#and then Jimmy comes home and everyone is still up and the twins are Insane because they haven’t done their bedtime routine

[irregularbillcipher]

i was gonna say “it’s a shame that we don’t see h th e rest of the pestos ever interact with zeke, considering how much jimmy junior adores him, and the fact he’s been shown hanging out at jimmy’s condo,” but the show barely has the pestos interact with each other so like ofc they don’t have them interact with zeke. i do think the twins would love him though, and zeke just loves everyone so much he probably loves the twins too. inviting them to hang out with him and jj when he’s over even when jj seems annoyed with them type of dynamic, he strikes me as the kinda kid who thinks having baby brothers would be so fun

[just-dreaming-marvel]

Love and Medicine ~ 10

MASTERLIST

< previous chapter

Word Count: 3,110ish

Summary: Kinda all over the place... hope it makes sense.

I do not own Marvel or Grey’s Anatomy.

You were sleepily cuddled up to Steve in the comfort of your bed when you heard Val’s voice outside your door.

“Clint!” She exclaimed. “You locked the door. I need to take a shower.”

“Uh, uh, I’ll be out in a minute!” Clint responded.

“What are you doing in there?”

You groaned, curling into Steve further. His hold tightened around you as the bickering continued out in the hallway.

“It’s private!” Clint answered.

“Oh. Oh my. I’m sorry!” Val said. “I get it! I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“They’re so loud,” Steve grumbled. “Don’t they know that we’re right here, trying to sleep?”

“Just ignore them,” you mumbled in reply. “They’ll eventually stop.”

“I am not doing what you think I’m doing!” Clint continued.

“You know what, there's really no need to explain,” Val responded. “I'll wait. You just… finish.”

“No, I’m... I'm coming. I'm coming out.” 

You heard the bathroom door open, causing you to bury your face into Steve’s neck. Then Val and Clint continued talking, annoying you greatly. With a grunt you separated from Steve and got out of bed.

“Where are you going?” Steve asked, reaching out for you.

“I’ll be right back,” you replied, kissing his lips lightly before be-lining for the door. You tore it open, causing Val, who had been leaning on it, to struggle with her balance. “What is going on out here?”

“Nothing,” Clint quickly answered.

“He's freaked out cause I caught him playing with little Jimmy and the twins,” Val responded.

“Val! I have a girlfriend.”

“Okay,” Val laughed with a nod.

Clint huffed, storming away to his room and slamming the door.

“This sounds like fun out here,” Steve said, walking up behind you. His phone began ringing. Giving it a quick glance, Steve stuffed it away in his pockets.

“Aren’t you gonna get that?” You asked. “It might be the hospital.”

“It’s not.” He gave you a kiss. “Breakfast?”

Steve walked down the hall, leaving you standing there a bit suspicious. And still annoyed that your roommates had woken you and Steve up.

~~~

Natasha was at the medical center. She was hiding in the stairwell, on the phone.

“No, look, I told you people I’m not coming for a counseling session,” she told whoever was on the other end of the call. “I know all my options… Yeah, uh, well I made my decision, and I made my appointment. I'll be there on the 16th.”

She hung up as Bruce walked up the stairs.

“I paged you last night,” he said, slightly nervous.

“Oh, I wasn’t on call,” Natasha replied.

“That's not why I paged you. You could give me your home number.”

“Um, Banner… I… uh, I gotta go.”

And she quickly went through the stairwell door, leaving Bruce standing there confused.

~~~

Clint and Laura, his new nurse girlfriend, were chatting at one of the nurses station.

“I had a really good time the other night,” Laura flirted.

“Yeah, me too,” Clint responded. “Are you, uh, feeling okay and everything?”

“I’m good. Great, now that I got to see you. Why?”

“Oh, no reason. I’m good too, you know? Really good. You know. But, um, a little itchy.”

“Hey, Clint,” Val greeted, walking up. “Hey, Laura.”

“Hey,” they both replied.

“I’ll see you later, Clint,” Laura said, wiggling her fingers as she walked away.

“Okay, bye,” Clint replied, turning to Val. “Yeah. She’s into me.”

“Way to go, Clint,” Val congratulated with a playful punch to the arm. “She’s cute. So this morning you really weren’t—“

“Anytime you want to apologize…”

“Then what ere you doing in the bathroom for so long?”

“I have to go.”

Clint swiftly left. He went straight to the locker room where he found Scott and Peter alone in there.

“Um… I need to ask you both something,” Clint said, nervously.

“Sure,” Scott answered.

“Depends what it is,” Peter replied.

“I seem to be having this skin thing going on, like a rash, really,” Clint said. “And I think I know what it is, but I can't get close enough to tell for sure.”

“Let’s see it,” Scott said.

“It’s kinda located in an, um, you know, private—“

“You’re a doctor, Clint,” Peter interrupted. “It's called a penis. You have a rash on your penis?”

“I think I can describe it. Um, it's k… red.”

“Look, just come on. Just show us your junk so we can get this over with.”

Clint looked around before slowly untying his scrubs and pulling his pants down. Both Scott and Peter looked, grimacing.

“Ew,” Scott muttered.

“So?” Clint wondered.

“Dude,” Peter laughed, “you’ve got syphilis.”

~~~

While you were were in surgery with Chief Fury (and being watched by Steve in the gallery), Clint had a blood test taken. He was picking it up from the lab at the same time Val was dropping off a patients labs.

“I need this back ASAP,” she told the lab tech.

“What a shocker,” the teach rolled his eyes.

“Hey, what did you get?” Val asked Clint. “Something good?” She quickly snatched the results from his hand. “Syphilis? That’s not surgical. Who has syphilis?” Clint quickly pulled Val into a supply closet, while she looked at the results closer. “You have syphilis?!”

“Shh!” Clint shut the door and turned on the light. “I don’t know how this happened.”

“Of course you do. Gosh, Laura must really be getting around.”

“Laura’s not like that.”

“People are like that, Clint. Apparently all except you.”

“You don’t know. Maybe I’ve been sleeping around. Maybe I got ladies.”

“All while pinning over Y/N?”

“Shut up. Just… what am I gonna do?”

“It's no biggie, couple doses of Penicillin will knock it out.”

“What am I gonna do about Laura?”

“Well, for starters, stop sleeping with her, unless you want that thing to fall off.”

“Okay, that is twice that you have trash-talked the girl that I could one day potentially… well, maybe love.”

“If she gave it to you, you have to tell her.”

“Three.”

“Fine.” Val held up her hands. “She didn't give it to you. She was a virgin when you met. You still have to tell her so she can get tested.”

“Oh, yeah? How am I gonna tell her? ‘Uh, hey, Laura. How you doing? By the way, I got the syph. How about you?’”

“Maybe not quite like that.”

“No, it's good advice, really good advice. Thank you very much.”

~~~

Clint ran into Laura in the stairwell. Laura quickly began making out with Clint.

“About time I got you alone today,” she mumbled against his lips before kissing him again.

“Laura..” Clint gasped, trying to push her away.

“What time is your shift done?”

“Laura—“

“Because mine's over at 8, and I thought maybe you could come over.”

“Laura!” She finally separated slightly. “I need to tell you something.”

“What's wrong? Are you breaking up with me?”

“What? No! Oh, no. Really, no. It's just… Okay, you're the only person that I've been with in a long time. I mean, not unusually long or anything, you know? Just a normal amount of long time. But it wouldn't matter to me if you've been with someone else. Maybe you have? I'm not accusing you of anything or, you know, judging you or handing out scarlet letters or anything, you know? It’s... you're a woman, you know? A very attractive woman. Of course you've been with other men. Not that you've been with a lot of men, it's not like you're a prostitute…”

“A prostitute?”

“No! Not a… not a prostitute. What…? No, the opposite of a prostitute, a lady. You're very ladylike. I mean, you're very bendy, but…”

“Clint, breathe.”

“Okay. It's just… okay, here's the thing. I really like you, Laura. I like you a lot.”

“Well, I like you too.” 

She started to make out with him again. Clint got lost in it for a moment before pushing Laura away again.

“I have syphilis,” Clint stated. Laura looked at him, a tad horrified, before running off without saying anything. “Well, that could have gone better.” He softly hit his head against the wall, leaving it there. “Idiot.”

~~~

After your surgery with the Chief, everyone, that was available, was called into a large room. Fury was standing in the front, arms crossed, not looking pleased. Maria Hill was standing near him.

“Three interns, four residents and six nurses on this surgical floor have been diagnosed with syphilis,” Fury stated.

The room made oohing noises. Clint and Laura glanced at each other from across the room.

“Clint and Laura are two of those cases,” Val said quietly from beside you, trying to stifle a laugh.

“What?!” Both you and Natasha whisper shouted.

“Who gave it to who?” You asked.

“Oh, come on, Y/N,” Natasha said. “Clint doesn’t get around."

“There are over 70,000 new cases every year,” Maria explained to everyone. “Undiagnosed, syphilis can lead to blindness, insanity and death.”

“If you are having unprotected sex with another member of the staff, get tested,” Fury ordered. Bruce and Natasha made eye contact. “This is not a request.” Everyone laughed. “Maria will now give you a safe-sex demonstration.” Laughing continued as Maria pulled out a banana and a condom.

"When the time is right, and, gentlemen, you'll all know when that time is, carefully open the condom packet and roll it onto the banana,” Maria said. 

As you listened, you watched Steve come in and whisper something the Chief. You were concerned as Steve had been a little distant today.

“Open communication is essential to a healthy relationship,” Maria continued. “In a responsible relationship…”

“Poor Clint,” you whispered to Natasha.

“Yeah,” Natasha agreed. “You know, I think he really likes Typhoid Mary.”

"Well, not many budding relationships survive a good dose of VD.”

“Yeah.”

“When the banana is finished,” you turned back in to Dr. Hill, “gently peel off the condom and dispose of it properly. With every fresh banana, always use a fresh condom.”

“Do you and Steve…?” Natasha wondered.

“Condoms, all the way,” you responded. “You have anyone you—“

“No,” Natasha shook her head quickly. “Not at all.”

~~~

Steve paged you not long after the meeting. You hated to admit it, but you were excited that he needed you. You found him in a small room reading scans.

“You paged?” You questioned, trying to hold back an excited smile.

"Yeah, I need you to help me out on something for the Chief,” he replied. “Can you keep a secret?”

“Better than you think.”

He moved slightly and pointed to the brain scans. “Fury has a small tumor pressing against his optic nerve. We need to operate, but he wants it on the down low.”

“When are you operating?”

“Tonight, when less people are in the hospital.”

“And here I thought we were going to be able to have a date night.”

“We can. Just later.” He gave you a small smile. “Can you take to Dr. Gamora? Get her on board?”

“I can try.”

“And get a few others as well. Close to the Chief.”

~~~

After checking on your patients, you found those close to the Chief, asking if they could assist. They all readily agreed. You then went searching for Gamora. You found her heading down a hallway.

“Gamora,” you called. “Can I talk to you?”

“Make it quick, L/N,” she responded.

“Dr. Rogers and the Chief need your help. But they’ve asked that you not tell anyone.”

“What is it?”

“Fury has a small tumor on his optic nerve, Rogers needs to operate. They were wondering if you could assist?”

“Count on it.”

Steve then came jogging up. “How goes our special super secret silent sunset surgery?” He wondered, a bit cheerfully. “I've been practicing that.”

“You have too much time on your hands,” Gamora stated, rolling her rolls slightly. “Uh, tell the chief I'll be there. Just let me know when and where. I'm in.”

“Okay,” you nodded and then Gamora left. You turned to face Steve. “Are you nervous?”

“It's a complicated surgery,” Steve answered. “I make one mistake, I end a fellow surgeon's career, my mentor's career. Oh, no, I'm not nervous.”

“So just for the record…”

“Mm-hmm.”

“You’d tell me if I needed to get tested, right?”

“You think I have syphilis?”

“No, I don't. It's just… we never made any rules or anything. I mean, we never said, "We have rules," and I wouldn't hold it against you.”

“When would I have time to go out and get syphilis? You're a handful enough as it is, and besides, we're like, practically a condom ad.”

“But no more glow-in-the-dark ones.” You smirked.

“You see? There's nothing to worry about. Maybe we should, you know make some rules, I mean.”

“We should.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

“Just for the record…”

“Uh-huh?”

“I like the glow-in-the-dark ones.”

“I bet you do.”

~~~

Val and Natasha paged you to the abandoned hallway you all frequented, wanting to talk to you about something.

“You guys want to perform an unauthorized autopsy?” You repeated.

“I know you, Natasha,” Val said. “You do not want to be known as the new 007. An autopsy clears your name.”

“Nat, no.”

“What about Franklin's wife? You saw the way she was looking at me. She wants the autopsy. She just didn't want to fight with her daughter. She looked so sad. Ok, Natasha Romanoff, license to kill.”

“Okay, I’m in,” Natasha agreed.

“I am so not involved in this,” you said.

“Y/N, this is fight club. Nobody talks about it.”

“Fine.”

“We have to do it when Gamora’s not around.”

“Gamora’s always around,” Val complained. “She's everywhere and knows everything.”

“Well, we have to take our chances.”

"Gamora's got something tonight from 7 to 11,” you told them. “You two will be the last thing she's worried about.”

“How do you know that?” / “What kind of something?”

“Oh, I can’t tell you that. It’s fight club, too."

~~~

You taped the do not enter signs on all the OR doors. Steve had made sure that the OR chosen didn’t have a gallery in it. Steve let you stand on his one side, able to see everything. It was amazing to watch had occasionally help. 

“Okay, I've sutured the drain in place,” Steve stated, finishing up the surgery. “The staples look fine. Alright, we're done here. Dr. Gamora, you want to wrap him?”

“I got it,” Gamora replied.

“Nice work, everybody. Nicely done.” Steve walked into the scrub room.

“Do you think the optic nerve is damaged?” You asked Gamora.

“If it is when he wakes up, he’ll—“

“He’ll be blind? For how long?”

“Forever. Page Valkyrie and Romanoff. Tell them I want them covering your patients. I need you to stay and monitor the Chief.”

“Val and Nat are, um… I think they’re already swamped.”

“With what?”

“Labs. They had to check on some labs.”

“Oh, you are lying. I know you’re lying. You know how I know? Cause you’re a bad liar! I hate a bad liar.” Gamora turned to the person next to her. “Take over for me. I know exactly where they are.”

~~~

You were outside of Fury’s room, filling out his chart, when Steve walked up.

“How is he?” Steve asked.

“He’s still asleep, but nothing seems to be wrong just yet,” you replied. “How are you?”

“Good,” he sighed, glancing into Fury’s room before looking down at you. “How are you?”

“Tired. Ready to go home and cuddle.”

“Me too.” He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to your forehead, brushing his fingers down your cheek. “Me too.”

Unbeknownst to the both of you, Fury woke up just in time to see that term of endearment. After another soft kiss to your forehead, Steve left and you went in to check on Fury.

“Y/N,” Fury said in a reprimanding tone. “He’s an attending. You’re an intern.”

“You saw us?” You questioned. “You can see.”

“I'm gonna tell you what your parents would say if they were here. You're making a mistake, a big one.”

“You know my parents? You know who I am?”

“Always have. I was close friends with them. I understood the name change. But this,” he motioned his hand around, “I do not understand. And it needs to stop. For more reasons than you know.”

~~~

All you interns were in locker room, getting ready to go home, when Laura entered. Clint immediately noticed as she came up to him.

“Hey,” he greeted. “Um, about before—“

“Clint, I want you to understand, when we started dating, I was already kind of seeing someone,” Laura said. “I didn't know how much I'd like you, and when I realized, I broke it off with the other guy—“

“Other guy? Who’s the other guy?” Laura looked over at Peter. “You and Peter? You and Peter?!” Clint turned and began attacking Peter. “You gave me syphilis?!”

“Clint!” You, Val, Natasha, and Laura exclaimed, pulling him off Peter.

“I don’t even feel back,” Peter said. “Cause the sex was—“ Clint attacked him again, causing the four of you to separate the two once again.

“Clint, you’re all ready,” Val stated. “Let’s go home.” She dragged him out of the locker room.

~~~

Finally, you got to the lobby. Steve was already there, sitting, waiting for you.

“Long day?” He wondered, studying you.

“Yeah,” you agreed.

“Somewhere out there is a steak with your name on it,” he said, standing up, “and maybe a bottle of wine.”

“This is why I keep you around.”

“So we need to talk.”

“Wine first, talk later.”

“You trying to, uh, get me drunk so you can take advantage of me?”

“I think I like this rules thing.”

“Me too.”

Steve grabbed your hand, staring at you as you both started for the door. When he turned to look at the door, he froze, stopping you two in place. His eyes went wide, which worried you. You looked to see what he was looking at. Walking towards you was this beautiful brown haired woman, with fiery red lipstick.

“Y/N, I am so sorry,” Steve whispered. The woman walked all the way over to them. “Peggy. What are you doing here?”

“Well, you'd know if you'd bothered to return any one of my phone calls,” the woman responded, surprising you with a British accent. She turned to you, overing you her hand. “Hi. I’m Margaret Rogers.” You shook her hand.

“Rogers?” You repeated, confused.

“And you must be the woman who’s been screwing my husband.” 

next chapter >

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[ayankun]

WandaVision episode 6

FIRST OFF

Whenever I go back to pause things for clues, and find exactly what I’m looking for, I don’t feel justified, I feel that much more insane:

It’s really hard to make out, but I had an alright look at it on my folks’ QLED, and it’s definitely a flying saucer doing an alien abduction on what looks to be a person inside an old CRT TV (with some kind of robot head/boombox on top???)  There are secret aliens in this show, you guys, the facts don’t lie.

HmmmMMMM I wonder if Agnes is as innocent as she looks:

Also, I didn’t see that she was wearing the brooch in this ep, and I was majorly disappointed in that.

Two things here:

No, that’s not a twins joke.

Another Moonmen Confirmed

I know green is his color or whatever, but that hat is literally 10 years ahead of its time

Also, I took the playing-DDR-at-home scenario at face value, and only on the first rewatch did I realize it was a very pointed turn-of-the-century reference.  I am an Old.

There’s a good, subtle Rule of Threes in this ep.  The Setup:

The Sokovian Halloween flashback works on so many levels.  It’s so funny:

The fact that they went trick-or-treating at all

The “speaking Sokovian”

The treat being a fish

They have to share the fish

The concept that this event gave them an infectious disease

“You probably suppressed a lot of the trauma” -- it’s a good sitcom joke but.  the trauma is the joke.  The joke IS THE TRAUMA!!!

Elizabeth Olson is a dream with all her wonderful faces she has this ep.

Vision’s unsettling passive-aggression-sitcom-cooperation whiplash is WOW, consider me unsettled!!!!!!  “Be. Good.”  UGH.

(Just noticed one here, but there are a number of continuity errors in this episode, enough to be distracting later on, and is this a deliberate choice?  Please let it be deliberate.  I didn’t watch a whole lot of Malcolm in the Middle, is it known for its continuity errors?

)

“It’s their first Halloween.” LOLOLOL they are TEN YEARS OLD and this is their FIRST halloween I LOVE IT

DOUBLE RED HERRING CONFIRRRRRRRRMED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Agent Jimmy Woo accidentally identifying himself as the sassy best friend added 20 years to my life.

Found.  FOUND.  Not “created,” “manifested,” “willed into being using my insane witch powers.”  Third Party Confirmed.

I like that it’s the 90s and we can swear on TV now.  “Hell” “kick-ass” “damn it” “fu---dge”

I think the most biting part of Vision finding the whacked out folks is that the soundtrack just kind of ... ignores that anything’s wrong.  Yeah, it’s kinda-spooky Halloween music, but it’s still 100% in-world kinda-spooky-sitcom-Halloween-episode music. 

OKAY LET’S TALK ABOUT THE AD:

As a 90s child, let me tell you, this is a blisteringly accurate representation of children’s marketing from the period.  The shark is wearing sunglasses AND he has a surfboard!!!  And he’s selling you yogurt of all things!!!!!  This is the supreme distillation of what being a child in the 90s was like.

How disappointed I am that they went with crab instead of lobster.

Heard it through the grapevine that this is a representative of Wanda’s imprisonment on the Raft.  That happened in Civil War, right?  So the next ad is The Snap?  We’re running out of iconic decades, too. so, hold on, new thought.

90s: Civil War

00s: Infinity War

10s?????: Endgame???? or?????????

??: Whatever happened between Endgame and WandaVision, given that the ads are stepping forward through Wanda’s IRL life events!!

I don’t want to know how many episodes are planned/announced, but I don’t know what to expect from the format after they run out of decades from which to draw.  Maybe there are only one or possibly two “sitcom” episodes left.  Maybe after that it just breaks down and they can pick and choose from the worlds/styles we’ve already established.  That’d be p neat.  A very unique kind of chaos.

god she’s so cute

Okay, somebody explain to me Pietro.  I honestly walked away from last week thinking he was just some townsperson chump, but then I was reminded that this is the Quicksilver actor from all those X-Mans movies I never watched, soooo people are saying Multiverse Confirmed?  But, if this is X-Mans’ Pietro, then why did he die the same as MCU Pietro?  Or is he literally MCU!Pietro’s corpse, given that he looked all dead same as when she saw Vision’s corpse?  If MCU!Pietro, then why different face???

????????????????

Also I found him highly suspicious, what with all the questions he was asking.  But the only sort of person who would truly want to know the answers to those questions would be someone who already had them ... so I think he was just asking on behalf of the audience, and the delivery was all wonked out.

Rule of Threes - The Reference:

Ok, real talk, whenever computers/networks/data/encryption/servers/mainframes et al come up in mainstream media, I just look away.  I don’t need the kind of psychic damage that comes with such egregious mishandling of the topic.

That being said, does Hayward having eyes through the barrier mean that he could possibly be involved in getting it set up?  Because look.  If Hayward-after-Hayward’s-Villianous-Ends is one antagonizing force, then is there really room for the Third Party (Confirmed) antagonizing force that’s lurking in the negative space silhouette of the Inciting Incident?  With Wanda as the Red Herring antagonizing force, that’s just.  There’s just too many villains, alright?  We gotta start merging these plotlines.

(then again, when I just said “eyes” I realize probably understanding the true nature of his new secret “CATARACT” project will clear a lot of things up.  I’ll wait for enlightenment)

Agnes’ license plate in this episode is 0A1-B2C, which I think is a reference to the way reality is getting pared down to bare bones at the edge of town.  Note that this is not the same license plate number as seen last ep.

ALSO, I drove home behind a NJ plate just an hour ago, and was staring at it for a long time, trying to fit it into the puzzle before A) realizing that this was Real Life and not part of the show and B) WTF is a NJ plate doing in front of me in California.  In any case, I can confirm that NJ plates do not appear to have this number-letter repeating format.

So let’s talk Agnes.

Demonstrated knowledge of the situation in ways others haven’t (”There’s the star of the show” “kids, you can’t control ‘em”)

Shows up when needed most (explained as being Wanda’s doing, but is it)

When Wanda was having her babies, though, who was trustworthy enough to be summoned?  Was it Agnes?

Wanted to babysit REAL BAD

Was in the opening credits framed possessively with the twins

Doesn’t appear to have an IRL identity according to Jimmy’s crime board

Keeps talking about her husband but we’ve never seen him.  Highly unlikely that he’s real

Was the one to find Sparky “dead” - internet thinks she was lying to Wanda about how or possibly if he was dead (I’m trying not to read the theories, so idk exactly what the angle is there)

In an episode where everyone is wearing their original comic outfits, Agnes is dressed as (and laughs like!) a witch

She name-drops Wanda as the one controlling everyone; Norm (or the guy playing Norm) only said “she” and “her” -- meaning Agnes?

Naughty

So we’re 99% sure Agnes is Agatha Harkness, right?  I never read no comics, so I’m taking the internet’s word for it, but from what I can tell, I think we must be right.  If that’s the case, then I’m thinking it’s not impossible for her to be pulling some strings around here (giving Wanda a justification for her “that wasn’t me” doorbell ring, for example, and pulling a double red herring on the fact that she shows up whenever the narrative Wanda her nefarious scheme calls for it).

To devil’s advocate myself, though, we also have Monica’s word that it was Wanda in her mind, lessening the impact of Agnes falsely confirming what Norm only implied.  Also she’d have to be acting for Vision’s sake (and ours) and, if so, then what did Vision’s brain-touch really do, and how did she know he’d find her there, and what did she intend as the result of that interaction etc etc.

If Wanda’s (or Wanda + Third Party Confirmed (Agnes??)’s) powers aren’t enough to sustain the simulation of life on the edges of town, how much worse is it going to be now that there is even more area to try to control???

I don’t know if this is strictly an intended read, but the idea of Halloween as a fun, scares-for-entertainment’s sake type holiday, the rounding off the edges of concepts like “skeletons and ghosts are what people are after they die, let’s decorate the town with them and have a good time” kind of is a haunting parallel to the nature of Wanda (et al) covering up the horrible truth of the situation with this happy-go-lucky sitcom glamour.

How much does one hate seeing Vision giving his life for the greater good (the greater good) for the second time?  In other news, I think I’m seeing some specifically Mind Stone type energy-colors coming off of him, and very little Wanda type energy-colors.  Third Party Confirmed.

Also, I was thinking from last week that perhaps Hayward’s Villainous Ends included capturing the reanimated Vision to be one of those Sentient Weapons his organization is all about, but I Do Not Think his reaction to seeing that sought-after prize disintegrate in front of his eyes really matches up with that theory.  Again, will be patiently waiting for Jimmy to check his email to see what CATARACT is all about!

Rule of Threes - The Payoff:

Also, anyone ID the movie playing in the background?

Ok, final thought.  I watched this about four times today, and on the big-ass TV at my parents’ house finally paused and got up close to see what that white shape is in the reflection.  Thought it might be a skull, but, it’s worse.

These caps do not contain enough data to verify my claim, but I PROMISE YOU it’s a TV

A square old thing with a round screen and antenna on top. 

I SWEAR to you, when I looked into the TV, into Wanda’s eyes, only to see the reflection of a TV, of her looking at me looking at her I had a visceral fear reaction.  Like.  LEGIT nauseous skin crawl.

(All the other episodes have ended with our POV as the fourth wall, from the general (or exact!!!) position their household TV is known to be.)

This is my favorite show Of All Time.

[curiousdamage]

This Should Be Fun Part 2

Day 29 of the writing challenge.  For @dream-beyond-the-fantasy who asked for a long lost relative or identical stranger crossover.

Fandom: Karate Kid/Cagney and Lacey.

I own nothing.

Good cop/Bad cop has never been this fun!

When John made it to the station, Victor had already come up with three other reasons to go down to the cell block. Every time, he pointedly ignored the boys’ pleas to talk to them, to tell them what was going on, when were they going to be able to pay bail and leave, they were going to worry their moms, etc.

"What is Sensei's problem?" Johnny said, finally. "I mean, I didn't expect him to tell us anything, but he hasn't even acknowledged us. I mean, I wish he'd just yell at us, or make us do push-ups or something. What's he playing at?"

“Just sit down and shut up before you make him madder," Bobby hissed.

"Whatever." Johnny dropped down beside him.

"My mom is going to kill me," Jimmy muttered. He folded his arms over his chest.

"None of our moms are going to be happy," Tommy said.

"At least yours is in still in California," Dutch replied. "Jimmy, Bobby, and I are going to get creamed when we get back to the hotel, right, Bobby?"

Bobby was past complaining. He just rolled his eyes.

John got to the precinct and walked up to the duty desk. "Excuse me. I'm looking for Victor Isbecki."

A tired and bored looking desk Sergeant looked him up and down. "And I'm looking for the Easter Bunny, I am not in the mood tonight, Victor. Better get back there before Samuels thinks you skipped out on your nightshift."

Kreese snickered at the man's assumption. but walked towards the doors he pointed at.

Victor was sitting at his desk, telling Petrie, Lacey, and Samuels about

the situation with the surfer boys in lock up.

"No way," Petrie shook his head. "You've told some tales before, but no

way am I buying this one. You're saying that you and your cousin look so much alike his students are confusing you for him," Petrie shook his head.

"You're not getting me this time."

“Oh, I don't know," John said, walking up behind them. "I'm definitely better looking than him, but we've managed to pull this con a few times in our lives."

Victor smiled widely and bounced to his feet as five jaws dropped.

"Johnny!" He hugged John before turning to the room. "Everyone, this is my cousin, John Kreese. Johnny, this is my partner, Marcus Petrie, Lieutenant Al Samuels, Detective Mary Beth Lacey, and over there is Corassa, and LaGuardia, the two who arrested your boys.”

"Pleasure," Marcus said, having regained his composure enough to shake John's hand.  

"I never would have believed it," Mary Beth said, looking from one man to the other. "Wait until Chris gets a load of this.”

“Oh, I hadn't even thought about that!" Victor grinned. He rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

"Are yous really cousins?" Samuels asked when it was his turn to shake John's hand.

"If not one of our Dad's has a hell of a lot of explaining to do,” John answered, with a grin.

Samuels nodded as though he didn’t quite believe his eyes. "Well, I got no problem releasing those boys to you. We don’t want to give them too much hassle."

“Thank you," John said gratefully. "I'll make sure they know what they did wrong."

"I'll leave them to you then," Samuels agreed. He disappeared into his office.

“Can I go see them?" Kreese asked.

“Sure. Let me show you the way," Victor said, but Petrie stopped him.

"You've played them this long. What about a little longer?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at Isbecki.

"A little good cop, bad cop?" He grinned.

"Good Sensei, Bad sensei," Petrie grinned back.

"I like it," Victor replied.

"Me, too," John smiled.

"Come on," Petrie said, leading him down to lock up.

All the boys were sitting on the bench, looking as though all the world had abandoned them.

John folded his arms across his chest and walked to the center of the cell and stood in front of the bars, looking from face to face. They really did look like a very contrite group.

"On your feet," he snapped.

Five heads came up in unison and the boys rushed to stand at attention in front of their sensei. They all started talking at once until he held up a hand to silence them.

"Speak only when spoken too," he growled. "Lawrence, what is this all about?"

"We just wanted to go sightseeing," Johnny replied. "But then we got lost and then some cops started hassling us…,”

"If you wanted to go out, why didn't you tell your mothers or me?" Kreese interrupted.

Johnny blanked. No way he could tell Sensei where they'd been headed to. "Because we wanted to go somewhere you all wouldn't have let us go."

"Yeah?" Kreese gave him an inquisitive look. "And did you find the red-light district?"

All the boys blushed bright red and looked at their feet.

“Yeah,” John nodded. "Sit down and stay quiet until I come back."

"Yes, Sensei," they answered together.

John turned and walked back upstairs, stopping at Victor's desk. “You know, other than the extra push-ups I make them do, they're going to get off from this scot-free.  By the time they get home, it'll just be a funny story for their Dads to tell at the country club next weekend."

“What are you suggesting?"

"Well, they wasted all of your time.  They should give some of their time," John said. "I make them clean the dojo back home. It's the only thing that gets through to them. Can they clean your office?"

“Hey, Corassa. LaGuardia, you want those smart mouth kids to clean the office?"

“I would love those smartass kids to clean the office," Corassa smirked.

“It’s their bust," Victor shrugged. "They’re in charge. I'll go tell the boys the good news." He grinned as he bounded down the stairs.

The boys looked miserable, but they were still and quiet as instructed. They sat up straighter when he came in.

"Cheer up, boys,” he smiled. "We're gonna get you out of here soon. Just clearing up some paperwork." He turned on his heels and went back upstairs.

"I knew Sensei wouldn't let us down," Johnny exclaimed.

“Did anyone else noticed that Sensei changed clothes?" Jimmy asked.

"What?" Tommy asked.

"He was wearing a shirt and tie, then his brown jacket, and that time he was back to a shirt and tie,” Jimmy explained.

"He's right," Bobby realized. "Something weird is going on. When have you ever known Sensei to be that nice?"

Before they could think about it, Kreese was back with Petrie to let them out.

"See? Different clothes," Jimmy whispered.

"Speak only when spoken to, Banks!" Kreese ordered. "Now, since you boys want to run around and act like you are adults, I have no problem letting them treat you all as adults and send your asses to jail for the night.”

The boys looked a little green at this, but John continued, “But, it seems that you’ve wasted enough of those officers’ time and they aren’t keen on spending their night writing up the paperwork, so you lucked out.”

The boys looked around as if not quite believing him before starting to get excited.

“Hold the celebration,” Kreese snapped.  “You all aren’t getting off scot-free.  First, you’re going to go upstairs and apologize to the two officers you disrespected.  Is that clear?”

“Yes, sir,” Johnny and Dutch mumbled.

“You can let them out.” He stepped back and let Petrie open the cell.  The boys filed out one by one and followed him upstairs.  He led them over to Corassa and LaGuardia and the boys all mumbled out an apology, Dutch being last and only after a reproachful glare from John. “Okay, since you all wanted to waste, what, two hours?” He looked at Corassa.

“Sounds good to me,” Corassa replied, though it had only been one, if that.

“Two hours of these Officers’ time, I think it’s fair that you give them some of your time, so for the next two hours, you are going to do whatever they say, and I am going to be right over there,” he pointed to Victor’s desk. “To make sure that you do.  Is that clear?”

The boys all wore identical looks of astonishment as they stared at Victor.

“I told you something was up,” Jimmy whispered.

“I said, ‘Is that clear?’” John repeated louder, snapping them out of their stupor.

“Yes, Sensei,” they answered.

“Gentlemen, they’re all yours,” John said to LaGuardia and Corassa before going to sit beside Victor setting off another round of whispers.

“So, what? You aren’t even going to tell them why you are sitting next to the twin they never knew you had?” Victor asked.

“When one of them gets brave enough to ask me,” he shrugged. “So probably about this time next week.”

Once the boys settled down, they did a good job and were being respectful, not only to Corassa and LaGuardia but all the officers.

“What’s with the cleaning crew?” Cagney asked when she got to work and signed in.

“Ask Victor,” Mary Beth replied.  She didn’t see what the big deal was.   Those boys were just as sweet as pie, but if it was getting the station cleaned, she wasn’t going to say anything.

“Hey, Isbecki,” Chris threw a look over at his desk, then did a double take and let out a strangled scream. “Oh, my God, there are two of you!  Why are there two of you?  Mary Beth, why is there two of him? Has he finally driven me insane?”

“I see you still have a way with women,” John smirked.

“Nah, that’s just Chris,” Victor laughed.  “Hey, Cagney, come meet my cousin John.  The cleaning crew is some of his students from California who wanted to do a little sightseeing in the District.  We’re letting them clean the office instead of giving them a ticket to Riker’s.”

“Well, in that case, make sure they get around my desk,” she replied walking over to them.  “Christine Cagney.”

“John Kreese.”  

Christine marveled as they shook hands, looking back and forth between the two men.  “Mary Beth, are you sure I’m not hallucinating?”

“Pretty sure,” Mary Beth answered.  

“Wow.”  But as she looked closer, Christine could see subtle differences in the two men.  John was slightly older and with his hair cut shorter, it didn’t have the same golden highlights Victor’s did.  “Students, huh? So, are you a teacher?”

“Sensei,” he replied.  “I brought them up to see the U.S. Karate championship.  A former student is competing.”  

“No kidding?  I’m taking my Pop to that.  He likes any kind of fighting competition.  Reminds him of being on the beat,” she smiled.  “Maybe I’ll run into you.”

“Maybe,” John agreed.

Chris took her seat across from Lacey and pulled out some case files but kept looking back to Victor’s desk.

“No,” Mary Beth said, finally.

“What?

“I see how you’re looking over there,” Mary Beth replied.  “As far as you’re concerned, that man is a hallucination.  Do you hear me?

“Yeah, I hear you,” Cagney sighed.  “But, if he’s a hallucination, then it can’t hurt to look.”  She threw a look at her friend and grinned.

After about an hour and a half, Corassa and LaGuardia had exhausted the list of chores the boys could do, so after promising to meet Victor for breakfast as originally planned, John took his exhausted quiver back to their hotel.

When they were almost to their floor, Johnny finally got brave enough to speak.

“Sensei, was that man your brother?”

“No.  He’s my cousin,” Kreese replied.  “And you better be damn glad that he is, or you would have been in a whole lot more trouble.  What you all did tonight was stupid and dangerous.  I know because I grew up here and I did the same stupid thing and there wasn’t anyone around to bail me out.  There might not always be someone around to bail you out either, so start using your brains sometimes.”

“Are…, are we good then?” He asked again.

“For the sneaking out?  I’m going to have to tell your parents what you did, but yes.  I think you’ve been punished enough for that.”

When the boys looked a little too relieved, he continued, “We’ll talk about the joints when we get back to the dojo.  Since you all want to be smokers, we’re going to have to increase your exercises to compensate.”  

“Yes, Sensei,” they replied, sheepishly.

“Now, get some rest.  We have an early day tomorrow.”