𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔

“hey,” frank was leaning against the counter of her apartment, a cup of coffee he’d let grow cold two hours earlier in his hand. he didn’t mean to get up so early, but he never slept well anyway. “want breakfast?” he asked, tilting his head and offering a smile, moving to set the coffee down and to walk towards her - one arm snaking around her torso and pulling her in. “i hope you slept well, i know i toss and turn a lot...” he knew he should address their feelings, what they both seemed to realize from the day before - but frank was in territory he hadn’t been in for a long time. “you good?”

“rogue,” natasha repeated, offering a serene smile, there was an interest sense of whatever was happening there but rogue’s acceptance of wanting a tour made natasha far more curious. “okay, a tour it is. what would you like to see first? a fight first-hand or some of the backstage mechanics?”

sure, he’d been observing them for awhile while being nestled up behind a few cargo boxes and pretending to read a file on astrophysics. was it a crime to follow people and observe whatever it was that they was doing? he didn’t think so. groot was back on the guardian’s ship so that meant that whatever he was doing was going to be well-spent. that and the person who he was following had what looked like something shiny. before he could slink off and find another angle, however, rocket’s foot slipped and he ended up tripping and spilling out from the cargo - his entire form and the article splayed out onto the ground with him looking up into the face of the person he was following. “uh...” he paused and then pulled a full-toothed smile, “i was just admirin’ the boxes? what? you can’t prove anything - how much for the shiny thing?”

"welcome to the killiseum, i don’t think i’ve seen you around before, at least not near this section,” natasha smiled and spoke calmly, openly - as she looked around the prep rooms - or green rooms, given she believed this was mostly just deadly theater. “have you come for a tour? or just looking around?” she asked, wondering if the other had come because of rad - and she attempted to sus it out. “forgive me for not introducing myself, natasha romanoff, i... well you can say i run a lot behind the scenes here, but my official title is battle coordinator.” she smiled again, still trying to figure rogue out.

"never seen you around these parts before,” val spoke up, sitting up as madelyne walked into frigga’s. she’d been sat at her favorite seat at the bar and had been boldly deciding that today was the day to see where her limits of holding mead would be. she hadn’t found it yet. nor did she feel it. to be a god, or god-adjacent, she supposed. holding up her drink, she invited the other to join her at the bar. “thor’s gone around back, i believe to get some more restocks but i can help you .” she offered, raising a brow and turning to lean over the bar to count what thor had out and open. “plenty of drinks, yeah.”

“you look like someone that i could employ often,” rocket spoke up, looking up at the blonde with a toothy grin. groot leaned forward and ushered a soft “i am groot” before giving illyana a smile and a nod and backing up - making rocket sigh and roll his eyes. “okay i guess it’s weird to say it like that, sorry. what i meant is, you look like you can handle yourself in the middle of literally anything and i would very much like to hire you for jobs i run sometimes in places like the roxxon mines.” he elaborated, giving a shrug of his shoulders. rocket was a very fair boss, or at least he believed he was - so he really didn’t see what the problem could be.

reed knew who steve was - in truth, you’d be a fool who lived under rocks to not know the original captain america. but it was still quite nice to come across him in the bustling district of the kingdom of manhattan. “welcome to latverion, i’d say if i actually believed the planet was deserving of such a cheerful introduction. or its leader, but in truth - it doesn’t and victor does not need to additional ego boost for anything.” reed flashed a quick smile before settling back. “i heard you’d made it here, and i do believe most of the rest of the avengers? that’s good, we could use you.”

rocket’s nose itched and he soon let out a loud and uncontrolled sneeze, wiping his snout with the back of his paw as he looked around for somewhere to wipe his arm off. with a shrug, he reached over and wiped it against the wall before pausing when he felt eyes on him. eyes that weren’t groot’s. “what?” he nearly barked, throwing his arms out to the side before pointing up at the starer. “you don’t sneeze? something got into my nose okay? mind ya business.” rocket’s ear twitched as he watched the person - only to sneeze again. “oh buddy i think i’m allergic to you, what are you?”

layla had decided to take some time to recover from... everything that had gone on recently around latverion. whether it was caused by doom or not - it was chaotic and dangerous and something she wholly condemned. too many people had been thrust into danger unwillingly and she was angry about it. sniffing, layla wiped at her face as she pulled her shawl closer around her - the view from the lighthouse in arcadia was spectacular - and though she wasn’t alone - she had largely kept to herself. that was until someone came up beside her. “sorry, i must look a mess - it’s... a beautiful view, isn’t it?” she asked, pushing a smile through as she turned to face her welcome companion. “do you come here often?”

“so you’ve heard about rad?” she asked casually setting aside her files and picking up her coffee, leveling her gaze at ben as he sat opposite her. she knew her little side project that she had been carefully nurturing was becoming bigger than she could have imagined - and it was nice to see the resistance growing more and more - and all while completely under doom’s nose. “i’d love to recruit you and your team, after all the fantastic four knows the emperor best, do they not?” she knew the answer already, but wanted to hear him confirm it. “what do you say, ben grimm? care to join in the resistance or would you like to take a subtler approach?”

“wow, hey bruce.” it’d been awhile since she’d seen him, but it was nice. natasha had just finished working on the paperwork for the repairs on the killiseum since the m.o.d.o.k. of it all when her office door had opened and bruce stepped through. “i hope you weren’t standing outside and waiting or debating if you should come in,” she raised a brow, a teasing nature in her tone as she smiled. it felt like ages since the team had all been together in one area - far too long - and avoiding the parts where any of them died, well... it’s nice that some variant form of them were here. “clint’s around here too if you wanted to see him, but i suspect you’re here to talk to me about something - what’s up?”

“you lost me at you fly through space. or did.” frank interrupted, holding up a hand to almost beg peter to take a moment and not talk. sure, by now it was reasonable to assume that frank had finally managed to wrap his head around things, that he wasn’t actively fighting against the very real fact that time, space, and magic were real. but he was an old dog who hated new tricks. still, peter was entertaining in regards of keeping frank from focusing too much on any one thing. “so the talking raccoon with a obsession with blowing shit up, he’s your pet?” he asked, kinda figuring rocket belonged to no one but it seemed like if he listened to anyone it was peter quill. “what’s space like?”

but he listened to her words, carefully so. slowly, a smile formed at his lips. “that’s good to know, that’s ah... real good to know.” he understood. he was going to intercept this shipment and find a way to spread it out to those that actually needed it. “i guess it’s time the bastard become a little more charitable.”

as she stuck the straw in and began to drink the shake, she watched with her brows raised as marc left and steven fronted, only nodding as a promise to not let steven throw out the burger. “steven, hand me marc’s burger please.” she asked as innocent as she could. “he said not to let you throw it out, but he never said i couldn’t take a bite or two.” with a shrug of her shoulders she turned to face the piece she’d collected with a smile. “also, hello to you too.” bumping his shoulder playfully, she pressed a kiss to his temple. after a moment, she returned her attention to the artifact, slowly shaking her head. “no, it isn’t. and unfortunately she’s just as lost as we are - do you think khonsu may know anything or is he keeping secrets today?” 

he listened intently to what she had to say, a sadness quickly overwhelming him at her words. she didn’t know yet - and she shouldn’t have to know. but it was no wonder to him why she was so confused about everything. “yeah, there’s probably a really good reason for that actually. a lot happened and we saw a different version of yous in our future. it’s complicated and weird. i don’t know if you want me to get into it.”

a smile of knowing relief hit her lips the moment she saw the bottle of alcohol being produced. “we know each other too well,” she complimented, moving over to a cabinet and pulling out two glasses - placing them onto her desk. “as always peggy, i’m happy to see you and any time you want to drop in, i’m here.” and natasha meant it. truthfully, she never really went anywhere else - but also she enjoyed peggy’s company. “he wouldn’t dare say anything against me - just...  in concern for me. he’s a good guy.” she shrugged, easing it off as she took the bottle from the desk and poured out two drinks for them. “oh? i’m here to answer any questions you might have - so fire away. my office is a dead zone so no need for code talking.”