#i should do kamala's as well i just need to find the time

[yesbutmakeitgay]

Once Upon A Time I Used To Know A Girl

Chapter 11

Carol Danvers x Reader

Masterlist | This work's masterlist | AO3

Summary: Kamala and Valkyrie have a heavy conversation, Valkyrie has had enough.

Angst, Slow Burn, Amnesia.

Word count: 948

Searching For Meaning

"You did what?" Kamala shrills.

"She ambushed me." The girl shoots Valkyrie a look.

Kamala pinches her nose, "You told her Carol's codename?"

"I did no such thing, I merely called her 'Marv' and she put the pieces together, it's not my fault she's that smart." The King tries to downplay it.

"How could you do that?"

"In my defense during the whole conversation I only slipped once, at the end. I deserve some credit for that."

The girl is beyond agitated, "No, you do not, you literally did the one thing Carol asked us not to do!"

"Correction, the one thing she asked you not to do," The King accentuates the word 'you,' "as far as I’m aware she hasn't spoken to me since she got back." She crosses her arms.

The girl stops her pacing around the room and lowers her voice, "Wait, not even once?"

"Not once."

"Are you okay with that?" Kamala asks feeling a little awkward.

"Does it look like I’m okay with it?"

"To be fair, you do always seem to be pretty chill with everything which is something I envy," she admits bashfully.

"Either way, it is not her wishes I work to uphold."

"Then what is it?"

"Peace." Valkyrie asserts with grace.

"God, you really are starting to sound like a King." Val feigns offense, "Well she's gonna find out sooner or later," Kamala points out, getting them back to the problem at hand.

"So we should get to her before she does." Valkyrie has already thought it through.

"How? She's not responding to anyone, clearly."

"All the more reason to pay her a visit." There is a mischievous look on The King's face.

"Hold on, before you do that, there is something I need to talk to you about," Valkyrie stops in her tracks, "I've been thinking,"

"Is that news to anyone?" Val teases her.

"About this whole situation and there is something very strange going on."

"Yeah, I told you that the first time you called me."

"I think I know what it is now." That catches The King's attention.

The girl begins to explain her train of thought, resuming her pacing, "The last mission she remembers is the one before she met Carol. She remembers Aladna and Prince Yan, but not Princess Carol. She remembers her home in Louisiana, but not that she shared it with Carol. She remembers working with Monica, but not working with Carol. She can't remember Monica's last mission with us, or that you became King, both of which involved Carol. She can't remember Carol's voice or her uniform," Valkyrie looks at her, confused, "the scar on her neck, I saw it before, but I didn’t pay it any mind."

"It’s from repeated use of a sedative," Val points out.

The girl stops again, "How’d you know that?"

"I don’t scar easily, but, if I did, I may have one just like it."

"So her nightmares are true," Kamala concludes.

"What are you suggesting?"

"Her memory loss wasn't an accident, it was the whole plan all along."

"Careful what you say little Marv," The King warns her.

"Just think about it, it's not like she only remembers things from a certain date back and she has been able to gradually recall more people and events with our help, but even though she has seen and heard Carol she just doesn't recognize her." There is a mixture of thrill and terror in the girl’s voice.

"You're saying the ambush's purpose was to kidnap her and take all her memories of Marv away? Why would they do that?" Valkyrie is not sold on the theory.

Kamala tries to make sense out of it, "Why would the bad guys take the most powerful good guy's loved one and erase their memory?"

"To get them out of the way, obviously," you meddle into their conversation, "you probably don't have enough power to get rid of the hero so you take what's most important to them, usually a damsel in distress, they'll be so aggrieved that they'll take themselves out of the game, then you can do whatever you want." The answer seems so clear to you.

They both stare at you in slight panic that you might have heard their discussion, "That checks out," Val accepts your answer tentatively.

"What are you guys talking about?"

"Nothing," they respond in unison. You sit beside them trying to ignore the silence your presence just created.

After some time you decide to break the tension, "I keep thinking about that symbol, I mean, if I worked with her for so long I would have definitely remembered it when I saw it again. And ‘Captain Marvel?’ It doesn’t feel right rolling off my tongue." Kamala’s heart skips a beat hearing you say Carol’s codename for the first time, "If she didn’t have anything to do with the accident, why did she go MIA? Just to piss me off?"

"To piss all of us off," Valkyrie mumbles, rolling her eyes, Kamala silently scolds her.

"She was so aggrieved that she took herself out of the game," the girl repeats your words slowly.

Realization dawns upon you, "Am I the damsel in distress?" Kamala can only give you a sympathetic smile, “How long?” You frown trying to process the news.

“Few years,” the girl answers softly, making your heart drop. Learning you were in a romantic relationship with The Captain for years makes it all the more concerning that you can't remember her.

Trusting you’re in good hands, Valkyrie borrows the keys to one of the very expensive cars in the compound and takes off.

"Where is she going?"

"To find Captain Marvel."

Chapter 12

It's almost time for a reunion, who's ready? 👀

Tags: @graniairish @carols-photonblast @thelittleliars @unicorniusfallapatorius @prplepeony @eringranola

Let me know if you wanna be tagged :)

[tobiasdrake]

Saw The Marvels last night and have been trying to organize my thoughts ever since.

The best part of the film is the chemistry between its leads. Kamala, Carol, and Monica bounce off of each other well. Kamala in particular brings a lot of charm to this group that helps break down the emotional walls that Monica and Carol both have on display.

Where the film struggles is in finding things for these characters to do. The plot is one of the simplest Marvel's ever put-forward; No more complex than "There exists a bad guy and we must defeat her because heroes defeat bad guys," with no twists or turns along the way. We didn't get her the first time. We didn't get her the second time. We didn't get her the third time. But by Thor, we got her the fourth time!

That's basically it. The story consists of fighting Dar-Benn, then going to the next place where we will fight Dar-Benn. Although Nick Fury and Kamala's family provide several great moments to the film (including a hilarious but consequence-free sequence where S.A.B.E.R. forces must be rescued by a litter of Flerkens), the straightforward series of consecutive boss fights offers no opportunities for characters outside our core trio to influence the plot in any meaningful way.

It's really just these three characters carrying the weight of the film, so their dynamic better be gold.

Fortunately, it is. It absolutely is.

This also puts a lot of pressure on Dar-Benn. As a boss fight, she needs to be able to believably juggle three superheroes at once, one of whom is the most powerful MCU character of all time. Here, the film falters. She seems just like every other Kree bad guy, but with a special MacGuffin to give her Dragon Ball Z Power Levels so she can throw punches at Carol's weight class.

She bodies everyone constantly in the fight scenes but it never feels like she should be giving them all so much trouble. It has that vibe of when a solo hero's villain has to be a team-up bad guy for an arc. Like, normally Spider-Man can handle Doc Ock easily enough, but he needs to be an Avengers villain now so suddenly he's powerful enough to take down Thor and the Hulk simultaneously.

Dar-Benn is helped in this endeavor by the film's special gimmick. Carol, Monica, and Kamala constantly swapping places with each other is a cool element that provides both plentiful comedy and some awesome moments, especially as they learn to take advantage of it.

It's also not explained very well and is barely integrated into the plot. It's a weird thing that the Quantum Bands suddenly started doing to to them one day. They learned how to go with it. Then, once the story was far enough along, it stopped of its own accord. More "Sure, I guess this might as well happen" than an interesting new metaphysic.

The story seems either sorely underwritten or utterly butchered by reshoots. Heavy emphasis is placed on galactic worldbuilding and expositing lore than on putting its characters through an emotional and thematic journey.

That's not to say there isn't an emotional journey, mind you. Monica and Kamala's stories are more or less relegated to reacting to Carol. Their parts in the plot are defined by how Carol has respectively influenced them, for better and for worse. As much as the title bills itself as a team-up, this is unambiguously Carol 2. Kamala and Monica are static characters, primarily working to help examine Carol by offering their respective lenses.

But that examination goes deep, and in directions it's rare to see a story willing to take its protag in. Especially a superhero story.

The Marvels primarily interrogates Carol's loner behavior. Carol is Marvel's most powerful hero, but that doesn't mean she can't make mistakes when she takes too much on herself. The unilateral decisions she makes on behalf of others keep blowing up in her face and making things worse. She has to learn to stop talking for five minutes and listen to what other people think.

Which is the central narrative function, both for Kamala and Monica's presence here and for the mechanical decision to handcuff them to Carol's wrists so that she can't run away. It all serves to develop Carol into someone who sees the value in leaning on others, and teach her how to chill for five minutes.

The film also tackles some heavy subject matter with Carol's greatest mistake. This is the thing that's haunting her, and it's a genuinely tragic political mistake. One that world leaders have made many times throughout history.

In short, Carol thought she could bring peace by breaking into the hostile enemy state and decapitating their leadership. She didn't understand that you can't just snipe the king and bail. That leaves a region in chaos. Without prolonged reconstruction, this kind of destabilization can have devastating consequences not only for the destabilized nation, but for everyone else around it.

Unfortunately, while it would be good to see the impacts of this on more than just Carol, we don't. Not really. The only other character impacted is Dar-Benn but. Like. The loss of Hala has turned the Kree from an imperialist people who conquer, enslave, and exterminate worlds into an imperialist people who conquer, enslave, and exterminate worlds. It's a lateral move from what they were doing before to what they're doing now.

The Kree might throw out the name "Annihilator" here and there but it's all lip service. They're more or less the same Evil Overlord bad guys they've always been. Dar-Benn even gets an opportunity for nuance at the very end, but decides she'd rather kill herself out of spite instead. For as high as the stakes are raised for these battles, they have the energy of "Titanium Man is robbing the diamond store! We must stop him from stealing all of the precious jewels."

That a throwaway line at the end assures us that the affected planets - despite Carmen Sandiego stealing their oceans and atmosphere - are inexplicably fine also contributes to this feeling more like a Saturday Morning Cartoon episode than a cinematic blockbuster. Everything resets to status quo in the end. Well, except Monica, who's been drafted for the next round of multiversal shenanigans.

All things considered, this movie felt middle-of-the-road for me. There's a lot here to like but it needed more time in the oven.

Unfortunately, it's also headed for a far harsher reception than it deserves. The SAG-AFTRA strike meant actors aren't doing the usual talk show circuits to market the film. Between that and the film's heavy reliance on Disney Plus homework for its core appeal, it's struggling to find an audience. It's competing with Incredible Hulk and Ant-Man this weekend for lowest opening in Marvel history, which undercuts its legitimate charms by quite a lot.

Hopefully Marvel won't take the wrong lesson from the film's underperformance. But who am I kidding? We all know what studio executives are like.

[sungbeam]

xnonie present to wish YOU 🫵😳 a happy birthday! even tho it's only been a few days, i really enjoyed talking marvel with u 🫶🫶

THOSE ARE AWESOME POWERS! i almost completely forgot about pym tech (sad, i admit) but yeah the entire concept of it is so cool. i'm so in love with paul rudd & scott lang in general its not funny </3 I AM A WANDA DEFENDER UNTIL THE END!! so what if she was scary in multiverse?? she was pretty while doing it 😍 if they could just make her happy for once that would be nice 😭😭

RED DAGGER BEST MS. MARVEL LOVE INTEREST!!! yeah ur right the other guys can leave SLDHDJS kareem radiates so much love interest energy & the tension between him & kamala?? exquisite 💗��💗 i also ended up finding fics for him on tumblr (there are a handful, btw)

I DID WATCH MOON KNIGHT!! oscar isaac was phenomenal for giving us steven grant, marc spector, AND jake lockley all in one mini series. IT NEEDS A S2. during the airing of the show, i may or may not have stumbled upon khonshu thirst edits on tiktok?? THAT WAS SOMETHING. IDK IF I WANNA RELIVE THAT. IT WAS FUNNY BUT ALSO... COME ON GUYS, ITS A BIRD SKELETON 😭😭

OMG BEAM. U GAVE ME THE GREATEST GIFT OF ALL TIME ?!?!? IT SHOULD BE THE OTHER WAY AROUND, ESPECIALLY ON YOUR SPECIAL DAY ☹️ u shouldn't have!! i'm SO excited. DINO AS QUICKSILVER?!?! SIGN ME UP. I LOVE OUR TIGER KING HOSHI AS WOLVERINE IT FITS SM SHDKSJD (why can i imagine yelling "HORANGHAEEE" while pouncing on someone w/ his claws out? LMAO) and wow... HAO AS MAGIK?? AND GYU AS COLOSSUS?? idk if i can take it anymore 🙏

i made something for wol-ranghae when i saw that hoshi = wolverine but then realized that anon asks can't send pictures 😭😭 maybe when the fic is up, i'll reveal myself just to send u what i made 🫣

AHHH THANK U XNONIE !!! lmaoo why does that finger point emoji look so accusatory 😭😭😭 BUT YES ME TOO I'VE LOVED TALKING ALL THINGS MARVEL W YOU 🥺🥺

pym tech is so cool and so is paul rudd too TRUE (ﾉ´∀｀*) he's so underrated i just sighs,,, give him an oscar guys and call it a day ._. bUT YEAH SAME !! WANDA DEFENDER FOREVER like yeah u bring in an EXCELLENT POINT XNONIE !! just let the woman be happy?? Õ_Ó is that too much to ask ?? all she does is suffer.

BAHHAHAHA I can already imagine the amount of updated masterlists to mcu fanfic accts after the mcu Disney+ shows (ﾉ´∀｀*) that's so slay tbh like we got red dagger, moon knight, druig, and NOW DAREDEVIL !! okay he's deffo not NEW but the thirst has reawakened for most, but in my case, it has been discovered 😳😳 WAIT FR JAKE LOCKLEY EXCUSE ME BUT IF I DONT GET A SZN 2 I WILL RIOT !!!! WAIT THERE R W H A T EDITS ??!? y'all,,, khonshu huh 💀💀 i mean, i really am not allowed to judge, but ... okay. u do u ig :/ HE IS A BIRD SKELETON PLS YALL 😭😭😭

NAUUUR SEEING UR REACTION IS A GIFT ENOUGH FOR ME :(( U BEING EXCITED MAKES ME EXCITED BFF !!! YESSS OMG THATS KINDA WHY I THOUGHT IT WAS FUNNY HOW I PAIRED TJE MAKNAES BAHAHAH like i gave verkwan arguably some of the most powerful mutants in the verse, and now we can clown chan as a mutant as well (^_-)-☆ /j dkdndkjf im kidding lol i have a severe attachment to quicksilver, but chan just fits the mold whoops and TOO MANY PEOPLE SLEEP ON QUICKSILVER !!! YES OMG YELLING HORANGHAE IN ATTACK MODE HAHAHAH that's so hoshi plss 💀💀💀 i was like,,, who's the most furry-esque mutant? wolverine 😃😃 and i figured we could easily fit hosh w that since he too wishes to be a furry w claws called a tiger or something 🤡🤡 YEP HAO AS MAGIK AND MINGYU AS COLOSSUS!! i thought that fit pretty well :0 tbh one of the hardest people to pair was hao!! i knew i had to find someone who could be as slayfully cool as him

OMG U MADE SOMETHING FOR WOLRANGHAE AHAHAHAH I WISH I COULD SEE IT 👀👀👀 but yuhh when i finally get round to writing and posting this thing do send it in (^_-)-☆

[thepoliticalvulcan]

Ezra Klein comes out in favor of a brokered convention

I'm a bit thunderstuck honestly. I'm a long time fan. Not an acolyte at the level of taking my cues on what I should be for or against one for one, but I've always been an admirer of Klein's mind, Klein's analytical approach, and ability to ask clarifying and probing questions in an interview that is frankly, extremely rare.

He's got a lot of technocratic tendencies that I find a bit too overawed by institutions and the virtue signaling surrounding elite educational attainment. Don't get me wrong: I love education but the educated aren't demigods, they need checks and balances, peer reviews, and other safe guards against their own egos and interests because education doesn't make you more virtuous or even always necessarily more rational - just look at all the lawyers for whom Trump has cost them their licenses to practice. That said, while we quibble about applications, I think Klein's heart is in the right place at the level of core values and his analysis is rarely anything less than very well thought out.

Yet I also had him pegged, especially since the onset of the 2020 election, as essentially a good little soldier of the Democratic Party. Not uncritical, not beyond getting frustrated, but when push comes to shove he absolutely can be defined as one of the new breed of Democratic who falls in line while the Republicans fall apart. He knows the score. He knows the price of failure, of bargaining too hard for more loaf may result in no loaf, or fascists shooting protesters and taking their loaves.

So I was really, really surprised to see him come out in favor of Biden declaring that he is stepping aside as candidate and the Democrats holding an open convention to decide the candidate. This is an acknowledgment that there's far too little time left in the Primaries for a real primary so to avoid chaos, the next best thing would be to have the interested players start maneuvering and trying to build a base of support and then come into the convention prepared to debate, speechify, and bargain and the best man or woman wins.

Intriguingly, he admits that while he personally does not have an issue with Harris, Klein does feel like she needs to earn the nomination by proving to the Democratic insiders that she's got the "it" factor and the narratives around her Vice Presidency and her 2020 candidacy are not set in stone. (I'm personally more than a little skeptical, but I'm open to being wowed if it came down to it.) Yet he also disagrees with the idea that ditching Kamala would tear the party apart.

I guess I can sort of see it? Maybe? I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment that ditching her as VP candidate would generate a stink of failure and rot that would offset any conceivable benefit from picking someone who is a more appealing candidate for Person Who is Likely to Ascend to the Presidency When Biden Dies in Office.

On the other hand, maybe it would just be her own personal brand that is tarnished by losing a contested convention if whoever gets the nomination is someone who actually did manage to build consensus, generate momentum, and a favorable narrative. How petty and willing to die on their respective hills can we really expect the various Democratic Party tribes to be with Trump on the ballot?

Actually, don't answer that. I don't know much Trump being in play in 2020 had to do with the Democrats making love not war after Biden got the nomination vs how much it had to do with Biden's ability and willingness to throw wide the flaps of the big tent, and I'm more than a little afraid to find out.

Except that a part of me is admittedly, kind of curious.

I don't know that I buy the narrative that Biden is doomed. We're barely halfway into February for crying out loud. Trump is also his own worst enemy. He releases a torrent of free opposition research every time he opens his mouth. He radiates negative polarization like a star going supernova.

But a part of me is curious.

After eight years of "Trump is a threat to democracy" and "Democrats are the party of democracy" would a brokered convention actually pass the sniff test and excite the electorate because the Democrats actually listened to voters and took a radical risk in making a late in the game change which ultimately is more small d democratic than Biden running after essentially being unopposed in the primaries yet having abysmal "enthusiasm"? (To what degree enthusiasm "matters" and whether one can even really measure it effectively, not that pollsters aren't going to try anyway, is also highly contested.)

Or would it be the ultimate own goal that proves the low information voters, anti-electoralism leftists, and the Republicans were right all along: the Dems are full of it, when push comes to shove they don't really trust democracy, its all rigged etc. etc. and the Dems wander the wilderness for a generation, maybe for more than a generation if we become a managed democracy under the GOP?

[fuckyeahqueerpoetry]

To Wong Foo: The Second Road Trip (By Reza Ghahremanzadeh)

Vida: I wonder who came up with the expression “hit the road.” I mean, it was obviously some Neanderthal man. No woman would inject violent undertones into a phrase that describes driving.

Noxie: You know what, Vida? You're right! He probably coined “pound the pavement” as well!

Chi-Chi: And all this nonsense about cars being women es loco. I think men are more like cars: They leak, they struggle to get going, and they guzzle fuel.

Noxie: I've certainly had to deal with a few leaky Chevrolets in my time!

Vida: Well, darlings, as Louise says, “You get what you settle for.”

Noxie: But some women didn't settle for that. Some men start off as limousines and then turn into the cars you see at the vehicle graveyard. What should those women do?

Vida: Get a bus pass!

Chi-Chi: Mamas, where are we going?

Vida: The Golden City, dear.

Chi-Chi: As in heaven?

Vida: As in San Francisco.

Noxie: Vida, remind me again why we're taking this trip?

Vida: Because, pumpkin, I need a break from New York and the ordeal of having to walk past Trump Tower every day. Think of this trip as a political detox.

Chi-Chi: I'm thinking of dyeing one of my wigs the same colour as Trump's hair.

Noxie: Chi-Chi, stop trying to make blonde happen! It's not going to happen.

Chi-Chi: Oh, yeah? Well, I hope you maintain the hair down below better than that nappy 'fro you got on ya head.

Vida: Come on now, ladies. Play nice.

Noxie: What's the itinerary?

Vida: Fleetwood Mac are playing at the Chase Centre on Saturday night. And yours truly got us tickets.

Noxie: (singing) Players only love you when they're playing!

Chi-Chi: Ain't that the truth!

Noxie: I just hope we don't run into any of those weird gay Trump supporters!

Vida: Dieu nous en garde!

Noxie: I mean, I understand that some fags have a thing for Mitt Romney. He's a zaddy.

Chi-Chi: I prefer his hijos, Matt and Tagg! What I wouldn't do to be inside that sandwich! Oh, Dios mío!

Noxie: And what exactly happens in this fantasy?

Chi-Chi: Well, you girls know I like it rough. So maybe they start off by throwing me on the bed and calling me names.

Noxie: Like what?

Chi-Chi: Like a “dirty little democrat” or a “pathetic little snowflake.”

Noxie: A dirty little democrat who needs to be punished?

Chi-Chi: Exactly!

Vida: Oh, ladies, you always find a way to lower the tone. Can't we try and have an intellectual conversation?

Chi-Chi: You picked the wrong queens for that!

Noxie: Speak for yourself! Anyway, what are we doing on the Sunday?

Vida: We're attending a fundraiser for Kamala Harris.

Noxie: Wait a minute, wasn't this trip supposed to be a political detox?

Vida: Well, darling, I'm willing to make an exception for our first female president.

[theboy-thebitch-thelegend]

President-Elect Joe Biden Addresses the Nation

transcribed from: x

Hello my fellow Americans.

And the people that brought me to dance, Delawarians. I see my buddy, Senator Tom Carper, down there; and I think Senator Coons is there, and I think the Governor is around. Is that Ruth Ann? And former Governor Ruth Ann Minner. Most importantly, my sisters-in-law and my sister, Valerie. 

Anyway, folks, the people of this nation have spoken. They have delivered us a clear victory, a convincing victory, a victory for We the People. We’ve won with the most votes ever cast for a presidential ticket in the history of the nation, 74 million. While I must admit it surprised me, tonight we’re seeing all over this nation, all cities and all parts of the country- indeed across the world- an outpouring of joy, of hope, renewed faith; and tomorrow will bring a better day. 

And I am humbled by the trust and confidence you have placed in me. I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide but unify, who doesn’t see red states and blue states, only sees the United States. I’ll work with all my heart with the confidence of the whole people to win the confidence of all of you- and for that is what America, I believe, is about. It’s about people, and that’s what our administration will be all about. 

I sought this office to restore the soul of America  

to rebuild the backbone of this nation, the middle class, and to make America respected around the world again. And to unite us here at home. It’s the honor of my lifetime that so many millions of Americans have voted for that vision. And now the work of making that vision is real. It’s a task, the task of our time. 

Folks, as I said many times before, I’m Jill’s husband. And i would not be here without her love and tireless support, and my son Hunter and Ashley my daughter, and all our grandchildren and their spouses and all our family. They’re my heart. Jill’s a mom, a military mom, an educator. She has dedicated her life to education- but teaching isn’t just what she does, it’s who she is. For American educators, this is a great day for you all. You’re going to have one of your own in the White House. And Jill is going to make a great First Lady. I’m so proud of her. 

I’ll have the honor of serving with a fantastic Vice President you just heard from, Kamala Harris. She’ll make history as the first woman, the first black woman, the first woman from South Asian descent, the first daughter of immigrants, ever elected in this country- don’t tell me it’s not possible in the United States! It’s long overdue and we’re reminded tonight of those who fought so hard for so many years to make this happen.  

Once again, America has bent the arc of the moral universe more toward justice.

Kamala, Doug, like it or not, you’re family. You’ve become an honorary Biden, there’s no way out. For all those of you who volunteered and worked the polls in the middle of this pandemic, local elected officials, you deserve a special thanks from the entire nation. And to my campaign team and all the volunteers and all who gave so much of themselves to make this moment possible: I owe you. I owe you, I owe you everything.  

And to all those who supported us, I'm proud of the campaign we built and ran. I’m proud of the coalition we put together. The broadest and most diverse coalition in history: Democrats, Republicans, Independents; Progressives, Moderates, Conservatives; young, old, urban, suburban, rural; gay, straight, transgender; white, Latino, Asian, Native American. I mean it- and especially those moments when this campaign was at its lowest ebb, the African-American community stood up again for me. They have always had my back, and I'll have yours.  

I said at the outset, I wanted this campaign to represent and look like America. We’ve done that.  

Now, that’s what I want the administration to look like and act like.

For all those of you who voted for President Trump, I understand the disappointment tonight. I’ve lost a couple of times myself. But now, let’s give each other a chance.

It’s time to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature

See each other again, listen to each other again; and to make progress we have to stop treating our opponents as our enemies. They are not our enemies, they are Americans.

The Bible tells us:  to everything there is a season, a time to build, a time to reap and a time to sow and a time to heal.  

This is the time to heal in America.

Now this campaign is over, what is the will of the people?  What is our mandate? I believe it’s this:  America has called upon us to marshal the forces of decency, the forces of fairness; to marshal the forces of science and the forces of hope and the great battles of our time; the battle of control of the virus, the battle to build prosperity, the battle to secure your family’s health care, the battle to achieve racial justice and rout out systemic racism in this country, and the battle to save our planet by getting climate under control. The battle to restore decency, defend democracy and give everybody in this country a fair shot. That’s all they’re asking for: a fair shot.

Folks, our work begins with getting COVID under control. We cannot repair the economy, restore our vitality or relish life’s most precious moments- hugging our grandchildren, our children; birthdays, weddings, graduations- all the moments that matter most to us, until we get it under control.

On Monday I will name a group of leading scientists and experts as transition advisers to help take the Biden/Harris COVID plan and convert it into an action blueprint that will start on January the 20th,  2021.

That plan will be built on bedrock science. It will be constructed out of compassion, empathy, and concern. I will spare no effort, none, or any commitment, to turn around this pandemic.

Folks, I’m a proud Democrat. But i will govern as an American President. I’ll work as hard for those who didn’t vote for me as those who did. Let this grim era of demonization in America begin to end here and now. Refusal of Democrats and Republicans to cooperate with one another is not some mysterious force beyond our control, it’s a decision, a choice we make.

If we can decide not to cooperate, then we can decide to cooperate.

And I believe that this is part of the mandate given to us from the American people. They want us to cooperate in their interests, and that’s the choice I'll make. I’ll call on Congress- Democrats, Republicans alike- to make that choice with me.

The American story is about a slow yet steadily widening the opportunities in America. And make no mistake,  

too many dreams have been deferred for too long.

We must make the promise of the country real for everybody, no matter their race, their ethnicity, their faith, their identity, or their disability.  

Folks, America has always been shaped by inflection points: by moments in time where we made hard decisions about who we are and what we want to be.

Lincoln in 1860 coming to save the Union; FDR in 1932 promising a beleaguered country a New Deal; JFK pledging a new frontier; and 12 years ago when Barack Obama made history and told us, Yes, we can. Folks, we stand at an inflection point. We have an opportunity to defeat despair; to build a nation of prosperity and purpose.

We can do it, I know we can.

I’ve long talked about the battle for the soul of America. We must restore the soul of America. Our nation is shaped by the constant battle between our better angels and our darkest impulses. And what presidents say in this battle matters. It’s time for our better angels to prevail. Tonight the whole world is watching America. And I believe at our best, America is a beacon for the globe.

We will lead not only by the example of our power, but by the power of our example.

I’ve always believed, many have heard me say, I’ve always believed we can define America in one word:

Possibilities. 

That in America, everyone should be given the opportunity to go as far as their dreams and God-given ability will take them. I believe in the possibilities in this country. We’re always looking ahead. Ahead to an America that’s freer and more just. Ahead to an America that pays jobs with dignity and respect. Ahead to an America that cures diseases like cancer and alzheimer’s. Ahead to an America that never leaves anyone behind. An America that never gives up, never gives in. This is a great nation. It’s always been a bad bet to bet against America.

We’re good people. This is the United States of America and there’s never been anything, never been anything we’ve been not able to do when we’ve done it together.

Folks, in the last days of the campaign, I began thinking about a hymn that means a lot to me and my family, particularly my deceased son, Beau. It captures the faith that sustains me, which I believe sustains America, and I hope it can provide some comfort and solace to 230,000 Americans who have lost a loved one to this terrible virus this year. My heart goes out to each and every one of you. Hopefully this hymn gives you solace as well. It goes like this: 

And He will raise you up on eagles’ wings Bear you on the breath of dawn   And make you to shine like the sun   And hold you in the palm of His hand 

And now together on eagles’ wings we embark on the work that God and history have called upon us to do with full hearts and steady hands, with faith in America and in each other, with love of country, a thirst for Justice.

Let us be the nation that we know we can be, a nation united, a nation strengthened, a nation healed: the United States of America. 

Ladies and gentlemen, there’s never, never been anything we’ve tried and not been able to do.  

So remember, as my grandpa said when I walked out of his home when I was a kid up in Scranton:

He said, “Joey, keep the faith.”

Our grandmother when she was alive, she said, “No, Joey- spread it.”

Spread the faith! God love you all! May God bless America and may God protect our troops!

[anarmorofwords]

Hey so what do you want most and least from chot?

Hi anon!

Ughhh, okay, buckle up babes!

I do actually have a list of things I least want to see, aka...

"Things I won't forgive CC for writing in ChoT":

Alastair again being portrayed as despicable and deserving of the hate he's getting; getting more hate that's not called out; narrative suggesting Cordelia/Thomas are being unbelievably kind and merciful for loving him.

Matthew dying/turning into a Downworlder/getting lost in Faerie/his and James's parabatai bond breaking somehow. (I'm aware there are people who want/like some of these scenarios, and that's totally valid, I personally can't stand them)

Christopher dying. Don't you fucking dare, CC.

Sona dying in childbirth.

I wanna say Ari/Kamanna becoming canon in general, but while that's a possibility I'm trying to make my peace with, i just hope that if it happens, it's not framed as "poor Anna" finally allowing herself to love Ari and forgive her. If it's to happen, I need Anna to apologize and change her ways and Kamala to be respected by her. Though I'd rather they didn't end up together in general.

Lucelia not becoming parabatai.

Things I WANT to see most:

Alastair getting a friend; preferably Ariadne/Kamala/Grace/Kit/Genie.

Will and Gideon adopting bonding with/taking care of Alastair. Especially Gideon - the parallels between them simply beg to be explored and acknowledged. It's already been hinted that these two are actually fond of Alastair, so I have hope.

Alastair snapping.

To be honest I'd love The Parents to scold TMT for their treatment of Alastair in ChoI. (ChoG was mostly fine imo, both sides were being rather petty and immature, but in ChoI they were simply cruel). I wanna imagine their parents would be hella dissapointed when they find out.

Parents/children interactions. Honestly any and all of them, but I'm especially desperate for Alastair confronting Sona, Will comforting James after he finds out about the gracelet, Tessa and Lucie bonding time, "you're not a burden and should let yourself live your own life" conversation between Sophiedeon and Thomas, and obviously Matthew reconciling with his parents.

Matthew's issues being properly handled and addressed and not "cured by love" or similiar bullshit.

Matthew and James getting an emotional reunion scene that's entirely focused on them. Complete with bone-crushing hugs and frantic mutterings of imsorrys and iloveyous and imissedyous and sobbing and all that. And a long-ass, honest conversation afterwards.

Math's POV

Matthew sharing the Sin with his loved ones and being assured they love him still (bonus points for Charles trying not to be a shitty brother to him anymore)

Ariadne/Kamala getting to exist as a character outside of her relationship with Anna.

Grace getting to heal and unlearn the awful things she's been taught, also being shown compassion and understanding (bonus points for TID ladies taking care of her)

TMT working out their issues. I know it's an unpopular opinion, but I love their friendship back in the day and, even now, I don't think it's unsalvageable, imo they deserve a fresh start and a chance at a more mature friendship without all the miscommunication and unaddressed traumas and issues.

More Eugenia.

Grief being actually acknowledged - I mean Carstairs as well as Lightwoods and Fairchilds.

This is probably just wishful thinking, but Alastair realising Charles took advantage of him by ever entering a relationship with him. I'd love for some adults to also validate that realization and call out Charles, but I guess that's v unlikely.

less boobs and more soft scenes for Jordelia

Thomas speaking Persian/Farsi. That's a must.

Thomas being appreciated and his talents at least being mentioned

Kit being appreciated

i guess actually interesting plot; I'm intrigued by the whole Iron Tombs thing, she better not mess that up

fights that let other characters/weapons other than Cordelia/Cortana shine

Alastair playing with baby Carstairs

Cordelia standing up for Alastair and ensuring him of her love

Alastair playing the piano

Anna stopping with the fuckboy bullshit

That might be all, I guess? There might be some other small things, but these are most important for me.

Thanks for the ask <3

[cant-think-of-anything]

Artist AU

Kamala sighed when her phone went off once more. Pulling her arm free of Eugenia, she reached over to silence it before the notification caught her eye. 

“Who is it?” Eugenia asked. 

“Alastair posted on TikTok. He usually never does. It isn’t even privated.” 

Tapping her screen, she watched as her friend complain for a solid sixty seconds about the homophobia of not having a boyfriend to inflict his endless doodling on. Snorting, she tossed her phone to Eugenia. 

“Shameless.” Her partner muttered before forwarding it to her brother. 

“Alastair’s going to murder you for that,” Kamala laughed, tipping her head onto Eugenia’s fluffy hair. 

“Let him try.” A hand snaked up to play with one of the stars dangling from her ear.

“He couldn’t do it from Paris anyway. You’ll likely receive a very passive aggressive text and lose his trust for maybe a day or two.” 

“Paris?”

“He went there for some piece study or another- why do you have that look in your eye?”

Eugenia made a grab for her phone again, her face glimmering excitedly. “Where in Paris?”

“Near the Louvre, Eugenia-”

“Right right, but Thomas is in Paris. And if Alastair is as desperate as he was in that TikTok...”

“Oh dear. Should we really be doing this darling?” 

Shaking her head Eugenia began typing out a message. Kamala wanted to be mad, she really did but sometimes it seemed like an impossible task. And who was she to deny her partner such joy? Crossing her legs she sent a message of her own. 

K: Hey, do you remember that bookstore you were telling me about? 

A: yes

K: Well, could you buy something for me? I need to give my professor a gift.

A: you’re paying me back. 

“Well he’s a delightful person to text,” Eugenia said, resting her head on Kamala’s shoulder to read their messages. Kamala spied the address she had sent to her brother. 

“Well they’re headed to the same place. We’ve basically ambushed them.” 

“Lovely isn’t it? I’ll make sure to warn Tom, god knows he can’t go into this unprepared.” 

~~~

Thomas loved his sister. He really did, but forcing him to leave his hotel room in the middle of the night and make an excursion to a vague bookstore for a random gift seemed very random, even for them. 

Sighing he knelt next to the bookshelf sifting through the dusty papers before he heard the distant chime of the door, admitting a new customer. Glancing at his watch he frowned. The store was quite obscure;  and it was an odd hour of the night. Before he could he could glance at the door, his phone went off.

“Eugenia- were there really no presents in your general vicinity?”

His sister’s laugh sounded through the device. “Not the present I want you to find.” 

“What does that even-”

The customer- the only other customer in the store was standing in his aisle. 

“Oh.”

“Did you find him? He’s the guy-”

“From the video- yes, yes I know.” He whispered furiously into the mic.

Thomas was unlikely to ever forget that video. He had replayed it quite a few times but he certainly hadn’t expected this. He hadn’t looked at the username so the man really was a mystery but the face was unmistakable. It was mostly obscured by waves of dark hair, long enough to tuck back but it hung loose now. For being so deep into the night the other man was dressed quite well, the faint glint of his earrings visible in the low light of the store. 

“Hello?” 

Nearly dropping the phone, Thomas snapped his eyes away, praying both that the man hadn’t noticed and that the flush on his face wasn’t visible. 

“I’m going to murder you.” 

“That’s the spirit! Don’t screw this up!” The line went flat.

A hand tapped on his arm, nearly making Thomas jump.

“Oh- sorry.” The man was standing directly in front of him now. An unplaceable accent coated his words. His face was decidedly even more breathtaking in person, sharp angles and dark eyes. Thomas stared at the light fixture before it became too evident that he was staring. 

“I just needed the-” The man gestured somewhat awkwardly to the shelf between them. “My friend sent me to buy something…” 

Thomas nodded wanely. “Eugenia?” 

He glanced up sharply at that. “No, not Eugenia. Their girlfriend- you know Eugenia?”

“Unfortunately,” Thomas said, still averting his eyes. “I don’t think she needs you to buy anything.” 

Understanding dawned on his face. “I see.”

“Right” Thomas began in a rush “We can just pretend this didn’t happen Mr…”

He shook his head. “Alastair.” Before he could be interrupted he added. “Thomas. I see now. Well if the girls worked so hard to get us here I see no reason to dismiss that effort.”

“Wait what?”

“She sent you the TikTok didn’t she? This is why all my videos are private.”

“Shame they are.” Thomas said before he could stop himself. 

Alastair’s eyebrows flicked up. “Well if you saw the TikTok I assume you remember what I wanted.” He gestured, boldly tilting his face up.

Feeling his face heat up, Thomas held out his arm, silently reminding himself to not be as harsh when berating his sister for setting him up in such a fashion later. Long fingers wrapped around his forearm, considering before he felt the cold brush of a marker start to trace lines across his skin.

“I suppose not everything Eugenia plans ends in complete disaster.” Alastair said, tracing the beginnings of a rose.

“Just usually,” he responded, eliciting a laugh from the shorter man. “Would you like to meet up tomorrow? I don’t quite know my way around yet.”

Alastair's smile seemed to almost illuminate the store when he responded “I would love to.”

Tagging: @adoravel-fenomeno @luceliaxx @eugeniaslongsword @alastair-esfandiyar-carstairs1 @foxglove-airmid @littlx-songbxrd (lmk if you want to be added or removed)

[yesbutmakeitgay]

Once Upon A Time I Used To Know A Girl

Chapter 4

Carol Danvers x Reader

Masterlist | This work's masterlist | AO3

Summary: With some help Kamala uncovers intriguing information about your past.

Angst, Slow Burn, Amnesia.

Word count: 976

Shining Like A Pearl

The next morning Kamala is on her way to your room for your daily visit when she spots a redhead from the corner of her eye. She stops in her tracks and thinks for a moment before slowly approaching her, "Agent Romanoff?"

The redhead looks at her amused, "Hey."

"I’m Kamala Khan," she says nervously, reaching out her hand.

Natasha accepts the handshake, "Yes, I know who you are," she smirks.

The girl opens her mouth in a silent gasp only making Natasha more enthralled. "I was hoping I could talk to you for a minute," she speaks, after collecting herself.

"Sure," is all Natasha responds.

"So I’m confident you heard about the most recent mishap that occurred," the girl begins.

"With Danvers? Yeah, you're helping her partner get back on her feet, that's very nice of you," she states as a fact, not as a question.

"Thank you," the girl answers with pride, she pulls out her S.A.B.E.R. tablet and shows it to Nat, "She said the last thing she remembers is Paris."

"That was like a million years ago." Natasha reacts with surprise.

"Exactly. I was hoping maybe you remember something particular that happened during or after the mission that could help me out?" Kamala asks, hesitantly.

The redhead looks at the tablet and scrolls through the mission file, "Not really, it was a very routine procedure, in and out. Do you mind?" She gestures at the device.

"No, of course, not." The girl hands it over and Natasha starts to take a closer look.

"That's weird," she says, gaining all of Kamala's attention, "she didn't go on another mission for months after Paris."

"Is that uncommon?"

"For her it was." Nat's eyes never leave the screen.

"She said you didn't know each other very well."

"I didn't know her, I knew of her, look," she points at your file, "her following mission is redacted."

"What does that mean?" Kamala asks, a little lost.

"It means that you should pay Fury a visit." She punctuates her sentence by giving the tablet back.

Kamala goes to see Fury but he’s nowhere to be found. She goes upstairs and walks into your room like it’s her own only to find you shirtless in bed, you quickly pull up the covers, "Do you not know how to knock?"

"Not often, why are you naked?" she asks, unsure she wants to hear your answer.

"I ran out of t-shirts, turns out two is not enough."

"You only have two t-shirts?" She looks around your room, baffled.

"Whatever happened to 'They’ll bring your stuff back soon'?" you call her out and it all seems to make sense to her now.

"I actually don’t know," she responds, genuinely, "let me go find out." She already knows Fury is not in the compound so she tries calling him, she considers also asking about your mission, but decides that getting you a third t-shirt is more important right now.

"What?" Fury picks up the phone, already annoyed by whatever conversation is about to happen.

"We need to get her stuff back," Kamala saves the pleasantries for another time, "she’s out of clothes and she’s just hanging around topless."

"She’s going around the compound naked?" Fury feels the need to clarify.

"More like I barged into her room unannounced, but that’s not the point, it’s been long enough, she needs her stuff."

"Why are you telling me? You know damn well Carol isn't answering me either, and I’m not about to go to her house for some hoodies and a pair of jeans." He’s having none of it.

"Well we have to do something," Kamala insists.

Fury thinks for a moment, "I can give you a small budget for you to take her shopping."

She’s taken aback, "I thought she wasn’t allowed to leave?"

"As long as you're with her and you don't lead her straight to Carol it should be fine." That’s not the solution Kamala wanted to hear, but she’s gonna try to make the best of it.

She goes back to your room, making sure to knock just this time, "Shopping?" You look at her, unamused.

"Getting your stuff back is turning out to be a bit of a challenge so we should at least get you the basics, like another shirt," she responds, sheepishly.

You reluctantly accept to go to the nearest store where you can get the most average, black, cotton t-shirts. You’re on your ride back when you decide to break the silence, "What happened to Monica?" you ask with hesitation.

Kamala isn’t prepared for the question, "She’s, uh, not here right now," she responds clumsily.

"Is she on a trip?"

"You could say that." Her tone is vague.

A million thoughts start going through your head, "Did she die?"

"Oh, no, she’s not dead!" she’s quick to clarify, "She, kinda, got stuck in another universe." Her voice turns small.

"How-? What-? When-?" Your face turns to complete confusion.

"On our last mission together she used her powers to fix a tear in space-time, she had to do it from the outside. She’s a hero," she explains with pride and respect, you try your best to process the information, "what do you remember about her?"

"Everything," it’s a big overstatement, but not in comparison to everyone else, "we worked together often, she was a close friend, she’s the most brilliant human I’ve ever met," you reminisce.

"She really is."

You wake up in the middle of the night, your eyes glued shut no matter how hard you try to open them. You hear the faint sound of a heart monitor beeping and some voices in the distance, you try to move, but you can't feel your body. You're hit with a sharp pain on the side of your neck and everything goes quiet again.

Chapter 5

Tell me all your thoughts!

Tags: @graniairish @thelittleliars @carols-photonblast @rosiotor

Let me know if you wanna be tagged :)

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: West Coast Avengers #10: THE SEARCH FOR THE THING!

July, 1986

HEADLOK grabs your brain... the GRIFFIN rips your body! Some choice, huh?

After all the Master Pandemonium stuff, it somehow feels refreshing just to have the West Coast Avengers fight two dinguses.

They haven’t done a lot of incidental superheroing. Its all been some big, involved thing. I hope these guys aren’t involved with Master P at all. Just a one off.

Anyway.

I’m familiar with Griffin from Avengers Earth’s Mightiest Heroes the cartoon animation where he was mostly just a big, bestial brute. Not familiar with Headlok but he looks like a Sinestro Corp lantern.

Last times on West Coast Avengers: The most important thing is that after Hawkeye badgered him for issues, the Thing finally agreed to join the West Coast Avengers as their final member!

He looks like he’s experiencing instant regret.

But he said that he’s definitely joining so I’m looking forward to his run on the team.

Womp womp!

Hawkeye is annoyed because he was going to have a big press conference to announce that The Thing was going to join his team and dangit, there’s no Thing around!

He decides to have the West Coast Avengers go looking around Ben Grimm’s usual haunts to see if they can find him while Hawkeye stalls the media.

Tigra agrees to do it but expresses disinterest. She just doesn’t really think the Thing can be in any serious trouble and they should be spending their time chasing Master Pandemonium.

Hawkeye: “Listen, we’ll chase our enemies later! Just go find me our friend! I’m not much into givin’ orders, but that’s one!”

Mockingbird: “Simmer down, sport -- she didn’t say she wouldn’t do it! Besides, you know that with a cat spirit overlaid on her soul, she’s... changeable!”

Hawkeye: “I know, Bobbi-bird! I’m just on edge! But thanks! When I’d fly off the handle in the old days, Cap never gave me a hug!”

Well, maybe he shoulda!

Anyway, as Hawkeye and Mockingbird discuss their sixth West Coast Avenger going missing, they run into Firebird coming down the hall and clam up because its a sore subject.

Hmm.... now she probably didn’t bury Ben alive so she could try to get his spot on the team. But maybe she did?

Firebird: “Hawkeye, Mockingbird -- I’m ready to leave you -- again! That seems to be all I do when I’m with you -- try to leave -- but this time, I see nothing to keep me from it! Not that I haven’t enjoyed my time with the West Coast Avengers, but I know you’ll want to settle in with your completed team!”

Mockingbird tries to convince Firebird to hang around so she can keep trying to convince Hawkeye to let her join the team but Firebird says no. Even if they make an exception to have seven members and let her on the team, even if the Thing decides not to join and leaves a spot on the roster, Firebird has decided that wanting to join the Avengers so hard was a sin and god decided she needed to be humbled.

... Sure!

Hawkeye apologizes that maybe he wasn’t entirely fair to Firebird but he’s new to leading the team and asks she give the Avengers another chance when she gets done with the retreat she’s going on.

He also suggests that maybe she look into that weird vision she had. Because it was weird. And hasn’t gotten any explaining.

Firebird: “I willl -- I promise! Though I primarily want to learn more about my strange powers! For now though -- thank you! And good luck with the new team!”

With Firebird on her way out, Hank calls over Hawkeye to tell him that he got a report from Wonder Man.

Wonder Man ran into She-Hulk and Not-Carol Not-Kamala Ms Marvel at a hospital by the arena Thing wrestled at.

He apparently collapsed in the middle of a fight and was taken to the hospital. But then he ran off, through a wall.

Hawkeye: “Wha-at -- ?”

Wonder Man: “Nobody know where he’s gone or why!”

Hawkeye: “That pumpkin-headed palooka! He can’t do this to us!”

Iron Man: “It’s going to make the Avengers look like fools!”

Hawkeye: “Oh, no it’s not! You may be a founding member, Iron Man, but I started with the team that had to show we could get along without you and Hank and Thor! I’m pulling us out of this unscathed -- somehow!”

Uhhhh, Clint.

Ben collapsed and was taken to a hospital.

I think maybe you should be concerned about him more than about your reputation.

I’ll be fair though. Like Clint said earlier, he’s new to leading the Avengers and he’s very concerned with not only doing a good job but also being seen to be doing a good job.

So not the best to be most concerned with the Avengers’ image when Ben could be in trouble. But maybe understandable.

But what the shit, Tony Stark Iron Man!

Anyway, Hawkeye leaps into action! Telling the West Coast Avengers to track down the Thing!

Hawkeye: “Simon -- strain your jets to their limit, an’ hit every airport in the L.A. area! Find out if he left town that way! Tigra -- check the train station and bus lines! Hank -- you call up the highway patrol and ask ‘em to look for his bike!”

Then he uses the press conference that’s been waiting outside AND ANNOUNCES TO THE MEDIA THAT THE THING IS MISSING!

Geez.

I really hope that the Thing is in some kind of trouble because this kind of thing is going to be really embarassing if he got cold feet and decided to ghost the West Coast Avengers instead of joining.

It does seem like he doesn’t want the West Coast Avengers’ help because he’s very alarmed when Wonder Man shows up at the airport.

Then again, I’m only just assuming that’s Ben Grimm. With that trenchcoat and fedora, it could be anyone.

... My god, if the plot of the issue happens because the West Coast Avengers accost Griffin, thinking he’s the Thing just because he’s wearing an anonymity trenchcoat/fedora that would be the greatest thing ever!

I really hope it happens like that!

Anyway, I’m going to assume that this mysterious, anonymous giant man in trenchcoat/fedora is Ben Grimm.

Wonder Man talks to the airport staff in the flight tower and gets them to agree to give the West Coast Avengers a call if any of the cabin crews spot the Thing.

AND APPARENTLY, the West Coast Avengers’ phone number is 555-HERO.

Hahaha delightful.

Anyway, Wonder Man is getting ready to head to the next airport on his list when he’s accosted by a journalist from Variety.

Even though Simon is on Avengers business, he decides he can’t blow off Variety magazine when his career is finally taking off so he agrees to give the guy a brief interview.

As Ben Grimm strolls right on by behind him.

Amazing.

Back at the West Coast Avengers Compound, Hawkeye escalates The Search For the Thing quest by calling the Fantastic Four and asking Reed Richards to call them if the FF sees the Thing.

Mr Fantastic: “What’s all the excitement about, though? Why are you looking for him?”

Hawkeye: “Oh, uh. Didn’t I mention that? He was, uh, gonna join our team out here!”

Mr Fantastic: “Join -- the Avengers -- ? Well, that’s certainly a surprise! I would never have thought he’d -- I suppose congratulations are in order -- ! I’ll tell the others! Goodbye!”

Hah, wow.

Mockingbird notes that Reed got super cold when Hawkeye mentioned Ben was going to join the Avengers and asks if Reed thinks he owns Ben but Iron Man explains that Reed and Ben have been friends for years on the FF and years before that.

Iron Man: “What could have split them apart so completely -- ?”

Well, Reed omitted his theory that Ben could switch between meat and rock forms but had a psychological hangup so didn’t realize it. And only mentioned it once Ben had accidentally mode-locked himself FOREVER.

Anyway, its funny that the West Coast Avengers are wondering about the split between Ben and Reed NOW considering Hawkeye poking at Ben’s sore feelings was one of his major selling points to get Ben to join the Avengers.

Hawkeye also decides to check in with the East Coast Avengers (he explicitly calls them that, woo! Also calls them the EAK-O’s to mirror Ben calling the West Coast team wackos) and asks the Wasp to keep an eye out for the Thing.

Hawkeye: “We were about an hour away from making him the final member, but he’s done a disappearing act!”

The Wasp: “The Thing -- ? I thought the Sub-Mariner was an offbeat choice for our team but -- I had no idea you were interested in the Thing! Are you keeping secrets from us back here, Hawkeye?”

Hawkeye: “Only the good stuff!”

To be clear, Wasp is being playful with Clint. But it does make me wonder how much the teams report to each other.

Originally, the idea is that there’d be two teams but the West Coast team would kinda report to the Vision? Since it was one of his ‘lets NOT take over the world’ attempts at expanding the Avengers’ influence so he could fix the world non-takeoverishly.

But with Vision stepping down after becoming the internet, I guess Wasp has been content letting Hawkeye do his own thing.

Anyway, she says the East Coast Avengers will call if they see him but asks what Hawkeye meant by ‘final member.’

Wasp: “Why did you say he’d be your ‘final’ member? Are you running out of room on that estate?”

Hawkeye: “Well, you know, the six member rule -- !”

Wasp: “What six member rule?”

Hawkeye: “You know -- the rule about six members!”

This conversation is going around in circles.

She finally clues in that Hawkeye is talking about the roster limits that first Gyrich and then Cap established for the Avengers. Except...

Those limits don’t apply anymore! Because the Avengers lost their priority clearance with the government so they don’t have to follow any of the edicts that the government established for them!

As far as Wasp is concerned, Hawkeye can have as many people on the team as he wants!

Hawkeye has a laughing fit when he hears this because all of the Thing vs Firebird to fill the last spot on the team was COMPLETELY POINTLESS!

They coulda had both! Now they have neither!

Iron Man: -concern-

Anyway, Hank Pym tells Hawkeye that he’s gotten two hot leads for the Thing’s whereabouts.

The first lead is a man who thinks he saw Ben in disguise at L.A. airport. But forget that, the second lead says they for definite saw the Thing not in disguise five miles north of Zuma Beach.

Since the for definite lead seems more confidant, Hawkeye decides to follow up on that one.

He has Hank call Tigra and tell her to finish up her search of the bus and train stations and join the team up the coast.

Which gets us another near miss!

The Maybe Ben Grimm shows up at the train station that Tigra is searching but she walks right past him when she gets the call from Hank!

These superheroes are not very perceptive!

While Tigra runs off to her air-cycle thing, she wonders why Ben would be up near Malibu since he already told her that he doesn’t really care for beaches because he can’t tan and can’t surf.

Whatever the reason, she wants to get this wrapped up so she can get back to dithering on killing Master Pandemonium.

Tigra: “The only thing I really want to do now is kill Master Pandemonium! The next time I get my claws on that bearded mouse I’ll wring his neck and save my soul! The time for pussy-footing is past! I’m going to get my life back whatever it takes! And if the other Avengers try to stop me -- then look out for them!”

Well. That’s going to be a thing.

Speaking of the maybe Thing, when he hears that the Avengers are strongly requesting (a strictly voluntary) showing of ID whenever anybody buys a ticket to New York, he runs off.

The (West Coast) Avengers arrive at the beach and because Englehart tends towards wordiness, each member has their own thoughts.

Mockingbird muses that the Fantastic Four may be responsible for her career since they were this generation’s first big heroes and inspired her to be more adventure seeking when she was a young science major.

Tigra gets mad at Ben screwing the West Coast Avengers when she considered him a good friend.

Tigra: “And they say cats are self-centered!”

Hawkeye wonders if Ben got cold feet about joining. And that makes him feel bad because he thought he’d be into the team once he got to know them.

Wonder Man wonders why the Thing is hiding from the West Coast Avengers and whether he’s afraid of something.

Iron Man: “We’ve both been around forever, but we’ve fought together so seldom! I’m not letting anything screw up this chance!”

Anyway, they arrive and meet their informant, a non-suspicious guy in a hooded coat.

No surprise it’s Headlok. He’s on the cover.

Also, his pal/mindslave Griffin. Who was also on the cover.

Headlok actually has no lead on the Thing, obviously. He just decided that the West Coast Avengers would be easier to beat up if the Thing wasn’t with them.

Which is a funny argument to make. Because they’ve done pretty okay without the Thing. I don’t even know why he decided to try to fight the West Coast Avengers aside from the opportunity to lure them into a not-much-of ambush.

I also don’t know who Headlok is.

TO THE MARVEL WIKI!

Oh my god, this is his first appearance.

This is his debut and he decided to take on an entire superhero team!

What a dingus.

Sure, he has the Griffin as some muscle.

But I think maybe his villain eyes are bigger than his villain stomach. He claims “no brain on Earth has more mental strength than mine” and somewhere, Jean Grey sat up and said ‘you said wut, mate?’

Jokes aside, I don’t hate that the West Coast Avengers book is introducing new villains.

Wonder Man actually recognizes Griffin. He and Spider-Man fought him in Marvel Team-Up #78 and Simon is prettyyyyy sure that Griffin died in the fight.

But Headlok claims that Griffin lost the last trace of his humanity just about when a flaming Quinjet fell on him. So instead of sitting put and dying, he acted like an animal and dug an escape tunnel.

Truly an escape method only an animal would have thought of.

Anyway. Headlok found him in the Adirondacks, made him a mind slave, and here we are!

And where we are is Griffin lunging at Wonder Man because he has a grudge of some kind.

Wonder Man tells the rest of the West Coast Avengers to deal with Headlok while he deals with Griffin.

Tigra, Iron Man, and Hawkeye immediately try to kick Headlok’s ass but all the attacks just go through him.

His mental powers, which remember have no equal on Earth (Jean Grey intensifies), lets him appear in one place while being not in that place!

INSIDIOUS!

Meanwhile, Wonder Man and Griffin have a rumble.

Griffin has gotten stronger since the last time they fought. But Wonder Man doesn’t hesitate in fights anymore because of his epiphany thing.

Griffin: “RRaaRRaRUU”

Wonder Man: “Sounds like he’s trying to talk! Poor thing -- he used to be a man -- but I’m a full-fledged Wonder Man!”

And then he gets his ass kicked.

Wonder Man: “What a GREAT FIGHT!”

Maybe the West Coast Avengers need to get Wonder Man in more fights with beefy tough foes that he can just whale on.

He’s not getting proper enrichment is my take away here.

Annnnyway.

Wonder Man gets up from a big hit and suddenly declares he’s going to kick the Avengers’ asses.

Wonder Man, why?

Dammit Headlok!

As it turns out, despite boasting of being an unparalleled psychic guy, he actually has some pretty fair limitations.

The X-Men could learn a thing or two about being balanced from this braggart.

Since the West Coast Avengers were on guard against him, he couldn’t use his psychic whammy on them. He could only appear to be one place and not another.

But by distracting Wonder Man with the Griffin, Wonder Man’s psychic defenses lowered and now Headlok controls him.

And even though he loudly explains his plan to the West Coast Avengers, the trick will probably work again since he now has two distractors: Griffin and Wonder Man. And its a snowballing type situation for the West Coast Avengers. The more it works, the more it’ll work.

But Mockingbird has a plan!

Everyone else keep everyone else busy while she focuses really hard on trying to find Headlok.

Y’know, since he was nice enough to explain that hardening minds against him thing.

Since Iron Man is the only one that can fight Wonder Man (although not for very long, as Iron Man quickly cautions) he goes and knocks Wonder Man around with pulse bolts.

Iron Man: “Good grief! Full power repulsor rays, and he’s not even breathing hard! I am strong! There’s almost no one I can’t beat -- but he’s as strong as the Hulk!”

Historically: mmmm not quite.

Iron Man then tries collapsing a cliff onto Wonder Man but that too does not stop the Man of Wonders.

Its funny that the book seems to feel Wonder Man is too strong to be on the West Coast Avengers. He keeps getting sidelined so he won’t instantly solve problems by punching them hard enough. And now that he’s been mind controlled into fighting the West Coast Avengers, it seems to bear out that he’s just way too OP by having him shrug off everything next strongest guy Iron Man throws at him.

Meanwhile, Hawkeye and Tigra have to tangle with Griffin, a guy that was giving Wonder Man a good fight.

The same Wonder Man who only Iron Man stands a chance against and not much of one.

Yeah, Hawkeye and Tigra are going to have trouble with Griffin.

EXCEPT

Tigra has learned a thing recently.

The secret language of cats!

Tigra: “Listen, I hate everything he’s become, but there is a cat in there! Stop shooting a minute -- and let me try to talk  him over to our side!”

Hawkeye: “Do what -- ?”

Tigra: “Pst! Pss pss prrrrrrrup! Prrp prrp!”

Amazing. Spectacular.

Tigra is making pssp pssp noises at Griffin like he’s a house cat.

AND IT WORKS

Oh, also, Mockingbird found Headlok by concentrating really hard.

She chases after him and Hawkeye chases after her chasing him but Headlok decides that this was actually his plan actually.

Mockingbird: “Those legs of his are no match for ours in this sand!”

Headlok: “But my mind is my ultimate strength, Avenger -- and I have not fled you! I have lured you -- away from your friends and my slave, so I can concentrate on you! With concentration I’ll drive your minds like drayhorses!”

Wait, I thought the thing was that he needed them to not be focusing on them to take them over.

Make up your mind, Headlok.

Anyway, while trying to resist the mind pROBE, Hawkeye accidentally triggers the rocket arrows that he definitely has.

Which sends him flying through the air with the greatest of ease, completely baffled that his life is this slapstick.

When he lands back on semi-solid ground, he discovers that Headlok is knocked out face down in the sand.

And nobody really knows how it happened.

Mockingbird lost consciousness and just found the villain already defeated. And everyone else was busy the next sand dune over.

Hawkeye just assumes that either he or Mockingbird defeated Headlok while passed out. I mean, likeliest explanation? He and his wife are just that cool?

But someone throws a giant boulder of dissent (which is like a foot or two off from squishing Headlok, geez) and the West Coast Avengers see a shadowy figure lurking in a canyon.

I can’t tell who it is because they’re wearing a trenchcoat and fedora.

Could be anyone.

But no!

It’s the Thing!

He happened to overhear Tigra mention where she was going (to go look for Ben) so he got in a cab and followed after.

Since Headlok didn’t realize Ben was here (what a shitty psychic), he was able to run out, punch the villain unconscious, and then run back to canyon cover while everyone was distracted by Hawkeye flying through the air like a doofus.

And after the West Coast Avengers trying to hunt down Ben like a dog for not explaining why he ghosted them, we finally get... a really vague answer!

The Thing: “The reason I came -- is ta ask ya ta stop lookin’ for me, already! I gotta go away, an’ I can’t tell ya why! But I gotta go -- an’ for the sake o’ the friendship I hope we still got, you gotta let me! You guys were great! I meant everything I ever said to ya -- except the part about your IQ, Hawkeye! It’s not you -- it’s me!”

A really vague answer is answer enough for Hawkeye and he and the rest of the West Coast Avengers wish Ben the best of luck in whatever it is that he’s got going on!

Classy team here.

I, however, am not classy.

The reason why Ben decided to slink away from this team book in shame is that in his solo book he’d mutated even further, becoming covered in gross pustules. Rocks is one thing. Looking like a rock pinecone in the future is another thing. But being rocks and covered in pustules made Ben decide that he didn’t belong in polite company and to exile himself forever to Monster Island.

Where Mole Man cured his dermatological issue.

From there, he eventually rejoined the Fantastic Four, alas.

It’s incredibly funny that after all of Hawkeye’s persistent badgering of the Thing, the guy doesn’t even have one issue where he’s officially on the team. He just leaves as soon as he agrees to join.

But I also wanted Ben Grimm the Thing on the team.

It never would have lasted forever or very long because the Fantastic Four books has dibs on the character. But I would have liked to see it last longer than nothing.

Ah, well.

Follow @essential-avengers​ because I need to get that account back up and running so maybe shame me into it by following. Like and reblog because that’ll show me.

[mimisempai]

Wait for me on the other side 1/8

Summary:

Mobius, a watchmaker, and Loki, a teacher, realize that they are separated by two years of time when they exchange letters from different years in the mailbox of the house on the cliff where Mobius lives. As the two lonely hearts feel they have found their soulmate, will they ever meet?

or the Lakehouse AU that nobody asked for.

Notes:

This is my very first multi-chapter AU. I hope you'll enjoy it. Chapters will be released on a weekly basis.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/32948254/chapters/81773392

3772 words - rating G

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 (End)

When two people "connect" the bond between them can be so pure and simple as to stir hearts in heaven.

When they connect in all the right places at all the wrong times, heaven weeps for broken hearts. To heal these broken hearts, heaven breaks time.

—Blithe Spiritus

Loki took one last look through the rearview mirror at the cottage on the edge of the cliff, which was getting smaller and smaller as he drove away.

Shifting his gaze forward, his face slid to the crate on the passenger seat, where Croki, his pet alligator, was sitting.

"I hope you will like your new home..." Loki sighed.

Then suddenly, he braked abruptly, holding back the cage with one hand as it slid forward. Then he backed the car up.

"Shit. I'm sorry Croc'"

He walked over to the mailbox. He put his hand through the window, opened the mailbox and put an envelope inside. Then his long fingers pulled the red flag in a vertical position, to indicate that there was mail. All this under the eyes of Croki who followed with attention all his gestures.

He tapped the top of the cage, "Come on, this time we're off for good."

He rolled, speeding up, refusing to look at the sign for the tiny village his home was in, New Asgard.  Loki rolled east, the cliff behind him, then passed a sign: New York, 35 miles.

The traffic became heavier as he approached the city.

After maneuvering through the various streets and making his way through the New York traffic, he stopped in front of an apartment building on a busy street. It was a very recent building, cold and sterile. The contrast with the tranquility of New-Asgard was striking.

He parked, got out of the car and took a moment to absorb the change in his surroundings. Then with a sigh, he began to unload his things.

**********

Loki stopped at the steps in front of the entrance to the imposing establishment - September High-School. He inhaled deeply to give himself courage before moving forward, climbing the few steps and pushing open the heavy door. He entered and walked to what appeared to be the front desk where a busy looking secretary was standing.

Loki asked softly, "Excuse me?"

"Just a minute, okay?"

Loki waited a minute, politely, then tried to get the secretary's attention again.

"Ahem... Excuse me, I need to..."

She handed him a stack of paper, while saying, without looking at him, "Just fill this out and wait for me there, okay?"

Loki handed it back to her.

"No, I'm Loki Laufeyson. I'm a new teacher. I was told to report here."

The secretary looked sheepish, "Oh, I'm sorry, Professor. You need to find Principal Romanov. She should be around here. A woman with red hair, dressed in black, you can't miss her."

He did indeed find the Principal in the hallway that the secretary had pointed out.

Natasha Romanov may have looked young to be a high school principal, but everything about her demeanor, her head carriage, her attitude exuded confidence and authority. She walked quickly down the hallway and Loki, though tall, had a hard time keeping up with her.

The principal handed him a large stack of files as soon as they arrived in her office.

"You will be in charge of the sophomores, this morning you will have three classes to teach and three this afternoon."

Loki repeated to be sure, "Three?"

"That's a quiet day, for a first day."

Loki looked a little dazed, he didn't think he was going to jump into the deep end and thought he would have some time to adjust.

The principal turned around, as if she sensed his hesitation, "The teacher you replaced let us down without notice, and it took us a while to find the right replacement, the students lost a lot of time for their final exams. We have to do our best to make sure they pass."

They walked past a student who was sitting alone on a bench, looking sulky. Romanov motioned to a supervisor.

"What's he doing here?"

The supervisor replied, "He was grounded because he took apart a computer to prove Professor Banner wrong and has to do an hour of gym under Professor Odinson's supervision. However, I can't leave the place unattended, and I was waiting for my backup to take him there.

"Peter get up," said principal Romanov in a sharp tone.

The young man stood up, a sulky look on his face.

"Professor Laufeyson, take him to Professor Odinson in the gym and then you can begin your lessons in this class."

The principal pointed to the door of the classroom in question, then turned and walked back to her office, not waiting for an answer.

"Well come with me, Mister...?"

The young boy followed his lead and replied with a pouty tone, "Parker, Peter Parker. »

"Then let's go Mr. Parker, the computer dismantler." replied Loki with a wink.  He knew he couldn't condone what the young man had done, but he couldn't help but find it amusing.

Seeing that the professor didn't look reproachful as he said these words, Peter lost his pout and got a small smile.

"Although I'm curious as to what could have caused you to disassemble a computer."

Peter seemed to come back to life, explained to an amused Loki, that Professor Banner, who taught biology, had said that nothing could compare to the complex construction that was a living being and Peter had wanted to show him the opposite by dismantling the Professor's laptop.

"But I was about to put it back together though, I don't understand why he got so upset."

Loki couldn't help but laugh.

Peter's face frowned because they had arrived at the gym.

They walked through the door and there a giant blonde man came striding in, "Peter Parker, it's been so long! Tell me what you've been up to again." he ruffled Peter's hair who tried to shy away from it, then he held out his hand to Loki who had to hold back a wince at the strength of the professor's grip.

"Professor Odinson, but call me Thor. Nice to meet you. New professor?"

"Yes, I am the new literature professor, Loki Laufeyson, but call me Loki. I'll leave this promising young man to you," He winked at Peter before continuing, "as for me I'll be teaching my first class."

"Welcome here, and good luck!" threw Thor at him before turning back to Peter, "Go change, we'll start with 10 laps running around the basketball court."

Hearing Peter's grumbles, Loki smiled as he walked away.

A few minutes later, he stopped outside his classroom door and took a deep breath.

"It takes a little time to adjust, but most of the students here are exceptional and the teaching staff is really, really nice."

Loki turned to see who had just spoken.

He found himself facing a black man, taller than him, and very impressive. But despite his imposing nature, his smile and eyes were very warm as he held out his hand. "Heimdall, art professor, welcome."

Loki grasped it and replied, "Loki, literature professor."

Heimdall gave a small nod in the direction of the door, "Good luck." then walked away.

Loki, surprisingly relaxed following this little interlude, walked through the classroom door with a confident air, placed his belongings on the desk and with an engaging smile on his lips addressed his first students, "Hello, I am your new literature teacher and I hope we will work well together."

He paused, letting his gaze roam over the entire class before continuing,"O Captain! My Captain! Who knows where that came from? No one? No idea? It's-"

A young boy raised his hand at the back of the classroom.

"Yes Mister...?"

"Keener, Harley Keener."

"All right Mister Keener, I'm listening."

"It's a Walt Whitman poem about Abraham Lincoln. And it's plagiarism of Professor Keating's introduction played by Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society."

Loki didn't lose his confidence at all and replied, "Thank you Mr. Keener. I'm not going to apologize for the plagiarism. I didn't expect anyone to contradict me since this film was released long before you were all born. Thank you, Mr. Keener, for setting me straight. I won't ask you to call me Captain, Sir, or Professor, but simply Loki. Yes, Mr. Keener, Loki, as in the Norse god of mischief... "

The whole class, including Harley, laughed and Loki thought that it wasn't such a bad start.

But he still felt exhausted at the end of the day, and he slumped into the chair at his assigned desk in the teacher's lounge. He leaned in and put his head back, closing his eyes.

"So they've worn you out already?" it was the deep voice, which he recognized as Heimdall's. He opened his eyes to see that the art professor had sat just at the desk next to him.

"Yet the Famous Five keep talking about Loki, the new professor who is super cool. It's been a long time since I've heard a literature professor on such good terms." It was Thor who came to join them and pulled a chair to sit in the space between Heimdall and Loki.

"The Famous Five?"

Thor chuckled before answering, "They're called that because they're always stuffed together, probably five of the smartest minds in this elite school, and as a result always going out on the town to..."

"…the benefit of science." finished Heimdall.

"That's their argument every time they get busted," Thor clarified.

"Who are they?" asked Loki, curious.

"There's Peter who you met this morning, he's in the same class as his two childhood friends Ned and MJ. There's Harley who talked about how you put him in his place, when he thought he had fooled you. Captain my Captain huh?"

Thor chuckled before continuing, "and finally Kamala Khan, the newest one, a little brunette, a ball of energy who always wears a big red scarf, summer and winter and who the other four have taken under their wing."

"Interesting..." replied Loki, thoughtfully.

"Wait until you're the target of their prank and we'll see if you find these kids interesting." said an unknown voice behind him.

"Bruce my friend! Were you able to fix your laptop?" exclaimed Thor with a laugh.

Loki turned around, only to find himself standing in front of a man who was a little older than him. He stood up and held out his hand, "Professor Banner, I presume."

"Am I that famous?" the man asked, raising an eyebrow as he shook the outstretched hand in a firm grip.

"It's mostly that I had the pleasure of taking Peter Parker for his grounding to Thor." replied Loki

"That brat..." harrumphed Bruce. "He's smart... but his habit of proving he's always right..."

The other men laughed in unison.

"So boys? Are we having fun?" a young woman with short blond hair stepped forward and held out her hand, "Carol Danvers, homeroom teacher at this crazy school."

"Nice to meet you," Loki replied, shaking the outstretched hand.

Unaccustomed to being around so many people and especially such friendly people, Loki felt a little overwhelmed and suddenly the fatigue of this first day seemed to fall on his shoulders to the point that he had to stifle a yawn.

Thor patted him on the back and said, "I have an excellent remedy for that."

"What is it?"

Heimdall and Thor high-fived each other and said in unison, "The Bifrost."

At Loki's look of complete incomprehension, Carol explained, "It's a bar two blocks away, good burgers, good beer and for good company, that's us." she finished with a wink.

Loki realized they were inviting him to come with them but he hesitated and finally replied, "Thanks. I better not drink tonight. I'm dead."

Bruce retorted, "We're all dead."

"Yes, but I still have a lot to unpack."

They nodded, and did not seem disappointed by his refusal, even rather understanding. Loki really wasn't used to this kind of company.

Heimdall put his hand on his arm and then said softly, "Next time, then."

Loki, not understanding why his throat was tight, simply nodded.

A little later, they separated in front of the school gates. Loki on one side and the group on the other.

" Bye Loki!"

"See you tomorrow Captain!"

Loki lived only three blocks from the school and soon arrived home. When he entered he realized how sterile and cold his large apartment seemed.

He had not yet had time to unpack all his things and the boxes were scattered everywhere. The first thing he had unpacked was Croki's terrarium, which took up a whole room.

As he closed the door, he heard Croki's typical little paws coming and rubbing against him as usual. He patted his head and headed for the kitchen. Croki was a Cuvier's Dwarf caiman. Loki had once wanted to get a dog, but in the animal shelter he had immediately felt a connection with the animal, perhaps because he was different, like himself.

Loki opened the refrigerator which was desperately empty except for Croki's fish ration. He put it on a plate and put it on the floor while commenting, "Need alligator food. And human too."

He was going to have to do some shopping tomorrow.

After snacking on a bag of chips, exhausted, he took a quick shower before going to his room.

"Good night Croki."

His room was as functional and depressing as the rest of the place. He went to stand in front of the window. Outside it was all stone buildings. It was very difficult to even see the sky. He sighed, "What a view..."

He pulled the blinds and went to bed. Once his head was on the pillow, he fell asleep very quickly, which prevented him from thinking too much about everything he missed.

**********

A red pickup truck passed the New Asgard sign before parking at the side of the path that leads to the house. Its back end was filled with furniture and moving boxes. A mustachioed man with gray hair got out. He walked toward the cottage on the edge of the cliff and stopped, hands on hips, contemplating the view.

He opened the door, looked for the electric power meter. He turned it on and went to turn on the light in the entrance and then in what seemed to be the living room.

Mobius examined the place, satisfied. There wasn't much. A stereo, some books, an armchair. But the bare and cosy furniture matched perfectly with the austere beauty of the small cottage. He looked out the window at the cliff. He was going to like it here.

It took him a good four hours to unload his pickup truck by himself and install just about everything he had brought. Once finished, he grabbed a cold beer that he had put in the cooler and while drinking it quietly walked around the house before getting in the car to go shopping at the local grocery store that he had spotted on his way in.

Once he had gone around the store, with his groceries in his arms, he went to put them on the counter.

The young owner and his wife were behind.

"Hi, are you new around here?" the owner asked him.

Mobius smiled and replied, "More or less. My name is Mobius."

The owner replied, "My name is Clint and this is my wife, Laura."

Laura smiled and added, "You're going to like it. Especially now that the weather is getting warmer." Then pointing to the groceries, she added, "We'll get you some boxes for all that."

"Oh thanks." replied Mobius.

Laura fetched an empty box from a high shelf. Now that she was no longer hidden by the counter, it was obvious that she was pregnant. Clint rushed to her. "No, honey, let me."

Mobius looked at them, feeling moved and at the same time fully aware of his own loneliness. He paid, took his box and left, but not without promising the young couple to return.

He parked in front of the small road with his groceries in the back of the truck and noticed the mailbox with its flag up. He stopped and opened it. There was an envelope.

For the new tenant.

He took in the groceries, put them away, made himself a sandwich tray and taking the letter, he went to sit on the armchair in front of the bay window. He put his tray on a small table next to it, opened the letter and started to read.

Dear new tenant.

Hello and welcome to your new home and congratulations, blah blah blah. You have made an excellent choice, New Asgard is a wonderful place and this house is a gem, as you may have already noticed.

I'm sure you'll love living here as much as I do.

By the way, I'm the former tenant, Loki.

Mobius looked perplexed but also pleasantly surprised.

The post office forwards my mail normally, but if something should happen here, because the post service is what it is and we are never safe, my new address is below. Thank you.

Mobius turned over the letter.

P.S.: Sorry for the pawprints leading to the front door. They were already there when I moved in, as well as the box in the attic. I think it belongs to the owner.

Mobius stared at the letter in amusement and could not help but check the end of the letter.

He went to the front door. The floor was clean. Inside and out.

"What did he talk about?" he scratched the back of his head before heading for the ladder that led to the attic. He opened the hatch, poked his head through and looked around. It was empty. No box.

Mobius went back down, shrugged, crumpled the letter and threw it away.

He finished his meal and went to bed.

The next day, in his clock store, while repairing an antique watch with an extremely complicated mechanism, he couldn't help thinking about the letter and its more or less strange ending when he was interrupted by the doorbell indicating that someone had entered the store.

He put down his tools, wiped his hands, and headed for the store.

"Hey Mobius! I made lunch, shall we share?"

It was the bubbly and somewhat invasive, Sylvie. The owner of the antique gun store right across from him.

He replied, annoyed, because she had interrupted his work that he loved, "I can't, I have urgent work to finish."

"Oh come on Mobius, there's nothing urgent about an old watch."

"It is to its owner."

She made a disappointed pout, "Well, okay..." she sighed and headed for the door, then turned abruptly. "Is it true you bought a house? Where is it? How is it?"

Mobius rolled his eyes, used to Sylvie's chatter.

"It's an isolated cottage, in a small village called New Asgard."

"You're sick to isolate yourself like that!"

"It's what I want and I already feel at home there. And now, if you don't mind, I'm going to get back to my work, which is not urgent." He walked briskly toward his studio, annoyed by the criticism of his choice, and didn't even hear the door close.

In the late afternoon, after his day's work, he decided to repaint the faded fences that lined the small path. The manual work, like his work on watches, helped him to clear his head.

A few hours later, as the day was getting darker, Mobius was kneeling on the steps and applying a new layer of paint to the weathered planks. He finished, satisfied with the result, and began to put his equipment away.

Behind him, a small dwarf alligator trotted along the path. Mobius didn't notice it at first. The alligator sped up and before Mobius could react, he stepped into the paint and left footprints behind him. "Hey!"

Mobius tried to catch the alligator but it ran back inside the house whose door Mobius had left ajar. Mobius was about to follow him, wondering what an alligator was doing here and if he was dangerous, when he suddenly stopped.

On the ground in front of the house, there was a trail of paw prints.

Mobius rushed to the garbage can and searched with determination through his trash when he finally found what he was looking for: Loki's letter.

He stared at it.

Sorry about the footprints leading to the front door. They were already there when I moved in, as was the box in the attic. I think it belongs to the owner.

He remained for a long moment staring at the crumpled note.

*********

Loki went out to have lunch at a place he had spotted not far from the school.

Finding the weather warm, he opened his coat and continued walking.

When he arrived at the place, he sat down on a bench and started to unwrap his sandwich, a book in his hand. He enjoyed this moment of calm, even if the place was crowded on this beautiful day.

Once finished eating, Loki closed his eyes for a moment, letting the sunlight warm him up. Just aware of the surrounding sounds, the water of the fountain, the splashes and laughter of the children playing there, an old man grumbling about global warming, the pigeons landing not far away, hoping to get some crumbs from those who like Loki had decided to have lunch here.

Suddenly, a horrible noise, a high-pitched squeal and a horn made Loki sit up. He suddenly opened his eyes and looked around.

A few meters away, in front of Loki, a double-decker city bus was trying to stop. It was going pretty fast, although you could tell the driver was trying to brake.

Loki registered it all, the noise, the bus, before noticing the gray-haired man standing directly in the path of the bus. There was nothing to be done, it was inevitable and almost immediate, the man was hit by the bus, and Loki, horrified, saw his distant figure fly ten or fifteen feet into the air before crashing to the sidewalk. The faint sound of the impact reached Loki half a second later, due to the distance.

Loki automatically took out his cell phone and dialed 911. As he walked towards the impact point, he gave all the information to the rescue workers, trying to remain calm.

Once he hung up the phone, he started to run towards the lifeless body.

_______

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 (End)

As always, bear with me as it is not beta'd and english is not my native language I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless🥰

[not-using-this1]

~Where’s Nat?~

So I got this idea and it’s based on the Marvel Avengers game, but I still hope you all like it :)

Plot: Whenever Natasha and you are split up for a mission, either one of you always check up on each other through comms. This time you get worried when nobody had seen Nat after she snuck into the building saving inhumans.

Warnings: None

Word count: around 600

Natasha went to go save Kamala and other inhuman kids from one of AIM's facilities. She knew that she would need back-up so she texted the others to be there with the Chimera ready to rescue them.

To which you immedietely responded with a 'On our way'. You two always dropped everything to be each other's back up or to rescue one another.

Once Natasha took down Monica, she had some SHIELD Agents take her back to the Chimera and hold her there for questioning. Nat rescued most of the inhumans that she could since some of them had been transported to another place. But through it all, she couldn't find Kamala, so when se asked one of the inhuman kids if they saw her, she ran back into the building to find her.

"Anyone seen Nat?" You speak up through the comms, hoping that either Bruce, Tony or the others had seen her through all this chaos, because you certainly did not. You honestly expected Natasha to respond to her when you had asked that question, but there wasn't a word from her although she usually responds quickly.

"No, I haven't seen your girlfriend. I thought she was outside already Y/n." Tony commented. you sighed "She's not my girlfriend. If she doesn't get out here in five minutes, I'm going in." Waiting, helping some of the inhuman kids get onto the Chimera for their safety, Bruce coming to help out and hopefully calm some of the kids who were still terrified down. However, some AIM reinforcements had come along, luckily some of the inhumans had it covered and took most of the down with ease.

Through all this chaos, Nat still wasn't seen exiting the building, you were getting really worried at this point. To be honest you shouldn't even be this 'worried' because Natasha Romanoff can take care of herself although what if something bad happened to her...and Kamala?

"Seriously, has anybody seen Nat?" You called out through the comms again. Hearing a laugh come through but it was just Tony "You girls worry too much about one another, she will be fine."

Pacing around, getting more inhumans on the Chimera, the fallen AIM reinforcements scattered around them in pieces. Trying so hard to not worry, although this was exactly what the redhead would do if the roles were switched and you were the one in that situation. At this point the other Avengers had started acting as if you two were dating (might as well considering how close both of you are, 11 years of friendship).

"Y/n!" A familiar womanly voice called out. You turned around and saw Nat with Kamala, who went straight to Bruce to apologise to him about sneaking away and doing this. Practically running towards the redhead agent without thinking a second thought you grabbed her arm, pulling her towards you and smashing your lips onto hers in the moment.

Natasha was shocked at first but settled into it and kissed back without a care that the others would see this. Once you pulled away both of you realised that Bruce and Tony were looking at them.

"Finally!" Tony threw his hands up, Bruce agreed with him.

"I was worried about you" You spoke truthfully.

Natasha chuckled "I could tell, do you have any idea how long I have waited for you to do that?" She asked. "A long time, c'mere" she added pulling you back into her and kissing once more. "As much as I am liking this view, we should probably go." Tony shouts back at them. Both of you shoot him deadly looking glares but agree and get back to the Chimera after a successful mission, Nat and Bruce were going to interrogate Monica, lets hope this doesn't get messed up (although we know it does anyway).

“Wait, wait. Y/n, would you be my girlfriend?” The redhead blurted out as the two of you entered the Chimera holding hands. 

“About damn time, yes I will” Nat chuckles at your response and kisses your cheek before you go straight to the main part of the ship...back at the wartable to discuss a few things.

I know this one was short but I’m struggling with idea’s right now and I am pretty proud I was able to write this down before my mind went completely blank over it! I love Natasha in this game, she always holds a special place in my heart! Not to mention the fact that Nat in my game is max lvl and is very overpowered as she should!

[lovelyirony]

"a single thread of gold/tied me to you" for ironhusbands?💛

If there is one thing that James Rhodes cannot stand, it is “love at first sight.” In his professional and personal opinion, there is no such thing. It is simply a concept that Disney invented so they could make cutesy stories about princesses finding their princes immediately and give people hope about love, but in the end it is all about the money. 

“You’re a cynic,” his sister Jeanie tells him over breakfast. She flings a stray Cheerio at him. “You are a cynic and you’re never gonna date someone because they’re going to think you suck.” 

“People are going to date me and realize that I’m a good, realistic choice,” James responds, sticking his tongue out and stealing a drink of her orange juice. “People are going to date you and you’ll be disappointed because you watched too many romantic movies and you let it taint reality.” 

“Loser.” 

“Dork.” 

And then he’s in college. 

Surprisingly, he doesn’t meet Tony Stark for two years despite the fact that every single year, they live in the same building on different floors. He has had to evacuate about twenty different times because Tony cannot stop himself from doing experiments in his room. 

The third year, James is an RA and required to live with one of the residents because of “experimental tendencies.” They don’t elaborate on why he’s stuck with a roommate, what the tendencies are, or who he is. 

“You’ll know,” comes the email from the coordinator, and he has never wanted to curse so badly in an email before, but here he is. 

But he’ll deal with it. Just like how he’s going to deal with everything this year. 

-

He thought he would get the room to himself for a little while before everyone moved in and brought everything and he would check them in. 

But no. 

There’s his roommate, lounging on a bed, and grinning. 

“Simply enlightening to meet you, James. They told me I could come back if I had a trusted roommate.” 

“And they stuck you with me?” 

“Well they were going to stick me with some dude who got the email, and then immediately transferred to Dartmouth. So I think you were the second option.” 

“Great.” 

He hates life, maybe just a little bit. 

Tony wants to do things. Which is fine, but he isn’t really in the mood to have the conversation of the fact that he can do things, but he doesn’t want to do them. He has to focus on being an RA and preparing for the Air Force. 

“Why prepare for that when you could be living?” Tony asks, lounging on Rhodey’s bed. 

Oh yeah, that’s new too. Rhodey. Apparently, “Jim,” “James,” and “Rhodes” were unacceptable nicknames. 

What is acceptable is Rhodey. And of course, the “honey bunches of oats” and “loveliest RA of all time in the history of MIT” and “sugar-puff” and “sweetness overload” 

He’s responding to all of them, by the way. 

Rhodey didn’t think his mental health would get this bad by the beginning. He had actually scheduled it to be around October. 

- 

And then the students come. There are nervous freshmen, the sophomores who don’t say anything as they move in and get settled, and the returning juniors and seniors greet Rhodey and Tony with familiarity and laugh about the posters that Rhodey’s worked hard on. 

“So, we’re having joint-RA’s or something?” Miles asks, throwing his comforter over his bed. 

“No, we’re not,” Rhodey says, hoping his expression is somewhere along the lines of not-showing-emotion. “Tony’s just...” 

“I’m simply too exhausting for Housing to deal with anymore, so I have a babysitter,” Tony says with a wink. “And who better than our lovely Rhodey?” 

“Don’t call me that.” 

“Sugar-puff?” 

“Still no.” 

Miles snorts. 

“This year should be good. Tony, you gonna pull any fire alarms this year?” 

“Rhodey has expressly banned experiments in the building, unfortunately,” Tony sighs. “It’s like he doesn’t want everyone to bond over having to leave at two in the morning...” 

“Nothing says bonding like hating a rude wake-up call,” Rhodey says, and Tony nods. “We’ll let you get all moved in, Miles. Remember that floor dinner is at six!” 

“You got it!” 

Rhodey gives Tony a look. 

“You know, I can do this on my own.” 

“Aw shutterbug, I’m not gonna let you.” 

“Are you really this intent on following me around?” 

“Well, what if I want to overtake your position next year? What if you tragically get a raging headache and it’s up to me to know what to do? What if your mother kidnaps you and never lets you come here again?” 

“I’m sure the college kids will be fine,” Rhodey stresses. “And I’ll still have access to email and the groupchat, genius.” 

Tony just laughs. 

“Alright, okay. I gotta go get some shit for my new class. The teacher sent out an email stating that the textbook is mandatory, and we have to do book work. This feels like eighth grade all over again.” 

Rhodey snorts. 

“Is it for Professor Casper?” 

“Yeah, did you have him?” 

“Yeah, you don’t need the book. You can find it online for free, and he never collects the book work. It’s a waste of time to get the book.” 

“You’re an angel-and-a-half, love of my life,” Tony says. “And for that, I’ll snag an extra pudding for you at the dining hall.” 

“Is it vanilla or chocolate this time?” 

“Chocolate with cookies in it.” 

“Oh my god, seriously? Already?” 

“Guess they must have had a jump,” Tony teases. “I’ll see you at dinner.” 

- 

Tony has a specific way of getting people to open up and actually talk with others that Rhodey envies. 

If Tony wasn’t so hellbent on convincing the group that if Miles and Kamala create a distraction, they could totally sneak out one of the pictures of the mascot. 

“We are not doing that the first week,” Rhodey says. “Maybe the last.” 

“It’s a beaver,” Tony whines. “Who’s gonna miss it, a Canadian?” 

“It’ll be the floor bonding activity,” Gwen says, finishing off her fifth (maybe sixth) slice of pizza. “Better than talking about your feelings about the campus or whatever.” 

“No.” 

“We’ll convince him soon,” Tony whispers conspiratorially. “Also, who here is a freshman? I have some advice regarding the math classes and which teacher you want...” 

- 

Rhodey does have to admit, that sometimes it’s easier to have Tony around, who is so willing to stay up until the late hours because of some stupid drama or to help Peter at his chemistry homework and also ease his anxiety about leaving his Aunt May all alone. 

Tony isn’t all wild and crazy as stories have led him up to be. 

"I wore out all my crazy freshman year after going to two frat parties and deciding that no one knew anything about how to have fun,” he declared. “I mean, come on. Why have beer pong when you could quiz people about obscure fashion facts?” 

Rhodey snorts. 

“Don’t make that the next game night. Hey, what do you think about having a movie night this Friday? I’m thinking something not scary, we’ve been doing a lot of those.” 

“It is October, what do you mean not scary?” 

“Some of our residents don’t like scary,” Rhodey reminds him. “Honestly, I think we could do with a bit of Halloween fun.” 

“Hocus Pocus? Double Double, Toil and Trouble? If you want to be slightly scared of old women and clown parties, I’d recommend it.” 

“You weren’t scared of clowns beforehand?” 

“Of course not, I wanted what they have; the ability to fit eighteen people in a car.” 

“Couldn’t you just gut the car?” 

“Not the same effect, honey-pie. Not the same effect.” 

Miles and Peter both end up lobbying for Hocus Pocus, with little to no competition other than a promise that the other choice would be shown later on in the semester. 

They’ve shoved all the chairs together and multiple people have brought out their own chairs, and Tony saves a seat for Rhodey under the premise of “Rhodey organized it, he gets a seat.” 

It’s a tough squeeze, and Tony and Rhodey get all tangled up together. 

Tony smells like expensive cologne and coffee, and he grins up at Rhodey and maybe the lights from the TV aren’t bright enough, but for a moment his heart skips a beat. 

Well. Shit. 

When he goes home for Thanksgiving break, Tony seems a bit...sad. 

“What, your mom cook the worst turkey in the world?” he jokes. 

"Sure,” Tony says, eyes unfocused. “Yeah.” 

"Dude, you okay?” 

“Yeah,” Tony says, turning. His smile brightens, eyes crinkling. “Why wouldn’t I be fine, buttercup?” 

Rhodey gives him a look. 

“I’m gonna call you when I get home, okay? You better answer.” 

“I always answer to you,” Tony says, and damn Rhodey’s mind shouldn’t be going where it is. 

Rhodey waves, gets in his car, and thinks about how Tony most likely has a problem on his mind, how he should probably not room with him, and his Aunt Ada’s green beans. 

God, he loves those green beans. 

- 

Tony is alone for Thanksgiving. Jarvis and Ana got an opportunity to visit Aunt Peggy in England, and he knew that they hadn’t seen her in two years. He didn’t want to be selfish, have them stay just for him. 

So, it looked like deli turkey sandwiches were in his future. If there’s still some soda in the fridge, maybe that too. 

He sighs, and turns towards the lab. Dum-E’s not even here, as he didn’t fit in the travel car, so Tony let him loose on the floor to “keep guard” over the dorms and make sure that no one broke in or stole the cords that he knows he accidentally left in the common room. 

The odd thing is, he had almost told Rhodey. Almost let him know that he’d be alone for Thanksgiving, but is that weird? That’s weird, right? To tell people your emotions just...it’s so messy. 

They have to deal with it, you have to deal with the fact that they’re dealing with it, and then other people know that you both are dealing with it and it’s just a whole mess of epic proportions, you know? 

-

Rhodey finds out on Thanksgiving, when they’re doing the parade on the TV and there’s a new snippet on the gossip channel when they go on commercial break. 

Howard and Maria Stark, vacationing off the Mediterranean Coast. 

“It’s reported that Tony Stark has preferred to spend his time in the vacation home,” the news reporter said, her smile wide and placid. 

“Tony’s lucky,” Mama says, wrapping golden yarn around her fingers as she works on another sweater. (A small one, a tiny one. It’s for the new baby in the family for Christmas.) “He tell you about it?” 

“He’s not there,” Rhodey says numbly. 

“He’s not?” Dad says, eyes raised over the newspaper. 

“No.” 

“He didn’t tell you, did he?” Dad asks. 

“No, no he didn’t.” 

“Well then. Next time he’ll come with us.” 

Rhodey nods. 

“Christmas?” 

“Clear it with his parents if they’re not spending time together.” 

“Got it.” 

- 

Rhodey’s Thanksgiving is...nice. He can’t stop thinking about Tony going alone. 

So he calls him. It’s two in the morning, he might be asleep, and Rhodey’s not sure if he got the “eight” in the last four digits right or not. 

“Howard’s out, who is it?” comes a sleep-addled voice. 

“Good thing I’m not looking for Howard, Tones.” 

“Rhodey? Why are you calling me?” Tony asks, and Rhodey can imagine his eyes lighting up and that’s...that’s something. 

“You spent Thanksgiving alone, I wanted to see how you were.” 

“Aw, checking in your residents?” 

“Checking in on you.” 

Tony stills for a moment at the phone. 

Besides Jarvis, no one had ever really checked in on him. 

“Um, I’m fine?” 

“You sure?” 

“Yeah. I mean, it sucks to be alone on Thanksgiving, but I don’t really like any of the foods that people usually have, so I’ve been fine. I ordered wraps from my favorite place.” 

“Good to hear, good to hear.” 

There’s a silent pause for a moment, the one where they both try to find something to say. 

“Listen,” Rhodey says. “If you’re ever stuck for a holiday alone, you’re coming with me, okay?” 

“I don’t want to intrude on your family,” Tony says softly. 

“They all wanna meet you. Jeanie says she can kick your ass at ice hockey!” 

“You guys can actually play ice hockey?” 

“With limited degrees of success.” 

“Oh, now that I gotta see some time.”

- 

They come back to college, and Tony is back to his usual antics, greeting everyone who comes through the elevator with a shower of shredded paper. 

“Welcome to Winter Wonderland! Next stop: suffering through finals!” 

“Ugh,” Kamala groans, “stop it. Stop making me think. I have to memorize Byronic poetry. Do you know how boring that is?” 

"Speak for yourself, I have to build a wooden chair,” Riri whines. “Who works with wood these days? It’s so old-fashioned.” 

“Create the most bitching chair alive,” Tony says. “And I’ll help you with the necessary tools. Your professor isn’t expecting much, mainly just that it can support the weight of two people, you’ll be fine. Kam, Byronic poetry is not that bad, you will be good. We will bake cookies.” 

“Can we even bake cookies? I thought our floor got banned from kitchen usage,” Peter says. “Hey Rhodey.” 

“Hey kiddo,” Rhodey says. “First of all, yes we are banned from the kitchen. Second, we’re only banned and get in trouble so long as they know we’re there. And since more than half of us are nocturnal creatures and I am willing to wake up to help, we can bake cookies.” 

There are cheers around the room, and Tony mocks offense. 

“You don’t trust me to help the future youth?” 

“Given that we’re not allowed to rent out any more equipment from the front office? Yes.” 

“You wound me, darling.” 

“Only as much as kitchen equipment goes, sweetheart.” 

Tony grins. 

“Aw, you missed me.” 

“Yeah, I did. Now come on, you gotta help me with a billboard about the movie night this Friday. We thinking a romantic comedy or something mildly terrifying but probably won an award?” 

“Mildly terrifying!” Gwen calls from her dorm. “If we watch two people falling in love I’ll choke! We’ve been doing it all year!” 

“We’ve only watched, like, three rom-coms?” 

Gwen rolls her eyes, as if he’s missed something completely obvious. 

“You don’t get it. I’ll try again later. Hey, are we doing floor dinner tonight?” 

“They’re serving pizza sandwiches, so obviously,” Tony says. “We will feast like kings.” 

- 

Christmas is a festive time for Tony. He loves it, and goes overboard with decorations. Rhodey lets him, because you can’t stop Tony once he loves something (and Rhodey is kind of. Fond of him). 

Pepper comes up from the fifth floor, whistling. 

“Damn, Jim. I knew you would do a good job with decorations, but not this good. Is this...did you buy a miniature village? How was this budgeted?” 

“It wasn’t,” Rhodey says. “Tony’s really into Christmas and the floor convinced him that the theme should be Christmas Village. He’s been crafting identities for each villager instead of studying for any exam. The craft store employees know him by name now.” 

“Well, we all have our vices. You two seem to get along well. Housing is pleased that he hasn’t blown up anything yet.” 

“If they try to serve cheese ravioli again, he might.” 

“That’s a problem for Dining,” Pepper reminds him.  

“Still, it’s abominable. Where did they get them, bottom of the Hudson River?” 

She snorts, adjusting her shirt. 

“Probably, but hey. They still got eaten, even if that one freshman threw them all back up at the entrance.” 

“It was payback, they were vile.” 

Tony waltzes into the lobby, arms filled with glittering tinsel. 

“We are not letting you hang that,” Pepper says, gaping at it all. “Do you know how hard it is to get rid of tinsel?”

“We’ll manage!” Tony says. “Also, are you free at six-thirty?” 

“No, that’s when we’re getting dinner on my floor, what do you need?” 

“Just that little tidbit of knowledge,” Tony says, looking down at his phone. 

A message buzzes from the groupchat, and Rhodey glances at it: 

We are a go for the real Christmas tree. I have the vacuum, and a believable lie. Rhodey’s gonna tell us when the RA on duty is gonna come so we can hide it. 

Rhodey looks at Tony, grinning. He smiles right back. 

“Is there some weird roommate telekinesis I’m missing here?” Pepper asks. 

“Yes,” Rhodey says. “We’re discussing dinner plans.” 

Another text from Harley: 

I’m already picking one out with Peter. I have good taste. When is the ornament-making party? 

Pepper looks at them. 

“You’re planning something that I probably would have to disapprove of. I’ll tell people I got your floor watched tonight.” 

“Pepper, light of my life, my absolute sunshine? You’re the best,” Tony says, grinning. “Rhodey-darling, help me with tinsel?” 

He can’t say no. Simple as that. 

That is how tinsel gets strung throughout his hair as he’s watching Tony climb onto chairs that shouldn’t be climbed on to hang it from everywhere. 

“People deserve to have a good-looking Christmas,” he says. “Besides, I wanna win the decoration contest.” 

Rhodey laughs. 

“Okay, okay. I think we got it in the bag.” 

Later on in the week, Tony can be seen flitting about from room to room with help and jokes to lighten the mood. 

Rhodey has to admit, being an RA with Tony around is...nice. Better than he thought. 

And maybe he has feelings. He’s not going to say anything about it. After all, they’re roommates. He also isn’t allowed to have a relationship with anyone on the floor, regardless of anything. 

It doesn’t mean every RA follows it. God knows Sharon’s snuck down to the fourth floor to see Sam near-about every night, and her residents usually keep it a pretty good secret. 

Still. There’s also everything else to consider, and the fact that he doesn’t even know if Tony likes him like that. 

He doesn’t have to focus on it. 

- 

At least, not until the week of finals when he’s dying and Tony’s made him peppermint hot chocolate and sits on his bed, just about an inch away from his notes for his history class. 

“Do you remember what you told me on the phone?” Tony asks softly. 

“You up to compete against Jeanie for this year’s ice hockey championship?” Rhodey asks, smiling. 

Tension releases from Tony’s shoulders. 

“Only so long as you’ll have me.” 

“Always, genius. Always.” 

- 

After the last resident leaves for the holiday and Rhodey checks in with those who are staying, he and Tony hit the road, dragging suitcases behind them. 

“Are you sure I’m allowed?” Tony asks. “I can always find a hotel along the way...” 

“Mama wants to meet you, I keep telling them a ton about you,” Rhodey says, laughing. “They told me they want to hear your side of the great Glitter Debacle.” 

Tony laughs. 

“You mean the truth?” 

“Uh, I’m sorry, how are you going to convince them that green glitter was needed? And that you could clean it out of carpet?” 

“Determination and grit?” 

Rhodey laughs again as they pull onto the highway. 

- 

After a couple of hours, they make it to Rhodey’s home. His sister comes out, hugs for both. 

“Good to meet you Tony,” Jeanie says. “I’ve heard a lot, and I think we’re going to get along awesomely after I tell you every single embarrassing thing that Jim’s ever done.” 

“Only if I get to share stories too,” Tony teases, grinning. “Aw, they call you Jim?” 

“What do you call him?” Jeanie asks. 

“Jim-Jam, angel-dear, sugar-puff, Rhodey. You know, the usual.” 

Jeanie snorts, taking one of Rhodey’s bags. 

“Calling you the first one from now on.” 

“Tony did you have to let her hear any of those?” Rhodey asks, exasperated in a teasing manner. 

“Of course I did,” Tony sing-songed. “Now after you, I’m sure your mom is waiting to hug the living daylights out of you.” 

- 

It’s not until Rhodey gets all settled in and Tony is downstairs competing with his dad in a round of chess that Jeanie sits on his bed, the intention to annoy. 

But it’s...different. She looks at him. 

“You love him a lot, don’t you?” 

Rhodey stills. 

“You wouldn’t have told him he could come here if you didn’t.” 

“You’re right.” 

“I’m always right,” Jeanie says, flipping braids over her shoulder. “Nice of you to finally realize that I’m the smart one.” 

Rhodey doesn’t say anything as she saunters out of the room. 

He makes the decision not to tell Tony. 

If it goes wrong and if Tony says no, he doesn’t want it to be an awkward family event but more importantly, the most awkward rest of the year ever. He can say it as they’re moving out, and that’s that. 

He tells Jeanie as such. 

“I thought you didn’t believe in love,” she says as they’re preparing the soup for dinner.” 

“I don’t believe in love at first sight,” Rhodey says. “I do believe in love. There’s a difference.” 

There’s a hell of a difference. 

First sight, you don’t know everything. The second, third, fourth, fifth, and so on? Oh you learn so much more, and they become that more important. 

He learns that he doesn’t mind picking up tinsel, so long as Tony is laughing and singing along to all of the worst Christmas songs ever, and maybe. Just maybe he could picture looking at Tony underneath the fairy-lights that they hung in the dorm room for all time. 

Love is terrifyingly exhilarating, even when it isn’t supposed to be. 

Rhodey did not think his heart would race so much as Tony listened to his Mama talk about her wedding china, about the utter disaster that his father was. 

“He forgot his tie,” Mama said, smiling. “Oh my lord, my mother had a cow about that. I thought he looked kind of dashing.” 

Tony’s eyes drift towards the wedding pictures, which are slightly shaky, but everyone had such wide smiles. 

It’s a far cry from the publicity photos from the Stark wedding, Rhodey remembers the solemn expressions, the stuff tuxedos. 

“I love it,” Tony says softly. He looks at Rhodey across the table, setting down the final plate. “Tell me more, Mrs. Rhodes.” 

“Call me Mama, honey, Mrs. Rhodes is for people I don’t like that much. I think you’re gonna be my new favorite.” 

“Even over me?” Jeanie says, grinning as she kisses Dad on the cheek. “I’m your favorite.” 

“You’re my favorite until now,” Mama says. “Don’t think I don’t know that you skipped out on setting the table because Tony was here and graciously offered.” 

“It was nothing,” Tony says. “Just happy to help. Thank you for letting me stay at your home for the holidays.” 

“We’re always lucky to have guests,” Dad says, setting down the main dish. “Now let’s eat.” 

Family dinner is a brand new concept to Tony. He’s had maybe four or five of them, and the majority of which were staged for some holiday shoot or some “celebrating American values” shoot. 

It was awkward, weird, and he didn’t get why. 

Now, he does. Jeanie has been steadily moving mashed potatoes away from Rhodey’s plate, and Mama caught her eye and winked, distracting him with talk about his college major and news about the neighbors. 

Mr. Rhodes watches it all with a careful eye and a lax smile. 

After dinner, they play cards. 

It should be boring, but Jeanie puts on an old record and Rhodey keeps trying to count cards, and Tony didn’t think you could count cards in a game of Spoons. 

“You can’t, he’s just a try-hard,” Jeanie stage-whispers. 

“You-” 

Jeanie laughs, rolling herself out of Rhodey’s grasp as he chases her around the family room. Tony leans back into the couch, and shouts with surprise as Jeanie trips Rhodey into the couch. 

His body twists, and Rhodey’s facing him on the couch and they’re close and with the fire roaring in the fireplace and the Christmas lights outside shining through the windows, it’s almost magic. 

It is magic, but Rhodey is kind of terrified of that. 

Tony breathes in, breathes out. 

“Hello sugar-puff,” he says. 

“Hello genius,” Rhodey says, a smile on his face. 

Oh. 

The night does not get much sleep. 

Tony doesn’t sleep anyway, but Rhodey finds that quite often he can’t sleep without some softly-playing rock in the background, doesn’t matter if it is a highly-questionable AC/DC song. That and Tony softly murmuring about his plans, and it’s like a personalized lullaby. 

Rhodey cannot sleep. Tony’s in the guest room, and he can’t sleep. 

There’s a soft knock on his door. 

Tony’s there in shorts and a t-shirt that’s probably expensive, but he’ll never say if it is or not. 

“Can I...I can’t sleep.” 

“Get in here, Tones. I can’t sleep either.” 

The bed is a tight squeeze, but they make it work. 

Rhodey whispers until he drifts off to sleep about Christmas and school and everything else. 

Tony watches with quiet eyes, interjecting with his own stories occasionally. 

They fall asleep tangled up together, and Rhodey doesn’t mind it one bit, not as he pulls Tony in closer. 

-

Waking up is bittersweet, honestly. Rhodey has Tony in his arms, and that’s...that’s perfect. He thinks this is going to be the best thing that’s ever happened in his lifetime. 

“It’s too early, darling,” Tony groans. The light from outside is already peeking through the blinds, and he has stuffed his head right back into a pillow. 

“Jeanie’ll be here soon to bother us for Christmas breakfast,” Rhodey says. “And unless you want her pouncing on the bed and landing on wrong everything, we better get down there.” 

Tony smiles sleepily, stretching. 

“Thanks for letting me sleep in your room, honey-bunch.” 

“No problem,” Rhodey said. “Missed the constant AC/DC and late-night discussions about robotics.” 

“Not like I did much talking, Mr. Sap,” Tony teased. “Or was it me who mentioned that they had a favorite plate for dinner?” 

“Listen, it’s superior and you did not once interrupt that story to complain. I think I did a great job explaining it.” 

Tony laughs. 

“I’m gonna go get dressed, okay?” 

“Not until after present unwrapping,” Rhodey says. “We stay in pajamas.” 

“I’m cold,” Tony whines. 

Rhodey chucks his sweatshirt at him. 

“Then here you go.” 

Tony’s eyes light up as he shrugs it on, wiggling as he brings it up to his nose. It shouldn’t be that cute. But it is. 

“You are the light of my life.” 

Rhodey laughs, rolling his eyes. 

“Maybe. Now come on.” 

They head downstairs together, and they both get swept up into the speed of things, with Jeanie racing around the house and telling Tony that he got treats too, they just didn’t have a back-up stocking. 

“Hush,” Mr. Rhodes says, handing Tony a carefully wrapped gift. “After breakfast, we’ll go ahead and open it.” 

He smiles, and Rhodey thinks it’s the best thing he’ll ever see. 

- 

Christmas gifts, Rhodey thinks, are his new favorite thing to see Tony interact with. 

It’s painfully obvious that he’s never really had any personal gifts, anything that reminds people of himself. He carefully unwraps the paper, careful not to rip it. 

“You nerd,” Rhodey says, grinning. “Come on, show us what you got.” 

Tony laughs as he opens a box with two coffee mugs from the rest of the family, emblazoned with “Rhodes” on one cup, and the other being a simple red with gold trim. 

“They’re perfect,” he says. “Thank you so much.” 

“You’re feeding his coffee addiction,” Rhodey answers. 

“Like you aren’t doing the same,” Jeanie teases. “You made him his cups of coffee this morning.” 

“That is because I have trained him well,” Tony says, grinning. “Rhodey, here’s my present to you, open it.” 

He’s nervous. 

Both of them are, but Tony especially so. 

He told Rhodey once that he’s not good at shopping for other people. He tends to have the phrase “go big or go home” permanently circling in his mind, and it can lead to...complications. 

(Rhodey remembers the overhaul of his closet for his birthday, complete with a visit from a rather well-known designer.) 

Inside is a beautiful jacket. It’s all patchwork, artfully sewn together with embroidery thread spelling out “James” at the lapel. 

“I commissioned Janet,” Tony says, smiling softly. “She wants you to still walk in her fashion show, by the way. Says you’re a model.” 

Rhodey snorts, shrugging on the jacket. 

“You helped with this, right?” Rhodey says. “I can see it in the gold thread you got on the sleeves.” 

“I may have had some creative input.” 

“I love it,” Rhodey says. “Now here’s mine.” 

Tony breathes, and Rhodey wonders if this gift will be enough. He feels a bit stupid, it doesn’t seem like that great of a gift, in retrospect- 

It’s a puzzle. 

A puzzle of their favorite cafe and restaurant to go to at MIT. It was in a shop window, and Rhodey could tell that Tony would love it. 

On top is a scarf, since Tony gave away his last one to another student in their philosophy class. 

“I love it,” Tony breathes, tackling Rhodey in a hug. “I love it, I love it! We have to do the puzzle after this.” 

Mrs. Rhodes sends her husband a look. 

Yeah, Tony would be around for a long time. 

- 

They set up the puzzle on the floor of Rhodey’s room, clearing away any luggage. It’s silent for a while, Tony moving around the pieces and Rhodey looking for edge pieces. 

They work closely together, side by side. 

Rhodey can’t stop staring. 

He should be able to. He’s stopped himself before, but now? 

Sunlight is coming in through the window, playing around Tony’s fingers as he nimbly picks up puzzle pieces, and this is the eternity that Rhodey wants so badly. If he died right now, he thinks he would choose for Heaven to look like this. 

“You okay?” Tony asks, eyes looking up. He took his contacts out, and now he’s just in his tortoiseshell glasses, the ones that he secretly likes more and Rhodey loves. 

“I’m in love with you,” Rhodey blurts out, because he can’t stop thinking about how beautiful Tony is and how much he loves him. 

He realizes that this could very well be considered a mistake. Because they still have to live together and drive back together and it won’t be the same, and the residents will notice no matter how well they both act--

Tony pops his head right under Rhodey’s chin. 

“Kiss me?” 

That’s all it takes. 

They mess up part of the puzzle, but that’s okay. They find they don’t mind it too much. They can work on it later, when Tony’s done getting Rhodey out of his new jacket and Rhodey works his hands underneath Tony’s sweatshirt. 

-

Mama takes one look at them for dinner and grins. 

“Jeanie, you owe me a night of dish-washing.” 

“Seriously?” 

“Mama!” Rhodey hisses, embarrassed beyond belief. 

Tony just cackles, and elbows Rhodey out of the way so he can get to his chair at the table. 

“Couldn’t have fooled you for a second, could we?” Tony teases. 

“Not at all,” Mama states proudly. 

Rhodey rolls his eyes and squeezes Tony’s hand under the table. All will be well. 

- 

When they both get back to college, none of their residents are surprised, at least not until they have to have a “knocking before entering” policy put in place after one particular late morning. 

[sebstanaddict]

New Beginning

Chapter 10 - Training

Summary :

What if Bucky falls in love with the daughter of one of his victims. The story takes place after The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. It tells of the very last end of Bucky's struggle to make amends to the families of everyone he has killed in the past. In his book he has only one name left to make amends to. And the story starts right when he was about to find the family of the man that he killed last.

Pairings : Bucky Barnes x Adriana Weaver (original character)

Chapters : 10 / 30 (written 24 so far, may add more, we'll see)

Chapter List>

Word count : 2k

Warnings : nothing so far, let me know if I miss anything

Bucky arrived at Avengers compound at around 9 am. This time the security guards knew who he was and promptly let him in. After parking his motorcycle, he entered the main building. He didn't know where Sam was, so he called him. Apparently he was at the training room. So he went there.

The training room was on the second floor of the main building. When he arrived, he saw Sam training Kate, Kamala and Riri. He was like a gym trainer. Barking orders at them. Asking them to do push ups and stuff. Bucky was suddenly reminded of his time in the military. His heart ached, seeing those young girls train like that. They're just kids. He thought. They're supposed to be enjoying their lives, and instead here they are, the burden of protecting the earth on their shoulders. He should say something to Sam about this. It didn't feel right to him.

Bucky walked closer to Sam and cleared his throat.

"Sam!" He called out.

Sam turned around and his stern face turned into a smiling face when he saw Bucky.

"Bucky, thought you wouldn't come today." Sam said.

"I said I'll come so here I am." Bucky said. He winked to the girls. Kamala and Kate blushed while Riri just stared at him, uninterested. Sam rolled his eyes.

"Don't flirt with them." Sam warned.

"I wasn't." Bucky said, defending himself. Bucky then produced a box from inside his jacket. It was EDITH. He gave it to Sam.

"Thanks for EDITH, Sam. She was really helpful."

"No problem, Buck. I hope your mission went well?" Sam asked discreetly, not wanting the girls to know what it was exactly that they were talking about.

"Uh..yeah..not finished yet, but I won't need EDITH anymore." Bucky answered.

"Not finished?" Sam asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Yeah..I'll explain later." Bucky said. He didn't want to tell Sam right away about what happened. He knew Sam was just going to bully him about it.

"So, what do you want me to do?" Bucky asked.

"Well, you can teach these girls martial arts maybe? Like you thaught Nat back in the day?" Sam asked carefully.

Bucky sighed. He did train Nat and other widows in the red room. He didn't want to be reminded of it. Especially since Nat was already gone. He felt a bit sad remembering her.

"Fine. Are you done with them?" Bucky asked.

"Yeah yeah. Go ahead." Sam said.

"I need to train Torres, will you be alright here alone?" Sam whispered on Bucky's ears.

"Torres?" Bucky asked, confused.

"Yeah, you remember him? The guy from air force that helped us track Karli. I've been teaching him to use wings like what I have. We were able to make another set of wings. So I train him to use it." Sam explained.

"Oh okay. Yeah, I'll be fine. I'll let you know when I'm done." Bucky said.

Bucky spent almost three hours training the girls. Only Kate had martial arts background. So he had to really tone down the stuff that he thaught them and teach them the basics. By the end of the three hours, all of them were drenched in sweat. Kamala looked like she was about to pass out. Riri just laid on the floor, not moving. Only Kate seemed to still have some energy.

"You girls were awesome. I'm sorry if I was too hard on you." Bucky said to them.

"It's okay Mr.Barnes. I never expected training to be an Avenger would be easy. That was actually quite fun." Kate said.

"Just call me Bucky, please, Kate." Bucky said, smiling at her. Kate blushed yet again after seeing Bucky smiled. She seemed to have a crush on him. Bucky thought it was really cute. He didn't think he still had that effect on girls. It really helped with his confidence level.

"Well, I guess that's it for today. I'll see you guys again tomorrow. Time to be announced." He said. Not knowing whether Sam had planned a schedule for them or not.

"Yes, sir." The girls chorused. They all laughed. Then they left the training room together.

Bucky wasn't sure where to go, but he definitely needed a shower and lunch. So he went to the penthouse and found Sam there with Torres in the kitchen. They were having lunch.

"Hey Sam, Torres." Bucky greeted them.

"Mr.Barnes, how are you sir?" Torres asked..he looked a bit surprised to see Bucky.

"I'm good thanks. I need a shower. Training those girls were tougher than I thought." He said.

"Well they don't have any martial arts background." Sam said.

"Yeah..but they were good.. Kate especially..I think she's had some training before." Bucky said.

"Yeah, I think so." Sam said.

"Anyway, mind if use the bathroom?" Bucky asked Sam.

"Not at all. In fact, I'll show you your room. There's a bathroom in there. I thought since you're gonna be training daily, you might wanna stay here, and maybe go back to Brooklyn during the weekend. Saves time on the commute." Sam said.

"Yeah, that's a great idea. But I didn't bring any clothes today. So can I borrow some clothes?" Bucky asked.

"Sure. Come on." Sam said, beckoning Bucky to come with him.

Sam showed Bucky his room. It was bigger than his apartment. He felt really comfortable there. Well it had a bed, for one, a couch, a working table, TV and a wardrobe. Sam lent him some clothes and left him. Bucky looked around. Back in his apartment he didn't have many furnitures. Just a couch, tv and its table, and that's it. Everything else sort of come with the apartment attached. Like the wardrobe and kitchen set. He didn't bother buying a bed because of the nightmares. He wondered whether he would still have nightmares sleeping on the bed here.

After taking a shower, he went to the kitchen to have some lunch. Sam was still there, but Torres was nowhere to be found.

"Hey Sam. Where's Torres?" Bucky asked.

"Oh he went back to base. He is still a member of the air force. I just train him about three times a week." Sam answered.

"Oh I see. Anyway, I'm starving. Is there anything I can eat here?" Bucky asked.

"Yeah, we got food in the fridge. You can make a sandwich if you want." Sam said.

"Okay." Bucky said.

He opened the fridge and found some smoked turkey, some greens, cheese and bread. So he made a turkey sandwich.

While Bucky made and ate his sandwich, Sam told him updates about the Flag Smashers and also updated him on what he and the other Avengers were doing to prepare for the Kree invasion.

"You know what Sam, my heart ached when I saw the girls training today. I mean, they're basically kids, Sam. I remember I was like them. But I was a boy. It was to be expected for boys to join the army. But, what we have here now are young girls. I feel like they should be enjoying their lives like other girls their age. But instead they're training for war. It saddens me really." Bucky said.

Sam sighed.

"I know. But just so you know. I and the other Avengers never pushed them to do this. They volunteered. I would never have accepted to recruit them if they didn't volunteer."

"Well, maybe you could have said no. And save them the pain of becoming a superhero." Bucky said.

Sam was surprised by what Bucky said.

"I never knew you felt that way."

"I guess I've been through a lot to know that..once someone chooses this life, they need to be prepared to sacrifice everything. Like Steve did." Bucky said, he missed Steve.

"Like you did." Sam said.

"Ha! I was never a hero Sam. I never choose to be the Winter Soldier." Bucky said matter of factly.

"Yeah, but you chose to stay with Steve back in the day. Supported him in the Howling Commando. You were a hero, Bucky. Don't you forget that. And you're a hero now." Sam said, patting Bucky on the back.

"I guess.." Bucky smiled. It felt good to have someone encouraged him like that. Ever since Steve was gone, he felt pretty much alone. But now he had Sam..and Adriana..he remembered her again. And Sam seemed to be able to read his mind, because he asked about Adriana next.

"Have you told Adriana yet?" Sam asked.

"No..I did go out with her..but I didn't get the chance to tell her yet." Bucky said. He told Sam about the date, and about the fact he was intruded by Adriana's friends when he was about to tell her. Contrary to what Bucky thought, Sam didn't give him any heat. He seemed to understand.

"Well, you still need to tell her. When are you going to meet her again?" Sam asked.

"This Saturday, I asked her to go on a lunch date." Bucky said.

"Okay..I suggest that you make sure no one will interrupt, because the longer you postpone this, the more hurtful it will be, for the both of you." Sam said..he gave Bucky a stern look. Sometimes Bucky felt like Sam was his parents. Telling him what to do and not to do.

"Yeah, I'll make sure I'll tell her. I had another nightmare you know, last night. Adriana's dad showed up and asked me why I hadn't told her daughter the truth yet. It was scary." Bucky said.

Sam's eyebrows shot up.

"That's really interesting. And a very good motivation for you to tell her as soon as possible." Sam pointed out.

"Yeah, I know. I just..sometimes..feel like it's better that she doesn't know. Spare her the hurt. And just..make her happy instead. I mean..she likes me..I like her..I've never felt so connected with anyone, Sam. I mean..not even Steve. Adriana's..different. She gives me hope. You know. I feel like I'm awake again after a long long sleep. And I'm ready to live again. And I'm so scared to lose all that. If I tell her, I feel I will lose that. And I don't know if I can cope with that." Bucky said..his voice shook a little.

Sam sighed. He didn't respond, he just stared at Bucky, searching him. But his eyes told him he understood.

"Bucky..did you remember what happened with Tony? When he found out you killed his parents?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, of course. That's exactly why I don't wanna tell Adriana. At least, not yet." Bucky said.

"What I meant was, eventually, one way or another, the truth will come out. That's just the way the world works. So, rather than not telling her yourself and risks her finding out about it in a different way, I suggest you tell her yourself. You told me she listened to you without judgement when you told her about you being the Winter Soldier..so I believe she will understand and forgive you. Trust me." Sam said.

"You really think so?" Bucky asked Sam, he was still feeling doubtful.

"Yeah I think so. Well, if I'm wrong and she doesn't forgive you and dumps you, I'll help you make a Tinder profile." Sam teased, laughing out loud.

Bucky was annoyed, he just gave him an annoyed look.

"Thanks for the talk, Sam. That was very helpful. Especially the very end." Bucky said cynically.

"I'm just kidding, Buck." Sam said.

"Anyway, would you like to train the new SHIELD recruits? I'm supposed to train them this afternoon. But maybe you can train them instead."

"Train them what? Martial arts again?" Bucky asked.

"Well, yeah. Hand to hand combat. You're good at it. Or if you prefer something else, like handling weapons, that's okay too." Sam said.

"I prefer hand to hand combat." Bucky said. "But maybe I'll teach them a bit about weaponry sometime in the future." He continued.

"Great. Let's go." Sam said.

They both then went to the training room for SHIELD.

Chapter 11>

Taglist

@emetophilily

[melanielocke]

Lost in the Shadows - Chapter 27

AO3

Taglist: @alastaircarstairsdefenselawyer @foxglove-airmid @alastair-esfandiyar-carstairs1 @justanormaldemon @styxdrawings @ipromiseiwillwrite @a-dream-dirty-and-bruised@alastair-appreciation-month

Previous Chapter: Chapter 26

Next Chapter: Chapter 28

Thomas was still in the same position on the couch by the time Alastair reached him, both his parents on the other couch, carefully monitoring him. Thomas had put on a movie, and Alastair got the idea he was trying to ignore his parents, who both looked worried. Alastair found a way to sit beside him on the couch.

‘How are you feeling?’ he asked.

‘I slept for several hours,’ Thomas said. ‘Then my parents arrived and found out I was sick and pretty much everything went downhill from there. What about you? Did you encounter anything? No offense, but you kind of smell.’

Alastair made a face. ‘Thanks a lot.’

‘Seriously, what happened?’

‘A deer.’

Thomas frowned. ‘A deer?’

‘I have always been terrified of deer. Today just reminded me why. Or perhaps it wasn’t really a deer. Lucie decided to call it eldritch horror deer, which is the closest I can come to describing it. You don’t want to know more, trust me. Either way, it’s dead now, no need to worry about it.’

Ever since he’d seen his father’s memory of that monster, he’d been afraid of deer. Because that deer had looked completely normal too before he’d realized it wasn’t, and Alastair had realized anything could hide a monster.

‘So you smell of dead eldritch horror deer... It’s not so bad as after we got the skin and you had to swim through I don’t know what.’

‘This is why I don’t want to dedicate my life to fighting these things or be a hero or anything like that. Dead body parts are disgusting no matter what creature they come from and you always come back covered in gross smelly things. I’m going to take a bath. You want to join?’

Thomas turned very red, although that could have been the fever.

‘Maybe it’ll help you get warm,’ Alastair added.

He went upstairs to draw a bath, and threw in a good amount of bath foam with eucalyptus scent. Alastair loved the fresh sharpness of eucalyptus, and used many eucalyptus scented products. He quickly got into the shower while the bath was still not full, rinsing off the worst of the dirt, before inviting Thomas in and getting in the bath tub. Thomas still turned around while undressing, and Alastair politely looked in the other direction. With the amount of foam he’d used, there wouldn’t be much to see once Thomas was in the bath anyway and he understood Thomas might still be a bit awkward with this.

Thomas settled next to him, and Alastair turned on the bubbles. He tried to remember if Jem’s house had a bubble bath, but if not it needed one. He was pretty sure there was a big bathroom, at least, and as far as he remembered there was a bath tub but he had no idea what Jem had done to the place.

‘Is it alright if I lean against you?’ Alastair asked.

Thomas didn’t answer, just opened his arm and allowed Alastair to find a comfortable position leaning against his shoulder. Thomas really was warm and feverish.

‘How are you feeling?’ Alastair asked.

‘A lot better now that I’m in the bath. Still a little cold but I imagine that’ll be over soon enough. I’d slept for several hours on the couch and everything kind of hurts now. I took another two paracetamol before coming here, so hopefully they’ll start working soon. The eucalyptus scent really wakes me up though.’

‘It opens the airways,’ Alastair said. ‘Did the fever change at all?’

‘No, not really. I just took it again. It’s still around 38,5 degrees,’ Thomas said. ‘When I woke up my parents were there and I had to explain what was going on. They were kind of upset I didn’t immediately tell them I’d fallen ill and immediately started the whole routine of taking care of sick baby Thomas. Which is exactly why I didn’t tell them.’

Alastair took a hold of his hand. ‘Did you tell them why you didn’t want them to find out about your sickness?’

‘No,’ Thomas said.

‘Why not? It makes you unhappy that they are treating you this way.’

‘I don’t want to hurt their feelings,’ Thomas admitted. ‘I know they mean well, and I know they’re scared too.’

Alastair looked him in the eye. Often he forced himself to do that, make eye contact at just the right moment despite the discomfort. For a long time, he’d wanted nothing more than to be normal, and eye contact was part of that. With Thomas, it was easier. His eyes really were beautiful. The discomfort never quite went away though, so he settled his gaze on Thomas’ brow instead. People usually couldn’t tell when he was faking eye contact. It was only when he lied that he had to avoid someone’s gaze altogether.

‘So they have no clue that you hate being taken care of?’ Alastair asked. ‘You’ve never once asked them to stop and leave you be?’

‘I think sometimes they do ask if they’ve hurt my feelings,’ Thomas admitted. ‘When they’re being too protective. But in the moment, I always downplay it, I don’t want to hurt them and I understand why they’re protective.’

‘But if you want them to stop doing it, you don’t do it by hiding your sickness from them. You tell them how you feel, even if it is uncomfortable for them to hear.’

Alastair knew he wasn’t much better in that regard, he didn’t know how to deal with what he felt well. He was far more aware of what he felt than people thought, but that didn’t always mean he could explain it without feeling like he was crazy. Repressing and hiding was easier, but Alastair had learnt the hard way it made everything worse in the long run.

‘Maybe I can do that,’ Thomas said. ‘Thank you.’

‘Anytime. You had no issue telling me you didn’t like being taken care of,’ Alastair said.

‘No, I know that. I’m not sure why it’s different. Perhaps because if I tell my parents, they’ll have to feel guilty for being overprotective practically all my life, whereas you’ve never done that before. Telling you to stop would be less hurtful than it would be to tell my parents.’

‘The longer you wait, the worse it’ll get,’ Alastair said. ‘They are right to be worried, you are in danger and we’re running out of time. But that doesn’t mean they can’t change how they treat you when you’re sick.’

‘You really think that’s what this is, isn’t it? I’m going to die.’

Alastair took hold of Thomas’ hand. ‘No, you’re not going to die. I won’t let you.’

Not even if it cost him his life, Alastair told himself, but he wouldn’t say that out loud. He didn’t want to worry Thomas.

‘What else can we do?’ Thomas asked. ‘Tatiana’s gone.’

Alastair frowned. ‘Gone?’

‘My dad went into the village and asked people about her. The staff from that hotel and restaurant said she’d left, so if the plan is to go after her… We have no clue where she is. On the bright side, phones are back in order, and we’re no longer trapped.’

‘It’s not entirely true that we can’t find her,’ Alastair said. ‘Lucie did find something today, before our encounter with the monster. A locket, and a note from Jesse. How he wrote it as a ghost, I have no idea.’

Alastair’s best guess was that Jesse had grown stronger as Thomas had gotten sick, and that he could now hold things. Closer to being alive than he had been before.

‘Anyway, Lucie can summon him with the locket. Assuming he’s been around Tatiana, but I can’t imagine where else he would be. He can lead us back to her.’

Alastair knew they needed a plan, and fast. He had promised Lucie he would help her work on Barbara’s memory. So far, no success. Alastair couldn’t see dead people, and his power didn’t work on dead people. Lucie was still convinced that in between her commanding ghosts and Alastair’s access to people’s memory there was a way to witness the realm of the thief of souls. If that didn’t work, they’d have to go after Tatiana. Stopping her would at the very least save Thomas for the time being, buy them enough time to find a way to permanently defeat the thief of souls.

Grace had said he’d been a mortal once. He was not a god or a devil, or something that was meant to exist. He’d been a mortal who’d claimed a world and started stealing souls, but he was not meant to be there. Which meant he could be defeated, and Alastair was convinced that with cortana and Lucie’s magic, their chances were better than most people’s. Unfortunately, that didn’t mean those were good chances.

‘Did you call anyone?’ Alastair asked. ‘I think I should call my mother.’

‘My sisters,’ Thomas said. ‘They were both very upset. Eugenia had just gotten off her flight back from India with her friend Kamala, they’ll come here as soon as they can. Barbara’s still in Paris with her boyfriend, but she says she’s getting on the next flight.’

‘I’d love to meet your sisters,’ Alastair said.

He was nervous too, people rarely liked him, why would Thomas’ sisters? Then again, Thomas liked him, Thomas’ parents seemed to like him, so maybe he had a better chance with Thomas’ sisters than with the average person.

‘Preferably not now though,’ Thomas said. ‘I urged them not to come here, but they wouldn’t listen. I told them it would be dangerous, but they both insisted on coming and told me I couldn’t stop them.’

‘It seems the stubbornness runs in the family,’ Alastair said.

‘Dad called uncle Gabriel,’ Thomas added. ‘Uncle Gabriel tried to convince Barbara to instead come to London and watch the children for him while he and Cecily come here to help. So far, I think Barbara is insistent on coming.’

Alastair could imagine why. Even if they were hopeful, even if they had a plan, there was a chance Thomas would die. He understood Thomas’ sisters wanted to be with him in case that happened, to at least be able to say goodbye.

It was time for dinner when Alastair and Thomas got out of the bath, dried off, and dressed themselves. Thomas felt less cold, which Alastair guessed was good, but still very tired and had very little appetite. Instead of joining them for dinner, he retreated to the couch again, only eating some soup and a piece of bread. At least it was something.

Alastair had to stop himself from taking care of him. Thomas didn’t want it, he just needed some rest. Thomas put on another movie, not yet tired enough to fall asleep, and Alastair retreated to his bedroom so he could call his mother.

‘Alastair, it’s been so long since I heard from you!’ his mother scolded as she picked up.

She spoke in Farsi, and it was somehow comfortable to speak to her in her language.

‘I’m sorry, maman. A lot has been happening, and we couldn’t reach anyone outside.’

‘I think you and your sister should come home, you’re not safe there,’ his mother said.

Alastair sighed. ‘We can’t. Leaving won’t make the problems go away. Thomas needs me, and Lucie is in danger as well. Without Cordelia and her sword, neither of them stand a chance.’

‘I understand, azizam. I just wish I could know you were safe.’

‘I can’t make a any promises. But I’ll protect Cordelia. We’ll be home before you know it. Jem told us about the baby.’

‘You’re not mad, I hope?’ his mother asked.

‘No, of course not,’ Alastair said. ‘I can’t wait to meet my baby brother or sister, same for Cordelia. It is not what either of us expected, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing.’

‘I haven’t seen your father,’ his mother promised. ‘I must have gotten pregnant before we left, it was an accident, but one that I am happy about. I’ll be raising the baby by myself. Risa has promised to help, of course.’

‘I’ll be there too,’ Alastair promised. ‘The baby will have everything they need.’

‘I hope you are not angry with me,’ his mother said quietly.

‘Why would I be?’

‘Because I didn’t protect you,’ his mother said. ‘I thought you could handle it, you could protect Cordelia and we would be fine. But I was wrong, protecting you was my responsibility and I failed you.’

‘It’s not your fault,’ Alastair said and he meant it.

It wasn’t the first time his mother or someone else had pointed out she should have been there for him, should have protected him, but he couldn’t bring himself to blame her for it. She’d been a victim too, he’d told her, he’d told his therapist. Maybe she could have done better, she could have seen he was struggling sooner, but she hadn’t wanted to see. Father had told her Alastair’s odd behavior was normal, that teen boys went through times like that, and he’d believed her.

‘Still, I am sorry. I know you do not blame me, but that does not mean I don’t regret what I did. How has it been with the Herondales? I’d thought you would be happier there, but I never imagined all this would happen to you.’

‘It has been nice here,’ Alastair said. ‘But yes, also dangerous. Nothing to be done about that. I’m not sure if you’ve gotten any of my text, but I’ve been spending a lot of time with Thomas, and he’s my boyfriend now.’

‘Oh, that’s nice. I’m happy for you, joon-am.’

‘Me too. I’m just scared something’s going to happen to him. He’s gotten sick and I think he’s going to get worse. It’s not looking good.’

‘I know I never wanted you and Cordelia to run towards danger like Elias did. But if it saves the boy you love… I have faith in you, Alastair.’

After ending the phone call, Alastair returned downstairs to find Thomas had finished the movie and was turning off the tv. As Thomas closed his eyes and presumably fell asleep again, Alastair sought out Lucie.

‘I think we should give it another try,’ Alastair said. ‘With Barbara’s memory.’

‘You’re right. She’s at the Lightwood cottage, she doesn’t like big crowds and prefers to stay there. I’ll ask aunt Sophie.’

Lucie returned to the kitchen, where Thomas’ parents were doing the dishes, and Alastair returned to Thomas, who had his eyes opened once more.

‘I’m going with Lucie to see if we’re getting anywhere with Barbara,’ Alastair said. ‘If your parents are bothering you, you tell them, alright?’

‘I’m considering it. Kiss me before you go?’

Alastair obliged, leaning down to kiss Thomas on the mouth before leaving him to get some more rest.

‘Rest well, delbaram,’ Alastair said.

Alastair returned to Lucie and Sophie, who were on their way back to the Lightwood cottage.

‘I can’t stay here,’ Sophie said. ‘I cannot leave Thomas alone for too long when he’s so sick.’

Alastair wondered if he should say anything. He didn’t want to speak for Thomas, but it seemed clear that Sophie had no idea how Thomas really felt about his parents concern.

‘Thomas has gone back to sleep,’ Alastair said. ‘He said he wanted to rest, best to leave him until he wakes.’

Telling her not to worry felt wrong, so he didn’t. Thomas could die, of course she was worried. Alastair was too. He wasn’t sure what he’d have to do, to keep Thomas alive. He’d read a little about the ritual, and together with that memory of Gideon who’d once interrupted his father, Alastair knew how to summon the thief. Perhaps that was how he could be defeated, by bringing him here and then attacking him. Although if it was that simple, Alastair wondered why no one else had tried it.

‘Alright. Please tell me you have a plan,’ Sophie said.

‘We’re going to try to get information from Barbara,’ Alastair said. ‘Based on that, we figure out how to take on the thief of souls. If we need more time, Lucie will summon Jesse and find out where Tatiana is, confront her there and stop her. If she does not fulfill her end of the bargain, Jesse will not live and therefore Thomas will not die.’

Alastair was mostly certain of that. Mostly. There was a chance that Jesse was far enough gone that when Tatiana stopped, the thief of souls could once again choose which of Benedict’s grandsons he wanted, and let the other go. If that was the case, Alastair wasn’t so sure he wouldn’t choose Thomas.

‘And we want to find out how to defeat the thief of souls,’ Lucie added. ‘He is mad with me because I stole Barbara from him, so he’s going to come after me either way. Perhaps he even realized who my mother is. Not to mention I don’t want Jesse to go back to being trapped there.’

The three of them arrived at the Lightwood’s cottage. Even if with a ghost living in there, Alastair felt the little cottage with its adorable garden was welcoming. A nice place to spend the summer.

‘Show yourself,’ Lucie commanded, and Barbara appeared, sitting on the couch.

‘How have you been?’ Lucie asked.

‘I’m alright, thank you. The other ghost at your house can be a bit much, so I am happy to stay here for now.’

Alastair hoped Barbara meant Jessamine, and not another ghost he didn’t know about. As much as he was used to the supernatural, ghosts made him a bit uncomfortable, mostly because he couldn’t see them and he could never be sure he wasn’t being watched. At least Jessamine was far more prudish than he was and Alastair trusted her to turn around and go somewhere else when he was in the bathroom or changing or kissing Thomas.

‘We want to try once more to enter your memory,’ Lucie explained. ‘Are you up for it?’

‘Of course. Not much else here for me, I’m afraid,’ Barbara said. ‘I wish I could be of more help. It’s like it’s on the tip of my tongue, like a dream that slips away when you wake up and I just can’t remember.’

Alastair could imagine that was frustrating. It was hard for him to picture, not being able to remember something. Dreams could be trickier, and sometimes he lost them, but Alastair did not care much for dreams and would much rather not dream at all. Memories, however, could never be lost, he could never forget. At most he could get frustrated if he couldn’t find the right memory for certain information.

‘Can you command ghosts to be alive, Lucie?’ Alastair asked.

Lucie frowned. ‘I can’t bring people back from the dead.’

‘No, but perhaps temporarily. You can make ghosts visible, you can make them corporeal enough to touch things. All of those bring them closer to what qualifies as alive. Perhaps if you command them to be alive, they will be able to do all these things at once, even if for only a moment. And then I’d be able to access her memory.’

‘Alright. I’ll give it a try. Barbara, I command you to live.’

Alastair couldn’t see anything change, but when he tried to enter Barbara’s memory, he found it was there. She did put up a bit of resistance.

‘It’s alright,’ he said. ‘It’s just me, you can let me in.’

Barbara relaxed, and Alastair tried to search for the right memory. Usually, people tried to recall the memory, they controlled what memory was shown, not he. But Barbara couldn’t recall what she didn’t remember. He’d found ways around that, ways to bring back lost memories. When he was younger he’d tried to restore his father’s memory of a night he’d been too drunk to remember, thinking it would help. Alastair had long given up that practice though, it didn’t make a difference. He’d believed once that if his father remembered what he did while he was drunk, he would stop. He would realize how much hurt he was causing and stop drinking. But it didn’t make a difference, and his father had mostly found it inconvenient. It was easier for him to forget.

With Tessa, he’d used a different, harder strategy of searching through association, starting with what he knew ought to be there. Jessamine, the house. Tessa still didn’t remember everything, but she was getting there.

With Barbara, he took a different approach. The trick in this case was to start at the last thing someone remembered and then speed things along a little. Alastair knew the last thing Barbara remembered, which was her fight with her husband and then her death. He tried to brace himself as he asked Barbara to remember that, hoping he wouldn’t get lost in his own memory.

They managed to start the memory after Benedict stalked off into his own study and Barbara rushed to get the children. He could tell she was confused, but took the opportunity just the same, rushing through the mansion. In the distance, he could hear a baby cry. Alastair assumed that was Tatiana. Then Barbara collapsed to the ground and Alastair felt something awfully painful in his back. Blood. The spinal cord, severed. Was it Benedict, behind her, who had stabbed her? Barbara didn’t turn around, didn’t see her attacker, but it had to be. She hadn’t dropped dead when Benedict had made the deal. She’d been murdered. Because the thief might prefer spouses, but those weren’t connected by blood, so he couldn’t kill them himself.

Alastair wondered how Benedict had gotten away with murdering his wife, a knife in her back while she was at home was hard to explain away. But then he guessed it was easy for the thief of souls to make her body disappear, or use some magic to change it to resemble a suicide. He didn’t know, had not asked Gideon what he’d once believed happened to his mother. He thought that would be too painful.

She was in pain for only a little while, and then the Lightwood’s manor disappeared. She was in a forest not unlike the one around here. It was dark and cold and gloomy. Alastair could feel the chill touch his skin. Barbara looked around, taking in the environment with great care. There were others like her. People, but there was something unusual about their eyes. Alastair couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but something was not right. Those had to be the other souls. There were many of them, spread out across where Barbara could see.

‘Follow me.’

There was a woman. She looked like the others, human, but something was not right. She appeared a little more alive though, a little less broken. She seemed to be somewhat in charge here.

‘Who are you? Where am I?’ Barbara asked.

‘Follow me,’ the woman repeated.

Reluctantly Barbara followed. Alastair sped up the next part, as the walk was rather long. The woods seemed endless, which made Alastair wonder where this was exactly. In the land in between, some buildings still existed, but here there seemed to be none at all. There were souls all over though, what was their purpose? Some were doing something, carrying things Alastair couldn’t identify, working for the thief? Others wandered around aimlessly. Alastair did the best he could to take in any landmarks she passed. He never knew if he would have to navigate this realm.

At last they reached a castle. The castle the others had been dreaming about. Alastair was the only one who hadn’t dreamt and he was glad for it. Although perhaps compared to his usual dreams, nightmares about a spooky castle were an improvement.

Barbara entered the castle. Based on the gothic building style, the many sharp shapes, Alastair guessed it must have been built somewhere in late medieval time. It certainly wasn’t the style he would choose if he could live in a castle, too bleak for his taste. He’d prefer a bit more welcoming style, big windows, light and bright colors. A big private bathhouse. Old Persian style, or perhaps Roman or ancient Greek. Instead, the inside of the castle looked dreary and a bit messy. Had it been rebuilt over time, or was this an indication of how old the thief of souls was?

The woman led Barbara into the throne room. On the throne was a man with dark hair and a skin the color of paper. His eyes were red and glowing, and his head was decorated with big antlers. He’d been mortal once, so where had the antlers come from? Alastair could only say he was right that deer were scary.

‘I take it you had to walk here,’ he said.

His voice was surprisingly human, although loud and authoritative. Barbara didn’t say anything.

‘Yes, my lord, she appeared in the forest approximately seventy miles south of here,’ said the woman who had accompanied Barbara.

Seventy miles… Had Barbara really just walked that far? Alastair suspected distance was different in the land of the thief.

The red eyes glowed a little brighter. ‘Did I ask?’

‘Forgive me, my lord,’ the woman said.

She had to be one of his souls, but somehow she’d gotten a higher position in serving him. Were there more souls like this?

‘Your name is Barbara Lightwood, isn’t it?’

Barbara looked up, shaking on her feet. ‘Yes, that is correct.’

‘Barbara, Barbara… given to me by your husband. Betrayal after marriage has its use for me, but it is surprisingly common, I’m afraid. All sorts of marriages go sour and so often people have grown to hate their spouse so much they’re willing to sacrifice the soul. Still, it is an interesting sort of betrayal, a broken vow. Did you see it coming, Barbara? Were you afraid of your husband?’

Barbara was silent.

‘You are new here, and so I will be forgiving. But it does not do to ignore my questions,’ the thief of souls said, angry but calm and in control. ‘When I ask you a question, you will give me an honest answer. Do I make myself clear?’

‘Yes… Yes, sir.’

A small smile appeared on the thief’s face. ‘Alright then, Barbara. Amuse me. Did you see it coming?’

‘I… Yes. And no. I knew he was dangerous, I knew he might hurt me or the children. But I did not think any of this existed, or that he would choose me as a sacrifice.’

‘Intriguing,’ the thief said. ‘It has been such a long time since I was one of your kind. Your love, hate, betrayal. It is absolutely fascinating. What drives a husband to betray his wife to me? How much power do I need to offer, for them to stab someone they claimed to love in the back. Can any soul be corrupted? And what was the reason your husband first was unwilling to make a deal, but now summoned me and told me it was done and you could be mine?’

Alastair could not feel what someone else was feeling in their memories, not entirely. He got a glimpse of it, but little more. He could tell Barbara was horrified though, betrayed. And for the thief, it was a source of entertainment besides power. He seemed intrigued by the horrors humans were capable of, and loved to bring out the worst in them.

‘I was leaving,’ Barbara said slowly. ‘I knew my children and I weren’t safe there. He found out I was leaving, and got angry.’

The thief of souls laughed, his face bright. ‘Of course, that’s so often the cause. People are far more likely to sacrifice someone who is leaving them. Perhaps if you’d been a good wife and stayed, he would have let you live.’

Alastair tried to push down his anger, his sense of helplessness. This whole conversation was difficult to listen to, the way the thief was fascinated by the way people used and abused others and liked to leverage such situations to his advantage. The way he blamed Barbara for what her husband had done. He felt sick, and had no choice but to push away and leave. Both he and Barbara were on the couch, shaking. Sophie was sitting opposite to them, whereas Lucie looked like she was about to fall asleep.

‘Did you find what you needed?’ Lucie asked, suppressing a yawn.

‘More or less,’ Alastair said. ‘I got to see his realm. It is a huge dark forest and the souls are everywhere. Some have jobs, or I don’t know, serve him somehow. Many just wander around. And he was human once. Apparently, it’s not so uncommon for people who deal with him to sacrifice their spouse. Even if because of the whole blood connection thing, people have to kill their spouses themselves.’

Alastair didn’t want to think about the kind of people that did. No one in a good and healthy relationship woke up one day and sacrificed their partner for power. The thief said he wondered if anyone could be corrupted but Alastair didn’t think so. He imagined many had been abused before. It made him wonder, if he’d stayed with Charles, if Charles had known about all this, would he have been willing to sacrifice Alastair to get the power he wanted?

‘That sounds rather awful,’ Sophie said.

‘Not very romantic,’ Lucie added.

‘Marriage isn’t always,’ Alastair said. ‘Nor are relationships. Sometimes it’s less about love and more about power.’

‘Benedict was all about power,’ Barbara said. ‘At first, I thought he was good underneath that cold exterior. He could be so charming, but they so often are, aren’t they?’

‘They are,’ Alastair said, thinking of Charles.

‘I thought that my love could temper his moods,’ Barbara continued. ‘It was just like a romance novel, you know? Average woman meets cold but charming and wealthy man and her love changes him. I always loved those.’

‘I like love stories too,’ Lucie said. ‘But real life is not always like the stories. Sometimes someone is not who you think they are.’

‘Stupid, isn’t it? I should have known. I should have seen through his charm and his stupid lies.’

Alastair twisted his fingers, pained. He told himself that so often. He should have known Charles could not be trusted, should have known he only cared about himself. He should have known Charles was taking advantage of him. It had all been so obvious to Cordelia when he’d told her, so why hadn’t he known better?

‘It’s not your fault,’ he said instead, because he was still doing the best he could to convince himself of that. Funny how it was so much easier to believe it when it was someone else. ‘It’s his, and his alone.’

‘Being naïve or looking past warning signs doesn’t change that,’ Sophie added. ‘You deserved better. Your children did too. I hope you can find peace.’

Barbara smiled at Sophie through her tears. ‘I’m so happy my son found someone like you.’

[cant-think-of-anything]

Pirate AU (Part Six)

Lucie was very impressed by the sheer amount of weapons the Carstairs owned. There was an entire room lined with them that Cordelia led her down to in an attempt to find her a weapon.

“Well I would offer you a dagger,” Cordelia mused glancing at the wall full of them, “but Alastair is unhealthily fond of those. Bow and arrow?”

“I don’t think my aim is quite that good,” Lucie replied, running her hand over a gold spear.

“I wouldn’t take that either,” Cordelia cut in, coming to stand next to her. “Another one of Alastair’s, I swear he treats them like his children. He has multiple on him all the time.” 

“But how would one even-”

“I’ve given up asking. Oh!”

Cordelia popped the lid off a barrel and pulled out a small axe, flipping it once in her hand before waving it to Lucie. She accepted, wrapping her fingers around the dainty handle and looked up. 

“Perfect,” Cordelia murmured. 

~~~

Thomas stared out the carriage window rather helplessly, because looking anywhere else would mean staring at either Alastair or Eugenia. Who were miraculously chatting amicably instead of sniping at each other. They were set to go to the Blackthorn’s ship at sundown, meaning they had very little time left. 

“Thomas!” Eugenia half-yelled, kicking his leg. 

Thomas looked up suddenly, not missing Alastair’s unsuccessful attempt to cover his laugh. His mind clung to the sound of the short-lived laugh, trying to focus on what Eugenia was saying

“Open the door, Cordelia’s here.”

He pushed the entry open to reveal Cordelia and Lucie. Lucie had changed into what he could only assume were Cordelia’s clothes. They were looser on her but Lucie seemed thrilled.

“Well,” Eugenia huffed, glancing at her own gown distastefully as they started moving again. 

When they arrived near the ocean night had come, the darkness would cloak their presence as they approached. Alastair began to explain what they needed to do. Thomas noted the way everyone readily listened to him.

“Lucie, Cordelia, Eugenia, you three locate Tatiana’s room, take out as little people as possible. Do not go in unless you feel the need to. Come back to where we burn through the ship and wait for us to come back. We’ll try to find anyone in need of rescuing.”

Thomas’s head jerked up at that. Alastair turned his intense dark eyes to him, his eyebrow flickering up slightly.

“Thomas you’re with me.”

~~~

Eugenia watched Cordelia stab her sword into the side of her ship and pour the vial Christopher had given them on the wood. The smell of smoke drifted into the air as a patch of the ship withered and melted away, leaving a large enough hole for them to get through.

Alastair cocked his head to the side and studied the vial. Eugenia heard him mutter the word “smart” before he pocketed the glass and swung himself gracefully into the ship. She felt a thrum of nervousness and anticipation as she watched Cordelia and Alastair pull her friends up. She wasn’t going to be alone, she reminded herself as she gripped the siblings’ hands. 

The crawlspace was dark and tight, she was fairly certain someone had stepped on her foot, but it served for a well hidden meeting spot. 

“An hour,” Cordelia reminded them, exchanging one of those looks with her brother. “Anymore and we assume the worst.”

And then they split, Thomas and Alastair disappearing down to the depths of the ship. 

“Captain’s cabin is always in the same spot,” Cordelia said softly, squinting into the distance.

“Is Tatiana their captain? We never really found out.” Lucie followed Cordelia down the dark hallway leaving Eugenia no choice but to follow. 

“I suppose not but it is rare for any one of higher position to be sleeping below with the common crew.”

Cordelia stopped suddenly, her head tipping back. They were above deck now, obscured, pressed into an open passageway leading to the back of the ship. It started to rain, cold pelting droplets combining with the ocean spray. 

“There,” Cordelia breathed, pointing up to a row of connected rooms. 

The only problem was that there was a clear outline of a man in one of the shaded windows. If they went in from the front he was sure to hear them or see them. Eugenia considered running up the stairs and stabbing him regardless but Cordelia seemed to have other ideas. 

She looped her hand around the rope connected to the main mast, the muscles in her arm flexing as she tightened her grip and turned back to them.

“I can only take one with me.”

Eugenia pushed Lucie forward. It wasn’t as if she didn’t want to go, but she wasn’t a fool. Cordelia and Lucie made moon eyes at each other nearly every time they spoke and while all of her friends may be oblivious idiots to their own feelings she refused to be the same. Cordelia swallowed, pulling her hood up to cover her red hair before wrapping her arm around Lucie, who’s breathing seemed to have completely stopped. 

Feeling as if she was intruding, Eugenia looked away, promising to keep watch and alert them if anyone came. She heard them depart but a different noise caught her attention. She whipped her head around, her hand tightening on her sword - and nearly dropped it. 

~~~

Kamala wasn’t sure what to make of the situation. She heard soft footfalls from above her when she was retiring for bed and reluctantly pulled herself above deck. She had expected to see a stray crewmate breaking curfew but she certainly didn’t expect to see Eugenia Lightwood standing on the deck, her day dress and brown hair coated in water droplets. When she had met her in the market she’d recognized the name, the Lightwoods were Tatiana’s family after all.

But Eugenia seemed to be just that; a relative of her leader who fell into a situation at a market. Not a longsword wielding criminal who snuck onto pirate ships.

“What are you doing here?” Kamala half shouted over the rain which was growing louder.

“This is your ship?” Eugenia called back. Her eyes were halfway between green and brown, shining with either anger or something else. 

“Not my ship. I just work on it.” 

Eugenia pulled back, her breathing looked shaky. “Why?”

“Money. Why else?”

Catching her hand, Kamala felt herself being pulled under the wood cover of the hallway. The storm was picking up speed now, tearing violently at their masts. Kamala told herself that she shouldn’t care about the look of betrayal in Eugenia’s eyes but she still felt a piercing pain in heart whenever she looked at the woman’s face. 

“Are you going to say anything to them?” Eugenia asked finally, her face close enough to Kamala’s that she could whisper. 

Kamala’s loyalties did not lie with Tatiana. She worked for her certainly but she couldn’t bring herself to turn Eugenia in.

“No. I won’t ask questions. But if you’d come with others keep in mind that you are the only one I’m sparing.  

~~~

It seemed, Alastair thought bitterly, picking the lock that led below deck, that there was no part of London that wasn’t absolutely filthy. It smelled overwhelmingly of alcohol and fish, a scent that Alastair had grown to block out overtime of being held under enemy pirate ships. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, trying to press down the memories. The Carstairs had always tried to spare innocents and other pirates, but most pirates favored cruelty. 

He tried his best to keep that from Cordelia, that if there was ever a price to be paid that he would be the one in debt. The scars on his skin, reminders of how brutal their life could be were always carefully hidden.

“Alastair? Are you alright?” 

Biting back a curse he nodded, avoiding Thomas’s eye as he pushed the door open with a soft creak. Turning he pressed one of his daggers into Thomas’s hand, ignoring the way the brush of his hands sent sparks directly to Alastair’s brain.

“We won’t take any of the crewmates, we’re just looking for prisoners, people who were taken.”

“They take people for prisoner?” Thomas asked, his voice a horrified murmur.

The memory of ropes cutting into his arms burned far too brightly behind his eyes. “Yes.”

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Thomas gently placed a hand on his arm, his hazel eyes searching Alastair’s face.

“I-” 

The sound of a wave slamming into the side of the ship cut him off and Alastair was grateful for it. Turning down the hallway they searched the rooms as quietly as they could. Hurried moments passed and they came up with nothing.

“What if Tatiana doesn’t have any?”

“Unlikely. I assume they’re dead. We should meet the girls upstairs.”

~~~

I was going to post this yesterday but Shadow and Bone. Also I’m posting the next part now as well, it got too long. 

Tagging: @adoravel-fenomeno and @barbra-lightwood