#since as we all know tony survives endgame in canon. no idea where that my

[moritashie]

I choose to believe that once Tony Stark had Morgan, he was freaked out of his mind. Why? Well, his parental instincts were supposed to kick in once he laid eyes on her. Tony didn't identify anything like that appearing once he did exactly that. Neither did they start working after she fell asleep in his arms, or after they arrived home. They seemed to do their thing on Pepper, why didn't he feel something so very different and unfamiliar. Where is the thing that is supposed to ensure his child is safe and sound?

A few days later Morgan starts trying to take something dangerous and put it inside her mouth much like babies do. He instantly spots her doing that, and with a horrified expression in his face stops her. Pepper jokes "see? Your parent sense is working just fine."

That's when he realizes, he does have those. He simply didn't know that was what it was. The reason was pretty clear; he expected to feel something unknown to him before. Meanwhile Tony has already experienced that over the course of the previous 1.5 years.

He promptly loses his balance and breaks down in the middle of the kitchen.

[astraeagreengrass]

exile [the woods part 1]

When you wake up in the floor of your apartment, you have no idea of how much the world has changed

Word Count: 2.708

Warnings: angst, mentions of death and death-related themes, PTSD, brief allusion to a panic attack.

A/N: A month ago, Taylor Swift released her eight studio album folklore and, unsurprisingly, it took over my life. The stories Taylor beautifully narrates in her songs inspired me to write something of my own: the woods is a four-part, post-Endgame story, with some slight changes to the canon, featuring Steve Rogers. Updates will be every Friday. Thank you to @xbuchananbarnes for proof-reading this and @thegetawaywriter for encouraging me to write. The banner picture was found here. Dividers are from @writeyourmindaway. Here is exile. I hope you like it ♡

i think i've seen this film before and i didn't like the ending you're not my homeland anymore so what am i defending now? you were my town, now i'm in exile, seein' you out i think i've seen this film before so i'm leavin' out the side door

Being pieced back together was like a hangover.

Like drinking too much wine one evening and then waking up on a foreign bed, not knowing how you got there. It was a pounding headache, a churning stomach, a dry throat. The back of your teeth were sensitive and the sound of sirens rung too loudly on your ears.

In the aftermath of your intoxication, the city is deafening.

You groaned at the light - you must’ve been so wasted if you’d forgotten the blinds. Every breath took a toll of your lungs, stretching your muscles beyond their strength, creaking your joints as you exhaled.

Someone gasped, startling you.

The familiar floorboards of your apartment greeted you when your eyes opened. Timeworn almond timber, the New York staple. Craning your neck, you saw a foot. Shit. You weren't one to bring one night stands home, or actually have them in the first place. Little ol' you was a little too square, a little too cautious, struggling to keep her trust issues from spilling out of her hands. Definitely not the best candidate for loose-stringed affairs, but your grandma always told you there was a first time for everything.

The foot’s owner nudged you, and you groaned again.

“Miss?” they said. “Are you alive?”

I don’t know.

Your gaze focused and you noticed the person was a boy of eleven or twelve, with a beautiful dark mop of curls and soft brown eyes. What the...

“Who are you?” you managed to croak. There was an ashy taste in your mouth, as if you’d swallowed dust.

The boy looked up and across, and you noticed that, on your left side, his father was crouching beside your body. He looked just like the kid, except a couple of decades older, so you assumed he was the father.

“My name is Cal,” the man said, spacely, as if he’d might frighten you if he spoke normally. “This is my son Daniel. We’re not going to hurt you.”

"Nice to know the invaders won't hurt me," you tried to say, but it came out a jumbled, messy current of words, like a baby first learning to communicate.

"Invaders?" the boy exclaimed, insulted. "We live here!"

"Daniel!" his father chided. "Miss, what is the last thing you remember?"

You pressed a palm to the ground, trying to lay your weight on it so you could stand up. You weren't about to answer an unknown man's questions while laying face-down on your own apartment floor. You might be hungover, but you had more dignity than that. When your body crumpled like a twig under a boot, Cal held you up, helping you to a seating position facing the window.

Craning your neck to shield your eyes from the sun, you noticed it.

Golden brown leaves.

Golden brown leaves that shouldn't exist in May.

You clearly remember opening the windows yesterday to green, lively foliage. New York was many things - loud, chaotic, more often than not dangerous - but it’s seasons were consistent, enduring. Through the tempests and disturbances, nature persevered in her year-long cycle, living and dying and living again.

These particular leaves belonged to October, perhaps even early November, never May.

Something was terribly wrong.

“What day is it?” you whispered, wide eyes going from the window to the man aiding you.

Cal grimaced. His boy was suddenly very quiet.

When you were a child, you used to have nightmares: a ghost in the attic, a wolf haunting the woods outside your house, an IED blowing up your father's convoy in Iraq. They'd trap your consciousness, suffocating your mind with fear and panic, and no night light or teddy bear could stifle the onslaught of relentless screams that rattled the walls and hallways of your childhood home, until your frantic grandmother shook you awake. The reality that greeted you on the floor of your apartment was that Twilight Zone all over again.

“Please,” you pleaded, perhaps to the man, perhaps to yourself.

Cal sighed.

“Today is October 17th, 2023,” he said and you learned that the only thing scarier than a nightmare is life itself. “You’ve been dead for the past five years.”

“We could go to the house in the woods,” you mumbled to the warmth of Steve’s chest.

He tightened his hold around your body, pressing a feather-light kiss to the crown of your head.

“Whatever you want,” he said. “You’ve got me for the weekend.”

“The whole weekend?” you smiled at him, finding the reassurance you needed in his indigo gaze.

Steve kissed you again, a fierce press of lips this time. Mouths and tongues and teeth intertwined, your hand finding hip, his hand finding you thigh.

“The whole weekend,” he breathed in the shell of your ear, right before the two of you became nothing more than a mess of pillows and sheets, drowning in love and want and lust. “And then forever.”

When the world ended, several hospital units closed down due to lack of patients.

When the Avengers managed to reverse the effects of the Snap - no one knew how they did it, but everyone knew it was them because of course it was - the mayor of New York declared the interruption of all kinds of activities in the city in order to help those returning. It was in a campaign hospital in Bryant Park that Steve Rogers found you, sitting up cross-legged and wrapped up in a grey blanket, having your temperature checked by one of the volunteers.

Wearing dark clothes and a cap, Steve was nothing more than a shadow behind the woman's shoulder. A lesser-trained gaze would glide past his figure in a quarter of a second, but not you. Never you. You'd recognize him in a sea of people, as if the blood that sustained you and the bones that built you knew exactly where to find him.

Steve had the decency to wait until the woman was done to approach you. With slow, clearly measured steps, he came closer, taking a seat at the foot of your stretcher. If he reached out his arm, he'd touch you, but he refrained and you were glad he did. In your mind, you saw him days ago, but reality told you differently. The calendar at the nurse's station, the newspaper you got a hold on, the constant broadcast of news: all of them mocked you, tormented you. Five years had gone by - more time than you’d ever had with the man across from you. And if there was ever any lingering doubt in your mind that this was some elaborate trick to fool you, they faded when you noticed the modest signs of aging that nothing but time and grief could inflict on a Super Soldier.

Again, a lesser-trained gaze probably wouldn’t catch them, but that would never be you when it came to Steve Rogers.

The two of you stayed in silence for minutes, watching a CNN report of a family reuniting in Idaho. The mother snapped right after the birth of her daughter - now a little girl with ginger pigtails, hugging her legs and kissing her hands. Everyday since you woke up on the floor of your apartment, there'd been thousands of stories such as this: parents finding children, husbands finding wives. The fallen - that's what the press called people like you, the dead that weren't really dead - all had the same lost look in their eyes. You supposed that's what happened when your clock was five years too late.

“What happened?” you finally asked when the broadcast changed to twin brothers reconvening in Hawaii. “What went wrong?”

Steve didn’t look at you, instead he kept pulling at a loose thread on the hem of his shirt.

“He was too strong,” he sighed. “And I thought I could fight him without Tony, but…”

You nodded.

“One of the nurses said he was badly wounded in the battle upstate,” you mentioned.

“Yeah,” Steve agreed. “But he’ll recover. Banner is looking after him. He’s got a kid now, you know? Tony. Her name’s Morgan.”

“Wow,” you smiled genuinely. “That sounds unbelievable and incredible at the same time.

“She’s a good girl,” Steve said. “Keeps Tony on his toes.”

On the TV, the two brothers embraced with a beautiful sunset as background.

“What about Sam and Nat?” you wondered.

Steve's fidgety hands stilled. With the left one he rubbed his mouth and chin until his skin was reddish.

"Sam was like you," he muttered and the implicit words hurt more in his voice than anyone else's. "Natasha… She didn't make it."

She didn't make it.

Natasha Romanoff. Natalia. Your mentor, your friend. The strongest woman you'd ever met. She didn't make it.

"What?" you gasped. "What do you mean 'she didn't make it'? Didn't she come back?"

Like Sam and the mother in Idaho and the twins in Hawaii. Like you.

Steve shook his head.

"It wasn't like that," he said. "She survived the Snap. Spent years trying to find something, anything, even the smallest possibility of getting everyone back and when we finally did… She sacrificed herself so we could have the Soul Stone."

"Sacrificed herself? For a stone?" you were extremely agitated now, the grey blanked falling from your shoulders as you looked at Steve searching for any sign of emotion. "Steven, look at me!"

 His eyes were glazed, a big blue sea threatening to spill over in waves of sadness.

"It wasn't a simple stone, Y/N. I'd rather not explain to you here, people can't know about this," he whispered, looking over his shoulder for anyone that could be listening.

"You mean they can't know why they disappeared and were brought back together like broken toys?" you exclaimed. "Toys that the Avengers can grab and then toss aside however they please? I'm not your toy, Steve!"

You knew you could be cruel. Ruthless. A child yelling ferociously at the top of her lungs until she got what she wanted. An angry teenager. An intelligence officer with obscure morals. But even when he left you without a goodbye, you'd always kept your forked tongue away from Steve Rogers.

Until now.

"Please," Steve pleaded. "Let's go home. I'll explain everything to you when we get there."

"I have no home," you spat. "I had a home three days ago when you came in saying something bad would happen, only to leave me again. Now I have nothing!”

Your tears were hot when they streamed down your face.

“I don't even know myself anymore,” you admitted and somehow that was worse than knowing you were alone in a world you didn't recognize. "All I know is dust. My bones were dust and now they're not. My heart was dust and now it's not. Everyone keeps telling me that I'm safe and that 'it's all over', but what is?"

You gasped, trying to breathe in some tranquility and breathe out some of the agony twisting your insides, but all that came out was a distressing wheeze.

"How do I know that I will not disappear again?" you cried and there was no more Steve, just a curtain of water contorting his figure, like one of those paintings he loved and you never understood the meaning.

The stretcher creaked when Steve pulled you to him, rubbing your arms back as he whispered your name.

"Breathe, Y/N. Breathe."

But you were so scared of breathing. So scared that you'd taste ash again and your lungs would collapse in dust, leaving not a shred of the person you were for people to remember you by. So scared of losing a game you didn't even know you were playing.

"Steve..." You weeped, gripping his shirt tightly.

"I'm here, my love. Just breathe."

You weren't expecting him.

After two years, the hope that kept you up at night waiting for him grew tired, dwindling until it was mere utopia. So you shut the windows, changed the locks and turned off the bedside lamp. Perhaps that's what brought him to your door, you thought. Maybe, wherever he was in the world, he felt your devotion waning, so he returned to haunt you.

You had to admit, though, that of all the ways you imagined Steve Rogers coming back to you, him ringing your doorbell at midnight wasn't one of them.

He looked handsome, with shaggy blonde hair curling at his ears and a beard, and it hurt like a punch to the stomach.

It's hard when the one that hurts the most you looks so unfazed, meanwhile you're just a shell of what you used to be.

"You've lost weight," was the first thing he said, as if he'd left to grab groceries instead of becoming an international criminal.

"What are you doing here?" you replied, ignoring his greeting. If that could even be a greeting.

He sighed, mentioning with his head to the hallway behind you.

“Can I come in?”

You stepped aside, letting him walk through. You didn’t bother turning the key because if anyone really wanted to get to him they wouldn’t be worried about leaving your door in one piece. Steve stood in the middle of the living room, his hands on his waist. An onlooker would never guess that he once belonged there.

“Did you hear about Tony?” He asked when you sat down at the armchair next to the window. The one you bought together in Ikea and Steve insisted he could assemble on his own.

“Yes,” you said. Tony Stark went missing after an alien ship appeared in Midtown. It was exactly the kind of disaster that would bring Steve Rogers to New York. “Have you found him?”

“No,” he replied. “But the same aliens that took Tony attacked Vision in Edinburgh. We managed to stop them from killing him, but he’s badly wounded. When he heard about Tony we flew to the Compound.”

You nodded. It was strange how you could feel so detached from these people- Vision, Wanda, even Tony in a way. They were once your friends, your colleagues. Now they just felt like characters in Steve’s tale - no longer part of your life, only his.

“And why are you here?” you asked.

Why did you come to the home we used to share? you meant to say. Did you miss it? Did you miss me?

He shrugged.

“I thought maybe you could’ve found something on Tony and…”

“If you went to the compound it means you saw Rhodey and Rhodey has most definitely told you that I quit my job when the Avengers split,” you interrupted him. “I have no tech, no machinery, no means whatsoever to find Tony here, nothing that Rhodey has at his disposal Upstate. So why are you really here?”

He was a stranger. Cold and detached, like the house that once trapped him. There was no tenderness in the blue of his eyes.

“Something bad is coming, Y/N,” he said. “I’m not sure what it is yet, but I… I wanted to see you. I wanted to know that you were safe.”

You thought Steve Rogers was done breaking your heart. You thought that when you stopped expecting his return you’d go back to who you were before him, even if you couldn’t find that girl amongst the mess he made of you. You thought you’d be safe from love, and trust and kind soldiers with blue eyes, but you’d never be safe from him - your fellow and your foe.

“Is that all you wanted to say?” you croaked, holding back the tears swimming in your throat with a cough.

Steve fisted his hands, and for a moment you swore that he was stopping himself from holding you. But he just hung his head, tearing his gaze from where you were sitting by the window.

“Just stay home, ok?” he stated. “Try not to leave the house until this situation is resolved.”

Then he turned around and left again.

[stupidwithu]

Idk if youre still taking prompts but could you do one where peter thinks hes got the stomach flu and tries to tell people at school and at the tower but they all think hes trying to get out of tests and training. He ends up getting really sick and hides in his room cuz nobody wants to be around him since they think hes lying. It ends up being friday who convinces tony the kid isnt faking

thank you for another prompt! I actually almost declined it (I’m not a huge fan of the Boy Who Cried Wolf scenarios, especially with Peter) but I got randomly inspired. this is my first posted fic, so please be gentle lol

Peter Parker/MCU Sickfic

MCUtopia AU (basically canon except everyone survives Endgame)

__________

six words you never understood

“Hey, Ned,” Peter whispers. “do I- uh, do I feel warm to you?”

The two are seated in the front row of their first period class. Ned is juggling a handful of color-coded Spanish flashcards and taking deep, labored breaths (in through your nose, out through your mouth, Ned). Peter leans close to him as he speaks, freeing one of his best friend’s hands from the notes and attempting to bring it to his own forehead.

“Wha-” Ned pulls away just before the contact. “What are you doing, man?”

“I feel weird,” Peter mumbles through a tight jaw. It’s a bit of an understatement, but he really isn’t sure how else to phrase it. This morning, he felt weird; now, he’s got an unsettling ache in his limbs and the daunting taste of breakfast lingering beneath his tongue.

Ned looks confused - almost worried - for a second before his expression changes. “Oh, Hell no… Peter, you are not leaving me here to do this presentation alone!”

“I- What?” Peter glances at the mess of rainbow card-stock, then back to his friend, exasperated. “I won’t, but-”

“You look fine to me.”

“I feel sick, Ned.” As if on cue, a sickly burp rises in Peter’s throat. He lets out a quiet gasp, pressing a fist to his lips to stifle it. Ned doesn’t seem to buy it, though, and Peter can’t really blame him. He felt the same way this morning: Oh, this kind of stuff still happens.

“¿Estás nervoso?”

“Nervioso,” Peter corrects. “But, no-”

“See? Nothing to be worried about!” Ned exclaims, cheerful and borderline obnoxious. His eyes widen suddenly, and he picks up a neon green index card between his fingers. He flips it back and forth, then, “Me, on the other hand…”

“Leeds? Parker?” A stern, clear voice rouses Ned from his pre-hysteria. “¿Estás listo?”

“Oh, God.”

_____

It’s a miracle they make it through the four-minute presentation. Ned was surprisingly quick to get his stuttering under control, and once he did, Peter found it easy to hide behind his enthusiastic explanations and the flashy PowerPoint the duo had put together the week prior. They ended up getting a B (Ned isn’t that great at Spanish and Peter wasn’t much help), but the two were content with that, all things considered. Peter’s luck, unfortunately, was short-lived.

He extends a trembling hand to flush the toilet, wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his sweater as an extremely agitated “C’mon, man!” erupts from outside the stall. Peter hauls himself into a standing position with the help of some superhuman strength and a grip on the empty toilet paper dispenser. He mumbles a quiet “Sorry,” as he stumbles into the bathroom’s common area. Stopping at the sinks on his way out, Peter watches the cold water pool into his cupped hands with a dazed expression. When he remembers, he splashes his face with it, taking a second handful into his sour mouth and sloshing it around. He spits it out and grimaces.

Peter had spent the remaining two periods before lunch slipping in and out of not-so-subtle naps and texting Ned beneath his desk to try and keep himself sane. He’d completely given up on him by the third but, you’re spider-man text though. The worse he feels, the less he cares to convince Ned there’s something wrong. He obviously isn’t getting it, and Peter no longer has the energy to argue.

As soon as he takes his first wobbly step out of the overcrowded boy’s bathroom, he bumps – quite literally – into MJ, who remains firm after the collision, grasping Peter’s forearm with both hands to steady him.

“Holy shit, Peter.”

“I. uh-” Peter sighs, running a hand over his face. He no longer needs confirmation on the fever; he can feel it radiating off his own skin. “I’m sorry.”

She shrugs. “I was looking for you anyway.”

Peter glances up at her. He can’t read anything from her expression (he never can), so he just lets her finish.

“Happy’s here.”

“What?” Peter takes a few minutes to process the sentence. First, he’s caught off guard by the fact that MJ knows Happy by name, but this bewilderment is quickly overcome by wait, Happy’s here?

“What?” He repeats, but it’s no longer directed at her. He pulls his phone from his pocket, scanning over the multitude of notifications littering his lock screen.

Happy :) : I’m outside.

Happy :) : Peter.

Happy :) : Do I need to sign you out?

Happy :) : PETER

Happy :) : If I have to get off this car…

6 missed calls from Happy :)

Peter blinks, the light from his phone intensifying a headache he apparently hadn’t even noticed until now. He locks the phone, shoving it back into his pants and dashing past MJ with whatever speed he can muster. He catches her shoulder with his backpack.

“Sorry!” he shouts through gritted teeth, at the same time she calls out “Peter!”

He skids to a stop, turning clumsily to face her.

“Take it easy, okay?”

Peter nods, continuing his race to the Student Pick-Up area. He can’t help the smile that spreads across his feverish cheeks as he runs. If he didn’t know better, he’d say she was worried.

_____

“You… forgot…”

“Happy, I’m so sorry.” Peter pants. He’s outside the black sports car now, doubled over with his hands on his knees, panting at the road beneath his feet. It seems to sway under his weight, so he closes his eyes to regain balance. “I’ve just- I’m kinda sick, and-”

Happy raises a finger to his lips to silence Peter. It seems like everyone’s doing that today. He unlocks the car and grumbles, “Get in. If Tony asks, we stopped to get gas.”

Peter takes the invitation gratefully, sliding lazily into the backseat. His book-bag lands on the car floor with a thud, and his aching body collapses onto the seat with a similar weight. Happy’s words don’t really sink in until they’ve been driving for a few minutes. “Wait, why are we lying to Mr. Stark?”

“Let’s just say it’s not one of his best days.”

Peter snakes an arm around his abdomen, leaning his face against the car window with a deep sigh. “That makes two of us.”

_____

“Mr. Stark,” Peter swallows.

In the five-minute walk from the parking lot to Mr. Stark on the compound’s first floor, Peter’s condition has completely tanked. The headache he’d been sprouting on the ride over has now evolved into a sharp stabbing behind his eyes, making him dizzy and unbelievably nauseous. The reasonable part of Peter’s sick brain can tell he still has a fever, but most of him is just focused on how cold he is, the hair on the back of his neck and arms standing with chills. “I don’t feel so good.”

Tony shoots the kid a glare, and he immediately retracts his choice of words. “Sorry.”

The two are standing just behind the large glass doors that lead to the biggest open grass in the compound. They always train here when there’s a large group, Tony had said. It’s been a while, he’d also said; he wasn’t sure they’d ever train like this again. Peter wants to smile at the irony as he watches Captain America tighten the straps of his shield around his arm, still in otherwise-regular clothes. Peter would be ecstatic if he didn’t feel so awful. Tony taps the glass to point at where Thor is standing. He’s not really doing anything, just looking around.

“You ready for that?”

Peter almost gasps. Eagerness sprouts in the pit of his stomach, bubbling up his throat at the idea. Training with the God of Thunder! Officially meeting Thor? Peter’s almost lost in his fantasies before the butterflies make him feel sick again. “Uh oh.”

“C’mon kid,” Tony smiles, patting Peter’s back. The force of it makes Peter cough, but he muffles it into his sleeve. “There’s no reason to be nervous. He’s only a God.”

Peter gulps.

“Pete,” Tony laughs, turning to face him. “I’m just kidding. It’s only sparring.”

“No, I- I know.”  Peter hiccups. “I just really don’t think I’m up to this.”

Tony looks confused – and a little annoyed, Peter notices.

“Why not?”

“I’m sick.” Peter says, feeling small.

Tony gives him a weird look. “You’re… sick?”

“I know, apparently-”

“Are you trying to play hooky, Spider-Man?”

“Mr. Stark, no, I- I wouldn’t,” Peter trips over his words. He knows he’s not in the wrong here, but something about Tony’s tone makes him nervous.

“Bold choice,” Tony continues. “considering you’ve never hesitated to fight impaired before. Like that time… what was it? The time you let me annihilate you in a three-hour training session without telling me your wrist was broken. In two places, Peter.”

“Okay,” Peter breaths. “That was dumb, but this is-”

“What? It’s not the same?”

Peter feels like he must have missed something. There’s a hint of venom behind Tony’s words now, an anger that’s only really been directed at him once before. Peter shakes his head and sharp pain pierces through his temples. He’s definitely not understanding. “Mr. Stark-“

“Right,” Tony interrupts, again. “because that’s the God of Thunder out there and I’m just Mr. Stark.”

“Please,”

“No, it’s okay… You know what, Peter? You’re right. You’re not ready for this. Go upstairs. I’ll have Happy take you home in a few hours.”

“Mr. St-” Peter clamps a hand over his mouth, eyes watering as he gags into it. He looks to Tony for help, but he’s already halfway out the automated glass door.

Peter closes his eyes in a desperate (and failed) attempt to feel steady. Kitchen, he remembers, he’s close to it. He runs – now with both hands caging his mouth – to where he thinks it might be, arriving just in time to heave into the sink. The remains of his breakfast spray past his fingers and soak the previously-pristine metal.

“Mr. Parker, do you require assistance?”

_____

FRIDAY’s voice begins to echo just as Tony sends a final blast from his gauntlet straight into Steve’s – Sam’s? He isn’t entirely sure – shield. It ricochets, but he ducks just in time.

“Boss, may I interrupt?”

“You already have, FRI,” Tony spits. Steve nods in his direction, undoing his arm straps and tossing the Vibranium to the side in two swift movements.

“Peter Parker is in distress.”

At this, training halts. Natasha makes a T-shape with her arms and the remaining Avengers fall in line, each taking the time to collect themselves as they listen.

“He having a nightmare or something? Wake him up for me, I’m a little busy.” Tony immediately resorts back to a fighting stance, but it falls flat when Steve doesn’t join him. They’ve been at this for a while, he notices.

“Tony?” Steve tries.

“Mr. Parker is displaying a temperature reading of approximately 103.9 degrees Fahrenheit and has been throwing up, on and off, for the past four hours.”

“What the fuck?”

“I had been advised not to bring this to your attention, at Mr. Parker’s request. However, he has since lost consciousness and his two degree rise in temperature has led me to override his decision as per protocol. How would you like to proceed?”

Tony takes a shaky, uneven breath. He’d been stressed, hyper-fixated on this training session as the first Avengers group activity since… It would be Steve’s last - he made that clear - but Tony begged him to come. Peter wanted him there. Peter. How could he not have seen this?

Tony doesn’t realize he’s panicking until Steve’s hand is on his shoulder. He hadn’t noticed the hyperventilating until he had to carry the weight of Captain America’s arm with each hitch.

“Tony,” Steve says again, softer.

“I fucked up.”

“I can get him. It’s okay.”

“No, no,” Tony takes a final deep breath, stabilizing himself. Tony’s bare hand shoots up to push at Steve’s chest, as if he possessed half the force necessary to hold him back. “I’ve got him.”

_____

The sight Tony finds in the downstairs bathroom makes his chest feel tight. Peter’s slouched over the toilet seat, his face resting on the porcelain – which is so, so gross – and his eyes are closed. His breaths are labored; Tony can tell by the way his back arches and trembles. The kid’s out cold, but his face is twisted in a look of pain and his now-limp hands are still white-knuckled from previous exertion.

Tony takes a few small steps forward, kneeling carefully to get closer to the boy’s level. He sighs, reaching up to run a hand through the mess of damp curls plastered to Peter’s forehead.

“Rise and shine, Underoos.”

The second he wakes, Peter is immediately gagging. Tony lifts him back over the toilet seat when he falls, though nothing comes up but water and bile. The poor kid continues to heave after everything’s gone, spluttering and choking on his own breath.

“Hey, hey, that’s enough,” Tony soothes, dropping into a sitting position so he can pull Peter close to his chest. “There’s nothing left, kid.”

It takes a few minutes, but Peter eventually falls into a semi-even breathing pattern. When Tony briefly wonders if he’s sleeping, Peter takes a handful of fabric from Tony’s shirt into his fist, pulling him closer.

“Listen, Pete,” Tony tries, unsteady. He would’ve thought he’d be a little more prepared for this after five years with Morgan, but his relationship with Peter now seems more fragile than ever. “I’m really sorry. I should’ve listened.”

“Shh, Mr. St’rk,” Peter slurs through layers of congestion. With a finger to his lips, he motions to his apparently-sensitive ears. “S’okay.”

“You’re here now,” he says after some time, and Tony watches him close his eyes.

“Yeah,” he chuckles, sadly. “I’m here.”

[cassercole]

Ask and ye shall receive my love! What are you most looking forward to writing about in Endgame from a character perspective? From an action perspective? How much of the five year gap will you explore? Is there anything from canon that you’re gonna change (aside from Steve’s ending obvi)? What are you NOT looking forward to writing? Do you know whose reunion will come first, Petolly or Queve? The people need to KNOW Liz (it’s me, I’m people)

Ahhh thank you thank you thank you! This is gonna be LONG so buckle in bbs. PLEASE KEEP ASKING ME ENDGAME QUESTIONS LOL 

Character perspective wise I’m really excited to get into Steve’s mindset after everything because he was so surface level and sort of OOC in the movie lol. There was no exploration of his PTSD from this huge trauma (or really anyone else’s). I want to dive into the beginning part of those five years like how the Snap would have pushed him to his limits in trying to find a way to get everyone back before he reaches his breaking point and just settles for trying to survive. Also! Dawson! Considering Q is dust, he takes a front seat in RiM during this point and we get to see more of him which is always nice. I have some fun stuff planned for him. Also just generally, I’m excited to get into the world post-Snap like the little things like government or social stuff or like regular day life. I don’t think that was very well explained? And has so much potential? 

Action wise, I haven’t really thought about because IDK I never felt like RiM was a super actiony story? So this is very Molly focused. I have a few plans like Q with her sniper rifle and saving Steve from an alien he didn’t see behind him (cue Steve: THAT’S MY WIFE). But the moment where Steve, Tony and Thor are standing on the edge of the cliff looking out at Thanos, I imagine Molly being there too. (lowkey want her to get bitch slapped by Thanos but that might kill her so). 

And yet, I also want her with Nat finding their own way out of the wreckage before backing Steve and Co. up. Through the five year gap, Molly gets super angsty and buff and good at fighting so she’s able to hold her own on the field. Some things are in play, and some are still being figured out lol. 

Beside Steve’s (and Q’s!) ending, (which I have changed twice now lol but I think I’ve settled on what I think is going to happen) I will be changing who dies on Vormir. 

Dawson will be working with Tony to figure out the kinks of time travel, since at that point, Dawson is able to slightly teleport in the present, so he has the teleportation down and Tony figures out the time portion of it. I’m actually excited to write that begrudging friendship. 

I also am toying with the idea of when Steve, Tony and Molly (finally have a reason to use those Nancy gifs from S3 of Stranger Things lol) time travel to the 70s, having Steve (and Molly) interact with Howard while Tony talks to Peggy. Tony will still die tho so. 

While I’m excited to dive into the five years post-Snap, I’m also sort of dreading it because a lot is unknown about how the world works so I’ll be making up a lot of it. Plus figuring out what Steve and Molly are doing/things to keep the stories moving and what not. There’s going to be a lot of overlap between RiM and HCtF even though they’re separate stories. 

And I know I won’t get be at Endgame in HCtF by the time I’m in Endgame in RiM so it’ll be hard to sort of figure out what to tell from Steve’s POV and what to save/retell from Molly’s POV. There’ll definitely be hints and references and character growth and certain events and what not in RiM to things that haven’t yet happened in HCtF -- like Steve finding Molly in her apartment while she’s Venus-ing it up, without ever deeply exploring what Molly’s been up to in the five years, or like Molly’s Venus storyline will only be alluded to in RiM but explored in HCtF.  So I know it’ll be hard to both explain without giving too much away and also without confusing the shit out of everyone lol. Gonna try my best.     

That being said, Queve’s reunion will definitely come first only because of the pacing of the stories. Like RiM is so far ahead of HCtF (I still have to get through Civil War and Homecoming l o l ), so Petolly will just be reuniting in the background of RiM haha.  

All in all, I’m really excited to write Endgame for both stories. I just wish I was already there haha. But again PLEASE KEEP ASKING ME QUESTIONS! It helps so much. 

[rushmanatalie]

falling like the stars || ch. 1/?

Rating: E

Summary: In the five years since the world they knew ended, they found solace in each other, until a brief encounter with fate gives them the chance to change everything. A post-Infinity War and Endgame re-write. Notes:  Thank you all so much for reading, and for all the love on my last work. It really gave me the drive I needed to get this baby out. Hoping to get the second chapter up some time in the next two weeks. Please feel free to leave comments on what you want to see next because I’m always open to new ideas! 

Steve would never let Nat live in the Avengers facility alone, change my mind. Also Steve is a bad cook, it’s canon. Title from James Arthur’s song of the same name.

Read on Ao3

It’s like a ritual now. She wakes up in his arms, the white silk sheets of the bed cold against their warm, entangled bodies as he presses gentle kisses down her spine, drawing out her good morning in a content sigh. He’s perfect like this, mussed blonde hair golden under the first rays of the morning sun, blue eyes almost grey with the haze of sleep, a lazy, boyish smile on his lips. And for a moment she can’t help but to contemplate the irony of it all, how it took the darkest of times for them to finally find this, this happiness.

What did it cost?

Everything.

They had lost everything. Everyone. Nick. Sam. Wanda. Vision. T’challa. Hell, even the kid Tony had picked up from Queens had vanished into thin air.

Half the population, gone. To say they were not prepared for this amount of devastation was an understatement. For months, families, cities, and entire countries fought to put themselves back together. Natasha had done everything she could to help bring order in the year of chaos that ensued, but she couldn’t do anything to subdue the uncertainty that loomed over them, a constant shadow of doubt and grief that hung on every fake smile, every bit of laughter, like salt in the wound of the healing.

And she’d almost done it alone.

The Avengers disbanded shortly after they left the Garden. Some had found a way to live on; Tony and Pepper had gotten married and had a beautiful daughter, Morgan, and Bruce was last heard finding success in experiments with the Hulk. Others fell into their despair; Thor had disappeared to New Asgard, only ever leaving his home to restock his supply of Asgardian mead, and Clint. Clint. She couldn’t bear to think about him.

These were the people she called her family; now they were so broken it felt like she’d lost them too.

Of course, they had all been lucky enough to survive the Decimation (that’s what they called it now). But some days she found herself almost, fuck, just almost, wishing they hadn’t, because knowing they had left each other, had left her, one by one, in a time of such hopelessness and defeat, that somehow hurt more.

Steve was the only one who stayed, and honestly, she doesn’t know where she’d be if he had left her too. For the past three years, the two drowned themselves, Steve in his support group, Natasha in her training, and at the end of the day, they would drown together, in each other, until she didn’t know where she ended and where he began. And she never wanted to come up for air.

Some call it hell. She calls it happiness. At least, it’s the most happiness she’s known in years, though why they couldn’t have found it sooner is a mystery she could never seem to solve.

“You okay?” His voice is soft against the nape of her neck.

She nods, the faintest of smiles crossing her lips. “I’m fine.”

She’s not, he thinks as he smooths his thumb over the creases between her brows, a hint of worry showing between his own. She smiles, but her eyes are empty. That’s all she’s been in the past two years, a ghost, a shell of her former self. And it scares him how hard it hit her. Of course, it had hurt them all, but Natasha was always the strongest one, the one who would rather die than put her emotions out on display. In that sense, she hasn’t changed, but he knows of the crying behind closed doors, the wiping away of tears when he’s not quite looking, the sneaking of cigarettes on the balcony when she thinks he’s fallen asleep.

But at this moment he doesn’t ask any more questions. There’s a trust between them now that goes beyonds words, beyond these feelings. She trusts him with her life, her heart, and she’s proven on various occasions that he could entrust his with her.

She’ll tell him when she’s ready, if she ever would be.

He silences her thoughts with a languid kiss, weaving a hand into her hair. It had grown out over the years so that the bright red reached her shoulders, yet the blonde tips remained, almost as a reminder of the pain they carried with them everywhere.

She kisses him back, growing in hunger, desire, and he opens his mouth to let it take over. He dips a hand down to her stomach and slips under the hem of her camisole, finding the roughness of the scar the Winter Soldier had left on her all those years ago. The satisfaction of hearing her moan makes him reach a little higher, until his hand is over her breast. Her own hands roam the planes of his chest, every touch hotter, lower than the last, until his hardened length is painfully straining against the fabric of his briefs.

But his own pleasure can wait. He grabs her wrists and pins them above her head. She likes him like this: a little rough, a little harsh. It had taken a long time for her to convince him that this was good, that she enjoyed it, and when she finally did, when he finally let himself be in charge, it was pure ecstasy.

He pulls the camisole off of her in one smooth movement. Before she has time to react to the cold air on her skin, he’s planting a row of kisses down her chest, beneath her navel, fingers dancing around the thin fabric of her underwear. That comes off of her torturously slowly, he makes sure of it, and he takes pride in the way she arches her back and spreads her legs in protest.

God, how did he ever get so lucky?

She’s already wet with wanting, aching for his touch, and he obliges, licking a broad stroke over her sex, relishing in the way her hands thread their way through his hair, urging him to keep going. His eyes meet hers from between her legs and she can’t help but giggle (since when did she giggle) at the sight of him like this.

“Shouldn’t we eat breakfast first?”

The corner of his mouth tugs into a smug grin. That dumbass. “I already am.”

He pushes two fingers inside her, curling them just right as he presses his thumb to her clit, circling over the sensitive nerves, taking her closer and closer to the edge, a string of Russian curses falling from her lips. His mouth finds the pulse of her throat, and somehow knowing that it’ll leave a mark makes him suck harder on the softness of her skin. But before she can get where he knows she wants to be, he stops, and it takes everything in her power to hold back a strained whimper of desperation.

My turn. Sitting up, she hooks her fingers into the top of his briefs, and pushes them down to his ankles so that he can kick them off the side of the bed. She’d seen him like this many times before, but Christ, it never gets old. A swipe of her tongue across the tip of his length has him lost in a wave of pleasure, and it isn’t long before she’s closing her lips over him, taking note of the way his breath hitches, the muscles in his body tensing up as he tries not to bury himself in the warmth of her mouth. His patience wears thin, with every hum of her throat bringing him closer to his climax.

“Fuck, Nat, I’m—”

She denies him the chance. The way her mouth comes off of him is absolutely obscene, and ten years ago, it would have sent him into a furious blush, but now, he can’t stop the titillating thoughts of what he wants to do to her from running through his head.

She brings him down on top of her and kisses him hard. It’s almost shameful how much pleasure he gets from the way his taste mixes with hers on their tongues. When she pulls away, it’s green eyes on blue, and somehow, it feels the most intimate they’ve been all morning despite their state of undress. An “I need you” said in complete silence.

He slides inside her slowly, carefully, then all at once, and it earns him a lustful moan that he takes as his cue to move. They find their rhythm with ease. It’s fast, it’s hot, and it’s heavy, and it’s almost muscle memory by now, but the pleasure feels just as new as it did the first time they made love like this. Her legs are wrapped around his back, and this time, she doesn’t hold back the loud wails that escape her lips as he finds the perfect spot inside of her. The bed creaks beneath them; the headboard rattles against the wall as she grasps it so tightly her knuckles turn white, and for a second, Steve can’t help but be thankful they have the place to themselves, because the sounds they’re making are practically pornographic.

They teeter on the edge of pure bliss, and she’s so goddamn close that she’s writhing underneath him, chasing her release.

His fingers circle her clit as he presses an open kiss behind her ear, where he knows it makes her melt. “Come for me, Nat. Let go.”

That was all she needed to push her over, and she falls apart with his name on her lips like prayer from the mouth of a saint. The tightening of her walls around him, sending him down seconds after, and he comes inside her with an unrestrained groan against her neck, and perhaps an “I love you” hidden within it.

He’s never said it before. Neither of them have. Not out loud. Not to each other. But they say it in stolen glances, worried looks, and moments like this.

They lie beside each other, face to face, breathless, for what seems like an eternity as he rubs small circles on her arm. “You know what? I think I actually enjoyed today’s breakfast.”

“Yeah? Well, it was slightly better than the pancakes you made last week.” She eyes him pointedly, her signature smirk more teasing than her words. “Slightly.”

“Well, I don’t know about you,” he says, kissing her forehead, her nose, then, chastly, her lips, “But I’m still hungry.”

She shakes her head as he moves over on top of her again; her laugh is like music to his ears. “You’re insatiable, Rogers.”

“What can I say? I can do this all day.”

—————————

When Natasha gets out of the shower, she’s greeted by the unmistakable smell of bacon. She doesn’t even realize how hungry she is until her feet are betraying her, and before she can even put on proper clothes, she’s walking into the kitchen, pulling her black bathrobe just a little tighter at the sight in front of her. Steve stands in a light grey henley and dark jeans, back to her as he prods at a pan of scrambled eggs on the stove with a wooden spatula. It’s almost strange to see Captain America being so domestic, but she finds it surprisingly endearing. Besides, was he even Captain America these days anymore?

He catches her through the corner of his eye as she saunters over to the island behind him, where a plate of cooked bacon sits on the marble countertop. “Would you look at that?” She breaks off a corner of the meat and finds that it’s a little crispier than she likes, but she manages to both chew and swallow it. “That’s actually almost edible.”

Natasha would never consider herself a picky person, especially when it came to food. Not when missions often required her to cook canned beans in microwaves or instant oatmeal over wood fires. But it didn’t take her long to find out that Steve’s cooking was less than enjoyable, which wasn’t all that surprising since he lived a good chunk of his life on food rations and boiled cabbage or potato soups.

“I’ll take almost,” he chuckles as he sets down a plate of scrambled eggs in front of her.

“Is that...paprika on top?” she questions with a suspecting brow. “Since when did you get so fancy with the spices?”

“Just thought I’d try something new.” Nodding toward the plate, he hands her a fork. “Here, try it.”

With a false reluctance, she flips through the pile of eggs before tasting the smallest piece. “Wow, uh—”

“That bad, huh?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Well, that’s what it sounded like you were saying.”

She shakes her head, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “Sorry, Gordon Ramsay.”

The name clearly doesn’t ring a bell, his face showing nothing but confusion.

“Celebrity chef? He had this show where he went to the worst restaurants in the world and turned them into these five star places in a week.”

“Must not have made it onto my list.” The plates are pushed to the side as he heads to the fridge for a jug of milk before pulling out two boxes in the cabinet above him. “So, Cinnamon Toast Crunch or Frosted Flakes?”

“Is that even a question?”

He sets two bowls and spoons onto the countertop and pours the milk first (to this day, she still has no idea why), then Cinnamon Toast Crunch after (again, no idea why), pushing the bowl with less milk across to her. Just the way she likes it.

“So, what time’s your meeting today?” she asks, a spoonful of cereal in her mouth.

“Two. I should probably head out soon.” He pauses with a breath of hesitation that’s grown all too familiar to her, so much that a small part of her fears what comes next. “You know my offer still stands.”

This isn’t the first time he’s mentioned it, and her answer has always been the same.

“I’m fine, Steve.” She stares down blankly at her reflection in the back of her spoon to avoid the concern of his gaze.

“You can't keep going on like this."

"I said, I’m fine."

"Natasha—"

"Steve, please, leave it—"

"You need to talk to someone, Nat!” The harshness of his tone startles her, and her eyes dart up only for a second, but long enough to notice the clenching of his jaw, the furrowing of his brows. “You can't just shut everyone out." His voice softens. “Don’t shut me out.”

There’s a hint of pleading in his voice, but she chooses to ignore it, because the implications that it comes with are something she’s spent too long considering, and she didn’t want to anymore.

“You’ve been putting up this front for three years, Nat. I know you’re hurting. I’m fucking hurting. But goddamn it, let me help you,” he swallows heavily, as if those words had dried his throat completely. “And I know you’re drinking again.”

Fuck. The back of her throat begins to burn, her eyes stinging with tears that threaten to fall. Part of her knew that she could have done a better job at hiding the bottles. He always seemed to find them. But then again, maybe it’s because deep down she knew that she wanted him to.

When she finally looks up, it’s with an anger in her eyes, but not at him. At herself.

“Why do you care?” It’s not meant to be a challenge, yet she can tell that’s the way it comes off to him because he looks at her, almost stunned.

He opens his mouth to say something, but she doesn’t stay to hear it. Before he replies, she storms out of the kitchen, stopping halfway through the hallway only when she knows she’s out of his line of sight to turn and catch a glimpse of him, a wave of relief and a tinge of disappointment washing over her when she realizes that he hadn’t followed.

But there’s only one place she wants to be now.

By the time she grabs the headphones, leg warmers, pointe shoes, and backup flask hidden in her sock drawer, she hears the soft hum of his motorcycle in the driveway, and finds herself wishing that when he comes back, she won’t be awake to see it.

[aion-rsa]

Avengers: Endgame - The History of Captain America's Climactic Moment

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Remember in Avengers: Endgame when Captain America picked up Thor's hammer? We sure do! Here are other times he did that!

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This article consists of nothing but massive Avengers: Endgame spoilers. You’ve been warned. We have a completely spoiler free review right here.

Ever since Thanos showed up in the mid-credits of the first Avengers movie, there was one scenario that most comic book fans knew was going to one day happen: Captain America was going to at one point lift Thor’s hammer Mjolnir and bash Thanos’ stupid face with it. Until Hela broke Mjolnir in Thor: Ragnarok. Then we all went, “Oh, never mind, I guess,” and thought about what could have been.

Well, time travel is funny like that. It gives you a mulligan. Avengers: Endgame gives us one of the most triumphant moments in superhero movie history, when Captain America is able to lift Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, and use it to beat the ever-lovin' crap out of Thanos for a few minutes. Not only can Captain America lift Thor's hammer, he's able to call down the lightning just as Thor would. It's a huge, cathartic, and historic moment in the history of the MCU, but it's something long familiar to Marvel Comics fans.

How Can Captain America Lift Thor's Hammer?

Simple: Steve Rogers is worthy. The inscription on Mjolnir reads "Whosoever holds this hammer, if they be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor." It doesn't matter how strong you are, if you aren't worthy, you can't lift Thor's hammer, no matter how hard you try. It's why Thor, at a low point in his life, is so relieved to find that he can still call and hold Mjolnir when he travels back to the events of Thor: The Dark World.

In Avengers: Age of Ultron, we got the slightest hint of what was to come when Cap was able to slightly budge the hammer when trying to pick it up. Thor's reaction shot there was priceless, and teases the moment in Endgame when Steve finally gets to call down the lightning. Of course, the big payoff in Age of Ultron was that Vision (not Cap) was able to wield it near the end of the movie as a way of proving his fidelity, but many of us knew that there was more to it, including Thor, who exclaims "I knew it!" when Cap gets his big moment with the hammer.

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There is comic book precedent to Cap picking up Mjolnir. While not the first non-Thor character to pull that off in Marvel canon (that would be the delightful Beta Ray Bill), he’s had a couple moments where he’s been able to prove his worthy worth and cracked some heads with the uru metal.

Here’s some American history with a mix of Asgardian shop class.

THE ORIGINAL

The Mighty Thor #390 (1988)

Around this time, Steve Rogers had lost the right to be Captain America and just fought crime as "The Captain." This meant dressing exactly as Captain America, but in a black costume with red and white stripes on the front. Thor stopped by Avengers HQ, saw this guy with head wings and a shield and went, “I never saw you before in my life! Who are you?!” Then he threw Mjolnir at him in mid-sentence before realizing that it had to be Steve Rogers because of how fast he could dodge the attack.

I swear, Thor must scream, “STRANGER DANGER!” whenever Jane Foster gets a haircut.

Cap later explained his whole status quo, as well as his current feud with Iron Man (that happens a lot). So the government considered him an enemy and he was at odds with Iron Man for ideological reasons. Same as it ever was. While Thor mused over all this, one of his villains, the god Seth, sent an army after him. Cap, of course, helped out his stupid, stupid friend.

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Thor dropped his hammer after being tackled by generic grunt Grog. Grog tried to lift Mjolnir, but couldn’t budge it. Instead, he started torturing Thor with a laser. Cap didn’t quite understand the whole “worthy” gimmick at the time and figured it was just really heavy. Even though Grog, a brick shithouse of a miniboss, couldn’t do it, Cap decided it was worth trying.

Wouldn’t you know it, The Captain picked it up and wiped the floor with the dogpiling goon squad. He tossed it back to Thor, who proceeded to finish off the bad guys.

Afterwards, Thor admitted that while he had no idea what was really going on with Steve and Tony’s current argument, he sided with Steve due to his ability to pick up the hammer. Cap nodded, rushed into a Quinjet, and flew off to go break Tony Stark's nose several times over.

2099 PROBLEMS

2099: Manifest Destiny (1998)

Even though it's been brought back a few times since, 2099 was one of Marvel's big fixtures in the 90s. It was how 90s comics felt the future would be like. The story was that the heroes had long gone missing and there were no surviving records of what happened. Either way, Thor was worshipped as a religious figure and many awaited his return.

When serial-pointer Miguel O'Hara got powers and became the new Spider-Man of the era, someone pointed out that he was the first of many who would take up the mantle of a long-forgotten hero. This would continue until the coming of Thor 2099, who would deliver them all. Sure enough, we got Ghost Rider 2099, Hulk 2099, Punisher 2099, X-Men 2099, etc. After a few years, the line of comics lost its luster and they wrote it off with this one-shot where they found Captain America's frozen body.

read more - Avengers: Endgame Sidelines the Captain America/Bucky Relationship

As Steve got accustomed to this new world, Miguel gave him Donald Blake's walking stick. With a little reluctance, Steve accepted the gift and struck it to the ground, transforming it into Mjolnir and transforming himself into a gaudy Cap/Thor hybrid. He and Miguel started a new Avengers team, but on a space mission, things went haywire and it looked like Captain America was going to be knocked into deep space. His last act was to throw Mjolnir to Miguel, who caught the weapon and turned out to be just as worthy.

Yes, in a wonderful twist, Spider-Man 2099 wasn't just the herald of Thor 2099. He WAS Thor 2099!

With this power and the slow aging that came with it, Miguel turned the galaxy into a utopia. By the time he was done with his duty in 3099, they discovered Captain America's frozen body yet again. The poor guy just couldn't catch a break, but at least he got the hammer back.

THE HELLSCAPE OF APOCALYPSE

What If? Featuring X-Men: Age of Apocalypse (2007)

Age of Apocalypse was a pretty big deal in the '90s and the world it depicted was a nasty one. At least it had Magneto’s X-Men to make some kind of difference to offset Apocalypse’s evil. Naturally, Marvel’s What If series had a couple of takes on the big event. One had its continuity move forward and show how that Earth would have handled the coming of Galactus. One had Legion succeed in killing Magneto in the past, showing a world where Charles Xavier could better fight for a world where mutants were accepted.

Then there was this ridiculous one-shot where Rick Remender came up with the idea of Legion accidentally killing both Magneto and Xavier. The event had terrible repercussions, leading to governments to discover the existence of mutants earlier and going straight for the persecution. Apocalypse made his big appearance and the world got weirder than in normal Age of Apocalypse continuity. For one, Apocalypse’s army included a nest of Peter Parker clones connected by a big Venom symbiote blob.

read more - Avengers: Endgame Ending Explained

The resistance team included the likes of Nate Grey, Molecule Man, Wolverine, Colossus, Thing (with robot arm), Doctor Voodoo (introduced a year or so before Brother Voodoo was the Sorcerer Supreme in canon), Captain Britain in Mach I Iron Man armor, and the leader Captain America. With no real context given, he wielded Mjolnir throughout the story and constantly fought maskless.

The whole issue was mainly these Defenders jumping from one spot to another, facing different threats and gradually losing members. Towards the end, Nate Grey killed Apocalypse, stole his armor, killed Molecule Man, and opened up a portal to the past so they could prevent the deaths of Xavier and Magneto. Fearing that Grey would become a tyrant as bad as Apocalypse himself, Cap killed him via Mjolnir and allowed the portal to close.

He and Wolverine were the only survivors of the adventure.

WAR OF THE WORTHY

Fear Itself (2011)

Fear Itself was a Captain America/Thor crossover idea that Marvel decided to turn into a full-on event. It was...there. The tie-ins were better than the main plot, honestly.

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The Red Skull’s daughter Sin came across a mystical hammer that transformed her into the deity Skadi. She helped unleash forgotten Asgardian god The Serpent, who in turn created seven hammers that would possess and empower those worthy of unleashing fear. They were Hulk, Juggernaut, Thing, Titania, Absorbing Man, Grey Gargoyle, and Attuma. Then Nazis in mechs started swarming Washington DC and the whole thing was a big mess.

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Around this time, Bucky Barnes was Captain America and the story partly existed to have Bucky fake his death and move the Cap identity back to Steve Rogers (and you thought Endgame treated the Bucky/Steve relationship poorly?). A lot of good it did for him, as The Serpent was able to shatter the shield with his bare hands.

To turn the tide, Tony Stark and Odin made some special weapons for the superheroes to wield. As for Cap, he simply found Mjolnir lying around on the battlefield and used it to go to town on Skadi. They hyped all this magic weapon stuff up like crazy in the adverts, but the whole thing was really background noise. The fight just kind of ended after Odin pulled away all the hammers and Skadi went back to being Sin.

THE MIRROR MATCH

Secret Empire (2017)

And then there’s this load. Nick Spencer did a lengthy story about Steve Rogers revealing he was really an agent of Hydra all along. Marvel was really adamant that it was really Steve Rogers and that he wasn’t being mind-controlled. Also, the company insisted that Captain America wasn’t a Nazi because Hydra weren’t Nazis. TOTALLY DIFFERENT THING. Because, you see...look over there!

Hydra Cap then turned out to be a version of Steve Rogers created by a little girl with reality-warping powers (sure), who was manipulated by Red Skull. Cap ended up taking over the US and shockingly beat up opposing superheroes via wielding Mjolnir. That too seemed to be a product of the reality-warping as the inscription/rules of the hammer were different and you had to be a bulky Hydra asshole to pick it up.

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By the end of the event, the little girl conjured the original version of Captain America to beat up his please-don’t-call-the-Nazi-a-Nazi doppelganger. When Hydra Cap went for the hammer out of desperation, it had already reverted back to normal and he wasn’t worthy enough to pick it up. Regular Cap picked it up and walloped his douchebag counterpart.

"Your ass will never be America's ass." (not actual dialogue)

Yeah, everyone knew that the status quo would return in the end, but the whole Hydra Cap business was as well-timed and tactful as showing off your chainsaw and hockey mask to your son, in the middle of the night, when Sideshow Bob is trying to kill him. It also killed the end of Gerry Duggan’s otherwise legendary Deadpool run, which I can never forgive.

HONORABLE MENTION

There’s only been five comic scenarios where we’ve seen Captain America wielding Mjolnir, so let’s just move those goalposts a little and talk about times when superheroes have kicked ass with the shield AND the hammer at the same time.

First up is Crusader from an issue of What If based on the original Secret Wars that showed what would have happened had all the heroes and villains been stranded on Battleworld for 25 years. While some died in that time, others got busy and we got a new generation of heroes and villains. One of which was Sarah Rogers, daughter of Cap and Rogue.

read more: Marvel Movies Watch Order - An MCU Timeline Guide

No, the comic doesn’t answer the question of how that conception worked.

Even though her boyfriend Bravado was the son of Thor and Enchantress, it was Crusader who ended up being able to pick up the hammer and turn the tide against Vincent Von Doom. She also had stolen her dad’s shield from his closet when he wasn't looking, but that’s less impressive.

Then there’s Superman. The miniseries JLA/Avengers was the final crossover between Marvel and DC and it finished with a bang. Leading both hero teams into battle, Superman was entrusted with Captain America’s shield. During a pivotal moment, in order to break into the villain Krona’s stronghold, Thor threw Mjolnir to Superman. Superman caught it and smashed his way in.

read more: Does Steve Rogers Still Have a Place in the MCU?

Later on, after the dust had cleared, Superman found himself no longer able to lift it. As Thor put it, Odin may be strict, but he knows when to cut you slack when times are desperate.

I have to imagine we’ll be seeing more Cap/Mjolnir moments going forward. Marvel really seems to enjoy having comics imitate movies that imitate comics. God, remember when Spider-Man 3 came out and comic Spider-Man just happened to start wearing black again?

Gavin Jasper writes for Den of Geek and when Captain America throws his mighty hammer, all those who attempt to...stammer that hammer must clamor...? Read his other articles here and follow him on Twitter @Gavin4L

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Gavin Jasper

Nov 25, 2019

Marvel

Avengers: Endgame

Captain America

Disney+

from Books https://ift.tt/2Dbqjxl

[bagelbite]

so my thoughts on endgame

yes this does contain spoilers and yes, i will continue to tag any of my spoilers as “endgame”

did i hate the movie? no. it had many very good moments that i will list before i list the problems i had with it

i LOVED all of the humor like they did that so well. like when steve was fighting his younger self and young steve says “i can do this all day” and now steve goes “yeah i know” in this just tired voice. and americas ass. and all of the jokes about rocket being a raccoon. and hulk taking pictures with the kids and then when rocket and hulk were sitting in the back of the truck. when tony threatened to sell all of morgans toys. korg playing fortnite. the whole scott coming back the wrong age bit. hulk having to walk down the stairs. when tony told steve that if he dropped the shield one more time he was gonna keep it. like there were so many parts that were just so funny and i loved it.

i loved all the tender moments. that little moment of friendship between nat and steve where she calls the avengers her family. i was SOBBING when tonys daughter was revealed and at literally every interaction between them. the fact that tony wasnt even going to build the time machine until he saw peters picture and thw fact that he had peters picture at all. tony telling nebula “you won” and her freezing bc shes probably never heard that before. the fact that both nat and clint refused to let the other one die (which was the truest form of love i have ever seen, not romantic but just genuine platonic love. also not that bullshit thanos called love for the very same stone). the moment when clint was looking around for his family and couldnt find them so he was just running back and forth not knowing what to do. im not even going to mention tony and peter’s reunion or goodbye because i was sobbing like a child the entire time. quill thinking for a second that gamora was back. when pepper told tony “we’re going to be okay” and you think she means the world and humanity but she really means her and morgan. the entire interaction between tony and his dad. there were so so many parts that just hit me so hard.

i loved all the heroic parts. carol showing up outside the ship with tony and nebula. steve standing up with his shredded sheild, still fighting on. the fact that steve can fUCKING WEILD THORS HAMMER LIKE BRUH. also that sick combo he did with the sheild and the hammer. the hail hydra moment because steve is so incredibly smart and knows how to work a situation. all of those bad ass women gathering to fucking destroy thanos. the circle opening up and revealing tchalla and shuri and okoye walking out, silhoutted by the light and the wakandan battle cry. the fact that the canons recognized that carol was the largest threat around and firing at the atmosphere to try and stop her and she just fucking rips through them like nothing. carol beating the shit out of thanos and him having to literally hold the power stone in his hand to beat her. that moment where you see all of the heros lined up ready to fight. “i am iron man”.

obviously there are more of every moment, and i loved all of them.

but.

that doesnt mean that i liked the movie. and heres why:

1) thor’s literal character assassination. i reblogged a few posts (that you can find in my endgame tag) that explain this better than i will be able to but bruh. the russo brothers did thor so fucking dirty and it makes me pissed. they made him fat purely for the laughs (which someone pointed out an emphasis on the fact that they literally edited his weight out of the trailers because they wanted to use it as a gag in the movies). also, they blatently ignored and made fun of the fact that thor OBVIOUSLY was grieving and blamed himself for how things had turned out. he has lost literally everything in his life: his home, his father and mother, his brother, his best friend - and now the man who wiped out half of the human population taunted him with his mistake of not going for the head. also, thor literally just went through the whole process of realizing his true power and sacrifing his home in order to protect his people and youre going to tell me that he just decides “mmm imma go to space and leave you all here youre fine without me” like no. also please read this post it makes me so mad its so true.

2) the whole time travel plot. to me it didnt seem well thought out and it leaves so many plot holes. like if removing a stone can create another timeline, i dont think putting the stone back fixes anything. you have still technically created another time line. and like what happened to loki we saw him disappear wouldnt that be another time line??? and like if 2012 or 2014 or whatever thanos came to the present, then wouldnt that create another time line?????? and if steve stayed behind, then thats a whole other time line. like it just doesnt make sense there are so many things that do. not. work. (sidenote: thanos said the infinity stones were reduced to atoms. wouldnt that be reversable by scott and shrinking down into the quantum realm??? this is just an idea)

3) it was predictable. there were SO many times that i was able to tell what was going to happen before it did. like clints family vanishing. and scott finding an older cassie. and scott being turned into a bunch of different ages. and tony saying no and then saying yes. even tony weilding the gauntlet was predictable (i just refused to think about it bc i didnt want to see tony die).

4) steve staying in the past. now im going to preface this saying that im not trying to say that steve didnt deserve it. he did and im happy for him (since this is what the russo brothers have decided to make permanent). steve did deserve happiness and i will even say that he deserved peggy. but. that doesnt mean thats what he should have done. it was out of character for steve (not as bad as thor but still out of character). he would have recognized that the world needed him in the now and he wouldnt have been able to just stay in the past. like steve’s biggest character flaw is that he cant just sit by and do nothing, he always has to act. so now out of no where he just decides that hes gonna screw over everyone in the present and stay behind. like he knows they just lost tony AND nat, two of the og avengers, and hes just gonna decide to leave them hanging without another person???? and hes just going to sit by knowing that bucky is out there being tortured??? ALSO i am absolutely not saying that any part of his talk with sam was unnecessary. i even love the fact that he gave the sheild to sam (black captain america is my shIT HELL YES I AM HERE FOR IT). but. there is no way that steve “even when there was nothing i had bucky” rogers wouldnt say anything to bucky. and i saw someone saying “well they obviously talked off screen” bitch i dont care there are probably thousands of off screen things that happen and thats why we have fanfiction. but the on screen stuff matters and steve just ignores bucky entirely?????? no he fucking doesnt the russo brothers are just afraid to encourage any more interaction between steve and bucky because they fear stucky fans. and im not even saying this as a stucky fan im literally saying it as a marvel fan who knows the smallest amount of steve’s character.

5) tony creating his worst nightmare. tony has said multiple times that he blamed his dad for leaving him and it only makes sense that he would fear having a kid and then leaving them alone. and the russo brothers did just that. they gave tony the life he always wanted and then ripped him from it, creating tonys nightmare at the same time. he has now subjected morgan to live a life like he did, without a father. now personally i dont think tony should have died. did i predict that he was since infinity war (bc of rdj’s contract ending and also it will be very difficult to continue the “next generation” with these huge figures still around), yes. and i know that its unrealistic for everyone to survive in war but so is fucking time travel and they pulled that card. idk i just dont like how they did it.

so overall, i think i loved a lot of the overall moments on film, its just that i didnt like the themes, messages, and character delieveries shown in the movie. im just gonna go watch winter soldier and ragnarok and homecoming and captain marvel and black panther and all the other Actually Good marvel movies.

[skywalkersapprentice]

so when I saw infinity war the second time, i brought a pen and a notebook with me and took notes in the dark the whole time. for my second endgame viewing yesterday, i did the same. i now present to you my Thoughts About Endgame. (this is. long.) 

Major Spoilers Ahead.

okay seriously, nobody called clint up when there was a giant invasion in wakanda??? nobody???

also it was daytime in wakanda when the snap happened. it’s also daytime wherever clint is in america when the snap happens. someone explain.

god the dawning panic when clint realizes his family is gone. that whole scene is so empty and unsettling, it was shot really well

i automatically associate 80s music with space thanks to marvel. 

tony stark adopting strays everywhere he goes since 2013.... i love this about him

nebula finally got to win something!!!! “it was fun.”

and then she gives him their final ration. i’m- :((((

back on earth..... thank god the beard is gone.

“I lost the kid” tony’s face wow that’s devastating, no thanks

“Is um...” what was tony going to say after that??

“I thought you were a build-a-bear.” “Maybe I am.” fuckign.... tony please sdfgdfg

“And I needed you.” tony :(((

“No trust. Liar.” this entire scene is just. chilling. heartbreaking. tony has nothing left for anyone, and especially nothing left for steve, except-

him ripping the metaphorical heart out of his chest and handing it to steve made me literally gasp the first time i watched this film. i feel like it hasn’t been talked about enough, but it’s incredibly poetic.

“where are you going?” “to kill thanos” i haven’t seen captain marvel but i’m already in love with carol danvers

and now they have hope, they still think they can bring everyone back... what a dangerous thing

suddenly steve is looking at his locket of peggy all the time.starting in this film only. can we let him grieve for his actual friends?? you know, the ones he just lost? does he even mention sam or bucky in the entire film?  alright russos, i have several bones to pick with you about this, but alright....

i gotta say, when i first watched this i was astounded that thanos destroyed the stones and then got beheaded in the first twenty minutes. it really left me wondering, well- what now? and that was exciting.

five years later. i mean, we knew there would be a time jump, but i wasn’t expecting this.

we’re really calling this cameo by russo representation huh

lol

and like??? steve brings up nobody he lost in the snap, instead chosing to focus on “the love of his life” that he met and lost in 1945. this struck me as odd the first time i watched and now i’m like. man they’re really trying 2 justify their later decision, huh

so they’re calling those who were snapped “The Vanished” according to the sanfran memorial

avengers r still a thing and their complex has actually grown in size?? who is funding this. is it tony

my next note just says HAIR SDFDSDFG aka heLLO carol danvers

nat :((((

crying and eating a sandwich is a mood

god. the quiet grief

natasha romanoff has come such a long way from her introduction in iron man 2. she cries freely, loves her family, actively wants to be a better person, even if a lot of her family isn’t around today. i just- love her so much.

“we both need to get a life.” “you first.” goddamnit

i.... love happy, peaceful, good dad Tony Stark, so much.

“define lunch or be disintegrated” morgan h stark is so cute

“you like going in the garage, huh? so does daddy.” tony was already so proud of her god i just :((((

me, zooming in on nat: ARROW NECKLACE

does she only wear that when she’s missing clint, or

I’m truly in my feelings about Tony being The Best Dad

Bruce apparently spent 18 months in a gamma lab, which is interesting.

god the scene with the kids asking for a selfie was so cringe are you telling me they could include this but steve couldn’t mourn for his friends

tony does dishes now. a true housedad.

that’s!!!! his first son!!!!!! :((((((

can you believe it was peter parker who pushed tony to invent time travel

“i’ve got something on my mind.” “is it juice pops?” i’m just thinking now about how howard most definitely would have sent tony straight to bed, but tony lets morgan stay up and eat juice pops with him. this is just. straight up great content.  

“I love you 3000″ can you just. his face when she says that. also i’m never getting over that phrase ever

“I can stop,” Tony says, on the brink of inventing time travel.

“But would you be able to rest?” says Pepper, who has been trying and failing to get him to stop for a good 15 years.

the parallels between this and her last words to tony. ouch.

this is such a good and steady relationship now :(.

sdfgfdfg why is steve dressing like he’s from the 40s again is this a visual sign of his regression

god they did thor so dirty in this film. not with his character- him falling into great depression and having ptsd is not a bad thing, but treating it like a joke is. the audience is invited to laugh at him. Bad.

thor threatening “noobmaster69″ over the headset for his rock friend is very funny though.

hey tokyo looks alright compared to a lot of america.

every single clintasha scene in this film kills the man.

also everyone knows thanos’s name. i assume that means the world knows why everyone disappeared.

“you’re only a genius on earth” yeah but who invented time travel, rocket

rhodey wanting to straight up murder baby thanos is hilarious

the explanations of time travel in this film give me a headache

“TIME HEIST BRAINSTORMING SESSION”

bruce, nat and tony all laying around throwing ideas back and forth.... this movie is valid sometimes

“see you in a minute,” natasha says, and she’s smiling.

this is her family you guys :(((((

NEW YORK 2012

MY FAVOURITE SCENE

omg bruce making such a halfhearted attempt at smashing things please i love

okay cut to 2013 Asgard, and Thor sneaks right by his currently dead brother without even looking at him. this movie confuses me

fuck the scene where rocket slaps thor for having a panic attack. i’m glad thor ended up abandoning him.

okay so everything important happens between 2012-2014

cap/tony/scott, clintasha, nebula/rhodey.... these are such ideal teamups

“we’re a long way from budapest” give me my clintasha movie, marvel!!!

okay back in 2012, HOW did JARVIS not register the fact that there were two steves and two tonys in Stark Tower

god this entire scene is fucking hilarious the entire mcu was worth everything for the 2012 time travel scene

fuckign.... loki

ELEVATOR SCENE

as a cap 2 stan i feel so validated

HA IL HYDRA

WHEN I SAY I GASPED IN DELIGHT

CAP VS CAP

“I CAN DO THIS ALL DAY”

“YEAH, I KNOW, I KNOW”

sadfgfdfg are u really telling me that cap takes the peggy locket everywhere

BUCKY IS ALIVE

THAT IS AMERICAS ASS SDFGFSDF PLEASE

2012 avengers best avengers

meanwhile the sorcerer lady is giving bruce a time travel lesson and i didn’t understand any of it but basically each reality requires six stones in order to not be torn apart by the forces of darkness? ??

I’m just glad thor got some kind of closure by talking to his mom

side note you can definitely tell that frigga raised loki

“EAT A SALAD”

“i’m still worthy” asdfgfdf yeah but now this timeline thor has no hammer!!!

QUILL SDFGFDSDFGHFDS

this movie is so entertaining

i live for nebula and rhodey just judging everyone

so do the guardians just.... not happen in the 2014 timeline?

gamora is ready to Fight thanos when the maw threatens nebula

was that young alexander pierce headed underground in 1970?

bone 2 pick with this whole time travel thing

thor got closure by talking to his mom

tony got closure by talking to his dad

steve saw peggy working, successful and thriving, through a window. closure where????

he should have gotten a chance to talk to her and received closure that way.

hank pym is an asshole but i guess we already knew that

“my wife is expecting” so tony was born 1970/1971 ig

howard’s dad beat him with a belt. i suppose every stark does a little better parenting-wise

Jarvis!!!!!!! agent carter is canon!!!!

vormir oh god here we go

“under different circumstances, this would be totally awesome” i’m inclined to agree with clint

this part goddamit

handholding :((((

my next note just says “aveng ers 1 paralels fu k”

the way this was filmed was beautiful. the colours, the lighting, the acting, the dialogue, the parallels to the first clintasha fight in avengers 1..... if natasha had to die, this was.... a good death, i think.

“damn you!”

“it’s okay.”

clint is begging her this hurts so much :(((

god. tears.

clint just sobbing in the water with the soul stone in his hand hits some kind of way

where is natasha’s funeral, huh??? why does steve shed like one (1) tear?

also why does the gauntlet need to physically be snapped like what does that dO

i just realized that thor’s fake eye is amber.

Infinity Stones:

almost killed thanos after 2 uses

destroyed bruce’s arm

killed tony

imagine an alternate scene where all six original avengers survived until this point and all of them held one stone as they snapped thanos’s army out of existence. that would have been the ultimate fanservice and i would have astral projected. anyway we’re getting off topic

“don’t change anything from the last five years.” what tony means is “please don’t erase my daughter”.

SNAP

yay they did it except-

how did everyone survive thanos blowing up the avengers compound

2014 gamora sounds just- slightly different than 2018 gamora. a little harsher. the guardians haven’t yet softened her edges.

“we become sisters” and suddenly gamora has hope

i- did that lightning just braid thor’s hair sdfgdsdfgh

this is a harsher thanos. thanos who died in 2018 had been changed. weakened, maybe.

thor, cap and tony fought in avengers one. now, they’re fighting thanos together.

l just. love that clint has a sword now.

“he won’t let me” nebula.... :(((((( and she dies crying

i have a note here that says “thor’s lightning + tony = c o o l”

STEVE WITH MJOLNIR

ASDFGFSDF FUCK THIS WAS WORTH EVERYTHING MARVEL HAS EVER PUT ME THROUGH

LIGHTNING POWERS

i LIVE

oooh it’s personal for thanos now

ON

YOUR

LEFT

the portals scene fUCK

this is just. worth it. on every level.

PETER AND TONY

“this is nice” please :((((((

poor peter quill gets snapped, gamora’s loss fresh in his mind, then he thinks he’s gotten her back and she’s not the gamora he knew. ouch.

tell me why everyone but steve gets a reunion scene lol

peter introducing himself to everyone!!!! he’s so sweet.

CAPTAIN MARVEL HAS ARRIVED

i’m gay. oh my god.

hhhhgn hair

GIRLS

this is fanservice!!! as in, i am a fan and i feel fuckign SERVICED

thor duel welding mjolnir and stormbreaker is AWESOME.

strange holds up one finger. tony gives a look of heartbreaking acceptance.

god. tony stark, you brave, brave man. he knew he wasn’t going to survive this one.

“I am inevitable.”

“I. am. Iron Man.”

SNAP (2)

you lose, thanos.

but also, i lose, because oh god tony.

peter :(((

“Mr Stark!”

“Sir!!”

“Tony!!”

oh. fuck.

“you can rest now” do you SEE the parallels to the earlier conversation between tony and pepper :(((

the arc reactor going out physically broke me

i didn’t take many notes after this because i was literally sobbing lol

“I love you 3000″ stabs me again

“proof that tony stark has a heart” yes well my heart is breaking

happy :((( is morgan’s jarvis :(((((

Queen!!!! Valkyrie!!!

this dick measuring contest between Quill and Thor got old five hours of content ago.

:))))) rage time :))))))

bruce tried to bring back nat with the snap :(((

oh god bucky.

his face!!!!! his voice!!!! he’s trying to be strong and find but he looks dead inside

i just- fuck. he knew and he let steve go.

why did he show up on that bench i don’t understand

“I’m happy for you” are you telling me sam wasn’t the least bit hurt or mad

the ONLY good thing about this is Captain Sam

fuck steve tho

what year is this dance in

i mean. it’s sweet. but this is not steve.

I think i’ve talked enough about my dislike of the direction steve’s character went in in this film. that was the major point of dislike for me, but given that the council has made a stupid ass decision i’ve elected to ignore it. i understand that both tony and steve had to make their exist from the franchise here, but.... there were better ways to go about that. 

i think a few different relationships slipped through the cracks here- characters suddenly grieving people they haven’t seen in /years/ and completely ignoring others who only recently died was a big one for me. but other characters saw a lot of development- nebula was a favourite of mine in this film, which i was not expecting! she and rhodey made a really good team- i feel like they understand one another. 

the Original Six all saw a decent amount of screen time, which i appreciated. nobody got left behind there. there were so many references to other films that i know i didn’t catch them all, but it really made this movie seem like a love letter to the fans. 

i want to make it clear that i actually loved most of this film. i think it was a good send off for the avengers and i love a good time travel plot (like, it’s one of my all-time favourite tropes. i was vibrating with excitement in the theater during the 2012 scenes.) i went in expecting a lot of the emotion to be sidelined in favor of plot and action, and while that happened a little bit, i was overall pleasantly surprised with the amount of emotion that they fit into this film. characterization and emotion is perhaps even more important to me than a good plot, and this film got the emotion down.

 it’s definitely not a perfect film but it could have been so much worse, so i’m grateful that we got a good sendoff for the avengers.

7/10. 

[thatsmrfantastic-archived]

                                               ENDGAME VERSE                     WARNING !!!!! Movie Spoilers Below !!!!

The Infinity War takes it’s greatest toll on our first superhero family. Half of what once was, is no more. Four no longer Four but Two. While they fought hard, Thanos still won. Shortly after the snap Ben and Johnny both turned to dust, but the grief doesn’t end there. Franklin and Valeria Richards, Reed and Sue’s two children were among the few who had a shot at beating the great conqueror. Like most young early teens not fully grown into their powers they lost control and made mistakes. But that left Thanos, grieving the loss of his children Gamora, Corvus, Cull Obsidian and Proxima in the war, who in turn took an interest in these two powerful young adults. He saw a second chance. To be the father of a great empire he never got to be, and he disappeared that day, with them.

Thanos took with him Reed and Sue’s children and entire world. When Captain Marvel returned with Tony, like the other Avengers there was never a question. They were going to get their children back.

But upon rallying with the avengers and heading out to find Thanos, before they can find out what happened to the stones and their children....Thor happens. Beheading the Mad Titan and effectively losing any hope of finding out what might have become of their kids. Reed breaks down, Sue breaks down. That’s it. Their family, their entire world is gone and for once Reed can’t fix it.

Years later, the world is still recovering. No one has seen or heard from the Richards since they sold the Baxter Building and left for God knows where. The Avengers have tried, time and time again but no one’s heard from Reed and Sue and they doubt they even want to be found.

But then, everything changes again. With the reappearance of Scott Lang from the Quantum Realm, hope has been found again that they can go back in time and find the stones -- but first, they need to build the gate. Though it takes a lot of consideration, Tony cracks time travel and agrees to come back and help but knows if they’re going to have any shot at building this thing properly he needs to work with the man who in elementary school was PIONEERING a project like this.

Out of anyone that he’d expect to possibly be the one to find him, Reed never expected Tony. Sue and Reed had retired to a log cabin out on a lake in the middle of no where to get away from the glaring reality that was their new world. And Tony just about thinks they’re too emotionally spent and tired to possibly fight for this again, but Tony and Sue are pleasantly surprised when Reed reveals in the basement of their cabin he’d been working on his own research and that he hasn’t....he hasn’t lost hope that they’d be able to get their friends, family, and children back one day.

Sue and Reed go with the avengers back in time. While the others carry out their missions they join up with Nebula and Rhodey to go and retrieve the power stone from Morag back in 2014 before Quill can steal it. Sue, Reed, and Rhodey returns to the present with the Power Stone. When Nebula does not return right away Reed begins to suspect something but keeps it to himself, just keeping a close eye on her until the others return.

Reuniting in the present, the Avengers create a new gauntlet. Banner volunteers to wield it, stating that he's the only one who can withstand the injuries that will follow, and uses it to restore all those whom Thanos had disintegrated. Reed realizes Past Nebula is not Present Nebula too late unfortunately, as she uses the time machine to transport Thanos and his warship to the present, who launches an attack on the Avengers' compound. Stretching himself to extreme proportions, in addition to Susan just barely able to throw up a protective barrier in time around some of their friends, they all barely survive the blast and the final battle with Thanos’ army begins.

Reed and Sue see Johnny and Ben come through the portals with Dr. Strange and the other heroes and they all rush together for a short lived group hug.

After that they fight hard as a team. It’s just like old times. When Reed and Susan get their chance, they exchange blows with Thanos, all the while on the war path to find their kids until Thanos gets a hold of Reed, about to tear him in two when gazes pan to the two small figures emerging from Thanos’ warship discarding the corpses of alien creatures, hand in hand, an older blonde boy and girl who’s eyes glow as they send Thanos flying away from their parents towards Captain America and Thor as Sue and Reed rush forward to drop to their knees and embrace their children.

And just like that as soon as it began the battle’s over. The smoke clears. But once again, friends were lost. Though Clint and Reed’s family might once again be whole it was at the sacrifice of Tony’s. And he’ll always be heartbroken and grateful over that. If I ever interact with any Tony’s we can always do a canon divergent ending where Tony survives and of course depending on the relationship I have with your character, we can discuss changes but this is my base Endgame verse to get an idea and go off of.

oH and Victor probably got snapped too in my verse. Either that or he OTL finally decided my babies had lost enough and effectively decided to end his feud in this verse with Reed and they were probably two old men that went fishing every once in a while post-snap apocalypse style :’v  

[machi-kun]

Omg I just watched endgame. Omg. Tony’s final moments when he was surrounded by rhodey pepper and peter OMg and the funeral when the focus is on ironfam omfggg I was crying man.. sad that he’s dead but I think it was a good ending for him? But Steve’s .. doesn’t this undo Peggy Carter’s series where she ends up with Sousa?? I wanted him to stay in the present :// and Thor .. random.. do you think he’ll be in the next guardians film? Please do a post with your thoughts on the film omg??

OMG heyyy! YOU SURVIVED THE MOVIE, FRIEND! Or did you? ksajhkjasfhkjsaf It was so emotional, so hard to watch! I hope you had fun!

Honestly, I took some time to answer to this ask because you said to make a post about my thoughts one it and I’m actually.... considering to do it. A separate post, I mean, for the entire thing. It would be long, so incredibly long, so thats why I’m still debating on doing it or not. But if you’re really curious to know about it in detail, let me know and I’ll do it! No problem! But I can give some quicker opinions right away!

You know how some people loved it, and somepeople hated it? I’m in the middle of those two reactions, but I am leaning more towards liking it than not. It was a good movie! Very, very emotional, so satisfying in some scenes, but kind of completely insane in others, so that’s what is stopping me from saying it was a fantastic movie. But overall, I’m happy with it. 

I like Tony’s ending, actually. I would have been happy either with him surviving or him not making it, because either way, what mattered is that his story was handled with care and love. That’s all I care about. He was loved, by characters and production alike, until the end. That’s what I wanted. Whatever end they gave him, it had to be dignified, meaningful, and powerful - and it was. As a Tony stan, as much as I’ll miss him, I am proud

Steve’s ending though... Oh, that is a rough one. I’m having a hard time with the time travel element in general because its so freaking messy that I can’t help but notice it, but I do know Steve’s decision does not affect the past - in his timeline. The Agent Carter series is part of the MCU timeline, the timeline we see. When Steve went back and made a different decision, he split that tiny moment in two, and two timelines came from it - MCU, the one he just left, and a new one, where he lives with Peggy. Timeline wise, it doesn’t affect what’s already happened in the MCU.

But the implications of it, oh my God. Just... a mess. So bad. 

And honestly, it doesn’t feel like a happy ending to me. It feels sad. The idea that the only life Steve could think of as worth it was a life over fifty years in the past - how is that happiness? Really, since he woke up in 2012, he has found nothing worth staying in the future for? That is the saddest thing they could have done for him. If you want to look at it with SteveTony goggles, sure, maybe Steve was so torn by losing Tony he just yeets himself into another timeline, but I’m working with the assumption that canon is what it was shown; and in that case, I can’t see how this means anything other than Steve having a really depressing ending. 

Also, Sharon Carter? Awkward.

I did find Thor’s ending kind of random but assuming there will be a GotG 3, it’s possible he’ll be there. There’s also talk of a fourth Thor movie, I believe? Not sure if that’s confirmed or not! But I do think there’s a chance will still get to see Thor one more time in the future.

[deehellcat]

Fanfic Stats Tag Game

this looks like fun! thank you @love-howard-potts-3000 for tagging me.

Author name: dixiehellcat

Fandoms I write for: MCU, right now

Where I post: Ao3

Most popular one shot: I’m gonna have to go look at stats! I don’t pay them much mind...okay, it’s The Only Way Forward, which I wrote after the infamous Endgame trailer dropped (and before Captain Marvel) in which Pepper and Carol take a Kree vessel to rescue Tony.

Most popular multi-chapter story: The Placement of Angels, book 1 of my Wordsmith series, an MCU AU that started from the simple question ‘what if Christine Everhart wasn’t a catty bitch’ and the seismic changes that followed from that.

Favorite story I wrote: aw, question, no :D How can I choose? I love how Wordsmith is going, and some parts, like how Civil War happened (or rather, didn’t) in the current installment (Civility) just tickled me to write! The one I find myself going back and rereading the most, at least of late, is Cheat The Hangman. I was happy to have an idea come to me that let me have my cake and eat it too--be totally canon compliant with what we saw onscreen in Endgame, yet still have Tony survive and ultimately make it home.

Story you were nervous to post: the first one :D which again was Placement of Angels. I hadn’t written in a very long time, so I was super unsure I still had any kind of chops.

How do you choose your titles: sometimes they come to me easily (Placement of Angels did, as did Cheat the Hangman and several others) Sometimes I change half a dozen times before a story starts posting! I’d said all along that if Avengers 4 wasn’t called Endgame, that would be the title of the ninth and final book of Wordsmith. Then Marvel sniped me :D so I’ve been wrestling with titles for it ever since. Song lyrics, bits from quotes, or lines from poetry often make good titles for me.

Do you outline: oh Lord. The current bible for Wordsmith is (checks doc) 98k words. Seriously. And still, sometimes I don’t follow it. lolol. What it is is, when I think of lines for a scene way down the road, I write them down so I won’t forget them. By the time I get to writing that scene though, earlier stuff may have changed it, or the characters don’t want to say that, or, whatever.

How many stories: 13 posted so far. 2 more definitely coming (Fireblade and In Your Blood, In Your Making, books 8 and 9 of Wordsmith) plus a couple of possible side shorts set in that verse. Notes for several other stories, mostly AUs of some kind or another.

Do you take prompts: maybe? i don’t know, I tend to write what the spirit moves me to, so I don’t know if I could do prompts! I want to sign up for a bingo someday and try.

Story you are most excited to write: the rest of Wordsmith! I am SO STOKED about how the time period of Endgame is going to work out in my verse, and there is a plot twist before then (haven’t decided if that’s going to happen at the very end of Civility, or the start of Fireblade) that I’m quite looking forward to.

I think everybody I know who writes has already been tagged :D so, if you follow me and you see this and you want to do it, I would love to read it. I really enjoy hearing other people’s writing processes. And feel free to blame me. hehe

[astromechs]

001: MCU fandom, 002: Peter Quill / Gamora, 003: Carol Danvers. Choose one or do all three if you want :)

i’m gonna do all three! thank you for this 😎

001 | MCU

Favorite character: This is extremely hard, but it’s a three-way tie between Gamora, Peter Quill, and Carol Danvers at this point.

Least Favorite character: Thanos because he’s a dumb bitch. Runners up include: Bucky Barnes, Clint Barton

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Peter/Gamora, T’Challa/Nakia, Tony/Pepper, Scott/Hope, Carol/Maria

Character I find most attractive: Honestly, most of the women could step on me and I’d say thank you

Character I would marry: Gamora or Carol

Character I would be best friends with: Peter Quill

a random thought: Black Panther legitimately deserved Best Picture, you guys just hate genre film

An unpopular opinion: I’m really excited to see where the MCU goes after Avengers: Endgame, and I’m actually looking forward to getting it over with, in a way, so that we can just move on and start getting to new stuff. (Frankly, the MCU has introduced a lot more interesting characters since the Avengers, and I’m just ready for that spotlight to leave them and go onto other people.) I’m also looking forward to getting it over with because most of my faves have been dead for the past year, and I’m tired of this holding pattern.

My Canon OTP: Peter/Gamora

My Non-canon OTP: Carol/Maria is technically not canon even though they totally are canon, if you get my drift, but I guess they’ll go here

Most Badass Character: This title belongs to Gamora, because she has overcome so much and gotten so far to reclaim her own personhood… and if Marvel Studios doesn’t let her walk off into the proverbial sunset after this bullshit, we’re going to have some words

Most Epic Villain: Killmonger

Pairing I am not a fan of: Bruce/Natasha, because yikes, and Steve/Peggy, because this fandom made me tired of it

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): I feel like Natasha and Wanda have both suffered from writers not really knowing what to do with them over the course of multiple movies. The only movie where Natasha actually had good development and a character arc was CATWS, and Wanda hasn’t even had that.

Favourite Friendship: All the Guardians

Character I most identify with: Peter Quill, like fucking whoa

Character I wish I could be: Carol; I want her powers

002 | Peter Quill/Gamora

When I started shipping them: I liked the idea of them at the end of Vol 1, but I didn’t really start shipping them as deeply as I do until Vol 2

My thoughts: Best MCU ship by far. Yeah, even over Tony/Pepper and all that; I said what I said, y’all. Their development was slow and realistic, never felt rushed, and I actually bought this dynamic, both in terms of the writing and the actor chemistry (which is high praise coming from me, because I don’t tend to buy a lot of ships in movies). Their personalities complement each other, and it makes a lot of sense as to why they’re drawn to one another. Honestly, I love them – I don’t know what else there is to say. They have my heart and they’re my life.

What makes me happy about them: People who can come together and find some healing/peace in one another is, like, my jam, and they just mash all of my buttons in this regard.

What makes me sad about them: Infinity War. Just… Infinity War.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: A lot of this is, like, characterization stuff, but I get bothered by portrayals of Gamora as some kind of untouchable ice queen and Peter as someone who’s super 100% open and acts constantly like a hyperactive five-year-old on a sugar high. The nuance with this ship is that they’re both adults still struggling with the effects of sustained childhood trauma, and opening up is going to be hard for both of them – they both have their hard edges, but also really soft hearts. I also hate when people portray Peter as some kind of dumbass against Gamora being untouchably hypercompetent; that’s also not really true of either of them, you know? Look at the characters, stop going with the tropes.

Things I look for in fanfic: Anything that gives me that character/dynamic nuance I just mentioned; I love that stuff. These are two characters who both have a lot to heal from, and I love the stories that showcase them healing together. I have a soft spot for dumb/comedic misadventures, as well as heartwarming family stories, and I love me the occasional angst piece too, but if you’ve got the nuance, I’m good.

My wishlist: Honestly, everything? This is the one ship I literally never get tired of. Which reminds me that I have some more stuff to write, too… my work schedule lately has just not been conducive.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: In MCU-verse, honestly no one; they’re serious at this point, and I just don’t see it happening with anyone else. If we’re talking comics-verse, I actually ship both of them with Rich Rider (and also the whole thing as an OT3).

My happily ever after for them: Both of them surviving Endgame with the rest of the Guardians, going back to their galaxy-saving gigs for a while, maybe hanging that whole thing up at some point and just having some peace. I also see a bunch of adopted kids in their future; Gamora starts it, when she comes back to the ship one day with this little orphaned girl in her arms, but over time, they end up taking in multiple lost/troubled kids, and it’s equally each of their faults.

003 | Carol Danvers

How I feel about this character: Love her! I’m really, really glad she exists; she’s definitely refreshing in terms of what female characters are allowed to be in comics/comics media, and that’s really reflected in part by how women are allowed to be the custodians of her story (and have been since Kelly Sue DeConnick took over her book in 2012). She’s a lot of qualities that we see in male characters – bold, confident, humorous – and isn’t made to apologize for any of those things. More characters like Carol, please.

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character: Maria, I can also get on board the Valkyrie ship; in the comics I love her with Rhodey and also Jessica Drew

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: Fury, Talos, Goose, Thor (they’re going to be besties, I know it)

My unpopular opinion about this character: Unpopular in some circles I guess, but I actually thought she had good development in Captain Marvel; like, it was a character arc I could track, it seemed cohesive to me, and I don’t think she was flat or boring in any way? But people are gonna people.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: Carol better interact with the Guardians in the MCU or else

Favorite friendship for this character: Nick Fury in MCU, Jessica Drew and Tony Stark in the comics

My crossover ship: Diana Prince

send me fandom/ship/character asks!

[inawickedlittletown]

Walking The Wire (45/?)

Summary: Tony Stark always knew about Peter Parker. He didn’t know that Peter was going to get superpowers and become Spider-Man, but he always knew about Peter because Peter was his son.

This will span from pre-Iron Man up through the rest of the MCU (eventually including Infinity War) and will be for the most part canon compliant except where I’ve taken some liberties and interpreted canon a certain way.

Pairings: Pepper/Tony, Tony/Steve (endgame), Tony/Mary (past)

A/N: If you want me to tag you when I post new chapters let me know. This fic is also on AO3

I used Collider’s MCU timeline to stay canon and the title of this fic is an Imagine Dragons song that is just so fitting for Peter and Tony

Masterpost

Chapter Forty Four

Tony felt like he had been halved. Like someone had cut out his heart and thrown Cap’s shield on it edge first. And then because that wasn’t enough, it had also been thrown into oncoming traffic, run over, and then scrapped off only to be stomped on. It wasn’t even just a metaphorical pain but physical. His chest was tight and his head was pounding.

Maria Stark had been something else. Tony had never really thought about his mother as formidable, but she had to have been to deal with Howard. She hadn’t been the housewife that everyone thought her to be and aside from being in charge of numerous charitable foundations, she had been brilliant in her own ways and free in her own ways. Somehow, she had loved Howard. But more importantly, she had loved Tony and Tony had adored her.

Tony grew up fast, partly due to his genius but mostly because Howard pushed him to and Maria just thought that maybe Howard knew best when it came to her brilliant child. Tony didn’t resent Maria for boarding school or for all the grades he skipped and entering MIT at the tender age of fifteen which was crazy to think about because his own son wasn’t even fifteen yet. He felt the way she cared with every touch and every phone call and every visit home and when they died it was her death he mourned. She was his mom.

Their deaths had lingered for him for so long that Tony never thought that grief would ever leave and it was a wound that Tony had tried to fill up with parties and drinking and sex but mostly with avoidance. Eventually things had gotten better -- it had become an ache that hid away until there was something to remind him of it. Lately, B.A.R.F had made a difference and Tony had started to move past it. It was twenty steps back now. All that work had fallen by the wayside with the grainy video and Bucky — Steve’s Bucky -- had done it. Logically he could tell himself that it was Hydra but that was a hard thing to conform to because he had seen it. He had seen that man kill both his father and mother with his own eyes and that wasn’t something that could be scrubbed away.

Tony didn’t regret going after a fight. He didn’t regret his reaction because it was justified even if it was thoughtless. He was also still fairly upset with Steve because even if he hadn’t known that Barnes was to blame, he had known Hydra was and he never planned on letting Tony know. Not even after they had started whatever it was they had started. Tony didn’t know if he regretted the kiss they’d shared when it was all over and the fight had been drawn away from him or not. He supposed that maybe he didn’t because even this lie and this betrayal did nothing to take away his feelings for Steve even if he was still hurt and angry.

Tony had let them leave first, lingering inside the bunker while they did because he didn’t know if he could see Barnes again. Or for that matter watch Steve leave with no idea as to when he would see him again.

“We will find a way to fix this,” T’Challa had said after Steve walked out, returning because he’d left something behind but maybe because he wanted to talk to Tony alone. “The Accords were not meant to harm good men and women and my grief blinded me a bit on that. I think you can agree.”

“You could say that,” Tony said.

“I want to know that we can try and do something to change it,” T’Challa said. “This has not gone the way any of us wanted it to. We’ll meet again, Tony Stark. You’re a good man. And it went for you too, you are welcome in Wakanda any time.”

Tony nodded. He didn’t know if he would take him up on visiting Wakanda knowing that Barnes would probably be there but Tony knew they’d be in contact soon. In the end, none of what happened in Siberia would make him forget that he had one more important priority than anything else and a huge problem to deal with. It seemed that things would never slow down for him.

Tony called Happy on the flight back to Berlin, back in the quinjet that Steve and Barnes had taken and then left for him.

“Hey, how’s the kid doing?”

“He’s alright,” Happy said, “you know this really isn’t part of the job description.”

“I’ll be there in the morning and take him home personally,” Tony said because he wanted to keep the conversation short.

“Sure thing, boss. But I do have to--”

“I’ll talk to you later, Happy,” Tony said and hung up before Happy could respond.

He sank back into the seat of the quinjet and let out a long breath. A part of him wanted to just run and hide. He wanted to fly directly to New York and go to the tower and lock himself in the workshop. It would have been the easier thing to do especially since even he couldn’t know if his intention had been to kill Barnes like Steve clearly thought it was. He had just known that he had to do something and that Barnes killed his parents. Killed his mom.

It was painful to think about and even worse because Steve should have told him about Hydra’s involvement in their deaths and instead he had kept quiet. Tony believed him when he said that he hadn’t known it was Barnes that did it, but he had still kept it from Tony and Tony couldn’t look past that. Maybe he would have felt different if he and Steve weren’t together in a romantic sense, but Tony just couldn’t be sure.

It was only thinking of Peter and Rhodey that made him hold on and not fall apart immediately. After all, they were both still in Berlin. Tony had already called in Dr. Cho to take care of Rhodey along with her team and he hoped that they’d be able to transfer him back to the states soon. He also didn’t want to just leave Peter to Happy. Not when he could tell that Happy wasn’t exactly thrilled to be looking after a teenager. He probably thought it was below him and that he had better things to do back in New York even if he had started asking for more responsibility. The thing of it was that Tony just didn’t have need for a driver or for a bodyguard but even though Happy had become head of security for SI, he always fell back on those positions and Tony just couldn’t change that. He also did consider Happy a friend and he wanted to keep him around even if sometimes Happy tended to get a bit intense. Maybe Tony would need to find something else for him to do.

Either way, even if Happy had been happy to look after Peter, Tony wanted to be the one to take Peter back home if only because he wanted to be completely sure that Peter was alright and because he wanted to take any moment he had with Peter and treasure it.

The meeting that Tony had always wanted hadn’t gone in any way how Tony expected or wanted it to, but it happened and Tony loved his kid. He loved everything about him, even his superhero tendencies, and Tony couldn’t wait to see him again.

When he arrived in Berlin he headed to the hospital first. It was just after midnight and Happy had messaged him with an update on Peter so Tony wasn’t worried. If there was one thing he could trust it was that Happy did take his tasks seriously. Still, he was eager to see Peter so his stop at the hospital wasn’t going to be long. He just needed to check in.

Rhodey was asleep when Tony stopped by his room and Vision sat in a chair next to the bed looking pensive.

“He’s the same,” Vision said.

Tony had expected as much. Spine injuries were not something that could just be fixed or reversed. The only option would be some sort of prosthetic or exoskeleton. Rhodey would have options, Tony would make sure of that.

“I realize now that it is emotion that has gotten the best of me,” Vision said. “I was distracted by Wanda.”

“Oh,” Tony said. He didn’t know if had expected Vision to actually voice that or not.

“I thought the connection I had with her was just to do with her powers and the stone but it is more than that. I -- I wish things had ended differently.”

“So do I, Viz, so do I,” Tony said.

“Would you -- should someone take a look at your injuries?”

His arm ached something fierce. They had put it in a sling earlier and Tony was sure that he had probably injured it even more in the fight with Bucky, but the physical pain was nothing to the rest and even Tony could tell that his arm wasn’t broken. He had a black eye, he knew, and his ribs on his right side felt sore but he’d had worse and survived.

“No, no, I’m fine,” Tony said and moved closer to Rhodey.

The nurse had told him that Rhodey wouldn’t be walking up until morning so Tony just leaned over him and pressed a kiss to his forehead and whispered an apology.

“Contact me if anything happens -- have him call me when he wakes up.”

Vision nodded.

Chapter Forty Six

[inawickedlittletown]

Walking The Wire (56/?)

Summary: Tony Stark always knew about Peter Parker. He didn’t know that Peter was going to get superpowers and become Spider-Man, but he always knew about Peter because Peter was his son.

This will span from pre-Iron Man up through the rest of the MCU (eventually including Infinity War) and will be for the most part canon compliant except where I’ve taken some liberties and interpreted canon a certain way.

Pairings: Pepper/Tony, Tony/Steve (endgame), Tony/Mary (past)

A/N: If you want me to tag you when I post new chapters let me know. This fic is also on AO3

I used Collider’s MCU timeline to stay canon and the title of this fic is an Imagine Dragons song that is just so fitting for Peter and Tony

Masterpost

Chapter Fifty Five

In the end, the rescue wasn’t too difficult. From Sharon’s info they knew not to expect Secretary Ross to be there and while Steve hadn’t doubted the intel, he was cautiously optimistic that she was right. Getting onto The Raft wasn’t too much of a problem either due to Shuri’s tech and then Steve took out the guards. Bucky was still one arm short but that didn’t mean he was useless. Between the two of them they got all of the cells open and everyone out and onto the jet within just twenty minutes of getting on The Raft. It had almost seemed a little too easy.

Steve didn’t like the conditions that he found his team in. Wanda was strapped in a white straight jacket which kept her uncomfortable and seemed to have not only affected her physically but mentally as well. The others weren’t much better but at least their hands were free. They all looked exhausted and worn out as if they hadn’t slept even in a wink since arriving in their cells.

Steve had to remind himself that Tony had come to see them and seen them like this and been unable to help them partly because he’d been trying to get to Steve and Bucky and that was his main priority at the time, but also because he just couldn’t do anything without ending in one of the cells himself. Steve didn’t know if he would have been able to handle seeing Tony in one of those cells probably strapped in like Wanda because everyone knew that Tony could make a weapon out of anything.

“Where to now?” Sam asked after they were all in the jet and had flown away from The Raft.

“That’s up to you guys,” Steve said. “I mean, we’re fugitives now and that’s what we’ve signed up for. Can’t change that now. Ross and the UN -- they’ll be after us.”

Sam nodded thoughtfully.

This wasn’t going to be about what any of them wanted, really. It was about survival and staying off the radar and Steve hated that he had been the one to bring them into this. He hated that the only thing he really wanted to do was to be back at the tower with Tony in his arms and yet it was the one single thing that was impossible and that Steve couldn’t imagine having again any time soon. It made him clench his jaw.

“You know I’m sticking with you,” Sam said and clapped his shoulder.

None of them asked about Siberia or Tony and Steve was glad. He knew the questions would come later because Sam wasn’t likely to let it go. Even Bucky had been oddly silent about it so far, but then he had been present and he probably knew that Steve didn’t want to talk about it yet. But Steve was sure that it would come up eventually. Things always did with Bucky.

“I —me too,” Wanda said and pursed her lips. Steve didn’t really know where else she might go. Sokovia -- what was left of it -- hadn’t been her home for a long time and her other home, the compound, wasn’t available to her anymore. Steve didn’t really want to think about how he had been the one to take it away. Things could have been so different.

“An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again,” Zemo had said, “but one which crumbles from within. That’s dead.” Steve couldn’t believe that he was right. Couldn’t let himself imagine that they had truly torn themselves apart. It was going to make them stronger -- they would come back together because this couldn’t be the worst thing to come back from.

“I think I have to go see Laura,” Clint said, interrupting Steve’s thoughts.

Clint looked horrible. He was stubbly which made his face look older and none of that was helped by the prison uniform or how pallid he’d become.

“She probably hates what I’ve done but I have to try,” Clint finished. He looked serious.

Steve nodded. He remembered Laura who had been so sweet and understanding the last time he saw her in person. And then the kids -- three of them now. God, what had Steve done in getting Clint involved and pulling him away from his family? He just hoped that Laura would be understanding of this.

“Is that safe?” Scott asked. “I mean won’t they be looking for you there?”

“No one knows about the farm,” Clint said.

“Tony does,” Sam said.

Clint paused and his jaw tightened.

“He wouldn’t have told anyone,” Steve said and he was sure of it “He never wanted any of this to happen. He would never give up your kids like that. You know he wouldn’t.”

Clint seemed to be hesitating on agreeing but eventually he nodded. “Yeah. I think it’ll be safe.”

“Can I come with you?” Scott asked. “I don’t regret this -- any of this, but I have a daughter too and I should contact her mom and stepfather.”

Steve was reminded yet again how little he knew about Scott. He had just been happy to have that extra helping hand that he hadn’t even had the chance to really talk to him or get to know him. Sam probably knew a little bit more about him, but even Sam looked surprised to hear about Scott’s daughter. But Tony would have known. If Scott had ended up getting recruited by Tony, Tony would have known everything about him down to how he drank his coffee and ate his eggs.

“If either of you need help don’t hesitate to call us,” Steve told them.

“You too,” Clint said.

They flew to the farm and a few hours later had dropped off Clint and Scott. Nothing about the farm had suggested that there was any trouble until they were just about to get back on the jet and Natasha appeared out of the bushes. She had changed into civilian clothing, carried a bag slung around her shoulder and had even had time for a haircut.

“Care to give a lady a lift?”

Sam laughed. “What are you even doing here?”

“Safe house,” she said with a shrug. “It’s like you guys don’t know what that means. And anyway, I had to calm Laura down a bit. I figured Clint would come straight here and some things were better coming from me. Didn’t really expect you lot here, but I guess it’s my lucky day. What’s the plan anyway?”

Steve really shouldn’t have been surprised that Natasha had known Clint would get out of prison.

“Bucky’s going back into cryo in Wakanda. That’s first. The rest, that comes after,” Steve said.

Bucky squeezed his shoulder and Steve shot him a smile.

Dear Tony,

There are many things that need to be said. A lot of which I can’t even find the words for. This is -- I don’t know how many versions of this I’ve written already. I guess, all I really know is that I love you, Tony, and that I hurt you. I guess I thought -- by not telling you about your parents that I was sparing you from feeling their loss again, but I was wrong. I can see now that I was just a coward and I just wish I had been strong enough to realize that you needed to know seeing as I had so many chances to tell you and didn’t. I guess I just -- I didn’t trust in you like I should have. I hope one day you can understand why I did that and why I found it so hard to tell you.

I don’t like the idea of not being around and you being alone in that tower, so I hope you won’t be. It was the first time in this century that I began to fit in while I was with you in your workshop. I don’t think even The Avengers made sense to me without you, because they are yours, maybe more so than they were ever mine. I’ve been on my own since I was 18 and I never really fit in anywhere -- even in the Army -- but I always fit in with you. My faith has always been in people, I guess. Individuals. You. I’m happy to say that for the most part, no one has let me down. Not even you. Which is why I can’t let them down either. Locks can be replaced, but maybe they shouldn’t. I think you agree with me on that.

I wish that we agreed on the Accords, I really do, because I hate not being on the same page with you. I know you only did what you believed was right and that’s all any of us can do, it’s all any of us should do. It’s not something that will get in between us again, I think, and no matter what happens I will come if you need me no matter the consequences.

For now, it will be hard to stay away. It will be hard to love you from afar, but I will. Never doubt that, Tony. I will always be yours.

Love,

Steve

Tony read the letter three times after it arrived and clutched the flip phone in one hand, hating that Steve had gone and found the most infuriating way of communication. He supposed that it was better than a beeper or something.

He had been surprised when the package arrived, not having expected contact from Steve so soon especially since his focus should have been on breaking everyone out of The Raft. Nevertheless, Tony was sure that King T’Challa had made it possible seeing as Steve had to have gotten the phone from somewhere and from just a small glance at it, Tony knew that it wasn’t just a simple flip phone. Tony just hated that he would have to keep it a flip phone.

There was only one number programmed to the phone, as expected, and Tony was tempted to call it right away but he just didn’t know what he would say.

Tony wasn’t all that angry anymore. He even sort of understood why Steve had done what he did and he could look at the whole thing and realize his own mistakes but that didn’t make any of it easier. It didn’t erase how hurt Tony was about the lie and even about seeing how his parents died with his own eyes on a grainy video.

Either way, he was supposed to be helping Rhodey out with his physical therapy which had been going well enough. The exoskeleton was making a big difference, but Tony could see some ways to improve upon it and make them even better. It was just a matter of implementing all the notes he’d taken so far. Rhodey had shot down any of his ideas that included extremis and Tony didn’t think that he’d actually need it seeing as the exoskeleton on its own seemed to be making a huge difference. Tony intended to start a whole department at SI to create all the designs that he’d made because there were plenty of people in need of the help. He wished that that he had thought about getting into that field earlier but Tony had just never been interested enough. Pepper was over the moon about the idea, even as she fretted over Rhodey any time she saw him even if it was just over a video call most of the time.

Chapter Fifty Seven