FemslashHistorian: Femslash Fic History & Recs

Agatha adjusted the jacket of her suit, grabbing the handle of her suitcase and pulling it behind her as she entered the TSA area for crewmembers.

She was piloting the last United flight to LA from New York. She couldn’t wait to get out of this city. She was fucking cold and could count on both hands the number of days since she had last seen the sun.

Staying in New York hadn’t been her plan but her now ex had insisted. Wanda had been living in New York for the past 6 months. Determined to make her mark at the renowned Calderu & Co. Law firm, she had taken the job without consulting Agatha. A fact that had led to majority of their recent arguments and ultimately the end of their relationship.

Agatha was busy, sure. She was a commercial airline pilot, her job literally consisted of her travelling for most of the week. Wanda had known this about her when they started dating.

Agatha had already been working at United for 2 years at that point, now 5 years later she had no plans of leaving. She wanted a family, sure, but she wasn’t ready to give up her career for it. She was almost certain she could do both.

Wanda however, seemed to have very little interest in a family, and as of late, in making time for Agatha in general. She spent all of her time at work, and when she wasn’t she was with her colleagues. Surely doing whatever 20 somethings do to let loose after a stressful week.

Agatha didn’t fault her for it, not entirely at least. It was hard being a woman in a male dominated field. The expectations were always higher, the performance needed to be flawless to stand out in the sea of mediocre white men. Agatha knew the feeling all too well.

She understood, but she needed more. She needed stability and commitment. She needed a partner.

So after a month of taking care of Wanda post happy hour drinks and arguing endlessly about the right time to have a family she had ended things. Told Wanda to enjoy herself. She was sure she would get everything she had ever wanted, she just knew she wasn’t part of that equation anymore.

Wanda hadn’t put up much of a fight so Agatha was happy to take the first flight out. This had unfortunately meant a red eye to get her back to LA, but like she said, she had to get the fuck out of this city.

TSA was smooth, she could tell the agents were tired, on the verge of switching shifts. Once she was through she made her way to the lounge.

The United lounge was quiet, it was shortly after 9:00pm and her flight wasn’t set to board until 11:30.

She made her way into the bathroom looking at herself in the mirror for the first time all day. Her normally chaotic curls were tamed in a tight low bun, the white streak at the front of her hair more prominent slicked back. She was only 38 but her greys had been peaking through since her mid 20s. Something she used to despise but had grown to love so she had given up on hiding it.

Her white button up was impeccably pressed and her tie sat tight around her neck. The two buttons to her suit jacket were open showing the silver buckle of her belt. She flicked an invisible piece of flint off her shoulder leaning down to wash her hands in the sink.

She heard a murmur of soft voices entering the bathroom behind her. Likely flight attendants but she didn’t bother looking up to see. she wasn’t exactly in a talking mood, ending a 5 year relationship on a random Thursday will do that to you.

She heard heels clicking in the distance, the women behind her finding empty stalls. She rolled her shoulders trying to loosen the muscles, when suddenly she heard the click of heels directly behind her.

She looked up into the mirror jolting slightly at the woman behind her.

“Sorry” she murmured, amber eyes locking on Agatha’s in the mirror. “I was just going to ask if you are our pilot for tonight?” A soft smile spread across her face. She had raven hair that was pinned up into a neat ponytail, the collar of her button down framing her sharp collarbones. The skirt of her uniform hugged her body so tightly Agatha had to actively stop her eyes from wandering.

Agatha paused, taking the younger woman in. “I am” she said matter of factly, “and you are?”

“I’m Rio,” she said, “part of your cabin crew.” She finished enthusiastically.

Who had this much energy for a red eye? Agatha realized she had been clenching her jaw and slowly released the pressure. Rio seemed to notice immediately.

“You seem tense,” she commented, “everything okay captain?”

“More than.” Agatha responded quickly.

“Shame, I was going to offer to de-stress you.” Rio responded with a sultry grin.

Agatha’s eyes widened at the insinuation, she was still racking her brain for a response when Rio turned on her heel and walked towards the bathroom stalls.

Agatha looked back in the mirror, her reflection betraying how much the interaction had flustered her. Her cheeks were flushed, lips parted slightly like she had been about to say something.

She had to get the fuck out of here. She was in no place to be flirting with anyone, let alone a crew member that she was about to spend the next 6 hours with. She dried her hands quickly, grabbing her luggage and sprinting out of the lounge.

An hour later it was time for her to board the plane. She stashed her luggage in its usual closet in the cockpit, taking her jacket off and hanging it on the back of the door. She had always preferred flying bare.

She could hear the sounds of the crew boarding, could hear a voice through the cockpit door that sounded suspiciously close to Rio’s.

She shook her head trying to bring her mind back to the here and now. Her copilot was settling in across from her, a young man named William who was going to split the fly time with her.

He looked barely 25 but he seemed eager to be there, which was more than she could say for herself.

She nodded at him as she moved to leave the cockpit and greet the passengers as they boarded. She found this was always a good way to set people’s mind at ease, seeing a confident captain at the helm made all the difference.

She stepped out into the jetway directly into a flurry of long black hair, Rio who had been bent over tossing out a passenger's garbage stood up and backed directly into Agatha, her ponytail swinging over her shoulder.

She let out a harsh breath, turning to see who was behind her. Her eyebrows were drawn apologetically but as soon as she realized it was Agatha they softened.

“Captain” she nearly whispered, “sorry I didn’t see you there.” Her tongue poked the inside of her cheek like she wanted to say more but was holding herself back.

Agatha’s hand absentmindedly brushed down the back of Rio’s uniform, steadying her.

“No problem” she assured.

Rio gave her a quick nod, a hint of a smirk at the corners of her lips.

She went about greeting passengers as she usually would, only mildly distracted by the feeling of Rio’s eyes on her.

She had to admit the attention was nice. Although her and Wanda had just ended, things had been bad for a while. Sure they had a quick fuck every now and then but it felt fueled by anger and unspoken words. Wanda hadn’t looked at her like that in a long time.

As the last passenger boarded Rio swept past her to close the overheads, and if Agatha’s eyes trailed after her taking in the way her forearms flexed as she closed each one that would be her little secret.

Rio must have felt her staring because she turned at the end of the business class aisle to throw a wink over her shoulder before moving into economy to finish the job.

The action snapped Agatha back to reality. She had a job to do, she shouldn’t be ogling a flight attendant who was at least 10 years her junior.

She moved back into the cockpit to get ready to navigate the plane to the runway through the chaotic layout of JFK. She just had to focus on takeoff and not the sound of Rio’s laugh ringing out on the other side of the door. That’s all. It would be fine.

She cleared her throat turning to William, “ready kid?”

He shot her a dazzling smile, brown eyes glowing behind a thin layer of black eyeliner. “Ready as ever” he responded.

She nodded, directing all of her focus on takeoff. In no time they were at cruising altitude and Agatha was switching on autopilot. She stretched out her fingers that had been white knuckling the yoke through the turbulence on their way up. Pressing her short nails into the opposite palm to massage out the tension.

There was a soft knock on the door and Rio’s muffled voice behind the door “Captain?”

“Come in” Agatha encouraged, still massaging her hands. The door to the cockpit swung open and Rio stepped inside.

Her eyes skimmed from Agatha’s face to her hands, stalling there. Her tongue darted out to lick her bottom lip as she watched Agatha’s thumb work over the callused skin of her palm.

Agatha shifted uncomfortably in her seat under the heat of Rio’s gaze. She cleared her throat, drawing Rio’s attention back to her face.

The haze seemed to clear and Rio shook her head gently, “sorry to interrupt, we are starting food service, can I get you guys anything.” She glanced between Agatha and William.

“Oh do you guys have any of those chocolate chip cookies?” William chirped.

Agatha resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “I’ll just have a coffee,” she started, “but I can make it myself, we good here William?”

William nodded eagerly, clearly excited to be in the cockpit by himself.

Agatha followed Rio out of the cockpit closing the door behind her. She made her way to the coffee machine putting in a pod to brew.

“Choppy takeoff huh captain?” Rio said innocently from behind her.

Agatha startled at her proximity slowly turning to face the younger woman. “No need for formality, you can call me Agatha, and it was nothing I couldn’t handle.” Her tone held a challenge she was curious if Rio would rise up to.

“Well where is the fun in that?” Rio said with a grin, “I’ll bet you can handle a lot Agatha” she murmured.

Okay maybe Agatha hadn’t thought that one through. She just really hadn’t expected her name to sound so sinful on Rio’s lips.

She could feel the blush rising on her cheeks. She hadn’t had someone outright flirt with her in a long time. Her friends liked to describe her using words like “uptight” and “unapproachable” and “mean dyke”, if you asked Jen in specific.

So what if she was a little bit of all of those things. It got her to where she was now. She certainly wouldn’t be wasting her time on someone who couldn’t deal with it.

“Honey?” She heard Rio’s voice break through her racing thoughts with the term of endearment. Who did this woman think she was?

She pulled at her collar, it suddenly felt too tight, the air in the plane too hot. Unsure how to respond she turned to look at Rio who was currently holding a small packet of honey up in offering.

Agatha let out a breath of a laugh at her mistake. She shook her head lightly turning to face Rio completely.

“Are you trying to get under my skin?” Agatha asked, mildly annoyed. She really wasn’t in the mood for games tonight.

“No,” Rio spoke slowly, her voice dropping an octave. “Just trying to get into your pants”.

Her eyes burned a trail down Agatha’s body as her gaze travelled across her chest, past her belt buckle down to her loafers. She hummed in appreciation before her eyes snapped back up to meet Agatha’s.

Well at least it wasn’t all in her head. Every logical cell in her brain was telling her to shut this down. Warning bells going off as Rio reached past Agatha for the milk, nails dragging across her forearm as she did.

Agatha fought back a shiver at the touch. She contemplated for a moment.

Rio was hot, like unbelievably, undeniably, mouth wateringly hot. She was into Agatha, clearly. And Agatha, well, Agatha was single, and she hadn’t let herself truly enjoy something in a long time.

Fuck it. She was going for it.