#Yeah Edward tries to make himself dumber

[sparrow-orion-writes]

🗣👀 for the ask game

🗣 having an argument

With: 👀 forced proximity

Ari and Edward from Neon Glow in Gold Dust!

I’m not going to lie, I am suffering with writer’s block bigger than the sea, so this is not all that good, but I tried my best.

Ari had snapped at him, nothing all that new, he’s a snappy person. But with the sweat forming on his forehead and the way his lungs are closing up, Edward had just had enough. Being trapped in a room will do that to a person.

“Would it kill you to be a little less of an ass? I run around all day making your life easier, I don’t think you even notice!” And, before Ari could cut a word in, he decides to throw in a “-you barely know half the things I do for you, it’s insane that April is nicer to me than you are!”

He almost feels a little bad, because really April is not all that awful as a person. Deranged, yes, but not a bad person.

“I do notice,” Ari replied, back stiff and jaw clenched in the low lighting of their personal hell. “Do you want a handwritten thank-you card with that?”

“Do you even know how smart you would be if you stopped doing...” Edward gestures wildly towards him “...this every five minutes?” He is, of course, loosely referring to Ari’s penchant for sinking in on himself and throwing a pity party instead of actually helping.

“Do you know how smart you would be if you didn’t keep trying to make yourself less intelligent for my benefit?”

He spoke so quietly, through gritted teeth, but the words landed their punch on it’s own. The realisation settles in, sinking his heart down to the pits of his stomach.

“You knew?”

“I had my suspicions.” Ari looks down at his hands, at anywhere but Edward’s face, which has fallen into heartache.

“How long?”

“Does it m-”

“How long, Ari?” His voice aches with it.

“About a year and a half, give or take, I had a feeling but April essentially confirmed it an-”

“And you didn’t tell me? You didn’t think to let me down, o-or anything, you just let me sit here and-”

“I wasn’t trying to, I just couldn’t understand how to approach-”

“In any way!” Edward’s voice reaches a pitch that is embarassingly high, almost cracking in his annoyance “...I could have moved on that long ago?”

Ari doesn’t respond, a flicker of confusion on his face.

It infuriated him for reasons that aren’t really Ari’s fault, Edward will admit, because it hurt in ways that only unrequited love can hurt. He took a step back a moment, feeling the physical force of the other man’s ignorance in the pits of his stomach. As if he hadn’t spent enough of his life feeling unlovable, this is just salt in the wound.

He decides, perhaps wrongly, that he wasn’t having the grief, so he catalyses it into anger and steps up to a man over a foot taller than him with every intention to throw a punch. Or even just shove him a little, but the moment he moves, Ari catches his wrist and holds it gently, easing it by his side.

“I don’t understand,” he mutters “...you can move on?”

Edward blinks up at him. He opens his mouth to speak but honestly the confession that Ari has only ever loved a single person knocks him speechless. All these years that Ari and Neptune had been seperated, Ari’d never even thought of letting go of the heartache. “Did you never try?” He asks, instead.

“No, of course not.”

Ari’s hand burns where it touches his skin. Edward closes his eyes and takes a shaky breath in. It’s so hot in this room, he feels the desperate need for his inhaler, which, stupidly, he’d manage to leave behind the one time he might actually need it.

“I was waiting for you to tell me yourself,” Ari admits “...I didn’t know how to approach it, or how I felt about it and...I still don’t, I thought if I ignore it long enough, he’ll just tell me himself.”

“Okay,” Edward mutters. 

“Okay?”

“Ari, I love you,” he says the words like they’re a burden on him, exhaling them out of his lungs for the first time. When he looks at Ari, he’s poorly concealing his surprise, but honestly Edward is too tired to pry any further into that. “...and now I’m probably going to die in here with you, which is very romantic and all, but not at all what I wanted.”

“You’re not going to die in here,” Ari sighs, reaching up to unbutton his sweat-soaked shirt; Edward tries not to stare, perhaps with very little avail “...two of the most intelligent men in Arcadia are trapped in a locked room, so how do we get out?”

Edward takes a deep breath in, before he nods. “Okay, okay, let me see what I’ve got in my bag.”

[ladiesoftheages]

(About your post about Jane) I agree that she is an enigma and I'm also unsure of how she got with the king. I have a small theory/vision of her. For me she's just a dumber/less bold Anne.

Anne tried to escape Henry for years and she was definitely not looking for it, but at some point she was like "Fuck it, since I have to do it better do it right". For me it was the same thing with Jane, she was not looking for it and was not totally displeased when it happened. But I'm 100% sure that she would not have the same boldness as Anne did of waiting 10 years and separating the church and everything. So yeah I kinda see her getting with Henry like Anne got with him but in a much smaller scale of grandiosity. Does it make sense?

Yeah I think I get what you’re saying. I think a big question is...how did she even attract the King in the first place? I don’t know if she would really be bold enough to do it on her own and, personality-wise, she definitely wasn’t Henry’s type so I still think someone helped her. The one reservation I have about it being Edward is, even if Edward was willing to sacrifice his religious beliefs for the sake of ambition, trying to get his sister with the King was a huge gamble. For one thing, Anne was pregnant at the time and they had no way of knowing that she would miscarry. Secondly, even if the gamble did work out in their favor, Edward still couldn’t guarantee that Jane would actually succeed and have a son. I know Edward Seymour was ambitious, but he was also a military man and I don’t think he would want to get himself into a situation where there were too many things that were left up to chance.

God I really understand why so few people study Jane, because it’s just so frustrating. You’re left with more questions than answers.

[captainjimothycarter]

Prompt: Peggy’s deaged and Tony finds out (: 🙏

Oh, poor Tony, being one of the last to know. Listen, OP I am SOFT for this and started tearing up. This is so pure and beautiful with them. Maybe not what you wanted and maybe 100% a ramble but their relationship is important to me.

--

“Why am I just being told?” Before Fury or even Coulson could be bothered to answer, Tony was speaking again. “Why am I just being told that Auntie Peggy is alive?! She’s been alive – deaged for how long now?”

“Three weeks,” murmured Coulson, only causing Tony’s eyes to snap to him. “We told her immediate family first, we-”

“I’m part of her immediate family.” The reply came in a sharp snap, cutting them off. “I’m part of her family as much as Steve and Sharon are and I get to learn last. No, not even last, I get to learn weeks after she’s released from the hospital and doing God-knows-what? From passing information?!”

“It wasn’t us who told Steve – Romanoff did. Then Hill told Sharon. If I had it my way, none of ya’ll know until we had more information on her condition. We didn’t know how she would survive.” Fury was at least trying to soothe the situation and it was not helping.

“-more information on her condition.’ You had enough if you let Romanoff slip between your fingers to tell Auntie’s soulmate that she was alive! You had enough to know she was going to be okay! And what more information did you need beyond seeing it was working? Because she’s alive!”

He didn’t want to hear it, Tony did not want to hear some bullshit, bureaucrat excuse that means nothing to him beyond utter betrayal. Not that he’s trusted Fury or Coulson to begin with, it was the point of the matter. His Auntie was alive and no one thought to inform him?

That cut deep, worst than they would ever consider.

On paper, no he wasn’t Peggy’s family. He was unfortunately Howard Stark’s son, but anyone with enough sense would connect two together, see the photos Auntie had in her retirement home, see the photos he had, the stories, and connect two and two.

Maybe Shield just didn’t have enough sense as he thought it did.

“Where is she? And so help me, Nick if you say it’s classified, I’ll…”

The threat trailed off when Fury’s eyebrow rose, folded hands raised to his chin level as if to challenge him to continue. When Tony didn’t, he leaned back and folded one leg over the other at the knee.

“We don’t know.”

“How the fuck do you not know where your walking human experiment went?” Tony snarled.

“Anthony Edward Stark – I am much more than a walking human experiment.”

The hard voice lecturing him made Tony’s hair stand on end and caused him to shiver. He suddenly felt like he was eight again and being scolded for eating sugar straight out of her jar. He could feel his cheeks warming as he turned around to see his Auntie standing in the doorway.

It took his breath away how healthy she looked. No wrinkles, no fading eyesight, not even a gray hair in sight. Her eyes were sharp as ever and right now trying to decide who she should be glaring at. She walked with a limb and he guessed that was her getting used to maneuvering again. Steve was somewhere in the waiting room, he knew. They weren’t far from each other, he guessed. It was sickening how they migrated towards one another like the sun and the moon.

“Director Carter,” Coulson breathed, standing up a smidge bit straighter and fixing his tie. “You shouldn’t be here.”

Tony wanted to snort – underneath the bash, white-collar bullshit that was Shield, Coulson was a fanboy at heart for his idols. He turned to look at his Auntie again because he knew her and she did not like to be told where she could and couldn’t be.

“If I remember correctly where we’re currently standing was once the storage room for our failed experiments,” Peggy mused, tapping the silver cane she was forced to use on the floor. It echoed through the entire room. “And I know I’m technically a 90-something year old here, but my memory is sharp as ever and I know for a fact that I am one of the reasons we’re all standing here. So, I think I have clearance over your agent-level coded bullshit, Agent Coulson. Now -“

Her eyes were set on Fury again, knuckles turning white on the cane. Tony found himself shifting closer, but not touching. He didn’t know if he wanted to touch. If he did, this illusion of his Auntie being young, healthy, and quick-witted as ever would shatter into pieces. “Auntie…”

“Not now, Anthony,” she didn’t even look at him. “Director Fury, what is this business on not letting my godson know that I was alive instead of 6 feet under? I think if I remember correctly my paperwork reflected that Anthony was just as much as my family as Sharon was. Steve isn’t family – not yet at least and he was told.” When Fury’s mouth opened to defend himself, Peggy’s head shook her curls. “Forget it, whatever excuse that will come out of your mouth will never do the fact justice that you neglected to tell my godson. For Christ's sake, I’ve changed his diapers. I think he’s family.”

“Auntie!” Tony looked mortified and he could see Coulson’s ever so slight smirk. Oh, he was not letting that go. His ears turned a bright shade of red. “I think they knew that you didn’t have to say it.”

“Anthony, never assume what these agents do or do not know. Shield isn’t what it used to be.” Peggy silently held her arm out to him, leading Tony out the exit and the doors to the Director’s office closing behind them at once.

As expected, Steve graduated towards Peggy, hovering just inches behind her. His hand slipped into hers and he looked down at Tony with a sheepish smile and shrug of his shoulders.

“I hate not knowing,” Tony sighed, rubbing at his temples. “You were in the hospital here for two weeks…”

“Then moved to SHIELD in California for another few weeks to continue to monitor my health. The doctors thought the sun would do me some good when they forget I absolutely despite being so hot. We only just came back last night. Anthony…” She let go of Steve’s hand with a soft squeeze and cupped his cheek, giving a fond smile. Her fingertips stroked over the gray peppered through his beard. “I am absolutely so sorry that you did not know. I asked about you several times. Steve even tried to contact you but Pepper said you were out of the country on some business.”

“Unavoidable, lost all communications when the suit was destroyed.” Maybe he shouldn’t have said that given Peggy’s furrowed brow. “But still even before that…I shouldn’t have to come home and find out through Barton of all people that you’re alive. But I don’t blame you or Steve or-or any of our friends, I blame those bastards in there. What would they think I would’ve done to you if I had known right off? Experiment on you? I’m not my father.”

Peggy’s arms wrapped around Tony tightly and crushed him to her, the cane clattering to the floor. Tony melted against her and suddenly he was five again. Scared, sniffling, not wanting to let go of her hand and go to school. He’s been to school, he’s had tutors come in, he’s done it online, but going into a classroom with other kids who were dumber than him and loud and annoying and he liked how quiet his auntie’s office was and she listened to him.

His legs buckled and he was only supported by Peggy and eventually as her still recovering body gave out, Steve too who lowered them both to the floor. He hadn’t even realized he was crying until Peggy was making calming, soothing noises and stroking his hair away from his face.

“I’m sorry I didn’t visit as often as I had liked,” he whimpered, refusing to pull his face from her shoulder. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I’m sorry that I blamed you. I’m so sorry, Auntie.”

“Shh, shh, darling,” Peggy whispered, rubbing his spine. “Shh. I do not blame you, not for one bit. Your gifts to keep me afloat, to keep my programs running in mine and your mother’s name was more than enough for me. Seeing your face weekly was enough. I am not upset. You…” She pulled back to cup his face and press their foreheads together. “You were hurting and raw and had to blame someone after Howard’s death. I was there and I was your balm, as I have always had been. I blamed myself too, it’s okay.”

“No, it-it’s not okay. It’s not. You didn’t deserve that! You had too much on your shoulders already instead of me being a brat.” The painful sob ripped from him and Tony just wanted to melt into the floor.

“Anthony, please listen to me I do not blame you, not one bit. You needed someone at that time. Rhodey was away for basic and I was there for you.” She used the end of her sleeves to clean his face off and peck a small kiss to his nose. “It’s okay now. This…”

“It’s a second chance.”

It was Steve who spoke, causing both of them to look up. Tony had forgotten he was even there, watching him have the breakdown of a lifetime. All the while sitting back, looking somehow small in his large form. If he had been younger…he would’ve been excited to see Captain America but after working with Steve for years, he could see why Peggy worked so hard to honor him. Steve got on his nerves, under his skin with his bullshit morals, but sometimes he did have a point.

And then other times, he saw why Peggy had complained about how infuriating frustrating the Captain was.

“Yeah,” Tony breathed, nodding his head as he looked back at his Auntie. “A-a second chance. At least this time you don’t have to change my diapers.”

Peggy snorted and rolled her eyes, ruffling her godson’s hair. Untangling their limbs and with Steve’s help, the pair were pulled to their feet, her cane back in hand. Peggy grasped him, leaving Steve to run ahead to get the car as they walked down the hallway.

“What did the doctors say? Any reason you keep using that cane?”

“Because they’re idiots,” she sighed, making Tony smile. “The serum was successful for the most part, but given how…ill I was and the state of my body and numerous injuries, some things are slower to heal than others. I’m healing at a faster rate, but it’ll take time before I’m a full hundred percent again. They warned me to get plenty of rest and take it slow.”

“Do they even know you?” Tony snorted, letting the elevator take them down to ground level. He leads her out a side entrance and towards a covered awning, the snow piling up around them. “The last you’ll ever do is take it slow.”

“Obviously not and they clearly don’t know Steve either. One nurse tried to shoo him from the room because he wasn’t considered ‘family’. I told them if I wasn’t still considered legally dead until they get a jump on the paperwork, then Steve wouldn’t be  considered family.” She rolled her eyes as she slipped inside the jeep, staying in the backseat with Tony pressed against her side. Steve just smiled at them through the mirror.

“Where to, Miss Carter?” He teased, closing the doors for them and pulling out to the main street. “You’re officially cleared from Shield Hospital. The world is your oyster – why…does that saying exist?”

It was Tony’s turn to roll his eyes. “Not this again, Steve. Stop thinking about it. Why are you even driving? I could’ve called Pepper to set a plane up for us.”

“Some people like to drive, Tones. It’s calming for me, I never got to drive much beforehand and this…” He gripped the wheel lightly and ran his fingertips over the expensive leather. “Is one reminder I’m grateful for what I have.”

Around Peggy, Tony noted, Steve was a different person. More whimsical, almost calmer, more…himself than he’s seen Steve been in the years he’s known him. “You didn’t know how to drive,” he grumbled under his breath, noting Steve was turning onto the highway. “You crashed your first bike into a tree.”

“Peggy!” Steve’s eyes flashed to hers through the mirror, where she was finding the cars around them suddenly interesting. “You told him about that? I didn’t crash it. It slipped out from underneath me because Jones didn’t…”

“Excuses, excuses,” Peggy laughed. “And no, he didn’t. I had to teach him after…he recklessly and bravely rescued the 107th. We didn’t have much time in between the serum and us being shipped off on two different routes and his smaller self couldn’t even see half the time, so risking him being behind the wheel was not something I was going to do.”

“She’s told me many stories about you, Stevie-buddy. Like the time you and the Howlies went up against a moose and geese.”

Steve’s face flushed the brightest shade of pink as he went around a slower car, his fingertips drumming on the wheel. “We do not speak of those demons – ever.”

Tony laughed and for the first time in a while, it felt good to laugh. A real laugh. A hint at a life he could’ve had if Steve hadn’t died. A hint at a life together where he knew his Uncle and Auntie as two people and not a Captain and Director. This was a second chance and he was going to take every moment that he could while avoiding their sickening love.

Peggy’s hand squeezed his own and he found himself sinking into her shoulder and eventually in her lap in his exhaustion. Four days up straight did that to you. He could hear Steve’s rumbling voice, paying no attention and Peggy’s soft response as she played with his hair.

“I want to go home, Steve,” she told him with a small smile. “Brooklyn. Our real home, I think I’m tired of DC for now and I remember a promise I made a long time ago to this one…” Her fingers stopped stroking Tony’s hair, looking down at his relaxed face. He looked so much like his mother. “We’ll need to stop by the humane society – I promised Anthony that I would get him another cat.”

If Steve was surprised, he said nothing. “Okay, but we’re not naming him Mr. Sprinkles.”