#indulge me for a moment and go back to 2012 fandom avengers and think of Reggie meeting coulson and be happy with me

[innytoes]

Rulie and Superhero AU?

"Sweetie, if the Avengers are going to take us seriously, we really need to start dressing the part," Julie said gently. Reggie pouted.

"Luke didn't wear sleeves, and you're not getting on his case!" he objected. Though let's be real, he was showing less boob than Captain America had been in his white smedium shirt.

"Luke's a lost cause," Julie said, ignoring the little 'hey' from where Luke was rummaging through the mini-fridge of their Secret Base (also known as 'Carrie's basement'.) "But wearing a 'I was zapped by a freaky science experiment in grad school and all I got were superpowers and this lousy t-shirt' shirt might not have been the best move."

"But it establishes my backstory!" Reggie defended himself. "Besides, Hawkeye laughed."

"That's not the endorsement you think it is," Carrie said from where she was probably texting Kate Bishop (aka the Cooler Hawkeye). Reggie pouted, and Julie kissed his cheek.

"Maybe next time, let's try a plain t-shirt, okay?"

"Fine," Reggie sighed. Or maybe next time, Willie would be done with the costumes Reggie designed and they could just show up in those. If he could convince Julie that the skin-tight spandex was totally necessary for crime fighting, that was.

[blancheludis]

A/N: @iron-man-bingo suqare: Avengers Game Night

Fandom: Marvel, Avengers Characters: Bruce Banner/Thor, Clint Barton, Tony Stark Tags: Team Bonding, Secret Relationship, Humor, Fluff, 2012 Avengers Words: 1.849

Summary: Stumbling over three naked Avengers in the towers' living room is not enough to surprise Tony anymore. What he cannot quite explain is how they roped Bruce into it. He's supposed to be the one with common sense. Thor's presence might explain his lapse in judgement. 

---

“Has anyone seen my –” The rest of the question dies on Tony’s lips as he stumbles over his own feet, coming to an abrupt halt at the scene in front of him.

Clint and Thor sit facing each other on the ground of their living room, with Bruce as the top of their little triangle – which in itself would not be the strangest thing Tony has found his teammates doing. The thing is, they are naked.

Well, Clint and Thor are naked, while Bruce is apparently still wearing pants, but there are still three naked men sitting in Tony’s tower, staring at each other as if they are waiting for the others to combust.

Tony wishes he could say he is surprised. He certainly did not anticipate this exact scene, but life with the other Avengers has quickly cured him from expecting his life to be normal. They all have bad days and scars, but they are also, all in their own way, crazy. Tony does not exclude himself from that list, but he is pretty sure he has not yet reached Clint’s level.

Alerted by Tony’s question, the three men look up with varying degrees of eagerness. Bruce, for one, looks one wrong word away from fleeing back to India.  

“I’m not going to ask,” Tony says quickly, raising up his hands in front of his chest to signal his surrender.

It is too late, though, because Thor perks up, a wide smile on his face. “We are conducting a ritual,” he says with all the enthusiasm of a five-year-old on Christmas morning.

Slowly, Tony backs away. “I said I’m not asking.” It is a futile attempt to get out of this, but Tony wants to be able to say later that he tried.

In the background, Bruce grimaces as if he has already tried to talk sense into their friends. As if that has ever worked. Common sense has never had any impact on any of them. Neither does reason.

Thor shifts to be better able to face Tony, thereby offering a better view of himself. In response, Tony raises his hands even higher, trying to shield his eyes. The sight before him is quite nice, of course, but that does not mean he wants to see it without warning on a Thursday afternoon.

“Clint has been so kind to involve me in a special ritual meant to welcome warriors into the midst of their peers,” Thor explains, completely oblivious to the shit-eating grin on Clint’s face.

Unable to help himself, Tony asks, “Which requires you to be –” He gestures at their bare bodies, taking care not to look.

Somehow, a naked Thor is even more impressively large than he is in his armour. That might be because he holds himself entirely without shame. It helps that he has the kind of superhuman physique that even Steve can only dream of. Clint, too, has not just muscular arms. Even Bruce, with his comparable softness, has nothing to be ashamed of.

“Of course,” Clint speaks up in a tone containing a warning for Tony not to mess this up. His eyes are dancing with barely suppressed laughter. “How else is he going to prove he is worthy even without any Asgardian knickknacks?”

By not using them, Tony supposes but does not say it. He is sure it is better not to get involved. In any case, Thor looks happy. All of them thought of getting Thor naked at some point, so Tony should not ruin Clint’s game just because the archer managed it. That leaves the question why Bruce let himself be roped into this. He is the only one with sense among them, after all.  

“But Brucie is allowed to keep his pants on?” Tony asks, unable to keep all of his scepticism out of his tone.

Clint’s glare becomes more intense. “He’s been naked around us often enough,” he answers dryly, not so politely referring to Tony’s up until now failed attempts to create Hulk-safe pants for Bruce. “And it wouldn’t be good if the referee’s nudity would distract the applicant. So, he’s here to make sure things don’t go out of hand.”

Tony snorts at Bruce’s sour expression. “How would they ever?” he asks with heavy sarcasm. At the same time, though, he gets an inkling what this is about. He is just wondering whether Clint truly thinks this is going to work.

“Have you not yet been inducted, Man of Iron?” Thor asks, sounding concerned of all things. “Surely a warrior of your renown would want to be a part of this magnificent order?”

At some point, Tony will have to pull Clint aside and share a bottle of the good stuff with him for the good work he has done here, filling Thor up with more stories about weird habits on Earth.

“Oh, we founded a sect now?” Tony asks, turning his laughter into a smirk. “What’s its name? Hawkeye’s Merry Fools?”

Before Clint has to defend his mad scheme, Thor does so eagerly. “There’s no need for jealousy. I am certain you will be asked to join too.” With a gentle expression, he adds, “If permitted, I will be your sponsor.”

An image flashes through Tony’s mind of himself naked amongst these men. He wonders what parts of the ritual he has already missed. Chanting? Sparring? Talking about their most secret feelings?

“My sponsor?” he asks, despite knowing better than to indulge this madness. All he wanted was his tablet. He should be backing out of the room, perhaps outright run.

“Like Bruce is for me,” Thor says, directing a blinding smile at Bruce. “He’s overseeing the ritual.”

Tony desperately wants to ask how Bruce let himself be pulled into this. Surely, there is an easier way for him to get Thor naked. Knowing the god, a simple question would have sufficed, no explanation needed. Although a mere look from Bruce’s wide, hopeful eyes, would not have gone amiss either.

Getting those two to admit their obvious attraction to each other is like pulling teeth, though, painful and taking too long.  

“That’s nice of him,” Tony drawls, glaring at Bruce as if he can mentally get some answers from him. “Say, this ritual doesn’t happen to get any more physical than this?”

Clint’s grin grows as much as Bruce’s expression grows tighter. Still oblivious, Thor nods enthusiastically, sending his hair flying.

“We will fight to prove my worth,” he exclaims with distinct happiness. “I have left the mighty Mjolnir in my rooms for this.”

Out of their own volition, Tony’s eyes travel down, following a line of Thor’s golden hair down his abdomen, until he catches himself. “Please don’t destroy my tower,” he says with forced nonchalance.

“Many things can happen during trials like this,” Thor replies, not sounding reprimanded or guilty at all. “Most of the damage happens during the revelry afterward.”

As one, Tony and Clint look at Bruce. Before Tony can ask the obvious question, Clint pipes up, proven Tony’s thoughts true.

“That’s what Bruce is here for,” Clint says cheerfully. “Once the ritual is done, he will accompany Thor back to his rooms to make sure that his spirit settles safely.”

Getting with the program, Tony cocks his head to the side as if thinking hard. “And I guess there will still be no clothes around for that part.”

With more fake earnestness than Tony would have possible, Clint nods. “Naturally.”

As far as plans to push Thor and Bruce together go, this one is not even the worst Tony could think of. Common sense and less than subtle comments have not yet led to any result – other than Bruce blushing and Thor ranting about the many merits of their resident not-that-kind-of-doctor. Neither of them has taken the hint, however. In fact, they always seem to take two steps back for every one they manage to take forward.  

Still, Tony is pretty sure he does not want to have anything to do with this. “Well, I’ll leave you to it.”

Before he can take more than a step towards the door, Clint says with too much innocence to be believable, “We could use another referee. You know, to make sure that my spirit settles again too.”

For a tiny moment, Tony is tempted to say yes. Not because he particularly wants to get naked with his fellow Avengers, but because he wants to see where this is going. Thor is not naïve. He is loud and brash and easily excitable, but he should have figured out that this is a rather badly thought out scheme of Clint’s pretty easily. Yet, here he is, naked on the ground, smiling happily as he goes along with whatever nonsense script Clint has for them.

More than that, he wants to get his hands on Bruce – not literally – to find out how exactly Clint has threatened him into playing along.

In the end, his self-preservation instincts win over his curiosity. That is a new development the Avengers caused too. Tony does not need to know everything anymore.

“Thank you, birdbrain, but I wouldn’t want to disturb your ritual,” he says, pulling his face into something resembling regret if not for the laughter in his eyes. “Since I’m not part of the secret club, I might accidentally destroy your progress.”

He is definitely going to keep an eye on the surveillance feed, though. It is hardly an invasion of privacy if they eel themselves naked in the common areas.

Perhaps he is even going to send Steve up without warning. His reaction would surely be worth the ensuing yelling. Also, there is the small, almost non-existent chance that Steve would join in. He is all for team bonding, after all. Tony would not miss that for anything in the world.

“Well, you know where to find us if you change your mind,” Clint says, sounding just the slightest bit disappointed.

“I certainly do.” Tony decides to take the whole situation with good humour. “Good luck, Thor. I hope you’ll find what you’re looking for.”

Something flashes over Thor’s face too quickly for Tony to interpret. “Thank you, Man of Iron,” he then booms. “I believe what I want is right within reach.”

That – is a curious phrasing, even for Thor. When Tony whips up his head to look at Bruce, he sees the last remnants of a grin fade quickly from his face. It was not just a my co-workers are crazy but I’m playing along grin. No, this one was a fully blown I know something you don’t so I’ll have the last laugh grin.

Tony wonders whether they might not have all miscalculated Thor’s ability to keep a secret. This will need further investigation.

“I’ll keep an eye on you,” he promises with a last sharp look at Bruce and Thor, and a questioning one at Clint.

“You do that,” Bruce answers serenely, as if he has never had a problem with being watched. “It might be interesting what you find. These rituals tend to bring out curious things in people.”

[veliseraptor]

Did this one last year, and I figured I’d go ahead and do it again, because I love aggregate memes so much.

2017 Fanfiction Round-Up

Total Year-Long Wordcount: Okay so. I actually have an approximate near-exact number for this, though it includes some original fiction and some nonfiction, but as I actually put in the work for the full year of recording daily wordcount...

The total number of words I wrote between 1/1/16-12/31/17 was: 542,613.

so there’s that.

This year I wrote and posted: There 48 works on AO3 that were updated in 2017 (though some of those are multichapter) and there are 125 posts from this year in my fic tag, so I’m going to go with somewhere on the order of...um, maybe just over 100 including counting individual chapters of things?

Once again, this meme makes me feel like I’m kind of insane.

Overall Thoughts

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d predicted? I always feel like I’m surprised by how much I actually did write, because...idk, it doesn’t feel like that much most of the time when I’m doing it? But then I look back and like. I wrote somewhere between the word count of the entirety of Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. That actually is kind of a lot. 

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January? Hmmm. I did not expect to trip and fall headfirst into Loki/Grandmaster as a pairing but, as I have described, I really should have expected that. Barring that...it was an unexpected delight to write some Wheel of Time fic, even if I’ve been totally spoiled by writing for big fandoms. 

Other than that, I feel like my fic this year was pretty par for the course for my usual.

What’s your own favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest? This is hard, but ultimately I think I might have to go with Mending. I felt like...idk, it’s very close to my heart, and I felt like I really did a lot of what I wanted to with it. 

But I also ended up feeling really proud of we’re not the only ones - it was a really fun outsider POV to write, and involved getting to explore some new character dynamics in an old ‘verse.

And then there’s Steve Rogers’ Halfway House for Notorious Supervillains, which has also been a complete and utter pleasure.

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them? Man...I’m not sure that I did. Other than the fact that I wrote sounding fic (finally) which is a kink I’ve always liked but never written. That was new and exciting, and turned out really well, actually. Other than that...I don’t know, it doesn’t really feel like a risk per se but I do feel like I embraced more this year just writing all the tropes I love and am periodically ashamed of, because you know what, why not.

From my past year of writing, what was….

My most popular story of this year: By kudos, still Life in Reverse, by far. After that, as far as stories written just this year: Steve Rogers’ Halfway House for Notorious Supervillains, and then the ship at the end of the universe.

The surprise for me is that the next one is The Breaking Light, which I really would not expect.

Most fun story to write: It feels weird to call it “fun” but oddly enough all the glamour and the trauma basically spilled out of me in one go. 

Story with the single sexiest moment: I feel like the entirety of that spark of black that I seem to love was a sexiest moment for me. 

Most “Holy crap, that’s wrong, even for you” story: This one was so much easier last year when I wrote The Vivisection Mambo which is still probably the creepiest, darkest story I’ve ever written! This year...hmm. 

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters: I feel like writing both Halfway House and that spark of black that I seem to love both gave me new perspectives on characters - Steve for both, and also Bucky and Sam in Halfway House. 

Hardest story to write: I feel like this one has to go to Privation, which took me, what, three years to finish? 

Biggest Disappointment: I’m definitely disappointed in certain segments of fandom for their choice of response for certain methods of writing certain pairings. 

Here’s looking at you, rude anons. 

Also disappointed that I didn’t make more progress on Life in Reverse this year. I was really hoping to get further than I did.

Biggest Surprise: The response to Steve Rogers’ Halfway House for Notorious Supervillains and how positive it was. I was not expecting that story to get much of a response, but it really has, which delights me - it’s been a joy to write and I’ve been so excited by how much other people seem to be enjoying it, since it’s basically just a lot of talking and feelings, really. 

Which I guess is kind of my specialty? But...still. 

Most Unintentionally Telling Story: Maybe one hand on my throat, and one on your heart? It’s one of the most self-indulgent things I’ve written, possibly ever. Which is telling in a lot of ways about what I like.

But also probably...hm. All of my Loki/Grandmaster fics say a lot about me and what I like. 

This one was easier last year, too. Maybe Mending/Reweaving, both of those are very...personal in weird ways. 

Favorite Opening Line(s):

Apparently the new slogan that they should be operating under was “if something falls out of the sky, call the Avengers.” (look, behind you without a sound)

Loki was executed in a chamber hidden deep within the Raft prison. (the first part of the everything sucks AU)

If he closed his eyes, he could almost pretend the dark was a choice. (Boxed In)

On Friday, May 4th, 2012, an alien came to Earth and warned of an invasion that would follow unless they listened very, very closely. (Ghosts That We Knew)

One of the things Loki had learned very quickly about survival in recent years was the necessity of compartmentalization. If something could not be changed, and could not be dealt with, then it had to be pushed aside and locked away to be dealt with later. Prioritize. Focus on the immediate necessities. Everything else could wait until later. Or, preferably, never. (all the glamour and the trauma)

Favorite Line(s) from Anywhere:

The city falls, and Idril’s eyes blaze with hatred, and there is blood in his eyes, and he swears he almost remembers this, almost dreamed it once. Soon he is going to wake up, in shadows under the trees, and he will be young again, and whole. (Seven Years)

No one, Loki had realized, broke all at once. You broke in stages, in bits and pieces, giving a little at a time until you looked at yourself and realized the pathetic scraps that were left, until you saw what was at the core and were sick at the knowing. (between the essence and the descent)

Nothing grows from anger, her mother had said once, before she died (was killed, left her, was murdered). Wanda thought she was wrong. Something was growing from hers. (object impermanence)

Loki lay awake through the night, staring upwards, trying to still his mind to no avail. There was a scream locked behind his teeth that he could not unleash. (untitled)

Loki’s eyes drifted mostly closed. “You cannot die,” he said. “That is your curse. And mine. We live and keep living, beyond endurance, beyond reason.” (a lane to the land of the dead)

How long, he wondered, had Loki been convinced of this? Further back than when he’d found out the truth about his heritage, Steve thought, or even Thor’s coronation. It was a wound so old Loki didn’t even notice the scar. (we can see the future (and the dreams it’s made of))

He didn’t know how to explain to Thor how it was to be in a situation where you knew that your refusal would have no meaning; that the only power you had was in choosing how to assent. (all the glamour and the trauma)

He loved Thor. He’d always loved Thor. Desperately, hopelessly, fatally. (farewell hope, and with hope farewell fear)

“Don’t be coy, Captain. There is so much anger burning in you. I can feel it. That violence seething just beneath the surface. It terrifies you, doesn’t it? So you hold it down and push it away. Stop fighting it. Embrace it.” He cocked his head to the side. “I am offering you an exorcism.” (that spark of black that I seem to love)

But maybe there was something to be said for standing, even if it was standing still. (the mercy covering me)

“You see yourself as trapped, Loki. Cornered. But there are doors in front of you, if you will choose to take them. I could choose for you, or your mother could. Your brother would like to drag you through. But whatever you choose now, it must be yours.” (Mending)

“Everything is eternal, and nothing is. Bonds wither and decay. I-” He shook his head, scowling. “This is what your lover and I argue about. Or one of the things. He doesn’t debate well.” (post war blues)

Thor’s smile made Loki want to smile back. He settled back down, and if it weren’t for - well, everything, it might almost have been one of their old rooms, back in Asgard, the two of them bandying words back and forth. But Thor had an eyepatch, the room was small and shabby, Asgard was ashes and so was the innocent purity of their brotherhood. (the ship at the end of the universe)

Top 5 Scenes from Anywhere You Would Choose to Have Illustrated:

I would love to have the scene illustrated from one hand on my throat, and one on your heart where Steve finds Loki, either just looking at him bent backwards and chained up suffering or where he’s trying to shake Loki out of the memory with Thanos. 

Also anything from the Tapestries series, especially the scene at the end of Mending with Loki and Odin. 

But honestly, like. Anything. 

Fic-writing goals for 2018:

last year I wrote down “finishing ‘we’re not friends, we’re strangers with memories’” and I did that so this year I’m going to say “finish Life in Reverse”

get better at replying to peoples’ comments

finish the RTC: Ragnarok fic before Infinity War comes out

finish the Doctrine of Labyrinths and Merlin fics I’ve been sitting on forever