every ship is equal, and no one is more powerful than the sea.

[derogatory]

FIVE THINGS MEME

HOW TO PLAY
- Give me as many "five things" prompt for any characters or fandom that you know I'm into
- I will try to write it
- no promises.


COMPLETE
five moments of gay panic for victor
four times victor missed nathan before finding him again (and one time he really didn't)
five disastrous toasts from victor and nathan's big gay wedding
five things about avenger victor and supervillain karolina
five times chase and victor were not friends
five ways victor's bad end could've gone
four successful missions nathan and victor went on (and one that could have gone a lot better)
five moments inside the mentor's lounge
five times victor regretted letting nathan move in

Comments

four successful missions nathan and victor went on (and one that could have gone a lot better)

[derogatory]

i.
“Young’s down,” Barton’s voice crackles across the comm.

“That was fast,” Nat murmurs from her end, and next they’re discussing how they can triple their bet by putting the money on when Tony will sweep in, music blaring. Victor seethes.

“I’m gonna check on him,” he hisses, diving off the western side of the rooftop.

“Stay in position,” Cap warns, and Victor hope hope hopes Steve Rogers didn’t hear him mutter “Eat me” before he turned off the headset.





“Are you dead?” he asks and Nathan raises his head weakly. Victor flinches at the blood spatter that stains his face.

“Not at the moment, no,” he wheezes. Victor kneels next to him, easing an arm behind Nathan and helping the other man sit up. “‘the fuck hit me?”

“We don’t know, Hawkeye is checking it out.” Victor glances at the buildings surrounding them, trying to pinpoint the trajectory of the attack, if they moved onto other civilian targets. “You did great,” he adds, glancing back from the corner of his eye, hurriedly twisting back to the mission in case Nathan notices.

“Oh, yeah,” Nathan coughs, eying his ruined shirt miserably, clearly reevaluating his wardrobe and occupation choice. “I’m shaping up to have an excellent career as a superhero distraction ahead of me.” It’s mean to laugh, and with Nathan it only encourages him, but Victor’s picking up on their old habits quick. “So we just wait? I thought you said being a superhero is exciting.”

“I lied,” Victor grins. “It was all a ploy to get you here to suffer with me.” He hesitates, face dropping with the inherent supervillain-esq tone of that comment. Suddenly aware he still has his arm around Nathan, Victor quickly pulls it back, imposing the least homosexual distance between them. Yeah, inviting Nathan into the Avengers will turn out great, he thinks with a gulp.

Nathan wrings blood out of his shirt. “Don’t you need to get back to work?”

“It’s fine,” the cyborg lies. His eyes slowly drift from the insecure horizon, Nathan cracking his neck and putting fingers through the holes in his shirt.

“Hey,” Victor says at last, voice tight. “I’m really glad you’re okay.”

“No shit,” Nathan smirks, inching forward to kick out at Victor’s ankles, trying to trip up some S.H.I.E.L.D grade boots. “Why wouldn’t I be? Immortal, remember?” He spreads out his arms with a laugh, only to nearly get sniped a second time.






The novelty of being screamed at by an Avenger, even the first one, got old eventually. It’s not as if Victor was stepping out of line a lot with his new team, but the Runaways taught him his first teenage disobedience, and even if the Avengers would prefer him to deviate from the programmable norm, nobody likes being disrespected by the new kid. Victor’s not sure he’ll ever feel like a complete member of the team beyond what’s hard wired through his veins, but he counts it a victory of inclusion when Steve Rogers yelling at him is more irritating than it is intimidating.

“I know, I’m sorry,” he mutters, slouched against the wall following the briefing. Having Captain America corner him like this reminds him a little of high school, except there aren’t any lockers to get shoved into in the Avengers Tower.

“I don’t think you do,” Steve presses, square jaw and stars and stripes all fixed at disapproval. “This is a team effort. Nathan does his role; I need you to do yours, or there’s no point going in as a group.” Victor scuffs his shoe against the floor, debating keeping his mouth shut and letting Cap get his lecture kicks in without a fight.

“Safety in numbers?” he tries weakly. Nathan is a terrible influence and Victor hurriedly pushes on before Steve can start back up again. “Come on! How much are you gonna yell at me for this? I was worried about him, he’s new.”

“He’s immortal,” Cap insists. “So, you can worry less about him and more about the mission.” Victor starts to protest that Nathan’s his best friend and Steve cuts him off, hand up, “You need to put that aside when we’re on the field.”

Victor gapes, “That’s not how it works!”

“That is how it needs to work when we are a team, Mancha, you keep rank-”

“Okay, except I can’t just turn that off!” he snaps, and something about the look on Steve’s face, like they didn’t have a good word for it in the forties, but he’s got a suspicion about all this worry, the same way Hank suspects, and Victor’s stomach turns to an icy block of shame. He swallows hard, turning over a card he’s not sure he should play, adding before he loses the nerve, “I went looking for him, I thought I’d never see him again.” Steve doesn’t flinch, hasn’t for bullets and won’t for a pointed dig, so it stings Victor instead. He doesn’t suspect anything, Victor angrily tells himself. You’re in your head about this Nathan stuff too much. Cap has decent advice, let that stuff go, focus on the missions, because one way or another it’s going to end shitty for you, like everything else.

He drops his eyes, scolded with silence, the heaviness to the Captain’s voice when he finally answers.

“It’s important you feel something like that for the rest of us, all right?” he says firmly. “We could use you there and you left.”

You left is petulant and sour on his lips, but Victor’s used up an eternity of digs at a man fifty years too old for it. He sighs, residually stubborn, “It’s not that easy.”

“I know,” Steve nods, crossing his arms with a resigned smile. “But apparently you can’t only be a superhero when it’s easy.” Victor’s thankful Nathan comes around the hall at that exact moment, because he was sure his face wouldn’t be able to contain how stupidly cheeseball that was.

Captain American nods to the new recruit, “Good work today.” though his praise is dampened by Nathan’s smarmy faux salute back at it.

“Anytime! Just point me at an enemy and I’ll let it horrifically kill me,” he says cheerfully, turning his attention back to Victor when Steve walks off, roughly messing with the cyborg’s hair. “You owe me a lifetime of free pints after tricking me into this freakshow.”