#maevemadelyn

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rewatching the boys s1 scenes just gets me sooooo down bad for madelyn. like... I know why she had to die, i know. but GOD what we could've HAD with multiple seasons of elisabeth shue!!! that CHARACTER!!!! she is my FAVORITE antagonist from the show!!! i want thirteen seasons of backstory for her i want a challengers-esque prequel movie showing her molding homelander and maeve in the early days of the seven making them compete to be her favorite but also encouraging them to have a relationship with each other but also making them both want her and doubt each other so they'd never TRULY love and trust each other and rebel against her i just love every word that comes out her mouth on this show i loveeee a cold manipulative lady who's just Doing Her Job but at the same time she IS the only person some of these silly traumatized supes have

oop im supposed to be thinking about maeveannie so anyway: um i imagine madelyn would be a point of contention in maeve and annie having a relationship. as in any time the subject of her comes up and annie's just like "wow, she was horrible and irredeemable, just 100% awful." but then maeve gets all cagey like YES she was bad but yknow you don't know the whole... and like... cannot explain to annie what it was like in the before-times when Madelyn was still just as awful, yes, but Maeve was her Good Girl.......

#ooh they'd fight a lot over this #versus elena who doesnt know madelyn at all so doesnt care #she probably WANTS to understand maeve's weird relationship with her but wouldnt judge #and homelander who... has his own thing with madelyn ofc #so he GETS it... but also... they probably dont talk about their Individual Things with madelyn #to each other #because it would be weird and spark jealousy #but they also have a Together Thing with madelyn #this all makes sense to ME idk if it does to anyone else :) #madelyn stillwell #maevemadelyn #maeveannie #queen maeve sp

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a scenario that gives me a KO just to imagine it is a scene akin to Logan reprimanding Kendall in the succession s1 finale for that waiter dying… but with Madelyn confronting Maeve about knowing about Elena and convincing her to stay in the Seven and push Elena away.

like, “this could become your whole life if it gets out… it’d eat everything. A lesbian superhero? you'd never be anything else. Or... it could be what it should be, which is nothing at all.” … pretending like she’s just giving Maeve honest advice that coming out/leaving the Seven would be a bad move… Maeve in tears as she realizes it’s true… Madelyn hugging her like “you’re my number one girl”

#yeah #maevemadelyn #Queen maeve sp #Queen maeve #madelyn stillwell

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feeling a strong maeve/madelyn passion tonight so here is another self-indulgent compilation of moments from my maeve megafic that are - well, not the BEST maeve/madelyn moments of the fic, there are so many scenes i crafted solely to deepen this dynamic as it is in my head - but...

call these the moments that feel like their relationship in the show to me, as in, they are so subtle and i don't even know if any readers got from them what i intended from them but they all have a little extra #oomph in retrospect with the context of additional reveals about madelyn i put in the fic .... :)

#ugh maybe maevemadelyn was the true reason i wrote that whole fic lol #as a vehicle to deepen their past relationship in the background thru flashbacks and context! #to force maeve herself to reflect on it more deeply! #lol..... i am not even kidding tho #maevemadelyn #fic stuff #tmdoms #no but really i wonder if anyone clocked some of these moments esp in the order i told things... #retroactively realizing what madelyn meant/knew in each of these... comments...

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thinking about the lengths Madelyn must've had to go over the years to hide Maeve's sexuality. like. obviously homelander didn't know, and it wasn't openly know, but like there's no way that of 10+ years of her being one of the biggest celebrities in the city/country, that no one ever speculated or "caught" her in the act.

cuz first of all, elena. even if they (as I belive they must've) kept their relationship mostly if not totally secret even BEFORE Maeve was in the seven, like, some people would've seen them together, before, presumably, and maybe remembered.

then, with the implication that they were (back) together for at least some stint while Maeve was in the Seven ("we were gonna get away, start a family...") - when Maeve was already a hyper-recognizable person... a few people surely must've spotted them during that time, snapped pics, even if they tried to keep it lowkey.

but beyond that, like... i imagine Maeve was careful how she acted since she cared about remaining in the closet but do we really think she had NO hookups or even flirtations with women over the years? nah there must've been some... enough... to get some rumors going if nothing else...

'cause here's the thing. we know Maeve never got fully "caught" or outed before Homelander does it on the show, but she also doesn't seem, uh, especially, um... all that great at keeping it under wraps? like by her reaction when Elena shows up in episode 106 while she's filming that thing she's like. she covers but she's notably awkward about it. and walks like 50 feet away and doesn't notice they're still recording her... lmao

but also that footage doesn't get her outed, even though it theoretically COULD. which leads me to my personal headcanon (/logical conclusion?) that courtenay fortney took that footage of Maeve and Elena obviously having a lovers' spat and rubbed her little hands together like "This is gold," but someone aka MADELYN stopped it from going anywhere.

which brings me back to: how much else did Madelyn quash for Maeve over the years. how many journalists did she get thrown out from potential interviews bc she got wind they were going to stir something up about Maeve's "love life"... how many photographers did she pay off to delete photos they had of Maeve with women... how much effort did she put into smearing anyone who dared speculate that Queen Maeve might like women... conversely how much did she fan the flames on any rumors of Maeve with men (even men besides homelander) to make any rumors about women seem more far fetched...

that has to be the case, right? it's the only explanation for how Maeve was so (relatively speaking) cavalier about talking to Elena right next to a camera crew and also how she never got caught... but i think Maeve was not conscious of this... i think she THOUGHT she was being perfectly careful and keeping it secret herself and never knew how much Madelyn was running cover for her with paparazzi and tabloids and gossip networks...

did they ever talk about it...? did she ever realize...? I don't know. they probably didn't get a chance in the wake of her actual outing because obviously madelyn was dead at that point and also I don't think the outing would ever happen if madelyn was still alive...

i love thinking endlessly about these details between these two fictional women that have no answers... and i love thinking that maeve probably wonders all this to herself in retrospect and can never officially get answers... so many things she'll never know the truth of from madelyn... i love it

#ok maeve could ask ashley probably #well in canon who knows but in MY universe where maeve and ashley are ... some sort of weird life partners... surely she could #maevemadelyn #queen maeve #madelyn stillwell #queen maeve sp

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thinkin about this again... thinkin about how many casual physical touches they must have exchanged over the years

#or... non casual??!?? #what if you were my boss... and i was the strongest woman in the world... and you expressed affection via physical gestures... in public #i do be spinning this into a 500 page thesis on their relationship because this is. literally it. this is it #maevemadelyn #queen maeve #madelyn stillwell #queen maeve sp

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last reblog someone tell me why i'm imagining that exchange with madelyn and maeve. it doesn't really make sense. or even 100% match the vibe i have for them. but still

#'it's not your looks that keep them away think about that' #god it's savage #maevemadelyn #queen maeve sp #d

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Damn, I haven't even read your other reply yet but while we're at it I MUST know now... Would Madelyn adopting Maggie right after she was born and got her compound V shot change anything of who Maeve ends up being? Would little Maggie have a better a life/childhood with Madelyn as a parent than Donald? How different would she be as an adult? Could she turn out to be more like Homelander?

I know there's many many factors and many that we can't really know so at this point is just what ifs, but I'm interested in what you think the changes would be based on your take on the characters and Maeve's childhood. Hope that made sense lol

short answer, yes, it would probably be extremely different! but I don't have a great answer for you because I honestly didn't figure much out, I was just beginning to imagine it with a lot of 'what ifs' and not a lot of settled thoughts

part of the thoughts i do have are a little hard to explain without spoiling aspects of my big 'ol fic but uh

on a basic level, would little Maggie Stillwell (if you will) have a better childhood with Madelyn looking after her? in a lot of ways, sure. seeing Madelyn's full career-mom style with Teddy on the show, I imagine she'd take the same track even if becoming a mother at a younger age. i don't know HOW, but I know she'd find her way to make it work, so at minimum, Maggie would enjoy more stability in the financial sense.

also, Madelyn would be generally more encouraging of maeve's powers and other talents - generally a good thing, but perhaps pushing her limits a bit at times, too. i think she'd have maggie homeschooled and try to push her education a lot... and encourage her to learn her powers safely, I'm not sure exactly what the methods for that would be, maybe like, hiring private trainers to work with her safely and/or allowing her to go to some Vought facility to be 'studied' solely in the concept of workouts and power tests. maybe she would allow that in the interest of safety, but with a hard line that Maggie's life is HERS to shape outside of those occasional tests...

on that note, one aspect that really intrigues me is the idea of Maeve being raised in sort-of proximity to Homelander? (since i imagine that Madelyn got involved working with vought & vogelbaum relatively early on, though she may or may not have been hands-on with homelander that early in his life, listen, that's a whole other can of worms I don't wanna go into right this second lol)

but anyway imagining that Madelyn and Vogelbaum are actively Colleagues as Maggie's growing up (and Homelander/John as well, a couple years older than her)... and what that would mean...

I do not think Madelyn would raise Maggie (or any child she had) in a lab setting remotely like what Homelander went through... if for no other reason than the selfish reason, that she would want to have warmth & interaction with her kid to some degree and not be at a clinical distance. i'm not saying that would make her a GREAT mother, but I think it's fair to say her style is much more hands-on and nurturing - even when it's also manipulative/controlling - rather than scientific and distant.

so it might be ~odd~ in a way for the whole Homelander situation to exist on the outskirts of Maggie Stillwell's world.

alright, at this point i guess I'm just sharing the few tidbits I did manage to imagine last night, which veered away from Madelyn's actual mothering and more into a young-maeve-and-homelander-meeting-AU... gosh I'm gonna put these behind a cut now bc it's getting long but click for cute/sad/eerie maggie-john interaction

given madelyn's career-mom style, Maggie gets brought to work with her a lot, and meets a lot of Vought people, including Vogelbaum

she at one point calls him 'Uncle Jonah' but he scolds her and says to only call him Dr. Vogelbaum

and Maggie asks Madelyn, why? (because Madelyn definitely calls him 'Uncle Jonah' at home, that's where Maggie got it from). ... Madelyn tries to explain it like it's not a big deal, just that Vogelbaum has his own opinions about kids, and what he thinks her relationship with Maggie should be like, that it should be more like his with John...

and Maggie asks, "who is John?" and Madelyn realizes she didn't fully mean to let it slip out, but plays it off casually, "he's a boy that Dr. Vogelbaum looks after..." and Maggie asks, "his son?" and Madelyn says... "sort of like that..." and changes the subject

... and i was picturing, that in the course of getting toted along with Madelyn to work, Maggie probably gets left to sit outside of meetings a lot... and I don't think they'd ever bring her TO John's room/cell, or even near it, but if one day she's in the same building, and wanders off on her own, and then maybe gets... just a glimpse. a boy's face, around her age, maybe a little older, through a small window on a big steel door... she looks at him... he looks at her... then his eyes turn RED and it's scary and she runs away...

she eventually makes it back and Madelyn scolds her for running off but she claims she got lost... she asks about the boy she saw, maybe somehow guesses that was John, and Madelyn tries to play it off/deny it...

then, idk why this would happen, but i was imagining a scenario several years later, where vogelbaum et al decide that maybe john needs SOME level of socialization with kids his own age and decide to use maggie as sort of a test run, it's safer, at least...

So then, I guess, Madelyn would have to sit Maggie (now ~10, let's say) down and explain some aspects of John's situation outright. this would get weird, obviously, cuz it's like, a horrible situation to try to explain like it's normal... ALSO because I think another difference in Madelyn & Vogelbaums 'parenting' styles is I think Madelyn would not want to tell Maggie where her powers really come from. so she'd try to spin it like, there's this boy, John, who is like you, he is very strong and very special... and Maggie would naturally be like, why is he locked up in there, and Madelyn would claim he is too strong and his powers are out of control, or something, so it's all for safety, but that it would be very nice if Maggie could go see him and be his friend, because she doesn't have to worry, she's strong too...

and obviously Maggie would agree to this out of curiosity, sympathy, etc.

so i was picturing this first real meeting for them. just like. sat on two chairs in a big, otherwise-empty room at the lab... just staring at each other for a minute... while vogelbaum, madelyn, others watch from windows outside with clipboards...

maggie's like, "are they still watching us?"

john is like, "they're always there, you get used to it." then he's like. "I remember you. i saw you, once, before. but you ran away."

maggie's like, "it looked like you were trying to blow me up with your eyes."

and john explains, "no I was just trying to get out. and see you. the door is strong... i almost got thru, a couple times. but then they punish me."

and maggie's like, "punish, how?"

and john's like, "they play a really bad sound that hurts my ears. I don't like it. but i risked it, because I never saw any girls outside my room before."

... more awkward conversation, idk. John asking Maggie, "what is your room like?" because he doesn't know what else to ask.

Maggie feeling very dumb and just describing, the walls, the bed, the dresser, not knowing how to answer that question. John seeming fascinated anyway...

idk where it goes from there, that's kinda where i drifted off, but yeah, I was intrigued by this AU concept although I still don't have answers for most of it

#fic snippet #queenlander #queen maeve #homelander #maevemadelyn #madelyn stillwell #ask #supemaeve #i like kind of want to write a full version of this but i have no idea where it'd GO or how it'd end #cuz like does it just result in the same way as the show they both end up in the seven still or else they kinda go full Heathers #and burn down the world together lmfao

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wait damn while i'm madelynposting i must also confess that last night i dreamed myself off to sleep with the idea of a "Madelyn adopts Maggie Shaw as a baby and raises her as her own child" AU

#i'm not sure if i love it or hate it #but it intrigues me #maevemadelyn #queen maeve sp

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He! I'm still going trough some (not so) quick Maeve rewatch and while watching 2x04 I came up with another question that I think you might have thought about before since you're the person who overall has thought the most about Madelyn in regards to Maeve... you've mentioned that she probably had to pay off or threaten writers/photograps to keep Maeve from being outed. How do you think she would've had reacted to Homelander outing her? Or what could've she done to prevent that?

haha of course I have thought about this. and i wrote this moment of Maeve thinking as much:

i honestly jammed that in there because it's what I believe. Homelander outing Maeve wouldn't have happened if Madelyn hadn't died. it's one of those sorta heavy handed moments as a writer where I just kinda shove a headcanon of mine in there but I don't know if it fully comes across what it means, since like, yeah I just stuck it in there.

I don't think Maeve herself knows the exact machinations of what Madelyn would've done when she says that, only that she feels it true in her gut.

I don't know that I know the exact reasoning for it either. but it mainly has to do with the unique, hard-to-articulate importance of Madelyn's relationship with Maeve and Homelander individually, her relationship with them as a pair, and her influence on THEIR relationship as a pair.

Madelyn had a much closer eye on Homelander. technically speaking she can't "stop" him from doing anything more than Ashley can, but I suspect she would've noticed if Homelander, after years of complete ignorance, suddenly started investigating Maeve's sexual history, and may have been able to dissuade him, distract him, manipulate him to get him to drop it, or else get ahead of him and obfuscate Maeve and Elena's history somehow so he'd lose interest...

More to the point, I just don't think Homelander ever would've spared a THOUGHT to Maeve's sexual history with Madelyn still around. I mean, he apparently DIDN'T think about it for 10+ years. I think part of why he becomes suspicious and investigates Elena at all is because Madelyn is already gone so his attention returns to Maeve. as the show portrays it, at least, Madelyn is his MAIN confidant/person to talk to as of s1 - he talks to Maeve sometimes, but mainly when they're out at work events anyhow. (the only time I can think of where he specifically seeks her out to talk to in s1 is episode 103, when he's concerned over Translucent and crashes "her" save, and it seems like he does it because he is looking for her to agree with him after being annoyed by Madelyn/Edgar's lack of concern). The reason he overhears Maeve on the phone with Elena in 203 (well, in addition to the fact that Maeve HAS reconnected with Elena) is because he's looking to confide in her about Ryan. And that's because he doesn't have anyone else to share it with at that moment.

On Maeve's end, too, I think she would've been less likely to have reconnected with Elena at all if Madelyn was still alive. Especially if - as in my own version - she knows that Madelyn knows about Elena. She wouldn't want to get "caught" running back to Elena, it would get her yelled at and it would be embarrassing. She gives in with a major moment of weakness in episode 105, but then goes right back to pushing Elena away the next day. But in season 2, when she gets that hospital call... she feels fine walking off when it's just Ashley there, she can flip Ashley off and walk away, no explanation. She could NOT pull that with Madelyn; aside from the disrespectful manner of exit, if she tried to lie about where she was going, Madelyn would likely find out. Emotionally, I don't think Maeve could get to the necessary level of "fuck it, no one's paying attention to me anyway, I just want her back" to reconnect with Elena and tell her the truth, if Madelyn was still around.

Even if the outing did somehow happen, it'd go smoother with Madelyn in charge. it's unclear if Ashley (or anyone else at Vought) knew about Maeve's sexuality ahead of time; technically it isn't confirmed that Madelyn knew, either, I just think she MUST HAVE known for reasons I've outlined before. anyway, I think it's quite possible Ashley had no idea; even if she did know, she had way too much else on her mind at that point to have even considered how she'd handle that situation. Meanwhile, I bet Madelyn 100% had contingencies planned for how she would handle it if Maeve decided to come out (lol) or got outed (presumably by the press) in a way that couldn't be contained. and her plans almost certainly included a greater degree of care for Maeve in the aftermath... MANIPULATIVE care, sure, but c'mon - she definitely would've had a one-on-one mommy issues check-in with Maeve first thing after a hypothetical outing, getting a read on how she was feeling and what would be the most prudent way to handle it not only in terms of image, but also in terms of what would keep Maeve from going off the rails... whereas the show gives the impression that Ashley & other Vought workers didn't consult Maeve in the slightest and just rolled with Homelander's "yay Queen Maeve is gay" lead

All that to say: my vision of Madelyn is definitely one who has a great deal of control over the Seven... and she does plan a lot... but also, with such a goddamn chaotic job and superbeings that she can't ACTUALLY control, a lot of her power comes through a combination of quick thinking, confidence, and clever bluffing (which helps trick the Seven into believing she can make anything happen, which helps her manipulate them). I don't think she would've instantly known what to do if the situation of early s2 somehow still arose even while she was in charge... and to be fair, the entire point of s1 is that her control starts unraveling already at that point... but I think she would've handled it better than Ashley (which I guess isn't a high bar? lol).

day by day i get even more tempted to write a complete madelyn pov fic explaining what i think she thought and did before the series and throughout the series with all her complex manipulations and keeping so many balls in the air at once... I really do want to, but also I think writing her POV almost ruins the fun of it for me, the fun of seeing her external behavior and guessing at what she knows and why she's doing it.

obviously, all the things that fall apart over the course of the show are things that were destined to fall apart eventually (like, hiding Ryan from Homelander was never gonna work forever; 'creating' the world's strongest hero in a lab and expecting him to function normally was never gonna turn out well, encouraging maeve and homelander's relationship and forcing maeve to push away the true love of her life was never gonna end well, etc etc). ... so, depending how you look at it, you could say Madelyn was actually not so good at her job because she allowed those fundamentally misguided circumstances to remain while just covering up appearances to make things SEEM like they were going great... or, she was fucking brilliant to keep things functioning so smoothly for so long when they never should've worked at all.

#madelyn stillwell #maevemadelyn #queen maeve #homelander #ask #supemaeve #you know i love an excuse to talk about madelyn....

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Thoughts/headcanons About the relationship between Maeve and Madelyn since I'm obsessed lol. I totally subscribe to the maternal relationship even if there's no evidence in canon.

anon, you 🤝 me

so i have a very very very detailed conception of their relationship that i developed as part of my detailed backstory for maeve's life for my fic. if you want to read it in fic form with ~gradual reveals~ and ~evocative storytelling~ i would say check that out (it's a larger focus in the 2nd story arc) but I shall summarize it here if you just want the tldr (and link to relevant chapters in the fic that contain those flashbacks bc I am proud of my vignette style flashbacks so if you wanna just check out some then knock yourself out)

spoilers for my fic below the cut (& again disclaimer this is all made up by me and COMPLIANT with canon at best not canon itself ofc lol)

sooo um keep in mind, if you haven't read any of my previous fics or headcanons about maeve, that she grew up not knowing her mother at all. raised by her single father since her mother left right after she was born. so. there are ~issues~ there

as Maeve remembers/perceives her relationship with Madelyn it's. well. I don't think she clocks it as maternal consciously, at first. she meets madelyn when she's 22 and drafted by NYC when she finishes college. madelyn is the first person to ever give her a hug her initial impressions of madelyn are, "hm, I know she's my boss, but she's kind of refreshing, she's cool, she kinda GETS IT" - subconsciously a mixture of wariness (because it's a business relationship) but joy (because madelyn respects her & understands her better than most ppl she's ever encountered) and seeing her kind of as a mentor, kind of a guardian, kind of a peer/friend? (and also definitely a little attracted to her. we can't gloss over the fact that maeve is definitely, to some level, perceiving that madelyn is a very attractive woman!)

In the early years of the seven she definitely learns more about the darker side of that relationship, as the demands on her increase and madelyn yknow, pressures her to a high standard, while also playing up on that "i know I'm asking you to do a lot but this is how it is for women in the world and you know I get that it sucks but I'm just being REAL with you" vibe. In this era is also when maeve grows closer with HOMELANDER, and the peculiarity of that maeve / homelander / madelyn dynamic is so insane i could attempt to write an essay about it but i can't even put it into words so I guess I will just bullet point for you the key vignettes I imagine as madelyn partly-encourages their relationship (for publicity's sake) but then also, strangely, DISCOURAGES it as well (because a part of her deep down knows they won't work together and fears what will happen if they have a nasty breakup - OR, conversely, what might happen if the 2 strongest ppl on earth WERE completely united & in love)

rough timeline of this pseudofamilial manipulative fuckery (tracked by Maeve's current age, easiest way)

Age 24 (~1 year into the Seven's existence) Madelyn informs Maeve she can "pick" a guy in the group to have a relationship tease with (but like, knowing she'll pick homelander)

As public interest in the fake tease fades, Madelyn sets a promo for a stranger to win a date with Maeve, which backfires and leads to Homelander & maeve "officially" dating (to the public. still 'just friends' in private. until Maeve gives in to his "charms" a few months later)

Age 25~ begins a period of a couple years when Homelander and Maeve are ACTUALLY together and also one of the most popular celebrity couples. for her part, Madelyn starts to get wary, especially when she helps maeve thru a pregnancy scare and informs maeve (as she believes to be true) that homelander can't get her pregnant, and also realizes via's maeve's response that Maeve doesn't love Homelander LIKE THAT. however they're still together, and still kind of a behavioral issue...

Age 26 - despite not wanting marriage & babies, maeve is still very much with homelander and enjoying the power/privilege/sex, and this is when the 2 of them are absolute menaces together, going on "strike" when Madelyn won't cave to their every demand. Madelyn begins to subtly encourage the cracks in their relationship to grow by leaning on Maeve's guilt & forcing her to see how Homelander doesn't feel the same about saving people/leaving people to die as she does

Age 26/27 - Homelander & Maeve are drifting apart but still definitely in a sexual relationship when the Becca incident happens; from Maeve's POV she isn't fully aware of it but she smells something fishy is going on and investigates - Madelyn catches her and feeds her the cover story bullshit - is this Madelyn being nice and sparing Maeve the burden of knowing the truth? or is it just manipulative and evil? maybe both! either way Maeve chooses to accept the lie but definitely is growing more disillusioned with vought & homelander

Age 28 - by this point Maeve is pretty jaded but going thru the motions, with a LOT of liquor. Madelyn sets up a reality special for Maeve's 10 yr high school reunion! But boy, is that a bad choice. Maeve drinks a ton out of nerves & has a depressed epiphany that she hates her current life & has an alcoholic meltdown & blacks out and ruins the special. Madelyn is very angry mommy when she shows up to scold Maeve the next morning, but softens when Maeve asks to go to rehab & address her alcohol issues. (*i imagine up to this point Madelyn made it clear to Maeve she wantd her to deal w her drinking issues but didn't exactly have the power to FORCE her.)

Maeve is a good girl and gets sober, but then she is a very naughty girl and sneaks out of rehab early to make amends to elena. which turns into her getting back together with elena & planning to run away from the seven. Madelyn catches her, tho (casually revealing she DID know about elena/maeve's sexuality this whole time & never said anything), and desperately uses every tactic to try to convince Maeve not to leave the seven. none work. except. the threat of Homelander's reaction. This is one of my favorite maeve/madelyn bits to imagine! it's so juicy with Madelyn as like, the villain but also the sole comfort at the same time - saying to Maeve "it's terrible but you HAVE to do it, you HAVE to leave elena to protect her", n then, like, comforting Maeve as a crying mess after she comes back to the tower.

(i haven't written/defined much that goes in this interim because I imagine it's a lot of just depression, drinking, and going thru the motions)

Age 33: When Madelyn's baby is born, Maeve gets to have some confusing feelings about it, also the weird way it coincides with the planned addition of another woman into the seven. Maeve's not the type to throw a stink about this like homelander would, but it's a weird unnameable feeling of like "mommy is replacing me??"

age 34: i wrote a short but sweet scene of Maeve & Madelyn directly after flight 37. which idk how to summarize maybe just read it - it's my best attempt at capturing what i feel are the very complicated power dynamics between homelander/maeve/madelyn

age 35: at madelyn's funeral, maeve has ~feelings~ as she realizes that homelander is the one who killed her, she also kinda grapples with the contradictory nature of what madelyn was to her

so you might be thinking okay wow madelyn's dead that's it right? well. as i said this is what I made up, but... in my post s3 story, Maeve finally meets her mother, who explains why she left Maeve & also the story of how Maggie was born... and...

it was Madelyn. long version here, short ver: back in college in 1985, Madelyn was best friends & roommates with Maeve's mom, Joan. When Joan gets pregnant from a fling with a guy named Donald, Madelyn brings her into Vought (where she's working part time with a brilliant scientist named Dr. Vogelbaum) and gets her this AMAZING offer - just participate in this medical study & they'll find your baby an adoptive home & give you tons of money. perfect deal, right? The deal is to have compound V injections in utero... and Joan agrees... and then there's some fuckery where Joan repeatedly changes her mind, first runs away to have a happy ending with Maeve's Dad, donald, but then after giving birth she panics again - Madelyn is there and encourages Joan to keep the baby and not give it up if she doesn't want to! - and Joan does, but then instantly flakes again, and runs away because she thinks SHE will be a bad mother but Donald seems like he'll be a great father.

Thus, Madelyn knew Maeve since before she was born, and was kind of responsible for Maeve's existence. This is something it was hard to make obvious in my story but what i wanted to do was to make ~subtext~ that readers could appreciate after the reveal, just like maeve would, looking back and recontextualizing everything. my hope is that it comes across as somewhat kind, even in some incidents maeve might recall from her childhood years of madelyn being there & looking out for her, in a way, but also the incredible fucked-up-ness of Madelyn never TELLING her any of that, of knowing all this shit Maeve doesn't even know about herself but just keeping it private & using it to manipulate her.

THAT is the kind of fucked up, bittersweet, gray area shit I live for. and I hope that this summary of it makes sense hahaha

#queen maeve #madelyn stillwell #maevemadelyn #fic stuff #it kinda pains me to reduce my ~~STORYTELLING~~ down to this summary #but on the other hand im so glad you asked because #this is one of my favorite aspects of this fic & maeve's backstory in general to think about #and i feel other ppl rarely talk abou tit or ask about it!!!! #so thanks anon n feel free to ask more if you have more specific stuff this is just a big dump lol #ask #anonymous #the boys

[imunbreakabledude]

do u think madelyn did her lil thing w maeve too / know she was 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩

Know she was 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩? 100%. this is definitely my headcanon but I do believe there’s a slight implication in canon to support it. Which has to do with Maeve’s good friend Courteney from episode 106. Yknow the reality show director who films Maeve and Elena’s private conversation? I mean she got that on camera and that makes it p clear maeve and Elena are exes, and yet that footage/info never made it public, which means someone higher up at Vought must’ve got wind of it and stopped it and probably shitcanned courteney too. And I bet that person was madelyn ;) no but I love the idea that Madelyn knew and didn’t openly torture maeve about it but quietly helped cover any evidence in a way that’s both considerate but also kind of sinister bc it comes from the angle of believing gay queen maeve will be bad for profits long term. Yknow?

Do her little thing? Yeah, sort of - not the same way as her thing with homelander though. (Though I do find the thought very titillating and have imagined an AU where maeve is in homelanders place in that dynamic). But in “canon” I think it’s different. I have a really fleshed out relationship for the two of them that’s really hard to summarize bc it’s all about kinda blurring the boundaries of friend/boss/maternal figure and not to self plug (as I do lol) but it’s explored pretty deeply throughout my post s3 fic (many flashbacks and some significant backstory that adds light to Madelyn’s relationship w maeve).

#lol sorry to be like go read this long ass fic for my headcanons #but putting it into a story… into incidents… is the only way I can convey the brain itch it gives me #yknow? #maevemadelyn #Queen maeve #madelyn stillwell #ask #anonymous