#curtwen mentioned

[randsstuff]

hi spies are forever fans ‼️

[smytherines]

Watching Spies Are Forever 1 time: oh wow this is funny

Watching SAF 2 times: OOOHHH wow I get it now, that's wild

Watching SAF 5 times: still very funny, but also kinda sad

Watching SAF 10 times: Oh these tragic gay disasters in this otherwise hilarious show

Watching SAF 20 times: here's an elaborate headcanon about why Curt and/or Owen are actually much more complex than you initially realized

Watching SAF 30 times: actually I'm just going to insert Curt and Owen into other musicals so I can continue to have feelings about them

[ryoko-akari]

Screw it headcanons I have for Owen Carvour based on my own experiences as a Lefty because it's my turn on the "project onto your hyperfixation" talking stick.

He hates round doorknobs. I'm sure he probably doesn't have nearly the same hellish experiences I do with them but they still are the least effective type of doorknob, especially for lefties because of the weird way you have to turn your hand to open them. (Seriously, I've been stuck standing infront of doors with them for 5 minutes at some occasions because they don't have clear indicators of how far you need to turn them and it's very awkward to do with your left hand. Why do they exist. Stop making them.)

I really like the headcanons that Owen isn't religious, and I'd like to add onto this. Being left handed was very stigmatized against prior to the 70s, and this was especially the case within the Church, even today. A lot of naturally born lefties I know are ambidextrous or right handed today because of family ties to the church when they were younger that forced that on them. I was told by some of the caretakers when I was about 7 that I'd "never go to heaven because I was a left handed spawn of the devil." I can see Owen being raised religious and leaving it in his adulthood and it's why he's able to use his right hand fairly well on spy missions (and subsequently DMA), or attempting to outright refuse going because of this sort of normalized treatment and stigma.

Owen absolutely has a favorite brand of ballpoint pen because it's ink dries quickly so it doesnt smudge and get all over his hand and clothes when he writes. And he absolutely carries around multiple of these pens everywhere he goes and only uses them. You might think "oh its so people can't take fingerprints or something from the pen" but no its cause he doesn't like how smeared ink looks because it feels unprofessional. After Curt figured it out I feel like he'd probably carry around a box of it in his own go bag incase Owen's ever ran out but insisted it was because he liked the grip or something. (it was such a rarity he completely forgot he had them. Guess what he finds 4 years later among his things when he decides to get back into being a spy again.)

Continuing the headcanon that Owen draws and has his own sketchbook, and at a glance it's not difficult for Curt to tell among casual clothes which ones are his and which ones are Owen's, because Owen's have a bit of a shiny sheen to the left wrist sleeve from all the graphite and charcoal that gets absorbed into it. Owen hates it because of how difficult it is to get those stains out and Curt finds it funny when he fusses about it.

Owen hates it when people point out he's left handed, even in jest. Not only because hes a spy and does not need the added attention, but because it makes him feel like a zoo animal for people to gawk at, or some strange oddity on display. The only exception to this is if it's a kid pointing this out, especially if the child is Lefty too and excited about not being the only one. He won't outwardly show it, but he melts inside because he didn't get a lot of those interactions growing up either (if at all) and if it helps a kid feel a bit more normal then so be it.

There's probably more I'll add onto this but for now have these hehe.

[starpirateee]

hi! i'd love to see a continuation of the isekai spies au or the curt joins chimera au. love your work!! ❤️ 💜 💙

I will gladly give you a continuation of the spies isekai, that was a Lot of fun! Sorry this took such a long time to get out, btw, but in the meantime I was asked this:

So I'm going to cater for both, if that's alright!

The time travel idea stuck fast in Curt's mind. It sounded ridiculous on all fronts, but it was the only Hong that made sense. It seemed like they were in the wrong place, though they didn't seem to stand out any.

The real question was how they'd done it. How they'd managed to go from having it out for each other in the middle of the weapons museum, to being here, where it was apparently fine to be ambiguously flirting with the men at the bar.

For now, the idea of how they'd gotten there wasn't the most important point of the moment. He was drinking with the second man to ever try and pick him up, and all things considered, he was having a pretty good time.

For all intents and purposes, Ted was great. Curt just wished that this wasn't a one time thing— that maybe, he'd have another chance to be himself and to be a little free before he and Owen had to find a way back to where they'd come from.

"Does this not, I dunno, bother you at all?" He asked, leaning against the bar and ordering another round.

"What?"

"This. Seeing someone once, talking like this, and then never seeing em again?" It had never bothered him before, but his dealings were strictly professional and never meant anything.

Ted raised an eyebrow. "You think I'd have asked you out if I didn't think you'd be a one off? You're not the first, man, and I'm pretty sure you won't be the last..."

Curt frowned, his brow creasing as he took a sip of his drink. Ted noticed his expression and shot him an amused glance. "What? That bother you?"

"More than it does you, apparently... It just feels— weird..."

"Oh, you're the type who ain't shy for commitment... You with someone?"

Curt hesitated. In the most literal sense of the word, he was with someone. He'd arrived with Owen, and he was still here. But in that specific sense that Ted was asking about, he wasn't with Owen anymore. Hadn't been for years...

"No, but I was..."

"How long?"

"Five and a half years... Something like that."

"Jeez, not bad..." if he had to guess, he'd have said Ted genuinely looked impressed. He'd leaned forwards a little, and his eyes had went wide. "Special type?"

"Yeah, for ages he was the only one." And it was both dangerous and a comfort to remember Owen as he used to be. All those late nights on the floors of cheap motel rooms, all the uttered words they'd only ever whisper to each other... That was sacred. "But, y'know, those things aren't meant to last."

Ted held his glass out in toast to that. "Hear that, pal. What was his name?"

"Owen."

"Ehh, fuck Owen." Ted had uttered that so confidently that Curt almost choked on the drink he was taking. He laughed, taken completely off guard, and even Ted chuckled. "No, I'm serious! You want commitment outta life, I'm sure you won't have any trouble in finding someone, nice guy like yourself."

"... Thanks," Curt smiled as he felt his face heat up, ready to blame it on the heat of the room. "What about you?"

Ted huffed a breath of laughter. "Yeah, that kinda life's not on the cards for me. Got myself a bit of a reputation, y'know?"

The conversation spanned for a while. Curt really started to let himself go, but kept himself in that balance of opening up and revealing more than necessary, out of a force of habit. Eventually, he and Ted parted ways— Curt was implicitly told that it should feel amazing to walk off a conversation with a guy's personal phone number— and he immediately found Owen again. After all, there was a lot to catch up on. Owen was a familiar face in a sea of strangers, and he'd been the one to propose that they stay by each others' sides.

Needless to say, Owen didn't look impressed when Curt found him. It wasn't like he'd caught any of the conversation, but it had been one hell of one, and that desperation was not a facade that was easy to keep hold of. Trying to act like he was upset about Curt supposedly "standing him up" was way too beyond him.

He had finished Curt's pint too. Frankly, he needed it. And Curt didn't look too offended, so it was no more than terrible American beer under the bridge. The two of them left the bar after, not a word between them until they were a good distance from the premises. Then he turned to look at Curt, half curious and half bitter. "So, how was he?"

Part of him genuinely wanted to know what that kinda of freedom felt like. What it was like to get that close in a room full of people who didn't think twice. The other part of him had seen past all that and just hoped that leaving him hanging for all that time was worth it.

Curt's eyebrows quirked. "Ted? He was great. Real nice guy. Why? That bother you or something?" He shoved his hand in his pocket, feeling the coaster on which Ted had written his number. Quite the unorthodox method, he had to admit, by quite charming all the same.

"Bother me? What do you think I am, twelve years old?"

"Jealous that I could pull before you?"

Yes. Partially. Those words would never leave him, but he thought it nonetheless. "Sod off, my god, you're a child."

Curt smirked. "Anyway, since that's clearly getting to you, I— uh, got what you wanted."

"What, you found out where we are?"

"Yeah. We're on some island in lake Michigan. Hatchetfield." He felt himself absently crease the corner of the coaster, and removed his hand from his pocket quickly.

Owen hummed. "We weren't in the states when we started this, we were in the middle of fucking Europe. How the hell did this happen?"

"That's the part I don't know. Y'see, I think we're gonna have to check the date, too."

"Why's that?"

"Ted called my Bel Air "vintage"."

"Hold on, what?" Owen stopped in his tracks and thought that over. "But you've had that thing from new, and that was only a few years ago..." His eyes went wide. "Oh lord, we have to find a newspaper."

Luckily, that wasn't a hard thing to acquire. Owen dipped into one corner store, and came out with a newspaper folded under his arm. He and Curt opened it together, and his eyes immediately landed on the topmost header.

"Oh my god..."

Judging by that reaction, Curt had seen it too. They exchanged a glance, letting their shock speak for itself, and then glanced back at the paper to make sure they were seeing the same thing.

"Owen, am I reading that right?"

"I think you are, Curt. I.... Think you are." 1962 was no more. Owen had to put his jealousy aside for a moment, because he realised that things were truer than he thought when he said Curt was the only person he had as a cornerstone.

The two of them would have to put their differences aside too, even for a little while, because the truth of the matter was plain. Curt's car was vintage. Men must be allowed to get with other men. Constant economical changes meant it was probably normal for beer to be that price.

The date was June 7th, 2019.

The two of them were stranded in the States, some near sixty years from the time they knew.

[szollibisz]

The thing I absolutely love about curtwen is that. Curt is a bitch, right? Like yeah, he can be sweet, and he's not as morally bankrupt as Owen, but he's just a dick. He's inconsiderate, irresponsible and clearly, growing up gay and having to be a big confident macho guy™ all the time did nothing good for him.

With how he treats those around him, he absolutely seems like a guy who pushes people away whenever he feels like the relationship is slipping even just a little bit. HE wants to be one who ruins the relationship, and gives that final push, just so he doesn't have to face that fact that people can leave you just because they don't like being around you anymore, found someone else, or just need to take a step away. He doesn't want to admit, that maybe he needs to change and better himself. He wants to give people an actual big reason to leave him, so he's less hurt by it, and it works really well. And then he meets Owen.

Not only is Owen a bitch too, but also obsessed with Curt. He wouldn't leave him no matter what he does (until....) And Curt won't leave Owen, because he finally found someone who understands all aspects of his life, and he feels like he needs Owen or else. I think they both realize this pretty early on in the relationship and it has absolutely horrible consequences for both of them. They will treat each other horribly, knowing it won't have any lasting consequences on their relationship. They will argue and scream that they never want to see each other again, but go back to normal a month later.

In their worst moments they exploit this weird obsessive-codependent thing they have, and in their best moments they call it love (somewhere deep down it is)

I think when Owen starts to realize Curt isn't obsessed with him, like he previously thought, part of him starts resenting Curt for it. Curt knows this, but by now he knows he can't and doesn't want to push Owen away. They just sweep it under the rug, like everything else. They facilitate each others' bad habits, because if they talked about them the relationship would fall apart. Owen doesn't mention Curt's alcoholism, Curt doesn't mention Owen's cruelty. And when they do, they quickly realize it won't get them anywhere.

Something something about how Curt and maybe even Owen could have some sort of healthy relationship with someone else, be that friendship, romance or something else, but at the same time, at this point in their lives this was somehow the best option for both of them. Crazy. Doomed by the narrative to divorce always and forever

[man-down-in-hatchet-town]

So I Spied Another Day...

You know it was a good show when you can’t decide whether your heart is so full from all the love and joy, or so empty because it's over.

Really do buckle up, because this is a long one.

So the show went a little like this. They played the Spies pro-shoot on a giant movie screen, but any time a song started, the audio changed to the instrumental track, the video typically faded to simple background graphics, and the cast came out to perform the number live in concert style. There were also a series of audience participation prompts up on the movie screen, such as standing to deliver a line in unison, giving Lauren a standing ovation for the Pay Attention! Reprise, enthusiastically booing Dr. Baron von Nazi and the still infuriatingly catchy Not So Bad (for anyone who’s curious, in addition to encouraging boos and yelled disagreements with von Nazi, they also cut the audience participation bit from the song).

The energy in the room was so electric and full of joy and warmth. People shouted out iconic lines, went wild for everyone’s entrances, and absolutely lost their damn minds over Curtwen at pretty much every opportunity. And the cast were clearly having just as much fun. Doing This has always been my favorite, and there was something so sweet about them singing it again all these years later. We finally got Joey performing Spies Are Forever (Evil Reprise) again and it was just as chilling and beautiful as you’d expect. And One Step Ahead was just on a whole new level. I don’t want to give anything away, but the details in that performance were INCREDIBLE.

It was simply so special seeing most of the original gang come back while also bringing some new friends along. Shout out to Mariah for coming out at the top of the show so ready to play, setting the tone for the whole evening. Shout out to James for putting his comedy chops on full display (LET JAMES BE FUNNY MORE) and dancing the hell out of One More Shot (another favorite number). And shoutout to Carlos Alazraqui (taking over the roles of Sergio and Vladimir Poopin) and Tommy Link for coming into this crazy part of our world with such enthusiasm and silliness. Brian deserves a medal for agreeing to once again play the most cringe-worthy character in all of Pulp-StarCanWrecked history, and for sounding so fucking good while doing it. Tessa was having a blast in full unhinged glory and I gladly worship at her altar. Lauren is maybe the funniest person alive and deserved her standing ovation, prompted or not. Seeing Joe Walker perform live has been Item Number One on my fandom bucket list since I moved to LA a couple of years ago, and I still can’t quite believe I managed it. I’d wondered if he’d be rusty, but honestly he sounded great; it was like no time had passed. Mary Kate still has one of my all-time favorite voices and her Tatiana remains forever engaging. Joey showed up dressed to slay as a gay evil genius Bond-movie supervillain and proceeded to thoroughly deliver on that promise. And Curt… every time I watch Spies I am increasingly blown away by what he does with this arrogant, broken mess of a character. He clearly loves Agent Mega as much as any of us, and to see a performance refined and powered by such clear and thoughtful passion is just a huge treat.

(And while he wasn’t in the cast, I can’t not mention Corey. Between his roles as director and co-writer, so much of what Spies is comes directly from him and we don’t appreciate that nearly enough. And shout out to Esther Fallick for her wonderful work as Susan and the Informant. She might not have been there in person, but her incredible performance was with us the whole time.)

I know this is preaching to the choir, but Spies Are Forever really is such a special show. It’s a story about recovery, and devastating as it can be, I think there’s also something deeply healing about it at its core. For one thing, I know it played a huge role in mending my relationship with my asexuality. I will forever be grateful to it for existing, to TCB, Talkfine, and the original cast for creating it, and to those same people for maintaining its legacy with the amount of love and care it deserves. It was a privilege to be in the room as so many people came to celebrate this miraculous little musical. There were a couple of minor tech glitches (I wonder if they’ll even include the “big one”—the projector jumping over most of the staircase scene before getting fixed—in the digital ticket version), but nothing that could even begin to damper the magic of the night.

We all know that spies never die (except for Owen and the Informant, oops). And at times like this concert, I think this special little show with its short run in 2016 will prove to be just as immortal.

[kairithemang0]

My friend mentioned an idea for a reverse soulmates AU where the name of the person you're destined to kill slowly becomes a more visible scar on your arm AND IMAGINE THAT WITH CURTWEN???? He'd obviously never tell Owen he's destined to kill him and I think Curt would believe he could change his fate and he fails. TWICE.

I'm kinda obsessed with this at the moment and might write something for it because the angst would be magnificent.

[abrieenthusiast]

i still cant believe that i have not heard a single person say that while watching saf, they thought owen was the dma (or that he and curt were together)

the closest i ever saw was someone saying "owen HAS to come back, i loved him so much i don't want him to be dead" throughout their reaction.

its so incredibly obvious, but somehow these god forsaken writers made it just the perfect balance of "not clear enough to guess it" and "so obvious on a second watch"

HINTS TO OWEN BEING THE DMA:

DMA does not have an official name

he does not have any backstory or motive for what he does

he has this unknown hatred and history with curt mega

the ONLY British secondary/main characters in SAF: Owen and DMA

a pretty known one but still: "To show you the horror of staying alive" "Doesn't even matter if I killed my best friend"

He has no reason for anything he does until the reveal. why is he with baron? idk. why does he hate curt? idk. what is his plan? idk, kill people maybe?

Owen is bathed in red light during the opening number, while Curt is in blue

only torture scenes are owen and dma

"Boorrrinnng!" "you fucking asked!" always feels like owen breaking the dma facade for a hot second

i cannot stress this enough, WE KNOW NOTHING ABOUT DMA, SO MUCH THAT IT GOES BEYOND HIS IDENTITY. ALL WE SEE IS A SCARY BRITISH GUY WHO DOES THESE THINGS FOR REASONS THAT ARE COMPLETELY UKNOWN .

his reaction to meeting curt in the deal with sergio, immediatly trying to kill him, but giving up after the gun doesnt work, "YOU." "this aint over between you and me!"

this supposed "history" with curt that only he knows or mentions "ive waited so damn long for this" "ive been waiting for this moment for such a long time"

HINTS TO CURTWEN:

choreography in opening number

"Pass me one of the charges, love"

just the "vibe"

'Your Heart, he'll break' "you know you broke my heart"

Instead of a woman dying in bond films, Owen is the one who dies

all the flashbacks to owen

the reveal of curt being gay, of course being awesome on its own, almost being a lead-up to the reveal

jumping off of that, that detail means a lot more once you watch one step ahead and see the choreo and hear the lyrics

"My b-...partner owen"

speaking of which, they're called partners despite being from different agencies from different countries

"I don't like that look in your eyes, yes six minutes" "oh, you love it."

im sure there are more but off the top of my head, its amazing how obvious it is but so surprising in the moment, i love it so much

[amazingmsme]

Omg I’m only 10 followers away from my next milestone! So

[dr-docktor]

ok, i have to know, in a floppy disk curt post you mention an video game, it sounds cool what else is there to know about it (if this question is good/ applicable tell me)

HYPNOSPACE OUTLAW!!!

Legitimately one of my favorite games OF ALL TIME. Criminally underrated

It takes place in this sort of alternative historical timeline. Specifically spanning November, 1999 to January, 2000.

This company called Merchantsoft discovered a way that allows people to access the internet in their sleep via these headbands. The player is hired as a sort of moderator to report any activity that goes against the rules of Hypnospace.

You’re assigned specific cases, things like tracking down a specific piece of malware that’s been passed around, or figuring out who’s behind all the bullying in the teens/kids area.

The puzzle aspect centers around the sort of rabbit-hole nature of the early internet and reading people’s pages for clues on where to go next.

While most of them are usually unimportant to cases, there’s a TON of really interesting characters, fictional pop and consumer culture, to even real life events. I would never be able to do justice how well this game’s universe is built. Each page genuinely feels like it could’ve been a real person that existed at the time. The entire page someone made that includes a timeline of the popular music genres that ALL include a full song as a sort of sample is insane.

The music is INSANE. ITS SO GOOD. The way that the developers and whoever was in charge of the music MASTERED so so many different genres and themes only makes the word feel more real.

Literally every time I boot up the game on stream with my friends we make it a point to play their sort of version of the pokemon rap called The Squisherz Rap. Satellite Orchestra by Barnaby’s Chair is also super fun (also lowkey a Curtwen song but shhhh)

I could spend hours just sitting there and reading through the dozens of pages created for this fictional internet. Keep in mind this game came out in 2019 so there’s zero chance of any cut corners via ai. Which really highlights the fact that ai is just not needed, even for insane projects like this.

I cannot praise this game enough. PLEASE check it out, even if it’s just looking at the soundtrack.

How it relates to Floppy Disk Curt is mainly using a lot of art and aesthetics as a huge source of inspiration.

[natashasbitxh]

I love Spies Are Forever.

It's my fav musical ever and simply my fav thing ever. I can't help but think abt it 24/7 and I think everybody should watch it.

I love the music, the characters, the cast, the story but I think one of the things I appreciate the most is that curtwen is canon.

Like, how crazy is that? The main romance is between two men, one of them being the main characters, and that's not even something the fandom made up. (Although on the subject of the fandom, I adore literally everything created for it. I eat up everybody's creations cause ur all so fucking AMAZING)

And I really do appreciate that the Tin Can Brothers did that; they didn't have to, nobody forced them to do it.

They just did it. And Lord did they do it well.

They leave little hints for you to pick up on if your really looking for them, but they allow you to fully form ur own opinion on Curt (and Owen ig) before revealing he's gay. I adore how they trick you a little bit and follow the bond stereotype with his love interests before flipping it on its head.

Before it was revealed Curt was gay, I kinda just accepted him ending up with Tatiana. I didn't question it, I just kinda went along with it.

But I like that 'Doing This' just makes you go, Why? Why are they a good couple? They barely know each other and there's nothing particularly grabbing abt a romantic relationship between them, it's simply because that's the "norm", like the song says: "I'm a girl", "I'm a guy", "It's meant to be because we're both spies." Honestly, as a lesbian I'm almost disappointed in myself that I gave into it so easily and I think that it says a lot about me personally.

I also really appreciate the cast, specifically Mary Kate and Joey, but even more specifically Curt (as in the actor)

(This paragraph refers to the actor) Curt played his character amazingly. I don't exactly know what Curt's sexual orientation is and that's none of our business, but regardless I really appreciate that he didn't lean into stereotypes. His character is so much more complex than just simply being gay. The character cares for his family, friends and job, but he also has his flaws yet very easily none of these flaws have anything to do with his sexuality. I just really appreciate this.

And finally Curtwen. What a beautiful, gut wrenching, horrible relationship. There's so much of their relationship there, we don't even need Owen to be there for the whole musical for us to know how deep this relationship was. Things such as "spy again", the hallucinations and Curt's heart to heart with Tatiana, we're able to fully understand that Curt was down BAD. Owen's death shattered him and completely changed him as a person, not to mention his betrayal hurt him even more; up until the very end Curt is still trying to get Owen back, trying to convince him to join his side again.

This post has become WAY too long but to quickly summarise their interactions in Act 1 Part 1, was that gay or what? The hug? The dance? THE LINGERING LOOKS? I cannot make this shit up.

But basically, Tin Can Brothers and EVERYBODY involved with Spies, I adore you and appreciate you all so much ❤️❤️

[fruitee-goose]

Hi!! About ME! 🍍🪿

Hello!!!! Im Tilly!! This is my tk blog and im very excited to meet you.

Im very new with this so bear with me. Ill try my best to make the blog look alright 👍

📜 RULES:

No NSFW please, it makes me uncomfy (mentioning/joking is fine in stories, but overall i dont like smut)

Please be respectful of all others! This is an open and welcome community <3

Asks about headcanons, fics/prompts, characters from fandoms i like are always welcome! (Especially if tk related hehehe-)

✍️ Works in Progress!

Owen finds out Curt's weakness (current)

Curt wants to see if he can get revenge ^ (planned)

Curtwen breakroom "fight" (planned)

Wilbur Cross accidentally teaches the LiB abt 'the human weakness' that isnt capitalism (idea)

Lords in Black tickle fight (idea)

Curt needs to wake Owen up! (idea)

🏷 TAGS

#tillyfic - i wrote this!

#not my fic - someone else wrote this one

#asks - someone said somethin here on m'blog !!

#tilly asked - i asked somethin somewhere else

#ticklish!NAME - they get tickled at least once in this post

#tickle hcs - tickle headcanons

#FANDOM tickle fic/hcs - a fic or hcs of the listed fandom

💈 Masterpost

Empty rn... 😬

(And thats all i have for now)

[smytherines]

Do you have any curtwen headcanons that you've never gotten the chance to post for whatever reason?

I think I've only mentioned this one briefly once or twice, so:

Remember the casino scene where Curt pulls a silver lighter out of his pocket to try to light Tatiana's cigarette? To me, that is Owen's lighter. The last time he was in Curt's apartment, maybe a few months before the fall, he left his lighter and half a pack of cigarettes on Curt's bedside table. And Curt didn't move them in all that time. When he's home (which isn't often) he falls asleep looking at the half-smoked cigarette still dangling out of the ashtray. And he smiles. And he thinks "Owen will finish it next time he's here."

Once Curt gets home, after he has lost everything, he walks into his bedroom and collapses on the bed, and he stares at those cigarettes. And he realizes that Owen will never be in his home or his bed or his life ever again, and it's his fault.

He tries to smoke one of the cigarettes and he can't stop coughing, but the smell reminds him of Owen, and he doesn't care how much it hurts he just wants to be reminded of Owen.

Eventually he puts the cigarettes away in a drawer. But he keeps the lighter on him. He flicks the lid open and shut as a stim. The noise and repetitive movement and the memory of Owen grounds him when he starts to have flashbacks and panic attacks. He flicks the lid open and shut and some part of him feels like Owen is there, helping him through it.

When he goes back to spying, he brings the lighter. When he has a flashback in that casino in Monte Carlo, he immediately feels for Owen's lighter in his pocket, and it helps his heart rate return to normal. When he goes to light Tatiana's cigarette it almost feels as if Owen is there on this mission with him.

And after Curt kills Owen again, he can't look at his face. He can't stand the see the bullet between his eyes. He reaches into Owen's inner right jacket pocket and fishes out a pack of cigarettes- because of course even nearly dying wouldn't have convinced him to quit. He pulls Owen's lighter out of what used to be Owen's leather jacket (before Curt claimed it and Owen sighed and said it looked better on him anyways) and he lights a cigarette, and the full force of four years of grief burns his lungs until he is gasping and sobbing and rubbing his thumb over a patch of exposed skin near Owen's ankle until Curt can feel that his body is finally cold.

Shit. I guess I am having one of those nights. Sorry, anon. Hopefully that answered your question?

[starpirateee]

curtwen prompt!! you brought it up in the last curtwen fever prompt so now I’d actually love to see reluctant post-banana sick fic care (going either way, but owen having to take care of the man he thinks he hates lives a little rent free in my head) if you’d want to write that :)

Funny you should mention that, actually 👀 because I literally got asked this not half an hour later:

Same brain, huh? At this point, it's too much of a coincidence not to write, so the two of you can have your way with this reluctant caretaking

"Come on, Curt, we don't have the time to stay here!" Tatiana made sure to keep her tone a mix of insistent and well meaning. It was her fault that Curt had ended up in this mess. Since finding out that he was arriving in Monte Carlo, the Deadliest Man had requested that they make things a little interesting, that they should manage to get agent Mega alone for even a moment.

Now, Curt was at a level rather closer to death than she would've hoped, and she was glad that she'd arrived now instead of a minute later, otherwise she was sure that she'd have found him in a much worse state.

Curt stumbled to his feet, shooting a glare over his shoulder that spoke of all the betrayal he felt. Near enough all the energy he had left was being used on trying to keep himself upright, but he could always spare a little on making sure she knew how offended he was that she'd essentially left him to die.

"What, you expect me to trust you, after that?" He snapped, glancing back towards the Deadliest Man, who was still trying to recover from that blow to the head he'd been dealt.

"I don't care if you do or not, we have to go!"

She reached out. Instinct took over, and Curt reached out too. When her hand clasped around his forearm, his breath caught in his throat. There was a light set of footsteps across the room that he was absolutely sure that nobody else would hear. Every instinct within was telling him not to look, this wasn't the time for-

"Owen..?"

Despite everything, he looked up anyway, across the room, straight into the colourless, blank stare of Owen, who was leaning against the wall by the door. The bastard even had the audacity to lift a hand and wave, like he was fully aware that Curt couldn't take his eyes off him. This was the Owen that resided in his head. He had been at once familiar and entirely unwelcome, like finding out that a stowaway on board a vessel was actually your closest friend, and having to choose between selling them out or leaving them to a potentially worse fate by not saying a word. Part of him really didn't want to see Owen there at all, he was nothing more than a reminder of his fate, and what he could've done better.

The other part of him knew that his mind was just making up an image of Owen that was so unfailingly unscathed, because he simply couldn't handle the idea of him being marred in any way. It hurt to try and imagine what kind of injuries he must have accrued during the fall. During the explosion. During the moments before he took his final breath…

He was so caught up in the moment that he barely registered Tatiana drop her arm and start running out of the door, under the impression that he was hot on her heels. The more space they put between themselves and the likes of the Deadliest Man, the less likely they were to be traced, she knew that. So when she'd told Curt to get going, she'd really meant it.

But that did mean that she missed the Deadliest Man— missed Agent Owen Carvour— take a gun from the holster at his side and offload, striking Curt just above the hip. She missed Curt bite down a cry of pain, whirling around just in time to see the assassin rising to his feet. And the way that Curt looked down on himself to examine the wound. And the fact that his fingertips came back bloody, the way his eyes went wide, and the way he hit the floor within moments of registering the dark red substance that coated his hand.

Tatiana may have missed that, but Owen didn't.

Curt collapsed, and it took a long moment before he worked out the reason why. Of course. That bastard was terrified of the sight of his own blood. Of all the things for a man to be afraid of…

Of course, that wasn't the only injury he'd managed to sustain. The last few minutes had been a rather interesting ride, and Tatiana had come dangerously close to not finding Curt Mega alive at all. If he had his own way, he would've made sure he kept that arrogant son of a bitch alive for months, right on the delicate cusp between being alive and being dead. To watch him suffer, to see him experience something even close to the level of pain he himself had endured over those few painful months… Those months he had spent stupidly wishing Curt would come back for him, where he would hold himself strong, forcing himself to remember there was something on the other side worth surviving for… It hurt like hell, and he wasn't going to pretend to ignore any of the scars it had given him. He would never be the same, so why should Curt be?

All the same, whether he was able to get his own way or not, the truth of the matter lay in the here and now. Curt— supposedly the best spy this side of the Atlantic— had just passed out on first sight of his own blood. And Tatiana was gone. Of course, it was only a matter of time before she realised Curt wasn't actually behind her— even in the bustle of the casino hotel. Then, she'd make her return, no doubt. Until then, though, Owen had a bleeding Curt on the ground, and a certain idea in his head that he would rather not see him dead, actually. Maybe some other time he could get into the making him beg for death part… He deserved as much.

He sighed deeply. "God, Mega, you really need to work on that fuckin' issue of yours…" He muttered stiffly as he crouched and began rifling through the bag under the bed for his own supplies. Those kind of things were always needed in an emergency, sure, but he didn't expect this emergency to involve the patching up of the man he hated with such a fiery passion…

That was a matter for another moment. Curt couldn't work on his issues, because he wasn't conscious. He couldn't call him out for caring even slightly, because he wasn't conscious. He couldn't even figure out that the man behind the mask— the one that had been promptly removed and discarded on the bed— was the man he'd been searching for, because he wasn't conscious.

And that was the issue that needed dealing with right now.

Owen reminded himself that he couldn't care less what happened to Curt, so long as it happened by his hand. And by his hand, this had happened, so there was always that. As he pulled Curt's tuxedo jacket from his shoulders enough to be able to lift his shirt and start working on the bullet wound now causing blossoms of red against the fabric, he wondered to himself just what was making him do this. He didn't care. Especially not about Curt. He'd been told one too many times that he was cold, and callous, and all of those things they wanted a perfect operative-slash-weapon to be. If all of that was true, then there was no way that he could possibly have any room left for caring about Curt.

But, on the other hand, four years was a long time to be missing what was essentially a piece of himself.

And now here he was. Right there, at his disposal. Missing a tooth, clearly missing some brain matter, and missing a fair bit of blood that just… Would not stop coming.

The bullet hadn't even lodged in, it was a surface wound at best. And yet, Curt bled and bled and bled. Something wasn't entirely right here…

Owen decided not to think about that. He applied the first layer of gauze, and started to wrap the bandage around Curt's midriff. Periodically, he kept looking up at the door, to make sure he wasn't going to be spotted or caught in this position. He imagined it looked rather strange— a man with a knife at one side of his belt and a machete at the other, kneeling by the side of another and applying layers of bandages to a bullet wound. By all accounts, it didn't make sense, and thinking about it brought the slightest of smiles to his face.

"Look at you…" He hummed. Filling the silence was the best bet here, otherwise he'd start thinking about the few times he could remember doing this before… The moments he'd spent in the dead of night on the floor of some shitty motel room, making sure Curt stayed alive. And he really didn't want to think about that. The tenderly spoken words, the way their hands brushed against one another, the meaningless teasing about how he should've been more careful…

God, he missed the old times.

"… You're an absolute mess, Curt. It's absolutely fine for you to play the damsel in distress, though, isn't it? When you need saving, look at how there's always someone there to pick up your slack, and look how often it has to be me… Where the hell were you when I needed you, though?" He asked quietly, shaking his head. He wasn't so deterred by the sight of blood at his fingertips, but ironically, it had disturbed some inner part of him for exactly the same reason that it had disturbed Curt.

Because… Well, because it was Curt's.

And there was some inner part of him— that same man he'd spent the last four years trying to push down within himself— that was concerned. Concerned about the fact that the blood wouldn't stop. Concerned about what would've happened if he wasn't stopped. He didn't care about the aching in his own head left over from the blunt end of the pistol… That didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. Apparently, what really mattered was this stupid, selfish— loving, grounding, gorgeous— American agent spreading blood all over the hardwood floors.

What would've happened if he wasn't stopped? Would he have actually dared to go so far as to kill Mega? Would he have gone that far, here in this hotel room, only to pack his bag and leave immediately after like he didn't just leave the body of his partner in the room?

Curt is not your partner. Not anymore.

He sighed to himself. "Where were you when I was calling your name with all the energy I had left?" His hand pressed down against the wound, just above the primary source of pain. He reached for another layer of bandages.

"Where were you when I was bleeding out on the floor of a cell, sparing a thought to the last hope I had that you might come back?" He watched the blossom of red seep in through the bandages and bit his lip, letting his apprehension show for a fraction of a second. He had no right to be nervous right now. He had every right to be pissed.

"Where were you when your shadow sat at the other side of the room, huh? All the time I spent wishing that was really you, even if you'd come to do nothing but observe while I made sure I lived to see tomorrow… You weren't there. You never were. This…" This life he had been given. This life he knew he should be grateful for, because at the end of the day, it wasn't his to have and never was…This had all come from that fall, the last time he trusted Curt to have his back. "This is your fault."

And yet, he kept winding bandages around his waist, administering all of the care that he knew he could muster, especially towards Curt. On one hand, this was his fault. He had walked away when Owen needed him the most, and yet… He didn't really have a choice, did he? There was a good chance that he would've died as well…

But he'd never come back. He'd never bothered to check whether Owen was alive. Because he would've found nothing, and he would've known something was wrong, because nobody's body just disappeared…

The only time Owen stopped working was the brief moment he reached up to scrub a furious tear from his eye, as if Curt deserved the satisfaction of knowing that he was close to breaking over just the thought of him. He left in his wake a smear of red that he didn't think twice about. Like he hadn't felt the chill of blood against his face before… As if he'd never had to wonder if a particularly bad round would leave a stain to his cheeks.

He'd been lucky so far, but it was only a matter of time, he supposed.

"Y'know, this isn't so fun when you're not around to listen…" He whispered, leaning in close. Another check of the door. Another show that nobody was there waiting for him. Another sigh. "I never wanted to kill you, Curt, you should know that. And I know, that's absolutely nothing when it comes down to it, but I digress…"

He made a final check to ensure that the bandage was tight enough, that it would hold if and when Curt got on his feet again, then stood up, towering over the unconscious form of the man who used to hold the title of partner… Of lover.

"I guess you'll never know what really happened here tonight. And I know you can hear me, but I know you're just like me. You always have been. You've been hearing me for the last four years…" A dry, humourless chuckle left him, the only barrier against the floodgates opening. "And that's someone else's song, I'm afraid… This? This is one of those. Think of it as someone else's song, it'll make things a lot easier when I do what I have to do… For both of us, I think."

When Tatiana found Curt, he was barely conscious, trying to button up the shirt that someone had left wide open, and trying to make himself look in the least bit presentable. He had pretty much stopped bleeding, but it didn't take a genius to notice that someone had bothered to patch him up with a few layers of fresh bandage. He could feel it against his skin, taut and securing. A professional's job— or at least, someone who really knew what they were doing.

His memory held onto the ghost of a voice. Chiding him. Telling him that it was all his fault. Telling him that he wasn't there. That voice had a name, and that name belonged to a ghost. He knew it. The ghost knew it too, it seemed.

But there was no trace of him.

[szollibisz]

i recently imagined Owen (without his knowledge) being immortal a la Old Guard/Jack Harkness etc. how do you think Everything that's Wrong with him would be affected once he wakes after having been shot in the head by Curt? like sure, realising that Curt's love for him wasn't enough for Curt to stay or look for him is one thing. but him realising that Curt is fully capable of killing him while he thought himself the Joker to Curt's Batman, not to mention his eternal hesitation to kill Curt... that would destroy him on an entirely new level, i think.

oh absolutely, there's one thing in the world that could make him worse and it's that. it would be unrecoverable

i think he'd be completely just like. broken for a while trying to process everything, and then he'd go back to his normal regular misery x100

I imagine him as a character who looks at himself more like a means to an end than a person. That's why spying and then chimera were so important to him. His only purpose is to work for a greater goal, because he can and others can't (in both like a god complex and a dog way. if that makes sense) so in my interpretation of his character and curtwen the breaking of that pattern is what's so fascinating. Instead of having a greater goal for owen to completely dedicate his life to, it's suddenly a person.

He developed this deep, all-consuming love for curt, and honestly believed curt felt at least similar. When in reality curt was codependent on owen yes, but he generally felt a normal human amount of love, that is again, relatively normal. (Which is what owen realized after the fall.) Still, this was the time in his life when owen felt the most human. People aren't like long term goals such as "saving the world" they constantly give back in small ways, and ground you, and after all we are social creatures who need connection. But unlike ambitions, people can disappoint you in completely new ways every day.

So after the fall, owen's only option was to go back to normal. Find his ambition and give himself over to the greater goal. But in all that time he couldn't quite get rid of curt, or his remaining feelings for him whether that's hate or love. So owen, after finally feeling happy and like his feelings were reciprocated by someone for the first time, got everything taken away from him and had to rebuild from scratch. cue being way more miserable than in the pre-curt era.

This is probably the cycle that would repeat again. Owen thinks curt loves him more than he actually does -> owen is let down by curt -> owen stops looking for happiness altogether and goes back to being a tool for a better future -> miserable because he gave up on happiness

Like obviously if we mean immortal immortal, that's probably something that owen would thrive in, in the long run. i'm talking world's most productive vampire. knows all languages, connections everywhere, definitely off the hinges. But for the time after curt shoots him yeah. probably in a mood where he kills people for breathing too loud, but internally (and sometimes externally) cries himself to sleep every night

ok jesus this was so long i'm sorry. i just have a lot of thought about this guy