#just this image of peter being the only one of a whole group to survive wouldn't leave my brain

[idk-bruh-20]

Irondad fic ideas #154

CW: this one's pretty gruesome. read at your own risk 

Peter is a young child who's been kidnapped. His parents and/or his aunt and uncle were killed and he was taken. Along with a bunch of other little kids, he's been held captive and experimented on.

When the Avengers suddenly bust the kidnapping operation, the kidnappers try at the last second to destroy their research. They gas the small room where the kids are being held.

It's Iron Man who ends up blasting through. What he finds is horrifying. All but one of the children are dead.

The one who's left is just sitting among the bodies, crying, shocked, terrified. Iron Man carries him out of there, then once they're safe from the gas Tony steps out of the suit to comfort the kid while he's given oxygen.

Little 5-year-old Peter Parker imprints on his savior hard.

He just went through an unimaginable amount of trauma, then Iron Man burst through like an avenging angel. This is the first time he's ever felt protected in his memory. Tony holds the crying kid, and the kid can tolerate no one else near him.

This becomes a slight problem when they get back to base. But Tony can't find it in him to let SHIELD take the kid away, let them strip him of this one tiny bit of comfort. He keeps seeing all those other kids when he closes his eyes.

This one needs him right now. And if "right now" eventually becomes "this is my son," well. Who could've predicted that.

[jadesapphaire]

Losing Touch with Home: a Story of Social Distancing and Assimilation 

I was staring into the oven filled with Thanksgiving turkey and sushi bakes with a tipsy Joy and a wasted Asolia when Auntie Wang called Johnason, who stayed in Chicago during the winter. “Tell your brother to call home,” she said, “it's Thanksgiving.”

 Peter, the eldest son of Auntie Wang, was in Cupertino during Thanksgiving and had taken his siblings out for dinner during his short break but refused to visit his parents. He had recently cut all ties with the family and community in Cupertino after his family insulted his fiance for being neither Chinese nor Christian.

 Experiences like this are not uncommon among Chinese American children. Around 27% percent of Asian American children have reported cutting ties with their parents and distancing themselves from the community they grew up in. I want to bring attention to two reasons that young second-generation Chinese Americans reject their origins using my personal experiences and textual evidence from bell hook’s essay “Keeping Close to Home: Class and Education”.  

When I first heard the stereotype: Asian want to be white, I thought about first-generation, middle-aged Asian American immigrants living in the Bay Area who insist on owning guns, going to church on Sundays, and passionately looking down on other minorities. But then I thought about my 14-year-old self as the only person of color competing in varsity cross-country in the whole league. Being an introverted, sensitive teenager who couldn’t speak proper English, it took the kind of courage that a young kid did not have to admit that she had no idea who Ryan Gosling was or what her friend just said to make the whole team laugh.  To better fit into the team, I chose to change my clothing style and erase the differences I had with the rest of the team in an attempt to gain acceptance from my teammates, because “Style of dress and self-presentation is most often the central marker of one's position” (61), as bell hooks write. Sadly, being both demographically and culturally a member of a  subordinate group, I and many other minorities assimilate ourselves without knowing the term. Furthermore, in my school, leadership positions or student representatives, positions that required popularity among the students and faculty never favored minority groups that diverged from the “whitewashed” image of the dominant culture. bell hooks also mentioned selective acceptance in her article, “I soon learned that the black folks who spoke on the street were likely to be part of the black community and those who carefully shifted their glance were likely to be associated with Yale” (65). For one to benefit from the resources a community offers, one has to assimilate to the community’s image to the extent of proving themselves as “respectable” in society. To feel accepted into and succeed in a white-dominant society, subordinate groups, specifically young black people in hooks’ essay “are encouraged by the dominant culture (and by those black people who internalize the values of this hegemony) to believe that assimilation is the only way to survive, to succeed” (63). As a result, it was common for Asian teenagers to often lie about their identity as they refuse to associate themselves with the Chinese communities on campus. They introduced themselves as from “Palo Alto” or even “Hong Kong,” somewhere where people are more legible for those in the western hemisphere than China. Most dominant cultures appeal to the subordinate group with their social resources and connections which subordinate groups desperately need to succeed in society. For this reason, some students often find themselves actively denying the differences between themselves and the dominant group. And in the broader scale of Chinese American immigrants, some willingly give up their cultural roots for the social capital promised by American society. 

Unlike the well-studied nature of assimilation,  the second reason that drives young Chinese Americans away from their birth community is less obvious and unique to Chinese Americans. Many Chinese Americans distance themselves from their birth community, stemming from toxic family relationships in the name of tradition. Within the Chinese American community, parents’ protectiveness of their children can often turn into controlling behaviors that damage the parent-children relationship, or in other words, a failed attempt to helicopter parenting a stressed-out teenage child. Having to suffer from the hardship of immigration, many immigrant parents often “reluctantly and skeptically supported [their] educational endeavor', and “subjected them to constant harsh and bitter critique” (61, hooks). In high school, I volunteered at a non-profit that aimed to bridge the generational and cultural gaps between second-generation East Asian students and their first-generation immigrant parents. Many of the students reported experiencing conflicts with their parents on ideas such as racism or college admissions. Most of the conflicts were filled with bitter insults and scolding toward the children who attempted to start a peaceful discussion. These experiences created a high level of psychological distress, which in turn caused the teenagers to resent their parents. 

 As the second-generation Chinese Americans grew up in a society that differs from the Chinese society that their parents grew up in, many Chinese American families experience cultural gaps between generations. To bridge both the generational gaps and the cultural gaps, “One must also honestly confront barriers that do exist, aspects of that past that do diminish” (65). However, the East Asian culture and community have historically failed in bridging the generational and cultural gaps between the younger generation of Asian Americans struggling with their identity and their ideals. The glorification of “absolute obedience” to parents in the traditional Chinese culture has often shielded verbally or physically abusive parenting methods. Meanwhile, the underrepresentation of Asian Americans in society combined with model minority stereotypes have prevented proper discourse regarding issues that require attention around family issues and individual mental health for Chinese Americans. 

The highly selective process of immigration manifested the idea of doing no wrong in life for the parents, which was then passed on to the children. However, because of these generational and cultural gaps, the younger generation often finds it hard to maintain ties with their background that they feel no sense of belonging. Parents almost always put pressure on their children to aid their conventional success. Thus, it’s often heartbreaking to see broken family relationships that stem from protectiveness and care.

The day after the lockdown lifted at Berkeley, Asolia drove up from Cupertino to take me to Walmart for some retail therapy. On the drive there, blasting Taylor Swift, she told me that she, a youth pastor, and Joy, a lifelong Christian girl from a Christian family, wanted to convert to Buddhism: “Joy and I feel like Christianity is a way that the Chinese immigrant community tries to assimilate with the dominant culture in America and we want to be more connected with our cultural roots.” I laughed knowing that there was a time I almost converted to Christianity because of peer pressure but now I carry a blessed card of Mañjuśrī everywhere like a forty-year-old Chinese uncle. As demographically speaking, the representation of Asian Americans also increased, The younger generation of Chinese Americans finds their collective identity in the U.S, and many no longer wish to fully assimilate with the white majority.  This newfound cultural identity diverges greatly from their first-generation parents, while the enlarging cultural gaps call for a conversation within the community.  

 As a Chinese student who came of age in a Chinese American context, I am always happy to be a semi-reliable source of information for those who are interested in reconnecting with their ethnic roots. Yet due to my own cultural background as an F-1 student and my own fear of being forbidden to ever set foot in my house again, I shall emphasize that this essay ONLY intends to open a much-needed scholarly discussion regarding the parent-children relationship within the Asian community. Hopefully, with more conversation regarding Asian American heritage emerging, we can create an inclusive community where everyone feels comfortable being unique. 

[ptergwen]

only you and me

w/c: 6.7k

warnings: angst, mentions of weed, and some swearing

summary: whenever peter tries to tell you how he feels, harry gets in the way

a/n: ahhhh hi my loves! my mini writing break is over :,) life has been just a mess for me and i’ve been way more critical than usual about my work but i’m doing a little better and ready to get back into everything! this helped me a lot so i’m excited to share it with y’all <3 it’s also my first time writing harry osborn so lmk how i did lmaooofwfjj but yeah pls enjoy

-

“dude, she’s right there! just tell her!” ned whisper yells to peter, elbowing him for emphasis. they’re hidden behind a wall to watch you at your locker. you’re grabbing books while betty rants to you and mj rolls her eyes. “not now. she looks... busy,” peter gulps, gaze trailing down your body. he always finds excuses to put off telling you how he feels.

or rather, excuses find him. something comes up every time he gets the courage to do it. he has no idea why he’s so scared because he’s pretty sure you like him back. pretty sure. there are a few reasons why you might not. also, plenty why you might. you stay up late texting most nights, and you’ve even flirted a couple of times. it never fails to make peter blush. he trips over his words whenever he tries to flirt back.

he’s had feelings for you since the first time you two hung out alone. none of your other friends could make it, but you happily took him up on his offer to come over. you grinned through his whole apartment tour, asked about may and what she does. when peter showed you his room, you even complimented his movie posters, much to his surprise.

“really? you don’t think they’re, like, dorky?”

“no, peter. your interests aren’t dorky. everyone likes what they like.”

and, he liked you. he knew it from that point on. you’d know it too if the universe wouldn’t keep stopping him from saying that.

“she’s so...” peter pauses for a second. him and ned watch you pull betty in by her shoulders as if you’re going to kiss her. she dodges you, mj pushing her back, all three of you giggling about it before you grab betty’s hands and give her words of encouragement. “cool,” peter finishes, turning back to ned. “i mean, how she puts herself out there like that.”

“what’s stopping you from doing the same thing?” ned points out with a knowing smile that peter returns. you make it look so easy. whenever you’re comfortable around people, you can let go of any doubts you have. you stop worrying about what they might think and instead do what you want. it’s inspiring to peter, and heart warming getting to be one of the people you’re fully you with.

he wishes he could apply your wisdom himself.

peter shakes his head, staring down at the floor. “oh, you know. anxiety, fear of rejection. that fun stuff.” “so, yourself,” ned concludes, clapping peter’s backpack so hard it makes him stumble forward. betty and mj wave goodbye to you before heading to their first class. you’re still getting your things together at your locker. this is peter’s moment.

“come on, dude! y/n’s not busy anymore. you got this.” ned keeps his hand on peter’s back, adding on, “it’s been a year already.” “half a year,” peter corrects him in a mumble. he’s liked you for a really long time. “ok, i’m going. wish me luck.” he takes a deep breath and focuses in on you. “aw, dude. you don’t need it.” ned gives him one last pat on the back. “good luck, though.” “thanks, man. see you in trig.”

right as peter starts heading over, harry comes up behind you and covers your eyes. you squeal, jumping up and turning to him, laughing as you playfully hit at his chest. he brings you into a hug where your face is buried in his sweater and probably inhaling his super strong, super expensive cologne.

that’s what’s stopping peter, harry freaking osborn. his own friend.

peter quickly loses the tiny bit of confidence ned gave him. he figures it might be better to hold off on his confession and get an early start to class. unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like that’s going to happen. harry has already spotted him and calls him over.

“hey, pete! come give us some love, eh?” harry beams, an arm slung around your shoulders and you smiling up at him. you direct your smile to peter when he slumps his way to your locker. his lips pull into a barely noticeable frown. you notice. “there’s my guy. why so down, sunshine?” harry offers his fist for a fist bump. peter gives it to him, eyes staying on you.

harry osborn. where to begin with such a specimen? he’s the perfect combination of everything you’d want in a guy. he gets good grades, he’s a star player on on the basketball team, nice to everyone and makes you laugh, popular yet fits right into your small group.

he was friends with you before the popular thing. what kicked it off was him making varsity basketball while only being a sophomore. yep, he’s unreal. since then, he’s been balancing his cool life and also hanging with “the nerds,” as he likes to call you. he got his own feelings for you along the way. peter can tell.

he’ll give you rides home, compliment how you look, basically act like your boyfriend without really being it. it absolutely infuriates peter because he doesn’t compare to harry in the slightest. if he were you and had the choice between himself or harry, he would pick harry.

it’s been a factor in why he hasn’t come clean about how he feels yet. he’s not trying to create a love triangle that he doesn’t stand a chance surviving in.

“for real, peter. you good?” you ask him, eyebrows knitted together in concern. “fine,” peter lies and musters up a smile. “i’m just tired. didn’t sleep too good last night.” you’re only more concerned now. this has been happening to him a lot lately. you search for his eyes. “again?”

“aw, man. you need something for it?” harry punches peter’s shoulder and lowers his voice. “i know this kid who-“ “harry, stop.” your words are serious, tone lighthearted. you throw your head back on his arm. “do you really know a kid?” “i’m not telling you,” he says in an overly happy voice, you humming the same way. peter feels like he’s third wheeling.

“i was telling pete.” harry looks at him expectantly, peter’s mouth dropping open while he thinks of what to say. harry likes to mess around. this is a different level, though. “no thanks. i- i shouldn’t. i’m-“ “relax, i don’t know a kid,” harry chuckles and points at peter. “your face right now.” it’s completely flushed. you knock into harry’s side.

“ok, well literally no one laughed. you’re scaring him,” you tell harry sternly. peter tugs tight on one of his backpack straps. he doesn’t feel like he’s third wheeling you two now. he feels like your kid. he’ll never let ned mettle in his love life ever again if this is where it gets him. “he knows i’m kidding, y/n/n. right?” harry checks with peter. you make a face at him that says you aren’t convinced.

he switches his arm from you to peter, drawing him into his side. “look, pete. i’m sorry. the only kid i know who’s selling is chocolates for his band trip.” you’re satisfied with that, grinning at both of them. peter forces a laugh and nods. “no worries, man. i gotta get to class.” “good boy,” harry lets him go. “bye, pete. we’ll see you at lunch,” you remind him. he gives you a tight lipped smile. “see you, y/n/n.”

you and harry continue practically spooning each other as soon as peter is out of sight.

what the hell is going on?

peter is back to being grumpy, plopping down in his seat next to ned. their teacher has the lesson plan pulled up on the smart board. ned looks from it to peter, almost jumping in his seat. “oh, you’re back already? how’d it go?” “it didn’t go,” peter huffs, copying down the aim. he’s only doing it so he doesn’t have to look ned in the eyes while telling him he bailed. again.

“you didn’t do it?” ned repeats, peter writing something about pi and a unit circle in his notebook. he bites the inside of his cheek. “you have to do it at some point,” ned sighs out and picks up his pencil. even he’s getting tired of this, and ned never gets tired of a good friends to lovers moment. “i think she likes harry,” peter says under his breath. “huh?” ned gasps.

peter doesn’t feel like explaining the extremely awkward moment he just finished living. although, it wouldn’t hurt to get a second opinion. “y/n. he came over, and they kept hugging and whatever.” “they always do that,” ned almost scoffs, their trigonometry teacher moving to stand in front of the class. “yeah, but he had his arm around her the whole time we-“

the bell rings and cuts their conversation short. peter struggles to label the unit circle they learn about when his mind is filled to its capacity with images of you and harry all over each other. it’s not daydreaming. this is a nightmare. maybe, he actually will be having sleep problems.

peter’s morning is relatively decent after that. he gets to do an experiment with mj in chemistry, and she lets him take the lead for once. spanish is easy, health is okay, then he has a free period, then it’s lunch. things can only go downhill from here.

he thinks about hiding in the library until it’s over, but it’s the thought of harry eating your face that gets him to drag himself to the cafeteria.

flash is at the head of your table talking to harry when peter gets there. great, now he can’t eat his soggy chicken fingers in peace. “sounds dope. let’s go on the-“ flash stops saying what he was saying and nods at peter. “penis parker, you’re late.” peter takes his seat on your left, harry on your right. you glance over at him to make sure he’s okay. he acts like he doesn’t care, peeling open his milk carton.

“just text me later, man. get outta here,” harry dismisses flash, the two of them doing a bro handshake before he leaves. he’s well aware of his and peter’s history. he keeps them separate for the obvious reasons. peter appreciates it because saying no to flash is nearly impossible. he shouldn’t be so mad at harry, should he? he’s a good friend.

harry’s arm snakes around your waist and brings you closer to him. never mind.

“who’s up for sushi later?” he asks the table, everyone agreeing and saying how awesome that sounds. everyone except peter. you tap his shoulder with a small smile. “what about you, peter? you coming?” he realizes you’re all waiting for him to respond and puts down his milk. “uh, i can’t. homework,” he lamely answers.

“dude, we have homework, too. just do it a little later,” ned suggests, betty laying her head on his shoulder. you share a look with her, your eyes wide and a grin on your lips. that must have been what you were talking about this morning. she asked for boy advice. ned advice. why can’t this crap work out for peter?

“i really can’t. sorry, guys,” peter half heartedly apologizes.

he misses the disappointment that crosses your features because he’s pouting at his lunch again.

“homework, huh?” mj tests him, squinting as she takes a sip of apple juice. harry nudges peter’s side with two fingers. “you still mad about the sleeping thing?” “sleeping thing? what sleeping thing?” betty wonders while ned rests his head against hers. a quiet laugh slips out of you as you lean in to tell her.

“peter said he couldn’t sleep last night, so harry offered him...” you mime rolling a joint. “i said no,” peter clarifies, rolling his eyes at the inevitable teasing he’s about to get. none of you have even smoked besides harry. you’re being annoying about it. “of course you did,” mj sighs and kicks her feet up on the table. “unrelated to what y/n just said... harry, i have insomnia.”

everyone bursts into laughter at that, betty shoving her side and you pulling harry by his torso as he pretends to go into his backpack. peter wants nothing to do with any of this. he usually enjoys joking around with the group, even if it’s at his expense because it’s from a place of love.

today feels like you’re straight up making fun of him. harry might as well invite flash to join in.

“alright, alright, alright. enough of the weed talk,” harry decides, you removing your arms from him and grabbing your coffee. “you’re such a bad influence.” your voice drips with sarcasm. you bend the straw and take a sip while scooting closer to peter. “you really can’t come later? i feel like i’ve barely seen you today.” that’s on harry. “i wish i could, y/n/n,” peter exhales. “i’ll text you later, okay?”

you don’t get to answer because mj tugs on your arm, distracting you from peter. she explains how she has to do an art project on what it means to be a woman and needs help brainstorming ideas. you’re full of them, offering up an interesting perspective for her to use. peter smiles to himself as he listens in. you find a new way to impress him every day.

he should tell you that.

“hey, y/n?” “listen to her! you’re seriously my idol,” betty gushes, so loudly you don’t hear peter. not a single thing has gone in his favor at this table. he gives up.

peter locks himself in his room when he gets home from his overall terrible day. he does homework like he said he would, only taking a break for dinner, giving one word replies to may’s questions about school. he’d much rather be having sushi with you. he would’ve gone if the others didn’t.

after dinner, it’s back to grumbling and scribbling down answers. there’s a knock at peter’s door around ten o’clock, which he assumes is may saying goodnight. “i’ll be done in a few minutes, may! love you.” “it’s y/n,” you reply, the smile clear in your voice. his eyes go comically wide. that’s the last thing he expected to hear. “oh. uh, come in.”

you’re holding a small takeout bag, shutting the door behind you and walking over to his desk. you meet his twinkling eyes in the dim light that hits off his walls. from his open window, you faintly hear cars as they rush by and honk their horns in the distance, accompanied by a fresh breeze. it’s cozy, safe. it’s peter.

“hey. what’re you doing here?” peter questions, leaving his pencil in his binder and shutting it. you shake around the plastic bag. “i saved you a roll.” he bites back a smile, getting up from his chair. “may let me in. she was really chill about it,” you continue and hold out the sushi for him. “it’s a california roll. i wasn’t sure what you wanted, and everyone likes those.”

peter lets his smile spread out and takes the bag from you. “thanks, y/n/n. i was honestly hoping one of you would have leftovers.” you laugh softly, peter setting the bag down on his desk. he scratches the back of his neck. “did you guys have fun?” “yeah. i missed you, though.” you clasp your hands behind your back. “everyone did.”

“i feel bad i didn’t go. just... things felt off today,” peter admits the real reason he stayed home, you letting out a breath. “it was harry, wasn’t it? god, he was being so weird.” your arms drop back to your sides. “there’s a difference between playing around and actually upsetting people.” by people, you mean peter. no one else seemed too bothered by him. “i’m sorry, peter. i tried to make him stop.”

“no, you don’t have to apologize,” peter assures you sweetly, grabbing one of your hands. “it’s not your fault, okay? he probably didn’t realize what he was doing. the jokes landed.” he’s referring to ned, mj, and betty finding harry’s comments hilarious. you lace your fingers with peter’s and frown. “this isn’t like him. maybe he’s stressed about a game.” your gaze drifts off to the side, what you see getting you to perk up.

“is that new?” you ask peter, leading him by his hand over to a poster he put up recently. it’s for 13 going on 30. you showed it to him a couple of weeks ago, and he clearly liked it a lot. any movie that makes it to peter’s wall is a special one. “mhm. i got it literally right after you went home the night we watched,” he chuckles and looks over at you while you study the poster.

you turn to face peter again, keeping your hand tight in his. “were you gonna tell me something earlier? at lunch?” he’s confused for a second, then he remembers your ideas for mj’s art project. the fact that you cared enough to bring it up after all these hours makes his stomach do summersaults in the best way. he shrugs and gives you a smile.

“the stuff you were saying about femininity and how there are so many ways to define it,” peter starts, you grinning back at him, at how he took an interest in what you were saying. “you’re so smart, y/n. you make me wanna be better.” a light pink dusts his cheeks. “peter, you’re a feminist?” you coo, joking but genuinely wondering at the same time. he squeezes your hand. “duh.”

“i thought so,” you nod, taking in the rest of what he said. “you think i’m smart? i trust you because you’re way smarter.” peter pffts in response. “i’m only good at, like, physics. you’re good at things that really matter. smart in that way.” you’re feeling your own face get hot. you swing yours and peter’s hands back and forth. “why are you the nicest person ever?”

the answer to that, may, peeks her head into the room. “hey, kids. it’s getting late.” she notices your intertwined hands and shoots peter a smirk. “i thought you were a cool aunt,” he teases, you sadly letting go of him. “she is. thanks for having me over so late,” you tell may on your way to the door. “oh, stop it. you can come over any time.” she puts a hand on your arm. “thank you so much,” you murmur back.

you walk backwards to the doorway, may leaving you two to say your goodbyes. “wanna hang out only you and me? on friday maybe?” that should make up for everything earlier. “yeah, of course. friday is perfect,” peter agrees and bounces on his feet as excitement takes over him. “thanks again for the sushi.”

“no problem. goodnight.” it’s taking every last bit of power in you to not freak out. “night. text me when you get home.” he presses his tongue into his cheek. you slowly pull the door shut. “ok, i will. bye!” it closes, leaving peter skipping across his room to his bed on one side and you doing a little happy dance on the other.

the next day at school, everything is back to normal. honestly, better than normal. your hangout with peter is tomorrow, and he’s planning on telling he likes you then. he already talked it over with ned. he’s relieved it’s finally happening, especially since him and betty have their own thing. she’ll be taking up most of his free time from here.

your group is spending lunch outside today, lounging across a picnic table, surrounded by trees and the shining sun in a bright blue sky. mj sits on the table and has her feet on the bench, which would usually bug peter to no end. he doesn’t mind this time because it takes up enough room that harry has to sit with ned and betty instead of you. you lean into peter’s side and stab a piece of lettuce from your salad.

“it’s so nice out,” betty sighs, ripping off half her cookie and giving it to ned. “we should ditch.” “oh my god, you sound like harry,” you groan between bites of salad. peter lets out a breathy laugh, you looping your arm through his. he grins down at where you’re linked. harry crosses his own arms over his chest. “she wishes.” betty only nods because her mouth is full of m&m’s.

“nah, seriously. i’d take us out somewhere, but i have practice after school.” he speaks quieter than he normally does, less confident. your theory about him having basketball drama was right. “what did we tell you? talk about the sports shit with your sports friends,” mj complains, sitting back on her hands. she glances at harry over her shoulder and catches ned mouthing you can’t say that.

sitting criss cross, she spins around to face harry, unenthusiastically saying, “what i meant was, you sound upset. what’s wrong?” harry gets into it right away, like he’s been waiting for someone to ask. “coach says there might be a scout at the next game. it’s a really good opportunity even though i don’t have to worry about... college yet.” the word makes him cringe.

“oh, damn. that’s a big deal. scary,” mj snorts, turning back to you and peter. her behavior makes ned internally face palm. “that’s awesome, dude. you’re gonna play amazing like always.” he gives harry a high five, who smiles nervously in response. he’s never nervous. “thanks, bro. you guys wanna come and watch?” he’s never invited you to one of his games before either.

this isn’t a group of friends that likes to spend their weekends in bleachers while angry teens shout around them.

“definitely. we’ll be there to support you, harry,” betty answers for everyone, ned pecking her cheek in satisfaction. mj cusses to herself before replying. “if i absolutely must, sure.” only you and peter haven’t said anything yet. he’s been chewing his lower lip, and you your salad. harry looks between you two hopefully. it’s more so at you, which peter doesn’t like.

“y/n? pete? it would help a lot, i’m serious.” he taps his fingers on the table until one of you speaks up. you’re the one who does. “i’ll go. this is pretty huge, right? congrats.” you reach across the table and squeeze his shoulder while simultaneously tightening your arm around peter’s. he takes that as a cue. “i’ll go, too. happy for you, man.”

though peter isn’t currently in the best place with harry, he should show his support by showing up. it can’t be too bad since the rest of you will be there.

a loud, long chuckle leaves harry as he hops up from his bench and comes to yours and peter’s. he bends over and wraps both of you in a hug from behind at the same time. his arms are around each of your shoulders, holding you so close his cheeks are squished against either of your heads. you giggle at that, peter finding himself laughing along and reaching back to ruffle harry’s hair.

staying mad at him is one of the world’s greatest challenges.

“you’re saints, both of you. my angels.” he kisses the back of your head, then lays one right on peter’s cheek, leaving him blushing red and grinning. “what about the rest of us? i never go to shit like this,” mj huffs and seems genuinely offended. harry wiggles his eyebrows. “you want a kiss?” his offer gets her flustered, which she can’t manage to hide. that’s a first.

“shut up. i’m just saying... never mind.” mj glares at you and peter, ned and betty making kissing noises behind her. “someone change the subject.” peter steps in. “when’s the game, harry?” he asks, harry snapping and waving his finger. “tomorrow! cancel your plans, kiddos.” “like we had any,” betty retorts.

some of you did. that was going to be peter’s hangout with you.

ned smiles sympathetically at peter before betty is getting his attention. you‘re unfazed and rambling to harry how proud you are of him.

did last night mean nothing? was it an empty gesture? were you only doing it out of guilt? peter must have read your visit wrong. he’s been wrong the whole time he’s liked you. you don’t like him back, you pity him. harry is who you’re really interested in.

may always says he should trust his instincts.

peter pulls his arm from yours suddenly, swinging his backpack onto his shoulders. you’re taken back because it’s so out of no where. you stop talking to harry so you can figure out his deal. “where are you going?” “bell’s gonna ring,” peter mumbles and picks up his lunch tray. he heads to the garbage can without another word or goodbye to anyone.

“i’m gonna go check on him,” you tell harry, already getting up from the bench. “you do that,” he acknowledges and calls mj’s name again.

peter tosses his mostly untouched food in the trash, seeing you make your way over from the corner of his eye. he tries to speed walk inside so he doesn’t have to talk to you. you’re too quick, cornering him between the door and brick wall.

“we still have ten minutes,” you state, worry flashing across your face. he’s avoiding you. well, attempting to. “what’s wrong?” peter gulps before saying anything. “my next class is on the other side of the-“ “no,” you cut him off. “what’s really wrong?”

he doesn’t feel like having this discussion. it’s bad enough he came to the realization his feelings are one sided. must he break that down for you so soon?

you toy with your sleeve while you speak because peter doesn’t. “i thought you and harry were fine again. i mean, he kissed you.” peter clenches his jaw so hard he can imagine the sound of it cracking. “it’s not about harry.” “what, then? what the fuck happened?” your sleeves are now balled in your fists. you hate it when peter does this angsty routine.

he keeps his voice low and calm so he doesn’t come off as jealous or hurt. he’s both of those things. “the game is tomorrow. friday. when we were supposed to hang out.” you meet peter’s eyes with nothing but remorse in yours. “i... i forgot,” is all you have to say.

you feel awful. he’s had a tough couple of days, and you fell through on your promise to cheer him up.

“clearly,” peter remarks, voice sharp. the way you’re looking at him makes him think he won’t like what’s coming. “peter, we have to go,” you almost whine. “i’m really sorry, i am, but this is a big night for harry. he needs us there.” peter stays silent. you’re twisting the knife deeper into him with every word. “i wouldn’t be cancelling if this wasn’t important.”

now you’re cancelling?

you reach for peter’s hand, but he shoves it into his pocket. that stings for you and him. “please, peter. we’ll hang out at the game, i swear.” this is the last chance you’ve got, so you pile it on. “harry won’t even be there, technically. he’ll... he’ll be on the court.” peter hadn’t thought about that. he lets himself unclench, starting to see the appeal. you add one more thing to lighten the mood and persuade him.

“i’ll buy you popcorn, all you can eat.” it’s that easy. cracking a smile, peter accepts. he’ll deal with his unresolved, unreciprocated feelings after he stuffs his face, courtesy of you. “you better. i’m gonna need it for this long ass game.” your face lights up, grabbing his wrist in both hands.

“so, you’ll come?” “i’ll be there,” he confirms. you throw your arms around his neck. he laughs into the hug and holds you by your middle. “i promise this’ll be the first and last game we ever go to,” you say and mean it. harry is lucky you’re even suffering through this a first time. “thank god,” peter exhales, resting his chin on your head.

that interaction leaves peter confused as hell. you’re crushing his mind and soul one minute, then hugging him the next. you were making him feel so special lasts night, and treating harry the same way today. it’s so jumbled that he isn’t sure if he’s in the friend zone or something more zone.

there are a ton of mixed signals coming his way, and he sucks at reading people as is.

he can’t take another second of this. he’d rather you come out and say you like harry already because it’s torture. knowing you don’t want him in that way would at least eliminate the possibility of anything happening between you two, and allow him to stop driving himself insane.

he’d be able to stop taking it out on harry, too.

the hold you have on peter, that you’re oblivious to, rules his every thought and decision. he’s constantly analyzing what you say to him, debating whether or not your affection is simply platonic. it’s been half a year of this madness, the night of harry’s game blurring every line so much more.

your group arrives a bit early to find seats and hype harry up before he plays. peter gets there after all of you because he’s not exactly in a rush to watch sweaty guys be aggressive. there’s only one upside, which is spending the night with you... and everyone else.

he steps into the gym that’s filling up fast with family members, friends, and the college scout harry was talking about. midtown has a different feeling to it at night. the smell of pencils is oddly stronger, and it’s a lot less intimidating.

cheerleaders are huddled in a circle while the team supervisor has them run their chants. the “leading official,” who peter thought was called a referee, takes his place off to the side. coaches give their players last minute instructions, players fool around with each other, a lot is going on.

peter scans the room for you, and grins a toothy grin when you catch his eyes. you’re sitting by yourself in one of the middle bleachers, only a bag of skinny pop in your lap. you return the smile once you spot him and wave him over.

“i don’t know why, but i thought they’d have an actual concession stand,” you explain the lack of fresh, buttery popcorn as peter takes a seat next to you. he catches the prepackaged bag you toss him. “it’s just a snack table.” “works either way,” peter hums and pokes the bag. “i’m not sure skinny pop is all i can eat, though.” “it’s good!” you defend the snack you chose for him.

“i’m kidding! you’re right, it’s kind of addicting.” he puts it by his feet for now and gives you a half smile. “you’re welcome,” you deadpan in a playful tone. “thanks.” he narrows his eyes. “where’s everyone else?” “right,” you twist around and gesture to the bleacher above you. mj is gloomily seated near the back. ned and betty are a few behind you.

“i told them to find their own seats so we can sit together, alone.” you look over at peter and move ever so slightly closer. “welcome to our friday hangout. just the two of us.” “aw, you didn’t have to do that,” peter laughs out, his knee bumping yours. “but, i’m happy you did.” he goes to put an arm around you, then harry comes racing up the stairs.

just the two of you didn’t last so long.

“y/n, i’m freaking out,” harry announces, zooming through your row to get over to you. he stops once he’s standing in front of peter and shakes him by his shoulder. “hey, pete. you made it.” “yup,” peter replies, pressing his lips together. you wince at his reaction, then quirk an eyebrow at harry. “you’re freaking out? why?”

harry sits down between you and peter, blissfully unaware of the moment he interrupted.

“i found the scout. he’s fucking terrifying as fuck. this super ripped guy, looks like he’d rather be anywhere else,” he talks quietly, like the man will hear him. “he’s not the only one,” peter says to himself, kicking around his bag of popcorn to pass time. you ignore him and grimace.

“shit. wait, how do you know it’s him? did they tell you?” you’re not sure how these things go. harry casually shrugs a shoulder. “dude has a clipboard. seems legit to me.” he gives you a cocky smile. “he’s also in the row before mj. that’s how i noticed. um...” his back now facing peter, he whispers something in your ear that makes you giggle.

peter’s face scrunches up as the spark of anger the past few days have lit reignites itself.

when harry pulls away, you motion for him to come closer with your index finger, cupping your hand around his ear and speaking into it.

nope, no more. peter is entirely about to explode. you cancelled your plans so you can force him to watch basketball, you sweet talk him so he’ll let it go, and you’re running right back to harry after all of that? what the hell does that mean?

peter stands up from his seat. “y/n, we need to talk,” he demands, you moving away from harry to respond. “ok, gimme a minute. we’re-“ “no, we need to talk now.” you don’t have time to refute because he’s taking your arm and dragging you away. harry squints at you in utter confusion.

“um, have a good game! we’ll talk later,” you call back to him, walking with peter even though you have no idea what his issue is and aren’t a fan of how he’s acting.

he releases you once you’re in the hallway. you make a point of harshly yanking your arm back, a scowl painting your lips. “jesus, peter. i was having a conversation.” “do you like harry?” peter blurts out. you’re so shocked at his abruptness that you don’t give him much to work with, only, “what?” “do you like harry?” he asks you again, this time less accusing and more curious.

“do i like...” you’re too aware of the seemingly hundreds of people surrounding you to answer comfortably. “can we talk about this somewhere else?” “sure,” peter nods, letting you lead the way since he did to get out here. you two go down the hall and choose the first room you see, which happens to be the custodian’s closet. it’s thankfully unlocked.

things were tense between you and peter on the way over, and it’s physically mirrored when you step into the room, air thick and smelling of lemon cleaning supplies. you tug on the string hanging down to turn on the light. it casts a faded glow, leaving you in mostly darkness. you sort of like it. this feels more intimate, which is fitting for what you’re both about to say.

neither one of you knows where to begin. peter’s question is ringing in the back of your mind, and you could touch on that, but there’s more to it than a simple yes or no. you don’t have to worry about it because peter gets his words out first.

“i think harry likes you, and i think you like him back,” peter restarts, already sounding deflated by what he came up with. “he doesn’t, and i don’t.” you take a step towards him. “he likes mj.” it���s peter’s turn to be shocked. the hint of a smile sets on your lips. “that’s what we were talking about. harry asked if he should take her to dinner after the game, and i said yes.”

this is going better than he expected.

“mj is the one who likes him, not me,” you reiterate and watch some life enter peter again, a tiny bit. he’s coming around, and he wants to believe you. his trust issues don’t. “but, you’re so... touchy with each other. the hugging the other day?” he mentions. you tilt your head to the side in amusement. “friends can’t hug?”

to be fair, you hugged peter yesterday. that’s a point rightfully shut down.

“he calls you pretty,” peter tries, raising both eyebrows. you have to laugh at this one. “you call may pretty.”

obviously, peter’s analysis skills could use some serious improvements. it sounds like he had the right idea, wrong person. your relationship with harry is platonic. hell, he’s crushing on a whole different person. this actually opens up the possibility of you liking peter in the romantic way, of him being in the something more zone. he had it backwards.

in case peter isn’t convinced yet, and because you really want to, you use one more trick to prove to him you don’t like harry.

“do me and harry do this?” your lips speak for you, colliding with peter’s unexpectedly yet easily. he feels like he’s floating, like he’s in some sort of magical wonderland until it hits him that this is real, and he should probably kiss you back. he does so softly and tangles his fingers in your locks. his hand supports the back of your head as the kiss goes on.

you push forward so your bodies are almost fused together, the closest you can be while you hold his jaw. peter breaks the kiss for a short breather, going back in without more than a moment passing. this one is feverish, his free arm looping around your lower back, hand resting on the small of it. you let out a giggle against his swollen lips and stroke your thumb over his jawline.

he’s been waiting to do this for the longest time, but he doesn’t have to tell you that. it shows in how eager he was to reciprocate, his shyness blossoming into passion. you feel yourself melting under his touch, the kiss eventually becoming a series of short pecks. peter gives you the final one. his pink lips form a grin when you pull apart. your hands stay on each other, not in a rush to go anywhere.

“woah, i like you so much,” peter laughs out. the words roll off his tongue naturally. “you know i like you,” you drawl, smiling at him, a full body smile while you caress his skin. he winds both arms around you and dips his head down to steal another kiss. you’re loving what’s happening. however, you don’t feel like making out while dirty brooms stare at you. you should take this back home.

“wanna get out of here? i do,” you suggest, voice muffled from his lips. they detach from yours and brush your cheek gently. peter makes a funny face. “hm, i thought we had to come. harry needs us,” he says what you did yesterday, earning a groan back. “you’re joking.” “i’m not. what kind of friends would we be, ditching him like that?”

he’s going to end you one day.

“yeah, no. i have no idea how basketball works, and i’d like to keep it that way,” peter drops the act, pressing his fingers into your sides. “i’ve been so mean to harry. i was...” “a dick?” you finish for him. it’s more of a statement than a question. to soften the blow, you rub his cheek with the tips of your fingers. “yup. he’s gonna think i hate him or something if we don’t stay.” his formerly smiley face is frowning.

“harry of all people will understand after we tell him our reasons,” you reassure him, nudging under his chin with your nose. “besides, he has other things to worry about. mj, the scout. it’s fine.” peter considers it, ultimately giving in to you like he always does, resting his forehead on yours. “i guess so. less distractions for him, yeah.” “exactly. that’s what i wanna hear.”

having his approval, you unwind yourself from him and head to the door. his fingers wrap around your wrist gently. “what about my popcorn?” a giggle escapes your lips. “you’re still on that?” “you said all i can eat!” his voice comes out high pitched, adorably high pitched.

“fine. i might have those bags you put in the microwave.” you smile when his fingers lock with yours, peter kissing the side of your head.

“even better. let’s go home.”

[just-dreaming-marvel]

Out Of Time ~ 128

MASTERLIST

< previous chapter

Word Count: 3,500ish

Summary: Tony works to save Dr. Strange and Y/N. The fugitive Avengers find their way to the compound. (gifs aren’t mine)

As the alien started guiding the piece of pavement towards the giant circular ship, the cloak that was around Strange tore itself free and flew the piece of pavement away.

“No!” The alien yelled, following after it.

Iron Man and Spider-Man were both fighting off the large alien in the nearby park Tony had crashed into, when the pavement piece flew passed. All Tony could see was the cloak and the alien following, so he knew it was Strange and that he was in trouble.

“Kid, that’s wizard,” Tony told Peter, blocking an attack. “Get on it.”

“On it!” Peter replied, quickly swinging in that direction.

Spider-Man chased after the skinny alien, who was floating speedily and upright on a small platform of burbling debris. Swinging in between the pavement and the alien, Peter tried to tie up the alien. The alien attacked back, throwing a billboard at Spider-Man.

“Not cool!” Peter responded.

The alien bent all the utility poles in the path of the feeing clock, finally snagging the garment and ripping it loose of the pavement. Spider-Man re-arrived on the scene, finally noticing something.

“Uh, Mr. Stark? We have a problem,” Peter’s nervous voice rang over the comms.

“What is is kid?” Tony replied, still fighting off the larger alien. “I’m kinda in the middle—“

“Both the wizard and Miss Rogers are unconscious on the floating piece of road.”

“What?! I’ll be right there!”

Peter swung down to the pavement and stood on it, careful to not step on Strange or Y/N. Bending down, he went to break Y/N free when a cone of blue light began to pull the group upwards. Spider-Man jumped off, grabbing onto the nearest light post while using his webbing to try and keep the piece of pavement in place. The alien quickly uprooted the light post, sending Dr. Strange, the cloak, Y/N, and Peter on their way to the circular ship.

“Uhhh, Mr. Stark?” Peter called again. “I’m being beamed up!”

“Hang on, kid!” Tony responded.

Before Tony could fly over there, the giant alien he was fighting pinned Tony to the ground by his hammer that doubled as a claw. As the giant jumped towards Iron Man, blades ready to end the fight, he was sent through a portal instead. The alien turned and leaped  to return back through the portal, but Wong rapidly closed it and only the giant’s severed hand made its way back to the park. Bruce kicked the hand way with a noise of disgust. Iron Man then shook himself free of the weapon.

“Wong, you’re invited to my future wedding!” Tony exclaimed before beginning to fly towards the large ship. “Give me a little juice, FRIDAY.”

Iron Man’s foot thrusters suddenly morphed together into a single larger thruster, increasing his speed considerably. 

Peter, not being able to keep hold of the pavement piece, was hanging onto the ship as it flew up into space. The alien and the piece of pavement with Strange and Y/N on it, had disappeared into the ship. Tony knew that Peter wasn’t going to be able to hold on or breathe for much longer.

“Unlock 17-A,” Tony ordered FRIDAY. “Pete, you gotta let go. I’m gonna catch you.”

“But you said save the wizard!” Peter responded. Gasping from lack of oxygen, Peter ripped off his mask. “I can’t breathe!”

“You’re too high up. You’re running out of air.”

“Yeah! That makes sense.”

Quickly, Peter passed out, free-falling, but not before the pod Tony had set out reached him. It attached itself to him, becoming a new suit. Now being able to breathe, Spider-Man landed on the bottom part of the ship.

“Mr. Stark, it smells like a new car in here!” Peter commented.

“Happy trails, kid,” Tony replied. “FRIDAY, send him home.”

“Yep,” FRIDAY answered.

A large parachute extended from the new Spider-Man suit, spending him back towards earth.

“Oh, come on!” Peter shouted.

Iron Man latched onto the hull and cut a hole to board the ship, looking for wherever Strange and Y/N were taken.

“Boss, I have lifeforms detected in the ship,” FRIDAY informed. “One of them is most likely Agent Rogers.”

“Can you tell me if she’s breathing?”

A pause. “It appears she is.”

“Okay… I need you to—“

“I’m sorry, Boss, but we seem to be losing connection. We’re too far away from—“ Then FRIDAY”s line cut.

~~~

“Still no word from Vision?” The holographic image of Secretary Ross asked Rhodey. Rhodey was at the compound, dealing with the red tape.

“Satellites lost him somewhere over Edinburgh,” Rhodey replied.

“On a stolen Quinjet with four of the world's most wanted criminals.”

“You know they're only criminals because you've chosen to call them that, right, sir?”

“My God, Rhodes, your talent for horseshit rivals my own.”

“If it weren't for those Accords, Vision would've been right here.”

“I remember your signature on those papers, Colonel.”

“That's right. And I'm pretty sure I've paid for that.”

“You have second thoughts?”

“Not anymore.”

Suddenly, the fugitive Avengers (Sam, Wanda, Nat, and Steve) entered the room. Vision was being supported by Sam.

“Mr. Secretary,” Steve greeted, firmly.

“You got some nerve,” Ross said, hologram walking up to the Captain. “I’ll give you that.”

“You could use some of that right now,” Natasha replied.

“The world's on fire. And you think, all is forgiven?”

“I'm not looking for forgiveness. And I'm way past asking for permission,” Steve stated. “Earth just lost her best defender. So we're here to fight.” He took a step towards the hologram. “And if you wanna stand in our way… we’ll fight you too.” 

Ross turned to Rhodes. “Arrest them.”

“All over it,” Rhodey responded before swiping off the hologram. “That’s a court-martial. It’s great to see you, Cap.”

The two men hugged. “You too, Rhodey,” Steve responded before Natasha went to hug Rhodey.

“Well. You guys really look like crap. Must've been a rough couple of years.”

“Yeah, well, the hotels weren’t exactly five star,” Sam commented.

“Uh, I think you look great,” Bruce nervously walked in from the opposite end of the room. “Uh… heh… Yeah. I’m back.”

“Hi, Bruce,” Nat greeted softly.

“Nat.”

“This is awkward,” Sam whispered.

Steve looked around. “Has anyone heard from Y/N?” He asked. “She’d want to know—“

“She’s missing too, Steve,” Bruce interrupted. “When I found Tony to get his help, Y/N was with him.”

“She was… she was with him? But Y/N’s a fugitive as well. How—“

“Mr. Stark and Miss Rogers have been sneaking around,” Vision cut Steve off.

“What?!” Steve and Rhodey exclaimed.

“It’s been happening for about a year now.”

“Miss Rogers has been seeing Boss and Sergeant Barnes,” FRIDAY clarified. “Trying to work through her feelings.”

“Thats… and she never…” Steve was at a loss for words.

“You didn’t try to reach out to her either, Cap,” Sam said. “You even knew she was staying in Wakanda. T’Challa told you. And you refused to reach out.”

“What happened?” Steve asked, looking at Bruce.

“She got captured,” Bruce explained. “Tony went after the ship to protect her and the Time Stone.”

“Why don’t we take this into the other room?” Rhodey suggested. “Perhaps get you guys something to drink.”

They went into the next room over, each standing or sitting around the room. Bruce explained more of what happened and the other group explained what happened to them.

“So we gotta assume they’re coming back, right?” Rhodey questioned.

“And they can clearly find us,” Wanda added.

“We need all hands on deck,” Bruce stated. “Where’s Clint?”

“After the whole Accords situation, he and Scott took a deal,” Nat answered. “It was too tough on their families, they're on house arrest.”

“Who’s Scott?”

“Ant-Man,” Steve replied.

“There's an Ant-Man and a Spider-Man? Okay, look… Thanos has the biggest army in the universe. And he is not gonna stop until he... he gets... Vision's Stone.”

“Well then, we have to protect it,” Nat stated.

“No, we have to destroy it,” Vision said. "I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head, about its nature. But also, its composition. I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source, something, very similar to its own signature, perhaps… its molecular integrity could fail.”

“And you, with it,” Wanda said. “We’re not having this conversation.”

“Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain that Thanos can't get it.”

“That’s too high a price.”

Vision took Wanda’s face gently with both hands. “With Y/N off world, only you have the power to pay it.” Wanda walked away, distressed. “Thanos threatens half the Universe. One life cannot stand in the way of defeating him.”

“But it should,” Steve said, looking at Vision. “We don’t trade lives, Vision.”

“Captain, 70 years ago, you laid down your life to save how many millions of people. Tell me, why is this any different?”

“Because you might have a choice,” Bruce suggested. “Your mind is made up of a complex construct of overlays. JARVIS, Ultron, Tony, me, the Stone. All of them mixed together. All of them learning from one another.”

“You’re saying Vision isn’t just the Stone?” Wanda asked.

“I'm saying that if we take out the Stone, there's still a whole lot of Vision left. Perhaps the best parts.”

“Can we do that?” Nat wondered.

“Not me. Not here.”

“You better find someone, and somewhere fast,” Rhodey said. “Ross isn't exactly just gonna let you guys have your old rooms back.”

“I know somewhere,” Steve stated. “Wakanda. But someone first has to explain how Y/N has anything to do with the Stone.”

“70 years ago, the Tesseract chose her to be the protector of the Stones,” Vision explained, knowing the story due to housing the Mind Stone in his head. “That’s how she survived the fall. The Tesseract holds the Space Stone. Her powers come for each of the Stones, so she has the power to destroy the Stones, by channeling them. Y/N is able to wield and control the all the Stones.”

“What I showed her…” Wanda said quietly. “It was the Stone… Y/N’s the key to stopping Thanos.”

~~~

T’Challa already knew Y/N was missing before Steve had contacted him. With Okoye and two other guards, he made his way to Bucky’s place. Bucky was throwing bags onto a partly-filled car, being watched by two village children.

“You’ll have the Kingsgaurd, and the Dora Milaje have been alerted,” Okoye told T’Challa as they made their way towards Bucky’s small hut. 

“And the Border Tribe?” T’Challa wondered.

“Those that are left.”

“Send word to the Jabari as well. M’Baku likes a good fight.”

“And what of this one?” Okoye looked at Bucky, just down the hill.

“This one may be tired of war. But the White Wolf has rested long enough.”

They made their way to Bucky. The guards set an elaborate and high-tech looking case down on the cart. They opened the lid to reveal the black and gold vibranium arm that Bucky had worn on Valentine’s Day.

Bucky sighed. “Where’s the fight?” He asked.

“On its way,” T’Challa answered. “And, Barnes…” The King glanced over at Okoye. “There’s something else. It’s about Y/N.”

Bucky was immediately alert. “What is it?”

“She’s missing.”

~~~

Dr. Strange was floating horizontally, face down, surrounded by dozens of long, glassy needles, as the alien interrogated him. Y/N was still unconscious, tied to the pavement off to the side.

“In all the time I’ve served Thanos, I’ve never failed him,” the alien told Dr. Strange. “If I were to reach our rendezvous on Titan with the Time Stone still attached to your vaguely irritating person, there would be... judgement.” The needles began to contact Dr. Strange’s face, causing pain. “Give me… the Stone.”

Tony was watching, hiding from above. After receiving a tap on the arm, Tony turned around, hand up and ready to shoot. Tony stood stand after seeing that it was the cloak.

“Wow, you’re a seriously loyal piece of outerwear, aren’t you?” Tony commented.

“Yeah, un speaking of loyalty…”

Tony and the cloak turn, completely shocked, to see Peter dropping down from above.

“What the—“

“I know what you’re gonna say,” Peter interrupted, holding his hands out.

“You should not be here,” Tony stated.

“I was gonna go home—“

“I don’t wanna hear it.”

“But it was such a long way down and I just thought about you and Y/N on the way—”

“And now I gotta hear it.”

“—and I kinda stuck to the side of the ship. And this suit is ridiculously intuitive, by the way. So if anything, it’s kinda your fault that I’m here.”

Both the cloak and Tony looked shocked, again. “What did you just say?”

“I take that back. And now I’m here in space.”

“Yeah.” Tony went to stand right in front of Peter. “Right where I don’t want you to be. This isn’t Coney Island. This isn't a field trip. It's a one-way ticket. You hear me? Don't pretend like you thought this through. You could not have possibly thought this through.”

"No. I did think this through.”

“You could not have possibly thought this through.”

“It's just .. you can't be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man if there's no neighborhood.” Peter waited to get something from Tony, but nothing. “Okay. That didn't really make any sense, but you know what I'm trying to say.”

Tony let out a shaky breath. “Come on. We got a situation.” 

Tony led Peter over to where they could see Dr. Strange, Y/N, and the alien. Peter crouched down to study the situation and the cloak leaned over his shoulder.

“See him down there?” Tony pointed to Dr. Strange. “He’s in trouble. And Y/N laying over there as well. What’s your plan? Go.”

“Um. Okay, okay… uh…” Peter stuttered, trying to think. He and the cloak popped back upright. “Okay. Did you ever see this really old movie, Aliens?”

~~~

Meanwhile, the Stones were talking to an unconscious Y/N.

“You can’t stop what’s coming… it will come, no matter what. You are being saved for the final battle… we will stop you from doing anything to prevent what needs to happen. What’s supposed to happen… someday, you will understand. There are things meant to be learned, things meant to happen, that we will not let you stop… use your powers wisely.”

She gasped quietly, waking up. Y/N quickly studied her surroundings. She could feel the Time Stone close before she noticed the predicament Dr. Strange was in. The glass spikes were pressing into Strange’s skin, causing him to let out a groan.

“Painful, aren’t they?” The alien taunted. Ebony Maw, the name was, Y/N finally getting inside his head. “They were originally designed for microsurgery. And any one of them—“

There was a thump behind Maw, he turned to see Iron Man standing there. Tony’s hand repulsers were ready to fire. Y/N closed her eyes and focused on getting out of the utility ropes without making a big scene.

“—could end your friend’s life in an instant,” Maw continued.

“I gotta tell you, he’s not really my friend,” Tony responded. “Saving his life is more a professional courtesy.”

“Ah, yes. It’s the girl you’re really after.” Maw walked slowly towards Iron Man, beckoning very large metal objects to float behind him. “Too bad you’ve saved nothing. Your powers are inconsequential compared to mine.”

“Yeah, but the kid’s seen more movies.”

Iron Man fired a rocket from his shoulder which pierces the side of the ship to Maw’s right and began to suck everything out with depressurization, including Y/N. She quickly portaled herself to behind Tony, relieving herself from the binds. Maw was sucked out into space quickly. Dr. Strange was pulled loose of his bindings and the needles, also heading for the hole. The cloak quickly wrapped around Dr. Strange, trying to keep him inside. Strange and the cloak lost their grip, but Spider-Man shot a web strand, holding him in place. Or trying to. 

The web broke, sending both Strange and Peter towards space. Suddenly, Peter’s suit releases metal spider-like arms, keeping him from being sucked out. Y/N quickly portaled Strange behind her.

“Yes!” Peter shouted, looking at the metal arms. “Wait, what are those?!”

Using the metal arms, Peter leaped to get to a safer place. Tony quickly sprayed nano-particles onto the hole to plug it. Spider-Man landed on his new legs, quickly retracted them. He found the cloak hovering next to him. 

“Hey, we haven’t officially met,” Peter said, offering the cloak his hand. It ignored it, going straight to Strange. “Cool.”

Tony’s suit quickly disappeared back into the arc reactor as he rushed to Y/N. He grabbed onto her arms, examining her body for any injuries.

“Are you alright? Are you hurt?” He asked. Tony’s hands found a place on her cheeks. “Tell me you’re—“

“I’m fine, Tony,” she responded. “I’m fine.”

He gave her a kiss before pulling her in for a hug. “I was so worried.”

“I’m fine.” She hugged him back, breathing him in. “I’m fine.”

“We’ve gotta turn this ship around,” Strange stated.

“Yeah. Now he wants to run,” Tony replied. “Great plan.”

“No, I want to protect the Stone.”

Tony walked towards the front window, showing that they were speeding. “And I want you to thank me now. Go ahead, I’m listening.”

“For what? Nearly blasting me into space?”

“Who just saved your magical ass? Me.”

“Technically it was me,” Y/N added.

“I seriously don’t know how you fit your head into that helmet,” Strange scoffed.

“Admit it. You should have ducked out when I told you to,” Tony continued. “I tried to bench you. You refused.”

“I tried to bench your girlfriend, yet she refused as well. And, unlike everyone else in your life, I don’t work for you.”

“And due to that fact, we’re now in a flying doughnut billions of miles away from Earth with no backup.”

“I’m backup,” Peter said, raising his hand.

“No. You’re a stowaway.” Tony pointed his finger between himself and Strange. “The adults are talking.”

“I’m sorry, I’m confused as to the relationship here,” Strange said. “Wh—what is he, your ward?”

“No,” Peter responded. “I’m Peter, by the way.”

“Dr. Strange.”

“Oh, we're using our made-up names. Um... I'm Spider-Man, then."

“Peter,” Y/N muttered, rolling her eyes.

“This ship is self-correcting its course,” Tony stated. “Thing’s on autopilot.”

“Can we control it?” Strange asked, walking closer to Tony. “Fly us home.”

Tony, looking out in space, was lost in bad memories. Of going through the portal, of what Wanda showed him. 

“Tony?” Y/N called softly, stepping towards him. She was concerned. 

“Yeah?” He responded. He met her gaze briefly, quickly looking away cause it was not the time for him to be freaking out or for her to be reading him.

“Can you get us home?” Strange asked.

“Yeah. I heard you. I’m thinking… I’m not so sure we should.”

“What?” Y/N questioned. “Why?”

“Under no circumstance can we bring the Time Stone to Thanos,” Strange stated. “I don't think you quite understand what's at stake here.”

Tony talked over to Strange. “No. It's you who doesn't understand, that Thanos has been inside my head for six years since he sent an army to New York and now he's back! And I don't know what to do. Because I am not sacrificing Y/N for the sake of the universe, for whatever the Stones have told her is her destiny. So I'm not so sure if it's a better plan to fight him on our turf or his but you saw what they did, what they can do. At least on his turf, he's not expecting it. So I say we take the fight to him. Doctor. Do you concur?”

Strange was silent for a moment. “Alright, Stark. We go to him. But you have to understand... if it comes to saving you or the kid or the Time Stone... I will not hesitate to let either of you die. I can't, because the fate of the universe depends on it.”

“Nice. Good. Moral compass. We're straight.” Tony stepped over to Peter, formally tapping each of Peter’s shoulders. “Alright kid. You’re an Avenger now.”

“You skipped me,” Y/N said, walking up to Strange.

“Excuse me?” He questioned.

“You said that if it came between saving Tony, Peter, or the Time Stone, that you’d choose the Time Stone… but what about me?”

“You and I both know, Y/N, that the Stones will not let you die until you have completed what they need you for. No matter what that may be.”

next chapter >

PLEASE FILL FREE TO SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS AND THEORIES! 

DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT THE QUESTIONS AND ONESHOTS ON THE MASTERLIST. MANY OF YOU HAVEN’T CHECKED OUT VALENTINE’S DAY, I SUGGEST YOU DO!

NOTES: from now on the taglist when be added by a reblog. I will reblog it using my second account, @just-dreaming-marvel-2​​. Just so that my main page doesn’t get too cluttered.

If you want to be added to the tag list, please dm me or send in an ask.

[princessfbi]

Ok I have got to know what happened with Oliver's character on that one show that makes you rage so hard every time you see him.

WELL NONNIE I'LL TELL YOU!

This is a warning for spoilers if anyone wants to watch this show because my rage cannot be contained.

OK SO...

This show is called Into the Badlands and Oliver's character is named Ryder. Basically the premise of this world is that it's kind of post apocalyptic/alternative universe where humanity got so caught up in trying to one up each other that it sort of imploded and now you have this society where either you're super wealthy (the Barrons), super poor (Cogs and Nomads), or somehow a ninja (The Clippers and whatever the hell MK was supposed to be). ANYWAYS....

Ryder is the son of Barron Quinn. Now the surviving land is either divided into like factions run by Barrons (who control a majority of major trade) or there's these lawless lands that are run dredges of society. You either become a Barron by killing another Barron (which is what Quinn did) or you are an heir apparent. Ryder is more an heir presumptive because Quinn won't outright name him his heir even though everyone just assumes it.

This is because Quinn is batshit crazy and thinks he can just live forever through sheer stubbornness and will alone. This is especially hard to do because he has a massive brain tumor that's dwindling down what little bit of sanity he has leading him to make questionable choices such as killing the only doctor they have in the lands who would've been useful pretty much for the rest of the series but go off Quinn. Ryder has a lot of resentment towards his father, which I will get into in a minute, and at the same time has gone out of his way to prove to Quinn that he's a worthy heir. Except Quinn keeps comparing Ryder to his second and regent, Sunny, and he's just all around a shitty person in general.

NOW HERE'S THE AMAZING BACKSTORY WITH RYDER:

So, when Ryder was a child, he was kidnapped by these nomads who were trying to blackmail Quinn. Ryder's mother begged Quinn to pay the ransom and save Ryder. Quinn... refused. So the nomads tortured Ryder and (Gross warning) like cut off part of his toes and disfigured his foot in the hopes of crippling him and scaring Quinn into giving to their demands.

Quinn, again, refused.

Eventually Quinn's regent at the time, Waldo, defies Quinn's orders and goes to rescue Ryder from these nomads. Waldo defying Quinn is a big deal because he's a clipper which is basically a soldier (often brought in from the slave faction called Cogs) and they take their oaths to their Barrons very seriously. Barrons trust no one but their regents because again you can become a Barron by killing them. But Waldo always had a soft spot for Ryder.

SO Ryder is saved and eventually nursed back to health but he always has a bit of a tragedy cloud hanging around him because from what we were told Ryder was a very sweet, bright child before he was kidnapped and was brought back as "a broken bird" and he's been doing everything he can to get rid of the broken bird image ever since.

Quinn resented Ryder for making him look weak and Ryder resented Quinn for... Well being a heartless dick.

But here's the crazy part... They both, in their own way, still kind of loved each other.

Now I won't bore you with my rant about how the best antagonists are often the tragic figures who have fallen from grace (Peter Hale, Draco Malfoy, Loki to name a few) BUT I will say Ryder had the PERFECT foundation of showing that fall. He was an asshole and hard and spoiled and super privilege but also soft and still a little broken. There's a whole other narrative involved too with his childhood love and how his dad planned on marrying her but we won't get into that.

ANYWAYS Ryder still had this desperate need to prove to his dad that he was a worthy heir but in his attempts to prove himself (and his dad's fall into madness) his dad started seeing him as competition. Competition and another objects (like Quinn saw with most other characters but especially Sunny). But Quinn has this weird kind of pride when it comes to things that he considers his and an attack on his property is an attack on him. There's a character named the Widow who lured Ryder out and tried to kill him slowly and personally as well as Sunny as an attack on Quinn and he went bananas (sorta).

Ryder was fine eventually but he realized that trying to prove himself to his dad was never going to work so he decides to try the other option: which is killing his dad. Partially because if he doesn't, Ryder is smart enough to know that Quinn's going to get him killed, but also because Quinn's descent into madness is spiraling faster and faster and Ryder wants to protect the legacy. Nothing to inherit if his dad burns the whole thing to the ground!

Long story short, Sunny turns on Quinn and stabs him and everyone thinks Quinn is dead and Ryder takes credit for it therefore succeeding his dad by becoming not only Barron of his father's lands but some other Barron that got murdered by another subplot that was pointless.

Now Ryder is determined to bring peace to the lands (not out of some noble obligation but because he just wants people to chill the fuck out). And for the most part... he's doing okay.

BUT THEN PLOT TWIST HIS DAD IS ALIVE AND CRAZIER THAN EVER.

Basically his dad storms Ryder's house, chases him down in the garden, and they fight. But Ryder's foot that was crippled when he was a child trips him up and the fight gets even messier. Ryder's sword breaks and Quinn points the sword to his own chest and tells Ryder to finish him.

Ryder hesitates and so Quinn takes the sword and stabs Ryder. You know like a rational father would do.

Quinn then asks Ryder why he hesitated and Ryder whispers "because you're my father" before he dies in Quinn's arms. Quinn is... horrified because he realizes that with the death of Ryder is the death of the last parts of his own humanity. He mourns Ryder but also like... takes no responsibility for killing him but neither did Ryder so he can't process it. Later on he's haunted by Ryder but again the man has a giant grapefruit sized tumor in his brain so it's all very reverse Hamlet if you will.

SO LOOK AT ALL THIS POTENTIAL!

THE REASON I RAGE:

Is because Ryder was set up to fail from the beginning. Which is great!....... If that had actually happened. The show worked so hard to tell us that Ryder was a failure and a coward but if you look at it from a story perspective... Ryder was the opposite of a failure. Every time someone told him he couldn't do something, he proved them wrong. Again and again and again. But that was never good enough for anyone. So that vicious cycle would've been amazing to see!

But instead of exploring any of that, we had to watch a storyline that was frankly ridiculous from the beginning that took up way more time than it should. There's a character named MK, who was supposed to be inspired by the myth The Monkey King, but if you don't know that story then you never would've figured that out. Hell, I knew the story and didn't figure it out until I had to google his name because I kept forgetting it. In comparison to everything else happening in the show, this magical mythical storyline just didn't fit and I'm not kidding when I say I watched a season and a half of this show and forgot about MK every time.

Now if you noticed my icon is Buck in a Box. That's an inside joke I have with a friend about this fucking show. The first scene starts off with Sunny stumbling onto a group of Nomads who go absolutely feral about this massive box they don't want him to look inside. Turns out MK was in this box for reasons that were too weak for me to even remember but again MK was entirely forgettable. My friend and I kept talking about how it would've been better if Ryder had been in the box because the Ryder and Sunny rivalry had so much unexplored potential that would've been incredible if we started from the very beginning instead of just being told over and over again that Ryder hates being compared to Sunny.

Sunny is the main character and Quinn, unlike with Ryder, was incredibly proud to have Sunny "in his possession" and Ryder hated him for it.

But did we get to explore that? NO! Did we get to explore the parallels of Sunny and Ryder chafing at being considered possessions by Quinn? NO! Did we get to explore the trauma Ryder was working so hard to shake off? NO!

Instead the show spent so much energy victim blaming Ryder essentially for being the son of a Villain and his Nonsensical Ambitious Mother who had the misfortune of being kidnapped by bandits as a child while telling the audience that Ryder was never going to succeed. That Ryder had no honor and was a coward and weak.

They spent way more time trying to tell us that we should hate Ryder and that he was a bad guy but didn't do ANY of the work to show the fall from grace to prove that. Ryder remained a tragic figure that didn't fall from grace but was rather pushed off by lazy writing because they wanted to focus again on this magical ninja boy with a penchant for getting in the way and ruining everything.

I rage because Antagonist and Villain are not the same thing. Ryder had the potential of becoming a villain and his death by the hands of his father would've cycled him back into the role of a tragic figure. But instead... it was just wasted.

THAT is why I rage. You had the material right there and yet you spent so long telling us that we, the audience, don't like Ryder instead of showing us anything that would make us not like him (besides the whiny white boy thing).

Instead I found myself rooting for Ryder. Like could you imagine if Ryder and Sunny went against Quinn together instead of having the weakest rivalry known to man? Could you imagine Ryder's fall from grace of wanting peace in the lands as it turned to greed? Could you imagine Sunny becoming actual competition for Ryder instead of being manipulated to do so?

WE GOT NONE OF IT.

THIS is why I rage.

[steves-strapcollection]

On Tragedy vs. Bad Endings

[Image ID: user @frostyfrogz​ replied to your post “my mag171 #thots: I fully agree with. I love jonmartin I want nothing but the best for them. I know my answer today was an obvious twisting of dialogue but its just frustrating sometimes because it seems like people dont understand some sort of tragedy will indeed happen. I have never and will never suggest that something will happen to Jon and Martin’s relationship I’ve just been saying the shows not going to end well no matter what.]

So I have a lot of thoughts about this very subject, and too much for the replies on my post, so allow me to try to articulate what I mean, and what a lot of us mean when we say “it does not make sense for either Jon or Martin to turn evil in the end,” even in a show that has been advertised from day one as a tragedy.

First of all, no one thinks this is going to end happy. The few who do are usually unaware that this show is billed as a tragedy, and are quick to be corrected. I didn’t know it was a tragedy until I was on season 3 and someone told me. It’s overall just best to assume that the OP knows it’s not going to be a happy ending, because “reminding” people or “explaining” to people that the ending is going to be sad is a fast way from people to get annoyed and defensive.

Anyway! It appears, above all, that people have either fundamentally different ideas of what a tragedy is or accomplishes, or that people have a fundamentally flawed understanding of tragedy and it’s place as a narrative device/theme.

My thoughts are that tragedies hurt, and tragedies can be devastating, but they have to have a message and they should not be cruel to the audience.

A cruel ending would involve leading the audience to believe one thing for the entire book, show, movie, podcast, what have you, just to rip it away at the last minute like a big “fuck you” to the audience. Those sorts of endings are inherently mocking of the audience, and ultimately disrespectful. The only people in the audience that “benefit” from this sort of writing are the cynics who spent the entire show talking down to everyone for seeing the silver lining in the impending tragedy, even if, up until the finale, the silver lining was always part of the narrative. Like it took actual twisting and outright ignoring of the narrative as it’s written to be cynical and sceptical all the way until the end.

That is, plain and simple, bad writing. Jonny Sims is not a bad writer.

Now tragedies often have “happy endings,” they just also have an element of sadness colouring that ending. A good, tragic ending should, in my opinion, feel bittersweet. We should see it coming, we should know it will hurt, but it should be for the greater good and should further the narrative that has been told from the beginning.

I said a few weeks ago that a tragic ending without a silver lining is just torture porn, and I stand by it.

Now, if Jon or Martin are revealed to be Actually Evil in the end, where is the silver lining in that? What narrative has even possibly hinted at this outcome, without putting on cynic glasses?

Every single plot point and plot “twist” in TMA has been clearly detailed, never relegated to pure subtext that you would have to comb through a single interraction and analyzing the tone in which it was said (which could easily be actor shortcomings or error). They have always been obvious, at least in hindsight. This is why, for a while, I subscribed to the Web!Martin theory, but due to recent episodes I’m more inclined to believe those “obvious things” were red herrings.

Throughout The Magnus Archives, the common theme in every. Single. Season finale is that “we are stronger together.” What do I mean by that? Well, here’s the general idea:

Season 1: The one time someone gets separated by the group for any significant length of time, like I mean the main group, she gets killed by the NotThem and replaced.

Season 2: Jon is alone, due to his intense paranoia and his reluctance to reach out for help. This leads to a disastrous series of events that leaves him a suspect of murder, and his friends even more doubtful of his character.

Season 3: In the episode just before they deal with the Unknowing, Jon literally says that isolation was his downfall, and he was going to work on trusting his friends more. When they got separated during the Unknowing, things went to shit. When they found each other again, they were able to rally and they “succeeded.” Conversely, they are also teamed up with Melanie and Martin who hung back to bring down Elias. They were successful, working as teams on separate objectives, etc.

Season 4: This is, by far, their most “successful” feats while simultaneously their least. The whole season was again showing the downfalls of isolation. In the season finale, Jon has Basira and Daisy’s help, and while bolstering himself with their strength, and the strength in his conviction to save Martin to be with Martin, Jon was successful in stopping Peter Lukas and saving Martin. Conversely, Martin and Jon’s isolation in Scotland could be, theoretically, implicated in how Jonah Magnus was able to succeed in the end like that.

Now evidence of this same train of thought in season 5? Jon literally says it: Gertrude would not have done well in this post-apocalyptic world, because she had no friendships, no anchors, no reason to stay human. And then Jon says “you are my reason” to Martin.

It is in the text of the story that the only way to succeed, or win, or survive, is through trust, friendship, and love. One of the main factors in so many of the statements, on why the statement givers succumbed to the fear in their story, for even a moment, had to do with very little personal ties to anyone else. Many of the statements feature isolation and, as Jon put it, “lack of corroboration.” On the flipside, many of the statements that ended with the statement giver escaping successfully, and surviving long enough to be reached out to for follow-up questions, involved them having close personal ties to someone else that kept them safe, somehow. Like the girl from Italy; remembering her mom saved her from the Lonely. Or, more ridiculously, the guy and his dog that escaped the spiral because he was so distracted by his dog and had to be home for dinner. In MAG170, it was Martin’s love for Jon, and his trust in the love from Jon and his friends, that saved him from the Lonely again. Jon’s incredible amount of love, and respect, and trust in his friends is what’s kept him from becoming another Jared Hopworth or Jude Perry. In MAG155, Cost of Living, he expresses open disgust in how that particular avatar of The End justified her actions, killing and killing and killing again because she viewed herself as more worthy of life than that person. In that same episode, he talks of not blinding himself because he hopes to use his powers to protect his friends, that without them they’re too vulnerable. Honestly, this is the same reason Peter Lukas is unsuccessful, because Martin only helped him at all to protect his friends. The fact that he didn’t see his failure coming was hilarious.

Gerry said in Family Business that there is no “entities of love”, and that might be true, but love and trust is literally what saves you from fear. How many of us deal with things that are scary in our lives, if only because we have some level of trust in the people or things around us. How many of us have been brought out of a panic attack by someone we love and trust?

So all of this has been presented to us, over and over and over again, which is what I, and others, mean when we say “it does not make sense for one of them to be evil.” That’s what we mean when we say “it would be Bad Writing to make one of them evil in the end.” The entire show has driven home the message that we need love, we need personal connections to survive fear. To rip that away from the main characters at the last minute and call it “tragedy” would be a spit in the face of every single listener who took the story at face value, without picking it apart and reading lines out of context. And Jonny Sims and Alex J. Newall have both said they hate lazy writing.

Now, none of the JonMartin fans I follow are deluding themselves to think this show will have a happy ending outside of very self-indulgent fix-it au fanfics.

The way I see this going down is that Jon and Martin will figure out how to put the world back to the way it was, but Jon will not be able to be part of the new world with Martin. That’s the tragedy; that the world gets saved, and Jon helps save it, but he doesn’t get to benefit from his efforts in any way. The tragedy is Jon loves Martin so much, and they deserve their happy ending, but they don’t get it. But, they still saved the world so others can have their happy endings.

Idk about you, but between the “Jon turns evil in the end” and “Jon stays good and sacrifices himself to save the world” endings, only one of them has me in tears right now as I type this out, and it’s not the former.

I’m not against sad endings,I’m against bad endings that punish the audience for having even a bittersweet hope. I’m against sad endings that are just sad for the sake of being sad, with zero pay-off or reason to happen, especially when those endings throw out 5 years of hard work.

And hey, I might just be forced to eat my words in the end, but not before I fly all the way to England and make Jonny Sims eat a knuckle sandwich.

This was a lot longer than I meant for it to be, but I just have a lot of feelings.

[purplebunniboy]

Retrograde Character Masterlist

I lied, here are all the characters. I’ll do in depth backstories later.

This probably isn't EVERY character but it's damn near close and just some basics about them that are totally subject to be altered or expanded upon later

---

Afton Family

Michael Frederick Afton/ Fritz Smith/ Mike Schmidt:

Thick curly brown hair, hazel green eyes, grey tshirt with rolled sleeves, tucked into jeans// scars along his face, torso, and arms

Born October 7th, 1969 to Sandra Schmidt and William Afton

The oldest of the Afton children

Loved baseball, got his first bat from Henry

Scar across his nose came from a fight, hand scars came from attempting to pry open Fredbear's mouth during the bite, arm scar came from encounter with the Nightmares, torso scar came from getting scooped, various other scars from animatronic encounters

Fox mask bully, Dayshift worker at Freddy Fazbear’s in 1987, Technician at Circus Baby’s Pizza World and Party Rentals, Nightshift Security Guard at Freddy Fazbear’s in 1998

William David Afton:

Shiny dark hair, soft blue eyes that turned grey the first time he “died”, well-groomed and cared about his looks

Father of Michael, Elizabeth, and Cassidy Afton; Spouse of Sandra Afton

Co-owner of Fredbear’s Family Dinner, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria, Circus Baby’s Pizza World, Fazbear Robotics and Fazbear Entertainment inc.; Owner of Afton Robotics LLC

Cunning, charming, and extremely persuasive, could find out absolutely anything about anyone and use it against them to get what he wanted

Extremely theatrical and loved going over the top in performances, 

Loved robotics and excelled at crafting learning AI, but could never perfect it how he wanted

Drove himself mad with the idea of immortality and legacy

Absolutely hated being called Billy

Did love his kids, at least originally, he’s only Somewhat a heartless monster, but there’s something still beating in that chest of his

Cassandra “Sandra” Bella Schmidt:

Denim jumpsuit, dyed blonde hair, hazel green eyes

Mother of Michael, Elizabeth, and Cassidy Afton. Spouse of William Afton

Was a Broadway actress but left her career behind to marry William and raise her family

Very soft-spoken, only confident when she was on a stage under the spotlight

Had a beautiful singing voice and would often sing her children to sleep, especially if they woke up from night terrors

Elizabeth “Lizzie” Rose Afton:

Dark strawberry blonde hair curled into tight ringlets and pulled back into two ponytails with red ribbon ties, bright green eyes, often wore a lot bright colors

Born May 12th, 1979. Died February 1986

The youngest of the Afton children

Suspected of being the product of an affair as her looks did not resemble her father’s

Did whatever it took to get her way and was very cunning about how she went about doing that

Liked to sing with her mother and was very musically inclined

Evan “Ev” Afton:

Thick brown curls that often fell in front of bright green eyes, white collared shirt a large black tshirt with two white stripes across the chest

Born October 31st, 1975. Bitten by Fredbear October 31st, 1983. “Died” November 5th, 1983

The middle child of the Afton children

Was never the best at communicating with others, complained a lot, fought with his brother constantly at home

After witnessing Charlie’s unaliving, became traumatized and cried all the time

Had a large collection of stuffed animals but was usually carrying around at least one of the Fazbear Plushies

---

Emily Family

Henry Emily

Shoulder length hair always swept or pulled back out of his face, dirty overalls, hands are never clean

Father of Charlotte and Samuel Emily. Spouse of Donna Emily

Treated all the robots the same way he did his own children

Caring and understanding but had a short temper and lacked patience, especially when under a lot of stress

Extremely talented in robotics, excelling in them from an early age. He could make anything look lifelike and real.

Preferred the comfort of his garage workshop over really showing his face

Donna Fitzgerald:

Big and poofy dark hair, dark eyes, high-waisted acid-wash jeans, pink wool turtleneck

Mother of Charlotte and Samuel Emily. Spouse of Henry Emily.

Strong-willed and very loud about her opinions on things.

Very supportive of Henry’s passion with robotics even if the whole topic gave her headaches when she attempted to wrap her brain around the concept

Charlotte “Charlie” Emily:

Denim overalls decorated with marker drawings of flowers, green striped tshirt, green wrist band, untamable brown hair pulled into two high pigtails

Born June 26th, 1978. Died April 5th, 1983

The younger of the Emily children

Extremely empathetic and caring, always went out of her way to care for children smaller than her, wanting them to feel loved and accepted

She was never afraid to get dirty, she always colored outside of the lines on purpose, she wanted to do the daring and unexpected.

Carried around a porcelain doll that was styled like a black and white jester

Her robotic counterpart was the spitting image of the real one

Robotic Charlie was much more sensitive and much more analytical of the world around her

Samuel “Sammy” Jeremy Emily/ Jeremy Fitzgerald:

Born June 24th, 1970. Bitten by Mangle October 7th, 1987

The older of the Emily children

He was always a very gifted child, excelling in mathematics from a very young age, but hit gifted kid burnout by the time he hit highschool

Never had much of an interest in robotics

Patient and gentle, he preferred to keep to himself and would often seek out quiet places he could be alone

Jennifer “Aunt Jen/Jenny” Emily:

Older sister of Henry Emily

Always had an interest in robotics and passed her skills on to her baby brother

Fiercely loyal to family she would do anything she could to protect them and keep them happy, especially Henry since he was the only family she really had left

She was strong-willed, even in her younger years, and able to hold her own very well

---

Before the Bite

Michelle “Mitchie” Peters:

Spiky short brown hair, green t shirt, blue boy shorts, green sweatbands

Bear mask bully

Older sister to Gabriel Peters

Died July 4th,1985

Michael’s closest childhood friend

A tomboy, closet case, and had a major superiority complex or at least pretended to have one

Called the Mama Bear of the group due to her caring deeply for her friends but aggressiveness towards everyone else

David “Davie” Kennedy:

Wavy black hair, red polo shirt with a popped collar, blue bunny mask

Bigger kid and designated meat shield of the group.

Willing to defend his friends to his dying breath.

Inside, he had a soft core. He was the one who would check on each of them, asking if they were ok and if they needed help. His soft core often got him teased by his friends but it never stopped him from wanting to make sure they were always safe

Bunny mask bully, Technician at Circus Baby’s Pizza World and Party Rentals

Christopher “Chris” Houghton:

Short curly dark hair, long sleeve blue shirt

Chicken mask bully

Never left the arcade, living that sweet gamer life

Liked to run his mouth and always needed to have the last word

Vanessa “Nessa/Ness” Abernathy

Dark hair, rainbow clip extensions, dark eyes

Born December 24th, 1970. 

Knew Michael in school, had a crush on him, he was the first one to ever call her Ness and the only one she ever let call her that

Took a robotics class because of him and also got really into coding

Influenced by William and eventually taken completely under his control. She was his eyes and ears in the outside world. Talks to him through the Spring Bonnie plush when non-possessed

Poses as Mike’s therapist to keep an eye on him for William

Matthew “Matt” Griffiths

Older man though no one was sure how old he actually is or if he can even die, choppy hair, thick rimmed glasses

Phone guy

Dayshift worker/ Training Manager at Fredbear’s Family Diner, General Manager of the first Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria

Loyal to the company but also put his own well being and safety before anyone else’s

Would not stick his neck out for anybody on his own

Blunt and standoffish, sometimes considered rude though he was never rude to customers or kids

One of Afton’s first “puppets”

---

Party of 1985

Susan “Susie” Waylar:

Messy golden blonde curls, blue eyes, pink shirt, bedazzled jeans

Older sister of Samantha Waylar

Best friends with Gabriel Peters

Died June 26th, 1985. Stuffed into Chica

Extremely energetic and always told she should settle and be quieter like her sister

Despite being super messy, constantly having gunk in her hair and under her nails, she had an unnatural ability to always keep her dresses clean

Gabriel “Gabe” Peters:

Straight light brown hair, striped shirt beneath denim overalls, missing front tooth

Younger brother of Mitchie Peters

Died June 26th, 1985. Stuffed into Freddy Fazbear

Stood up for the smaller kids whenever possible

Energetic, never able to settle, and outgoing. Impossible to ever see him not smiling

He was clumsy and always getting hurt accidently.

Best friends with Susie Waylar

Cassidy “Dee-Dee” Richards:

Dark hair always pulled into two uneven pigtails, always wearing yellow

Died June 26th, 1985. Stuffed into Golden Freddy

Pulled a lot of pranks, some lighthearted, some not so much.

Threw tantrums to get what she wanted.

Always wanting to be first, always wanting to come out ahead, always 

Jeremy Velasquez:

Died June 26th, 1985. Stuffed into Bonnie

A generally shy kid who’s loud and energetic around his friends

Started growing out of Freddy’s pretty early on

Susie felt bad for him and invited him to hang out with her and Gabe

Frederick “Fritz” Parker:

Messy auburn hair, pastel pink polo shirt

Died June 26th, 1985. Stuffed into Foxy

Aggressive and rude, rather abrasive and destructive

---

Party of 1987

Pete Dinglewood:

Brown hair, red letterman jacket, backwards baseball cap, prosthetic hand and glass eye after being hit by a car and barely surviving.

Died October 4th, 1987. Stuffed into Foxy

Older brother of Charles “Chuck” Dinglewood

Always sticking gum under the tables in the party rooms

Alec Wilkins:

Blonde curly rocker mullet, sci-fi movie shirt with cut off sleeves, braces

Died October 4th, 1987. Stuffed into Freddy

Older brother of Hazel Wilkins

Could be rude at times, always got himself into trouble and pinned with the “problem child” title

Toby Billings:

Fluffy brown hair, mullet, reminds Michael of Cass, pullover sweatshirt with an athletic team’s logo on the front, always putting stuff in his mouth

Died October 4th, 1987. Stuffed into Bonnie

Younger brother of Connor Billings

Wanted to have the highest scores in the arcade

Cracks his knuckles when he’s lying or when he’s nervous which most people will loudly say is gross and annoying

Millicent “Millie” Fitzsimmons:

Dyed black hair always teased and pinned on one side, always wears a lot of black and intense black makeup

Died October 4th, 1987, stuffed into Chica

Best friends with Alec

Lives alone with her grandfather, who is sometimes hired by Fazbear’s or Afton Robotics to fix any minor technical malfunctions with the animatronics

Was there during the grand opening event of Circuse Baby’s when Elizabeth was killed in 1986

---

Around Town

Connor Billings:

Brown hair, square face, very hyper and always laughing even if the joke isn’t funny

Phone dude

Older brother of Toby Billings

Became obsessed with the mysteries of the place after looking into the 1987 deaths more

Collected old remnants of the closed down restaurants.

Hired by Henry to find the stuff still haunted to put into Fazbear’s Frights, no questions asked

Lowkey scared of Michael saying, quote, “the guy just gives me bad vibes”

Samantha Waylar:

Older sister of Susie Waylar

Quieter, though who’s to say that equals maturity 

Preferred to keep to herself and her books

She knew how to stand up for herself and was actually better at telling kids off than her sister was

Swear she loved Oliver more

Stanley Martinez:

Technician at Circus Baby’s Pizza World and Party Rentals

Was into tech most of his life.

Known to be a generally kind man, putting others and their well being before himself

He was never one to snoop around and would prefer staying out of other’s business

Clayton “Clay” Burke:

Father of Carlton Burke. Spouse of Betty Burke

Chief of police. Was a detective when the 5 murders happened, worked on the case.

Though he is at times a little air headed, he is very caring of those around him

Carlton Burke:

Ginger hair, dark clothing

Only son of Carlton and Betty Burke

Childhood friends of Charlie, John, and Jessica

Always the kind to crack jokes when the mood was down and laugh in the face of danger.

Art and theatre kid

John Aowyn:

Messy brown hair, white shirt, brown leather jacket

Childhood friend of Charlie, John and Carlton. Had a crush on Charlie

He was a writer and constantly lost in his own fantasy world that sometimes it was hard to pull him out of

Jessica Sinclair:

Shiny light brown hair, brown doe-eyes, always clean cut, fashionable clothing, contagious smile

Childhood friend of Charlie, John and Carlton

Fiercely loyal to her friends, and would do anything to protect them. She hated seeing them sad or hurt and was always there with bandaids and snacks the moment they needed her

Very perceptive and smart, she had a love of forensics and her friends would often put on mystery hunts just for her

Leslie Dunn:

Round face, light hair, police uniform

Police officer/ Detective

A bit blunt at times though not with the intention of being rude

A bit awkward at times

Jack Flores:

Younger man, greasy hair, bright eyes

Nightshift Security Guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria

Overly curious, couldn’t keep his nose out of other’s business

[spideyanakin]

The World Isn’t Quiet Anymore - Part 3; The Ring

Peter Parker x Elf! Reader Lord Of The Rings Au

Chapter 1 - The Fellowship of The Ring

Part 3 ~ The Ring

Series Masterlist 🍒

Normal Masterlist 🧚🏻‍♀️

A few hours later and you were walking through the Caradhras. Its high peaks were covered by a bedding of snow. The whole fellowship falling quiet as you all walked admiring the blue skies that made the snow sparkle.

You were about to send a snowball on Legolas when Frodo slipped and fell at your feet. You bent down to try and help him up, Gandalf joining you. His ring had slipped out of his hand and onto the snow, catching the attention of Boromir.

The man grabbed the ring that was on the floor and admired it with all its mesmerizing beauty.

"How can such a small thing hold so much power?" He stared at it losing himself in its golden appearance.

"Boromir," Aragorn said as he saw Boromir get lost in its power. "Give the ring to Frodo." He shot daggers at him with his eyes, holding on tight to his sword in case he had to do the unthinkable to get it back.

Boromir stared at Frodo and slowly walked to him, your eyes glued onto the scene. He handed him the ring before a large almost insane smile danced across his lips his hand coming up to ruffle his hair. You shared a look with Legolas who was just as concerned as you before taking your eyes back to the road ready to continue your journey.

Before you knew it you were walking in the harsh snow. You and Legolas perfectly balancing on top of it, your delicate and weightless bodies being as agile as the wind.

"you alright?" You asked Peter as you saw his nose and ears slowly turn red because of the cold.

"Yeah." He nodded shivering as he answered.

You gave him a small smile before handing him your hand. He questioned your action before relentlessly grabbing it.

You stepped a little closer before grabbing his hand with both your hands a strike of heat coming up his body.

He stopped shivering and the ice that had formed on his eyelashed melted away. He looked at you with an aw struck dopey smile and gave you a grateful nod that you returned.

"Elves don't get cold, but they can warm up others." You winked at him before suddenly turning your head around when you heard a sudden voice come from the distance.

Everyone's words were all a blur when you spotted lightning striking the top of the mountain sending an avalanche into the fellowship.

You all rolled down the cliff thanking the snow for easing the fall.

You popped your head out of the snow and sudden panic hit you when you saw no one. Legolas popped out of the ground like a daisy and looked around in concern. You did the same as you saw the others pop out the snow too.

You took your time to look around and let out a sigh of relief as Peter finally got out, taking a large breath of air as he thanked the heavens for being alive.

"Are you ok?" You asked and he nodded, earning a look from Legolas as to why you were taking such interest in a human.

~

"Be careful!" You chuckled as Peter tripped onto a rock leading to the mines of Moria. He gave you a grateful smile as you held him up and continued your walk next to him.

"Thank you." He chuckled his cheeks painted with red as he made contact with you.

"Don't worry about it." You replied and gave him a warm smile that made his heart skip a beat.

"What are you playing at?" Legolas asked you in elvish as you walked a little forward towards the mines.

"What?" You asked not realizing the large smile you were wearing.

"The human." He pointed to behind him, where Peter was mindlessly looking at the trees.

"What do you mean?" You wondered your elvish words slipping out of your mouth like an ocean of glittering words.

"That you like him."

"I don't!" You defended but Legolas smirked in disbelief.

"Be careful Y/n, he's a human," Legolas added in concern as he jumped from a rock to another. "You know what you're getting yourself into." The elvish words felt easier on Legolas's tongue than the English he had to bear.

"I never said I did!" You screamed back in English earning concerned looks from everyone in the fellowship and a smirk forming on Aragorn's lips.

"I don't want to lose you, cousin, you know how much you mean to me," Legolas replied turning back to Elvish and you grabbed a small rock that you threw at him, not speaking another word.

The next thing you remember was walking through the mines of Moria and Pippin accidentally tripping on armor making a wave of goblins wake up and charge.

You were running trying to survive, shooting arrows here and there, desperate to keep the lives of everyone making the journey with you.

You screamed as you watched Peter get swarmed by a few orcs, killing them and helping him on the way.

and before you even knew it, like images flashing through your eyes; Gandalf fell into the depths of the caves and the fellowship was walking towards Mordor again.

Not really knowing what to do anymore, you all flopped on the ground of a safe area with a pleasant view, resting as the day became dreaded. You sat down by the fire, losing yourself in the beauty of the flames as you felt the tears spill from your eyes at the loss of Gandalf.

"Here." Legolas handed you a few pieces of Lambas that you took not even feeling hungry enough to take it.

"Frodo?" You asked out of the blue.

"Yes?" He asked back.

"Your very brave you know..." You continued still staring at the flames, the events of the day still fresh in your mind.

"Thank you." He replied and nodded, confidence flowing in him as a beautiful creature such as you would compliment him.  

You made eye contact with Peter from across the fire, sharing a small unsure smile.

"The fire is dying down," Sam said while pushing some potatoes in his pan.

"I'll get more wood." Peter stepped up, his soft voice ringing in your pointy ears.

"No, I'll go don't worry." You stood up and pushed the dust from the ground out of your lap and hands, Legolas eyeing you suspiciously.

"More hands! More wood!" Gimli almost screamed, the rage of his grief still filling the air.

You nodded without a word as if you did say a word you were scared it would break like porcelain and shatter into tears. Legolas didn't comment but shot daggers with his eyes at Gimli, not liking the fact that you and the human had a new opportunity of getting close.

You silently walked down the small hill you had taken refuge, Peter following. You dodged the trees going down, landing perfectly onto flat ground. Peter's pace was slower, as he carefully used the trees to not slip on the stiff land.

You waited for him at the bottom, watching his every move.

"What?" He asked as he felt your stare on him, his soft tone soothing the fatigue of the voyage.

"Nothing." You smiled as he walked towards you. "Just watching how humans climb down." You breathed as you fixed your sword on your hip. "I find it fascinating." You shyly smiled.

"Well, your fascinating." Peter's word slipped out his mouth like wet soap, sending a light blush to your cheeks. "I- I mean- elves are- um- Fascinating." He stuttered catching himself in his words. "I'd never met elves before..."

"Well, now your friends with one." You smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder, you and Peter feeling a firework of tingles flow into your bodies.

"I-" You wanted to speak but the words got stolen from your throat, and you ended up wordless instead, suddenly feeling your throat going dry.

You felt as though you forgot how to blink, your speechlessness not helping your case. Both of you had stayed there, getting lost in each other's eyes as the owls and wildlife were the only noise that echoed from the forest.

You shut your eyes as you felt like you were going to end up kissing him, the air getting too much to take in as the air got caught in your lungs.

"Wood... We got to get wood." You chuckled and slipped your hand away from Peter's shoulder, it passing by his arm before returning to your side. You turned around to face the ocean of trees and fallen branches, scanning around for dry ones, worthy of bringing back to camp.

As your mind thought of Peter, you lost track of your feet and tripped onto a large root, Peter catching you as you did.

"Aren't elves supposed to be like? Agile?" He chuckled and you playfully slapped his arm.

"Not when someone makes them lose balance." You couldn't help the words slip out as Peter helped you bring balance back to your feet. You removed your dagger from your boot and chopped a large fallen branch into two.

"Take those." You handed Peter the two large logs, thanking the fallen night so he couldn't see the blush that had made its way to your cheeks, Peter thinking the same.

He held the logs as you dropped a few more small ones on top, Peter shifting his grip on it.

You grabbed some wood yourself and started making your way back to camp.

"We're passing through Lothlorien." You broke the silence. "It's elven grounds. You'll meet more elves there." You chuckled.

"Oh really!?"

"Yeah." You smiled "You know the leader of the council. Elrond?" You asked and watched Peter as he nodded. "Well, his mother rules these parts."

"Oh, that's amazing." He replied feeling even more amazed by the elven culture than before. Happiness settled at the bottom of his stomach slowly eating up the grief from past events.

"I could teach you everything about us if you'd like." You smiled, Peter's cheeks burning at your words.

"I would love to." He smiled his face being now as red as Sauron's eye.

"Then I will." You straightened up as you took the last big step towards the camp, finally seeing what was left of the small fire dancing in the middle of the camp lighting the way.

"We got wood!" Peter exclaimed as you got near the group.

"Amazing." Sam smiled as he took the wood from your arms, his positiveness making you smile.

- Tag List - 

@averyfosterthoughts @emmaloo21 @ifntelyinspirit@slytherinambitious @anapocalypseinmymind @r0binbuckleys​

[athicfa]

Felicia's thoughts on the Avengers or the Fantastic Four?

[ ask me anything | always accepting ]

𝐓 𝐇 𝐄   𝐀 𝐕 𝐄 𝐍 𝐆 𝐄 𝐑 𝐒

Felicia holds a form of near-reverence for the Avengers. Not exactly hero worship, but she likes them, or moreso the idea of the Avengers. The existence of the Avengers and similar groups gives a sense of security, oddly enough. She manages to stay off their radar because they have bigger fish to fry, so they're not a direct threat to her criminal livelihood (with the occasional exception), and they deal with all the bad shit going on so she doesn't have to put on her temporary hero boots and get involved with problems that are WAY out of her depth for the sake of survival. Dealing with threats to humanity is not really her thing, so as long as there are people out there who can deal with the big issues like that and keep her life from being disrupted, it lets her stay in her criminal comfort zone. So she can appreciate the stability.

On an individual basis, she's not too invested in knowing who's who unless they cross paths. But she does have some established opinions on certain members.

Captain America / Steve Rogers. When Felicia throws around the word "hero" it's usually with contempt or coated in at least three different layers of sarcasm. But Steve is one of those rare few that she can call a hero and mean it. He's inspiring. And, listen, as much as I dunk on the King and Black arc for how it treated her at times, I really like her interaction with Steve there. I love the idea that he entrusted her with the fate of not only the Avengers but the world, regardless of her past, and treated her like she was one of them. She was absolutely convinced that there was no way in hell she could pull this off, she's not cut out for this kind of heroism, but HE got her to believe in herself. So Steve will always be a cool guy in her book.

Black Widow. Honestly she doesn't know that much about her personally because who even does? But Felicia thinks she's cool. She's a badass, and she can't help but stan a badass woman.

Hawkeye / Clint Barton. He's a decent guy but she did kinda brainwash him that one time so she feels a bit icky about it and she's pretty sure he hasn't let it go. Still, he's one of the Avengers that can come across as a normal person and not some untouchable super-being, y'know? So that's cool. It's nice being able to sass an Avenger and feel remotely confident that you're not going to get blasted into a different dimension or something.

Wolverine. Ah, her darling Logan. Her claw buddy. Fellow feral creature. He's not an active Avenger but still she likes to talk about him. Their team-up in the 2019 Black Cat Madripoor arc is one of my favorite comic dynamics of all time. (If you haven't read those issues, I cannot recommend them enough. It's comedic GOLD. Hands down my favorite thus far.) The whole dynamic can be encapsulated by this image.

Iron Man / Tony Stark. He makes fun suits. 10/10 would take them for a joy ride again.

Doctor Strange. Scary Merlin. She stole from him before, highly unlikely to do it again. But she will stop by and say hi to Bats, though. Bats is precious.

𝐓 𝐇 𝐄   𝐅 𝐀 𝐍 𝐓 𝐀 𝐒 𝐓 𝐈 𝐂   𝐅 𝐎 𝐔 𝐑

The Fantastic Four don't get the same degree of reverence as the Avengers because to Felicia they're basically just the weird family that lives across town. She's too familiar with them on a personal level to see them in the same light, y'know? Not that they're not also cool, but she knows them.

Spiderman / Peter Parker. Not an active member but he's still closely associated so he gets a mention. I don't think there's much left to be said about her relationship with Peter. I think they're in a healthy place as exes now, and they have a good friendship. He was her first love, though, so that's a feeling she won't ever be able to completely forget.

Sue Storm. That woman scares the shit out of Felicia. Period. Not only can she do terrifying things with her powers, but Felicia's not exactly on her good side. Between her hooking up with Sue's brother on occasion to accidentally unleashing dangerous interdimensional entities into her home during a botched robbery, she can't blame Sue for not liking her. She steers clear out of both respect and a healthy dose of fear.

Johnny Storm. They have kind of an off-and-on casual dating / friends with benefits situation. Johnny's not the brightest dude but he's pretty and nice to talk to, so she'll stop by to see him from time to time.

Can't say much for the others because she hasn't interacted with Reed or Ben that much tbh. She tends to avoid them because if they see her around they'll snitch on her to Sue and she doesn't want that lmao

[2120hq]

Welcome to 2120HQ! For the following characters under read more, please send in your account within 24 HOURS and go through the CHECKLIST. If you have any other questions, please feel free to send me an IM or inbox as usual. I can’t wait to start writing with all of you!

ABSINTHE aka RIPLEY ( FC: Angela Sarayfan ) written by TARA.

Oof. Ripley has had a rough start in life. Actually, Ripley’s had it rough all through her life but I was so mesmerized by her story that I couldn’t stop reading once I started. The disappearance of her parents, then Joy, her involvement with Synth, then finally venturing into her current work – and the part with the futuristic drugs that you’ve created! I’m tempted to add all of that into a separate page on the main blog right now. Ripley is going to be such a force in Metropolis, I can feel it, and I’m beyond thrilled that she’s here.

BABYDOLL aka LYRA SADIK ( FC: Neslihan Atagül ) written by EM.

Em, I don’t even have the right words to describe how devastated I felt while I was reading your application, in all the right ways. I only had a small seedling of an idea for Babydoll, but you took that and made it make so much sense - why she keeps everyone at a distance, how she took the name Babydoll and made it her own. Everything about Lyra was so beautifully tragic and I haven’t been able to get her out of my head since I first took a look at your writing. So happy to have her (and you) here and I can’t wait to see what she does.

CASPER aka ( FC: Damaris Goddrie ) written by MARLOWE.

I think what helped me make this choice was how clear Juniper’s voice was in your writing. They’re actually quite funny, which I adored, but that lightness and humor quickly developed into something that felt a lot heavier as Juniper lost their family and fell into a partnership with Mars. Radicalization. Sure, it’s a strong word, but I think that’s exactly where I wanted Casper to be - wanting action, wanting to be the sword for the rebellion. Even in their frustration, though, I can really tell that Juniper cares a lot about the people of D3 and the other mutants; I can’t wait to see where this takes them. 

GEMINI aka BOBBY REYES ( FC: Rome Flynn ) written by AARON.

I’m a little (and by that, I mean completely) in love with Bobby. I love all the parts of your application, from the format to the dialogue to that small peak at Bobby’s set – I think he’s meant to be charming anyway but I’m head over heels for him. My favorite part was when Bobby-and-Bobby were talking to each other on his birthday and starting laughing. It warmed my heart and it was bittersweet all at once - exactly what I was looking for in Gemini. I’m super happy that you’re here!

MARS aka IRIS / NADIA MAYS ( FC: Sonequa Martin-Green ) written by RONI. 

This was no doubt the hardest decision I’ve had to make today and I’m, again, very saddened by the fact that both of you went for this one role. I wish I could duplicate Mars and I want to scream! What I loved so much about Iris, amongst many other things, was how smart she is. Her survival instincts just kicked in but it’s also so clear that she’s patient and strong and hurt and angry and it just made me want to see a lot more of her. I also should let you know here that I’m super on board with all of your rebellion plans 👀 - and I’m really looking forward to writing against Iris!

MOONBEAM aka NOEMI ELARA PERRINE ( FC: Jessica Henwick ) written by JORDAN.

This might sound odd, but my favorite thing about your interpretation of Moonbeam was how you showed all her imperfections and complexities. Moonbeam, I think, was one of the harder characters to really flesh out - she can’t be just about her upbringing and she certainly can’t just be about resentment or her sense of adventure. But you balanced each side of her so well and you clearly have so many plans for her - I really love Noemi so much and I can’t wait to write against her.

NIGHTINGALE aka SANTIAGO CRUZ ( FC: Charles Michael Davis ) written by ALEXA.

‘Despite only being a child, Santiago was placed on a pedestal.’ One of the main things I was looking for in Nightingale was their struggle with the burden or responsibility that was put on them because of their power. How incredibly tiring that must have been – there needed to be a reason for them to question what they were doing now. And you showed that so well through Santiago; I can practically feel his exhaustion through the screen that all I want to do is tell him to rest – so I’ll be looking forward to how you develop him in the group!

REAPER aka MIGUEL GARCIA HERNANDEZ ( FC: David Castaneda ) written by EMILY.

I’m not sure that this was what you’d planned, but I was so obsessed with your Reaper the moment I started reading your application that I honestly don’t think anyone else could have filled the spot. And I sincerely hope that everyone will get to read your full application because it was so incredibly detailed and amazing and heartbreaking that I actually might have started crying when I was reading about Miguel. I also am so blown away by the fact that Miguel actually has his own motivations when it comes to Metropolis – and his far-too-complicated relationship with Rebecca and her vision of the city. I could go on forever but I mostly, I’m just really happy that Miguel is now in our lives.

SUNGLOW aka SAFFIRA CITRINE FLINT ( FC: Laura Harrier ) written by MISHA. 

I’m really bummed that I have to make a decision at all - both applications were so, so good that I’m actually kind of mad that I have to choose! In the end, I think Saffira’s voice showed very strongly in the interactions that she had, and the little sprinkles of dialogue you threw in, Misha. From the outside, Saffira really is someone who has everything, but there were still so many complexities you threw in - her relationship with Victor, the end of that relationship, and how curious she actually is by nature. I can really see her going somewhere within this story, and I think that potential is really what drew me to Saffira. Can’t wait to see what she does!

TINMAN aka IDRIS SALEM ( FC: Marwan Kenzari ) written by JESSIE.

How dare you make me love a A WHOLE FAMILY and then make me sad! ‘the salems, a vibrant staple in district three, fades to the background.’ This really broke my heart into pieces and I don’t have enough words to describe how much I feel for them. And Idris is so complicated – he has so much kindness but so much anger inside him at the same time, and the fact that he’s trying to convince Mars that violence isn’t the answer because he’s tried that – ugh. I’ll stop here before I end up writing a whole thing, but I’m so glad to have you!

YOKAI aka PETER FUKUYAMA ( FC: Ryan Potter ) written by ANA.

Honestly, I couldn’t get the image out of a mizuchi flying across Metropolis or roaming through the Graveyard – you really made Peter into a living legend of sorts; a terrifying myth that exist in the darkest corners of the district. But Peter the person is so different from that creature: he’s soft and protective and loyal underneath all of that. I’m really, really curious to see what happens with Peter and the rebellion especially, because the plans you’ve given me could take him to such different places. Welcome, Ana! Happy to have you here.

[itstimetotheorize]

vincent is the traitor! Peter Rataris unknowing pawn

over the course of the series many have speculated that Norman would betray Emma and become the main villain of the series, resulting in a friend turned foe situation. Well, as much as many believe this to be true I cant help but feel that something is up.

 Kaiu Shirai, the creator of “the promised never land”, stated to the public that one of the things he enjoys doing, is deceiving readers. Knowing this and looking at how everyone has concluded that Norman is the villain of the series and a traitor to Emma, leads me to believe that we are all falling right into Shirais deception. So then, if Norman isn't the traitor of the series then who is? well, I, as well as other, believe its Vincent. 

First lets talk about what could’ve made Vincent a traitor. Vincent is a survivor of lambda, he was rescued by Norman then later becomes one of normans top officers, along with Cislo , Barbara and Zazie. Aside from being able to fight demons barehanded he is also seen to be very intelligent, knowing a great deal about medicines and even machinery, but most importantly, aside from Norman, Vincent may be the only other person among the cattle children (not including Emma and her group) with superior intellect. 

And yet, something seems very off about him. Compared to Barbara and the others Vincent seems to put more effort into “matching” Norman. Norman dresses very professionally and Vincent can be seen doing the same,

 Norman speaks in a very polite and discrete manner and Vincent can be seen behaving in the same way.

 We know that the lambda children idolize Norman and look at him as their savior, but what if Vincent didn't just idolize him, what if he was full blown obsessed with Norman?. 

how did Vincent develop his Norman obsession? well, it most likely had to do with the fact that he was at lambda.  Lambda is a hellish place, not only are you experimented on but you are also separated from the rest of the world with no hope of survival.

 In chapter 119 Norman explains to everyone that he managed to escape from lambda by first finding an accomplice, that accomplice is Vincent since its his name written in the secret message of the rubix cube.

 If you look at Vincents clothes in chapter 129 you can clearly see Vincent and Norman are wearing the same clean clothes, confirming that Vincent was experimented on in a similar manner as Norman. 

If he was, then that means Vincent was isolated in a room just like Normans where he could be monitored at all times. 

Considering that Vincent was able to make contact with Norman first, tells us that he was already at lambda long before Norman arrived, giving him the time needed to learn about the facility and contact others unnoticed.

Vincents attempts to contact others probably didn't start with Norman either, he may have already made several attempts, however, its likely no one was able to catch on to his secret message. If Vincent was going on day after day hoping that someone would be smart enough to decipher his message then odds are all that waiting made him go a bit crazy. Isolation can make anyone crazy, and in Vincents case once Norman replied to his secret code it would have not only sparked a flicker of hope but it  would've also marked the beginning of an interest that would later develop into an obsession. An obsession over learning more and desiring to be closer to Norman.

After finally escaping lambda Vincent would’ve just simply cherished the fact that he would finally be by his godly Normans side. I’m guessing for a while Vincent truly believed everything was perfect, and nothing could change the way things were. That is until Emma and ray came back into Normans life.

If Vincent really is crazy for Norman then this spells major trouble. If Vincent  realized that another person was not only able to catch Normans full attention but also have the potential of making him switch his loyalty to them, then surely Vincent would become possessive of Norman.

 In chapter 124 when Emma and ray meet Cislo, Barbara and Vincent. Barbara and Cislo intimidate them, then begin boasting about how great they are compared to them.

 Vincent states they are “ childishly competing with you”, but what are they competing against?, its clear to them ray and Emma don’t have their strength so its possible that they are competing with them in terms of  value to Norman, they are jealous. Vincent is the only one who remains civil about the matter but its possible even he felt a sense of jealousy towards Emma and ray, or perhaps even a sense of animosity towards them as he listened to stories about how Norman was much happier with them in his life at grace field.

 In chapter 122, before meeting Emma, Vincent meets up with Norman, telling him he heard word from other children about how Norman acted like a completely different person when he was around Emma and the others.

 It must have been quite a shock to Vincent when he heard Norman was acting so happily, after all,  in chapter 124 Vincent and the others describe Norman as being nothing more than cold and serious in the time they knew him. 

however,  rather than talking to Vincent more leisurely about his reunion,   Norman quickly shuts him down and shifts the focus back to his plan. 

with the way Norman shut Vincent down,  Vincent may have already developed a bit of dislike towards Emma for not only bringing out a side of Norman he could never bring out himself,  but for also revealing to him that Emma and the others might actually have an impact on Normans perfect image.

  After talking with Emma and Ray in chapter 124 , Vincent may not have just felt jealous and spiteful towards them, he might have also developed a sense of fear... fear that he would lose Norman to his original family. Now that he knows just how much of an impact Emma and her friends can cause, Vincent may have determined Norman was better of without them.

I’m guessing this isn't the first time Vincent felt this way either. According to Norman,  Smee was the only other person he could rely on when planning his escape at lambda,

 however, on the day of Normans escape, Smee was captured. Just what happened to him is unknown, 

but because he was a Minerva supporter norman says it is likely he was killed, or was he? but more on Smee in another theory 

if Smee was the only other person at lambda capable of connecting with Norman, then its possible Vincent may have felt the same fear and jealousy he felt when Emma came back into Normans life. These emotions could’ve lead him to do something that Smee may have soon found out for himself...Vincent may have betrayed Smee and handed him over to Peter Ratari.

 what if Vincent  exposed Smee to Peter? he may have planned Smees capture to occur the same day lambda was destroyed, allowing him to completely hide his tracks and avoid any suspicion from Norman. However, if Vincent believed he could get away with using peter then he is sorely mistaken. Using peter is a big mistake, he is not someone you should get involved with, seriously, from what we’ve seen, the guy is evil on a completely different level!!.  

 Despite being loyal to Norman, Vincent  may have taken it upon himself to ensure that Normans brilliant mind would not be influenced by anyone. And what better way to do that than by getting rid of those people like he did with Smee

 in chapter 129 when Norman talks to Vincent and the others about what is going to happen to mujica, he tells them not to worry about it, that he will deal with it. 

 in chapter 143 when don and Gilda finally reunite with mujica and sonju, hayato thinks back to when he and jin were tasked with killing mujica. The weird thing is, its not Norman giving them the order to do it, its Vincent! 

and even though in chapter 144 don and Gilda cry over realizing that Norman has lied to them in order to kill mujica

 they may not realize that it probably wasn't Norman who planed the assassination !

Some of you may say, “but wait, it had to be Normans plan, after all back in chapter 138 Cislo and Vincent were having a conversation about the whole ordeal being Normans idea ”, maybe, but what if we misinterpreted that conversation?. 

When Cislo starts asking questions to Vincent over the plan, he first asks “ you think they’ll find the evil blooded?”, Vincent assures him they will since Norman was even able to find geelan. Cislo then asks, “you think they can kill her?”, Vincent assures him they will and states that he simply needs to trust Norman on that matter. 

when cislo says “ you think THEY can kill HER” our immediate thought is that he is talking about mujica, but what if he wasn't talking about her?, what if cislo was asking about queen legravalima?

 In chapter 148  Norman states that the royal family, including legravalima are very powerful and intelligent, and in chapter 149 we can see she is fully capable of wiping out a large number of geelans army with ease

 Despite Normans plan to kill all demons, we see now that Normans plan was actually to have geelan weaken or kill the queen instead while at the same time reduce his own armys numbers trying to fight her. She is to much for Norman and the others to handle on their own without first being weakened.

the “THEY “ in cislos question might actually have been referring to geelan and his army!.  In chapter 138 Cislo might have been expressing to Vincent his concern for not just finding mujica but for the killing of the queen!. And why would cislo be told to trust Norman on that matter? because, even if geelan fails to kill the queen he would have still done his part to leave Norman with the opening needed to kill the royal family once they were weakened. And as of chapter 150, we can see this is currently happening 

 Which again leads me back to the whole mujica assassination. if you think about it carefully you may find that the whole plan is suspicious!. First of all why would Norman send hayato and jin on a serious assassination mission when all they ever do is escort missions?. Back in chapter 114 and 115, it was jin and hayato that needed to be saved from demons, 

they were completely incapable of fighting. In chapter 135 when hayato is revealed to be don and gildas escort, everyone feels concerned, saying he is not the most reliable, hayato even stated himself that he is not reliable at all!

In chapter 139, when its revealed that jin is also following don and Gilda with a bunch of children just like Adam, it can seem as if jin and hayato really are  capable of completing the assassination.

 Children like Adam are after all strong enough to take down a demon single handedly, however, they are by no means skilled. Every punch they throw, every swing they take doesn't just go to the demon, the attack itself goes to whatever is in that range, and they cant exactly stop midway of an attack either, all they have is brute strength, I mean just look at what one of them did to a tree when attempting to attack Sonju

If Vincent purposely assigned Jin and Hayato with the assassination plan and sent a handful of Adam kids with them, then its likely that his plan was to distract sonju with the Adam kids and have Don and Gilda accidentally killed while attempting to protect mujica from Jin and Hayato. Once mujica was killed, sonju, in a moment of rage, would kill jin, hayato, and ayshe

And in his moment of rage the other Adam kids would’ve received the opening needed to finish him off. Later on, if anyone were to question why Jin went with them when he wasn't even assigned to the escort group back at the base, Vincent could simply lie by saying jin went on his own out of worry or he could say that he sent Jin and the other Adam kids just to make sure don and gilda were well protected in case mujica turned on them, once they were all killed, Vincent could simply blame the demons.

 But wait, if the Adam kids are the only survivors wouldn't that ruin Vincents plan once they came back? no, because once the assassination plan was done, the  Adam kids who went with jin and hayato could simply go back into hiding with the other children, and that’s if they ever find their way back at all!, they are after all, not very smart to begin with. But wait!,  wouldn't the Adam kids say something? no, because just as we have seen with Adam in chapter 73

 all Adam kids have a short attention span and little interest in talking just like Adam, even if they did talk, no one would understand what they were talking about 

 Heck, Adam repeatedly said Normans number back at goldy pond and neither Emma or Ray ever caught on that he was saying Normans number!. 

even when he went on to live with Emma in the underground shelter, Adam never once says Normans number ever again, until they actually reunite with him in chapter 119

 As long as the Adam kids stay silent, Vincent wouldn't have to worry about anyone finding out about mujicas assassination plan, 

However, judging by how things went,  Vincent probably didn't expect the Adam kids to suffer from seizures during the attack and he most certainly didn't think that ayshe could actually talk and wind up helping don and Gilda. If so, then as of right now, Vincent is currently at the castle unaware of the fact that mujica and sonju are alive, and worse, that hayato is now with them at the capital on their side! practically guarantying his exposure to Norman

the only question now is, what was he planning on doing with Emma and ray?,perhaps Vincent had a microphone or camera in Normans office (is he that obsessed? probably) and thru his ipad/tablet, which we can clearly see he owns in chapter 122,

 he was able to listen in and learn about how no one has ever made it back from the seven walls . 

Vincent probably underestimated Emma and Ray and believed they would never come back as well.

unfortunately for him, Emma and Ray did come back and are now at the capital as well. In chapter 146, Vincent is placed in charge of hacking and controlling the security system, and as we can see by whats behind Vincent 

 the castle is equipped with cameras and TV monitors to see everything going on in the castle.   In chapter 149, when Emma and Ray are trying to figure out how to get into the now gated castle

 we see a quick shot of Vincent in the security room staring at his ipad/tablet

 he knows Emma and Ray are there! but he doesn't notify Norman that Emma is making her way in! why?, because, what lies beyond that gate is the battle between zazie and the queen.

 if Emma has no idea were Norman is and makes her way into the final battle to kill the royal family she could end up getting herself killed, which is exactly what Vincent wants, after all, aside from the Adam children, zazie also has a hard time focusing on who to attack. Back in chapter 117, zazie almost killed Emma in the midst of killing the demons

and sadly, with Normans eyes focused on killing the royal family, he hasn't even considered the fact that Emma might have returned from the seven walls and is now trying to find him amidst the chaos. Emma did say in chapter 128 that Normans logic was all based on numbers and probability and there was no guarantee his plan would succeed without any issues, well guess what!, the one thing he for sure thought would never happen is happening right now!

In chapter 148 when Emma and Ray are heading to the capital, they come across the demon army Norman had planned to lure away to other demon villages.

 However, Ray and the others soon realize that they are not going to demon villages or back to the royal capital. They are instead searching for the cattle childrens hideout!,

whats worse is, they know exactly what area to begin searching, but how?, how do they know where to begin looking?, my guess is Vincent was being tracked by peter after lambda was destroyed!. Like I said before, peter is not someone you should get involved with, if Vincent really did try using peter to get rid of Smee then odds are peter must have figured out Vincent was involved with Norman as well as Smee and chose to keep a watchful eye on lambda and the area around it whenever he wasn't there, how could he do this? why with secret cameras of course.

 back in chapter 112 ray reveals that Peter Ratari used camera owls to track them down from the very moment they left mujica and sonju in search of shelter B 06-32 way back in chapter 51.

 It was those same camera owls that pinpointed the shelters location as well as the cameras belonging to the shelters security system. Whats worse, peter has a tone of these owls flying around! and it may not just be owls. Since its peters job to make sure the human and demon world are upholding their end of the promise, who knows what else he is using to monitor the demon world.  

If peter did use Vincent as a way to find the others then he would have already made a plan to take back all the cattle children the day they were at their weakest, that day was the day Norman was away at the capital with nearly all their strongest fighters.

if any of this is true, then its only a mater of time before Vincent  is exposed, not just as a traitor but as one of peters unknowing pawns in his plan to recapture(or kill) all the cattle children. Then again, there’s also the possibility that Vincent may have secretly been working with peter this whole time, and only pretended to be normans ally until the grace field children arrived. But hey, thats just a theory, a the promised never land theory!

[kodzuskook]

4am | avengers

pairing: avengers x avenger!reader (platonic)

decription: it’s four in the morning, you’re surrounded by people that you know and have that weird, naive, slightly fucked up contentment.

requested?: warnings: alcohol use 

author’s note: set after infinity war, before endgame but may include some endgame quotes // this is NOT poking fun or lowering the struggles and pain any of the avengers went through after the decimation. grief and shock sometimes causes naive and ignorant views on reality and that’s what i tried to recreate // avengers!reader

audio: 4am — bastille

﹉﹊﹉﹊﹉﹊﹉﹊﹉﹊﹉﹊

the whole living room floor was covered in bodies. some stretched over others, others leaning against pieces of furniture. some bodies with parts wrapped in bandages and gauze while others lay with exposed scabs and recovering bruises. a few’s chests dropping up and down in a slow rhythm, slipping out of consciousness as the strings of oblivion pulling them into a slumber. the rest, awake, in a blissful state of ignorance.

near each body were bottles. some discarded on their sides, rendered empty of their contents. others meticulously placed, barely drunk, half full, or nearing depletion.

the record player in the corner played an old record bought months earlier. soft music setting the mood across the room. the ticking of the clock fell deaf to ears yet kept moving forward, reading the time to be four am. an hour since everyone had returned from their mission.

you rested your head on steve’s lap, his body slouched on the ground against in the conjoining corner of the sectional sofa while yours sprawled across the cool tiled floor. your eyes were closed, yet you partook in the hushed conversation taking place around you. steve’s fingers ran through your hair, combing through them while responding to phrases directed towards him.

with the coffee table‘s recent switch in placement elsewhere, natasha lay across from you, her head resting against bruce’s stomach while he dreamt away quietly. her eyes stared up at the faraway ceiling, unconsciously counting the lights and connecting them as if they were dots.

quiet but awash-with-intensity sounding snores escaped thor’s lips. his brooding body flipped onto the stomach, his hand still having a tight grip on his bottle of mead. it was no secret that the god of thunder has slipped out of his consciousness still plagued with adverse thoughts about his failures. the rainstorm outside reflected his mood easily, the pelting of the raindrops hard against the glass windows and roofs.

on the other side of the sectional sat james rhodes. a beer, maybe his fifth, in his hand, being pulled up every few minutes for a swig to be taken. his eyes, sunken with the weight of the past few days, followed the figures of the bodies in front of him. a raccoon slept next to him, a peculiar sight to any ordinary person but a sight that was growing on the onlookers of the avengers facility.

virginia potts made her presence known by sitting on the piano bench, her eyes following the raindrops down the windows in a melancholic fashion. sitting on top of the grand piano’s lid was a wine glass and a bottle of wine. pepper preferred to get drunk by the use of wine rather than beer.

the room was shared with people who experienced loss. the vacancy and negative space within the room didn’t go unnoticed but left it feeling light and diluted. quiet words shared in confidence, looming in the air.

“i used to have nothing,” natasha started, her eyes shifting from the ceiling to face you and steve. pepper turned from her seat to join the conversation as the widow continued, “then i got this–this job.”

steve mumbled out, “a hell of a job if you ask me.”

rhodey let out a quiet chuckle, “the whole takin’ names, kickin’ ass shebang.”

you smiled at the man’s slurred speech turning your head back to face natasha as she once again started, “well, yeah. but then, i met you guys. and i had this foundation. this new family.”

you agreed, “i had nothing before the avengers initiative. deadbeat mom, stoned dad. didn’t go to school much but i liked science. fucked around, got these powers,” you paused to demonstrate, creating a hologram-like illustration of yourself as a child, “stark recruited me and i’ve been here since. my only constant.”

pepper grabbed her full wine cup, walking over and joining the conversation with more interest, “i remember that day, tony was ecstatic to get a one up on fury. he had been the one to find and recruit an enhanced, not nick.”

steve laughed, “son of a bitch always left us with mystery.” he pointed to the blinking pager in its case, “don’t even know what the device is for.”

natasha giggled, “it’s what fury did best.” she smiled lightly coming back to her initial point, “you’re all part of my family.”

pepper raised her glass, “to family.”

the conscious and insomnolent members of the group lazily raised their drinks in the air, murmuring the words back into the air before taking a sip, you and natasha sitting up from your positions to do so.

you smiled at the group, your eyes travelling across the slumped figures of thor and bruce before those awake around you, “‘sides you guys, there’s nowhere i would rather be.”

steve wrapped his arm around your shoulder, pulling your figure near his, “this little,” he paused, “occasionally big group that we have, it’s a beautiful thing.”

“a fucking dangerous one too.” rhodey let out a bitter chuckle, “what the fuck are we gonna do?”

the man’s words brought reality back into the room. the recent doom day that had barely just passed. the loss. the pain. the disappearance. the snap.

natasha shrugged, “hell if i know, but we’ll find a way.”

“how do we come back from this?” pepper shook her head, “i don’t even know if-if tony’s alive.”

“may called me,” your voice cracked as it rippled into the room, “said peter was supposed to be at a field trip but never returned.” you took a sip of your beer, “bruce said he saw red and blue swinging towards the raisin’s ship. kid’s got a heart of gold and major hero complex.” you shook your head bitterly, “did peter survive? why’d he have to go? i can’t lose pete. i can’t.”

“i’m losing my mind thinking about it.” rhodey shook his head, pulling his bottle up to empty its content.

“we’ll figure it out. we always do, somehow.” steve frowned, his mind plagued with the images of his best friend drifting into oblivion.

“i’m scared,” you started, “i’m scared to face this world. i’m scared of walking down those empty streets. not because of crime, but because there is none. the lack of people. the insufferable emptiness. i’m scared of our future.”

rhodey sighed, “aren’t we all?”

steve let out a sigh, deciding to switch the topic, “i saw a pod of whales the other day.”

pepper nodded in recognition, “fewer ships, cleaner water.”

“can’t believe we’re drunk and talking about the bright side of the snap.” natasha took a large sip of her drink.

“sometimes, it’s nice to be ignorant and blissfully unaware of reality.” you shrugged and the other members of the room agreed to your words.

“less noise pollution.” rhodey stated, “less pollution over all.”

steve let out a semi-tipsy giggle, “trump decimated. that’s gotta be a win.”

the large room filled with light laughter from each of the five, the poke at the now, late, president of america made the air feel lighter again.

“guess it’s not too bad when you think about it.” you smiled, naïveté seeping into your words.

“at least we’ve got one another.” pepper sighed, leaning her head against the sofa.

“at least we’ve got some family.”

[soulflamesketches]

What happened to you? (Spiderman Noir + Older Female Reader) [Part 1]

Title: What happened to you?

Familial Pairing: Spiderman Noir (Peter Parker) and Older Female Reader (who’s also technically a mutant)

Summary: You had taken Peter under your wing years ago when he was a young man. You’re like a mother to him, albeit a grumpy and strict one. One of your old enemies went back in time and killed you, leading Peter as the only one who remembers the present you. He’s gone back in time 18 years to save you and he discovers what made you into who you are.

Author’s Note: I’ve been watching Men In Black 3 okay! XD Alright, I researched Noir’s origins, even reading the comics and holy fuck! I am gonna reference the origins, I’ve made him 24 because of Spiderverse.

(E/s) = Eye Shade (Cause this black and white, most defining feature fill are going to have ‘shade’ instead of colour in order to ft in the Noir verse)

Your mutation - You can look into and manipulate people’s minds, take memories away, fabricate them, enhance them. Often used in information gathering missions and other such activities

Alia’s mutation - Sees multiple possible futures happening all at once, close to a fifth-dimensional being. She may be standing in one place, but she may not truly be there.

Quick Introduction!

You were on a routine job when you encountered this man dressed in back, trying to take out your target. Looking into the man, and with some convincing, he eventually told you that he was your... partner from the future. You hesitantly brought him along with you as your previous target, Stefon, popped up again. After saving another mutant from being killed, you’ve learned what this target was planning to do. But this man - Peter - suddenly became apprehensive. 

~Brooklyn, 1915~

“No, you’re staying here and I’m going to do it!” Peter snapped, only to receive a glare from the 22-year-old in front of him “And how are you going to do it, bonehead? You don’t have the ability to do what I can!” The female barked while jabbing him in the chest. “I don’t care!” He snapped, grabbing your wrist and then your shoulder, trying to be threatening in hopes of scaring you off. 

“It’s the only way.” He whispered, his grip faltering slightly. You growled at him, yanking your wrist from his grip. “No, she has to be the one.” Alia - the mutant the pair had just saved - said gently as she sensed the tension. But Peter only shushed her harshly, not wanting to hear her talk about the different futures she could see.

“Poppycock. There’s something you’re not telling me, Future Boy?” (E/s) glared at him, trying to stare into his soul through the obnoxious goggles.

“I’m older than you,” Peter stated while crossing his arms while returning the glare as he was called ‘boy’. Guess some things never change, he mused to himself. “And I cannot let you go down there.” He stressed, pointing in the general direction of their destination. You stared him and he stared back a silent standoff. “Stop me then.” You challenged, pushing past him.

Alia stared at him, while Peter sighed, “You die there!” He raised his voice in order for you to hear him. You stopped in your tracks. “The Pit, Queens. Stefon’s son kills you there.” Your expression did not change as you turned to look at the man, who had a few days claimed to be your ‘student’ from the future. “That’s what I came here to stop, Chief.” Peter finished, close to a whisper.

He hated feeling this vulnerable, but his throat was tightening at the thought of not stopping what he knew was coming. He could fail at this, that fact had refused to sink in until now. As much as you two annoyed the shit out of each other, Peter knew he needed you. 

“Oh shit, not this timeline...” Alia muttered, causing Peter to roll his eyes. He stepped towards you. The ring of his spidey sense warned of your impending punch. His fedora fell to the ground as your fist connected with his cheek, sending him a few steps back. 

“That’s for lying to me,” Peter held his face, groaning. He knew he deserved that one, but maybe the second punch coming his way. “Ow!” He grunted as you hit the same cheek, “And that’s for actually telling me.” 

“I was trying to protect you!” He snapped, checking his hand to see if any blood got through his mask while you stomped away from him, eventually coming to rest your elbows on the fence nearby. “The bitter truth is often better than the sweet lies,” Stated Alia as she stepped towards Peter, holding his arm to help him regain his balance. “Oh shut it!” Peter sneered, rubbing his cheek. 

“She must go to the pit. She has to erase his memories as she did before. (Y/n)’s the only hope of stopping this.” Peter stared at Alia, trying to discover a retort, but found nothing. He looked away, “Is there a chance that I can save her life?” He whispered, much like a prayer. He needed some sort of hope, anything.

Alia gently squeezed his shoulder as she smiled “Yes.” 

A shaky, but relieved sigh left Peter. “But,” His head shot up to look at the woman, her face now etched with concern “know that someone else will die if you do save her life. Death can only be replaced with death.” She warned him, shifting her gaze to you.

~Queens, 1915~

You hadn’t uttered a word after that, your face was stuck in a glare, sometimes pointed at him as you all were taking the footpaths to the pit. The silence created a tension so thick that you would need to cut it with a machete.

“So we work together in the future?” You finally broke the silence while your face softened. Peter nodded, “Yes, Chief.” He confirmed.

“How did that happen?” You inquire with a smirk, finally feeling the mood lighten. Peter smiled under his mask.

~Queens, 1931~ 

(Flash...back? Forward? XD Yes, I know the date is 1933 in the comic, but I’ve played with dates. plus this is fanfiction.)

The image of that Spider god was still ingrained into Peter’s mind as he held onto the building supports. Staring down at the concrete floor, he suddenly leapt from the metal, flipping in the air before landing perfectly on his two feet. 

He panted softly, slowly straightening his posture until he was looking up towards the support he was previously standing upon. It was a drop no one could land on their own two feet and survive. “I’ll be damned,” He whispered as he looked down at his hands.

His eyebrows knitted together and lowered, realising what he could do with this new power, especially after what he had witnessed. 

With a new mission in mind, Peter strode to the door. The warehouse was empty, the spiders and the gang were gone. He must have been bundled in the webs for a little while. He pushed the door open only to see that it was still dark, he might still know where to find them. 

“Better watch yourself out there kid,” 

Peter froze, jerking his whole body to face the speaker; a woman in her late thirties, grey hair starting to streak her (h/c) hair. She looked at him with a lazy smirk upon her face whilst she leant against the steel of the warehouse but she held a walking cane in her (dominant hand)

“What’s it to you, lady?” He barked, not in the mood for someone to stop him. The woman chuckled “Now, sonny, no need for the attitude. I was actually in a helping mood tonight. But I guess you don’t want to find Goblin then,” She shrugged, pushing herself off of the steel wall.

“You know where he is? Right now? Tell me!”

“Don’t go making demands.”

Peter growled, “Please?”

The woman smiled “That’s better! Now come here,” Turning back to face him, she gestured for him to approach her. He hesitated but decided to follow her instructions only for her to press her fingers to his forehead and his temple. 

Before the confused man could lurch back, he saw flashes of Goblin with his group. They were inside some type of office building. It had to be Osborn Enterprises, Peter realised. The flashes stopped once she removed her fingers and Peter was met with the sight of her smirk again. 

“Where are you going?” He asked as she turned away from him again, seemingly to leave. “I’m going to mind my own business while you take care of yours.” and then she left, limping all the way. 

~Queens, 1915~

“Heeellllooo? Peter? Are you gonna answer me?” You waved a hand in front of his face, your eyebrows knitted together in annoyance. “Oi! (Y/n) to Peter! Come in, please! Answer me!” You growled. Said man had just gone silent after your question, you couldn’t see the look on his face because of his damn mask - though you were guessing there was some stupid expression hiding under there.

Peter jolted as his train of thought broke finally. “What?” He blinked, turning to look at you. “You were going to tell me about our first meeting...” You told him in an annoyed tone. “Ah, ah! I’m sorry but you probably shouldn’t know,” Alia cautioned sternly.

Peter sighed. It was actually a story he would have loved to tell, it was a good memory among the bitter ones. He glanced at Alia to see her smiling at him - had she seen their meeting? - He wondered. Why else would she smile so softly at them?

The trio froze as the ground beneath them starting shake, Alia nearly lost her footing while you and Peter found your footing and stood rigid. “Stefon...” Peter growled, clenching his gloved fists “We have to go... now!” You ordered, “We’re not far now, come on!” You barked breaking out into a run, the Pit was nearly in sight, that was your target. You didn’t hear Peter shouting for you.

“Come on, Alia, let’s go!” Peter urged, about to join you, not wanting you to stay out of his sight for too long. “No, I should go now...” The woman replied timidly at first, but then perked with a smile “Don’t worry! You don’t need me anymore! Just make sure (Y/n) erases Stefon’s memories and the past will recover!”

“What do you mean?”

“Once the memories are gone, (Y/n) will survive. You can go home, she won’t know you were here.” The blonde woman reassured him, Peter nodded albeit hesitantly. “Alright, will we meet again?” He asked curiously,

Alia sighed “Anything’s possible, now go!” she shooed him off and then watching him run into the distance, following the woman who could stop this whole thing and save the city. Alia’s smiled faded, her eyebrows knitting together and she sighed sadly. 

“I can never bear to see this part...”

“... Good luck, Peter”

~Stay tuned for Part 2~

[groffiction]

Ok, So Endgame - now that Spoiler ban is lifted

The ONLY things I'm going to say about this are the following:

1) I personally loved 50 % of the movie. Regardless of who you ship, I think it was done pretty well when it came to action scenes and drama. Yea there were a whole bucket of tears, but that was expected. There was a huge amount of things going on and that must have sucked trying to pull all the characters together for the big battle.

2) I think Steve was epic not only facing off his 2012 year old self, but also getting to be worthy enough to summon lightning using Thor's hammer. That was epic to me.

That being said, here is what I absolutely hated about the movie and why.

1) I still cannot fathom how people can be so rude and disrespectful to Thor during his grieving stage. EVERYONE has their own way of dealing with grief and depression. It doesn't matter if he got fat or got depressed. As a fat person myself, as well as a Columbine School shooting survivor, I know big time what it feels like to be shamed due to my way of dealing with school shooting PTSD as well as being the fat chick being bullied because of the way society loves pushing body weight standards on to every breathing person on this planet. It should not matter if you are fat, short, tall, skinny, whatever, but society has a cookie cutter image for a person to be which is more than likely impossible. And if you don't fit into that small perfect looking role, you are ostracized and made to feel like shit. Thor should not have been made fun of due to his body weight gain or the fact that he processed grief in the form of depression.

2) Nat and the original Gamora deserved better. Yes, Nat made the ultimate sacrifice to save the greater good and her adoptive Avengers collective family, but I am so disappointed that they didn't see fit to give her a funeral, even a proper sending off. And the original Gamora was replaced by a younger version of herself. So no need to give her a funeral either, right? Fuck that shit!

3) Steve and Peggy. Yea I get that Steve deserved to have a chance to have a good and proper ending. However, every single Captain America movie after the first one is about Cap moving on, finding a way in the future. Yes he was broken in Endgame, but still. You don't go to a support group to talk about your old flame instead of your best friend who you tried time and time again to save over the course of you being out of the ice. It is not about Bucky and Steve having more than a best friend relationship. It's about not ditching your best friend or your brother, who you love more than life itself, who you've done everything for, who you can't live without, who you'd be happy to die for in their stead. My best friend that I went through "real life experience" with, who saved me from a possible shooter, who I did the same for, we are still TOGETHER twenty years later because I would die for her and she would die for me. Steve would have saved Bucky and would not have ditched him immediately after, no matter if Bucky told him to or tried to sacrifice his own happiness for Steve's.

4) Bucky deserved better. Period. He deserved to get better than a two minute screentime but even then he deserved more than a hug with Steve. I believe Sebastian Stan is an incredible actor and did what he could with what he had and the time he was given. It doesn't matter if it was illuded to the fact that Bucky and Steve talked this all over before hand. Seb showed Bucky tormented, sad, and absolutely gutted because he knew Steve was giving up on him. Steve was leaving and choosing an old flame instead of him. That's not something you do to your best friend. I'm sorry but you don't, especially after you strive and give everything for that friend to survive. I don't hate Steve Rogers nor Chris Evans. This was a case of bad writing and Chris did the best he could with character assassin.

5) What the actual fuck? Who thought it was a damned good idea to kill off Tony? I knew RDJ was going to be up and no longer a main focus for Avengers but really? He had a family to go back to. It just makes no sense to me that if they can supposedly allow Steve to go back in time to be with Peggy that they could have allowed Tony to be with Pepper, their little girl, and perhaps be a father figure or mentor to Peter.

6) Where. The. Fuck. Is. Loki????

-gets off soap box. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk. I am so disappointed in the Russo brothers for this and not the actors or actresses who did their absolute best with what they were given. I still love all the Avengers but I'm excommunicating Endgame. I'm going to live in my own world of Stucky denial and make sure my babes and everyone else has their happy ending.

[arcticdementor]

Condemning Nazis is a given. But the other question remains: were the many ordinary Germans, insulted by Weimar decadence and hypocrisy, right about lending Nazis (really a whole bunch of right-wing and sometimes left-wing movements, which only later were pruned into Hitler-approved shape) their silent or vocal approval for dismantling Weimar status quo in early 30s? Very few could foresee the sheer scope and violence of things to come, but everyone could make a judgement about elites active at the moment, and notice their smug enjoyment of effective cultural monopoly, and complete unwillingness to cede ground. It's not just that open malice is more attractive to onlookers than insincere, duplicitous one: it's that you feel liberated when refusing to play by the rules your enemy has forced on you, shaking off the rhetorical framing and win-lose-foul conditions. This is most easily understood by people who were bullied as children. Bullies are, contrary to the way normies imagine it, extraordinarily good at not being openly violent; the most talented ones avoid even straighforward verbal abuse, goading others and provoking the victim with clever, biting mockery and concern-trolling advice instead. To an intelligent onlooker, the nature of the act is obvious, but it can get exasperating thinking of how to intervene legitimately, so most don't think. When the despairing victim stops pleading and negotiating and lifts his fist, it's used against him, complained about to the authorities; but it's an act of refusing to justify your appeals to a hopelessly hostile interlocutor, and thus a release from mental prison. It's no wonder school losers are associated in public consciousness with school shooters, and incels, and right-wing extremists, and white supremacists, and Nazis. The problem is, it's not a relatively minor issue of class animus (or class bullying). In modern America, liberals easily brush off every notion of their actions being in any way harmful, and even here we mainly discuss tolerable and sometimes rather abstract problems: censorship of inherently inflammatory beliefs, effective one-party control of mechanisms of social networking, ineffective solutions to social injustices, economic damage, exacerbation of tribalism. But elites like these create a rather suffocating atmosphere. However much we ridicule Alex Jones, he expresses a sentiment far more common than can be admitted in a polite society: that the elites are "Satanic", "parasitic" and actively anti-life in general, to the extent irreconcilable with long-term survival of the group ("...And destroy the great birth right that you are given As builders of this world And builders of countless more to come"). Maybe his target audience really is the 21st century's equivalent of cartoonish superstitious peasants with pitchforks. But from elite's viewpoint, aren't they even less than that, some sort of unattractive local fauna, pests you've formally got to tolerate while developing your industry? As Tucker Carlson allegedly said: "if I could tell working Americans one thing, it's that your elites hate you. I used to hobnob with these people. They hate you, they hate your work, they hate your families, they hate your religion, they hate your way of life." Tucker is playing to his audience, too. And they want to hear what they already feel. Man is a strange creature, a mix of robust and fragile parts. He can live in a pod and eat bugs, grow up inhaling lead and still work for 60 years straight. But stress him out with evidence of inferiority and his cardiovascular system falters, his hormone levels out of whack; put him in a buzzing city and his reproductive ability is drastically reduced; surround him with revolting art and neurosis-inducing propaganda and ugly modernist architecture and he feels that the world is a bleak dystopia despite unprecedented, if a little distasteful, material prosperity in every bite of HFCS-filled junk food. Make him feel unwelcome, at the brink of exile from community, gaslight him into doubting his sanity -- and he'll either break down, eventually dying of despair, or rebel against this increasingly hostile, censorious, alien hellscape and its apparent masters (or, at least, those who seem to revel in his suffering). You can shut down every avenue of legitimate public expression for him, taboo the very words he could use to express his yearnings; but he'll connect the dots on his own, and chances are, he'll do so in the most destructive and misguided way possible. Peter Turchin has this neat idea about elite overproduction as the mechanism of civilizational collapse. Despite the fact that "elite" status is kind of relative by definition, it is possible to make a plurality, if not the majority, of people imbued with the sense of their "eliteness" and all associated values. I wonder if this has something to do with the degree creep in the US and ideological capture of scientific institutions; with the way the noun "elites" is so often accompanied by adjective "educated"; with the enforced cult of credibility and the way mediocre liberals are invested in this image of science-loving erudites who talk in a patronising fashion to the uncouth masses. Then, with a bit of clever coalition-building and immigration policy, it's possible to not only disorganize and shout down the plebs, but also outnumber them; or so the plan goes. It might work; it might fail. If there's no such plan at all, that's a tragedy in and of itself, because it will still be resisted. To answer the question in first paragraph: I suppose ordinary Germans were wrong to support Nazis and their associates even in the early 30s. But Weimar elites were very, very wrong to not share with the common man, both financially and culturally. They could have done everyone a service by toning their hostility down a notch or two. Alas.

Ilforte

[raybansandcoffee]

Adventure of a Lifetime: Chapter Four

You can find the first three chapters of Adventure of a Lifetime HERE. Sorry about the cliffhanger in the last chapter, I’m evil. I know.

*****

Fuck. How do I answer this? It's the dreaded moment I've faced doing this whole thing alone since we moved here. It's why I hated the Mommy groups. It's why I got awkward and abandoned the playdates. I didn't know where to even begin when answering this. I could lie, say that he was in LA and he saw the kids when he could. No one here would know. I could tell the truth but then I'd have to deal with all of them making that sad face everyone has been making at me for the last year.

"Umm..."

"You don't have to answer that. I get it. Single parenthood is awkward and people think that they can just ask every inappropriate and awkward question. I was out of line."

"You weren't. It's just a hard question to answer and something that honestly I haven't discussed with a single person since I moved here. We moved here in a really quick manner. And I haven't even felt okay opening up to anyone about it. But it's okay. I need to. It's been 342 days. It's time to feel okay talking about it. The kids had a wonderful Dad. One of the greatest people I've ever met. He was kind and funny and he loved them endlessly." I took a deep breath. "And their Mom. She was my soulmate. We did everything together. She was probably the most incredible human that ever existed. She knew just how to make you feel settled and safe in any situation, which was great because I'm anxious all the time. She loved being a Mom more than anything and she was the happiest I'd ever seen her." I remembered watching them walk out the door of my condo after dropping off the kids with me. They were so in love and ready to go celebrate their anniversary. The image of them kissing as the elevator across from my door closed is burned into my mind. I felt a tear slip down my cheek and quickly tried to brush it away. As he did every morning Axel reached his hands out and put them on my cheeks. "The kids aren't biologically mine. I was Ellie's godmother and just crazy Auntie Charlie with her cats. Until July 1st last year at 2:08 in the morning. My best friend and her husband died. They had been out celebrating their anniversary and surviving the first three weeks of parenting both of these babies. They got home and walked in on a home invasion in progress. The police told me that they died instantly so I at least feel okay that they weren't in pain for long. And honestly, that night was the happiest I'd seen them since their wedding night."

"Holy shit. I'm sorry. That is terrible. You really didn't have to tell me that if you didn't want to."

"It's okay. It's actually a bit of a relief. I haven't talked about Sam with anyone other than my family, our third musketeer Alex, or Sam's parents. They live in Reno, it's why I moved here. I wanted the kids to grow up close to some of their biological family. Sam and her husband Michael were both only children and his parents had both passed away."

"So from no desire to have kids to raising your best friends' two kids in an instant."

"Yup. I was babysitting the kids that night. We didn't want them to go back to the house and I couldn't have them in my one-bedroom condo for long. Alex and I sat down with Sam's Mom and Dad to go through the will and both of the kids came to me. I'd agreed to it offhand at one point when Sam was pregnant with Ellie and was serious about it but never imagined it would actually happen. You don't actually think something will happen to them both at the same time. Like maybe one of them but the other one would still be around. But I lost them both in one night and gained the kids."

"You are an incredible friend. For them to have selected you to be the guardian for the kids is a big deal."

"Yeah, I am constantly afraid I'm failing and that ghost Sam is going to pop up and yell at me for something like not giving her kid enough cake, she had a sweet-tooth. She also would totally haunt my ass if that was a thing. She was my writing partner. We knew the way the other person's brain worked."

"Writing partner?"

"Yeah, we met at USC at orientation. Turns out we had the same major. We went through undergrad and grad school at USC together. We write film scores. Or I guess I write film scores. Or I used to. In the last year, I've done the score for two short films but I'm in the process of doing my first full score without Sam which is weird."

"So how did you get from LA to here?"

"Like I mentioned Sam's Mom and Dad live in Reno. Our house was she and Michael's vacation home. The house we live in was theirs. Their will left a trust for me to take care of the kids, pay for their schooling, and cover our living expenses. With Sam having grown up in Reno they wanted to get a vacation home near her parents. They bought the place here shortly after they got married. The intention was to eventually make it their permanent home. With both of their work, they'd just to go LA whenever they needed to or Michael would be off wherever his current project was. The apartment above the garage was meant for me. Michael was convinced from the moment he met me that I was Peter Pan." I laughed remembering the first time he told me this. He was so serious about it and didn't break until the very end when he threw glitter on me like it was pixie dust and screamed at me to FLY! "I was never growing up and he wanted to make sure I always had a roof over my head if I needed it and a space for Sam and me to work together when we needed it. The house is way too big for the four of us living there right now. Having my little brother here for a while will help the house feel more alive."

"I'm sorry you've had to go through all of this but from what I've observed of Ellie and just today watching you with both of them, you've taken to motherhood well."

"Thank you. It was an awkward start. Never expecting to have kids and suddenly having an infant and a kid getting ready to start school was the biggest life change I could've imagined. Doing it not only alone but without my best friend made it even harder."

"Did they ever find who did it?"

"They did. His trial actually starts this summer. I'm trying to decide if I'm going back for the whole trial or if it's healthier for me to stay here. I've been working with the prosecutor back in LA. They want me there for a victim impact statement to speak on behalf of the kids. They've given me the option of doing it through a pre-recorded video or through a letter. I just worry about taking the kids back to LA because we don't really have anywhere to stay. I still have my place but I don't have anywhere to take them that will fit all of us comfortably."

"Did you sell their house?" I nodded.

"I did. Well, as soon as the LAPD was done with it. The trust they left would've only covered one of the properties. I couldn't imagine living in LA in that house. It was hard enough going in there to get the kids things. I needed to be able to take care of them so I had to go when it was still a crime scene. Honestly, it's an image I'm never going to be able to get out of my head. It was one of the most horrific things I've ever seen. They both worked in the film industry so we are fairly certain it wasn't a random home invasion but that they were targeted. I knew in my heart that Sam and Michael would've wanted the kids to be here and close to Sam's parents."

"That makes complete sense. I don't know that I could imagine living in a house with that kind of history. Especially with the kids. You have to do your best to take care of them. Do you get back to LA often?"

"I've been back to LA on my own when they take the kids for a long weekend or something. We all went to Stanford a couple of weeks ago to see Tony graduate from college. But I haven't taken the kids back to LA. I mean Ellie knows that Mommy and Daddy are gone and never coming back. We told her that a very bad man took them from us but they are safe now. I'll tell her the whole story at some point but at 5 she didn't need that. Axel won't have a single memory of his parents. I'm the only Mom this kid will ever remember." I hugged him tightly to my chest. "Someday I'll take them back there. Show them the places that mean the most. The place where their father proposed to their mother. The studio she and I practically lived in. Where they got married. But for now, this is home. Sam's parents opted to have them cremated so there's not a grave there to go visit which makes it a bit easier. We are having a memorial for them here at the end of the month to spread their ashes. Alex and her family are coming out along with my sister and her family. We are going to do exactly what Sam would want which is celebrate them. The memorial service when they died, she would've fuckin' hated it. I was too much of a mess to do anything for it really and so was Alex. Sam's parents weren't in LA when we needed to start planning it so my mother took over. I love my Mom but she's a mess, she's rarely even in LA anymore so it was weird. She planned something so opposite of Sam that honestly if she'd attended her own funeral she would've laughed her ass off at it. I did manage to get the ability to play a song the two of us wrote together for their wedding. I hadn't sung it since that day. I barely made it through but I did it. Sorry, I'm rambling. Outside of family and Alex, I haven't talked about Sam in a year. You opened the flood gates evidently."

"It's okay. Grief does weird things to us. You're doing a great job. If you want to keep talking about Sam you can."

"No, she'd yell at me for crying about her. Especially when I'm supposed to be making a new friend and playing with the kids. So tell me about you. What do you do for fun? I mean your life can't all be acting."

"It's not, that's for sure. When I bought this place it meant I had some projects to do, I spend time without Eva doing that. I'm also a musician."

"I noticed the baby grand. Living in LA I walked into a LOT of homes where that was purely for show but I figured that wasn't the case here."

"No, it's not. I am actually getting ready to go finish filming the last of stuff for the next Avengers movie before too long and I'm working on a film soundtrack actually."

"A film soundtrack, huh?"

"Yeah, I've voiced a character in an animated film and they are letting me do the music for it," he said. "Finally something all the kids in my life can see."

"That's freaking awesome. I'm just going to tell you, working on music for a film is one of the greatest feelings. I mean I write other music. But crafting the sound and then sitting in a theater and watching how my music gets integrated into a film is just an incredibly special feeling. You're going to have this almost otherworldly experience when you see the finished product with an audience. It's the greatest feeling in the world."

"I'm excited to understand that better." He smiled at me. "Looks like the Axe Man was tired." I looked down to see my little guy asleep with his head on my chest.

"Yeah. Thankfully this kid finally figured out how to sleep for more than a few hours at a time. I occasionally get a full night of sleep these days."

"As much as I want more kids I don't miss the middle of the night feedings, the sleep regression, the teething."

"Fuck it's a nightmare I never prepared for adequately."

"Mom! Are you getting the in the pool with us?" Ellie called.

"I will in a minute Ellie Bellie. I gotta get the Axe Man somewhere that he can sleep."

"I set up the pack and play that's still hanging around here in the bedroom down here. I also grabbed the old baby monitor I had so we can take it outside with us." Jeremy stood up and came over to take Axel from my arms where he was laying on my chest while I laid on a lounger. Once I stood up he led me through the house as I grabbed the bag of stuff for Axel. Jeremy gently laid Axel into the pack and play while I found the things I knew soothed him back to sleep if he woke up mid-nap. I kissed my fingers and pressed them against his forehead. "Ellie calls you Mom."

"She does. That was her choice. We talked about it for a while. I'd always been Auntie Charlie. When she started school she got anxious about the whole 'living with her Aunt thing'. I am their legal guardian and she knows she can still call me Charlie, she does sometimes. But the Mom thing is becoming more common, I think she wants to feel like the girls in school with her. It makes me happy and sad all at once."

"I'd imagine." He turned on the baby monitor and we left the room so Axel could sleep. "Alright, girls are the parents allowed in the pool now?"

"Yes, Daddy," Ava replied. I took my dress off and went to climb in the water. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Jeremy pull his shirt off. I felt the breath catch in my lungs. I needed to remind myself that I was here for Ellie and not to drool over Ava's Dad all day. I headed to the stairs and entered most of the way before going completely under and swimming up right under Ellie picking her up on my shoulders. She squealed with delight. Her hands grabbed onto my head as she bent over to look into my eyes.

"I am having so much fun," she said quietly to me.

"I'm so glad Ellie Bellie. You deserve to have fun." I watched as Jeremy ran and jumped over Ava and into the pool. He splashed all of us and what followed was the sweetest sound in the world. Loud, roaring laughter from the girls. I held my breath and sunk down into the water letting Ellie get off of my shoulders. Jeremy came up underneath Ava lifting her up and throwing her a bit further into the water. Her laughter climbed louder and turned to a scream.

"Ava Berlin Renner, I'm coming to get you," Jeremy declared as he started to swim towards his daughter who was still giggle-screaming and trying to swim away from her dad. It was far too cute to watch. They shared so much joy between them and it was so visible. Even in the brief time I'd spent with them today, I could tell that they loved each other more than anything and that love was the easiest thing they'd ever done. That joy, laughter, and happiness were the tone of this house and their lives. Life wasn't always filled with joy and laughter for us. Most of the time it was filled with laughter that came from tears or lead to tears. I was watching these two beautiful humans that were now mine grow and knowing that the two most important people in their lives were missing out on the first steps, the first day of school, and would miss every other first and major life moment. I felt guilty every day for loving this role I was given because the circumstances were shitty and honestly, I'd never wanted this roll. It felt horrible to enjoy motherhood when it wasn't really mine. It was stolen from my best friend whose entire goal in life had been to be a mother and mine had been to make music that inspired people, set the scene for the greatest shot of a director or actors lifetime and changed the way people looked at female composers. I took a deep breath before hugging Ellery close to me.

"I love you, Ellie Bellie." I kissed her temple.

"I love you too, Mom." The tears that were burning the back of my eyes had clearly become visible. "Please don't cry. Today is going to be the best day ever."

"I know baby girl. I just don't want you to feel like today you have to say, Mom. Ava's Daddy knows."

"You are my Mom." God I hated how grown up this little girl had been forced to be. I kissed her again before looking her deep in the eyes.

"Do you remember that backflip we practiced last summer?" She nodded excitedly. "Want to try it?"

"Yes!!" I grabbed her two little feet in my hands as she put her hands on my shoulders. She bent forward, pressing her forehead against mine.

"Are you ready?" She nodded. "On the count of three. One...two...three." She plugged her nose as I pushed her feet out of the water sending her up into the air and watched as she started to tilt, tucking her knees to her chest and doing a backflip.

"Whoa!" Ava yelled as Ellie came out of the water. "That was so cool. Where did you learn that?"

"My Mom and I practiced last summer at my old house. We don't have a pool here so we haven't tried in a while."

"You did so great!" I said as I high-fived her.

"That was so cool, Ellie," Jeremy said as he also high-fived her. She was pretty proud of herself. The girls started to goof around with Jeremy as I floated on my back for a little while. Their laughter slightly being drowned out by the water. I felt relaxed, weightless, and like if I tried hard enough I could fall asleep like this until I felt my watch buzz on my wrist. I held it up in the air as the little green text bubble appeared with my brother's name below it.

I'm losing my mind. I'm packing my car and leaving today. Is that ok?

"Crap," I said out loud. I flipped over and swam to the edge climbing out of the pool and walking over to my cell phone. I knew texting him back would be useless so I called.

"Hey sis," he answered.

"What's going on, Tony?"

"I just can't take it. They don't understand the pressure they are putting on me. I'm going to crack if I don't leave. I got up this morning to Mom on the patio with one of her 'old friends.' It was that crazy bitch whose husband is on the Board of Trustees at Harvard. I was ambushed with talk of law school and my future and I just can't take it. I haven't really bothered unpacking since I got back from school so I'm just loading everything into my car and coming out. That's okay right?"

"It's fine but are you sure this is what you want? My life isn't what it used to be like, T."

"I know. You have the kids. You're doing the music stuff on your own. You and Savannah could honestly use my help."

"You can stay at my condo if that is a better plan for you."

"It's not," he replied. "I stayed there last weekend. She showed up Sunday morning at 7:30 to pick me up for church. Since when does my mother go to church?"

"I don't know. Probably since I became a mother. Her technically being a grandmother of five terrifies her. I also bet it was just so she could see if you were living in my drug den because you know your mother thinks I'm a drug addict or something."

"You're one of the most responsible people I know. But honestly, I can't do it. I can't be in the same city as her. Especially when Dad is as busy as he is right now. She's everywhere. I need out."

"Just drive careful. It's not a horrible drive but it's long to do alone. I've done it enough to know that. Also, there are a few good places to stop on the road and some to avoid. I'll send you the cheat sheet I have saved on my phone. Oh, and what do you want for dinner?"

"Well, I want Grandma's meatballs but I know you can't make that today."

"I can make it tomorrow. How does pizza sound tonight? Your niece and nephew are counting on pizza."

"Sounds perfect."

"Send me updates, be safe, and I'll see you tonight."

"See you tonight, sis. Love you."

"Love you too, T." I hung up the phone and slumped down onto the lounger I'd been sitting on earlier.

"Everything okay?" Jeremy called from the pool.

"Yeah, just not sure we'll be able to stay as long as we planned."

"What's up?" he asked as I walked back towards the pool and sat down on the side so I could text my brother the list I told him I'd send.

"So I was evidently right and my brother had tried staying at my place. His Mom appeared in my condo at 7:30 Sunday morning to take him to church, no one in our family is overtly religious. Then this morning at their house she ambushed him with a friend of hers whose husband is on the Board of Trustees at Harvard about law school and his future. So he's currently throwing everything in his car and leaving LA to come here now. He wasn't supposed to come until next week. The studio apartment above the garage is so not ready for my brother to move in."

"Well how about we stay and have fun for a while longer here and then Ava and I can go to your place with you and I can help. Savannah can watch all of the kids and we can get your brother moved in safely and feed the munchkins pizza for dinner at your place."

"You're serious?" He nodded. "You're amazing. Thank you. I'm not sure what all he's bringing or that he wants the apartment but I feel like the studio apartment above the garage is the best plan. I mean honestly, it's my favorite part of the house." I laughed a little bit.

"It was supposed to be your Peter Pan dream home so I get it. How long do you think it will take?"

"Not long. I just need to essentially clean it a bit as it's probably covered in dust and wash the sheets. I don't even remember the last time someone stayed in it. It was probably me. It was also maybe my sister. Frankie got freaked out when I moved, she thought I should sell both houses and move near her so me moving 8ish hours away didn't go over well. I also now win the war of who has the coolest house and that annoys her to no end."

"That's actually kind of funny. Where does she live?"

"Venice, on a canal. The cutest house ever really. But she is like a 3-minute kayak ride from where our mother lives when she's actually back in town so it would not have worked for me. Living near them both would've made me crazy. My Dad and Step-Mom are in Santa Monica. So my family is all on the beach which is really nice for trips home."

"Sounds like it. I totally had your stepmom pegged for Malibu though." I started to laugh really loudly.

"Funny story, when they sold the house in Beverly Hills that I grew up in my stepmom BEGGED my Dad to move to Malibu. He was not willing to make that commute every day so she got to pick from Santa Monica, Venice or Marina Del Rey if she wanted water. He tried to downsize into a condo in downtown LA but that wasn't gonna happen. So they are right on the beach, have a pool and all of that fun stuff. It's a great house. It truly is and even though it's way too big for the people in our family that live there Mandi has clearly figured out how to make Tony batshit crazy." I pulled up the text message that Tony had just sent me. He'd clearly packed his car in record time to get out of there before he went completely bonkers. I couldn't blame him but I also hoped he didn't get here and in a week hate it because I wasn't going to wait on him hand and foot while making sure he was constantly entertained. I nannied for him a few summers when he was a kid so it's not surprising that he thinks I'm just there to have fun but truly I need to be an adult on occasion and my brother was horrible at encouraging that behavior.

ON THE ROAD!

Be careful. We will see you in a few hours!

"You guys are gonna be okay. If your brother starts to go stir crazy just send him over here. I can put him to work on some of my projects."

"I don't think Tony understands the concept of manual labor. He's never had to have a job. He worked in school at a bar because he could pick up girls that way." I laughed as I rolled my eyes. "His Mom still doesn't know that. He's a genius. By far the smartest one of all of us. Law School has always been what everyone expected from him but I think he'd rather do something completely different. He's an incredible musician, a great writer. When he was in high school he was a giant science nerd and I fully expected him to become a doctor or some shit. I think he wants to work in journalism or politics based on what he studied in school but our Dad definitely thinks he double majored in Communications and Public Policy to go into First Amendment Law. I mean Dad would be proud if someday he ended up in politics but the Law School things would be a requirement first, or at least the smart decision. It's all ridiculous. I mean my sister runs a non-profit and I'm a musician. While we both make a really great living we were allowed to choose our own path. Tony has the pressure of carrying on the family name and legacy."

"Law is the family legacy?" Jeremy asked. He was resting his arms on the side of the pool next to me. I hadn't had this kind of conversation with anyone in a long time.

"It is. Our great-grandfather founded Dad's law firm and Tony would be the fourth generation there. There had been some pressure on Frankie and me for a while. She met her husband in college and thankfully he was headed to law school so Dad got his fix by having his son-in-law as part of the firm. My senior year in high school I thought I'd just buckle under the pressure and follow in his footsteps. But when I had my senior recital for piano my Dad told me he wasn't going to allow me to do anything but follow my heart. I think that the fact that I'd written the score for a short film a few friends did help too. I wasn't going to follow my dreams in the back of a van on tour but follow them through film made him happy. I caught the bug for it young. We had a theater room in the house and I'd spend every weekend watching movies and trying to figure out how to play the music on my piano. Eventually, he had to set rules that I had to spend a certain amount of time outside so I didn't just sit in that theater for days on end, especially during school breaks. I was way too young to be watching most of them but it was the thing that made me happiest."

"That's really cool. I had no idea what I wanted to do, even in college. I loved music and was in a band in high school but I never saw that as an actual future, it was just something fun to do. I was studying computer science and criminology when I took my first drama class and caught the bug. I'm almost jealous that you knew so young what you wanted to do. "

"It's nice but I also never did anything else. I loved swimming. I should've done things like join the swim team but that would've taken me away from music. Being a hyper-focused kid was nice because there was no question of what my future would be but I missed out on so much. I want to make sure that doesn't happen to the babies. I need to start getting my shit together. I'm a year into this now, there are no excuses for this anymore. Like Ellie should've been in dance during the school year but by the time I found a place that didn't seem sketchy I was too late to sign her up. I've been teaching her piano for like 8 months now but she has so much more personality than I have ever had. She's way cooler than me."

"You're pretty cool," Jeremy said through a bit of laughter.

"Her Mom was seriously the coolest though. God, one of my favorite things about Sam was that we had this pretty big premiere for a film we'd done the score for. I sent her the photo of the dress I'd decided to wear. The night of the premiere arrived, the car was picking she and Michael up first and then coming to get me. I had done an entire afternoon with a fucking glam squad, totally out of my element. Get down to the car, there she is, with her head sticking out the sunroof in my dress. She bought the black and gold version of the black and silver dress I had. We walked the red carpet in a matching dress." I pulled up the photo on my phone and turned it to show Jeremy.

"That's amazing." He took the phone from my hand to look at both of the pictures that I'd pulled up for him. "She's very beautiful, I can see her in Ellie."

"Spitting image. It's almost creepy but it's wonderful."

"Well, you both look absolutely beautiful in those photos. You both look so happy. Maybe I'll have to creep your IMDB and watch a few of the films you've done the score for." I laughed.

"Ask first, some of them aren't great and some of them are literally impossible to find...unless you're in my basement theater. I don't have a career that's as accessible as yours."

"Well then maybe we will need to have a movie night. I'd love to be able to see your work."

**********

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Developing the story of how Charlie became a mother was something that was hard for me. I debated back and forth about all of it. Trying to decide the traumatic event that led to the loss she's experienced and the new role in life she has. I had a few ideas that I tossed around but the reality was, for Charlie to become the guardian of both of Sam's children it couldn't be just Sam that was gone. There were so many possibilities, I settled with this version because while it is traumatic it didn't involve any domestic abuse, which was something I wasn't comfortable telling the story of in this setting.

Losing Sam was one of the hardest experiences of Charlie's life for a multitude of reasons. She lost her creative partner, her business partner, her best friend, and became a Mom all in the blink of an eye. She'd never prepared to be a parent and was an insta-mom to a 4-year-old that wanted to know where her Mommy and Daddy were and a baby that wasn't even a month old. Add in that she opted to move the children out of Los Angeles for their own privacy and security even though it wasn't the best option for her personally. She immediately knew to put those babies first.

For Jeremy to allow her to open up about this trauma and let her talk through it shows how kind and good he is. Grief is a different process for everyone who experiences it. For Charlie she still deals with the trauma every day and needed to find someone to talk to about it. Finding that in Jeremy is something she feels so lucky for.

I also can't wait for everyone to meet Tony! I love the idea of him being around the house to help his sister, be part of the kids' lives, and try to find his way in the world all at once. Developing Tony is so fun because he's still fairly bright and shiny, he's not dark and twisty like Charlie.

I hope you are enjoying reading this as much as I am enjoying writing it.

xx. AM