the previous post. I don’t need to repeat myself. But I can elaborate on why Miles was attractive to Gwen Stacy. For one, he is a Spider-man that doesn’t remind her of Peter Parker. So she isn’t feeling guilty and at least he isn’t a literal anthropomorphic pig. Two, Miles is around her age. This is debatable because in spite of what Bendis says, Miles was 15 at the time of this arc and he clearly aged Miles up so Gwen didn’t look like a cradle robber for daring to be interested in a kid4-5 years younger than she. And finally, this.

Miles presents the one alternate dimension where she is happy and with children. So combined with Miles being a nice if not horny kid and being overwhelmed with guilt and stress in her daily life. Miles starts becoming more attractive to Gwen. Which leads to....

Okey-doke.

I have made myself clear about how I feel about this ship. If you want a summary, I wish it never existed but here we are.

Anyways, Miles goes back and immediately starts pursuing more interesting love interests and Gwen continues to deal with being stressed. I am going to stop it here. But I want to posit a theory.

Spider-Gwen was supposed to be with Mary Jane or EmJay. For the longest, the tension between Mary Jane and Gwen was honestly the only non-superheroic related with the most tension and description outside of her own father and EmJay seemed focused on Gwen to an absurd degree. It wasn’t until it was reported that Marvel pinned Gwen for her popularity that they didn’t want to damage her marketability so being a lesbian superhero in Marvel is kind of a no-no in terms of profit. But GweMJ was and still is a popular ship so to appease fans, Latour basically threw MJ at Glory in a random and spontaneous manner if only to appease those fans.The issue is that Glory and MJ aren’t super prevalent in the book. I mean Glory Grant isn’t even that important to Spider-man mythos as a whole. So it became a case of pandering to the base while simultaneously throwing the lesbians away.

That is all I am going to say on this.

Kamala Khan aka Ms Marvel

Gender: Female

Orientation: Heterosexual

Love Interests: Bruno(current), Kamren, Dante Pertuz, Red Dagger, Miles Morales(one-sided), Sam Alexander(one-sided)

Ms. Marvel is a teenaged love story with superheroes. It is a romantic literature geared towards Muslim women or girls. It’s true. And I have earned the right to fucking say it. This is going to feel like I am harping on her religion, but Ms. Marvel’s religion is the core of her character and her story. Believe it or not, it is what makes her a hero. It is her “Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility.” So it’s important that we discuss how Kamala’s religion has to do with her love interests.

Anyways, let’s start from the beginning.

Bruno has had a childhood crush on Kamala Khan. This subplot is intertwined throughout the book. The struggle however isn’t because Kamala is irreproachable. Her religion is the obstacle.

Kamala’s parents would never accept Bruno Carrelli as a viable partner. In fact, homegirl is not even allowed to date without male supervision.

Kamala initially only sees Bruno as a friend. Her best friend. Don’t say ‘friend zone’ because...grow up honestly. Kamala didn’t care for boys, but she does care about her independence. Freedom that her cultural mandated patriarchy did not afford her or at least was regimented. I am not Muslim nor a woman, but I would surmise that a lot of teenaged Muslim girls would rebel or want to rebel against such a strict culture especially when they live in America. Kamala strikes the core of conformity to the West being seen being against the Uniformity of Islam and she struggles with being too anti-Muslim to the point that she risks allowing Islamophobia or allowing the cultural misogyny of Islam to guide her and restrict her. That is the internal conflict or religious conflict that Kamala somewhat addresses and part of it has to do with marriage or partnership.

But what makes Kamala heroic is her religion and what makes her strong is her drive to be free.

“Whoever kills one person, it is as if he has killed all of mankind and whoever saves one person, it is as if he has saved all of mankind.

-the Quran

This part sticks with me because while she is quoting a heroic purpose from her religion’s text, she is using patriarchic language so that that quote isn’t referring to who she is not does it apply to her exactly.

Kamala takes the good of her culture and applies it to a purpose to be a hero while somewhat resenting the implied patriarchal stances. This is why Ms. Marvel took off and became the quintessential Muslim Western Hero and Sooraya sadly didn’t. Kamala addresses the internal conflict that a teenaged Pakistani American would have.

I am going to assume that almost every Muslim American girl knows that exact line Kamala’s mom is saying or at least a variation of it.

“But this has nothing to do with her love interests”

It does. Because if her parents control and has the final approval who she is allowed to see, that man is more than likely going to perpetuate the same cultural traditions onto her.

Feminism is a big thing for Kamala so she respects a man that doesn’t overrule her like her father does his mother and her. Which is why Bruno not being a superhero and also being her sidekick is something that she respects and desires. She wants him to assist her and not much else at first when she gained her powers. Bruno becomes her confidant and also her conduit to being Ms. Marvel.

For the bulk of the first volume of Ms. Marvel, Kamala is oblivious to Bruno’s feelings towards her. In fact, Kamala sees him as part of her aesthetic of being a superhero: he is her sidekick. I suspect Wilson didn’t want to have a girl portray a stereotype that girls constantly think of boys.So she flips it on the genders. It is Bruno whose every interaction has to do with Kamala. He is the smitten boy while Kamala is doing her Shounen hero routine. And it is not that she is oblivious to romance. She is just having too much fun being a superhero.

“Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!”

I know it sounds bad and Bruno is absolutely correct, fellas. There is no such as a friend zone and seeing anyone like that shows that you really don’t care for them.

Apologetic moralizing aside, Kamala just did not see Bruno as anything, but a friend.

So Kamala simply is unaware of Bruno’s feelings. And Nakia kind of reinforces how her family feels about Kamala’s future prospects.It is less about the person and more about about the status.

Enter Kamren

Kamren came with a bit of controversy. The idea is that Kamren was supposed to be a classic villain love interest. The implication was that Muslim men are controlling and white men are liberating.

Normally, Kamala’s father and her brother, Aamir, would be seen as protective if they were in any other culture, but being Muslim and arranged marriages are a well-known and often scrutinized practice in Islam, Willow who is a white Muslim woman, unintentionally opened another can of worms: Commentary on Muslim men being evil.

Look, I am not Muslim and I know the bullet points of Islam. Never read the Quaran, but I understand that the Quaran is supposed to be read in Arabic which given the ideas of the Haj and other Muslim traditions, the religion focuses on tradition and a fidelity to that tradition. Coupled with Western Cultural Imperialism, Ms. Marvel faces the problem of delving into some muddy political waters that in every other book,would just be a typical romance trope.

So I suspect Willow meant no harm because she has been a substantial Muslim feminist champion in a political climate in which that would be an oxymoron to a lot people(Not me, but again, I understand 3rd World Feminism ideals of not seeing feminism in the same lens as the west). You can’t escape the notion that depictions matter and having Bruno, white Italian, being seen as the chief romantic interest while depicting the Muslim one as evil and controlling is going to raise an eyebrow or two.

Kamren was set up as an inevitability cultural and the narrative during this arc was made for the reader to sympathize with Bruno.

Bruno is Emineming this shit and Aamir gives him the cold hard reality.

Up to this point, Kamren has been portrayed as an otherwise decent guy. His only flaw was that he wasn’t Bruno. So of course, the facade of him being the perfect Bollywood male lead begins to come down.

“There’s no reason for you to keep wasting your energy to protect people who don’t believe what you believe.”

That is not an obvious parallel that implies some sort of cultural insensitivity. He is talking about Inhumans, but the cultural parallel to other Islamist radical groups is intentional. So swap Inhumanity with Jihadist Islam, then Kamren’s character becomes even more unsettling.

He uses victim-blaming tactics on Kamala in that she chose to be part of this InHumanist movement the moment she enetered the car with him as if he didn’t zap her body unconscious after he revealed his true intentions. Kamren is a disgusting individual and of course Kamala whoops that ass, but I wanted to point out the unfortunate implications of this romance before I moved on.

Meanwhile Bruno gets an SOS from Kamala and tries to save her. He fails miserably, but at least he has this moment.

This cover encapsulates everything about Kamala’s and Bruno’s relationship in Ms. Marvel Volume One.

And just before the end of the world, Bruno finally spits it out.

So that’s it, right? They are just friends, right?

It’s a love story, you dumbasses. Read this like a teenaged romantic sitcom. This is just phase one.

So Volume 2 of Ms. Marvel kicks off and the world didn’t end. So you think after that awkward but somewhat romantic confession on the rooftop, Kamala and Bruno would hit it off, right?

Brno/s gay? He is with Mike now? Bruno just skyrocketed in popularity with Yaoi fangirls.

Oh, Mike’s a girl and her full name is Michaela Gutierrez ....AND SHE THICK

It’s over Kamala. You lose before you even knew that there was a game. Bruno took that no and went on and found Barbie Ferreira. Bruno figured out what a skinny girl can do that big girl can’t. Answer: Not a goddamn thing! Ahead of his time, really.

Nothing against Mike, she is delightful and honestly, I’m cool with it. Sure, she is destined for failure because she is in the way of the OTP, but goddammit, put both hands up for the big girls.

Kamala takes it personally and decides to give her not-boyfriend the cold shoulder.

Now, if you are a guy and you think Kamala is being a bit of a hypocrite, you are not thinking about this optically. Bruno confessed that he loved her on that rooftop. That is not some shit you just say capriciously especially to your best friend. It looks like on the surface that Bruno just happened to have a backup just in case Kamala said no thus making his confession not as genuine. If you are pursuing someone as much as Bruno was to the point that he confesses love to that person, you don’t have back-ups like that. It makes his confession seem less genuine.

And yes, Kamala is being jealous and she hates that Bruno unintentionally made a scenario to make her jealous. Because if she had known about Mike instead of being blindsided like she was, then maybe she could have managed that moment on the rooftop better, but it feels like to her that Bruno just gave up and it drives her crazy to see it rubbed in her face.

In defense of Bruno, there is no set time when you are expected to get over someone that rejected you after confessing something. And maybe 6 months is too soon for Kamala, but if she had a problem with him being with anyone and needing to be told, then maybe she isn’t being honest with herself.

Also, sidenote to all writers of superheroines: this dialogue about a sub-plot is what you miss out on if you refuse to approach romance.

Anyways, It sucks to realize that you love someone and possibly took them for granted when you see them with someone else.

Oh and now your best friend who confessed his love for you is now having safe sex with another woman(implied).

Yeah, I’d be a little miffed too.

Since Kamala and Bruno are on break, I’m going to touch and go on their situation because at this point, Kamala’s popularity afforded her several appearances and a lot boys from outside her comic book did a double take.In summary, Kamala’s milkshake brought all the boys to the yard.

First is Miles Morales.

Let me just say that Sara Pichelli draws a gorgeous Kamala Khan. I mean she just makes beautiful teenaged girls in general for some reason. The boys are always ordinary looking, but the girls are always trendy or fashionable or bombshells if not all three.

Anyways, Miles has a definite crush on Kamala, but unlike Sam who I will get to later, he is mostly lowkey about it when they interact. He is also a very supportive friend of hers and honestly her and Kamala are like Peter Parker and Johnny Storm.What is weird about it is that there is no on-page formal first meeting between the two. So we never see when or why Miles revealed his identity to Ms. Marvel. I guess there was a miscommunication between Bendis and Waid and Wilson.

There isn’t much on page thoughts from Kamala about Miles as she mostly kept the air living up to be a hero she admires the most, Carol Danvers. Again, Karol is the model of typical Marvel heroine. As far as I’ve read, Carol doesn’t really have much in the way of romance compared to Spider-man who as @traincat would say, is a Himbo(yes, I am going to keep plugging her so you guys can follow her because she is the only Peter Parker expert that I respect). So her and Miles relationship is professional friendship. There was a time when Bruno mentioned something that implied Kamala gushes about a Spider-man’s abs, but that could be just jealousy and it never states which Spider-man he was talking about. All in all, she is not interested in Miles and Miles is interested in her, but respects her too much to act on it. Until Miles confuses an Infinity Stone for a mood stone and spills the beans to her.

Kamala doesn’t return the gesture and it is seen as a way to lightly put Miles down which is okay because he handles it like a champ.

Next is Sam Alexander aka Nova.

He is a little less tactful than Miles about his attraction to Kamala since he immediately hits on her upon first meeting.

Kamala of course thinks he is a brash idiot who shows-off too much.

Sam is persistent in their first meeting, but keeps on hitting the wrong marks and saying the wrong things at inappropriate times.

Sam pretty much can’t take a hint and eventually catches Ms. Marvel in the middle of changing costumes.

*insert the sound of an airplane falling and crashing*

So Kamala and Sam don’t initially like each other as initially, Kamala thought she was being mean to Sam unintentionally and Sam thought he was being idiot. They are both right in their own way, but in the end, Sam sees Kamala as an uptight do-gooder personality and Kamala sees Sam as a reckless jerk. Which has a lot to do with their powersets because Sam is not really meant to be doing street level crime or protection.

And finally we have Dante Pertuz aka Inferno. Now this is one time where Kamala’s interested in a guy and not the other way around or at least it is implied by a third party.

Over the course of Secret Warriors, Kamala and Dante interact and while nothing is initially made out of it, Dante and Quake hook up and Kamala appears to be jealous and annoyed that Dante likes Quake mainly because Kamala does not like Daisy Johnson.

Now we could take Daisy’s word for it, but again, she is kind of a jaded jerk so take it with a pinch of salt. Kamala also denies it.

Ms. Kamala not only shoots down her own ships, but she also bombs other people’s, sheesh.

Now that is done, let’s get back to the main attraction.

Kamala and Bruno and now Mike pretty much go back and forth. Bruno makes kissey faces at Mike, and Mike returns them while Kamala dies a little inside. Bruno is pretty much that guy from the meme who is with his girlfriend, but he keeps looking at the girl they pass and Mike is not a moron and knows that she is pretty much the Cyrano and is conscious of this fact. It hurts because Mike is actually a cool character and her and Kamala become good friends in spite of having the same romantic attraction to Bruno. While Bruno did care for Mike, he could not help but be jealous of the men Kamala encounters as Ms. Marvel such as Spider-man(not sure which).

Point is that this entire comic is a delicious mess and should be read with the same intention as the audience of Dawson’s Creek.

Eventually, Kamala starts to realize that her idol has a huge authoritarian streak and implements her version of Hitler Youth to patrol Ms. Marvel’s turf. And I think this is a something we need to address in regards to Carol. Yes, she is good, but she is socially aware as a....white woman. No really, she does not stop to think as to why people of color would not be too for a system that arrests people because they are foreseen to commit a crime. It’s profiling or in this case assisting in racial profiling. I always found it weird that of all people, a Pakistani first generation born American would idolize her. But that had to do with Kamala’s own self-hatred than anything Carol was.It is like being a Mexican Trump Supporter.

Anyways, Kamala is reluctant, but she joins Carol’s little SS and starts putting people in detention camps. And people are pissed. People like Bruno are pissed.

So Bruno decided to break Josh, who was wrongfully detained on the suspicion of wanting to bomb a school. Kamala goes and tries to stop him from breaking in the detention center.

Well....

Shit.

This haunts Kamala. You see, Bruno and Kamala are close obviously, but for once, it was her ambivalence that nearly got him killed. She wants so desperately to be her own ideal hero that she completely neglected her own support system in pursuit of being accepted by Carol.People like to point to Kamala’s fandom in superheroes as a main characteristic, but neglect to mention that it was Bruno introducing her to the world superheroes that started it in the first place. It was Bruno who introduced her to Ms. Marvel.

Bruno becomes paralyzed on his left side.I haven’t mentioned this, but Bruno is an inventor. He creates things and he is also left handed. So his dream was in jeopardy because he was willing to help Kamala out with her dream. So Kamala feels guilty as fuck.

Bruno decides to take a trip to Wakanda and get some schooling. Thus making Bruno the first white boy to be legally allowed to learn in Wakanda.

I’m as surprised as you are. I mean Wakanda gives a scholarship to some white boy in New Jersey, but rejects Lunella Lafayette. Ain’t that some shit?

So just to recap on this drama, Kamala turned down Bruno in favor of superheroism. Bruno got with Mike. Kamala becomes jealous, but Mike is cool so can’t bring herself to hate her. Bruno is jealous that Kamala is hanging out with superhero studs like Spider-man. Mike is just tired of being overlooked for an apparently nice girl. Bruno is annoyed that Kamala is siding with Carol’s harebrained George Orwell fanfiction idea over her friends and decides to break everyone out. He gets injured in the process and leaves New Jersey, but not before lashing out at Kamala for not appreciating him.

A fucking teenaged love story, I tell you.

And the only person happy is the gay one. tsk...

So the two are basically apart at this point. Bruno is on a no-speaking terms with Kamala and Kamala is respecting that. This cover pretty much sums it up.

Kamala took Bruno for granted and Bruno resents Kamala for taking for granted. And of course, it did bomb his relationship with Mike because he is resenting a relationship with a girl that is not currently his girlfriend. But with Bruno in Wakanda getting reverse affirmative action, that means Ms. Marvel is taking a break from romance, right?

Kamala’s milkshake be bringing boys from across the ocean.

Okay, this is Red Dagger aka Kareem. Kamala first met Kareem when she visited her cousins in Pakistan with and without costume. Get your head out of the gutter, they met eachother while they were in civillian identity and superhero alias without connecting the two. Lareem eventually moved to New Jersey because he studied abroad from which Kamala quickly deduced that his identity.

So the two have a team-up from which Kamala feels uneeded so she runsaway and attends a private school without anyone, even her parents knowing(and people wonder why I felt that Wilson’s Ms. Marvel read like a Saturday Morning Cartoon). Eventually she comes out of it with absolutely no consequences for abandoning her superhero duty because she felt unneeeded and forcing her friends to fight crime in New Jersey in her stead. Whatever, Red Dagger feels bad for making Kamala feel unappreciated and...

This is nice.

That is right, Kamala, You get over your ex, by getting underneath another person. I mean, girl you bold. You went to your boy interest’s former place of employment and hangout spot, and made out on top of the roof. Extra thot points for making him watch another man’s tongue down your throat.

I’m kidding, but yeah, ackwarrrrrrd.

Of course, Bruno and Kamala talk about that situation and Kamala swears that it didn’t happen to spite him in spite of it happening on top of Circle Q. They eventually reconcile and get back on speaking terms and then...

Mike catches the pair holding hands. Actually not what it looks like. Kamala was helping Bruno up the stairs. So much drama.

Kamala freaks out because she thinks she is a two timing thot because she out here kissing men and thotting and shit. So she runs to her Masjid in hopes to get some spiritual help for her crisis.

So Kamala has a confessional with a third party and surprisingly, he subverts the entire stereotype of Muslim religious patriarch.

He tells her that he laments not teaching young Muslim people in his Masjid to not know how to properly be themselves and not know how to deal with their feeling. He also laments not teaching their parents to not give stern warnings in place of recalling what is like to feel like you are in love for the first time thus giving kids an echo chamber because they don’t feel safe to talk to their parents about this for fear of admonishment.

He tells Kamala to be true to herself unleash the inner thot....I’m kidding.

He tells her to be true to herself and be real with Bruno.

I think this is the most important scene in Ms. Marvel because too many times, media has used the Muslim patriarch as this oppressive tool to admonish Islam as a faith.Is it sexist? Yeah. I can’t lie about that shit, but ultimately it is up to those women who practice it to reform it and modern male muslims tend to be more open to feminism especially if it doesn’t come from white feminism brand that loves to target those cultures.

Anyways, back to the drama, Mike and Bruno break up. Kamala and Red Dagger end things amicably. And now it is a rat race to see how long it takes for Kamala and Bruno to finally hook up because why not? If you have been reading up to this point, you know what is about to happen so I’m going to get straight to the point.

Nadia Van Dyne aka Wasp

Gender: Female

Orientation: Not interested in boys in the very least, but girls who like science....that is a jam so...sapiosexual lesbian

Potential Love interests: Amber

So Nadia Van Dyne is the daughter of Hank Pym who took after the last of Hank Pym’s abused ex-wife, Janet Van Dyne.You should all read the first two volumes of Unstoppable Wasp because Nadia in general was a welcome, wholesome surprise for me. Regardless, I am not just here to gush about Nadia, but explore her love interests, but to be honest, she doesn’t have any so this will be pure speculation and subtext until otherwise stated.

So what is different about Nadia is her disinterest in all things of the opposite sex and her interest in all things about science. She was raised in an Assassin/Scientist school where Nadia was trained to be a super scientist assassin along with other young people. She is a genius, but Nadia developed a love for science. When she was freed from the Red Room, Nadia kept her love for science and sought to make sure all girls like herself could be allowed to express their love for science without a glass ceiling. So she wanted to recruit a science girl gang of sorts.

You could make an argument that Nadia is ace and I wouldn’t argue against you. However, as you can see, it is easy to write off character interactions as that when in actuality they are underdeveloped. I think Nadia is a sapiosexual lesbian because her attraction directly correlates with how intelligent a person the person is. And she hates overly intelligent scientific men like Peter Parker and somewhat resents her abusive father as they kept a glass ceiling in the intelligencia of academic science that chased women out. However, any woman with a compelling interest in science immediately piques her interest. And sure, we could say that this attitude is fostered due to her mission statement of uplifting women of science and girl geniuses in the place of attraction towards said girls, but sometimes we forget that no matter how wholesome Nadia is, she is still a teenager.

This Amber and I’d say that this was the first and only time Nadia exhibited an actual crush on somebody.And sure, Nadia’s innocence could be taken to mean that she was just being her normal bubbly self, I want to take note that she really didn’t ask about Amber’s scientific prowess. She complimented her looks first and then her tattoos and then she saw the Teleforce Tattoo.

But just like the others on this list, Amber could not just be a normal girl. Nope, she had to be a supervillain.

I am just pointing out a pattern. Boys need their love interests to be non-superpowered and not necessarily the physical equal. Girls have to have their romantic counterparts be just as physically capable as them.

Amber aka Seeker becomes a rival to Nadia until they realized that they aren’t necessarily enemies of each other as the real threat was an Ultron merged Hank Pym who wants to take over the world or whatever does Ultron want to do anymore. Who knows?

So Seeker and her AIM Anti-Ultron think tank joined Nadia’s GIRL. And we never knew what happened between her and Nadia.

Riri Williams aka Ironheart

Gender: Female

Orientation: ?

Love Interests: Xavier King, Viv Vision

Okay, Riri is a bit complicated because her story goes as this:

Girl goes to school.

Girl becomes bored with school.

Girl starts acting out because she is bored with school.

Girl gets tested and it is revealed that she is a super genius.

Parents of girl freak out because they realized that by boring her, they could have made the next super-villainess.

Girl is then handled with care to ensure that she is not alone all of the time thinking about her inventions and struggles to make human connections because she is smarter than everybody in her neighborhood.

Girl meets another girl who becomes her best friend.

Girl’s best friend and her super nice step dad die in a drive-bye shooting.

Girl decides to close herself off again and be stuck working on her inventions.

So it makes sense that Riri has problems making connections with people. Or Bendis didn’t really bother to give the girl a romantic interest so he hastily came up with one. Xavier King.

Xavier King didn’t get much characterization until Eve Ewing took over and he went from boy that Riri Williams might have fancied to being Riri Williams’ Ron Stoppable to her Kim Possible.

She is the hypercompetent woman and she is pretty much the silly sidekick. I can’t say that the two are dating or romantically inclined, but I can say that I love their friendship

Xavier doesn’t necessarily become a boyfriend. He has a better role: he is her best friend.

He makes her laugh and most importantly, she feel comfortable around him. Which leads us to someone who isn’t as warm....physically....or is she? What is the temperature of synthezoids?

When Riri joined the Champions, her communication skills continued to be sorely lacking. She kind of kept to herself and really only got along with Nadia, Amadeus, and Viv Vision. Just to be clear, she only got along with the geniuses as Miles was too friendly and somewhat got on her nerves. Kamala simply avoided Riri and gave her space and everyone else except for Miles apparently followed suit. Viv on the other hand doesn’t quite have a grasp on social cues yet.

And the two socially awkward girls connect. Riri and Viv get along quite well. The girls didn’t really advance their friendship until Riri did something monumentally stupid: she tried to take on Thanos.

So after that humiliating shitkicking, Riri pretty much developed PTSD and our favorite synthezoid decided to check on her teammate.

And Viv consoled Riri and the two decide to make Riri a new Iron Man armor.

The end result.

Girls don’t want flowers. They want cool power armor.

Viv and Riri sort of connect more with Viv letting her pet synthezoid hang our with Riri and Riri being the most open to her. And Viv read too much into this cordial relationship between her and Riri...and well...

now I’d like to point out that this isn’t because Riri doesn’t swing that way. On the contrary, it isn’t the gender that Riri had a problem with in regards to Viv. It is the invasion of space that turned Riri off. You have to ask Eve Ewing and Jim Zub, but Riri never explicitly stated that it was orientation incapability that turned her away from Viv. It was because Viv made her feel uncomfortable.

And Viv’s unawareness as to why exactly kissing Riri was distressing to Riri didn’t help.

And this is why Riri actively stayed away from Champions’ related activities for the majority of the run. Viv made her uncomfortable and Riri decided to keep her distancing while still reaching out to Kamala and Nadia.Later Riri was mind controlled by Blackheart who brewed those fears and emotions towards Viv and made those insecurities toxic and violent. So under his manipulation, Riri knocked out Viv and the rest of the Champions.

Riri went for the killing blow, but Viv 2.0(long story) rebooted and took over for the then comatose Viv.

THE GIRLS ARE FIGHTING!

Viv rounds up the remaining Champions and Blackheart mind controls the Champions that Riri took out. There was a final battle and Viv eventually took control of her own body and finally confessed to Riri and apologized.

So after the battle between the Champions and Blackheart, Riri and Viv have a heart-to-heart.

So this is all for part 1 for now. It took forever. I may do some updates on characters because it is a growing and developing story for characters. But this is mainly for Marvel. I don’t know if I want to tread the minefield that is DC love interests because that shit is crazy. I also have been trying to figure out wht to do with inner team romances like X-Men, Inhumans, Avengers Academy, Runaways, and etc. So those Nico and Karolina fans, I am aware of y’all and I didn’t forget. It is just that this takes time. Be patient.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great day.

@ubernegro

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