#ofc this is due to the mcu but whatever

[pbnmj]

i feel like people are misunderstanding spidey aus sometimes and grabbing the closest golden retriever guy trope and pushing them into the spidey role when in fact peter parker is possibly the worst adjusted teenager in the world

[darkspicyevanstan]

Welcome to a Dark & Spicy Evanstan Fest!

This event is dedicated to top!Chris Evans/bottom!Sebastian Stan and the various characters they've played over the years. Get your dark & spicy fix here! 😈

The fest will be an ongoing, low pressure, event where you can choose from all sorts of prompts to inspire your next piece of fiction.

The prompt lists will be continuously updated so be sure to check those out.

More information available below the cut!

⚡️ Rules ⚡️

→ No minors allowed due to the explicit/mature themes that will be featured in participating works.

→ This event will focus on any top!Chris Evans character paired with any bottom!Sebastian Stan character. Yes this event will include Real Person Fiction (Actor RPF, MCU RPF, etc.). Switching and polyships are not allowed here. Ex: Steve/Bucky/Sam, Lloyd/Reader/Nick, Chris/OFC/Sebastian, Ransom/OMC/Max, etc.

→ There are no content restrictions in this event. Yes, this includes all manner of dark fiction and dead dove themes. As long as everything this tagged appropriately, you can write whatever you want.

→→ If you come across a fic with themes you don't like, simply click away.

→ No word minimum or maximum.

→ One prompt per chapter/oneshot.

→ "Choose not to warn" fics are allowed. Once again, make sure anything triggering is appropriately tagged.

→ Make sure that the submission you're using for this event is completely new. However, a new chapter/piece in an already in progress fic/series is acceptable.

⚡️ Challenge Mode ⚡️

→ Double Challenge mode: 1 AU + 1 Trope

→→ Triple Challenge mode: 1 AU + 1 Creature + 1 Trope

→→→ Quadruple Challenge mode: 1 AU + 1 Creature + 1 Literary Form + 1 Trope

⚡️ Posting ⚡️

→ Make sure to tag the blog using @darkspicyevanstan and #dark and spicy evanstan fest so your works can get reblogged!

→ If you use platforms outside of Tumblr to publish, you may post your works to the AO3 and Squidge collections!

⚡️ Format ⚡️

As long as the requirements below are somewhere in your tumblr posts, your submissions will be reblogged!

Title of Submission Pairing Rating Warnings Prompt(s) Used Link

⚡️ Masterlists ⚡️

If you would like a masterlist of your work to be posted onto the blog, separate them by months. This way, it'll be easier for organization purposes.

→ Masterlist Submission Form

⚡️ Masterlist Format ⚡️

Title of Tumblr Post: Dark & Spicy Evanstan [Month] Masterlist

Title of Work [Insert Fic Link]

- Prompt(s) Used

Once again, as long as the information above is on your masterlist it will get posted onto the blog.

⚡️ Memo ⚡️

→ Cross-posting with other events is allowed and encouraged.

→ If you'd like to use a beta reader, feel free!

This event is meant to be fun and inspiring, so please enjoy yourselves! Feel free to send an ask if you have any questions.

Dark & Spicy Mod

[ayo-edebiri]

not sure if this has been said before but do u know what bothers me the most abt the mcu decline? who #they (men) are blaming for ruining it. “m-she-u” and they thought they ate 😭 women are not the problem. bad writing is, amongst other things. female characters thriving in the mcu and getting their due spotlight is not the issue but it’s feminist cringe sjw propaganda or whatever the fuck, corny ass mfs 😭 god forbid women are in the spotlight for once.

ive seen numerous posts saying that the “mcu is geared towards men and no one wants to see female superheroes” which makes no sense for several reasons, but tbh i just wish that more men were honest and straight up said it like the above example in why they hate the female lead films/series instead of beating around the bush to nitpick at everything in the films/series. sorry for the long ask nsjdkd

a lot of men just hate when they see a female superhero who's not made just for them. Look at Natasha Romanoff, they basically stopped loving her the second she stopped being waaaay too much sexualized. Maybe the writing is bad, but it's not their fault. Sometimes, you just have to admit a media isn't made for you and move one, it's not that hard!!!. OFC kamala isn't a character made for the 50 years old white guy. And MCU movies were always bad, i'm sorry...; like...... thor: the dark world??? what was that 😭. If you want to see a good movie, don't watch the mcu.....

I understand the superhero fatigue, I really do. But i think it's hilarious to talk about it when movies like the marvels or blue beetle flop but not when it's quantumania. At least, the marvels and blue beetle were hilarious and made sense. They just want attention, they're the same who are currently talking about DW becoming woke. like. it's an alien who changes his entire personality every few years.

[annachum]

Some Volva Sigyn ( MCU ) HCs :

. Volva are a Norse Counterpart of Druids and Druidesses in Gaulish and Celtic Communities

. Before Massacre of Valkyrie, she was a valkyrie and volva. After Massacre of Valkyrie, she went from being a lady in waiting of Frigga, to a bodyguard of Odin/Loki, to becoming a Princess of Asgard after she and Loki got married

. Similarly with druids and druidesses, Volvas also sometimes double as teachers, priests and priestesses, healers and several other positions etc in Norse Mythology

. Similarly with druids and druidesses, volvas also feel a strong connection with nature and spirits one way or another

. After the Massacre of Valkyrie, Sigyn struggles to make peace with the voices of the dead valkyrie ( after that horrific event ) - including her mother, who died saving her life in that event - for a time. Luckily, Loki and her survived loved ones then all do whatever they can to help her through it

. Aside from her lady in waiting and bodyguard related duties, Sigyn also sometimes double as a priestess in the Asgardian Royal Temple. Sometimes she is also seen giving tours of the temple to visitors ( including tourists, school students, etc ).

. In Queen Frigga's funeral, Sigyn, Eir and Nanna ( the latter 2 are also volvas ) are amongst the volva who are present to host Frigga's ceremony. All of them tried their best to hold themselves together, yet ALL of them ended up sobbing ( while hosting Frigga's funeral ) when they saw Frigga's dead body 🤯🤯🤯🤯🥺🥺🥺😭

. FYI Eir is a valkyrie and volva before she eventually became a Healer and volva after she and Nepr ( Nanna's dad ) got married. In fact, Eir soon became a lady in waiting of Frigga ( till Frigga's death ) a chief Healer of the Asgardian court till Ragnarok ( where she died of a broken heart after being unable to save Nanna from being tortured to death by Hela, despite her best efforts )

. Nanna becomes a Healer and volva, and later a Princess of Asgard after she and Baldr got married. Baldr sadly is amongst the first slain by Hela in Ragnarok, and after that, Nanna works to try poison Hela multiple times.....and then one night, Hela tortured Hela to death after abducting her from the Vanir cave refuges in her sleep one evening

. The search team for Nanna includes Heimdall, Sigyn, Hnossa and Gersemi ( Hogun's younger sisters who are twins ), Eir, Nepr and Sif. They all painstakingly tried to find her...yet by the time they did. It was too late

. Turns out Hela managed to lure them all to a death trap. And at notice of that, Sigyn screamed for EVERYONE in tow to run. And EVERYONE scrambled to flee as shards began flying towards them left and right. Several of them - including Nepr - didn't make it.

. Sometime soon After that event mentioned above, Eir sadly died of a broken heart

. Connecting with nature proved to be therapeutic for Sigyn especially after all she been through. She takes great pleasure in potion making, tarot cards and healing crystals, and also sometimes likes to infuse magical related matters in her baking ( which is one of her hobbies ) 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

. Frigga is a valkyrie ans volva before she became a Queen of Asgard. And Sigyn definitely can bond with Frigga, Nanna, Eir and several others of Frigga's ladies in waiting over volva related stuff ( yes several others of Frigga's ladies in waiting are volvas )

. Due to being from Alfheim, Sigyn's Alfheimr magic is a totally different animal from Nanna's Aesir magic. Ofc Sigyn and her volva cohorts often love to exchange magic related ideas and such 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

. Gullveig ( Frigga's younger sister and Hogun's mother ) is a Healer and volva before eventually becoming a Queen of Vanaheim. She also came to learn Vanir magic as she is going to be a Queen of Vanaheim.

. Hodr ( Norse God of Darkness, who is also blind ) is Hogun's dad and a King of Vanaheim till Ragnarok btw

🤯🤯🥺🥺🤯🤯

[darkreverist]

𝒻𝒶𝓆 ❝◟✿◞❞

‿❀°. below you'll find some common questions. please, please read before asking about something. i'll still answer any questions sent to me, but most questions, that i think might be asked, will be answered here. thank you ♡.

‿❀°. do you take requests?: unfortunately, no. i will, however, be open to suggestions and/or sharing prompt ideas, but i will not be fulfilling any requests. personally, requests block my creative flow.

‿❀°. will you have a schedule?: no. i am a fulltime college student and i also work part time, so my personal schedule is pretty busy during the school semester. i will try my best to be as consistent as i can be, but i can't promise anyone anything.

‿❀°. will you have a taglist?: no. i've tried in the past, and with privacy settings, it makes tagging certain accounts difficult. i recommend turning on my post notifications if you want to be notified when i post/update.

‿❀°. what will you write?: i will mainly be writing dark, smutty fics. occasionally, they will just be dark with no smut. i will also write fantasy, horror, and gore. please check the listed tags and warnings before interacting with any of my writings to avoid any potential triggers.

‿❀°. what will you not write?: i will not write anything related to pedophilia, blood-related incest, m/m, f/f, or f/m/f. there are definitely more topics or kinks i will not write about, if you are unsure, and want to suggest an idea or prompt to me, please feel free to ask me what i am comfortable with. this is a judgement free zone.

‿❀°. what fandoms will you be writing for?: mainly marvel (mcu). other topics of interest include: the witcher, game of thrones (including house of the dragon), supernatural, dc comics, lotr, the hobbit, and many more. for any fandoms that are not listed, check the "many and different masterlist," for more information.

‿❀°. why don't you repost other creators' fics? do you not support others in the writing community?: ofc, i do support my fellow writers. creating artwork and sharing it with others is, to me, a very vulnerable act. you're subjecting yourself to the criticism of others, and it's a very intimidating thing to put yourself through. i will always support my community. for this account, i am choosing to not repost anything that isn't mine or created by me in some shape, or form. i want this account to be a library for my work, and i want to keep this account as organized and as navigable as possible for everyone, without too much clutter. i will admit that my reasoning behind it could be considered as selfish, i understand that. that is not my intention. i apologize in advance for any toes i might step on because of this choice of mine, but my stance on this is firm. that does not mean i do not support my fellow fic writers, they have all of my love and support.

‿❀°. did you steal from @mhysa-leesi?: i am her, and she is me. that was/is my main account. if you've made it this far, i will not be uploading on that account anymore, but i am keeping it "active," so people can still read my past fics. you might see reuploads posted on this account of my past work, but i did not steal from myself. those fics will be tagged accordingly.

‿❀°. why don't you block underage accounts or accounts with no age?: i am not responsible for the media consumption of others. i am not their parent or guardian. i post warnings, and if someone actively chooses to ignore my warnings, that is not my problem.

‿❀°. did you steal another creator's idea?: accidents happen. i will never intentionally steal from another creator of any media. if i do find inspiration in another creator's work, i will always give credit where credit is due. that being said, there will be overlap that happens in this community. if i do not credit someone for whatever reason, that does not automatically mean i stole their idea—it just means we had similar ideas. if you think i should be crediting someone or if i miscredited someone, please reach out to me, and i will look into it and fix it. i will never be upset over feedback—especially if it means bettering myself. however, that does not mean you get to disrespect me or send me unnecessary hate if you suspect i am duping your favorite creator. you will be blocked.

‿❀°. did you steal another creator's artwork?: again, accidents happen. and as stated above, i will never intentionally steal another person's artwork. i emphasize intention because if i do use someone's artwork for one of my covers, it is never with the intent to pass it off as my own original art. i'm sure we all know that, sometimes, if you find a piece of art from a site like pinterest, there won't always be a credited artist. in a circumstance like that, i will always be transparent about where i found that particular piece. again, that does not mean i am intentionally miscrediting someone. i spend time making all of my own covers, so i understand how it can be upsetting. if you recognize an artwork that i've used and saw that i didn't give proper credit for whatever reason, please dm me, and i will fix it.

‿❀°. do you use *ai?: yes, i do. i think if it's used appropriately, it can be a great support tool. anything *ai generated will be marked accordingly. i will always be transparent about my use of *ai.

[kuramirocket]

Today I rewatched Homecoming, skipped to all of Peter's scenes in Infinity War and Endgame and rewatched Far From Home. And I was thinking, a lot of people think that Ben has been erased from Tom's Spiderman story, but I never thought that was the case. As this post points out from Peter's timeline of events - there was a deleted scene where Ben is mentioned by name in Homecoming and in the What If series where Peter mentions losing loved ones including Ben.

Even before reading the post, I always thought about the line he tells Ned in Homecoming when Ned finds out Peter is Spiderman as the post also points out:

"May cannot know. I cannot do that to her right now, you know? I mean, everything that’s happened with her.."

It always seemed to me this was alluding to Ben right. And then I thought about what Peter tells Tony when he asks him what gets him out of bed. Peter replies:

Source

So, then I thought about the animated series Spiderman Freshmen Year that is set to come out on a TBA date:

According to the summary:

The animated series follows Peter Parker on his way to becoming Spider-Man in the MCU, with a journey unlike we've ever seen and a style that celebrates the character’s early comic book roots.

So, if this series is going to "celebrate Peter's early comic book roots" then I wonder if we'll actually see Ben and maybe his death will play out like it always has - Peter gained his Spidey powers and does not stop a criminal which costs his uncle his life. It would also make sense and fit into what he tells Tony, "When you can do the things that I can, but you don't. Then the bad things happen, they happen because of you."

It may not be exactly the same since May gives him the famous with 'great power' line instead of Ben, but imagine if this is the case and Ben does die due to Peter refusing to stop a criminal for whatever reason. It will just add more layers and tragedy to Peter's character. If this does happen, first his uncle Ben was killed because of his decision and then years later his aunt May is also killed in NWH. And you have to remember how Green Goblin kept goading him and told him something along the lines of, "I may have pulled the trigger, but she was there because of you."

Like all the emotional and mental hurt of that. And then with the symbiote on the loose with Peter arguably at his most vulnerable right now since he's alone.

And honestly, I just made myself sad.

I only saw NWH once so need to do a rewatch.

I know the other Peters mentioned losing their loved ones too - Peter 2 - Ben and Peter 3 - Gwen; and they, ofc, mention his famous line the night Ben dies when Peter 1 tells them what May told him before she died.

But still, maybe it's still not too crazy or out of place to think that Ben was in Peter's life and his death happens like it always does if with a few variations.

Idk, maybe I'm reading too much into it. Lol

[fandomcentralsposts]

GUYS I WAS WATCHING TOBEY'S SPIDERMAN 2 AND I REALISED SOMETHING SO HERE IS FURTHER EVIDENCE OF A POSSIBLE TOBEY CAMEO IN MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS: AN ESSAY

⚠️NWH SPOLIERS AHEAED⚠️

Some people have speculated Tobey coming back for Dr Strange mom but I thought it was unlikely and just didn't believe it would be so soon after NWH but now my mind has been severely changed.

In the scene where JJ Jameson is coming up with something to call otto octavius Dr Strange is mentioned:

This means Dr Strange is canon in Tobey's universe they've just never interacted (on screen that is). Now it's confirmed in the trailer for Multiverse of Madness that there are multiple Dr Strange variants like defender Strange, Zombie Strange and Evil (aka what if?) Strange, and don't forget this film was directed by Sam Raimi he directed Tobeys trilogy and he was apparently told he could do whatever he wanted with this film.

Furthermore in NWH the scene where green goblin stabs Tobey was originally supposed to kill him but they reshot the scene and made it so he survived. This could've been because Sam wanted Tobey in Multiverse of madness. Also during NWH when Tobey steps into Tom's universe he mentions that he's already "seen" Ned and MJ and he instantly knew that Andrew wasn't "their friend" he also says "I've been trying to find your friend ever since I got here"

Now some of it ofc could've been his spidey sense. However the only way he could've already known of Ned and MJ is that maybe the Dr Strange in his world realised the multiverse was breaking, tracked down Tobey informed him of the situation and sent him to help.

Or maybe Tobey and Strange have never interacted before nwh either way he does exist in his universe and Tobey could've gone looking for him when he went home

An additional fact about the raimi trilogy Hugh Jackman was supposed to cameo as Wolverine in one of the movies but didn't due to them not having his costume but charles xavier is now confirmed in Multiverse of Madness on the illuminate Council. In the comics Dr Strange is also on the illuminate Council so whether MCU Dr strange will be the one joining them or if one of the Dr Strange variants are already on the council is unclear right now but if it is a Dr Strange variant it could also be Tobey's Dr Strange.

Lastly (this could be me reading too much into it) but in the interview with the three spidermen when Tobey was asked what it was like to play spiderman again and he says alot but I this sentence stuck out for me he says quote on quote "Just to get back into that and... I don't wanna say like close the chapter... but re-vist it and have certain resolutions" During the interview he wasn't quite sure how to word what he wanted to say but that sounded like a possible return to me 👀

In conclusion with all of this in mind I think Tobey could possibly return for multiverse of madness and it would be a missed opportunity if he doesn't.

[eerna]

Hello!! Read your No Way Home thoughts and while I did personally enjoy the movie, I do agree with much of what you said and I did feel that the movie was... not as good as it could have been. But I also wanna say that the difference in our experiences was because we both went in with very different expectations! (while I do like to think I have critical thinking skills, I am generally just an average movie enjoyer haha).

That being said, I’m curious to know what your thoughts about the first two MCU Spider-Man movies are, if you’re willing to share :) For me I absolutely loved the first two films, I thought they were really good movies and personally consider them a lot better than NWH. However, I did watch those movies when I was 16/17, so I wouldn’t be surprised if some things about those movies were not as perfect as I originally thought (or maybe I was just charmed by Tom Holland’s face HAHAHA).

Ooh if you watched the other two Spider-Man franchises too I’d love to hear you discuss that as well!! And where MCU Spider-Man stands with respect to them :D but ofc that’s entirely up to you.

Thanks for reading, and have a good day! (Yes I realised I have no idea how to end this ask HAHA sorry)

Hello! I really don't mind people enjoying the movie, I am just blowing up after a year of slow realization that you can no longer trust media critics to make their own informed opinions and think deeper than surface level because everyone is just saying whatever will bring them the most clout. It really has nothing to do with regular people watching stuff that entertains them, I too watch stuff mostly on purely subjective entertainment level, but Disney is one of my most despised things in this world so that's why I am so passionate about this specific subject ahahah!

As for my relationship with other Spiderman media, I suppose it IS important for the context of my opinion and I just forgot abt it fsabjkasbjk. Here's the chronological summary under the cut bc I went off the deep end again:

I grew up with lots of superhero stuff, but Spiderman is the only one who I really loved. I read the comics and books, watched the cartoons and movies, played with action figures, all of it!! I grew out of the phase at around 10 when I started reading like an addict, but I still harbor special feelings for the franchise due to the nostalgia!

We have a tradition where we marathon the Tobey Maguire trilogy once a year, and I truly love it!! Here's where the subjective enjoyment comes into play, because trust me I am aware it isn't high art, but I still love it to bits. It's such a cute way of portraying a teenage superhero in the most 2000s way possible. Everyone is played by adults, the fashion is disastrous, the effects silly, the acting dramatic, the jokes fantastic, the villains engaging, AND I can still cry when sad stuff happens. Perfect.

The Amazing Spiderman movies aren't my thing, my brother claims I have seen them but the only thing I remember is falling asleep midway through the first one. I don't like the fake awkward vibe of a conventionally attractive adult playing a teen boy, so I can't really vibe with Andrew, sorry...

Into the Spiderverse is my fav Spiderman movie. Not only is it fun, but it also reset my brain back in 2018 and it’s the objectively best entry in the franchise no matter how you cut it. Inventive and revolutionary, the animation, the music, the direction- EVERYTHING is just SO GOOD. I was an adult who hated the concept of multiverses with absolutely no prior knowledge of any of the characters and no nostalgia whatsoever and I fell deeply in love.

I don’t have much to say about the PS4 game. I watched my bro play for a while and I think it’s super pretty and charming and well written and I’ll play it one day for sure.

The Spiderman movies are the only entries in the MCU featuring Tom Holland that I've seen, so that's the only context through which I can view his performance. And I really like Homecoming! It is such a fun, cute movie! Sure, I was a little disappointed with the non-Spiderman sentiments such as the robot suit and the "I'm above protecting everyday people" attitude, but the jokes were funny, everyone sold the awkward teen aura really well, and it was visually really good! Ur right, Tom Holland has such a charming boy vibes that he’s super relatable and makes you care about him just by standing there. The villain, the emotional beats, the ending realization that normal people need protecting, it's all very nice! As for Far From Home, I loved it the first time I watched it! (Side note, I first saw it with my mom at a cinema, and that experience of two women with not a lot of knowledge of the MCU sitting among a hundred fans def played to the "no thoughts head empty just good fun" vibe. We cheered, we cried, we screamed. Everyone booed Ned when he said Europeans love Americans. It was amazing.) However, when I rewatched it and had the opportunity to think about it, I caught bad feelings. It was right around that time that I started waking up to the invasive reality of the Internet and just how parasitic and horrible Disney is for the entertainment industry, and I couldn’t help but notice parallels between that and the stuff that movie tried to get us to accept as normal and reasonable in that story. It’s not a question of who should inherit Tony Stark’s power- it SHOULD be a question of whether ANYONE should possess it. Sure, the underlaying message of “It’s not about having powers, it’s about how you use them” is a regular theme in superhero media, but it’s usually for stuff like superstrength or sticky fingers or stretching your limbs really really far. It’s never the most powerful superhero leading nations and directing the fate of the world, it’s the wisest or kindest or most decisive one. It’s the VILLAINS who see power as the right to rule. But Tony Stark’s enterprise in the MCU puts power into new perspective- there IS absolute power that can be used to rule the world and bend the nature of reality, and this time it’s the heroes who invented it and not the villains. And we should just. Accept that. We should be aware these are “normal people” with faults and mistakes and fully quips, but also that they could destroy us all with a flick of their finger and a computer program. It’s such a bleak, ugly thing in that it is contemporary and reflects the world we currently live in, but refuses to paint it as a bad or even a morally gray thing. And now that the third movie is out, I can confidently say that yes, MCU’s Spiderman took a story about a poor boy in a homemade supersuit fighting for the little guy who goes unnoticed amid the space fights and old gods returning and turned it into one of the most obvious pieces of current world order propaganda.

You might say “Io it’s not that deep, stfu, it’s literally about a guy who got superpowers from being bitten by a radioactive spider, it’s just good fun,” but I would argue that EVERYTHING created by the biggest entertainment company in the world should be examined through contemporary context lenses. Media has enormous power in society, and if it’s controlled mostly by the same institution, we should pay attention to what they are saying and why. I’m not gonna pretend the Spiderman franchise was a revolutionary piece of socioeconomic philosophy in the first place, but when you look at which pieces Disney decided to reinterpret and in what ways, it sure makes you think. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

[saiilorstars]

The Serpent

Fandom: MCU // Pairing: T’Challa x woc!OFC

Chapter Summary: **One shot. Agent Citlalli Del Rio struggles to keep her professionalism in check whenever she visits Wakanda and its King. If she paid attention, she would notice that T'Challa has the same issues with her. Only he will know how to eventually get through to the woman who was once known as the warrior Serpent to her own people.

A/N: This is just a one-shot of an OC I'm currently drafting. I always like sampling a new OC with a few one-shots before I post an actual story and since I already did an OC/Steve and OC/Bucky one-shot series for each, we're going for the last OC I had in mind for now! A little context, she's a descendant from the Aztecs and, thus, from Mexico! The pronunciation of the OC's name is 'Seet-la-lee'!

Taglist: @ocfairygodmother @anotherunreadblog​ @maaaaarveeeeel​ @stareyedplanet​ @perfectlystiles​

Citlalli’s Masterlist // Masterlist to my other OCs

[If you’d like to be added to this specific OC’s stories/edits, send me a message!]

"You certainly look as sharp as ever," Okoye remarked in her rigid stance when T'Challa walked up beside her. She didn't even look at him completely, she had enough sight from the corner of her eyes.

"As King of Wakanda, I have an obligation to look my best," was the very King's response. Had they not been surrounded by the Dora Milaje, awaiting for a scheduled visitor, perhaps Okoye would've snorted at the weak excuse. She may also be holding that snort out of sheer pity. She knew well enough why he was taking extra care in his appearance today.

As agreed upon, their visitor arrived a short moment later. Okoye could see T'Challa straightening himself up when the jet landed a safe distance from them. It was frankly bemusing.

The jet opened up and in a few seconds, a tall woman dressed in a traditional black pant suit with a white buttoned up blouse stepped down. Her caramel brown eyes met the awaiting group across from her. She walked towards them in a purposeful stride. It wasn't the first time she was lucky enough to visit the King in Wakanda itself.

"Your majesty," she said. Even the slight Spanish accent in her tone wasn't enough to hide the overwhelming sarcasm.

If Okoye hadn't already met her plenty of times before, she would've been outright offended with the sarcasm.

"Don't you dare bow," T'Challa warned the woman as soon as he caught one of her legs already bending.

The woman chuckled and straightened up that leg. "Caught me," she put a hand over her chest. "One of these days, you won't."

"I will keep my eyes sharp and open when you are around," T'Challa promised her. Beside him, he could see the tight-lipped smile Okoye was battling on her face. He had half a mind to send her away but that would out him in a second. Instead, he put all of his attention on the woman standing in front of him.

She was waiting for him with a polite smile on her face. Her curly brown hair was neatly laid on the left side of her neck but the light breeze in the air would occasionally pull loose strands.

"Agent Del Rio, welcome to Wakanda," he said, making her smile widen.

"It is beautiful as always and, just as always, my name is Citlalli. I beg you to use it," she glanced at Okoye with a polite smile. "Nice to see you as well."

Okoye gave a dutiful nod. "Likewise."

Citlalli put her hands together in front of her. "I am ready to start whenever you are," she said to T'Challa. "But I need to return to Virginia by the end of the day."

"Of course," T'challa gave her a nod. She was always on a schedule given her work in the C.I.A. but he always managed to stretch out her visits a bit more than what she always scheduled for them.

Citlalli motioned him to lead the way back to the palace. She assumed their meeting room was already waiting for them.

"Actually, I thought we could do something different," T'Challa said, much to her surprise. "It's just you and I this time so I thought we would have more time, you know?"

"Ah," Citlalli slowly nodded, "O-okay. Where would you like to have the meeting?" T'Challa set his eyes on the city beside them. Citlalli didn't quite understand until she followed his gaze. "Oh." She blinked.

T'Challa smirked. "Shall we?" he motioned her to walk first. Slowly, she did. T'Challa followed behind her but he met Okoye's smirk on his turn.

"Hardly a place for a meeting," she mumbled as they began to walk.

"Shh," he promptly told her.

~ 0 ~

"This is hardly a place for a meeting," Citlalli would unknowingly repeat Okoye's words later on in the day. She and T'Challa walked side by side down the bustling city. "I am not wearing the right clothes, either." She fanned herself with her hand every now and then. It was a warm day today.

"Nothing wrong with a change of air," T'Challa shrugged his shoulders. He enjoyed watching her curious eyes gaze over the many stalls lining their sides. Despite being one of the people allowed in Wakanda-the only agent allowed for that matter-she'd never gone out of the palace during her visits.

"Of course not," Citlalli agreed, "But, as I said, I am here to talk business." She glanced over her shoulder and saw the Dora Milaje walking a good distance from them. Privacy reasons and whatnot. "And besides, we could save the Dora the walk, couldn't we?"

"They are fine. Trust me, Citlalli," T'Challa insisted. "What are we supposed to be talking about?"

Citlalli sent him a flattened-expressed glance. "Did you not read the file I sent you prior to this meeting?"

"Of course I did, I just wanted to make sure you read them. Have you?"

Citlalli couldn't help the smile that crossed her face. For a King, he was rather funny sometimes. She tucked a curl behind her ear and sighed. "Alright," she conceded with him. They could discuss their potential plans outside. It was actually rather beautiful outside anyways. "It's regarding the center you recently opened in Oakland. Stark is interested in aiding with the funding."

"I am very thankful for it but Wakanda is more than capable of taking care of the finances of the program," T'Challa said, purposely stopping in front of a stall.

Citlalli was forced to do the same without noticing what the stall was offering. She was focused on the conversation. "Of course, nobody doubts that. I certainly don't but the idea is-"

"Would you like some?" He offered her a small piece of bread.

"What?" She blinked at it, having been thrown in the middle of her conversation. "Are you listening to me?"

"Of course, what kind of person do you think I am?" He offered the bread again.

Citlalli sighed. "I didn't exactly bring money to go shopping."

T'Challa smiled at her. "My treat."

Citlalli raised an eyebrow at him. "Does that mean you will pay?"

Before T'Challa could explain to her how it usually went, the seller herself told her that it was really her treat. How could the King pay and much less a friend of the King?

With that, Citlalli had no choice but to accept the bread, or whatever it was. She took it from T'Challa and dropped it into her mouth. As soon as she started chewing, sweet flavors of honey and nuts flooded her mouth. "Oh, that is good," she covered her mouth as she went through the several stages of divine tasting.

T'Challa chuckled at her. "I thought you would like it. I remember you mentioning your like for honey."

"Mhm," she nodded. "You remembered that?" It'd been an off-handed remark in a conversation she could barely remember.

"Of course," he said in a matter-of-fact way that made her pause for a moment. She studied him.

"What is it?" T'Challa asked her when the studying lasted minutes.

"I am just trying to figure you out,"Citlalli shrugged. She began to move again, prompting him to do the same. "I never considered you to be the type of King who walks through his own city."

"Is that bad in your eyes?"

"No," Citlalli smiled at him. "It's humble."

"I am glad you think so. Can I show you something else? I think you might like it." T'Challa picked up his pace to reach another stall.

Citlalli had to sprint a bit to catch up. They ultimately stopped by a stall full of flashy jewelry. She was delighted at the sight-he knew that she loved accessories. Her favorite, though, were the...

"I thought you might like this one," T'Challa took one golden snake-head bracelet. She was always drawn to the serpents because of her background.

Citlalli's smile faltered at the sight of it. "Um..." she swallowed hard. "That's very beautiful but...I don't wear that stuff anymore, you know that."

T'Challa nodded. "Because you haven't found your people yet, but I have no doubt that you will."

Citlalli never knew whether or not she regretted telling him the story of her lost village. She trusted him to keep the secret to himself but she wasn't sure if she was alright with the fact that someone else knew about her personal mission, a personal mission that she was failing miserably at. "You are kind with your faith but my personal agendas should not be any of your concern," she offered him a polite smile. "You are King. You have enough on your to-do list."

"I will always make time for a friend." T'Challa suspected that if Okoye could hear the conversation, she would've scoffed for sure. He was guilty of wanting to offer Citlalli a lot more than friendship.

Citlalli lowered his hand with the bracelet to the stall. "Please," she whispered, eyes falling low with distinctive pain. "Can we go back to the meeting?"

T'Challa was alarmed with the hurt in her eyes. That was never what he intended and the fact that Citlalli even showed that type of feeling meant she was truly hurt about something. No doubt it pertained to that personal agenda she had. Ever since he met Citlalli, which had been under the worst circumstances due to his own pain with the death of his father, she always gave the aura of strength. She hadn't been nicknamed the Serpent in her village for nothing. She was strong, brave and best of all, a mediator. She liked solving problems and providing the justice that most people didn't get. But it appeared that her solitude was slowly getting the best of her.

Anyone would if they were separated from their people for as long as she'd been.

"Citlalli—" He tried to mend is mistake but she simply asked him if they could talk about the meeting again. He didn't want to make her feel any worse so he had to agree.

The rest of the day was, lamentably, all about the kinks of the outreach program and a few other potential programs they could start. At the end of the day, they returned to where they started. The jet was already waiting for Citlalli.

"Before I go," she said, "This was from Stark." She produced an envelope from her pocket.

"Do we have any idea what it is?" T'Challa raised the envelope to the sky to see a few words through the paper.

"I might," Citlalli rocked back and forth on her feet. T'Challa gave her an odd look until she answered, "I may have gotten one myself."

"Gotten what?"

"It's an invitation. Stark is throwing a birthday party for Miss Potts. Very nice place, very sunny place, so if you go, you should take that in mind for clothing preferences."

"Will you be attending?" T'Challa curiously asked her. He had no idea where that act of bravery came from but he thanked Bast that it came.

Citlalli sheepishly shrugged. "My relationship with Tony Stark is terse at times but I do appreciate what he is trying to do for people after, uh, what transpired with the Accords. Plus, Pepper is a good friend."

T'Challa had all the information he needed. "I will see you there."

Citlalli half smiled at him. He always spoke so easily, she envied it. For all her experiences with people, royalty, he always made her feel like she wasn't doing enough. He simply made her forget things she knew how to do, like talking. Why he kept such an open friendship with her, she had no idea. Surely there were other agents he could speak with.

You're the only agent allowed in Wakanda. What's that about? She ignored the warmth in her chest each time she remembered that detail. He'd chosen her to do Wakanda's business with whenever it came to speaking with the C.I.A. Why? It was an answer she never got an answer to and truth be told, she was a little afraid of what the answer was anyways.

"It was lovely visiting, as always," she spoke up after realizing she spent a lot of time thinking silently. "Your city..." she glanced at the city's landscape on their side, "It really is magnificent."

"Hopefully next time I will be able to show you much more of it," T'Challa said, really having faith that the next time she visited, he would get it right and be able to show her everything.

Citlalli nodded. She held a hand out to shake with him. T'Challa took her hand and shook it but just as Citlalli would pull her hand from his, he gripped it. She raised an eyebrow at him, curious. Had they forgotten to talk about something?

T'Challa would then raise her hand in his hand to press his lips over it for a kiss. Citlalli felt a deep warmth over her face. T'Challa looked at her from under his lashes, smiling at her in a way that spread the warmth down to her stomach. Butterflies would even arise.

"I hope to see you at that celebration," T'Challa lowered her hand between them but without letting it go.

Citlalli had to catch her breath before even thinking about speaking. "See you..." She swallowed hard, immediately feeling the cold when T'Challa let her hand go.

Very unprofessional! The voice in her head scolded. She turned to leave as soon as her feet responded. She couldn't trust herself if she stayed another minute.

T'Challa was left to watch the jet disappear in the sky. In a matter of seconds, Okoye had stepped up beside him. "Well, will you really be attending that celebration?" she curiously asked, eyes wondering over the invitation T'Challa held tightly in his hand.

"If it is my only chance, why not?" He countered, smiling to himself. He wasn't all that into the idea of being surrounded by unknown people but if Citlalli was there then it wouldn't be that bad.

~ 0 ~

Stark's choice of scene for the party was, as usual, a grand site. Even Okoye would admit to it, but everything else was irritating.

"This dress is far too uncomfortable," she grumbled to T'Challa as they walked in through the entrance. He wanted no Dora Milaje around today and the only way that would happen is if Okoye accompanied him.

"You could go back..." He said far too innocently for anybody to believe him.

She threw him a sharp look. "What for? Agent Del Rio has no quarrel having me around. Do you?" T'Challa purposely kept his gaze ahead of them. Okoye's smirk wasn't something he wanted to face.

They eventually came to the backyard, a large place for the party. There were far too many people around, none that really concerned T'Challa. He saw a few familiar faces amongst the crowd eventually, like Rhodey and Pepper. As politeness went, T'Challa moved towards the latter to wish her a happy birthday.

"Thank you for coming," Pepper smiled wide, especially when Okoye handed her their gift. "You really shouldn't have."

"I hope you like it," T'Challa sincerely said. His eyes swept over Pepper to see if he could finally spot Citlalli. Maybe she wasn't here yet.

"Tony!" Pepper called, motioning him to come over from wherever he was.

"The King!" They soon heard Tony's exclaim.

Okoye rolled her eyes as the man headed their way. To T'Challa's surprise, however, he was not alone. Citlalli was walking beside him, looking like she'd just entertained something no doubt Stark "funny".

"Nice of you to make it," Tony greeted the pair of visitors. "A change of sights doesn't hit bad, does it?"

"No," agreed T'Challa. He met Citlalli's gaze, brain racking to say something good to her as a greeting. The way she looked, though, would prevent much of that from happening.

Her curly hair had been tamed to one side again, braided to the tip. She wore a spaghetti-strapped white maxi dress with a bright turquoise flower pattern. There was a beaded necklace of browns and turquoise sitting around her neck with a large shiny brown stone in the center. With little makeup, she boasted her natural beauty, whether she realized it or not.

"Your majesty," she beat him to the greeting, just like she typically did.

T'Challa wondered when he would be able to say the first word to her. Probably when you stop staring at her. Perhaps then...or perhaps not. He tended to lose air when he was around. "Citlalli," he managed to say her first name this time around. Baby steps.

"Okoye," Citlalli flashed a smile at the woman. "I love the dress today. Red is your color."

"Thank you," Okoye pressed a hand down her side. "But I can't keep wearing this all day. How do you do it?"

Citlalli and Pepper laughed together. The former then admitted that she wasn't all that used to wearing dresses anymore. "When you're a C.I.A. agent, you don't really get a down time for leisure. But Miss Potts over knows her way around pencil skirts." Okoye's face might as well have said there'd been a murder.

"We are not going to stand here and discuss skirts, are we?" Tony pretended to be oh-so-tired already. "There's music, there's dancing, food, amazing drinks. Please enjoy."

"Please do," Pepper said in a much kinder manner. "And thank you for coming." She headed off with Tony.

"I must admit I thought you would not come," Citlalli said to the pair when the others had gone.

"Why?" T'Challa curiously asked her.

"I don't know..." she shrugged, suddenly looking shy which was one thing Citlalli Del Rio was not. "I didn't think you and Stark were that close, that's all."

"We are not, but it is a good idea to be on a amicable terms for both sides."

Citlalli nodded with an understanding that only they would understand. After the Accords, everyone knew that the ties between Stark and most of the Avengers had been thoroughly severed. "I am glad that you can do that," she said. "And I am also happy that you came."

Now that brought a good smile from T'Challa. "Really?"

Citlalli's eyes flickered to the side, hoping to calm that warmth in her face again. "Yes, I...I need to speak with you, actually."

Surprising given the location they were in, but T'Challa would take it. He glanced at Okoye, not needing to say it out loud. She could barely hold the struggle to not roll her eyes.

"I will be over there..." she excused herself and walked away.

"You look beautiful today, agent," T'Challa said as soon as they were alone for fear that he would lose his courage. It was all worth it when she smiled bashfully. Did he make her shy?

"Thank you," Citlalli found her voice a few seconds later. She couldn't help look him over—ignoring how utterly unprofessional it was—and concluded that he was as handsome as ever in his casual dark suit. If he moved, she would get a flicker of purple. "You look good," she returned when she was sure that she would be able to say it in one go.

"Would you like to dance?" T'Challa made a gesture to the ongoing dancing behind them. It wasn't quite his style but he could only dream of being that close to Citlalli and today he might just get the chance.

Citlalli's eyes flickered past him towards the dancing. "I was just dancing with Stark..." she started, already sounding weary as she began to remember it.

T'Challa chuckled at her expression. "I will not be like Stark."

"I doubt you could be," Citlalli said. "But I wanted to talk to you."

"Does it pertain to business?"

"No, not really."

"Then can we dance first? After that, I promise I am all ears."

Citlalli bit on her bottom lip as she considered the implications of a dance with him. It wasn't a slow dance but it did require for arms to be around each other's. Could she handle that? Whether or not she could, did she want to? Absolutely, she answered herself on the spot.

She finally gave him a nod. "Okay."

T'Challa reached for her hand, raising it first and foremost to kiss the back of it. She awarded him a soft smile in return. "Beautiful bracelet," he remarked as he led her towards the dance by the hand. Citlalli could feel his thumb grazing over the feathered jade-colored bracelet he mentioned as well as her skin. A ploy she wasn't really against.

"Thank you," she said once they stopped together. He turned to face her, picking up her hand against to hold on their side. "Hand made," she would say as she moved her free hand over his shoulder. She swallowed hard when his free hand slid behind her back. He had the gentlest touch.

"You don't say?" T'Challa sarcastically asked, making her chuckle.

"My aunt made it for me a while ago. She tried to get the most precious stones to make it," Citlalli explained as they started swaying to the music. "She tried to make it like home," she added in a quieter tone. Her gaze fell for a moment. Home was a raw subject even years after everything had occurred.

"That was very kind of her," T'Challa's voice would pull her out of her moment. He didn't know how he did it but he was glad he did. Citlalli met his eyes. "I have heard terrible stories of adoptive parents and their respective families. You have no idea the relief it brings me to know that it was not your case."

Citlalli half-smiled at him. "You shouldn't feel anything," she told him. "You've only known me for a year. Everything that happened to me was a long time ago."

"If it pertains to your well being, I will," he clarified.

"You simply care too much but I suppose that's what will inevitably make you a good king," she shrugged. "And a good friend."

Friend. It stung even though she used it so kindly on him.

T'Challa surprised her with a twirl. It had her laughing when she came back to him, leaning on him. He was smug when he grinned. "I can be many things, Citlalli."

She had to agree there. She peeled herself off him and continued to sway kindly to the music. "A good dancer, amongst those. Did Shuri teach you some of those moves?"

"The fact that you think I could only be a good dancer is if my baby sister taught me is quite offensive," T'Challa bobbed head as if he was doing his own little dance to the song. Citlalli giggled. She hardly did that too so when she did, T'Challa relished it. He may replay it in his head a couple times too.

"I would never offend you, your majesty," she drummed her fingers over his shoulder. "...but did she?"

T'Challa's face fell flat. When Citlalli started laughing again, he surprised her with another twirl. This time when she came back to him, he made it so that they were closer than before. Their foreheads would nearly press with their inch gap. She smelled sweet and floral, intoxicating and addicting. How dare she walk around like that and expect him not to fall for her? Because that's exactly what happened to him. He craved her presence whenever she wasn't around, and it was unfortunately like that most of the time. Her visits to Wakanda were sporadic just as his were to America.

Citlalli was very aware of their closeness and as much as she told herself to step away, her feet were only responding to the rhythm of their dance. If she were to move just an inch, maybe half an inch, something would happen that should not...but it was something that she really wouldn't mind either. "Uuh...can we talk now?" she thought to ask. Her question, though asked in a whisper, was still enough to break their moment.

T'Challa stepped back from her and nodded at her. She took his hand, an act that made things a little better for T'Challa, and led him away from the dance. She found a nice place on one of the garden sitting walls.

"What is troubling you, Citlalli?" T'Challa asked as soon as they were comfortable.

"I was thinking about the last time we saw each other and...T'Challa, I am so sorry for the way I behaved what that jewelry stall."

"What—"

"You were being kind and no matter what, I should have appreciated it. I know I have a hard attitude and sometimes I don't realize it then but I'm really sorry."

"Citlalli," T'Challa touched her cheek, an act that left her frozen while he spoke, "There was no problem there. My plan simply didn't result, but it wasn't your fault."

"Plan?" Her face scrunched. "What plan?"

"My plan to show you the city, of course, and see your smiles."

Citlalli's eyes flickered to the side in thought. "I...do not understand. I thought I was apologizing, it's been gnawing at my head since it happened."

"Please let it go, I hold no resentment. As if I could ever do that with you," T'Challa flashed her a smirk. "You do not see it, do you?"

"See what?" Citlalli watched him carefully. Her nerves were rising and she wasn't even sure why. Nothing was happening.

T'Challa's smirk faltered and soon it turned into a sad smile. "Nothing. This conversation did steer us towards something I wasn't sure how to best introduce."

"What do you mean?" T'Challa motioned her to give him a second. He shifted to better face her then reached for something in his inside pocket. Citlalli watched him pull out a small box. She was startled when he held it out for her. "For me?" she pointed at herself with wide eyes.

"Yes, I chose it with great care. Open it."

Citlalli was hesitant at first but who could say no to him? She couldn't. She took the box from him and pulled it open. Her eyes widened even more when she saw a coil, double wrapped, snake bracelet tucked inside. It was golden with the stones of the snake head in her traditional color of turquoise. "This is beyond beautiful!" she gawked. "Where did you get this from?" It was hard finding those two colors together, she would know.

"I had this made for you," T'Challa explained, earning her fully stunned face. "I know that you always have a hard time finding things that are close to your home. Wakanda may be a place far away from where the Aztecs lived but I hope that this makes home feel a little closer."

Citlalli didn't know what she felt except for the stinging of tears in her eyes. "Oh...this is...T'Challa, you really didn't have to do this. I-I can't take this." She closed the box quickly and tried handing it back to him but he wouldn't take it.

"It's yours, Citlalli. The Serpent," he reminded her of her old name.

"I used to be," she corrected him.

"No, not 'used' to be. You were a warrior for your people and you're still a warrior today. You're just a little lost."

"A 'little'," Citlalli said bitterly, more to herself than anyone else.

"There is nothing wrong with being lost so long as you try to get back on the right path." T'Challa reached a hand over to her cheek and cleared off her tears. "I would like to help in any way that I can."

Citlalli sniffed. "Why?"

T'Challa tilted his head at her. "Because I want you to be happy. It could be selfish of me but...I would like to be the reason you're happy. Whatever it is, I'd like to be it." Citlalli softly smiled at him. That smile counted for millions. "May I?" He motioned to the box. She nodded and opened the box for him. He pulled out the bracelet and took her wrist, gingerly sliding the bracelet down her skin. His hand caressed her skin as he secured the bracelet around her wrist. Citlalli felt the shudders from his touch and wished time would slow so that his fingers could stay over her like that.

"Thank you," she said meaningfully. She could thank him for everything and it would still feel like it wasn't enough.

T'Challa was on the same page as her. "Thank you." He would never have the right words to express his gratitude for everything she'd done for him since the moment they met.

Citlalli shyly met his gaze, lips quirking into a small smile. Words weren't enough, but actions were. T'Challa's fingers came to her chin, gently pulling her forwards a bit. He leaned the rest of the way and pressed his lips against hers. Citlalli's eyes fell shut with the contact. Time did stop for them in the end. Her lips easily moved with his, discovering how truly soft he was. Everything about him was, even when those same lips were used to make sarcastic little comments every now and then. Little did she know that he thought the same thing of her. She was always professional, never saying the wrong thing. Sometimes, he wished he could get her to do loosen up and that was coming from him. Either way, however she was, he wanted her to stay just like that.

T'Challa pulled away first. He lowered his hand from her chin to her hand. He found her fingers to interlace with his and to his delight, she gripped his hand in return.

"You know, in my village, our stones were so beautiful and valued that we would use them in our conversations to refer to anything that we found precious." Citlalli's lips stretched into a wide smile. "To me, you're as precious as any one of those stones, even more." She touched his cheek, her fingers stroking a few gentle circles over his skin. "It's just hard to admit it with my hard attitude and all..."

T'Challa chuckled lightly. "You keep that hard attitude. I don't want to change anything about you." Citlalli chewed on her bottom lip while her insides desperately fought off the intense heat when T'Challa wrapped an arm around her waist. "My Serpent," he whispered fondly.

Citlalli brought her hands to her shoulders. "We're at a party—" Her laugh was muffled by another of his kisses. "Hardly the way a King would act, no?"

"I think I'm doing exactly what I should be doing," T'Challa said proudly. Citlalli playfully rolled her eyes at him. "Would you like to dance again?"

"I...guess..." The party did seem a more cheerful suddenly. Citlalli ended up nodding.

T'Challa let her go to stand up then offered her his hand. This time there was no hesitation when she reached out to take it. He pulled her up to her feet then kissed her hand.

She smirked. He saw her knees bending but this time, he couldn't stop her. She bowed. "Your majesty!"

"You did not—Citlalli!" He exclaimed. "Stop that!"

She giggled as she straightened herself up. "I told you that you wouldn't be able to catch me one day."

"Really?" He raised an eyebrow at her. She nodded proudly. "Oh..." He pretended to accept his defeat only to snatch her body and pull her up to him. She yelped with the sudden yank. "Look at that, I just caught you," he said innocently.

Citlalli took in a deep breath and rested her hands on his shoulders again. "Game on, your majesty."

"Game on..." T'Challa laughed. He cupped her face and planted another kiss on her, a longer one that would leave them both in need of air.

[wonderlandmind4]

Alright. Now that I have time right now to write this, I’m going to acknowledge what happened today:

First, my day was busy as was my week and the next because I am helping nannying my special needs nephew and I haven’t been on here as I usually am as he is my priority right now. When I had time to do so, all I saw was a post about something that had happened with yet another fandom writer.

Second, I had to dig and serach and find out the events of today in this MCU/fanfic fandom, and when I did... I was extremely disappointed and heartbroken. and let me be clear, I was NOT feeling that towards this writer. But for the people, the fans, the admirers of color, of different race and backgrounds.

I have been a big fan of this writer for months, maybe even a year? Maybe more? I always read and responded to her fics and stories and thought she was a great writer. So, my disappointment fell big and fell hard and my heart aches for the fans who are angry, mad, hurt and disappointed.

Kentuckybarnes/Hannah had used a word that, to my understanding, she could have easily avoided.

She could have easily chosen not to use the word at all, could have chosen not to have Sam Wilson in her fic say it, and could have chosen not to use it as a content excuse/shock factor to other characters. I saw a screen shot of the scene, and it must have been something I haven’t read yet, or did read and didn’t know the word at all. If I did, I do not remember it, and usually I look up words I don’t understand. So, I looked this word up again to find it’s meaning and the definition I got was something else. THIS IS NOT TO SAY JUST BECAUSE THE DEFINITION SAYS ITS SOMETHING ELSE DOES NOT MEAN IT IS NOT OFFENSIVE OR HURTFUL TO THE FANS WHO ARE HURT AND OFFENDED BY THAT WORD AND THE USE AND THE CONTEXT IT WAS USED IN.

Listen, I’m going to acknowledge my privilege of being white and Puerto Rican with light skin and completely ignorant of this word, and how offensive and hurtful it was to fans. I haven’t heard of this word before and have never seen it used anywhere else, despite its definition. I had no idea of it, and now I do.

I do. And I’m acknowledging that yes, I think she did know that word could and would be offensive, and she used it anyway. If you have doubt of a word, of a sentence or phrase, then don’t use it. It’s easy to look up other unpopular “big” words to use in its place. A “shock factor” shouldn’t be because of a word that sounds so similar to a racial slur, said by a black man to stun and one up everyone then claiming he went to college. INSTEAD, she could have used something else and would have achieved the same “shock factor” by using another big word.

Kentuckybarnes/Hannah was called out publicly, after I’m assuming/saw she was confronted about it privately and still didn’t fix it or acknowledge it. As I said before, I wasn’t on for most of the day and I have no idea if she even tried to respond, or just straight up deleted her blog. I can understand doing that just to avoid hate. What I don’t understand is not even acknowledging what happened, not attempting to apologize and fix or rewrite anything. I think deleting the blog was a copout. Getting called out doesn’t mean you should just delete and run.

I think Hannah should have apologized, made a post and if she wanted to delete then do it after that. But even then I think it was lazy, hurtful, disappointing and wrong. ESPECIALLY during the Black Lives Matter and the protests going on, and what is happening and has been happening to black people.

Fans look up to their favorite writers on here. Fans admire writers, and inspire fans to write and create their own art for the fandom. Having this writer with such a big following and “voice” in this fandom doing what she did and how she responded broke hearts and deeply hurt fans of her writing, hurt her admirers who were and are offended. If these fans found it offensive and racist, you have no right to tell them it isn’t. No right to tell them how to feel about it.

I am sorry for every and any black fan who is hurting right now because of a lazy response and lack of action Hannah didn’t take.

Now, as for myself. I was recently called out by an anon who told me my reader inserts are not very relatable to POC fans, due to some physical descriptions. I have acknowledged the reason for that was because my reader inserts were written as OFC’s and still are on my AO3. The reason I changed the name to a reader was because of my own fear/insecurities that my fics/OFC’s wouldn’t be read or brushed aside because a lot of fans tend to hate OFC’s. However, I should have been more careful to truly change what I needed in order to make it a true neutral female reader; ie hair and blushing. I wasn’t aware of those things when I switched the OFC names to inserts. I am currently working on fixing those descriptions. And if I still happen to miss anything, please let me know.

Being called out, having things called to a writers attention shouldn’t be a reason to run and delete. You acknowledge, you thank them for being called out because maybe you weren’t aware, maybe you were and forgot to change things, or maybe you made a mistake and bad decision. No matter which way, you still need and can fix it. You owe any fan you offend or hurt to rewrite and/or revise whatever you were called out on and for.

I would also like to note that the post I found DID NOT call for hate. They did not condone sending hate to Hannah, but was calling her out for the initial issue. Another post was calling out the lack of response and that she straight up deleted. I know Hannah/Kentuckybarnes has good friends on this hell site. I know who those friends are...please do not send them any hate either. If you feel like they too should be called out, then do so civilized and please don’t tell someone to physically harm themselves because they’re a friend of someone else.

I hope anyone who was offended and hurt will take the time you need for yourself, step away if need be. Do not let anyone let you feel invalid for feeling the way you do. I am sorry this has happened.

[bengalaas]

5 questions for writers

I'm tagging myself from @dafan7711​'s recent post on this meme -- for Canticle of Chaos, a Dragon Age and Loki crossover WIP that's kinda discontinued right now, but still on my mind :)

Tagging @hollyand-writes​, @lucyrne​, @kindly-whisper-tolkien​, and anyone who wants to share about their own fics!

1. What idea started the story?

I wanted to write my take on how Thor and Loki could heal their relationship and move on after “Thor: Ragnarok”, and since I love Thedas and I love crossovers, I decided to make it a crossover. Then, as I was writing “The Gods of Lowtown”, I realised I needed to figure out in more detail what exactly had happened to Loki after his “fall into the abyss” Thedas equivalent, otherwise it was becoming an imbalanced story with lots of unintended mystery in Loki's background pulling the story away from Thor. So I started writing a prequel :) 

2. Did you outline? Did you stick to it?

I actually did outline an entire “Gods of Lowtown” trilogy PLUS the prequel. I had a goddamn cork board with pinned plot events and themes and everything :D 

“Canticle of Chaos” has a pretty straightforward plot line. It was not hard to stick to it, with only specific details filling out spontaneously.

3. What’s your favourite part of the story?

Valkyrie, Loki and an OFC chilling on a terrace right before it all goes to the dogs. Right before he realises he's grown complacent, is being drugged, has almost succumbed to Sloth; right before the Tevinters attack the town and he loses whatever little peace and acceptance he had gained. I packed that part with all the sounds and smells of a tropical night I could think of, and they're talking about the Old Dragon Gods of Tevinter, and it's beautiful :,)

4. Who is your favourite character and why?

Loki. The whole story is from his POV, so there's crazy interesting stuff I can do with him as an unreliable narrator due to his limited knowledge of stuff or with how he interprets things due to his previous experiences (which is not necessarily the objective truth). 

And I realise that, as I was writing, I was moving farther and farther away from the canon Loki (although, considering what Marvel did to him, what is canon anyway). He was becoming increasingly OOC, but... I liked him. That development made sense to me, considering the different world and circumstances. And through Loki I got to delve so deep into the philosophy of the Qun, and magic, and what is chaos and order, how it relates to the Qun and the Old Gods; and how do you survive in an alien culture; and how do you survive in your own culture afterwards, because you cannot just unthink those changes. Through him, the whole story becomes about trying to align two alien cultures and ways of thinking while trying to find his place in life. And amass some serious power, because, hey, it's still Loki, and he kicks ass. (He was supposed to kick Solas' ass bigtime, by the time I'd have gotten to the fifth part of that trilogy lol)

5. What surprised you as you wrote?

That it... made sense? As crazy as the premise sounds, I think it had an internal logic. Even the potential for a Loki/Dorian Pavus ship started to make sense.

But mostly I was surprised that it became so important to me, with all those philosophical questions, but yeah, the way Loki tries to align the rigid truths of the Qun with the more liberal outlook of the Andrastian Thedas is important and personal for me.

It's discontinued because, being a weird and non-shippy crossover, it got like zero kudos between last May and November, and the last comment was in March. I just burned out on it and the entire MCU fandom. For the above reasons, I would like to continue “Canticle of Chaos” someday, though not sure about publishing. And... I believe it's one of my best fics. Dark, but... inspired. I hope I can get back to it someday.

[userseokkie]

explain what u meant by that tag "i could say so much abit this"

(talking about this post)

woop sorry for the late reply but i have a lot of Feelings about civil war in general and i wanted to be thorough about this lmao also thanks for caring enough to read my tags!!

basically this entire sequence when they are presented with the Accords makes me want to fucking scream, first of all bc of Team Dynamics™

as much as Civil war ruined the “team as family” fanon that a lot of us had going on, it really showed some precious gems right before it all went to shit. like the fact that they’re all living in the upstate compound now, living in close quarters and just hanging out in the main living room? it’s all there, in what they don’t show us but tried to allude to in context. from steve hanging out in wanda’s bedroom (which vision is apparently next to) to the main kitchen having all the food and stuff they all use, which you know is very important because food as comfort is one of the main things Tony uses for self care, so the fact that he makes sure they’re stocked with all the coffee, tea, etc that each one likes…. it’s perfect. 

i always thought that age of ultron for all the shit it gets was really good at giving us the reason for the team to become even closer than before. ultron really made them work together bc it was a threat that in a sense, came from the inside, and in civil war, in those few precious shots we have from them right before the conflict, it tells the story of a group of misfits that got a bunch of scraps and pieces and glued it together to make a family. like stitch would say “it’s my family. it’s little, and broken, but still good.” 

when Tony is trying to stall and figure out the way he’s gonna tell them about charlie spencer, he’s splayed on the chair with his arms wrapped around himself, obviously trying to soothe himself, and ofc the ever observant one, Nat notices. 

Natasha romanoff is a lot of things, but trust me i could count on ONE hand the number of times she’s shown explicit fondness of someone and still have fingers left. and here, that is exactly what she’s displaying. she’s looking at Tony with fondness on her face, because she notices everything, always, but whether she chooses to acknowledge that it’s a whole different story. And Tony is so obviously in discomfort, just sitting there stewing on his own thoughts, trying to figure out the way he’s gonna broach the subject… that Nat just has to give him that little nudge, that squeeze on the arm right before you say ‘hey, it’s me. you can tell me.’ 

“Tony, you’re being uncharacteristically non-hyper verbal.” god just hug him already Natasha, you’re basically already on his lap. That says a lot about the dynamic of Nat and Tony’s relationship, how Nat can read him like a book but at the same time, there’s always gonna be that second guessing where she says ‘but do I really?’ because i mean, she’s been there since the beginning, since she was Natalie Rushman and Tony stark was Dying And Having A Lot Of Feelings. I think that Nat recognizes how much she underestimated Tony during that time, and decided to change her modus operandi in that sense but with a lot of weariness still, because this is Tony Stark and he’s as unpredictable as they come. But once AoU happened, once Tony admitted he fucked up and moved the team upstate, I think Nat decided somewhere along the ride that brooding Tony is way more hard to get information out of, but also, maybe comforting him once in a while would be good for both of them. I think Nat can get really into that mindset of being the caretaker, and coaxing Tony into verbalizing what he Actually feels and not just what he Thinks everybody wants to hear is a job that Nat happily takes. and god could i go on about dominant/submissive undertones in their relationship and how Tony just goes soft as goo for Nat when she takes care of him but i digress. this also makes sense within the official MCU narrative when you realize Tony and Pepper were broken up during this. Tony is naturally drawn to strong, intimidating women, we been knew

but then what happens? Steve butts in, “that’s because he’s already made up his mind.” and ofc Tony takes that as a sign of confrontation. “Boy you know me so well,” and as quickly as Nat had coaxed him out of his shell, he ups and leaves, retreating to the kitchen where he tries to stop his hands from shaking as he pours some coffee. His body language in this bit is incredible and one day I’m gonna have to personally thank RDJ for putting so much thought into Tony’s non verbal acting. So he makes a quip about the coffee grounds in the disposal, classic misdirection to avoid talking about his feelings. I know this because I’m the same as Tony. Whenever faced with the possibility of opening up and showing even an ounce of vulnerability, if i feel like that might make me look weak I lash out at anybody else, making verbal attacks and just trying to divert attention from myself. It’s a stalling technique, which Tony quickly gives up because he knows he has to tell the team about Charlie spencer. 

This body language both from Tony and the rest is amazing, there’s an awesome meta from knightinshiningarmor somewhere he she expertly points out that Tony the Business Man really jumps out in here, and generally whenever there’s conflict, because that’s his instinct. He grew up in a world where the media and the people tried to take him apart, so the crossing of arms, the puffed out chest, and the jaw turned upward are classic signs of Intimidation Tactics meant for conference rooms, etc. 

So when that’s already out in the open, and Steve makes it clear that he doesn’t think the same way as Tony, you see Vision and Wanda realizing they too have to take sides. And then it goes back to nat, who has this brief moment of realization, and knows she has to play it well in order to avoid a falling out from happening between Steve and Tony. 

“Maybe Tony’s right.”

and LMAO at their fucking reactions. literally everyone in that room was like “wait what?” including Tony which, kill me, he’s so fucking used to people disagreeing with him and arguing he’s crazy that he can’t fucking believe Natasha Romanoff, the deadliest, most no-bullshit woman he has ever met, can even agree with him. So finally, after a thousand words of me rambling, I can answer your question. I have SO many things to say about this exchange because of what it represents. On the one hand, it’s more of that stupid trope Joss Whedon started and the Russo brothers decided to follow in for whatever bullshit reason. i’m talking about the ‘oh haha, Tony is so unreasonable, so stubborn so why would anyone listen to him???’ trope that they played up in the first Avengers. the whole he doesn’t play well with others, he’s a narcissist, etc bullshit that somehow stuck for three whole movies (Avengers, Iron Man 3, Avengers AoU). 

But on the other hand, it’s so endearing, at least to me, how these dumb dorks bicker and argue back and forth for like twenty minutes, meanwhile Tony is still not over Nat agreeing with him. He’s on cloud nine. Look at him

Everyone else can go FUCK themselves, Natasha just agreed with me!!!!!! :D 

And ofc this says a lot about Tony’s need for approval, which stems from daddy issues obviously but now I believe it has evolved into something else, like the fact that it’s reassurance that he can still be better and he can still be redeemed in the eyes of the people he cares about the most. It’s also a huge mine for Tony has a big praise kink meta and fanfic about how Tony just melts whenever Nat or others compliment him and take care of him

So THAT happens and Nat teases him for it, because she knows he gets so attached to that kind of thing so fast and she might even like it tbh? At the same time, if you look at it through casual fan lenses, it’s really annoying because it sends the message that ‘ohhh no, Tony cannot think Nat agreed with him because he’s crazy and his ego might grow even MORE and he may turn into a megalomaniac villain if people give him due credit!!!!1!’ 

But Nat’s face, her raised eyebrow and slight turn at the corner of her lips gives me enough proof to believe she’s just messing with him, because at this moment, they could not possibly imagine that things would blow up the way they did, so nat is just trying to diffuse the tension…. and still trying to measure Tony’s reaction so she can plan ahead and take the best course of action for Steve and Tony to talk it out. Nat is the biggest mediator during Civil War, which was a good choice in my opinion because she’s one of the most analytical and logical characters, and has enough experience from ‘both sides’ (i.e. outside and inside of the law) to see both points of view, with a grey enough moral compass. 

so yeah, anyway that is my dissertation on what this Civil war scene means to me and why i always yell internally when i watch that freaking movie. I love all the characters’ dialogue and dynamics up until the last part of the movie, and it gives me so much material for character analysis and meta. Thank you for your interest and i hope no one kills me for clogging your dash with this, (i’m on mobile!)

[midnight-serpentine-blog]

FAQ

In General

Do you take requests? My guy, without requests, this blog will go dry very quickly. We are high maintenance and require a lot of attention.

Will you write all requests that you receive? We reserve the right not to write a request if we don’t vibe with it. We will explain why we won’t, and whining won’t change our minds. Otherwise we will do our absolute best to see that all requests get written.

What if I don’t like something in your fics? If you see something wrong in our fics, feel free to let us know politely. If you are rude, we will make a note of what annoyed you and we will feature it prominently in our following fics until you (or someone nicer than you) asks nicely for us to change it. If it is a trigger we won’t do that, obviously, but we will do our best to tag so that doesn’t happen. Don’t read things if they have a trigger warning for something that triggers you. I shouldn’t have to say it, yet here we are. If you dislike the characterization, we can open up a dialogue and maybe we’ll write you one with a characterization that you prefer. Or maybe we’ll tell you to shove it. Depends on how things go. If you dislike the things we write about (e.g. Death Eaters from Harry Potter), then don’t f***ing read that fic. Blacklist it, whatever. We know why and how they are problematic, we just dgaf. It’s for fun.

Why don’t you have a masterlist/other Tumblr things? We are new to this whole writing thing, Midnight to Tumblr in general, and Serpentine has never written her own post before, so be patient. We are learning this whole thing as we go, and it was meant as more of an experiment than a job anyway. We will do our best to make a masterlist and make the blog easy to search, but it has a learning curve, so don’t be surprised if we don’t manage right away (or ever)

Do you have a tag list? We could try?

How often do you update? Depends on how much love and attention we get. If we get a lot of requests, we’ll be doing a lot of writing, Real Life™ allowing.

Can I reblog? If you make sure our names are still on it, you do what you like, my guy.

Can I tag you in things? Can I give you an internet hug? Ofc. Remember what I said about attention?

Can I message you? If it is for requests, we’d prefer you keep it in the asks, but if you wanna say something, then sure. Keep it PG for Serpentine’s virgin eyes tho. (Serpentine can deal with it, don’t be a wuss - Midnight) (You’re a wanker - Serpentine)

What don’t you write? Incest, non-con, A/B/O (bc Midnight will die), m-preg, underage anything ever, etc. Just keep it level guys. Don’t make it weird.

What happens with any original fiction that you post? I won’t post much of it, and it won’t be anything that I ever have intentions on making into A Thing™ so it’s basically just like our fanfics, go ahead and reblog if you feel just keep our names attached. Also, try not to write anything based off of it or anything like that, but if it sparks something, you do you. We’re reasonably chill until you’re a dick. (Then we’re chillier than a frost giant’s cold shoulder - Midnight)

What happens if I want to be a prick about your writing while on anon? Come at me, bro.

What types of requests do you take? We’re going to try to have a prompts list, or borrow some from fellow writing accounts that are okay with others using their lists, but prompts that you come up with are definitely great! Imagines, multi-chap fics, one-shots, drabbles, headcanons, it’s all fair game.

Serpentine

Name/Nickname: Serpentine, Holly, Andy

Age: 18

Pronouns: she/her/My Lady

How would you describe yourself: I would not

Are requests open: Yes

What do you like writing most: Fluff. I love it when everyone is peaceful.

What do you like writing least: Character bashing. Sometimes I have to for the sake of the plot, but it hurts.

Who do you write for: Marvel - Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Loki, Thor, Dr. Strange, Clint Barton, Pietro Maximoff (he didn’t die hmmm nope), Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal only), Brock Rumlow (don’t say anything Midnight, I know he’s a dick, leave me alone), Anatoly Ranskahov, Vladimir Ranskahov. Harry Potter - Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Charlie Weasley, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, Draco Malfoy, Antonin Dolohov, Thorfinn Rowle, Rodolphus Lestrange (although I characterize him as fatherly more than anything), Rabastan Lestrange (although don’t expect mental stability), Fenrir Greyback, Corban Yaxley, Evan Rosier, Lucius Malfoy (if we go AU), Lucissa (Narcissa Black nee Malfoy + Lucius Malfoy), Theodore Nott, Blaise Zabini, Regulus Black, Jily (James + Lily), Sily (which is my take on Sirius + Lily, though mostly they are platonic sometimes I think hmm). I have a lot of my own personal headcanons for nearly all of these characters because I have spent many years of my life ‘living’ in the Wizarding World when I should have been doing my homework, so if something doesn’t vibe for you, I apologise, but I am very specific about my Harry Potter. 

POV & Other Characters: These can be OC or reader, platonic and romantic or unpaired accepted. For Harry Potter, I can also write them as Hermione Granger (like most HP fics are tbh). As for other characters, it’s all negotiable, but with Harry Potter fandom Slytherin characters are much more likely to get the OK bc I’m House biased (Go Snakes). The ones marked as couples are only written as couples, so don’t try to make me pair dear James Potter with anyone other than his Lily.

How long does it take to write a request: If I’m inspired, maybe an hour or two. Now when I post it...

Open to ask memes: Absolutely the hell yes. I love talking about myself.

Special Rules: I do not write smut (yet, bc I am innocent in the ways of the flesh), but I will yeet those to Midnight and I’ll do my best to take any other requests and if y’all wanna drop nasty imagines into the ask box or something, we’re all ears (eyes?). I will write poly ships, though again I reserve the right to decide how (e.g. M/M or nah) and there will be no sin.

Midnight

1. Name/Nickname: Midnight, Kai, (Barnes)

2. Age: 19

3. Pronouns: she/her/Soldat

4. How would you describe yourself: I... am basically a less intimidating Winter Soldier (memory problems, depression, anxiety) and an MCU genderbent Loki because I can be a sneaky little shit

5. Are requests open: YEET

6. What do you like writing most: Fluff. Any time I get to make scary assassins do domestic things... I am there for that

7. What do you like writing least: Death. Why y’all gotta do me dirty like that? There’s more than enough in the MCU alone guys. Can’t we just pretend we live in the Everybody Lives AU?

8. Who do you write for: Marvel - Loki Odinson, Thor Odinson, Tony Stark, Doctor Stephen Strange, Bucky Barnes, Peter Quill, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov, T’Challa, Peter Parker (aged up), Pietro Maximoff, Wade Wilson (Deadpool), Gamora DC - Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne, Diana Prince, Clark Kent, Connor Kent, Dick Grayson, Steve Trevor, Tim Drake, Wally West, Barry Allen, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Catwoman, Damian Wayne (aged up), Kaldur’ahm, Jaime Reyes, Bart Allen (aged up), Roy Harper (if you want YJ’s Red Arrow, please specify, otherwise my default is Arsenal), Hal Jordan Assassin’s Creed - Altair, Ezio

9. POV & other characters: I prefer reader inserts, however, if you would like an OC I would recommend naming the OC with a nickname so it makes it nicer for other readers to enjoy it. I will do specific ships if I ship them or I know enough about the ship. (eg WonderTrevor, SuperWonder, Stony, Stucky, IronStrange etc) I am also pretty okay with writing smut, but I may not be able to for specific characters/ships due to lack of experience in writing the sin, lol. (and yes, I will take your smut requests for Serpentine’s characters, and work with her to achieve the correct characterization, so long as time permits us to work on it in a timely fashion)

10. How long does it take to write a request: Depends on how busy I am, the alignment of the stars, the weather… jk, in truth, I can be very busy and also have to manage my own health so it can be from a half hour (if I’m really inspired) to up to a week or two. (I will try my best to turn out work in a decent time though, and if I have to ask Serpentine for help I will)

11. Special Rules: Already covered, I guess? Just bear with me on getting things out on time.

Please note; most of this was written by Serpentine at 3 am, I (Midnight), only wrote my own FAQs, also at 3 am. If none of this makes sense, that would be why. Serpentine rarely makes sense without supervision, so feel free to ask for clarification if the wording is awkward.

[icarusmarked-blog]

allow me to meta for 1924234 seconds about Tony Stark & Accountability. 

UNDER READ MORE FOR CONVENIENCE ! 

my favorite thing in the world to talk about. tony stark ever since the first iron man has always taken responsibility for his actions. it’s apart of his character. tony’s that character who is AWARE of his privilege & what that means in the broader context of things.   

he’s made many mistakes in his life , but after being kidnapped & tortured in afghanistan & learning that his OWN WEAPONS WERE BEING USED BY THE ENEMY , he made the decision to scrap weapons making for good. to use his genius to better the world but in safer ways : ( like clean energy. we need more at that. all of it. save the trees ). & you see that through out the other movies as well , through out the course of MCU is tony holding himself accountable for his actions.

ultron ? he 100% shoulders the blame for that himself. even though bruce worked with him too on the project , & wanda’s manipulations prompted him to kickstart his idea for a world peace keeper , tony 100% owns up to ultron. he knows what he did. he knows how it affected the team. & you best believe he worked his ass to rectify what he’s done , even if he thought he was in the right at the time. 

so like i finally , finally , finished rewatching civil war & honestly blame everything that occurred to the characters on bad writing. but the sake of the meta , i’m just gonna focus on tony & how his actions correlate to accountability. with wanda & pietro , although it wasn’t tony who pressed the button that sent the missle it WAS tony who created the weapon. & he will let wanda be mad at him. because let’s be real there are a lot of people tony lets just hate him ? because it’s easier ? because he’s not going to force people to change their opinion of him. 

but the accords come , yeah. they’ve probably been int he works for a while , since the battle in new york where while they saved lives , there were casualties. in sokovia , a whole city was leveled. & when tony is met with the mother of a boy who had died in sokovia , the battle grounds of the last avenger movie , it hits the same chord in tony again that hit him in im1. 

that it was HIS responsibility to do something. that if he claims to be a hero , he’s going to fucking HOLD HIMSELF ACCOUNTABLE & fix it. now obviously cw is different in mcu v comics bc in the comics , there are more variables & players at play which i acknowledge. & the comics made the sides much , much more gray than they did in the movie. where honestly the movie was just a hodgepodge of mess. 

so when the accords are made , signed by 177 ( 117 ? idk i know it was basically the whole damn globe agreeing on one thing ) countries saying that the avengers need to be held accountable because there were MAJOR BATTLES that resulted in MAJOR CASUALTIES with what occurred in lagos being the icing on the cake for a move that was a long time coming ? yes tony wants it. because he has seen what happens when he lets his ego slip , fools himself to thinking he doesn’t need to do more than build weapons & run a company , & it’s not pretty. it still haunts him to this day. 

the entire WORLD was asking for accountability. tony said it himself in the avengers movie , that they would avenge the world. what are the avengers if they don’t LISTEN to the voices of the very thing they’re trying to protect ?

through out the movie he attempts to compromise , because he knows that as of right now the accords don’t sit right with everyone. & he’s willing to work around because hey ! this is his expertise ! business deals & appeasing big wigs & making people happy. he was probably thinking of settling , for now , & then continuously working on a better system for the avengers to work under so that by let’s say , a year or two ? it’s a harmonious relationship for both the world & the avengers. because lbr if an alien invasion was coming ( which it will i see you i.nfinity w.ars ) then ofc they’d send the avengers. who else is equipped to handle that ? 

& it always resonates with me how he shows the picture of the boy to the avengers after the announcement of the accords. because it makes the situation so much realer. because that’s the reason why he says yes. children are the future. & their actions , while GOOD , had also brought BAD RESULTS. ( granted i’m probably reading so far into this ). & their actions ? wiping out the next wave of generations.to tony , yes they fought to save the WORLD from ultron , but sokovia suffered & he saw an angry , grieving , mother come at HIM with her rage. because that’s where it turns to : on the avengers who saved the world but not the son who was doing a good thing in sokovia. that anger resonates with him. suddenly , he takes the blame & he’s ready to do whatever is required to make things right. 

which is really , what tony always try to do although the way he goes about it doesn’t make sense to everyone. or the way he goes about it can be really problematic. but tony is the first one to own up to his shit , & the first one to make it right. & i think , due to writing , that doesn’t really shine PROPERLY for tony as it should. 

do i think he was right in ca: cw ? no. do i see where he’s coming from ? yeah i do. am i excited for spiderman homecoming this weekend ? you bet your bottom dollar. did i just burn my tongue on some orange chicken ? fuck yEAH I DID. 

[andinewton]

Healing the Hurt - Avengers Redemption Series - Part Two - Chapter 56 - Epilogue 2

Characters: Bucky Barnes, Amelia Richards (OFC), pretty much everyone from the MCU appears at some point!

Pairings: Bucky x Amelia (ofc)

Warnings:  Chronic pain, physical disability, implied smut, eventual smut, swearing, fertility issues, pregnancy, angst with a happy ending, Stark has a heart.

Word Count:  151372 (complete with additional epilogues added)

Summary: 
Everything is going well at Avengers Tower, Bucky is integrating into the team slowly but surely; he longs for his confidence back but knows it's going to be a long road, never more than when he meets the new secretary at his doctor's office.

Amelia Richards is a career SHIELD agent, recruited straight out of college into the "company" but now she finds herself passed around from department to department, her latest position as a secretary at Avengers Tower proving monotonous compared to her former life, but when James "Bucky" Barnes walks into her office one Friday evening everything changes…

Join Bucky as he rediscovers parts of himself he had thought long lost with someone who considered herself broken for a long time, helping one another heal in more ways than one…

Master List

I can’t find the artist for this manip, if anyone knows can they please let me know so I can give proper credit please!

Chapter 56 - Epilogue 2

Summary:  It's April Fool's Day, and the team have something special lined up for Tony...

‘He isn’t going to fall for it.’ Clint shook his head, looking at the rest of the team around the table. ‘I bet he will.’ Amelia leant back in her seat. ‘He’s so distracted with this research he hasn’t even noticed us all plotting this for weeks.’ ‘She has a point.’ Steve reminded them it had been almost a month since he first made the suggestion and so much planning had gone into it. Now it was the thirty-first of March and tomorrow was go day. ‘She does, but why do I have to be Natasha?’ Clint asked and Nat punched him in the arm where he sat beside him. ‘You know why.’ Steve replied. ‘You know her almost as well as you know yourself and you will be able to mimic her mannerisms perfectly.’ ‘It would be so much easier if you would just allow me to coat us all in illusion.’ Loki argued, as he had for the last month.

‘That’s not as fun as this way.’ Steve insisted and Loki shrugged dismissively. He had offered, and it would have been more accurate, but Steve and the rest of the team had convinced him that this way would be more fun and as the God of Mischief he should be able to appreciate it. ‘And your power does leave a small trace of an energy signature.’ Amelia pointed out. ‘If you used enough it could be a giveaway something is going on.’ ‘Very well.’ Loki had been chosen to change identities with Thor, as they knew one another best, just as Clint had with Nat, and Steve with Bucky. Sigyn had been left out as she wasn’t on active duty due to being pregnant, and as Amelia was based in New York there was no reason for her to be sent on a mission to have it include her. Bruce was currently in Korea, which left the six of them. Tony was in Miami but would be back here, at the compound later that night, so it would be feasible the team could be sent on a mission without him. ‘You know what you have to do?’ Steve looked at Amelia who nodded. ‘When we know he’s back at The Tower we’ll give him an hour to settle in then I’ll go get him and bring him to the conference room. Tell him there’s been an emergency and the medical teams are stumped so it’s down to us to try find an answer.’ ‘And you have all the data you need falsified?’ Clint checked. ‘Of course she has.’ Nat punched him again. ‘Right, Milly?’ ‘It’s been falsified for weeks, hidden away on my laptop.’ ‘Tony has your password.’ Clint again. ‘To unlock it. Not everything on there is immediately accessible.’ ‘Or easily.’ Nat backed her up. They had a bit of a hobby, the two of them, where Amelia would write something and code it, it was up to Nat to try and unlock it. Meeting Amelia had raised the bar of computing on the team and Nat, while beyond competent herself, was willing to learn more. Having said that, some of the things Amelia seemed to find natural even Nat couldn’t work out. ‘Trust me, I’ve tried, and if I can’t get into it even Stark with his evil little button of knowledge can’t.’ Amelia gave her a grateful smile. Clint didn’t actually doubt Amelia’s abilities, she had proven herself to the team time and again, and had a reputation in the intelligence community that could make her a target, if her details ever got out, that anyone would be proud of. What Clint was concerned about was that Tony would bust them before they even got started. ‘Are we all in?’ Steve asked in a tone with finality about it. ‘I’m in.’ Bucky shrugged, thinking it was a hilarious yet non harmful prank and that Stark, being as distracted as he was at the moment, was the perfect victim. Everyone else agreed and Amelia couldn’t help but smirk. She owed Tony for all the teasing he had been doing since Bucky’s birthday.

At eight minutes past two in the morning Amelia was woken by FRIDAY, letting her know Tony was asleep on the couch in the computer lab. By half past two she had woken all the team and the plan was go. They were all getting dressed and would meet her and Tony in the conference room. Wanting to remain authentic to the plan of this being an emergency Amelia stayed in her pyjamas, throwing on sneakers and heading up to the lab. Putting her laptop on her desk she plugged it in and ran her files that would back up their story before going through to the break room where Tony was passed out face down on the black couch, one arm above his head as he snored softly. She bit her bottom lip, taking a second to compose herself before rushing into the room and shaking him by the shoulder. ‘Tony! Wake up!’ She said urgently and he stirred with a small groan. ‘I’m jus’ restin’ m’eyes.’ He grumbled as he focused on her. ‘What’s happening, Angel?’ ‘Some monumental fuck up.’ She pulled on his shirt. ‘The mission went okay, but they triggered something in the lab, and things are, well, weird.’ ‘Weird is normal here, little science sis.’ He yawned as he pulled himself into a sitting position. ‘What kind of weird are we dealing with?’ ‘New weird.’ She shook her head before heading to the door. ‘You have to come up to the conference room. It’s just…weird.’ Tony frowned. Not a lot fazed Amelia, at least not if it didn’t concern the team’s wellbeing, one super soldier in particular, but she seemed on edge, and was still in her pyjamas. ‘Okay, kid, stay calm, why don’t you tell me on the way?’ ‘Sure.’ He followed her out of the break room and she indicated to her laptop as they passed. ‘The team said it was all good, I got all the data I could and started running it, and I went to bed to get a few hours sleep. FRIDAY woke me up and it’s just a mess.’ ‘What’s a mess? You’re scaring me here.’ ‘Everyone is okay, but after I went to bed they triggered whatever it is they triggered and…you kind of have to see it.’ ‘Okay.’ He said uncertainly as he followed her as she hurried down the hallway towards the conference room. ‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you.’ She said as she opened the door. Tony looked around; as far as he could see there wasn’t anything odd. The team stood or sat around the table, Sigyn glanced at the doorway, her long t-shirt loose over her bump and sweats, before turning back to Thor before her and carrying on speaking. ‘You guys are idiots.’ She said simply. ‘Not really idiots, love, more unlucky.’ The words were Loki’s but it was Thor who spoke them and Tony assumed he had been mistaken. ‘What happened, Cap?’ He turned to Steve but it was Bucky who answered. ‘If we knew that, Tony, we wouldn’t be having this meeting.’ Tony continued to frown so Clint, or rather Clint pretending to be Natasha, said; ‘Milly, didn’t you fill him in?’ Tony did a double take. No one. Absolutely no one, got to call Amelia Milly other than Nat. ‘I didn’t know how the fuck to start, Nat!’ She said in frustration. Something clicked in Tony’s brain. The way Thor stood unnaturally close to Sigyn, as Loki always did, that Loki stood some distance away, arms folded and serious. Steve sat at the table, rubbing a hand over his jaw thoughtfully, while Bucky stood confidently, one hand on the back of Steve’s chair. Nat sat in one of the chairs, leant all the way back with one foot rested on the edge of the table, while Clint sat forward, his arms folded on the tabletop. ‘Whoa, what?’ ‘The old body switcheroo.’ Amelia looked at him as his eyes darted around. ‘What the hell are we meant to do? The medical team have discharged them as there’s nothing wrong, we just have to hope we can find something in the data on how to get them back.’ ‘Wait, Cap?’ He pointed to Bucky who nodded, his face serious. ‘Barnes?’ Steve waved his hand slightly. ‘Nat and Clint?’ ‘You got it.’ Nat replied. ‘Thor and Loki?’ Sigyn stalked around the table towards Stark and he had a moment to realise that pregnant women could be terrifying. ‘Tony, please tell me you can fix this? I can’t go to bed with Thor in Loki’s body, or Loki in Thor’s body! And don’t even finish that sentence you’re about to say if you suggest I take both of them!’ She waved her finger at him. ‘Geez, okay, Cherry, I get it. No brotherly love for you.’ He lowered her hand. ‘Why don’t you go get some rest while I find out what the hell happened and Amelia and I will see what we can do? It’ll all look better in the morning.’ ‘How can it look better?’ She asked frustratedly as Thor, no, Loki in Thor’s body, as far as Tony was concerned, came over and took her hand. ‘Come on, petal, I’ll tuck you in and come back.’ Thor said, the words sounding wrong in his voice instead of Loki’s. ‘No, I’ll take myself to bed, you just work on whatever fuck up this is and fix it!’ She glared at Stark as she said the last. ‘We’ll do everything we can.’ Amelia said reassuringly and Sigyn patted her arm. ‘I know you will.’ She gave her a wink, her back to Tony, then left the conference room. She was tired, being pregnant was harder work than she thought, and would be happy just to catch up on how the prank was doing in the morning. ‘Okay, someone start talking.’ Tony pulled out a chair and took a seat as Steve got to his feet and helped Amelia into a chair while Bucky had to physically stop himself from doing so. They had discussed this, Steve was Bucky's best friend and Amelia's friend too, but when Steve pressed a small kiss to her hair he clenched his jaw, turning his attention to Tony, knowing he was supposed to be Steve. Steve took his seat again and then Amelia’s hand, just as Bucky did whenever they were close enough. ‘We don't actually know what happened.’ He started, folding his arms to keep from touching Amelia himself. ‘A trip wire as we left, maybe a delay to make sure we were all hit, but there was a blue flash of light and when it passed, this.’ He held his hands out in front of him. Amelia had been tapping on her Stark phone and flicked her wrist to create a floating display. ‘Security footage. Came in after I went to bed.’ She ran the video they had recorded a few days ago of them in a mocked up lab, a sudden flash that shut down the feed. ‘The readings are being analysed as we speak but I've never seen anything like it...oh my God, Clint, please stop fiddling with your bra!’ Every head shot around to Nat. She and Amelia had discussed this but not told anyone else about it so their surprise would be genuine.’ ‘I can't help it!’ She grabbed the wires of her bra and shifted them around. ‘How the hell do you girls manage with these things? It’s like being in a brace!’ ‘Try going without.’ Amelia grimaced. ‘Oh, I’m going to.’ Clint seemed to realise he was meant to be Natasha and slapped her in the arm. ‘Quit playing with them or I’ll tell Laura!’ Nat gave him an unimpressed look. ‘I’m just getting a new sympathy for women’s underwear.’ ‘Well, get your sympathy without your hands!’ Amelia was fighting so hard not to laugh and Bucky kicked the back of her chair, grateful that Tony’s attention was taken by Clint’s apparent boob grabbage. ‘Anyway,’ he said, trying to get the plan back on track, ‘we need to shower and change. Can you two make a start in the lab?’ Tony turned back around finally. ‘Sure.’ ‘Like I said, I already have the data running.’ Amelia reminded him. ‘But I have no idea what we’re going to find.’ ‘Then let’s get to it, reconvene in the lab.’ Those who were seated got to their feet, Bucky again having to resist his instinct to help her out of her chair, but Steve did it so naturally it was weird to watch. ‘I’ll see you soon, sweetheart.’ Steve gave her a sideways smile. ‘I won’t be far.’ She said as she stepped back. ‘Hey.’ They turned as Tony spoke. ‘What?’ Amelia asked. ‘This is your chance to kiss Steve and not get any flack for it. Just because Sigyn doesn’t want to indulge, maybe you should.’ Tony smirked. Amelia sighed. ‘Tony, it’s weird.’ She pointed to each super soldier with her thumbs. ‘Either way, I’m kissing Steve!’ ‘Shouldn’t matter. You’re dating Bucky, even if he looks like that…unless Steve has a problem with it?’ He looked at Bucky who had managed to keep his annoyance down to just one or two nostril flares. ‘Why would I have a problem with it, just don’t do…anything else.’ Bucky said in a clipped tone. ‘But I think we have more important things to worry about than who Amelia gets to kiss goodbye.’ ‘Just kiss your man goodbye and we can get on with it. I know you two can’t keep your hands to yourselves, let alone lips.’ Amelia gave him a small tight smile before turning back to Steve who had kept quiet throughout the entire exchange. He had worried this might come up, and as bizarre as it was, he had watched Bucky kiss her often so he knew not to do anything out of character. He cupped her cheek, making sure he used his right hand, and bowed his head before she could come up with an argument, and she had been trying to work one out, but it never came, as Steve’s lips caressed her, a firm but soft kiss that she couldn’t help but be impressed by despite her never having had any romantic feelings for him. When they parted her cheeks were pink and she was glad she had left her hair down and rumpled, falling around her face easily. ‘I’ll come up as soon as I’m showered, darlin’.’ Steve gave her a small smile, not parting far from her, just as Bucky wouldn’t have. ‘Uh huh.’ She said in a slightly too high pitched voice. ‘You okay there, Angel?’ She turned to see Tony had his phone up, evidently having been taking a photo. ‘Still not the same.’ She grumbled, stepping out of Steve’s arms, past Bucky, who gave a raised eyebrow while biting the inside of his cheek, and Tony chuckling.

The changing clothes was something the team had discussed. With Tony in the lab he wouldn’t see who went to which room, but each of the team were planning on dressing more like the one they had swapped with. Clint’s options were the most difficult so he settled on sweats and a hoodie he knew Nat had herself borrowed from him in the past, and Nat threw on black jeans and an Avengers t-shirt. Thor wore a suit, which he rarely did unless he had to, Loki, for once, dressed down, in t-shirt and jeans, which he complained to Sigyn about the entire time despite her burying her head under the pillows in an attempt to get back to sleep but eventually gave up while he was there. He wanted to put a jacket over the top but she convinced him otherwise, making him tie his hair back at the nape of his neck and insisting if he wore anything over the top it was a hooded cardigan. He refused and as he complained again she pinched his butt in the tight blue denim. It wasn’t often she could get him into blue jeans and she thought they, like anything, really looked good on him. Bucky and Steve were so similar in size they actually swapped clothes, by prior arrangement, and while Steve went for blue jeans and a grey henley, Bucky wanted to surprise Amelia, and Steve loaned him his stealth suit. He knew the girls of The Tower, at one of their notorious girls’ nights, had had a vote as to which uniforms they preferred on the men and this one had come out tops for Steve. He found the sleeve over his metal arm a little restrictive but Steve had left specific instructions not to rip the sleeve out. Steve and Bucky were the last two to get to the lab, and found that Tony had banished the others already, saying their constant bickering was distracting him from the task at hand, especially the way they were all teasing one another. Amelia looked up as the two super soldiers entered the lab. She had finally disabled the mechanism Tony had set up within FRIDAY that played If I Only Had A Heart whenever Bucky entered, and instead it now played I Need A Hero by Bonnie Tyler much to Tony’s annoyance, but Amelia had a way of burying things in FRIDAY even he struggled to find them. Bucky and Steve strolled in, Steve wearing the grey henley she had bought Bucky for his birthday last month, and jeans, winking at her as they entered, his hair slightly mussed rather than its normal perfection, but what made her swallow was Bucky in Steve’s stealth suit. Holy shit, he was hot. He had combed his hair and styled it, the length slicked back and his parting sharp. He was freshly shaven and the combination made him look younger, even though his expression was serious. The star and stripes across the suit seemed to emphasise his broad chest, the belt cinching his waist before spreading out for his hips and thighs, and it fit where it touched, like the hottest second skin she had ever seen. She swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry, and realised Tony had asked her something. He was across the lab so hadn’t seen her all but drooling. ‘Sorry, big bro, what?’ She called as he came towards her. Bucky managed to hide his smile as they reached the opposite side of the desk Amelia was working at. He had seen her eyes go wide, her cheeks flush and a sigh escape her lips. He wasn’t jealous of Steve, he liked that he and Amelia were close friends, but not being able to be affectionate with her was harder than Steve having to be. He longed just to go around the desk and kiss her, but knew he couldn’t. ‘I said try that algorithm again.’ ‘Right!’ She hit the button again to run what she knew was a wasted effort. ‘How’s it going?’ Bucky asked as Steve strolled around the desk, putting himself close to Amelia but not quite touching. ‘Not well.’ She glanced sideways at Steve before diverting her eyes back to Bucky, catching Steve’s wink at her before she did. ‘We don’t know what caused the flash, whether it was mechanical or magical or something else.’ ‘I’ve never seen energy signatures like it.’ Tony read the data over her other shoulder. ‘Have you?’ ‘Other than here? No.’ She said, knowing it wasn’t a lie. She hadn’t seen them anywhere but on her laptop, even though she had been the one to create them, it still wasn’t a lie. ‘Huh.’ Tony watched the numbers running, not that they made any sense yet, but it should only be a few minutes before they were done. ‘Steve, come take a look at this with me.’ He walked back to the other monitors and when Bucky didn’t move Amelia quirked her head towards Tony, raising her eyebrows. ‘Shit.’ He mumbled, remembering that was him and turning, following Tony as Steve leant down, pressing his cheek against Amelia’s. ‘Never realised my ass would look that good in that suit.’ He teased loudly, making her flush and she slapped his chest with the back of her hand. ‘And I suppose you aren’t rocking this sweet peach of American freedom at all?’ ‘Sweet peach of American freedom?’ Steve laughed as he turned and looked at her. ‘It’s what Darcy calls Steve’s arse.’ She shrugged and watched as his cheeks went as pink as her own. ‘Really?’ ‘Yeah, I don’t think I should let him live that down, do you?’ ‘It’d be cruel to keep making trouble by teasing him…sweetheart.’ He added as an after thought. ‘Yeah, but it’s all in fun.’ She winked at him and he pinched her arm lightly. ‘You can be a meanie, doll.’ ‘You love it.’ She stuck her tongue out at him. Tony glanced back at Amelia and what looked like Steve, almost uncomfortably close, considering. ‘Doesn’t that bother you?’ ‘Bother me?’ Bucky looked over his shoulder, trying to stay nonchalant. ‘It’s a little weird seeing myself from this angle, but it’s still Bucky and Amelia. If she’s not weirded out then neither am I, I guess.’ ‘And if they decide to play hunt the all American hot dog with your body?’ Bucky’s face ticked. ‘I don’t think that will happen. You’ll be able to fix it before they get too…romantic, right?’ ‘I don’t know. Maybe.’ Tony looked up at him, the worry on his face, and jumped straight to the wrong conclusion. ‘But, you know, they’re kinda like rabbits, so if I’m not fast enough…’ Bucky turned and glared at him. ‘You think this is funny?’ ‘You nervous about Amelia deflowering your body kinda is.’ Tony hit another button as he turned back to the screen. Bucky bit back the curse word he actually wanted to say, knowing Steve wouldn’t say it, glancing back to his best friend with his arm draped around his girl. Steve looked over and frowned questioningly at him but Bucky gave the smallest shake of his head, indicating it was nothing. ‘Something’s up with him.’ Steve said quietly as Amelia typed something rapidly that would mess up Tony’s data and set him back another hour at least. ‘Tony?’ She asked without looking up. ‘No the other him.’ Amelia looked up to see Bucky turning back to Tony, having been staring at them. ‘Something like what?’ ‘He’s uncomfortable.’ ‘Maybe it’s the suit. It’s pretty tight.’ She smirked up and him and he laughed. ‘It has some give in it.’ He said defensively. ‘But no, it’s more than that.’ ‘You think we’re doing something to annoy him?’ Steve shrugged. ‘That would be my guess, but he knew we’d have to do this, hell, the three of us sat up late enough nights discussing it. I guess seeing it in person is a little different.’ ‘Being involved in it in person is a little different.’ She said quietly as Tony suddenly yelled; ‘Dammit!’ loud enough to make Bucky jump. ‘Are you seeing this?’ Tony turned back to Amelia. ‘Seeing, struggling to believe it.’ ‘What the hell is it doing? Adapting?’ ‘Maybe.’ Amelia pushed away from the desk and got to her feet. ‘Tony, take a break. I know we just started but you’re still exhausted from your flight.’ ‘No, we need to fix this.’ He marched across the lab. ‘Coffee?’ ‘Please.’ She called, Bucky and Steve both accepting his offer and he went to fill the filter jug with water. ‘This isn’t working.’ Bucky hissed as he joined them both, standing at Amelia’s desk. ‘He’s worrying more than getting pranked.’ ‘We need the rest of the team. We need it to be chaos, like we discussed.’ Amelia replied as his fingertips brushed her bare arm. ‘I can’t initialise the second part until at least nine or he might figure it out too soon.’ ‘I’ll get them.’ Steve offered. Bucky sighed. ‘No, it’s more natural if I go.’ Amelia smiled at him sympathetically. ‘Love you.’ She mouthed to him and it at least made him smile back. ‘You too.’ He touched her arm again briefly before heading for the door. ‘I’m going to owe him for this.’ Amelia’s smile didn’t slip as she said it, knowing she wouldn’t mind too much. ‘I think he’ll make me pay in some way too.’

Bucky rounded up the rest of the team and after a brief discussion they were on their way back to the lab. Tony had by then made coffee and almost spilled it on himself when the rest of the body-swapped team showed up, arguing. ‘Friend Stark,’ Loki said brashly, ‘what news?’ ‘None, if we had news we’d have told you!’ He raised his voice over Nat and Clint’s arguing. ‘This is why I kicked you guys out of here in the first place! Shut! The! Hell! Up!’ ‘Okay, this isn’t getting us anywhere.’ Amelia said into the silence that followed Tony’s rant. ‘Why don’t you all go to the training room and see how far your body swap goes; Thor, see if you can control any of Loki’s sorcery, Nat, see if your muscle memory is yours or Clint’s, that kind of thing. And you,’ she looked pointedly at Tony, ‘go and supervise.’ ‘I don’t have time to…’ ‘You do.’ She interrupted him. ‘I will get you back up here if we get any breakthroughs but go down there and observe like a good little science bro. You’re the only one unaffected who can do this.’ ‘You trying to get rid of me?’ He narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously. ‘Quite frankly, yes, you’re pissing me off! All of you!’ She put her hands on her hips and glared at everyone. ‘I swear if you don’t get out of my lab and give me at least half an hour working on this alone then I will personally tranq every damn one of you for some peace and quiet!’ ‘Ouch, doll, you are upset.’ Steve said, not daring to put his arm around her in a way Bucky would have, even though he knew she was just playing along. ‘Don’t “doll” me, mister!’ She waved a finger at him. ‘Training room! Now!’ Bucky covered his mouth with his hand to stop himself from smiling too hard. She was quite the little actress, something that had no doubt served her well in her deep cover role in HYDRA, and her tirade was more amusing than scary to him, but all the same he was impressed. ‘You all heard Amelia. Move out.’ He said firmly and in minutes she was alone. She let out a sigh of relief and went back to her laptop, clicking a few buttons so the displays looked like they were making some progress. Picking up her coffee she sat back and got comfortable. It would be a while before she needed to do anything else and she would make the most of that fact.

Loki was thoroughly enjoying pretending to be Thor with no control over his powers. Certainly, it wasn’t deliberate that he turned his brother into a cat, of course not…well, perhaps, a lot, but he did make it look like an accident enough that it caused mass panic for a good five minutes until he turned him back again. Thor didn’t have to work too hard to be upset by his brother’s actions, although trying to remain in character was a challenge when he knew Loki had done it deliberately. Loki had always been a cat person and Thor had always found them to be rather sly, cunning creatures who liked to sink their claws into him should he dare to show them any affection. Clint was grateful that Nat was already proficient with a bow, which meant he only had to adjust his aim enough to miss the bullseye every so often, while Nat sparred with Steve, purposefully missing when she tried to pull off a tricky move, and Steve constantly overshot with his left arm as though it were lighter than he was used to. Bucky stood with Tony, as Steve would have, although he too made a point of flexing his left hand, as though not used to it. ‘That weird?’ Tony nodded towards him as he again straightened his arm before bringing it back to his chest. ‘Yeah. A little.’ He wriggled his fingers. ‘What’s it feel like?’ Bucky frowned. He had never been asked that before and he tried to think how to put it into words. ‘You know when you drop off on your arm, and it goes to sleep? You can still feel it’s yours but it’s like it’s not, all at the same time?’ ‘Yeah, I got it.’ Tony watched the others testing out their new bodies for a minute before speaking again. ‘You tempted to…you know?’ Bucky turned and gave him a raised eyebrow. ‘You want to finish that sentence?’ ‘You can’t tell me you’re not.’ Tony smirked. ‘You are one sick…son of a gun.’ Bucky refrained from what he actually wanted to say, with some difficulty he had to admit. ‘Oh, come on. You’re telling me you don’t think Clint is going to venture into unknown territory, given half the chance?’ ‘Oh my God, Tony!’ Bucky glared at him. ‘That’s the first thing I would have done.’ He grinned. ‘They always say there’s such a difference between the male and female orgasms. So it’d be for science.’ ‘I don’t even know where to begin with what’s wrong with that sentence.’ ‘Science.’ Tony repeated as he watched Thor and Loki clumsily sparring.

‘You think Tony’s suspicious?’ Sigyn asked, passing Amelia the takeout bag from the cafeteria. She had brought breakfast to the lab for her and they were now sitting down for a feast of danishes and coffee. ‘I don’t think so, at least I hope not.’ Amelia shook out one of the papery napkins before laying her danish on top of it. ‘You weren’t there when he made me kiss Steve goodbye, were you?’ ‘Shit, you kissed Steve?’ Sigyn nearly choked on the bite she had just taken. ‘We thought it might happen, we’d discussed it, Steve, Bucky and I.’ She said defensively. ‘But you had to go through with it.’ Sigyn dusted her top where she had dropped crumbs over her bump. ‘You know when Darcy finds out that’s going to be the topic of the next girls’ night. Super soldiers. Who kisses best?’ ‘No contest. Bucky.’ ‘But Steve was…’ She prompted. ‘He was good, but he wasn’t Bucky.’ Amelia shrugged. ‘Out of ten, comparison.’ Sigyn suggested. ‘Say for you, Bucky is a ten, like Loki is for me. Where does Steve score in the good at it but I’m not emotionally attached, kind of way?’ ‘That’s hard because Bucky still gives me butterflies.’ ‘Butterflies aside. Go on skill.’ Sigyn gave her a small smile as she ripped off a piece of her danish before putting it in her mouth. ‘Oh jeez, I don’t know! It was just one kiss, at least an eight?’ ‘That’s pretty good.’ Sigyn dusted her top again, there was just no keeping the bump clean some days. ‘Considering everything we hear about him not being experienced, that’s pretty damn good.’ ‘He’s my friend. It was weird.’ Amelia tipped sugar into her coffee and stirred it. ‘Which is exactly why I noped the hell out of there when I did. Thor is like a brother to me, we’ve been friends since before I was born. I mean, before Maia was born. Anyway, I know what you mean.’ ‘That was probably the only thing putting me off.’ Amelia admitted. ‘Steve kissed me once before. But that was just a peck on the lips, mutual thanks for Christmas gifts. Everything else is a quick kiss on the cheek in greeting or whatever. Never thought I’d be in the position where I had to pretend to be his significant other.’ ‘Next girls night we’ll start a game of wed, bed, behead; like fuck, marry, kill? You’ll soon question everything about every team member.’ Sigyn grinned as she picked up her own coffee. ‘Darcy won’t let me play any more so I’m almost unofficial referee.’ ‘Why can’t you play?’ ‘I kind of broke the game with logic. Darcy wasn’t impressed.’ ‘How do you break fuck, marry, kill?’ Amelia pulled a face. ‘I’ll tell you.’ Sigyn said as she drew one foot up underneath her and got comfortable.

Tony felt like he was running a creche. A creche for short tempered powered people who were near the end of their fuse. He had had to step in when Clint accused Bucky of deliberately touching his ass, because it was, in his words, the hottest ass in the training room, Nat joining in and saying it was part of the move and he should relax a little. Loki and Thor were arguing over something that happened over a century ago at a bar, debating whose fault it was that a fight started and that the outcome would have been different if they were in one another’s bodies. Steve tried to mediate but ended up in his own arguments with both Bucky and Nat. Eventually Tony just walked away, pulling out his phone and calling Amelia. Amelia looked at her phone ringing on the desk, playing Back In Black, so she knew who it was before she even glanced towards it. She was laughing so hard, Sigyn recalling some of her stories from her days on Asgard, that she had to compose herself before answering. ‘What’s up, Tony?’ ‘Please tell me we have some sort of a breakthrough?’ His voice sounded strained and she pulled a face at Sigyn who was trying to curb her laughter herself and had to walk away so as not to be heard. ‘Not much, at least nothing helpful. What’s wrong?’ She put as much concern into her voice as she could. ‘They’re like fucking five year olds!’ He raised his voice to be heard over the squabbling in the background. She checked the time and sighed. Maybe they had tortured him long enough. ‘Wait, something just came up.’ She said, tapping a few things on her keyboard so it sounded like she was doing something. ‘Holy shit.’ ‘Is that a good holy shit or a bad holy shit?’ Tony asked. ‘You won’t believe this, boss. They had a modified version of your arc reactor, this is a side effect, I think. Can you come up and check?’ ‘I’m already on my way.’ He hit the door at a run and the rest of the team stopped arguing immediately, Loki pulling out his phone as he received a message. ‘That’s Sig.’ He said as the door closed. ‘Amelia is ready to initiate the final step, we’re needed in the lab.’ ‘You heard him.’ Steve, actual Steve, said, but hung back with Bucky as everyone else filed out. ‘Everything okay, pal?’ He asked, putting a hand on Bucky’s shoulder as they walked towards the door. ‘Other than Tony’s fucked up brain, yeah, great.’ Bucky shook his head, still wishing he could purge his mind of the images Tony had put there. ‘You’ll be back to kissing your girl in no time.’ Bucky gave a small smile. ‘I didn’t realise how hard it would be not being able to even touch her.’ ‘You fell hard.’ ‘So you keep saying.’ ‘And you don’t deny it.’ Bucky lowered his head, unable to keep the smile off his face. ‘Pretty sure she’s the one.’ ‘You’ve known that a while.’ ‘I guess so.’ Bucky couldn’t deny it, not to Steve, and certainly not to himself.

The lab was full again and Tony sat at Amelia’s desk with her beside him, leaning over as she watched him try and pick apart the little puzzle she had made for him out of data from the arc reactor database. ‘This shouldn’t be possible.’ He muttered as he rotated the display with his hand. ‘This, it doesn’t make sense.’ ‘You’re the arc reactor expert, boss.’ She reminded him, looking up as Bucky and Steve joined the rest of the team, smiling. ‘Ready?’ She mouthed to Steve and he nodded. ‘What about if we try it this way?’ She spun the display in the opposite direction. ‘Different angle, and all that.’ ‘I still can’t see, wait, what’s that?’ He spotted something on the arc reactor that shouldn’t be there, something that wasn’t possible, something that couldn’t be… ‘What the hell?’ He used both hands and zoomed it in. In the very centre of the blue display was a ridiculously small dark smudge and the more he zoomed in, the clearer it became, it was letters, he was sure of that, but what? It was like a magic eye puzzle, the more he looked the weirder it became, until finally the words came into focus and… ‘April Fools.’ He read it, the words not registering for a moment but they soon did, Amelia straightening beside him as he turned to look at her. ‘April Fools?’ He looked at her as she fought not to smile. Loki clapped his hands and the air above Stark burst with confetti and streamers, and Tony turned to the rest of the team on the other side of the desk. ‘April freakin’ Fools?’ He said again and Steve shrugged. ‘We gotcha, Tony.’ ‘You’re all assholes.’ He looked among them, and when he made eye contact with Loki the trickster burst out laughing. ‘Oh, come now, Anthony, it is somewhat amusing, even to you.’ ‘All of this,’ he waved at the screen which was now flashing April Fools on and off in large letters, ‘waking me up at stupid o’clock, the arguing, you turned Thor into a cat!’ He looked at Loki and Sigyn burst out laughing. ‘Oh shit, Mischief, you didn’t?’ ‘I most certainly did, love.’ He winked at her. ‘And you all acted like each other? Just to trick me?’ Tony looked around again and realised this was what it was like to have a family, people who cared enough to go through this much trouble together, just for him. Still, he couldn’t let them think he appreciated it. ‘Sorry, Tony.’ Amelia kissed his cheek. ‘You get so engrossed in things you’re far too easy to take advantage of sometimes.’ He looked at the screen in front of him then devised a small plan of his own. ‘Given how sophisticated this all is, I think I know who the ring leader was.’ He spun his chair and grabbed Amelia’s arm, pulling her towards him so rapidly she wasn’t expecting it and when he stood she was over his shoulder in a split second. ‘Tony! No! Put me down! It wasn’t me!’ She squealed as he went for the door. ‘No one else here could have pulled it off.’ He stated as he continued, everyone else still laughing or stunned. ‘Steven Grant Rogers!’ Amelia yelled at him as they passed. ‘Tell him!’ ‘That’s right, Angel, you blame someone I can’t just throw over my shoulder!’ Tony said as he went down the corridor as fast as he could, the rest of the team following. ‘Bucky! Stop him!’ She called and he trotted to catch up with them. ‘It wasn’t her idea, Tony, really.’ He said. ‘It’s all on me!’ Steve called after them but Stark didn’t break stride, taking a left and down the stairs. ‘Neither of you are smart or tech savvy enough to pull this off.’ Tony replied. ‘I just helped!’ Amelia pushed at him and damn for a regular guy he was strong. ‘Come on, Tony! Please, put me down!’ ‘Nope, need revenge.’ He reached the bottom of the stairs and went through a door, the scent of chlorine assailing her senses. ‘Tony, no!’ She yelped, realising his plan. ‘Yep.’ ‘Tony, put her down!’ Steve called as he reached the doorway. ‘Nope.’ Tony stepped up onto the low diving board, walked to the end, made a small jump as Amelia squealed, and plunged them both into the pool. Amelia surfaced with a gasp, Tony’s arm still around her but no longer over his shoulder. ‘Oh, you dickhead!’ She sputtered, pushing at his shoulders but he pulled her to him and hugged her. ‘We’re even, Angel.’ ‘Fuck off, are we!’ She put her foot in his stomach and pushed, so he had no choice but to let her go, and she splashed him deliberately as she swam for the side. ‘It wasn’t my idea, you prat!’ ‘I love it when you talk dirty British to me.’ ‘Shut up.’ She reached the side where Bucky was already holding his hand down to help her out…which meant he didn’t see Steve come up behind him, and he definitely wasn’t expecting the shove he received. Bucky gave a short yet ridiculous yelp as he went headfirst over Amelia and into the water. Tony started laughing, Steve already doing the same on the side, and by the time Bucky surfaced everyone was laughing, even Amelia who swam to him and pushed his previously perfect hair out of his eyes. ‘Maybe we deserved that a bit.’ Amelia giggled as Bucky leant in to kiss her, wrapping his arms around her in her flimsy pyjamas. ‘Maybe a bit.’ He agreed before turning to look at Loki. ‘Hey, Loki? Do me a favour?’ ‘Of course.’ Loki knew what he wanted and with a small wave of his hand Steve was levitated out above the centre of the pool before being dropped. ‘If you’ll excuse me though, I’m not sure Sig will appreciate me returning home drenched.’ He turned to her in the doorway. ‘I’ll forgive you.’ She nodded to Thor who grabbed Loki and pretty much threw him into the pool from several meters away before jumping in himself. Clint and Nat shared a look before joining them, Sigyn taking a seat at the side of the pool, really not feeling like taking a dip in what had become all out water war between everyone but Bucky and Amelia, who seemed quite content to make out.

And that is the story of how every April Fools Day, pending any emergencies, became the first pool party day of the season.

Chapter 57

[punishmercy-blog]

answer the following for your muse so people know how shipping works on your blog. REPOST. don’t reblog. TAGGED BY: NOBODY i stole it from @recoveringrace and @deathitsclf fight me TAGGING:  @la-famille-gatecoeur @seven-times @hastodosomething @thepunishermax @franklinnelsonforthedefense @matt-mmurdock @russkiyshpion @starkwithsarcasm @thatsdorcasmeadowes and @withoutxfear ! anyone else that wants to do it can too, ofc.

under the cut for length!

WHAT’S YOUR OTP FOR YOUR MUSE?: frank x maria obviously but also...  frank x karen has consumed my soul at this point, which is fuckin’ wild, but it’s to the point where like--it doesn’t necessarily have to be romantic as in, kissing and I Love Yous (and/or sexual) and stuff?? like you know when two characters just mesh so well that as long as they’re together it doesn’t matter what the nature of it is?? esp. since frank & karen have a complicated dynamic as it is and that’s exactly why i love it so much like i don’t expect them to settle down and be domestic or anything i just. love them and everything about their dynamic. 

edit: i had to come back to this halfway through because i remembered i have more than one muse fUCK I’M SORRY MATT. in all honesty, i don’t actually have an OTP for matt, either in canon or on this blog. i like most of the relationships he’s been in (MCU wise), but not so much that i’d want them to be permanent. claire x matt was wonderful, but claire deserves better and i fully support her recognising that and moving on from him (and claire x luke is my otp ngl). karen x matt was really cute after their date, and i could possibly ship it?? but again, karen deserves better, she’s been lied to and pushed away and matt needs to get his fuckin act together before i can ship that properly (also i actually really like karen having an unrequited crush bc i’m awful). and matt x elektra is just... it’s super, super squicky for me, right on the edge of triggering in canon. i don’t know if i’d be able to ship it in RP - i’d definitely need the right chemistry with both mun and muse, same with the others.

i’ll deal w/non-canon ships in one of the later questions asdkjfsdhf. 

WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO RP WHEN IT COMES TO SHIPPING?: uhhh man this is a vague question uH?? pretty much anything?? i’m not huge on writing heavy smut involving cis women for personal reasons but anything building up to it is probably fine. i’m extremely unlikely to do any kind of cheating threads (not misunderstandings - a thread where my muse has actually cheated) due to lack of interest, and i’m not interested in pregnancy plots like, at all. that’s about it!

HOW LARGE DOES THE AGE GAP HAVE TO BE TO MAKE IT UNCOMFORTABLE?:  ehhh preferably no younger than 24 or so. i don’t generally give a shit if the other muse is way older though as long as mine is at least 18. like, it’d be problematic obviously as a ship, but ye. brains are weird.

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WHEN SHIPPING?: yEAH A LITTLE. i need chemistry between both muses and muns (though the latter is mostly for like--the sake of something lasting longer than a couple threads, you know?) and i’m generally more interested in the dynamic as a whole rather than solely the romantic aspect.

HOW FAR DO STEAMY MOMENTS HAVE TO GO BEFORE THEY’RE CONSIDERED NS.FW?: probably like... when sexual intent starts coming into play?? or things get heavier than just kissing / light making out??? fuck if i know man.

WHO ARE OTHER MUSES YOU SHIP YOUR MUSE WITH?: ohhhh boy. so for Frank, it’s generally Frank x Karen. I like Punisher x Daredevil too, in a complicated, unhealthy sort of way, and I could probably ship a whole fuckton of other things with the right development, but ye! 

For Matt, again, I don’t really have any ships? I could probably ship Matt x Foggy with the right partner (or just--Foggy having an unrequited crush), same with Matt x Karen, but honestly who knows. I’m not opposed to Matt x Frank, but I’d rather be writing Frank for it, you know? can I like... have gray-aro Matt.

DOES ONE HAVE TO ASK TO SHIP WITH YOU?:  Not... really? Asking me outright for a ship with absolutely 0 interaction prior will probably result in mild discomfort, especially if it’s a character I’m unfamiliar with OOC. Asking me “hey do you ship (thing) in general” and such is probably fine. Akdlsjf I don’t know!! But generally the answer is no, you don’t need to ask, your muse can develop feelings for mine all they like and we’ll see how things go, etc etc.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU LIKE TO SHIP?: listen i love shipping and i love all kinds of dynamics, platonic, romantic, antagonistic, whatever. i’m down for anything, everything, all the time. also i need more poly ships.

ARE YOU MULTISHIP?: yes!! with duplicates of the same character, too.

ARE YOU SHIP OBSESSED OR SHIP MORE-OR-LESS?: i wouldn’t say i’m ship obsessed? again, it’s generally the more complicated dynamic between characters that draws me in, like with frank x karen.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SHIP IN YOUR CURRENT FANDOM?: cries for the rest of my life over frank x karen but honestly i would 100% ship foggy x karen x matt with bonus frank on weekends.

FINALLY, HOW DOES ONE SHIP WITH YOU?: just... just fuckin’ throw your muse at my muse and see what happens my guy. also, muses flirting is fun and okay!!! doesn’t necessarily mean a ship needs to happen!! same with one night stands and ex-relationships etc etc.