love, superman

didn't ask for a thing for Reed but

A child often finds wonder in the carnival, wandering through the distortions caused by the hall of mirrors and seeing all of the shapes that could have been. A scientist, particularly Reed Richards, sees instead the span of the multiverse, possibilities. Long had the man been locked behind the iron mask in the wake of his greatest failures that he'd forgotten what the face beneath had looked like before the funhouse distortion had made it unrecognizable even before the hot iron closed in around it.

Doom had forgotten his manners long ago, it seems, as he'd been staring for quite a long moment, hand reaching out hesitantly before a clenched fist pulls it back to his side.

"Are you another nightmare made to torment me?"

The memories hurt, even after being locked away for a measure of non-linear time that was entirely incalculable. Watching Johnny burn to ash, the news footage of Ben shattered against the stone below, Susan fading away slowly in the confines of her hospital bed.

“ testy. ” it's mumbled, quiet enough to be little more than a puff of humid air against the mask's leathery interior. his eyes were all that peered out from beneath the swine's head, and the slow, withering smile that crept across his face failed to meet them. for all his fondness of the ritzier side of the coin, he stuck out like a sore thumb, like a bone snapped at the joint : there's two hundred and six bones in a man's body, two hundred and twenty three in a domestic pig's, and birds had never been of much interest to him — not in the way of hoofed livestock and where they fell on the butcher board. all the more reason to mind his manners, a domestic pig was a smart creature, clever, capable of listening. “ despite appearances, i was not raised in a barn, you know. ”

❝ 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐮𝐬 , 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐚. 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 ... 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬. ❞

"i'm ... deeply sorry," the screaming is still going in the other room, natasha's patience has completely gone down the drain by now. "we usually try to make a better impression but," hand vaguely gestures toward the door. sigh pushes past lips, gaze subtly observing surroundings. "any news about your husband, @scidefy? you must be worried."