Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter. Also, thank you to all those that have left kudos. Every bit keeps me writing. The last conversation generated a lot of comments. I promise several when replying that this would be up by Friday but the week was a little more chaotic than I thought it would be and I did not have time to finalize the chapter until this morning.
In regards to some of the reviews, I want to address how this story will be handling the Accords. I will be taking my cues from Agents of Shield on enforcement to some degree because they are the first part of the MCU to really deal with the fallout (even Luke Cage will apparently be taking place pre-Accords and before the episode Watchdog of AOS which takes place in late February early March in the story).
However, I'm planning for there to be changes brought on by Tony and Steve talking to each other that may mitigate some of the awfulness. I'm taking the position that Accords or similar legislation is necessary, but the execution of such legislation could be problematic, depending on who's actually in charge of enforcement. How do we create legislation that works for everyone? Is that possible with the current Accords or do they need amending? Are amendments even possible? Who is such legislation really protecting? We will explore these questions as the story unfolds.
This chapter takes place about three days after the last one.
Conversation 21: I Hope you Have Found a Friend
Cuddle Bunny: How did therapy go?
Me: Surprisingly well. By my standards anyway. My new therapist just happens to be your old therapist, Dr. Suarez. She was neither Hydra nor out to get me, all positives in my opinion.
Cuddle Bunny: I consider those positives too. Also it's nice to know that she survived.
Me: Actually, she was just one of a handful of Shield therapists that did not turn out to be Hydra. Most were because therapy sessions were a good way to see who would be loyal to the cause. It turns out some Hydra flunky was the one who really did my profile which explains the recommendation.
Cuddle Bunny: I'm not even surprised. Hydra definitely wouldn't want you anywhere near them. Me neither, for that matter, which probably explains that ridiculous way they tried to ease me into the truth.
Me: Probably. Thankfully, my session didn't end that badly. I didn't break down in hysterical tears after I was forced to talk about my Howard issues. I was also not subjected to several rounds of invasive questions about my unauthorized contact with enhanced persons. Finally, nobody turned the thing into a giant interrogation session. Bonus points for that.
Cuddle Bunny: That's good.
Me: Dr. Suarez brought a toaster for me to put back together again.
Cuddle Bunny: You are happiest when you're fixing things.
Me: And finally I found someone other than Laura who realizes that.
Cuddle Bunny: Do most of your sessions with Laura happen in your lab or when you're working on the armor?
Me: Or designing new gear in the new art studio/design room. They're my happy spaces. However, the break room toaster now works perfectly fine and I added the PKI card reader to it so only authorized agents can now make toast.
Cuddle Bunny: I assume that Coulson will never be able to make toast again?
Me: I'm not telling.
Cuddle Bunny: I assume that Dr. Suarez is now a member of the ATCU?
Me: Dr. Suarez is more like a contractor or consultant. She was friends with your ex-girlfriend's now deceased ex-husband, a.k.a. the former top Shield psychologist Dr. Andrew Garner. Dr. Suarez is currently filling in as a favor until they can get someone permanent.
Cuddle Bunny: Melinda's ex-husband died?
Me: Right after our little fuck up in Siberia. He was killed by one of the big bad's minions trying to rescue Agent Daisy. At least that's what I've heard from the Shield rumor mill. However, spies are absolutely awful at gossip. They keep everything to themselves, but Agent Piper likes me.
Cuddle Bunny: Melinda must be devastated. Also, don't sleep with random agents.
Me: Hypocritical Asshole. The only action I'm getting is my hand right now but I'm not going to tell you that. (message not sent)
Me: It's kind of hard to tell. Also, since he was already turning into a giant monster like inhuman that likes to kill other inhumans/enhanced persons before he was killed, she's probably been grieving for a while.
Me: I'm sure part of her is relieved that he won't be subjected to some of the harsher penalties of the accords a.k.a. spending the rest of his life in a gel matrix on the raft. They are even talking about tracking bracelets for the rest of us. I'm going to have so much fun messing with that.
Cuddle Bunny: Since you've said so many outlandish things to me that have turned out to be true, I'm going to trust that the giant killer monster thing is not hyperbole.
Me: Good, we are building a rapport here where you only think I'm slightly crazy. And trust me, it's okay if you don't believe me.
Cuddle Bunny: You're not crazy. You're probably just in need of therapy, but Sam says the same about me.
Me: And Sam is right. You could keep a team of therapists employed for years. (Message not sent).
Me: In the category of things that are not making the news to keep everyone from panicking, Culver University has the distinct privilege of being the only university to have two faculty members transform into very large beings due to exposure to an unknown chemical.
Me: This time they lost their psych department chair and part of their library. Really you think by this point they would make their library big gigantic monster proof. Okay after two incidents you think they would keep a better eye on the chemicals their faculty are accidentally or accidentally on purpose exposed to.
Cuddle Bunny: How do you accidentally on purpose get exposed to something?
Me: You don't. But hey, at least the University is getting a new library out of it.
Cuddle Bunny: Is this connected to the library fundraiser you were supposed to do in February?
Me: You remember that?
Cuddle Bunny: Yes, mostly because you asked me to go with you because Pepper was not available
Me: But you said no because you had to go visit cancer patients at the children's wings of various hospitals.
Cuddle Bunny: And then you showed up unannounced and ended up doing a pizza party and handing out stark pads to every kid there.
Me: I'd prefer to do my philanthropy closer to home and the University only cared about the check which they still got, on the condition that they increase scholarships for low income students by 10% over the next five years. I'd much rather spend my night cheering up sick kids with you then having to dodge really invasive questions from assholes who want to know why I'm there alone.
Cuddle Bunny: But Pepper was just working so it wasn't actually like they were going to find out anything scandalous. I hate that people are so nosy in this time.
Me: I think people have always been nosy. They are just more assertive about it now. Also we have Twitter and TMZ.
Cuddle Bunny: Yes, but there wasn't exactly anything to tweet about at the time.
Me: Actually we were already on a break.
Cuddle Bunny: I didn't know that.
Me: We'd been for a while at that point. We were just keeping it from the public to keep the stock from going in the toilet. We were still not fully recovered from the Ultron fiasco and I really didn't want to lay people off.
Cuddle Bunny: This is more of you sacrificing yourself for the greater good?
Me: It really wasn't that much of a compromise because I really am not looking forward to watching every media outlet psychoanalyze why things fell apart. I've already done enough of that in my own head.
Cuddle Bunny: You still could've told me. I'm not the public and I'm not going to pick apart everything you did wrong.
Me: I realize that now that I really know you. But I wasn't ready for you to know at that time. I didn't even tell Rhodey about it until April. I was hoping that I would figure out how to fix things. Turns out some things can't be fixed even if you are a genius.
Cuddle Bunny: Which was how many months after it happened?
Me: 6. It's been over since Halloween. Haven't you realized by now that my best skill is pretending everything is normal when it's not? It's why the ATCU is hating interrogating me.
Cuddle Bunny: Considering I've been told that you managed to hide the fact you were dying from your closest friends for six months, I can see that.
Me: The press still hasn't figured out that Pepper and I are no longer a thing. Maybe that's because they're more focused on the demise of the Avengers than the fact that Pepper and I haven't been photographed together since the Stark industries Halloween costume ball last year. Things were falling apart before then.
Cuddle Bunny: How long?
Me: I don't even know the answer to that. I would like to say since Sokovia, but I would be lying to myself. I think the problems started the moment I decided to actively participate in bringing the band back together post Shield implosion.
Me: By the time we found the scepter, Pepper had already issued her ultimatum. It was why I was looking at the old Ultron program to see if maybe there was a way to still help the world and not be out there all the time. You know how that turned out.
Cuddle Bunny: They say the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
Me: And my road to Hell is paved with platinum. The lunch last month was Pepper's way of telling me that it was over for good. She met someone else. Someone normal. Someone who can give her what I could not. So as soon as the paparazzi get the first picture of him and her making out somewhere, the illusion will be over.
Cuddle Bunny: I'm sorry.
Me: Don't say that. I should be apologizing to you. I pretty much let her think that you were my boyfriend just so I wouldn't lose face.
Cuddle Bunny: It wasn't a total lie. I am a boy who is your friend.
Me: I'm happy that I have at least risen back to the rank of friend because I didn't think I would ever get that far, not after how we left things in Siberia. I'm also not one of those assholes that thinks friendship is some sort of consolation prize. I've had enough meaningless sex (though none recently) to know that I would rather have friendship. I think maybe why the Pepper thing hurts so badly is because I lost my friend Pepper too.
Me: I know we need to put out a press release, but I can't bring myself to do it yet. There's been a version of it sitting in my email for months. I just haven't been ready to sign off on it because as soon as I do, that means it's over.
Cuddle Bunny: Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.
Me: Friday sent you that song, didn't she? Her music choices keep getting more absurd.
Cuddle Bunny: It may have been on one of her playlists. But it's true.
Me: I can't believe you of all people are lecturing me about letting go of the past.
Cuddle Bunny: Maybe we can do it together.
Me: I think I would like that.
To be continued:
The song mentioned in this chapter is Closing Time by Semisonic. This is where our conversation title comes from.