#mercson

Tell Ur Girlfriend MEP - Part 7 - The Orville

I used to say things like ‘find my soulmate.’ Well, guess what? You don’t find soulmates. You become soulmates by growing together.

Where do you see them in the future? Do you see them together at the end?

I’m torn because they work well together and they seem to get on really well when they are not working and sometimes they even act like they are still married. But I don’t know, they got divorced because Kelly cheated on him and for me it just makes me go no to a reunion because she hurt him in the worst way possible but at the same time they just fit.

In addition to the fact they still act as if they were married, they also are cute and comfortable together despite what had happened and I feel that when one of them needs help they’ll go to one another and ask for advice. With all these factors and the way season 2 has worked out so far they maybe are slightly and carefully getting them back together and unlike season 1 and not trying to force it.

i’m talking about ed mercer and kelly grayson relationship

as individuals, i love them. ed is an amazing example of man. i mean i actually have a list of reasons i love him:

 he’s not afraid to be vulnerable (last night episode he admitted making jokes to deal with the fact he was scared off his ass) 

he also doesn’t care to be perceived as emotional fragile (he confessed that rule on the union’s regulation was made because he couldn’t cope with people bullying him)

he’s not afraid to ask for help from women (he always ask for alara to open stuff for him that are over his human capacity)

he genuinely respects every woman he interacts, to the point he is so not trying to seduce every woman that moves that when a woman actually shows interest he misses it until she kisses him and his mind goes ‘oh’

he tries to be aware of issues (the whole change of sex discussion) and be culture sensitive

basically he is honestly a really good guy with his heart in the right place. it’s pretty much obvious he was completely inspired on jim kirk, except i  think people won’t like try to turn ed is something he is not (womanizer, the jock instead of the huge nerd he is, etc) because he is not a pretty boy (let’s all agree that young!shatner was a babe and seth looks your average man that you stumble on streets).

kelly grayson is also amazing because she isn’t stereotyped. yeah, she’s a kickass woman as you’d expect someone that became commander of a starship would be, but she lets herself be vulnerable. she makes mistakes in a way that even then she isn’t painted as villain by the writers. she is hard when she needs to be, but she is caring too. she is just a very intriguing and amazing woman. 

but i’m not sure what to think about their relationship. 

they were married until kelly cheated on ed and he caught her and just for that alone everything i believe makes me go ‘ew NO’ because betrayal i cannot take and it ruins every chance for me to like the ship.

but then

BUT THEN

you see their interaction and you understand WHY they got married in the first place. she balances him, he makes her laugh, they work around each other’s quirks and they respect that. even though she hurt him in the worst way, he holds her and her opinion in a high regard. he actually trusts her to be by his side, asking her to stay instead of accepting a transference as his first officer.

and the worst part is that the story show us it was very hard on both of them what happened.it’s clear kelly regrets what she did. they still love each other very much and they don’t know what to do next, except keep each other close and interacting all the time. 

and, fuck me sideways, if she hadn’t cheat on him i would be all over a reunion, but she cheated on him and i feel like it’s wrong of me to support the ship, but at the same time they just…FIT.

and i mean, cheating is a huge thing for me because i’m a very loyal person to the people i love and i abhor the idea of betrayal. but i also understand it was a mistake that kelly learned from and i believe she would deal with it differently if she had the opportunity to redo the situation. 

and also, is it wrong to forgive and then they get together again if she actually changed after the whole affair thing? because like i know people change because i did. i don’t want to be judged by my past mistakes just like i don’t think kelly deserve it. i believe people can evolve, i mean if i didn’t i would be still like i used to be when i was younger and that would be a nightmare (the stuff i used to say makes me horrified only thinking about it).

so yeah, that’s basically how i feel: i want to ship them, but i hate the fact she cheated on him and that’s put a damper on the whole thing, but i find it hypocritical of me to hold that over her after she changed as person thanks to the consequences of her mistake.

So is anyone watching The Orville? And if so, can we talk about Kelly and Ed? I haven't even made up my mind whether I like the show yet, but I already ship those two SO HARD. (Is their ship name Mercson? Is that the plan?) Anyway this ficlet popped into my head and demanded to be written, and since I am feeling too lazy at the moment to get The Orville added as a category on AO3, I thought I’d put it on my old friend The Tumblr. Just a short and (bitter)sweet little moment between the captain and the XO.

Rating: K

Pairing: Kelly Grayson/Ed Mercer (Mercson, I believe?)

“So what’s the deal with Alara?”

Kelly looks up from her lunch as Ed walks into her office and drops into the seat in front of her desk. “What do you mean?” she asks, although deep down she suspects she knows.

“I don’t know,” he shrugs as he casually reaches out and steals one of the cherry tomatoes off her plate. The move takes her back a year and a half and more, to a thousand meals just like this: the pair of them together, chatting casually over the table, with Ed eating her tomatoes because he knows she doesn’t like them. The thought gives her a pang of nostalgia that she violently shoves back into its usual deep dark corner of her heart. “She’s been kind of weird,” he explains after a moment’s thought. “Sort of jumpy and on edge, almost . . . nervous, you know what I’m saying?”

Yes, Kelly knows exactly what he’s saying, and she wonders how to respond. Alara is her friend, and she doesn’t want to embarrass her. To answer truthfully would feel like betraying a confidence, even though Alara hasn’t actually told her anything; what Kelly knows is the result of observation, not confession.

But on the other hand, Ed is her captain, and if she has information about a personnel issue that could affect how the senior officers interact with each other, maybe she should say something. Imagine if it led to sloppy behavior on a mission, or in a landing party: the results could be disastrous.

(And on a third hand, he’s more than her captain. Alara might be a friend but Ed is . . . well, she has no idea what she and Ed are to each other, but she knows that whatever it is, it’s strong, stronger than her friendship with Alara. It has not escaped her wry, resigned notice that even now, sixteen months after the divorce, Ed is still the most significant relationship in her life.)

“I’m just worried, I guess,” Ed is continuing. “Those could be indicators of stress. Are we overworking her? I know she’s well trained, and she’s strong as an ox, but she’s still so green; twenty-three is pretty young to be a chief security officer. Should I lessen her hours until she’s feeling better?”

“Don’t do that,” Kelly says immediately. She doesn’t want to undermine the tenuous respect that Alara is starting to command among the crew, especially not when stress and overworking are not actually what’s ailing the young Xelayan. “It’s just . . .” How to put this in a way that won’t embarrass her young friend? “It’s being around you, to be honest. She’s kind of got a little hero-worship thing going on.” That’s essentially the truth, anyway.

Ed’s eyebrows raise in surprise.

“It’s actually really normal for young recruits to develop that kind of admiration for their commanding officers,” she says. “I mean, you remember the first captain I served under, Captain Cardaleer? I followed him around with stars in my eyes for the first six months. I actually used to take notes on all his crew-wide debriefings.”

“I see,” says Ed with understanding in his face. Too much understanding, actually; she can see at a glance that he heard all the things that she carefully didn’t say. So much for discretion. She never could hide much from Ed . . . except the affair, of course. “You mean she’s got a little bit of a–yeah, in retrospect, that actually explains a lot. So what should I do?”

“Don’t do anything,” she says immediately. “If you say anything you’ll just embarrass her. Give her a few months and it’ll wear off; she’ll find someone new to admire.” It occurs to her, not for the first time, how lucky she is to be serving under Ed; she can only imagine what her previous captain would have done with the fact that one of his young underlings was harboring a crush on him. An XO shouldn’t have to spend half her time comforting heartbroken crew members and trying to keep her captain from causing an HR nightmare.

But Ed wouldn’t do that–not with a subordinate, especially one who is so young and so new to the Union. He’s got his faults, but deep down, he’s a good guy. Always was, always will be.

Kelly goes on. “She’s smart, and a good officer; I don’t think you have to worry about getting any love letters or anything.”

He gives her that little smile of his, the one that just sort of beams at her like she’s done something wonderful, the one that used to be exclusively hers, the one that she’s never been able to resist. “If you say so, Kel. I trust you.” He grabs another of her tomatoes. “What’s the deal with that, though? I thought she’d been dating some guys on the ship. None of those worked out?”

She shrugs. “Apparently most of the guys she’s tried to date on the ship have been really put off by the fact that she’s stronger than them.” She hesitates, then adds, “I think that’s one thing Alara likes about you. You see her strength as something to be admired, not something she should be ashamed of.”

He chuckles and leans back in his chair. “I didn’t do it to get her to fall for me, but I do stand by that attitude. It’s one of the things that makes her awesome.”

Kelly laughs and rolls her eyes. “I wish more guys felt that way. And not just about strength. Some males can be really threatened by female competence.”

Ed snorts. “Which I’ve never understood What’s the appeal in being with someone who needs you to do everything for them? I always find competence sexy. I mean, that’s why I first asked you . . . out . . .” He trails off, wincing a little, and fixes his gaze on something on the wall behind her.

They’ve gotten better about not bringing up their past; some days she can pretend that they’ve never been anything except professional colleagues. It’s probably better that way. And in that spirit, she should drop this, she really should. But her mouth doesn’t listen to her brain. “Really? That was what you liked about me?”

He meets her eyes then, grinning a little shyly. “Well, yeah. You remember that hand-to-hand combat class we had? You kicked my butt; I was sore for days. And you were so good that I just thought, ‘I need to know that girl.’”

This is the most they’ve talked about their romantic history since they were trapped in that Calivon zoo. And maybe it has Ed feeling a little vulnerable too, because he clearly feels the need to break the silence with a joke. “You know, I just said something really nice about you. You should return the favor. My ego needs some stroking.”

She laughs aloud at that. “All right,” she says, and thinks back to those early days at Union Point, when she first started noticing her over-eager, over-optimistic, over-sincere classmate with the warm brown eyes. Then, ignoring the little pang in her chest: “The first thing I noticed about you . . . well, I mean, you were such a hard worker, and so smart; we all knew you’d do great things. But what I liked about you was how you wanted to believe the best of everything and everyone. You weren’t naive, you just preferred . . . to hope for the best. I’d always been so relentlessly practical, so to be around your optimism was, I don’t know. Nice.”

Optimism you took from him, says a voice in her head that she’s mostly managed to keep quiet the last few months. She hates herself for cheating because she lost Ed, but she also hates herself for cheating because she made Ed lose his way, as well as his hopeful outlook on life. And his ability to trust others, adds the voice, and she savagely tells it to shut up because if she starts down that path of self-flagellation, she’s going to be in a bad mood all day.

Ed is nodding thoughtfully. “It’s not as cool as beating people up, but I’ll take it.”

She chuckles, and he slaps his hands down on his knees in a final sort of way. “So, do nothing? That’s your advice?” She nods and he smiles. “You always have been better at solving my problems than I have,” he says–something that’s become a bit of a joke between them ever since the first time he said it, after their first mission together on the Orville.

“That’s why they pay me the big bucks,” she says–another joke between them, from long ago.

There’s that little smile again, the one that–yes, she admits it–has her heart rate subtly accelerating. “Thanks, Kel,” he says, and rises from his chair, and leaves the office.

Lizy’s Ultimate Shipper Challenge: ‘It’s Right, Just Not Right Now’ Ships [¾] Kelly and Ed