#gonna have to wait for a proper hq file to get some of the other shots to work but! area woman tried!

[redbelles]

Oh, brother, my dearest brother, you are not prepared for what is to come. You'll now learn the truth about our family. And it will hurt you to the core. Paul... Don't worry. I'm with you. I love you.

DUNE: PART TWO (2024) dir. Denis Villeneuve

[artnerd1123]

Among Us: CR3WM8TS

Updates Required (part 3)

——————————————

With the ship launched and crew settled, it’s time to get to work. Which, for Bunbun, means updating. How smoothly that goes depends on the crewmates in charge… Bunbun’s hoping she’s in good company.

Featuring appearances by Nanner and Silk!

Among Us archive/askblog Fic chapters post

——————————————

Ok so originally I wanted to keep all this together, but decided it’d be better to chop it into pieces. That way I can keep my momentum, keep posting for y’all, and still intro y’all to the crew as things get moving!

finally got this last part done!!! it’s all finished now! now we can get on to more fun stuff >:3

                                                  ===+===+===

Mission Log 5

Ship Model: SKELD D34-H120 Designation: SUPPLY TRANSPORT, EXPLORATION AND DOCUMENTATION OF SECTOR G PLANETS Crewmate Count: 9 Crewmate Colors: DARK GREEN, WHITE, PURPLE, DARK BLUE, YELLOW, RED, LIME, BLACK, PINK

Location: SECTOR F Ship Status: IN TRANSIT Course: PLANET 326-OCE-894 - SECTOR G Systems:

Navigation: COURSE INLAID / STABLE / UPDATES NEEDED

Engines: UPPER - ONLINE, TANK 0.94 / LOWER - ONLINE, TANK 0.92 / OUTPUT ALIGNED

Reactor: ONLINE / FUNCTIONING OPTIMAL

O2: STABLE

Electrical: CALIBRATOR OFFLINE

Communications: ONLINE / UPDATES NEEDED

Shields: ONLINE / FUNCTIONING OPTIMAL

Weapons: TEMPORARILY OFFLINE  / FUNCTIONING N/A

Security: CAMERAS ONLINE / ALL FUNCTIONAL

Administration: MAP OFFLINE - UPDATES NEEDED / CONNECTION SECURE / SHIP FILES UP TO DATE / ALL CREW ACCOUNTED FOR

Medbay: EQUIPMENT ONLINE / FUNCTIONAL / CREW FILES UP TO DATE

Supplies: [ONE] CRATES SHORT  

Storage Chutes: CLEAR

Vents: CLEAR

Notes: Admin map offline, as updates are needed. PINK identified systems in need of updates. PINK has commenced updates under DARK BLUE supervision. Updates still in progress. RED discharged from medbay after receiving treatment for minor injuries. RED in process of submitting incident report. BLACK opened one supply crate to restock food materials. PURPLE sent four previous mission logs to HQ for archiving. PURPLE also submitted them to [SKELD D34-H120] Mission Log Archive. Other crew performing normal activities.

                                                 ===+===+===

With each room visited, the list of tasks was shifting from white to green. All but three of them were lit up with the color of a job well done. Bunbun looked over the list with a growing sense of satisfaction. Just three more now, she thought, I can handle that in no time. Not to mention the updates had given her a perfect opportunity to meet most of her crewmates. Hopefully whoever she had left to encounter would be in a good mood. Or at least a better one than a certain blue-suited crewmate. Speaking of which, River had once again chosen their destination. He’d hooked a sharp right as they left Medbay, leaving Bunbun- as per last time- to scramble after him. His pace picked right back up after he was out of Medbay’s sight. He only spared Bunbun a single glance over his shoulder. “C’mon, keep up,” he grumbled, “there’s not much left to do, and I’m hungry. I wanna have time for my lunch break before I have to be back at cams.” With a sinking feeling, Bunbun realized he might have just been on his “best behavior” for the doctor. That wasn’t uncommon among crewmates. After all, you do want the local medic to treat you well. Well... That, and patients who behave get discharged sooner. River’s attitude change didn’t bode well for their time outside of medbay. Luckily, Administration wasn’t too far from there. They just had to pass through the cafeteria. Maybe there’d be a vending machine or something. A good stop for a snack. As long as it gets River off my back, I don’t care what it is, Bunbun thought ruefully. 

The cafeteria was about as standard as it gets. The tile floor was dull from years worth of crewmates’ passage. The slightly dented wire panel on the wall closest to them was closed. The download station and food processor on the far wall seemed to be in working order. From what Bunbun could see of the chute, it was nice and clear. Five circular tables were placed around the room, two at each end and one in the middle. The emergency button looked rather haphazardly installed in the center table. It was as if someone had carved a hole in its surface and shoved in the proper equipment- nothing like the clean circles and precise welding of newer ships. It was just another sign of the SKELD’s age. Bunbun was at least comforted by the layer of dust atop it. Unbothered dust on the button- above everything- was a testament to the ship’s safety. Or, at the very least, a high level of trust in its crew. River didn’t give anything a single glance. He walked like a man on a mission, and Bunbun tailed after him diligently. To his credit, he wasn’t headed towards the food processor. He was making a beeline for the door towards storage. Or, rather, toward Admin. She figured that’s where they were headed. It was next on her list.  Before they reached the door, though, River stopped in his tracks. He went still so fast Bunbun nearly crashed into him.  “Wh- hey- what was that about?” She squawked.  “Can it,” River hissed, taking a step back. “We’ll move in just a minute. Gotta wait for traffic.”  “Traffic…?” Bunbun’s brows furrowed. What traffic…? She tried to track River’s gaze. It wasn’t hard, seeing as it was riveted on the doorway. 

She spotted a crewmate in black standing there. The fact that they were wearing their helmet outside of docking time was a little odd, but it wasn’t entirely unheard of. Though the rubbery banana peel stuck to the top of it was sort of funny looking. From the way it didn’t slide off their head after any movement, she’d guess it was an accessory. Black’s head was bent over their tablet, which they held in their right hand. Their left rested on the handle of a gravity platform cart. A large crate was nestled in its center. From the label, Bunbun could tell it was food. All in all, they seemed like a standard human crewmate on supply duty. At least, at first glance. The more Bunbun looked them over, the more their shape seemed more vaguely human than clean cut. Their limbs were a little too bendy, and their suit didn’t seem form fit to any specific body shape. It was like a vague approximation of a humanoid form. The biggest tell, though, were their hands. Bunbun blinked a couple times to make sure she was seeing them right. Their gloves only had four fingers instead of five. Suddenly, keeping the helmet on made more sense. For all she knew, the alien under there might breathe a different kind of air. Or no air at all. She’d had plenty of aquatic- and a handful of lava dwelling- classmates at the academy. Though… that style of suit was more fitted to the gaseous types of aliens. Ah, well. The mystery would have to wait for later.

Black seemed to mumble to themself for a minute before cramming their tablet under their arm. They’d just turned to pull the cart into the caf when the room’s other occupants caught their eye. Or, at least, the occupant in front did. They seemed to perk up immediately, one hand flying to their visor. “Oh! Howdy!!!” they called happily. “I didn’t see ya there!!! Ya need through?” “That would be ideal,” River replied tersely. “Gimme jes oooone sec-”Black bubbled. With that, they yanked the cart all the way into the room. It floated in easily, and came to rest next to the doorway under their guidance. “There she is! All clear for ya, Riv!” River started right back towards the door the second they were out of the way. Not even gonna say thanks? Bunbun thought, puzzled. Well. If he wasn’t gonna do it, she would. “Er- thank you, we appreciate it,” Bunbun called as she followed him. Black gave a quiet gasp. “Oh!!! I didn’ realize we had company!” They giggled, looking to River. The man stopped in place again, expression souring. “Who’s yer new pal?” “Does it matter?” River huffed, crossing his arms. “We’ve got places to be.” “It does if they’re new to the ship!!!” They chirped. Trotting right over, they stuck out their hand to Bunbun. “Hi there!!! I’m Nanner! What’s yer name, hun?” She blinked at their forwardness, but returned their handshake timidly. Their nickname made her smile a bit. Maybe their hat wasn’t entirely out of place. “I’m, uh, Bunbun,” she replied shyly. “It’s nice to meet you, Nanner.” “Bunbun!!! Oh, now that’s a cute nickname!” Nanner hummed. “Yer the new transfer, right?” “I- er- thank you,” she stammered, face flushing a bit. “And, um, yeah. I dunno how long I’m on board for, but hopefully I can help out.” “Oh, I already know ya will. Ya look like a real peach!” Nanner smiled. Or, she thought they did. It was hard to tell. The visor was so dark she couldn’t make anything out. In any case, the words just made her blush more. Kind ones always did that. “I’ll do my best to make sure yer stay is nice ‘n homely!” “W-well, you’re already doing a good job,” Bunbun smiled softly. “Good, ok, you two are acquainted. Can we go?” River broke in, scowling. “Ah ah ah, Riv,” Nanner scolded, wagging a finger at him. “Y’all can’t go till I know what the lil lady’s favorite food is! Y’all of all people gotta know that by now.” River threw his hands up in defeat. Bunbun’s look of confusion resurfaced. “Favorite food?” She echoed, puzzled. “Well, yeah! I’m the ship’s cook,” Nanner replied nonchalantly. “I gotta know what y’all like so I can have it on hand. Ya never know when you’ll need some good ol’ comfort food.” “Oh… oh! That’s true,” Bunbun nodded. Ship’s cook. Yeah, the food crate should’ve been a giveaway. “I’m, um, afraid mine’s a little on the tame side…” “Not a problem! Tame is good for some,” Nanner soothed. “Ok, er, thanks. It’s just a peanut butter jelly sandwich.” “Any particular variety? There’s a lotta those across the galaxy!” “The kind with Paramour’s grape jelly? I’m not picky about my peanut butter.” “Hmm… Paramour grape jelly and a wild card on the peanut butter…” Nanner nodded thoughtfully. “I’ll have one for yer lunch break, hun.” Bunbun lit up, smiling excitedly. “Oh!!! Thank you so much!!!” She beamed, “I really appreciate it-” “Ok, order up and all that,” River huffed, interrupting again. “Are we done?” “Sheesh, fine,” Nanner snorted. “Seems like someone needs a nap,” they mumbled, giving Bunbun a playful nudge. She tried her best not to laugh, hiding a smile with her hand. “I heard that,” River growled. “Good. Maybe you can take one later!” Nanner beamed, unphased. Rolling his eyes, River resumed his quick march. He was clearly done entertaining the both of them. Bunbun waved as she trotted after him. “Thanks again, Nanner! See you around!” “No problem, Bunny!” 

As they reached the hall, Bunbun decided to risk a question. “So… uh… Riv?” She asked warily. “Don’t call me that,” River groaned. “Nanner loves to give everyone nicknames. And talk. A lot.” “And I’m guessing you’re… not much for conversation?” She ventured. “Hit the nail on the head.” He fixed her with a withering look. “So can you take a hint?” “I-I got it, I got it,” Bunbun replied meekly. Oh yeah. That’s a grump. 

Admin was barely a stone’s throw from the cafeteria. First turn on the left from the door, and it was another well loved room. The carpet was tamped down tightly, the dull maroon only showing through a recent clean. The map was dark- offline for updates- and the card reader looked about as beat up as she’d expected. Three ancient computers sat along the wall. They were old models with screens made of green glass instead of holographic projections. The red chairs before them were an old old leather material, and had been patched up several times. One of the chairs was occupied. The crewmate didn’t seem to notice the two others hovering in the doorway. “... Knock knock,” River said begrudgingly. “You’ve got visitors.” At the sound of his voice, the crewmate glanced up from the screen, giving Bunbun a pretty good look. Xyr suit was purple, and about as worn as Captain Groud’s. Xyr round face was framed with dark, loose coils and dreads, cut off just below xyr chin. A smattering of starry white flecks was sprinkled over xyr hair. Xyr earthy skin had distinctive space travel stripes, albeit a little paler than one would expect. Dark, shining eyeshadow hooded charcoal eyes. Small golden rod earrings and a battered bandage completed xyr look, giving xem the mug of a well weathered space traveller. Xyr look of tired resignment warmed into a smile as xe took notice of Bunbun. 

“Ah, there you are. I was wondering when you’d make your way here,” Xe chuckled, leaning back in xyr chair. “Eheheh… yeah… sorry about the wait,” Bunbun replied softly. Xe held up Xyr hands in a placating gesture. “No no, I get it. This bucket ‘a bolts has a lotta systems in dire need of updates,” Xe replied, “and some of em are better to hit first than others.” Standing up from xyr chair, xe set a hand on xyr hip. “You two gonna come in?” “O-oh! Right- yeah-” Bunbun stammered, striding quickly through the doorway. River let her go first, sulking after her like a grumpy shadow. The other crewmate joined them by the map. “Well, now that we’re all together-” xe held out a hand for Bun- “I might as well introduce myself. People ‘round the ship call me Silk. I’m the resident nav and comms expert.” Bunbun took xyr hand and gave it a gentle shake. “I’m, um, Bunbun,” she replied, shifting in place. “I’m the new transfer- uh- I do, um, tech, electric, and janitorial tasks. I-it’s nice to meet you, Silk.” “Likewise,” xe nodded. “I’m guessing we might not see too much of each other, but you’re always welcome to pop by my areas to say hello.” Xyr eyes trailed away from Bunbun’s face toward someone behind her. From the expectant raised brow, she got the distinct feeling that xe wasn’t exactly thrilled to see them. She saw River kicking at the carpet when she glanced back. “Not even gonna greet me?” Silk asked, brow still raised. “... Hey silk,” River mumbled. His hunched shoulders and skittering glance made him look like a kid in trouble. “... can we get this over with?” “C’mon, being out of isolation can’t be that bad,” Silk joked. At Bunbun’s confused expression, xe waved a hand. I’ll tell you later, xyr face said. She just nodded hesitantly. “Listen, I just wanna go back to cams, is that so much to ask?” River huffed. “With that tone, maybe,” Silk pointed out. He crossed his arms, grumbling quietly, and settled himself along the wall. Xe gave him one last long look before turning back to Bunbun. “So, I reckon my map’s in need of a couple updates?” “Er- yeah, just a couple,” Bunbun said. Glancing it over, she was pleased to see an absence of dust on its glassy green surface. The thing was old, yes, but it looked well cared for. “Do you have any ideas as to what needs fixed? I don’t, um, I don’t handle admin updates too often.” “Of course. I’ll just let ya know what the other rooms need while I’m at it,” Silk replied, flicking a couple switches. The map slowly blinked to life, white lines snaking across a pale grid. The pale outlines flickered and flashed like a star fried sensor. The poor thing was barely even visible. Bunbun winced in sympathy. “Oooh… yeah, someone needs to update the firewall,” she mumbled. “That’s what I thought,” Silk sighed, giving the console a pat. “It’s been doin that for at least a week. The systems down at Comm and Nav are on the fritz too. It’s hard to get records transferred, retain messages, and get the course to stay stable without a babysitter.” “You’ve certainly got your hands full here!” Bunbun remarked. “Yeah, but there’s not too much to worry about,” xe waved a hand. “I’m the best they’ve got here, after all.” “I bet!” She smiled shyly. Looking to the map, she tilted her head. There didn’t seem to be any pattern to its glitching. At least, nothing noticeable from a quick observation. Holding up her tablet, she got herself settled before it. The good and bad thing about old systems were the incredibly obvious tablet ports. For all she knew, someone could’ve uploaded a bug ages ago. Ah well. At least I know how to use a virtual flyswatter. “Well, I-I’ve been told I’m pretty good with tech… maybe I’m not the best out there, but I’ll do what I can to get this all sorted.” “That’s much appreciated,” Silk sighed, giving her a pat on the back. “You take all the time you need.” “Thanks,” Bunbun hummed. Straightening up, her eyes were already skimming the torrent of code. “Ok… one fixed map, cooooming up…” 

                                                ===+===+===

The glitchy virus got itself caught in Bun’s web soon enough. She could isolate and neutralize code as easy as she breathed. Of course, dancing around the admin files was pretty fun. She had to have Silk help guide her hand when digging it out from xyr carefully organized system. But it worked out easily enough. River didn’t pay the two any mind. He only moved when they did, following like the world’s grumpiest duckling. That seemed to suit Silk just fine. It worked well for Bunbun, too. They were free to swap stories like old friends. It was almost a little surprising. Walking in the halls was full of homely conversation. Fixing comm accompanied tales of their academy days. Swinging around to Nav let Silk introduce Bunbun to a couple friendly looking robots. She was impressed to learn Silk made them xemself. When xe sent the robots to distract River, xe took the opportunity to inform her why the man was so touchy. Stuck in a dead end job, he didn’t tend to get out of security much. Not of his free will, anyway. No matter how much mandatory bonding and karaoke nights Groud required. The mental image of River singing karaoke made Bunbun laugh enough that Silk had to rechart the course- the pink crewmate’s flapping hands accidentally slapped a couple buttons. River was not nearly as amused.

                                               ===+===+===

When all was said and done, Bunbun set off with yet another jaunty wave and happy call. River was all but sprinting to their last stop. She didn’t bother to stick with him this time. The only task left was at a place she knew quite well. 

Electrical. 

In the absence of River’s quick thumping of footsteps, the SKELD halls were eerily quiet. The quiet hum of the shields made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She eyed the nearby vent nervously as she wandered through the room. The vents are clear, she reassured herself. A glance at her tablet confirmed it. They’re clear. Passing by comm, the quiet radio static urged her to pick up her pace. Silk might have insisted it was quite safe, but she just… didn’t trust it. It was too quiet. Too far from the cams. Too isolated. The quiet creaking of full supply crates didn’t comfort her in storage, either. She just tried to keep her breathing even as she finished her trip to Electrical. River stood outside the door, eyeing the entrance dubiously. Bunbun slowed to a stop beside him. “Is… something wrong?” she asked nervously. “Huh-? Uh, no, nothing’s wrong,” River said hastily. “It’s just a bit dark in there, that’s all.” “... uh huh…” Bunbun hummed slowly. A peek through the doorway did confirm that the lights were dim. No dimmer than other ships, though. Just… dim enough to be slightly unnerving. Why in the world they were darkest in electrical of all places, Bunbun had no clue. It was a mystery she’d been meaning to take up with the SKELD designers for quite awhile. The upkick of dust and battered panels made it pretty clear the ship hadn’t had a proper electrician in awhile. Not that it mattered now. She had to go in there. Taking a slow breath, she strode towards the back of the room. She was nearly to the line of dusty old computers when she realized River wasn’t following. He was still standing by the door. Just watching. Her grip on her tablet shook gently. How many ways can I spell “suspicious...?”   “Are you… coming...?” She asked meekly. “... nah,” River mumbled, shifting in place. “I’m good.” “Aren’t you supposed to be keeping an eye on me?” she twittered. “What if I end up needing help?” “I’m not an electrician. I’m a security guard. I can watch from here,” he replied flatly. “You’re not a fresh cadet. Figure it out.” “R-right, right,” Bunbun replied. … right… it’s just a trip to electrical. Nothing I haven’t done before. She took a deep breath, adjusting her bandanna. The feel of fabric under her fingers was comforting. I can do this. Squaring her shoulders, she marched right to the back of the room. The light from the hall didn’t reach the quietly humming machinery. The flickering bulbs above didn’t give her much confidence. But she only had one task. Swinging open the door to the calibrator, she was more than a little shocked. For starters, two of the rotating knobs seemed frozen in place. The top knob was the only one rotating lazily. A brief flash of yellow on the sensor strips was her only signal that anything was working at all. What in the milky way’s arms is going on here? She thought, baffled. Her brows furrowed as she shuffled through her old tech knowledge. In every modern ship she’d seen, all three of the knobs would spin in sync. Calibrating was as easy as just waiting for the sensor strips to flash and slapping a button. With old ships, tasks were often a little needlessly complicated. So… following this line of thinking…  Hesitantly, Bunbun raised a hand to the top knob. She watched it spin lazily, the yellow sensor light flashing and dimming as it aligned. One rotation… two… three… on the fourth, she finally tapped the button. A dull click left it frozen in an aligned position. With an unoiled squeak, the knob below it started spinning. The same pattern of flashing and dimming resumed, just a little faster. Bunbun let out a relieved sigh. Ok, yeah. She got it now. She just had to align them one by one. That, she could do.

                                              ===+===+===

After a few tries and some error, Bunbun smiled at the “plink!” of a task finished from her tablet. All three sensor strips glowed a triumphant yellow as she shut the panel. “We’re all done here!” she called, heading back towards the doorway. “I think you’re-” A sudden shuffling and the slap of boots on metal floor cut off the rest of her announcement. By the time she got to the door, she only managed to snatch a blur of blue slipping into storage. “... good to go…” she mumbled to herself. She stared at the empty hall silently for a minute. He really doesn’t wait on anything, does he? She thought bleakly. But hey. At least he’d moved away from the door instead of through it. She might’ve had more problems on her hands than walking alone to lunch. 

Tucking her tablet under her arm, she started off towards the caf. The old halls were both familiar and strange. All SKELD ships looked the same, and yet… each was different. At least, in some respects. She wondered if she’d spend the same brief time on this one as she had on every other SKELD. Her mind wandered quietly as she passed through storage. Though, the closer she got to the caf, the more she heard voices. The friendly sort of voices. Hesitating in the doorway let her see who they belonged to. Spread among the tables were all her crewmates. Lemon and Junior were chatting happily with Nanner at the table closest on the left. Laser and Rose were holding hands at the closest right table as they munched on their food. Silk and Groud were watching contentedly from the middle table, with River occupying a table on his own in the back. They were certainly a lively looking bunch. But the atmosphere in the room was warm. Warm and friendly. Bunbun felt a smile rise to her cheeks as she stepped into the room. Several of her crewmates greeted her, Nanner and Lemon excitedly waving her over to their table. One or two days in, and her fellows were already treating her like family. Her grin widened as she plopped down, happy to dig in to a fresh PBJ and a slew of conversation. 

Yeah. She could get used to this SKELD. She really hoped she’d stay for awhile.

[ijustwant2write]

Wrong Lover-Steve Rogers x Reader x Bucky Barnes (Part 8/?)

(GIF credit to @letitia-wright)

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7

Summary: After Steve and (Y/N)’s romantic getaway, tension continues to rise between the love triangle. (Y/N) is still conflicted, confused as to why she felt love for the two super soldiers, even though she has her memories back. But when (Y/N) and Wanda are sent away on a mission, another problem arises.

Characters: Steve Rogers x Reader, Bucky Barnes x Reader, 

Meanings: (Y/N)=Your name

(Y/L/N)=Your last name

Warnings: Cheating, swearing, slight violence

Tags: (if you want to be tagged, just ask) @lovely-geek @projectxhappiness @seargantbcky @pluckastarfromthesky @crazy-little-thing-called-buck @aznkim @buckyness-intensifies@youreahandsomedevil @florenceivy @slender–spirit @rebelfleur22 @sarahp879 @loislp @yafriendlyfangirl @iza-lc

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I couldn’t stop looking at Steve as we laid together in bed, me laying on top of his broad chest, hand placed over his heart. Laying like this made me miss him, it made me want to just get up and leave with him. We never had enough time for each other anymore, it was sad. For fucks sake, why did this have to happen to me?! 

Why had fate decided that I would be the one to have amnesia? That my boyfriend’s best friend and I would have some sort of love affair?  I had never done anything bad in my life, and I could stand by that; whenever I had killed or hurt anyone, it was because of my job and I knew that they were the bad guys. Though when I thought about it, I had made some bad decisions very recently. 

I sat up, pulling the covers up to keep me warm. As I leaned against the headboard, I scanned the room, reminiscing on the amazing times we had shared together. I didn’t want to leave, it just felt so much safer here. This was my home, my home with Steve, not the HQ or anywhere else. The only time I wanted to be at the HQ was for work....and also maybe Bucky.

“(Y/N)?” Steve mumbled as he rubbed his eyes.

I smiled, laying back down on his chest.“I’m here.”

“I was hoping that this was all a dream. That you might remember everything.”

Goddammit, put the poor man out of his misery and tell him! How are you resisting those puppy dog eyes?

“Well, I still remember last night, and yesterday. That’s got to be an improvement.”

He kissed the top of my forehead.“Always so positive.”

“Steve, do we have to go back?”

“Go back?”

“To the HQ. I...I dunno, it feels strange being there now.”

Hmm, I wonder why?

“I understand how you feel. But believe me, they’re all so excited for you to get better, they’re your family. I really think you should tell them that some of your memories are back.”

I hesitated, hoping he hadn’t noticed.“Yeah, I probably should.”

He kissed me on the lips before getting out of bed to enter the bathroom. I smirked as his naked body disappeared, clutching onto the covers to warm me back up. But the smirk soon faded. I realised that I had to grow up, make a choice, sort things out. How was I going to do it? I had no idea.  

A muffled vibrating noise disrupted my thought, making me groan. My phone was ringing in my bag, but I was so adamant not to answer it. Taking Steve’s pillow, I pinned it over my head, hoping that it would stop soon. When it finally did, I settled down again, removing the pillow from my face, until it started ringing again. Grabbing the pillow again, I threw it in the direction of the phone, letting out a frustrated squeal. It had to be important, they wouldn’t call twice. I knew who it was as I slumped my way over to my handbag, sighing as I answered.

“Hey, what’s up?”

It was Wanda.“We need you guys back here, big mission that we need briefing on.” And just like that, she hung up on me, though I wasn’t surprised.

As I was about to call for Steve, I heard the water from the shower start to run, changing my actions. Dropping the phone on the bed, I saw that the bathroom door was slightly open, giving me one last chance to have a bit of fun before returning to the chaos.

Much to my surprise, Steve was really angry when I told him that we were needed back at HQ; not at me, but at the others for ruining the weekend. He couldn’t understand why they needed us, especially since this was part of my recovery. Through his anger, he was mindlessly throwing his things into his bags, not neatly packing them away like the Steve I knew. Without thinking, I grabbed his arms, talking over his rambling. He was so pent up, showing me how much he still cared about me; would he still feel this way if he ever found out about Bucky and me?

Do pigs fly?

When we arrived back at HQ, we had expected agents to be bustling around, preparing for this big mission or at least supporting the Avengers. But there was none of that, it seemed to be like every other (non-alien threatening) day. We spared a glance at each other, wondering what was really happening here. Pulling an agent to the side, Steve asked what was going on, receiving the confused yet panicked face from the woman, who wondered if she had missed something; after much reassurance from us, she explained that no one had been called to action.

“Hey, Wanda, what’s going on?” Steve called out as he spotted the young woman down the hall.

She turned around, two files in her hand.“Oh, sorry for rushing you. I called the wrong protocol, thought the mission was worse than it actually is.” She apologised, though I wasn’t sure how much of it was true.

Steve sighed, running a hand over his face before scolding Wanda.“We just rushed back here for no reason then?”

“Why, was it going well?”

We ignored her comment. I decided to divert the topic.“So is there a mission or not?”

“Actually there is,” she held out a file,“here you go.”

Steve instinctively went to take it. When Wanda held it away from him, he raised an eyebrow, looking down at me. 

“Wait,” I took the file,“you want me to go with you?!”

“Not gonna happen.” Steve interrupted.

“Yeah, Wanda, I don’t think it’s a good idea. I’m still in recovery.”

“But you remember old missions right?”

“Uh, I guess.”

“This is one of the ones you’ve worked on before. The guy you put away left all of his info behind, we need you to retrieve it.”

“So why are you coming?”

“For protection. And I need to get more experience under my belt.”

“Then I’m coming too.” Steve stated.

“You could ruin the mission. This is part of her recovery, she has to remember me as well. If you’re there, she might only remember the times you shared, not us.”

“I’ll think about it. But it’ll be a no. (Y/N), you coming?” Steve started walking, expecting me to follow.

“I’ll be right behind you, just give me a sec.” I answered, not looking away from Wanda. 

As soon as Steve was out of sight, Wanda’s face changed; it wasn’t anything too drastic, but something in her eyes told me that the sweetness was gone. I had anticipated her confrontation. Folding my arms over my chest, I waited for her to speak, wondering what sort of telling off I would receive.

“Have a nice time?”

“Why are you dragging me into this? You knew that wasn’t an important mission.” I said.

“We need to do this. It might actually help.”

“You would be a big help if you just stayed out of this. What if I was telling Steve everything and you ruined it?”

She scoffed.“If that were true, you wouldn’t have walked in hand in hand. Speaking of which, Bucky hasn’t come out of his room since you left. And I don’t mean for a few hours; as soon as you guys left, he locked himself away.”

“OK, well of course I feel bad about that-”

“You’re coming on this mission. We need to settle this.”

Wanda briskly walked away, ending the conversation. I wanted to scream, kick and punch the walls. What the fuck had I got myself into?

Taking Steve’s advice from earlier, I called everyone to the common room for a meeting. As I waited for everyone to arrive, I could feel my palms getting sweaty, stumbling over my words in my head. How was I going to do this? What if Wanda revealed my secret? I was a good liar in front of Steve, but I was certain at least Natasha and Clint would see through me, if not all of them. My heart rate increased dramatically when Bucky walked in, our eyes connecting and not breaking, even as he walked across the room. With a scowl on his face, he perched on the arm of the couch, finally tearing his eyes away. The others were spread out amongst the couches, waiting for me to speak. When I found that I couldn’t, I looked to Steve, relieved when he stood beside me and spoke. 

“(Y/N) wants to tell you all something. It’s very important that you hear this and remain calm.”

“Hold up,” Sam quickly interrupted,“why are you two back already?”

“There was some urgent business that came up. It’s sorted, but I thought I would get this over and done with.”

Silence followed, leading me onto the confession.

“Right, uh...So, for some time now, I’ve been recalling memories, not a lot, but a few.”

Here we go...

“Steve helped me think of a few more the other day. I...I didn’t want to tell anyone just yet, in case this was all I could remember, but it felt wrong to keep it from you all.”

And the award for ‘Actress of the Year’, goes to....

“(Y/N), that’s amazing!” Nat exclaimed, hugging me.

Not revealing my shocked expression, I hugged her back, welcoming the foreign feeling. The team had believed me, everyone asking what I now remembered. For a moment, I felt at peace, that everything had fallen into place and things were back to normal; however, reality gave me a slap to the face when I gazed towards Bucky and Wanda. They were stood at the back of the crowd, arms crossed as they scowled at the celebrations before them. Now that I was back on edge, I was terrified at the thought of Wanda ratting me out, and Bucky admitting to everything we had done. Last night was my last night of proper rest, because from now on, I’d have to sleep with one eye open to ensure I didn’t give myself away.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“I really don’t think you should be doing this. Wanda doesn’t need you, she just misses you.”

If only that were true.

“Exactly!” I exclaimed as I threw a bundle of clothes into my duffel bag.“Steve, I can’t stay cooped up in here, I need to get out there again..”

“Do you remember the last time we did a mission?”

“It was fake, a simulation. And that was when I first lost my memories, it’s different now.”

“Have you talked with the doctor-”

“Steve,” I dragged his name out, stopping my packing and standing between his legs as he perched on the bed,“I know you’re worried. But what were you going to do when I recovered? Stop me from ever going on a mission again?”

He sadly smiled.“That was sort of the plan.”

“It’ll be a quick mission, in and out.”

“Then I’ll come with you.”

Although I wished that he could come with me, I knew there was a reason that it was just Wanda and I going. Now that I was relaxed with Steve, I didn’t want to leave, or tell the truth.

“You can’t. I promise I’ll be back soon.” I reached down to kiss him, squealing as he grabbed me, throwing us back on the bed.“Steve, we don’t have time for this.”

“Course we do, it’s not an important mission.” 

But just as he started kissing my neck, someone cleared their throat at the door. Steve casually looked over his shoulder, sighing as he climbed off of me.

“You really pick your moments, don’t ya’ Buck?” 

“Sorry, didn’t see anything.” He replied.“Wanda needs you in the bay, wants to make sure she’s set things up correctly.”

“Apparently, so does she. I’ll  see you down there?”

I nodded as I sat up, both Bucky and I watching as he left the room. Bucky’s smile disappeared as he shut the door behind him, the tension rising between us.

“You guys seem great after one day of being away. Maybe you would have come back with a ring on your finger if we left you alone any longer.” He started.

I huffed.“Bucky-”

“Was that an act too? Or are you pretending with me now? Sorry, it’s just that you’re so good at lying to everyone, I can never tell anymore.”

I ignored him, continuing to pack my things. In all truth, I didn’t know how to respond. My feelings for Steve were returning, and it felt so right, but I couldn’t forget about Bucky. However for now I would have to, see if this mission helped with the situation or whether I should take this packed bag and run away right now.

“Don’t be like this. I’m still working this all out.”

“Working it out? It’s simple, you choose me or him!”

“But it’s not, is it? Whatever decision I make effects everyone else, not just the couple. Bucky, I’ve got to go, Wanda will be waiting.”

Bucky blocked the door.“Promise me you’ll make your decision soon. This can’t go on any longer.”

“I need to stop making promises. Hopefully things will become clearer soon.”

When Bucky didn’t move, I gently placed a hand on his arm, trying to subtly push him out the way. His hand rested over mine, obviously in need of some contact, until he finally let go and moved for me. Rushing away from him, I tried to put all my focus into this mission, praying that I wouldn’t have to make my choice any time soon.

“Ready to go?” Wanda called to me as I made it to the landing bay, Steve and her standing by the quinjet.

“Yeah, feels strange being back here.” I said through a sigh.

“There you go, you shouldn’t be going if it feels strange.” Steve stated.

“Nice try, I’m still going.”

Wanda took my bag from me, heading into the quinjet, leaving Steve and I. This was on purpose, she wanted to see how I was around him; well fine, I’d show her.

“Please don’t worry whilst I’m gone.” I pleaded, reaching up to wrap my hands around his neck.

“But you’re allowed if I go away? That hardly seems fair.” He joked as he pulled me closer to him.

“Wanda wouldn’t want to face danger with the two of us, OK? You’ll have communication with us as well, it’ll all be fine.”

“I know. You’ll be great.” 

What I thought would be a brief kiss, turned into a full make out. I didn’t care that Wanda was watching, she was up to something and I was going to enjoy what could potentially be my last kiss with Steve. A harrowing thought, but a realistic one nonetheless.

Finally letting go of each other, I headed into the jet, closing the back before making my way to the pilot chair. Making sure everything was set up, I could feel the same tension I had with Bucky, and I hated it. Neither of us said a word, not even when I started the engines, communicating with the bridge before taking off. It was another ten or so minutes before I set it to auto-pilot, finally standing up to speak with Wanda.

“Nothing to say about earlier?” I asked, standing across from her.

“Hm? Oh, you and Steve, yeah, that was cute.” She dismissed it.

“I’m surprised, thought you would have a lot more for me.”

“No. That comes later.”

“Wanda, why are you doing all of this?”

“Because it’s what needs to be done.”

We fell into silence again, keeping to ourselves on opposite sides of the jet. Luckily we weren’t travelling far, it was an hour tops, making me feel a giant relief when I was able to pilot again, landing us safely. Wanda explained that we were heading into an old, abandoned army training camp, one that housed the information that needed retrieving. We had the keys, the only people that were able to get in and out were us. Although I knew that there was something more to this mission, there was a part of me glad to be back in this sort of situation, I was trained for this, this was my life. After surveying the perimeter, we were clear to go, the both of us stealthily making our way there. 

It was a barren land, the grass stopped growing as soon as we reached the edge of the base, as well as the trees. It was just dirt; the place was empty besides the buildings, bunkers and marked out training grounds. Wanda led me into the main office in the building, where the information would be hidden. How we had missed this before was bizarre to me....wait.

“Wanda, how did we miss this before? If it’s all on the computers, how did-”

I let out a yelp as she tore my coms out of my ear, crushing it with her powers. Cradling my ear, I watched as she did the same to hers. 

“I wasn’t lying about the information. Someone tried to re-upload it here, thinking we were done with the place.” she stuck one of our code encrypting USB’s into the hard drive, causing all the computers to turn on around us, g]sorting through their new files. There must have been at least twenty computers in there, all of them sat on desks at cubicles, when people used to work here.

“So what was that for?”

“It just needs to be us talking, no one listening.”

“Fine, go ahead. Lecture me on how I’m a piece of shit and that I’m ruining everyone’s lives.”

“You’re finally understanding.”

“Wanda, let’s stop the sarcasm and fix this. You know I’m confused, I’m tired of having to figure this out for myself.”

“You have had plenty of time to think over this.” She didn’t say it in a nasty way, more like she was getting upset.

“Wanda...”

“I’ve been mean to you because...” her voice was cracking,“because I was scared that I would lose all of you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Since my parents died, Pietro was my only family. When he died, you all became my family. And I can’t stand living with this guilt for much longer.”

“Guilt? What are you...” my words trailed off as we heard a slamming door in the distance. 

Remaining silent and as still as possible, we looked at our only way out, though whoever was with us right now seemed to be making their way towards us. Grabbing the USB, Wanda and I crouched underneath a desk, hidden inside the cubicle. Wanda’s eyes were tearing up, though I knew it wasn’t because of our current situation; holding her hand, I nodded to her, hopefully sending the message that we would get out of this alive. Now that the room was pitch black again (due to the USB shutting down the computers), I hoped this would send the person away; of course, luck was never on my side at the moment.

The door creaked as it was opened, the person’s footsteps barely audible. Their flashlight was searching the room, our only source of light that could help us, or give us away. They were getting closer, we had to make a move soon. As one of their feet passed by us, I leapt out of our hiding place, taking on the unsuspecting guard. Wrapping my arm around her neck, I used the other one to twist her arm, making her drop her gun. Before she could scream, I covered her mouth with my hand, kicking the backs of her knees to make her fall to the floor. Wanda scrambled out to me, using her powers to send the guard into some sort of hypnotic state. 

“She was an amateur, but I’m guessing there will be more.” I informed Wanda, taking the gun and turning off the flashlight.

“There wasn’t supposed to be anyone here, I had to make this work!”

“Shh! Wanda, stay calm, we can get out of here quickly and quietly. Come on we’ve got what we need.”

As I took her hand, she yanked me back towards her, waving her glowing red hand in front of my face. I realised what she was doing, but before I could stop her, I was already in a trance.

Opening my eyes, I found myself standing in the common room back at HQ, surrounded by the other Avengers, except Bucky and Steve. Looking around, all I saw were solemn faces, no one was looking back at me. 

“Guys, what’s going on?” I asked, scared of the answer.

“What are you still doing here?!” Tony raged, storming towards me. No body stopped him.

I stumbled as I stepped backwards.“T-Tony, what do you mean?”

“You caused this mess! I just got everyone back together, now we’re disbanded again!”

“But everyone is here, look around you!”

“You can stop your games now, you won, you got what you wanted, a huge mess.” He turned around, walking away from me. As I watched him, I realised that the others were gone, disappeared just like that.

“Tony, wait!”

“Agent (Y/L/N), I am hereby dismissing you from S.H.I.E.L.D.” Fury’s voice bellowed from behind me.

Spinning around to face him, I gasped as he tore my badge away from me.“On what grounds?!”

“For disrupting the work of our mightiest heroes, and letting the Earth remain defenceless. You caused the attack, you caused millions of deaths.”

“What attack?! When did this happen? Why wasn’t I there to help?”

I ran after him, grabbing onto his long, black coat; my heels were digging into the floor was I tried to pull him back, only to fall flat on my ass. Getting back up, I realised I was in a different surrounding, it was pitch black, so dark that I couldn’t even see my own hands in front of me. Two sudden spotlights illuminated far in front of me, revealing Bucky and Steve arguing with each other. I couldn’t hear a word they were saying, needing to get closer, even though I could tell they were shouting. I began sprinting as fast as I could, seeing that they were now getting physical with each other; however, as harsh punches were thrown, I found myself not moving anywhere. Although I could feel my feet moving, they appeared not to be, staying completely still as I glanced down at them. Out of breath, I tried to shout as loud as I could, praying that they would hear me.

Bending over, I rested my hands on my knees, exhausted from shouting and running. As I looked up through tear stained eyes, I saw them standing opposite each other, guns pointed straight at the other person’s face. This time, it seemed my scream reached them, as they both turned their heads towards me. Waiting to see what happened next, my eyes widened as they pointed the weapons towards me.

Gunfire startled me awake from the trance, making me think I had been shot. My hands patted against my body, panicked that I had been injured, but couldn’t feel it due to shock. There seemed to be no time, because somebody dragged me off the floor, throwing me over their shoulder.

“(Y/N), it’s me, Steve, I’m getting you out of here!” Steve shouted as he sprinted down the hallway.

“Steve?! Where’s Wanda?” I shouted back.

“She’s fighting in there with Bucky. Don’t worry, these guys are awful fighters.”

I let him carry me outside, thankful to be set on the ground as my head started to spin. Gripping onto his arms, I took a moment to breathe, trying to focus again.

“You alright?” 

I nodded slowly.“Yeah, just need to get back to the jet.”

I needed to get those images out of my head, what the fuck was that?

“Come on, you can explain later.”

It was only five minutes after we sat on the jet that Bucky and Wanda joined us, both out of breath. Bucky took the role of pilot whilst Wanda collapsed in the seat opposite me, looking stressed. Gently pushing Steve away from me, I knelt in front of her, holding her hands to get her attention. 

“Wanda, take some deep breaths OK? Just copy me.”

I started to breathe deeply with her, instructing her as I went along. Her hands shook less as I helped her, she was finally looking me in the eyes. Once I felt that she was better, I sat beside her.

“What’s got you so shaken?” Steve asked.

She glanced towards me, obviously trying to come up with something.

I covered for her.“I got caught off by a guard, they were able to knock me out so Wanda took them all on. Guess it was a bit of a surprise for her, sorry for leaving you.”

“It’s OK. I’ve never been in that situation before.”

“You did great out there, rest up now.” Steve smiled, watching as she walked to the other side of the jet, settling into a much comfier seat.“Doesn’t explain why you’re coms were shattered to pieces.”

“What?” I acted clueless. 

“Doesn’t matter now. Seems like you do need some training after all.”

I rolled my eyes.“Oh please, it was one mistake on my first mission back.”

“A mission that could have cost you your life.”

“I don’t think it will ever matter how many missions I go on. You’ll always worry.” 

“That’s exactly right.” He pecked me on the lips before explaining that he was going to tend to Wanda. As he walked away, Bucky set the jet to autopilot, bending down to whisper in my ear as he passed.

“He’ll get the truth out of you, he didn’t believe a word of that.”

I furrowed my eyebrows at him as he walked away, still freaked out by my vision from Wanda. It kept replaying in my mind, I couldn’t force it to stop. They pointed the gun at me, why would they do that? Looking at Wanda, I saw that she was already staring; something about her looked guilty, as if she regretted her actions. Why had she made me see that and what more was she hiding from me?

[maureenbrown]

very basic timeline of spy au

saphael past

simon gets assigned job by luke and says his goodbye to the sh gang (minus magnus for now?)

he flies over to raphs location and introduces hmself. and they meet and such.

so then its just super lowkey. simon makes contact with base to let them know hes okay

then they have dinner my god already so romantic i hate them

but then raphael leaves to see his lil bro (hes engaged!!) and to cover someones shift at work

he returns back to see simon still working bc “im a night owl” and then falls asleep on simon

simon smiles and gently closes his laptop and goes to sleep too. he drapes a blanket over them first and sets an alarm for raphael

raphael wakes up in the morning and has such a cheesy smile on his face like wth

but he gets up and then makes breakfast for him + simon for when he wakes and leaves

simon wakes up and is like?? what happened?? but sees the food and is like! AWWW

anyways he goes about his day but also gets kinda bored and he isnt sure where the tv remote is so he starts watching on his laptop

raphael walks in to see a nerdy boy crying as he yells “GO GET HIM” at his screen and is like??

simon tells him to come over obv. and raphael just says no and angrily stalks upstairs

and simon is curious. so he goes upstairs and is like what happened

and raphael doesnt say shit bc hes still a stranger

so simon just brings his laptop and he sits next to raphael even tho hes still at a distance they watch some movie

and honestly its so nice. and once again they fall asleep on each other.

anyways this adorable thing keeps continuing until THE FRIENDS come over

and simon is like!! gotta impress them even tho he and raph arent dating yet

but his friends come over for dinner and are all sizing up simon like. is he good enough and who tf is so special they would make raphael smile

they decide they like him. very much.

more just getting to know each other until one day simon is like. i want a tour of the city gimme

so thats what they do bc its raphaels day off or w.e.

and theyre going around and being SUPER cheesy but its fine. its not like raphael cares

theyre getting to know other random facts about each other like fave __ bc simon points to things and is like!!!!!!

then. they find vidia and just cant leave

he sits down and is like. i’ll wait for the parent to come so the baby isnt all alone

and raphael is about to say that no one is going to come this baby was/is abandoned

but he doesnt have the heart so he sits down next to him

is ofc v good with babies. simon is not but its fine

but it gets to be night and no one came but simon is adamant. so they stay ALL FUCKING NIGHT WITH THIS BABY (except for one time when they left to get food)

and again. no one comes so theyre about to leave but then raphael says fuck it and they take the baby with them (they’ll real with the legal stuff later)

and ofc simon is still simon so hes like. we need to name her, and also put up posters JUST in case

they do that. but for naming they are very very argumentative.

raphael says the last name is rose bc they found a rose next to her and she has such a nice rosy face and simon agrees

simon wants to name her something disney related like vidia [bc he saw it recently and it was THE BEST]

raphael is like no?? lets name her something proper.

they still argue but decide to call her vidia SOMETHING rose

w.e. they continue and then it hits simon...soon hes gonna leave

and he realizes he doesnt wanna leave. not raphael or vidia

anyways they keep tiptoeing around this love thing they have

and they keep falling for each other as time goes on

eventually one night vidia is sleeping and theyre just watching some show

and theyre cuddling and raphael just leans down and kisses the top of his head

and simon...doesnt move away

he looks up sure. and they make eye contact and slowly come in closer...theres music playing from the show...their lips meet...

they start a relationship

nothing really changes they just...kiss more

and then raphael is like?? i gotta take you on a proper date FUCK

so they go clubbing bc simon insisted

simon gets rlly drunk and like. hooks up with some guy he thought was raphael but in the morning realizes HE WASNT FUCK

he tries to play it off tho and lie to raphael

“i woke up in a parkng lot” or smth but he lies

he doesnt tell about his hooking up no....someone else does

and raphael gets SO angry

not at the hooking up but the lie and betrayal

he doesnt talk to simon for weeks

they have this weird relationship where they work together for vdia but not together...

it makes simon go crazy and he almost leaves

but he also gets sick of it so he gets raphael to talk

and they kinda make things better. they arent the same but they amend it a bit

then!! they also gotta go to a wedding (raphaels lil bro)

and simon is a p r o he gets the job DONE

he kills valentine and has a dance with raphael so a+ work tbqh

he lets his orginzaiton know. but asks for one more week to stay bc raphael

but then he overhears raphael talking [to camille whos also at the wedding] and learns that raphael is an assassin

but he refuses to believe it. he also goes home tho and the car ride is super awk but he refuses to believe it. or talk about it

when he gets home raphael goes into the shower and simon just. cant let go of the feeling. he goes into raphaels room and goes digging

finds a file. on him

raphael walks in and is like?? the hell are you doing but simon is so angry

he yells he screams he throws things and then he picks up vidia from the little crib and runs. just runs and runs.

he finds a bus stop and gets on it still running. from raphael. from everything.

he makes contact with lydia who get shim to a house

the end

the beginning

simon and vidia are chilling

when like simon gets scared suddenly and orders her to upstairs

its too fuckng late and someone breaks open the door

someone being raphael

vidia gets knocked out and when she comes to shes so ???

and raphael is cryptic like hello child who is my daughter

and vidia is just. not taking it. and is jsut really confused

but then a bomb suddenly goes off and simon thrusts her towards raphael

and they run

she gets knocked out for like the second time that day

when she finally comes to again raphael is bandaging himself up

(she is already bandaged up)

she demands to be let go and is just. no she doesnt know this person she needs to go save her dad

and he gives like a hallow laugh and tells her that there is no saving her dad

hes gone most likely

but vidia is still held in disbelief and just doesnt believe any ofit

in fact she doesnt even know whATS happening and so very slowly he tells her

well about the spying and that he and his father had a disagreement

(he doesnt say shit about camille)

she still is just very adamant on leaving and doesnt believe it (refuses to) and so she still demands to be freed

he frees her and lets her go

she walks around bandaged and so confused/lost as to where she is

she meets a nice lookng girl and asks for directions

the girl offers to how her the way and walks along with her

she asks what vidia is doing all alone and very hesitantly vidia just says that she + her dad got hurt and separated

they walk and the girl says that yeah shes an orphan too and you know. gets more information out of vidia

they get to the house [remains of the house] and just. everything is a mess

and she sees raphael arrogantly standing and is s o angry

and is about to tell him off

but all he does is hand her a file where there are actual pics + documents

and just. a part of vidia knows its makes sense with all the closed doors and whispers

and raphael also gently remains her that he’ll let her keep running if thats what she wants but he’ll still be following her/watching her

and vidia is just. really tired but shes also really curious and she kinda agrees

they go to the hq [aka hotel dumort] and vidia gets her own private room and wanders around for a bit

she gets so lost because everything is so big but finallly finds like. the kitchen and remembers oh shit i gotta eat

she eats

soon enough guess who comes strolling in?? lita

and vidia is so caught off guard and also so annoyed?? LIKE WTH

lita smirks and takes an apple watching her

she briefly explains with a smrik that shes a con artist. she knows how to manipulate and vidia get sso angry its so funny

i need more plot points but basically they train her and she gets to know lita + raphael and she finds out more about her past. and about the other relatives that know about it and is just so !? and then she also goes around stealing and fighting corrupt and fighting her father

[agentelmo]

The X-Files MSR Analysis Series: Season 1 Episode 11

“Eve”

Previous episode analysis - 1x10 Fallen Angel.

Eve is a nice episode in terms of MSR because it is littered with cute little moments between Mulder and Scully.  Mostly characterised by their silently eyeballing each other.  Sometimes when the other isn’t even looking.  

Sorry, lets be real here - sometimes when Scully isn’t even looking. 

There’s a great scene in Mulder’s motel room which shows they’re still feeling each other out on a personal level - despite Scully’s dismissal of Mulder as a potential love interest in Jersey Devil, she clearly hasn’t 100% given up on it because she’s definitely putting the feelers out in that scene - testing the waters of Mulder’s personal life. 

On a non-MSR front, we also get our first whiff of a mention of the super soldiers that become so prominent in season 9.  Which is interesting, right?  Right?

So the episode begins with Mulder and Scully in Basement HQ talking about the latest spooky goings on.  Professor Mulder must have got in late this morning, as he’s still putting together his slide show for this mornings class.

Mulder’s characteristic gallows humour makes an appearance, and what I really like is that he looks up to see her reaction to his joke - is he gonna get a flash of her dazzling smile?

No.

He gets nothing - nada, zip.  Scully isn’t rewarding that mediocre attempt.

You know why this stood out to me now?  After seeing season 11′s This, it reminded me of the skanky bar scene where Mulder makes a joke about Scully looking “adorbs”.  Mulder stares at her for a long ass moment afterwards, waiting for a response.  

From the very beginning, he always got a kick out of getting a rise out of her - cracking her cool exterior.  I just like that the same gesture is seen here, right at the very beginning of their relationship.  He makes a joke to enjoy her response - and I think, a little bit, just to see her smile, because holy shit, Scully has a million watt smile.  

Who wouldn’t want to be the cause of that?

How quaint.  Remember a time before you knew anything about cattle mutilation, Scully?

What I love about this is what I love about all Mulder’s slide show scenes, which is that he enjoys the song and dance of presenting his ideas to Scully.  He likes playing teacher.  Look at his face when she gives him her “say what now?” look.

Close enough, Mulder?  He’s looming over her, being an utter space invader - as usual.  It’s their classic physical flirtation, but where the real foreplay lies between them is in the meeting of two sharply intelligent minds. 

He already knew that she wasn’t familiar with the fine art of cattle sucking, and that this would be how their conversation would go.  He had it all planned out.

This is why he was queuing up the slide show before he even asked the question -  he was just waiting to explain it to her.  He sports the smile of smug success, because it’s all gone to plan.  He’s hit his mark and now he’s ready to go - Professor Mulder is in the house, people!

He does this for her validation, which in turn allows him to present otherwise fantastic ideas in a way that fits the conventions of a regular FBI investigation - she brings order to his chaos and I think he actually desires that - at this point he’s come to see the value in it.  

In Basement HQ with Dana Scully in attendance, Professor Mulder’s theories and ideas are not dismissed as nonsense, they’re treated as potentially valid.  This is a place of safety and mental freedom for him.  His relaxed demeanour, as he regales the grim details of the case, suggest this is the portrait of a man freed from the limitations of self-doubt and judgement. 

This is in sharp contrast to how Mulder has been know to behave around his peers.  He has a tendency to be very reticent with his fellow FBI colleagues. He’s been burned one too many times by talking about his ideas, and so tends to keeps his cards close to his chest. 

It just goes to show how her validation is like catnip for him - there is no holding back in these show and tells.  He fully expects Scully to hear him out and throw out her usual challenges, to which is he more than happy to rise because he knows they come from a place of scientific rigour not condescension and mockery - he revels in the acknowledgement and the challenge.  

As the series progresses he refines his beliefs - he too needs proof.  But at this stage he really does believe in almost anything, and is happy to go along with any bat shit theory.  Seeing is believing for Mulder in season 1.

Not so with Scully, of course.  He’s so overtly open and unabashed with his beliefs that sometimes - when you actually listen to exactly what it is he’s saying - you do have to wonder if he is, in fact, crazy.

See what I mean?  He’s pretty bald-faced about it.  Unflinchingly eccentric.   It’s actually kind of touching to watch him spout this nonsensical stuff about aliens coming thousands of light years to exsanguinate some poor moo cows.  Seriously, the guy sounds like he’s been smoking the good stuff.

Most normal people would tell him he’s a fucking mental case and report him to FBI human resources - this guy needs a psych evaluation - stat!

But Scully?  Nope, she’s there to do a job - put his bat shit craziness to the test, so she swallows her disbelief and instinctive need to object... literally...

...and off we go!

So Mulder and Scully go off to investigate the man who had been blood suckered and have a chat with his daughter - the only witness to his death.  

And oh God this series can be tough to watch at times with hindsight... more Scully being totes adorbs and sweetly softly spoken with kids.  

Any time Mulder and Scully are in scenes with kids I can’t deal.  It hurts man.

Even if the kid in question is creepy AF.

Seriously what is it with the kids being freaky mofos in this show?

Creepiness aside, I love that this little bunny-clutching satan spawn totally plays Mulder.  

She tells him what he wants to hear; the implication is that this girl has some kind of mind reading capability to pull “men from the clouds” and the word “exsanguinate” from out her arse.

Uh yeah...

Mulder, this is important... and not the time to be staring at your partner’s lips again.  Geez, man. FOCUS.

Scully gets a call that there’s been another murder, so off they jet to San Fran baby!  Check it out - that’s a sunny establishing shot!

Although when they get to the murder victim’s residence the weather is grey and overcast as fuck.

You tried, Vancouver.  You tried.

What I admire about this scene here with Mulder and Scully is the fact that she doesn’t let Mulder intimidate her.

When Scully was assigned to Mulder, she was green, untested.  He’s literally her first ever partner since she’s never been a field agent before, and he has quite the reputation as an incredibly savvy profiler and successful investigator.  Not to mention the fact he’s a man, and she’s a woman.

Yet she doesn’t let that stop her questioning his every step.

That’s pretty fucking impressive, isn’t it?

Scully’s self-confidence is crazy admirable.  She truly is a phenomenal role model for young girls.  I know she was for me.

What’s even more brilliant about her challenge here, is that she is more right than he is.  Mulder is, in fact, super wrong.  As we discover much later, these two deaths actually are the work of two killers working in tandem like Scully says and Mulder, the career profiler, dismissed this out of hand.  1 - 0 to Scully.  Keep score in this episode, because Scully does well to prove she’s more than a match for Mulder.

So they head off to speak with the daughter of the second murder victim, and Mulder exhibits his terrible parking skills.  How far away from the kerb do you wanna be, Mulder?

Look at Scully with her little season 1 briefcase... D’awwwwwwww.

Mulder is clearly in a good mood this morning, he’s quite playful with Scully all throughout this scene.

Case in point, when they’re discussing the fact that Teena Simmons has been abducted....

Let’s pause for effect.  Look at him looking at her.

Oh Mulder... are you GAZING by any chance?

Scully says the roadblocks turned up nothing... again Mulder, in his chipper mood quips back...

He’s doing it again.  Looking for her to react.  Both times.  He really does like to  enjoy her reaction, and I think she knows it because she refuses to give him one.  Perhaps it’s to loosen her up; relax.  My theory is that he just enjoys breaking down her professional exterior and so he make it his low key eternal mission to make her crack.  Like the proper little wind-up merchant that he is.

Also, whoa... Mulder are you blatantly checking Scully out?  She conveniently looks away... and down go those eyes.  You bad, bad man.

“I do not GAZE at Scully.”  Again, pause that.

Sure you don’t.

Then the door opens and we see that the second murder victim’s daughter - Cindy Reardon - looks exactly like the first murder victim’s daughter - Teena Simmons.

Spooky.

Mulder... focus.

I like the little silent conversation that goes on here.

Scully:  Mulder, are you seeing this? Mulder:  Yeah, what do you think is going on here? Scully:  No fucking clue.

Scully starts to question the mother about Cindy, and when Mulder chimes in to cut to the chase, he unintentionally upsets the mother.  Scully realises instantly he’s in trouble as Mulder stumbles over his words and Scully touches his hand, silently communicating – I’ve got this.

He instantly takes a step back and lets Scully handle it.  I fucking love these two.

It’s such a simple gesture, utterly meaningless in the grand scheme of things, but for some reason little things like this make me think these two were made for each other.  I know, that’s a melodramatic thing to say, but this little exchange just thrilled me.  The simple act is trivial but also beautiful at the same time.

Am I weird?  I’m probably just weird.

Muldo and Scullbag head back out to their car and whoa... that is some heady bright red velour interior in their car - yikes.  

Holy crapsicle even the steering wheel is red!  The 90′s man...  Yeesh.

The banter… ah the banter.  This is what makes these two so deliciously fun. It’s not the Joss Whedon style of hyper-lighting-fast, sarcastic barbs or witty, self-deprecating one liners that permeate pretty much every TV show going these days.  It’s two clearly distinct personalities interacting and sparking off of each other in distinct, individual ways.

Mulder’s sense of humour bubbles along the surface of many of the duo’s scenes together, and it’s Scully’s reaction to his humour, rather than sharp-shooting back, that makes their to and fro banter feel genuine and real.  Her reactions tends towards the incredulous or playfully disapproving, but every now and then, he will be rewarded for his efforts with a dazzling smile of genuine amusement.

That feels more real to me because we’re not all witty zing-miesters ready and waiting with the best come back of our lives.  Although Mulder does land a few good ones, that’s defined as part of his personality, not just the collective state of all human beings that exist in the world like we seem to get in a lot of TV these days.

That’s not to say that Scully isn’t funny too.  She also gets her occasional zingers, but the infrequency of them makes them all the sweeter.

So Scully goes to check at the IVF treatment centre to find out how these two girls look so alike, and asks the Doc a question that is kinda scary in hindsight.

Especially given season 11′s recent revelations regarding how Scully became pregnant.  Yeah... this scene made my insides wiggly.

Scully discovers that a doctor called Sally Kendrick was experimenting with eugenics - tampering with the ova before fertilisation.  Again, all very troubling to hear in hindsight for us as viewers in the midst of season 11.  We as fans felt this question had been laid to rest about how William came to be, but season 11 has busted it wide open again.  Scully may have had this same tampering done to her ova before being implanted - if she even was implanted, we have no idea anymore!  Fuck CSM, man...

But lets wash the ickiness away with a stunning profile shot.  Naw... Looks how beautifully 90′s Scully is...

Now the next scene takes place back in Mulder’s motel room... hey now guys, you do know this goes against bureau’s policy on male and female agents consorting in the same motel room while on assignment, right?

Want to see another creepy connection to William?  Mulder and Scully are watching Sally Kendrick’s video monologue, which signs off on this oddly prophetic note...

Uhmmm....

Yeeeeeeeeeeah.

I realise that babies are described as miracles all the time, so it’s unlikely to be an intentional connection, but I got chills.  Did you get chills?

Scully doesn’t miss a chance to point out that Mulder’s cattle guzzling alien theory is looking less and less likely by the minute...

WHERE HAVE I SEEN DAT FACE?

Scully is the one rewarded with the smile this time, oh man keep ‘em coming Scully... Mulder in his glasses with his sleeves rolled up and his tie undone is my kink, my aesthetic, my everything, the sweetest song that I could sing...

OH BABY.

It’s like watching the air go out of a balloon.  Scully kicking dejected puppy!Mulder.... 

But wait! Ring ring... answer the phone, Scully.

New phone, who dis?

MULDER!   IT’S THE DEEP THROAT SIGNAL!

Yeah Mulder, how far does a girl have to go to untangle her tingle?  

SEVEN YEARS, THAT’S HOW FAR.

You’ve not yet qualified Scully, so get the fuck outta here.  No girls with tangled tingles allowed that haven’t gone through the 7 year Mulder vetting process.

He’s not kidding, he doesn’t have a clue what a girl is because thus far no one has made it through the 7 year Mulder vetting process.  

Who is up to the task, I wonder...

ANYWAY!

Mulder, are you seriously asking “what’s a girl?” when you have one of the most beautiful specimens right in front of you?  Go die in a fire now please. Thank you.

Poor disappointed Scully, too.  She wasn’t ready to leave and who can blame her with him flouncing around in those fucking glasses?  STOP IT.

Ughhhh... this whole fucking scene is just lady porn.

Also, isn’t it sweet that Scully’s automatic assumption is that he has a girl coming over?  She must think his little bit on the side was the one who hung up on the phone.  

Notice how Scully executes a classic fishing expedition, here.  She is curious about his personal life and because of his frankly highly suspicious behaviour - seriously Mulder, guy has zero chill, you could have done this a bit more convincingly - has handed her a prime opportunity to jokingly ask an otherwise overtly personal question. 

Don’t think I can’t see what you’re up to, Ms. Scully.

So Mulder goes to meet his girlfriend, Deep Throat and they take a romantic stroll along the jetty, casually bumping shoulders, talk about catching a Warriors game together.  So sweet.

I like that Deep Throat is concerned that Scully has followed Mulder.  Look at this muppet.  He’s a powerful man at the centre of an international consortium of men embroiled in all manner of nefarious government conspiracies and he’s hiding in a bush, afraid of a 5ft nothing red head in a pantsuit.

To be fair to him, Scully is a bad ass, I’d be afraid of her too.  Don’t be messing with her boo, or she’ll be having words.

I had a discussion recently about how Deep Throat seems to take on a fatherly role for Mulder in season 1.  A friendly, compassionate guide who supports Mulder at great risk to himself, his ideal father figure.

These little moments where Deep Throat (Or Ronald Pakula as we know now him, cheers season 11) seems to have more than a professional interest in Mulder.  It’s not simply that he is using Mulder, he appears to genuinely care about him too - this is merely one of several occasions where he suggests they might have enjoyed spending time together outside of their clandestine meetings.  

I’d say we will never know if this care is genuine, as there are certainly times when Deep Throat is shady as fuck - and later will even lie to Mulder - but then we see Deep Throat speak to Mulder from beyond the grave in his The Blessing Way fever dream in season 3.

Where he encourages Mulder to go back to the living world and not to look into the abyss.  Suggesting he truly did care about him.

So moving on, Deep Throat tells Mulder about a secret government eugenics project called The Litchfield Experiment.  Deep Throat says the purpose of this project is to create a “superior solider”.  Yep, that’s right... the notion that the Syndicate were involved in creating super soldiers were seeded back in season 1.  

He directs Mulder to an insane asylum where a subject of this shady experiment is being held named Eve 6.

So I am confused, how did Mulder explain to Scully how he knew about Eve 6 and the Litchfield experiments?  He still hasn’t told her about Deep Throat, and won’t tell her about him until E.B.E.  So how exactly did he explain to Scully why they were going there?  “I dreamt it, Scully!  I totally do not have an informant that basically lets me cheat every paranormal investigation I get stuck on.  It err... yeah, came to me in a vision!  Honest!”

Seriously, I’d forgotten just how often Mulder cheats by getting help from Deep Throat. 

So off they trot to meet Eve 6, and Mulder takes another opportunity to side eye his hot new girlfriend partner when she’s not looking.

The eye sexing in this episode is off the chart by the way.  They’re silently communicating a lot.  A LOT, A LOT.

Eve 6 explains that she and many others were part of an experiment which gave them heightened strength, intelligence but also psychosis.  They’re failed early attempts at creating super soldiers as they are uncontrollable.  They all have a tendency to go bat crap crazy.

And shocker, the two girls Cindy and Teena are part of that same experiment.

Its interesting to watch Mulder and Scully’s differing reactions to Eve 6.  The horror of what she is, a human monster but through no fault of her own.  They both have a very visceral reaction to Eve 6′s Hannibal Lecter moment as she talks about trying to get a bit of lovin’ from a guard.

Scully is clearly uncomfortable; disturbed by Eve 6; her mental state; her living conditions, and the claims of what has been done to her.

Whereas Mulder looks at Eve 6 with morbid fascination.  Like watching a car crash - you just can’t seem to look away from the horror of it.  He’s reviled by her, but also strangely transfixed.  Probably the profiler in him.

Now remember I said to keep score on how many times Scully gets it right and Mulder gets it wrong in this episode.  Well, here’s another doozey.

So that’s Mulder acknowledging that the murders could have indeed happened at the same time by two different people working together, which earlier he summarily dismissed when Scully suggested it.

Have you noticed yet that I like to make a point of highlighting when Scully was actually right and Mulder was wrong?  Why do I do it?  Honestly, it’s because I still haven’t forgiven Mulder for his “who turns out to be right 98.9% of the time?” comment in season 6′s Field Trip.

Arrogant little bishop basher.

But wait, it gets better!

*whispers*  Scully is too good for you.

Mulder suggests the two remaining Eves, Eve 7 and Eve 8, are killing the parents in order to take the girls back into the Litchfield fold.

But there’s some big holes in that hypothesis.  First, if that was their goal all along, why not take the girls when they killed the fathers?  Both kids were alone with their father’s at the time of their murders, so why kill the fathers and return later when the girls would be more protected, not less.

C’mon Mulder, there is obviously more going on here... you’re really off your game on this episode.  

Maybe if you weren’t so distracted by all the eye sexing?

Cindy Reardon is kidnapped by Sally Kendrick a.k.a. Eve 7, and Mulder and Scully are left in the dirt.  Mulder gets to do a bit of sexy running though.  Damn, that boy can run!

Thankfully, through some spiffing police work, they locate the girls again, and it’s like someone has dressed them up in red as a warning - DANGER FOX MULDO, DANGER!  They may as well have a neon sign above their heads blinking out the words “SATAN SPAWN!”

Someone has to take custody of the girls temporarily and, unexpectedly, Mulder volunteers himself and Scully for the job.

Wow, admit it, you just want to play dad.

Seriously, it’s almost like he planned it after watching Scully play Mum, talking about how “we” will take care of you... you’re safe with “us”.

You think I’m reaching?  What is this “reaching” you speak of?  This is a serious analysis series, with serious analysis only.  

This is such a dad thing to say, Mulder.  The translation is:  SHUT UP AND JUST GET IN THE DAMN CAR.

I can just see Mulder and William now...

“Dad, what’s a momomyth?” “Not now, son.  Just put your shoes on.  We’re going to grandma Maggie’s” “But Dad, is it the sum of all human knowledge or first contact with an alien ra--” “WE’LL TALK ABOUT IT IN THE CAR, OKAY?!”

I see you Muldo, checking Scullywag out.  Shouldn’t you keep your eyes on the road?  Look, even the creepy murder baby has noticed your wandering eye.

Hmm, asking a kid if they can hold their pee.  Yeah, Mulder has definitely never had kids before.  Heck, I’ve never had kids before and I know that’s a dumb question.  Kids seem to like waiting until their bladder is about to explode before asking to stop.

SCULLBAG!  YOU TRAITOR.  WHATEVER HAPPENED TO PARENTAL SOLIDARITY - SHOWING A UNITED FRONT?!

Ah the domesticity of the coke saga… the adults watching their waistlines get diet.  The kiddiewinks in need of recharging their murder batteries go for some of that high fructose goodness.

I love the look Scully has on her face in the background, a look that seems to be saying ‘don’t mind our precocious little brats’.

It kind of tickles me that this serving wench believes Mulder and Scully are married with kids.  Don’t worry, the rest of the world will catch up with this statement of fact in 25 years.

Mulder and Scully even do the eye sex communication before they’re about to go do their business.  Pee you on the other side, Scully!

Mulder even tells jokes silently.  It’s all there in the eyes.

Then the more sinister of the two satan spawn, which I think is Teena, comes out to poison Mulder and Scully’s drinks.

YOUR DAD?!

LOOK BACK THE HELL UP KID, DON’T BE FUCKING WITH MY FEELINGS RIGHT NOW I AM VERY SENSITIVE ABOUT THIS SUBJECT.

It’s all right for me to joke about it, but when kids in the actual show start calling Mulder “dad”, I am gonna probably hyperventilate to death.

So of course, Mulder goes and acts all fatherly again.  AHHHH THE PAAAIN!

He would have been such a sweet dad, guys… seriously.  FFS CHRIS CARTER.  MOVING ON...

TOUCH MAH HAND MULDERRRR!

It’s hypnotic, actually, watching their hands meet on a perpetual loop - you start to notice weird details, like how her finger slides over his.  

Look at what this show reduces us to.  Slavering weirdos who get excited at the merest brush of a hand.   Just, fuck this show... sometimes, really, it can just fuck off?

Then in a touch of writing genius, they drop the “oops I forgot my keys” trope.  

Mulder runs back into the cafe to find DUN DUN DUN... the poison conveniently left a partial mug ring on the table.  

Which makes no sense either, because if Teena had got it on the cup, wouldn’t Mulder and Scully have seen it already?  It’s bright green after all.  But whatevs... Mulder goes and sticks his fingers in an unknown substances then true to form, puts it straight into his mouth.  

I know, I felt thoroughly ashamed of taking this screen cap of Mulder licking his finger.  But it’s not like I stopped and looked at it for a long time or anything.  *whistles*

Realising the girls have poisoned his and Scully’s drink, Mulder runs back outside to rescue bae.

Again, Mulder has zero chill when it comes to feigning ignorance.  Was the earlier kerfuffle getting Scully out of his motel room in such an obvious way put there just to demonstrate that Mulder has the acting ability of a wacky, flailing, inflatable, tube man?

How chivalrous.

Before we move on, lets rewind back a second...

MULDER’S FLOPPY HAIR FLOOFING IN THE WIND OMG.

FLOOFING!

Okay, okay... so the girls know Mulder is onto them, obviously... I guess Mulder forgot that the Eves have heightened intelligence as well as heightened psychosis.  

Arghhh.. they’re so young!  Mah baby agents!

The girls vanish but Mulder and Scully outsmart the fuck out of these little shits.

Side note... baby!Scully... such a badass.

baby!Mulder... eeeh not so much.

Mulder and Scully go back into the cafe to see if the girls went to hide in there, and Scully ruins my dream - of a single human being existing in the world who thinks Mulder and Scully are married with kids - by flashing her FBI badge at the serving wench.

I know she’s a waitress.  Shhh... If I was a waitress, I’d much prefer to be called serving wench.

Wenchy McWenchface says a school bus just left with a ton a kids, so Mulder and Scully, quite cleverly I might add, trick the girls by splitting up.

Just to show us once again, these two are a pair of smart cookies, and are clearly meant for each other, as work partners as well as being the loves of each others lives.  Yeppers.

So Scully follows the bus in the car, and Mulder stays at the cafe.

Come out, come out, wherever you areeeee....

Mulder bullying children.  It’s a side hobby.

That’s all for Mulder and Scully, but there is an interesting scene at the end with the Eves.  It seems Sally Kendrick was, in fact, Eve 8 not Eve 7 (or maybe they were both her?) as she arrives to rescue the girls.

I wonder if perhaps, after they escape, these three are involved in the super soldier project that spawns the super soldiers we come to know later in season 9?  Who knows... but it would have been a cool little twist if they’d have brought back the Eves in season 9.  

Shame.  

It would have been a brilliant little bit of continuity.  But we know this show is continuity averse at the best of times, so it doesn’t really surprise me that the never took the opportunity to tie that thread.  

Next up... Ooh it’s the one you’ve all been waiting for, I can tell.  1x12 - Fire.

[thelastspeecher]

Perhaps a 13-14 year old Stangie trying to survive an awkward middle school dance?

Here you go, Anon!  I hope you don’t mind, but I ended up setting this as a continuation to another de-aging prompt I got, where Stan and Angie are spies that get de-aged to go undercover at a middle school.

              “Ya ready yet?” Fiddleford asked,knocking on the door to Angie’s room. Angie opened the door.  “Aw, don’tya look lovely!” Fiddleford gushed.  Cladin a peach formal dress, Angie scowled at him. “Now, now, yer s’pposed to be excited, ‘member?  This is yer first school dance.”

              “This is far from my first schooldance,” Angie snapped.  “And I told yabefore, I don’t want to go.”

              “Hon, ya have to.”  Fiddleford fussed with the sleeves of herdress.  “Remember, this is the last partof yer mission.  Yer almost done!”

              “I know,” Angie mumbled.

              “Want me to do yer hair?”

              “…Yes.”

              “Come on, then.”  Angie followed Fiddleford to thekitchen.  “Take a seat.  I’ll grab a brush and some other things.”  Angie nodded and obediently took a seat atthe table.  

              “Stanley, come out here, rightnow!” Ford shouted from somewhere else in the house.  Fiddleford sighed.  

              “Great.  Them boys are causin’ trouble again.  Have yourself a snack or somethin’ while Itry to fix whatever went wrong this time.” Angie nodded again.  Fiddlefordheaded towards the shout.  He turned acorner and saw Ford hammering on the bathroom door.

              “I’m not gonna go, Ford, it’sbullshit,” Stan shouted from inside the bathroom.

              “You have to go, Stanley,” Fordsaid firmly.

              “No,” Stan shot back.  Ford slammed a fist against the door.  Fiddleford stepped forward, his hands held upplacatingly.

              “All right, all right, what seemsto be the trouble?” Fiddleford asked mildly. Ford scowled at the locked bathroom door.

              “Stan refuses to come out of thebathroom and go to the dance.”

              “Okay.  Why?”

              “I don’t want to!” Stanshouted.  Fiddleford rubbed his forehead.

              “Neither does Angie, but she’ssuckin’ it up and doin’ what she has to. Or did ya forget that this is yer job?”

              “No, I didn’t forget.”  Stan’s voice was more subdued.

              “Unlock the door, Stan, and cometalk to us like the adult ya really are.” There was a pause, but then the door opened.  Stan looked down at his feet sheepishly,clearly uncomfortable in the dress slacks and polo shirt Ford had purchased forhim.  Fiddleford smiled at Stan.  “Thank you. Now, what’s the problem?”

              “I’m sick of this,” Stan mumbled.

              “Of what?”

              “This!  All of it!” Stan said, gesturing tohimself.  His voice cracked mid-sentence.  “I’m sick and tired of being a damn kid, andgetting zits and voice cracks and mood swings. I dealt with all this shit once already, I shouldn’t have to go throughit again.  I’m done.”

              “Then we’ve got good news foryou,” Ford said.  “Fiddleford alreadydebriefed Angie, but I didn’t get a chance to, given that you had lockedyourself in the bathroom.  This is thelast part of the mission.”  Stan scowledat Ford.

              “You better not be lying.”

              “I’m not.  Thanks to the hard work you and Angie havebeen doing, the organization almost has enough evidence to put Jones away.  Tonight, you and Angie will split off fromthe dance and break into Jones’ classroom to take pictures of the artifacts hehas hidden in his filing cabinet.” Relief broke across Stan’s face.

              “We’re really almost done?”

              “Yes.”

              “Thank god,” Stan muttered.

              “Why don’t ya join Angie in thekitchen and get a snack,” Fiddleford suggested. “The dance starts soon, after all.”

----- 

              The car came to a stop in frontof the middle school’s main entrance. Ford smiled at Stan in a fatherly manner as Stan opened the door and gotout.

              “Have a good time, son!” Fordcalled.

              “Okay, dad,” Stan said, closingthe door.  Ford drove away.  Stan waited outside, observing the otherstudents arriving.  He nodded at some ofhis classmates.  A few minutes later,Fiddleford’s pickup truck pulled up. Angie hopped out.  Stan raised aneyebrow in amusement as he watched Fiddleford get out of the truck to plant akiss on the top of Angie’s head.

              “Have a good time, sweetie,”Fiddleford said, embracing Angie tightly. “Now, remember, if you want to come home early, you call me rightaway.  Okay?”

              “Okay,” Angie said quietly.  Fiddleford smiled at Stan.

              “Looks like Logan was waiting foryou.  Y’know, I think that boy might besweet on you.”

              “Dad!” Angie yelped inoutrage.  A chaperone standing nearbychuckled, overhearing Angie and Fiddleford’s conversation.  Fiddleford kissed Angie again before gettingback into the truck and driving away. Angie walked over to Stan.

              “You look nice, Ellie,” Stan saidawkwardly.  Angie smiled at him.

              “You look nice, too, Logan,” shesaid sweetly.  Stan felt a slight flushspread across his features.  “Are youreally blushing right now?”

              “Sh- shut up,” Stan muttered.  Angie giggled.  The two of them headed towards the doors tothe school.

              “Well, well, Miss Hawkins, didyou show up with a date?” the chaperone at the door, the biology teacher,asked.

              “Logan’s my friend, Mrs. Lane.”

              “You sure he’s not more thanthat?” the biology teacher pressed. Angie blushed.  The biologyteacher smiled.  “I’m just pulling yourleg, hon.  Go on in, Ellie.  You too, Logan.”  Angie and Stan walked inside.  Stan immediately grimaced at the music theycould hear coming from the gym.

              “God,” Stan muttered, “these kidswouldn’t know good music if it bit them in the a-”

              “Ellie!  Logan!” someone chirped.  Stan and Angie turned.  Angie smiled warmly.

              “Hey, Brook.”

              “Oh, wow, Ellie, your dress is so cute,” Brook, one of theirclassmates, gushed.  She turned to herdate, Tom.  “Isn’t it, Tom?”

              “You look nice, Ellie,” Tom saidhesitantly.  Angie grinned.

              “Thanks.  You guys look really nice, too.”

              “Oh, psh,” Brook said, waving ahand.  “My dress would’ve been way cuter if my dad had let my oldersister come with me when I picked it out. But he was worried that it would be more expensive if Sophia helped.”

              “My dad was the one who pickedout my dress,” Angie said quietly.  Brookgaped.

              “No way.  He has really good taste.”

              “Mine doesn’t,” Stan muttered,picking at his polo shirt.  Brook waved ahand again.

              “You look fine for a boy.”

              “…Thanks.”

              “I didn’t mean it like that.  Boys just aren’t expected to dress up as niceas girls are.  That’s all.”  Brook looked Stan and Angie over with acareful eye.  “Your dad did do the rightthing, though, and picked an outfit that matched Ellie’s dress.”

              “Huh?”  Stan looked down at his outfit, then atAngie’s.  “Oh.  Yeah, we do match.  Why’s that a big deal?”

              “Dates wear matching outfits,dude,” Tom put in.  He winked at Stan.  “‘Bout time you finally started going outwith Ellie.  I called it from day one.”

              “We’re not-” Stan started.  Angie grabbed his hand and beamed broadly atBrook and Tom.

              “You caught us,” Angie saidcheerfully.  Brook squealed.  “Just, uh, don’t tell anyone until after thedance, okay?  It’s pretty new, after all,and getting asked questions while we’re trying to enjoy ourselves will kill themood a bit.  Y’know?”

              “Oh, of course,” Brook said.  “You two headed to the dance floor?  We’ll come with.”

              “No need.  We’re just gonna walk around and socializefor a bit first,” Stan said.  “I wannacatch up with Jerome.”

              “Okay.  We’ll see you on the dance floor later then,”Brook chirped.  She and Tom waved goodbyeand headed towards the gym.  Stan roundedon Angie.

              “What the hell?” he hissed.  “We’re not supposed to-”

              “This is our last time in thisschool,” Angie whispered.  “It doesn’tmatter if they know that Ellie Hawkins and Logan Peterson are dating, becauseafter tonight, they won’t see Ellie and Logan ever again.”  She smiled at Stan.  “And anyways, I’m getting sick of pretendingI’m not in love with you.”  Stan grinned backat her.

              “Ditto.  Let’s go finish our mission, Ellie.”

              “You got it, Logan.”

----- 

              Stan and Angie sat on the stepsoutside the school, waiting for Ford to text back.  Stan’s phone buzzed.  He picked it up.  Angie peered over at the phone’s screen.

              “Well?” she asked.  Stan scanned the text message.

              “HQ says that we finally gotenough evidence,” Stan said.  “Themission is over.”  He sighed in relief.  “It’s about damn time.”

              “Agreed,” Angie said, leaningagainst him.  “Two months asthirteen-year-olds again is too long.” Her phone chimed.  She picked itup and glanced at the screen.  “That’sFidds.  He says that he’ll be here intwenty minutes to pick us up.”

              “Twenty minutes?  What’s taking him so long?” Stangrumbled.  Angie squinted at her phone.

              “He’s getting our proper clothesand the serum to reverse the de-aging process on the way.  That way, we can get back to normal once weget to the house.”

              “Thank god.  I need a hell of a drink.”

              “Same.”  They sat outside for a few minutes, listeningto the muffled noises of the dance inside and watching cars drive by.  Then they heard footsteps behind him.

              “There you two lovebirdsare!”  Stan and Angie turned.  Brook put her hands on her hips.  “Have you danced to even one slow song yet?”

              “Uh…” Stan stammered.  Brook shook her head.

              “Shame, Logan.  Shame on you, too, Ellie.”

              “We’re waiting for my dad to pickus up,” Angie said.  

              “What?  Why are you leaving so early?”

              “Ellie hurt her wrist,” Stanblurted out.

              “You don’t need wrists to slowdance.  When’s your dad gonna get here?”

              “Fifteen minutes,” Angieanswered.

              “That’s plenty of time to sway to the latest Ed Sheeran song,” Brooksaid.  “Come on, I’m not gonna let you leave without slow dancing together at leastonce.”  Stan and Angie exchanged alook.  “I mean it.  You get your butts back inside now.”  Stan and Angie reluctantly stood up.  “That’s more like it.”  Brook turned around and went inside.

              “I don’t think I can articulatehow much I don’t want to dance,” Angie said quietly.  Stan nodded.

              “Same.  But Brook’s not gonna leave us alone.  That girl’s got the nose of abloodhound.  She’ll track us down nomatter where we hide.”

              “We’re literal spies, and she’s amiddle schooler.”

              “Yeah.”

              “We shouldn’t have to do this,”Angie groaned.  Brook stuck her headoutside.

              “Hey!” she shouted.

              “We’re coming!” Stan calledback.  Brook narrowed her eyes andcontinued to watch them.  “We don’t havea choice,” Stan whispered to Angie.  “It’slike Fiddleford said.  Just suck itup.”  Angie nodded reluctantly.  The two of them began to walk towardsBrook.  “And when we get back to thehouse, we’ll do shots.”

[bevioletskies]

20 questions [1/20]

characters: peter/gamora, guardians-centric

fandom: avengers academy/marvel cinematic universe

summary: wasp has a new competition in store for the students of avengers academy, and there’s money involved. so obviously, peter and gamora have to pretend to be a couple in order to win. wait, what?

word count: 4325 | total word count: 118k

a/n: more notes about this verse at the bottom! also, warning for attempts at 80s references by a 90s baby. also also, the title will make more sense by chapter 4.

ao3  | next | masterpost

“Gamora. Psst, Gamora. Gam - ”

“What do you want, Quill?”

“What did you get for question twelve?”

Gamora huffed a sigh, brushing her fringe out of her face. Honestly. “Okay, first of all, why are you whispering, and second, aren’t you supposed to be piloting the Milano?” Peter gave her a sheepish look over his messy stack of half-torn notes and dog-eared textbook. He’d been sitting at the communal table for all of thirty seconds, and his stuff had somehow spread to cover all of hers. Gamora yanked her holo-tab out from under his “Poisons and Serums: It’s Just Good Chemistry” book and fixed him with a glare.

“Rocket’s got it covered?” It sounded more like a question. “We’re what, ten minutes away from campus - nothing bad’s going to happen.”

She snorted, her attention turning back to her tablet as she scrolled through her messages. They seemed to be back in the Academy’s wi-fi range again. “You say that like you didn’t get a knife to your gut that one time we had some...surprise cargo. We were all of thirty seconds away from landing.” 

“That’s not fair, the ‘surprise cargo’ didn’t have a weapon on her, that knife belonged to you,” Peter countered, kicking up his feet onto the table and promptly spraying papers everywhere. “Whoops.”

Another exasperated sigh, although this time from the comm unit from the cockpit. “Are you two done flirtin’ yet? Groot is getting bored up here with me but I don’t need him vomiting from your d’ast foreplay.”

“I am definitely done with Quill for today,” Gamora scowled, moving to scoop up her now-scattered homework. Mantis and Drax, who had been conversing near the observation window, came over to help.

“You should be more careful, Peter,” Mantis said, her voice lilting and gentle as always. Her antennae glowed, illuminating her face, and Peter couldn’t help but wonder if she was using her powers on him or the others.

“He is never careful,” Drax nodded sagely, as if he were bestowing a great wisdom upon the group. “It is why I question his position as our leader. Constantly.”

“You’re a real pal, Drax,” Peter said cheerfully, reaching for Gamora’s tablet. “Hey, we’ve got a message from Jan.”

“You mean I have a message from Jan,” Gamora said, snatching it out of his hands, ignoring his feeble protests. Peter watched as Gamora scrolled deftly through what was apparently an incredible long text, muttering under her breath in incomprehensible sentences. “She’s asking if we’ll be back soon, Director Fury will be making a school-wide announcement in the quad in half an hour.”

“Five minutes!” Rocket called, as Groot came sliding down the ladder like a fireman’s pole, a gleeful squeal emitting from his tiny mouth.

“I am Groot!” he said cheerfully, reaching to tap Gamora on the calf. She set him down on her shoulder before resuming her task. Janet’s message seemed endless, and as much as she secretly liked the ever-so-cheerful Wasp, Gamora had little tolerance for natter.

“She said if we need motivation to hurry up, there’s money involved,” Gamora continued, and she didn’t need to look up to know the others had suddenly started paying more attention. “A lot of money.” 

“I can make it two!”

“Wait - Rocket - don’t - ”

______

“Well, we made it, didn’t we?”

“The emergency booster was totally unnecessary, dude. We had like, twenty minutes to spare.” Peter inspected the new scratches on the Milano. “My poor baby. We just got a fresh paint job, like, a month ago.”

“At least the wings are still attached. Small mercies,” Gamora commented as she made her way down the boarding ramp, Groot happily bouncing away on her shoulder, his little fingers weaved through her hair.

Avengers Academy seemed to be in its usual paradoxical state of chaotic calm, as always. Some students were wandering aimlessly, stopping every now and then to observe their surroundings and fellow classmates, while others were hard at work. SHIELD HQ seemed to be particularly overrun with students today, as was Professor Pym’s laboratory. Peter let out a startled yelp when America Chavez suddenly jumped out of a portal two feet in front of his face. 

“Sorry, been busy!” she yelled before disappearing again. As Peter clutched his chest to calm his hammering heartbeat, Stephen Strange zipped by, nearly crashing into him.

“By the Eye of Agamotto! My apologies, Peter, I didn’t see you there!” Stephen exclaimed. “You’re back just in time for the Director’s announcement.”

“Uh huh,” Peter gasped weakly in an attempt to catch his breath. “What’s it all about?”

“We don’t know yet,” Stephen shrugged, “but I look forward to it!” With that, he zipped off, cheerfully whistling what suspiciously sounded like The X-Files theme song.

“Man, people here are weird. And we’ve battled aliens,” Peter said, turning to his team, only to find they had already resumed walking towards the quad. “Wait - guys - ”

______

The quad was unusually packed for a weekday afternoon, especially considering there was no invasion or takeover or general nonsense currently in progress. Students milled about, a comfortable buzz of idle chatter growing louder and louder as everyone speculated about what could possibly be happening that required a school-wide meeting. 

“We really need a proper assembly room for these kinds of things, Director,” Pepper muttered as she peered out the window of Avengers Hall, clutching her binder anxiously. “With this many personalities on campus, we’re lucky no one’s started any physical altercations yet.”

“Taskmaster seems ready to go at any moment’s notice, if you ask me,” Fury drawled, standing up from behind his desk. “Is it time?”

“Ready when you are, sir. Fire away,” Pepper beamed, pushing open the front doors.

______

The Guardians pushed their way through the crowd in a hasty attempt to find Nebula and Yondu. Though the two were definitely not fond of each other, they often had to hang out by default when they were left out of Guardians missions on Fury’s orders, insisting they had to learn how to play nice before officially taking jobs. 

“I do not want to be surprised by this announcement, especially since I don’t know how Nebula will take it,” Gamora said firmly, yanking Peter by the wrist.

“And with money involved, who knows what Yondu’s gonna do,” Peter replied, trying not to focus on the warmth of Gamora’s hand. “I mean, I already have to be worried about Rocket.”

“Watch your mouth, Star-Munch, before I break your - ”

“Break my kneecaps, I got it!” Peter said loudly. A few students turned to look at him curiously. “Seriously, you’ve been threatening that all year. What is with the kneecaps? Is it because that’s the highest place you can reach?”

Rocket let out a feral snarl and leaped, claws fully extracted, until Drax reached out to snag him by the back of his vest. “Cease this fighting! It will not do us any good in finding our friends.”

“Need me to find something for you?” A new, rather bored-sounding voice, came from above. Their heads turned to see Jessica Jones, sitting on the roof of Club A, her trusted binoculars in hand. “If you’re looking for Blue Man Group, they’re all the way at the benches, trying real hard not to kill each other. I give it five minutes.”

“Thank you!” Mantis called, and they were off again, practically breaking into a sprint, relieved when they spotted Yondu’s rather-obnoxious (in Peter’s opinion) fin. “Hello, friends! We have returned.”

“Hey, bug-girl,” Yondu greeted with a nod, while Nebula eyed them darkly in silence. Gamora let go of Peter to stand near her.

“Have you been good, sister?” Gamora said as politely as she could manage, though her fingers were dancing along the handle of the Godslayer, which was otherwise tucked neatly into her belt.

“Do not patronize me,” Nebula snapped. “What are we all doing here? This is a waste of time.”

“Shh, he’s coming,” Peter exclaimed, pointing at the door of the Avengers Hall.

Nick Fury swept out in the only way he knew how - dramatically, his leather longcoat fluttering behind him in response to a non-existent wind machine. Pepper followed him, a brisk stride in her step and stacks of binders and folders in her arms. Janet, who was standing nearby, chatting animatedly with Tony Stark at the bulletin board, flitted over to join them, a huge grin on her face.

Silence fell over the crowd, a nervous buzz of tension in the air. “Students,” Fury boomed, the power of his voice resonating in everyone’s chest. There was a reason he was the director of SHIELD and Avengers Academy. “You’re probably wondering what’s going on. Is there some sort of alien invasion? A hostile takeover? Some general nonsense taking place? Well, for once? 

He paused (dramatically). “Not today.” There was a collective sigh of relief. After the last battle, the students were really not in the mood for training, or portals, or god forbid, bots. “Today, we’re finally gonna promote this school the way we should. Not with stories of saving the city, or the world, or even the galaxy - ” Peter shivered a little at that “ - but with a good old-fashioned contest!”

Brows furrowed in confusion. Students turned to each other to exchange baffled looks. Fury’s jaw clenched - he really did not want to deal with this today - and Pepper quickly stepped forward to tap Janet on the shoulder. “Go!” she whispered.

“What Director Fury means is, it’s that time of year. You know, when the school year is wrapping up, and even though we go to school year round and don’t really get a summer break, let’s just pretend a second, okay?” Janet beamed at all of them, and it seemed to satiate everyone. Who didn’t adore Janet? Even Nebula felt the corners of her mouth twitch. “But just because we’re a different kind of school, doesn’t mean we can forgo school traditions. So, I came up with this totally awesome idea - with Tony’s help, of course - to have a yearbook in which we nominate people for different superlatives, and make it available to the public to help humanize us and show them that us superheroes are people, too!”

Excited chatter immediately broke out, immediately drowning out Janet as she attempted to continue her speech. Peter turned to look at his team, and was surprised to see the others (bar Nebula) nodding along. Even Gamora looked impressed.

“It is a good idea,” she admitted. “This school hasn’t had the best impression on the public.”

“Since when do you care about what other people think?” Rocket said, his arms folded.

Gamora shrugged. “Earth isn’t quite as horrible as everyone says. It will be hard to continue saving it if people aren’t receptive to our presence, especially us.”

“Terra don’t pay so well, though,” Rocket reminded her, baring his teeth. 

“MONEY!” Janet hollered, as if she had heard Rocket, and that seemed to have shut everyone up again. “Um, I know you were all told there would be money involved, and there is! Tony has generously agreed to fund this little yearbook project of mine, and hopefully motivate you all to participate so we can have a true reflection of our school presented to the world. Each student will receive five hundred units for submitting a nomination form, and five hundred units for submitting a voting ballot.”

She paused to let her words sink in, her grin growing even wider as she observed the elation beginning to form. “Furthermore, we’re hoping this will encourage everyone to discover what truly makes them special and embrace it! Everyone who wins an individual award will be awarded five thousand units, everyone who wins a pairs award will be awarded ten thousand units, and…”

Another dramatic pause (she had been spending too much time with Fury), and Janet let out a near-delirious squeal mixed with an exhale, resulting in her nearly choking on her own breath. “...everyone who wins a group-slash-team award will be awarded fifty! Thousand! UNITS!”

“Oh shit,” Peter said, awed, turning to clutch at Drax and Gamora’s arms (he had learned the hard way to never grab Nebula, no matter how much initial eye contact they were making). “We wouldn’t have to take a job for like, months with that kind of money! We might actually have time to study!”

“You do pretty much nothing every single day regardless of our job prospects,” Gamora reminded him, though there was a brightness in her eyes that suggested she was just as thrilled as he was. “We must win, Quill. The Milano needs repairs, and we need new equipment for Club Galaxy and the Combat Simulator.”

“Maybe if you stopped destroying the dummies every time you used it,” Rocket muttered under his breath. 

“I will go get the nomination forms from Janet,” Mantis announced loudly, expertly weaving herself between Gamora and Rocket, her antennae hastily lighting up. The two let out dramatic exhales, giving Peter the impression that Mantis had literally pulled their impending anger out of their breaths. I should really remind her to do that whenever Gamora’s mad at me, Peter thought.

“What kind of categories are there?” Falcon called out from somewhere in the back.

“Yes, I wish to know the many ways in which I can be superior to all of you,” Enchantress added from where she was perfectly perched on one of the benches, inviting everyone’s gaze to turn to her. To her frustration, barely anyone bothered to look. 

“Oh, plenty!” Janet said enthusiastically, waving her papers around and sending a few flying. Pepper was cringing behind her. “We’ve got your typical categories like Most Likely to Be President, Best Hair, Nicest Smile, but then we’ve got ones unique to our school like Best Weapons Designer and Most Likely to Set the Entire School on Fire!”

“My money’s on Ghost Rider for that last one,” Peter muttered, causing Drax to furrow his eyebrows in confusion.

“You have left money with the Ghost Rider? That is irresponsible,” Drax commented. “His flames would instantly render them to ash.”

“I - no - never mind. Oh, Mantis is back.”

Mantis smiled brightly at them as she passed out the forms to each team member, even folding one up into a tiny ball so she could stick it in Groot’s uniform pocket. Nebula practically snatched it out of Mantis’s hands, and Peter briefly wondered if she was capable of doing anything non-aggressively. 

“This will be so fun,” Mantis said cheerily. “Janet has informed me that Director Fury has given everyone the rest of the day off to begin working on the forms. They are to be handed in to Pepper by the end of the week.”

“Let’s head back to the Milano and get these done, then. Shall we?” Peter extended an arm to his adoptive sister, who accepted it with a hearty “Yay!”, and then held out his other for Gamora, who looked unimpressed. She instead opted to grab Nebula by the wrist and lead the way back to their ship.

“You will not submit my name for anything as a joke,” Gamora informed her sister.

“Try and stop me,” Nebula sneered. Oh, this was going to be a fun time had by all.

______

“Are we seriously trying to nominate ourselves for every single category here? That’s not even possible,” Peter said patiently. The team was now seated at the communal table (he had long given up calling it the dining table after Drax decided it was a good place to leave his dirt-covered boots and daggers), blank forms in front of them, teasing the potential of the easiest money they could ever make.

“I’m sorry, are you trying to deprive us of units? We need money, Quill,” Rocket snapped, deftly twirling a pencil between his claws. Groot was sitting on his shoulder, nodding empathetically. “The more chances, the better.”

As explained on the form, students were allowed to nominate themselves in as many categories as they’d liked, but were only allowed one form each. If a student, pair, or group were nominated more than once for a specific category, each additional nomination would count as “headstart” votes. Upon understanding this, the team had taken it upon themselves to fill out their forms in an identical manner to give themselves any boost they possibly could. Hey, they didn’t become the Guardians of the freaking Galaxy by playing nice all the time.

“I suggest we do this systematically,” Drax volunteered. “Let us work our way from the top down and agree on who would be the best choice for each category.”

“How diplomatic of you,” Rocket commented sarcastically. Then he frowned. “But I guess that’ll work. What’s first?”

“Best Dancer, because this school is ridiculous,” Gamora sighed. She was already growing bored, doodling in the margins of her form. She had been hoping to spend her evening in the Arena of War, training with Ares. “It will not be me. I don’t dance. I rock.”

“We can put you down for Best Musician then,” Peter offered. Then he grinned salaciously. “But obviously, I’m going to be our nominee for Best Dancer.”

“I am Groot!”

“I’m sorry, Groot, you’re pretty good too,” Peter said, reaching to pat Groot’s cheek. “But, I mean, come on, guys. Aliens tell me I'm an excellent dancer. I think. Sometimes I...don't really know what they're saying.”

As if on cue, the entire group groaned. They were going to be here a while.

______

An agonizing four hours later, Drax and Mantis set out plates and cutlery for everyone and began portioning out some mysterious casserole for their dinner. Yondu was fast asleep on the couch, having given up long ago on fighting with “them d’ast fools”, and Nebula was, for some reason, putting Rocket in a headlock. 

“Nebula, no!” Mantis cried, her antennae pointing aggressively at the pair. “We must complete our mission. Do not get distracted with anger. Please.”

Nebula released Rocket, though she grumbled as Rocket exaggeratedly coughed his lungs out. “Geez, lady. You gotta be kidding me!” Nebula ignored him in favour of snatching up her plate and shoveling food in her mouth with her hands, foregoing the offered fork and spoon. Gamora’s expression softened a little as she watched her sister eat, remembering the way they had fought over scraps as children. It was not surprising that Nebula was still protective over every bite.

“We are down to the last few pairs categories,” Gamora said to Drax and Mantis as the two joined them at the table. “Best Siblings, Best Double Act, and Cutest Couple.”

“Easy,” Peter said through a mouthful of what he was pretending was chicken. “Me and Mantis are obviously Best Siblings - no offense, Nebula, but you and Gamora aren’t exactly the Brady Bunch - and Groot and Rocket are Best Double Act.” Nebula got up and left for her room, no longer wanting to keep up the pretense of her participation, clutching her plate to her chest as if it were a baby. 

“That still leaves Cutest Couple,” Gamora pointed out. “Although we knew from the beginning it would not be a possible category for anyone on our team. No one is in a relationship.”

“I dated Carol,” Peter reminded her, watching her face carefully to see how she would react.

“You went on a date with Carol,” Rocket corrected him with a shit-eating grin. “Then you had to go and do that thing. Why’d you have to do that, Quill? Huh?”

“Don’t remind me,” Peter said, clenching his teeth. “Alright, so we don’t have a couple. Is that such a big deal?”

“That puts us out of a potential ten thousand units, so yes, it’s a big freaking deal,” Rocket shot back. “There’s only one thing we can do, then. Two suckers gotta pretend to be the cutest d’ast couple Terra’s ever seen until the yearbooks come out, and that ain’t for another three months.” 

“Please tell me you’re joking.” Gamora looked absolutely flabbergasted. “That is an awful idea.”

“You’re just worried I’m gonna suggest it should be you and Quill,” Rocket grinned. Groot, who had been drifting off a little (it was getting close to his bedtime), suddenly perked up and began waving his arms up and down.

“I am Groot! I am Groot!” Gamora eyed him suspiciously.

“Groot says that would, in fact, be a great idea,” Rocket translated, leaning forward to rest his chin on his paws as if to mock her. “And I think so too - thanks, Groot - because if anyone’s gonna be believable, it’ll be you guys.”

“What about Drax and Mantis?” Gamora suggested, turning to look at them with a rather uncharacteristic desperation in her eyes. “They spend more time in each other’s company.”

“I believe we have established I find Mantis entirely repulsive.” Drax folded his hands together neatly on the table in an attempt to appear diplomatic. Mantis was nodding enthusiastically beside him. “I would not be able to uphold the ruse. Mantis is simply my good friend, as my urge to vomit when picturing us together - physically - will be too great.”

“I don’t know whether to be upset or happy that you’re talking about my sister that way,” Peter said in a half-heartedly cheerful tone. He had also started acting oddly since Rocket’s suggestion. Gamora looked down at her food, wondering if it had gone bad and caused Peter to sound strangely subdued. “I mean, Rocket’s kind of right. No one’s gonna believe Nebula or Yondu would date anyone, Rocket and Groot kind of...can’t, so that basically leaves us.”

Peter turned to look at Gamora properly for the first time since the beginning of the incredibly uncomfortable conversation. She looked...nervous. The last time she had looked like that was right before they had crashed onto Terra upon escaping the Cosmic Conservatory, when she later confessed to him that she had been scared she was going to die. What about this was so comparable to that? Was the prospect of fake-dating him really that terrifying to her? Peter opened his mouth, ready to find some way to get them out of this - he may be an a-hole, but Gamora was his friend, and he wasn’t in the business of making her uncomfortable - when she cut him off. 

“I suppose I could pretend. Ten thousand units will do nicely,” Gamora said, sounding like she was trying her hardest to convince herself it would be worth it. “Besides, it’s not as if we’ll really be dating.”

“Wow, tell me how you really feel,” Peter said jokingly, the tension slowly evaporating out of the room. He set his fork down. “We just have to be the cutest couple ever. Like, Baby and Johnny. Or Westley and Buttercup! I could totally be The Man in Black.”

Drax frowned. “I thought that was the name given to Murdock before he became known as Daredevil.”

“Are you referring to those movies you showed me on your VPS tapes?” Gamora questioned, ignoring Drax’s inane statement.

“VHS tapes, and yeah,” Peter replied. The oddly gooey feeling resonating in his chest at the notion of Gamora remembering one of his favourite moments with her was ruined with the realization that the others were eyeing them differently. “Um, what’s up, guys?”

“You guys have movie nights? Date nights?” Rocket sounded like he was trying his hardest not to giggle like a schoolgirl. Or cackle like a super villain. It was hard to tell with him sometimes.

To Peter’s surprise, Gamora appeared to be flushed, as if the prospect of date nights were ludicrous to her. Her cheeks were tinged a slightly darker green than usual. She hastily stood with a white-knuckled grip on her plate and cup, nearly knocking over Mantis’s table setting in the process. Moving to the sink, Gamora said, “No, I was simply curious about the differences between Quill’s music tapes and those other ones he leaves lying around. He insisted on showing me those films.” Her dishes clattered loudly in the sink. “Have we agreed on Quill and I being the couple? Because I would like to move on and discuss the upgrades that Stark has offered us for the Milano. We have spent far too long on this.”

“Smartest thing you ever said, girlie,” Yondu said from the couch. His eyes were still closed, an impish grin on his face.

______

As the night crept in, it became too late for the Guardians to head back to the dorms, so they opted to retreat to their tiny rooms on the Milano. Gamora was slightly worried when she realized she and Peter were on cleaning-and-lockdown duty, but Peter was surprisingly quiet throughout, not once making a joke or attempting to dance. 

When they shut off the lights and activated the security system on the main deck, Peter finally spoke up. “Gamora, if you don't want to do this…” 

“Rocket is right,” Gamora interrupted, reaching to undo her ponytail. “Besides, how difficult can it be? There is a lot of flirtation on this campus - a given, considering the nature of Terran culture - but not a lot of actual couples. It will be significantly less competition than that of other categories.”

“I dunno,” Peter said, looking at his feet. “You've got Luke and Jessica. Danny and Misty. Matt and Elektra, kind of. And don't get me started on how badass AND cute Billy and Teddy or Cap and Peggy look together.”

“We could beat them,” Gamora said breezily, her usual air of confidence finding its way back. “I should go to bed, but we should discuss this tomorrow after class. We need to get a plan together.”

Peter nodded, smiling his slightly lopsided smile at her. It was different than the cheesy smirk he usually gave people, but Gamora couldn't put her finger on what it was. “Sure. Night, Gamora.” He gave her an odd two finger salute before heading down to his room.

“Goodnight,” she said softly to the empty room.

a/n: thanks for reading!! i haven’t written fic in six years so constructive criticism is welcome but please be gentle. this is my way of dropping the mcu guardians into the avac universe, but for those unfamiliar with the game, here’s some things to know:

gamora is the leader singer and guitarist of a band. drax is the drummer and peter is basically a groupie

peter went on a date with captain marvel. it didn’t end well.

gamora almost exclusively refers to peter as “quill” but that will definitely change 😏

gamora has watched peter’s old movies and i’m dead

rocket really wants to break peter’s kneecaps for some reason

yondu is a student as well, so he and peter have more a brotherly than father-son dynamic

everyone’s personalities in-game are very two-dimensional, but i based most characters off their mcu counterparts

lastly, a couple major things that are my own personal preference that i mixed in from the movies:

ego is peter’s dad and they killed him aka the plot of gotg2 (in the game his dad is j’son, as taken from the comics)

peter and mantis see each other as adoptive siblings

[rykerelias-archive]

TRANSFERRED FILE. || @cardshcrp Remy & Elias. VERSE: modern au. ( mutant. undercover. ) 005. THREAD: to be named.

   Another day another dollar, that was the motto he lived by, so far as any of the Guild members were concerned – and honestly, all in all, as lives went, as jobs went, this one wasn’t exactly unpleasant.  He’d never been any place quite like New Orleans, vibrant and alive and dark and musty all in one, wrapped up in an energy that he just couldn’t place, couldn’t name.  It felt OLD and primal… He liked it, and it unnerved him, all in one.   He’d been there nearly a year now, working his way slowly through the lower tiers of the Guild, doing his thing, keeping himself just enough on the radar to keep a slow upward momentum, pulling the jobs he’d been assigned with just enough finesse and gusto to get in and get out, careful to never leave too much blood in his wake. That wouldn’t sit well with ANY of the many eyes on him, unless it happened to be mutant blood, in which case he was pretty sure Stryker’d get his jollies off to it but – that was something that was entirely neither here nor there.

   He had an apartment, small, one bedroom, living room, small dining room attached to the kitchen, open terrace balcony that was one of his favorite parts.  A part time job covered the day to day expenses, unable to touch the pay that he’d accrued through his less than illustrious career under Stryker’s command.  The money from the jobs with the Guild was play money, but he didn’t often indulge. Maybe blow off steam, pick up a girl, get wasted, do a few lines and go back to business as usual the next day. Generally, though, he just stayed low, out of the lime light, keeping his ear to the ground, making his random meets and passing on whatever he thought would be most relevant, or whatever it was that Stryker was most itching to get the down low on.   Otherwise, he mostly just chilled, enjoying the little bit of freedom, or illusion of it anyway, he was afforded, unless he got called in to HQ.

   It wasn’t like they were required to give him notice, but he’d still half grumbled when he’d stared at the notification on his phone at six in the morning, an alert to be at the headquarters by eight.  Sure, they’d given him time, but that didn’t mean heWANTED to be awake.  Sleeping in was a luxury he hadn’t been able to afford most of him life, and he’d grown rather fond of the idea.  Still, he’d shoved off the sheets, clipped his way through his morning routine – short and sweet, still, and by 6:20 he’d been out the door to head to one of the local bodegas that served a local breakfast sandwich that he scarfed a couple of down on his way through the city.  He killed time for a good hour just walking; knowing the ins and outs of the place he’d called home had saved his ass more than once and with the winding, tangled mess of back alleys and avenues and streets that started as one name and ended as another – it was a fucking wonder anyone ever made it to their destination.

   Twenty til, he was at the doors to the HQ, passing through the checks to make his way inside, wandering through to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee and out into the courtyard behind for a smoke, until the last glance to his wristwatch confirmed it was time to head back inside.  Stubbing out the smoke, downing the last of the coffee and tossing the paper cup, he made his way towards the usual meeting area – caught by one of the … clerks, he’d guess was the best term, and diverted to one of the lesser used rooms, a library that was probably worth more than he’d make in a few lifetimes, leather bound tomes stretching from floor to ceiling across the walls, some more fragile pieces displayed behind glass, marble busts and woven tapestries displayed at whim.  Ironically, a mine waiting to be cultivated, though not one of the members of the Guild would dare – nothing here was worth the wrath that the heads of the families would bring down on someone as idiotic as that.  

   A sweeping glance, his attention settling on a small cluster of people, mostly familiar faces, none that seemed to warrant the kind of setting –   There was a momentary pause, a half hitch in his stride as he made his way towards the center of the room, his gaze drawn, lingering, on the dark-haired figure that loitered casually behind the others. No FUCKING way.   His gaze drifted, his hands settling loosely, shoved into the pocket of his hoodie as he loping steps came to a stop just shy of the couch and settees the others were sat on, a light jerk of a chin in the direction of the others.   “Should’ve warned me the big dogs were gonna be here, my man,” he said, to the one that typically handled out assignments, doling out jobs to those he saw best fit.  “I would’ve worn my proper duds,” he protested mildly, a half smirk touching on his lips before his attention turned again, briefly, towards the one and only Remy LeBeau.  He didn’t try to offer a hand or introduce himself.  Either the man knew who he was, or he didn’t care to – if it was something else, he’d let him make the first move.

           AH, there’s his special interest. Not that he bothers to show he’s noticed, of course; he’s busy linking his arm through Baptiste’s, leaning down to whisper in his ear, something to make his old friend laugh condescendingly and leave the others to wonder what (or more likely WHO) he’s speaking of.

In reality, it’s just another bad pickup line, but it’s the APPEARANCEof things that mattered, and it works like a charm, as usual.

Remy takes his time with it, happy to let the newcomer sweat a bit. Crooking his finger at the assembled thieves one by one, he beckons them over - alone, in pairs, once a group of five - and speaks with them. It’s quick, concise, and thorough, accompanied by flash drives, file folders, and once a dagger. Specially tailored jobs for hand-picked individuals, each and every one more than capable of doing the work. Master thieves, fences, appraisers - they disappear as quickly as they’d come.

Forty-five minutes, and Elias is left alone with the King of Thieves. Cocking his head at the other, Remy allows a lazy smile to spread across his face, cheeks dimpling as he jerks his chin in a silentC’MON.

“C’MERE, HOMME,” he chuckles, and holds up a manila folder, waving it at him teasingly with one hand even as he extends the other for a shake. “I GOT WORK FOR YOU, MONSIEUR RYKER. OR D’YA PREFER ELIAS? EITHER WAY, IT’S GOOD TO MEETCHA.”

Waiting was a BITCH. Sure, it was a skill he’d had to cultivate over the years.  Waiting for the go call on missions, waiting for a target to make its appearance, waiting for the right time to strike – it was different, though, in combat scenarios. He’d known what he was waiting for, known that in the end the built up tension and adrenaline would lead to something, that all that pent up ENERGY would be released in a torrent of violence and bloodshed and that when it was over he’d go back to based, wash away the dirt and grime and blood and sleep like the dead for however long he could.  Lather, rinse, repeat.   But this kinda bullshit?  

This was the kind of waiting that made his teeth ache and his muscles burn, where he had to find someplace to set himself, some place to lounge and look placid and uncaring when really he was about as impatient and irritated by the whole mess as could be imagined.  The only thing that gave him the necessary control to ride it out, to drop back and lean against one of the STURDIER display tables, hips settled against the desk, one long leg stretched out over the other was the fact that he was currently in the room with the Big Dog.   The chances of him actually coming face to face with the guildmaster had been slim to none from the get go.  He couldn’t pass up the opportunity, just because he would much rather be killing time doing nothing on his own couch.

Of course, it didn’t help that one by one, little by little, the others got pared away, shuffled around, handed out files and jobs, weapons and equipment as needed, while all he had to do was sit and listen.  CLICK. The Zippo lighter lid flicked openCLACK. It closed.  Almost silently, quieter than it could have been, every thirty seconds or so, almost on the dot.  Counting.   Listening  Watching, all under the vague guise of boredom, observing the ongoing meetings with half lidded gaze, wishing he could snag a smoke more than anything.  But this was the kind of potential info he was here in the first place.   With each passing group, with each man or woman that departed, his stomach grew tighter, his jaw clenched a little longer.  Click.  Clack.

A tilt of his head, a slow jut of his chin came first in acknowledgment of Remy’s gestures and words, pushing himself up off of the desk, dropping his lighter back into his jeans pocket as he wandered towards wher Remy was, a vaguely curious look cast in the direction of the folder that the Guildmaster held in one hand.  His own hand extended, calloused and rough and strong, to shake Remy’s, briefly, curtly. He made no effort to impress or intimidate with it – there, and gone again, if released.  “Either’s fine,” he acknowledged with a shrug, his hands slipping back into the pocket of his hoodie once the handshake ended, his tall, broad frame sinking, folding down into the chair opposite of where Remy loitered. His posture was idle, lounge worthy even, but a sharp enough eye would see the stance beneath it all, ready to coil, spring away, dodge at any moment.  “Pleasure’s mine, for sure,” he replied, a faint tilt of his head in deferment. “So what’s this job and – not that I’m complainin’ or anything but – most of these other guys, they’ve been here a helluva lot longer than me so.  Y’sure you don’t got somebody better for whatever it is?”  A vague deferment, a hint of self depreciation, his language and drawl specifically targeted to make him appear non-threatening, a lesser species.

        “Mm.” Good handshake, even if the guy was a little too quick to pull away. Elias is cautious, that much is obvious. It’s a good thing, maybe. To be expected, anyway; he’s never met someone for the first time that wasn’t. Something about facing down a mutant that could blow the place sky-high in an instant made people real wary.

Remy takes his time settling, keeping the folder in his grip rather than sliding it across to the other. Not yet, not yet. “You can drop the humble shit,” he grins, cheeks dimpling. “If youreally wanna use that excuse? Half the people in the room was in this business before I was born, but here I am sittin’ pretty. Experience ain’t talent, and I like it when people stay straight with me.”

A beat, and then he shrugs, unable not to crack the joke that’s sitting heavy on his tongue. “Or decidedly not straight, whichever, but that ain’t the point at the moment.”

He taps the folder, sliding it over the table with a fingertip. “I like keepin’ an eye out for rising talent. And before you try wavin’ it off, shove it. You ain’t failed a job yet, and that’s unusual, however messy the execution is. That’s real good.”

Leaning on his elbows, he slides the mirrored lenses of his shades down and pins Elias with his infamous devil eyes, red and unblinking, for a long, long moment. “I like that kinda record.” A vague gesture at the file, and he’s pushing his glasses back up with an easy smile. “So, here we are. Don’t get too freaked out, handsome, if you think I’m singlin’ you out. I like t’make it a habit to drag promising new blood along wit’ me on the occasional recreational job that I take. It’s good experience for you, and it lets mehave a look at how you work.”

It’s the truth, but it’s a warning, too, and if Elias is smart? He’ll know it. It’s a quick way for Remy to tell him I’m watching, as well as implying his future personal endorsement should the other excel. All very cushy and neat, directly indirect.

“This ain’t anything too rough. My lovely wife and I have noticed some of her folk have been slackin’ off, so I’m gonna shake a little wakey-wake into ’em. In other words - ”

His smile widens, utterly saccharine.

“I’ll be breakin’ into a compound of assassins alone to teach ’em the wonders of security and provide a little free demolition for their new remodel, and I could use a little covering fire. Comparatively, your risk will be low, as long as you’re keepin’ a fair distance. Of course, you’re free to decline, but it’ll be fun, promise.”

And if you’re stupid enough to try shooting me in the back, you’ll find out the hard way I’m faster than a bullet, and I’ll find out you’re another ladder-climber to get rid of.