#i think the 'Untangling God of War' doc said it best

[angstandhappiness]

INTERESTING

@perfectharmonyloveschaos  #I feel as thought that ties back into Atreus' rebellion in 2018 and his 'twisted little soul'#he is living chaos#kindness and cruelty#peace and rage#fire and ice#because Loki himself is never the same and always changing#i think the 'Untangling God of War' doc said it best#atreus/loki is change personified#and change cannot be control or contained or trusted#he is such a turbulent character and i am so excited to see them follow up and show his complexity more and more as he grows up#'i watch your mouth move and I see cities burning' is SUCH A POWERFUL LINE DAMN

I really liked Heimdall's description of Atreus/Loki. It was really menacing, intriguing, and revealed how dangerous Atreus can be deep down. If anything, he's only just growing into himself, and that he enjoys being a kind of trickster God. I noticed his playfulness when Atreus was telling his father how to put the cart thing on the track, and he kept saying, "my left...or your right," he was really getting into that. lol. And Atreus didn't even deny what Heimdall had said, or at least considered the truth of it, but even then, at the moment, Heimdall could see it simply by looking at Atreus.

[joyful-soul-collector]

Misser Star’

By @joyful-soul-collector for @wh0doyouthinkyouareiam! 

For the @friendly-neighborhood-exchange!

Rating: General Audiences

Characters: Tony Stark, Peter Parker, Helen Cho

Summary: 

“Woah there Sea Legs,” Tony said, catching him under the arms and setting him up straight. “Wouldn’t want you hurting yourself.” “The sea is in my legs,” Peter said, clinging tight to Tony’s arm as he wobbled slightly. “What if my legs… were in the sea?” “Oh wow--this is going to be fun.”

OR

Peter gets his wisdom teeth taken out, and is a very silly lad

Story is under the cut, or you can read it on AO3!

Irondad Tag List: @phahbiyah @keep-a-bucket-full-of-stars @clevermuffinalmondpeach @stuck-in-a-fictional-universe @canonismybitch @freckledmountain @not-your-housekeeper98 @misskirkstark @iron-loyalty

Lemme know if you want to be added or removed from the tag list!

“Misser Star’, there’s clouds i’ m’ mouth,” Peter mumbled around the cotton, staring at Tony with wide eyes. Tony laughed and pulled Peter’s hand away from his mouth, as he was trying to touch the “clouds”. 

“Don’t mess with those, you need them to stop the bleeding,” Tony said with a small laugh. 

“I’m bleeding!?” Peter said incredulously. Then he suddenly gasped and grabbed Tony’s arm, a panicked look on his face. “Do they know!?”

“Know what kid?” Peter looked around dramatically then yanked Tony’s arm closer so he could whisper in his ear. 

“That I’m a spider,” he said. Tony snorted and gently worked his arm out of Peter’s death-grip. 

“You’re good, kid. You’re at the compound, Helen was the one who operated on you. You remember Helen?”

“Karen?”

“No, Helen--”

“She’s my suit lady, she’s nice. But she can’t do tooth stuff Misser Star’--”

“No, kid, Helen was the one who did the work on your teeth, she’s a doctor--”

“I know who Helen is,” Peter said, as if Tony had told him this information several times before. Tony rolled his eyes and ruffled Peter’s hair, only to laugh when Peter raised his head and leaned into his touch, eyes slipping closed with bliss. He was like a little kitten, leaning into someone scratching behind its ear. 

In fact he leaned so far he almost fell over, and Tony had to catch him by the shoulder, snorting at the panicked look on Peter’s face. 

“Jesus, Dr. Cho gave you the Good Stuff didn’t she?”

“Had to, it was the only thing his metabolism wouldn’t immediately burn through,” Helen said, making Tony jump. “You two are alright to leave now, just make sure Peter doesn’t take that cotton out too early and give him some ice when the medicine wears off.”

“Thanks Doc,” Tony said. Peter made a noise of confusion and pointed at Helen. 

“She’s not Doc Ock, Misser Star’! He has way more arms, and she’s way prettier,” Peter said. “I think you need new glasses.”

“I don’t even need glasses in the first place, kiddo,” Tony said with a snort, signing a couple papers Helen handed him. 

“Oh yeah!? Then what are those!?” Peter said, pointing directly at the square sunglasses perched on Tony’s nose. Tony raised his eyebrows at him, the determined look on Peter’s face making it hard not to laugh. 

“Sunglasses, not normal glasses,” Tony said, then he held out his arm. “Here lemme walk you back to the living quarters, I’m fairly certain you’re not gonna make it there yourself.”

“Why does the sun even need glasses?” Peter muttered as he pushed himself off the hospital bed, and almost immediately toppling over. 

“Woah there Sea Legs,” Tony said, catching him under the arms and setting him up straight. “Wouldn’t want you hurting yourself.”

“The sea is in my legs,” Peter said, clinging tight to Tony’s arm as he wobbled slightly. “What if my legs… were in the sea?”

“Oh wow--this is going to be fun,” Tony said, steadying Peter as he stumbled down the hallway to the elevator. 

Peter babbled on and on about random stuff on their way to the living quarters, Tony having to physically restrain him from pressing all the buttons in the elevator, and had to answer his questions about extremely odd yet mundane things like “why is the ceiling in the sky?” only for him to forget what he asked entirely.

When they finally arrived, Tony walked him to the couch and sat him down, and Peter immediately curled himself into a ball, knees tucked under his chin. 

“Alright kid, you wait here while I call your Aunt and let her know everything went good, alright?” Tony said. 

“Wait here,” Peter repeated, with a determined nod. “Waiting waiting waiting. Like a rock.”

At this point Tony had absolutely no clue what Peter was talking about so he just said “Sure, kiddo”, and ruffled his hair before he stepped away for a few minutes. 

“Hey, Tony,” May said when she answered. “How’s he doin’?”

“He’s alright, pretty damn loopy but fine,” Tony said, leaning against the wall of the hallway. “I’m glad you came to me about this, I was right, a normal anaesthetic wouldn’t have stood a chance against his enhanced metabolism.”

May chuckled and Tony could hear the bustle of the hospital in the background. 

“I don’t know what we’d do without you Tony,” she said. “Thank you so much--Oh, shoot, I gotta go--”

“No problem, May, I’ll take care of him till you get off work. Just call me when you’re done, I’ll drive him over,” Tony said. May thanked him at least ten times before hanging up, and Tony chuckled to himself, slipping the phone in his pocket. 

“Misser Staaaaaaar’?” Peter’s voice said from around the corner. It had a rather guilty tone to it, and Tony quickly rounded the corner to see him. 

Peter seemed to have tried to grab a blanket, and in the process, had gotten himself rather tangled in it, now lying horizontally on the couch and staring up at Tony with a wide-eyed expression. 

“Got tangled in your own web, huh Spiderling?” Tony said, smiling down at him. “Probably for your own good anyway. Might just leave you like that so you don’t get yourself in more trouble.”

Peter frowned indignantly at him, and suddenly started trying to wiggle himself into an upright position, since clearly Tony was just gonna leave him to die like this. Tony rolled his eyes and helped him sit up, but as soon as he tried to get him untangled, Peter leaned away, looking confused. 

“What?” Tony said. 

“I’m a burrito Misser Star’,” Peter mumbled, snuggling himself further into the blanket. “Spider-Burrito. Or Spider-Sushi. Or Spider-Ravioli. Or--”

“Spiders In A Blanket?” Tony suggested, and Peter’s eyes got wide. 

“Oh my god--I’m a spider, and I’m in a blanket!” Peter whisper-screamed. Then he burst into laughter, throwing his head back against the soft cushions of the couch so fast Tony thought he might give himself whiplash. 

“Jesus--Just you existing scares me kiddo,” Tony muttered, deciding tv would probably be the best distraction. Just as long as it isn’t a comedy. Kid might break his neck, Tony thought. It’s a good thing Luke Skywalker isn’t played by Jim Carrey. 

Peter stopped laughing immediately as the Star Wars theme began to play, though his loud, comical gasp proved it wasn’t just the medicine wearing off. 

“I LOVE STAR WARS!” Peter shouted, making Tony jump. 

“Jesus christ--I know ya dork,” Tony said, watching Peter bounce excitedly in his seat on the couch for a moment before sitting next to him. Peter flumped into Tony’s side, giving a deep, dramatic sigh of contentment. Tony couldn’t help but give him a little one-armed squeeze; he knew how much Peter loved hugs. 

Though he couldn’t expect Peter to be silent for more than a few minutes, now could he?

“Hey Misser Star’?” Peter said. 

“Hey Misser Parker?” Tony said, imitating Peter’s tone and voice. 

“What if I was hungry?” he said, either ignoring or completely oblivious to Tony’s teasing. 

“Um, I would get you something to eat? I think there’s some soup I could warm up for you,” Tony said, looking down at Peter with raised eyebrows. Peter looked skeptical at the idea of soup however.

“Mmm, but what if I’m only hungry for something cold?” he said. 

“Uh… you want a smoothie?”

“Something sweet and cold.”

“Smoothies can be sweet.”

“Something chocolate and sweet and cold,” Peter said impatiently. Tony rolled his eyes and looked down at Peter, who put on a very mischievous grin. He sighed in defeat. He just couldn’t say no to that silly face. 

“Your Aunt’s gonna kill me when she finds out,” Tony said, getting up with a groan. 

“No she won’t! I’ll protect you! I’m Spider-Man!” Peter said, trying to take his hands out of his cocoon/burrito, but only succeeding in tangling himself more. Tony snorted, dragging a tub of chocolate ice cream out of the freezer and scooping some out into a couple bowls. By the time he came back Peter had freed his arms and was rubbing his hands over the fluffy blanket, muttering to himself. Tony helped him take the gauze out of his mouth, which had a surprisingly small amount of blood on it, as it seems his enhanced healing had taken care of it. 

Peter ate his ice cream happily, eyes closing with bliss. 

“Ice cream is my best friend,” Peter said around his spoon. “‘Cept for Ned. And MJ. They’re better than ice cream, but ice cream is like… real good friendo. Ten outta ten, would go to the movies with ice cream.”

“Ha, me too kid,” Tony said, scraping the last remnants out before setting aside his bowl to focus better on the movie. He never cared much for Star Wars, but he couldn’t deny that the fight scenes were pretty awesome. Peter eventually nudged him with his bowl to say he was finished, and then went back to his original position against Tony’s side. 

It wasn’t until the movie was over that Tony realized Peter had fallen asleep like that, curled up tightly in the blanket, his face pressed into Tony’s chest. Tony ran his fingers through Peter’s hair for a moment, smiling as Peter relaxed even further against him. 

“You caught all that, right Fri?” Tony said, glancing up at the ceiling. 

“Of course Boss,” Friday replied. “Shall I send you the file for you to view later?”

“That’d be perfect. If there’s anything that’ll be more hilarious than Peter getting stuck in a blanket, it’ll be how red his face gets when he sees himself getting stuck in a blanket.”

Peter didn’t even wake up as Tony lifted him off the couch and down the hall to his room. He whined a little when Tony laid him on his bed, but was quickly consoled by Tony’s fingers running through his hair again. 

“Goodnight ‘Spider-Burrito.’”

[valkyrie-echo]

Project Echo, Part 1: Chapter 7 (What Friends Are For)

Part 1 Summary: A long-buried Hydra disaster, a monster in the shadows, a missing child. Eight months after the events of “The Winter Soldier”, Bucky turns himself in to the Avengers on one condition: They must help him find a girl snatched off the streets by Hydra seven years ago. In their quest, the Avengers accidentally unleash a horrifying creature of darkness and shadow, intent on making their quarry its prey.

[Edited: 5/13/19]

Chapter 7: What Friends Are For

"BUCKY, WAKE UP!" Steve roared. 

Bucky's eyes snapped open, but they couldn’t see the room around him. He was trapped in whatever hell his dreams had created. The metal arm was dead, but he threw Steve across the room with his human one just as easily.

He continued to roar and stroke back against unseen foes- demolishing the closet doors- and breaking two fingers- in the process. Bucky’s face was nearly purple, his screams took on an edge of desperation as he struggled. 

His broken fingers were bleeding as he tried to rip away his metal arm. Steve untangled himself from the remains of the dresser and ran back at him, "BUCKY!" 

Thank god he hadn't grabbed the knife sitting by his head.

Thor nearly ripped the front door off its hinges as he ran into the apartment. He dashed around Steve over the ruins of the closet doors and grabbed Bucky's head. Thor lifted the eyelids with his thumbs- only the whites of Bucky's eyes were visible. He cursed and pulled Bucky’s pajamas from around his neck. 

Thor grabbed the healing stone, broke the chain, and threw it out of the room, "JAMES BARNES, YOU MUST WAKE!"

Bucky's screams turned to ragged gasps, and after a moment those faded to whimpers. His eyes opened slowly to see Steve and Thor above him. They moved back and he sat up. He was drenched in icy sweat, cold and shaking. His eyes were bloodshot, his head and throat ached, his arm and hand burned. 

He looked so... scared.

"W-w-what happened?"

"You had a nightmare," Steve was trying to mask his own fear, but failing.

Thor patted Steve on the back and retrieved the butter knife, "I heard the commotion and came to help."

Steve could hear Banner running through the living room, ready to join in the fight if need be. 

How many floors had woken up?

"What did you dream of?" Thor said.

Bucky swallowed hard and pointed to his arm. Banner took one look at the strips of torn, bloody flesh, "I'll get the first aid kit," he vanished.

Thor nodded to Bucky, "The stone helps you remember, but there is no way to control what it will uncover."

Bucky merely hung his head, ashamed. Banner returned with a towel to mop up the blood and a box of medical supplies. Bucky didn't speak, but he scooted out into the room and helped clean and bandage the wounds as best he could. 

When they were done he looked up to Banner and Thor, "I'm sorry," he almost whispered.

"We all have our demons," Banner volunteered, "you've got no reason to apologize."

Bucky looked around the room at the pulverized dresser- the door held up only by one hinge- and the ruins of a splintered chair- Steve had smashed his way in when the screaming began. 

A clock on the wall read 2am. His body was wrecked, weary down to the bone, but he knew he wouldn't sleep again. He was too scared of the dream...

"Would you like to talk about it?" Thor offered.

"No- no. Please, go back to sleep. I'm sorry. Please," he didn't want to be around anyone, he couldn't look weak, they were only helping because they were scared of him.

Steve nodded, taking his hint, "Hey Bucky, two floors down is a library, lots of books on mechanics and bikes and the like, if you want. You were a mechanic once, do you remember that?" 

Bucky nodded, but didn't speak again. Thor pulled Steve towards the door and Banner followed.

"Thank you," he shook hands with both of them as they left the flat. "I'll see if he'd be willing to take something to help him sleep, maybe the doc can give him something in the morning."

"It's no trouble, really," Banner shook his head, "I can't even imagine what he's been through. I'm just glad he's here and not out there somewhere."

Thor put a hand on Steve's shoulder, "May we speak for a moment?"

"Sure," Steve said. He bid goodnight to Banner before following Thor up to his apartment. 

It was very Asgardian- marble floors and lots of large metal furniture draped in unknown furs. Intricate frescoes told tales of ancient battles and fierce hunts. Most of it had been brought from Asgard on Thor's rare visits. He was ready to make Midgard his home. Thor offered Steve a pop tart and they sat in the dining room.

"I know very little about James Barnes," he admitted. "He was a childhood friend of yours, was he not?"

Steve nodded, "Did anyone ever tell you who I was before I became Captain America?"

Thor shook his head, "I have heard Tony make mention of a potion, and I know you are not of this time, but that is all."

"I was this wimpy kid. Small. Always sick, always slow. Even walking up stairs was too hard sometimes. I wanted to be a hero like my father. I wanted friends and adventures, but no one on our street was allowed to play with a sick little kid who couldn't even breathe properly..." 

He lost himself in the memories as Thor struggled to reconcile the person sitting before him with the description Steve gave. 

"I could watch the others have fun, that was it. Bucky was totally opposite- always picking fights, playing pranks, leading the kids in their games. He kind of took me under his wing all of the sudden, I don't know why. I think his mom told him to. When we picked teams he'd make sure I was either on his or leading the other one so we could cheat, and the other kids had to at least make room for me."

"We grew up as close as brothers. My dad died, then my mom, and I was alone. He and his family took me in, gave me somewhere to stay that wasn't full of ghosts."

Steve's smile faded, "When the war rolled around, everyone went to fight. Half the countries were trying to stop this one ruler who was slaughtering innocent people by the millions. My enemy, Red Skull, made new weapons of torture and murder for him," he wasn't sure how much history Thor knew, so he just did his best to explain quickly.

"Bucky was drafted- ordered by our government to fight or go to prison. He told me he'd enlisted, he knew how much I wanted to go, to do my part. No one would give me the chance, so he pretended he was going willingly."

Thor nodded, "It fares better on family and friends if a warrior is at the least believed to have fought of their own volition, especially if they do not survive the battle." Steve nodded, "Was that when you were given the potion?"

"The serum," Steve corrected, Thor tended to make things sound like some sort of fairy tale. "Bucky had just told me he was leaving in the morning. I was angry, I tried lying to the inspectors so they'd take me too. That's when Erskin found me. He was a scientist who fled the war, but he couldn't put his research aside. He wanted to make a super soldier- one man worth ten. His serum created the Red Skull, he thought I'd be more worthy, for some reason."

"Did you fight in great battles?"

"No," Steve laughed, "I was propaganda. They ordered me to make these films where I pretended to kill our enemies. I went city to city getting people to give their money to the government to fund the war. I was made to be a weapon, but they just kept showing me off. If I, with all my abilities, was kept back from the front to entertain them, then maybe the war wasn't as bad as everyone thought."

"My tour took me to the battle lines after a while. I was supposed to give the men hope- rally them, but they hated me. I was a guy who pretended to fight, they were men who'd seen their friends killed doing the real fighting. I found out the men had just lost more than a hundred to the enemy, Bucky was among them."

Thor was concerned, "Is that how he was captured by Hydra?"

Steve kind of half shook his head, "The first time, yeah. Tony's father, Howard, flew me behind enemy lines one night. I broke into the Hydra base where the men were kept. I freed them and told them to blow the place to Hell, they told me Bucky had been taken away with others- and none of them had returned. I only ever found him. He'd been tortured and- though I didn't know it until recently, he'd been given the serum, just like me. His version was rough, unfinished. He was the only one who had survived it."

"After we got back to the camp, I was given my pick of the soldiers I'd saved to form my own team, the Howling Commandos, and lead the war against Hydra. Me, Bucky, and five others. Our leaders were Howard Stark and Peggy Carter, part of the team who made me."

Thor could tell from his expression exactly what Peggy Carter meant to him.

"We lost Bucky near the end of the war, taking Hydra's lead scientist captive. He was thrown out of a train and off a cliff, I couldn't save him. It was so far- I thought he was dead. The most they ever found was his arm. Smashed and ripped apart."

"I went after Hydra, ran us into their nest headfirst and didn't even care what happened, I just wanted revenge. I followed Red Skull into a plane and killed him with the cube- the tesseract. I couldn't stop his bombs from going off, and I wouldn't let him kill anyone else. So I crashed the plane into a dead, barren stretch of ice. That's where they found me, still in the plane, 70 years later."

"I knew you were from another time, but I did not think from so long ago. I am sorry. What happened to James during that time?"

"As far as we know, Hydra captured him, tortured him, and made him the Winter Soldier- an assassin. No one believed he really existed, no one knew he was Bucky. He even shot Natasha once, and walked away," Thor whistled at that, he could not imagine an entire squadron of Asgardians getting the best of Natasha for a second, let alone one human. She was like the Lady Sif- a peerless warrior, "Hydra thought after so long they could send him to kill me, but I think I jogged his memory. He almost killed me, but ended up saving me instead. Hydra lost the Triskellion, he saved my life and fled, and up until a couple days ago I couldn't even find him."

They were silent for a moment, "What was he like when you saved him the first time?"

"He wouldn't look anyone in the eye. He had bad nightmares, most of the men I freed did, and he was darker-angrier. He spent a lot of time alone in the bar near base. But- come to think of it I'd see him with three empty drinks, working on the fourth, and he'd still be sober. That should have been obvious, but I didn't even think Hydra had their own serum. When the Howling Commandos formed, he got better. He was still the guy you'd send in to slit the guard's throats and open the gate, he was good at it, but he laughed and joked around again."

Thor nodded, "I've seen warriors who suffered similarly, as I said. It was a common practice of the Jotun, the frost giants as you call them. They would torture their prisoners and make them fight against their own friends, it was a psychological war, we were able to recapture few. There is always a lingering darkness- they hate what they were made to become, and they let the change fuel them to hunt those they believe created them to enact the very same pain they were forced to feel. It is a dangerous road to head down, that line between friend and foe begins to fade... James Barnes will need you to help him remember who he was, not what he was made to be. He has been hiding from what he's done, punishing himself with this quest. He thinks this girl is the only chance he has for even a small piece of redemption, but if he finds her broken or made into a killer, it will only feed that self-loathing."

"You think we shouldn't help him find her?"

Thor shook his head, "Find her, but be prepared for the consequences when you do, no matter the condition she is in. He cannot rely on her alone for salvation. Like when you liberated him many years ago, you must give him a worthy cause to rally his spirit. Keep reminding him who he was, show him he can find peace once again, and let us help."

Thor counseled Steve as best he could. His mother had been leader once of the Valkyrie battle-maidens, and in their healing halls they kept the soldiers changed by the Jotun. She'd taught him much of the consequences of war, he had just been too stupid to take her words to heart until very recently. He remembered one of the most important parts suddenly.

"Steve Rogers, you look as if you fair little better than your friend. You must also keep in mind you are just as supported in this endeavor as he. We may not all get along, but we are not enemies to one another. We fight for the same cause. You need help in your venture, and be certain even Tony Stark will answer your call should you chose to make it. Not only those taken by the Jotun suffered, their friends and family suffer just as keenly."

"Thanks, Thor, that means a lot," Steve hadn't considered it before, but he hunted Bucky with a vigor paralleled only by that final hunt for Hydra in the 1940s, with such reckless abandon it frightened him looking back. He could have gotten Sam killed a dozen times at least, pure luck kept his team alive in Astana- and for all he knew they hadn't made it out alive. The Howling Commandos were his best friends, Peggy his best girl, and he'd been so consumed in his own quest for revenge, he'd lost them all in what still felt like the span of a single day.

He couldn't change any of that, but he could still help his best friend find his way out of the shadows, this time without throwing everyone else into a bloody war headfirst.

Thor had counseled many generals with similar stories over his centuries, more so in the battles to repair the damage he'd wrought by destroying the Bifrost. Odin's sudden willingness to send him away to Midgard had puzzled him, but now he saw it for the blessing it was. He could help here, make the group stronger. He understood now who Steve was, what war he was fighting, and judged him a worthy man.

When Steve got up to leave he tripped over Mjolnir, sitting slightly in his path. Thor watched, curious. Steve grabbed the handle to steady himself in his fall, and the hammer twitched. 

Worthy indeed, or at least on his way to being so.

Chapter 8: The Library