Be My Valentine
Part XXVIII: Meet the Family
Happy Valentine's Day! It's the time of the year when I would write for this fic. It's basically my yearly tradition at this point.
Disclaimer: I do not own Disney or any of their shows, characters and movies. I only own my Original Characters. Enjoy.
Year when I wrote this: 2023
Song to listen to while reading: Welcome by Phil Collins (from Disney's "Brother Bear"), Small Things by Gabe Mabanta
"Happy Valentine's Day everyone, and welcome back to another segment of 'Be My Valentine'. I'm your host, Evie Queen." Evie greeted the camera with a cheerful smile.
"I've missed you guys." Lou cooed, before Evie roped her co-host into a hug.
It wasn't always easy for everyone to gather in the same place now that they're older and in different places in life. But with Tracy's ability to open up portals, it makes it easier to rope everyone in.
Evie's running her fashion line. Carlos helps out Evie sometimes but otherwise also has his own IT company. Jay is an assistant coach for Auradon Prep's Tourney and R.O.A.R. team (with the now high-schoolers Fearsome Foursome making his teaching life as agonizing as possible. Because c'mon you gotta expect the unexpected when you're dating their big sister). Lou is having this weird joint custody of Camp Kikiwaka with someone named Parker Preston. Jones now works as a child psychiatrist for superhuman kids. And Tracy is doubling as a part-time content writer for Minkus International's jewelry department and as a social worker for the superhuman world.
"I'm Carlos, this is my best friend Jones" Carlos introduced himself, before he pulled Jones into a noogie.
"C-Dog, not the hair!" Jones groaned in dismay.
"I'm Jay and this is my Feisty girlfriend, Tracy." Jay placed an arm around Tracy's shoulder.
"Anyways, welcome back to another year of this show where we look into various ships celebrating the day of love. Today our lucky couple will be Skylar Storm and Oliver from Mighty Med."
"It's fitting because Mighty Med aired ten years ago." Carlos nodded.
"Stop reminding me how old I am getting!" The authoress yelled from behind the scenes.
"Anyways, without further ado, let's get into this clip!" Evie cheered, before she hit 'play' on the remote.
~ Couple: Oliver x Skylar Storm (Mighty Med) [ Also featuring some Jordan x Kaz ] ~
Philadelphia, 2023
In 2013, Oliver and Kaz had discovered Mighty Med and the superhero world, and befriended Skylar Storm. Seven years since the three of them joined Mr Davenport's Elite Force in Centium City.
Fast forward it's been ten years, and each of these young adults now lead lives of their own. Kaz and Oliver had resumed their position as doctors for the now rebuilt Mighty Med but still go on missions with the rest of the Elite Force from time to time. Skylar is still a superhero but occasionally helps out in social work after graduating with a Social Work degree (since they all had to go to college at some point, better late than never).
The three of them ended up rekindling their friendship with Gus and Jordan (now Kaz's girlfriend) after leaving them for Centium City. (and the two of them do eventually find out about the superhuman world on their own accord) It's now slightly easier for superhumans to live amongst the Normos, so Skylar felt free to officially go by her real name instead of her Normo civilian name 'Connie Valentine'.
But today is a special occasion and the Mighty Med trio (alongside Jordan and Gus) had returned back to Philadelphia. Oliver's older sister had invited him and his friends over for a potluck reunion. Right now the five friends were carpooling (with Gus as the fifth-wheel/designated driver)...
"Ready to meet my family?" Oliver asked, rubbing Skylar's shoulders.
"I'm just nervous. I mean I've met your sister once or twice as 'Oliver's teammate and friend'. But today's the first time I meet the rest of your family as your girlfriend." Skylar responded.
"You'll like Bea. She can be high strung sometimes but means well." Jordan tried to reassure her friend.
"She's still not as overprotective as my mom." Oliver added.
It's been a few years since Bridgette was arrested. Oliver does visit her in Mighty Max sometimes but usually it gets awkward.
"Uh did you forget how she tried to conduct a full-blown inspection when she first came to visit Centium City?" Kaz raised his eyebrows.
To say Bridgette and her stepdaughter Beatrice were not protective women would be an understatement. Bridgette was the leader of her own supervillain syndicate (apparently someone named Onyx is running the supervillain world now. That is still a mission the Elite Force are tasked to uncover and stop him, but that's another story) while Beatrice co-owns her own lawyer firm with her husband. They were both headstrong ambitious ladies who would go through severe means to keep their family safe.
"It's too bad Alan is missing out." Skylar piped in. Considering Alan posed as Horace's 'son' when the older man was engaged to Oliver's mom, Beatrice was under the impression that Alan was her could-have-been stepbrother.
"Eh, he's got a date with Octavia. Plus, you know how he likes to brag about his girlfriend being a superhero." Kaz shrugged.
Also yes, they've been recruiting new heroes over the years. Alan's girlfriend Octavia made it as one of the superheroes and goes by Octogirl now.
"We're here." Gus cheerfully called out, as he pulled the car over Beatrice's neighborhood.
A blonde woman in her late 30s answered the door. Skylar couldn't help but notice that this lady has the same bright blue eyes Oliver has.
"Hey Beatrice," Oliver smiled.
"Ollie, how's my baby brother?" The older woman broke into a grin as she hugged her brother.
"I'm 24, you'd think that the nicknames would stop by now." Oliver groaned a bit.
"You'll always be my baby brother." Beatrice nodded, giving her brother a light pat in the back.
"Bea, looking good as always." Kaz tried to be polite.
"Kaz." Beatrice gave the other young man a curt nod.
"Beatrice! Good to see you again!" Jordan offered a smile at the older lady.
"Jordan, you look stunning. And Gus, I almost didn't recognize you there." Beatrice greeted two of her brother's friends.
"I know, it's the shirt. Marci picked it for me." Gus nodded proudly at his (new) shirt that his girlfriend gave last Christmas.
"The old Domain gang's back together." Beatrice gave an affectionate smile. She used to bring Oliver to the Domain when her brother was a little kid, gradually she had gotten to know the kids her brother has befriended over the years.
Kaz was the first best friend Oliver made (considering their birthdays are very close to one another's) when they were 3. And that friendship extended to Gus (an odd person but still nice), Jordan (snarky but a nice person underneath her coarse exterior), Skylar and even Alan as years passed.
"Skylar, pleasure to see you again." Beatrice greeted Skylar with a side-hug.
"Here are some flowers for you. Thank you for having us over." Skylar handed the hostess a large bouquet of flowers.
"Oh you shouldn't have." Beatrice beamed. "Begonias, my favorite!"
"Welcome kids." A man walked over to Beatrice.
"Hey Benedict," Oliver smiled at his brother-in-law.
"Good to see you again, Oliver. Come on in." Benedict nodded, before he took the flower bouquet from his wife's hands, "I'll go put these in the vase."
"Thank you, Ben." Beatrice smiled. "Oh that reminds me."
"Kids, our guests are here!" Beatrice called out into the house.
"Uncle Ollie!" A 14 year old young teen spotted his uncle before making a dash.
"Uncle Ollie!" Another pre-school aged little boy began running as fast as his chubby little legs could.
The younger boy threw out his arms and gave Oliver a big hug
"Skylar, meet my nephews: Bentley and Blake." Oliver gestured to the two boys standing behind him.
Bentley gave a polite nod.
"You're pretty!" Blake pointed at Skylar.
"Aww, aren't you just the cutest." Skylar was flattered by the little boy's compliment.
"Kaz, you're here!" A teen girl grinned as she ran over to greet Kaz.
"And my youngest sister K." Kaz gestured to the young teen, "I'm not even joking, her actual name is just the letter K."
K and Bentley are the same age and (not much) to Beatrice's surprise, her eldest son became best friends with Kaz's younger sister.
"Alright, what do you and K have for me today?" Kaz gave Bentley a lopsided grin, as the teens gave a mischievous grin in response.
"You're in for so much trouble!" K whooped out loud.
Unfortunately for most people, Bentley and K are not only best friends but also partners in crimes at pranks together. And they are both prone to mischief every now and then.
"Try me, I live with 2 teenage misfits (Spin and Jamie respectively) on the same apartment floor." Kaz shook his head. "I was one of the biggest prank masters I know."
"Yeah, many years ago. Just admit it, brother. Times have changed." K huffed her chest in an over-confident manner.
"I like this one." Jordan grinned, motioning to K.
And so Jordan and Kaz have decided to go on a 2-on-2 prank war against Bentley and K. Gus was declared as the referee. This can either end terribly or messily.
"We are making sure those two NEVER meet Jamie and Spin, right?" Skylar lowered her voice as she talked to Oliver.
"Oh, definitely." Oliver nodded.
"Oliver, you're back!" An old man greeted Oliver with a hug.
"Dad!" Oliver smiled.
"Dad, I'd like you to officially meet my girlfriend, Skylar." Oliver motioned to Skylar standing beside him.
"Nice to meet you, sir." Skylar gave him a handshake.
"Please, call me Oscar." the old man insisted.
Skylar looked around the house, it was cozy but also very lived-in. She saw some old pictures of Oscar when he was younger and apparently Oliver takes after his dad appearance-wise. She also noticed a picture of Oliver's late grandmother Bianca, she seemed like a stern but well-meaning old woman.
"So what can I do to help?" Skylar offered her assistance.
"Well, you could help us out by preparing the skewers." Beatrice suggested.
"I brought over some Calderan style Volcanic Skewers." spoke Skylar. This was one of the few times she is happy to introduce food from Caldera to her friends. Though she had to improvise a little with the unavailable ingredients.
"It's just another term for chicken skewers marinated with hot sauce." Oliver explained.
"Sounds like a blast." Benedict wasn't really sure what to say of this new type of skewer.
"Oh, it is. If only I had actual Calderan Lava Peppers but regular bell peppers will do." Skylar nodded.
An hour later, Jordan and Kaz returned with the teens…
"Ok, good news and bad news. Good news is Jordan and I won against the kids! Bad news is Wallace and Clyde want us to pay back for the broken new window panels." Kaz announced.
"What did you guys do to break Domain's window panels?" Skylar asked out loud.
"The lesser you know, the better." K stated, Bentley nodded along.
"I'm gonna start the BBQ grill outside." Beatrice announced.
"Can I help? I know how to use the grill too." Oliver raised a hand.
"You and Kaz also liked to barbecue hotdogs over a rake when we were teens." Skylar pointed out. That was hardly hygienic.
"Eh, when you live in a house of many siblings you learn to find and cook food in unlikely places." Kaz shrugged, as K sagely nodded.
"No need, it's fine. I can handle it." Beatrice insisted. "Besides, you're the guest. You should just talk to the others."
"Dad, wouldn't it be better for Oli to help start the fire? The last time we left mom in charge of starting the BBQ grill it ended with the fire department showing up." Bentley looked at his father as he raised a hand.
"It wasn't that bad." Beatrice tried to defend herself.
"Mom, you're a good cook and all, but you are not meant to handle the grill." Bentley grimaced.
"He's got a point." Benedict had to agree with his son.
Beatrice looked at her younger brother, hoping he could at least defend his big sister.
Oliver had chosen to look away and pretended to be fascinated by the ceiling.
Well, at least she can count on her youngest son to back her up.
"Blake, wanna go watch some TV?" Oscar had decided to drag the grandchild away from all this madness.
"Traitors. All of you!" Beatrice gasped dramatically, before she reluctantly agreed to have her brother help out.
Once they were done preparing the BBQ grill and the food, everyone was chatting and eating outside in the yard.
It was a rather interesting (yet overwhelming sometimes) experience for Skylar. She's only ever briefly interacted with Oliver's family once or twice. As someone who grew up without a family, being in the same place as all of Oliver's relatives (sans one evil mother who's imprisoned) and their friends seems heartwarming.
Right now, they were all talking about (debating to put it lightly) their favorite superheroes. With Kaz and Oliver being huge superhero fans, there is no doubt that they would instill those fanboy traits down to Beatrice's kids.
It worked better in Kaz's favor when Bentley was still a preschooler to convince the kid why Tecton was supremely the most powerful superhero, but now Bentley seems to favor this new hero Captain Valor more. He was outright delighted to find out K has taken a liking to superheroes as she got older.
"Captain Valor is obviously the better hero! He has super strength" Bentley pointed out.
"So does your Uncle Oliver." Skylar tried to correct the young teen.
"That's different, uncle Ollie is more like a strong pool noodle!" Bentley huffed, waving a hand dismissively.
"And trying to advertise your boyfriend is just favoritism." K nodded.
Unfortunately, Jordan was taking a sip of drink when the young teen made that comment. She quickly spilled her drink onto Kaz.
"The kid is not wrong." Jordan spoke, struggling not to laugh too hard.
The facial expression Oliver had right now was a mixture of baffled and offended.
"Captain Valor is way better!" Bentley insisted. "He is pretty much indestructible."
"No way, Tecton was THE Captain Valor when I was your age." Kaz huffed his chest.
"Actually now that I think about it, Captain Valor reminds me more of The Crusher." Skylar voiced her opinion, while Kaz and Oliver thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.
"But they're both old now, like mom and dad!" Bentley pointed out.
"I heard that" His mother called out within earshot.
Gus and Jordan were sitting next to Blake when Gus made a remark.
"Hey Jordan, didn't you once throw a spear at Tecton?" Gus remembered.
"You threw a spear at the cardboard?" Blake asked, his big brown eyes widened with curiosity.
"Uh…not quite." Jordan decided to be vague and not let the child know she actually impaled the real Tecton (in civilian form) with a spear.
"If we're talking about the best superheroes, when I was your age the most powerful hero of my time was Captain Atomic." Oscar chimed in.
"Mommy, did you like any superhero when you were a kid?" Blake asked his mom.
"Of course not, I was way too mature for any of that-"
"When Bea was a teenager, her superhero crush was Rodissius." her father answered on her behalf.
- Pause Clip -
"Eh can't blame her." Tracy shrugged, gaining curious looks from her hosts.
"Look, when Rodissius was younger, he was a looker." Tracy showed a picture of her father and Rodissius from when they graduated college.
"Huh, he was handsome." Evie muttered.
"He aged terribly." Lou commented.
"You try raising 13 kids on your own then." Rodissius grumbled from outside the recording room.
"Agreed, I have been taking care of the Fearsome Foursome and the Triple Terror since I was a kid. Single parenthood isn't easy, indeed." Tracy nodded sagely at Rodissius's remark.
"Are you taking his side because he's both your godfather and future father-in-law?"
"Let's keep rolling the clips!"
- Resumes Clip -
Those who had met/fought Rodissius did a double take.
"He's married with kids." Kaz spluttered.13 kids to boot.
"I was young! Besides, it was just a harmless attraction." Beatrice shrugged. Clearly she has no idea how her former superhero celebrity crush had turned out.
"This family reunion keeps revealing new things about my family." Oliver blinked.
"If we're talking about superhero crushes, then Bent here has a crush on Starling." K immediately wasted no time to throw her friend under the bus.
"Starling? Isn't she one of the younger heroes from the Realm of Heroes fantasy league?" Skylar mused, pretending not to know. There have been newer superheroes in recent years, one of which is this young teen named Starling.
Personally, Skylar has met (and briefly mentored) Starling a few times. She's a kind girl and a good hero. But it's better to not mention her personal connection with this young fanboy right here.
"And Bent thinks she's pretty." K teased, causing her friend to blush.
"Psh, no I don't! I just think she's cool and has lots of superpowers!" Bentley denied, before he showed some crime-fighting scenes from Starling's reality tv show.
"You're just saying that because you have just as big of a crush on her like Oliver towards Skylar when we were your age." Kaz snorted.
"Kaz!" Oliver and Skylar blushed red with embarrassment.
"Speaking of cool heroes! Check out what Ultra Violet posted!" K exclaimed, looking rather excited at her phone's notification.
"Who?" Oliver asked out loud.
"A superspeed superhero who wears a Luchador mask from Mexico." K explained, showing the guests a few video clips of Ultra Violet and her crime-fighting mentor the Black Scorpion.
"Huh, luchador themed superheroes. That's a new one." Oliver muttered. I supposed this is something worth looking into once they return to Centium City.
Later that evening after the potluck had ended…
"Thank you for inviting me over to your family event." Skylar turned to look at her boyfriend.
"It's nothing. I just thought that since you didn't exactly have a family back in Caldera, I thought it would be nice if you could be part of mine." Oliver rubbed the back of his neck bashfully.
Skylar blinked, she wasn't really expecting the amount of thought Oliver put into helping her fit in his family life.
"That is really sweet of you," Skylar shook her head with an affectionate smile, as she leaned in to kiss his cheek. "You really are amazing."
"Wow Oliver, is that your lousy way of proposing?" Jordan snorted in amusement.
"Wait, that's not what I meant!" Oliver panicked as his face turned bright red.
"I mean, I do hope that one day you'd become part of my family, but I'm not rushing into marriage!" Oliver explained.
"It's ok, I get it." Skylar nodded. They were still relatively new to the whole dating concept despite being skirting around their feelings for years, but it's better to just take it slow.
"Does this mean Skylar is gonna be my aunt?" Blake asked his parents and grandfather.
"In the future, kid. In the future." Oscar assured his grandson. "I hope to meet more grandkids as well."
"Dad!" Oliver yelped.
"Aww, I love love stories." Beatrice sighed romantically, leaning her head against her husband's shoulder.
"Bea, not you too." Oliver groaned. I guess this was her payback for not backing her up with the whole grill thing earlier.
"We're your family and friends. We are bound to poke fun into your love life." Kaz nodded.
~ Clips Ended ~
"I am always a sucker for reunions, it's when everyone's gathering around and catching up." Lou grinned.
"I agree, it's so nice to see how far everyone has become in life. But…there weren't really a lot of Skoliver scenes." Evie pointed out. She was mildly disappointed but was still happy to see how far Skoliver had grown.
"There's a lot of subtext." the authoress stated.
"Yeah, of how skewers are made." Jay joked.
"And a lot of references to different eras of superheroes." Tracy nodded.
"Honestly, I can relate to Gus in this chapter. He's just chilling around, having fun and is the fifth-wheel." Jones commented, "It took me a few years to upgrade from the seventh wheel to the sixth-wheel lorry driver, but here we are."
"Says the seventh wheel who is now in a relationship." His older sister muttered under her breath.
"You're WHAT?!" Everyone else (sans Tracy) paused for a moment and shouted.
"Since WHEN?!" Lou asked.
"Who is it?" Evie asked. "Do we know them?"
"You don't know her." Jones was as vague as he can be. "Also we've been dating for a year plus."
"More reasons for us to know." Lou shook her head.
"IS IT CARLOS?!" someone shrieked from one of the screens.
"GO AWAY, CAITLIN!" Carlos grumbled, as he immediately deactivated any incoming messages from their chaotic acquaintance.
"Oh no, Caitlin hacked into the system again!" Tracy smacked a hand over her head.
"Considering I am in charge of the IT department, how does she keep hacking in each year?!" Carlos frowned.
Also Jones already stated his significant other is a 'her', so stop trying to make Jonelos canon!
"Why didn't you tell me you were dating?! I'm your best friend!" Carlos demanded.
"We could have double dated." Evie grumbled.
"Because my personal life is literally personal." Jones shook his head.
"WE COULD HAVE DOUBLE DATED!" Evie wailed.
"We all snoop into other people's Valentine's day each February, and you wonder why I never even brought up my relationships here." Jones raised an eyebrow at his friends.
6 out of the 7 hosts here have been featured as the Couple of the Segment at some point, so Jones made a mental reminder to keep his professional life and personal life as two separate matters. Granted, the show did feature him and Cyd as a bromance focus at one point, but they only ever see each other as platonic soulmates. (and love doesn't always have to be about romantic love)
"Fair point." Jay nodded, deciding to shift the topic and attention away from his brother-in-law's new relationship.
"So with one segment down, who will we be expecting next as the couple of the day?" Tracy asked, curious to find out who's gonna show up next.
"Mark Walker & Georgia"
"Welp, time to invite the Mech X4 crew back for another session." Carlos declared.
"This should be fun, the rest of the gang weren't so pleased that we've been snooping on them for the last 2 years." Jones nodded.
"Also, Jones and I won't be around in the next segment. We're going to his college graduation ceremony." Tracy announced.
"Congrats on graduating, Jones." Lou cheered.
"So when will we get to see Jones's girlfriend, authoress?" Evie asked.
"Sorry, that's classified information." the authoress rejected.
"Well, that's all for now. We hope that you have enjoyed this chapter." Jones spoke.
"Feel free to leave a review down below and let us know what you think." Carlos added.
"Thank you so much for reading, and have a great day!" The hosts all waved and bowed to the camera.
Chapter Talk: -
1) In the episode "Wallace and Clyde: A Grand Day Out", Oliver once made a passing mention that he teaches peewee baseball to his nephew, so the idea of Oliver having an older sibling came from there. Meet Beatrice, she is Oliver's half-sister from their dad's previous marriage (I mean in 'Growing Pains; Oliver kept aging to the point he resembled his father). Part of Bea's personality is loosely based off Miss Jenn from 'High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, and her husband is loosely based off Benjamin Mazarra from the series as well (I am a Jenzarra fan)
2) K is mentioned as Kaz's youngest sister (unless their parents decided to have more kids but unlikely) so as of 2023, she and Bentley are both 14 years old (the same age their uncle/older brother were when Mighty Med first started). They are essentially the new generation of Kaz and Oliver. Not sure if they'd meet a Skylar counterpart down the line.
3) There are a lot of references to Mighty Med, Villains of Valley View, and a brief mention to Ultra Violet and Black Scorpion (that show was unfortunately canceled after one season, but it had a good premise). Mostly because VoVV is created by the creators of Lab Rats, so I incorporate some of the themes/characters to fit the new generation of superhuman world (like adapting to reality tv filming)
4) Also I find it funny that Kaz would be debating against a kid/teen about why their favorite superhero is far more superior. Oliver does join in the debate initially but gets vetoed out because he would just be talking about Skylar.
5) The biggest bombshell dropped so far is that Jones has apparently started dating but has yet to introduce his girlfriend to the rest of his friends. Again, Jones is a private person and prefers to keep his personal life and professional life as separate as possible.
Next Couple: Mark Walker & Georgia