read this or you're gay (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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jackassery2014-06-16 07:09 pm
derogatory) wrote in jackassery2014-06-16 07:09 pm
Entry tags:
always thought my heart to be a dark horse, laying low till race day came along
It's a pretty basic thing that they keep secrets from each other. That's how any relationship works, Nathan reasons. It's not like he's a dishonest person, I mean, frankly he's a little too honest most of the time. But there's bound to be a few things Victor doesn't tell him, so there's no harm if he keeps a couple to himself.
And honestly, this one was 90% an accidental secret! Nathan's only met Molly outside of New Moore once, and giving her his number as a "cool uncle" had been mostly a joke. She'd only text him a couple times a month, and Nathan would report back to Victor on all the new curse words the girl used, subtle jabs at the contact he had with her that Victor didn't. But then they started dating and it seemed like a shitty thing to do, and even shittier to hide. He sat on a the first text he got from Molly (nothing major, griping about class, no swears she hadn't used before) for a few days, weighing the pros and cons on telling him, the lines it could put on on Victor's face. It's not like he enjoyed torturing the guy before, he hadn't, it was just being a good friend, an honest friend. Only now there was something at stake each time Nathan went out of his way to do something that upset Victor, that made him unhappy, that made the cyborg’s chances at being the least fucked up guy on the Avengers less and less likely by the second.
On the fourth day Nathan looks over his phone at Victor, and figures if the guy could like sync up with Nathan's electronics and read everything, he'd have known about it by now. Luckily without the usual reply, Molly texts less, so Nathan doesn't need to keep too much from Victor, and all's happy in gay paradise.
Two weeks before it goes down, Molly texts Nathan in the middle of the night, in the middle of a drinking race between himself and Tommy.
("I don't think it's very fuckin fair," Nathan slurs. "To have a goddamn speedstick challenge me to a race."
"Speedster," Victor corrects, arm under Nathan's shoulders as they lurch home. "And you knew he was super fast already. Also you dared him!"
"Speedstick," he shoots back. "Because-- he's a stick. Weedy, skinny little fuck."
"Oh, he's skinny?" Vic laughs. "I'm carrying you with one handed, practically."
"Maybe you should put the other hand to work," he counters and one lewd gesture later Victor graciously dumps him on the pavement. Fumbling not to hurl every meal he's ever eaten, Nathan glances at his beeping phone, the unread message. He doesn't really read it until later, has to click away fast with a fumbling grip to keep Victor from spotting it.)
To: Uncle Nathan
Subj: Important
We need to know where u stand on this
"'fuck is that supposed to mean," he mutters, reading it over later, squinting in the dark, through the first hour of hangover. He's about to text as much, but Victor shifts under his arm and Nathan puts the phone away.
Whoever she is, she's pretty cute, in a short, natural, farmer girl kinda way. Not his thing, but more his thing than playing video games alone on his day off.
"Well, hello," he opens the door wider.
"I'm looking for Victor Mancha," she says, becoming infinitely better looking when it's his boyfriend she's coming round about. Good thing he’s not the jealous type, more than happy to burst this teenage fan’s bubble. He leans against the doorframe. "Are you Nathan Young?"
"Who's asking?" he counters, because they've had some tabloid nutters get past the doorman before. She doesn't look the type though, looks more like-- "Hey. Is this a Jehova's Witness thing?" She stares. "Right. ‘Cause Vic's proper Catholic, it's hardwired in. Or a Mormon thing- it true you fuck your way through Miami or some shit when you turn eighteen before you renounce all sinful electronics and the like? Cause I have to tell you, my boyfriend's mostly electronic himself so if you climbed up on him, it'd be like a two-for."
"Amish," she sighs.
"Sorry?"
"That's Amish," the girl murmurs, tucking some papers into the bag at her side. "You're Nathan Young, clearly." She straightens up, not bad posture with the pair on her. "I'm in the right place. My name is Klara Prast, I need to speak with Victor immediately."
"Faster going to Stark Tower, love," he shrugs. "If it's about X-Geeks, you'd get a free pass inside. Pretty sure a Mutant High kid would get some answers faster than me," Nathan adds with only a pint of bitterness over his words.
"I prefer to wait here, if that's all right," Klara replies curtly. Nathan makes an over dramatic show of letting her inside, because there's no arguing with a person with good, mid-century manners. Up close, Klara's not terribly bad looking. She looks a little like some of the models for Stark tech shows before they get dolled up, like they've got unique looking faces but need a couple coats of girl paste to be marketable. She's skinny like one of them too, but definitely shorter than a model. It's tough to reconcile this with the little girl from Victor's Runaways stories.
"I don't need to like, call you in a note from school or something, do I?" he asks, glancing up from drafting a text to Victor. At the very least, the reappearance of a long lost Runaway will probably get him off paperwork duty for the day.
To: Robocop
Subj:
Yo klara's here so you should probably play hooky and come home.
Klara shakes her head, walking to admire the view of the buildings next door.
"Did you like- take a bus?" he tries again as she takes a seat near one of the windows, little face screwed up with disapproval at the cigarette butts in a neglected and wilted flower box. "Is Molly coming round too?"
"I'd rather discuss this when Victor is here," she says after a pause, running her freakish little doll hands over the glass. As Nathan comes closer, he can see a few sprouts working their way through the chalky dirt. She glances back from the rapidly growing flowers, tone apologetic even if her sour expression isn't. "It's very important and I don't know you."
"Fair enough," he says with a roll of his shoulders. "I'll have you know we’re on our way to bein common law married, though, so if it's a real dirty secret he's gonna have to tell me. It's like spousal privilege or some shit." Klara's face clouds with confusion, limited understanding of modern day martial law, let alone what extends to same-sex marriage. "It's a joke."
"You're very funny," she says, not amused. "I can see why he likes you." She doesn't need to explain her own joke and Nathan feels infinitely less warm about this mini-Runaway than he has about Molly.
"Oh, wonderful," he quips. "Mutant High teaches you kids sarcasm." Nathan strikes a pose when he realizes the girl is still staring at him. “Like what you see?”
"Is that-" She gestures behind him and Nathan realizes he left Cooking Mama sigle player mode on the screen. He turns the television off with a few unsuccessful attempts at the wiimote around his wrist.
"It’s an educational game," he snaps and Klara’s little mouth says Oh, and Nathan really hopes Molly’s coming around instead. Luckily they only need to sit in critical silence in each other's presence for a few more minutes before he hears keys in the door- Vic must've taken the cab home to make it this fast. Or maybe even flown, even if they're not supposed to do that during the day. Nathan grins, knew the guy would be jazzed about this little reunion. Good thing he answered the door at all.
"--pinche keys-- the door's stuck again! You better not have been kidding with that text-"
"I'm coming," he yawns, heading to the entryway while Klara stands.
"Victor?" and she talks so quiet Nathan figures there's no way Vic heard her until the door buckles as the cyborg slams it open.
"You broke the door," Nathan laughs and Victor snakes past him, to the window, catching Klara so tightly he lifts her off the ground. And suddenly it feels like Nathan is the one intruding and he wishes he had some urgent away mission to get to, or that Klara didn't grow up fit, or that Victor didn't so obviously hope the family he had without Nathan would finally take him back.
Nathan makes up something about a smoke break, fumbles with the broken door behind him.
To: Kelly
Subj:
a not gay not asian girl from Vic's team is here and she grew up goodloking as all hell. they kikced me out. got a sec to talk?
He loves Kelly, he really fucking does, but not during the three cigarettes he smokes at the curb while she doesn't reply.
("I'm sorry," Victor breathes, her little face pressed into his neck. "I didn't want to leave you guys, it was stupid, I'm stupid--"
"It's all right," she murmurs, "I'm not upset." When they pull apart she's smiling, her mouth a sad twist as she cups his face in her hands. "You aren’t stupid. Don’t cry.")
"What'd I miss," Nathan asks, attempting a couple times to shut the door before giving up, letting it hang half open. That'll be fun, not like a deadbolt was stopping anyone from messing with them before. Klara and Victor are sitting on the couch, and Victor's pushed his hair in his face the way he does when he's been crying, so that's fucking fantastic.
"Molly left the school," Victor sighs. "Klara says she went off with The Brotherhood of Mutants."
"There's no way that's a real thing," Nathan replies helpfully, taking a seat in the kitchen.
"You know about The Brotherhood," Victor groans, hands on the back of his neck. "Magento's group. They were pretty low-key for the last decade or so, but now that Magneto's dead, it's got a lot worse."
Nathan shrugs, feeling his ears itch for looking bad in front of this tiny wannabe model with her long skirts and legs crossed at the ankles. "Okay. But that's X-Men stuff, not The Avengers-"
"I didn't come here for The Avengers, I came for The Runaways," Klara insists, and she is holding Victor's hand and Nathan really hopes he has some smokes left in the carton in the kitchen, he's going to need one for each of their fucking interlocked fingers. "Molly doesn't belong there, she's confused. We need to find her."
"So call up Witch Hazel and crew," he shrugs, glowering at the literal amazon of flowers that's sprouted up along their window.
"We don't have that kind of time. If Molly's with The Brotherhood, she could get really hurt," Victor explains, but he's not looking at Nathan, he's got his eyes on Klara the whole time. Nathan's never been jealous of any of the super girls Victor hangs around with. He's got a knack for being friends with girls, probably because of Marianella raising him like a perfect son to a single mother. But luckily even if Ultron designed a hell of a pretty boy sleeper-cell, Victor still nerds out over every super woman, which spooks them off easy, even before he and Nathan got together. So Nathan has never been worried about someone coming in and turning his boyfriend back to the hetero side.
Klara's different. She's at least eighteen and knows things about Victor that Nathan doesn't and she probably never says the wrong thing in recon meetings and could actually hold her own in a fight instead of just getting murdered twice last field mission.
So that's why Nathan's stomach drops to his knees when Vic says, "I need to go with Klara to look for her. We're leaving tomorrow."
"Yeah, you can't do that," Nathan replies when he's absolutely sure his voice won't crack (still does anyway). His mouth feels very dry.
"What?" Victor asks quietly.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Young, but this is a Runaways issue, I don't want others involved-"
"Then take Chase," Nathan counters to the girl, turning his attention to Victor. "I mean, you can't do that because you have an away mission with Natasha tomorrow, remember?" Victor swears under his breath, an apologetic look to Klara when she squeezes his hand all scandalized. "You can just call Nat up and explain it, I'm sure she'll just give you the time off-" Vic cuts off his sarcasm with a groan. "Or! You could ask Cap’!" Another groan. Victor puts his head in his hands- as pissed as he is, Nathan counts this as a victory for getting them to stop holding fucking hands.
While Klara is patiently listening to Victor comb through the possible ways he could get out of work, Nathan's phone rings in his pocket. He shots Victor a questioning look when he spots the caller is the Cyborg himself.
"This is Agent Hill," Maria's crisp tones cut through the phone lines. "Victor left his phone in the office. I assume his absence has to do with Molly defecting to The Brotherhood."
"Thanks for the heads' up, love." Nathan snaps, climbing to his feet and crossing the room. "Yeah, he and Klara are brainstorming that right now. You gonna help send in the cavalry?"
"That's not S.H.I.E.L.D's jurisdiction," she says, with the 'yet' unspoken. "However, we've been briefed. We will need Klara to come to Stark's for an interrogation."
"Wow, you want a list how much that isn't going to pass with them?" Nathan hisses, cupping his hand around the receiver. "Why would you be interrogating-- shit," he hands the phone over to Victor, who's on his feet and at his side in a few seconds, having sensed the conversation. "Yeah, it's S.H.I.E.L.D. Have fun."
As Vic’s side of the conversation quickly turns into a heated argument against procedure and precaution, Nathan edges near the couch again. Klara is still sitting prim as a picture, same as when she first got there, but her expression’s different. Every time he caught her gazing back at Victor it was that sugarwater sweet, baleful little look, like the bustiest of milkmaids in a real gentle "foreign film." Real far cry from the looks Klara was giving him before her old teammate came home, like Nathan was day old garbage someone forgot to take out. Nathan gets both those looks, they make sense. It’s the one when Victor’s back is turned, when she doesn’t realize Nathan’s not engrossed in Cooking Mama again that surprises him.
Having met all of the grown up Runaways at one point or another now, Nathan knows for a fact Karolina is the only one that isn't even a little bit pissed with Victor. It’s not like Victor’s anything special; the Runaways, for all their hotshot talking about being more together than his team ever was, sure as shit spent their time hating each other more often than Nathan remembers his group ever doing. Again, it’s a personality thing- Nico is never not angry about something, while Chase and Victor walk an awkward line of representing each other’s insecurities. And Xavin’s a space racist, so that just leaves Karolina, who’d have a tough time getting sore at a rainstorm. She’s sat like this with Victor before, she’s watched the two of them talk around her, she’s lingered in their company and commanded Victor’s attention with a glance. Karolina’s the only one that doesn’t bring up something in the past, dredge up bad memories to get a petty victory. And look, Nathan gets it, that’s how adults fight, no shame in it. Victor’s no angel-bot either, Karolina aside he’s happy to run with the low blows against his teammates too. In the en they go on saying they're old friends, even thought all it does is earn the Runaways a lifetime of barely tolerating their presence from Nathan, with some miserably side-eyeing a totally undeserved friendship from his boyfriend, but yeah, he gets it. He’s seen that. That’s the kind of dysfunctional team dynamic he can get behind. It’s honest.
Klara watching Victor when he’s not looking isn’t that. Her bony shoulders are set straight, and when she speaks it’s all slow smiles and low accented voices and Nathan has her number, even if Victor can’t see it.
"Thanks for nothing, Hill," Victor hisses, hanging up. He turns the phone over in his hands after a pause, handing it back to Nathan.
"Kelly texted you back," he mutters, turning to explain the interrogation plans to Klara, face softening.
To: Nathan
Subj: re;
shit good thin u arnt the jealous type yea
"You don't like her," Victor sullenly announces when he enters the bedroom. Nathan looks up from his book. The light to the guest room is out, Vic finally gossiped her to sleep. Victor crosses the room and drops beside him with a sulk.
"She doesn't like me," Nathan corrects with something that’s sorta half true, following it with a classic charming grin. "Yet. There hasn't been a woman I can't win over."
"Right," Victor says. "Except, you know. Pepper."
"She's warming up to me, I can feel it in my-"
"Yeah, yeah, I know where you can feel it." Nathan’s offended how little time it takes Victor come up with another woman who isn’t crazy about him- "Natasha."
"Cold War not over there," he replies, turning the page of a book he hadn’t been reading.
"Jane." Nathan stares back blankly. "Thor's girlfriend? You've met her a couple times. Brown hair, all sciencey, no glasses, dresses kinda butchy."
"As appealing as all that sounds," Nathan rolls his eyes."“I'm not getting involved with somebody who dates Thor, I like my brain in my skull." He closes the book, letting it rest on his chest. "I have experienced it outside and, I have to say, it's not one of my greatest hits."
"Nico," Victor is smug, because there’s no doubting a girl who’s turned Nathan into all manner of amphibians is hardly his biggest fan. Nathan’s pretending to be deaf when Victor adds, "Maybe Klara should be with Nico." He pauses, looking to the immortal for confirmation, who shrugs, kicking his legs under the covers, dropping the book to the floor. "I don't know what she’s doing right now, but Nico has locating spells, she could use the staff to- I don't know. What do you think?"
"They're your team," Nathan mumbles into the blankets. He doesn't want Victor to think he's not interested, because he is, he wants to help. But it feels like this is out of his jurisdiction too, trouble for the Runaways, or whatever's left of them. They've had conversations like this before, when Nico comes up. She's the leader, let her decide, Nathan usually shrugs and Vic counters that they’re not a team anymore, bullshit semantics, the topic exhausts itself.
Instead, Victor just makes a vague sound of agreement and Nathan goes to bed chewing over that this time Victor didn't remind him the Runaways aren't a team anymore.
To literally no one's surprise, no excuses about teamwork or surrogate family bonds get Victor out of work with Natasha. He leaves early enough in the morning Nathan's not a hundred percent sure he didn't dream it.
"See if you can't get Klara out of this," Victor implores between some bleary-eyed goodbye kissing which is where they get you! Nathan's barely awake enough to know this probably isn't a dream, he’d agree to anything at this rate, as likely as getting out of meeting with Pepper could be.
"Right," he yawns, trying to tug Victor back down to bed. "I'll whisk her away and we can live us three as a happy family."
"That sounds nice," Victor hums and Nathan's really awake now because shit, he was just warming up to the gay marriage on the cliffs of Ireland phase, and they nearly killed Natasha's cat last time they cat-sit, is he actually serious about-- "Guey, I'm joking. Just saying she might have to stay a while, try not to freak out."
"Who's freaking out?" he laughs in the least convincing way possible and Victor kisses him again, longer this time and Nathan hates these kinds of kisses because it means the mission is probably a lot more dangerous than he let on.
"I’ll be home tomorrow."
"You better," Nathan warns. "Cause after the first night I start charging for nanny service, and I can’t promise I won’t fix her with some choice grass."
"Okay, don’t do any of those things," Victor calls over his shoulder, and that tone Nathan hates almost as much, the tone that says I’m not listening to you but I know it’s a dumbass comment. He tries to keep himself from falling back asleep long enough to hear Victor shut the front door, before remembering the idiot broke it last night, and Vic spends so much time saying goodbye in the guest room Nathan forces himself back to sleep to dream of any goodbye better than this.
("I understand," Klara says for the upteenth time. "You’re an Avenger."
"I’m a Runaway too," he assures her, running a hand through Klara’s hair before he can stop himself. Victor freezes, because she wasn’t super into physical contact before, and it’s not like you could get all huggy with Molly without getting your back cracked. But Klara smiles in her not smiling way and takes his hand for another upteenth time today.
"I’ll be fine," she whispers. "Don’t worry about me." Her little hand feels warm like a patch of sunlight in his grip. "Only, please come back for me this time."
Victor flinches and nods. "I’m never leaving you behind again." )
"You did the dishes," Nathan gapes, looking over the clean cutlery with suspicion. Klara smiles back at him, standing at the sink wearing the rubber gloves they bought to use for a fake costume redesign one night when they were proper wasted. They’re too big for her hands and she’s already plowed through two weeks of dirty dishes.
"It’s the very least I can do," she turns back to a particularly difficult grease spot. "It looks like you two cook quite a lot."
"Vic does, sure," Nathan shrugs, wiping the sleep out of his eyes and taking a seat at the counter. "He got pretty domestic. uh The cooking I mean, neither of us are much about cleaning."
"I suppose that’s what happens when two men live together," she says and her voice drips with so much judgement, Nathan considers slapping on some gloves himself. He rolls his eyes.
"Sure," he concedes, because he’s not gonna die on the whole ‘mid century girl isn't into gay marriage’ hill. "The Runaways never put you up in a filthy apartment before?"
"The Runaways abandoned us with Miss Frost," Klara corrects him, accent hitching on the name. Nathan wishes he’d set a timer from the moment Victor left them alone again to when the claws would come out. Klara catches his scowl when she looks over his shoulder and adds, voice maple sweet, "Don’t worry. I don’t blame Victor. People do many things they don’t wish to do."
"Yeah, maybe don’t feed me that bullshit." He smirks at the surprised little expression, like she figured she was being coy about it. "Oh, I get you’re playing sweet, but I know a pissed German girl when I see one, I’ve seen DOZENS of em over the years. You got it bottled up so tight you’re gonna have trouble shitting for the next couple weeks, that’s how mad you are at him." Nathan leans over the counter with all the extra space that she’s cleared. "So if you have an issue, you should take it up with Nico, she was the mastermind. Shit, or you can lay into Chase went we get to Stark’s, it’s his fault more than Victor’s." It would be lying to say he didn’t think all that up at some point last night when he caught onto her nasty play.
Klara turns away from him and finishes washing two more plates before she replies.
"I’m not upset with Victor," she says finally, tone bordering on honest. "Not in any way you’d understand." Nathan scoffs.
"What, you think because we’re bumping uglies I don’t know what it means to be mad at Victor? It’s downright infuriating, yeah?" The little look she gives him from the corner of her eye is enough of an agreement. "You know you’re in the right but he’s got those sad eyes that are made in a fuckin lab, who puts green eyes on a Spaniard, right? Evil robots, that’s who. For evil." When Klara turns to him, Nathan pointing right between her eyes, more proud of himself than mad at her. "You’re still mad at him, and you feel shit about it when he’s bein so damn nice, so you take it out on me."
She fixes him with a stare, thoughtful, pausing long enough Nathan has the faintest thought he may have missed the mark, because Klara was Swiss right? Maybe the Swiss aren’t like Uli and the other passive aggressive German girls he saw in her low-lidded angry looks.
"And how would you know all of that?" she counters, not-smile more of a snarl now.
"Because, love, you’re not the first person he’s pissed off. Comes with the territory."
"I see." She shakes a sheet of hair over her shoulder. “So we should just be happy he’s sorry now-" It’s too early to have this kind of pointless discussion. Nathan groans, head against the counter momentarily before he snaps back up, dismissive.
"I promise you, he was sorry the second you two walked into that school, he has not stopped bein sorry, he’s got enough sorry in him for what happened to go round the world twice, and guess the fuck what?" He holds his arms outstretched. "Getting dropped off at a fancy prep school for kids with super powers? It’s not the worst thing that could happened to somebody. It’s sure as fuck not the worst thing to happen to you." See, that’s how adults fight, though there’s not much triumph in the sadness that finally settles over her practised expressions.
"All right," Klara concedes, eyes downcast. "Yes. I am still upset with him, with all of them. We never stopped. But it’s as you said, there’s no point in it, because I need him to--" She gestures in the air momentarily, fumbling for the proper vocabulary before settling on the defeated murmur, "To like me."
Nathan whistles through his teeth. "Is that it?" he laughs. "I assure you, that’s not something you got to worry about. We both like you fine." The look she gives him could freeze the dishwater.
"I don’t care if you like me, I’m not Molly," she snaps, all concessions gone from her voice. "I don’t find rude behavior impressive." And Nathan’s laughing because finally some real fucking honesty from the little Swiss Miss, this could be a pretty fun visit if you keep up the snarky banter. She takes off the gloves- actual gloves, not metaphorical. "We’re going to be late."
"So when you talk to Iron Man," Nathan advises as they step into the elevator. "You’re gonna have to share. For an emotionally unreliable alcoholic he’s surprisingly attuned to people’s emotions. Well, not as good as me." Klara sighs, eyes fixed straight ahead. "But he’s not gonna believe you’re not up to something if you keep as quiet as that cab ride."
"I am not up to anything," she says through grit teeth, like a person who’s up to something. "I just want to find my friend."
"They’re not gonna help with that if you get snitty, though," Nathan pushes.
"I don’t need their help, I need-" Klara takes a deep breath, head down, composing her voice. Nathan tries not to grin too wide. It’s too easy now that he knows her game, he’s not gonna let this shit die, not when it means an away-mission day will go faster.
She pauses, twisting her neck and looking up to the ceiling, face scrunched in pain.
"Yawn," Nathan offers helpfully, shrugging when she shoots him a suspicious glare. "The pressure in your ears, right? It’s cause the elevators go up so fast. Yawn or swallow or something, you’ll feel better." She doesn’t. "Oh, c’mon. You gotta trust me. I’m from the future!" Fixing him with a sour glare, Klara takes a few experimental yawns.
"Maybe they shouldn’t go so fast," she counters peevishly. They have a break when a lower floor rings and a few nondescript suits enter the elevator. Klara keeps her eyes low, shifting so she stands closer to Nathan to avoid the strangers. The elevator’s not that crowded, but her arms are close to her sides, trying to take up the least amount of room as possible. With Molly, Nathan was always really aware she was the runt of Vic’s team, with the strength of one of the big kids but never anything more than a kid sister. Klara walks a weird line between kid and adult and it's likely not something new. She stands as small as possible next to the jerk she knows rather than the ones she doesn’t, and it makes him feel shitty for messing with her, if just for a fraction of a second.
The randoms get off three floors later and the elevator is back on its route.
"Vic will be home tomorrow," Nathan says, half to fill the silence broken only by excessive yawning. "If Stark doesn’t fit you with some help, he’ll.. We’ll-" She’s looking at him curiously, so he finishes, resigned to this volunteer opportunity. "We’ll help you find Molly." She stops yawning enough to smile, genuinely, at least until Nathan adds, "Sure. It’s not like Vic’s going off with some girl without me. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I stood for that?" A trusting one? One who didn’t hold a grudge against a teenage girl you just offered to help? Someone secure in their eternal lifetime with an evil cyborg who was fritzing out only a couple months ago and will probably decimate all of humanity or at least tear out your heart again- this time hopefully only literally?
"I see," Klara says, eardrums settled or simply tired of trying to balance them. "Whether or not I’m still mad at Victor or you," she says, ignoring Nathan muttering that she admitted it already, you look like an idiot denying it now. "Regardless," she continues, louder, ears pink. “I don’t have to approve of what you think is going on between you two." Nathan laughs.
"'What I think'?" he shakes his head. "Yeah, Vic told me you’re not into the whole gay thing." They reach their floor and he stretches, leading Klara out into the hallway. "Well, love, you’re just gonna have to get over that. You're might be fixed to dislike me, but this is happening."
"It’s not dislike," she assures him, "I object to you entirely."
"What? The gay thing?" he presses. "That your problem? Because I made Vic gay?" She wouldn’t be the first to suggest it, after an extremely enjoyable pub crawl with Nico that ended in a black eye and at least three hexes.
"Because you're Irish."
"Are you serious?"
"No," she says, the slightest smile over her mouth. "I object to you because nothing but the Lord can be eternal."
"Lots of things live forever nowadays," Nathan shrugs, stepping into the lobby. "Honestly, haven't you met Thor? Little tough to be all Christian superiority when there's a walking god elsewhere. You might even see him today. Hey Pep-- Ms. Potts.”
Pepper nods a greeting to him nonchalantly, turning to face Klara, briefing her on where they'll be spending a majority of the interview, visitor privileges. It all seems pretty off, not just having a Runaway in Stark Tower, but because Pepper's not the normal person to tell visitors where the bathroom is, and she's wearing a Iron Man reminiscent bangle on her wrist.
"You're not seriously thinkin she's gonna try something here, are you?" he lowers his voice and asks when another affiliate guides Klara towards some security doors.
"It's important to take every precaution," Pepper brusquely replies. "There are three dead police officers in Miss Hayes’ wake. Excuse me." She turns to face Tony when he emerges from the security doors.
"Klara Prast!" Tony’s voice booms down the hallway and Nathan grimaces at the line that goes over Klara’s shoulders, the snarl that graces past her little mouth. "How long has it been? You’re looking-" Pepper is standing at his shoulder and Tony looks like he’s doing quick math to figure out what each possible compliment will cost him. "-taller?"
"Yes, sir," Klara replies as she turns towards him, face now a blank slate, and Nathan can’t tell if Frost is teaching the mutant kids hyper manners or she actually respects Tony or, much much more likely, Klara hates Stark a little bit more than she hates him.
"Hey, Lucky!" Tony calls as they walk away and Nathan barely catches Victor’s phone before it hits him in the mouth. Tony beams at the perfect toss, walking backwards out of the room and adding, "Bold choice on some of your sexing vocab, glad to see you’re using the unlimited data plan for its intended purpose."
("I don’t care," Natasha says, in the way that means this is the very last time she will respond to this question or any other ones similar to it.
"I’m just saying-" Victor counters, twisting behind their cover. “It’s a stupid precaution, she’s a good kid!"
"Right," she murmurs, firing over Victor’s shoulder, damaging one eardrum because she couldn’t be bothered to warn him before opening hell on their lookout. "They’re all good kids until you give them the right push."
Victor scrambles to their next point, holding his breath until he’s sure the return fire has subsided. "That’s what you think happened to them? A push?" he grumbles, checking their position through the electromagnetic current in the floor.
"Nah," she grins. "Sounds like this Hayes kid took a good leap." )
The meeting lasts two and a half hours, the last hour Nathan spends trying to figure out Vic’s passcode. He stands when Klara comes through the security door dutifully, like a kid after a doctor appointment.
"Confident she’s not a spy?" he jeers after Tony, who is too engrossed in conversation with some other super to hear him. Nathan redirects the question to Klara, who shrugs with one shoulder. “Good enough for me. Hey, what do you think’s Vic’s password on this thing?" Klara considers this half the elevator ride down.
"‘Froot Loops’?" she offers.
"Hah," Nathan grins, but only after he tries it. "Wrong. He doesn’t like that cereal."
"That’s not how I remember it," Klara hums between her yawns. Nathan glances to her from the corner of his eye.
"You’re pretty smug for someone who just got taken to town by The Avengers," he argues. Hands in his pockets, he leans back on his heels. “All right, where to?"
As much as Nathan likes the idea of Klara deep cleaning the dire state of their bathtub, he has a feeling Victor won’t be happy to see he’s put the former child bride to work in his absence. So he buys her a hotdog off a street vendor of dubious quality and they run through a list of possible landmarks she can visit.
There’s an irony in taking a girl from centuries past to a museum, Nathan knows there’s a joke in there somewhere, but he doubts Klara would appreciate it. They wander through the diorama halls, and Klara has reached for two taxidermied animals before Nathan realizes she knows exactly what she’s not supposed to do and is fit to make trouble. He can see why she and Molly got on so well. Maybe not a spy, but they can still make some trouble for New York. Nathan helps hoist her over one of the railings in the Hall of Asian Mammals.
"Sorry, sorry," Nathan forces a laugh at the security guards. "She’s touched, that’s all. I’m taking my dear special needs sister out on a stroll- OW!"
Klara breezes past the fossil halls, the dinosaur exhibits into a nearby windows enclave, sitting among the wet nurses of the Caribbean to stare out at the streets below. Nathan follows, standing at her shoulder.
"Old Lace died protecting me," she murmurs. For a second Nathan thinks the moments of teenaged misbehavior had been a front, that she’s throwing some digs at him about not being sensitive to something he should’ve known about. But she doesn’t fight like the rest of her team, she’s too honest with her dislike of him to throw that in his face.
Nathan glances back at the dinosaur bones towering over the tourists, the piece of their team they won’t get back, no matter how far he takes her looking for Molly.
"C’mon," he tugs her from the window. "I think there’s one more dead penguin you haven’t manhandled." It only works until they go through the environmental halls, and the crash of her expression when she realizes none of the plants displayed are alive.
"So you can make flowers show up wherever?"
They made their way across the street, to Central Park since at least there’s living trees and nature there. Klara shakes her head, coaxing a few through the cracks in the sidewalk below them. She stops whenever any passerby gets to close, or something glances at them a little long.
"They’re already in the ground, I’m just asking them to come out," she says, settling back on the bench, brushing grass from her skirts. "Are you very interested in flowers?" she teases, eyes downcast.
"Oh, of course," he retorts. "Your powers are invaluable here, gonna help me bring back a bouquet for Victor. Where d’you suppose they sell a card that reads ’Congrats on not dying in a ditch with Black Widow- here are some flowers to celebrate our next dangerous mission’?" Mm hmm, she says, turning the grass between her fingers. "It’d be proper romantic." He meets her dour look with raised eyebrows, good humors, but she’s not so relenting. Nathan sighs.
"Look," he starts, voice heavy, hands on his knees. "I know you're not jazzed about the whole gay thing. But I'm doin my best here, so maybe cut--"
"What do you think about what they're doing?" Klara interrupts him, eyes focused on the ground. "The Brotherhood." Nathan blinks at the abrupt topic shift. He shrugs, leaning back.
"Dunno. I don't really think about that," he manages after a pause. "But it makes a lot of people nervous."
"Mutants in general make people nervous," she fires right back, twisting her hands together. He shifts his weight, arm around the back of the bench.
"Not all people," he counters quietly. "People.. I don't know, they might be weirded out by different things at first, but they get used to it. Shit changes, you saw all that today, right?"
"It doesn't seem that way to me," she sighs, looking ahead. "The city has changed but people are still the same." He scoffs.
"What're you talking about? You had guys like that in the 19th century?" Nathan gestures at a passing a guy with gauges big enough to put his fists through. He locks eyes with the kid’s offended glare because hey, just making a true statement, she’s a time traveler you know, show some decorum for a lady, would you?? He looks appealingly back to Klara.
"You're honestly not gonna tell me people are the same across like hundreds of years, because I don't know if I can stomach that, love. I'm hoping for a very open-minded future and not just for you mutants, and all. Lots of exciting ideas I've got and the modern world, as it is now-" He shakes his head, feigning a deep shame at the state of America today. "Just not ready for that brilliance." Klara raises an eyebrow but Nathan knows Victor would probably rescind on his whole never killing Nathan again promise if he spilled any of those genius ideas with Klara.
"So, the city's different, no shit. What else? Wait! Don't tell me." He puts a hand to his head and mimes being deep in thought. "Nowhere to get a decent kebab- Oh wait! Still applies to now, huh." Nathan nods, like he can possibly understand, drawing cigarettes out of his pocket.
"It'll look different to you, too," she adds and Nathan rolls his shoulders.
"Ehh, maybe. Maybe in a couple years Stark will shape the skyline like his cock, he's got the money for it." He tilts his head back, looking to the distant buildings and holding out his hands to align them. "Have to shave down a couple of the buildings though."
"In more than a couple years." It takes longer than he's proud of for Nathan to catch her meaning. He glances back to her, cigarette between his lips. She's not looking at the park anymore, at him instead, really looking. In fairness, he pitched the idea first, but it’s a weird thing to imagine, that someday the world will be fundamentally different from the one he’s sitting in now, and he’ll be one of the only people to spot it.
He wishes he knew where Vic’s away mission was.
"Yeah," he relents. "Guess someday you and I will have that in common, huh?" She shrugs back. "Only you’ll grow up. Guys like me-" Nathan gestures to himself. "We keep this physique forever. Immortality; not a raw deal in that regards, not a bit-"
"Do you make people nervous too?" Klara cuts him off, chewing on her lip. "Like mutants."
"Me?" he laughs. "uh, Yeah, but not cause of the whole immortal thing, probably." He thinks about the way the other Avengers acted when Bobbi died, or the distance they put between him and a villain's dead lackey, more space than what's needed when they can't see who he's talking to. Talking to ghosts is as easy as talking to anybody else, it was like that for Nathan from the beginning. He's done it enough times by now that Hawkeye said Nathan's got more dead contacts than alive ones. It was a pretty funny joke at the time. Doesn’t seem so funny now.
"Look, whatever they think about me, you don’t worry about." Nathan waves it aside. "Appreciate the concern, but- not a mutant."
"That's true," Klara replies, voice soft. "But there are a few similarities. Your friend mentioned them in a presentation she gave last month. Ms. Bailey." Nathan feels his back crack he straightens up fast at Kelly's name. "She gave her presentation on developed powers relating to a person's personality. That's how we found out about you." He's too wrapped up in Kelly being associated with Mutant High at all to decipher what ‘we’ means.
"So she used me as a lab rat again, fuckin fantastic," he groans. "Still, we got this from a lightning storm, or some power dealer, it's not like being born with a different DNA-"
"There are so few mutants now, we have to take the allies where we can find them," Klara presses on and she's turned completely to face him, little hands no longer twisting but tight fists in her lap. "When they're through with the mutants, they'll come after you."
Nathan is fairly sure this is going to be a really fucking difficult conversation to keep secret from Victor.
"No," he says at last. "They're really not. Christ, did Kelly go through all this with you guys when she visited- and didn't fucking tell me, I might add. Is Mutant High recruiting, because I told you we’re going to help get Molly back, and I'm a shit student-"
"We didn't invite her and I'm not talking about the school." Klara's voice is quiet and fast and her eyes are wide. "You don't belong with these people."
"Sorry?" Nathan shoots back, not sorry, more like he must have misheard this demure little brat, who last he checked didn't have telepathic powers but knew just what raw nerve to tap.
"Even someone like Victor, he's more them than us," she continues and Nathan is looking around in case someone else can hear the level of crazy this chick is spouting. "He wouldn’t work. But you- You're the only one who could see him, talk to him. It was Molly's idea, but someone had to bring you--" She reaches for his arm.
"Oh fuck," Nathan staggers back off the bench, away from this eighteenth century nutjob, who rises after him and the branches on those trees are definitely moving. "I don't know shit about whatever the hell you're talking about, but I'm not going anywhere. Victor's--"
A lot happens all at once.
There's something green between him and Klara, like moss or vines, or whatever, it's hard to tell when his legs give out underneath him. Nathan figured it was something Klara did, some kind of weird pollen poison until he feels a familiar warmth in his chest. The shield of flora Klara put in front of her retracts, the bloody bullet falls between them, and Nathan takes a temporary dirt nap before he can see which direction she runs.
"You shot through me!" are the first words out of Nathan's mouth.
Hill shrugs, ignoring the nasty look Victor sends her from the other side of the hospital bed.
"I had a clear shot," she replies.
"You shot through me at Klara," he gasps, indignant, blood still in his mouth, clawing up to a sitting position. "A teenage girl!"
"An operative of The Brotherhood, which we warned you about, extensively." She fixes a glare on Victor. "We explained if you couldn't contain the situation, we were going to act on it."
"You knew about this?" Nathan gapes and Victor shakes his head, hands on Nathan's arm.
"No! I mean, I told you they suspected, but there was some mistake-" Nathan laughs.
"Oh, there's no fucking mistake, she's all about mutant power or whatever. She was trying to recruit me. Me!" He looks between the S.H.I.E.L.D agent and his boyfriend. "I mean, I get the cause and all that but I'm not gonna enlist, I don't even vote!"
"You can't vote," Victor mutters, rubbing the back of his neck, eyes closed. "He's got a point. What would The Brotherhood want with Nathan? You never mentioned that part."
Turns out the Brotherhood had a theory Magneto didn't bite it in Xavier's memory, that it was a cover up for an assassination. If only somebody could actually ask the Big Guy why he bit it, they could rally all mutants for a cause against normal people. ("That's fucking it?" Nathan cried. "They wanted me to Ghost Whisperer and that's why they screwed us over?")
To: Kelly
Subj: THANKS
ACE PRESENTATION YOU GAVE MUTANT HIGH WITHOUT TELLING ME. THEY LITERALLY JUST TRIED TO KIDNAP ME CAUSE OF WHAT YOU TOLD THEM
To: Kelly
Subj: THANKS
ALSO I DIED
To: Nathan
Subj: re; THANKS
aw fuck did they really? thems a messed up school, happy to be well outta academia after that shit
S.H.I.E.L.D sends them home in a town car, which is fine since Nathan is happy to bleed on government property rather than get slapped with another cab cleaning fee. He's mostly healed, but organs filling the spots where a bullet tore through them leaves an ache that won't be gone until morning. Victor hasn't said anything since Hill's explanation, and sits himself as far on the side of the car as he can, eyes fixed out the window as they spend an eternity in rush hour traffic. A couple of times Nathan figures he’ll jump right in and say something, but there’s blood in the back of his throat and everytime he false starts a conversation Victor takes a ragged breath he doesn’t even need and Nathan shuts his mouth for once.
He can't help but feel like for all Klara's scheming, it might partially be his fucking fault. If he was gonna bother spending all that time calling her out on being mad at Victor, he could’ve given it a deeper look and realize how far she was willing to go.
To: Backstabn minibitcg
Subj: FUCK YOU
You frew up to be a fucking bitch Vic trusted yu and was really glad klara was ok and you just used him to try and get ME which is the most fucked up thing that has literally ever happened in the Avengersto me AND I FOUGHT SPIDERWOMAN ONECE
As usual, guilt is easier to swallow when he coats it in rage, texted from the inside of his pocket. He wants to block Molly's number so she can't try this bullshit again, can't have any contact with Victor who's too good for this, really fucking Good, when everybody else on his team has turned into a sociopath maniac. But he doesn't know how to block numbers (as if Tony would still be able to text him if he could) and it seems like a bad time to ask Vic.
"Sorry," he finally chokes out and coughs halfway through the word. Victor glances back, tossing the keys on the counter, not like they do much good with the door still warped.
"It's fine," Victor says, getting a glass of water.
"How is it fine?" Nathan gapes, trailing after him. Victor holds out the glass to him- he must really sound like hell, or no that dying is thirsty work- and Nathan continues after a drink, "It's messed up, is what it is. You were psyched to have her back and it turns out Klara was just-"
"Look, I get it. It's not because I don't, okay?" Victor snaps, white knuckling the counter. "I'm just saying it's fine." Nathan likes these moments a lot less than even when Vic is mad, mad enough to break jaws with robot fists and electrocute eyeballs out of heads (it only happened once, some nameless- then eyeless- bad guy. They kept it from getting back to Pepper but it scared the hell out of both of them.) It's worse when Victor isn't mad or upset but just defeated. To anybody else Nathan thinks maybe Vic just looks tired, the stress of skating uphill that comes with being a superhero. But Victor's defeated, tired expressions sound tinnier, more mechanic, and it reminds Nathan more of something he'd like to forget, even more than getting ripped limb from limb.
"The mission went bad," Victor says finally, like the words have to claw past his teeth. Shame washes over Nathan realized he died and woke up with Vic there, always there, and never considered what circumstances got him out of Avenger duty to be at his side. "And I-- I wanted to think Klara at least, that we could’ve--"
"Fixed it," Nathan finishes, quietly. He scrambles back to Victor’s side, adding hurriedly, "We can still figure it out. So she’s like Molly, which means they’re together. That’s good, right? They’ll watch each other's back, pint sized terrorists until you and I get to them." He hesitates, hadn’t considered it until the words fell out his mouth, but maybe that was what they could do. They wouldn’t be the only Avengers to take a break to find someone, Steve does it like every two months. He could take Victor and they could track down Molly and Klara, keep them from getting into any more trouble than they’re already in. They can go to Ireland, because terrorism is mostly uncool there now, they could do some sightseeing, and they could forgive Victor and Nathan would pretend to forgive them.
Victor sighs, hands through his hair, murmurs, "I have to call Nico." and Nathan knows that part’s bullshit, because not once in Nico’s life has she ended a phone conversation with Victor that didn’t end in him agreeing with all her crap justice. Never get over the boss lady who took your V-Chip, Victor wouldn’t look like any less shit after debriefing her on the situation, getting an earful of blame from a sorceress supreme.
“Don’t see what she’s gonna do,” Nathan says stubborn and a little stung by his genius seek and rescue mission being dismissed. "I'm just sorry it's such shit, all right?" ‘I'm sorry for me,’ is what Nathan planned to say, but he didn't have the guts, must've lost some of them in an unwilling firefight in Central Park.
"Thanks," Victor says hoarsely, and Nathan passes back the glass of water, is about to ask why he's thanking him for telling him when stuff is shit, that's not much of a new thing, when the cyborg adds, "For not going with her."
Nathan’s laugh is thin as he leans back, arms outstretched, "Where the fuck am I gonna go?"
"Yeah," Victor hums, glass in his hand and almost smiling- so that’s where Klara learned it. “Yeah, I’d find you. I had all of Ireland to look through and I still found you in one day." Nathan rolls his eyes, yeah you’ve mentioned how obscenely easy it was to track down my normal life. They slip into normal, mindless banter, and Victor’s voice still sounds tired but more like his own.
"You know what you should do?" Nathan says, curled around him on the couch, having given up which video game could help dull the events of the day.
"What?" he asks, and Nathan knows Victor is never in that mood after he gets killed, but he considered it for a few second just from the way Victor’s body turns against him.
"You should wake up Barry-" Victor screws up his face in confusion, not over the misnomer but that Nathan’s suggesting something that starts with contacting his old team. "-and tell him how I nearly got kidnapped by a teenage girl." Just like he knew it would, Victor’s eyes widen and Nathan’s a little offended this is working as well as it is. "Also, point out then I was killed by an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D--"
"He’s going to lose it, last time he called us in the middle of the night it was for--”
“The Firefly reboot, I know and you were proper excited over that, weren’t you,” he smirks, coaxing Vic on his feet. "Go on, go humiliate me to weird kid, I know it’s not much but it might cheer you up more than calling the Wicked Witch.”
Victor leans in and kisses him. "I’m sorry you got messed up in this." Nathan shrugs because, comes with the territory of a cyborg boyfriend. "I’m really glad you’re okay," Victor adds, like clockwork and he’s going through Nathan’s bag for his phone that they finally got back from Hill, gotta plug it in the other room, I’ll tell you what he says, he calls and disappears into the next room.
Nathan puts out his cigarette in the too crowded flower box Klara left behind.
To: Uncle Nathan
Subj: re; FUCK YOU
Wow Vics with a total gay guy, tell him I dont approve lol
To: Uncle Nathan
Subj: re; re; FUCK YOU
Not cause the gay thing but that u were a bigger sap than he ever was
To: Uncle Nathan
Subj: re; re; re; FUCK YOU
But
Tell him Im sorry it had to go this way
Hes still my lil bro even if hes a collaborator now
To: Backstabn minibitcg
Subj: re; re; re; re; FUCK YOU
Tell him yourself, you lying twat.
Definitely going to have to keep it a secret he called Molly a twat.
no subject
SERIOUSLY
I RETIRE FROM NATHAN
HE IS YOURS NOW AND FOREVER
THIS IS PERFECT I'M GOING TO NOVEL ABOUT IT TOMORROW BUT WHAT THE FUCK JACKIE SOB THANK YOU
no subject
i love this. i love this i love this i love this, i love everything about this, AS IF THAT WASN'T ALREADY PAINFULLY OBVIOUS but i can't say it enough. also i have to remind you at fanime you were like I'VE ALREADY TOLD YOU THE WHOLE FIC THERE'S GOING TO BE NO SURPRISES and girl what were you smoking because i want to go back in time and have some, THIS WAS ALL SURPRISES ALL THE TIME. i was on a wild rollercoaster ride having no idea what was coming next and i really wish you could have seen my fae when it got to klara's big reveal because i was seriously
seriously
:o
LIKE HANDS AGAINST MY CHEEKS HOME ALONE STYLE :o
i should have photographed it for posterity but you can imagine
ugh nathan shoving the molly stuff in his face before they got together IT'S JUST BEING A GOOD HONEST FRIEND!! times i decided i should retire from nathan and just let you write him forever because you got his weirdo relationhip with honesty SPOT FUCKING ON ugh i hate you. no i don't i love you so much but also kill me. thinking nothing of it in the beginning but suddenly there's something at stake and he's like ah shit, do i really wanna be the one to break his little cyborg heart piece by piece. IT'S JUST PERFECT also flkjsd molly's new and inventive swears, nathan swells with pride every single time. is this what being a mother hen feels like
ALSO I LAUGHED SO FUCKING MUCH AT THIS FIC LIKE YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND straight up ugly barking laughing. put that other hand to work!! nathan is the worst. leave him in the gutter where he belongs. ALSO TOMMY!!!! victor your half-step-nephew or whatever the fuck is too good, way too good, he's not invited out drinking anymore (just kidding you know nathan challenged him again like three weeks later)
GOD I WAS SO CHARMED WITH KLARA RIGHT OFF THE BAT WHICH IS WHAT MADE THE REVEAL THAT MUCH BETTER/WORSE!!!! rklsdjf fucking nathan though who taught him about rumspringa, that was a mistake. AND HE'S SO BITTER AND SHE GETS BETTER LOOKING WHEN HE REALIZES SHE'S THERE FOR VICTOR AND HAHA NO TOTALLY NOT JEALOUS AT ALL WHAT!! christ i love it. ugh and he keeps trying to talk to her and she's like nope, not having it, not interested, are you victor, no i didn't think so therefore we aren't talking. IMMEDIATELY CHARMED I TELL YOU I LOVED HER FROM THE START
roisdjlkj i made an embarrassing little scream at PRACTICALLY COMMONLAW MARRIED how many times do you think nathan has tried to use that excuse to get some kind of benefit or break. approximately 39483098 times probably. YOU'RE VERY FUNNY I CAN SEE WHY HE LIKES YOU god he dislikes her so much and is such a little bitchass to her, i love it more than anything. ALSO COOKING MAMA!! hopefully not haunted. fslkdj now i'm just thinking about hawp. "i thought gay guys were all about cooking." "haha she call you gay." VICTOR BUSTING THE DOOR DOWN AND BOWLING OVER NATHAN TO PICK UP KLARA FLKJSDF MY SADDEST NOISE WAS MADE he loves her so much :((((( FAMILY
also kelly not texting back gave me such visceral joy flkjsd THEY KICKED ME OUT! what a melodramatic queen nathan you kicked yourself out
UGH YOU AREN'T STUPID DON'T CRY AND THEN HE TOTALLY CRIES HAHAHA ;A; THINGS ROBOTS CAN DO!!!! god GOD them fucking holding hands on the couch, nathan is like two seconds away from breaking his own wrists out of jealousy and i LOVE IT. you somehow manage to walk the line between nathan's self-assured confidence and insane abandonment issues translating into weird jealousy and i love it so much and OH MY GOD SHE KNOWS THINGS ABOUT VICTOR THAT HE DOESN'T, I'M SKIPPING AHEAD BUT THAT PART STUNG ME RIGHT IN THE HEART BC IT'S SO TRUE!! like you know that eats at nathan every time one of the runaways shows up because not only are they total shitlords but they're shitlords who were close to vic before he was and HAHA WOW JEALOUS MUCH! ugh that part was just perfect. fuck you.
OTHER THINGS I GOT SO MUCH JOY OUT OF IN THIS: NAHTAN SORT OF REALLY KNOWING HIS SHIT?? being like uh stupid you have a mission with natasha and talking to maria about how shield getting involved so isn't going to fly with them. HE MAY BE A USELESS DEATH MAGNET BUT HE PAYS ATTENTION ugh i love it i love you
HAHA STAB ME IN THE FUCKING HEART WITH THE RUNAWYS HAVING THE KIND OF DYSFUNCTIONAL DYNAMIC HE CAN SUPPORT BECAUSE IT'S HONEST WHY DON'T YOU i'm not going to lie nathan's begrudging distaste for the runaways as a group is like my favorite thing ever and that part was just so perfect. they're all dicks to each other (except karolina LOVE YOU K, CAN'T WAIT TO BUTCHER YOU IN MY FIC where's qm i'll just line msg her every time i need help) but they go on saying they're friends all the same, ugh. nathan is like I RELATE BUT ALSO FUCK ALL OF YOU hahahahaha klara watching victor when his back is turned and nathan being like gotcha bitch MY LITTLE HEART SOARED RIGHT AFTER GETTING STABEBED THANKS A LOT!!!!!!!
jfsoidjfsdlkjajsdoijkj the list of women who don't like nathan YOU KNOW WHAT ROBOCOP THAT'S NOT HELPING HIS SELF-ESTEEM ANY just kidding that's as indestructible as vic's robo-body. ALSO JANE I SHRIEKED!! HI JANE natalie portman may be done with mcu movies but we aren't done with her. shit i need to rewatch thor. but higher this time, much higher. UGH VICTOR NOT SAYING THE RUNAWAYS AREN'T A TEAM NOOOOOOOO also how much do i love that they keep having the same pissy conversations about their not-teams and bullshit semantics? hint: SO FUCKIN MUCH
SOB SLEEPY GOODBYE KISSING NO DON'T GO also oh my god the brief blind panic at happy family. flksjd NATASHA'S CAT i like to imagine the two of them being like what the fuck, we raised like ten teenaged aliens between us DURING THE HOLIDAYS TO BOOT, how can we not keep this cat alive? flkjsdljlfaksdj just. cat-sitting. i'm never gonna get over it. natasha pick literally anybody else to cat-sit please. BUT HAHA TOTALLY JOKING yeah right victor you big old mo. ugh the mission being more dangerous than he let on and I'M NOT LISTENING BUT I KNOW IT WAS A DUMBASS COMMENT lfmsdlkj god dammit all of it is just so completely on point. how do you do it. let me steal your secrets
ALSO FUCKING OUCH KLARA PLEASE COME BACK FOR ME THIS TIME god i have to reiterate i was SO ALONG FOR THE RIDE HERE, klara had 150% of my sympathy by this point and i was just like yes poor sweet abandoned baby girl tough it out with nathan for a full 24 hours and then you can get your robobrother back and everything will be okay
KLARA CLEANING THEIR HOUSE THOUGH SCREAMS flksdjfsfdslkj god dammit she was a child bride she shouldn't be doing this. NOT GONNA DIE ON THE MID CENTURY GIRL ISN'T INTO GAY MARRIAGE HILL i'm telling you i laughed so so so much during this. AND OHHHHHH MYYYYYY GODDDDDDDD NATHAN CALLING HER OUT ON HER BULLSHIT IS MY FAVORITE THING TO END ALL FAVORITE THINGS!! and being like bitch please let me tell you what a miserable experience being mad at victor is. GOD. WHO PUTS GREEN EYES ON A SPANIARD that part alone has kept me sane at work for two full days now, thank you for that. fucking ultron. YOU'RE STILL MAD AT HIM AND YOU FEEL SHIT ABOUT IT BECAUSE HE'S SO NICE i like did a happy dance in my reading chair because even though he hates the runaways being mad at victor he totally gets the position they're in and is like YEAH DON'T TRY HIDING IT ugh i love it i love it i love it so much kill me please. flkjsd sob he's got enough sorry in him to go around the world twice UGH AND IT'S NOT THE WORST THING TO HAPPEN TO YOU. i can't help it i just really like when nathan gets under somebody's skin and you wrote it PERFECTLY FUCK YOUUUUU
fsdjflksdj GOD and he keeps pushing her buttons and she gets so fussed BUT SHE STILL CROWDS NEAR HIM WHEN THE ELEVATOR FILLS UP ;A; and he feels bad for like 1/16th of a second lfkmsdklfjsd it's so good IT'S SO GOOD!! flkjsd ugh and he says he'll go along too YEAH WHAT KIND OF BOYFRIEND INDEED NATHAN. A SANE ONE PROBABLY. also i laughed so fucking hard at ONLY THE LORD IS ETERNAL even though i already knew that part, IT NEVER STOPS BEING FUNNY. flksdj you've seen thor right? seriously klara, nathan likes jesus as much as the next guy but you've got to suspend your disbelief when the god of thunder is drinking you under the table. oh my god i'm so excited to write alisha being like EHMMM WE KILLED JESUS and klara's twisted little face ALSO OH MY GOD FUCK TONY HAHAHAHFLSKDJ READING THROUGH SEXTS PLEASE GOD NO THIS IS A NIGHTMARE. FUCK TONY FOR REAL. also omg pepper's bangle I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE!! flksdj hey lucky. god. he hates tony so much.
NATASHA NATASHA NATASHAAAAA i'm so glad i saw winter soldier it made me love natasha 3948308097209x more. HOW DID THE MISSION GO BAD AHHHH
god klara at the museum is so sad. OLD LACE :(( that's a fucked up field trip nathan, super insensitive. FLSKJD ALTHOUGH I DO LOVE HER PURPOSEFULY CAUSING TROUBLE ugh klara. WE COULD'VE HAD SOME GOOD TIMES but no, you turned out to be fuckin loco and seriously SERIOUSLY FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME i was totally on board with Nathan and Klara's Big Day Out and was like aww yay, immortal feelings talk in the park, aww a skyline shaped like tony's cock sdlfksd AWW THE FUTURE IS GOING TO BE AWESOME KLARA JUST YOU WATCH!! but then 'do you make people nervous' and i was like oh no something is not right. UGH EVERYONE BACKING OFF WHEN HE'S DOING HIS MEDIUM SHIT AND FUCKING HAWKEYE you know all my favorite things sob. and then AND THEN!! KLARA BEING LIKE WE NEED ALL THE ALIE WE CAN GET, THEY'RE GOING TO COME FOR YOU, YOU DON'T BELONG WITH THESE PEOPLE oh my god the rollercoaster was reaching its feverpitch and i was screeching i swear to god. I DID NOT SEE ANY OF THAT COMING I FULLY YELPED OUT LOUD LIKE A DOG THAT GOT STEPPED ON!! also sidenote, i'm literally never going to get over kelly going to xaviers. NEVER. like simon had to go on that trip, he just had to, there is no way he'd be able to go on living if he didn't. flskdj god i keep thinking of OH GOOD SHE TOLD YOU NOW I CAN SHOW YOU MY PICTURES WITH WOLVERINE nathan's friends are the worst. well ok maybe not the worst after this SERIOUSLY KLARA AND MOLLY WHAT THE FUCK!!!!! I LOVE IT I LOVE IT SO MUCH BEST TWIST
AND THE TWIST WAS
THEY WANTED NATHAN TO BE THE GHOST WHISPERER TO MAGNETO
LKMFSDLKHFAOPSDIFJAKSDFASDKJ I DIED but also it's kind of horrifying. you know nathan was like uh i know i said i wanted to be more useful to the team but NOT THE KIND OF USEFUL WHERE EVIL FUCKS KNOW ABOUT IT AND COVET IT sdlkrjsdlkj scream. flawless plan klara and molly ABSOLUTELY FLAWLESS
MY ABSOLUTE LOUDEST HORSIEST LAUGH WAS AT KELLY'S TEXT BY THE WAY FLKSDJ HAPPY TO BE WELL OUTTA ACADEMIA AFTER THAT SHIT
ugh and then it went right back to seriously upsetting because MOLLY :(( BACKSTABBING MINIBITCH VICTOR WAS REALLY GLAD KLARA WAS OK AND YOU USED HIM oh my god my little heart. ugh and thinking it was partially his fault AND VICTOR BEING SO DEFEATED OH NO OH NO I MADE A HORRIFIC SAD NOISE AT HIS TINNY TIRED LITTLE VOICE and nathan kicking into hyperdrive mode like we can fix it this is how we're gonna fix it. ugh UGH FLKJSD THEY CAN JUST PACK UP AND LEAVE FOR A WHILE, STEVE DOES IT ALL THE TIME!! thank fucking god steve and sam going on bucky-hunting road trips is canon in our au i'm seriously so happy about it. UGH BUT NATHAN COMING UP WITH A PLAN AND VICTOR NOT EVEN ACKNOWLEDGING IT BECAUSE HE HAS TO CALL NICO my little heart fuuuuck yoooou jackie
god WHERE AM I GONNA GO and victor being like obviously i'd find your sorry ass again. SOB. SOBBBBB THEY LOVE EACH OTHER SO MUCH /)A(\ jackie they love each other so much. it lights up my life on my darkest days. i say this like every time i comment on one of your fics but i am never going to love anything as much as nathan and victor love each other, it's not humanly possible
ALSO OH MY GOD GO CALL BARRY TO CHEER HIMSELF UP FLSKDMFLKSDJ and it works perfectly. of course it does. nothing can brighten a shitty situation like making nathan look like a fool in front of simon. BUT YOU KNOW SIMON ALMOST BURST INTO TEARS ON THE OTHER END OF THE PHONE LIKE WHY DOESN'T THE BROTHERHOOD WANT TO RECRUIT ME well that's going to make the wedding even more of a shitshow i'm so pumped
AND FUCK MOLLY OH MY GOD
OHHH
MYYYYY
GODDDDDDDDDDDDD
PERFECT ENDING I WANTED TO PUNCH HER IN THE FACE molly no you can't be evil :( they'll fix it. how can they fix it?
UGH AS EVIDENCED BY ALL MY SCREAMING I LOVED EVERY SINGLE SECOND OF IT i fell asleep with it open on my phone last night and also the night before. i'm now immediately going to reread it again. SERIOUSLY FUCK YOU HOW IS THIS SO HILARIOUS AND HEARTFELT AND SPOT ON ALL AT ONCE ARE YOU A LITERAL GOD? YOU ARE AREN'T YOU
i hate everything
no i don't
i love evreyingtlhsd89oghiasdklgjhasoiajskdlfaslvjasdfsdfkjkl ROBOHOMOS ;3;
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GOT A LOT LONGER THAN I REALIZED HOLY SHIT SORRY
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