#jgabs

Everyone's in the cave for the first official spar with widow, they've seen them train and workout by now, but they all do that, even Alfred does. So it's nothing groundbreaking, what they really wanna see is their fighting style.

Currently Bruce and widow are on the mats, hands wrapped and taped up and they've got compression wear on their elbows and knees for safety of course. The others are all watching very closely as Bruce gestures then towards the center of the mat to explain the rules.

"alright, let's go over the basics. No hitting below the belt, no going for the eyes, and no deadly force." He gives you a pointed look at that one while Jason boos him and gives two thumbs down from where he's leaning against a post, Bruce continues speaking regardless of the interruption. "... This is a serious spar though, and I'd like you to treat it as such. No horsing around, just give me your best shots so I can see what you can do."

You watch him patiently while tightening your wrist wraps one last time, the pressure feels nice after all this time without proper gear, but hitting a person is gonna be even nicer. "It's a serious fight?"

Bruce clears his throat subtly, Cass and Tim exchange glances and out of the corner of your eye, you watch Stephanie and Barbara handing something to each other.

"yes, like I said I wanna see what you can-oof!" Bruce grunts as your shin connects with his side in a sudden crane kick, the strike was so sudden it caught him off guard as you hadn't even wound yourself up first.

Stephanie loudly guffaws and you hear someone slapping something, possibly covering their mouth?

Well the fights on apparently.

Bruce throws his hand up to catch your arm as you swing a left hook at him and moves his foot to sweep your ankles, okay maybe it was just a lucky shot-

Your free arm grabs his wrist while you hop over his leg, pressing your feet against his side and leveraging yourself up to throw a thigh over his arm so you're now upside down, hanging your entire weight off his limb like a fucking spider monkey. You secure one thigh around his bicep, squeezing him hard enough that you won't be shook off easily and start kicking at his head with the other leg.

Holy shit you're brutal, he should've worn a mouth piece or something because wow you don't pull your punches or kicks. Bruce quickly drops his weight to the mat like a ragdoll, using his size to his advantage to land heavily on you and put your damn kicking to a stop.

Jason's calling out random advise to you like this is a televised wrestling match and Duke is filming the whole thing, narrating and giving commentary to his phone like this is a nature documentary.

Even Dick is invested, though he's trying to maintain a calm demeanor since Damian's right beside him, trying to analyze your moves and he's trying not to distract the kid.

As soon as both of you loosen your grip you roll away from each other, Bruce quickly stands but you remain squatting, hunched like a defensive cat in the center of the mat. The kids and Bruce are watching you closely, are you out of surprise attacks? Your whole thing seems to be take them by surprise and end it as quickly as possible so maybe you're running out of ideas?

You tilt your head as you watch Bruce closely, your expression becomes more mocking as you smirk at him.

"well? Do I have to take the lead on everything or are you gonna move."

Bruce knows a goad when he hears one, but obviously you expect him to participate more than just blocking and standing around so he'll oblige you. Cautiously, he steps forward. Leading with his dominant side in defensive posture as he waits for you to do something.

Instead you just stand up and back away like you hadn't taunted him a moment ago, do you expect him to follow you all the way across the mat? You're not exactly indicating anything with your body language so Bruce carefully pauses in the middle of the area to see what you'll do, his stance widens and he keeps his hands up and close to himself.

The cave seems to quiet down as everyone holds their breath in wait, nine pairs of eyes on you as you stretch your arms above your head, then dart towards Bruce.

You throw your elbow up towards his throat and he blocks, he blocks the knee aiming for his gut too. Feeling emboldened he attempts to throw a kick but you hop out of the way like a bunny and then come right back into his personal space, he catches your hand bait you can aim for his nose and starts to twist your arm behind your back to restrain you, but you lean forward and again drop your weight to the mat like a wet bag of laundry and kick at his elbow.

He grunts disapprovingly at that. "What part of fight clean did you not get?"

Alfred speaks up from what he's occupying the bat computer chair. "You did say this was a serious fight, master Bruce."

He crosses his arms over his chest scornfully, one thin brow raising as if judging Bruce.

Stephanie Snickers and lightly elbows Cass. "I'm starting to think all shorties are viscous, I thought you and Tim were examples not the standard."

"hey!" Tim sounds very offended at that, but still doesn't take his eyes off the ring for long.

"well you know what they say, short people are closer to hel-ow!" Damian roughly elbows Dick before he can finish that sentence.

While the crowd of children all bicker, you kick Bruce in the knee in an attempted take down. He grunts in pain but manages to stay upright enough to throw his arms around you in an aggressive bear hug, yanking you close enough to trap you against his body. as soon as his hands move you tense.

Once his arms start to lock around you do you realize he's going for a classic chokehold, so before he can lock his hand in the crook of his elbow you play dirty and reach up to give him a nasty horse bite. Your thumb and forefinger curl and pinch the softest part of his inner underarm, you knowing damn well how many nerves are there as you grab as hard as you can.

The second Bruce hisses you let go and quickly drop your weight and drive your elbow into his liver repeatedly, he seems to be fed up with you and drops his arms from around your neck to grab your waist and body slam you to the floor.

That really winded you, so you're slow to wriggle out from under him. Though you both seem to be done for the moment as he sits down properly, now he's just watching you quietly as he recovers. His dignity

Duke is the first one to break the silence that followed the end of the fight, pausing his video and triumphantly holding his phone in the air. "I got all of it!"

Babs glances over at him in amusement. "You know there are cameras all over in here, right?"

Duke nods even as Jason sidles over to him and gestures for his phone. "Obvs, but those don't capture the best angles on the training mats."

Dick ducks into the little training area and hands both you and Bruce a water bottle and a helping hand up, Bruce declines as he cracks his bottle where he sits but you allow the younger man to pull you to your feet. Smirking to yourself before throwing one final verbal jab at the man before walking off the mats.

"y'know..... Bucky definitely still hits harder."

He scowls at your back so quickly you'd think you'd just poisoned his drink, dropping the water bottle as he pushes himself to his feet. "Okay, who the hell is Bucky!?"

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| m.list |

A/n: thank you for sparing me, I've had threats of dog-stealing and everything 😭😭based some of this off past boxing experience lol 😂 smaller hands might equal less muscle behind it, but the smaller point of impact can make up for the power loss and still mess u up. At least that's what I remember that ish felt like anywho, I've slept since then so eh 🤷‍♀️

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regular dating hc’s

first things first J’onn is a very closed off man in a relationship, you gotta understand that not only is he still adjusting to life on a different planet but also the fact his species communicate in an entirely different manner than humans do.

piggybacking off that last one also keep in mind that he’s going to read your mind at random, sometimes without telling you. if you ask him to stop he will though, he does respect you and your autonomy obviously, he’s just used to that being the norm and sometimes he genuinely forgets you can’t look into his head and see how he’s mentally gushing over something you do with the straightest face possible.

if you can put up with that until you two start to iron out the kinks prepare for him to be a very intense partner, you can’t read him so he starts verbally expressing himself to you at the most random of hours. i’m talking when you’re making yourself a coffee in the morning he just walks up to you and grabs your whole head to tell you how much he admires you and enjoys watching you figure out how to navigate life with the resources and things you’ve been dealt. (he gives weird but somehow really heartfelt compliments)

you’ll know he’s getting more comfortable with you the less he shape-shifts around you, outside of when he’s getting ready for work as john he starts to spend more time in his natural form with you. the first few times he showed himself to you he definitely read your mind carefully to see if you were honest when you said you didn’t mind the real him, he’s had a lot of people turn on him just because he’s an alien okay, he’s got trust issues.

i feel like J’onn isn’t a going out in public for a date guy, mimicking all the human expressions can be a bit draining so he’d prefer just one on one time. if you’re ever disappointed he makes it up to you by flying you somewhere quiet but very beautiful on the other side of the planet.

I feel like he'd be into studying your face a lot, eyebrows are weird. But also he likes watching your thoughts cross your face!

Be prepared for this man to eat all your food lol he's a foodie and will want to try your cooking if that's something you do, if not he'd bring you food whatever he himself was in the mood. Probably likes Oreo blizzards.

🔹dovahkiin specific HCs🔹

pls don’t ever do any fire shouts or fire magic around him, he thinks the magic thing is interesting of course but come on.

i think he’d like how tough you are honestly, he’d NEVER intentionally hurt you of course! but there’s still always the lingering thought that there could be an accident or maybe he does something careless. the healing magic/potions thing really puts him at ease too, even if you did get hurt (around him or someone else) he knows you can take care of yourself just fine.

i’ve said it before but he really enjoys reading dovahkiin’s mind, even just the casual adventures you’ve gotten into are so insane to him that it’s like a movie. (a very scary one because why are you always getting hurt????)

he kinda wants to see a dragon in person now, durnehviir and paarthurnax especially interest him, don’t ask him why he wants to meet the fire breathing creatures. even he can’t explain it.

!Okay blurb time!

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“you’re doing that thing again.”

you mumble just loud enough for him to hear over the sound of rain, barely even looking up from the book in your hand as you laze on the couch.

it’s been raining all day and you’ve run out of things to do, cleaning the kitchen? done first thing in the morning when the thunder hadn’t even started yet. that one load of laundry full of odd things like the curtains and the shower curtain? done and J’onn already put everything back in place. now you’re catching up on a book that’s been taunting you, and he’s been staring at you unblinking for over half an hour.

“i am not doing ‘that thing’ as you put it, i’m just….thinking.” he mutters flatly, but the way he leans forward in the recliner tells you he’s not offended, he’s an arm-crosser when he’s mad.

you glance at him, taking in how his red eyes are still focused on you even as his brow ridge furrows slightly. he’s thinking hard about something it looks like. “about?”

you slowly paw around for the bookmark you’d tossed on the coffee table, your fingers clumsily wrapping around it after nearly toppling your tea over and then you mark your page, sitting up and stretching your arms over your head as a yawn sneaks up on you.

he doesn’t answer at first, even as you turn towards him with a curious tilt to your head. he just looks you over, head to toe and back up and then glances around the living room with a melancholic sweep of his eyes. “i think…..this is peaceful.”

you might’ve made a joke about his random statement if you hadn’t watched him suddenly stand from the chair, stretching to his (admittedly impressive) height before promptly walking over to you and carefully crawling over you and sagging into you like a very large, smooth-skinned green cat. you find yourself chuckling, either out of bemusement or maybe surprise. you thought you had a good read on him by now, but sometimes he still catches you by surprise.

“i didn’t realize deep cleaning ended in cuddle-time, maybe we should do that more often.”

you murmur softly, trying for a joke to hide how much you’re internally melting as his arms wrap around you and his fingers twist and dig into the oversized sweatshirt you’re wearing. though judging by the look he gives you he already knows, how unfair.

you give up on the jokes and the playful pouts and just wrap your arms around his shoulders, accepting your fate as his cushion until he grants you your freedom and moves off you.

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| m.list |

A/n: I'm sorry this took so long! Hope you enjoy our jolly green giant 😁

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You should've expected this honestly.

The whole morning felt…. Off, from the moment your feet touched the carpeted floor to the moment you stepped out of the physical therapists office, it was almost like that feeling you get when you're in an area about to be struck by lightning, charged, prickling just under your skin and setting your teeth on edge.

Yet when you stepped out those doors and looked up at the clouded Gotham sky and saw the floating remains of what looked like a large tower, slowly spinning in place as if it were tethered to a string, crumbling pieces of foundation slowly chipping off and tumbling to the ground at a slowed pace like they were made of aerogel…. Yeah you turned around and went back in the office.

Just kidding, No you instead, with great reluctance, stepped out onto the street with the gawking crowds.

Well what the hell are you supposed to do here? You're a human. You don't have Thor on speed dial anymore and you're not exactly close with any of the powered heroes here either, someone in the crowd starts freaking out so with a sigh you pull your phone out to text Bruce. You'll at least make sure he knows about the weird magically floating building, (or maybe it's alien technology? Shit that guy in metropolis could even be involved.)

Did you see the news. :(name)

(Bruce): I'm assuming you mean the large unidentified object in uptown?

It's clearly identifiable. But yes that. :(name)

(Bruce): signal's getting eyes on it for me right now, where are you?

(Name) Sends a photo.

Is this common here? :(name)

(Bruce): no, can't say it is. Someone's going to pick you up so don't get any closer to it.

(Bruce): ….(Name)? Don't do it.

(Bruce): come on don't leave me on read

You pocket your phone with a barely restrained huff as you start walking, the crowd growing larger behind you as the panicked citizens try to figure out what's going on.

You're already not too far from it, it being maybe a block away now, and you don't actually intend to get right up under it. What if it suddenly dropped? That'd be a very stupid way to die….. Why is there a crowd underneath it!?? You'd thought Gothamites had more sense than this.

With a heavy sigh you edge closer to the crowd gathered underneath the long shadow of the floating structure, you're definitely side-eyeing the hell out of all these people - oh signal's on the roof of the nearby bank. The bright yellow gives him away pretty easily honestly.

You pointedly stare at him until he notices you and awkwardly gives a little wave, then you turn your attention to the crowd and try to call out to them. “Excuse me, hello? Excuse me!”

When a few heads turn towards you warily, you gesture up at the danger right above everyone's heads. “Hey you shouldn't stand under that! What if it suddenly fell?”

You watch, hands on your hips as the assorted crowd seem to suddenly realize the dumb position you're all in. A few of them already shuffling away, signal gestures at you frantically but you don't really get a chance to pay him any mind.

Something falls, the building? Just some debris? You don't know. All you know is you see the rapidly growing shadow above all your heads, then your view changes and you're suddenly…. Upside down and in the air???

You find yourself staring down at the street you'd just been standing on, your clothing swaying gently in the breeze as you sway side to side on a…. Line? Or maybe a hook? You look up (your chin tilting down towards your chest) and you see a familiar blue and red blur, One you thought you'd never lay eyes on again.

“(Name)? Oh holy fu-you're alive!” Spider-Man lands on the Web you're apparently tethered to, jostling you enough to have you feeling woozy as the swaying becomes more violent.

Another glance around shows you a piece of debris caught in multiple strands of webbing, suspended between three buildings. A few of the civilians have also been pulled out of the way judging by the webs everywhere and the disoriented looks on the people's faces. You glance back up (down???) at Spider-Man to find him already crawling over to you, you're guessing to free you from the uncomfortable saving grace you've found yourself in.

“Oh my God I thought you died in space too! Like, we deadass even held a funeral for you and everything. wait, shit, fuck, strange mentioned - if you don't know who I am just ignore all that! It's nothing I promise!”

The kid awkwardly stumbling over his own words and backtracking so painfully badly is…. Wow you actually missed it.

“it's just…you look like someone I know! Or knew? Kind of, not that I wouldn't have saved you if you didn't look familiar of course! I'm a hero after all -”

He's starting to ramble, so you clap your one free hand on his shoulder to catch his attention.

“Peter, get me back on the ground please.”

You casually dropping his name shuts him up good, he silently starts to free you from the sticky webs, careful not to pull on anything too harshly or jostle you anymore than you've already been.

He carefully brings you both to the street level, where you're greeted not only by the curious citizens looking between the unknown masked teen and the chunk of building. but also by the sight of signal, staring at the scene while holding a hand to the side of his helmet, no doubt he's reporting the incident to Bruce and the other bats…

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| m.list |

A/n: EHEHEHE Cliff hanger 😈 (anymore would've turned this into a very long piece just so I didn't cut off one of the characters or sumn) lol but fr i hope you like this anon! And again I'm sorry it took a while to answer 😞🤚

I think the first thing they really appreciate is also something that bothers them, that being the way Bruce keeps an airtight lid on his personal life despite being a public figure, it's no secret how much widow despises being exposed to the public eye due to how they grew up/were treated once they defected from Hydra. The manor and cave become a bit of a sanctuary for them, and even if they never outright say it they do appreciate how much Bruce and the family in general work to maintain that false image.

It also drives them nuts when they're trying to learn something genuine about the man, where does he draw the line in the sand between reality and fiction? when did he go to college? Why did he? When did Damian happen and who the hell are the tibetan monks? Widow wants to learn their secrets. It's in there nature to covertly learn secrets and the fact that it's hard with Bruce pisses them off beyond belief.

Another thing they like about the man is his willpower, it's kinda weird even to them but watching this non-enhanced man go out night after night in a bat costume in objectively the worst city in America is….. Well it says a lot about the guy, but one thing widow takes away from it is the fact that Bruce is a kindred spirit in his dedication. Of course widows idea of dedication is kinda skewed towards ‘finish it or die, another will just take my place if I fail’ so that'd probably spark a very concerned conversation if they ever talked about it-

Widow really likes when they can just talk, I know that doesn't seem right since I write them as very closed off, but honestly they just like his intellect. They like that they can talk about nearly anything and he can keep up with the topic. And unlike a certain other billionaire I don't see Bruce acting like he's above them, sure they disagree on things but I don't actually see widow as someone who gets pissy about different opinions. At most they get defensive if it feels like a pointed lecture or something, which I think Bruce is similar so it works out for them *most* of the time.

As for things they find cute, they do like how he interacts with the kids, especially Cassandra. I don't mean this in any kind of weird way but widow watches the gentleness he uses for her despite her past, the easy corrections and the moments he reassures Cass that she's more than what she was made for, It hits widow somewhere deep and uncomfortably emotional. The first time widow was invited with Bruce to watch Cass’ ballet recital, and they watched the pride in his eyes the whole night, widow thought it was genuinely cute, they probably tease him about being a better girl dad or something but they're actually having a moment in their head.

I think I've said this one before and it's not canon at all, but I always write Bruce as a fancy coffee guy. Cold brew and Starbucks all the way give that man a harmless vice instead of pretending he's so above other humans he doesn't even consume sugar. Anyways I think widow pays attention to his food and drink habits and notices things like that, oh it's cute how he'll pretend he's ONLY going out to get macchiato’s with extra salted caramel and whip for Barbara and Stephanie. but why are there three of them Bruce? Widow starts to pay attention to his body language when he's antsy and eventually they can tell when the man is caffeine deprived and doesn't realize it, they'll go out of their way to go get some food he likes and the stupid coffee for him just because. Bruce doesn't even know he has a tell and it really catches him off guard.

The final thing is another one that is both endearing and annoying to widow, and that's Bruce reading them just like they read him. It's frustrating because widow feels like it's harder to hide what they're feeling and thinking and sometimes they get in their head and feel like he's going to judge them. Widow has a very messed up sense of self after all. The way they find it endearing is because it reminds them of Natalia. Nat didn't let them get away with hiding their feelings and often pushed them out of their comfort zone to acknowledge what's on their mind and now that they're separated, widow honestly misses that. They're almost flattered that Bruce feels close enough to them to accurately read them and call them out on bottling things up.

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It'd been a simple visit, short and to the point after Duke and Damian were called into the principals office in school, as the only guardian at home at the time of the phone call you'd kinda had no choice but to go. You were too curious what happened anyways so you hauled ass down town while sending a brief text to Bruce about your departure.

It wasn't anything half as serious as you'd thought, ~~hoped~~. Damian just got into a stupid fistfight in the lunch hall and Duke joined in as soon as his class ended and he'd walked in. There wasn't even any blood.

Of course you acted stern and questioning with the principal and some assistant teacher watching the three of you, kids aren't supposed to beat the snot out of each other right? It was a simple visit.

Until you walked the two boys out to your car.

Honestly you're proud of yourself for not throat punching the random that jumped out from behind a car with a camera in hand, snapping pics and recording you on their phone while asking pushy questions. It was infuriating how entitled to your time random people feel just because you're *technically* a public figure. ~~At least they're not calling you a monster here.~~

“no comment.” Was the only thing you repeated when the man kept shoving his phone in your face like a damn microphone while you elbowed past him with the boys in tow, why would you tell a random stranger why you're at a school? Why would anyone need to know why you're grabbing your boys?

The stupid man then proceeded to shove his phone right in dukes face and snap a photo, the disrespect and the surprised look on Duke's face was enough to have you smack the phone out of the guys hand and pull the boys to the car while ignoring his indignation. That damn creep shouldn't be taking photos of minors on school property anyways.

Your grip on the steering wheel was tight the entire drive home, even when you stopped to get the boys frozen yogurt, the two question you a few times but eventually drop it when you don't give an answer, but you don't even really understand it yourself. It was just some guy who thought he'd get a few views, you've literally lived through half the universe dying, why did this get you worked up?

Bruce been eyeing you since he got home, the telltale pinched brow and swiveling head only irritates you further and makes you wanna go for a long jog. ~~Or maybe smack him a little.~~ You *know* he's going all Batman on you in his mind, even down in the cave when you're beating a punching bag like it owes you something, he's slowly suiting up close by just to keep watching you, idly tightening the straps on his wrist braces just slow enough for the sound to drive you kinda nuts.

“your stance is too wide.”

His calmly spoken call is near enough to have you whirl around on him, is he trying to piss you off to get you to talk to him?

“I know how to hit things, thank you very much.”

You know his game, and you're not in the mood to play twenty questions about your *feelings*. No you're just fine with hitting a leather bag until your hand wraps start to pinch, maybe if you imagine that stupid man's face on the bag you'll feel better.

Bruce stands up from the bench to pace over to you, placing himself just behind the bag so you'd have to look at him to keep using it. Honestly without the cape or utility belt on you kinda think his skintight suit is even funnier looking, it just looks wrong without the dramatic flair. You tell him just that and he just rolls his eyes at your little jab before ultimately ignoring it to continue his lecture. “Funny, but you're still leaving yourself open with that stance, I don't think anyone likes getting kicked between the legs.”

“if anyone ever manages to land a kick on me there then they better have a damn good cup on, I'll tell you that much.” You stubbornly keep your focus zeroed in on the punching bag. Yet despite your grumbling and general irritation with his critique, you still tighten your stance up. Better to not tempt him to put your reflexes to the test.

He crosses his arms, damn him you know he's fully focused now.

“…should I start taking wild guesses here, or do you wanna tell me why you're pounding sand all pissed off?”

With a huff you pause, leaning around the bag to give him your dirtiest look. “Guess first, I wanna laugh at your terrible choices.”

He sighs at the taunting tone, but still steps closer and studies you closely for a moment before speaking. “Well….You were fine this morning before I left…. You seemed fine when you texted me…. I'm guessing it was either the principal questioning you, or the YouTuber Duke mentioned…?”

Damn, you should've guessed one of them would mention the encounter, you turn your focus back to the punching bag and resume your stance, but before you can start swinging again Bruce steps half in your way. “(Name). Come on don't just ignore this. Something happened and I *just* want to talk about it for a bit, can you at least tell me what bothered you?”

He gives you a pointed look that makes it clear he's not dropping the issue just yet, he's as stubborn as you are unfortunately.

With an exaggerated huff you straighten up again and start to peel your left hand wrap off. “….I dunno. Wasn't the school officials or anything like that.”

Your words are terse, hesitant in a way that isn't your normal.

Bruce nods slowly as his eyes flick over your form, lingering on your freshly exposed knuckles for just a second before he looks at your expression. “So it was the man taking videos?”

You just shrug a shoulder and look away to focus on your hands. “…. No, I guess-i don't really know why he bothered me. I've been in all kinds of interviews and photographed without my knowledge before, he didn't even ask disparaging questions. Something about him just pissed me off.”

You abruptly turn away to drop the hand wraps in the laundry system, your steps slow even as you have the unexplainable urge to avoid Bruce. Or at least avoid this conversation, you feel *silly.* Foolish for letting a random civilian bother you, he was just a guy asking a local minor celebrity for an interview, being a bit weird with the pics of the equal celebrity status children, but that's their normal. But that's not **your** normal is it?

Bruce suddenly steps in front of you again, a cold water bottle in hand that he offers to you. “you're allowed to be annoyed with pushy strangers, y'know.”

You almost turn down the drink, but decide otherwise when you lick your chapped lips. It'll give you something to do with your hands anyways. “…. I'm aware, B. I just mean that-the incident was so minor, I've been through actual-ugh, I feel like I'm not even explaining myself well now.”

A huff escapes you as you lean against a stack of crates and crack the lid on the water, taking a long swig to wet your palette before you speak again. “I've been through a lot of very difficult, hard to comprehend things, this should mean absolutely nothing to me.”

Bruce tilts his head like a cat studying you, his expression is hard to read right now but it doesn't annoy you like it usually would, you don't wanna know what he thinks of you like this.

“maybe you felt unprepared.”

His blunt statement nearly makes you roll your eyes. “I'm always prepared.”

“I meant emotionally, you felt like you were stuck between public courtesy, and keeping the kids safe from harassment at school. At least going off what they told me…”

“I'm not emotionally fragile enough to lose it over….. Ugh, can't even take my anger out on things around here without one of you playing psychoanalyst on me. Come shower with me before you go into town.”

Bruce gives you a mocking salute. “Yes Captain.”

He's already trying (and failing) to take off his wrist straps and boots as he follows you.

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| m.list |

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You're sitting in Cass' room, fingers tangled in her hair as Stephanie babbles on from beside you about her latest attempt to get the drop on the young lady who's hair you're fiddling with.

It's so similar to that dream you had what feels like months ago, except now there's the addition of Barbara in the room, and you're learning how to do this without some YouTuber explaining a single step slowly and over and over, this feels more like.... Your style of things. You're quiet, intensely focused on the four strands of hair trying to slip through your fingers.

Cass is equally silent as she watches you work through her princess vanity mirror, letting you do whatever you want to her hair as you both figure the other out in the silence you're filling between the other twos stilted conversation in the girly bedroom.

A strand slips through your fingers and you scowl at your own mistake, gripping the other three carefully as you attempt to straighten out the braid to continue, without saying a word Cass hands you a fine toothed comb and starts prepping a mini hair tie.

She knows what it's like to want to be a perfectionist and get everything right the first try, so that's why she'll never comment or draw attention to a mistake you might make, if Cass is learning to accept her own faults she wants you to as well.

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When Bruce heard the youngest two had forcibly dragged you out of your room and into one of the living rooms he hadn't known what to expect, were you a willing participant? Just complacent? Angry? Fed up?

He looks for you, not running around like a headless chicken of course, that would be ridiculous and overkill. no he walks calmly until he finds you three-six?.... You're sitting in the floor around a coffee table that's been pushed into the center of the room, blankets thrown haphazardly off couches, drinks set on the expensive carpet like you're all uncivilized animals, you're calmly explaining something to the small crowd around you.

"-and so that's why botulism is actually a very effective way of assassination, you can inject something as small as one singular cubed tomato in a soup pot and poison an entire group of people. Better yet, it looks like food poisoning, or improper prepared food, a simple mistake. It's-"

You pause your words as you notice him in the doorway, head tilting as your eyes meet.

Dick, not noticing Bruce, raises a hand like this is a school lecture and asks you a question.

"okay, so how do I tell if I've been poisoned with botulism? And what do I do?"

You hum and reluctantly return your attention to the table, taking a large swig of your drink to whet your throat.

"First symptoms are cloudy thoughts and heavy limbs, heavy tongue or difficulty swallowing. If you progressively lose motor function or find yourself struggling to grip things you should first get on antibiotics and if you have access to it, an antitoxin. You're gonna need a blood transfusion from a non infected person most likely as well, depending on how far it's spread."

Jason leans forward and drops his elbows on the coffee table with a dull thud. "A blood transfusion for poisoning?"

Bruce clears his throat pointedly before you can answer, multiple pairs of eyes snap to him, (minus Cass and Duke, who'd been facing the doorway and seen him enter.) "if I remember correctly, if you're sick enough to need a blood transfusion you're most likely also paralyzed due to damage to the muscles in your body, yes?"

He slowly walks in the room and takes a seat at the table opposite you, it might be odd to talk about poisoning of all things but.... At least you're bonding with everyone?

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For starters, Natasha's devastated, absolutely wrecked to the point she's almost numb to it all, readers like a sibling to her you know? The whole reason readers sacrifice on vormir even worked is because of how much Natasha loved them so she's feeling a lot of survivors guilt on top of the grieving. Maybe reader would've finally left that lifestyle altogether if it had been her, maybe reader would've found peace instead of a cold cliff with no grave. She'll keep going of course, she's tough as iron and reader didn't die just so she could curl up and waste away, even if sometimes when she goes to their old room she wants to.

Clint's also fucked up about it all because he was there, he watched how reader died all because him and nat distracted each other, he had to carry the infinity stone back because Natasha was a wreck, he had to tell everyone what happened there. Him and reader weren't near as close as Natasha but he still got along with them! (when reader wasn't giving him pushback that is) during the recovery period after the past Thanos fight he spent a lot of time watching old shield footage of reader training and just thinking about how many times he didn't reach out to them, he should've done more for them to help them acclimate like he did for Natasha...

Bucky isn't exactly surprised when he hears the news, he doesn't react at first because he's a solder and they needed to complete their mission, he's done this before. but in his mind he was spiraling the whole time, they wanted to redeem themselves so bad they had to go and die for half the universe huh. (He never got to break through those walls around them, he never got to talk in any depth about the red room, he never got to apologize for what he did to them.) like Natasha he sometimes goes to their room and just looks around, how did they decorate? Did they allow themselves any hobbies? Did they have a favorite show? It feels weird being there so he doesn't linger.

I think Steve was actually really surprised when he found out himself, not because he didn't think they were capable of putting half the universe over themselves, but because he didn't think they'd do it like that. He looks at Natasha as Clint describes the fall, and all he can think about is how he watched Bucky fall off that train. He spends a lot of time trying to be their for Natasha more than processing his own feelings, makes sure she's sticking to her therapy sessions and letting her spar with him when she's so wound up she needs to take it out with her fists. But at night when it's quiet and dark in his apartment, he thinks about the times where reader and him talked, usually after training when you were both sore and sweaty and more open to chatting after they were bruised up, it leaves him tossing and turning at night.

Thor doesn't cry or freak out when he finds out what happened to reader, he gives a solemn nod of his head and pats Clint and Natasha on the back when they return from vormir alone. They don't even have to say it and he can guess at what happened. Of course things move very quickly after they all return with the infinity stones so there's no time to talk, but when things are over and the stones have been returned and everything, he prays for reader for days, they got along surprisingly well and he always enjoyed readers more abrasive personality in comparison to some mortals, he saw it as bravery! He thought he had a few more short years of their sass before readers mortal life span took them from the realm though...

Tony doesn't believe the two at first, after everything the og's lived through together reader gets taken out for a rock? The hypocrite that can't be right, surely it's a sick prank. Yeah he and reader got along as well as water and oil, but he's not heartless. You'd have to be messed up to not care at least somewhat for someone you've spent so much time around. And that's what Tony deals with, he might have even tried to bring them back with the iron infinity glove...

I can see Bruce (banner) being more like Steve, he's trying to be there for Natasha and help her through it in anyway he can, you know how Tony was venting to him like a therapist in that one scene? He keeps trying to get her to talk to him and open up like that (even if he's not that kind of doctor, but shhh 🤫) the more Natasha talks about reader the more he gets emotional, what do you mean reader and Natasha binge watched shows together? What do you mean reader had a favorite food that they'd punch someone for? What do you mean reader liked reading romance novels? The more she opens up about reader the more he realizes he didn't know them at all, and now he never will.

Wanda was surprisingly close with reader so she crashes out about it, she knew about readers mental issues, about their past, their hobbies and favorite things, perks of being a mind reader ig. 🤷‍♀️ Wanda felt that she was really close with reader because of those things, even when she knew they were trying to keep things from her. They used to speak to her in sokovian during training, it was comforting after Pietro.... Now she's alone with the language and her training partners gone just like everyone else she's lost...

➕ bonus character's ➕

Yelena has a level ten crash out, like I'm sorry but y'all saw how she was when Natasha died, she doesn't handle grief well so she's definitely showing herself to the avengers in some way or another, she might pull a fast one on them and kidnap someone just so she can get the details on how reader actually died (I imagine the media wouldn't exactly be kind to one of the assassin avengers so they're not saying much.) it'd probably be Clint or Tony? She's not dumb enough to try a super soldier or a witch or a demigod. Would talking to Nat be easier? Yes, but she's not looking for easy when she's grieving.

Peters so so so sad like you have no idea, he's young and still so... Not used to this life. Even after Uncle Ben it's hard for him to accept how easily people can just die. He's definitely a crier, they were the spider gang! They actually let him ramble on about things to them! Sure the dating advice sucked ('establishing dominance over the competition' isn't exactly helpful) but reader said it because they listened to his complaints about everyday normal life things, how many people can say they've gotten that from an avenger? He spends a lot of time brooding on top of buildings after that (sound like someone?) sometimes he'll even ask Karen to play recordings of readers voice when it's quiet enough. It doesn't help but he likes to think reader would find it endearing from wherever they are now.

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A/n: here u go! I hope you like this because I sure did, I'll have to write a proper one shot of this but I wanted to get out some general HCs about this for now, again I loved this question and it really made me sit and think about how the avengers dynamic would be different with certain characters still alive as they try to settle back into some kind of normalcy after everything Thanos happened