#leila whittaker

[leilawhittaker]

MMCU + Texts From Last Night

(Insp.)

Taglist: @ocappreciation @arrthurpendragon @notaboutcat @noratilney (lmk if you want to be added/removed!)

[savemewattpad]

Leila Whittaker

Aliases: Snow White, Sobaka, Laika Other Names: Leila Winchester (Wicked and Divine) Faceclaims: Eiza Gonzalez (default), Jenna Ortega (younger Eiza), Emeraude Toubia (untitled XMCU verse), Talia Al Ghul (comics) Previous Faceclaims: Nina Dobrev, Inbar Lavi, Medalion Rahimi, Hande Ercel, Melisa Asli Pamuk Fandoms: Marvel (various), Supernatural, Grishaverse

Verses

Mirror, Mirror: MCU. Leila's original verse. Leila is a former crimelord with the ability to copy other’s superpowers. She’s recruited to SHIELD (or rather coerced into joining), joins STRIKE team Delta, and eventually becomes an Avenger. Read Here.

Main Ship: Steve Rogers Minor Ships: Brock Rumlow, Natasha Romanoff, Aiden Hendrix, Wes Barton, Seth Lennox, Matt Murdock, Seol Hee

Beyond Seven Stars: Marvel (MCU, TASM, X-Men (XMCU inspired), various other Marvel), + National Treasure Crossover. Similar to Mirror, Mirror, but with a backstory more tied up in X-Men lore. Read Here.

Main Ship: Steve Rogers Minor Ships: Seth Lennox, possibly others

Wicked and Divine: MCU + Supernatural Crossover. Leila is Sam and Dean’s half-sister. John and Dean rescued her from a cult when she was thirteen and raised her until she joined SHIELD at nineteen. She becomes an Avenger and then helps her brothers find their father. And then her brothers help the Avengers stop Thanos, and then the Avengers help the Winchesters stop an angelic apocalypse. Read Here.

Main Ship: Steve Rogers Minor Ships: Aiden Hendrix

Gods and Monsters: Marvel + Grishaverse Crossover. Description here. Leila is the foster sibling of Grant Ward, after he was put in the system by his family and she was rescued from the cult compound.

Main Ship: Steve Rogers Minor Ships: None

Snow on the Beach: MCU. Takes place after the snap. Steve got snapped and Leila was left a social outcast for her (nonconsensual) role in the snap. Three years later, she comes back for one last mission and is made to work with Scott Lang. Read Here.

Main Ship: Scott Lang (sequel features Scott/Leila/Steve end game) Minor Ships: Steve (past)

Unnamed (Other) Scott Murdock AU: Marvel. Leila leaves the Trust before Johnny's murder attempt, and falls in with Scott Lang's band of thieves instead.

Main Ships: Scott Lang, Steve Rogers (OT3)

Unnamed XMCU Verse: Marvel (XMCU, possibly comic elements.) Leila is part of the Brotherhood of Mutants until she joins Xavier, less out of moral conviction and more out of emotional exhaustion.

Main Ships: Pietro Maximoff, Steve Rogers (possibly)

Unnamed X-Men Evolution Verse: Marvel (X-Men Evolution.) Leila is part of the brotherhood, and enjoys flirting with Cyclops to annoy him. Likely the same universe as Jace's Evo fic.

Main Ships: None (unless I again choose to expand it and include Steve in a future-set plotline).

Untitled Comics Verse: Marvel Comics. It's comics. I can't sum it up here. Ask about it if you want.

Main Ships: Steve Rogers Minor Ships: Pietro Maximoff, Scott Lang

So Close: MCU. Sex Pollen AU of Mirror, Mirror. An old Hydra bunker forces Leila and Steve to work out their issues. Read Here.

Main Ship: Steve Rogers Minor Ships: Brock Rumlow (mentioned only, unless I continue the fic with a part 2)

Call It What You Want: MCU. After her falling out with Steve, Leila is assigned by SHIELD to babysit a depowered Loki.

Main Ships: Steve Rogers, Loki (platonic)

Invisible String: MCU. Soulmate AU. Leila's soul mark was burned off as a child, but Steve Rogers' mark looks an awful lot like she remembers hers. She keeps this to herself, until she doesn't.

Main Ship: Steve Rogers

You Should See Me In A Crown: Riverdale. Leila is the leader of the ghoulies, who have to team up with the serpents against Hiram Lodge. Leila's role in this verse is largely abandoned, unless I turn it into a Marvel crossover.

Main Ship: None Minor Ships: FP Jones

Unnamed Reboot AU: Marvel AU. Leila is an ex-child actor who starred in the iconic teen sitcom The Avengers. When the network decides to reboot the series, Leila--now a music producer living a non-public life--decides to sign on, for...some reason that I'm still figuring out.

Main Ship: Steve Rogers Minor Ships: Tony Stark (past, currently platonic)

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[atjsgf]

📔

So I have this idea for a Grishaverse/Marvel crossover, in which the grishaverse over time eventually evolves into something that looks a lot like the Marvel Universe but with different countries and continents that map more closely onto the grishaverse. (Not identical to it; borders change and new places are discovered. I still think there’s a whole other side to the grishaverse we don’t know about, like literally the map only covers half of the earth.)

In this AU, TGT ended with the Darkling alive and Darklina endgame. They had a pair of twins, one was a human and the other was a grisha who had both sun summoning and shadow summoning powers. Something went super wrong though with the grisha twin–I’m still figuring out what, but it involved them not being able to manage their powers, and ended in the grisha twin dying. (The twins were adults when this happened.) Darklina broke up after this and haven’t seen each other in centuries and have basically receded into the shadows. They both exist in history textbooks, but it’s assumed they both must’ve died by now, like sure, grisha are long-lived, but they aren’t immortal. 

Anyway, the human twin didn’t want to choose between his parents and ultimately just wanted a fresh start, he was grieving, too, so he went to Kerch and changed his name to Stark (from Starkov), and eventually this led to Tony Stark being born. 

Tony has a kid–I’m still deciding which one (I have a couple different Tony kid OC ideas and I’m still deciding which one to use, but I’m leaning towards Petra, so I’ll use her name here. When Tony gets kidnapped in Shu Han (basically the same plot as getting kidnapped in Afghanistan in canon), the stress causes Petra’s powers to emerge–she has sun summoning and shadow summoning powers, just like Alina and the Darkling’s kid. 

As soon as this becomes public knowledge, darklina come out of the shadows and have to reunite to stop history from repeating itself, which means Tony and Petra now have to deal with the knowledge of their ancestry including Sankta Alina and the Black Heretic, who are alive, on top of dealing with Petra’s powers and Tony’s trauma. 

Some other stuff that exists:

Petra’s mom is Isabella Ferreira, an OC played by Lais Ribeiro. She and Tony are endgame

Leila exists because I’m incapable of imagining a Marvel world without her, lmao. I’m thinking of combining this with an AU idea I had where Leila is adoptive siblings with Grant Ward (in that they were both in the foster system in the same area, so they shared a few foster homes/group homes and decided they were family. Grant changed his name to Whittaker when he turned 18.)

Grisha generally fill the niche in this universe that mutants fill in Marvel canon. (I stand by my assertion that the Darkling is just Grisha Magneto.)

In Marvel canon, Magick and Collosus are descended from Rasputin, like THE Rasputin. In this fic, they’re descended from the Apparat since he’s basically Grishaverse Rasputin. 

Also in Marvel canon, Natasha is descended from the Romanov family (sometimes, they go back and forth on it.) In this fic, she and Alex (my Alex, not the Darkling) are descended from the Lantsovs. I think Natasha’s surname is still Romanov (just bc her name is iconic 2 me and I can’t imagine changing it), but since they’re half-siblings, Alex might go by Lantsov or Lantsova. 

I always had this headcanon that gendered surnames DO exist in Ravka, but are kind of an old-fashioned tradition that is only really practiced by the royal family by the time TGT takes place. 

Ulla is from Atlantis

Wenwu crossed paths with the Darkling and Alina at one point pre-story. 

Thor and Loki are Fjerdan gods, not Norse ones (obvs.)

[ulkaralakbarova]

The story of the romance between the King of Siam (now Thailand) and the widowed British school teacher Anna Leonowens during the 1860s. Anna teaches the children and becomes romanced by the King. She convinces him that a man can be loved by just one woman.  Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Anna: Jodie Foster King Mongkut: Chow Yun-fat Tuptim: Bai Ling Louis: Tom Felton The Kralahome: Syed Alwi General Alak: Randall Duk Kim Prince Chowfa: Lim Kay Siu Princess Fa-Ying: Melissa Campbell Prince Chulalongkorn: Keith Chin Moonshee: Mano Maniam Beebe: Shanthini Venugopal Lady Thiang: Deanna Yusoff Lord John Bradley: Geoffrey Palmer Lady Bradley: Ann Firbank Mycroft Kincaid: Bill Stewart Khun Phra Balat: Sean Ghazi Phim: K.K. Moggie Noi: Dharma Harun Nikorn: Harith Iskander Pitak: Yank Kassim Interpreter: Afdlin Shauki Lady Jao Jom Manda Ung: Swee Lin Neo King Chulalongkorn: Ramli Hassan Captain Blake: Robert Hands Scarfaced leader: Lim Yu-Beng Justice Phya Phrom: Kenneth Tsang Second Judge: Kee Thuan Chye Third Judge: Patrick Teoh Lady of Court No.1: Aimi Aziz Lady of Court No.2: Ellie Suriaty Lady of Court No.3: Tina Siew Ting Lee Lady of Court No.4: Ruby Wong Cheuk-Ling Lady of Court No.5: Zaridah Abdul Malik La-Ore: Fariza Azlina Scout No.1: Ahmad Mazlan Scout No.2: Razif Salimin Siamese Trader: Zaibo Shipping Dock Woman: Pak Ling Mercenary: Mahmud Ali Basah Distraught Villager: Zulhaila Siregar Film Crew: Producer: Lawrence Bender Original Music Composer: George Fenton Screenplay: Steve Meerson Screenplay: Peter Krikes Casting: Priscilla John Director of Photography: Caleb Deschanel Producer: Ed Elbert Editor: Roger Bondelli Production Design: Luciana Arrighi Costume Design: Jenny Beavan Director: Andy Tennant Novel: Anna Leonowens Original Music Composer: Robert Kraft Set Decoration: Ian Whittaker Unit Production Manager: Leila Kirkpatrick Gaffer: Laurie Shane Best Boy Electric: Ron Shane Movie Reviews: CinemaSerf: This is a great looking film; the beautiful photography (Malaysia not Thailand) is stunning and George Fenton’s sympathetic score helps create a stylish setting for this retelling of the story about an English widow – played here by Jodie Foster – who takes up a position as governess to the children (and wives) of King Mongkut of Siam (Chow Yun-Fat). This story departs pretty drastically from the original text and turns into more of a sentimental love story tempered by treasonous activities from within the King’s extended family. The principle performances are both gentle and sensitive, though Jodie Foster’s accent is a little forced, and Bill Stewart puts in a good effort as the dodgy British trader “Mycroft Kincaid”. It is just too far removed from the original for me, but I’d watch it again….

[conjuringandinsidious]

Blog Entry #2: Southpaw (2015): Billy “The Great” Hope: A True Underdog Turned Hero

One of the most popular Boxing films from the twentieth century is Southpaw (2015). To provide some context, this American Sports Drama Film written by Kurt Sutter stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Billy “The Great” Hope, Rachel McAdams as Billy’s wife Maureen, Oona Laurence as Billy and Maureen’s daughter Leila, and Forest Whittaker as Titus “Tick” Wills. The film follows the story of Billy and Leila as they struggle to change their lives for the better after the tragic death of Maureen during a shooting accident at a fundraiser event for Billy. Following this incident, Billy begins abusing alcohol and drugs, resulting in Leila being placed in the care of Child Protective Services. The Plugged In movie review article entitled Southpaw describes this film as one in which Billy’s only shot at redemption “Depends on unlearning his unhealthy dependence on anger- both in the ring and out. And doing so means learning to listen to an aging Boxing coach from the inner city who’s learned a thing or two about redemption himself”. Also, “After the shooting, Billy Hope is forced to answer one of life’s most serious questions: What do we do when we lose everything? Your family. Your career. Your passion for life itself”? In this entry, I will discuss the significant role Tick plays in allowing Billy to change his life for the better and reclaim his successful career. 

After the death of his wife Maureen, Billy begins abusing alcohol and drugs. One night,  he ends up crashing his car into a tree in front of his mansion. This results in Leila being placed in the care of Child Protective Services. When Billy goes to see Leila, she refuses to speak with him since she blames him for their current problems. After this happens, Billy visits the Wills Gym where he meets Titus “Tick” Wills, a former Boxer turned Boxing coach. He refuses to train Billy at first due to his alcohol and drug-related issues and the belief that he only wants revenge against Miguel Escobar, whose brother Hector killed his wife. However, he has a change of heart after witnessing the efforts Billy is willing to take to turn his life around. With the fight between Billy and Escobar scheduled to take place in six weeks, Tick begins rebuilding Billy into a Physically and Mentally tougher Boxer than he previously was. In relation to the highly aggressive nature of Boxing, the JSTOR article entitled The Two-Fisted Testing Ground of Manhood": Boxing and the Academy recounts the following: “In truth, Boxing is the final word of the dispossessed, the place where exploitation is the norm and dreams are traded for mumbles. A friend who covers prizefighting once told me that all boxers are crazy. I asked him why, immediately naming a dozen Boxers who seemed perfectly sane and beautifully articulate. “True”, he answered, “but you have to be crazy to box for a living”. Given the history and state of the sport I could not argue” (Roberts, 191). During the fight, Miguel temporarily causes Billy to lose his temper by insulting Maureen. However, he manages to control his anger with the help of Tick and takes control of the fight. In the last seconds, Billy shocks everyone by blocking Miguel’s jab and counters with a ferocious uppercut, sending Miguel falling to the mat. In the end, Billy is declared the new champion as he smiles tearfully and pays his respects to Maureen. Finally, Leila embraces Billy in the dressing room and tells him she loves him for the first time since Maureen’s death. In the final scene, the two leave ready to start a new life together. As stated within the JSTOR article entitled The Underdog Effect: The Marketing of Disadvantage and Determination through Brand Biography, “An underdog brand biography has two underlying dimensions- external disadvantage, and passion and determination- that jointly contribute to the positive underdog effect. Underdogs are therefore defined by both their personal characteristics and the external situation in which they find themselves” (Paharia, Keinan, Avery, Schor, 785). 

Works Cited: 

Paharia, Keinan, Avery, Schor, “The Underdog Effect: The Marketing of Disadvantage and Determination Through Brand Biography”. Journal Vol. 37, No. 5 (February 2011), pp. 775-790. 

Roberts, Randy, “The Two-Fisted Testing Ground of Manhood: Boxing and the Academy”. Journal Vol. 101, No. 1 (June 2014), pp.188-191.

[ao3feed-thor]

Trigger Protocol

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/NAd4hxW

by daaeleira

When superpowered crimelord Leila Whittaker is finally cornered by SHIELD, she's given an easy choice: SHIELD or prison. Unbeknownst to SHIELD, she has her own reasons for taking up the badge. Unbeknownst to Leila, Nick Fury has his own reasons for giving her one. You'd think, being thrust from one world of secrecy to another, that the adjustment period would be minimal. You'd be wrong.

AKA Leila Whittaker's SHIELD history pre-Battle of New York.

[AU of Mirror, Mirror.]

Words: 3268, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Series: Part 1 of Beyond Seven Stars

Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Deadpool (Movieverse), Thor (Movies), National Treasure (Movies)

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/M, Gen

Characters: Original Female Character(s), Original Female Character(s) of Color, Original Male Character(s), Grant Ward, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Phil Coulson, Nick Fury, Wade Wilson, Weasel (Deadpool), Jane Foster (Marvel), Darcy Lewis, Erik Selvig

Relationships: Grant Ward/Original Female Character(s), Clint Barton & Original Female Character(s), Wade Wilson & Original Female Character(s), Grant Ward & Original Female Character(s), Phil Coulson & Original Female Character(s), Natasha Romanov (Marvel) & Original Female Character(s), Thor (Marvel) & Original Female Character(s), Nick Fury & Original Female Character(s)

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/NAd4hxW

[ao3feed-janefoster]

Trigger Protocol

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2U0u48r

by daaeleira

When superpowered crimelord Leila Whittaker is finally cornered by SHIELD, she's given an easy choice: SHIELD or prison. Unbeknownst to SHIELD, she has her own reasons for taking up the badge. Unbeknownst to Leila, Nick Fury has his own reasons for giving her one. You'd think, being thrust from one world of secrecy to another, that the adjustment period would be minimal. You'd be wrong.

AKA Leila Whittaker's SHIELD history pre-Battle of New York.

[AU of Mirror, Mirror.]

Words: 3268, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Series: Part 1 of Beyond Seven Stars

Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Deadpool (Movieverse), Thor (Movies), National Treasure (Movies)

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/M, Gen

Characters: Original Female Character(s), Original Female Character(s) of Color, Original Male Character(s), Grant Ward, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Phil Coulson, Nick Fury, Wade Wilson, Weasel (Deadpool), Jane Foster (Marvel), Darcy Lewis, Erik Selvig

Relationships: Grant Ward/Original Female Character(s), Clint Barton & Original Female Character(s), Wade Wilson & Original Female Character(s), Grant Ward & Original Female Character(s), Phil Coulson & Original Female Character(s), Natasha Romanov (Marvel) & Original Female Character(s), Thor (Marvel) & Original Female Character(s), Nick Fury & Original Female Character(s)

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2U0u48r

[starklore]

Song Meta: Exile (Taylor Swift)

This song fits snowcap after their falling out in Tokyo.

“I can see you standing, honey

With his arms around your body

Laughing but the joke’s not funny at all”

Leila flirting with Rumlow to annoy Steve

“And it took you five whole minutes

To pack us up and leave me with it”

Steve feeling like Leila just threw away everything they had and didn’t even care

“I think I’ve seen this film before

And I didn’t like the ending”

Leila connecting Steve’s rejection to her past relationships. She’s seen this happen before, she should’ve known how it would play out. 

“You’re not my homeland anymore

So what am I defending now?”

So after coming out of the ice, Leila kind of becomes a constant for Steve; she’s the one who recruits him for the Avengers, and then for SHIELD, most of his SHIELD missions involve working with her, and she sort of becomes his touchstone, his anchor to the present, without really trying. Then they fall apart in Tokyo and suddenly he has nothing to ground him. 

(“So what am I defending” could refer to Steve losing faith in SHIELD due to losing faith in Leila; the two are intrinsically intertwined in his mind.)

“You were my town, now I’m in exile seeing you out”

Again, Steve feeling very out of place now that he doesn’t have Leila to anchor him

“I can see you staring, honey

Like he’s just your understudy

Like you’d get your knuckles bloody for me”

Steve won’t admit how jealous he is of Rumlow, to Leila or to himself, but he is and it’s in his eyes. 

“Second, third and hundredth chances”

On Steve’s side: he feels like looking back he always had misgivings about Leila deep down but ignored them and kept giving her chances to earn his trust, but she never did

On Leila’s side: She feels like she had tons of chances to push him away, to keep him at arm’s length, but she didn’t take them and she should’ve. 

“Balancing on breaking branches”

Related to the above, their relationship has always had that underlying tension and was always bound to snap in some way

“Those eyes add insult to injury”

Leila looking into Steve’s eyes when he’s confronting her and seeing so much distrust that she can’t even think of coming clean to him about why she did what she did (even before she finds out he was reporting on her to Fury.)

“I’m not your problem anymore

So who am I offending?”

Leila putting her walls back up and being a dick again because she’s not bothering to be open with Steve anymore

“I think I’ve seen this film before

So I’m leaving out the side door”

Same as earlier where she connects their falling out to her previous relationships, but this time with an element of prevention. She’s not going to stay and try to defend herself to someone who (she thinks) doesn’t care, when it’s never worked before, and she’s not going to stay attached to him and let it get as bad as it did with Johnny or David.

“All this time, we walked a very thin line”

Going back to how there’s always been an underlying tension in the relationship that was bound to snap. 

“You didn’t even hear me out”

Both of them feel this way about their fight in Tokyo, but Leila especially feels like Steve just turned on her at the drop of a dime and didn’t care enough to get her side of things. 

“You never gave a warning sign (I gave so many signs)” Steve feeling like this side to Leila came out of nowhere bc he ignored the red flags and tried to believe the best of her, vs Leila saying that she gave him tons of signs that this side to her existed and he should’ve known. 

(This might be part of why she allowed herself to get close to him; she thought he was seeing the signs and intentionally choosing to be close to her anyway). 

“I never learned to read your mind (you never learned to read my mind)”

Despite caring deeply for her, Steve never fully understood Leila and that’s the catalyst for their explosion, for him being so shocked by this violent side to her.

[arrthurpendragon]

For: @comealongpixie

[leilawhittaker]

Tony: Why are we lying in the parking lot? Leila: You had a panic attack and passed out, so I lied down next to you so everyone would just think we were chilling.

[savemewattpad]

Snow On the Beach Chapter One

"did you ever hear about the girl who got frozen?"

Summary:

Former Avenger Leila Whittaker lost everything in the snap–her chosen family, her reputation, and the love of her life. Three years later, she’s keeping a low profile in New York when Natasha, the de facto leader of the intelligence community, calls her back into the field for some undercover work. Leila finds herself paired with Scott Lang, known to the public as Ant-Man and known to Leila as some guy she met on the Raft six years ago.

This is fine. Leila is content with sticking with what remains of her team, and keeping the rest of the world at arm’s length. Most of them want to be there, now, anyway. And that’s fine. 

It’s fine, except that Scott Lang turns out to have a way of getting under her skin, in a way she can’t quite shake off. 

Chapter Summary: Scott and Leila both agree to get back in the game.

Warnings: None

Pairings: Scott Lang/OFC, past Steve Rogers/OFC

Tags: @ocappreciation @arrthurpendragon @suethor @notaboutcat (let me know if you'd like to be added or removed from this list!)

FF.Net | AO3 | Masterlist

Out of all the recurring nightmares Leila’s had over the course of her life–and there have been many–this one might be the most versatile. 

Sometimes it starts differently, but it always leads to the same place. She's on a stage, being controlled by puppet strings, and she looks up and finds the person controlling the strings, and it's always different, but pulling from the same pool of people. Everyone who’s ever interfered with her autonomy. Thanos, David, Johnny. Iain Warner, one time. Her past self, with blank, emotionless eyes, a few times. Occasionally more than one person, even if the people in question never met in real life. 

It’s Thanos, this time. She locks eyes with him, and as always, she wakes up. 

Leila isn't a shrink, but it's not hard to figure out what the dream means. What's trickier, and what she hasn't quite figured out yet, is what to do about it. 

She sighs and drags herself out of bed, and tries to shake the nightmare off. Sometimes she can't; sometimes it haunts her all day. A few times she's woken up into a panic attack. Today, though, is one of her better days; she can already feel it slipping out of her mind like sand through her fingers. 

She’s on her third chai latte when her phone rings. “I'm on my way,” she lies. 

“Hello to you too.” Natasha sounds amused. 

“Thought you were Tony,” Leila replies, stirring her latte absently. “I'm heading up there today. It's Morgan’s birthday.”

“Be sure to enjoy it, because I need you to come in tomorrow.” 

Leila pauses. “So this isn't a social call,” she says, hiding her unease under a layer of snark. 

“'Fraid not, Princess.” Despite being out of the field for years, Leila’s nickname, derived from her codename–Snow White–lives on. Old habits die hard, she supposes. Natasha has been calling her that for…almost a decade, now. 

“I'm retired, Nat.”

“No, you're clinically depressed. There's a difference.”

“Thanks, Doctor Romanoff, I'll keep that in mind.”

“You can ponder it more tomorrow when you come in.”

“Make someone else do it.”

“We need someone with your specific skill set.”

“Make Talos do it.”

“He's busy.”

“Then make Gravik do it.”

“Also busy.”

“Then make–”

“Stop naming skrulls. Besides, we need someone with your experience with organized crime.”

“You have that experience, too.”

“I've got a lot on my plate, as I’m sure you can imagine.” 

And Leila can. The responsibility Nat took on in the aftermath of the snap is extraordinary. Sometimes Leila feels bad about rejecting her offer to be her right hand. Then she remembers why she did. 

It's funny, in a way, that the thing that's made her more trouble than she's worth is the one thing that wasn't even her fault. (It wasn't, right?)

“Organized criminals lost people, too. They're not gonna want to talk to me.”

“They won’t be talking to you. They’ll be talking to each other. Or so they think.”

“Yes, I understand how shapeshifting works.”

“Leila,” Nat says, suddenly serious in a way that makes Leila sit up straight. “It’s about the Trust. That’s why we need it to be you.”

Leila takes several moments to process this, making a point to take deep breaths. 

“Fine. I’m in.”

“Good. Meet me at the compound tomorrow at 8.”

“I’ll be there.” 

“Lei–by the way, just so you aren’t taken off guard–you’ll be working with someone.”

Leila tenses reflexively, and tries not to let that tension into her voice. “Who? Anyone I know?”

“You might remember him. His name is Scott Lang.”

It’s early mornings like this that Scott starts to have reservations about X-Con. He comes into his office, and something about the morning light reminds him of the single office they’d inhabited years prior, lit almost entirely by fluorescents, four desks crowded into the space. Him, Kurt, Luis and Dave. It’s him, Kurt, Luis, and a small number of employees now. 

(He wonders sometimes, which office Dave would’ve taken, and if he would’ve liked it.) 

The success of the business is great, of course. It’s great to be able to help support Cassie. It’s great to be able to keep people employed that would otherwise be exactly where Scott was when he got out of prison. And it’s great to help keep people safe. 

The only problem is that the business didn’t start growing to this level until right after the snap. Scott doesn’t have, like, hard data to prove it, but he can never shake the idea that there’s a cause-and-effect there. People, now more than ever, want to feel safe. X-Con can’t protect people against genocidal aliens, unfortunately, but it can help them feel protected. Scott knows he isn’t doing anything wrong, technically–why people give him their business is their own prerogative–but sometimes it feels opportunistic, anyway. 

He’s at his desk, going over his schedule for the day, when the door to his office swings open. “You have a visitor,” Jez announces. 

“You could’ve used the phone,” Scott says without looking up. 

“But then I wouldn’t get to spend this quality time with my favorite brother,” she replies, leaning in the doorway. 

“I’ll be sure and let Matt know you said that.”

“He knows what he did.”

If Scott had more time, he’d probably take the bait, but he doesn’t. “Can you send the client in? It’s a tight schedule today.” 

Jez gives a lazy salute and heads back to the front desk. Weeks ago, their usual secretary had resigned, and Jez has been “filling in” ever since. She’s not an ex-convict, and she didn't have secretarial experience, which makes her a nepotism hire by any definition, but she needs the work, and Scott’s been watching out for her since she was nine years old. He’s not going to stop now. Besides which, she’s done enough free babysitting for him over the years to have earned it, anyway. 

He’s also pretty sure that nobody here–outside of Luis and Kurt, who knew her pre-X-Con–has figured out that she’s never been to prison. Not that it’s a secret, but still. She’s young, but even on her best behavior, she still has roughly the same personal energy as the Tasmanian Devil from Looney Toons. 

(He remembers her first visit to him in San Quentin. “It’s weird, because I always thought I’d be the first one of us to go to prison,” she’d told him.

“Sorry, first?” he’d asked. 

“Yeah. Me, then you, then Matt.”

“Why would Matt go to prison?”

“Wrong place, wrong time. I’d be locked up on drug charges, obviously.”

“Of course.”)

The door opens. He looks up and smiles. “Hi, I’m Scott, thanks for–” he pauses, and then tries not to sputter. “Hawkeye?”

Clint Barton gives him a half-smile, the kind where Scott can’t quite tell if he’s happy or not. “Scott,” he greets. “Good to see you again.”

Leila always forgets how beautiful the sky above Tony’s home is until she’s there. It’s one of those summer nights where the twilight seems to last forever, and she knows that once the sun is finally down, the stars in the sky will be actually visible, unlike the city. She can even see a few of them now, faintly. 

It’s the lakeside that ties it all together, though. Isabella had wanted to live somewhere by water, and Tony had, as he did to any and all requests or mild whims that Isabella made, obliged.  

Isabella is some ways ahead of them, maybe ten yards, holding a toddling Morgan’s hand. Still clearly in sight, but far enough away for Leila and Tony to talk, which Leila knows is coming–otherwise they would’ve had Leila take Morgan for a walk by herself while they cleaned up the house. 

“So,” Tony says, “why’re you crashing on our couch tonight, again?”

Leila knows what he’s actually asking. Are you okay? Do you need to not be alone? Are you about to go off the deep end again? Are you trying not to relapse? She kicks a rock into the lake. 

“I’m just saying, it’s an expensive couch,” Tony continues. “I feel like I at least deserve to know. Not that you aren’t always welcome.”

“I know,” she says, and she does, both about the couch and the welcomeness. Leila could ask to move in tomorrow and Tony would have the guest bedroom decorated for her within the hour. Her friendship with him is possibly the one thing in her life that she’s never questioned. 

“I’m going to the compound tomorrow,” she says finally. “Nat wants me back in the field. It’s just easier to stay here than go home and come back up.”

Tony whistles lowly. “You sure you’re up for that?”

“No. But apparently I’m the only woman for the job.” She pauses. “It’s about the Trust.”

“The Trust? That crime ring we took down back in…” Tony runs the numbers in his head. “2012?”

“Apparently we didn’t take it down far enough. Or someone decided to reboot it.”

Tony nods. “Are you working alone? I imagine it’s hard to build trust, given…well, you know.”

“Given that half of the world hates me.” Leila can handle innuendo from anyone else, but she doesn’t like dancing around things with Tony. His straightforwardness is one of the things that first drew her to him. 

“That’s the one, yeah.”

She smiles a little despite herself and kicks another rock. “Apparently I’m going in with someone named Scott Lang. Nat said I might remember him, from the Raft back during the whole Accords thing.” Leila had only spent a few hours on the Raft, and she doesn’t remember a lot of it. Frankly, the entire debacle is somewhat blurred in her mind. “I don’t, though. Do you?”

Tony thinks. “Right. Ant-Man. He was in Munich with Cap.”

There’s that straightforwardness she loves. Tony is one of the only people who doesn’t hesitate to mention Steve around her. The good, the bad, all of–

“Sorry, did you say Ant-Man?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Why the fuck is he called Ant-Man?”

“Cause he shrinks. He can also grow, but I guess ‘Giant-Man’ didn’t have the same ring to it.”

“I dunno, I might take it over Ant-Man.”

“Because you’re the expert on code names.”

“Snow White is a perfectly respectable code name, thank you.”

“Sorry.” He gives an exaggerated bow. “Please forgive me, your highness.”

Leila laughs. “How do you even know all this?”

“I have a vested interest in knowing the names of people who may or may not hold grudges against me.”

“That’s healthy.”

“That’s precaution.” Tony takes a few quick strides and then steps in front of her to face her. “I’m serious. Are you okay with this? It’s been years.”

“It’s only been three years. Not even that, actually,” she waves a hand. “As long as this doesn’t become a recurring thing…I’m fine. I can handle it.”

Tony watches her for a long moment, looking for any sign of indecision on her face. Finally, he nods. 

“Alright. As long as you stay up long enough to watch Tangled. It’s Morgan’s favorite right now, and she wanted to watch it with you.”

Leila smiles. “Traitor,” she mutters. “But yeah. I can do that.”

Scott clears an hour from his schedule (he makes a note to thank Kurt and Luis both for taking on his meetings that day), and makes three phone calls. 

The first one is to Hope. 

He explains the situation: Clint Barton (yes, that Clint Barton) showed up at his work asking him, on behalf of Natasha Romanoff (yes, that Natasha Romanoff) to get involved in some kind of espionage-related, superpower-related mission-type-thing. He said he wouldn’t do it without Hope (nobody can say he doesn’t learn from his mistakes.) Barton said they wanted him for his security and heist experience more than for his Ant-Man activity. Scott said he’d think about it. 

“So now I’m asking you,” Scott says. 

“Asking me what?”

That’s actually a good question. “I’m asking if you think I should agree to help,” he says, “and if you think I should do it without you.”

“I mean, you’re always better off with me there,” Hope replies easily. “But if they’re trying to keep the team small, and you trust them…I think you should at least consider it.”

If you trust them. He supposes he does. The Munich incident had involved a lot of mistakes on Scott’s part, but that hadn’t been either of their fault. Neither had the way it ended. 

“Have you told Maggie?” Hope continues. 

“That’s the next call I’m making.”

“Make it. And think about it. But if you say no, just don’t do it because of me.”

The second call is, as promised, to Maggie. 

“Hey, Scott, is this important?”

“Uhhhhh….yes. I’d say so.” He clears his throat. “I need some advice.”

“Okay, but can you make it quick? I’m on my lunch break.”

I can try? “Yeah. Totally. It’ll be quick.”

“Okay. What’s up?”

He tells her the same thing he told Hope, and then tells her what Hope said. “So now I’m asking you. Do you think I should do it?”

“No, I don’t, but that’s not the question you’re actually asking.”

“Okay, what am I asking?”

“You’re asking me if you’d be a bad person if you said no. And you’re asking me if you’d be a bad father if you said yes.”

Maggie’s ability to cut to the heart of the issue is not a quality Scott remembers her possessing during their admittedly short-lived marriage. He wonders idly if, given enough time and thought, he could pinpoint exactly when it started. 

“Okay. So what do you think?”

“I think nobody could blame you if you chose to stay out of it. And I think you’re going to do it anyway.”

Scott stays silent for a long moment, and Maggie takes it as an invitation to continue. 

“It’s who you are, Scott. Since the day I met you. You see a chance to be useful, to help someone, and you can’t resist.”

Scott sighs. “And Cassie?” he asks hesitantly. 

It’s Maggie’s turn to stay silent for a moment. Then, finally: “I can’t ask you to be someone you’re not. But Cassie’s already lost one father. If things get too dangerous, do you think you can back out?”

Scott looks at the photo on his desk. Him, Matt, Jez and Cassie. 

“Yeah. I can do that.”

The third call is to Clint Barton.

“Barton,” he answers. There’s a sort of lazy quality to his voice. 

“Hey, it’s, uh, it’s Scott. Lang. Ant-Man.” 

“Name rings a bell. Made your decision yet?”

“Yeah.” He takes a deep breath. “I’m in.”

[atjsgf]

💍leila/steve!!!!

Okay I've thought A LOT about this over the past however many years, and here's what I have. On Leila's side, there are two rings and I have to go into the story to explain why.

First is this moonstone ring that Steve buys before CACW. He'd been planning on proposing, but he wanted to use his mom's ring. The problem is that his mom's ring currently belongs to the Smithsonian and he's in a legal battle to get it back, so he bought this one just in case.

For context, CACW ends with Leila having made a plea deal so she could try to fight the Accords through the law, whereas Steve goes into hiding as in canon.

Leila finds the ring after this. A couple weeks go by, Steve pops up in secret (as Leila knew he would) to break up with her (which she did not know he would, like she knew their relationship wouldn't be the same but she didn't think he'd just cut the thread. But he's kind of feeling hopeless and wants to get her off what he sees as a sinking ship.)

Later on, before IW, through a plotline I'm still figuring out, they reconcile, tentatively. Then in IW, in the Avengers compound before they leave for Wakanda, Steve finds the ring, that Leila never got rid of it or put it in storage, and proposes to her on the spot, in a kind of "if we survive this" way. She says yes.

Then IW and the snap happens and they both survive, but don't end up getting married yet, for two reasons, which are sort of intertwined/happening at the same time.

Firstly, they realize that it's going to take more than an apology and a certain-death-induced proposal to fix their relationship. On Steve's side, Leila never consulted with him about the plea deal, and even though he knows that's because she couldn't have, because she didn't have access to him or a way to contact him in the window she had to take it, he still feels sort of abandoned by that. He knows it's irrational, but it's still something that needs addressing.

On Leila's side, Steve breaking up with her devastated her. It took a lot for Leila to allow herself to fall for him, trust him, be in a relationship with him in the first place, and it's going to take a lot for them to rebuild the trust she had before.

Secondly, half their friends are dead and even when they get to a point where they feel ready to get married, they don't really feel like actually doing so.

They are still technically engaged--Leila wears her ring on and off through the time jump, but by the time of the time heist, she's been wearing it constantly for 2, maybe 2 and a half years; at that point it's very much the survivor's guilt holding them back.

Anyways! Flash forward to the timeheist. For the scene in Camp Lehigh, instead of Steve stopping to stare longingly at Peggy through a window, he stops to look at a small museum-esque display dedicated to him, which includes his mother's ring:

Except that it's missing the stone. It's Art deco style because she got married in 1918, shortly after Steve's father returned from WWI, which is where he bought the ring--art deco hadn't quite made it to the US yet. Very fortuitous because Leila happens to love Art Deco style jewelry and basically anything else.

Anyways, Sarah ended up having to sell the stone once the Depression hit, but she kept the band and setting; it wasn't worth much, anyway.

Steve stares at it but is brought back to the mission before he can act on anything.

But! Later, when he goes back in time to put the infinity stones back, he takes the opportunity to steal the ring that should've been his in the first place. He proposes (for the second time) to Leila (to whom he is already engaged) immediately, like that moment, still within eyesight from Sam and Bucky. She says yes.

When she goes to get a new stone for the ring, she gets either a ruby or some kind of black stone like an onyx or black diamond or something.

And as for Steve himself, Leila asks if she can pick his out and he says yes, and she picks this:

If he'd picked it out himself, he would've chosen something more simple (mostly bc he wouldn't think that much about it), but he ends up liking this a lot. Like Harvey's, it's more noticeable than most men's, and it's the closest Steve can get to wearing a "If Found Return To Leila" shirt 24/7. (Cannot emphasize enough how whipped this man is for her.)

[bravadoseries]

@daaeleira i can’t stop thinking about this 

[freewriterevangeline]

Chapter 54 up!

[suethor]

top 10 !

i was tagged by the lovely @notxjustxstories, @abbysarcane, and @stanley--barber to list my 10 favorite ocs by myself and by others !!! 

mine: 

irene acosta (the man from uncle)

beatrice price (peaky blinders)

juliette fury (mcu)

edris brux (mandalorian)

faye pham (riverdale)

carmen pham (riverdale)

yoko yukimura (gilmore girls)

ana underwood (the umbrella academy)

adeline arzhang (chilling adventures of sabrina)

audrey carter rogers (mcu)

others / in no particular order !! it was so hard to narrow it down so these are the first ten i could think of off the top of my head but i love all of ur ocs <3 thank u 

leila whittaker by @daaeleira / leila literally my antihero queen with the coolest powers and the sickest aesthetic 

gennie lock and evie calloway by @chlobenet / gennie ... did u mean the angel of small heath ?? and evie my badass shadowhunter with terrible taste in men <3 i love u 

leanna hopper by @pondsocs / literally LEGENDARY premise and i adore your edits for her so much hehe 

guinevere lance by @perfectlystiles / thank u for being brave enough to do and say what i never could ..... giles is Hot 

jessica walker by @stanley--barber and honestly all of kate’s ocs / sometimes i see ur edits and watch the shows that your ocs are in and im like disappointed that they’re not there :/

grace barnes by @notaboutcat / i love my winter soldier goddaughter ..... she said I’m Reinventing.....don’t text

jessica jesus byy @kenobi-jinn / amazing !!!  zendaya as a faceclaim....being a baddie but also having a heart of gold.....we stan !!!

astrid olsen by @aliverse / your mind . huge !!! i love astrid and skam ocs and i get so excited whenever i see stuff about her !!!

everleigh morgan by @daisyjohvson / not only do your photoshop skills pop off but everleigh is such a lovable character and she fits so well into the story ... excellent work 

jacqueline lewis by @emiliachrstine / the way renegades invented the marvel cinematic universe.....jackie is one of the most interesting ocs i’ve ever read and even though she’s like very serious and intentional she’s also so much fun ??? anyway <3 i love her