#they said 'roll for Being Normal about these characters' & i got a nat 1

[the-only-unicorn-cheese]

had a Thought a couple nights ago to just. combine my blorbos into one big fan Warriors Clan 'cuz i keep drawing them as Warrior cats.

Lavenderstem is Professor Laventon. i love him. i want his hat.

Skygaze is Steven from In the Mines of Veingadd. he is. so shaped. 💖

More cats & lore to come.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

WIBTA if I tried to get my friend's character killed?

🎾🐕 for recognition.

I (19M) and my friends (all 18-early 20s, 5 players incl. me but not the DM) play Dungeons and Dragons from time to time, usually once a month.

We just introduced a new player to the campaign, who we'll call Evan (21M). Evan's character seemed a little Mary Sue-y to me when she was displayed to the rest of us, but I don't usually have beef with characters based off of that and just chalked it up to having different tastes which isn't bad at all.

My character has been working very closely with the BBEG and has basically joined their side in their conquest to y'know. Do the thing that makes them the Big Bad Evil Guy. I was super excited to see what the BBEG was up to.

Well, this was our 8th session, and we were about to wrap up Arc 1. My character had finally reunited with the rest of the party at the BBEG's lair, and Evan's character was introduced as being a traveling assassin/Sorcerer that happened to recieve a tip that the rest of the normal party was here.

By the end of the session, Evan's character had spent a third of the game time monologing at the BBEG before slicing his head off. My character is currently half blind and mute thanks to Evan's character [she tried to kill my character and I didn't roll the best on my roll to move out of the way of her blade so now she's missing an eye, and Sara's character cut out her tongue as punishment for working for the BBEG while my character was knocked out], and was kidnapped by Evan's character.

I was and still am PISSED. I'm trying not to be, but it's been driving me insane. Evan keeps on bragging about how he killed the BBEG and keeps on revelling in the scene, and I'm the only one upset by it. He was the BBEG, and you KILLED HIM YOUR FIRST SESSION?! It just seems like a silly thing to be upset about, but it's been really upsetting me and me alone (everyone else saw the BBEG just as that, a maniacal mustache twirler). Everyone is making jokes and laughing, but it was really upsetting me.

My character is very fond of revenge. Anything she has to deal with, she tries to get even with anyone no matter the cost. One of our characters died back in Session 4, and my character ended up being the only one that learnt about his character's backstory: he's a prince, and his family would do anything to give proper punishment to his killer, and his character told mine what to do to make this happen before he died. I am the only one in-game with this information.

We're now on Session 16, almost done with Arc 2, and the current plan is [the DM mentioned we'd have to wait until Arc 3 to act on the prince's last words] to rat out Evan's character as being the killer [she isn't the killer, my character would be framing her, but the BBEG was the true killer and my character is loyal to him] and hope that she's persecuted. Most likely, this would end up with Evan's character dead, but I'm not sure due to how much he's been Mary Sue-ing all over the place [not a bad thing, but his character does virtually have no flaws that have presented themselves opposed to the rest of our party each with a glaring flaw that the DM made us all add in when we first started playing, and her stats are leagues beyond the rest of ours due to what her Sorcerer powers granted her].

I haven't told this to anyone, but I have asked the DM questions about how to execute this plan. I feel like it's going to be a real dick thing, but I think it's well within the realms of what my character would do and I honestly want to knock her down a peg. I don't know if the DM will let me do this anyways, and as I said I don't think Evan's character will even die because she's just got too good of stats so unless Evan rolls Nat 1s she's probably fine.

WIBTA for acting on this?

What are these acronyms?

[recalcitrantlycaffeinated]

DND, session two: the mansion

With the cleric out of commission and the fighter and murder bard both going to be late, I managed to convince everyone to reschedule so there would be someone around to heal me when I inevitably did something stupid.

Our party limped into the old governor's mansion (only setting off one trap along the way) and were confronted by a series of doors, an ornate mirror, and a tapestry. I immediately checked for a secret door behind the tapestry, and of course there was one. Everyone else in my party got distracted by the Actual Plot (girl in the mirror who could talk to us, said everything was backwards there, had been there for hundreds of years, the tapestry in the mirror didn't match ours and included a Scary Dragon) but I basically just jumped up and down whining about the secret door until Seamus was convinced to check it out with me. We worked together to check for traps (they existed) and disable them. The girl in the mirror seemed concerned about this and backed away, so I said with great confidence, "Don't worry, babe, we've got this" and, immediately cut the wrong wire and was blasted across the room (rolled a Nat 1). Paladin Dad said "THIS is why we backed away" and I said, "DAD, you're supposed to stay behind me to catch me when I do that!" In a resigned-to-his-fate voice, he said, "Well as your father, I'll be right behind you while you go first down that tunnel." [Then the DM, who was absent for session 0 character introductions as you remember, had to stop play to inquire if he was ACTUALLY my dad or not because the bit was becoming confusing.]

The secret tunnel led to a treasure room. There were shelves around the side with items, as well as various pedestals strewn throughout with other items, some with spotlights. The nearest pedestal held a pair of what looked like fogged up glasses. Seamus checked it for traps, and found that it was definitely trapped or alarmed, so he announced loudly to the group, "DON'T TOUCH...ANYTHING." Then he pointed at Hex and said, "That's for you, especially."

Hex's tweenaged player seemed upset at being singled out unfairly, so I said in-game, "Hey, that's not fair! Hex is the murderer, I'm the thief." Hex said, "Did we just become best friends?"

Now that we knew the pedestals were a no-go, the party started to explore the regular shelves. Paladin Dad found a badge that made him immune to fear, so he spent the rest of the session doing rash and dangerous things while adding "because I'm...so full of courage right now." Xander found a really overpowered axe.

The DM asked, "Does anybody else want to look for a piece of treasure?" and I replied, "Well, I'm a deeply unserious person, so I'm going to pick up the glasses."

"NO!!!!!!" yelled everyone. "Don't you remember, I said that pedestal was trapped!" said Seamus' player.

"I'm sorry, but you didn't say that," I replied. "You said don't touch anything, and then you touched a bunch of stuff and nothing bad happened." The table groaned. When I picked up the glasses, the door we had come through shut fast behind us, and weapons around the room started to animate and throw themselves at me. Thankfully, only the axe hit. [For those keeping track at home, Traps now has a grand total of 6 HP.] A laser gun was about to shoot me as well, but Hex yelled, "Don't shoot my best friend!" and disabled it.

I put on the glasses. The DM announced, "These glasses let you read three times as fast as you could normally!" "Ah," I replied, "So about the same as an average person." [Maybe Traps just...needed regular glasses this whole time.]

In the search for another way out, somebody picked up a fancy watch that said "Remember death" on it. "Do you remember death, Seamus?" asked Paladin Dad. "No," said Seamus.

"I'm about to remember my death VERY SOON," I whined. No one offered to heal me. They opened the watch, and out came some hologram sailors (plus one hologram dead guy). There was much talk about Plot; meanwhile I walked around the room excitedly reading all the words I could find. Then, bored, I decided to see if I could get us out of the room by placing something different on the pedestal. "Like Indiana Jones," said Seamus' player. "Does it work?"

"What do you replace it with?" asked the DM.

"My clockwork goldfish," I said.

"Why do you have a clockwork goldfish????????" said the DM in confusion and consternation.

"I had money????" I replied.

He threw up his hands. "Yeah, that works."

[avengerscompound]

Small Gods: Patience - 1

Patience:  A Black Widow Fanfic

Patience Masterlist | More Small Gods

Buy me a ☕ Character Pairing:  Natasha Romanoff x F!Reader

Rating: E

Word Count:  1611

Warnings: Language, guns, (smut, angst, and canon typical violence on series)

Synopsis: Every day Natasha prays for more patience to deal with a litany of things from waiting for her target to make a move - to not yelling at Clint for putting empty milk containers back in the fridge.

When her prayers are answered, Natasha finds that having patience is easy, holding on to it is a little harder.

A/N: Reader is a minor god.

IF YOU WISH TO BE TAGGED IN THE REMAINDER OF THIS SERIES, EITHER ADD YOURSELF TO THE TAGLIST OR SEND ME A MESSAGE

Chapter 1

Natasha stood on the edge of the building watching the chaos break out below her.  The team was supposed to be infiltrating a new underground crime group to figure out where a drop-off was happening.  They’d had men on a street corner no one had managed to clock, and it had just happened to be the one Steve was observing, and they’d spotted him.  That had made the whole crew antsy and then they’d wanted to change locations for the meet.  That had meant a sudden scramble to relocate everyone, so they could keep monitoring the situation.  Tony had nearly been spotted as they did and ended up having to leave the area completely so it looked like another normal New York City Iron Man sighting.  To top that off, Sharon’s comms had just stopped working completely and so no one had any idea what the group was actually saying.  It had been a series of fuck-ups and she knew she would have to get down into the mess soon the way things were going, but she was waiting to see if Clint could salvage it as he bumbled along the street acting stupid so that he could ‘accidentally bumped into his old friends Sharon’ and get some ears back on the scene.

“God, grant me patience,” she sighed.  It was a prayer that had become commonplace for her.  She’d use it when she was on an undercover mission where she had to pretend to be much less intelligent than she was.  She used it when she helped patch up Clint’s cuts after he’d spent a whole day being incredibly agile and dexterous, only to trip over his doormat and land face-first into a cactus he didn’t even know he owned.  She used it when Tony went on one of his rambling stories that she already knew.  She used it when she had to watch Steve jump off yet another stupidly high point for no reason other than he had to be their first.

“I’m not sure, Natalia,” a voice coming from way too closer said.  “I’m not sure that’s what you actually want.”

She spun around, quickly assuming a defensive position.  You stood at the corner of the building, completely relaxed.  You had dark sunglasses on and what looked like a faux leather jacket and large black boots.  You were leaning against the wall slightly and twirling a lollipop in your mouth, and despite the fact that on just about anyone else she’d think they were trying too hard, you seemed effortlessly cool.

“Who are you?”  Natasha snarled.

“Patience,” you said simply.

“Don’t tell me to be patient when you’ve just snuck up on me in the middle of a mission.  Tell me what you want, or I’ll send that piece of candy through the back of your throat.”

You laughed and held up your hands. “Okay, killer,” you teased.  “Relax.  I wasn’t telling you what to do.  I was saying that’s who I am.”

Natasha quirked her eyebrow at you.  “So your name is Patience, and you sit around waiting for people to pray for patience and you pop out thinking it’s a funny joke?  You know how close to death you just came right now?  I’m in the middle of something.  Go away before you get someone hurt.”

Natasha spun back to look down at Sharon who was now talking to Clint.  She saw the quick sleight of hand as they exchanged mic packs.

“Patience isn’t my name,” you laughed.

Natasha rolled her eyes, hoping to cling on to the last remaining patience she had rather than breaking your neck. That would just lead to a lot of paperwork.  “You said it was.”

“No,” you said, straightening up and reaching into your inner jacket pocket.

Natasha pulled her gun and pointed at you.  “Don’t even think about it.”

You pulled your hand out with a business card pinched between your thumb and index finger.  You raised your hands and flicked the card up so it was held between your index and middle finger.  “I said I was patience,” you said, taking a few steps toward her.  Natasha’s fingers twitched on the trigger finger as she tried to read your intention.  “You’ve been praying to me a lot lately.  I thought I’d show up.  But - you’re obviously not ready yet.”  You offered the card to Natasha and she took it without taking her eyes off you.  “Now… count to two hundred, and then go down the fire escape.  Agent Carter will be fine until then, and that will get you there exactly when you need to be.”

“What?”  Natasha asked, now completely confused.

“Just a suggestion,” you answered and casually strode off to the stairwell, leaving Natasha alone on the roof, completely perplexed over what had just happened.  She looked down at the business card.  Embossed in gold on the glossy black card were your name, address, and phone number.  There was no mention of a job or business or even the word patience that you had kept bringing up.

Natasha furrowed her brow and tucked the card into her pocket.  She wasn’t a trusting person by nature, but she had enough experience with magic to know not to completely ignore what you said.  She counted to two hundred as she paid close attention to what was happening in the street.  As she carefully made her way down to the fire escape, there was a commotion and Sharon drew her gun.  People scattered as a large van pulled up and armed men spilled out.

Natasha cursed under her breath as the street broke out in utter chaos.

“How did you even get there so fast?”  Sharon asked.

Thanks to your warning, Natasha had gotten there at the perfect time to take out most of the gunmen before they’d even shouldered their weapons.  In the end, while the plan hadn’t exactly gone how everyone had wanted it, and they still needed to actually find where they were operating from, they had made a lot of arrests, and thanks to Natasha, lots of innocent lives had been saved from being caught in the crossfire.

“There was this woman…”  Natasha started, not quite sure how to explain your strange appearance and departure from the rooftop.

“Oohhh…” Clint teased.  “Nat got the hots for some hot Chiquita.”

“Gross, Clint,” Natasha snarked.  “Don’t be a letch.”  Clint held up his hands in surrender and Natasha let out a long breath.  “It was weird though.”

“How was it weird?”  Steve said, sitting forward in his chair.  “Anything we need to worry about?”

Natasha shrugged.  “I don’t know - maybe,” she said.  “She said she was patience.”

Clint snorted.  “You definitely need to find her then,” he teased. Natasha swatted him on the back of the head.  “See,” he complained, rubbing his head.

“So her name was Patience?”  Steve said, opening up a drop-down screen above the coffee table.  “FRIDAY, do we have any record of a Patience as a member of any known criminal organizations.”

“Her name wasn’t Patience,” Natasha said, pulling the card out of her pocket and handing it to Steve.  “She said she was patience.”

“What does that mean?”  Steve asked, typing the details into the computer.

Natasha shrugged.  “Your guess is as good as mine.”

Tony chuckled.  “I like the idea of anthropomorphic adjectives walking around.”

“Patience is a noun, Tony,” Bruce scolded.  “And so is Tony.”

“You know what I mean,” Tony said, waving his hands around.  “You can feel patient, you can’t feel Tony.”  He paused for a moment.  “Not unless you asked nicely.”

“Maybe she’s some kind of god,” Clint said.  Everyone turned to him and Natasha raised her eyebrow.  Sometimes Clint would say things that were so simple and so profoundly intelligent that she wasn’t sure if he just blindly stumbled into the answer or he was an actual genius.

“Is that a thing?”  Sam asked.  “Just random gods of emotions?”

Natasha shrugged.  “I have no idea.  It’s a pity Thor isn’t here, we could ask him.  But she did say I’d been praying to her.”

Clint snorted.  “Sounds about right.”

“But Thor’s not a real god, is he?”  Steve said.  “Wasn’t the theory that he’s just an alien that lives a long time and humans just decided he was a god?”

“The dude makes lightning, Cap,” Sam teased.  “Maybe he’s not the only place it comes from, but he can definitely create it and control it.  Why can’t there be the equivalent for something like patience.”

Clint snatched the card from Steve and shoved it into Natasha’s hands.  “I say you call her.”

“You just want Nat to stop smacking you on the back of the head,” Bucky snorted.

“No, I want to see my best friend get laid,” Clint said, folding his arms across his broad chest.  “I bet someone who can command patience would be great at sex.”

“And…?”  Bucky pressed.

“And I don’t want to get clocked on the back of the head anymore,” Clint muttered.

Everyone laughed and Natasha looked down at the card, spinning it around in her hand.

“You look like you’re considering it, Red,” Tony mused.  “What was she like?”

“Cryptic,” Natasha replied.  “Cool.”

“Was she hot?”  Clint asked.

“I think so,” Natasha said.

“So call her,” Sharon shrugged.  “She helped me out.  She can’t be all that bad.”

Natasha nodded.  “At the very least I might get some answers.”

“And who knows, Nat,” Clint said.  “Maybe she’ll be able to teach you a trick or two.”

Natasha bit the inside of her cheek trying not to laugh, and wishing she had a little bit of that patience right now.

// NEXT

[amerrierworld]

Babysitter (pt 11)

Pt 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

Summary: Loki and Hela come to break you out.

Characters: Hela x fem!reader, Avengers

Word Count: 2,780

Warnings: some light smut to start~ and then battle time! whoop whoop 

Her cold lips pressed against the back of your neck, a firm presence in the swirling dark. You couldn’t see her, but you could feel her. Could feel her wandering hands snaking over your bare skin, making you squirm. 

You could see your breath form in the cool air around you, and you were pulled back against her front, feeling her hook her legs over yours, her dark hair falling into your sight as she enveloped you. Hints of green pulsed in your peripheral vision.

“Hela,” you breathed, clinging onto one of her hands as the other traveled lower and lower. You stared up into the darkness, falling back even further into her hold, her body and soft cushions catching you. Her voice rumbled in your ear, but you couldn’t understand what she was saying. 

Your eyes fluttered shut as familiar fingers searched and caressed your cunt, pushing between your folds and collecting your wetness on her fingertips. Your hips bucked weakly, as if you were caught in molasses, and you moaned softly.

One of your hands tried to reach back, felt the brush of her hair against your palm, but couldn’t find her head or her shoulders to hold onto. Your legs were still trapped, the fingers were still moving inside you, but your hands were grasping at nothingness and-

You sat up in your bed, shaking, eyes looking around and wondering if Hela could be in your room with you. But there was nothing, and no one out of the ordinary. 

Sweat had gathered in every crevice of your body and you clambered out of bed to take a quick shower, trying to wash the feeling of Hela off your body, without succeeding. You didn't sleep the rest of the night.

-

The next day you were sitting by yourself, reading a book after lunch in a small reading room away from the main offices and training rooms where you knew the rest of the team would be. 

Something crept up the back of your neck and a chill ran through your body. You tried to ignore it, but it persisted. And when you looked up from your book, Loki was standing by the doorway, looking quite unimpressed. You shrieked, your stomach dropping at the sight of you.

He raised his hand to shush you and eyed the doorway, hoping no one would come through there. You stared at him, and in a split decision, chucked your book at him.

It went straight through his form, only causing a faint green glimmer as it landed on the floor. You gaped at him and he raised an eyebrow, silently asking if you were done.  

“Do you know how hard it was to find you?” Loki said after you had calmed down somewhat.

“What are you doing here?” you hissed, “weren’t you..”

“Dead? No, not quite. Almost.”

You sank back in your seat, your hand over your heart as you sighed, “what is it with you lot and always coming back from the dead?”

“It’s an occupational hazard with what we do,” he shrugged.

A pair of footsteps walked by the room, and Loki slunk back into the shadows, fading away for a moment. You didn't move until you were sure whoever it was  had gone. 

“Look, I don’t have much time,” Loki said once you were alone again, “but we’re here to break you out.”

“Who’s we?”

Loki rolled his eyes, “who do you think? Your murderous girlfriend who unfortunately happens to be my sister as well.”

Your heart nearly jumped out of your throat, “Hela? So she is here?”

“Of course she is.”

You sat quietly for a moment; so your mind wasn’t playing tricks on you. Hela had come back for you, and she was here.. somewhere.

“I- I can’t believe..”

“Well you better, now get your things and follow me. We can get out of here without fighting.”

“Wait- what? No, wait, wait,” you got up hurriedly as Loki began walking to the doorway. You couldn’t stop him- it was only a projection of him, but you weren’t ready to just walk out.

“Why would I just leave?” you asked, making Loki stop in his tracks. He looked you over and slowly approached you, his eyes flashing.

“Because you’re being held here against your will and she’s come to bail you out? Mind you- it was her idea to come barging in and killing anyone in sight, so this is a much better upgrade from that plan.”

“No- no I know. But.. when we get out, what then? What am I supposed to do? Loki... the world’s fallen apart.”

The Asgardian was quiet.

“Yeah, sure,” you continued, pacing from where you were standing, “I don’t like being kept here but- there’s not much else out there right now. Everything here at least feels a little... normal.”

“You can’t be serious. What about Hela then, huh? You think she’ll stay here with a team of heroes who tried to kill her? Just for you? Hela hates being imprisoned, Y/N. This would be a death sentence for all of us.”

“What about you then?” you retorted, “after you get me out, and Hela and I go about our merry way, what will you do? Tour the universe until some other evil plan comes up?

“This,” you gestured around the room, “is all I have right now.”

“No, no,” Loki mocked your gesture a bit more aggressively, “what you have is a prison, and only one person in the world who will stop at nothing to break you out of it.

“I’m not the most romantic, fine,” he admitted, “but I know that the two of you should never be apart, ever again. You should have seen her when I found her, Y/N- she was broken.”

A wave of tears threatened to spill at his words and you fell back in you chair once again. You buried your face in your hands and for a few minutes nothing else happened. Loki looked at you and felt his heart -or what was left of it- break to see you so defeated. 

“I love her, Loki,” you whimpered, “I tried to deny it when Tony said so.. but he’s right. I love her, but I’m scared. This world isn’t meant for her. It would drive her mad.”

“Not with you around.”

You wiped the salty tears off your cheeks and looked up at Loki.

“Let’s get you out of here, and we can figure it out from there, okay? Perhaps we can come to an agreement with the rest of your team.”

You eventually nodded and stood up, ready to pack the few things you had when a loud crash and alarms sounded. There was a hurry of steps outside the room and when you looked, the whole team of remaining Avengers were preparing themselves, running down the hallways to the source of the noise.

“You filthy humans!” a cry came from the direction they were running towards. Your heart shattered; Hela.

Beside you, Loki’s apparition groaned in exasperation.

“I told her to wait, for crying out loud. Why would she be so reckless?”

“She takes after her family, obviously,” you said. “Can’t you get her out of here?”

“You’re a fool to think I can control her now.”

“Then get over here and help her!”

“Yes, yes, alright,” Loki huffed, “I’ll be there in a moment.”

His image shimmered away, and you hurried down the hallway, hoping to stall before anyone was killed.

One of the ground level metal walls had been torn open like it was nothing but paper. Large metal spears and knives were wedged in the edges and the opposite walls. The sun was glinting off of Hela’s horns and blinded you for a moment before you could really look at her.

She looked.. regal. Well, she mostly looked psychotic, with bared teeth and clenched hands, but it was her and she was real and oh boy was she angry. 

Hela had Steve by the throat, holding him up so his feet barely brushed the ground. Tony and Nat had their weapons aimed but didn’t shoot. They were either waiting for her to drop Steve or didn't want to kill her. You hoped it was the latter.

“Wait!” you screamed, skidding to a halt at the scene. Dust swirled in the air from the debris. There were no bodies yet, and you prayed you could keep it that way.

The moment Hela caught sight of you, her face changed. Her eyebrows unfurled and her mouth dropped open a little bit- she looked at you with disbelief, as if she couldn’t comprehend you standing there, alive and well.

Steve took the opportunity as she was distracted and lifted his leg to kick her square in the stomach. She doubled over, dropping him, and he raised his arm to land a punch, but instead, Hela grabbed his offensive arm and whipped him away from her- effectively throwing him against the rest of the team, knocking them all down temporarily.

Before you could react and rush over to see if the group of Avengers were okay, Hela was by you in a flash.

Her hands trembled as they grasped yours, and she looked you up and down, checking for wounds, checking if you were there. Then she cupped your cheek, wiping away the tears you were crying.

“Hela-,” you croaked, because the touch of her was too much, too overwhelming, too good. She smiled, though barely, and kissed you hard on the mouth.

“Stand down, sister,” Thor’s voice boomed, and she turned to see the team back on their feet, aiming everything they had at her. She snarled, pulling you behind her, shielding you from them, as if they would ever hurt you.

“You’ve taken everything from me, brother,” she spat. “You won’t take this last ounce of happiness from me.”

Something flickered in Thor’s eyes and he had to retighten his grip on his hammer, which you realized wasn’t Mjolnir, but a makeshift copy that looked somewhat close to it. 

“Y/N,” Tony said, gesturing you over to their side, “come here. Quick. We don’t want you in the way.”

Hela’s focus sharpened in on him, hidden in his armour. There was a surge of jealousy through her whole being, at the memory of him by your side, threatening to hurt you, sparring with you, taking you from her. 

She pushed you back, hurled herself at Tony with lightning speed before anyone could shoot, breaking entirely through the next wall, and landing with a thud in the next room.

“No!” you screamed, shielding your face from the spray of debris as the wall broke down.

Hela tried to punch, but Tony’s right iron hand held it in place, arms shaking from the force. They stayed there, suspended in time for a moment. Hela lowered her face to Tony’s helmet as she growled and snapped, but he could see the tears streaming down her face, the wild fear and anger in her eyes.

“You won’t steal her from me,” she cried. 

Then JARVIS finished downloading Hela’s body scan from the first day at your home way back, analyzing her form, and realizing her weaknesses. Her left side was much weaker than her right. 

And so, he kicked, jabbed, and twisted her left leg and arm until she howled in pain and dropped to the side, giving Tony the chance to get up and put some distance between them again. 

You felt helpless, not knowing how to stop it, not knowing what to do, not wanting to hurt anyone- you had no weapons on you. Hela staggered to her feet, the helmet having disappeared long ago, and she raised her hand to summon a new menacing sword, when someone hooked an arm around her neck and pressed a rusty dagger against her neck. 

“Drop it, sister,” Loki hissed, the blade pressing finely against her skin. She hissed, but slowly let it slip from her hands as she realized defeat. You were panting, every inch of you throbbing with adrenaline and dread. 

“Stand down, everyone,” Loki continued, and then with a pointed look at Thor, “please, brother.”

Thor was the first to lower his hammer, though his face was still angry and unforgiving. Then Tony, and everyone else followed suit.

Loki kicked the back of Hela’s knee to make her drop down, to which she cried out in anger.

“Sorry,” he added, the blade still pressed against her neck, “but you’ve really got to stop going on killing sprees.”

“You were taking too long,” she snapped, “I needed to take matters into my own hands. How was I supposed to know what was happening?”

“Alright, okay, anyone wanna explain what the hell is going on? Y/N? Thor? You wanna explain what your dysfunctional family is doing here?” Nat asked, exasperated.

The God of Thunder looked at you, your eyes begging and desperate. “They’re here for you, aren’t they?”

You nodded weakly, trembling.

“Well, best let her take her then,” Tony sighed. All of you turned your heads at him in disbelief. His iron armour was short-circuiting from the blows Hela had landed and he quickly stepped out of it. You were reminded once again of how malnourished he looked- and how dark the bags under his eyes were. But his tone remained chipper.

“You’ve seen what she can do,” he gestured at Hela, “and she isn’t gonna stop until she gets Y/N. And I don’t think Y/N wants to stay here either.”

He looked at you knowingly, and you felt like you could cry all over again.

Hela struggled against Loki’s grip for a moment, heartbroken as she saw your face scrunch up and your hands grasp your elbows in an attempt to shield yourself.

“Is that true?” Nat asked, staring at you with a gun still in hand. 

You slowly nodded, making eye contact with Hela and not looking away. You heard Steve sigh and groan a bit from pain as he came up to your side.

“Y/N, she’s a vicious attacking machine, we can’t just let you two run off.”

“Why not?” you asked, your voice thick. “We won’t hurt anyone.”

“Look, we still don’t even know if she knows about Thanos, right?” Clint said, but Tony shook his head, sitting down on the armrest of a cushioned chair that was practically sliced in half from Hela throwing weapons.

“I doubt that,” he said, “if she had control over Thanos or any connection with  him, I don’t think she would have come alone, let alone with him,” with a nod towards Loki.

He rolled his eyes, “you’re welcome for saving you, by the way.”

“Can you- could you all, please, just, can we please just talk about this?” you hiccuped through your words, sobs slowly growing in volume. “Loki- the- the knife, please- please let her go.”

Loki looked at you apologetically, “not if she lashes out again.”

“Hela,” you pleaded, “Hela, please. Don’t hurt anyone else? Everyone- everyone has already been hurt so much.”

Hela looked at you, now seeing the tears sliding down your dirtied cheeks, and her shoulders slumped, before nodding. Her hands that were gripping Loki’s arm around her neck let go, and dropped to her sides.

Loki removed the dagger and stepped away. Tension filled the room, expecting her to attack again.

“Y/N,” Thor said, and he tossed you a new pair of handcuffs. “Go on.”

You stared at him, “excuse me? You want me to chain her up- again? After everything-”

“This is more to keep all of us safe. She’d kill us if we came too close,” Thor said, pointedly raising an eyebrow at you. “It won’t be for long. Not until we figure out what to do next.”

You stumbled over rand dropped on your knees in front of Hela, gently holding her hands for a moment. She stared at you, deep green eyes watering.

“Just for now,” you promised. “Just like before, okay?”

You waited for long, agonizing moments until she nodded, and only then did you snap the cuffs in place. Almost immediately, Tony was on Loki and had his wrists in chains as well.

“Wh- excuse me?” he scoffed, staring at the cuffs, “how dare you?”

“Precautions, my friend,” he shrugged. “Come on, all of you, this mess is doing nothing for my respiratory system.”

He pushed Loki ahead of him and you followed with Hela’s hands clasping yours, rubbing your arms together, her trailing behind you like a lost puppy. You were thrilled to see her again, but wondered where the hell you were supposed to go from here. 

A/N; I guess I kinda made Loki the unspoken hero didn’t I? :D

so the main reason why I haven’t been updating this series as much is because we’re at a point where multiple ideas branch off into totally different directions, and I keep changing my mind about where I want this to go, effectively stumping me when writing. but after much editing and changing of plot, this is what I’ve got, and I hope you like it :)

taglist: @midnight-lestrange @cheerfullyvenomous @germansarechill @gaylorrds @amii-nyc @waitingfortheendtocome @novakitten0901 @marvels-writings @jadewestwriter @thisisanexistentialcrisis @sapphiclyartistically​  

[wayward-dreamer]

Life’s Lessons - Part 2

Title: Life’s Lessons - A Lesson in Fitting In

Pairing: Mechanic!Dean x Female!Teacher!Reader (eventual)

Other Pairings: Dean x Lisa, Female!Reader x OMC – Ethan (past, mentioned)

Other characters: OFC’s: Emily Charlton; Olivia; Katie (Y/N’s best friend)

Word Count: 4,778 (song lyrics in italics). 

Part Summary: Y/N has survived her first week in a new town. However, after discovering that Dean and Lisa are in fact a couple, she wants nothing more than to lock herself up in her house. The neighborhood Saturday barbecue comes around, and Y/N finds herself by his side when Lisa isn’t around. Their conversation brings up some thoughts for her about Dean and Lisa’s so-called ‘perfect’ relationship.

Warnings: swearing, slight angst, reader misses her family, mentions of past family struggles, mentions of reader’s ex.

Music: All The Pretty Girls by Kaleo (Y/N unpacking scene), Howling at Nothing by Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats (BBQ scene), You Make Loving Fun by Fleetwood Mac (Dean and Y/N conversation).

A/N: Here’s Part 2! I’m so glad everyone liked the first part, and it’s been great to hear what you think about what might happen! Keep sending your theories and thoughts in, I love hearing what y’all think! Happy reading! :)

Dividers by the wonderful @firefly-graphics! Check her out for all your AU needs!!! 

Y/N’s first week didn’t go as great as she expected.

She naively thought things would be good after the first day, which had started a little wonky but ended up being better once she met Cas and Charlie. She had become really friendly with them, and she was glad that they were a highlight of each day. Her 7th graders were great, but she had to do a lot of work with them to make them come out of their shells. Her 8th graders on the other hand… she just didn’t understand how to get through to them. Some of them were loud and disruptive, a couple of them were bullying another girl, and others just didn’t seem to care at all. Ben was a good kid, but he got easily swayed by the loud ones. They had so much potential, and they had to start being better if they were ever going to survive high school.

She walked out of the grocery store, pushing a shopping cart with two heavy brown bags. After finishing up at school, she decided to go and buy a few essentials plus some stuff to make dinner. She was looking forward to a nice meal she cooked and a glass of wine, maybe two. As she drove through town to get home, she smiled. Despite everything, Lawrence was a peaceful town. She had to hope that she could strap in and really get through to the kids, so that living here would be worth it.

As she drove down her street, she smiled as she saw Dean sitting on his porch steps. She pulled into her driveway and got out of the car, smiling as she saw him talking on the phone. She walked over to her trunk and opened it, picking up the two bags in there. She left the trunk open, as she struggled to hold the bags, cursing the guy at the check-out for filling them so much to save on bags. Suddenly, there was a pressure on one of the bags, as it ripped at the bottom, not being able to handle the weight of the items. Two cans fell and started rolling down her driveway.

“Shit!” she yelled, as she manoeuvred the bags and tried to hold them both in one arm.

Dean, who was still on the phone as he sat on the porch steps, saw everything from across the street.

“Sammy, let me call you back” He quickly hung up the phone and rushed across the street. He got to the end of the driveway just in time and swept up the rolling cans. Y/N saw him and beamed, relieved.

“Thank you” she breathed heavily.

“No problem, can’t have run away cans on the street” he smiled, as he continued to hold them. “Here, let me get that for ya.”

He picked up the broken bag from her arm and held it, his hand at the bottom.

“Between my furniture and my groceries, I think you’re my savior” she laughed.

Dean shook his head, a smirk on his face. “I take the job very seriously.”

“I hope that call wasn’t important?” she asked, knowing he had been on the phone with someone.

“Nah, just my pain in the ass little brother. It’s okay, he’ll get over it” he replied, laughing slightly.

Y/N laughed with him, getting lost in his green eyes again. He looked even more sexy and handsome today, now wearing a red and black plaid shirt on top of a black t-shirt and dark blue jeans. She had told herself she’d wait to ask him for dinner, and now she couldn’t think of a more perfect time, having just saved the items for dinner.

“Hey, um… are you doing anything tonight? I was going to make dinner for myself but if you’re free-” she started to ask but got cut off by a voice coming from his house.

“Dean!” a female voice called as she came out onto his porch.

Y/N’s heart sunk as Ben’s mother, Lisa, came out and looked around. When she spotted him, she waved him in.

“Can you help with dinner?” she asked and then walked back inside the house. Y/N had never seen which house Lisa and Ben had come from that day, so this was shocking. The guy she was kind of crushing on was Lisa’s boyfriend. Ben’s dad. Fucking great.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize-” Y/N started but Dean shook his head.

“It’s okay, Y/N. I should go” he helped her take the bags inside the house and then awkwardly stood there.

“I’ll see ya around” he gave her a quick nod before he rushed off, before she could say anything.

Y/N frowned as she closed the door behind him. She leaned her head against it as she groaned. Why did she have to start liking him without knowing his situation? She moved away from the door and walked into the kitchen. She was going to get started on dinner for one and try to stop thinking about her ridiculously good-looking neighbor.

Dean walked into his house, finding Lisa in the kitchen. She had a blank expression on her face, as she chopped up the vegetables.

“What do you need?” he asked.

“Why were you talking to Y/N?” she asked in return, abruptly.

Dean blinked a few times, confused by her question. “She was just struggling with some broken grocery bags. I helped her.”

“Whatever” she mumbled, as she moved away to the stove.

Dean shook his head, walking out of the kitchen and to the backyard. Lisa was suddenly in one of her moods and he needed to get away. He usually hid out in the garage until things cooled down with her.

Y/N was thankful to have finished her first week and now move into another Saturday. She still had a few boxes that needed to be emptied, having done most of them last week and then sporadically through the week. She was going to do that in the morning and then look over her plans for the next week of school, before chilling that night and having a drink.

After a quick breakfast and putting on one of her phone playlists this time, she got started as her favorite Kaleo song came through the speakers. She smiled sadly as she put up some of the pictures she hadn’t yet, her heart aching knowing she had left her family behind. One of her with her sister and parents. One of her sister and brother-in-law with her nieces; the younger one having just been born before Y/N had to leave. One of just her and her sister. This was the one thing that made her regret leaving: her family. She stepped back as she looked at the photos on the mantel above the fireplace, remembering all the wonderful times she had with her loved ones.

The doorbell rang, interrupting her thoughts. As she walked to the door, Y/N looked up at the clock, seeing it was 12.30pm already. She opened the door, her smile becoming a bit forced once she saw it was Emily Charlton, one of her middle-aged divorced neighbors. She had already been over several times that week with baked goods, which she ended up feeding to the birds after one bite.

“Hi, Emily. What can I do for you?” she asked, politely and hoping the woman would leave soon.

“I’m just here to find out if you got the fliers in your mail about the barbecue today” she replied, her big white teeth beaming.

“Oh, yeah, I did see that” Y/N said, remembering the two fliers she had received.

“Well, it’s at Sid and Olivia’s and starts at 1, and it would be good for everyone to meet you” Emily continued to smile. She pointed at the house, then primped her blonde hair with her long acrylic nails.

Y/N rolled her eyes while she wasn’t looking. “I’m sorry, Emily, I can’t. I just have a lot of work to do-” she started but Emily waved a finger, her fake nails looking like they could gauge an eye out.

“Nonsense, I absolutely insist on you coming to lunch. There’s still so many on the street you haven’t met yet” she insisted.

Y/N sighed, shaking her head. It was better to give in than keep arguing. “Sure.”

Emily laughed in a high pitch tone, making Y/N cringe. “Wonderful!”

“Great” she mumbled, under her breath.

“So, we’ll see you soon, and uh” Emily looked her up and down, causing Y/N to frown. She looked down at herself, dressed in just a loose, plain red t-shirt and her boyfriend jeans. Emily smiled one more time, fake as ever, before she strutted off.

Y/N closed the door, wanting to shut everyone and everything out, but she wasn’t going to do that. She was going to glam herself up and go to the barbecue, to rub it in Emily Charlton’s face that she could be fake all she wanted, it wasn’t going to affect her.

She frowned as she thought about how she shouldn’t go there empty-handed. If she did, she’d probably be the talk of the street and be highly judged for it. She normally didn’t care what people thought of her, but in this case, if she could avoid it, she would. It was better to be slightly late. Plus, who showed up right on time, anyway? She quickly searched around in her kitchen cupboards and found a box of Betty Crocker brownies in her pantry. She quickly made the pre-mix. She smiled. She was good, even in a time crunch. No one needed to know they were from a box. She put the brownies into the oven and set the timer.

Y/N showered and washed her hair, drying it into a natural, summer-y look once she got out. She got dressed into a red, cap sleeve summer dress, with a small white flower print on it. Looking at the clock, she saw that it was 1pm.

When the timer went off, she walked back into the kitchen and took out the brownies, waiting for them to cool. She went back into her room and applied her make-up, keeping it simple with a little foundation, some mascara and a little lip gloss. She put on her wedge heels and her small bag across her body. After a few minutes when she was dressed and ready, she cut the brownies and put them in a container. She put her sunglasses on, before walking out of the house. She locked up and put her keys in her bag, climbing down her porch stairs before walking down the street.

Y/N was nervous to be around so many people, hearing the sounds of music and laughter coming from Sid’s house. Especially if most of those people turned out to be like Emily Charlton, but she couldn’t let them scare her if they were. She wouldn’t let anyone overwhelm her and push her around again. She had suffered enough the first time, and she wouldn’t let it happen again.

She saw some people walk in through the side entrance to the backyard, as some older teens played touch football in the front yard. Y/N followed behind those people, looking out for Sid or Olivia. She looked around the large backyard as Nathaniel Rateliff crooned away from the large speaker on the back porch. She had seen them around, Emily telling her who they were, so Y/N hoped she could spot them properly and didn’t confuse them for someone else. Luckily, she heard Emily’s high pitched “Olivia!” and saw her hugging another blonde woman.

Y/N walked over, putting her sunglasses on her head. She smiled as she approached Olivia, laughing to herself as her face looked just as uncomfortable to be around Emily.

“Olivia, hi. I’m Y/N” she said, smiling.

“Oh yes, so good to finally meet you” Olivia smiled, shaking her hand. “Emily told me about you, welcome to the neighborhood.”

“Hello again, Y/N” Emily’s fake smile beaming once again.

“Hi” Y/N nodded at her before turning back to Olivia. “I thought I’d bring a little something.”

She handed over the container.

“Oh, you didn’t have to, but thank you. Okay, Sid’s handling the grill and there’s already plenty, so please help yourself. Can I get you a beer? Wine? Something stronger to deal with Emily?” Olivia laughed, when Emily had walked off to speak to someone else.

Y/N’s eyes widened with surprise, as she laughed too. She liked Olivia already.

“A beer would be great” she continued to laugh.

Olivia bent down and took a beer out of an ice bucket. She opened the lid with a bottle opener and handed it to her.

“So, what do you do, Y/N?” Olivia asked, as she sipped her wine. She started walking towards the food table and Y/N followed beside her.

“I’m an English teacher, junior high” Y/N replied, before taking a sip of her beer.

Olivia stopped and smiled at her, a fondness in her eyes, which Y/N would’ve found strange but something about her look was pleasant.

“My mom was an English teacher. She passed last year, but it still feels like yesterday” Olivia quietly told her.

“I’m sorry, Olivia” Y/N gave her a sad smile. “She must’ve been amazing, if she was anything like her daughter.”

Olivia beamed; her eyes slightly watery. She wrapped an arm around Y/N’s shoulders as they walked towards the food table.

Y/N’s smile dropped when she saw who was standing at the table. Lisa was shifting things around, making place for everything on the table. Dean, who was dressed in jeans and black half-sleeve button-up shirt, came up behind her. She turned her head and kissed him on the cheek. Y/N felt a tightness in her chest but chose to ignore it. Olivia walked over to the table and placed her container down, making some small talk with Lisa. Dean turned his head, smiling when he saw Y/N.

Dean could feel his heart racing. She was stunning, every single thing about her. From her hair, to the way she looked in that summer dress, which had a slit on the side, giving a peek of her smooth leg. He couldn’t be looking at her, not with Lisa standing right next to him. Y/N smiled in return, getting lost in his features yet again. He was so incredibly good-looking, it hurt to look at him.

Y/N looked away from him when Olivia tapped her shoulder. She smiled at her, trying not to let it show that she and Dean had been staring at each other.

“Aren’t they perfect together?” Olivia said, not really seeking a reply as she smiled at Dean and Lisa.

“Yeah.” Y/N smile faltered.

“So, help yourself. I’m just going to check in with Sid and see if he needs anything. I’ll be back” Olivia walked off, leaving her to go to her husband.

Y/N walked closer to the table, trying to smile when Lisa noticed her.

“Hi, good to see you” Lisa smiled. “Can I get you anything?”

Y/N shook her head. “No, I’ll help myself, thanks.”

“Okay” Lisa turned from her to Dean. “I’m just going to check where Ben is, can you plate some for me?” she leaned in and kissed his cheek.

“Sure” he nodded, before grabbing a plate and putting food on it.

Y/N smiled as Lisa walked past her and then looked over at Dean. She didn’t know for sure, but it felt like Lisa was being a bit aloof with her. She chose to ignore it for now. She walked closer to the table, and Dean looked up at her.

“It’s really good to see you” he said. The way he was looking at her was different to how he had been looking at Lisa.

She felt her cheeks get a little hot. “It’s good to see you, too.” Y/N started to put some food on her plate.

“So, how-” he started but was cut off by a shrill voice calling out her name.

“Y/N! Get over here, young lady!” Emily yelled from across the yard. She had a gaggle of middle-aged women around her.

She turned back to Dean; her eyes wide. “Is there any way I can get out of going there?”

Dean laughed. “Afraid not.”

She groaned, as she closed her eyes. “Wish me luck.”

“You don’t need it” Dean smirked.

Y/N opened her eyes, smiling when she saw him smirking at her.

“You can handle a few divorcee’s and housewives” he assured her.

She bit her lip, as she shook her head. Somehow, he had managed to ease her mind. “Thanks.”

Y/N took her plate and beer, throwing her shoulders back and walking over there with confidence. Dean admired her as she walked away, checking her out as her hips swayed. It was dangerous to be doing that with so many people around, but he took his chance. He picked up two plates and walked away from the table, in search of Lisa.

Y/N couldn’t hide the boredom on her face, as the divorcee’s and housewives asked her questions about her life. 

“So, Y/N, are you seeing anyone special?” one woman asked.

“Nope” Y/N answered around a mouthful of hot dog, not really caring about anything other than food at that point.

“Why not? A pretty, young girl like you” equally nosey Jill, added.

Y/N shrugged, still eating. “I just got here and want to take my time, you know?”

Emily shook her head. “No, there’s definitely more to the story. It was a bad break up, wasn’t it? That’s why you moved here.”

Y/N frowned, glaring at Emily. “You know, it’s really not something I want to talk about.”

“Oh, Y/N, if you don’t talk to us, who can you talk to? We’re here to help” Emily gave her the best sympathetic face she could probably muster.

“You know what? You could help me with this” Y/N handed Emily the empty plate. “I’m going to get another beer.”

She didn’t stick around to see the shock on Emily’s face to her abrupt departure and Y/N’s plate in her hand.

Y/N felt the anger simmering in her belly as she walked away. The last thing she needed was advice from that woman. She just wanted to grab a beer and go sit somewhere in the front yard, away from everyone else. She picked up a bottle and opened it, taking a sip as she walked away. She walked out to the front yard and looked around. There was a large tree with good shade near the fence, which would be nice and secluded. As she walked closer, she noticed someone leaning against it. She walked around, smiling when she saw Dean with a beer in his hands.

“Mind if I join you?” she asked.

“‘Course not” he smirked, as he shifted over.

“I seriously had to get away from those women” Y/N groaned, sitting down on the ground next to him.

“Yeah, they’ll do that to ya” he laughed, sipping his beer.

“Well, I handled it like you said” she smiled, holding her bottle towards him.

He nodded, approvingly, clinking his bottle to hers. “Nice.”

A comfortable silence fell between them, as Fleetwood Mac could be heard from the backyard. Y/N looked at him, appreciating his features now that she was closer. Freckles scattered under his eyes and on his nose, and his eyes were even more striking up close.

“So…” she trailed off, thinking of what to ask him. “Did you grow up here?”

He nodded, a small smile appearing on his face. “Yeah, born and raised. My parents are still in the same house we grew up in. My little brother lives in Kansas City with his wife.”

“Are you and your brother close?” she asked.

“Yeah, it’s always been me and Sammy. I mean, don’t get me wrong, my parents were good with us, but there were times when they’d fight, and I’d have to look out for him” he replied, looking down at his bottle.

Y/N frowned, and Dean noticed. “Oh, don’t worry, my parents were great, it’s just sometimes… they didn’t see eye to eye, you know? They’re good now, though. Have been for a long time.”

She smiled, seeing how fondly he spoke of his family. They must’ve been close. She was missing hers a lot.

“What about you?” he asked in return.

“I was born and raised in Rhinebeck, New York. No brother, but sister instead. She’s married to a great guy, so he definitely feels like a brother” she told him, a sad smile on her face. “They have two beautiful daughters, one was just born before I left so I’m going to miss seeing her.”

“Wow. From New York to Kansas” he muttered, laughing. She joined in. “Why the big move?” he wondered, as he took another sip of his beer.

“I…” she breathed out, shaking her head. “I needed to get away. It just became… too much.”

Dean nodded, but he understood that that wasn’t the whole story.

“But this is a great town, not too different from back home, so that’s a plus” she said, smiling at him.

Dean smiled in return. “That’s great.”

They looked into each other eyes, and she felt that familiar fluttering in her stomach.

Don't, don't break the spell It would be different and you know it will You, you make loving fun And I don't have to tell you but you're the only one

The words of the song were beginning to freak her out as they maintained eye contact. Y/N quickly looked away. This was unsafe ground they were about to tread.

“How’d you meet Lisa?” she asked, quickly changing the subject.

Dean breathed deep, with a long exhale. “She was here from Indiana visiting some friends, and we met one night at a bar. It was a one-time thing, but then a few months later she moved here with Ben when she got a job opportunity. We met up again… and we’ve been together three years.”

“Wait…” she thought about everything he just said, suddenly confused. “Ben’s-”

“Yeah, he’s… not mine, technically. It feels like he is, though” Dean finished for her.

“Gosh, I really should’ve guessed with the last names” she shook her head, rolling her eyes at herself for not realizing sooner.

“It’s all good, Y/N” he chuckled.

“Well, you guys look really close” she said, trying to sound happy.

“Yeah” he huffed, knowing he and Lisa were far from close these days.

Maybe coming to talk to him hadn’t been such a good idea. She seriously had to start liking a taken guy, didn’t she? At least he wasn’t married. Oh yeah, Y/N. That makes it better she thought, as she closed her eyes at her own stupid thoughts. Though she had to wonder, if things were great between him and Lisa then why was he sitting out here, far away from her?

Dean looked up and looked into her eyes again. Sitting there and talking to her about Lisa just didn’t feel natural. It really did feel like he was living a lie, it had felt like that since way before Y/N showed up.

Y/N quickly looked away from him. She needed to leave. She quickly stood up, dusting her dress off.

“I should really get going. I have a lot of work to do” she said, turning to him as he stood up.

“On a Saturday?” he asked, confused. Dean took the empty beer bottle out of her hand. The brush of his fingers against hers sent a tingling sensation through her arm and over her body.

“Life of a teacher” she quickly joked, pulling her hand away.

Dean huffed a laugh, scratching the back of his neck. “So, I’ll see you around?”

She nodded, a small smile on her face. “Yeah.”

Dean looked back at the back yard, before looking at her. “I better find Lisa.”

“Thanks for the chat” she said, playing nervously with the strap of her bag.

“No problem” he smirked.

He slowly walked backwards and gave her a small wave, before turning and walking away.

Y/N watched him walk to the back yard before she turned and walked down the sidewalk. She quickly made it home, closing the door behind her. She walked into her bedroom, dropping her bag on the chair and then stripped off her dress and shoes. She changed into her large sleep shirt, which came down to just above her knees. She threw her hair up in a bun and walked into her bathroom, taking the make-up wipes to rub off her make-up. She washed her face and wiped it down with a small towel, flicking the light off as she left.

As she went about that routine, her mind was on Dean. Just a short amount of time to talk, a few looks between them, a small touch of his hand against hers, and she couldn’t stop thinking about him. There was an air about him, almost like you could trust him completely. He would take care of you and never let anything happen to you. There was a sadness behind his smile, however, and she could feel that it had something to do with life at home. He and Lisa weren’t the perfect couple they wanted people to see them as.

She walked out into the living room, her phone in hand. She dropped down on the couch, tucking her legs up. She scrolled through her phone, finding the name of her best friend, Katie, and sending her a quick text to see if she could talk. They had been best friends since college, and right now, she needed to talk to her about Dean. Maybe she could give her some advice on how to stop the way she was feeling. When she got a text back saying she could talk, Y/N called her.

“Hey, sweetie” Katie greeted.

Y/N smiled, closing her eyes. “You have no idea how good it is to hear your voice.”

“It’s good to hear yours too. Though… you do sound a bit… off” her friend’s concern was evident in her voice.

Y/N scoffed and thought about what to say. “Well, it’s been a week in a new town… and I already have a guy problem.”

“Wow, that was quick” Katie commented.

“Yeah, well…” Y/N trailed off, playing with the edge of her shirt on her knee. “I wasn’t expecting for it to happen so fast, either. Especially after Ethan.”

“Okay, what’s his name?” Katie asked.

“Dean” a smile grew on Y/N face’s as she said his name, but it quickly dropped. “But before you say anything, he’s with someone and she’s got a kid, who’s practically a son to him.”

Katie let out a whistle. “Wow.”

“Yeah” Y/N agreed.

A silence fell between them, and Y/N knew that Katie was thinking.

“Well, as much as you probably don’t want to hear it, I think you got to let this one go” she said, finally.

Y/N sighed. “You’re right. I was already thinking it. I guess I just needed someone else to say to me, so I didn’t do anything stupid.”

“You’re a far more rational person than I am, so I doubt you would’ve” Katie reassured her.

Y/N huffed, rolling her eyes. “You haven’t seen what he looks like.”

“Well, photos when and if you get the chance” Katie laughed.

Y/N laughed, shaking her head.

They spent another half hour catching up on everything back home. It made Y/N miss everything even more, but she was glad to get the latest news. After they ended their chat, she got up from the couch when she noticed what the time was. She started fixing herself something for dinner, when she heard voices from across the street. She looked out the window, seeing people going home from Sid and Olivia’s.

Y/N watched Dean, Lisa and Ben walk back to their house. Dean and Lisa were holding hands, as Ben walked in front of them. Y/N felt her heart sink, seeing them look like a happy couple. Though it seemed that things weren’t all that great, or at least that was the impression she got from the way Dean looked at her.

Y/N shook her head and went back to making dinner. Once she was done, she settled in on the couch with her plate, a glass of wine and FRIENDS on Netflix.

It was silly of her to think that anything would ever happen with Dean. Even if he wasn’t with Lisa, she had only been around Dean twice. That wasn’t enough time to start thinking of him. This was just a crush, and it would go away soon.

Or so she hoped.

-x-

Tags: @flamencodiva @deanwanddamons @winchest09 @katehuntington @akshi8278 @hobby27 @michellethetvaddict @spngirl05​ @kyjey​ @halesandy​ @440mxs-wife​ @stoneyggirl​ @deanswaywardgirl​ @wonder-cole​ @that-one-gay-girl​ @redbarn1995​ @marianita195​ @babypink224221​ @deans-baby-momma​ @parinarain​ @thoughts-and-funnies​ @mandalou29​ @castiels-a-winchester​

[wiypt-writes]

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch39: The Reunion Part 1: As Long As There’s Hope, We Have A Chance.

Intro: As the remaining Avengers continue their search for Tony, Steve and Natasha take a trip to Clint’s farm to find out what happened to the Archer and his family.

Warnings: Bad Language words. Discussions of miscarriage- if this is a trigger please stay away)

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

A/N: Please heed the warnings…biggedy up to my girl @angrybirdcr​

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Chapter 38

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

It was eleven days post the Snap when Nat decided she couldn’t take it anymore and told Steve she wanted to go to Clint’s.

“I have to know.” She pleaded, looking at Steve. He sighed and glanced over her shoulder to Katie who merely shrugged offering him no back up. She knew where Nat was coming from, it was killing her not knowing what had happened to Tony.  

“Alright.” He acquiesced. “Let me grab a jacket.”

“I’ll meet you on the jet?” She asked. Steve nodded and watched her go before he turned to his wife who was studying him over her coffee. “If Barton was alive he would have been here by now.” Steve dragged a hand down over his beard as he dropped onto the sofa next to Katie. “I don’t understand why she doesn’t see or get that?”

"Put yourself in her shoes.” Katie sighed as she curled in on herself under a blanket on the sofa as a particularly nasty cramp hit her stomach. “You’d do the same thing for Bucky, or Sam, or me.”

"You know that I would.” He replied, noticing her shift in position and he frowned, but before he could say anything she placed her hand on his bearded cheek.

“Then just go, let her see. Plus, you could be wrong.”

“I suppose it’s happened from time to time.” He quipped and Katie smiled as he leaned over to press their foreheads together.

“Are you feeling okay?”

“Not really.” She replied honestly, “But I’ve taken some painkillers, and Dr Kellet is coming over later. Thank fuck she wasn’t snapped.”

“I can ask Thor to go with Nat instead.” Steve looked at his wife who shook her head. “She asked you for a reason.” Katie said gently, “She trusts you. And I think if its bad news, she’s gonna need you, not Thor.”

“Are you sure?” He looked at her again and she nodded. He gave her a soft kiss, bumping his nose against hers, a soft smile on his face. “I love you, Doll.”

“I know.” She smiled back. “And I love you too, Soldier. Now go.”

As Steve had predicted, Barton’s farm was deserted. The two of them walked around, checking for any signs of life and Steve found his attention drawn to the picnic table not too far from where they had landed. It was loaded with condiments, plates, cutlery and scraps of food as a squirrel darted off the top from where it had been scratching through whatever other animals had left. Steve couldn’t help but remember the first time he had visited, when he had marvelled at the normality of Barton’s life outside the Avengers. Clint had kids, a wife, a complete alter ego. At the time Steve had almost been jealous, wondering if he and Katie could ever get that life. And then he’d gone and caused them both to be on the run, essentially ending that domestic dream.

And if he hadn’t, then Thanos certainly had when he’d snapped away their baby.

Natasha, meanwhile, had stalked straight into the house. Steve, hearing the door snap shut behind her turned and watched as she stomped straight back out and over to the barn at the far side of the yard

“Natasha?” he called.

She didn’t respond. With a sigh, Steve jogged after her, his boots slapping the damp grass of the lawn as he followed her into the barn. She dodged round the tractor in the middle, making her way to a door at the far side. Steve noticed a key pad at the side and Natasha clearly knew the code as a moment later there was a beep and it swung open to reveal what he supposed could only be referred to as an office of sorts, or as Katie would call it, a ‘man-cave’. There was a desk which sported some hi tech coms devices along with a computer. At the other side was a large flat screen TV mounted on the wall, a small couch, a stereo but none of that was what Natasha was looking at. She’d headed directly to some form of smaller room at the back and opened that to reveal a shelving unit of sorts. On one of them was an empty case that had clearly held a bow and arrow. Natasha then bent over and when she stood up Steve noticed she was holding a government issued ankle bracelet that had obviously at one point been around Clint’s ankle.

Not anymore, it was in two pieces.

“He’s alive,” Nat’s voice cracked. “Steve. he’s…he’s alive"

It was good news in a way, but then again, where was he? Surely if he and his family had survived then Clint would have brought them to the compound to find the rest of the team. But this looked like he had left in a hurry. Alone.

Which made Steve think that his family hadn’t been so lucky.

Natasha, satisfied that Clint was alive but clearly nowhere to be found at the farm, suggested they head home and see if they could track him from the compound. Steve hadn’t the heart to tell her that he didn’t think they’d have much of a chance and he knew deep down that if she was being honest, she probably thought the same thing. Instead, he nodded and they headed back over to the jet, which is when the pair of them heard something skulking around the side of the house. Natasha whipped out her gun as Steve spun, drawing himself up to full height. Exchanging a look, they both rounded the porch, cautiously approached, but as soon as Steve saw what it was, he relaxed.

“Hey buddy.” He courched down to pet the sandy coloured one-eyed dog that belonged to Clint, scratching behind his ear as the dog gave a little, desperate whine.

“Clint just left him.” Nat sighed, blinking back her tears. “He loved that dog, I don’t understand.”

“He won’t have been thinking straight, Nat.” Steve looked up at her, then around slightly, chewing the inside of his cheek before he made a decision. “We’ll take him home with us.” He stood up and, giving a sharp whistle, he was pleased to find the dog simply trotted behind him, up the ramp and happily curled up in a corner on a fleece Steve laid out for him.

“Do you know how old he is?” Steve asked, scratching the dog who rolled over, offering up his belly for a rub.

“Well when they found him the vets estimated he was about six months old…so seven now, give or take.” Natasha watched Steve who smiled, and made a cooing noise at the dog as he continued to pet him. “Never had you down as an animal lover, Rogers.”

“Always liked dogs.” He smiled. “I used to beg Ma for one all the time when I was a kid so she let us dog sit the neighbours. It set my asthma off, damned near killed me. So that put paid to that.” He took a deep breath and stood up, looking down at Lucky who flipped himself the right way up, pulling himself to a sitting position, his head cocking to the left. “Besides, I couldn’t just leave him there.”

“Katie’s right about you.” Natasha smiled. “You’re nothing but a huge softy under all that muscle.”

“Yeah, well, don’t tell anyone.” His brow raised. “I got a reputation to uphold.”

As they settled into the cockpit, Steve glanced at Natasha who was looking at the pieces of Clint’s ankle tag which she’d brought with her for some reason. But as he watched her turn them over in her hands, he had a sudden thought that there was someone else they should probably check in on as well. He voiced his thoughts to Natasha who nodded, and plugged in the co-ordinates for an airfield in San Francisco which was about thirty miles away from the address Scott Lang had listed on his house arrest details.

In little over an hour and forty later they pulled up outside Lang’s house and both hopped off the bike. No one answered so Steve simply kicked the door in and, once they were inside, they found it had been deserted some time ago. The remnants of a breakfast lay on a plate on the side growing mold and there was a mug and a plate in the sink. Natasha headed up the stairs, as Steve checked around the ground floor to see if there was anything that might give them a clue. The only thing he noticed was a calendar. The date of the Snap was circled, 23rd April, and next to it was written ‘QR- Research’. He didn’t have a clue what that meant. Letting out a deep breath he walked back into the hall and Nat came back down the stairs.

“No sign of anything being packed from his closet and his bed wasn’t made.”

“Well, his calendar seems to suggest he had a research date or something but other than that…” Steve trailed off as he spotted the red-light on the answer phone was blinking. He glanced at Natasha who inclined her head towards it and he reached out hitting the play button.

“Hi, Daddy” a little girls voice spoke and Steve and Natasha exchanged a look. Steve knew Scott had a daughter, but it struck him then that he had never even bothered to ask her name. “I tried your mobile but you’re obviously busy doing cool stuff with Hope and Dr Pymm…Mom said that you should come over tonight for five now your tag is off and it’s your favourite for tea. Oh and I got a new ant farm for you to try out. I love you, byeeeee!”

“Scott took two years house arrest to be with his daughter.” Steve shook his head, raising his eyebrows. “He wouldn’t just run out.”

“Think we’ve seen enough?” Nat sighed.

“Yeah.” Steve looked at her. “Let’s go home.”

***** “Well,” Dr Kellet looked at Katie as she sat up on the bed in the medical area of the compound, “there’s nothing physically wrong. Everything looks okay. I expect the cramps will settle down soon. It’s not uncommon with miscarriages, Mrs Rogers to feel some discomfort, especially when there’s been a procedure involved. And this, well, it wasn’t a normal miscarriage either so…”

Katie nodded and looked at her hands.

“How are you?” The Doctor asked and Katie looked up. “And I don’t mean physically.”

“I’m okay, I suppose.” Katie let out a deep breath. “I mean, I know there’s nothing I can do about it but it doesn’t stop me wondering you know, if I could have done something or-”

“Even in the case with normal miscarriages there’s nothing that anyone can do.” The Doctor spoke softly. “It’s a natural reaction, Mrs Rogers, you’re still in the grief cycle.” She clicked her bag shut. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. Give it time.”

“That’s what Steve keeps saying.” Katie mused, softly.

“How has he been?” “Amazing.” Katie smiled instantly. “He’s been an absolute rock, I know he’s upset himself but he just…” she trailed off. “It’s good that you have one another.” Dr Kellet smiled as she handed Katie her bag containing her pill. Neither of them spoke much, it was a silent gesture that made them both feel a little strange. They hadn’t even discussed the subject of her birth control going forward, but with everything that was going on Katie was suddenly struck with the thought that even the simple things like obtaining medical treatment was going to be much more difficult as they’d lost half the people that kept medical centres open.

Doctors, Nurses, receptionists, porters…

“I’m going to be meeting with the Local Authorities.” Dr Kellet looked at Katie as if she had read her mind. “All the remaining specialists have talked about how we need a, well, sort of a how we go forward planning session.” “Let me know if we can help in anyway.” Katie nodded. “That’s what we have the Stark Relief fund for.” Dr Kellet smiled before the two exchanged goodbyes and the Ob-Gyn left, leaving Katie alone with her thoughts which were disrupted when she heard her phone going. It was a message from Steve to tell her they were on their way home with good and bad news. Katie wasn’t sure if she wanted to know, to be honest, but she assumed the good news was Clint was alive, the bad news well, it didn’t bear thinking about. Deciding she would rather hear it in person, she replied and told him she’d leave some dinner for them both in the communal kitchen, and with that she headed off to find something he could cook.

****

Steve and Natasha landed home at just gone eight in the evening. And, given that they hadn’t eaten since breakfast, they headed straight to the kitchen with Lucky in tow and found two plates of lasagne waiting for them in the fridge, one substantially larger portion than the other. Whilst it was warming up. Steve gave Lucky a drink and then found some left over chicken and scraps of vegetables from the roast dinner the night before and placed them down in a dish for him to eat. Lucky wolfed his make shift dinner down, and so did they. Between them they ate their helpings, plus the leftovers, along with a helping of salad and then walked down the dimly lit corridors, dog on their heels. It was completely deserted.

“Feels odd doesn’t it?” Nat remarked “I mean it was always so busy.” “We will fix this Nat.” Steve spoke, and he wasn’t sure where his optimism was coming from, but seeing Clint was alive gave him more hope than he’d had that morning.

“Thank you for coming.” She said as they stopped by the stairs that led to her apartment.“I really appreciate it.”

“You don’t need to thank me, Nat.” Steve smiled, giving her a hug.  “Do you wanna take our guest or should I?” he gestured down to the dog. She shook her head. “Katie has a soft spot for that dog, plus you said yourself you’re a dog person. I prefer cats.”

That didn’t surprise Steve in the slightest and he found himself smiling slightly as he replied. “Alright, see you in the morning,” before he watched her up the steps and was pleased to see some of her usual Black Widow swagger had returned.

“Come on, buddy.” He turned to the dog which obediently trotted besides him, tongue lolling, his one eye trained on the super soldier.

Katie was awake in bed, the speakers in the room playing what sounded like the Trouble Man soundtrack as she lay on her side, facing the door, her hands absentmindedly playing with the pillow she had clutched to her chest.

“Hey.” he said as he walked in and she looked up, smiling softly. He leaned over to give her a gentle kiss before he frowned. “You’re crying.” It was a statement, not a question, as it was something she seemed to do quite a lot of recently. He sat on the edge of the bed and with tender hands, wiped her tears away with his thumbs as she sat up. “Is everything okay, I mean with…”

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine. I was just thinking about Sam, that’s all.”

Steve bowed his head, swallowing a little. Sam had been such a constant in their lives since they’d met him some four years previously, and two of those years they’d basically spent as house mates. It felt strange not to have him round, laughing and joking. Quite frankly, Steve felt like someone had ripped away his arm.

“I miss him too.” He admitted gently, and Katie looked at him, reaching up to cup his face. Steve sniffed a little before he shook his head.

“So, what did Dr Kellet say?” He changed the subject. “Nothing much. Says I’m physically alright, any discomfort I’m feeling should be gone soon.” “Do you need anything? Pain relief or…” She shook her head “I’m okay, honestly.” She took a deep breath. “So, what did you find?”

“Clint’s alive.” Steve stood and shrugged off his jacket, laying it on the back of the chair by the dressing table. Katie gave a sigh of relief which was short lived as she spotted the look on Steve’s face.

“What is it?”

“There’s no sign of him. He’d bust off his tag and left. I don’t think his family made it.” Katie bowed her head “They’re gone? All of them?”

“I think so yeah.”

“Fuck.” Katie screwed shut her eyes as her head fell back and she looked to the ceiling.

“We do, however have a guest.” Steve added, looking over at her.

“Who?”

“Lucky.” At the sound of his name the dog came pounding into the bedroom and jumped straight up on the bed.

“I couldn’t just leave him there.” Steve explained as Katie smiled and leaned over to scratch the dog behind his ears, promptly causing him to lay down, his head in Katie’s lap. She wrinkled up her nose.

“He stinks!”

“Yeah well he’s been alone since Clint left, God knows what he’s been up to or eating.” Steve shrugged as Katie looked down at the dog who rolled over for a belly scratch and she obliged. “And it doesn’t look like Lang made it either.” Steve finished heavily, watching as Katie tickled the animal.

Katie shook her head sadly, a tear falling onto the bed as Lucky rolled back over and moved to lick the side of her face before he jumped down on the floor.

“Nat wants to give Barton a few more days to cool off before we look for him but I’m not sure he wants to be found.“  Steve dropped back onto the side of the bed, removing his shoes and then his shirt thinking back to what he had seen at Clint’s. He laid his palms flat on the bed and dropped his head gently, letting out a sigh. He heard the sheets rustle as Katie edged her way closer to him, leaning her head on the back of his shoulder, nuzzling her cheek against him.

"How is Nat?” She asked.

“A little bit better now that we know he’s alive.”

Katie nodded as she dropped a kiss to the back of Steve’s shoulder before he stood up, “I’m gonna take a shower, I won’t be long.”

“Okay. Where’s Lucky gonna sleep?”

“I dunno.” Steve eyed up the dog who was now led on his back on the floor as if he’d been with them all his life “Looks like he’s comfy there.” “Yeah, it does.” Katie smiled.

Whilst Steve was in the shower Katie went into the closet and pulled out one of the old duvets for Lucky to sleep on, folding it up and placing it at the end of the bed. Steve was out of the shower shortly and climbed into bed besides Katie, reaching over and turning off the light before he settled down on his back and Katie cuddled up to him, head on his chest

“So what have you been up to today?” He asked gently, his hand rubbing her back.

“Still trying to get a lock on where Tony is. Other than that, well, I saw the doctor,  made dinner and then I wasn’t feeling great if I’m honest. So I came back here and Thor sat with me for a while, just talking.”

Steve took a deep breath, pulling her a little closer as they both fell silent for a moment, before she broke the silence.

“You now, knowing Clint is alive makes me feel a little more optimistic.”

“Optimistic?”

“Yeah, think about it.” Katie’s hand traced hapes on his bare chest “That’s six out of seven of the original Avengers confirmed alive. Tony has to be as well, it makes sense.” “I’m not following.” Steve frowned. She propped herself up, so that she was leaning on his chest, her eyes locking onto his.  “Thor was talking before, those stones, they have a magic beyond anything we know. Thor doesn’t believe for a second that who’s left is merely a coincidence and neither do I. It’s happened for a reason. Tony’s out there, I can feel it. We just need to find him.” “Honey, I understand what you’re saying-“ Steve started, he wasn’t sure he agreed. He didn’t believe in fate, it was bullshit. But before he could say anything else she cut him off.

“Please don’t.” she said, shaking her head. “Don’t what?”

“Take this hope away from me.” She whispered, her eyes still locked onto his in the dim light of the room “Apart from you it’s all I have right now.”

He sighed and nodded, chastising himself. If it made her feel better who was he to try and make her think any differently just because he did? Eventually they would have to face facts but now, well he just wanted her to get through the next few days, one at a time. With that in mind, he bit back his response and kissed her head.

“Sorry, you’re right. As long as there’s hope, we have a chance.” She kissed him gently before settling back down, and it wasn’t long before she drifted off. *****

A week or so later, Thor returned from another scouting trip with no news or sign of his people and this time he set deep into a brooding depression, appearing only for meals. Not even Katie could talk him round. Pepper was keeping herself busy liaising with who was left at Stark Industries, turning her attention onto how they could help after Katie had told her about Dr Kellet and the Health Authorities. It kept Pepper busy and gave her something to focus on.

Steve, Natasha and Rhodey spent most of their time talking to the people who were conducting the census and the authorities, whilst Katie buried herself away with Rocket and Bruce trying to calibrate the scanners to reach further into space, bouncing off the NASA satellites to boost their range. But they continued to get nothing. The elephant in the room, however, remained Fury’s pager. In the two weeks they’d had it no one had managed to get working, not even Rocket, despite his attempts to fix the booster that was attached to it.

As the Nineteenth post snap afternoon drew to a close, the Racoon let out a frustrated sigh and downed the small screwdriver he had been using and shook his head.

“If I had the right parts I could sort this easy, but without getting up to Contraxier I wouldn’t know where to start.” “What’s Contraxier?” Katie asked.

“A market-slash-junk-slash-booze hole” Rocket shrugged.” You can find most stuff there. That’s where I stole Thor’s eye.”

Katie knew better than to ask.

“It’s so goddamned annoying.” Rocket continued. “I mean it’s a simple technology too, they’re ten a credit. All it needs to do is produce a magnetic field across each of these coils and bingo.” Katie looked at Bruce whose head had instantly shot up.

“Say that again?” The Scientist instructed gently. “These coils.” Rocket pointed to the item as Bruce walked over. “Each of them needs a magnetic core and then all of the little individual magnetic forces add together and it powers the…what?” He asked as Bruce looked at Katie and she grinned.

“An electromagnet?” She shook her head, almost laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation. “That’s all it is?” “I’ve no idea what you Terrans call it, but if that’s what that does then yeah.” “I can’t believe it.” Bruce picked up the device and slid it under the large magnifying glass Rocket had been using, letting out a groan of frustration. “I took my eye off the ball, I could have sorted this straight away…” “You’re kidding me right?” Rocket sighed “Seriously?”

“Bruce, we’ve had a lot going on, don’t...” Katie began to sooth the man who was now frantically rushing around, grabbing various bits of material as he continued to curse his stupidity.

With a final curse, he settled down at a seat, bending over the device, his nose barely an inch away from it.

“It was an electromagnet. A god-damned electromagnet.” Bruce shook his head as he stood up and placed the Pager on a plinth inside one of the glass cases he used to experiment in. He fiddled around with some wires, muttering to himself before standing back. As the three of them crowded round, the screen on the pager lit up and the word “SENDING” flashed across the screen.

Katie looked at Bruce, her face splitting into a smile as he looked at her, the corner of his mouth twisting upwards.

There was another glimmer of hope…

**** Chapter 39 Part 2

[marvel-wlw]

When You Kiss Me

Diana Prince x Reader

Requested by @trikruismybitch​

Request: Diana Prince x Reader where reader was an avenger dating Wanda or Nat and they cheat on reader which leaves reader broken cause they’ve had past with getting cheated on and they get transported to Diana’s Earth and they fall in love and reader is really happy cause she finally found somewhere who truly cared && maybe bonus if you want to have the Avengers finding them & their reaction to Diana & Reader together w/ Bucky & Tony being readers bsf sorry if it’s too much

Warnings: Mentions of cheating

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the characters, they belong to DC and Marvel.

Tag list: @casey-anne-j​ @pharaoh-of-time-and-space @morbid-gaymer​@geekycatlover​ @rainydaysrnevergrey​ @natalia-helena-alianova-romanov@alphalesbianwolf​ @dancurse @autumnjackson4​ @1-danid​

Diana tag list: @natxhiddles​​

A/N: I haven’t written for Diana in so long but I hope you guys like it! :) Also the song When You Kiss Me by Shania Twain kinda gave me inspiration for this request. (I know it’s not the type of music I listen to but I grew up listening to Shania Twain so XD)

What you saw in front of you, you couldn’t believe it. You saw Wanda kissing Vision. How could she do this to you? She knew about your past and how you’ve been cheated on before. You tried to keep yourself from crying but you couldn’t stop from sobbing.

When Wanda and Vision heard you they immediately pulled away from each other. Wanda tried walking towards you but you backed away from her. “Don’t come near me.”

“(Y/N) it’s not what it looks like.” Wanda tried telling you.

“That bullshit and you know it!” You growled. “How could you do this to me? Especially when you knew I’ve been cheated on in the past.”

Wanda looked down. “(Y/N) I’m sorry-”

“You’re sorry?!” You glared at her. “I can’t believe you, we’re done.” 

With that you quickly left the room. You needed to go someplace where you felt safe. While you were trying to find a place you bumped into Bucky. Before you could fall his arms wrapped around you.

Once he got a good look at you he could see that you’ve been crying. “(Y/N), what happened?” He hugged you.

You hugged him back tightly and sobbed into his chest. “She cheated.” 

That was all you could say but Bucky knew what you meant. He couldn’t believe Wanda would cheat on you, he wanted to go give her a piece of his mind but right now you needed him.

xxxxx

A few days later it was getting harder for you to stay at the compound. It was getting to be too much. You were with Tony in his lab at the moment. Tony and Bucky were your best friends and for the past few days you’ve been staying close to them.

You looked down at your hands, tears already rolling down your cheeks. Tony looked up from what he was working on and saw you crying. He frowned before coming over to you and wrapping his arms around you.

“It’s going to be alright.” He rubbed your back.

“It’s not Tony...” You pulled away and wiped away your tears. “I can’t stay here... I need to get far away form here to even be close to being okay again...” 

As much as Tony didn’t want you to leave he knew he wouldn’t be able to stop you. “I think I have something that might help.” He went over to one of the drawers he had in his lab. 

He came back over to you, he was holding some sort of device and a phone. You looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He chuckled. “I made this in case we needed to go somewhere to lie low for a while. It’s a device that can transport you anywhere and the phone is for you to keep in contact no matter where you are.”

“Tony, you sure?” 

He nods. “Bucky and I will be the only ones to have a phone so we can talk. We won’t tell the others until you tell us to.” You smiled before pulling him into a tight hug.

The next day you stood in Tony’s lab with Tony and Bucky. You had a few duffel bags with your stuff in them. You couldn’t stop the tears from falling. You couldn’t help it, you were going to miss them.

“Don’t cry, cause now I’m going to start crying.” Tony said before hugging you.

When he pulled away Bucky came over to you, he pulled you into a tight hug. “Please be safe and text us if you need anything.”

“I will I promise.” You hugged him back. When you pulled away you smiled at your best friends. “You both know I’m going to text you no matter what right?”

“We know.” Tony smiled.

You took a deep breath. “Okay, I’m ready.” You said goodbye to them before pressing the button on the device Tony gave you.

When you opened your eyes you were in a completely new place. You let out a sigh. Tony had given you some money so you could buy an apartment and some food and stuff to help you out. 

Now it was time to start your new life.

xxxxx

It’s been a few months since you’ve arrived at your new home and you’ve been doing well. At first it was hard, you were away from your best friends and everything that you’ve known but after some time you started to like your new home too.

You were walking around the city, you smiled down at the phone Tony had gave you. You were texting Bucky, he just told you that he finally asked Steve out on a date. You were really happy for him.

You were so busy looking at your phone that you weren’t paying attention to where you were going. Suddenly you bumped into someone, before you could fall strong arms grabbed you.

“I’m so sorry! Are you okay?” 

You blinked at looked at the person who caught you. Your eyes widened when you saw the woman standing in front of you, concern written on her face. You also couldn’t help but think she was absolutely gorgeous.

“I-I’m okay. But it was my fault, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.” You blushed.

“The least I could do is buy you some coffee.” She smiled at you.

You shook your head. “It’s okay really, you don’t have-”

“I want to.”

For some reason you couldn’t say no. She took you to the closest cafe. You both ordered and sat down.

“I never got your name.” She smiled as she took a sip of her drink.

You took a sip of your drink. “(Y/N).”

Her smile widened. “I’m Diana.”

xxxxx

Since that day you and Diana have gotten close. The two of you are almost always together. Over time you’ve started to realize that you’ve fallen in love with her. When you realized that it scared you. Ever since Wanda cheated on you, you’ve been scared to date again. But you couldn’t help but feel this time would be different, that Diana was different.

You’ve talked to both Tony and Bucky about this. They both told you to tell her how you felt. They just wanted you to be happy.

You were pacing back and forth in your room while talking to Bucky. “I’m not sure about this Buck...” You said nervously.

“You can do this (Y/N). I know you’re scared but from what you’ve told me about Diana and how the two of you are, I have a feeling she feels the same way.” You could practically hear him smiling. 

“If she does and we start dating...” You trailed off.

“You’re scared she’ll cheat on you.” Bucky didn’t need you to tell him that. He knew you too well, you were his best friend after all.

You were about to reply when you heard a knock on your front door. “That’s Diana, I gotta go.”

“I know you can do it (Y/N).” Bucky said before the two of you said goodbye and ended the call.

You sighed. “I hope you’re right Bucky...”

You looked in the mirror and fixed your hair before leaving your room to open the door. You smiled when you saw Diana, she held up a bag of your favorite take out.

Once Diana was inside your apartment you both went over to the couch and began eating. The whole time Diana could tell something was on your mind. “Everything alright?”

You nod. “Yea, I just have some things on my mind that’s all.”

Diana could tell what was on your mind was distracting you, normally when the two of you are together you’re talking about your day or about anything. But right now you were being really quiet.

You closed your eyes for a second and took a deep breath. You opened your eyes and looked over at Diana. “There’s something that I want to say but I’m scared to.” You took another deep breath before continuing. “Diana I’m in love with you.”

Diana’s eyes widened, she smiled as she bit her lip. “I’m in love with you too (Y/N).” She reached over and took your hand in hers. “I know what your ex did to you, but I would never do that to you.”

You fought back the tears. When Diana said that you believed her, you knew she would never do anything to hurt you. This time was different, you could feel it.

xxxxx

After you and Diana had been dating for a year Tony and Bucky wanted to visit. They wanted to see you and to meet your girlfriend. You had told them they could come visit for a few days. You had a feeling that the others were going to find out and that they would want to go with Tony and Bucky.

“You excited, my love?” Diana said as she wrapped her arms around your waist from behind while you got ready to meet your old team.

You smiled and leaned back into her embrace before turning around in her arms. Diana leaned in and kissed you. You smiled into the kiss. When she kissed you, you felt the world disappear. You knew she was the one.

“I am.” You said when you pulled away from the kiss.

You were going to meet the team and bring them to your apartment. It wasn’t the same apartment that you had before, after you and Diana had been dating for six months the two of you got a apartment together. This one was definitely bigger than your old place.

You were excited to see the others again. You knew Wanda was going to be there and you were nervous to see her again but you didn’t think about it too much. You were happy now, happier than you ever were with Wanda.

Before you left the apartment Diana pulled you into another kiss, this one lasted a little longer than the one before. “I love you.” She said.

“I love you too.” You smiled before kissing her once again. You couldn’t get enough. “I’ll be back.”

xxxxx

You waited at the same spot where you arrived on this Earth. A few seconds later the team was in front of you. You smiled when you saw Tony and Bucky.

Bucky ran over to you, he pulled you into his arms and spun you around. “Hey doll.”

You smiled and laughed as you hugged him. “Hey Buck.”

Tony came over to the two of you, he pouts. “Hey what about me?” He opened his arms for you to give him a hug. You shook your head and laughed before hugging him. 

When you pulled away from him Natasha walked over to you and pulled you into a tight hug. “I missed you, it’s not the same without you at the compound.”

“I missed you too Nat.” You hugged her back tightly.

Wanda watched you as you hugged the others. She couldn’t help but feel her heart drop, she really did regret cheating on you. She could also see how much you’ve changed since you left.

You brought everyone to your apartment, you opened the door and let them in. They were all in awe. As soon as you walked in, Diana walked out of the kitchen, she smiled when she saw you. You couldn’t stop the huge smile that formed on your face.

Diana walked over to you, she wrapped an arm around your waist and pulled you into her. You leaned into her before giving her a loving kiss.

The others eyes widened, everyone was shocked. Natasha looked at you with a smirk. “Who’s this (Y/N)?”

You blushed. “Everyone this is my girlfriend Diana.”

Diana smiled at them. “I’ve heard so much about you all.” But as soon as she looked at Wanda, she glared at her but that only lasted for a few seconds.

Everyone was telling you that they were so happy for you. Both Tony and Bucky had given Diana the ‘if you hurt my best friend’ talk, you knew they just wanted to make sure you wouldn’t get hurt again.

The whole time Wanda kept to herself. She could see how happy you were and how much you and Diana truly loved each other. She knew that she didn’t have any chance to get you back.

[nothingbutfangirlsmut]

The Girl out of Time

Pairing: Bucky x Reader

Background: Willow Roffe was born and raised in Brooklyn. She lived her life as happily as she could with her two childhood best friends Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers. When they both left her to join the military she tried to continue with life but that didn't get to happen for her for the simple fact that she meant something to James Buchanan Barnes.

Rating: Story will be overall MATURE but not every chapter. There will be strong language, talk of both mental and physical abuse, some good ole angst, and smut. There will be a warning at the beginning of the chapter when it includes smut.

Chapter 40

I had Steve drop Sarah and I off at the complex. Neither of us wanted to be in that cramped car any longer. Plus it would be nice to have the entire complex to ourselves for once.

“Mommy, did Morgan’s daddy not want to help us?” Sarah asked after we both sat on the couch.

“No sweetie. He would help us if he could be he has to be there for Morgan and her mommy.” I said softly.

Sarah had said many times how awesome and heroic Tony was. She looked up to the man. I couldn’t tell her he didn’t want to help us. I understand his reasoning. I would probably feel the same way if I was in his place. Unfortunately I’m not in his place. Sarah doesn’t have her dad to look out for us like Tony looks out for his family.

“Morgan’s lucky to have her daddy.” Sarah said softly.

I wrapped my arms around her pulling her into my chest. I kissed the top of her head.

“She is very lucky.” I whispered into her hair.

Sarah pulled out of the hug then kissed my cheek.

“At least we have uncle Stevie. No one’s as cool as him.” She said with a bright smile.

I couldn’t help but laugh.

“He wasn’t always cool. When I first met Stevie when we were kids he was a tiny thing and not at all cool but he was and still is the best friend I could have ever asked for.” I told her smiling at my memories.

“Really? I can’t imagine Captain America not being cool.” She said in complete disbelief.

I laughed again.

“Well, he wasn’t always Captain America. We were in our twenties when he became the hero you know him as.” I told her.

“What was it like when you were a kid?” She asked curiously.

“It was a completely different world. It was almost a hundred years ago now that I was a kid. We didn’t have any of the cool stuff you have. Life was simple and kind of boring. The only fun I had was when I was with Stevie and Jamie.” I smiled.

“Daddy was with you back then? Wait, your a hundred years old?” She asked in shock.

I laughed even harder this time.

“Well, yea, technically I’m one hundred and six years old. Stevie is one hundred and five years old.” I said smiling down at her.

“Woah, that’s old.” She said in astonishment.

“It is indeed but I think I look good for my old age.” I chuckled.

“Definitely! You’re the prettiest mommy!” Sarah nodded enthusiastically.

“You’re so sweet.” I pinched her cheek.

“What was daddy like when you were kids?” She asked suddenly.

Just the thought of James as a kid made me smile.

“He was always protecting me and Stevie. Steve use to get picked on a lot but James was always there and if he wasn’t there then I was. Your dad was the most attractive man even back then. He was funny, charismatic, and brave. When we woke up here in the 21st century he was a completely different person but slowly he found himself. It wasn’t until we found out I was pregnant with you that he really became himself again.” I explained.

“So daddy knew he was going to be a dad?” She asked.

“Oh yes, he was so excited. He couldn’t wait to meet you.” I smiled more of a sad smile at that thought.

“That’s enough question for now little soldier. How about we go outside and play for a bit?” I asked changing the subject.

“Okay!” She cheered jumping up from her seat.

I sighed then quickly followed her outside to the jungle gym Steve had put in for her. I sat on the bench watching her play and run her energy out. I wish there were more kids around. It must be so lonely for her.

I heard the car’s engine before I saw it. Behind the car was a large truck with none other than hulk sitting in the back. That’s strange. Why is he hulk right now? I stood up watching both vehicles pull up. Steve and Scott in the car and Nat driving the truck.

“Hulk!” Sarah shouted excitedly.

I watched her run over to the green giant as he climbed out of the truck. He high fived her the best he could with his hand that was as big as her.

“What’s going on with Banner?” I asked Steve quietly.

“Um, he’s merged with Hulk. Banner’s mind and Hulk’s body. Kinda freaky though.” Steve said watching the doctor walk over to us with Sarah close on his heels.

“So what now?” I asked the group.

“Now we time travel.” Scott said with a large grin.

“This is gonna go well.” I told Steve after Scott and Bruce walked inside.

It didn’t take Bruce and Scott long to make their little time machine set up. Steve, Nat, Sarah, and I kept our distance until they were done. Scott suited up then met us back in the room.

“Okay, here we go. Time travel test number one. Scott, fire up the, uh, van thing.” Bruce told Scott.

Scott opened the back doors of the van. The inside instantly lit up with some kind of vortex looking thing.

“Breakers are set. Emergency generators are on standby.” Steve told Bruce.

“Good, because if we blow the grid, I don’t want to loose, uh, tiny here in the 1950s.” Bruce said.

“Excuse me?” Scott asked in shock.

“He’s kidding. You can’t say things like that.” Nat scolded the giant.

“It was a bad joke.” Bruce told Scott.

Scott did not look reassured at all. I don’t blame him. Bruce and Nat had a quick whispered conversations then Bruce gave Scott the thumbs up.

“We’re good! Get your helmet on Scott. I’m gonna send you back a week let you walk around for an hour, then bring you back in 10 seconds. Make sense?” Bruce asked Scott.

“Perfectly not confusing.” Scott nodded.

“This is not gonna be good.” I said quietly shaking my head.

“Good luck, Scott. You got this.” Steve told him.

“You’re right. I do, Captain America.” Scott said proudly.

He disappeared suddenly into the vortex or quantum realm.

“On a count of three. Three, two, one.” Bruce said then pushed a few buttons quickly.

A body appeared suddenly but it wasn’t Scott. It looked like a teenage boy.

“Guys, this doesn’t feel right.” The boy said.

“What is this? What’s going on?” Steve asked Bruce.

“Who is that?” Nat asked.

“I think it’s The funny man.” Sarah said.

“Hold on” Bruce said as he pushed more buttons.

“Is that Scott?” Nat asked.

“Yes, it’s Scott.” The boy said.

He disappeared again.

“What’s going on Bruce?” Nat asked in confusion.

Another body appeared.

“Oh, my back!” The old man shouted.

“Old funny man!” Sarah giggled.

“What is this?” Nat asked Bruce again.

“Hold on a second. Could I get a little space here?” Bruce asked causing Steve and Nat to back off.

“Can you bring him back?” Steve asked.

“I’m working on it?” Bruce snapped.

The old man disappeared then a much smaller body appeared.

“It’s a baby” Steve said with no surprise on his face.

“It’s Scott” Bruce told him.

“As a baby” Steve corrected.

“He’ll grow.” Bruce shrugged.

“Bring Scott back.” Steve said in exasperation.

“When I say kill the power, kill the power.” Bruce told Nat.

“Oh, my god.” Nat rolled her eyes.

She took off to the back of the room to do as he said.

“I told you this wasn’t going to be good right?” I asked Steve quietly.

“Yes you did.” He sighed crossing his arms over his chest.

“And.. kill it!” Bruce shouted.

The baby disappeared then was replaced with a normal looking Scott Lang.

“Funny man!” Sarah shouted.

“Somebody peed my pants. But I don’t know if it was baby me or old me. Or just me me.” Scott said slowly.

“Yep that’s him.” I said simply.

“Time travel!” Bruce shouted excitedly.

I grabbed Sarah then headed back into the complex.

“What? I see this as an absolute win.” Bruce shouted.

Nat, Steve, Sarah, and I grouped in the kitchen. Each of us but Sarah making a sound of exhaustion.

“I don’t think that could have been worse.” Nat groaned.

“He could have not come back at all.” I said simply.

“That’s fair” Nat nodded.

“We need to get the team together. We have a real shot here.” Steve said as he tapped his fingers on the counter.

“Want me to make the call?” Nat asked.

“Yea and find out where Barton is.” Steve told her.

Both of them left the room in opposite directions.

“Does this mean we are gonna save daddy?” Sarah asked.

“I think it means they are going to try.” I told her softly.

—

[karlz777]

Cruel World

Chapter 1

Summary: Angelina was an ex-HYDRA experiment. She never trusts anyone. The avengers want her to be part of their team, but she is scared for her life. But she can’t keep her eyes away from a certain super soldier.

Soulmate a/u

Characters:

-    Angelina Cameron (O/C)

-    Steve Rogers

-    Marvel Characters (Tony, Natasha etc...)

Warnings: gore, very discriptive bloody scenes, maybe future smut, I would perfer if you were 18+ to read this

My cell door slammed against the wall loudly awaking me from my light sleep.

         “Get up,” Jake demanded.

         I tried to get up as quickly as I could, but he had beat me everywhere on my body the day before. For him it was too slow because he came over and yanked me up by my hair. I yelled loudly as he walked me into the hallway.

         “You could’ve done it faster, but you didn’t,” He sneered smiling darkly at me.

         We kept walking over to the room where he normally experiments on me and he pushed me onto the table. He strapped my arms and legs down so I could move or fight back.

         “You know, if you hadn’t tried to leave me all those years ago, we would probably be happily married with 2 adorable little kids and the white picket fence house in the suburbs, but you just had to run to your little Captain America,” He mocked. He says this almost every day right before he starts just to taunt me.

         “I just wanted to know if he was my soulmate. That’s the only reason,” I quietly said to him.

         “And if he had been your soulmate, you would’ve left me for good!” He yelled in my face, “Now you can’t leave because I own you.”

         He stepped over to his table of tools, but he calls them toys, and picked up his favorite knife.

         Walking back over to me he started swinging it around, “You know I’m actually really happy that your powers didn’t come with fast healing cause now you have all of the scars to remember me by. You can never escape me Angelina.”

         He slices the knife down my left forearm. I want to scream so badly but I hold it in because that just gives him the satisfaction. If I scream, he knows he has all the power. I always try my hardest not to scream everyday but eventually they slip out with him.

         My eyes started turning blue the more he sliced my arm. When I’m in pain, sad, scared or upset my water/ice powers come out. When I’m angry fire comes out. For earth, it’s when I think of my favorite things or when I’m happy. For air, its normally when I’m just thinking around in my head.

         Jake had moved down to my legs now. All I was wearing was a t-shirt and a pair of small shorts, almost like boxers. As soon as he had sliced my inner thigh, I screamed.

         “There we go. I’ve been waiting for that,” he smiled like a madman. He went to cut me again but then an alarm started going off, “What the hell is going on?!” he yelled at the two guards stationed at the door.

         Both of the guards looked at each other looking very scared. Jake had become one of HYDRA’s best scientists, but he was also very feared in HYDRA. He was ruthless. He got what he wanted tearing anyone down if he had to. Right now, we were in one of the most hidden and secured HYDRA bases because if they lost him, they’d lose all his work that he has done to help them.

         “Do I always have to find out everything myself?” he set his knife down and made his way to the door, “Make sure she stays there. No body move her. I’m not finished with her.”

         As he started walking out o the door my vision got blurry. My vision kept going in and out. My throat felt like sandpaper.

         “Water. I need water,” I mumbled to the guards.

         They barely spared me a glance. I was losing a lot of blood from all the cuts on my body. In my mind I was thinking, this is it. This is when I die. I’ll be free of him.

         My vision, still going in and out, caught sight of a bunch of guards running past the room.

         Jake ran back into the room with a very pissed off look, “Well the almighty Avengers have came to take us down. But you’re coming with me.”

         He moved to remove me from the table. Tears slipping down my face. As he finished undoing my legs a loud explosion very close went off.

         He looked towards the door then back down at me, “I won’t be able to get you out in time,” He caressed the side of my face grabbing his knife again, “but if they do take you, I’ll find you again and we’ll be together forever.”

         He stabbed my right shoulder and I screamed. He leaned down to kiss my forehead once I had finished screaming in pain, “I will see you again.” He ran out of the room turning the opposite corner that the explosion came from.

         I looked up at bright light above me and waited. Waited for it to end. My eyes continued to open and close. My eyelids felt so heavy. I let them close thinking it was the end. The world around me going black and I smiled.

Goodbye Steve.

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

-3rd persons pov-

The Avenger had finally all gotten into the HYDRA base. They had taken down most of the soldiers now they were just picking off the rest of them. Natasha was working on downloading all of their files and intel.

Clint was on the roof of the building keeping an eye on outside.

Bruce was still in the quinjet incase they needed him for a code green, but it looked like they wouldn’t need him for this mission.

Thor, Steve, and Bucky were all outside on the ground taking care of the rest of the HYDRA soldiers incase they tied to escape.

Sam was flying around looking for anyone who could escape from the three men outside.

Tony was checking the rest of the rooms to make sure no one was hiding or see if could find their weapons room to confiscate everything.

“Guys, I don’t think this is where they hid weapons,” Natasha said through the comms.

“Yeah I don’t think so either. There way too many prison units in this building,” Tony commented back, “But all of these cells are empty.

“What was this base for?” Clint said but he really only meant to ask himself that.

“Illegal human experimenting?” Steve asked Nat.

“Yep, all the files are over their experiments but most of the people they did experiment on didn’t survive,” Nat said reading through all the files being downloaded onto her flash drive.

“I’m checking all of the rooms right now for survivors. I’ll keep you guys updated if I find anything,” Tony said walking down a long hallway, both sides lined with empty cells.

At the end of the hallway he saw a door that was cracked open. It was different than the cell doors, so he guys either a weapons room or experiment room. He slowly opened the door with his hand blaster ready, but all he saw was a girl laying on the table.

He rushed over to her, “FRIDAY read vitals.”

“Heartbeat detected but she has lost a lot of blood. She needs immediate medical attention,” FRIDAY informed him.

“Guys, there’s a girl here that needs medical help. I’m going to fly her over to Bruce,” he undid the straps on her arms and picked her up in his metal arms.

“A girl? Who is she? Is she a HYDRA agent?” Steve asked.

“I highly doubt it. She looks like one of their experiments but she’s losing a lot of blood,” he took off out of the building.

The girl stirred in his arms groaning in pain, “Hey you’re alright. I’m gonna help you.”

She barely opened her eyes looking at the metal man, “You’re Mr. Stark.”

“I am Tony Stark, what’s your name?” he said trying to keep her awake.

“Mr. Stark please tell Captain Rogers--,” She trailed off losing consciousness. Tony looked at her confused about what she was going to say next. What does she want with Steve? He thought.

He flew faster then landed next to the quinjet, “Bruce she needs your help now. She’s lost too much blood, but I didn’t take the knife out cause she would’ve died.”

Bruce immediately got to work and grabbed what he needed. Tony laid her on one of the cots they brought for if things like this happened. He stepped out of his Ironman suit and started to help Bruce.

Five minutes later the team had returned to the quinjet. Bruce had gotten the bleeding to stop but she would probably need surgery for the knife still in her arm.

“Clint, I need you to get us home fast. Dr. Cho is going to be waiting for us when we get there because of this girl, But I need you to fly fast or she won’t make it,” Tony said quickly to Clint.

Clint nodded and made sure everyone was in so he could take off. Steve walked over to Tony to make sure he was okay but then he caught a glimpse of the girl. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her, “Who is she?”

“She didn’t tell me her name, but she did try to tell me something,” Tony’s brows came together in confusion trying to figure out what she was going to say.

“What did she say Tony?” Steve crossed his arms taking a couple glances at the girl.

“She said and I quote ‘please tell Captain Rogers’ but then she passed out and didn’t finish,” He stared at the ground trying to figure it out, “Does she have a name on her body? Maybe we can contact them.”

Everyone looked at Bruce, “It’s normally under the left collar bone but I didn’t look because I was a little preoccupied.”

Everyone still stared at him. He was looking down at the girl but when he looked up, he saw everyone looking at him expectantly, “I’m not gonna look. That’s an invasion of privacy,” He threw his hands up.

“You all are such big babies,” Natasha rolled her eyes and walked over to the girl. She slowly pulled down her shirt and Tony walked over to also see.

Both of their eyes went wide looking at the name written under her collar bone. They turned towards each other gulping.

“Umm Cap,” Nat looked back to him, “You’re going to want to see this.”

Steve gulped, very nervous, he walked over to the girl. Natasha was still holding her shirt down so you could see the name. He looked at the cursive name under her collar bone and his eyes went wide.

His name sat upon her skin.

Steven Grant Rogers

His knees felt like jelly. He kept starring at the marks on her skin, “How is this possible? I thought I would’ve had a soulmate back in the 40’s I just never had the chance to meet her. Not a soulmate from this century.”

“I mean it’s not impossible. You got a second chance at life and somehow you guys are together now. I guess everything does happen for a reason,” Sam clapped his shoulder.

Steve could barely process it. He had thought he lost his chance to have a soulmate, but she was laying in front of him. He sat down next to her bed and took her hand carefully, “How much longer till we get to the compound?”

“About 5 minutes Cap,” Clint yelled back to him.

He swore, in that moment, that he couldn’t lose her. He finally had her. His true soulmate.

[westannatasharomanoff]

THG AU Chapter 25

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3     Chapter 4    Chapter 5    Chapter 6 Chapter 7   Chapter 8   Chapter 9  Chapter 10   Chapter 11 Chapter 12  Chapter 13 Chapter 14  Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17  Chapter 18 Chapter 19   Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22  Chapter 23   Chapter 24

TW: Major Character Death, Bomb Mentions.

* Natasha and Wanda watched the television in shock. That morning, The Capitol had “accidentally” bombed several sections of District 3 while they were on the train.* 

Woman on TV: The hovercraft accidentally dropped several bombs which were meant to be shipped from 3 to District 2 to help with peacekeeper training. The Capitol is still trying to take a census to find out who survived this tragic accident.

President Snow: (on the TV) Until we know more, we’re going to have to suspend all trains and hovercrafts going to, from, or through District 3 as well as all communication between District 3 and the rest of Panem. Don’t worry too much, though. Most of the labs and factories were completely fine, so the economy of District 3 should be completely back to normal within a month. 

Natasha: Unbelievable. Thousands of people are dead and this guy is concerned about the economy. 

Wanda: This was no more of an “accident” than the one in 12 sixteen years ago! *stands up* I can’t do this again! I’ll show them rebellion!

Natasha: Wanda, no. This is their game. If we don’t play by their rules, we face the consequences. 

Wanda: We can’t just let them walk all over us! Next time they strike, we’ll lose everything.

Natasha: They only strike when we step out of line, Wanda! I can’t take that risk, and neither can you.  Next time, it’ll be my parents. It’ll be Pietro. Not to mention we don’t even know who survived the attack on 3. 

Wanda: So you think they’re okay? Why do you think Snow gave us these? *pulls out wilting rose* 

Natasha: *tearing up* I don’t think they’re okay! I hope they’re okay, but I know they probably aren’t! I feel like my world is falling apart! I’m still coping with what happened to Clint, and I can’t handle this right now! Actually, I don’t think I can handle anything right now and I need to be alone.

Wanda: And I need my brother. *Wanda goes home*

*Natasha grabs her rose and runs to the edge of the woods. This was the place she met Bruce, the hillside she and Clint used to roll down as kids, the place where she and Yelena would build snow forts, the hill near Clint’s favorite hunting spot. It was her safe space. Natasha’s eyes burned with tears as she turned the wilting rose around in her hands, over and over. She let out a sob and threw it into the woods. *

* District 3, ten hours after the final bomb hit. *

The mayor (over an intercom): Attention citizens! A thorough search has been conducted and there are no undetonated bombs on the ground. It is safe to come out of your hiding spots.  We are trying to get a head count, so please stay put as much as possible. That being said, feel free to try to find your loved ones in an orderly fashion. 

Tony: I need to find Pepper and Morgan! 

Bruce: I need to call Natasha! 

*They go outside to see victor’s village and Tony’s street are completely fine, but Vision’s street is completely obliterated. A building right next to the lab they were moving things from was also gone, as well as a wall from the building they were in. *

Tony: No no no no no. Pepper! Morgan!

Bruce: What’s wrong? They should be safe if they were at home. 

Tony: They went to visit Pepper’s sister this morning! She lived right near Vision. 

A random rescue worker: Are you Tony Stark?

Tony: What do you want? 

Rescue worker: Is this your daughter?

Tony: Morgunna! *grabs Morgan from the worker* Thank you so much! Where did you find her?

Rescue worker: She was in a partially collapsed storm shelter from the dark days.

Tony: Okay, Morgan. Can you tell me where mommy is? 

Morgan: *crying and terrified* Mommy said stay in the hole. 

Tony: *panicking* Yes. And then where did mommy go?

Morgan: She left me in the little metal hole. It was dark and scary.

Tony: *starting to cry* Okay. Do you want to go home, Morgunna? *Morgan nods* Let’s go home. *Goes and puts his name and Morgan’s name on the survivor log* Mommy might come find us later. 

Bruce: Tony? 

Tony: Hm?

Bruce: I hope you find her. And I’m really sorry if you don’t.

Tony: *hugging him* Thanks. I hope you get the chance to call Natasha soon.

*Tony took Morgan home and Bruce put his name in the survivor log.*

Bruce: *to the Capitol citizen running the census station* Is there any way I could call my wife and let her know I’m alive? 

Person running the census station: What’s her name? Not to be that person, but she might not have survived. 

Bruce: She actually lives in District 12. I was wondering if I could call her.

Person running the census station:  Oh, you’re Bruce Banner! I’m sorry, all communication with other districts is cut off until further notice. 

Bruce: Please? She probably thinks I’m dead. 

Person running the census station: There are no exceptions to this rule. Don’t try to call her from home either, the lines are down.

Bruce: Okay, can I send her a letter?

Person running the census station: All communications are blocked, sir. 

Bruce: What am I supposed to do then?!

Mayor: *from behind Bruce* The president said that if you survived, you should finish packing. He wants to send you to 12 as soon as things calm down. Start with anything personal you have in your lab space.

Bruce: Fine. 

* Meanwhile in District 12, Wanda was trying to make dinner.* 

Pietro: Hey, sis. I saw the news. Well, actually, we saw it while we were on the train, but we didn’t want to upset Natasha. We didn’t want to upset you either, but I was the only one who knew you had any sort of attachment to District 3. 

Wanda: I’ll be fine. I’m just going to make dinner to take my mind off of it.

Pietro: Do you need a hug? 

Wanda: *starts crying and hugs him* Yes!

Pietro: It’ll be okay, I promise. 

Wanda: What if they get 12 again?! 

Pietro: Don’t worry. We’ll be fine. 

Wanda: Promise?

Pietro: Promise.

*Five days later, Natasha was sitting on her bed. She hadn’t slept since the bombing, and she’d hardly eaten anything.*

Melina: *walking into the house through the front door* Natasha? Are you still hiding in your room, sweetie?

Natasha: Yes.

Melina: I brought you dinner. It’s cottage pie. Remember when you were little and we would try out new spice blends on this because you and your sister just loved it so much? 

Natasha: Yes. I remember. I’m sorry, I’m not hungry. 

Melina: Dear, have you been crying again? You look like you’ve been crying. 

Natasha: I’m just so worried! What if he-

Melina: Don’t do this to yourself, darling. He’s probably alive. We haven’t gotten any news yet. Have some hope.

Natasha: How far has hope really ever gotten me? 

Melina: It’s allowed you to get through some rough times. It’s kept you whole.

Natasha: You think I’m still whole? I’ve been losing pieces of myself for years now. There’s the piece I left with Yelena, the piece I left in the arena, the piece I left with Clint, and now that Bruce is probably gone, you could say that there’s barely any me left. 

Melina: That’s not true. I still see the same precious girl in there. My same precious girl. I still see the rebellious toddler that always wore us out by running off at the marketplace. I still see the same compassionate 5-year-old that met her best friend by sharing her lunch on her first ever day of school. I still see the competitive 10-year-old who would always win snowball fights, even when nobody else was playing. I still see the intelligent girl that excelled in all of her classes from the very beginning. I still see my daughter, and my daughter is strong enough to get through anything.

Natasha: *hugging her* Thanks, mom. 

Melina: Now, I need to get home, but please be sure to eat. I brought you some tea as well. *sets down tea and kisses Natasha’s forehead* Take care of yourself, okay? Get some sleep tonight.

Natasha: I’ll try. 

*She ate and tried to fall asleep. She managed to sleep for about two hours. The next five days were difficult and Natasha still could hardly sleep. Ten days after the “accidental” bombing, a train arrived in District 12. It had the District 3 emblem on it. Bruce got off of the train.*

Natasha: *running towards him* Bruce! 

Bruce: *pulling her into a tight hug* Nat! I’ve missed you so much.

Natasha: I was so worried! I thought you were- *tightens hug* I’m glad you’re safe.

Bruce: I wanted to call you, but we weren’t allowed.

Natasha:  None of that matters now. I’m just so happy you’re safe. I’m sorry I look so...dead. I’ve slept about one hour a night for the past ten days. 

Bruce: You look perfect. Let’s go home.

[avengerscompound]

The Perch - Chapter 1

The Perch: A Birds Fanfic

Buy me a ☕ Character Pairing:  Clint Barton x Sam Wilson

Word Count:  1919

Rating:  E

Written For:  Sam Wilson Birthday Bang.

Warnings:  None on this chapter. Smut and injuries on the series.

Synopsis:  During a mission, Sam and Clint are sent to the same spot for surveillance.  Normally Sam quite enjoys the teasing of his teammates, but Clint’s constant chatter quickly starts to get on his nerves.  As time passes, it becomes clear, when Clint’s annoying you, there might be something else going on.

A/N:  Art by @kishock-harpoon.  Thank you to @fanficwriter013, @lillianfromaccounting and @mumbles411 for betaing.

Chapter 1

“The two birds, sitting in the perch, watching the others do all the work,” Clint said in a sing-song voice as he crouched on the corner of the building.  He scanned between the four other groups.  Bucky and Rhodey sat a few buildings down in a similar position.  Tony and Nat were walking arm in arm towards the target, while Thor and Steve ‘subtly’ blended in at a coffee shop a few doors down.

“You’re a little too excited about this, Clint,” Sam teased.  He’d been focusing on the crowd.  The visor had been quickly cataloging every person and cross-referencing between known criminals.

“Well, I don’t get to perch with my bird bro nearly enough,” he said.  “Perch?  Is perch the word I want?  Maybe ‘nest’ would be better.”

Sam rolled his eyes.  “Let’s stick with perch shall we?”

“We can nest later… eh?” Clint said, the innuendo coated on heavily to his words.  Sam was pretty sure if he was sitting closer, Clint would have nudged him.

Sam was used to Clint’s flirting.  The guy flirted with everyone.  It seemed to be second nature to him.  Like breathing.  Or loosing an arrow.  He flirted with Nat like it was the only language the two of them knew.  He flirted with Tony to get him to come fix his stuff.  He flirted with Bruce to make him blush.  He even flirted with the girls at the Starbucks on the ground floor of the Tower to get free refills on his coffee.

Sam got it.  He really did.  He liked flirting himself.  He was maybe a little more discerning about whom he targeted.  But only a little.  He just wished that Clint realized there was a time and place.  Or at least for him to occasionally mean it.

“I’m not sure falcons and hawks are biologically compatible, Clint,” Sam said.  Tony and Natasha had reached the target and now the comms were noisy with the chatter of small talk as they eased them into a false sense of security.

“Neither are hawks and spiders but I still hit that. Hey-yo!” Clint joked, holding up his hand for a high-five.  Sam didn't look at him as he cocked his eyebrow questioningly.  As the realization of what Clint just said dawned on the archer he dropped his hand again.  “Don't tell Nat I just said that.”

Sam chuckled.  “We’ll see,” he said.  “I might save it, just in case.”

“Sam…” Clint whined, before sitting up straight and leaning forward a little.  For a moment, Sam thought he was going ass over head off the side of the building.  “Northeast corner.  See the guy with the bag?”

Sam switched his focus and tapped the button on the side of his visor.  “Oh yeah, definite HYDRA,” Sam said.  “You got eyes on him, Cap?”

“Yeah, I see him.  We’ll keep watch.  Just stay alert,” Steve responded.

“We two can sure do that,” Clint said.  “Get it, Sam?  Toucan?”

Sam stifled a laugh.  “You’re an idiot.”

“I like to think of it as charming,” Clint replied.

Sam’s eyes flicked to the archer.  He was smiling and for just a brief second, Sam wondered if the flirting was genuine.  Clint was cute if not a complete disaster of a human being.  He was fun to be around even if he didn’t seem to take things seriously.  Plus those arms.  Sam couldn’t pretend it wouldn’t be nice to have those arms wrapped around him. To dig his fingers into those biceps.

He pushed it away.  For starters, this was pretty far from the appropriate time and place to be considering doing - well anything - with Clint Barton.  Besides, it was just him.  Sam wasn’t even 100% sure Clint was into guys.  He’d only ever seen him with women.

Sam flicked his eyes back to the street.  Tony and Natasha had moved inside and the HYDRA goon on the corner had moved into a shadowed alcove.  Clint pulled an arrow out of his quiver and notched it.  Sam gazed over the street, the targeting system cataloging every person.  Nothing stood out as being out of the ordinary apart of HYDRA on the corner though.

“Did you choose a bird-of-prey as your call sign for the same reason as me, Sam?”  Clint asked, without looking over.

Sam knew it was going to be a mistake to engage.  He knew it was going to make him groan and roll his eyes.  He knew it.  But still, he couldn’t stop himself.  He needed the punchline.  He needed to hear the cringe-worthy piece of filth that Clint had most likely been sitting on for a while now.  “I got my callsign because the wings were called the Falcon. I had nothing to do with it.  But go on, tell me why you chose a bird-of-prey.”

Clint smirked.  “Because I like being on my knees.”

How Sam managed to not crack and burst out laughing then he couldn’t quite say.  He wanted to laugh.  Maybe if he wasn’t in full work mode he might have.  Or maybe it was just that he knew exactly what to say to top it.  “Maybe we should just call you the swallow?”  He deadpanned.

Clint completely lost it laughing.  “That was a good one.”

“Alright, alright.  Calm down, bird brain.  I know I’m hilarious.”  Sam said.

“Yeah, Sam.  You quack me up.”  Clint teased.

Sam rolled his eyes and shook his head a little.  “Come on now, focus up.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Clint said.  “I don’t like that goon.  What’s he even doing there?” 

Sam turned his sights back to the HYDRA agent.  “Yeah, me either.  Tony and Nat are still chattering though.  So I guess we better sit tight until someone says otherwise.”

“Or I could just -”  He mimed loosing an arrow.

Sam seriously considered it for a moment.  If nothing else, it would force everyone’s hand.  But reason got the better of him.  “Better not.  Gonna have to sit tight a little longer.”

“Aww, you say that like it’s a bad thing.  I like being up here with you,” Clint said.

Sam looked at Clint in his peripheral.  Logic told him this was just part of Clint’s little routine.  That he was hamming it up so that things wouldn’t get too serious.  Because if things got too serious this was real and their lives were in danger.  Only, he was sure he heard sincerity in his voice.  Or maybe… maybe he hoped that was what he was hearing.

He pushed that thought aside quickly.  He didn’t have time for a crush on Clint Barton.  His flirting wasn’t even that smooth.  He wasn’t going to get taken in by the harmless dumbass routine Clint so strongly clung to.  Clint was anything but harmless.

“Hey, Clint?  When you…”  He stopped.  He didn’t want to get into this.  Not here.  Here was a terrible place to try and figure out if the smattering of innuendo and annoying puns were just Clint being Clint or if there was more to that.

Besides…

Sam wasn’t sure if he had it in him again if he was going to be totally honest with himself.  He’d done the whole date the guy you served with.  When he’d watched Riley fall, it had felt like Sam had had his heart ripped out and dragged down with him.  It had taken him a long time to get over that.  He still wasn’t totally sure he was.  There were still nights he woke up with his heart racing, feeling helpless and broken because he’d been revisiting it in his dreams.  And the Avengers was like the Air Force on crack.  The fact they’d lost so few felt like dumb luck more than actual skill.  The fact a lot of them were supers definitely saved their lives more than once.  And Clint was not a super.  He worried that starting anything with anyone on the team would just leave him a nervous wreck.  To do that with Clint - the most accident-prone, least super of all of them next to Sam - he might just have another breakdown.

“When I what?” Clint asked, his eyes still fixed on the lurker.

“When you’re up here, do you feel more at peace?” Sam asked, covering the original question with something relatively innocuous.

Clint chewed at his bottom lip.  “Yeah.  I guess.  My head is clearer.  I like seeing everything at once like this.  I feel like I get the picture better.”

“I feel that way about flying,” Sam said.  “But with the added adrenaline rush.”

“Because you’re a fellow bird.  We like being up in the sky,” Clint said, matter-of-factly.

“What about Kiwis?” Sam teased.

“They’re only barely a bird.  They look more like potatoes,” Clint said.  “Besides, I bet they wish they could fly.”

“Well, that does it, if I ever see one, I’ll be taking it for a spin,” Sam joked.

Clint started laughing.  “I’d pay to see that.”

Sam looked over at him again.  That little niggling question of whether Clint’s flirting actually meant something other than him being his usual self.  Sam didn’t like this unsure, shy thing he was doing right now.  Normally if he was interested in someone he just said so.  He didn’t second guess himself like this.  This was not Sam Wilson.

“Clint did you…?”  He started, once again cutting himself off.  This time he internally cursed himself.  If he ever did manage to get this question out, Bucky was now never going to let him live it down.  If Clint was just being Clint, Bucky would rag on him for falling for the archer’s normal routine.  If Clint did genuinely like him, then Bucky would go on about how Sam had gotten all tongue-tied around him.

“Did I what?” Clint asked.

Sam waved him off.  “Nothing.  Never mind.”

“Aww, come on now, Sam,” Clint said turning to look at him.  “Don’t be like that.  You can tell me anything.”

“I was just wondering…” Sam said, but something caught his attention in his peripheral.  The HYDRA guy made a strange gesture and looked up.  Sam followed his eye line and in the building down the road there was a flash and shell tore through the air in the direction of Clint and Sam.

“Wondering what?” Clint asked, still staring directly at Sam.

“Duck!” Sam shouted jumping up and popping the wings from his suit.  There was no way Clint could run from this, but he had the vague notion that if he reacted fast enough he could carry them both to where the shell had originated from.

“That’s a good one!” Clint said, laughing.

“No!  Duck!” Sam said, running full force into Clint.  Clint stumbled and fell back as Sam shoved him over the edge of the building, knocking his bow out of his hand.  For a second Sam knew he had this.  He wasn’t worried at all, even with the sudden orders being barked by Steve in his ear and chaos on the ground below.  He had a grip on Clint and he was supporting his weight fine.

Then the shell hit.  The side of the building blew out, raining fire and stone out into the street.  The sudden change in air pressure along with the blast buffeted Sam, making him dip and his grip slip.

“Fuck!  Shit, Sam!” Clint shouted, scrambling to keep hold.  Sam tried to keep hold of him but with the way Clint squirmed, Sam couldn’t keep hold.  His fingers slipped from around Clint’s forearms and the archer fell.

// NEXT

[griffmstr]

D&D session 1

So me and some buddies have been playing D&D together now for little over a year. I was the DM of that campaign. Well, one of the dudes in it decided to run his own campaign. He did a one shot at first to get a feel for it and now he’s doing an original campaign. We’re still doing mine but I don’t have as much free time as I want anymore so building is slow-going for me so our plan is to switch off.

ANYWAY.

I’m a human fighter. We have @megaboy335​ also playing a human fighter, @byzantine-love-machine​ paying a human bard, @rennebright​ as a human homebrew blood hunter, and @kite33​ as a necromancer with @silvertsundere​ as DM.

Below is just a general summery/highlights of what happened.

So we all start off as level three and have a quick introduction to how we all know each other and why we’re together. This leads into us arriving at town and being forced to visit the Inn and spend the night.

(I call out the DM saying this was obviously done since in the one shot we did he planned for us to visit a village but we were too suspicious of him and didn’t do that at all causing him to figure out how to give us information the village was supposed to give us)

In the morning we notice we have two side quests

We do the wolf one first cause I decided the male farmer wasn’t worth helping. Our hunter tracks the wolves to their den where we see 5ish wolves. after a Round or two a giant dire wolf joins the fray but our bard immediately casts laughter on them and the dire wolf falls prone with uncontrollable laughter. Meanwhile the fighter that isn’t me gets into an epic tug of war with a wolf and neither seem to be able to hit each other.

While the dire wolf laughs we kill off every wolf other than the one our other fighter is playing with. Me and the hunter decide to take on the big wolf. The big wolf failed every saving throw and we killed it without it being able to attack us. The other wolf runs off scared.

After finishing the quest we shop for a bit and I just buy a potion which was 50 GOLD! Most of us only had about 60 at the time so it was a lot of money. We didn’t really have anything else to do so we decided we’d help the farmer. When that was done we were given an opportunity to give him some farming advice but our necromancer, who grew up as a farmer, rolled badly so we just finished the quest like normal.

When we got back to town some dude was looking for us cause he heard we’d been helping everyone out and he says he’s a bee farmer keeper dude and some bears have been giving him some trouble smashing up his shit and stealing honey. We go to his farm and find some bear tracks. Our hunter follows them and notice they turned into the footprints of a person. We all immediately assume werebears.

We follow the tracks to a camp and notice a bunch of scruffy guys sitting around a fire. One of us makes the connection that these are probably the bandits the innkeep told us about in the area, but draped over one of the tents was a giant bear suit.

Immediately I say they’re furries and that is their fursuit. 

We decided instead of just slaughtering everyone that we might try to be diplomatic about it. I either volunteered or was volunteered by the group so I tried talking to them. I used a fake name and said I was from town wondering what was happening. Our necromancer can conjure bees so he had the idea to make a beehive for them and fill it with bees so they could farm the honey themselves. although I messed up and said “us” so they grew suspicious and grabbed their boss. Negotiations began to fail at this point so I just called them all a bunch of fucking furries and we entered combat.

Our necromancer had readied an attack before I went in so when negotiations ultimately failed he could fire off a free spell. He then had to roll for a possible bonus effect

Our bard once again proving to be a CC master made the big baddy, who was very pissed off at me, run away and take damage. The fight goes pretty smoothly overall and once everyone is dead we find a bag of holding with moneys and gems and all the stolen honey. I then take the fursuit and stuff it in the bag as proof it wasn’t actually a bear and we return to the bee farmer to get the reward. I squeeze out the honey to the farmer for an extra reward and our necromancer offers to give the farmer more bees for an even bigger reward. He was confused so the necromancer just decided to start spraying bees out of his hands scaring the shit out of the farmer, Who allowed our necromancer to refill his hives and gave him 10g for it.

After all that happens we return to town having finished everything and open the door to the Inn. Some mist comes out and knocks my character unconscious. They notice nothing out of the ordinary inside so they slap me awake and we walk inside. Only thing different is the boar head (so in this world there were a group of heroes a century who that killed some legendary beasts and a boar was one of them, in fact is was the first one they killed) was missing. We wake up the innkeep but he only says it was a hooded figure.

We ask around town and our bard rolled a nat 20 so he finds out the hooded figure was headed out into the woods with the boar head floating behind him.

We follow the trail to a cliff face with a giant boar standing in front of it. Our bard uses detect magic and finds the boar itself is purple which means necromancy and behind it a portion of the cliff is blue which means illusion. 

We fight the boar and overall the fight goes pretty well. There was a moment when it was surrounded by three of us and used this dark magic pulse to knock us away but we defeat it without anyone getting close to dying.

When the boar dies an entrance into a small cave opens. Inside we see a magic circle which the necromancer decided to summon an unseen servant to try and break the circle. While trying to do that a hooded figure appears telling us the boar was a test to make sure they could trust us. We now have to travel north to a city to meet them in person as using an insecure magical line could have anyone listening.

And that was it for chapter 1. Overall it was really fun. Most of the time I DM when I play D&D so it’s been really nice to be able to play as a player. We’re gonna try and play again next Saturday on the 14th, but who knows what will happen.

[marveliciousfanfics]

Hurt feat. Thor x OC

Summary:

The God of Thunder is going through a tough time. His friends do not validate his feelings, so it must be okay to feel this way. Jasmin, the newest Avengers, knows the meaning of being sad. She sees what Thor is going through and decides to help him.

TW: deals with depression. PTSD.

word count: 10,847 (yeah this is the longest one shot I think I’ve ever written.)

Disclaimer: I do not own any Marvel characters, but I do own this plot and my OC

Author's Note: It's something I wrote and just couldn't stop writing. Is it a little far fetched? Yeah, but that's the beauty of fanfiction...I can do what I want. Enjoy! This was very therapeutic for me.

Thor was having troubling sleeping, but what else was new? Being at the compound felt weird for him. He wasn’t oblivious to the looks and the comments. But he deserved them. He was no hero. He was worthless. Even now as Tony and that rabbit built that time machine, he could hardly keep up with them. His dreams didn’t help. He kept reliving the most horrible moments of his life over and over again.

A beer will help him get some sleep, he thought to himself as he made his way to the kitchen. He heard noises as he got closer. Someone else was up. He turned the corner to see who it was.

Jasmin was there with some earphones in. She looked to be in the process of making a sandwich. Thor’s stomach growled. He didn’t have dinner since he had slept through it. Jasmin wasn’t someone Thor knew. Apparently, she joined after the Snap. She helped Natasha run the compound and did some missions on her own. A good soldier and the only one who didn’t give him any looks or made any comments.

Her brown hair was up in a ponytail as she jumped up and down to something. It wasn’t the normal Midgard music he was used to. Similar to Tony’s but definitely more aggressive. He could hear it and he caught a word here and there.

“You gonna stand there or do you want a sandwich?” she turned her head to face him and Thor smiled. She was good.

“You don’t have to. I can make my own,” he walked into the kitchen.

“Nah, it’s all good,” she turned back around. He walked so he was in front of her where she laid everything needed for a good sandwich. “What do you like?”

“Surprise me,” Thor took a seat on the barstool. He could still hear the music even though she had turned it down. Her head continued to bob as she made him something. His eyes caught glimpses of scars down her arms. She wore a tank top and it revealed tattoos she had on her upper arms.

Jasmin started to mumble the lyrics and he could understand it a little more. After a few minutes, she placed a sandwich in front of him. It looked good.

“Go ahead,” she smiled at him. “Want a beer?” she asked as she walked to the fridge. “I went to the store earlier and got some Coronas and Modelos because I am sick of Miller and Budlight.”

“Sure,” he didn’t mention it was the reason he had come down in the first place. “You normally drink beer at 1 in the morning?”

She brought back two glass beers. She picked up the butter knife she had used to spread the mayo, wiped it clean on a towel, and then used it to open the beers. He was fascinated by how easily it came to her. She placed the beer next to his plate.

“I mean, I think propriety has gone out the window five years ago,” she scoffed.

Thor took a big swing of his beer almost finishing it. His fault. Five years ago. If she noticed the change in his demeanor, she didn’t say anything. They ate and drank in silence. She picked up her phone and scrolled through it and then the music changed. It was different. Not what she was listening to before.

“Why did you change it?” he asked as he chewed his food.

“You can hear it?” she gestured to her ear.

“I am a God,” he half smiled and then scolded himself. He didn’t deserve to smile. Jasmin picked up her phone again and changed it back. “I like it. What is it?”

“Tony calls it trash. It’s part of rock music. I mean it ranges from metal core to pop punk.”

“How did you meet everyone?” Thor had vaguely paid attention to be honest since he came back.

“Well, I met Natasha, Steve and…Sam when they were nomads,” she had a hard time to say Sam’s name he noticed. Former lovers? “They saved me out of a human trafficking ring from Europe. And Nat took me under her wing for two years. I was there in Wakanda.”

Thor’s face paled. So, she saw his failure? He didn’t remember her. He flinched when the scene played in his head. Thanos right in front of him. The snap of his fingers.

“Hey,” Jasmin touched his hand and he flinched. “You said you liked my music. Wanna hear some songs?”

She didn’t wait for his answer. She removed her earphones and then pressed something on her phone and the music began to play loudly.

She lowered it just a bit.

Thor leaned over to see that it was a song called ‘Walls’ by The Color Morale.

“I love this band,” she took a bite of her sandwich and talked as she chewed. “Their album ‘Know Hope’ is the only thing that got me through my depression.”

Depression. The word wasn’t something they used in Asgard. But he had heard it often in Midgard.

“How do you know if you’re depressed?” Thor asked.

“You don’t really know it,” she swallowed her food and then drank some of the beer. “To me I felt I was just…lazy. I didn’t shower. I ate and I felt bad for eating so much so I would throw it up. It’s different for everyone. The most important thing is recognizing it for what it is.”

Thor was silent as he chewed on her words and his sandwich. He thought about his house back in Holland. The boxes and boxes of pizza. Endless bottles of beers. His physical being. His dirty clothes, hair and face.

“How did you get over it?” Thor cleared his throat.

“Honestly, I haven’t, but I don’t let it consume my life either. I’m supposed to take pills to help me, but it made me feel like a robot. I decided for now I could get through it. Hopefully I won’t ever need pills but once suicide comes into play, I call my therapist…Nat,” she chuckled. “She knows what I’ve been through, so I talk to her about it. It helps to talk about it.”

Thor frowned. “What’s this song?”

Jasmin smiled wider. “This one is called ‘The Hardest Part’ by Secrets.

Then it started to become a nightly thing. They would both meet at one in the morning in the kitchen. She would make something to eat and they’d eat it together as they talked about music. Well, she talked about music. She showed him some songs that help her when she’s depressed. Songs about hope. Songs about moving forward.

One night, Thor was looking forward to talking to Jasmin. He had looked up the lyrics of some of the songs and he had felt them deep within him. People who were expressing exactly like he was feeling. Thor wore a new sweater. It was still too big for him, but at least it was a new one. He had even cleaned his face and he removed his fingerless gloves.

But in the kitchen with Jasmin was Tony.

“Oh hey, Point Break,” Tony grinned. “FRIDAY told me about your rendezvous,” he pointed between them.

“We eat and we drink, Tony,” Jasmin didn’t sound happy. “He just came down to talk trash on my music choice.” She told Thor.

“It’s not that bad,” Thor shrugged.

“She got you hooked on her emo music?” Tony laughed.

“Emo?” Thor joined them and he stood beside Jasmin.

Jasmin narrowed her eyes at Tony. “And so, what? Are you the mighty gate keeper of rock music?”

“How can you compare it to Led Zeppelin?”

“No one is. But you are,” Jasmin defended herself. “Music is music. If I like it, I listen to it. I have no guilty pleasures when it comes to music, Tony. I love it for what it is.”

“Poetic. This is boring. I’ll let you two get back on your date,” Tony walked away before either of them could tell him otherwise.

“So ready to make some brownies?” Jasmin clapped her hands and turned to face him. Her eyes finally took in what he was wearing, and she smiled. Baby steps. That’s all that mattered. “Are you allergic to walnuts?”

Thor smiled. He smiled for the first time in years. A genuine smile. “No, I’m not.”

The next day Thor woke up with dread in his gut. His dream—or nightmare had been just the same. He realized he had gone a couple of days without them and now that it was back, he hated it. Tears formed behind his eyes and then moved down his cheeks. The scream of his people being slaughtered haunted him. Seeing his best friend die. His brother as well.

Thor inhaled and tried to feel like he did yesterday, but it wasn’t working. So, he decided to give into the darkness. He got up and went to the fridge and got all the beer. He drank them in the kitchen, and he heard everyone else wake up.

“Hey, meeting in five,” Natasha tapped his back.

Thor burped. “Uh, I don’t think…I shou—”

“No excuses, Thor,” Natasha walked away before he finished. He rolled his eyes and he decided to walk to the conference room now. He was the first, so he took the seat at the corner of the room.

Jasmin walked into the conference room last. This meeting was supposed to be about the stones. She looked around the room and saw Thor at the corner. She took a seat next to Scott.

“All right so the how works,” Steve took the lead in the meeting. “Now we gotta figure out the when and the where. Almost everyone in this room has had an encounter with at least one of the six infinity stones.”

Jasmin was actually glad she wasn’t one of them.

“Or substitute the word ‘encounter’ for ‘damned near killed’ by one of the six infinity stones,” Tony said.

“Well, I haven’t,” Scott said next to her. “But I don’t even know what the hell you’re all talking about.”

Jasmin’s eyes went to Thor and he seemed to be okay. He had his glasses on. A drink in his hand but breathing evenly. She realized he was sleeping. She also realized she wasn’t paying attention.

“So let’s start with the Aether. Thor, what do you know?” Steve spoke and all eyes went to Thor.

When he didn’t move, Jasmin groaned.

“Is he asleep?” Natasha asked.

“No, no. I’m pretty sure he’s dead,” Rhodey joked.

Jasmin was sick of his jokes. And Tony’s and sometimes even Natasha. She stood up and made her way over to Thor. They clearly were ignorant to their friend being a deep depression and preferred to make fat jokes instead of helping him. She shook him lightly.

“Thor,” she placed her hand on his arm. He didn’t move. “THOR!” she clapped her hands in front of his face and he jolted awake.

“I’m fine!” he shouted. His breathing quickened and then he visibly relaxed when he saw it was her. “Oh hey, Jasmin. Wh-what is going on?”

“We’d like to know about the Aether,” she stood up and gestured to the others. “Come on,” she encouraged with a smile.

He stood up and made his way to the front of the screens. He started to explain, and Jasmin realized just how much he had digressed. He had been doing better yesterday but he had gone down again. She knew something had triggered him. Probably the night terrors he had. Her room was next to his, so she knew very well about his nightmares. It kept her up sometimes and it broke her heart when she could hear him call out names.

Loki.

Heimdall.

Mother.

Father.

“Eggs? Breakfast?” Tony offered Thor.

“No, I’d like a bloody Mary,” Thor chuckled and turned to Jasmin. “Would you like one, Jas?”

“Jas?” Natasha raised an eyebrow. “No one calls her Jas, she hates it.”

Jasmin clapped her hands. “I’ll go make breakfast and that bloody Mary. Also Chinese for dinner sound good? Also let me know if you want something, I need to leave this compound before I pound someone in the face.”

“I volunteer to go with you,” Thor raised his hand. “We need more beer. I drank it all.”

After breakfast, Jasmin took an SUV to drive. Big people meant a lot of food. Hulk alone ate for ten people, so she had to bring a lot of groceries. She had called up the Chinese food place ahead to make sure to make enough food for about twenty people.

Thor got into the passenger seat next to her. She turned the SUV on, and the music started to play. Her phone was automatically connected to the car. It played the song she had been listening to when she had been on her morning run.

It was ‘Tapping Out’ by Issues.

The drive was silent for the most part.

“You know you can sing it if you want to,” Thor said beside her. “I can see you mumbling the words. No judgement here,” he burped.

She smiled. “True. ‘So, I’m tapping out. Tapping out suffocating can I get out? All this drama is bringing me down!’”

Thor tapped his finger that was on his leg to the beat. He really did like the music she listened to. For the song she continued to song and he continued to bob to it. The song ended and changed to Avenged Sevenfold.

“This sounds like something Tony would listen to,” Thor commented.

“Probably. I do listen to all music. I just hate Tony for thinking mine sucks.”

“I like the music you listen to. It is good to know Midgardians have come a long way.”

“Did Asgard have like…therapists? Someone to talk to about problems?” she wondered.

He shook his head. “For a society very advanced in medicine we did not have ‘therapists. We were taught to just…deal with it.”

“By ‘it’ you mean trauma. Sounds unhealthy,” Jasmin commented. “Being here have you thought about talking to someone?”

“I talk to you,” he mumbled as he stared out the window. “You’re the one person who has listened. Truly listened.”

Jasmin’s blood boiled hearing that. They were supposed to be his friends. They had known him longer. She understood they were under an enormous amount of pressure but what was the chance they would make it? Not very likely, so why were they brushing Thor’s mental state under the rug?

“Well, when you’re ready, I’m here, Thor,” she meant it. She would become the friend he needed.

“Everyone has tried…for years. I don’t seem to be getting better.”

“It’s not a race,” she told him. “You haven’t even tried until recently. You won’t know until you try. Look this quote is what actually got me through my depression. ‘You must never give into despair. Allow yourself to go down that road and you surrender to your lowest instinct. In the darkest time, hope is something you give yourself. That is the meaning of inner strength’.”

Thor took the words in slowly. He smiled as he dissected them. “That sounds like a very wise person.”

“Uncle Iroh sure made some good points,” she chuckled. “It’s from a cartoon I used to watch when I was younger. Before…I was taken.”

“How were you taken? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Foster kid. No one cares about a missing 17-year-old foster kid,” she shrugged. “No one looked for me. Thought I’d run away or something.”

“You’ve really have been through hell, haven’t you?” Thor’s voice made her look at him. Two souls connected in that moment. She recognized his pain because she had seen it in the mirror for a long time after being saved.

“Yes. My hell did not become my home though. I made sure to crawl out, but I had help, Thor. Natasha helped me. Sam…he knew exactly what I had. PTSD. He helped too. I miss him.”

“Oh were you and him…lovers?” he cleared his throat.

Jasmin laughed. “No, no. It was never like that. He was just my best friend. A brother.”

“I am glad to be your friend, Jasmin,” he smiled at her. “I haven’t felt…worthy in a long time. I feel worthy of your friendship though.”

“You are worthy, Thor. No one should expect you to be okay after what you’ve been through. All the people you’ve lost.”

“I wasn’t strong enough to save them. I didn’t go for the head,” he half chuckled.

“Rocket told me you almost gave your life to make the Stormbreaker. Thor, you should not be so hard on yourself. What we have now is a rare second chance. And I mean rare. Time travel still seems to me like science fiction.”

“What do you want to do first if everything goes back to how it was?” Thor’s question startled Jasmin.

It wasn’t a question she allowed herself to ponder on. Mainly because if she was honest…she owed a lot to the snap. She had a purpose because of it. When it was all over, where would her place in the world be again? That terrified her. But even now she always felt like she was missing something. Like she was a piece of puzzle and she never quite fit in anywhere, but helping Natasha and getting to work with her had been almost perfect. Almost.

“I’d…hug Sam. I’d get to know Wanda more,” she was honest about that. Before the snap, she was skeptical around Wanda mainly because Jasmin knew what she could do. For a long time, people messed with Jasmin’s head, so she didn’t get close to Wanda even though she was really nice. “What about you?”

“Everyone I cared about died before the snap…no one would come back,” he murmured. “I don’t know. And that is the scary part. I’ve always known my path. All of my life. I would become the King of Asgard. When that didn’t really happen, I was okay with it, but then I had to take the role again when I decided to destroy my home. I was skeptical but kind of ready for it…and then Thanos happened.”

Jasmin was sure he never spoke to anyone about this. She felt special for being the person he trusted enough with these thoughts. They sounded familiar as well. He was in her shoes as well. Not finding one’s place in life even after everything.

“For now, in this moment…we are together,” Jasmin turned up the music of the song. It was an opening of anime and this was a side no one knew about. Thor grinned as he listened to it. She loved to see him smile. She sang along with it. “This is the English version. I love the Japanese version though.”

“You are truly wonderful, Jas,” Thor laughed.

“You best not tell Tony I listen to anime openings or he will definitely not let me live it down.”

Your life is your own!

Thor didn’t want this to end. He loved seeing her laugh. He loved seeing her sing to music. The passion in her eyes and the light in them gave him the courage that things would turn around. It gave him hope. She gave him hope and that was something no one had ever given to him before.

Then a song came on that got Thor’s attention. It was a guitar. Immediately Thor liked it. Then the gravel voice came on and it sent chills down his spine like his lightning did sometimes. The song spoke of being hurt. And it was as if it was speaking to him. The voice was haunting in a beautiful way. ‘Everyone I know goes away in the end’, that part brought the tears. He felt the hot tears. He had done his fair share of crying, but this felt different.

As the tears left his eyes, his chest felt lighter. He didn’t feel as heavy. Jasmin’s hand found his and she interlocked their fingers. She gave him a firm squeeze. Her way of saying ‘I understand. Let go’. The sobs came and he couldn’t stop them because he had no strength left. He released years of pain in minutes.

Jasmin pulled the SUV to the side of the road, placed the car in park and then just waited. She held his hand as Thor let go of everything he had built up for years.

A thunder started to form. Dark clouds over them and she squeezed his hand. Thor came out of it and realized what he was doing.

“Look at me,” Jasmin turned her body towards him. He looked at her and she was inhaling deeply, held it for seven seconds and then released it. “Do as I do.”

They did. He followed her breathing. He stared into her eyes as she helped him calm down. The clouds disappeared. The sun came back out. Thor felt something he had not felt in a very long time. Safe. Safe with Jasmin. She made him feel safe. Usually he was the one making others feel that. Always optimistic and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, but this time, in his darkest moment, she brought him back.

“You ready?” she asked.

Thor only nodded. He didn’t trust his voice. He cleared his throat.

“All right. Let’s continue then.”

They got the food. The Chinese food and headed back to the compound. He helped her bring in everything. She took the food to the table and yelled that the food was ready.

“Thank you for today, Jas,” Thor commented as he took out the food from the bags. They were putting away the groceries as the others began to eat.

“No problem. It was therapeutic for me as well.”

Thor smiled. It was therapeutic for him. She had a way to get him to open up. Because he knew, she would not judge him. She hasn’t judged him since he arrived. She recognized his pain. They shared it. For the first time in years, he felt the warmth of the light. A silver lining as he had heard before. All thanks to the Midgardian next to him.

At dinner there was more talk about the stones. Jasmin paid attention carefully to Rocket as he explained about the power stone.

The next morning Nebula talked about Vormir. Natasha was taking notes and Jasmin was too. Apparently, it was a celestial planet.

Jasmin thought about what Rocket and Nebula said about space. She never got to go to space. When the others had gone to space, Jasmin had stayed behind in Wakanda to help those who had not been snapped. She stayed there for two months, so when she got back to the compound and Natasha told her everything that happened…Jasmin’s depression returned. The stones had been destroyed and there was no way now to bring everyone back.

“So everything should be good to go tomorrow,” Tony told the team. “Jasmin finished making the suits yesterday,” he nodded at her. “Good job.”

“I didn’t pick the colors,” Jasmin raised her hands in defense. “I said black, but Tony said white and red.”

The night before the ‘time heist’ as Tony liked to call it. Jasmin couldn’t sleep. So she got up and took her earphones with her. Music always helped her. She didn’t want to wake anyone up because there was a bunch of super humans and assassins who had super hearing. So this time she went far enough to where she knew she would not disturb anyone.

She had a special playlist for tonight. It was early 2000’s rock music. It started with Alive by P.O.D. So in her pajamas she started to dance to it. She sang along but she tried to keep her voice low. She made the math in her head and she knew someone in the group wasn’t going to make it. Music had always been an escapism for her. It got her through her depression, and it was how she released her stress. And she was extremely stressed at the moment.

The song changed to a little more mellow one. 1979 by The Smashing Pumpkins. This playlist reminded her of the time when life was a little better. She was in foster homes ever since she was nine. The radio was the only way she could listen to music since she didn’t have money. There was one radio station that played all the good music and this playlist had all of those songs.

Minutes later, Jasmin felt someone watching her so she took off her earphone and turned to the entrance and saw a familiar face.

“Hey, Nat,” Jasmin was breathing hard since she was moshing to Fat Lip by Sum 41. Always a song to get her heart pounding.

Natasha was dressed in her pajamas as well. Her long hair in a braid to her right side. She walked into the gym.

“Letting out some stress?” she guessed but obviously she knew what it was.

“Yeah, we are kind of risking our lives for something we don’t even know if it’ll work,” Jasmin shrugged.

“About that. I think you should stay behind.”

Jasmin frowned. “What? Why? I’m going with Rhodey to get the power stone.”

“You said it yourself. It’s risky.”

Jasmin rolled her eyes. “Nat, don’t baby me. You know I hate it when you do.”

Natasha walked up to Jasmin and Jasmin saw something in Natasha’s eyes she had never seen before. Doubt. Fear. After all this time Nat had remained the strong one. The hopeful one. Jasmin didn’t like this look on her.

“Someone should stay behind in case something happens,” the readhead sat on a bench and patted the seat next to her. Jasmin took the seat. “You know the control board. Tony and Bruce trust you.”

“Sounds like it’s been decided for me,” Jasmin crossed her arms across her chest. “Nat, you’ve trained me for years. I’m good. You know that. I can kick ass very much like you.”

Natasha’s eyes sparkeled with pride. “Yes, I am aware, but do this for me, Jasmin,” Natasha grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “Please.”

Nat had never said please. Not once. Jasmin couldn’t refuse her because Natasha was like a sister. They had a special relationship ever since she was saved by her. Natasha had believed in her. Trained her. Then when Jasmin’s depression had come, she stuck around. She pulled her out. Jasmin owed Natasha her life and she would do anything for her.

“Well, it’s a good thing I won’t be in that god-awful suit,” Jasmin laughed.

“You made them,” Nat laughed too.

“I sure as hell didn’t design it though. Tony has horrible taste.”

Natasha placed her arm around her neck and connected their foreheads together. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“I really wanted to go to space,” Jasmin grumbled. Joking, but not really. She really did want to see space.

Thor didn’t want to admit it, but he was happy to hear that Jasmin wasn’t going to be part of the heist. He was well aware of the dangers of what they were doing. But he did see the disappointment in her face as Natasha told the team the change. Jasmin smiled and said she was happy to stay behind, but he sensed it. Her smile didn’t reach her ears.

She did change into fighting suit. It was like Natasha’s but burgundy and not as tight fit. Her hair was up in a bun. Something he had never seen. Her hair had been down all this time or at least in a ponytail. She looked like a fierce warrior. She had dual sword at her back. He realized he wasn’t sure what her specialty was. Clint was an arrow, Natasha was bullets and Jasmin was probably her sword.

Before he got on the platform, he walked up to her. Her back was to him as she pushed buttons and flicked switches. She sensed him so she turned around.

“Hey, you ready?” she looked into his eyes.

He was in fact nervous. He was going back in time to his home. The home he destroyed. A time when his mother was alive. Everyone he had lost would be alive and he wasn’t allowed to interact with any of them.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” he answered vaguely.

She pursed her lips. “I wish I was going with you. I would have loved to see Asgard,” she whispered and smiled but then slowly dropped it. “I know it’s going to be hard for you to see your home…whole. But I have faith you will get through it. Remember…your life is your own.”

“And I must not let despair take over,” he returned.

“Yes,” she grinned. “Okay, let’s do this. Let’s bring everyone back.”

He got on the platform and joined Scott and Clint.

Bruce went over what she had to do one more time before he got on the platform. Steve gave her a quick hug and gave her encouraging words. Natasha hugged her tightly and Jasmin returned it. She inhaled deeply as she memorized Natasha’s scent. Cherry blossom shampoo.

“Come back to me,” Jasmin pleaded.

“You bet,” she replied.

Jasmin watched as everyone got on the platform. Steve started to give his speech. She listened as he encouraged them to do whatever it takes. She hated that she wasn’t going to help. But at least she wouldn’t have to wait long. Bruce told her to bring everyone back in exactly one minute. It should be enough time for everyone to get the stones.

“Okay…in three…two…one,” Bruce announced and then he pointed to Jasmin and she flicked the switch.

The machine came to life and in seconds everyone was gone.

Jasmin started the timer on her watch. She felt like she was on a roller coaster just hanging on the edge of the drop, but the drop wasn’t coming.

She started to jump to calm herself.

“Get it together,” she told herself. “They’ll be okay. Thor will be fine. Nat survived Budapest, so she can do this.”

She looked at her watch and then realized only fifteen seconds had passed. She wished she had that beer Thor had offered earlier.

Then it started to get closer to sixty seconds and she was even more nervous she almost threw up her dinner. She was startled as her watch went off. In a flash everyone was back. Jasmin didn’t wait and ran up to the platform. Her eyes went to Thor and she saw that he was all good. Her eyes went to where Natasha was supposed to be.

Jasmin felt the cold creep up from her chest all throughout her body. Clint dropped to his knees.

“Clint, where’s Nat?” Bruce asked.

Jasmin met Clint’s eyes and the sorrow in her told the whole story. Natasha was gone.

Jasmin released a scream from deep within her. She dropped to her knees as the pain became a physical one. Hands soothed her back and she barely recognized it. She screamed Natasha’s name. Howling how she promised she would be back. Jasmin turned her face and cried into what she recognized Thor’s chest. She held tightly to his shirt and screamed out her pain.

“No, no, no, she can’t be gone, Thor! I can’t lose her!” she cried into his chest.

“Shhh,” he kissed the top of her head. “Let it out. It’s okay.”

“NAT!” she cried until her lungs burned.

Thor joined the others at the lake.

“How is she?” Clint asked Thor. Jasmin had to be sedated. She didn’t stop crying. Thor held her for an hour, and he had felt so powerless. She had been able to help him through his breakdown but when she needed him, he didn’t know what to say. What to do.

“She’s asleep. Rocket is looking after her,” Thor commented.

Then they started to argue about Nat. Thor mentioned how they could just go back and save her. He hated to see Jasmin so hurt. It broke his soul to see the pain in her face. Clint told them that there was no reversing it. Bruce threw the bench across the lake.

They decided for Natasha they would continue. Her sacrifice would not be for nothing.

Jasmin woke up and for a few seconds she wasn’t sure why she was in her bed. Then it all came back to her. She took in her surroundings. She was still in her suit, but she had a blanket on top of her. She removed it from her body.

“Hey,” Thor’s voice came from her right. He sat in her small armchair she had. His eyes scanned her face.

“Was it a dream?” she whispered and felt the tears again.

“No, little bird, I’m sorry.”

She sat up and felt the pounding in her head. Thor got up from his seat and then handed her some pills.

“Bruce said it would help with your headache,” he commented as he poured her a glass of water from her pitcher. He handed her the glass. “Uh, they’re just about done putting the stones in the…glove thing.”

Jasmin chuckled lightly at his choice of words. She took the pills and then drank the water. After she swallowed it, she sighed.

“Sorry about earlier…I just…lost it,” she rubbed her eyes not worried about her make up.

“It’s quite understandable, little bird. You just lost someone important to you. To all of us. If you want to wait here—”

“No, no, no, I’m better now. I promise,” she got up from her bed to where he was.

“Are you sure?”

She nodded her head. “Yes. Let’s rejoin the others.”

Thor and Jasmin walked out of her room together.

“Wait, did I see your hammer earlier?” she asked as they walked.

“Ah, yes, I figured…we’d uh…need it in case something happens. We’ll put it back once this goes smoothly as possible.”

Jasmin smiled. She knew better. He just wanted to see if he was still worthy. If he was still a good man.

“I knew it,” she shoved him and smiled but then stopped. Natasha was gone. She shouldn’t be happy.

“Little bird, don’t give into the despair,” he stopped walking and placed his hands on his shoulders.

“Little bird?” she questioned but was happy he was using her words against her.

He shrugged and she swore she saw his cheeks a little redder. “Uh, cause you sing. You like to sing like a bird. A cute bird though not like…a…hawk or something.”

Jasmin smiled. “Thank you, Thor. Let’s go get everyone back.”

Thor and Jasmin walked into the lab as the glove was done.

“Question is who’s gonna snap their freaking fingers?” Rocket commented.

“I’ll do it,” Thor walked towards the glove.

Jasmin’s eyes widened.

“Excuse me?” Tony asked.

“It’s okay,” Thor turned to say that to Jasmin, but she was still processing what was happening. He was volunteering? No, she heard what happened to Thanos when he used it. And he had been a strong ass dude.

Steve and Ton stopped him from getting to the glove. They started to argue. Thor brought up that he was the strongest Avenger.

“Just let me do it,” Thor begged Tony. “Just let me do something good.”

Bruce nudged Jasmin. He looked down to her and nodded to Thor. He understood she was the only one who could get him to back down. Tony and the others were right. He was in no condition to hold something so powerful.

“What do you think is coursing through my veins right now?” Thor asked Tony and Jasmin started to walk towards him.

“Cheese whiz,” Rhodey commented.

Jasmin stopped in her tracks and glared at Rhodey.

“Enough!” she shouted. All eyes turned to her because she never spoke so harshly. “Thor, you are not putting that glove on. And the rest of you, enough with the jokes! Your friend is depressed! You think he wants to be? Maybe if you’d tried to help him, he’d be in better shape. Maybe if you’d been his friend then he’d feel worthy! But you all just turned a blind eye. For years! So…” she took in a deep breath and released it. “it looks like the stones are made of mostly gamma radiation.”

“So?” Rocket asked.

Jasmin turned to Bruce who had already figured it out.

“So, it’s like I was made for this,” Bruce acknowledged.

Everyone got into their suits. Steve, Tony, Scott and Rhodey. Thor took Jasmin to the side.

“No one has ever stood up for me before like that, little bird,” he placed his hands on her shoulders. “Thank you.”

“Anytime, Thor,” she beamed.

“Stay near me. We are not sure what could go wrong, but I won’t let anything happen to you,” he caressed her cheek with the back of his fingers.

Jasmin wasn’t used to that intimate touching, but she didn’t mind it. “Okay.”

Everyone got around Bruce as he held the glove ready to put it on. Tony told FRIDAY to activate the Barn Door protocol. Heavy metal doors came down to close off the lab. Jasmin was nervous. She stayed close to Thor. He stood in front of her as a shield.

Jasmin watched as Bruce put the glove on. Immediately it glowed and something went up his arm. Bruce cried out in pain. Her heart started to pound against her ribs. She hated to see her friends in pain.

“Take it off! Take it off!” Thor demanded.

“Banner, are you okay?” Steve asked.

“Talk to me, Banner!” Tony shouted.

Bruce grunted but he said he was okay. Jasmin’s watch started to beep. She had forgotten it was still connected to the quantum machine. Someone had activated it from the year 2014. Then Bruce snapped his fingers. Then he fainted. Jasmin ran to him forgetting all about the notification on her watch. His entire right arm was black, and it looked horribly charred. Tony sprayed it with his freezing agent. Jasmin loomed over him and placed her hands on his cheeks.

“Bruce, can you hear me?” she asked as she opened his eyes, but he opened them on his own. She asked him to follow her finger as she moved it side to side and he did. Then a shadow went over his face. She frowned as she looked up and not a second after there were explosions.

Jasmin could hardly recall what happened next. She tasted blood and dirt in her mouth. Then she was covered in strong arms and were rolled around for a moment. She was sure she was dead. All she heard were the sounds of her heartbeat and someone else’s.

The world went black.

“Little bird,” Thor’s voice sounded like he was under water. A warm hand touched her face. “You’re bleeding.”

She opened her eyes and she was in the arms of Thor. Her head hurt worse than before, but she was alive. He looked down at her in relief.

“Can you stand?” he asked.

She nodded her head but winced when she frowned. She had a cut on her temple. She felt her legs and arms, so she was good. He helped her up and she looked around at the destroyed compound. Her eyes filled with tears. It was completely destroyed. The place she called home for years was gone in seconds. Her eyes went to the ship that hovered over them.

Thanos.

How? But quickly she made the connections in her head.

“Someone…brought them here,” Jasmin looked at her destroyed watch. “Right before Bruce snapped his fingers…someone opened it to the year 2014.”

The ship beamed someone down. Thanos. From where she was with Thor she could see it was only him. Then Nebula walked towards him.

“Nebula?” Jasmin’s heart shattered, but then she saw that Nebula remove the golden plate from her head. “Not our Nebula. 2014 Nebula who was still faithful to her father.”

Jasmin’s eyes roamed around for any sign of anyone else.

Thor didn’t move from his spot as he kept his eyes on Thanos.

“Thor?” she moved over to him.

“You’re hurt,” he finally took his eyes off of Thanos. “You should try to find the others.”

She shook her head. “No. I’m here with you.”

“Little bird,” he pleaded with his eyes, “I know you are strong, but the others need you too.”

Jasmin sighed and nodded. “Okay.” What did she expect? She was not a super soldier or a God. She didn’t have a special suit like Tony. But she could help the others. “Be safe. Kick ass.”

Thor grinned. “I will. Take care, little bird.”

On her way to find the others, she found Steve and Tony. She told them where Thor was. She said she was going to try to find the glove. Keep it away from the bad guys. Moments later she heard the thunder and lightning and she grinned. She made her way through the rubble.

In her search, she could hear them battling. She heard the grunts. The yells and the clashing of weapons. She did her best to concentrate.

“Can anyone hear me?” she said into her earpiece. But no one answered. It was probably broken. Okay, okay, if she was the glove, where would she be? She tried to remember where it had been before the attack. It had been kicked away by Clint. Then when she was attending to Bruce a cell had gone off. Clint’s. “Barton, do you copy?”

“Right here,” his voice came through. At least her earpiece wasn’t broken.

She sighed. “Do you have the glove?”

“Uh, yeah it’s secured. What do I do with it?”

“Keep it away from anywhere near Thanos for now. Let’s meet.”

Jasmin was on her way to find Clint when she came across the fighting. Thanos was beating everyone. Tony had been tossed around like a doll somewhere. She watched as her friends were getting hurt and she knew there wasn’t much she could do. But she could probably help a little bit. Just cause a distraction so her friends could recover and gain momentum.

Jasmin ran towards Thanos who just smacked Thor to the ground. His back was to her, so she used a boulder to jump off of—a trick Natasha had taught her. She held her knife in her hand as she got to Thanos’ back. She climbed his back until she was on his shoulders. His armor proved it difficult but not impossible. She brought down her knife aiming for the neck, but he moved and she hit his eye instead.

Her knife dug into his eye socket. He cried out in pain and then grabbed her arm and threw her to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Jasmin’s breath was knocked out and she was sure ribs were broken. She looked up to see an angry Thanos. He removed the knife from his eye and tossed it to the side.

His eye held fury that froze her in place. Then his eye turned to wonder. He brought his steel weapon to under her chin and lifted her head.

“You don’t even know what you are, do you?” he grunted blood oozed out his wound, but he gave no indication if it hurt or not. “Do you not recognize your own people?”

Jasmin’s eyes widened as she stared into his. She did feel something. She had thought it was the nerves, but it was something else. A calling. Blood recognizing blood.

“Cousin,” he smiled, “it’s a pity to kill one of my own, but you must go.” He raised his weapon ready to strike her down, but Thor gets between them with Stormbreaker in hand.

“RUN!” Thor bellowed at her.

Jasmin scrambled to her feet and ran away. She wasn’t sure if she helped or not. But her world shook as she realized she made a connection with Thanos. Something told her he didn’t lie. She would have worry about that later. Right now, it was all about survival.

She couldn’t find Clint. She almost gave up when she heard it.

“Cap, can you read me?” Sam’s voice filled Jasmin’s heart with joy. “On your left.”

Suddenly there were round sparkly things close to her. She made her way back to where she had been. She came just as Sam flew out of the main circle that was in the middle.

“SAM!” Jasmin waved her arms. Others started to join. From Wakanda and from other places as well. But she watched as Sam landed next to her. She ran to him and she wrapped him in a tight hug. “Sam,” she sobbed. He hugged her back.

“You got older,” he chuckled as he pulled back to look at her. “You look…good.” He smiled.

“And you not a day older,” she teased back.

“We should join the others.”

They went to the others just in time. She stood by Steve. Thor was to her left. She heard as Steve said.

“AVENGERS!” He yelled and then said. “Assemble.”

Jasmin didn’t keep count of how many ugly things she killed. She gave in to all her instincts. She released all of her anger and hurt. She was covered in blood that was not red. She wasn’t sure for how long it went on.

“Does anyone have eyes on an ugly brown van?” Steve asked.

Valkyrie replied to him. “Yeah, but you’re not going to like where it’s located.”

Then blasts started to come from the ship. It was almost impossible to find cover. Every step she took would’ve been her last if she hadn’t moved as fast as she was. She felt someone place an arm around her waist and she knew it was someone on her side because if she had taken a step, she would have died.

“Be more careful, little bird,” Thor chuckled. He released her and she turned to him. His eyes went from her toes to her disheveled hair and grinned. “You’re a fierce warrior. I like this side of you.”

She grinned too. “Now you know all about me. All the sides to it.”

“I’m impressed.”

The blasts stopped coming and they both looked up to see something coming from the sky. It looked like a falling star and it made Jasmin grin.

It was Carol. She destroyed the ship and the fight was starting to look like it was going to go their way. She ran with Thor as they headed to help to keep the glove from Thanos. When they got there, Thor went first. Jasmin covered for them as she fought off anything that tried to intervene from the other side.

Out of the corner of her eye, as she twisted the neck of an ugly alien, she saw that Thanos was about to snap his fingers.

“I am inevitable.” He snapped his fingers, but nothing happened. Her eyes went to Tony and she stopped when she saw that he had the stones. He put them in his right hand. She remembered how it almost killed Bruce. Tony would surely die if he held them by himself. She moved out of instinct and she went to her knees beside him.

She grabbed his left hand and she gasped when she felt the power of the stones. Not just that…but the power inside of her. Untapped power. Dormant. Until now. It was painful. So painful. It was like her chest was slowly exploding, but she grunted through it.

“And I am…” Tony gasped, “Iron Man.” He snapped his fingers.

The world went white. Not black like the other times. And time suspended itself. Suddenly she was back in the compound’s kitchen. The air was clean and somehow, she felt like she was in world between worlds. There was a little girl eating cereal on the breakfast table. It was herself. As a nine-year-old.

Jasmin approached her nine-year-old self carefully.

“Hi,” Jasmin greeted herself.

“Hi,” the little girl replied back.

“Is this heaven?” Jasmin asked and she felt silly.

Little Jasmin giggled and shook her head. “You’ve always known there is no heaven or hell. You’ve always known you were different.”

Older Jasmin frowned. “Me?”

“You felt the connection to your cousin,” Little Jasmin didn’t ask but stated. “Your bloods are connected by ancient blood. Eternals.”

“Eternals?”

“Do you wish to know?” Little Jasmin stopped eating her cereal and even though she looked young, her eyes expressed wisdom of thousands of years. “Knowing will come at a great cost. But you will find out your purpose.”

Jasmin nodded her head. “I want to know.”

“The answers you seek are not on Earth then,” Little Jasmin went back to eating cereal.

“Why this place?” Jasmin asked.

“Because this is where you were your happiest,” the little girl replied. Jasmin knew what she meant. She had been her happiest around Thor.

And like a rubber band being snapped, she was pulled back to her world.

“Please, little bird, wake up,” Thor’s voice was filled with hurt. Jasmin hadn’t opened her eyes yet. It proved to be difficult more so than the other two times she blacked out already. “Please. I can’t do this without you. I can’t lose you too. I will follow you into Valhalla if I have to, please don’t leave me.” Something wet hit her cheeks and then forehead. At first, she thought it was sweat, but it was tears.

Jasmin gasped awake her body convulsed like she had been drowning and it was her first breath.

“YES!” Thor boomed. His arms were holding her tightly to him. “You came back to me,” he pressed his forehead to hers. Now she felt his sweat that was across his forehead. Her hand went to his cheek. His beard was braided. She didn’t notice it before, but he looked like a Viking warrior. She always had a thing for Vikings. She licked her lips and before she took her next breath, Thor’s lips were against hers.

His mustache scratched her nose, but it didn’t really matter. All that mattered her his soft lips moving against hers. It was a loving kiss. It was filled with love and everything else as well. Gratitude. Passion. She pulled from him when she felt she needed the breathe.

“Why did you do that?” he whispered against her lips and sounded a bit mad. “My heart stopped when I saw you take his hand.”

Jasmin shrugged. “I just…knew it was what I had to do. Where’s Tony?” She finally took the moment to take in her surroundings. All the bad guys were gone, but everyone was looking the same way, so she followed their eyes.

Tony was dead. His right side of the body was burnt. The reactor light of his suit was off. Jasmin got up to her feet. She touched herself. But nothing hurt. In fact, she was sure any wounds she had were healed. Because she remembered having a busted lip from a nasty punch she got and now it was gone.

Jasmin dropped to her knees just as everyone was doing it as well. Respecting another fallen legend. How was she alive? She shared the power and she should have been in the same condition as Tony. She flinched as she figured what Thanos had said was real. They were…related. Somehow. It allowed her to withstand the power of the stones. And the answers were not on earth.

Thor didn’t see Jasmin after the battle. He tried to talk to her, but she was busy rebuilding the quantum machine to return the stones. He did wonder why she didn’t have a scratch on her when he held her. He really did think he lost her because she had stopped breathing. Her body had gone limp and there was no heartbeat but when she woke up, he forgot all about it. He kissed her. He didn’t mean to, but he had been so relieved he just needed to express it.

He had loved to see her in action. She had moved so gracefully. She was good at anticipating the next move of her opponent. Something Natasha had surely taught her. He almost got hit a couple of times because he had watched her for so long.

Natasha’s funeral was hard. He did see Jasmin, but he didn’t approach her. There was no body to bury, so there was just a headstone built for her. She and Clint held each other.

Tony’s was even harder. Thor finally met Morgan. She was the spitting image of Tony. He hoped she would grow up knowing what an amazing man her father was. The man who would not sacrifice ended up sacrificing the most.

He saw Jasmin talk to Rocket and Quill. He wondered what it was, so he approached them.

“Hey,” he placed his hand on her shoulder. She looked over to him. He had missed her dearly. What he missed the most was her laughter. Her singing.

“Thor,” she turned to him and wrapped her arms around him.

“Little bird,” he hugged her back. He kissed the top of her head. “Are you doing better?”

“Sorry I’ve been MIA. I just…had a lot to think about.”

Thor had come to read Jasmin and he could see she was struggling with something. Something big.

“I—uh—I’ve asked Rocket if I could join them,” she mumbled into his suit.

Thor stiffened. He didn’t expect that. She wanted to leave Earth.

“They’ve agreed since they knew it was me who stabbed Thanos in the eye,” she chuckled and then pulled back so they could look into each other’s eyes. “They said they’re dropping you off at New Asgard.” He searched her eyes for some kind of answer.

He understood the feel to escape when losing so many people. But was she running away? Or did she truly want to have a fresh start? He also knew this time was a fragile time because anything could put her back into her depression.

“Yes.” Was his only reply.

Jasmin wasn’t sure what she should pack. She definitely took a lot of toothpaste and several toothbrushes. She wondered if other planets had laundry mats or dry cleaners. How did it work? Or would she be in her dirty clothes for weeks? She was used to that as well. She also knew she shouldn’t pack to heavily. Definitely deodorant since she would be the only female besides Mantis. And of course, her music. Rocket had made her phone able to save all music ever created so far.

She spoke to Steve and Sam about her decision. They were skeptical at first. They didn’t know how she survived the stones, but it didn’t need to be said something was different about her now. The air around her was different and she saw the world with different eyes. Before, she didn’t feel like she had a path and now she knew what she had to do.

She had to find out what an Eternal was. Where she came from. And what her vision told her was that the answers were not on Earth. She hugged Steve and then hugged Sam.

“I’m gonna miss you, Jas,” he whispered into her ear. He kissed her temple. “You’ve been like my little sister. I hate we just got back together and you’re leaving.”

“I’ll be back. It’s not forever,” she smiled and pulled back from him.

Sam’s eyes glistened but he smiled through it. “Go kick ass in space.”

Jasmin left them and got into the ship. Thor was back in his regular clothes. She walked up to him and she held out a fist. He bumped it and chuckled. She was going on a new adventure and it was scary because she only really knew Rocket.

Jasmin wasn’t sure how to act around Thor. She still remembered the kiss. But a part of her feared he had only done it because it was an act of relief. So, she did what she knew best and acted like it never happened.

“Are you sure about going with them?” Thor asked once they were in the air and they were able to stand up and walk around. But they sat next to each other.

She nodded her head. “Not much left for me on Earth.” Did she a flash of hurt in his eyes after her comment? Thor was a King. He had his people to take care of. He had so much responsibility. Did she think about asking him to come? Yes. It kept her up at night. She wanted to explore space with him.

“Oh, right,” Thor cleared his throat. “Did you bring your music?”

“Of course. Wouldn’t survive without it.” She smiled. She pulled out her phone. She also took out her Air Pods and gave the left one to him. They had done this before. When she would make food in the kitchen and they didn’t want to wake anyone up, they used the Airpods. But something had changed between them.

She pressed the shuffle for all the songs, and it started to play ‘Shadowplay’ by The Killers. They just sat together and listened to music and the world seemed to fade away.

She laughed at his attempt to sing some of the songs. She liked he had opinions about some artists. They argued a bit about the best Muse album.

“Oh, so in love,” Mantis whispered to Drax. They watched from the other side of the room.

“Those two?” he grunted.

“Yes! So much love between them. Such deep connection,” she clapped her hands lightly. “Some darkness but also light.”

“Huh…she’s so plain and he’s so great. He could do better,” Drax walked away.

Mantis looked at the couple in awe. She liked Jasmin. But she did sense an uneasiness in her, but it was very deep.

Jasmin heard Quill said they had arrived to New Asgard. Her heart dropped as she turned to Thor. It was hard to say goodbye to Sam and Steve, but with Thor it filled her with dread. She took back her earphone. Quill came from the front and the back was opened as a ramp.

She stood up on shaky legs as Thor got up as well. She fought back tears and put her phone back in her bag. She felt the lump in her throat, and she was unsure if she could do this. Her hands started to shake as well.

“Hey, don’t take too long. We’re running on a short time,” Quill crossed his arms across his chest. His eyes on Thor.

Jasmin twirled her head to Thor in shock.

“You’re coming?” she gasped.

Thor cleared his throat and sent a glare towards Quill like he had spoiled something but then turned to her and softened his features. His blue eyes filled with curiosity.

“Do you want me to?” his voice had cracked.

“Yes,” no hesitation on her part, but she put her hand on her mouth and then shook her head. “Thor, you have your people to look after. I could never ask you to leave them.”

He cupped her face and she leaned into it. “I know. But it’s time for me to be who I am and not who I’m supposed to be.”

Jasmin grinned. “Those are some wise words. So, who are you?”

His eyes sparkled. “Someone who knows he has to be at your side. No matter where.”

Jasmin’s heart filled with joy. Her face reddened at the confession. He leaned down to kiss her and she met him halfway. She was on her tip toes and it reminded her just how much shorter she was, but she didn’t care. The kiss made up for everything. His lips molded against hers perfectly. His tongue asked to enter, and she let him. Her hands went to the back of his neck and anchored him to her. After a few moments, they pulled back and aware they had an audience the entire time.

Thor pecked her lips and told her he wouldn’t be long. She nodded and watched him leave the ship. She placed her hand over her chest willing her heart to stop beating so fast, but she was so happy. This kind of happiness wasn’t something she was used to. Was it possible to feel happiness even in the roots of her hair? It tingled and she released a shaky breath.

“So, heard you like music,” Quill joined her.

Jasmin turned to him. “Yes. Rocket said you did too. That your mom had left you cassette tapes? That’s so cool.”

“Yeah, not to brag,” he crossed her arms and leaned against the ladder that was connected to the cockpit, “but I have pretty good taste and a bunch of good songs on my Zune.”

Jasmin snorted and laughed. “Zune? What year is it? 2011?” When Quill’s face reddened in embarrassment, she knew she had hurt his ego. “I mean—it’s a timeless treasure. Please still let me go with you guys.”

“What do you use?” Quill asked nonchalantly. She took out her phone from her bag and waved it. “That’s…so ancient!” He laughed.

“Jasmin has better taste in music than you Quill,” Rocket joined the conversion and was standing on a table. “Don’t worry about Quill.” he told her. “He thinks he’s the only being who loves music or something.”

“You call her by her first name? And not even in a mean way,” Quill narrowed his eyes at Rocket. “He likes you?” he turned to Jasmin.

“Maybe because she’s actually cool. You didn’t see her fight those bastards? She was slashing them up left and right! And respects me!” Rocket shouted back and waved his fist at Quill.

“What music do you listen to?” Mantis asked. “Quill’s music is getting tiresome.”

“Hey!” Quill stood up straight. “What is this mutiny?”

“I don’t want to cause trouble,” Jasmin waved her hands. “And listen to a lot of types. Metal, country, blues, metal core and some pop punk.”

“Those words sound so made up,” Drax squinted his eyes. “But pirate angel was right…all words are made up.”

Jasmin chuckled knowing she was going to get along with them just fine.

“Let’s do a music battle,” Rocket grinned and crossed his arms across his chest. “Who’s music we like the best by votes will get control of what we listen to for the next…hmm…let’s say year.”

“WHAT?” Quill shouted.

“That is fair,” Mantis nodded.

“Whatever, I know it’s going to be me,” Quill scoffed and took out his Zune and started scrolling.

“I am groot,” Groot nodded his head and had finally looked up from his new Nintendo Switch. A gift from Jasmin since Rocket had mentioned that Groot was a teenager and had obsessed over an old console he had.

“You flatter me, Groot,” Jasmin told him.

“You understood him?” Rocket asked with a raised eyebrow.

She had. She knew what he had meant. How did she know? The room went silent and all she heard was her heartbeat. She was unsure how she had understood. She just did.

“Where is Thor anyway?” Quill changed the subject and she could breathe again.

“I’ll go get him,” Rocket offered.

“I’ll come!” Jasmin followed Rocket out of the ship. She bit her lip. What was she? Ever since she touched the stones, she felt changed. Like something had awakened inside of her. This was why she wanted answers. She needed to know.

Her worries went out the window when she saw the sight before her. New Asgard was at the coast and it was beautiful. The ship had landed on a cliff with grass that overlooked the water. It was so gorgeous, and the sun was still out so it made the water shine.

Her eyes moved to the two figures standing. Thor had his duffle bag over his shoulder. Valkyrie stood next to him with her head held high.

“Your majesty,” Thor told her and bowed.

Majesty? He gave his title to her. Of course, his people still needed a leader.

“Congratulations,” Jasmin said as she approached them. “I’m sure you will be a great ruler.”

Valkyrie turned her piercing eyes to her, and Jasmin felt frozen in place. Those eyes were accessing her. They didn’t have a chance to talk before. Valkyrie approached Jasmin and then she was embraced by her. Tightly.

“I see the change in him,” she whispered next to Jasmin’s ear. “And it’s because of you.”

“I only…treated him like I wanted to be treated,” Jasmin replied honestly.

“Snooze it or lose it!” Rocket called out.

Valkyrie released her and smiled. “Keep him safe.”

“Of course,” Jasmin nodded her head. Valkyrie hugged Thor and then stepped back. Jasmin held out her hand to Thor and he smiled widely. He took her hand and they walked back towards the ship.

“You wanted to see space? Let’s do it together,” he told her and squeezed her hand. She squeezed it back.

[jq37]

so...... thoughts on the first ep?

**spoilers for start spreading the news**

What is UP you guys? The new season of Dimension 20 is out and your girl is back (implies I left, which is false) with only the hottest of takes.

Usually I vomit up my opinions with little rhyme or reason and, don't worry, I'm not changing that format any time soon. But, because of the structure of the episode, I think it'll be easier to use headings and go through each character/element of this. So let's do this y'all!

The Setting

I think the best thing you can do as a writer or a creative person in general is the make something that only you could make, you know? Like, make the thing that only someone with your specific life experiences and weird brain could have come up with. And I really think that this is that for Brennan. I already talked about this in other posts, but the version of NYC that Brennan created for this game is that to me. Like, magical NY has been done, but the specific details? Who else could have written, "The annual SantaCon is actually Santa dumping all of his defective clones into NYC where the magic barrier that keeps normals from seeing magic will disguise them and the protectors of the city will be able to deal with them"? That's so specific and so wild and so New York and so Brennan.

And I haven't lived in NY for so long but I've had one winter here and the way he describes what it's like to walk down the street during winter in the city is so real. Like smelling garbage then laundry detergent then sugared nuts from those corner stands and you're freezing and then baking in the subway in your coat. That was so so real. (I will be saying this phrase a lot so get used to it now)

And I like that he didn't make the obvious choices, you know? Like we've had three, like, magical figureheads across D20 and those are usually classic old, white, possibly British roles, you know? Like a Gandalf or a Dumbledore. But he had Aguefort in FH and now Esther and Alejandro in TUS. I just think it's cool that we're getting some different archetypes to fill these roles instead of the same dude c.p'd in again, you know?

Also, the fantasy NYC map is so dope. I wanna go back and try to read everything on it when I have the chance. 

Pete

Ally is a DRUG DEALER. I thought Pete was gonna be a stripper but he's a DRUG DEALER. Honestly, I could have figured this out sooner if I'd just checked Urban Dictionary like I did just now and found out that "plug" means "someone who is a resource for obtaining something valuable that would otherwise be difficult to obtain" or, more simply, "drug dealer". But I'm glad I didn't because it was much more fun to find out in real time.

Ally makes some character choices sometimes that are too specific to not be rooted in life experience and that whole microwave cheese monologue was one of them.

Pete's official diagnosis is that he has "a lot going on."

Ally almost won MVP line of the episode with, "Shot my tits off." Murph losing it in the background killed me almost more than the actual line.

I really, really want Pete's doctor to be a recurring character because he is wild in how wild he isn't. He has so much wild stuff happening around him and he is in a wild line of work but he seems like a relatively stable guy. I love him. Also, the completely wrong cadence he used to say, "lgbt ally" was gold.

Is Ally ever gonna have a character with a good relationship with their parents? One time? Ever?

I literally don't even know how to begin to address the wild magic trip Pete went on. Like, I don't think Ally knew what they were doing when they decided to be a wild magic sorcerer. I don't think they knew what kind of challenge they were issuing to Brennan. And after seeing the wild nonsense Brennan consistently came up with for Jer'ih'meh in Bloodkeep, I can't want to see the insanity he spits out for Pete.

"You're the one who they they wanted to play a wild magic sorcerer."

Also, Brennan just using lyrics from "New York, New York" for whatever dream demon or whatever was going on in that trip was, like, equal parts clever and hilarious. Sidenote, do you think all the ep titles are gonna be from songs about NY? I mean, there are enough songs I bet.

Pete has this thing where he constantly lands on the exact wrong part of the situation to focus on. Like later when he gets stuffed in the magic closet at the hospital and he's like, "Hospitals are so advanced, also go much is this gonna cost?" Ally's comic timing on that is always perfect.

WILD that that was the first intro. Like, way to kick off the new season with a bang.  I really wonder what this episode would have felt like if this was the last intro or if the intro for the two normal people hadn’t been right at the top. Actually now that I’m editing, I feel like we almost got the intros from least experienced w/ this stuff to most experienced. Because Pete is a total noob. Sophia is also a noob but she has met Kugrash at least once. Then you have Ricky who’s only been in this for about a year. Then Kingston who probably has more experience than Kug by years but Kug has been a rat man his whole life (presumably). Finally Misty who is probably like a BS amount of years old and steeped in this stuff. Honestly,  if I was DM’ing, I might have fudged the die rolls to look exactly like how it turned out. 

Sophia

Emily describing her character and slipping into her character voice gradually as she went on was so pro.

"Like if Fran Dresher went on an Amy Winehouse bender." I love her.

"Did you not want baby bangs?"

"She's a WHOO-OAR."

I'm gonna die if Brennan make than woman an actual succubus because of an offhanded comment.

My favorite thing is when Emily is saying some nonsense and she can barely even get through it without breaking. Also, Murph is so visibly amused by Emily's entire intro. It's great.

I love that both of the "normal" characters spent most of this episode intoxicated in one way or another.

So Emily absolutely won the episode in my eyes for coming up with one of the sickest burns I've heard and in real time. A dude tells her to read his dick and she, after only a momentary pause, says, "No I'm not gonna read your dick (beat) because I don't read short stories!" Brennan doesn't even make her roll. He just narrates her success. The table goes wild. The bar she's at goes wild. Zac specifically is cracking up. Like, I feel like this is gonna be a little bit of a deep cut reference but did any of you ever play the Monkey Island games and do the insult swordfighting? That's what that scene was. Amazing.

Murph's, like, entire posture and expression (@ 1:24ish) when Emily is saying Sophia thinks she saw a giant rat man who gave her an egg sandwich and Gatorade is total gold.

"Gotta kill some brain cells to kill the ones with the memory of Dale in them."

OK so funny story (funny to me at least) at the Fantasy High live show, I was talking to some other girls who were there and we ended up talking about how the small of a woman's back is basically the worst place you can casually touch them outside of the really bad places and how viscerally terrible it is so when Brennan said one of the trolls touched one of the girls there and Sophie/Emily was like BIG NOPE, I had a That's So Raven flashback to that conversation immediately.

Emily leaps into action...and rolls a nat 1 to fight a bunch of trolls. She actually does really well in the rest of the fight though so that's good.  

Oh, also Siobhan made everyone dope themed dice boxes!

Ricky

I hope Dimension 20 runs for the next 10 years and I hope Zac plays a good, big, doofus in every single season.

"He's basically like Superman if Superman were Japanese." Love.

Also, I love the distinction that he's 5' 8" but buff.

Ricky surrounded by a raging fire: First of all, that's a cool bear.

I like the way that Brennan skinned the cleric and paladin powers for this game so they're more about values than deities. I was wondering how it was gonna work in this setting and I think this was such a cool way to handle it.  

I really think Brennan has a great handle of presenting certain things in such a way that it's interesting for the players as well as the audience. Like, when Ricky is trying to escape the burning apartment, he puts an obstacle in his way that forces him to use his Paladin powers (to create water specifically). It's not really a hard "puzzle" or something he has to roll for, but it introduces to the audiences that he's not just a firefighter. I just think it's really cool that he's able to pull off narrative things like that without actually controlling the characters. (And, props to the players too, of course, for being so consistently entertaining).

"Mr. March."

Ricky in the middle of the winter: I'm not as tan as I used to be.

Ricky rooftop runs like a freaking superhero.

OK, this is barely related to what I'm talking about right now but it's important to me that you all know this. I commented in an earlier post that Ricky clearly had circus music playing in his head at all times and then I was like, "Hmm, I wonder what that one circus song is called." You know, the song that you think about immediately when you hear the phrase "circus music" so I looked it up and APPARENTLY it is a CZECH MILITARY MARCH known alternately as (brace yourselves) ENTRY OF THE GLADIATORS and THUNDER AND BLAZES. I kid you not. That's actually what that song is called. I called my brother and told him immediately. OK, back on topic.

Is a questing blade a thing? I feel like it's a Thing from legend or fairy tales or something but, when I Google it, I come up with basically nothing.

Does Ricky have a thing for Esther or is he just a super awkward texter and nice guy who does not want to be set up by his sister for a different reason?

I need Brennan to explain how the Santa Question works in this world. The question being, "Why don't parents freak about the gifts they're not buying?" and, side question, "Why don't poor kids get presents?" My go-to answers are always, "He Jedi Mind Tricks into thinking they bought them," and, "He has to work within each family's socio-economic means in order to not be obvious." So there are def plausible answers. But, like, this is something I like to see addressed when we're doing the "Santa is real," thing.  

"I grew up with twins and one of them was worse than the others so that makes sense."

"Is Santa good?"/"The ethics of it are alarming, I won't lie."

So, my paranoid thought for this episode is I'm a little Concerned that someone down the line (maybe Esther, but hopefully not) is going to take advantage of Ricky's Big Dumb energy and his "It's the right thing to do," mentality and manipulate him into doing something Not Great. Like, it's not based on anything besides mainlining a ton of media over the past 24 years but I'm just gonna keep an eye out.

Re the Santa/Peppermint Zombification: Hey Brennan, turn your location on. I just wanna talk.

I have to say, from the bottom of my heart, what the hell?

That creeped me out in the same way that episode of Adventure time where Princess Bubblegum (infused with the primal elemental candy energy or whatever) turned everyone into Candy people and everyone started singing Let Me Call You Sweetheart. What a weirdly specific body horror thing for me to encounter more than once. That one peppermint tooth thing is gonna haunt me. 

Kingston

I gotta say, props to Lou for pulling a complete 180 on the kind of character he picked this time around. He went from playing this super extra rich pretty boy to this salt of the Earth quasi patriarch and he's just as comfortable with it. Kingston is so real. I went to church with like 50 guys like him back home.

Why are you fighting so hard about free food Kingston? Take the free homecooked food Kingston!

The intensity of his, "I will be here until I die," was hysterical.

Mentioned this before but I love the flavoring of the cleric class where instead of being attuned to a deity Kingston is basically attuned to the entire city. Also, the perks are excellent. Bus service anywhere for free. Sign me up.

I like that Ricky's sister works at the hospital. It's a really cool potential connection for later.

"We're gonna take the thing outchyo butt. We're not gonna deny you medical services."

"Aint nothing wrong with being a freak." --Kingston Brown

Fantasy creatures having to deal with updated tech (like the Toll bridge trolls talking about EZ-passes) is one of my fave urban fantasy tropes.

"I've got a really sweet smelling man here!"

"Yeah, my tooth fell out and now it's a candy. Hey, how much is this gonna cost?" This is what I’m talking about. Priorities my dude.

I love that Kingston knows Pete's weird mob doctor. It seems like part of his deal is that he just knows everything about everyone in the city (within whatever parameters).

Pete says, in quick succession about Ricky, "I feel like he would bully me," and, "He seems like a golden retriever," which I feel are almost mutually exclusive statements.

Kugrash

Well, I asked what kind of druid nonsense was happening in Central Park and the answer is Murph apparently.

I really wish I could have been there when Murph announced he wanted to play a literal rat.

"I am the shit that feeds the flies. A dumpster druid."

"Wherever you are rat Jesus, I love you." You're killing me Brennan.

Aww Kugrash goes around feeding the homeless and stuff. He's like this grumpy ass rat man who really cares about the community.

"Santa you fucking bum." --Kugrash

"I'm sorry are you a rat?"

The idea of a roach with a hobo sack pisses me off because it's adorable but roaches are the worst.

"Is Santa dead?"/"I don't know. I'm not religious."

"Santa Claus is real and he's DEAD."

Brennan loves to use the modifiers "full" and "fully" and I have picked it up irl and in my writing.

"Let's get a little fucked up and go see if Santa's dead!"

Just that whole squirrel interaction.

The sixth borough huh? Interesting. I see you Brennan.

Also, the detail that Kug's clothes are made from old MTA vests is great.

Misty

Siobahn is playing basically exactly the character I thought she'd be playing but she's doing it so much better and more extra than I could have imagined.

"A lady would never say her age, so I won't."

Is her pianist magic or something too? I have my suspicions.

So Misty gets some kind of bard and/or fairy high from praise and adoration which is interesting.

What kind of weird, morally dubious and/or unpleasant fae thing is Misty gonna have to do soonish? It's not gonna be good. Fae stuff never is.

DON CONFETTI

"I don't study magic. I just *am* magic."

So many of these intro vignettes end with, "You don't know that...but you do know who does." Like I said before, I really love the weaving together of all the story threads to get everyone in the same place at the same time in an organic feeling way.

Also he makes all these transitions sound cinematic, like he's writing the description parts of a movie script and not narrating in person.

Public Library! I knew we'd end up here eventually but I didn't know it'd be pretty much immediately. Like, if you're going w/ the "NY is magic" premise, the library has to figure in, you know?

Emily immediately having Sophia recognize Ricky as Mr. March was such a funny and on point character decision. I love how one-off, spur of the moment lines end up being running jokes because other players pick on them and drop them an hour later.

"Are you a rat?"/"Yeah, I'm a rat man!"/"I'm sorry if that was rude."

Brennan: The lions are alive and they're boyfriends.

Misty and Siobhan both are genre savvy enough to want to nip a knights/knave door puzzle situation in the bud.

Ricky on escape rooms: I'm not very good at them but I can definitely try my hardest. (Guys, I love him so much.)

Love me some MC Escher steps.

Underrated Misty line: It's all infernal to me.

Misty's little, "Ugh" at learning they have to go to Times Square is the real NY experience.

Is this Alejandro dude gonna die? What's the over under on this dude eating it very soon?

Misty encouraging Pete to shoot Alejandro is so needlessly chaotic which is a common fae trait and I really hope this escalates.

I dunno what Murph rolled for initiative but he looks like he just shamed his entire family line.

And we’re fighting an army of crazed Santa clones next week! We have literally just started and we are already fully off the rails.  I cannot *wait* to see where we go from here if this is the *starting point*. 

[nothingbutfangirlsmut]

The Girl Out of Time

Pairing: Bucky x Reader and Sam x Reader

Background: Willow Roffe was born and raised in Brooklyn. She lived her life as happily as she could with her two childhood best friends Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers. When they both left her to join the military she tried to continue with life but that didn't get to happen for her for the simple fact that she meant something to James Buchanan Barnes.

Rating: Story will be overall MATURE but not every chapter. There will be strong language, talk of both mental and physical abuse, some good ole angst, and smut. There will be a warning at the beginning of the chapter when it includes smut.

Chapter 25

I stayed in my seat next to Steve. He was flipping threw the accords now. Sam has gotten up to stand behind us next to Rhodey. Then he had to make a smart comment sending Rhodey into a tangent.

"Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honor which is one more than you have." Rhodey snapped at him.

"So let's say we agree to this thing. How long is it gonna be before they LoJack us like a bunch of common criminals?" Sam asked harshly.

I turned in my seat to watch the two. Rhodey sighed as he rubbed his eyes.

"117 countries want to sign this. 117, Sam, and you're just like, 'No, that's cool. We got it.'" Rhodey said sarcastically.

"How long are you going to play both sides?" Sam asked narrowing his eyes at the other man.

"I have an equation." Vision spoke up.

"Oh, this will clear it up." Sam said rolling his eyes.

I turned to face the once AI who was sitting next to Wanda.

"In the eight years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially. During the same period the number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate." Vision explained.

"Are you saying it's our fault?" Steve asked as he looked up from the page he was reading.

"I'm saying there may be a causality. Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge invites conflict. And conflict breeds catastrophe. Oversight, oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand." Vision said slowly.

"Boom" Rhodey whispered towards Sam.

"Tony. You're being uncharacteristically non-hyper verbal." Nat said.

I looked over to Tony who was slouched in his seat on the couch rubbing his head.

"It's because he's already made up his mind." Steve said as he flipped a page.

"Boy, you know me so well." Tony groaned as he got up.

"Actually, I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache. That's what's going on, Cap. It's just pain. It's discomfort." Tony said as he walked into the kitchen.

"Who's putting coffee grounds in the disposal? Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?" He asked harshly.

He turned away from the sink then tossed something onto the counter. A holographic picture of a young boy came up. Tony took a deep breath.

"Oh, that's Charles Spencer, by the way. He's a great kid. Computer engineering degree, 3.6 GPA, had a floor level gig at Intel planned for the fall. But first, he wanted to put a few miles on his soul before he parked it behind a desk. See the world. Maybe be of service. Charlie didn't want to go to Vegas or Fort Lauderdale which is what I would do. He didn't go to Paris or Amsterdam, which sounds fun. He decided to spend his summer building sustainable housing for the poor. Guess where. Sokovia. He wanted to make a difference, I suppose. We won't know because we dropped a building on him while we were kicking ass." Tony took another deep breath.

Even though I wasn't even close to Sokovia I still felt partly at fault. I felt guilty for everything that had happened even if I wasn't apart of it.

"There's no decision-making process here. We need to be put in check! Whatever form it takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations, if we're boundary-less we're no better than the bad guys." Tony's voice fell into a soft and exhausted tone.

"Tony, someone dies on your watch, you don't give up." Steve said sternly.

"Who said we're giving up?" Tony asked raising a brow at Steve.

"We are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions. This document just shifts the blame." Steve said as he tossed the papers back onto the table.

"I'm sorry, Steve. That is dangerously arrogant. This is the United Nations we're talking about. It's not the World Security Council, it's not Shield, it's not Hydra." Rhodey explained.

"No, but it's run by people with agendas, and agendas change." Steve said simply.

"That's good. That's why I'm here. When I realized what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands I shut it down and stopped manufacturing." Tony told him as he walked around the counter.

“Tony, you chose to do that. If we sign this, we surrender our right to choose. What if this panel sends us somewhere we don’t think we should go? What if there’s somewhere we need to go and they don’t let us? We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still our own.” Steve tried to explain.

“If we don’t do this now, it’s gonna be done to us later. That’s the fact. That won’t be pretty.” Tony said simply.

“You’re saying they’ll come for me.” Wanda said softly.

“We would protect you.” Vision told her.

“Maybe Tony’s right. If we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer. If we take it off-“ Nat started to explain.

“Aren’t you the same woman who told the government to kiss her ass a few years ago?” Sam asked.”

I glanced over to Steve who looked absolutely exhausted. I knew he didn’t want this. He looked like he was wracking his brain for anything to say to convince the others.

“I’m just reading the terrain. We have made some very public mistakes. We need to win their trust back.” Nat told Sam.

“Focus up. I’m sorry. Did I just mishear you or did you agree with me?” Tony asked in his normal sarcasm.

“I want to take it back now.” Nat practically groaned.

“No, you can’t retract it. Thank you. Unprecedented. Okay. Case closed. I win.” Tony shrugged happily.

A soft buzzing had me looking down at Steve’s lap. He pulled his phone out then read over the words on the screen. His entire demeanor changed.

“I have to go.” He said then immediately left the room without another word.

“What?” Tony asked after he was already gone.

I looked back to see Sam already watching me. I’m sure he could tell something was up as well. We both made our way out of the room to try to find Steve. He hadn’t gotten that far. By the time we got out to the sidewalk he was standing there with red puffy eyes. I ran straight to him pulling him into me for a hug.

“She’s gone. Peggy’s gone.” He said softly.

Sam and I both decided to join Steve for the funeral. Neither of us wanted him to be alone. The three of us sat in the front pew. Steve was squeezed between us. I watched as Sharon, the “nurse” that lived down the hall from Steve and I, stepped up to the podium.

“Margret Carter was known to most as a founder of Shield but I just knew her as Aunt Peggy.” She started.

I glanced at Steve who looked completely surprised by her statement.

“She has a photograph in her office. Aunt Peggy standing next to JFK. As a kid, that was pretty cool. But it was a lot to live up to. Which is why I never told anyone we were related.” Sharon glanced at Steve as if she was talking directly to him.

“I asked her once how she managed to master diplomacy and espionage in a time when no one wanted to see a woman succeed at either. She said, compromise where you can. But where you can’t, don’t. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree look them in the eye and say no, you move.” Sharon said with as much passion as Steve.

She was one hell of a speech giver. If that speech effected me I can only imagine what it did to Steve. I had a feeling Sharon’s words just concreted everything Steve had been thinking about. When the service was over Sam and I stood outside to give Steve his moment alone. Nat came jogging up to church steps toward us.

“So?” I asked.

“It’s done.” She nodded.

“He’s inside” Sam told her.

She nodded then walked in to find Steve.

“What now?” I asked Sam.

“I have a feeling we’re just getting started.” He huffed as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

I had the same feeling. After all this I’m sure Steve wasn’t going to back down.

—