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sparkplug02 · 5 months

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This is the Best Part to Play (Lokius fic)

Word Count: 6,393

Lokius Oneshot

Diverges from Season 2, Episode 4 of the Loki (2021-?) series. Some backstory:

After the Time Loom destroyed itself, Loki came to with six Avengers in his face in New York, 2012, after the Temporal Loom overloaded. He panicked, spilled the beans about Thanos, and realized he had just set his timeline on a crash course to branching without the Endgame time travel even interfering yet. Sure enough, the TVA came to prune the branch, but B-15 was one of the hunters again. Loki restored her memory and got the other Minutemen off their backs, but Loki realized that if he wanted to go back to the TVA and try to stop He Who Remains again, his timeline has to be pruned. He did so, warning the Avengers to take the Tesseract and run from Alioth, then left with B-15 who set a reset charge.

Back at the TVA, B-15 bypassed him through processing and made up a lie about Loki being so uncooperative that she just pruned him to save time. During a more proper reunion, B-15 explained that she essentially went through the same thing: she woke up in her timeline, right before it branched, was arrested, had her memory wiped, and was made into a TVA hunter.

Loki and B-15 find O.B., whose memory was left intact, and Casey, who was grateful that he was brought back. O.B. and Casey are working on crafting new tech so they can try again, and B-15 is making sure that no one has caught onto them. Sylvie is unaccounted for. Now it's time to get Mobius back.

"Excuse me?"

Excuse? Like Mobius needed an excuse for a break. He had been staring at paperwork for too long.

He looked up and saw a tall man peaking around the walls of his cubicle. An analyst, but not one Mobius recognized.

"Agent Mobius, right?"

"That's me," he affirmed, letting the file he had been reading fall to his desk and facing the analyst. "Something wrong?"

"I was wondering if I could... run something by you," the analyst requested, gesturing behind him away from the desk. "I was just transferred here, so I'm still new to this sector, but I've come across something that I'd like to take higher up. Before I do that, though, I'd really like to get a second pair of eyes on this. I've been asking around and everyone says you're the person to go to."

If Mobius could hear the voice screaming in his head, he didn't pay attention to it. "Well, I'm flattered. Not sure if I'm your guy, but I can take a look." He rose from his chair and went with the analyst back down the aisle. "What did you say your name was again?"

"Loki, Agent Loki." He held his hand out to Mobius to shake as they walked.

Mobius didn't hesitate to shake it. "Huh. Nice to meet you. You know, there's this guy on the Sacred Timeline with the name 'Loki,' too," he said, tilting his head. "A real troublemaker. You heard of them?"

"A couple times," Loki said, glancing over his shoulder behind them. "A real piece of work, if you ask me. We've gotten so many of their Variants recently."

"I know, that's what makes it cool. I mean, come on. How crazy do you have to be to keep branching like that?"

"Pretty crazy."

"Yeah." Mobius wondered why he hadn't met this analyst yet. He seemed like a nice guy. Easy to talk to. It was like they had already known each other for years or something. "So what's this thing I'm looking at?"

"It's, uh..." he looked around again. Mobius couldn't tell what he was looking for, but he didn't ask either. "I think there's a weakness in our strategy."

"A weakness? Like what?"

"A loophole. A way for Variants to hide on the Sacred Timeline without being detected. This way," he said, pointing Mobius down a hallway that was less crowded.

"That's, that's impossible," Mobius argued. "Variants set off a Nexus event everywhere they go. You can't take five steps without creating a branch down there."

"Unless you know where to go," Loki explained, "and more specifically, when to go there. I know it sounds crazy, but I promise this will make sense."

Mobius shrugged. He wasn't sold on this yet, but that's why he was here, right? "Okay, so... what am I looking at?"

"I think it'd be easier if I showed you." He pulled a TemPad from his pocket and held it up. "May I?"

Well, that certainly didn't clear anything up, but he didn't object. Loki opened a time door and held a hand out. "After you."

"Do I need a field vest for this?"

"No, no need for that."

"...alright." This new guy was... interesting, to say the least. Maybe that's why he got transferred. Mobius walked through the door with no idea what to expect on the other side.

He tried to ignore the growing headache he felt. It was like there was someone trapped in his head, banging on the wall separating them, screaming to be let out. To do something. It was all... muffled, and if Mobius was honest with himself (which he didn't let himself do) it had been going on for a while. It hadn't been this annoying until now, though. Maybe he needed to get it checked out.

On the other side of the time door, Mobius found himself standing in Pompeii in the year 79 AD. He took a look around at the people milling about, all of whom were calm and unbothered and, most importantly, alive. Mount Vesuvius hadn't blown yet, but Mobius had a feeling it would soon. After all, there's only one reason why Pompeii was so important in the grand scheme of history.

"I'll say this much, you definitely know how to pick tourists spots," Mobius said. Behind him, Loki stepped through the time door right before it closed. "Not sure what this has to do with your loophole theory, but-"

A hand grabbed his wrist. Anyone standing in front of Mobius would have seen his eyes begin to glow green.

Loki exhaled, breathing a sigh of relief. Getting Mobius away from the TVA had been the risky part. Now that they were in an apocalypse, they were undetectable, but he could still feel his heart racing in his chest. Restoring B-15 and Casey's memory had been quick and easy, but for some reason, Loki couldn't just trust that it would work a third time. As long as he held on, though, as long as he didn't let go, there was hope. As soon as he retreated out of Mobius's mind, there was a chance that Mobius would still not know him and everything was about to fall apart.

But not yet. Not yet.

"Mobius," he said, his voice low despite the lack of present danger. "I hope you can hear me. I hope you're still in there, somewhere."

No response. There wouldn't be a response until Loki let go, but he couldn't yet. He couldn't let go of his hope yet.

"I don't know what they did to you," he went on, lowering his gaze. "I don't know how long it's been, but I'm almost sure it's been longer for you than it has been for me. All I know is that I found my way back. I'm back, Mobius." Loki let out another shaky breath. "We can try again. I don't know what we did wrong last time, but we can figure it out and fix it, but we need you back, Mobius. The others are back, too. B-15, Casey, O.B., they're all back again. We have another chance."

All he could do was stare at the back of Mobius's head, but it was better than looking him in the face and risk seeing an empty, blank, unrecognizing stare in return. "I hope you're still in there, somewhere. We need you back, Mobius." That wasn't it, though, was it? Not all of it. "I need you back. Please," he whispered closing his eyes. "Please, come back."

Moment of truth. Either pruning his own timeline was worth it for this exact moment, or everything was about to fall apart again, except maybe even worse than the first time.

Loki let go of his mind. He felt Mobius relax and regain control of his body, and he heard his breathing quicken and stagger. He couldn't look. If Mobius turned around and still didn't know him, he didn't know what he was going to do and he wasn't ready to face that reality yet. Loki looked down instead, and he slowly released Mobius's wrist.

Except Mobius was quicker than him. Just as Loki was about to pull his hand back, rough fingers caught his and clutched onto them.

His hope was back, and it was shining all the brighter now. He looked up, daring to take a chance on hope.

He saw Mobius staring back at him, staring like he had just woken up from a nightmare. Staring like he was afraid. Staring like the world was crashing down around him (and in his head, it might as well have been) and he was looking at the last thing still standing. "Loki?"

"Mobius!"

And then everything was okay. It was impossible to tell if Loki pulled Mobius in for a hug or if Mobius pulled in Loki, but it didn't really matter in the end, did it?

The wall separating Mobius's memory from his consciousness had been shattered the moment Loki enchanted him, but that also meant the screaming voice was let loose too. Along with a flood of memories crashing into place came the gut-wrenching realization of what all of it meant. His Nexus event. His sons, who were both gone along with his timeline. The memory wipe. The transition to being an analyst and... Mobius's eyes shot wide. The work. The targeting. The pruning. Hundreds of years of it.

"Mobius?"

I did that. I did it all over again.

His legs were buckling underneath him, and the only thing keeping Mobius upright was Loki, dropping to his knees so he could catch Mobius as he lost the ability to stand. Somehow, his hands still worked, and now he was gripping Loki's jacket in his fists so tightly he was half-dragging Loki down with him.

"Mobius, are you alright?"

"Oh, god," he mumbled, but it was only just beginning. "It happened again. All of it, all over again. The Sacred Timeline... it's back. It's all back, and nothing- nothing happened, we're all back at the beginning-"

"I know, it's okay-"

"They didn't do anything! They didn't even know and we just sent them to the End with nothing and we didn't care!"

"You couldn't have known, this isn't your fault-"

"I did."

The screaming was only getting louder. It wasn't just Mobius panicking internally (though that was certainly happening as well).

No. No, that was too easy.

"I knew," he said, just barely above a whisper. He pulled back off of Loki just enough so he could think. "I knew when I got back. I was punted right back to my Nexus event, right before it, and I knew it was coming. The Minutemen came in and I knew who they were, I knew what they were going to do."

The screaming wasn't just because Mobius realized what horrors he helped the TVA commit. It wasn't just because his mind was being flooded with memories of the previous loop. It wasn't just because they failed to modify the Time Loom before it overloaded and the TVA had been destroyed.

"They wouldn't listen. I tried to tell them we were all Variants but they wouldn't listen. I was trying to get back but I didn't know how and I didn't know where you were, nobody would listen to what I was saying, they wouldn't listen-!"

His only comfort in that moment was Loki, hugging him tightly and blocking out everything else, but not even that could silence the storm in his head. He knew. He knew what was happening as he was dragged before a judge-before RENSLAYER-and there was nothing he could do about it. The voice in his head wasn't just screaming.

It was mourning.

It was finally giving a voice to the last remnant of Mobius who knew what he had lost, who knew what the truth was, and who knew what was coming. It had been silenced for so long, but now it demanded to be heard.

I LOST MY FRIENDS! it shouted to the wind. No one heard it, but better to shout at nothing than to be eaten alive by it. I LOST THE ONLY CHANCE WE HAD TO SAVE THE MULTIVERSE! I LOST THE ONLY THING I KNEW, THE ONLY THING I HAD LEFT! I LOST MY BOYS AGAIN! MY SONS, THEY WERE SENT TO THEIR DEATHS AND ALL I COULD DO WAS WATCH! I LOST EVERYTHING I KNEW ABOUT THE TRUTH! I LOST MY MEMORY! I LOST MY COMPASSION FOR VARIANTS, I FORGOT THAT I WAS ONE! I LOST EVERYTHING I WAS FIGHTING FOR! I BECAME PART OF THE PROBLEM AGAIN AND I NEVER WOULD HAVE REMEMBERED BUT! I! KNEW!! I KNEW AND I COULDN'T DO ANYTHING!!!

Vesuvius might have blown up then and there but Mobius wouldn't have been able to move. His guilt gutted him, leaving his chest hollow like there was something missing. The TVA didn't just take his memory. It took away his understanding, his autonomy. It took away the fight from inside him, the desire to fix what was broken and hurt. I wasn't ME, Mobius finally realized. That was the worst part of it all. He had become a shell of the person he had become when the Time Loom overloaded.

What did I do?

The voice in his head, having finally been able to have their say, fell quiet, but the memories didn't. Everything he had done came back to him. All the Variants he had seen pruned, all the cases he had analyzed, all the timelines that had been destroyed... he saw all of it. 'I've seen the horror waiting for people when they get pruned, and there's nothing necessary about that.' Hadn't he said that? How could he have forgotten that? How could he... how could he have stood by and let that happen to anyone?

It was too late now. They were gone, or at best running around with a bunch of Loki Variants trying to dodge Alioth. Everything was back to the way it started. The TVA, the Sacred Timeline, and probably the Loom, it was all where it had been when they started putting the pieces together. All their work, all their sacrifices and their risk amounted to nothing in the end. Nothing had changed, no one had been saved.

Until now.

Loki had found his way back. No doubt, he had caused some mischief in order to retain his memory and masquerade as an analyst long enough to get Mobius here where the TVA couldn't detect them. They couldn't detect that Mobius had his memory back, and they definitely couldn't detect that Loki was hugging him, shielding him from the rest of the world.

He didn't know what Mobius was thinking, but he didn't have to. Mobius was shaking so hard that, if he hadn't been clinging onto Loki so tightly, it felt like he might fall apart at the seams. It was as if Loki was the only thing keeping him in one piece. Loki held still, grounding him like an anchor at sea (that was, if somehow the ocean could be inside the ship).

If he was honest, he needed to hold Mobius together as much as Mobius needed him to do the same. The TVA couldn't possibly notice them here, but that didn't alleviate the fear that someone would barge into 79 AD and rip the two of them apart again. If that happened, who knew how long it would be before they could regain their memory and find each other again. Loki didn't want to think about it, so he cradled Mobius's head with one hand and held him closer, hiding him from the powers that be. Don't take this from me. Not now. Not when I've just got him back.

Slowly, the shaking slowed. Mobius was still holding on, but it was less like a drowner holding onto a lifeline and more like a sailor hanging onto a mast. "It's okay," Loki whispered, hoping his voice would further ground Mobius in the present. "It wasn't your fault. They took that choice from you. This isn't your fault."

"But I knew," he cried, blinking away tears. "I knew it."

Loki wanted to erase all of Mobius's guilt, to relieve the pain of the truth, but he would have to take Mobius's memory again and he refused to do that. "I wish it wasn't true. I wish I could wipe it all away and tell you something better, but I can't. We couldn't stop it."

We couldn't stop it.

Saying it out loud made it real and irreversible, but it also made it seem a little smaller. They didn't do this. Mobius and Loki hadn't brought this to the multiverse willingly, and neither had any of their friends. They failed to stop it, but they tried. Oh, how they tried, and it hadn't been enough. Somehow, putting into words made it an easier reality to face.

No, they couldn't stop it, but now they knew. Now they could confront their failure and maybe, just maybe, do something about it.

Finally, finally, Mobius seemed to find some peace. The tension in his body slowly released, and he melted into the embrace. Loki bowed his head, shutting his eyes and just enjoying the touch, nothing else. Mobius was back. He was hurting and shaken, but he knew Loki again and that was enough for right now. Loki leaned his head against Mobius, and if he noticed that Loki's lips were brushing the side of his head, Mobius didn't say anything about it.

The solution to all stress was food. It was foolproof.

Pompeii fast-food restaurants looked nothing like their twenty-first century equivalents, but the owners let the strange men in strange clothes order and take a seat with only mild suspicion. It was the best Loki and Mobius could hope for, really.

The soup was decent too.

It kept them busy so speaking wasn't really necessary. The volcano still had a while before it was set to erupt, so neither of them were in a rush. Sitting together again felt so familiar, so mundane. How many times had they done this before?

Mobius was nearly done with his bowl when he finally asked, "I'm guessing you enchanted the Minutemen when they came to your timeline?"

Nodding, Loki scraped up the last of his soup. He had eaten fast than Mobius had. "B-15 was one of them again. When I saw her but she didn't recognize me, I realized what was happening. It was a last-ditch attempt. I still can barely believe it worked."

"So she's back too?"

"Yes. She's covering for my case. I assume she's going to make something up about how I was an unruly prisoner and she decided to prune me to save everyone the trouble."

"Did you manage to salvage your timeline?"

His face fell as he shook his head. "There was no way to protect it without raising suspicion. Of course, by that time, I had already done too much."

"What do you mean?"

"I panicked. I tried to explain what was about to happen to the Avengers before I realized what I was doing. Just telling them about the TVA and the multiverse was enough to cause a branch." Loki's eyes unfocused as he looked at the ground. "I gave them the Tessaract before we set the reset charge. Told them to stay away from Alioth. It was all I could do."

Mobius's face quickly adopted the same glazed-over look. "Yeah. I mean, who knows? It might be enough to give them a fighting chance."

"We'll know soon enough. If they do survive, I have a feeling we'll see them before long."

They fell into silence again. Loki was done with his meal, but he didn't make any motion to rise from his seat.

"I had kids."

Loki stared at Mobius, but his eyes were unfocused, staring off into space. "Two boys, little kids. Their mom was long gone, it was just us, and..."

He didn't need to go on. They were variants. They knew perfectly well what had happened to their timelines and everyone in it. If those children were pruned, they were gone.

"Did they understand what was happening?"

Mobius shook his head. "I told them to go in the house and close the curtains. Didn't want them to see it, but the Mintutemen said they were under arrest too."

"Even if you were the Variant?"

"That's what I tried to tell them. They were just kids, they had no idea what was wrong. They didn't even do anything. It was my Nexus event, not theirs, but they still..." Mobius sighed, shoving away the rest of his food.

They sat there for a moment, until suddenly, Mobius stood up without warning and walked off.

Loki blinked, then rose and followed him. "Mobius?"

No response. The restaurant staff, who had been trying to learn more about their strange guests but couldn't understand their language, watched one lead the other down the street, away from the center of town and out of sight. Oh, well. There went their free entertainment for the day.

"Mobius!" he called again, weaving around other people passing by. "Mobius, where are you going?"

"I don't know, anywhere!" he said defeatedly, throwing his hands up. "Not like it really matters, does it? Nothing matters in an apocalypse!"

He knew he wasn't going to get away from Loki, he could catch up eventually, but he needed to get away from... something. He had to. He couldn't bear to sit still because if he did that, he could hear his sons screaming for him to help them all over again.

Just as quickly as he had started, Mobius abruptly stopped walking in the middle of the street, his head hanging low. Loki just barely stopped in time, nearly plowing right into Mobius.

Pompeii moved all around them like a river coursing around a stone in the middle of the current. Smoke was rising in the distance. Loki and Mobius were in this world but not part of it, and if their suits didn't give that away, the distance between them and everyone else did. You might have thought they were on fire by how no one else was willing to come close to them.

Loki reached out and touched Mobius's arm lightly, just to tell him he was there. It helped. Mobius made half a turn, then finally spoke again: "How many times do you think we've done this?"

No answer came, but Mobius didn't wait for one. "How many times do you think I was held back while I watched my sons get pruned? How many times has B-15 pruned you? How many times has someone, maybe us, found the truth about the Timekeepers and He Who Remains?"

"You think it's a loop?" Loki asked. "Time isn't supposed to exist in the TVA."

"Then how did we end up back here?"

"Maybe when the Loom overloaded, it reset everything."

"How many times?" Mobius asked. "How many times has the Loom overloaded? How many times did the people who figured out the truth get reset and wiped? Or worse, pruned?"

"We can change that," Loki said, infusing as much certainty into his voice as he could. "You're back, I'm back, B-15 is back, and we'll find the others before long. We can skip the bit with the Timekeepers and be one step ahead this time."

"And then what? I mean, should we kill He Who Remains again, or will that just reset the loop again?"

"I don't know, but we'll figure it out."

"How? And what if we get it wrong?"

"We'll try again!"

"And then what?"

Loki searched his eyes for an explanation. "What do you mean?"

"What if we try again, and again, and again?" Mobius asked. He looked around at the street surrounding them, his shoulders falling. "What if this is it? What if there is no way to break the loop?"

"No," Loki said, mostly just being stubborn at this point. "No. I don't believe that. There is an ending to this, one where the multiverse is set free, and we're going to find it."

"But what if we don't?" Mobius asked. "What if you keep saying that we're going to find it and we keep coming back together and we keep trying something different but it ends the same every time? How long before something goes wrong?"

Loki grabbed Mobius and pulled him gently but firmly to an alley between two buildings. No one was watching them, but this wasn't for these people to see. They didn't need to listen to them worry in their last minutes.

"This has happened before," Mobius went on. "Maybe not with us, specifically, but this can't be the first time someone has gotten to the bottom of this whole mess. They probably tried to the same thing we did."

"But they're not us," Loki argued. "We were close. We were so close! If we can just figure out where we went wrong-"

"What if there is no right way?"

"Don't say that!"

"If it all gets destroyed anyway, then nothing matters, right? Just like in an apocalypse. One way or another, it all gets destroyed in the end. We get destroyed in the end. We're just going to lose over and over again, and I can't do it!"

"Mobius-"

"Losing the kids twice was bad enough. Losing you and all the others at the Loom was bad enough! How are we going to just keep doing this if we can't-"

Loki grabbed Mobius's shoulders and stared him straight in the face. "Maybe you're right!"

It was the only thing that stopped Mobius's spiral. Loki only said it so he would listen. Mobius couldn't give up, not now. Not when Loki had given up everything just to get him back.

"Maybe we're in an endless loop," Loki admitted. "Maybe we're trapped in this game with He Who Remains and we can never win and we're doomed to repeat this over and over and over again. I don't believe that," he said, pausing to make sure Mobius knew that much. "I don't believe it. There is an end to this and I'm going to keep fighting until we find it, but if this is a loop..."

Mobius was calm enough to listen now, but he was clinging to every last word Loki said. Was there any good in this? If anyone could find the light in a loop this dark and this terrible, Loki could, but was it even there? Had he found it?

"If this is a loop," Loki repeated, "if all we can do is resist but never win, if the Loom will overload and send us all back to the Sacred Timeline every single time, if we have to do this again, then this is the best part to play."

He tried to think, tried to find the words to say exactly what he meant, because without any explanation, it was insane. How could any part of a loop this horrific and constricting be 'the best part?'

Loki couldn't think of what he needed, and he was about to just blurt out something, but he looked at Mobius first, and that stopped him. This is the best part to play.

"It matters," he said. It was such a simple way to say something so important, but it was true. "It matters that we want to give people a chance to escape the fate of the Sacred Timeline. It feels pointless, because if all of this is just a loop, then it doesn't feel like anything we do will change the outcome, but it's not about that. It's, it's like an apocalypse. Nothing matters, right?" Somehow, Loki found himself echoing the same words he told Mobius the first time they came to Pompeii, but oh, how time had changed the meaning. "In a few minutes, all of this will be gone. All of these people, everything they care about, all gone. That's what every apocalypse does, and that's why the TVA can't detect anything that happens here, so nothing matters."

"Yeah, except when someone finds a way to use an apocalypse as a smoke screen for something bigger," Mobius pointed out. At least he was calm enough to make quips again. "It doesn't stop the apocalypse, but it mattered to us."

"Exactly. It was still destroyed in the end, but it still mattered."

He looked down. He didn't know how to make this make sense, but it did to him. Loki relaxed his arms, but he didn't let go of Mobius's shoulders. Mobius didn't seem to mind that.

"If this is all a loop," he started again, "if nothing we do can stop He Who Remains, and if all we can do is delay the inevitable, then we're just cogs in a machine we can't change. There are parts to play, and if we don't try to do something, someone else will eventually, and it will all just happen anyway. Either we can pretend like we don't know anything and hope for the best, or we can fight the hopeless fight. We can resist He Who Remains and try to give people free will and a chance to live outside the Sacred Timeline, and we can fight for the TVA agents who have already lost everything. That fight, even if we can never win it, matters. It matters," Loki insisted. "It matters that we choose to fight for something better than what is. If we have to be part of this loop, then I would rather be part of the side that stands for hope and freedom. I would rather go through this loop a thousand times and lose over and over again than be part of the problem."

Mobius let his gaze fall. He had been part of the problem. Not willingly, but he had, and so had B-15, and Casey, and everyone else at the TVA. He could go back and just go through the motions again, but what kind of person would that make him?

Loki wasn't done. "I would rather us be sabotaged by Renslayer than to follow her. I would rather us take chances on Variants like Timely than trust He Who Remains. I would rather us brainstorm and plan and fail than to not try at all. I would rather us work together, knowing that we trust each other and that we're fighting for something worthy of a fight, and lose it in the end than not have it to begin with. I would rather risk coming here to get you back, and to get all our friends back again, and watch that Loom overload and start all over again than to not have come back again. This is the best part to play," he said, and Mobius looked up again. "Our part."

Our part. The part where they cared more about actual, real people than they cared about a bureaucracy and fake gods. The part where they had their real memories and real friendships and were allowed to mourn those for the lives that no longer were. The part where, even if branches were dying, their conscience was clear. The part where they were allowed to choose which side to stand on in this war on loop.

The part where they faced the death of hundreds, if not thousands, of branches together. The part where they hunted down traitors like X-5 and Dox together. The part where they faced the destruction of the TVA together. The part where they knew what was coming but at least they would do it together.

Maybe that last bit wasn't what Loki meant, but it was reason enough for Mobius. That screaming voice in his head was out now, content now that it knew Loki knew he knew who Loki was. Everything was set right again. Loki was back, having managed to evade the TVA's attempts to prune him in true Loki fashion, and Mobius was his entire self again. Sure, if the Loom blew again, they'd have to start all over, and everything hinged on the hope that Loki would find a way to restore Mobius's memory before something bad happened, but that wasn't going to happen yet, right? They had time. It was running out, but it wasn't gone yet.

He breathed out, just barely nodding. It would be one thing if Mobius didn't remember what happened before the Temporal Loom destroyed itself, or if he had been captured or killed or something worse. This was an entirely other thing, though. They had a chance to restore the Multiverse, to free the timelines, and protect billions of innocent lives. Doing anything else now wouldn't just be ignorance but malice. Mobius wasn't malicious, and he wasn't heartless either. He was going to fight this fight, pointless or not. He couldn't, in good conscience, do anything else. The slim hope that maybe it would work this time was enough reason to try.

But damn it if the friends he made along the way didn't give him more reasons to do something pointless anyway.

It hurt. Knowing he couldn't save his timeline hurt. Knowing he had condemned his world by intentionally causing a Nexus event hurt. Dooming his sons to a terrifying death hurt. Knowing he could yell and shout at the other TVA agents that they were Variants too to no avail hurt. Having his memory erased really hurt. Realizing what he had done after the mind-wipe hurt worst of all. He hung his head just thinking about it.

The other memories, though, the kind, warm memories of light banter and soda-drenched salads and running from cloud monsters and supporting each other through tense meetings and troubleshooting time-slipping and crashing movie premieres and key lime pie and mischievous plans and Cracker Jack and arguing over tiny little figurines... that was worth it. Even if they couldn't win a doomed war, wasn't it all worth it for moments like that? They had already lost their timelines. If for nothing else, didn't they have to fight for the one life they had left?

He ought to say something. Loki was right, even if it was such a bleak destiny to resign to. Mobius opened his mouth to say something, but before any sound could come out, he felt Loki's forehead touch his, just barely. He could have just bumped it by accident if neither of them knew better.

Mobius pressed his forehead into the touch, and that seemed to say whatever it was he was thinking for him. I'm in this,he might have said. It's going to hurt, but I'm not backing out. I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, but as long as I can hold your hand in the dark, I'm in this.

That was a good place to stay for a while.

The bustle of Pompeii seemed to quiet around them, like someone was turning down the volume control to the world. The quiet assurance that they were going to face whatever waited for them back at the TVA together made it easier to accept. Mobius still had a gut-wrenching fear that everything was still doomed to fail, but it didn't seem so intimidating right now. They had faced it once before, after all, and so had others before them in previous loops. He had been arrested and memory-wiped and conditioned and persuaded and pruned and betrayed and nearly had his skin ripped off and provoked to lose control and blown back to the Sacred Timeline only to repeat at least part of that process, but he had still made it this far. If he had to chose, he'd rather go through it all again with Loki than by himself. If he was doomed to be part of this loop, then he wasn't going to play his part alone.

Somehow, Loki still had shining hope that there was an end to this. Mobius didn't have that hope, despite all that he wished he did, but he did have Loki. As long as they were still willing to try, whether it would change the outcome or not, this was the best part to play. Their part. "Our part," he finally said out loud.

A deep rumbling in the distance interrupted the moment quite rudely. Unfortunately, they were still in Pompeii, and unfortunately, Mount Vesuvius was still set to erupt right about now.

"I think that's our cue," Mobius said, if not a bit disappointed.

"B-15 is going to grab Casey, and then we'll all go downstairs and find O.B.," Loki explained, but he didn't pull away. The Pompeii residents were beginning to scream and run, but the two of them still hadn't moved.

Right, the others. Mobius's friends. All of them. "Okay, and then what?"

"Then we do whatever it takes to stay under the radar until we can come up with a plan," Loki assured him, "preferably one that Renslayer doesn't know about."

"Oh, shit."

Loki smiled. "I see you remember that as well."

"I do now. What about Miss Minutes?"

"We'll figure it out," he promised. "We have another chance at this. We have time."

Mobius nodded, and they really had to go now. Loki finally let go of his shoulders, reaching into his pocket for a TemPad. His other hand drifted down, prepared to keep Mobius in front of him just in case the volcano blast moved faster than they wanted, but Mobius grabbed it instead.

They had time. They had time to come up with a plan, they had time to do it right this time, but they also had time for them. Mobius was sure there was more to say, more they hadn't quite gotten out before Vesuvius blew, but they would have time for it later. Explaining why they had become such good friends in such a short period of time would be interesting to say the least, but that was their part to play.

With one last look behind them, Mobius and Loki walked through the time door Loki had summoned, back into the hallway they had left not long ago.

"Well, I'd say you're definitely onto something," Mobius said, half-startling Loki. "We're gonna need a lot more evidence though. Something this big needs proof."

Oh, right. Their cover. "I know you must be busy with other cases, but can you spare some time for this?"

"Yeah, I think I can make that work." For a split second, Loki saw a knowing, dare he say mischievous, smile return to Mobius's face. In that moment, it was rather easy to pretend they were back at the beginning again with no knowledge of a greater plot or a Time Loom or fake Timekeepers or anything beyond the TVA and the Sacred Timeline.

Hopeless as their part might be, but that didn't mean they couldn't get their fun where and when they could. Mobius was still holding onto Loki's hand, not willing to separate again so soon.

I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, but as long as I can hold your hand in the dark, I'm in this. This is our part, and this is the best part to play.

#lokius #loki series #loki season 2 #loki #mobius #loki x mobius

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kylesvariouslistsandstuff · 10 days

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So yeah... That totally unnecessary Nelson Peltz proxy fight saga of current-day Disney is finally over.

Thank goodness. Peltz seemed like he was acting on behalf of former Marvel Entertainment CEO Ike Perlmutter, another guy who is bad news bears to say the least. Peltz just looked like another old man who plays to the crowd that loves to call everything "woke". While it doesn't take rocket science to figure out that The Walt Disney Company is having some trouble across various divisions, their solution wasn't even a solution. Nothing remotely near that.

Interestingly, Disney finally released their first *new* theatrical movie this year, a $30m prequel to THE OMEN that got solid reviews but struggled on opening weekend for whatever reason. It's looking to perform more like last year's new EXORCIST movie than 2018 HALLOWEEN (both films directed by David Gordon Green), I guess not all horror legacy sequels (lega-sequels) are destined to make coin. No matter, $30m isn't steep, it should make it back eventually if not in theaters. It's a 20th Century Studios movie, so it's no big deal really.

Weirdly, POOR THINGS is one of their few box office successes released over the past 12 or so months, outside of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 and - by a hair - ELEMENTAL. 20th kinda came to the rescue there, too: A HAUNTING IN VENICE doubled its budget, THE BOOGEYMAN did pretty good.

All I know is, Disney's probably never going to relive 2019 again... And I feel like they keep trying to make that year happen again... But it won't, because that was a case of the planets freakin' aligning...

I extend that to the 2010s in general, honestly, but I'll focus on 2019...

That year saw the billion-dollar releases of - in order: CAPTAIN MARVEL, AVENGERS: ENDGAME, ALADDIN, TOY STORY 4, THE LION KING, FROZEN II, and THE RISE OF SKYWALKER... They got a moderate success out of the MALEFICENT sequel that year, too, while the live-action DUMBO didn't recoup its - ironically - massive budget. (The original 1941 DUMBO was a low-budget picture belted out during the war.) Some 20th titles came out that year, too, most of them not doing great, like the X-Men movie DARK PHOENIX and Blue Sky's penultimate SPIES IN DISGUISE (I call it penultimate because I consider NIMONA a partial Blue Sky movie, their swan song).

Even then, that was a year to die for. But that's the rub... ENDGAME was the culmination of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's whole Infinity Saga. 11 years in the making, it's astounding it was able to have juice for that long! Yes, yes, I know, SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME was the *actual* end of Phase 3... That functions more like an epilogue, while ENDGAME was the big finale event everyone waited for... and of course, CAPTAIN MARVEL benefited greatly from being the movie that preceded ENDGAME. By less than two months... TOY STORY 4 was locked to be big, because TOY STORY 3 made a billion nine years earlier. ALADDIN and THE LION KING were remakes of some of Disney's biggest animated movies, and FROZEN II was a sequel to another one of Disney's biggest animated movies. RISE OF SKYWALKER ended the entire Skywalker Saga... And ending the main story of one of the biggest franchises- You get the idea!

Suffice to say, Disney's not going to have that year again. They'd have to acquire like another 2-3 franchises, and release their finales all during the same year in addition to two other favorites. The MCU isn't the must-see event with each and every film anymore post-ENDGAME, Star Wars' future is probably in serialized shows still, the remake well has run dry and all the biggest Disney animated movies were pretty much covered (SNOW WHITE - from the one that started everything - is on its way, but I see that performing more similarly to DUMBO and not LITTLE MERMAID), and... Well, animated movies that aren't sequels are more of a gamble nowadays.

But it seems like in 2025 and 2026, Disney's looking to keep trying this usual platter of movies that would've been a killer line-up in 2017. Not today. That's how I felt about their offering last year, too.

It's a lot of reliance on the brands. New Star Wars sounds like box office gold, right? Well, two new Star Wars movies in 2026 after all those movies Disney did from 2015-2019 in addition to what seems like a ton of Disney+ shows... And Grogu was super-popular back when he first appeared in THE MANDALORIAN back in 2019... Yeah, like, who knows how those will do... In addition to all the Marvel movies planned, not all of them are gonna get everyone packing the auditoriums - as we saw with QUANTUMANIA and THE MARVELS. (And on the Warner Bros./DC end, SHAZAM! 2 and BLUE BEETLE, even AQUAMAN 2 didn't make half of what the first one made, THE FLASH fell sharply after its opening.)

And then you have the animated sequels, which seem like safe bets. Disney only missed with Pixar's LIGHTYEAR, which was a spin-off that went a totally different direction that seemed to have alienated the audiences that made all the TOY STORY movies the big hits that they were. TOY STORY 5 likely does way better than that, but I expect it to be a box office come down from the last two. It would have to have a real banger story, I feel, to get people to keep coming. I think MOANA 2, ZOOTOPIA 2, and FROZEN III - all from Disney Animation - are locked to at least open big. If they're very unsatisfactory movies to the public - like STRANGE WORLD and WISH were, then they have weak legs... And smackdab between this sequel-frenzy is one original Pixar movie: Space adventure ELIO.... Which got delayed, supposedly because it was a big mess and it needed another year and a half to be reconfigured. Not that that really means anything, but it's sure to balloon its probably already-big budget. ELEMENTAL had to climb and climb to somewhat eke out a profit, ELIO might have even more trouble as an original movie. It's also not known what Pixar's other 2026 movie is opposite TOY STORY 5, though I suspect it is another original, which will make it stick out as well. WDAS' original movies seem missing in action at the moment.

20th Century Studios and Searchlight continue to have the interesting stuff, which I think will last longer than more Marvel and Star Wars movies. Both studios really did become a replacement for Disney's former adult movie label Touchstone, didn't they? And they too have their franchise biggies, more for Disney, with the likes of PLANET OF THE APES and ALIEN... Whose new installments come out this year and are sure to do okay. Plus, more AVATAR... And yet those franchise don't feel - to me - as overdone as Star Wars and the MCU. It's been 7 years since the last APES and ALIEN movies, weirdly enough (WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES and ALIEN: COVENANT), and AVATAR took a long break before returning with a cluster sequels all reasonably spaced out from one another. PREDATOR/PREY looks to keep going. I also wonder if future KINGSMAN movies are still in play.

Again, it's the little stuff that matters, because wells always run dry... And I think that's Disney's problem at the moment, ditto them playing things way too safe in other areas... I've said that before, but they - specifically on the "Walt Disney Pictures" end - need to just let loose and let a filmmaker just make something dynamic and cool and new. Something that takes the audience completely by surprise, not just another "Disney movie". Something like PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN or WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT. And make more smaller movies, too, and not relegate them to streaming. Little movies like THE PRINCESS DIARIES, HOLES, etc. We're in that scene in RATATOUILLE again where the patrons of Gusteau's ask if there's anything *new* on the menu...

The time is now, Disney. With a new head of your live-action division, let's see what you've got. We're past calendar years locked and loaded with 8 tentpole movies...

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thedramaticduke · 1 year

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Soo, because I'll otherwise loose my mind, here my ranking for the eight stories (of course, big spoilers follow, also for the endgame)

1. Osvald

This was pretty much a safe card to get into my favourites. A broken science man, who first starts out with wanting to avenge his wife and daughter, but then realises that his daughter is alive and saves her? That's good shit for people with father issues right there.

But what really got me with him was... everything around him. How he slowly warms up to the other travel companions, how he lets other close to him again. In the last travel banter with Partitio he talks about how he realizes that he managed his journey only because of his companions, and how he finally sees the sense behind small talk and. It's so great. He was my starter and even though it was really funny at the beginning how that lone wolf suddenly was surrounded by five children, Temenos and Castii, I could see him lead my squad at the end against Vide. That's what I call character development.

And I know that after the epilogue the first thing he did was run back home, confronted his fear and hugged his daughter. Trust me, I'm Square Enix.

2. Ochette

I'm sorry, but I couldn't put her lower. Ochette's story was so nicely put together - I love how all three legendary Pokémon beasts have separate stories, but one element that unites them all: how humanity destroys nature without reason or remorse. But still Ochette stays strong and kind and has hopes and... God, that was great to see. That moment when she befriended Glacis and the other companion was honestly beautiful.

The only thing that annoys me is the fact that the dark huntress was so... irrelevant at the end. I expected a plottwist around her, something like 'haha, this character from story X was actually her!' but... no. Shes just an evil fanatic who has only one appearance when she gets killed by the other companion. A little bit lackluster tbh.

But yeah, Ochette is my daughter and I would kill for her.

3. Castii

That third chapter. God damnit.

I'm really surprised how much I liked Castii at the end. Once again, family issues and all, but also... her story is so dark. She could save the day, but so many people had to pay for it and it was so brilliant how you could go into the empty village from the beginning (it was even part of the demo) and ask yourself "what the fuck happened here?" before all becomes clear. Its so bittersweet and I'm all here for it.

4. Partitio

I know, his story is not the most... logical one. But sometimes you want to live in an indulgent fantasy where you beat capitalists up and then they see the errors of their ways and where a rich sugar daddy aristocrat gives you 80 billion dollar because you inspired him enough. But yeah, he's just so fun and I love how, even though so many people change throughout OT 2, he always stays the same idealistic optimistic moron who inspires the people around him. And how Ori pretty much confirmed that the reason she saw hope again was because of Partitio? Whoof.

Also my head canon is that Mister Roque and Pepe had something going on while they built Orerush. I mean... come on. Two single men, with no woman by their side but really close, and Partitio even calls him uncle in german? Thats sus right there.

5. Throné

Technically, this story is right up my alley. I don't know what it keeps from being higher up except the fact that the Claude twist came a little bit out of nowhere. But there are so many small scenes that I love, how the girl in Mothers Garden swears revenge and still gets a happy ending, how happy Father is that he still got to be a father (his whole story was fantastic btw), how you're not thrown into Lostseed but travel there throughout her last chapter and then are met with such despair. And yeah, the end was similarly bittersweet as that of Primrose from the first game, what I love. At the end, freedom reeks of blood, but... it was worth it.

6. Agnea

The step up for the fluffy stories from the first to the second game is insane.

But yeah, I talked about it once already, but what makes this story special for me is the journey in her mother's footsteps. When her father gave her her dress at the beginning it nearly teared me up lol.

But yeah, her whole story is just so sweet and cute and anti-capitalistic (she kinda has Karen-energy but in a good way) and how it all tied together at the end with all the people from the different chapters coming together at the festival of graces was great. And this story has easily the most background lesbians (the traveling group, Dolccinea and Victoria...), it's amazing.

7. Temenos

...yeah. This is my biggest unpopular opinion from this game xD

But yeah, what really annoyed me about Temenos' story was, similar to Cyrus' story from the first game, that it tries to be a detective story, but... it's the most predictable story of all lol. From the beginning I was like 'yeah... the sacred guard was responsible, wasn't it?' and it kinda took my investment in that story out of it. Also I like Temenos and Crick, but not as much as most of the fandom, I'm afraid - there was something that didn't click with me, I guess. Even though the Stormhail-Route was still pretty sad ngl. And even though Kaldena was my third to last end boss, she still nearly killed me, so here's that.

8. Hikari

Hikari is really a sad case because his story could have been even more tragic and sad. But he suffers the most from bad writing - Mugen is such an 'evil for the sake of being evil' antagonist while being the stupidest person ever (that moment when he killed everyone because 'they could be vengeful later!' made me literally facepalm) and I still don't understand why Ritsu hates the emperors and their war mongering so much, but then ends up working for the biggest war monger of them all. I lowkey expected him to betray Mugen but... no. He's just vengefulTM and randomly turns good two seconds before dying.

But I liked Hikaris arc and turning the shadow hold into the light hold was a great idea. Generally his first and last chapter were pretty atmospheric and I really grew to like Kazan as a mischievous, but sympathetic ally that his betrayal really stung. Generally, the second game had much better written and more engaging stories than the first, it didn't have any Tressa-like story where I didn't particularly care about anything. But still, Hikari kinda deserves better.

#octopath traveler #octopath traveler 2 #octopath traveler 2 spoilers #octopath traveler II spoilers #octopath spoilers #generally I liked all stories in some way or another #but as always i have thoughts lol

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wack-ashimself · 1 year

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Mandela effects 5000%.

So watching inside job, entire episode is going off the mandela effect.

Summary: 'The Mandela Effect refers to a situation in which a large mass of people believes that an event occurred when it did not.'

But a lot of people hint/propose this was people jumping realities/timeline/parallel universes. It DID happen from wherever they came from.

I've heard about it a long long time ago. Heard many examples. The most famous I knew of was Bearstein vs bearstain bears. Fairly, on that, I was a kid and didn't pay attention to spelling too much. I am more storyline/main characters persons. Not to mention that it is easy to dismiss, in a way. Could be a misprint or something.

However, this episode pointed out to another famous one I did NOT know about. Our reality: Kazam with Shaq. Fake: Shazam with Sinbad. Now, again, title wise I do not remember. But I swear, I have vivid details of the sinbad movie. Why? Cuz, I dunno why, but as a kid, I LOVED sinbad, so I saw anything he was in. Yes, even that shitty president kid movie. I REMEMBER the sinbad genie magic movie. And yeah, I do remember the shaq movie too as a FUCKING joke (and I thought a copy OF the sinbad movie. If you wanted to see fan wack, it was me going 'you copied my fav guy's movie' as a kid lol).

So I remember BOTH movies as being real. It's weird. Here's where it gets weirder. I had a PERSONAL one that I forgot entirely till the Kazam/Shazam thing. It brought it back. From a place in my mind that I don't know is there. I PROMISED myself to post about it, but FORGOT it at the time. Instantly. Like amnesia forgot.

Avengers: Endgame (yes, it's been a while. I told you, I experienced it once, then I had NO PROOF at all I didn't imagine it).

I watch cam movies if I can't find a good version. Like any self respecting poor ass mother fucker. So that's another reason this was hard to prove: once I saw this version, it was overwritten (streaming so my ass doesn't end up in jail) by a NEW cam version, then later, the HD.

The FIRST cam version I saw (and it was within...days, max, of the movie coming out) I saw a scene entirely different in a major way than ANY other version I have seen (I checked it many times to see if it was a deleted scene since remembering. Fuck, it may be an alternative scene, but I still can't find proof of its' existence.)

In the scene where they track down Thanos (retired, weakened, etc), and find out he destroyed the stones, the scene EVERYONE saw was Thor killing Thanos.

What I originally saw (and I can not ever fully forget cuz I thought it was WAY WAY better written): Nebula, heart broken over her sister's murder, wraps this....metallic tech super whip around his neck, pulling, her leg on his side, tightening, till (they zoom out so you only see the shadow) his head falls off.

AND THAT SCENE ROCKED! I do NOT do fan fic bs. Not 'I could do it better' Cuz a-I probably could b-I probably couldn't cuz I didn't even come up with the original. This was not a dream. Not my imagination. I saw that scene. Till I saw it in HD, THAT IS THE VERSION I KNEW HAPPENED.

Just...I saw that, still vividly remember it, was planning on posting about it when I saw the OTHER version, but like, INSTANTLY forgot. It is weird...like, seeing the new version overwrote what my brain remembered originally. Like a patch update lol With technology, I sure as shit would not put it past them. Cuz let's be real: the version I saw is far more violent, and people wanted thor's redemption. So...why not test it out, it fails, put in the thor version, and just deny any other version exists? I mean, they have the power to...so it may not be themandela effect. Rather market testing, in extreme expedited ways....

#avengers #avengers endgame #shaq #sinbad #i still love sinbad but he isnt as good #nothing ever is #his newest special wasnt terrible tho #mandela effect #inside job

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marximoff · 2 years

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Hi ! First of all, thank you very much for blessing us with your fic, I absolutely love the way you portrayed someone who suffer from the Blip and I wish it was something we see more often in Marvel. The angst is amazing and my heart hurts everytime. :'D

I have a few questions if you don't mind to answer : Is Wanda physically just the same as Wanda from 838 (by that I mean their look in case I'm not clear) ? Are you going to add some interactions with the others Avengers (like maybe Clint or Sam) ? I know it's a Wanda/Read centric story of their healing, both as a couple and individually, but I was curious if they both would ever come back, hypothetically, as superheroes (maybe it's a spoil so if you don't want to answer it's totally fine by me) ? Are you going to show more of their background as young girlfriends (if not I would love to request in the future maybe a one shot of their first date, first confession, first time... 👀) ? Who was the closest Avengers to the Reader, excluding Wanda ?

Thank you very much again for your fic and I hope I didn't bother you with my questions.

ok, first of all, i'm really glad you're enjoying the fic so far! it's really important for me to get feedback from readers (and i particularly like it a lot 😳👉👈)

but ok, let's go by parts (i really enjoy answering questions about my work, so get ready because it's going to be a lot don't mind me i'm excited)

Yes, our current Wanda has the same physical appearance as Wanda 838 - honestly i don't know why the heck they decided to keep her a redhead after Endgame or even Wandavision, but because we follow the same idea here as the variant, that is a retired Wanda who focused her life on being a mother and enjoy her family life (and not be a fugitive anymore, of course), there's no reason for Wanda to remain a redhead like, at all give me back my brunette Wanda you cowards!

Yes, there are plans for more Avengers to appear as the story unfolds (and the prediction is that there will be about ten chapters in all btw, not to mention the one shots that i'm still dying to write to add more content to this universe bc well, i'm gay).

Honestly, i don't think there's more room in both R's and Wanda's lives for them to be superheroes again. Although they do care about helping people as a whole, those days are behind them and now their focus is just living an ordinary life (even if for different reasons) - superpowers are just mere consequences, details. Wanda might still focus on her magical studies with Agatha, but not in a way where she uses those powers to defend the world in the vigilante kind of way (she just knows her importance as a Scarlet Witch to the wizarding community, but is more like a mystical figure than as a hero per se). None of them really had a sense of heroism like Steve or Sam, for example, and they just did it because that's kind of what they felt they had to do at the time, being teenagers with superpowers. But probably their focus right now is just raising the twins and living a peaceful life.

Yes, there will still be some flashbacks about R and Wanda's past as teenagers and the most defining moments of their relationship before the Blip (I just love emo Wanda and want to write more about her ok let me be fjksdjfks), but i do intend to write some specific one-shots about some moments that will end up not getting in the main series - spoiler alert, i'm working on a one shot rn about how teenagers R and Wanda came to the conclusion that they were in love with each other 👀

And finally, Natasha was the closest to R besides Wanda - she kind of saw R as a little sister (since she reminded her a lot of Yelena), and vice versa. That's why a big part of R's post-Blip trauma, in addition to losing her entire family, of course, was witnessing Nat's death and not being able to do anything to stop it. But i think it's also worth mentioning that she had a closer relationship with Sam and Steve, especially after their days as fugitives, yeah... and she kind of had a soft side for Vision, tbh.

well, that's a lot, but I hope I've answered all your questions! and feel free to ask more (anything that isn't a spoiler and i can answer lol)

#wanda maximoff x you #wanda reader #wanda x y/n #wanda x you #wanda maximoff imagine #wanda maximoff x y/n #wanda maximoff #wanda maximoff x reader

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buckybarnesdiaries · 3 years

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a place called home

bucky barnes x reader. ⎢ masterlist.

Request by @dora-wolfram-blog: Hi <3 so happy to see your requests are open! How about ex Avenger reader who can manipulate the forces of nature and she comes to help Sam? (Idk maybe calling fish from the sea so his family can sell and earn enough money for the boat?) There she meets Bucky who she briefly met after endgame and they get to know each other? Domestic stuff is my weak spot so thank you so much luv u <3

word count: 1.206 words.

warnings/tags: none. bucky being a gentleman and sam a pain in the ass as always.

author notes: none of my stories contain reader’s body descriptions to be inclusive.

Join the tag list here.

Saying that Bucky and you were friends wasn’t something exactly. You fought together a couple of times before you retired from superhero life. Like many of them, the war had finished and you chose calm over being a private agent. More or less like the ex-soldier, with the difference that he went to New York and you didn’t be able to find a home until Sam made you a call. He was quite the opposite of Bucky for you, connecting since the very first second you met. After he told you about his sister’s financial trouble, he offered you a roof to sleep under in exchange for your powers to control the tide and promote the movement of fish stocks. Of course, it was a hit, and you finally found peace in Delacroix. A celebration was inevitable, it was part of Wilsons’ DNA, but you weren’t expecting Bucky to show up with Sam; although he told you in your last call that they were working together. Or something like that.

As soon as your eyes laid on him among the crowd, you knew he had changed after more than six months without seeing each other. You couldn't help but feel happy for Bucky when you saw him smiling for the first time. He had a beautiful and innocent smile, seeming like a new man. Renovated, with want to live, enjoying playing with kids and talking to old men about war stories.

You had placed your back against an oak column, away from the crowd but close enough to check on everyone, in case they need help with anything. A beer was resting against your lips, doubting on continuing drinking, lost in your thoughts. There was something about Bucky going from one side to another, laughing unworried, that had fully captivated your attention. You weren't able to stop looking at him, chuckling when you saw one of Sam's nieces putting a magnet with the form of a crab on his left arm.

“I have that teen-in-love's face on camera”.

You frowned at Redwing some inches away from your face. As a response, you tried to slap it down. But your friend was faster than you controlling that thing.

“He looks good, uh?”

“Oh, shut up…” You replied by clicking your tongue and rolling your eyes, having a sip from your drink to put your eyes away to the sea.

“He asked if you'd be here… Just saying”.

“Shut up, Samuel!” You implored, rubbing the bridge of your nose.

As the night went on and the guests started to leave, Sarah asked you to take Jim and Jody home while she stayed there cleaning with his brother about the business. You were exhausted too, and she noticed it. And after saying your goodbyes, you headed to the parking where your car was stationed, carrying the younger Wilson onto your arms —peacefully sleeping— as his big brother was yawning loudly. At that point, you realized that it was going to be a tough mission to put them in the car.

“Wait! Lemme help”.

The male voice coming from behind you made you turn around and before you could react, Bucky was taking Jody from your arms to his. You smirked softly in response, looking for the key in the right pocket of your jacket to unlock the car. The soldier tucked the younger in the back seat, placing the belt around him as Jim occupied the other side of the SUV.

“It's been good to see you”. You said after closing the door, staying outside in front of him.

“Same”. He replied, not knowing what else to say.

Puckering your lips and clapping the key on your palm, you nodded with your chin, feeling the nerves running through your veins. “Good night, Bucky”.

“Good night, (Y/N)”.

You gave him your back, sighing inappreciably, to open the pilot's place and came in.

“He— Hey, wait”.

“Uh?”

“Sam told me… you were tired. I might give you a ride back home. I can wait for him there”. The offering made you glance towards him, already sitting in your car but with a leg rest on the ground. “If you want, I mean…”

Of course he did (...). That son of a bitch had the audacity to push you onto the other. You bit your inner cheek, landing your eyes on the wheel. Yes, you were tired. You woke up at five to sail with Sarah, then you organized the party and cooked for it. You hadn't had a single second of rest during the whole day. And Sam took advantage of it, feeling like he was some kind of Cupido. And you had to recognize that it was also very considerate coming from Bucky.

“I'd appreciate it… actually”. You ended up agreeing, stepping out to give him the keys and ceding your seat.

The ride was silent between the two of you, hearing some quiet indie music playing on the radio while you fought against your brain to stay awake. Luckily, it didn't take him too long to reach Sarah's house —although you were barely keeping your eyes open at this point. Again, he helped you with the kids, walking indoors and following you to their respective rooms. You tucked Jim and Jody on their beds, making sure they were comfy before placing a kiss on their foreheads and wishing them a good night. Bucky had rested his back against the wall, in front of the elder’s room, just waiting for you. And you could swear that you saw him briefly smirking because of the tenderness in your actions.

After closing the last door, you waved your head to urge him to follow you downstairs to the living room. With an exhausted sigh escaping your lips, you let your body fall on the sofa, curling on a side of it to give Bucky some space. You couldn’t help but yawn, turning on the TV by using the control remote.

“It’s good to have a home to come back”.

“Yeah… After all the shitty situations we’ve been through… We deserved a rest, don’t you think?” You replied grabbing a cushion from the floor, using it as a pillow over the armrest. “Sorry, I… I’m deadly tired…”

“Come here, that will hurt when you wake up”.

Bucky didn’t hesitate on beckoning to his arms, taking off his boots heel against heel to place both legs over the coffee table. You didn’t resist, knowing it would be comfier by his way. Sitting up, you lied to the opposite side, being wrapped instantly and snuggled against his warm body. Shameless, you rest your head on his right forearm, practically laying over his lap. But you felt good. You felt like it was a good reward after a long day, rolling down your eyelids and focusing on the caresses in your hair you didn’t know you needed.

For a moment, your mind wandered and fantasized about this last hour being part of your real life. Putting your kids to sleep and then cuddle with your husband till falling asleep. Smell Bucky’s strong and edgy scent. Your hands scratching his back. His fingertips stroking your scalp. Your legs laced (...)

Oh, God, Sam. What did you do?

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itsapeterthing · 2 years

Text

It’s A Match! || Peter Parker

pairing: peter parker x avenger!reader

summary: peter and you are best friends, but when peter finds you on a dating site, it just might be the thing to push your friendship forward

a/n: we’re going to pretend that endgame and nwh didn’t happen so peter is twenty here and happy :)

word count: 1.5k

warnings: i don’t think any, just mentions of tinder

masterlist || taglist

Peter stopped in his tracks, thumb hovering above a photo of you displayed on his screen, his heart thumping in his chest just at the sight of you.

“Holy shit.” Ned said in awe, reaching out his hands. “Is that Y/n? I can’t believe we found her- let me see!”

“No!” Peter protested, shoving his friend’s hands from him and holding the phone away from Ned. “I don’t want you to swipe!”

“I’m not going to swipe, Peter!” Ned assured him, reaching out his hand again. “Just let me look!”

Eyeing his friend warily, Peter sighed, handing his cellphone over to Ned.

As soon as the phone landed in Ned’s hands, Peter hovered over his best friend’s shoulders, watching as he went through your profile.

It felt strange finding you on Tinder- Peter saw you nearly every day and knew you better than most, but finding you on a dating app made him feel a world away from you- disconnected and yet reconnected at the same time as if you were no longer his teammate and close friend he had had an undying crush on for the past two years, but instead a possible partner- someone he had a viable chance with.

He could barely wrap his head around the idea of it.

“’Tell me who your favorite Avenger is.’”

“What?” Peter asked, snapping out of his thoughts.

“’Tell me who your favorite Avenger is.’” Ned repeated, shoving the phone in Peter’s face. “That’s what her bio says.”

Snatching the phone from his hand, Peter tapped through your few photos, stopping on one he immediately recognized.

The photo was of you standing in front of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, smiling as the snow fell down around you.

Peter would be able to tell this photo from a mile away- even without his super-human abilities.

He was the one who took it of you.

One day last December when the two of you were sat in the Compound’s common room watching Elf, you had confessed to Peter that you had actually never seen the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. After much insisting, Peter convinced you to let him show you around New York in the holiday season.

Due to your shared lack of planning skills and spontaneous decision to spend time outside in New York City during the middle of December, you two were completely unprepared for the blizzard that struck that evening.

Despite the snow coming down on the both of you and sludge drenching your shoes, you and Peter laughed as you trekked your way down the decorated streets towards your destination, laughing merrily along the way.

When you finally saw the ginormous tree in the flesh, you insisted that Peter take a photo of you in front of it along with the dozens of other tourists- and Peter- mesmerized by the snowflakes still coating your lashes and the smile you gave him through chattering teeth- couldn’t have possibly said no even if he wanted to.

Which he didn’t.

Tying your scarf tighter around your neck, you beamed, holding your hood up for Peter as he stood with his phone in his hand. Hearing your laugh- as cheesy as it was- he swore none of the lights on the tree- not even the star on top- could shine as bright as your smile.

“Come on, Peter!” You exclaimed. “Hurry up before I become an icicle!”

Rolling his eyes at your joke, Peter smiled as he snapped the photo of you and the second his hands dropped you rushed back to his side.

“Is it good?” You asked eagerly.

Of course it was good, Peter thought. How could a photo of you ever look bad?

“Y-yeah.” Peter said, turning his phone towards you. “What do you think?”

Snatching the phone from Peter’s hand, you looked at the photo and had to admit that you didn’t completely hate how you looked in it. Smiling from ear to ear at the photo, you handed your friend’s cellphone back to him.

“I think,” You said nudging Peter. “that if you don’t have a future in superheroing you could definitely be a photographer.”

Peter was glad then that it was snowing so hard and was so cold because he was sure you would’ve teased him for the blush that rose to his face from your compliment if it weren’t already for his rosy cheeks.

“T-Thanks,” He said beginning to shiver and feel the effects of the snowflakes that had been hitting his nose for far too long. “Do you wanna maybe head inside now? M-maybe get some dinner?”

Smiling up at your nearly frostbitten friend you laughed and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“I’d love to, Pete.” You smiled. “Lead the way.”

“Peter?” Ned asked, waving his hand in front of his best friend’s face. “Earth to Peter?”

“What, Ned?” Peter asked, glancing up from his cellphone.

“Were you thinking about her?” Ned teased him.

Feeling his cheeks flush, Peter laughed awkwardly, shaking his head.

“No.” Peter lied. “It’s just this picture-”

“Wait! Show me-” Ned began, reaching for his best friend’s phone once more.

Not wanting to embarrass himself further by telling Ned the story and making it even more obvious how completely into you he was, Peter pulled his arm away as Ned’s fingers brushed the screen.

“Ned, stop!” Peter said. “You’re gonna-”

But before Peter could even finish his sentence, the screen turned pink as the words “It’s a Match!” flashed in front of the both of them.

Despite the fact that Peter fought some of the worst of the worst and had been through what some would consider hell and back, he had never felt his heart stop the way it did when he saw those three words displayed on his screen.

“Holy...” Peter began.

“Shit.” Ned finished.

Peter truly couldn’t believe it. Although he had been undeniably in love with you for longer than he’d like to admit, he had never thought that the feeling was mutual- that it was possible that you could ever care for him the way he did you.

But now, as all he had ever wished for was staring right back at him, he didn’t even know where to begin.

“Well?” Ned asked. “Are you gonna message her?”

“I...” Peter said, stumbling over his words. “I-I don’t know. What do I even say?”

“I don’t know.” Ned said. “Just say something about her profile or something.”

Tapping back on your profile and through the selfies you and your other friends had probably handpicked, he scrolled down your profile and glanced over your bio once more:

Tell me who your favorite Avenger is :)

Then, he smiled, sliding back on your profile to open your blank chat.

Peter: My favorite Avenger is Spider-Man :)

Peter: What about you?

“What did you say?” Ned asked.

“I just said that-”

Once again, before he could even finish, his phone buzzed.

This time, with a message from you.

Y/N: Well, I have to say Sorceress is my favorite, but Spidey is a close second!

Y/N: I think I might have a bit of a crush on him...

Peter had thought he had felt butterflies before, but as he read your last message, a huge smile rose to his face and he swore he was on cloud nine.

He couldn’t believe those words coming from your name, but he wasn’t about to pass up the biggest chance that had ever been given to him.

Peter: That’s okay!

Peter: I have a huge crush on Sorceress...

His heart practically beating out of his chest, he waited eagerly as three dots rose on his screen.

Y/N: Really?

Then, it was time for a leap of faith.

Peter: Really.

Peter: Do you maybe wanna go on a fate in an hour?

A typo? Peter thought to himself. Now?

Peter: Shit.

Peter: I meant *date lol

It took a moment for your three dots to pop up again and as Peter eagerly waited, he tugged on his short, brunette curls, hoping for the best.

Y/N: I’d like that Spidey.

Y/N: Oops, I meant *Peter lol

Y/N: Picking me up?

Attempting to bite back his smile, Peter nodded, despite the fact that you couldn’t see him.

Peter: I’ll swing by!

“What did she say!” Ned shouted, gripping Peter’s arm. “What happened?”

Convincing himself that the conversation was in fact real and not simply a figment of his imagination, Peter recounted what you had told him to his best friend, stumbling over his words and his cheeks turning pink all the while.

“Wait, wait, wait-” Ned stopped him. “She likes you? And you guys are gonna go on a date?”

“I-” Peter nodded, his heart skipping a beat as he heard someone admit it out loud. “Yeah... yeah I guess we are.”

Then, his phone buzzed one final time.

Peter smiled.

Y/N: See you soon, Spidey ;)

#peter parker fanfiction #peter parker fic #peter parker x reader #Peter Parker blurb #Peter Parker Oneshot #Peter Parker drabble #spiderman x reader #spiderman blurb

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lizzie-is-here · 2 years

Text

acta, non verba

avengers: endgame: part i

summary: five years after the snap, scott lang appears with an opportunity to undo the universal genocide.

wordcount: 9.6k (HOLY FUCK, highkey really proud of this)

warnings: cussing, arguing, violence, death, angst, brief discussion of kinks, steve’s ass

series masterlist

“Mom never wears anything I buy her,” Tony said to Morgan, carrying her inside for lunch. As she laughed and messed with his beard, Tony caught a glimpse of a car pulling up in the driveway. A part of him was suspicious. It had been a while since he’d had visitors.

When Steve, Nat, and the Ant-Guy stepped out, he was ready to curse your name and pretend he somehow didn’t notice them. If any afterlife existed, he was sure this would be your doing.

As Tony disappeared into his house, the other three figured he wouldn’t return. But five minutes later he was carrying a tray of chocolate milk, pouring a glass for each person as Scott explained his recent discovery. He hadn’t been snapped as originally thought, instead stuck in the quantum realm for only five hours as five years passed in the outside world.

And now he wanted to time travel.

“No. We know what it sounds like.”

Steve spoke up when he saw the doubt in Tony’s eyes. “Tony, after everything you’ve seen, is anything really impossible?”

The Iron Man sighed. “Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck scale… which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition. Can we agree on that?” He handed Steve a glass. “In layman’s terms, it means you’re not coming home.”

“I did,” Scott offered.

“No. You accidentally survived. It’s a billion-to-one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pull a… What do you call it?”

Scott took the glass offered to him. “A time heist?”

“Yeah, a time heist. Of course. Why didn’t we think of this before?” A hint of sarcasm crept into his voice. “Oh, because it’s laughable. Because it’s a pipe dream.”

“The stones are in the past,” Steve said definitively. Whether or not Tony was on board, he was going to try. “We could go back, we could get them.”

“We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everybody back.” Nat’s mind drifted back to the long girls’ nights, sipping champagne and giggling over designer dresses with price tags that would deter most anyone else. Stark’s voice snapped her from her daydream.

“Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?”

“I don’t believe we would.”

Tony smirked. “Gotta say it. I sometimes miss that giddy optimism. However, high hopes won’t help if there’s no logical, tangible way for me to safely execute said time heist. I believe the most likely outcome will be our collective demise.”

“Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel. All right?” Scott sat in one of the two patio chairs. “It means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events-”

Tony held a hand up. “I’m gonna stop you right there, Scott. Are you seriously telling me that your plan to save the universe is based on Back to the Future?” Scott hesitated, trying to decide if he wanted to be honest or preserve his dignity. “Is it?”

“No.”

“Good. You had me worried there. ‘Cause that would be horseshit. That’s not how quantum physics works.”

Nat decided to intervene before Tony completely obliterated Lang’s confidence. “Tony. We have to take a stand.”

“We did stand. And yet, here we are.”

“I know you got a lot on the line. You got a wife, a daughter,” Scott said. “But I lost someone very important to me. A lotta people did. And now, now we have a chance to bring her back, to bring everyone back, and you’re telling me that you won’t even-”

“That’s right, Scott. I won’t even. I can’t.” The screen door opening and closing cut him off, Morgan leaping into her dad’s arms.

“Mommy told me to come and save you.” Tony sighed contentedly.

“Good job. I’m saved.” He turned back to the three dejected superheroes. “I wish you were coming here to ask me something else. Anything else. I’m honestly happy to see you guys, I know (Y/N) would be happy to see this little get-together, I just…”

“Auntie (Y/N)?” Nat wanted to cry as the little girl perked up curiously.

“Yeah, Maguna. Auntie (Y/N). Look, the table’s set for six.”

Steve reached out to grab his friend’s arm. “Tony. I get it. And I’m happy for you. I really am. But this is a second chance.”

“I got my second chance right here, Cap.” He shrugged his shoulder where Morgan was laying. “Can’t roll the dice on it. If you don’t talk shop, you can stay for lunch.” He went inside without another word. The trio exchanged glances before Nat spoke up.

“I don’t know about you boys, but I’m not passing up free lunch.” She ambled into the cozy home, soaking up every detail. While Tony had sent her a few pictures of the home, asking what paint colors Pepper might like, she’d never actually visited. Hell, this was her first time meeting little Morgan. The child ran up to Nat as the redhead stood in the doorway.

“Can I show you my toys?” Nat nodded as Morgan tugged her along, waving politely to Pepper as she passed, who was preparing some sandwiches and fruit.

Morgan’s room had more toys than a toy store, some tucked in a corner, others scattered around as a definite tripping hazard to Tony. A scrapbook was amongst a handful of teddy bears. Bending down to scoop it up, Nat flipped through it as Morgan hopped up on her bed to peer over her shoulder.

“That’s Aunt (Y/N),” she said, pointing to a shot of you after you’d won the case against Ross, smiling wide with a La Croix in your hand. The picture was surrounded by rhinestones and sparkly hearts.

“Oh yeah? Tell me about her.”

“…I don’t know a lot.” Nat nodded in understanding, sitting down on the plush bed.

“That’s alright. I can tell you about her.”

When Steve knocked on the door a while later, Nat’s hands were flying as she regaled the little girl with stories about their friend. Morgan was rapt with attention, eyes wide as Nat spun story after story.

“Uncle Steve!” His eyes widened as she slid off the bed. From the way she hugged him, it seemed Tony had spoken highly of him. Nat smiled, confirming his suspicions that Morgan had treated her similarly.

“Hey, kid. You ready for lunch?” He picked her up effortlessly, Nat following them to the dining room. Scott sat politely, hands in his lap as if the tablecloth would burn him.

They ate, conversation light and punctuated by Morgan’s interjections about how she had begun feeding the ducks in the lake. Nat couldn’t help but laugh as the young girl demonstrated how she threw the bread, hitting Scott square in the face with a piece of crust. By the time lunch was over, they all knew every name of the countless ducklings that had recently hatched.

They bid farewell to Tony and headed back to the car.

“Well, he’s scared,” Nat concluded.

“He’s not wrong.”

Scott was still confused. “Yeah, but, I mean, what are we gonna do? We need him. What, are we gonna stop?”

“No, I wanna do it right,” Steve said. “We’re gonna need a really big brain.”

“Bigger than his?”

———————————————————————

Later that night, as Tony washed dishes, he drifted off in his thoughts. His lack of attention caused him to fumble the sink nozzle, spraying water everywhere.

As he wiped off the shelves, a picture caught his eye. You and him on either side of Peter, who held an MIT certificate. Both of your deaths were a point of guilt for him. The kid he’d felt responsible for and one of his best friends, neither of which he was able to save. Maybe it was worth one last risk.

“I’ve got a… mild inspiration. I’d just like to see if it checks out,” he said to FRIDAY. His holo-table projected a few images. “So, I’d like to run one last sim before we pack it in for the night. This time, in the shape of a Möbius strip. Inverted, please.”

“Processing…”

“Right, give me the eigenvalue of that particle, factoring in spectral decomp. That’ll take a second.”

“Just a moment.”

“And don’t worry if it doesn’t pan out,” he said, sipping his water. “I’m just kinda…”

“Model rendered.” FRIDAY ran a few automatic adjustments as Tony watched with mild interest.

Then, a few beeps followed by a line of text popped up.

‘Model Successful.’

Who knew that time travel would be invented on an otherwise boring taco night? As Tony sat back in awe of his own creation, he flung his hands out.

“Shit,” he exclaimed.

“Shit!” He whirled around, catching his five-year-old grinning back at him. He quickly shushed her, praying to you that Pepper wouldn’t hear.

“What are you doing up, little miss?”

“Shit,” she parroted again.

“Nope. We don’t say that. Only Mommy says that word. She coined it. It belongs to her.”

“Why are you up?” she asked.

“‘Cause I’ve got some important shit going on here! Why do you think?” His daughter tilted her head and raised an eyebrow much like you used to do. “No, I got something on my mind. I got something on my mind.” Yeah, the fate of the universe that just happened to lay in the palm of his hand. But Morgan didn’t care for that.

“Was it juice pops?”

Tony glanced back at the model glowing above the table. “Sure was.” And back to his daughter. “That’s extortion. That’s a word. What kind do you want? Great minds think alike.” He took her hand and helped her hop down the last stair.

“Juice pops exactly… was on my mind.”

After they’d gotten an orange juice pop (much better than grape), Tony returned Morgan to her room.

“You done? Yeah?” he asked, before taking the last bite. “Now you are. Here. Wipe.” He rubbed a bit of orange residue from her chin.

“Good. That face goes there.” He gently shoved her onto the pillow as she laughed.

“Tell me a story.”

“A story… Once upon a time, Maguna went to bed. The end.”

“That is a horrible story,” she complained.

“C’mon, that’s your favorite story.” At her pout, Tony sighed. “Fine. What do you want it to be about?”

“Auntie (Y/N)!” Ouch. Right to the heart. This kid was merciless.

“Oh, really? Alright. Once upon a time, Auntie (Y/N) said that… Maguna should be asleep.” The little girl groaned.

“She wouldn’t say that!” she exclaimed. Tony knew she wouldn’t. She’d stay up and get up to all kinds of mischief with her. And Tony knew he would give anything for that, even if he lost some sleep. He knew what he had to do.

“Love you tons,” he said, kissing her forehead.

“I love you 3000.”

“Wow. 3,000. That’s crazy.” He turned off the lamp. “Go to bed or I’ll sell all your toys.” He gently closed the door as she giggled, waiting for him to get far enough down the hallway before scooping up the scrapbook, opening it to a picture of you, and setting it on her nightstand.

“I love you 3,000 too,” she whispered.

———————————————————————

Steve was far too old for this.

Getting Bruce involved was possibly the worst and best decision possible. As the mixture of Hulk and Banner furiously flipped switches to get Scott back from the experimental run of time travel, Steve felt like his head was gonna explode. It was unorganized and risky. You would’ve loved it.

“Somebody peed my pants. But I don’t know if it was baby me or old me. Or just me me,” Scott confessed.

“Time travel!” Bruce exclaimed. Steve needed to take a walk. The Compound was far quieter nowadays. No bustling employees, no arguing between Sam and Bucky. No loud laughter from you, Nat, and Wanda. It was unsettling in the same way empty airports were. Far too still.

Once he was outside, he relaxed slightly. Until a loud engine disrupted his calm. The sports car that veered into the parking lot caused him to narrow his eyes until the car almost ran over his toes. Only two people he knew drove like that. Nat, who was inside, and Tony.

The genius rolled down his window and Steve blinked in mild acknowledgment.

“Why the long face?” Stark asked. “Lemme guess. He turned into a baby.”

“Among other things, yeah. What are you doing here?”

Tony danced around the question. “It’s the EPR paradox. Instead of pushing Lang through time, you might’ve wound up pushing time through Lang. It’s tricky, dangerous. Somebody could have cautioned you against it.”

“You did,” Steve admitted.

“Oh, did I?” There was no malice in his tone. “Well, thank God I’m here.” He held up a bracelet. “Regardless, I fixed it. A fully functioning space-time GPS.”

At Steve’s shock, he threw up a peace sign. “I just want peace. Turns out, resentment is corrosive, and I hate it.”

“Me too.”

Tony sighed. “We got a shot at getting those stones but I gotta tell you my priorities. Bring back what we lost, I hope, yes. Keep what I found, I have to, at all costs. And maybe not die trying. Would be nice.”

“Sounds like a deal.” Steve stuck out his hand, Tony taking it and giving it a firm shake. The latter opened the trunk of the car, lifting out the shield and unceremoniously dumping more of Morgan’s toys off of it. Steve let out a deep sigh. “Tony, I don’t know.”

“Why? He made it for you,” he said, a stark contrast to that fateful day in Siberia. “Plus, honestly, I have to get it out of the garage before Morgan takes it sledding.”

Steve slipped it on. “Like (Y/N) did?” When you had stolen the SHIELD one snowy day, you had far underestimated the lack of friction vibranium possessed and reached breakneck speeds on the patriotic disc. Nat had raced you on a SHIELD-issued snowmobile, nearly running you over when you made a sudden swerve. You’d almost wrecked into a group of new agents as you’d zoomed past, screaming at the top of your lungs. Tony nodded.

“Morgan’s obsessed with her, you know? She’s all she wants to hear about.” Steve smiled at the little girl’s antics.

“Thank you, Tony.”

“Will you keep that a little quiet?” the shorter man asked, gesturing to the shield. “Didn’t bring one for the whole team. We are getting the whole team, yeah?”

“We’re working on that right now.”

———————————————————————

The team was certainly together, Tony thought as he dragged a giant pipe through the Compound he used to call home.

“You’re drifting left. One side there, Lebowski,” he called as Thor stumbled. Seeing the god after all these years was jarring. He had gained a lot of weight in his depression, plus the reek of alcohol. At least when Tony and you had had drinking problems, you’d drank more expensive wines or whiskeys, not cheap beers.

“Ratchet, how’s it going?” The raccoon hung upside down from the platform.

“It’s Rocket. Take it easy, you're only a genius on Earth, pal.” Tony’s brows raised at the sass before Thor belched from behind him.

A while later, Clint was suited up for the test run. As odd as it was to see his hair spiked and with a full sleeve of tattoos, he hadn’t changed much. Other than the five-year murder spree.

“Now, Clint, you’re gonna feel a little discombobulated from the chronoshift. Don’t worry about that,” Bruce explained as Nebula adjusted a few finishing details.

“Wait, let me ask you something,” Rhodey cut in. “If we can do this, go back in time, why don’t we just find baby Thanos? You know, and…” He pantomimed strangling motions.

“First of all, that’s horrible.”

“It’s Thanos.”

“Secondly, time doesn’t work that way. Changing the past doesn’t change the future.”

Scott interrupted from his place on the other side of the room. “Look, we go back, we get the stones before Thanos gets them. Thanos doesn’t have the stones. Problem solved.”

“Bingo,” Clint monotoned.

“That’s not how it works,” Bruce insisted.

The archer singsonged. “Well, that’s what I heard.”

“Wait, but who? Who told you that?” Rhodey held up a hand as he began listing names of shows and movies.

“Star Trek, Terminator, Timecop, Time After Time-“

“Quantum Leap,” Scott offered.

“-Wrinkle in Time, Somewhere in Time-“

“Hot Tub Time Machine.”

“Hot Tub Time Machine- wait, wasn’t that the one with the guy that looked like Barnes?” Clint nodded before Rhodey continued.

“Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Basically, any movie that deals with time travel.”

“Die Hard? No, that’s not one,” Scott mumbled.

“This is known,” Rhodey concluded.

Bruce sighed exasperatedly. “I don’t know why everyone believes that, but that isn’t true. Think about it. If you travel to the past, that past becomes your future, and your former present becomes the past, which can’t now be changed by your new future.”

“Exactly,” Nebula said.

“So Back to the Future is a bunch of bullshit?”

———————————————————————

Clint stood on the platform, ready to go back in time. He’d originally suggested going back to Sokovia to retrieve Pietro, but the unknown slew of side effects of pulling someone dead to the future combined with the moral dilemma it presented weren’t worth the risk. At least not at the moment.

“All right, Clint. We’re going in three, two, one.” The platform below seemed to fold in on itself, forming a glowing tunnel. Clint was sucked in, and the rest of the team held their breath as they waited.

A few moments later, he reappeared, cradling a baseball glove.

“Lila!” he yelled. Nat ran up to him as she scanned his body for visible injuries.

“Hey. Hey, look at me. You okay?” She helped him to his feet. Through gasping pants, he handed off the glove.

“It worked.”

Once they’d reconvened in a meeting room, Tony set up several screens outlining each Infinity Stone.

“Okay, so the how works,” Steve said from one side of the room. “Now we gotta figure out the when and the where. Almost everyone in this room has had an encounter with at least one of the six Infinity Stones.“

“Or substitute the word ‘encounter’ for ‘damn near been killed’ by one of the six Infinity Stones,” Tony said from the other.

“Well I haven’t,” Scott announced, “but I don’t even know what the hell you’re all talking about.” If he expected anyone to elaborate, he was let down.

Bruce ignored him and moved on. “Regardless, we only have enough Pym Particles for one round-trip each. And these stones have been in a lot of different places throughout history.”

“Our history,” Tony added. “So not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in, yeah?”

Clint picked up his insinuation. “Which means we have to pick our targets.”

“Correct.”

“So, let’s start with the Aether. Thor, what do you know?” When Steve called out for the god, all eyes turned to find him passed out in the corner, beer still in hand.

“Is he asleep?” Nat asked.

Rhodey piped up. “No, no. I’m pretty sure he’s dead.”

After waking him up and reiterating Steve’s question, Thor ambled up to the front of the room.

“Uh, where to start? Umm… The Aether, firstly, is not a stone. Someone called it a stone before.” He pointed at Steve, who narrowed his eyes. “Um, it’s more of an angry sludge sort of a thing… so someone’s gonna need to amend that and stop saying that.” A few people exchanged glances. This was far from the Thor they remembered.

“Here’s an interesting story though, about the Aether. My grandfather, many years ago, had to hide the stone from the Dark Elves. Ooh. Scary beings.” He made a few spooky sounds.

“So, Jane, actually-“ He tapped the screen. “Oh, there she is. Yeah, so Jane was an old flame of mine. You know, she stuck her hand inside a rock this one time, and then the Aether stuck itself inside her…”

Steve tilted his head. There was definitely an inappropriate joke there that he couldn’t piece together. Nat could practically hear you cackling and making an innuendo. Just more motivation to get these stones.

“…and she became very, very sick. And so I had to take her to Asgard, which is where I’m from, and we had to try and fix her.” Scott nodded along.

“We were dating at the time, you see, and I got to introduce her to my mother… who’s dead and, um… Oh, you know, Jane and I aren’t even dating anymore, so…” Bruce frantically signaled for him to stop but Thor barreled on.

“Yes, these things happen, though. You know? Nothing lasts forever. The only thing that-“ Tony patted his back and tried to get him to step down.

“Why don’t you come sit down?”

Thor shoved him off. “I’m not done yet. The only thing that is permanent in life is impermanence.”

Tony clapped a few times. “Awesome. Eggs? Breakfast?”

“No. I’d like a Bloody Mary.”

After the ingredients had been acquired and Thor had finally sat down, Rocket stepped up to the table to debrief the team about the Power Stone. He stepped around containers of Chinese takeaway.

“Quill said he stole the Power Stone from Morag.”

“Is that a person?” Bruce asked.

“No, Morag’s a planet. Quill was a person.”

Mouth full, Scott asked, “Like a planet? Like in outer space?”

“Oh, look. It’s like a little puppy, all happy and everything.” Rocket petted Scott’s hair mockingly. “Do you wanna go to space? You wanna go to space, puppy? I’ll take you to space.”

It was a day later before the debriefings could continue, the interruptions becoming too much. Scott had been just about ready to strangle the damn rodent by the time he finished his noodles.

Nebula was in charge of explaining the Soul Stone, and any fooling around was immediately stopped by her cold glare.

“Thanos found the Soul Stone on Vormir.”

“What is Vormir?” Nat asked, taking a few organized notes.

“A dominion of death at the very center of celestial existence. It’s where Thanos murdered my sister.” An uncomfortable silence carried on before Scott spoke up.

“Not it.”

———————————————————————

“That Time Stone guy.”

“Doctor Strange.”

There wasn’t anyone who knew much about the green Stone, so Nat, Tony, and Bruce were reduced to figuring out the rest.

“Yeah, what kind of doctor was he?” she asked.

She and Tony were sprawled on the table, surrounded by books and papers while Bruce lay on the floor not far away. Normally, you would be the one draped dramatically across a random table, but they figured they could try your tried-and-true method.

“Ear-nose-throat meets rabbit-from-hat,” Tony replied.

“Nice place in the Village, though,” Bruce added.

“Yeah, on Sullivan Street?”

“Mm, Bleecker Street.”

Nat stopped twirling the pen in her hand. “Wait, he lived in New York?”

“No, he lived in Toronto,” Tony insisted.

Bruce grew slightly annoyed. “Uh, yeah, on Bleecker and Sullivan.”

“Have you been listening?” the billionaire asked.

“Guys. If you pick the right year, there are three stones in New York.”

Both of the men sat up, sending various papers and books on time and quantum theory flying off of the table.

“Shut the front door.”

———————————————————————

Another day later, everything was in place.

“All right. We have a plan. Six stones, three teams, one shot.” They separated to suit up, and an hour later, for the first time in five years, the Avengers were ready for a new mission.

Once they got onto the platform, Steve began his speech.

“Five years ago, we lost. All of us. We lost friends. We lost family. We lost a part of ourselves. Today we have a chance to take it all back. You know your times. You know your missions.”

They circled up, each putting a hand in the center.

“Get the stones, get them back. One round-trip each. No mistakes… no do-overs. Most of us are going somewhere we know. That doesn’t mean we should know what to expect. Be careful. Look out for each other.”

“This is the fight of our lives… and we’re gonna win.” Tony smiled at the super-soldier.

“Whatever it takes,” Steve finished. “Good luck.”

“He’s pretty good at that,” Rocket said, Scott agreeing.

Next, Tony yelled to Bruce. “All right, you heard the man. Stroke those keys, Jolly Green.”

While Bruce made some last-minute adjustments, finishing details and plans were laid down. Nat bounced on her toes. If all went right, she’d be seeing you and Wanda again soon. She had even gone out of her way to buy your favorite ice cream and drop it off back at the Tower.

As a few beeps rang out, she turned to Steve. “See you in a minute,” she joked.

The reflective panels above the platform undulated as the machinery below it spun, once again opening the glowing portal. As everyone’s helmets engaged, they were tugged in.

———————————————————————

New York, 2012.

When Steve, Tony, Bruce, and Scott popped into the Battle of New York, they were met with chaos. Their suits disengaged before Steve took the lead, once again in his old suit to avoid suspicion.

“All right, we all have our assignments. Two stones uptown, one stone down. Stay low. Keep an eye on the clock.”

A thud alerted the group to the Hulk smashing his way through the street, tossing cars and smashing Chitauri. Bruce covered his face in embarrassment.

“Maybe smash a few things along the way,” Steve suggested. Bruce did so, although rather unenthusiastically. He gently shoved a motorcycle over before roaring softly.

The other three began infiltrating what was then Stark Tower.

“Better hustle, Cap. Things look like they’re just about wrapped up here.” From his vantage point, Tony could see the team surrounding Loki. It was odd seeing himself, maybe even more so seeing you alive once again.

He snuck in, immediately deactivating his suit to avoid being spotted. The red and gold were a bit too ostentatious for stealth.

“If it’s all the same to you, I’ll have that drink now,” Loki quipped.

2012 Tony ignored him. “All right, get him on his feet. We can all stand around posing up a storm later. (Y/N), you gonna set up a photoshoot for us?”

“Ha. As if I’d subject myself to even more PR. I’m taking a vacation,” you said. Even though Tony had prepared for it, your voice still caught him off guard.

“By the way,” past-Tony continued, “feel free to clean up.”

As past-Captain America walked through the lounge, Present-Tony scoffed. “Mr. Rogers, I almost forgot that that suit did nothing for your ass.”

“No one asked you to look, Tony.”

“It’s ridiculous.”

“I think you look great, Cap,” Scott said from his place on Tony’s shoulder, who was considering flicking him early and dooming the universe. “As far as I’m concerned, that’s America’s ass.” He saluted.

Past-Nat grabbed Loki’s scepter, waving it around. “Who gets the, uh, magic wand?”

“STRIKE team’s coming to secure it.” On cue, the elevator opened, revealing Brock Rumlow leading the group.

“We can take that off your hands,” Jasper Sitwell said.

“By all means. Careful with that thing,” she warned as Sitwell fiddled with the point. “Yeah, unless you want your mind erased. And not in a fun way,” Clint added.

“We promise to be careful,” Rumlow said, clearly annoyed.

“Who are these guys?” Scott asked.

“They are SHIELD. Well, actually HYDRA, but we didn’t know that yet,” Tony explained.

“Seriously?” he scoffed. “You didn’t? I mean, they look like bad guys.”

Past-you seemed to pick up his voice, and you scanned the room with narrowed eyes. Peeking over to where present-Tony and Scott were hiding, you barely missed them as you shrugged.

“You’re small, but you’re talking loud,” Tony hissed to Scott.

You grabbed a bottle of wine, opening it with a knife you’d swiped from a STRIKE agent. “There has to be some sort of use for that thing in the bedroom, right? I’m not crazy?” Past-you’s bold statement led to a heated debate between Clint, Nat, and you about what sort of kinks would involve brainwashing, and past-Steve watched in horror as you listed off various recreational uses before shaking his head and stepping away.

“On my way down to coordinate search-and-rescue,” he said into his comm. Loki put up another illusion: a perfect mimic of Steve.

“‘On my way down to coordinate search-and-rescue,’” he mocked in an overly-serious tone. “I mean, honestly, how do you keep your food down?” Thor barely spared him a glance before slapping a gag over his mouth.

“Shut up,” he growled. You pointed to the younger god, shoving Nat and Clint.

“Someone out there is definitely into that. The shapeshifting.”

Clint made a disgusted face. “Who?”

“Robert Heinline? Stranger in a Strange Land, 1961?” past-you suggested before frowning. “Wait, no. He was, like, mega-homophobic…” The man shrugged. “Never read it.”

As the team filed into the elevator and past-Tony situated the Tesseract, present-Tony turned to the tiny man on his shoulder. “Ooh. All right, you’re up, little buddy. There’s our stone” Scott got into position.

“All right. Flick me.” Tony didn’t hesitate, sending the small superhero flying onto past-Tony’s arm with ease. Once Scott was safely heading down the elevator, present-Tony flew from the Tower, suit activating near-instantly thanks to the nanotech.

“All right, Cap. I got our scepter in the elevator, just passing the 80th floor.”

“On it. Head to the lobby.” Present-Steve poked the button, doors opening to an elevator full of HYDRA. An infestation, one could say.

“Captain,” Sitwell greeted. “I thought you were coordinating search-and-rescue.”

“Change of plans.” If anyone noticed the sudden lack of dirt and added years of age on Captain America, they didn’t comment on it.

“Hey, Cap.” Well, maybe Rumlow noticed.

“Rumlow.” The guard in front of present-Steve, apparently wanting to take an opportunity, placed his hand on his gun. Steve knew he could win this fight. But did he feel like dealing with it? No.

“I just got a call from the secretary. I’m gonna be running point on the scepter,” he lied through his teeth, hoping the countless lessons you’d given him concealed the blatant lie.

“Sir? I don’t understand,” Sitwell said. Steve looked around before leaning in. “We got word there may be an attempt to steal it.”

“Sorry, Cap. We can’t give you the scepter.”

“I’m gonna have to call the director,” Sitwell insisted.

Steve internally rolled his eyes. His options were to fight the agents, which would be messy and draw attention, or pull a move he knew both you and Nat would be proud of.

“That’s okay. Trust me.” He leaned in. “Hail HYDRA.”

When he left the elevator without a fuss and scepter in hand, he was feeling pretty good about himself.

Tony, on the other hand, wasn’t having as fun of a time. While he had successfully gotten the Tesseract, the Hulk busting through a wall had sent the cube spinning. Loki had snatched it up instantly, disappearing off the map. He’d made a big mistake, and now he was in trouble.

“Oh, we blew it,” he groaned, throwing off the goggles he’d stolen.

As the alarms blared, present-Steve sighed. “Tony, what’s going on? Tell me you found that cube.” Of course, something had to go wrong. As he turned another corner, he came face-to-face with himself.

“Oh, you gotta be shitting me.”

“I have eyes on Loki. 14th floor,” past-Steve said into his comm. Present-Steve found it hard to believe he ever tolerated that stupid helmet, it made his head look more like an egg than it should.

“I’m not Loki, and I don’t wanna hurt you,” he said, setting down the case. The other Captain America didn’t listen, instead charging forward. The shields clashed and blows flew.

With a flying kick, past-Steve stared his doppelgänger down.

“I can do this all day,” he said.

Present-Steve groaned. “Yeah, I know. I know.” He was more out of practice than he thought. As both of them tumbled through glass and down stairs, they slammed against the ground. As they both panted, past-Steve caught sight of the compass with Peggy’s picture in it.

“Where did you get this?” he demanded. Present-Steve ignored the question and dove for the scepter, but was intercepted. He was quickly locked in a chokehold, struggling for air, until he remembered something.

“Bucky is alive,” he wheezed. When the other Steve let him go and voiced his confusion, he took the opportunity to grab Loki’s scepter and tap him in the chest. When past-Steve collapsed, present-Steve sighed, grabbed the compass and scepter, and took a moment to catch his breath.

He spared a glance at the passed-out version of himself.

“That is America’s ass,” he said.

“Um, excuse you?” When he looked up, he was met with past-you, gun lowered to your side. You chuckled at the statement as he raised his hands in surrender.

“Listen, I’m not Loki.” You shrugged good-naturedly, but aimed your gun nonetheless.

“Prove it.”

“Your favorite Disney movie is Anastasia because you like the glitter and she reminds you of Nat, you hate that I call the Tesseract a cube, and you don’t know how to calculate radicals.” You raised your eyebrows, nodding.

“Then who are you?”

“I’m from the future. 2023.” You froze, searching him for any signs of deceit. You found none.

“Holy shit. Tony invented time travel,” you whispered. A crackle and a few muffled sounds over comms had you glancing around.

“Get out of here, I’ll cover for you.”

“See you around, (Y/N),” he said, sprinting off as you helped past-Steve up.

He made his way out of the building, sneaking past guards and agents before jumping back down into the alley they arrived in.

“Cap,” Tony called. “Sorry, buddy, we got a problem.” He and Scott were sitting in an abandoned car, dejected. The latter scoffed from the backseat.

“Yeah, we do.”

“Well, what are we gonna do now?” Steve asked.

Tony was quick to defend himself from his accusatory tone. “You know what? Give me a break, Steve. I just got hit in the head with the Hulk.”

“You said that we had one shot,” Scott scoffed, pacing around the car. “This was our shot. We shot it. It’s shot. Six stones or nothing. It was six stones or nothing.”

“You’re repeating yourself, you know that? You’re repeating yourself.”

“You’re repeating yourself. You’re repeating yourself.”

“Dude. Come on!”

“No. You never wanted a time heist. You weren’t on board with the time heist.”

“I dropped the ball.”

“You ruined the time heist.”

“Is that what I did?”

“Yeah.”

Steve stepped in. “Are there any other options with the Tesseract?”

“No, no, no, there’s no other options,” Scott snapped. “There’s no do-overs. We’re both going anywhere else. We have one particle left. Each. That’s it, alright? We use that… bye-bye, you’re not going home.”

“Yeah, well, if we don’t try… then no one else is going home, either.” Tony stumbled from the car as Steve used his Captain voice.

“I got it,” he managed. “There’s another way to retake the Tesseract and acquire new particles. Little stroll down memory lane. Military installation, Garden State.” Tony and Steve shared a silent conversation before coming to a decision, leaving Scott in the dust.

“When were they both there?”

“They were there at a time… I have a vaguely exact idea.” Steve sighed.

“How vague?“

“What are you talking about? Where are we going?” Scott asked. Tony ignored him.

“I know for a fact they were there.”

“Who’s ‘they’? What are we doing?”

“And I know how I know,” Tony finished. Steve pursed his lips.

“Guys, what is it?”

“Looks like we’re improvising.” As he and Tony suited up, Scott continued to fire off questions.

“What are we improvising?” Instead of answering, Steve handed him the scepter.

“Scott, get this back to the compound.”

“What’s in New Jersey?”

“0-4,” Tony began, Steve repeating the numbers faithfully. “Uh, 0-7.”

“Excuse me.”

“1-9-7-0.” Steve glanced at him.

“Are you sure?”

“Cap? Captain? Steve?” At the incredulous looks from both of the famed superheroes, Scott backtracked slightly. “Sorry. America. Rogers. Look, if you do this, and it doesn’t work, you’re not coming back.” The two took a deep breath.

“Thanks for the pep talk, pissant,” Tony said, turning back to his friend of eleven years. “You trust me?”

“I do.”

“Your call.”

“Here we go.” They activated their suits at the same time, disappearing and leaving Scott in the alley.

———————————————————————

New Jersey, 1970.

“Clearly, you weren’t actually born here?” Tony asked as they passed a commemorative sign honoring Captain America.

“The idea of me was,” Steve corrected. He covered his face with a hat as he passed by some agents.

“Right. Well, imagine you’re SHIELD, running a quasi-fascistic intelligence organization… where do you hide it?”

“In plain sight.” Steve remembered this place from almost a decade ago, when you, Nat and him had been on the run. The barracks were still in the wrong place, and he’d bet the elevator was still hidden behind the bookshelves.

He and Tony snuck in, making their way through an awkward elevator ride with a woman that led to an even more awkward exchange.

“Good luck on your mission, Captain,” Tony said, slipping out of the elevator and leaving Steve to fend for himself.

“Good luck on your project, Doctor.” He stuttered a bit, catching the attention of the woman.

“You new here?” she asked.

“Not exactly.”

Meanwhile, Tony snuck around in the storage rooms, using his advanced glasses to scan each container.

“Come on, you bastard,” he muttered, running through the labyrinth of outdated tech and uncomfortable stools.

Finally, his glasses located it. “Gotcha.” He not-so-stealthily grabbed a briefcase before cutting through the metal bars and snatching the Tesseract.

“Back in the game.” Just as he placed the problematic shape in the briefcase, a familiar voice echoed through the room.

“Arnim, you in there? Arnim?” Tony narrowed his eyes before he caught sight of the man’s face, quickly spinning on his heels and walking the other direction.

“Hey!” Howard Stark called. “The door is this way, pal.”

“Oh, yeah.” Tony laughed awkwardly.

“Looking for Doctor Zola, have you seen him?” Howard asked.

“Yeah, Doctor Zola. No, I haven’t seen a soul.” He ran straight into a chair. “Pardon me.”

“Do I know you?” The elder Stark gave Tony a once-over.

Tony fumbled, grabbing a lanyard. “No, sir. Uh… I’m a visitor from MIT.”

“Oh, MIT. Got a name?” And Tony, in his infinite genius, pulled possibly the dumbest move he’d ever made in his years on this god-forsaken planet.

“Howard.”

“That’ll be easy to remember.”

Realizing he had to find a different surname, he scraped his mind for something non-suspicious. “Howard Potts.”

“Well, I’m Howard Stark.” He stuck out a hand, but when Tony tried to take it, he missed and only caught a finger.

“Hi.”

“Shake that, don’t pull it.”

“Yeah.”

“You look a little green around the gills there, Potts.”

Tony sighed. “I’m fine. Just long hours.”

“You wanna get some air?” Howard offered. On the way out, Tony nearly forgot the whole damn Tesseract, but Howard scooped it up for him, making small talk on the way.

Steve had an easier time, calling Hank Pym and introducing himself as Captain Stevens. Seems that the alibis were best left to you and Nat.

“Doctor Pym? This is Captain Stevens from shipping. We have a package for you.”

“Oh, well, bring it up.”

“That’s the thing, sir, we can’t.”

“I’m confused, I thought that was your job.”

“Well, it’s just… Sir, the box is glowing… and to be honest, some of our mail guys aren’t feeling that great.”

“They didn’t open it, did they?”

“Uh, yeah, they did. You better get down here.”

After Hank when running down the hallways, Steve snuck into his office, grabbing a handful of Pym Particles. Easy.

“So, flowers and sauerkraut. You got a big date tonight?” A few hallways down, Tony and Howard made their way through the building.

“Uh, my wife’s expecting,” Howard explained the sauerkraut. “And too much time at the office.” He held up the flowers.

“Congratulations,” Tony said. It felt odd congratulating his dad for himself.

“Thanks. Hold this, will ya?” Tony gladly took the flowers and canned fish.

“How far along is she?” he asked.

His dad straightened his tie. “Uh, I don’t know. She’s at the point where she can’t stand the sound of my chewing. I guess I'll be eating dinner in the pantry again.”

“I have a little girl,” Tony offered.

“A girl would be nice.” Ouch. Right to your son from half a century in the future. “Less of a chance she’d turn out exactly like me.” Wait, what?

“What’d be so awful about that?” Tony asked.

“Let’s just say that the greater good had rarely outweighed my own self-interest.” He patted him on the shoulder.

During this time, Steve dipped into a random office to hide. The woman from the elevator was ratting them out, much to his annoyance. It wasn’t until he looked at the desk that he saw what room he’d stepped into.

A framed photo of him, pre-Serum, sat proudly in a polished wood frame. Not a speck of dust was on it. He’d waltzed right into Peggy’s office.

“I said bring them in.” Her voice made its way through the glass separating her office from the next. An agent added some information before she groaned dramatically.

“Oh, for the love of- I’ll look at the weather projections.” He peered at her through the half-opened blinds, aware that this was very similar to the stalker movie you’d made him watch.

She was still gorgeous. As she flicked through a file, Steve felt a weight sink in his chest. Was it longing for what he could’ve had? Or was it guilt, knowing that he was trying to save his family and still got distracted by one reminder of his past?

Maybe he wasn’t quite ready to move on.

Tony wasn’t either. This was the most he’d ever spoken to his father without sarcasm or tension.

“So, where you at with names?” he asked.

“Well, if it’s a boy, my wife likes Elmonzo.” Tony silently thanked the universe that his mom hadn’t gotten her way.

“Huh,” he said. “Might wanna let that stew awhile. You got time.”

“Let me ask you a question,” Howard stopped him in the road. “When your kid was born, were you nervous?”

“Wildly.” Tony and Pepper had always been chaotic, and the hospital run when she had gone into labor involved lots of yelling and a brief moment on the highway where Pepper demanded he pull over and let her drive. They’d both forgotten that the car could drive itself.

“Did you feel qualified? Like you had any idea how to successfully operate that thing?”

“I literally pieced it together as I went along. I thought about what my dad did.” Tony faltered slightly as he caught sight of Steve standing by a nearby vehicle in an attempt to look official.

Howard sighed. “My old man, he never met a problem he couldn’t solve with a belt.”

“I thought my dad was tough on me,” Tony said as he looked him in the eye. “And now, looking back on it, I just remember the good stuff. You know? He did drop the odd pearl.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

Tony figured it was worth risking his secret identity. “‘No amount of money ever bought a second of time.’”

“Smart guy.”

“He did his best.”

“I’ll tell you, that kid’s not even here yet and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him.” As he wakes away, Tony smiled to himself. A last bit of closure was perhaps exactly what he’d needed. Steve threw him a questioning head tilt, to which he held up the briefcase with an exasperated glare.

“Good to meet you, Potts.” Howard took back the sauerkraut and flowers.

“Yeah. Howard… Everything's gonna be alright.” Oh, what the hell. Tony tugged the man into a hug. “Thank you… for everything… you’ve done for this country,” he finished awkwardly. Maybe in 21 years from now, a few days from Christmas, Howard would look at his son before leaving to go to the Pentagon and remember the strange man from New Jersey. Maybe he’d piece it together in his last days alive. That his son would go on to do even greater things than he’d imagined.

But for now, Tony returned to where Steve was standing, and they vanished in plain sight, returning to 2023 in the blink of an eye.

———————————————————————

Space, 2014

After dropping off Nebula and Rhodey, Clint and Nat hopped onto the Milano and started the course for Vormir. As space zoomed past, Clint laughed.

“We’re a long way from Budapest,” he said.

Nat chuckled in return. “Yeah. God, (Y/N) is gonna be so jealous of us.” She didn’t feel too bad, though. Your last request had been for her to see the stars for you, after all.

He nodded. Space had always been an obsession of yours, and knowing you, once you were back, you would demand they take you flying.

As they caught sight of the planet, they prepared for the landing and atmospheric turbulence.

“Wow. Under different circumstances, this would be totally awesome,” Clint said, watching as the alien soil slowly grew closer.

Once they landed safely and trekked through the sand, they began working their way up the massive mountain in the middle. The sun seemed stuck in a permanent solar eclipse, sending a chill through the environment and casting a few weak rays of light.

The hike up the steep cliffs was even colder, and by the time they reached the top, snowflakes were clinging to their hair.

“I bet the raccoon didn’t have to climb a mountain,” Nat complained.

“Technically he’s not a raccoon, you know?” Clint yelled over the whistling wind.

The redhead sighed. “Oh, whatever. He eats garbage.”

“Welcome.” Both of the assassins whirled around to face the voice, Clint with his sword and Nat with her gun. A shadowy figure hovered in the darkness.

“Natasha. Daughter of Ivan.” It turned to the archer. “Clint. Son of Edith.” They slowly approached, weapons still readied.

“Who are you?” Nat asked. This ghostly figure had just told her her father’s name, something she didn’t even know.

“Consider me a guide,” it said. “to you, and to all who seek the Soul Stone.”

“Oh, good. You tell us where it is, then we’ll be on our way,” she quipped.

The floating blob mumbled in German before stepping forward, revealing the Red Skull. She’d only seen a few grainy photos, but not many others looked like the original head of HYDRA. “If only it were that easy.”

He led them along the stone platform, approaching the edge of the cliff. “What you seek lies in front of you,” he said. “As does what you fear.” The fall was steep. The ground below was stained with what they suspected to be blood. This wasn’t some sort of stronghold for the stone. This was a sacrificial altar.

“The stone’s down there,” Nat said, trying to deny the fact that one of them would die out here on foreign ground. The other wouldn’t even be able to take a body back to bury.

“For one of you,” the Red Skull confirmed. “For the other… In order to take the stone, you must lose that which you love. An everlasting exchange. A soul for a soul.”

The two assassins sat for a while at the top of the mountain, thinking through every other possibility.

“Maybe he’s making this shit up?” Clint offered. But Nat shook her head. She’d thought it through, and realized that she’d ignored a crucial part of Nebula’s story. Thanos had come with his daughter, and left with the Soul Stone. A sacrifice.

She told her friend so, and Clint agreed. They could only stay in denial for so long.

“Whatever it takes,” the Black Widow whispered.

“Whatever it takes,” the Hawkeye parroted.

“If we don’t get that stone, billions of people stay dead,” she said with conviction, rising to stand by the man.

He nodded. “Then I guess we both know who it’s gotta be.”

“I guess we do.” He took her hand before she placed her other on top of his. A look of realization crossed both of their faces.

“I’m starting to think we mean different people here, Natasha.”

She stood firm. “For the last five years, I’ve been trying to do one thing. Get to right here. That’s all it’s been about. Bringing everybody back.”

“No, don’t you get all decent on me now,” Clint joked halfheartedly.

“What, you think I wanna do it? I’m trying to save your life, you idiot,” she responded.

He scoffed. “Yeah, well. I don’t want you to. How’s that? Natasha, you know what I’ve done. You know what I’ve become.”

“Oh, I don’t judge people on their worst mistakes.”

A moment of thoughtful silence.

“Maybe you should.”

“You didn’t.”

He nodded. “You’re a pain in my ass, you know that?” She nodded too, before resting her forehead against his. He pulled away. “Okay. You win.”

He almost made it easy on her. But then he smirked, knocking her off her feet and shoving her to the ground.

“Tell my family I love ‘em,” he whispered. In response, she threw a punch and flipped him down. She aimed the widow bite at her best friend.

“You tell ‘em yourself.” She fired it at his chest, hoping it would slow him down. As she ran to the edge, however, Clint fired an explosive arrow, blowing her to the side.

He ran and leapt, only for her to jump after him and release a grappling hook. Your grappling hook. She’d always thought yours released smoother.

She attached it to Clint’s belt and let herself slip until the only thing holding her up was his hand.

“Damn you,” he groaned once he saw your emblem stuck to his tactical belt. He reached down to pull her up, but the positioning of the clip made it impossible. Nat’s breaths quickened. She was scared. For a moment, her hand reached out to grab his other one, and all he could see was the scared little Russian assassin he’d met so long ago.

“Wait!” he yelled. She glanced down before looking back up.

“Let me go,” she insisted, voice soft and strong all at once.

Clint’s hand slipped further. “No. No. Please, no,” he insisted, trying to find any way to get out of this. When she spoke again, her voice shook.

“It’s okay.”

“Please.”

She took the moment of weakness and kicked back, wrenching her hand from his grip and free-falling. And for how many people Clint had watched die, his family included, he couldn’t bear to meet her teary eyes as she fell.

So he turned away.

When he looked back again, she was gone. Snow spiraled peacefully around her body, landing on her face but refusing to melt. She looked so small on the dark rock.

As light shot up the mountain and he awoke with the orange stone in his hand, he couldn’t help but feel it wasn’t worth losing her.

———————————————————————

Avengers’ Compound, 2023.

When everyone returned, they weren’t expecting Clint to collapse on the ground. He broke down in sobs as he explained what had happened on Vormir and the mood quickly turned melancholy. No one even noticed the imposter Nebula that had returned from 2014.

The funeral was held the next day. It was small, quiet. They couldn’t tell the public about it yet. Hell, they wouldn’t even be able to tell them the full story. Time travel had to stay a secret.

“Do we know if she had a family?” Tony asked. Clint stayed silent. He was the only person other than you and Wanda she’d told about Melina, Alexei, and Yelena. As far as he knew. they’d all been dusted.

“Yeah,” Steve said. “Us.”

“What? What are you doing?” Thor asked in disbelief.

Tony’s voice was uncharacteristically quiet. “Just asked him a question.”

“Yeah, no, you’re acting like she’s dead. Why are we acting like she’s dead? We have the stones, right? As long as we have the stones, Cap, we can bring her back. Isn’t that right? So stop this shit. We’re the Avengers. Get it together.” He was in denial.

“Can’t get her back,” Clint snapped. “It can’t be undone. It can’t.” At his statement, Thor began to laugh.

“Look, I’m sorry, no offense, but you’re a very earthly being, okay? And we’re talking about space magic. And ‘can’t’ seems very definitive. Don’t you think?”

“Yeah, look, I know that I’m way outside my pay grade here. But she still isn’t here, is she? It can’t be undone. Or, that’s at least what the red, floating guy had to say. Maybe you wanna go talk to him, okay? Go grab your hammer, and you go fly and you talk to him.” Clint’s voice grew louder with each word, bitterness edging in.

“It was supposed to be me,” he said tearfully. “She sacrificed her life for that goddamn stone. She bet her life on it.” Bruce threw a bench, sending it hurtling into the lake.

“She’s not coming back. We have to make it worth it. We have to,” he said.

Steve stood. “We will.”

The rest of the day was dedicated to perfecting a gauntlet. As Tony carefully placed each stone in place, the nanotech glove surged with power. They moved it to a separate room, careful not to touch the stones.

“All right, the glove’s ready,” Rocket said, gently lifting it with his paws. “Question is, who’s gonna snap their freakin’ fingers?”

“I’ll do it,” Thor volunteered. Tony looked at him as if he’d grown another head.

“Excuse me?”

“It’s okay.” As he strode toward the most powerful object in the universe, everyone moved to stop him.

“We haven’t decided who’s gonna put that on yet,” Steve explained.

But it only served to further agitate the god. “I’m sorry. What, we’re all just sitting around waiting for the right opportunity?”

“We should at least discuss it,” Scott said.

“Look, sitting here and staring at the thing is not gonna bring everybody back. I’m the strongest Avenger, okay? So this responsibility falls upon me. It’s my duty.” Tony could feel the guilt undulating off of him in waves. He’d been helpless to save his mother, father, brother, and people. This was the best way he saw to atone.

“Normally, you’re right,” Tony said, arguing with the blind as he slowly backed him away from the gauntlet.

“Stop it! Just let me. Just let me do it,” Thor whispered. “Just let me do something good. Something right.”

Tony wasn’t about to let a very depressed, millennium-old, god of thunder put himself at risk like that. “Look, it’s not just the fact that that glove is channeling enough energy to light up a continent. I’m telling you, you’re in no condition.”

“What do you think is coursing through my veins right now?” the alcoholic asked.

“Cheez Whiz?” Rhodey asked.

Thor brushed off the comment. “Lightning. Lightning.”

“Lightning won’t help you, pal. It’s gotta be me,” Bruce spoke up. “You saw what those stones did to Thanos. They almost killed him. None of you could survive.”

“How do we know you will?” Steve asked as Bruce eyed the gauntlet.

“We don’t. But the radiation’s mostly gamma. It’s like… I was made for this.”

Across the building, 2014 Nebula had snuck away, fiddling with the time travel machine. Her loyalty to Thanos was still unwavering, movements calculated and precise as she prepared to bring the Mad Titan to Earth.

Back with the rest of the team, Bruce prepared to wield the six Infinity Stones.

“Good to go, yeah?” Tony asked. He confirmed the question as Tony called for everyone’s attention. “Okay, remember, everyone Thanos snapped away five years ago… you’re just bringing them back to now, today. Don’t change anything from the last five years.”

“Got it.” Everyone suited up, Tony lifting a projected shield to protect the archer that didn’t seem to care if he got hurt.

“FRIDAY, do me a favor and activate Barn Door Protocol, will ya?”

“Yes, boss.” Steel doors closed all around them, shutting off the room of Earth’s Mightiest Superheroes from the outside world. No way in, no way out.

“Everybody comes home,” Bruce repeated to himself. As he began to slide the glove on, the nanotech allowed it to expand to fit his giant hand, stretching and adding hot-rod-red plates. Once it was locked in place, the stones began to glow, power coursing up his arm and visibly burning through his skin.

He groaned, collapsing on one knee.

“Take it off! Take it off!” Thor yelled, watching as his friend cried out in pain.

Steve remembered being in a similar situation 80 years ago. “No, wait. Bruce, are you okay?” He didn’t receive a response as the Hulk continued to groan.

“Talk to me, Banner,” Tony said, voice slightly tinny through the helmet. Bruce winced a few times before taking some deep breaths.

“I’m okay.”

A loud bang echoed from the room where the time machine was, but no one noticed it over the thrum of the Stones and the thick metal walls.

Bruce panted heavily, energy still searing muscle from his arm. He screamed as he raised the glove, supporting it with his other hand. Through the pain, he snapped.

And 6,453 miles away, on a field in Wakanda, you opened your eyes.

a/n: lowkey super excited ab this 👀 it was gonna be normal length but then things got out of hand. enjoy loves 🤍🤍 (also i finally got around to watching moon knight and why is steven grant so goddamn fine😩)

#marvel #avengers x reader #marvel x reader #x reader #acta non verba #avengers #tony stark #natasha romanoff #steve rogers #clint barton #bruce banner #scott lang #rhodey #nebula #rocket #pepper potts #avengers endgame #avengers: endgame #endgame x reader

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justaloserwhowrites · 2 years

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Hopeful Part 3

A/N: This is part may be a little bit of a filler, but I'm working so hard to make a cohesive story that follows the plots of infinity war and endgame. I hope y'all enjoy!

Pairing: Peter Parker x Stark!Avenger!Reader

Warnings: death, grief, disappearance (side note: these warnings are for the series as a whole)

You soon as you saw Steve and the others, you walked over, almost dropping your soup on the floor. You heard Rhodey cut off his hologram call with Ross. They go into the conference room with Rhodey, and Steve and Natasha hug Rhodey.They hadn't seen you standing in the corner of the hall.

"Long time no see," you say as you walk toward them with a smile on your face.

Natasha is the to look over at you. She is somewhat of an aunt to you. When you were younger, she taught you how to braid your hair, how to do makeup, and how to punch. She comes over to you and gives you a hug.

"Hey, kid. You don't have your braces anymore," she laughs.

"And you don't have your red hair anymore."

"Side effects of being a fugitive." She chuckles.

Vision groans in pain, cutting your reunion short. You walk over to the group. As you get closer, you see a huge gash on Vision.

"What happened to you guys? You look like hell." You say.

"I think you look great," you hear a voice say. Everyone turns to see Bruce come in from the back entrance to the room. "Yeah, I'm back." He says very calmly.

"Hi, Bruce." The newly blonde woman says with a kind smile.

"Nat." Like that the room is silent.

"Well, that was awkward. Should we give you the room to hook up- I mean catch up?" You joke in an attempt to cut the tension.

A few chuckles arise, and they both blush slightly. Everyone moves into the back room. Bruce debriefs everyone on Thanos and how he is after the stone in side of Vision. They start to discuss removing the stone.

"I'm saying if we take out the stone, there's a whole lot of Vision left. Perhaps the best parts." Bruce says with determination.

"Can we do that?" Natasha asks.

"Not me. Not here." Bruce answers.

"Well, you better find someone and somewhere, fast. Ross isn't just going to let you have your old rooms back." Rhodey states.

"I know somewhere." Steve says plainly. This begins a discussion about going to Wakanda amongst the group and yourself.

"You know this is still gonna be a fight." Nat states.

"Of course. But we will fight to protect Vision. To protect Earth." Steve responds.

"When will we leave?" You ask.

"(Y/N), you can't come. You're not ready." Rhodey commands.

" I wasn't asking. Rhodey, my dad and my boyfriend are in space. A big purple asshole is coming to destroy the world. You need any helping hand you can get." You shout.

"Kid, I agree with him. You shouldn't come. This isn't what Tony would want. You need to stay here where you're protected." Nat says as she tries to comfort you.

"I can't sit here and watch as you guys go and risk your lives. Not after dad and Peter left in a space donut going God knows where. I'm ready." You demand.

"Sweetie, I know Tony and Peter are missing, but I can't let you go," Pepper interrupts from behind you. You turn to look at her. "I can't possibly lose you, too."

The rage in your face settles. You couldn't leave her. She has acted as your mother since you were a small child.

"Fine," defeated, you sigh. "Just be sure to come back alive." You request Natasha and the others.

"Of course, kid," she hugs you one last time. "I'll see you soon." She brushes your face with the back of her hand before going to the Quinjet parked on the lawn.

Meanwhile in Space

An ugly gray alien holds Dr. Strange captive with levitating needles. Tony overlooks the scene strategizing how to release him when a cape taps on his armor, startling him.

"Wow. You're one loyal piece of outerwear. Aren't ya?" Tony nearly whispers.

"Yeah, uhh speaking of loyalty." Peter says and he drops down from his upside down hang.

"What the-"

"I know what you're gonna say." They bicker back and forth for a little bit.

"Don't tell me you thought this through. Pete, you were supposed to go home, go on your field trip, and make googly eyes at (Y/N). You are NOT supposed to be here."

"How am I supposed to be a friendly, neighborhood Spider-man with no neighborhood? I can't protect (Y/N) if we don't stop these guys." Peter anxiously lets out. "Besides, she has beaten my ass a couple of times."

"You let her beat you." Tony states.

"Yeah. Maybe. I love her, and if there's even a slight chance we can save her and the world by following this guy, I would do it. Which- which is why I'm here."

"Okay. We'll talk about the loving my daughter part later. What's your big plan to beat this, huh?"

"Okay. Umm- uhh- Have you seen this really old movie Aliens?"

#peter parker imagines #peter parker oneshot #peter parker imagine #peter parker #peter parker fluff #spiderman imagine #spiderman #peter parker x stark!reader #peter parker x reader #spiderman x stark!reader #tony stark imagine #tony stark daughter #tony stark #tony stank #pepper potts #marvel imagine #marvel #the avengers #infinity war

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darkenedreaper · 3 years

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Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x Reader, Avengers x Reader

Featuring: GoTG, Peggy Carter

Warnings: Angst, sad I suppose

Summary: 2 years after her death, your struggling even more. And it’s killing the team to keep their secret. (I changed Endgame because I can. Come at me. I might make it into chapters.)

Masterlist

‘It can’t be undone’ she said

*2 years ago*

You had gone through years with her. Years with the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy. You had gone through love with her. You had gone through the 5 years with her. You had gone to Vormir with her. Yet you had won the final fight without her.

When you all came back from the time travel success you had to try and keep yourself from collapsing. You saw the others standing with smiles on their faces but all you saw was her. Her lips and eyes pleading you to let her go. Her body descending forever. And her sprawled out onto the floor, a pool of blood surrounding her head confirming Natasha Romanoff no longer wondered the earth.

“Are you telling me this actually worked?” Rhodey questioned, followed by Thor’s wheezy laugh. Their faces became confused when they heard a long bang. You have dropped down onto your knees, stone in hand and body wet from wherever you had been teleported to after she had sacrificed herself.

“Y/n where’s Nat?” The big green guy said. Your eyes were stuck in front of you. A sorrowful look on your face. You couldn’t even move. You couldn’t speak. You could’ve all been there for hours or seconds. But Steve lifted you up by your arms and tried to read your expression. With the help of Nebula you were taken to your bedroom you shared with Natasha. The both of them tried to gently take you to the bed but instead you walked shakily to the bathroom and shut the door. Of course Steve was upset. He had a lost a part of his family. He had shed tears while he walked with you. He could only imagine what the scene must’ve been for yourself. The unspoken news of his friends death was indescribable, but having to be there in an unimaginable situation would’ve been even harder. And he understood that. Nebula grieved, she barely knew the woman. But she grieved. She saw the distraught and pain on your face and in your eyes. She placed her hand on Steve’s shoulder and took him out of your room.

In the bathroom you had caged yourself into. You had your hand gripped to the sink. Your eyes trained to the sink bowl. Your eyes drifted to the left for you where her makeup and hairbrush had been layed out this morning. You took a step back, nervously clasping your hands together. You tried to calm down before someone got hurt. You looked down at your hands and you were maintaining some level of sanity before you remembered that your hand had let her go. If anyone would walk past your bedroom door, they were bound to hear glass smashing and screams and words of anguish.

You didn’t speak to anyone. You completely shut yourself down. The only reason you spoke to someone was to communicate over the earpiece when you were fighting. There was a short debate over the coms as to who was going to steal the stones from Thanos. You nearly went into a fit of rage and upset before Carol ordered you to look into her eyes. Your excuse to use the stones was so you could be with her again. When Tony clicked his fingers the enemy became dust, and the world became a little more louder and a bit more lighter. The battlefield was filled with new and old faces. Tony’s snap had been so powerful he was able to bring back the people that mattered the most to those around him. Steve had Peggy in his tired arms. Clint had Laura and his children. Wanda had Vision. Quill had Gamora. Thor had his mother and brother back. Tony had Pepper. He was unharmed and Bruce’s arm had healed. Everyone had someone. You had someone. You had your whole family. But your special someone was Natasha. You had never felt so lost. Natasha would be holding you, you holding her. She would tuck your head into her shoulder while letting your arms envelope around her. But all you got were sad looks.

Some of the ‘newbies’ had questioned their closest. After a lot of loud whispering, there was silence. The battlefield was silent in memory of Natasha. The only noises were the hundreds of sniffles and sobs of those who had the news broken to them. The dying fires crackling. The next minute footsteps were approaching you. You had internally begged for it to be Natasha. But you looked up to see a short boy. His suit red and blue with a spider on it. His brown curly hair was tinted with grey. His teary eyes gave you the saddest smile before and steadily put his arms around your shoulders. You accepted the young boys embrace. You were thankful for it.

The news were around the place as quick as they could’ve been. Pictures were taken. Statements were took. The public had tried to surround the heroes but were pushed away by the helping police. It has been released to the enormous crowd that one of the most heroic heroes had died. The crowds became distraught. They sounded like how you felt inside. They tried to surround you and shout out their condolences but you kept walking. Where to? Who knows.

*2 years later/present time*

You spoke to no one. You spoke out in bursts of anger. Anger if someone tried to tell you to come away from your desk and to stop working and trying to find a way. Peggy, Steve’s wife, had became close to you. She understood how it felt to lose a loved one. She understood she wasn’t Natasha. She understood why you were working yourself so hard. She would never judge you, if you looked all disheveled or smelt from not taking a shower. She encouraged you to do your best, but she never pushed you. 2 years ago, you found a solution to stop Thanos. 2 years ago you lost her. 2 years ago Steve returned the stones. You haven’t been able to go through any videos or voice messages of her. Just a photo that you have framed. There were and still are memorials for her, but you would never attend any.

You had only cried to yourself. But right now you were on the edge of having a definite breakdown. Tony and the whole team of Avengers, Wakanda, GotG and Carol had wanted to check in as you had been back to Vormir. Which you greatly regret. Scott had made an extra time travel refill for you. All you were told by red skull was a ‘soul for a soul’. You argued with a ghost. You lashed out a ghost. You didn’t dare look to the edge. Knowing you would either throw yourself of or cry so much you wouldn’t be able to move.

They all met you at the Compound. At the platform that sat on top on the lake.

Steve and Peggy. Tony and Pepper. Rhodes. Bucky and Sam. Clint and Laura. Thor and Loki. Bruce. The Guardians were there. Rocket was by your side. Peter was there with Happy. Carol was at the edge of the platform. Wanda and Vision. And the rest were all there. You had your back turned to them. You were silent trying to understand why they all had such guilty faces, except Thor. They all had a secret. One they had agreed to not tell you, for fear it may completely break you. But they decided enough was enough. They had to tell you.

“Look we need to get her back to stop this shit with the Avengers get it together.” Thor spat at Steve, as he still saw him as the Captain.

“Can’t get her back.” You spoke up, causing everyone’s attention on the two of you.

“Wh..wha..what are you..?” Thor mumbled out.

“It can’t be undone. It can’t.” You said quietly looking at him from over your shoulder.

He laughed at your words before saying, “Look.. I, I’m sorry but your a very earthly being okay, we’re talking about space magic and can’t seems very definitive. Don’t you think?”

“Yeah look I know that I’m way outside my.. my paid rate here. But she still isn’t here is she?” You said. Tony took of his sunglasses, getting upset.

“Yeah well that’s my point.” Thor said in a hushed manner.

“It can’t.. be undone.” Your voice cracking, your tears had crawled their way down your face now. “Or that’s at least what the red floating guy had to say. Maybe you wanna go talk to him. Ok, go grab your hammer and you go find him you talk to him!” You yelled at him. He looked down to the floor. You shouldn’t be angry with him. He missed Natasha. But you couldn’t help it.

“It was supposed to be me.” You admitted with a breaking voice. Bucky let a tear fall freely from his eye. “She sacrificed her life for that goddamn stone, she bet her life on it.” You started to breakdown in the middle of everyone. Angry at how she could’ve died for nothing. How it wasn’t supposed to be like this. Even Wanda began to breakdown. She felt your pain from far away. Your longing. And your grieving. Rockets fur was wet as he was upset just like everyone else.

He couldn’t take it anymore. The lies. Not the acting. But the lies. Clint stood up and said, “Y/n we’ve been lying to you. Natasha is here. She’s perfectly fine. She’s alive. You just can’t see her.” No one else bothered to look up as he said what was needed to be said. You slowly turned around to him. “What?” Was all you could choke out. Steve stood up and walked towards you before keeping a distance. “When I returned the stone. He told me that we could all get her back, after all it was a soul for a soul. But the one who travelled there has been cursed. You can’t see or hear her and I don’t know if you ever will. But she’s alive.”

You took time to observe his words.

She was standing in front of you. Her arms crossed but her eyes were stuck on your face that was wet from the tears you had cried. Your eyes brows moving in a sorrowful way. She wasn’t crying for herself no. She cried for you. For your pain. She had never seen you so upset. And because she had been with you ever since she got back, she’s had to watch you cry almost every day.

Natasha wishes you could see her. She has been next to you this whole time. She was gone a few hours and then she was back. She couldn’t find you and instead ran into Sam who held her tightly. Instead she sped off to Tony’s cabin where she found Bucky and Steve, who explained everything.

She wishes you could hear how proud she is of you. She wishes you didn’t have to see you break yourself and live in your mental anguish. It hurt her. Every night you fell asleep at your desk, she would drape a blanket over you, and almost cry at your confused state in the morning of who had been to your office and covered you.

She wishes you hadn’t been traumatised by her silly yet heroic actions. She wishes she could tell you how much she loves you and how she wants to be held by you and she wants you to be able to hear her words, “I love you.” The others heard it. But they didn’t dare tell you.

She was determined to get her words to you. If not by speaking to you then by page. Determined to prove that she was with you all of this time. She wants to tell you how much she loves you.

She wishes there was a way.

If you would like a part 2, let me know.

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ashasdramadrawer · 3 years

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MCU fandom rant

One thing that continuously pisses me off is acting as if Tony losing his parents was a Big Fucking Deal.

In the big scheme of things? It’s not.

Steve never knew his father and his mother died of fucking tuberculosis when he was a young adult, lived in poverty with multiple disabilities in a time when eugenics was king. He then lost his best friend, someone he kissed once, and his literal life and world. That’s not as big a deal? I mean, damn, they like to talk about Tony’s PTSD is a big deal, but Steve’s is bad too- they were just afraid to go into it.

Sam? Yeah, his parents are dead too. Systemic racism and growing up on a fishing boat in Louisiana sure as hell wasn’t easy. Then losing his wingman in front of him?

Bucky lost his mind, his autonomy, his arm, his parents, his sister(s), his best friend, his world and time, almost every human connection he had along with going through horrific torture and medical experimentation against his will. His tragedy cannot be understated.

Thor, over the course of his movies and the Avengers, lost his mother, his father, his planet, his people, his view of himself and his people (which is a growing pain, but still hurts) and his pride and sense of self, utterly. We saw him accept the role of leadership and grow into a full adult- then because of Endgame lose all of that.

Natasha grew up the victim of human trafficking, her mother killed trying to save her, her father unknown, and the one scrap of childhood she had was a lie. She lost not one but two found families but held on. She was degraded over the course of the MCU as nothing but eyecandy until it was time for her to die for the sake of the people who could make babies.

Tony? Tony grew up with all the resources and privilege in the world. Howard was a dick, his mom doesn’t even have a name, but their loss was hardly the worst thing that had ever happened to him. And compared to what happened to the others?

People react to trauma differently, but I get so tired of seeing people talk about the death of Tony’s parents like it is the only thing that matters. The guy came out better than everyone else, and never lost as much, which is not deserved. Sigh.

#anti-tony stark #mcu salt #fandom salt

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favefandomimagines · 3 years

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It Will Always Be You (s.s.)

Summary: you and sebastian broke up less than a year ago and reunited at the Endgame premiere.

AN: i pulled this deeeeeep from the drafts because i’m watching the winter soldier so i wanted to share this and it’s also a total mess lol

taglist: @amourtentiaa

You got out of the car and were met with screaming fans and tons of photographers. Your pastel blue dress flowing behind you as you walked on to the carpet.

It was the Avengers: Endgame premiere and though you were ecstatic to celebrate such a successful film and the beginning of a new era, a feeling of anxiousness settled in the pit of your stomach.

As you were posing, Scarlet and Elizabeth quickly found you and joined you in a few pictures. Chris was the next person to greet you, the photographers yelling at the two of you to get a picture together.

“Have you seen him yet?” Chris asked as the two of you smiled for the cameras. “No. I’m terrified to see him. I mean, we rarely filmed together and when we did he didn’t talk to me.” You answered. “If you think he hates you, he doesn’t.” Chris said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he did. He proposed and I said no. I’d hate me too.” You said.

Chris sent you a sympathetic look when Tom Holland gave you a quick hug. “You look stunning, Y/N.” He said to you. “Aw thanks, Tom.” You replied. “Funnily enough, you’re wearing light blue and Sebastian’s wearing light blue.” Tom said. “Tom,” You started. “It’s almost like you match.” Robert interjected.

You rolled your eyes before you walked off to do some short interviews. You were friends with one of the Entertainment Tonight reporters and you knew she was there.

As you were being guided on where to go, you heard your name being called and saw it was your friend calling you. However, she was interviewing Sebastian and Anthony. You swallowed the lump in your throat and put on a wide smile as you made your way over to her.

Sebastian turned his head and saw you coming and his heart sped up and his hands got clammy. Of course he thought you looked beautiful, with your blue dress that complimented your eyes and matched what he was was wearing and if he had to speak to you, he wouldn’t be able to form a cohesive sentence.

“Y/n! Oh my god, you look amazing!” She said to you as you hugged each other. “Speak for yourself!” You replied. “We were just talking about you.” She said giving you a mischievous smirk. “Oh god, all good things I hope.” You joked.

You and Anthony got along well so you weren’t surprised when he was the one doing most of the talking and Sebastian just smiled and nodded his head.

“How was it working all together?” Your friend asked, knowing better than to bring up your past with Sebastian. “It was great! Everyone is amazing and so talented and they made me better everyday.” You answered. “Yeah, we really fed off each other and collaborated a lot.” Anthony added.

Sebastian nodded before he spoke. “Yeah, yeah they pretty much covered it.” Sebastian replied with a small laugh. Your agent called you and you had to quickly excuse yourself.

“I’ve been summoned. I’ll see you guys later though!” You told them before bidding them goodbye.

Sebastian watched you walk to the next interviewer and he wanted nothing more than to talk to you. And he planned that when you both had a free moment, he would build up the courage to talk to you.

After about fifteen minutes, he saw you gathering your purse and phone from your agent before she left you alone. He stopped his conversation with Anthony and walked over to you.

“Uh, hey, Y/N.” He greeted you. Your head snapped up and your eyes widened slightly before you smiled at him. “Hey, Seb. How are you?” You asked. “I’m good. Just taking it all in. How have you been?” Sebastian replied. “I’ve been good. I just got asked to reprise my role from the Vampire Diaries so that’s exciting.” You explained. “Y/N, that’s great.” Sebastian said with a genuine smile.

“Thank you.” You replied. “You look beautiful by the way.” He commented out of the blue. “Really? This dress wasn’t my first choice.” You said with a small laugh. “No, Y/N you look amazing.” He said. You smiled up at him before it got awkward.

“I’m really sorry. For what happened and I know you never got an explanation and this isn’t the place for it, but I need to tell you.” You started. “I was scared when you asked me to marry you. You know my last relationship was a mess and screwed me up big time. And I know you’d never hurt me but when you asked me, I panicked. And I’m so sorry, Sebastian. You didn’t deserve that.” You finished.

Sebastian looked down at his feet and you knew you probably should have waited. “I should have told you sooner.” You said quietly before beginning to walk away.

He reached out and grabbed your hand, pulling you back to him. “I understand, Y/N. It was unfair of me to treat you like I did after you said no.” Sebastian said. “I still love you.” You whispered before your agent returned. “I’ll see you later.” You told him before leaving him.

After the movie and as you were leaving the premiere, you saw Sebastian standing in front of the car you took. “What are you doing?” You asked with a small laugh. “I, uh, thought we could go to the afterparty together.” He offered. “You want to go to the afterparty with me?” You questioned. “It’ll give us a reason to talk more.” He said.

You nodded your head before getting in the backseat of the car.

“I still love you too.” Sebastian said. You looked up at him with a surprised looked on your face. “Really?” You questioned. “Of course. Feelings like that don’t just go away.” He answered.

You looked at him for a moment and you noticed you already at the venue. “If you asked me to marry you today, I’d say yes.” You whispered before the door opened.

You stepped out and put a smile on your face and quickly found Scarlet and Elizabeth.

“Hey, hey, you okay?” Elizabeth asked. She saw the panicked look on your face when you walked up to them. “Sebastian told me he still loves me and I may have let it slip that if he asked me to marry him today I’d say yes.” You explained.

“Oh. Well, it could have been worse. If you got back together would that be the worst thing?” Scarlet asked. “I mean, no. But why the hell would I say that?” You replied. “You need a drink. Here’s a shot.” Anthony interjected handing you a shot glass.

You shrugged before knocking back the shot of Tequila. “Gimme another one.” You ordered, just wanting to forget how humiliated you felt.

After an hour, you were very tipsy and your self-control was at an all time low.

You knocked back another shot and spotted Sebastian across the way. As you made your way over to him, you got distracted by Chris.

“Chris! Chris, come here!” You called to him. “Y/N, how much have you had to drink?” He asked you. “I lost count after 4 shots.” You slurred. “We should get you home.” He said, wrapping an arm around you.

You shook your head until Sebastian joined the two of you. “She okay?” He asked Chris. “I’m right here.” You said, falling against Chris. “I’m gonna take you home, Y/N.” Sebastian told you. You didn’t protest because you were beginning to feel lightheaded.

Once Sebastian got you home, he practically carried you to your room. You fell onto the bed, still in your dress, and a grip on Sebastian’s hand.

“Seb, can you stay?” You asked. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” He said. “Please. You can sleep on the couch if you want.” You begged. “I just don’t wanna be alone.” You added.

Sebastian looked at you before he sighed. “Okay. I’ll sleep on the couch.” He said. You sent him a small smile before you passed out.

Sebastian kissed your forehead lightly before leaving your room and going into the living room.

He hadn’t been in your house since the two of you broke up. He assumed that you would have gotten rid of all the pictures you had together but he looked on the mantle above the fireplace, and saw a picture of the two of you from your vacation to Australia.

He smiled at the memory and also at the fact you still had it up. Sebastian took his jacket off and laid down on the couch, before falling asleep quickly.

—

You woke up, your head pounding and still in your dress from the night before. You wondered what made you get so drunk in the first place, until you remembered how you humiliated yourself in front of Sebastian.

Groaning, you got out of bed and made your way out to your living room. When you entered, you saw Sebastian sleeping heavily on the couch. You paused momentarily before continuing your trek to the kitchen.

You heard Sebastian stir and you froze. Would he remember what you said? Why was he sleeping on your couch? All of your questions were about to be answered when you noticed him sitting up.

“Good morning.” You greeted. Sebastian looked over at you and laughed dryly. “Good morning to you too.” He said. “What happened last night?” You asked.

Sebastian stood up and walked over to the kitchen counter and sat down. “You got really drunk and needed someone to bring you home, so I did and you asked me to stay.” He answered.

You sighed in relief at the fact he didn’t remember you telling him you’d marry him if he asked.

“And you also said that if I proposed today, you’d say yes.” He added. Your eyes widened before you looked down at your feet. “Oh.” You said quietly. “Y/N, did you mean that?” Sebastian asked.

You still avoided his gaze as you took a moment to answer. You heard him get up and make his way towards you before you felt him lifting up your chin to look at him.

“Yes, I meant it. I mean I didn’t say it when I was drunk so,” You answered.

Silence fell between you too and you looked up at him. But soon you grew embarrassed and returned your gaze to the floor.

Sebastian backed away slightly and you feared the worst. He moved his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small object. You looked at what he had in his hand and your mouth fell open slightly. In his hand was the ring he proposed to you with.

“I’ve been carrying this around with me since you said no. Hoping that one day we’d get back together or you’d change your mind.” He said.

Your eyes widened and Sebastian dropped onto one knee. “So, if you’ll have me and you say yes this time, will you marry me, Y/N?” He asked.

Sebastian’s heart was beating a mile a minute, afraid you were going to say no again.

Your eyes began to water as you nodded your head. “Yes, I’ll marry you.” You said in a whisper. Sebastian physically sighed in relief as he slid the ring onto your finger. He got up off the floor and you pulled him into a deep, well overdue kiss.

After a few seconds, you pulled apart and had a very impulsive idea. “Let’s not have a huge wedding. Let’s get a couple people we love and go to the courthouse and get married today. I don’t want to wait any longer than we had to.” You said.

Sebastian was okay with that but he knew you’ve had your wedding planned since you were 12. “Are you sure? You’ve always wanted a big wedding.” He questioned. “I’m sure. We can always have a reception for everyone later. Please, Seb.” You pleaded.

He smiled at you before nodding his head. “Okay. Let’s go get married.” He said.

A couple hours later, you had called Elizabeth and Sebastian called Anthony and Chris, and you were walking up the steps of the courthouse to get married.

“I can’t believe you guys are doing this.” Chris commented. “Y/N didn’t want to wait any longer.” Sebastian said. “This is so cute though. Very Meredith and Derek of you.” Elizabeth interjected.

Your grip on Sebastian’s hand tightened as you entered the building.

The five of you approached the teller who recognized you all immediately. “Oh my god, your basically the Avengers.” She commented. “We’re here to get married.” You told her, smiling up at Sebastian. “Holy shit are you pregnant?” She asked.

“How come none of us thought about asking that?” Anthony muttered to Chris. “No, no, I’m not pregnant. We just don’t want to wait to get married.” You answered. She nodded her head and handed you some papers to fill out before she began performing the legal stuff that happens when you get married.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.” She said, just for fun. “It’s about damn time.” Sebastian muttered before he kissed you passionately.

Elizabeth was crying and Anthony and Chris were just happy for the two of you.

“I can’t believe I just officiated Y/F/N Y/L/N and Sebastian Stan’s wedding.” The teller said. “Thank you for doing this.” You told her graciously.

You exited the courthouse, feeling overjoyed that you finally married Sebastian. “Now what are you going to do?” Chris asked. “Probably move back in with her.” Sebastian joked.

You didn’t care what you did next, you were just happy that you could call Sebastian your husband.

#imagine #imagines #marvel imagine #sebastian stan #sebastian stan imagine #sebastian stan x reader #bucky barnes #bucky barnes imagine

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marvels-bitch-boy · 3 years

Text

Emerald Eyes: Chapter 5

Chapter 5: (Y/N’s POV)

Word count: 2k

A/N: this honestly was awesome to write, like I'm hoping I got the protectiveness of Clint right, and then change in attitude. Also, I hope you find the same stuff I laughed at for like 20 minutes while writing funny. Other than that Enjoy the Chapter and if you wanna be added to the tag list fill out the form and give me some suggestions and your Vote for our endgame!

Chapter 4 , Chapter 6

Your first week of training with Natasha seemed to be going well, everytime you got pinned, had to tap out or take a break (which was not often, so you had to pretend a few times) she would tease you which started to become something you actually enjoyed, you liked how creative she would get with a few of them. Every so often she would make comments regarding something Steve said about you “not being a regular recruit” and “you’re something special, apparently” is all she would say about it, you were glad that steve didn’t tell her about your enhancements. You hadn’t told anyone yet, not even your -self-appointed -“best friend” Pietro, who you know would understand more than the others at the compound, but you just couldn’t risk anyone knowing especially the person who is in charge of your training at the compound. If Natasha did know or had a suspicion of you, you couldn’t tell from the way she acted around you.

It wasn’t until her friend Clint came back from “personal time” did she start to act different, at first nothing changed she acted as she normally does around you, but after your first meeting with Clint something changed…

“Hi, I’m SWORD Agent (Y/L/N), its great to meet you... Agent Romanoff has told me about you” you greet him with a smile and an outstretched hand, he returns your smile with an indifferent look and refusing your hand “nice to meet you…” he says as his eyes scan you as if he is looking for something, and then he turns to Natasha with a wide smile “soo...Nat how about we head to the team dinner now? I don’t want Thor to get all the good stuff” Natasha turns to you with a surprisingly gentle smile “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” you return her smile with one of her own as you back away from the two “yeah, have fun…” you give Clint a small wave goodbye “...nice meeting you, Agent Barton” he doesn’t pay you any mind as him and Natasha walk off down the hallway.

---

You run into him a few times over the next few weeks around the compound after that, but none that stick out to you as much as when you were running around the track outside the compound while Natasha watched and wrote a few things down on her notepad every so often, you had noticed Clint walking up to her and just assumed it was regarding avengers business, but when Clint reached Natasha he just watched you run and would look at the redhead beside him a few times before his stoic expression slowly turned into one of surprise as his jaw dropped, he said something into her ear which made her finally look up at him. You couldn’t tell from where you were, but from the way she grabbed his arm and led him inside through the glass doors, she was either mad or something really bad had happened.

As you got closer to the side of the track they previously occupied you stopped for a sip of your water and watched them through the glass, Natasha seems to be annoyed while Clint just looked up at the ceiling with a huge smile and his arms crossed, Natasha however just shook her head and walked outside back to the track, she saw you and gave you a short smile that didn’t reach her eyes, when she came up to you she motioned for you to go back inside the compound you assumed that this meant training would be more sparing or shooting, but she didn’t move from her spot, you called out to her “you coming?...can’t really continue training without you” she looked up at you with an emotionless expression “you’re done for today, eat and rest and we’ll be back here tomorrow morning” this confused hell out of you, the entire that you’ve been training with Natasha she has not once let you go early if anything she keeps you for longer. You could tell something was up but you didn’t want to intrude so you simply walked back into the compound where you were greeted by Clint who was suddenly cheery to see you “Hellooooo, (Y/N)...I just realized I never asked how you’re liking training with Nat, is she fun? Keeping you on your toes?” this sudden change in mood from the two of them confused you even more.

“I’m finding it nice...she seems to know what she’s doing and she’s highly skilled, it was nice of steve to assign her to me” Clint’s brows furrowed at that last part but his smile didn’t fade “Oh...she told you Steve assigned her to you?...” you nodded because that is exactly what she had told you after your first training session “...big blue told me that she requested to be your partner, hmm I wonder why?-well I better get going have a lovely evening!” he pats your shoulder as he walks past you and down the hall, you stand there for another minute before continuing back to your qu-room -as Pietro kept insisting you call it- and called it a day before heading to the library to relax. You waited for a few hours for the young woman that you would talk with on the other side of the shelf, she had stopped showing up a few weeks prior and so you decided to head back to your room and attempt to get some sleep after the day you had.

Time Skip--3 weeks

After about a month of training with Natasha and getting lessons on “how to live” with Pietro you’ve started to feel comfortable around the compound, Natasha seemed to get back to her normal behaviour after a few weeks since her talk with Clint that had changed his mood about you suddenly, you were even invited to the avenger’s movie night by Pietro, it was a little weird when you first sat down though...

Pietro had asked Natasha if it was okay for him to join your training for the day and she knew he was lonely since his sister’s mission so she allowed for him to join a few exercises, once your session was over he was very quick to stop you when you were heading to leave the room.

He whizzes from his spot across the room to right in front of you as he beginnings “so dude, I was thinking...maybe you wanna join us for movie night?” he gives you desperate eyes that he always uses when he wants something.

You give him a “really?” look because you were pretty sure Natasha would object to this idea, “umm, well...I don’t know man, is the team cool with me crashing?” He nods and calls out to Natasha who is making her way towards you two.

“Is it cool if (Y/N) crashes movie night tonight?”

Natasha’s lips go up into a small smile -that you have been very oblivious to the fact that she only does it when someone says your name- as she responds to Pietro’s inquiry “well I think it would be a great idea, the team wouldn’t mind at all I’m sure”

You give a small smile before answering “I don’t really have a choice, do I P?” Pietro gives you a big grin which is all the answer you need, he was definitely going to bring you to movie night if you agreed or not “nope! Now tell me what do you like to snack on during comedies?” you tell him what your favourite candies are and he says goodbye as he rushes out to grab the snacks for the whole team and now you.

Natasha is already making her way down the hallway when you call out to her “You really had to give him an answer?” she lets a small giggle escape her lips as she continues walking.

---

You get into a few of the new casual clothes that Pietro helped you buy as part of his “how to live” lessons, and make your way to the avenger’s common room, it is much nicer than you imagined and is filled with a lot of comfortable looking furniture, as you enter you are greeted by Pietro of course, who is setting up the snacks on the coffee table in the middle of the room, and then Steve who is grabbing beverages from the fridge in the kitchen, he hands you a beer but you decline.

“I don’t really drink, but thank you” as soon as you say this Clint and Pietro appear next to you. Pietro has a faux look of sympathy and Clint is giving you a look that says “don’t worry we aren’t gonna judge you” as he takes one of the beers from Steve. Pietro presses the drink into your hand and looks you in the eye as he speaks slowly “Lesson. Number. Three, dude...relax a bit” you hesitate at first but reluctantly accept the drink and thank Steve once again. You see Bruce enter with Tony hot on his trail ranting about one of their new inventions “Brucie, I’m telling you this would only take a few- um I’m sorry who are you? who is this?” he says pointing to you.

“Oh um, hi I’m Agent (Y/L/N)-*Pietro elbows you and gives you a LooK* (Y/F/N)-I'm (Y/N) -this was another lesson from the speedster "use your first name more"- Pietro invited me to join you all tonight” you say before taking a sip of beer to calm your nerves, he looks over to Pietro “you keep bringing the agents your shacking up with to movie night and I’ll ban you again” you spit out some of your drink as he says this and proceed to cough while you try to correct him “n-no *cough* we-we are not *wheezes before coughing again* we *clears throat* we are not together sir...I can promise you that, I am-I am very much into women” Pietro is laughing on the floor after falling over while all of this is happening and cursing that he didn’t have a camera. Steve is patting your back to make sure you’re okay and Clint is giving you a cheeky smirk as he walks over towards the TV area.

Once you and Pietro are both recovered from that spectacle, and you say hello to Bruce, and everyone goes and takes their seats, Steve takes an armchair, Tony takes an identical one next to him and Bruce takes the one next to Clint, Pietro goes and sits in front of the coffee table facing directly at the screen, as you look around you notice that one redheaded Russian is missing from the group, you shrug it off and go to sit down on the couch that is behind the coffee table as soon as you get comfortable though the entire team is staring at you with wide eyes and concern...all except for Clint who is looking at you as though he is calculating something in his head.

You look at all of them before you speak up “umm...is something wrong? Did I get beer on my shirt or something?” Bruce opens his mouth to speak before everyone turns their heads to the direction of footsteps coming their way, as you turn your head to look you are greeted by yet again a pair of mesmerizing emerald eyes that don’t connect with yours as they scan the room before landing on you, you wave and give a small smile to the owner of those eyes as she looks like she is contemplating something for a second before shrugging slightly and making her way over to the couch and sits next to you, far enough away that you are both sitting comfortably on the couch.

“Hi” is all you can muster to say in front of her, she gives you another small smile and responds “Hi..." she waits a moment before asking you "...could you pass me a drink please?” you reach over to the coffee table in front of you both and grab her the only beer left on the table, as you hand it to her, her fingers brush yours and you nearly drop the bottle, she lets a small giggle escape as she thanks you and turns to face the tv before adjusting herself to be comfortable in her seat, as you turn to look forward you can see Clint giving you a wink and Pietro looking over at Steve with absolute bewilderment and Steve returning it with a look of his own before he presses play on the movie.

TagList:

@littlewinchester15 @ethanwoods1 @nektotersh

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