#frankate

How dare you. i have been waiting for years to be asked about frankate (also i feel the need to clarify that this is very specifically Nazar-fic-Kate)

What was their first impression of each other?

“this fucking idiot” basically. they meet when Matt is chained to the roof and Kate is like “pls stop terrorizing my bf” and frank is like “your bf is a moron”

What is their ship name?

Frankate...frankkate? anything that’s a chess pun (bishop...castle...get it...)

in my WIPs they’re spooks and snipers

Describe their relationship dynamic.

Kate: FRANK NO

Frank: FRANK YES

it’s honestly a lot of philosophical discussions about killing people, Frank calling Kate out on her bullshit, and Kate acting as an impulse check. One of the BIG THINGS with this relationship is Kate realizing that Frank can and will kill someone if she asks him to, no questions asked, and that is both terrifying and a turn on. The fact that Frank trusts her moral compass so completely--he realizes that he’s a little fucked up when it comes to that, so he will look to her for the thumbs up/thumbs down kind of thing. 

like. to the point Kate has to kick Frank out of a fancy Bishop party because if he stays she knows she’ll ask him to kill her dad and he WILL.

What was their relationship like before they got together?

once they got done bitching at each other over Daredevil (and Kate yelled at him a LOT) they worked pretty well together? Kate helped Frank figure out the drug smuggling thing (turns out Derek Bishop was involved with that). They would get each other coffee and check in with each other’s mental health. Frank is very soft with her, in a lot of ways. But also not, they did beat each other up at least once and Frank shot her very much on purpose but they always were fond of each other. 

once they meet back up after Matt ~dies~ they’re....really, really good for each other. Kate feels like she’s able to be honest with Frank in a way she can’t be with anyone else, because what the hell could she say that would scandalize Frank? She doesn’t need to step lightly around him because Frank’s never stepped lightly in his life. Kate feeling like she has more leeway to be brutally honest around Frank means he feels freer to be honest around her, and she’s seen some shit so he respects her in a way he doesn’t respect a lot of people. 

Kate gets to be angry around Frank in a way she can’t with anyone else, except maybe Clint, and that’s really important.

They both like coffee and dogs, i mean, what more do you need

How would they describe each other?

Kate: That asshole

Frank: fuckin’ fed

What do they love about each other?

absolutely nothing. they barely even know each other! what are you talking about?? go away.

they love how fighty the other is, even if it drives them crazy. the inability to leave well enough alone, the willingness to do stupid stuff together.

What do they have in common?

WEAPONS. Kate doesn’t use guns professionally but she does love going to a range every now and then. Kate knows bows and grenade launchers and long range rifles, but doesn’t care for handguns. so there’s a lot of very sexually charged shooting dates where Kate lets Frank put his hands on her and around her to correct her grip, and he knows she’s just letting him, for the most part, but they both like it. she teaches him how to use a bow, and he’s terrible. it doesn’t help that Kate smells really good and she’s very very close and he’s never going to need to know how to shoot a recurve, so he doesn’t feel bad about not paying attention. Kate has general gun knowledge so he gets super obscure stuff to teach her how to shoot. like a musket, or the kind of rifle you’d take down a hippo with, something with a shitton of recoil so he can brace her against him. He’s not a proud man, okay, he’ll take his excuses to hold Kate close in public wherever he can

Frank likes dressing Kate up in body armor and Kate likes dressing Frank up in sweaters and suits. 

Also dogs. The have Lucky, and the dog Frank rescues. Kate names him something terrible. Like Charm (lucky and charm, get it?) or (apple) Jack (lucky charms and apple jacks) or Oberon

What are some differences between them?

Frank is very willing to kill. Kate is not. Frank is very mission-oriented--he’s a soldier, he gets a job, he does it. Kate’s been a leader, she’s worked with bureaucracy, she thinks about the optics of situations (yes it makes sense to have a shootout on the boardwalk but perhaps we could go to a less family-friendly location?)

What made them realize they were in love?

almost losing each other--or thinking they were almost losing each other. also, the day Sarah Lieberman kisses Frank. That’s when Frank has the realization of “okay, the kissing, that’s fine, but there’s actually someone specific I’d like to do this with” and with Kate it was more like “ (: i’m so happy ((: frank has found some happiness. i am not jealous of him kissing someone else (((: that would be silly”

What are their love languages?

so much physical affection. so much wound bandaging. Frank bringing Kate coffee to work or food to a stakeout. Beating up muggers together. Cooking together, they’re so disgustingly domestic. cuddling. all the time cuddling. hands in back pockets, pinkies linked, Frank just COCOONS her in bed (which is not to say Kate is always the little spoon. Frank loves being little spoon every now and then) they both get very octopus-limbed with each other. “if i’m plastered to you you can’t leave without me” kind of thing. they’re lowkey possessive

Do they get married? Who proposes and how?

Frank proposes, but getting to that point is a team effort, yanno? They're out in LA and Kate's in the kitchen stock still because she's living??? With Frank castle??? And kind of has been for a WHILE? And Frank's wrestling with Lucky and Kate suddenly realizes she loves him so much and there's like pasta boiling on the stove and its domestic and unexciting and neither of them are bleeding and Kate sort of dazedly says “hey Frank, would you be interested in getting married someday?”

and Frank doesn’t answer, just rummages around in one of his bags, pulls out a small box that he tosses to her. Inside is a ring. “took you long enough,” he says

What would happen if they never met?

they’re both very sad and depressed. i feel like being with Kate gives Frank more moral nuance and being with Frank makes Kate rawer, in a way. So without each other, they are really closed off emotionally. Kind of frozen.

Who dies first? How does the other one react?

Woooof ok Frank probably dies first and Kate is fucking FURIOUS about it. It's not unexpected because hes the punisher for god's sake, and he's older than her by almost a decade but still

It could happen, though, that Kate dies first, sudden and unexpected. And Frank loses. His. Shit. Idk who kills her, Fisk or Masque or Russo or all three, but you can bet your ass Frank gets his bloody revenge. And he doesn't technically kill himself, but he's reckless and gets shot a lot and bleeds out on Kate's grave. Yeah.

Are there any love rivals?

BILLY RUSSO, Totes makes a move on Kate, and also he’s in love with Frank so there’s that. 

Matt isn’t really a rival? In a perfect world they’re ot3 but do not ask me how we get from Matt pretending to be dead to a happy healthy polyamorous relationship, i don’t know

Describe your favorite moment of that ship!

the pining! the mutual yearning! and both of them are like “this is not a good time for a relationship” and then the dumb jealousy! Frank is jealous of Billy Russo, who is trying to get Kate to work for him, and Kate is jealous of Micro’s wife, Sarah, when she kisses Frank, the YEARNING

What do other characters think about this relationship?

“What. the hap. is fuckening”

Micro gets it, he thinks they’re idiots and adorable af, you know, for people who are such deadly shots, but most of the people on Kate’s side of the equation just don’t get it or think Frank’s a rebound. America and Cassie are the first ones to realize he’s sticking around.

Karen’s not to sure about them, but she likes them both and thinks they’re good for each other. 

Curtis think they’re both morons (fond) but in different ways so they balance out.

Most people on Frank’s side of the equation get it. People on Kate’s side are like “you went from self-castigating catholic lawyer to vengeance-fueled murder machine, are you ok?” 

Describe or write a really fluffy scene!

ohhhh ok so this is. probably one of my favorite scenes ever. not because it’s particularly well-written, but because i like the idea behind it

Kate has her legs wrapped around Frank, her arms draped over his shoulders as they watch the sun set over the ocean. He is very much a person to drape oneself over.

"Frank," she says, a touch of reverence in her voice as the light catches something. "Frank."

"What?"

"You've got grey hair."

"The fuck? Seriously, Spook, you gotta point that out when we're doing the romantic thing?"

Kate wraps her hands around his skull, tipping it this way and that. It's hard to tell when he has it this short but—yeah. It's there. Kate swallows down an unexpected lump in her throat as Frank continues to bitch until she drapes herself more over his shoulder and turns his head so she can shut him up with a kiss.

Kisses.

A lot of kisses, actually.

"Jesus," he pulls back after a minute, the pad of his thumb rough on her cheek as he swipes at the moisture under her eyes. "You cryin' over some grey hairs?"

"I didn't think you'd stick around long enough for me to see them," she admits.

"Not goin' anywhere, Spook. You're stuck with me."

He's not getting it. Kate presses her forehead against his, her fingers finding the spot where a bullet entered his head and changed his life. "Frank, I didn't think you'd be alive long enough to get them."

Describe or write a really angsty scene!

how about matt comes back aftermath

“You’re not going to make me choose?” Kate’s voice slips out of neutral, into something like hope. Not the kind of thing she’d ever thought Frank would be suggesting, but--

“I’m not gonna make you choose, no.” He smiles at her, a wrong kind of smile, and turns slowly, heading towards the door. His hand is on the knob before her brain processes this enough to send words to her mouth.

“Where—what are you doing, Frank?”

He doesn’t face her. “I’m leaving.”

“You’re—leaving.” The words feel strange, they sour in her mouth and panic wraps brittle fingers around her throat, choking her. “Why—are you leaving?”

“I just said, Spook. Not gonna make you pick.”

Realization and rage burn through her, bright and quick. “So you’re leaving? You’re not making me choose because you’re doing the choosing for me?”

“That’s what you want.”

“No it’s not! Stop making decisions for me! I don’t—I don’t know what I want, yeah, but I know what I don’t want!”

“You told me you still love him. Best thing is for me to go.” He says it with no inflection, as if he wasn’t ripping Kate’s heart out and his too.

“No, I don’t want you to leave! You leaving is the opposite of what I want because what I want--” her voice breaks. “Is for you to stay. I don’t know what to do, but I don’t want you to leave, Frank. I love him, but he left me. He hurt me. And I love you, too. And I like you, which is more important, sometimes, and you helped me when I couldn’t find myself, you just—you let me be, you let me be angry and ugly and awful and you didn’t make me apologize for it or feel sorry about it, or guilty. And I owe you for that—that’s not why I want you to stay, but if you do stay because of it—god, that’s bad, right?” She takes a shaky breath. “Frank. Please stay. I want you to stay.”

Talk about a headcanon you’ve never talked about before.

Frank poses as Kate’s bodyguard when she’s Kate Bishop, heiress who doesn’t know self defense. They were at a party and Kate’s sister Susan was like “huh, you look a lot like mass murderer frank castle, there, pal.”

and of course frank says no he’s not he gets that a lot, and Susan gets right up close to him and says “i don’t care who you are, i just see how my little sister looks at you, and if you break her heart like the last guy did i will litigate your ass into the ground, sir. the GROUND”

also, like, an entire 1920s mafia au where derek is the man behind frank’s family being killed (which is why frank is working for him) and he’s kate’s bodyguard and he covers for her sneaking out and kicking ass

What does a typical date look like for them?

not to be basic but walking dogs and drinking coffee together. stopping a drug deal along the way. going to a shooting range. 

What’s a really significant moment in their relationship?

There is blood drying in the cracked leather of his boots. The scrape on his head is just oozing, now, his ankle is throbbing like a motherfucker and the soreness is settling in next to his bones. 

If SHIELD was paying attention, Frank is probably going back to jail. He kinda hopes they were paying attention, because if they weren’t, that means they sent Kate into that trap with no intention of getting her out, and adding SHIELD agents to his body count sounds like a lot of work.

Still, he’s here for a reason–fucked up a SHIELD op–and he’s not alone because two very impressive and terrifying women refused to go to separate interrogation rooms.  

Frank knows he’s going to hell, he just didn’t ever plan on meeting people who would drag him out just for the spite of it. 

Karen is giving her stoniest glare to the mirrored glass. Her blouse is torn and the screen on her phone is cracked, but the way she’s tapping her broken-heeled shoe against the floor means that she’s already started writing the story in her head. 

Kate is looking at the space between him and Karen, and she looks like she’s having a very heated conversation with herself. Her lips are moving and she’s doing very muted gestures, and Frank figures if either he or Karen were Barton, they’d have half an idea what she’s pissed at them about. 

Well, he’s got guesses. 

“Just,” Kate finally says, in the middle of whatever conversation she was having, “just, did neither of you think that might have been a bad idea?”

“Yeah, I don’t think you get to say that.” Karen’s voice is low, a little raw, from all the shouting. “Since you were about to die.”

“I’m an Avenger! That’s my job!”

“To die?” 

“No! To get, you know, death adjacent!”

“Death adjacent, why don’t you just say near death experience like a normal person for once!”

“How dare you say I’m a normal person!”

“I just said you weren’t!”

“Ladies–”

“Oh, don’t you ladies us, Frank,” Karen turns her simmering wrath on him. “If you’d just stuck to the plan this wouldn’t have happened.”

“Yeah!” Kate chimes in.

“Why are you agreeing with her? You don’t even know what the plan was!”

“No, but now she’s not mad at me–”

“No, she’s still mad at you,” Karen turns her glare back to Kate. “I don’t care if you’re a super secret anything, you going alone into a warehouse of hundreds of angry robots is a bad idea! You shouldn’t have agreed to it. That was part of the deal–no needless risking of lives! Our lives. I’ve held to my end of that deal–”

Frank snorts. The ladies glare.

“No, right,” he nods. “Yeah, see, following a lead about a warehouse full of angry robots is exactly not needless risking of–”

“I thought Kate might be there–”

“Oh, bullshit,” Kate cuts in. 

Karen has no response for this. The look on her face would be funny, except–well, no, it is funny. They’re not in danger any more, and it’s funny. Frank swallows his smile as they lapse back into murderous angry silence. Kate and Karen are glaring at each other but every so often they’ll turn the force of their glares back on him, at which point he gives as good as he gets. 

It’s maybe ten minutes before the door swings open. 

“Hawkeye.”

“Agent Adsit.”

“Mr. Castle,” Adsit nods to Frank. “Ms. Page.”

Barton trails behind the agent. 

“Clint, have you been here this whole time?”

“Uh,” Barton shrugs. “Well, I passed by on my way to the range. I saw you staring at each other, I just wasn’t sure if it was sexual tension or murderous rage.”

Agent Adsit sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Hawkeye–”

“Yes?” Kate and Clint respond at the same time. Adsit sighs again. 

“Seriously,” Barton says in what’s clearly meant to be an undertone. “I just wanted to make sure neither clothes or heads were getting torn off.”

“I’m fine. Or I will be, just as soon as Adsit lets us go.”

“You and Ms. Page are free to leave but–”

“Frank comes too,” Kate interrupts. 

“Mr. Castle isn’t–”

Kate and Karen are already up, helping Frank to his feet. “Did I stutter?” Kate asks.

“No. Clear as a bell.” Karen tucks herself under one of Frank’s arms, taking some of his weight. Kate mirrors the action on his other side, and the three of them limp towards the door. 

“Bye, Adsit! See you later,” Kate calls. Adsit doesn’t try to stop them, so Frank figures everything is fine. 

From his vantage point, Frank can see blood drying in Kate’s hair, a deep gouge in her shoulder, a burn on the back of her neck. 

When they get to the elevator, they all take a second, braced against one another, trembling with exhaustion. Frank wishes they were home already, piled in bed. He can feel Kate grip Karen’s elbow behind his back, pulling them all closer together.