#iron man novelization

[fotibrit]

reminder that it’s canon (iron man 1 novelization, will post proof later if i remember) that pepper screamed at Rhodey over the phone when tony got kidnapped and rhodey didn’t have good news. and that rhodey, after hanging up, wondered if tony knew how in love with him pepper was

[vertigoartgore]

1982's The Death of Captain Marvel Vol. 1 #1 cover by Jim Starlin and Steve Oliff (based on Michelangelo's famous Pieta sculpture).

[age-of-moonknight]

A Mighty Marvel Team-Up — Spider-Man: Quantum Quest! Graphic Novel. Amulet Books, 2024.

Writer and illustrator: Mike Maihack

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Still wild to me that the Avatar team saw a guy write a love story between a stick and a monkey and were like "This is the guy who we need to write Rangshi and Yangvik" and then he ended up making two of the best couples in all of the Avatar-verse TT0TT

[nerdby]

Just been thinking and in hindsight the reason why we never saw Harley in any of the other MCU films after Iron Man 3 is probably because his mom really did NOT appreciate Tony Stark building a working potato gun for a twelve-year-old boy. That's like when you give a toddler one of those electric keyboards as a gift: It only seems like a good idea because you're not the overworked, underpaid parent who has to live with the kid.

[braveclementine]

Chapter 6

Warnings: None. (Will however be a 18+ reader book)

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own a few OCs like Elizabeth, Katherine, Stacy, and Jessie. I do not condone any copying of this.

You stirred at the sound of metal on stone. It was terrible sound, making you want to plug your ears.

The next thing you noticed was the pain in your arm. You winced, looking at the mess of bloody bandages. God you hoped nothing else happened, but you really hoped it didn't get infected. That would be just your luck.

The last thing you noticed was just how cold you were. You curled up, wrapping your arms around you in an attempt to get warm.

Your head was pounding, trying to remember how exactly you had gotten to this point. Right, you'd gone to Starbucks and walked home by yourself. Damn, you should've just made crappy at home coffee.

You could hear shouting, something that sounded possibly like guns being fired, and zapping noises.

Suddenly, there were footsteps outside of your cell. You looked up just in time to see two of the five get shot down while the other three were tripped with orange chains before being shot.

Bucky and Stephen entered the cell. Bucky was holding a huge gun in his metal hand, a knife in his flesh. He sheafed the knife to come and kneel by your side. "You alright doll?"

"Arm hurts." You murmured, closing your eyes again. "And I'm cold."

You winced as you felt your body jostling, Bucky picking you up in his arms. "Open a portal back to HQ. I'll alert the others on comms that we've got her."

You could hear a soft whooshing noise and then the air turned from cold to a bit warmer. You were laid down on a padded hospital bed. Stephen was gone and then back, wrapping you in a grey fuzzy blanket. He kissed your forehead softly before Dr. Banner came over with a tray full of torture devices.

"I have to go back and get the others." Stephen said to Bucky, "Will you stay with her?"

"Of course." Bucky said. You could hear that whooshing noise again and Stephen was gone.

"How are you feeling doll?" Bucky asked softly as Bruce carefully gave you a needle for a light dose of anesthesia.

"We're all safe?" You asked, worried about everyone you hadn't been able to see yet.

"Yes." Bucky said solid. "It's hard to lose when you have two extremely angry Gods on your side."

You smiled a little, thinking of Loki and Thor being furious. "I'm sorry. Was stupid going out for coffee."

"Not your fault. We're the ones who're supposed to take care of you." Bucky said softly.

"Ah good." Fury said, walking in. Though he was trying not to sound it, his voice was full of relief.

"She'll probably go under in about. . . now." Dr. Banner said, and everything went black.

*Later*

You came to what felt like seconds later, feeling a little fuzzy, but nothing hurt- yet.

You slowly opened your eyes and almost started laughing. It seemed that everyone had fallen asleep waiting for you to wake up.

Fury had fallen asleep in his hard chair, arms crossed over his chest, head hanging.

Tony and Stephen were fast asleep on the sofa, Stephen laying on top of Tony, their arms hanging over the side of the couch.

Thor was sitting on the floor, legs straight out, hands in his lap, head hanging as well.

Steve, Bucky, and Sam had piled together on the floor as well.

Clint's head could be see as he was curled up in the vent.

T'Challa was sitting backwards on the chair, resting his head on his arms on the back of the chair while Rhodey had his back pressed against the back of the same chair, knees tucked up under his chin, fast asleep on his arms.

Loki had fallen asleep standing up, legs crossed at the ankle, arms crossed across his chest.

You sat up, feeling just a little dizzy at the sensation, "Lokes?"

He stirred easily, walking out of his position to come and sit on the bit of space on your bed. "How are you feeling, my Queen?"

"Fuzzy." You said with a small smile, "Were you really asleep standing up?"

"It's an ability I've developed over the years." Loki said with a small smile.

"Is everyone okay?" You asked, worried for the health of your soulmates, "And my sister, what does she know?"

"Everyone is fine." Loki said, the smile turning into a smirk. "And your sister is here, though I think she's fast asleep upstairs. Wanda and the robot are with her. She knows you were taken and were hurt, but we told her not to worry. You'll recover in a couple of weeks without a mark if the green giant is accurate."

You leaned forward, Loki opening his arms so that you could snuggle into them. "Thank you."

"Anything for you my Queen."

***

They all took turns sitting with me, talking to me, or just being a comforting presence. I had explained to a select few like T'Challa, Clint, Loki, and Rhodey about what had happened in there, about how they were trying to find a way to end soulmate bonds forever.

But I couldn't share that with like Stephen and Tony or Steve, Bucky, and Sam. I just couldn't. Not that Steve ever visited for me to tell him anyways. Well, he stopped by to check in how I was, but he never spent much time with me.

Of course, there was always someone else, but I would've liked to have talked to Steve for more than ten minutes every day.

Fury was extremely busy, but he made sure that he always made time for me.

Bucky and Sam said that Steve was busy organizing training schedules and was barely getting sleep at night. I said nothing. Besides, I was really starting to enjoy T'Challa and Clint's company when they were together. I enjoyed hearing the stories of how they were once fighting against each other during the Civil War fight.

Loki was equally fun to talk to, especially if Thor or Stephen was in company with him.

Thor kept bringing up wedding ideas and finally, Loki set the binder on fire, making Thor almost cry. It was hilarious.

Then Thor had produced a second binder that was practically identical, claiming that he always knew Loki would set it on fire.

I giggled and then asked Thor if I could see the binder.

There was really a lot of cute ideas in here.

"You should go into this business Thor." You complimented, looking over his ideas for a beach wedding. It was absolutely beautiful, like something out of a movie. "You really have an eye for this stuff."

Thor beamed and Loki coughed.

"You know," You said after a moment, handing Thor the binder back, "I wouldn't mind marrying sooner than you guys plan. I don't. . . I don't think we have to wait the whole two years. I mean, it's up to you guys, there's eleven of you after all, but for me, I think I wouldn't mind at the one year mark or something."

"Yes! This is excellent!" Thor said excitedly. "So much to plan! What design was your favorite?"

"I really liked the beach one." You admitted. "Or the church one, but I don't think everyone is religious, so the beach one would probably be better. Especially since, you know, you two are Gods. I think it would be a bit ironic to marry the two of you in a church."

Loki chuckled quietly. "Very true my Queen, very true."

"Reindeer games, Point break, we need ya." Tony said, sticking his head through the med-bay doors. "How are you Penguin?"

You rolled your eyes. He'd started calling you Penguin after your show with the umbrella because that's what Penguin from Batman used as his weapon.

"I'm good tin man." You shot back, "Where are you guys going?"

"Short mission. Even shorter if the Gods come along." Tony said, stepping into the room to come over to where you were sitting. He took your good hand in his. "We'll be back before you know it."

"Okay." You agreed. He bent down to kiss your cheek and you returned the favor. "See you guys later then."

The three of them headed out, leaving you by yourself for the time being. T'Challa was back in Wakanda for the moment and Nick had left for space yesterday with Hill. They'd be gone for about a month. Stephen was training an onslaught of new magicians. The super solider trio, Clint, and Rhodey were probably going with them on mission. So that left you alone.

You settled back in your hospital bed, thinking about getting in a nap.

You weren't allowed to leave the hospital bed until tomorrow morning because Bruce had discovered a special device TYPHON had inserted in your foot that had damaged some nerves in your right foot.

You managed to get a few hours of sleep, though it was off and on. When you came to again, you heard voices outside the hallway and tried to stay awake in order to hear what was happening. Had someone been hurt?

". . .since then everything has been disrupted." Steve's voice wasn't particularly low, though not loud. "We're going to have to get things back to the way they were. Just the three of us then, I think."

Just the three. . . Steve, Bucky, and Sam? Meaning. . . without you.

"You'll have to say it in a way that won't, you know, piss them off." Bucky said. "But I agree, that's probably for the best."

You felt your heart drop in your chest. Bucky agreed?

"How soon?"

The third voice startled you. It was not Sam- but Nat.

The voices and footsteps soon faded away, leaving you uncomfortable and wishing you hadn't overheard it.

Maybe you were overthinking it.

'Since then everything has been disrupted.'

Well, ever since you'd came into their life, that was true. Things had certainly changed around the Avengers Tower, at least as far as you could tell. T'Challa, Loki, and Thor spent more time here for one thing. And I had started getting between the three of them. . .

'Get things back to the way they were.'

How? Would Steve not go through the soulmate bond with you?

'Just the three of us.'

But you had assumed that he was deeply in love with Sam. So why was Nat part of the conversation? Unless Steve just wanted to talk to Nat to get an outside point of view. That was the part that confused you. Surely, Steve and Bucky weren't sneaking around Sam's back with Nat?

You shifted uncomfortably in the bed. Did you tell Sam?

But maybe you were still overthinking things? Maybe they were talking about something else. Something like. . .

Like what Y/N? You thought to yourself. Your own parents didn't want you around, what makes you think just cause you have a soulmate bond with someone makes any difference?

Just your luck, Sam walked into the room a few hours later. It was near dinner time, and he had a huge plate of Mac and cheese, some baby carrots, a bowl of blackberries, grapes, and currants, along with a glass of milk.

"I would've brought you chicken fingers as well," Sam said as he put the plate down on the tray that you ate off of, "But I didn't want to overload you with to much food either."

"Thanks." You whispered, moving your fork around the cheesy pasta, but not eating it.

"You okay?" Sam asked, looking concerned. "You don't look to good. I can just get you some saltine crackers and ginger ale if that's what you need."

You shook your head, "I- I overheard something, that's all."

Sam was immediately wary. "What? Who? When?"

You looked at him and then away. "It was um, Steve, Bucky, and Nat."

"Oh? What did they say?" Sam's paranoia dropped for curiosity.

You repeated the conversation- the bit that you had heard- and then immediately voiced your worries for both yourself and him.

"I think you've got a misunderstanding there baby." Sam said softly. "Nat and Bruce are extremely in love. And Steve isn't the kind of guy to just drop a soulmate cause things get difficulty. Or even just a friend. He likes you a lot babe."

"But-" You fidgeted with the food a little more and then said, "What if he got the option of having his soulmate bonds. . . gone? TYPHON is trying to find a way to get rid of soulmate bonds once and for all. And then maybe. . . maybe without the soulmate bonds, he'll choose Bucky and Nat."

Sam was quiet for a moment. Now that you had put the pieces together, you felt sicker than before, pushing the food away.

Sam sighed quietly, moving the tray to the bedside table if you wanted to eat it later. "Let me see what's going on, okay? That doesn't sound like the Steve I know."

Sam leaned forward, kissing your forehead before getting up and leaving the room.

Well, Sam could do that. You had your own plans.

*Sam's P.O.V.*

Sam walked took the elevator to the meeting floor, where he knew most of the others were already going to be.

Upon entering the room, Bucky, Tony, Thor, and Steve were messing around with the hologram over the table.

"There you are, where were you?" Steve questioned, a cinch between his eyebrows.

"I was visiting with Y/N. Which, by the way, can I talk to you, Buck, and Nat real quick?" Sam questioned, jerking his head slightly towards the door.

Looking confused, the three of them followed Sam out into the hallway.

"What's wrong?" Nat questioned.

"Y/N overheard a conversation between you three." Sam said with a sigh before repeating exactly what Y/N had overheard and told him, and then letting the three of them know what she thought the conversation meant.

"Shit." Bucky cursed. "No, we were talking about the training of new agents. How after the episode with Sharon and the way fire gun everything went wonky. And that it should be the three of us training since Steve and I can take it and then Nat has a lot of experience with the trainees."

"I figured there was a misunderstanding." Sam sighed. "I just wanted to get the entire story so I had something to tell her."

"I'm not surprised." A new voice said from down the hall. They all turned to see her sister standing there.

"What do you mean?" Nat asked.

"Neither of us are exactly used to having people want us around. Except each other. So it would've been natural for her to immediately jump to the conclusion that Mr. Rogers here was talking about excluding Y/N from the soulmate bond."

Steve looked absolutely terrible and Sam put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, it's not your fault Stevie. You didn't know she was awake and there was most certainly nothing wrong with the topic you were talking about."

"No, but ugh I haven't even been spending much time with her because of all the missions and reports. She probably does think I hate her. I need to go talk to her right now. Start the meeting without me."

Steve took off down the hall, booking his ass towards the hospital wing.

"I'm going to go and check on her too." Bucky said, quickly taking off after Steve.

"Well, let's get the meeting started." Nat said with a shrug, "Thank you Y/S/N for alerting us to that. You want to step in with the meeting? It's not really confidential."

"Sure." Y/S/N said with a shrug. "Sounds like fun."

"Where's Capsicle and Manchurian Candidate?" Tony asked when they stepped into the room.

"Oh they went to see Y/N." Nat said with a shrug. "There was a misunderstanding between them so they're sorting it out."

"Misunderstanding?" Loki asked with an ice cold edge to his voice. He had really taken after his soulmate more than Thor had ever seen him take to a person, except perhaps their mother and a little bit with Thor.

"Y/N overheard a conversation between Steve, Bucky, and I." Nat explained. "She took the words out of context and thought Steve and Bucky didn't want to be soulmates with her. Completely off, we were talking about the training mishap. But the words we used definitely were misconstrued. Anyways, they're down there talking to her. Steve said to start the meeting without him."

But before they could even finish contemplating Nat's words, Steve and Bucky came through the doors.

"Is something wrong?" Bruce asked, immediately getting to his feet in case he was needed in the med-bay.

"Yeah." Bucky said as Steve strode past the others to grab his shield. "She's gone."

⬅️➡️

[alxastrx]

When you're one of the most selfish mc who only saves people because it's part of a job you never wanted and did not get to chose or you would've died, who took your co-workers' morals and ideals because you didn't have any and desperately wanted to fit in somewhere, be it with the heroes or the villains, who's activelly haunted by one the most tragic past to have been created and suffer from a psychosis so bad (dare I say schizophrenia) that even your enemies acknowledged that you are mentally ill and objectively flawed in your judgement, never hesitated to try to kill anyone and has the most egoistic reason to be a good person but the fandom still thinks you're just a kind crybaby "I don't know what a gun is" homosexual twink.

[bricktoygrapher]

Marvel Graphic Novels

Started collecting the new Ultimate Marvel Graphic Novels Collection by Hachette.

Do you guys read comic books? 📚

[krytus]

like you don't even GET it.... the iron man armor as a separate identity, as a gender, as a weapon, as a shield, as a hiding place, as a coping mechanism, as life support, as an extension, as safety, as a second skin, as a person, as a tomb, as a threat, as a hobby, as an obsession, as a mirror, as a black hole, as a tool, as an ideal, as the future, as the past, as a symbol, as protection, as a parasite, as a grave. like do you even GET it.

[nickfuryagentofsword]

Marvel Graphic Novel 33 (1988) - Iron Man Crash by Mike Saenz

Cover: Mike Saenz

[fotibrit]

Thinking abt how tony stark was canonically drunk when the humvee exploded according to the iron man novel

[gunsandspaceships]

About "Iron Man (novelization)"

A reminder that this book is NOT canon. It's just a novelization of the original screenplay for the movie, which was changed significantly during filming and editing. It contains many differences from the movie, including alternate versions of scenes instead of the canon ones. Here are some details (this time you can trust the wiki). Marvel doesn't consider this canon, and such ideas don't make sense.

[agnesandhilda]

one criticism of iron widow: I think revealing that shimin was physically forced into alcohol dependence by his captors is a weak narrative choice. taking away that last bit of his autonomy was necessary to getting zetian to fully sympathize with him (she would never be comfortable with a guy she even suspected had been manipulated into sacrificing women via his addiction. and why should she?), but the overwhelming subtext of constraint surrounding shimin's alcoholism was already there. zetian has already seen shimin's cell, that he's not allowed to leave unless he is literally bound, she already knows he's had all forms of art and self-expression besides the chrysalis (where he's used as a human weapon) taken from him. is it so hard to believe that someone would organically develop an addiction in those circumstances? is shimin's addiction more sympathetic and easier to understand if the liquor was forced down his throat, as opposed to something he turned to in response to---I don't know, being kept in a cell the size of a shoebox for years when he's not released so that he can be exploited?

[nerdby]

"Bigotry and racism are among the deadliest social ills plaguing the world today." -Stanley Martin Lieber AKA Stan Lee

All media is political including Marvel comic books and it was intentional. He wanted it that way. Every one of you racist, queerphobic cunts claiming to be Marvel fans -- Stan would hate all of you.

[braveclementine]

Chapter 15

Warnings: None. (Will however be a 18+ reader book)

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own a few OCs like Elizabeth, Katherine, Stacy, and Jessie. I do not condone any copying of this.

The next few minutes seemed to pass in a blur. Maybe that was because of the adrenaline of trying to outrun these military-type men. Maybe it was because the Bahaman sun was glaring off all the water and sand. Or maybe it was because of all the tears that were dropping down your face in streams.

You felt terrible for so many reasons. You felt like there was something you should've been able to do. What? No idea. But something. For another, you felt guilty for having misjudged him and so harshly. It was hard for parents to love other children of different soulmate parentage, unless you were already blood related or soul related. Like if Maria had Fury's kid, Coulson would still love the kid.

It was why adoption was so rare in this world. It was just to hard.

So now, your feet pounded down the sidewalk, aware that the men behind you were shouting for you to stop with heavy accents. So they probably wanted you alive. That was both comforting and terrifying.

You turned the corner and found half of the Avengers running up towards you. Of course, with tears in your eyes, you misjudged the distance and ran flat into Steve's chest.

"Y/N, are you hurt?" Steve and Bucky were the only ones that stopped running to make sure you were alright while the others descended upon the soldiers that had just come around the corner.

"T-they killed my d-dad." You hiccupped.

"Oh doll." Bucky said softly, pulling you into a hug before shooting his gun over your shoulder. "I'm sorry."

Steve flung his shield out, "Take her back to the hotel Buck."

Bucky nodded, scooping you up with his metal arm, shooting at anyone that came at the two of you with his flesh hand. You hiked it back to the hotel where Loki and Thor were just about to head out, apparently only just now hearing about the fight. Nat was also there, loading up on guns and knives while Bruce was slowly, but surely turning green.

"Y/N?" Loki asked carefully as Thor flew out the hotel with his flying hammer to join the fight.

"She's physically fine." Bucky told Loki, "But she watched her father die."

"Poor thing." Loki murmured, pulling you into his arms, "I'll take her back up to her room and run her a hot bath."

"Good idea." Bucky murmured, kissing the top of your head, "Are you going to be okay, doll?"

You nodded, feeling a bit dazed. "I'm o-okay."

Bucky smiled a bit sympathetically, running his thumb over your cheek tenderly before running back out of the hotel again.

Loki teleported up to your bedroom, laying you down on the bed, going into the bathroom. You could hear him running the bath in the other room, the steady rushing of pounding water against ceramic echoing through your ears.

Finally, you heard the tap being slammed off. Loki came back. "You okay about taking it by yourself?"

You kind've just stared at him. You couldn't remember if you'd ever seen anyone die before.

Loki decided to take your silence for 'no'. He picked you up in his slender, yet muscular arms, carrying you into the bathroom. He settled you into the bubble bath, which smelt like mint and chamomile. Two very calming scents.

After a few moments, you came back down to Earth, realizing that you were still in your bathing suit.

You looked at Loki, "I'm still dressed?"

Loki smiled a little, "Well, I wasn't going to undress you without your consent pet."

You smiled a little and then it dropped off your face, "He. . . he told me the truth. About the prophesy surrounding me and how after I get married, I can't be used to end the soulmate bond. And he told me that he isn't my biological father, he is an FBI agent. And that my adopted mother died taking a bullet for me without me even knowing."

Loki's face was sympathetic and sweet as he rubbed your arms softly with the bar of soap. "I'm sorry My Queen."

"Did you know about the prophesy?"

"I'm sure I've read about it somewhere." Loki said nonchalantly. "Especially now that you've brought it up. But it wasn't something that popped in my mind upon meeting you or spending time with you."

You just nodded. "Did any of them know?"

Loki thought about it for a moment, "Perhaps the wizard? He reads just as much as I do. I'm not really sure about any of the others. Thor definitely does not, he isn't a big reader."

"I don't understand. Why would the ones who want soulmate bonds to stay try to kill me? Why wouldn't they just push me to get married faster?"

Loki shrugged, "Midgardians- and most species out there- don't ever make any sense when it comes to things that scare them. In three days this is all over pet. You don't have to worry. Although, we would all understand if you wanted to postpone the wedding for a funeral for your father."

Postponing the wedding sounded good. You weren't sure how you were supposed to act like you were happy when your father wasn't going to be there. It was so strange how quickly your attitude towards him had changed. Or maybe. . . maybe you'd just loved him all along.

On the other hand, postponing would give those on both sides more time to either attempt to kidnap you to use you, or attempt to kill you. What if it wasn't your father next time? What if it was one of your soulmates instead? Or your sister?

"No, I want to go through with the wedding. If we could speed it up, I would." You answered.

Loki dipped his head slightly.

"Loki?"

"Yes my Queen?"

"Can you untie the back of the bathing suit top?"

"Of course."

You leaned forward a little bit so that he could untie the stretchy strings that were holding the bathing suit top up. His fingers were nimble, deftly pulling out the knot that would probably have taken you a solid five minutes to get out. He pulled the strings free, letting them fall against your back when he was done.

You slid off the top and then pulled the bottoms off, soaking more fully in the tub. Your body didn't show as the bubbles from the bath covered most of your body up.

"Are you feeling better?" He asked as he clipped your wet swimsuit to hangers, hanging them up so that they could dry. How was he so good at home chores?

Loki summoned that book of poetry that he had read to you in the library. He read lots of different poems. The last one, he liked so much, that he tried to explain why he loved it so much. It went something like this:

One fine morning in the middle of the night,

two dead boys got up to fight.

Back to back they faced each other

draw out the swords and shot each other.

A deaf policemen heard this noise

and shot the two dead boys.

If you don't believe my lies to be true,

ask the blind man, he saw it too!

"I mean, the entire thing is a paradox." Loki said with absolute delight. "I mean, cause morning in the middle of the night, and back to back they faced each other! I mean, they're complete opposites in the same sentence."

You giggled, feeling a little lighter. "Loki, I heard the poem too."

"Sorry, it's just such good writing. And humorous as well." Loki said, delight in his eyes. You watched how passionately he spoke about writing that he liked.

After you finally felt a little better, you drained the bathtub. Loki put the book away, fetching you a fluffy towel that he wrapped around your bodice, helping you out of the tub so you didn't slip.

He let you dry off and get dressed while he kept his back to you. "Hey Loki, do you think we can have the second soulmate dinner up here? I don't know, just some random food or something. . . I don't really want to leave tonight."

"Of course, I'll let Tony know." Loki said softly. You could hear his fingers tapping on the phone.

After a half hour, the others came up with a lot of Chinese food. You all sat on the floor in the living room section, a few of them on the one couch. You leaned against Bucky's legs, sitting with Clint on one side of you and Thor on the other.

Dinner started with the heavy conversation. All of the soldiers were either dead, or they had been taken into custody to be questioned. Then you had provided with what your father had told you. You knew your sister was the one who needed to hear this, but you were still torn about whether or not you should tell her.

Most of them had heard about the prophesy, but the only one that had really connected me to it was Fury. Even Stephen hadn't, something he looked rather embarrassed to admit.

I was also made aware that my father's body was on ice until after the wedding. Now that they all knew exactly why people were coming after me, they all adamantly agreed on having the wedding as it was planned. Steve and Bucky even wanted to know if it was possible to speed up the process.

It was decided that there would always be at least one of them at all times. Which was fine with me. It was decided that I would be hanging out with Tony, Stephen, Wong, and Rhodey tomorrow.

Things came to a close quickly before everyone started to file out after wishing you a good night with some sort of affectionate hug or kiss on the forehead, cheek, or even lips.

Bucky was the last one and you suddenly felt the urge to grab his arm and say, "Bucky."

Bucky looked down at you, Steve and Sam pausing. You wanted to ask him to stay with you tonight. You didn't want to be left alone in this room, although Fury had promised that no one would be able to get in.

Then you realized that it might look like favoritism to the others and you let go of his arm and said, "Good night."

"Night Doll." Bucky said, kissing your cheek before walking down the hallway with Steve and Sam, throwing his arm over either of their shoulders.

Even though they were your soulmates, in that moment, it felt like they were something you could never be a part of.

----------------

You tossed and turned, unable to get to sleep. Suddenly, there was a ding on your phone.

🪣🦾❤️: You still awake?

Y/N 🍸: Yes

🪣🦾❤️: One second

Three minutes later there was a knock on your door. You slid out of bed, peeping through the hole to see Bucky standing there. You opened up the door, "What are you doing here Buck?"

He held out his hand, "Come on. Let's go see some wild cats."

You smiled, taking his hand. The two of you walked through the semi empty hallways before going downstairs. Though it was past midnight and all the stores and shops were closed, there were still couples milling about.

Bucky led the two of you outside, and you guys walked for a bit. You could see lots of different cats that just looked like normal house cats walking around, drinking water from puddles or little bowls of milk that had been left outside of certain shops.

Bucky and you sat down on some steps by one of the pools. He put his arm around you and after a while, a white cat approached the two of you. It put its' paws on Bucky's knee, pushing up on its back legs to get closer to his face.

Bucky smiled before revealing a bunch of fish that he had in a little baggy. They were dead, but still in water to keep them fresh. He must've gone fishing at one point.

He held one of the fish out to the cat. The cat picked it up daintily, before promptly deciding to eat it right there. You looked away, staring up at the galaxy instead while you listened to Bucky absolutely adore the cat.

"Aww, you're so adorable. Yes, eat the fishy like a good little kitty. There you go, that's it. Awww~"

You smiled a bit. Yes, you should definitely get a cat when you guys went back.

Eventually, a few other cats wandered over, either because you were the most interesting thing around, or because they could smell the fish on Bucky. He gave all of them away and the cats were immediately curling up around us.

You scratched one behind the ears, loving how smooth, though slightly coarse the fur of the cat was. "We should get a cat or two when we get back home. Loki wants one too."

"Really?" Bucky sounded both surprised and excited.

"Yep. Black cats especially." You said with a slight smirk.

"Ah yes. A witches cat." Bucky said with a grin.

You laughed again and then yawned. The hot air was suddenly making you rather tired and you laid your head down on his shoulder. "That's alright doll, you can fall asleep. I'll carry you back up to your room."

"Don't wanna be alone." You mumbled.

"Okay. You don't have to be." Bucky whispered. You could hear him saying sad good-byes to the cats, before there was a sweeping motion and you snuggled into his arms.

"I love you Buckaroo." You mumbled, "So much."

"I love you too Y/N." He said and you could feel his lips lightly press to the temple of your head. "Gonna take care of you forever, I promise."

You smiled, feeling one tear slip down your cheek, though you weren't entirely sure why. All you knew, was that you were happy, content, and loved.

You fell asleep before you even reached the hotel.

[rei-ismyname]

Remember that time Doctor DOOM achieved world peace?

In Emperor DOOM, he captured the Purple Man, Zebediah Kilgrave (a real scumbag,) a villain who has the power of mind control. DOOM recruited Namor to neutralize The Vision and others who'd be able to resist Purple power, and stuck Kilgrave in a doohickey to amplify his ability. Kilgrave objected.

The Purple Man says KYS, but DOOM's will is formidable.

DOOM heads down to the United Nations and puts himself forward as ruler of Earth. Naturally, everyone says yes.

He ends the Soviet-Afghan war, ends famine in Ethiopia, ends Apartheid in South Africa, and the world economy booms (he left capitalism in place? Huge L but it's only been a day IG.) No more wars full-stop. Authoritarian rule sucks, but it's hard to argue with the results. He hasn't killed or even physically harmed anyone.

Hey, it's Luke Cage and The Hulk - guarding The White House. DOOM is taking his job seriously but he craves challenge. Clearly administrating the entire planet is trivial, lol. He gets his wish - The Avengers mostly slipped free of the mind control and are coming to end world peace!

DOOM is delighted to have a rebellion to crush. This is kinda the core of DOOM's character. He's a master of science and sorcery, incredibly educated and competent, but he's incapable of being happy and loves conflict of any kind. So the Avengers and the Emperor race to DOOM island.

Though the Avengers are having second thoughts about the whole thing. Little bit heavy handed there, folks. Terrible analogy, Hawkeye. Philosophers, The Avengers are not. He crushes them pretty easily tbh. He could wipe them out or take over their minds again with the press of a button, but he decides not to. He's having second thoughts about this whole thing. He's bored.

Delaware seceding from the Union? Interesting development, though not plot relevant. In the end the minutiae leads DOOM to let The Avengers win, and Namor kills the Purple Man. Just kills the fuck out of him. He's a r*pist asshole so no one cares, plus he'll be back obviously.

Russia and Afghanistan go at it immediately, Apartheid is back (good job idiots,) and the US rearms missiles. Hawk is back on the menu and the good guys won, right? On the plus side, graffiti is back! Why would Doom bother with that? You can really feel the liberal bias at times like this.

Yeah the world immediately returns to its usual garbage fire state. Seems like a terrible mistake to me. Maybe a compromise might have yielded better results than 6 Americans who are unaffected by the wars and inequality making unilateral decisions. They never think about it again. It's hard to view Marvel as more than neoliberal brainrot at times, especially when a 'victory' is the world burning with the USA pointing missiles at everyone.

Oh, and Namor is pissed off at the surface dwellers, but that's business as usual. This is the DOOM I hope the MCU is able to capture - the dog forever chasing the car and his own worst enemy. A man that could bring so much good to the world if he weren't so petty, and, you know, a fascist. Not sure I'd be able to take it seriously with RDJ's dumb face, but we shall see. Emperor Doom is great and you should read it!