AN: This is from Danny's point of view. I kind of wanted to try something different this time around.
Drabble 73-What's it Like?
What's it like?
I always find myself getting asked this, whether it be from Tucker, Dani, Sam, or hell, even Valerie sometimes. And while it doesn't upset me, the question itself is hard to answer, and is tiring to do so after having to do it so many times.
So what is it like living with the Avengers?
It's indescribable, really. It's fun, and annoying, and stressful, and happy, and so many other words, so I think the only way I can properly tell you is if I list them all off one by one.
Well, let me tell you.
First, I guess I should start with the host himself, Tony Stark. Though you probably know him better as Iron Man.
He's everything people say he is, and more. He's selfish and sarcastic, and is stupidly smart. Yeah, he's also a playboy, and he never focuses on the important stuff for his company. Instead he pays with desk toys in important meetings.
Like all of us, Tony has a lot of baggage. We all have our demons, but Tony's are arguably the worst. Yeah, I fought my older evil self and the ghost king, and Steve was in World War II, but compared to Tony it was a cakewalk. Because Tony's been through a fucking blender. He's got serious PTSD from the Incident, from the cave he was tortured in, and a few other things. He copes by drinking unhealthy amounts of coffee spiked with alcohol and monster energy drinks while building several more Iron man armors, all with their own special skills and weapons.
He also has really bad attachment issues due to his father was never really around, and the father figure he did had tried to kill him. So.
However, despite all of that, Tony is probably the most caring person on the team. And that's including Steve. He just doesn't know how to express it with emotions. So instead, he uses his actions. Thor mentioned one time that he needed to get more lavender (?) shampoo because he ran out, and now there's a cabinet full of them, just for the thunder god himself.
There was another time when Clint's hearing aids got blown up on a mission, and Tony made him everything-proof Stark hearing aids. Clint hasn't needed a new pair since. And he made Steve and Sam's rooms soundproof, so that when fireworks go off they can still enjoy the view, but now with less gunshot sounds.
Tony also really loves to nerd out, which brings me to my next friend, Dr. Bruce Banner. He's pretty soft spoken, until he starts talking about science. I remember the longest conversation I've had with him was when we were talking about space and NASA, which somehow ended up on a conversation of the horrible structure of hot dog buns? Not really sure what happened there...
Bruce always has great advice, and is always in like, a zen sort of mood. He's not nervous all the time like most people think. No, he's only fidgety around stressful people, like Fury or Ultron. Which is perfectly understandable considering if he gets to angry or freaked he starts looking a little green around the gills.
That being said, Bruce also makes the best tea on the Compound. Nobody knows what he does to it, but if you're having a rough day or something he's got your back. And he's always got Tony's back, too. I There was one time when Tony had been up for almost four days and Bruce had come in and put some headphones on Tony, and he passed out immediately. I helped him get Tony to his room, and Bruce kind of took it from there.
Hulk is pretty nice to. Though, to be fair the first time I met him he was pretty pissed because he couldn't hit me. But after he calmed down enough, I told him a couple of jokes and he kind of warmed up to me.
And I told him I could help get the glitter out of his hair.
He still doesn't know that it sparkles sometimes when crime-fighting. Nobody else has either, but that's only because they're to busy kicking ass themselves.
Steve is kind of like everybody's dream guy, even if you yourself are a straight guy. He is 240 pounds of All-American beefcake with a heart of gold. His hair is pretty soft too.
He's caring, but I've recently learned that he;s a little shit.
You would expect Captain America to be the perfect man, soldier, superhero, whatever. But he isn't. I don't even know where anybody got that idea.
This guy has a police record that's longer than a list of Mr. Lancer's book-swears. And he has the worst mouth on him. He stubbed his toe the other day and was cursing up a storm. However, he was cursing in Gaelic. I asked him about it and he said it was his first language due to his parents being Irish immigrants. I hadn't known that before, so that was really nice to know. But it also explained his accent. He had a lot of Brooklyn in it, but every now and then the Gaelic would slip through with it, making for a weird verbal cocktail that never sounded quite right.
He also has the worst mind out of all of us. It's worse than Tuckers. His mind may be the gutter, but Steve's is the fucking sewer. He was telling me about how he thought fondue equaled sexy times, and like? Literally, where did you make that connection? How many other foreign words has he heard and thought it was something sexual?
It shouldn't surprise me though, considering he was in the army.
I could go on and on about Steve's mouth and reckless behavior, but he, like Tony, has serious PTSD. A lot of it is from the war. He doesn't like fireworks or loud, sudden noises unless he's on the battlefield. There was one time I saw him mute a movie during a scene with a train, and I was going to ask him why, but then I saw that far away look in his eyes. It wasn't my place to pry.
There's also something about the sound of Tony's repulsors powering up, too. It makes Steve tense up like a cat every time he hears it.
His coping methods are a bit healthier than Tony's. He likes to draw his thoughts and feelings out. He's damn good at it to, and while that's a great thing, sometimes he falls asleep with them open, halfway done, and the shit he draws is so dark and depressing. I kind of worry about him sometimes.
But Sam's been helping him though a lot of it. He was stationed overseas for a while before coming back to the states, only to get caught up in the fight again a few years later. He didn't really seem to mind though. In fact, he seemed happy to do so. Whether or not that was from Captain America asking him to, or because he missed flying, I had no idea.
But I'll be damned if I ever go to the park with him again.
His name is Falcon. He has cool metal wings he uses to fly. That all makes sense, right?
So how the fuck is he talking to pigeons?
I am genuinely worried that one day Sam till take over the world with birds, and h will have them shit on people's cars and peck out the eyes of Hydra. Or something on the lines of that. However, if he is actually going to do that I think he needs a cooler bird.
Like a Falcon.
And as weird as that was, it doesn't match up to the awkwardness of meeting Natasha "Million Alias" Romanoff. She's as deadly as she is beautiful, and if I was into her in any way I would probably pay her to beat me up.
It never actually occurred to me that she's not always being a spy? I mean, yeah, she's always looking at the ulterior motive, because anyone with her background (which we will not speak of, so don;t even ask) would do the same. But she's also a shitposting meme generator and has a really popular vine account even though vine is dead? Then again this is Natasha we're talking about. I don;t wanna know how she does what she does.
She also steals clothes. SO far she's stolen one of Tony's hoodies, a pair of Clint's sweatpants, a scrunchie from Thor, and one of my old Dumpty Humpty shirts I got at a concert. She also cheats at Monopoly and Cards Against Humanity. I haven't figured out how she's done it, but I know she does. Nobody, and I mean nobody, can just fucking win seventeen times in a row. You;d have to be a mind reader to do that shit. Jesus.
She's terrifying, and honestly, every time I see her glare the fear of Thor runs through me, but a good portion of that goes away when she's around Clint. And honestly I can't blame her. Clint, out of all of the Avengers I live with, is probably the one I hang out with the most. He's super chill, and covered head to toe in bandages and has to have an entire pot of coffee just to stay awake. Also, he's deaf? I had no idea during the Battle of New York, but later I found out that it was because they had broken and his new ones hadn't come in yet. He's taught me a lot of sign language so far, and Tucker makes fun of me for practicing it when I'm back in Amity.
Clint also has a lot of nests.
He has one on top of the fridge, in the A that's on the outside of the building, a couple of key spots in the vents, and a board room on the 27th floor under the table because nobody ever uses it and it has a nice view of the sandwich shop right across the street. I'm sure he has more, but those are just the ones that I've found.
Also, his dog is not cuter than Cujo, don't listen to that asshole.
Even though Clint chooses to keep his hearing aids out half the time, he still knows when Thor has come back from Asgard. Every single time, no matter where we're at in the building, he just knows. It's like a sixth sense. His head perks up, and he gets a dumb grin on his face, but then it quickly falls when he remembers that he ate the rest of the thunder god's poptarts.
Thor is really fun to be around. And while I haven't had a lot of quality bonding time with the dude, Dani has. They sit around and braid each other's hair all the time, talking about flowers and giant monsters and space. Really, they're best friends. And it's adorable.
Don't tell Jazz I said that.
There are aspects of Thor that remind me a little bit of all of the Avengers. Like Natasha, he can be cunning when he wants to. He's always got the munchies like Clint, and has great advice like Bruce. Similar to Tony he also struggles with his own demons. But he seems to be most like Steve.
That being said, they are both huge little shits.
See, Thor likes to prank people. Half the time he uses Mojo (I don;t know how to pronounce the hammer's name, okay) to fuck with us. I remember he and Natasha handing different house members his hammer while Natasha video taped it. He gets a huge kick out of watching us fall over. I remember when he did it to Steve, who was to zoned out in his paper to even realize what Thor had asked him to hold. He was gobsmacked for a whole week.
He hasn't done it to me yet, and I have no idea if that's because he hasn't gotten around to it or because he's still obsessed over me technically being royalty since I beat Pariah Dark, the former king. The first time we met he got down on one knee and bowed. It was the most surreal experience of my life, and that's including when Tucker had to wear a chicken costume to a Dumpty Humpty concert because he lost a bet to Sam.
Every time he comes back from Asgard, we shake. But we don't shake like normal people. It's a sort of cultural thing. Instead of shaking hands we grip each other's forearms and squeeze. I kind of like doing that better than a handshake. It seems way cooler.
So, you ask me what it's like to live with the Avengers?
Living with them, it feels familiar, like it;s the one thing I've been missing my whole life.
It's family.
