For too long, certain tropes have stolen the spotlight in fandom – the soulmate au, the fake/pretend relationship au, the coffee shop au, the high school au. I am here today to inform you all that you are WRONG to make your offerings to these false idols. Consider instead your true hero – –
ThE hOsTaGe SiTuAtIoN AU!!!!
A trope Hollywood has long since accepted as The Best™ with such gems as;
“The Bank Shot Job” – Leverage, S1E05
“Payback’s a Witch” – Charmed, S8E12
“Bank Job” – Sanctuary, S3E03
“Death and All His Friends” – Grey’s Anatomy, S6E24
Flypaper (2011)
Monsoon – Sanctuary, S4E04 they really liked this trope
Aliens in a Spaceship – Bones, S2E09
Virtue of the Vicious – The Punisher, S1E10
Gus Walks Into a Bank – Psych, S3E08
Shawn Takes a Shot In the Dark – Psych, S4E09 they were actually really into this trope too
Pretty Much Every Episode of Law and Order: SVU Ever
It has everything! Heightened adrenaline! Heightened emotions! Danger! Intrigue! Perfect for heartfelt confessions of love or spur of the moment ‘I almost lost you, thank god we’re alive’ sex! Everything goes from hurt/comfort, to humorous hijinks, to racy smut, to total darkfic.
And there are so many narrative possibilities! Are your OTP all hostages comforting each other, or maybe scheming to find a way to take down the bad guys? Is one a hostage taker that develops a soft spot for one of the hostages, or a hostage who thinks they see a glimmer of good in the criminal, something they can get through to. Maybe Character A is a cop and Character B is their loved one kidnapped/trapped inside. Maybe both are hostage takers who revel in their crime. Plus, perfect for supernatural/superhero universes where people have to pretend they’re in legitimate danger and/or can’t use their powers, leaving them just as vulnerable as anyone else!
tldr; the hostage situation is the best trope anyone has ever come up with and deserves to be used more liberally in fics. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.
— iris used non gender specific words to describe barry’s future significant other in 1×01; “to meet the right person”
— “if you liked [oliver], i could see why. i mean, he’s a billionaire by day, and saves the city by night.”
— nervously laughed when felicity commented that it sounded like barry wanted to date oliver
— barry got flowers for eddie when he was in hospital (not inherently romantic, but flowers??)
— sexual tension between him and eddie in the workout scene, especially with barry looking him up and down and eddie saying “harder” while holding the punching bag for barry and smirking up at him
— barry only shifted away from eddie on the couch when eddie moved for more space
— he doesn’t say anything when hartley flirts with him
— also barry gets unnecessarily close to leonard and hartley when talking to them?? just look at some of their scenes together
— even the actors didn’t know how close they were
— barry had such a crush on the arrow and oliver
— have you seen how barry looks at oliver
— his ‘damn’ when oliver came out of the dressing room as he checks him out
foolish-identity 