10 Avengers Drabbles
More work done for avengers_land. I took inspiration for these 100 word* drabbles from all over the place - other people’s fan art, threads on tumblr, interactions with my boyfriend, fanfic prompts, the movies and the “Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” cartoon. There’s more Tony/Pepper stuff than I originally planned, but it’s a ship I adore to death and it makes me happy to write about.
There are a few spoilers. You are warned.
*According to an online word count site. One or two of them are 101 words, but what’s an extra word or two between friends?
Pepper never watches Tony fight. That wasn’t entirely true in the past, but she avoids watching now if she can. He knows she doesn’t watch him, and he worried that it was because she didn’t care.
“For a genius, you sure can be stupid sometimes,” she said, frowning at him.
“So, tell me why then.”
“I watched you fly into a portal with a nuclear bomb. I watched your lifeless body fall. I’m not going to watch you die, Tony!”
“Even if I die saving the world?”
She sighed and held him tightly to her. “Yes.”
*
They seem obsessed with asking him questions about his past, as if they can somehow figure out where it all went wrong. It feels like they’re picking at a scab, hoping to bleed the evil out.
Do you miss your brother, Loki?
Do you miss the games you played together, the smiles and laughter in Asgard’s halls?
Do you miss fighting side-by-side instead of face-to-face?
Do you miss knowing that Thor would be there for you, that your brother has your back?
Loki pauses. Memories are jaded through a thick, hateful filter that might never bleed away.
“…Somewhat.”
*
Bruce can feel him inside, all the time, just under the surface. It’s like if you scratched his skin, there would be green underneath. He cannot say he has him tamed, because The Other Guy is impossible to tame, like a volcano or an avalanche. However, the Hulk is smart. He understands that he has the power to change how others see both of them. He won’t be hunted to the ends of the earth and Bruce might have a chance or two at happiness. That makes turning a monster into a hero into a very worthy goal.
*
Every time it storms, Jane Foster wants to be outside in it. Most of her co-workers think she’s crazy, standing out there in the rain or under some shelter if there’s hail, always looking up into the clouds, smiling at the thunder and lightning.
When they ask her why, she simply says “I like thunder storms.” They’ve accepted that answer, and stopped bothering her about it.
She doesn’t tell them she still loves the god of thunder, and other than the times she sees him in her sleep, this is how to be close to him.
*
“A girl has 3 guys in her life. A guy she loves. A guy she hates. A guy she can't live without. In the end, they're all the same guy.”
Those words leaped off the computer screen at Pepper. Most quotes like that never seem to connect with her. She considers them to be way too sappy to apply to her life of stress.
This one though… this one sticks.
Outside, she can hear Iron Man landing, then the robots seamlessly undressing Tony of his armour as he walks inside. She closes her laptop and goes to give him a kiss.
*
Tony’s soft voice rouses Pepper from the kind of little sleep that sometimes happens after a marathon of powerful orgasms. She’s laying on her front and can feel Tony’s fingers on her back, poking gently at different spots.
“One, two, three, four, five…”
“What are you doing?” she asks.
“Counting your freckles,” he says. “Six, seven, eight, nine…”
“When I was a kid, the other kids in my swimming class used to tease me about my freckles.”
Tony gives the back of her head a kiss. “Well, I like them. Now, shh. I’m counting. Ten, eleven, twelve…”
*
Steve wakes with a start. His pulse races as the end of his nightmare fades away. Another war dream. Sometimes he’s dodging deadly blue energy rays and fighting Red Skull. Sometimes he’s crashing into the ice, hearing Peggy’s heartbreaking voice.
He gets up and grabs the chain of a punching bag he’s brought back to his apartment, hanging it up. He can hear heavy traffic outside as he wraps his hands. New York’s always been busy, but tonight it feels wrong somehow.
He takes a deep breath and jabs the bag with a right hook.
*
“What are you reading?”
Captain Rogers looks up at the voice, the file still open in his hand. He always preferred the hard-copy files, never the electronic ones. Tony Stark is there, and he can read his name up-side down before Steve can close the folder. He saw a photo too, of what was left of the Mach 1 suit of armour.
Steve knows he’s caught, and won’t lie. “What happened to you in Afghanistan? How did you get that thing in your chest?”
Tony sighs a little. “You’d better sit down. This is a fairly long story.”
*
Steve feels like they’ve lost. He’d wrongly assumed that Tony wasn’t the type to leap on a grenade. But now Tony is on his back, dead still. Thor is there, and the Hulk, looking helpless for someone so big and fierce. CPR should be attempted at least, but even with Tony’s face exposed, there’s physically no way to do chest compressions through the armour. Maybe Hulk or Thor could remove it, but then there’s the chest implant…
Steve flinches when Hulk roars, and then sighs in relief when Tony’s eyes open. They’ve won.
*
For Clint, it’s the most natural thing in the world. It’s in the breathing, in the arm and back muscles, in the senses - see, hear and feel where the arrow will go. Draw back, let go between heart beats. Hit the target, move on to the next. He is a pure, primal hunter.
Archery is ancient and mythological. Back in training, he had to prove why bows were better for him, how he could out-shoot all the other snipers and gunslingers.
No one dares to doubt his aim now, least they want an arrow through their eye.
There are a few spoilers. You are warned.
*According to an online word count site. One or two of them are 101 words, but what’s an extra word or two between friends?
Pepper never watches Tony fight. That wasn’t entirely true in the past, but she avoids watching now if she can. He knows she doesn’t watch him, and he worried that it was because she didn’t care.
“For a genius, you sure can be stupid sometimes,” she said, frowning at him.
“So, tell me why then.”
“I watched you fly into a portal with a nuclear bomb. I watched your lifeless body fall. I’m not going to watch you die, Tony!”
“Even if I die saving the world?”
She sighed and held him tightly to her. “Yes.”
*
They seem obsessed with asking him questions about his past, as if they can somehow figure out where it all went wrong. It feels like they’re picking at a scab, hoping to bleed the evil out.
Do you miss your brother, Loki?
Do you miss the games you played together, the smiles and laughter in Asgard’s halls?
Do you miss fighting side-by-side instead of face-to-face?
Do you miss knowing that Thor would be there for you, that your brother has your back?
Loki pauses. Memories are jaded through a thick, hateful filter that might never bleed away.
“…Somewhat.”
*
Bruce can feel him inside, all the time, just under the surface. It’s like if you scratched his skin, there would be green underneath. He cannot say he has him tamed, because The Other Guy is impossible to tame, like a volcano or an avalanche. However, the Hulk is smart. He understands that he has the power to change how others see both of them. He won’t be hunted to the ends of the earth and Bruce might have a chance or two at happiness. That makes turning a monster into a hero into a very worthy goal.
*
Every time it storms, Jane Foster wants to be outside in it. Most of her co-workers think she’s crazy, standing out there in the rain or under some shelter if there’s hail, always looking up into the clouds, smiling at the thunder and lightning.
When they ask her why, she simply says “I like thunder storms.” They’ve accepted that answer, and stopped bothering her about it.
She doesn’t tell them she still loves the god of thunder, and other than the times she sees him in her sleep, this is how to be close to him.
*
“A girl has 3 guys in her life. A guy she loves. A guy she hates. A guy she can't live without. In the end, they're all the same guy.”
Those words leaped off the computer screen at Pepper. Most quotes like that never seem to connect with her. She considers them to be way too sappy to apply to her life of stress.
This one though… this one sticks.
Outside, she can hear Iron Man landing, then the robots seamlessly undressing Tony of his armour as he walks inside. She closes her laptop and goes to give him a kiss.
*
Tony’s soft voice rouses Pepper from the kind of little sleep that sometimes happens after a marathon of powerful orgasms. She’s laying on her front and can feel Tony’s fingers on her back, poking gently at different spots.
“One, two, three, four, five…”
“What are you doing?” she asks.
“Counting your freckles,” he says. “Six, seven, eight, nine…”
“When I was a kid, the other kids in my swimming class used to tease me about my freckles.”
Tony gives the back of her head a kiss. “Well, I like them. Now, shh. I’m counting. Ten, eleven, twelve…”
*
Steve wakes with a start. His pulse races as the end of his nightmare fades away. Another war dream. Sometimes he’s dodging deadly blue energy rays and fighting Red Skull. Sometimes he’s crashing into the ice, hearing Peggy’s heartbreaking voice.
He gets up and grabs the chain of a punching bag he’s brought back to his apartment, hanging it up. He can hear heavy traffic outside as he wraps his hands. New York’s always been busy, but tonight it feels wrong somehow.
He takes a deep breath and jabs the bag with a right hook.
*
“What are you reading?”
Captain Rogers looks up at the voice, the file still open in his hand. He always preferred the hard-copy files, never the electronic ones. Tony Stark is there, and he can read his name up-side down before Steve can close the folder. He saw a photo too, of what was left of the Mach 1 suit of armour.
Steve knows he’s caught, and won’t lie. “What happened to you in Afghanistan? How did you get that thing in your chest?”
Tony sighs a little. “You’d better sit down. This is a fairly long story.”
*
Steve feels like they’ve lost. He’d wrongly assumed that Tony wasn’t the type to leap on a grenade. But now Tony is on his back, dead still. Thor is there, and the Hulk, looking helpless for someone so big and fierce. CPR should be attempted at least, but even with Tony’s face exposed, there’s physically no way to do chest compressions through the armour. Maybe Hulk or Thor could remove it, but then there’s the chest implant…
Steve flinches when Hulk roars, and then sighs in relief when Tony’s eyes open. They’ve won.
*
For Clint, it’s the most natural thing in the world. It’s in the breathing, in the arm and back muscles, in the senses - see, hear and feel where the arrow will go. Draw back, let go between heart beats. Hit the target, move on to the next. He is a pure, primal hunter.
Archery is ancient and mythological. Back in training, he had to prove why bows were better for him, how he could out-shoot all the other snipers and gunslingers.
No one dares to doubt his aim now, least they want an arrow through their eye.