ᴿᵒᵇᵉʳᵗᵒ ᵈᵃ ᶜᵒˢᵗᵃ

“To be honest, the current and the future generation of the Avengers would hate you for ‘recruiting’ the Punisher.”

he knows it’s coming before he realizes it. the same BITTER FEELING of having heard these words as if he already had. he’d always hated when people repeated themselves - but usually it wasn’t their fault when he could accurately guess the next thing before it popped into existence. “the universe, i’d say.” he attempts a HALF-SMILE. seeing old friends was nice, it was painful, it was a reminder of what he used to be. child - like, typical boy next-door, probably somebody who slept every night.

douglas can’t help but hug back TIGHTLY. it’s standard, he can breath easily when he knows that the man in front of him is real and truly ALIVE still. 

“honestly, had it been a regular funeral i think most of us would’ve been kind of let down. you don’t want to believe those things are true, y’know? fights are something we can handle, war is something we’re used to, i was only mad you didn’t show up sooner.” he’s JOKING. THEY’RE JOKING, and it’s almost like old times. he can’t help but hope for more of ‘old times.’

       As they pull away from the hug, Berto keeps a hand on the man’s shoulder, almost as if to make sure he is still real and to keep him here. “No need to get mad for that. You know I would come back sooner or later. Just like you did. Just like Sam did. I think we’ve been lucky to have the chance to come back, but we should not rely on luck again. Maybe it happens only once, maybe not but is it really worth the risk?” He shakes his head. “I think not. And I would rather be able to keep seeing my friends, you know?”

“Why do you want me to work with you?”

citizenv

he doubts an apology would help - does it ever, really? words hold meaning. yet in most cases, I’M SORRY is damn near USELESS. but the guilt is consuming him, and he has to at least try. he knows the exact words to make everything okay, the words that will HEAL what he did, even if the apology is coming years later. he can’t remember why he didn’t do it the moment he snapped out, maybe it was because he couldn’t face what he’d done. ( that he was alive, )  it was too much. even now, being alive was too much.

so, he knows the magic words. but he comes off as slow and SICK, trying to stop his subconscious from saying the words. he wants to stop analyzing, stop his power, he wants truth - it was his power that got him into this mess in the first place.

“when we were teens,” technically, douglas still was a teenager. having been dead for a handful of years made sure of that. “i didn’t realize,” he pauses, “i hadn’t meant to . . look, i wish i could take it back; that warlock had found us sooner and i hadn’t attacked you guys. i didn’t realize what i was doing, i know we’ve gone over the details and words have already been said but . . i felt it was still needed, you know? what happened seemed . . impersonal.”

well, as IMPERSONAL as attempting to kill your former team can be.

       “Oh, Doug...” Please do not say that. How can he ask for forgiveness after all this time? He should know that all is forgiven considering everyone was aware of the circumstances that day. Roberto would never blame him for such terrible... accident, if they could call it that. He is just happy to see his friend again. After he’s recently learned that one of his best friends is alive, something like this gets him emotional. “Come on, you know that I understand. Our lives are crazy, always have been. I would become the worst friend in the planet if I held this against you.”

“I was actually forced to join them. I never worked with them. But, at least, they would let me do my job.”

“I already worked with someone. Not the best idea.”

“… I work alone.”