Clint has every intention of taking care of Loki just as Loki took care of him. Karma’s a bitch, and all that.

They're paired by their music teacher for their final assessment, a Battle of the Bands-style playoff. Unfortunately, she doesn't know that a bit of high school drama went down at term-break. She doesn't know what this one song she's making them play might mean to both of them.

You can't get much clearer than this, this slow inexorable push: even in his sleep, Harvey's making it crystal clear that Mike isn't actually welcome here. Harvey, Mike knows, doesn't do serious. Harvey does one night stands.

Young military Arthur goes to a sex worker to take care of his ~ass virginity problem.~ Finds an unexpected rapport, is drawn back repeatedly, falls in love, knows it's untenable for a dozen different reasons and doesn't say anything about it... you know the drill. Then the sex worker drops completely off the radar with no warning. Arthur panics, is heartbroken; represses the fuck out of it, forcing himself to move on. Several years later, they meet in dreamshare.

“This,” call-me-Gaius thunders, “is Mr. Morgan. He’ll be preparing you for Oxbridge applications, and I trust that you will treat him with the respect he deserves.” He is pointedly looking straight at Arthur as he says it.

Their sophomore year the whole school was suddenly bursting with gossip, the scuttlebutt having Nate caught on a steamy make-out session with Rick Sykes. Rick protested a great deal, maintained he was drunk or stoned or temporarily insane, and then he transferred to another school. Nate laughed when asked, rolled his eyes at the occasional spiteful comment, and then went and joined the cheerleading squad and started volunteering with the homecoming committee.

Few weeks later he dated the homecoming queen for a while and she was gushing about him to everyone who wanted to listen and to a few who didn't.

The entire school quietly wondered what the fuck.

"Bisexuality, look it up," Nate advised Ray earnestly, not a hint of mocking in his voice or on his face, just the helpful smile, like he was ready to lend Ray his dictionary.

[fireandice] (18.35): If, on the other hand, you’re writing, as I suspect you are, for Midgardian fangirls, then get straight to the point. Armour off, shield down, straight to the fighting and fornication.

[hammer_time] (18.37): What’s a “fangirl”?

[fireandice] (18.38): Don’t be disingenuous. If you didn’t want me to know what Livejournal communities you frequent, you should have picked a less obvious username, oh God of Thunder.

From: Steve Rogers <steverogersamerica@gmail.com>
To: Tony Stark <tony.stark@starkindustries.com>
Date: Thu, Oct 14, 2010 at 2:15PM
Subject: RE: Test

HI

Sincerely,

Steve Rogers

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Arthur doesn't make mistakes and he doesn't forget. He goes into heat three times a year and he plans for it, every time, he's always ready to deal with this fucked up part of his Manticore legacy but fuck, fuck -

The job has gone south.

"But you have to do it proper," Raven's blue fingers played with the corner of the book's pages. "Erik, he does, like, he does it like you're my lunch."

"I've only just started, just wait," Charles said cheerily. He turned back to the book and continued to read, "I'll eat half of you now and save half for later-"

"You're not doing the voices," Raven whined. "Erik does," and this time, out of her tiny mouth came a pitch-perfect mimicry of Erik droning in his native accent, just subtle enough for a four-year-old to still understand the words, "I'll eat half of you now."

“Uh…” Steve isn’t really sure how to phrase his issue in the form of a message. He clears his throat, and regroups after only a beat of hesitation. “I just got a phone call from Loki.”

"I'm sick," Eames said.

"Yes, but with a cold. You're not dying."

"Would you drag yourself away from that screen even if I was?"

"Of course," said Arthur, "I wouldn't let you die in our living room. It would decrease the selling price of the apartment."

Arthur is a BNF and Merlin is his prized beta.

Anyway, that’s how it starts. With Merlin’s smacked-around-the-head-with-a-wet-fish-for-the-umpteenth-time-today expression. With his discomfort at having seen Arthur fuck another man. (It’s wrong, Merlin doesn’t think, but knows. He doesn’t remember how he knows, or why, the feeling imprinted in his bones when they were still small and brittle, but he knows.)

Short of dancing naked around and around Zach until they both get dizzy and fall over, shouting, "Gay, I am gay for you, I am so SO gay for you," he can't see a better way to communicate his non-heterosexuality. Chris Pine, he thinks, you evil genius.

Fucking tease, Zach thinks, fuming.

The thing is, Zach's not a creepy guy. No, really, he's not. He's just very... specific. He likes certain specific things. He likes the way Chris smells. It’s totally not as creepy as it sounds. Honestly.

Do not watch soap operas. You'll find yourself making too many comparisons with your crewmates.

He wakes up with Spock's hand on his hip. Naked hip. Huh. Well, this is interesting.

The captain cannot know about touch telepathy—he has encountered it, but it is likely that he assumes that the psi points are the only way of telegraphing; it is likely that it was an errant fantasy. Though it was… fascinating. And rather stimulating.

"It would seem that a side-effect of this repression is that all of my sexual urges have been repressed as well. This is not uncommon, as most Vulcans only mate when biologically driven to."

St. Mary's is just like Chris's last parish.

"Uther forced me to swear an Unbreakable Vow."

Arthur comes back as Barack Obama. YES. I WENT THERE.

Merlin thinks his asthma should be downplayed somewhat, it's perfectly controlled (he has set alarms each morning and night to remind him to take his preventer inhaler) and it doesn't stop him doing normal, everyday things (if he's not too energetic or around irritants in the air). After years of his mother coddling him and being over protective about it, Merlin can't help but feel a little freer, fewer pity eyes looking at him when he's being held behind in the playground when the pollen levels are high. Whatever, Merlin thinks, he'll like to be rebellious just this once.

Spock, who has just experienced intense emotional compromise, has no desire to do so again. And so, while Kirk assumes the captaincy, he goes to his quarters and meditates. He finds the place within his mind where he built the mental shields that separated him from T’Pring. Behind those telepathic walls lie the remains of his bond. As he examines the shields for damage, he is aware that something is behind them. It flutters faintly, like a baby bird genre:fluffing its tiny wings. It does not feel like death – it feels, strangely, like birth. But Spock will not risk exposing himself to a broken mind link. Down that path lies madness. He doubles the barriers, reinforces his defenses between the shattered bond and his mind, and the awareness disappears.

Ariadne will only construct maze settings that logically require Arthur to wear suits, a la the hotel dream layer.

"Darling, just hear me out. I need a wife."

Merlin is 20, Arthur is 22 and 10

"Did you lock—" begins Eames.

The inception works, but not as planned. Robert Fischer decides he will be better than his father, one tender moment with a pinwheel a mere drop in an ocean of a lifetime of resentment. Saito refuses to sell, and then it is all out corporate war. Fischer’s subsidiaries rebel, and it turns into actual war.

And he certainly couldn't get Cobb to help him out. Cobb was the master of purple prose. Everyone bowed down to him on his purple prose throne. The only pairing he wrote was him/Mal with the occasional him/Saito - but that was no surprise, since everyone shipped themselves with Saito.

"Saito? Did you buy the kink meme?"