#Hello tag readers i did not proofread this very much not gonna lie

[memryse]

last life session 4: a deep dive

hello tumblr! on account of various personal things, i haven’t really contributed much to the fandom in a while, but here's an idea i've had bouncing around in my brain this whole time and have been absolutely itching to get written. now, 3rd life is absolutely still my favourite series, but session 4 of last life is firmly my favourite session of either series, arguably some of my favourite videos in mcyt history in general. so i've been wanting to write a piece on what, exactly, makes it so objectively brilliant. i just absolutely love writing meta about this series and honestly i will probably not stop for a very long time!

under the cut because it's... a lot :]

to start off, i'll mainly be referencing grian, cleo, joel, and bigb's POVs throughout this, but i'll probably briefly touch on some of the others as well, because this session is wonderful no matter whose perspective you watch it from. i'll be splitting this essay into a few sections, because this session has two primary subplots that contribute to the wider narrative, and it's difficult to write a cohesive essay on them without splitting them.

grian's fall

this session opens on the back of a relatively tame session three. one boogeyman, one death. joel is rapidly earning a reputation for being the least effective (and most frustrated) red name the series has ever seen. all in all, tension was not running too high. grian opens his POV by covering the southlands' walls with cobblestone - "it turns out, all you need to do is set one block on fire, and the whole place is gonna come crumbling down."

Well.

i'm sure that's not at all foreshadowing what happens to the southlands after one member turns red.

nah.

anyway!

grian begins his emergency preparations, namely setting up a bunker where he hides a few dogs. ............wait, this is also foreshadowing.

let's try this again! he passes scar's base, and shoots a few arrows at scar to be irritating. after some banter, in which scar is not scared of grian in the slightest (in direct contrast to, well, everyone else on the server. just desert duo things), scar tells grian that his soul crystal preorder has been cancelled. in response, grian adds scar to his "book" - his hitlist for when he turns red. Fuck this is also foreshadowing

back to some more southerner shenanigans, including but not limited to: scaring martyn, teaching mumbo the value of plagiarism, mumbo brings up his plan to build a ghast farm, martyn asking about the location of grian's wither skull because he'd like to know in case grian suddenly turns red. God damn it not again

meanwhile, joel's traps and murder plans are continuing to fail majestically. eventually, the two run across each other, and joel laments his inability to kill anyone (the infamous "ahahaha! going a bit mental! going a bit mad!"). i'm not going to say it again but guess what this is! lord, grian has more death flags than a sickly little victorian boy at this point. more red flags than scar near a lava trap. but seriously, completely unintentionally on any of their parts, the narrative is building up this same point, again and again: grian is going to die. the southlands will collapse. this is fated, and this is inevitable.

thankfully, after this, we get a bit of a break of grian and mumbo causing (non-fatal) problems in the nether. causing more problems in the overworld. even more stupidity as they build the ghast farm. you forget about all of the tension that was previously building. you let your guard down. forget all about joel. we see cleo's death pop up in the chat (more on that later!) and even this is turned into a joke about boogiemen! they hop back to the overworld for a couple of minutes and come back, we see grian casually complaining about not bringing torches.

mumbo: OH. OH. joel's here. joel's here. grian: what? mumbo-

and just like that, it all comes crashing down. life picks up for joel. everything we had been warned about previously comes true. grian is red.

now, let's talk about the fairy fort.

the collapse of the fairy fort

the boogeymen of this session are chosen: ren and bigb. two people from the same alliance, which already makes it painful enough for the viewers. but what really hammers this in as incredibly painful and angsty is their opposite responses to this. cutting back to etho's psychological warfare tactics in session three: ren tells etho he would get the boogey kill quickly and smoothly (incidentally, he specifically says he would choose the weakest person he could find, and "chop off their head". hmm). bigb, on the other hand, tells etho that he wouldn't kill anyone, that he would go to red. in session four, sure, ren does what he says he would - he doesn't cut off anyone's head, admittedly, and instead goes for a more complex trap, but he does take a weak-seeming target (a lone skizzleman) and executes him. he is also entirely upfront to his allies about being the boogeyman, and assures them that they're safe from him - and for his honesty and loyalty, the fairy fort rewards him, offering him aid. bigb is present in this meeting. bigb chooses to say nothing.

(before i continue, i'd also like to point out that earlier in the session, cleo tells bigb that she is "more scared of joel than the boogeyman at this point", clearly as a tongue-in-cheek remark about how both joel and the boogeyman are not scary. not only is she saying this directly to a boogeyman, that person would go on to kill her later that session, and she would go red from one of joel's traps. but sure, she ended up being glad about it, so perhaps she was right to not be scared!)

from bigb's pov, the session continues mostly uneventfully, until he and lizzie catch ren talking with jimmy. bigb expresses worry that ren will turn on his allies and kill them instead. ironic, huh? he's then given multiple opportunities where he could kill lizzie, but doesn't - he's still holding onto his commitment to not betray his allies.

next point of interest: a conversation with cleo.

cleo: the only thing i can think of is, the boogeyman would want to kill us, if he couldn't get anyone else. bigb: that is true. that is true. cleo: so... it's safe up there for now, but i'm steering well clear of ren. just in case. bigb: yeah. well, i'm glad he told us. cleo: yeah, but why did he tell us? so we'd let our guard down. bigb: yeah... that's what i'm also thinking. cleo: we stay away. you and me. bigb: i mean, would you forgive ren though? if he- cleo: well... probably not to be honest. [...] you and me stay away from him, we'll be alright.

that is... one hell of a conversation, huh.

bigb then laments to the camera that this was a prime opportunity for him, but he couldn't do it; he couldn't kill her. he calls himself weak. he's angry at himself for not being able to get a kill.

more adventures with lizzie as they attempt to lie about their villager, find the green lives' club, converse with the southerners. time stretches on ever further, and we're all too aware that bigb is running out of time - especially because bigb's episodes are long, this session in particular, split into two 40-50min parts. you can practically feel his desperation building, and meanwhile, his allies still trust him wholeheartedly. cleo in particular.

their southern excursion is interrupted by ren's boogie kill, as they all rush back to the shadow tower to find out what happened. ren expresses his relief that his boogeyman kill is all over and done with, the session is getting close to being over, and at last, bigb gets visibly antsy. checking his inventory for fire resistance potions, etc. after a long conversation in which we see skizz forgiving and praising ren's kill - a very strong contrast to what we'll see from bigb and cleo later - ren and skizz finally head down to the base of the tower.

bigb examines the depth of the pit. cleo stands above it on a block of dirt - she's testing him. she trusts him, but she's not sure, and she wants him to prove his loyalty.

bigb cycles through his inventory. a heartbeat sound effect plays. he takes out his axe.

he checks the pit one last time.

"cleo."

she knows what's coming, and she fights back anyway.

she would have let him do it, if he'd asked.

i don't think i need to recount the rest of the scene, but my point is, this whole sequence of events is tragic. ren comes clean about his boogeyman status, gets an easy kill and is praised by everyone for it. bigb chooses to hide, not being able to stomach the thought of killing until it's too late and he's too desperate, and he earns the wrath of a furious zombiecleo after brutally murdering her in a river. earns the title of betrayer to all.

joel's trap goes off. another win for the "villain" of the series. cleo is red. bigb runs.

the new reds

so. we've gone from a peaceful, nonthreatening start of the session, to a session now infamously dyed in blood and betrayal. before i go any further, i just want to point out the reason that the pure horror of this turn of events is so strong, is because of the two specific people who turn red. grian, the infamous troublemaker. winner of 3rd life, and the one with the most kills to boot. unpredictable. loves tnt. died too late in 3rd life for anyone to actually see what he would be like as a red name. need i say more? and cleo, who loves nothing more than empty threats and arson. two things which she is very much allowed to do now. people are very scared of cleo, even though she doesn't always back up those threats: in particular, her former allies, bigb and lizzie. she is terrifying to have as an enemy, especially when she's bearing a firm grudge against you.

all of a sudden, the tone of the session shifts. i'm not quite sure how to describe it, but it's the same feeling as when a character suddenly turns evil (or is revealed to have been evil all along). they're menacing without a shred of empathy. their friendships mean nothing in almost a blink of an eye.

as a red, grian first heads over to scar's mountain. he threatens scar. he reminds him that scar went back on their previous deal - grian's "very generous offer", with all the emphasis and hidden threats that those italics can possibly convey. but scar continues to try to make a new deal, and grian turns their previous exchange against him. "you know what? i'll give you that deal on preorder. i'll see you later, scar." now, whether scar pays much heed to this very obvious threat is one thing, but from an audience perspective, it's quite terrifying.

he meets with joel, reluctantly befriends him, and receives his official exile from the southerners. as if things couldn't get any more tragic for him!

this is just such an image. seeing grian away from the southerners, with joel. hurts my heart. slash positive connotation.

next, grian encounters the green lives club. honestly, not that scary from his perspective. but if you watch scott or pearl's, he is suddenly downright terrifying. singing nonchalantly, asking "what have i just stumbled on?" whilst he laughs to himself. it's honestly one of my favourite scenes, it's scary!

and, at long last, the grian and mumbo scene. you know the one. it starts out fairly sad, them both lamenting what they could have done better. mumbo tries to win points with grian, convince him not to kill him (this is after we see mumbo has left a sign asking the same thing). grian gets an idea. and all of a sudden, once again the tone of the scene shifts to downright horrifying, as grian laughs and gleefully tries to kill mumbo.

mumbo: what, you want me to volunteer myself into being red? grian: i wasn't asking you to volunteer.

what a scene, huh?

anyway, back to cleo! she is disappointed about turning red for approximately [unspecified amount of time before she respawns because she put in a replay capture of her death]. the instant she respawns, cleo is laughing. she's excited about the prospect of getting her revenge on bigb. a little sad about losing the ability to team up with pearl and scott, sure, but she hardly lets that show. (this part really is sad from a viewer perspective, though: we're excited to see her team up with the most functional alliance on the server, who won't betray her like bigb just did, and she dies trying to get to them.)

she runs over to the fairy fort, and meets up with joel - taking the opportunity to first scare ren, her former ally, and then happily proclaims she'd love to join team red. the two of them cheer about her death, as cleo quite literally cackles (and ren laughs along nervously). her episode ends with her assuring joel that she has so many enemies to murder. what a change from her earlier in the session, hiding underground with bigb because she doesn't want to die. as session five would show even further, an angry cleo is not an enemy that anybody wants to have,

oh, and then to top it all off, bdubs goes and dies by accident. another new red! this one is like an easter egg, because it's hardly in any povs with it happening so close to the end of the session, which honestly makes it even worse. the deeper you look into the series, the more povs you watch, the more tragic it gets. there's not really a lot to say because bdubs' red life really begins in the next session, but he does very quickly turn threatening towards tango and etho. as we're all well aware, red bdubs is... unstable. very murderous, very desperate for red friends (but also retaining that general Bdubs Energy). he shows no qualms about betraying his friends. once again, it's rather scary!

if i had to briefly summarise this very long post, then forgive my use of marvel metaphors, but this session is like the infinity war of the series. everything culminates in this one session, with various subplots all interwoven to create one narrative, in which the villain wins. you are not supposed to feel happy about this - you're not even supposed to feel angry about it. last life session 4 leaves you feeling hollow, you're not sure what to make of it. it follows a practically perfect narrative, with the exception of the "villain" (because we all know nobody is really a villain here) winning. you see people quite literally fall from grace, lose everything that they worked for, and join the antagonists with varying levels of regret. it's beautiful to me; no other mcyt video has ever had quite this kind of impact on me. and that's why it's one of my favourites! i hope i have convinced some people to also love last life session four :] thank you very much for reading!

[lesbian-deadpool]

The Assistant

Part One Of Two: To Kill Tony Stark

Natasha Romanoff x Reader, Platonic!Tony x Reader

Words: 2,699

Warnings: Uhhh... Cannon violence? Drinking, mentions of death, dying, and killing. Swearing. Idk. I think that’s it.

Request: For the @ryostephi who donated to the Australian Bushfires. (I’m sorry the tag doesn't work)

Summary: You’re infatuated with a red-headed newcomer. And you’re gonna kill Tony.

A/N: I’m not gonna lie. I had absolutely no idea what to do for this, so I hope this is okay. And I haven't watched IM2 in a while, so forgive me if I get anything wrong. Not proofread. I know there’s not a tone of Nat stuff in this. But there will be more in the next chapter.

(Not my GIF)

***

2011

Tony Stark’s Malliabo house.

10:36 A.M.

You were awoken from your peaceful slumber by your covers being removed from your body, robotically slow. Groaning, you grabbed the edge of your cover, that now sat at your waist. Tugging them back up your body. Fully intending to go back to sleep. That is before they were once again removed from your body, robotically slow.

Groaning louder this time, you finally peaked one of your eyes open for the first time this morning. The metal statue of Dum-E blurred, from your sleepy vision.

“What do you want, Dum-E?” you asked groggily.

“Miss Y/L/N. Mr Stark requests your assistance in his workshop,” Jarvis spoke for the robot.

“What time is it?” you yawned, cuddling into your pillow more.

“It is ten-forty, Miss,” Jarvis’ robotic voice rung throughout the room.

You groaned, “Tell Tony that if I come down there, I’m shoving a bench up his ass.”

The AI was silent for a few moments.

“He said he’s ‘looking forward to it’, Miss.”

Grumbling, you moved to sit on the edge of the bed, about to get up, when Dum-E handed you your pants.

“Oh, thank you Dum-E,” you said surprised. Before continuing with what you were previously going to say, “And what have I told you about calling me ‘Miss’?”

“Then what would you prefer I call you? Your Majesty?” Jarvis suggested.

“Jarvis,” you chided.

“Okay. Very well, Y/N. Shall I tell Mr Stark you’re on your way?”

“Yes. Thank you, Jarvis.”

“It’s a pleasure, as always, Y/N.”

***

“Right Tony, hand me a bench, and pull your pants down,” you said loudly, clapping your hands as you entered his workshop. Stopping dead in your tracks once you saw Pepper- However, it was normal for you to say this stuff in front of her, considering she had to deal with Tony. And you. Both of your antics. A lot of the times she had to deal with Tony, you and your antics together- Happy by her side- Who was also used to this shit-

The thing truly catching you off of your guard, being the gorgeous red-head woman. Standing on Pepper’s other side, holding a clipboard, with a small collection of files upon it, sat in her arm and pressed against her chest. Her dark auburn eyebrows scrunched up as she surveyed you, looking you up and down.

“-Oh, hello pretty stranger!” you greeted her, voice going an octave or two higher, that it’s usual tone.

Realising what you just said, your eyes widened, and you were quick to correct yourself. However unbelievable it may be.

“I didn't call you pretty. That never happened.”

“I’m afraid you did, Y/N,” Jarvis notified you.

“Thanks, Jarvis!”

Finally getting a hold of his stifled laughter, Tony gestured to introduce you.

“Y/N. This is Natalie Rushman, she’s Pepper’s new assistant. Natalie. This is Y/N Y/L/N, one of my best friends.”

Natalie hummed. Raising her head up at you with a small smirk. “Nice to meet you.”

“Uh. Yep.” You nodded. “I don’t want to say anything else, because I don’t want to embarrass myself more.” You smiled.

“How ever will you live this down?” Tony asked sassily.

“Give me five minutes, and I’ll be back to normal.”

“You know what? I don’t doubt that,” Pepper said.

“Hey, Y/N, guess what!” Tony clapped his hands excitedly, moving up and down on the spot.

“What?”

“Natalie kicked Happy’s ass.” Tony pointed to the girl, then gestured to blushing Happy.

“Really?” you asked Natalie, slightly surprised. Her reply being a single nod.

“No, she didn’t,” Happy blatantly lied.

“Uh, yes, she did,” Pepper assured.

“Well, no offence, Natalie,” you started, “But, anybody can kick Happy’s ass.”

She smiled at your little joke, as the Head of Security protested to your words.

At that moment, Natalie turned to Pepper.

“I should be getting back to work now, Miss Potts.”

“Yes, thank you, Natalie.”

With a nod she was off, stopping only once, by your side, turning her face towards you.

“It was really nice to meet you,” she spoke almost sultry.

“Yeah...” you breathed, “You, too.”

Watching as she walked away, the other three amused by your infatuation with the red-head, you had only just met.

Turning back to the others, surprised to see their smug faces. Like they knew something you didn’t. Or something that you would deny.

“What?”

“You love her,” Tony teased, in an almost sing-song voice.

Quickly you grabbed the nearest object upon the bench you were next to, which just so happened to be a bench. Pointing it at the man, you said, “Bend over.”

***

Apparently, the only reason Tony had requested your presence down in his workshop, was so that you could meet the new Assistant. Or as Tony liked to call her now, ‘your future Wife’. But still. He had managed to “convince” you into helping him.

You would be happy to help him, no matter what.

But that doesn’t mean you couldn’t act begrudgingly towards it. And Tony knew that.

That wasn’t the only reason.

Tony needed to tell you something. You were like his family, and he was scared.

“Y/N...” Tony started, his playful demeanour dimming, and you knew it was serious. Whatever it was he wanted to tell you, “I need to yell you something.”

“Okay...” you gently pressed, not wanting to make him close up and never tell you.

“Something. Something’s going wrong... I, umm... the reactor, it’s- I...” He sighed. Not knowing how to get the words out.

“Hey. It’s okay.” Reaching over you grabbed his forearm, squeezing it in a comforting manner. “Take your time. I’m right here.”

“Don’t tell Pepper- Or anyone really. But especially Pep. Okay?”

“I swear.”

“Well... basically... I’m dying.”

“You're what?!” you yelled, jumping to your feet.

Tony followed you, shushing you as he did.

“You’ve got to keep quiet. You swore,” he reminded you.

“But you’re dying,” you whispered softly, shocked to your core, “What-? How?”

“The shrapnel. It’s poisoning me.”

“Shit!” you swore under your breath, a hand coming up to rub at your forehead. Turning back to him you asked, “Can you fix it.”

He said nothing else, only shaking his head solemnly. Which caused your shoulder to drop.

“How long have you got?”

“Not long.”

No more words were spoken for a while after that. You were both too busy holding each other, the hug was tight with fear, afraid if you let go of him he would disappear into the air.

***

“Hey, Rhodey!” you called over to the man, clad in his airforce uniform. You had just gotten done helping Tony out with his inventions... amongst other things.

You felt a little better after Tony had explained everything, but you were still broken-hearted at the news but kept it locked and tight against your chest. Not wanting to cause the Tin Man any more pain. You knew he did felt better too. Finally getting all of that off his chest. To one person at least.

“Hey, Y/N. You seen Tones?”

“Yeah, he should be down in the workshop,” you told him, “Why? He in some trouble?”

“Isn’t he always?”

You shrugged. “Yeah, you’re right about that.”

Rhodey walked down to the workshop, he was here on business, you could tell that much. If the way he walked with a purpose told you anything.

“Can I give you a hand?” you asked, jogging up to Natalie, who had just walked through the door. She busy carrying thick binders, full of imported documents.

Before she could object. You had grabbed most of the binders out of her arms.

Natalie let out a slightly scoffed breath, as you both continued to walk, side by side, towards Natalie’s destination.

“You know I could have done it myself.”

“I know.” You nodded. She hadn’t seemed to be struggling. “But it doesn’t stop me from being chivalrous. Now, does it?”

She laughed. “Yeah. You’ve God chivalry pouring out of your ears, haven't you?”

“Yes, I do. Thank you for noticing.”

As soon as you had dropped the files off at the coffee table, where Natalie and Pepper would be busy working away. Tony walked past you -Rhodey ranting quietly beside him, so only Tony could hear-, lowly humming ‘The Wedding March’ so only you would hear.

You were, so, going to kill him yourself.

***

Tony was smirking over his glass at you, eyes shining with mischief, and that's when you knew something bad was coming.

“So. Natalie?”

She hummed, turning her attention away from the food she was cutting, and to the man, topping his glass up.

“You got a boyfriend? Girlfriend?”

You spread your arms in a ‘what-the-fuck?!’ manner, behind the red-head, Tony being the only one able to you. Face looking that of pure embarrassed shock, your willingness to murder him shining through.

“No.” She shook her head. “Nothing like that.”

“Well, if that’s the case. Maybe you’d like to go out with Y/N, sometime?”

Natalie looked over her shoulder at you.

You, however, were busy gazing up at the ceiling, like it had the most interesting story, the world has ever seen, written upon it. With your hands now on your his. But you still managed to see her lips upturn in a smirk, before her gaze returned to Tony.

“If you don’t mind, Mr Stark,” Natalie started, “I much prefer the people I date to ask me out themselves.” And with that, she took her leave.

“We’ll now you know what to need to do.”

“Kill you?” you asked, voice slightly manic with anger at the man.

“Ask her out.”

You never got the chance to vocalise your reply, because Tony took the same route Natalie did, heading back to his workshop. Leaving you in the kitchen alone with your thoughts. And desire to beat the infamous Iron Man to a pulp.

***

“I hate that guy,” you mumble, disdain on your tongue. Natalie being the only one who heard you, as she was right by your side, walking to where you were meant to watch the race.

“Hammer?” she asked curiously.

“Yep. He’s so full of himself- And not in the way Tony pretends to be.”

“Wow, you really do hate him,” she says, and you're thankful that she brushed past what you said about Tony. But hey, she works for the guy. She can probably tell that a lot of what Tony does is put on as a front so that he won't get hurt.

Sighing at her words, you nod.

“Come on.” Natalie places a hand on your arm. “The race is about to start.”

“Natalie,” Pepper calls over to he worriedly, making the red-head rush over to her, “Did you know about this?”

You turned to the TV as Natalie spoke to Pepper, seeing the missing billionaire fitted out in a race suit, and jumping into the Stark owned racecar.

“Oh, Jesus Christ!” you yelled. Running out of the room.

You were gonna kill him. You were so gonna kill him.

Or he was.

Wait.

Who the fuck is that?!

A large man, with what seemed to be a very light version of the Iron Man suit strapped upon his body. Long chains, acting like whips, yellow with electricity. Cutting up cars like they were nothing but paper.

Tony zoomed past, just as you managed to slip through the chainlink fence separating the crowd and the track. Vaulting over the metal barrier, ignoring the people calling for you to ‘stop’, and that it was ‘dangerous’. When the chain-whip-man, cut Tony’s car in half.

“Holy fuck!” You yelled.

A Rolls Royce screeched up beside you, snapping your attention from Tony rolling away from the destroyed car, to see the driver.

“Get in!” Happy ordered. And so you did. Slipping in beside Pepper. And then you were off again, to help Tony.

Soon enough, Happy had run into the man, successfully trapping him between the expensive car and the protective wall of the track. Narrowly missing Tony, who jumped up onto the chain-link fence to get away.

“Were you aiming for him, or me-?” Tony asked Happy.

“I was trying to scare him.”

“-’Cause I can’t tell.”

All the while you were trying to process everything.

“ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!” Pepper screeched at Tony.

“You’re Head Of Security-!”

“GET IN THE CAR!” she cut him off.

And before he could voice his reply, you joined in, “Get in the fucking car, Tony!”

“-I was attacked!”

Repeating this earlier sentence to you, Happy also told Tony to get into the car. But by this point, you were so done, that you just blanked the rest of what they said. Raising a hand to your forehead, and shaking it.

That is until you heard Tony mutter, “First vacation in two years.” Then the door, he had just opened, was sliced in half, by the appearance, still alive man, trying to kill Tony.

At this point, you wished you had put on a seat belt, as Happy started ramming into the man, as Tony asked for his “suitcase”. But was unable to get it, because of Happy’s driving.

You were so done with this shit.

You had begun to reach over, to take the suitcase from Pepper try and hand into Tony easier. When the car was chopped in half, like a knife through hot butter.

“AAA! Fuck!” you yelled, whipping your arm back.

Tony was still asking for his case, as the unknown man continued to chew up the car.

Oh.

Oh, of course.

Why did you expect any less?

The fight was scary. That’s for sure. But you were just glad it was over quickly.

“God...” you uttered, “I need to sleep.”

***

“But the after-party starts now!”

““Holy shit,” you mumble, rubbing your eyes because of the man's behaviour.

“He's hammered,” Natalie spoke, sliding up next to you, “How did he get this bad? He was relatively fine fifteen minutes ago.”

You sighed.

“Yep. That’s Tony for ya.”

After that... let’s just say you lost track of things. You knew you shouldn't have, but you took a walk outside around the pool, getting some much needed fresh air, before you went back in, and tried to talk some sense into the drunk raging genius.

You understood why he was doing this. You really did. That doesn't mean you liked it, though.

When you entered not even ten minutes later, you were welcomed with destruction. People running out the door, Tony, Pepper, Natalie, and Happy nowhere to be seen. And loud crashes coming from the floors above you.

That's when you spotted Natalie and Pepper. Arguing.

What the fuck happened?

They didn’t like each other. You knew that much. But this was new for them.

Rushing over, you hoped to resolve whatever was going on between the two.

“Hey-” You hadn't even got two words out, when suddenly...

You jumped back, as Rhodey -Rhodey? When did he get here?- and Tony tore through the ceiling, landing upon the coffee table, fighting like stupid children. Noticing Natalie taking up a fighting stance in front of you, as Pepper screams.

“Boys!” you yelled. Failing to gain their attention, as they instead of hearing you, and stopping their fighting, decided to crash through walls, knocking the hell out of each other and their metal suits.

This was all too much for you.

So, you did what you did best.

As Pepper ran off towards the fighting “adult men”, and Natalie... going wherever she did.

You left.

You walked out the door and got into your car.

They could handle this themselves. You still had that much faith in them.

But right now. You had something else you needed to do.

***

The bell above the diner’s door rang, alerting the three conversing people to the newcomer.

Surprising to only two of them.

Tony and Natasha’s mouths dropped agape, at what they saw.

You.

Walking straight towards them. SHIELD uniform clasped around your body, the sleeves rolled up, showing your forearms.

Stopping by the table, you slid in, next to Tony. Staring straight into Natasha's green eyes, as the billionaire beside you screeched, “What the fuck?!”