if you feel like rambling about Sadie & Katherine - when do you think Sadie knew she was into Katherine? Like. Obvs from the beginning, but do you think she was aware of it right away? Same Q but for Kath <3
hellooooo i always feel like rambling about sadie & katherine alex <3
okay SO i think for sadie, episode 2 was a turning point of sorts. not necessarily of realizing she's into katherine specifically, but def of realizing she's into what katherine represents in her life right now. i think she hyped herself up for a new boss who is the first woman to be her boss and whom she must impress before even meeting katherine so she was doomed to begin with. there was this moment of them being in the same room for the first time where sadie got an inkling of being into a woman in a position of power not just in a corporate/nerdy way but in a sexual way, though that meant pretty much nothing aside from like vague vibes of "oh why is she hot" until episode 2. i'd say the minute she heard "nice job" and impressed katherine and gained katherine's trust the "oh why is she hot" vibe turned into "oh this is...definitely doing something" vibe. which is still not necessarily being into katherine specifically, but that was the earliest development in that direction. then she really got into the game of trying to impress katherine while simultaneously being frustrated by her which slowly developed into realizing she's into katherine specifically, and i still hold the belief that the commercial episode was when that happened. it was a combination of talking about lesbians and working in sync with katherine more than against katherine pretty much for first time, and getting a little bit riled up with the jack jealousy, which was confusing because she was also simultaneously thinking what fucking katherine would be like in this very curious, casual, i'm-not-actually-gonna-do-that-am-i kind of way. she's been thinking about that often lately. the blatant references to sadie's sex life from katherine were not helping. and during the commercial episode it hit her that she actually definitely would like to fuck katherine and in fact is going to do that. because she's into katherine, specifically -- the specific way she wields her power, like of course she has it to wield; and the specific way she talks to sadie, like of course sadie should listen; and the specific way she runs the company, like of course she deserves to do it; and the specific way she purses her lips when sadie has a point, and the specific way she yells at men just because, and the specific way her eyes rake over sadie's body as if she's challenging her to mind. it wasn't a problem because katherine has clearly reached the same conclusion as sadie.
and i think for katherine she realized she's specifically into sadie in episode 2 like, quite immediately. i mean just considering the "fuck a reporter for me" moment and the way she reacts to finding sadie and jack at sadie's office and the "i know some women need it more than others" moment and just her immediate interest in sadie's sex life. i think at that point she already reached a sort of, "it would be fun and hot to fuck sadie" conclusion. but then the moment that sadie tells her about the 18% spike in consumer interest in the murder van and she's excited to tell her that and she says "i know!" when katherine says they have to take advantage of that, the slight pause, the way katherine is reconsidering who sadie is and can be, i think that's definitely the exact moment katherine went from "it would be fun and hot to fuck sadie" to "i want to fuck sadie". because i think the fact sadie can be just as awful when she lets herself, and the fact katherine can encourage her to be awful and sadie would enjoy it despite her best judgement, and the fact sadie would degrade herself for katherine, and the fact sadie can surprise katherine and that's hot, and how annoying she is just added on to that hotness for some reason, it got under katherine's skin, and it all just came together in that moment. then it dawned on katherine that sadie's definitely feeling the same attraction, because sadie was not good at being subtle about it. which meant that seeing sadie's reaction to jack and the actress in the commercial episode just opened up the opportunity to act on something they've both been wanting.
i think for both of them it was definitely the function the other played in their lives that did it for them before it was the person, which gave them a sense of false security in being messy even when they realized that they are specifically attracted to that person, because they could very easily detach themselves from the mess if need be. which of course we all know how well that went <3
For the WIP word ask game: is there a "should" in there somewhere?
spoilering your gift exchange fic a bit <3
Karolina leans back in her chair and crosses her arms over her chest. “Okay, go ahead. What would you say instead?”
“Let’s see…” Shiv bites her bottom lip in contemplation. When she said one night, drunk against Karolina’s shoulder, that maybe they should start their own label, Karolina flicked ash off the cigarette she was smoking and told Shiv to sleep on it for at least a week and talk to her about it sober.
Hiiii- for the lyric + ship ask please! *I don't need the symbol of a scar
So put down the knife, we're not swapping blood* for Shivlina :) ty
send me a ship + a song lyric and I will write 5 paragraphs of a fic to match it
still cannot believe you brought boygenius into it <3
set post shiv's talk with gerri after she tells logan about roman's thing with gerri in s3
---
"Shiv, stop," Karolina suddenly says, pinching the ridge of her nose and gripping the edge of her marble counter tighter. She finds it hard to look at Shiv where she stands in Karolina's kitche, spirit high in that way it often goes when she manages to twist the knife in somebody else's gut instead of taking it inside her own. The knife they pass between each other in this company, in Shiv's family, like a game of Duck Duck Goose, tensions rising until someone gets the chance to take a stab. Now the blood is dripping from the corners of Shiv's smile when she describes exactly how Gerri suffered Shiv's orchestrated blow, and Karolina's an accomplice in Shiv's life because that's where she put herself when she kissed Shiv for the first time and told her, fine, but only if you don't make a mess out of me.
There is a mess now, but Karolina's containing it just fine so far.
Shiv's ramble ceases abruptly. Karolina can hear her shock and incredulity at the boundary she's placed in the silence that follows it. "What?" asks Shiv, venomous.
"She's my friend," Karolina answers plainly. When she locks eyes with Shiv, Shiv huffs.
"No, she's not," she argues, and Karolina doesn't want to have a fight, so she squares her jaw and brings her coffee mug to her lips, drinks while daring Shiv to argue further, knowing that she won't. That it's not a fight that Shiv wants to have, either. Because the real question here is not whether or not Gerri's Karolina's friend, it is whether Karolina could be Shiv's. And that is something neither of them is ready to discuss.
"Fine," Shiv sighs, exasperated, running a hand through her hair "Fine." And then she's moving, pacing momentarily with the energy of a cruel celebration that she has nowhere to put down. "I should go anyway," she says, stopping, finally, near Karolina, and looking at her like she's challenging Karolina to change her mind. Karolina remains silent. "I need to -- "
"Catch Tom up," Karolina finishes for her.
"Yeah," Shiv's voice drops into an almost whisper. She thinks, sometimes, that's why Shiv stays with Tom. Because he holds her knife with her. Because he'd take a stab at her. It's like this with Shiv. She thinks it's safer like that. "I'm not your friend," she says, then.
"What do you want me to say, Shiv?"
"I'm not."
"Okay."
Shiv lingers, looking at Karolina like she's looking at a disaster unfolding on the news. "I'm not," Shiv repeats. Karolina nods, laying her cup down on the counter.
"I know," she says. "You want me to change your mind?"
"I'm just saying."
Then she reaches over, tucks Karolina's hair behind her ear, retreating when Karolina shakes her head.
If you feel like some headcanons; Sadie x Katherine and gifts. What was the first thing they gifted each other?
this has been in my inbox forever now so sorry <3
I am very firmly set on the idea that the first gift katherine ever gets sadie is a luxurious dress that can be worn to fancy business dinners with a matching lingerie set.
it's a deep blue, because katherine has long figured out that's her favorite color on sadie, and it shows off more skin than sadie normally would for any business dinner. the lingerie set is clearly something someone should get to look at.
but katherine's face is sealed and she claims it's purely so sadie can make an impression when she needs to make one. and that is often, if she hasn't learned that fact of life already.
there's a long tirade about sadie's wardrobe that accompanies the gift, and katherine does not call it a gift, and by the end, sadie says a tense thanks when katherine's eyes rake over her body and sadie knows the reasoning behind the gift is at least 40 percent related to katherine wanting to see her in it.
she doesn't just let katherine enjoy that, though. she waits for a good excuse and she wears it when one arises and she has katherine's eyes on her through the entirety of their dinner with soren, and then she has to breathlessly tell katherine not to tear any of this off her because she actually likes it, and katherine takes her time peeling the fabrics off sadie's body and making sadie squirm.
at some point while they're fucking katherine asks her about something that soren said during dinner and sadie asks if she even listened to him, and the answer is, of course, no.
with sadie, i think the first gift is smaller. sickeningly sentimental. something she has trouble admitting to having bought but kind of couldn't resist buying.
it's a christmas gift, because that's a time of year that sadie can bear the idea of giving something that means something to someone that means something, and she let the store clerk wrap it for her.
the wrapping paper is so cheesy it gets a good three to four insults out of katherine and sadie takes them without comment because her palms are sweaty and her breathing is uneven as it is.
she wishes she could not be in the room with katherine while katherine unwraps the gift but here they are. she kind of brought it on herself when she decided to hand katherine the package rather than leave it for her to find somewhere.
so katherine tears through the wrapping with a slight tremor that she'll never admit to. and she pulls out a little ceramic car and it's a pika model with an engraving of the number of cars they sold at that point on the bottom, and sadie's rambling that it's like, handmade, or whatever, i found this artist who makes every model on order, and she starts explaining the whole process of ordering and buying the gift.
katherine tells her to shut up. they sit there and katherine examines the little ceramic car. then katherine just gets up and takes her purse and leaves the office and sadie follows her and they are at katherine's place before either of them says anything, and even then it's less of saying something and more of, like, kissing and making their way to the bed.
sadie's apologizing for the gift while she's kissing down katherine's body and katherine tells her to shut up again and then the rest is kind of a blur because the sex was very good.
but sadie remembers katherine saying thank you at some point, and she remembers asking katherine if she likes it at some point, and she remembers the way katherine's fingers tenderly wrapped around her throat when she said, "it's stupid, it's so stupid," and kissed sadie so thoroughly that sadie almost cried.
🎤 and 🙈 (not sure that they'd be shy about anything but I'm curious about your take) for you know who
first one is a personal fave and second one is really interesting to think about so thank you!
🎤 how loud they are
both of them are loud. different kinds of loud, but loud. like, they are the kind of loud that makes it hard for them to fuck in public spaces but they are also practiced in that so that staying quiet is a fun game to play.
katherine is not loud by nature. but sadie does make her loud. in terms of sounds that she reluctantly releases (and then less reluctantly sometimes, when she's in a certain mood, when they're in a certain mood, when she knows it's drivin sadie wild) but also in terms of just a lot of dirty talk. sadie will get her wanting to say the most filthy things while katherine's fucking her and she's not about to resist that. sadie's not sure which is better: when katherine's telling her how good she looks with her cock in her mouth or when katherine's clearly trying to bite back a sound to no avail. both of them feel an equal, different, measure of special.
sadie's loud. she has way less reservations about being loud but she's certainly never been that loud with other people. maybe it's because she has way less reservations about everything, really, when it comes to sex with katherine. the things she likes, the things she wants, it's all cards on the table. so she doesn't, not even subconsciously, feel the need to hold back. bite any sound back. katherine loves the quiet ones the most, when sadie's so far gone she's breathing them into desperate kisses without even realizing. when sadie's so far gone that that becomes her only means of communication aside from her hands. contrary to popular belief, sadie's not a soft person. katherine does enjoy that about her. but she is soft in these moments. and it's...it's none of your business.
🙈 something they’re shy about asking for
you're right, they're not really shy about anything sex-related. maybe they were nervous to bring up some stuff like bondage and gags and impact play and the leash at the start, but they very quickly caught on to how compatible they are, and how easy it is to not discuss what, just how, and humiliation is a sexy part of the game when it's there rather than one of them actually passing judgment so. they are not shy about the sex, but they are definitely shy about the feelings.
they are shy about asking each other to stay. longer, for the night, for a weekend. like, is shy the right word? partially. they are stressed out about that. and annoyed with themselves. and frustrated. but they are also shy.
they are shy about showering together and not having shower sex. but it was a long long night and they were both absolutely spent and they just wanted each other there.
sadie was shy when, after a date with jack that ended with them in sadie's bed before sadie got so overwhelmed with the reality of consistently dating jack and sent him home, she called katherine and asked her if she can come over instead of just wordlessly going to katherine's place.
katherine was shy the morning the crew woke up in her place and sadie and her, early risers, were alone in the kitchen, and sadie was still in katherine's pajamas, and katherine said she almost made her coffee before she realised she doesn't know what she wants in her coffee. so how do you take your coffee?
“Heading home?” Katherine asks, sneaking up behind Sadie as she unlocks her car. Sadie, who’s already scheduling a Doordash delivery for her arrival and picking a movie to watch in her underwear while not paying attention and scrolling through her Payne Motors Google alerts while definitely not thinking about Jack and that stupid model, turns and says, “Yeah, why?”
What she finds is Katherine’s eyes scanning her like she’s trying to detect a lie. There isn’t one. She’s just going home, and she’s probably going to masturbate before showering just to take the edge off. Nothing exciting, really, as is usually her life. Unless she’s fucking a guy from the factory or feels like answering the messages on her dating apps from couples who are looking for a threesome. Unless the toys stop being enough for a while and she finds someone who’s rough enough to count. This isn’t the kind of thing she should be telling Katherine, though, and she’s not sure what Katherine wants until Katherine taps her mouth with her index finger, eyes still on Sadie, and says, “This isn’t a good look on you, you know?”
Sadie looks down at her outfit, then back to Katherine with a frown line that Katherine is doubtless going to taunt her over at some point in the next few days, and starts mumbling something about the short-sleeved jacket she’s wearing being last season before Katherine cuts her off.
“I didn’t mean your clothes.”
Sadie follows the line of Katherine’s eyes to Jack, who is still talking up that actress from before near his car. Now she’s sure, all too sure, of what Katherine wants.
She feels her face heating up a bit, knowing Katherine has picked up on whatever it is that Sadie’s feeling, or not feeling, she’s really not sure, it’s been a while since she’s done any kind of romance thing, and Jack is confusing, for some reason. “It’s—no, it’s nothing,” she tries to laugh, but it comes out weird because Katherine’s lips are uptunred in a sort of smile and her head is tilted as if she’s invested in this conversation. Which is weird. It’s weird, right? Katherine’s confusing, too. Sadie’s all too aware of that.
She is finding the attention pleasant, though—the way Katherine’s eyes rake over her body. The way it feels similar to how it feels when Katherine’s pleased with her job. She’s been so pleased with Sadie for most of today and now she’s looking Sadie up and down and Sadie can’t deny that it feels good. That she’s focused on that more than she’s focused on the conversation that Jack is having with that model.
“Not a good look on you at all,” Katherine continues. She pouts a little, shaking her head, and though she doesn’t step closer to Sadie, it feels as if she has. Sadie holds her bag tighter.
“What’s—what would be a good look on me?”
Katherine does not answer that. She pulls out her phone and starts typing something. “My husband’s got this PTA-school-whatever thing,” she says, eyes on her screen.
“Cool,” Sadie replies, clasping and unclasping the handle of her bag, beginning to understand that this conversation is going somewhere and that her body likes the idea of it. The idea of Katherine. It does, and that’s fine, because they’ve been doing that weird thing between them. That thing where Sadie’s body reacts to Katherine’s praise and Katherine notices and says nothing. So now she’s saying something, Sadie supposes. And it’s fine, because Sadie’s bored, and restless, and she hasn’t been able to take off the edge off since Katherine started at Payne.
“So,” Katherine says, drops her phone in her bag and smiles up at Sadie. Their eyes locked, Sadie knows exactly what this means. If that’s what helps rewire her brain into some sort of normalcy, then so be it.
“Yeah,” is the only thing she says.
—
“Take it off,” Katherine instructs, gesturing towards Sadie’s short-sleeved jacket while taking her shoes off and looking around Sadie’s house. Sadie does, watching Katherine running a finger over artsy book spines that Sadie never really cracked. “Shirt too,” Katherine continues in a casual tone, as if she’s not making Sadie undress for her, as if they’re simply discussing a work thing, and Sadie feels a thrill that she doesn’t think too much about when she follows Katherine’s order while Katherine is barely paying attention to her. She’s moved to taking a look through Sadie’s drinks cart and she pulls out a Japanese whisky and two lowball glasses by the time Sadie’s in her bra.
When she hands one glass to Sadie and pours them both the drink, she appears to be as unaffected as ever, and Sadie shivers slightly, skin exposed, and clinks glasses with Katherine when she offers. There’s anticipation there, somewhere in the air, and Katerine is clearly aware of it when she sips the whisky and keeps her eyes locked on Sadie. Then she holds the glass up and makes an appreciative face. “It’s good,” she says. Sadie hums.
“Got it as a gift from some Toyota people a while ago,” she explains, feels the liquid burning down her throat and Katherine’s eyes on her body. She doesn’t know what else to say so she continues telling the story, even though it’s a pretty boring one. “I think they wanted to poach me but I don’t really like the idea of living half my week in Japan too much so I just kind of ghosted them and—”
She stops abruptly, exhales when Katherine’s finger traces the outline of her bra. “That’s nice,” she says, voice quieter than it usually is, and before Sadie can do anything except lean in, Katherine pulls her closer and brushes their lips together. “Let me be clear,” Katherine murmurs.
“Okay,” Sadie croaks. Her heart rate is picking up, her breath becoming shallower. She lays her drink on the cart and hears Katherine doing the same.
“I’m just here to clear your head.” Katherine runs a thumb over the line of Sadie’s jaw and Sadie doesn’t know why she’s waiting to be kissed instead of just kissing Katherine, she just knows that this is how it’s going to go. She’s going to wait, and Katherine is going to give it to her when she wants to. And if she likes that, likes the idea of being kept under Katherine’s control, then that’s fine, too, because this is all they’re doing—clearing Sadie’s head.
“That’s good, yeah,” Sadie whispers. “That’s good with me.”
When Katherine kisses her, there’s no hesitation about it, no gentleness, either, and no time to wonder. Sadie whines into it and Katherine snakes a hand behind Sadie’s back and unclasps her bra, pulling it off and finding Sadie’s nipple with her thumb. Sadie’s breath catches in her throat when Katherine brushes her nipple, again, and again, and then she pinches it between thumb and forefinger and Sadie realizes she’s squirming already, and she’s definitely wet already.
She cradles Katherine’s neck and sinks into Katherine’s touch, Katherine’s hand on her waist, and before she knows it, Katherine asks, “Where’s your bedroom?”
“Right there,” Sadie says, nods her chin towards the general direction of it, her fingers threaded in Katherine’s blazer and her mouth already hungry for more of Katherine. Katherine pushes her back when she tries to kiss her again, holds her head in place with a thumb and foreigner on her chin and smirks.
“Already looking better, Sadie,” she compliments, sending goosebumps up Sadie’s arms, and then, when Sadie licks her lips and lets her mouth fall open and her eyes fall shut, Katherine leans back in for a kiss that is more tongue than anything else and adds: “I’m going to absolutely wreck you.”
Sadie moans, unashamed of it, because she doesn’t need to be, because that is the point of this, exactly, because Katherine’s breathing has picked up, too, and Sadie can tell she likes what she is doing to Sadie, and that this is working well, so well, for both of them. No questions asked, no further clarifications needed.
“That’s good, yeah,” Sadie repeats, mind already muddled with need. “That’s good with me.”
—
Katherine makes good on her promise.
She winds Sadie up with her mouth and finers, her body pressed close to Sadie’s, breasts against Sadie’s breasts, Sadie arching into the touch, Katherine fucking her slow and deep until she’s panting and crying out for more.
“Faster?” Katherine asks, lips to Sadie’s ear, and Sadie nods and pleads. She’s rewarded by getting what she wants and hikes her knee up, legs spreading further. She grinds her hips to meet Katherine’s thrusts and Katherine bites down on her earlobe and asks, “Harder?”
“Please.” Sadie cranes her neck, Katherine’s lips and tongue and teeth teasing the sensitive skin there, and is once again rewarded by getting what she’s asking for. “Oh my god,” she breathes.
“There you go,” Katherine says. “You want to come?”
“Yes.”
“You’re close?”
“Yes, fuck, please.”
Sadie sobs when Katherine slows down, brushes a thumb against her clit. “How close?” she asks. She stills her wrist and brushes her thumb over and over again over Sadie’s clit like a feather, and Sadie’s hips jut again and again and she clenches around Katherine’s fingers.
“So close,” she moans, “so close, so close.”
When Katherine makes her come, it’s the best orgasm she can remember having in months and months. It washes over her in strong and steady waves and she grasps the bedspread and can’t even breathe properly before Katherine wrings another one out of her.
“Fuck,” she practically squeaks, and Katherine kisses her again. It’s impossible for her to register anything but the points where Katherine is touching her, and even then, she’s not expecting Katherine’s fingers in her mouth, but she takes them in and sucks and Katherine makes a sound that goes straight to Sadie’s cunt, and she’s glad that Katherine doesn’t seem to be done with her, because the way she’s fucking Sadie’s throat with her fingers is making Sadie crave even more.
Katherine makes Sadie gag and relax her throat for her, and Sadie’s between being blissed out and horny and it’s such a sweet spot that she can’t help but sink deeper into it. She holds Katherine’s gaze when she pops her fingers free then runs them up and down Sadie’s body while considering her face. “That’s a good look on you, right there,” she tells her.
“Is it?” Sadie finds herself asking, voice rough and her eyes falling shut, her body relaxing against the mattress. Katherine hums and straddles her, bringing Sadie’s hand between her thighs. Sadie runs her fingers through her folds and sighs when she feels how wet Katherine is. “Let me,” she breathes, and then her fingers sink into Katherine and she opens her eyes and sees Katherine biting down on her bottom lip, holding Sadie’s wrist and directing her to fuck her how she likes.
It’s good. It’s good when Katherine pins her other hand to the mattress while she rides Sadie’s fingers and tells her how well she’s doing. It’s good when Katherine comes while biting Sadie’s bottom lip. It’s good enough to make Sadie throb and when Katherine asks, “Do you have anything fun here?” Sadie nods and directs Katherine to the bottom of the closet where she keeps her toys.
Katherine sends her to get “something good”, and while she rummages through the box, trying to decide between a strapon and a rabbit vibrator, feeling both spent and excited, Sadie thinks that that’s definitely the edge taken off. It’s definitely better, now. She’s glad Katherine could work whatever it was out of her. Glad that when she returns with both the strapon and the vibrator Katherine clicks her tongue and calls her greedy in a way that implies she couldn’t be more pleased with Sadie being exactly that. So Sadie doesn’t deny it. Doesn’t argue against it. She pulls Katherine over her and secures the harness around Katherine’s waist, and when Katherine makes her ride the strap to prove how much she wants it, she doesn’t hold back.
She doesn’t need to.
Katherine has made it clear.
She’s going to absolutely wreck Sadie, and Sadie is going to thank her for it.
It’s a good look on Katherine, too, Sadie thinks. Fucking her. If they both seem to like it a bit too much, it doesn’t really matter. It is what it is, nothing confusing. Sadie doesn’t need to think about Katherine’s husband and not about Jack, either, and Katherine seems to think nothing of them, too.
It’s nothing more and nothing less than an exercise in clearing their heads.
Nothing like a relationship, or a lack of one.
It’s sex, it’s like riding a bike—muscle memory and bodily machinations.
re your writing: You're one of few Abbott writers I thoroughly enjoy and I go in knowing I'll like what I'll get. You have such a great understanding of these characters, work wives especially, and the nuances of their relationships. Everything you use to expand on the morsels the show gives us just makes sense. You have great instinct, and are just brilliant what can I say
