Alvie's house was big, and old, and filled with stuff. All you could hear from inside was the distant sound of the wind rustling the forest that surrounded the home, and the occasional loud swear as Eva's housemate and friend dropped something, or broke something, or broke something by dropping it. It made it very easy to work, which was good because Eva had a lot of work nowadays. Following the reforestation of the New York parks, a lot of other people had reached out for help in making their worlds green again. Eva was grateful for all the extra jobs; it kept her busy, and her mind away from the reason why all those plants had gone.

When she came home from work, Alvie was usually waiting for her at the front gate, leaning against the railings, as far as she could go without setting off the tracker locked onto her ankle. The dog stood by her feet, tail wagging, ears pricked and alert. Khan was a huge, wolfish German shepherd, discharged from army duties after the Snap, that was afraid of nothing except Rachel Carson, who ruled over the kitchen with an iron paw and had nearly taken Khan's eye out once when he sniffed at her food.

"We got mail," Alvie said, waving envelopes at Eva as she hopped off of her motorbike and removed her helmet. "Bills, invoices, gluten-free pizza delivery menu, and… a wedding invite."

"Seriously?" Eva asked, scratching Khan behind the ears as she took the wad of post from Alvie's hands. "Who's getting married nowadays?"

"Tony Stark and Pepper Potts, according to the invite."

"Right." Eva looked at the envelope, which was heavy and embossed with gold filigree, and without looking inside (Alvie had already opened it) handed it back to her housemate. "Well, that can go straight in the trash."

"What? No! They're our friends!"

"Not any more, they're not. Stark made that quite clear." She set the pace up the winding gravel driveway to the house; Alvie skipped alongside her, mismatched steps disrupting Eva's even stride.

"Yeah," said Alvie. "To you. He's got no problem with me."

"Didn't he agree to your arrest four years ago?"

"Eh," Alvie replied, waving her hand around her head as though batting off the very idea like it was a mosquito. "'S all water under the bridge, as far as I'm concerned."

"You can't even go, Al! You're under house arrest!"

"Which is also why we've been sent this," Alvie said triumphantly, opening another envelope and showing her a several-page document with an official-looking seal on the front. "Issa contract."

"Oh, God," Eva murmured.

"I need an armed security escort there and back and they'll put a perimeter around the venue in case I try and escape, but I can go! I mean they're only letting me out of the house in time for the reception, but the ceremony's always super boring anyways –"

"We're not doing any of it!"

They turned a corner and the house loomed into view. Although it was undetectable, the security systems Alvie had installed were already kicking in; hidden cameras were scanning their walks, their retinas, their bodies for any hidden weapons, ready to put the whole place on lockdown should anything be amiss. A garden gnome watched them go past, eyes glowing red with muted laser beams. Today, Alvie Kennings' paranoid tendencies were manageable, if not helpful; last year, when the Snap had… snapped, they had been much worse.

"It's not happening, Al," Eva said firmly, pulling the front door key out of her jacket pocket (despite all of the security, they still had an old-fashioned lock and key; 'if it ain't broke,' Alvie had said). "Even if Pepper cared enough about us to send that invite, Stark's not gonna go along with it happily. He hates me."

"No, he don't."

"Well, I hate him."

"No, ya don't."

"Since when did you become so… emotionally literate?" Eva asked, stomping into the house. "Last I checked, you couldn't read a room for jack –"

"You's two are the two people I know best in the world," Alvie explained. "Well – that're still alive, anyway. I've seen both of ya hate people, and this ain't it. It's guilt. You two're more alike than you wanna think, y'know that?"

"What do I have to be guilty about?" Eva snapped. "I didn't do anything! It's him that threw a fit at me! And don't say I'm anything like him!"

"You're guilty 'cos you know if Vision was still alive, he'd be disappointed in the pair of you for putting your pride before your kindness. Don't tell me that if he was alive then none of this would have happened, I know that – and besides, it's missing the point. I didn't know him like you did," Alvie said, shutting the door behind Eva with a slam so hard it shuddered the walls. "But I know he thought you were better than that. Stark, too."

Eva clenched her fists. "Don't," she said. "Don't use him against me like that."

"Why? It's the truth."

Eva turned away, storming towards the stairs. "Don't try and guilt trip me!" she shouted at Alvie, turning around with her foot on the bottom step to jab a finger at her friend. "We are not going to that wedding!"

%

Four Months Later

"I can't believe you got me to go to this wedding," Eva hissed. Beside her, Alvie grinned smugly. She was wearing a banana-patterned silk dress, and had accessorised her ankle monitor with glitter paint for the occasion. Eva wore fir green, so dark it was almost black, and still wished it was darker.

"Shut up and smile," Alvie replied. The security troupe that the government had sent to keep an eye on Alvie watched from a distance, beyond the tasteful yet elegant decorations that Tony Stark had definitely not had any part in choosing. The venue had only been a half-hour drive away: a small outdoor jetty jutting out onto a Catskill lake, with a large cabin-style house behind it that had been hired for the occasion. Though they had missed the ceremony itself, the arch was still stood at the edge of the jetty, framing the sunset that descended like a slow meteor into the lake.

Alvie linked her arm through Eva's elbow and dragged her towards the cabin, the porch of which had a few people in expensive suits milling around in it. Alvie smiled and waved as though she was on first name terms with everyone, but stopped to chat with nobody; before Eva could protest, they were inside and approaching a woman in a long white dress that was the kind of simple that only very very successful and very, very high-end fashion houses designed.

"Pepper!" Alvie exclaimed, sending the group of people talking to the bride scattered to the four winds. "Mére de Dieu, it's been years. Lawd knows how you're still putting up with him."

Pepper was wearing the kind of smile Eva had often seen her use on the more trying kind of business man. Not for the first time, Eva wondered about Alvie's murky history with Stark Industries. "Oh, I manage somehow," she said, embracing her as though they were old friends. "Eva! We weren't sure you would make it."

"Neither was I," Eva said, knocking the heel of one shoe against the toe of the other. "Um – congratulations."

Pepper kissed her cheek. She smelled like Chanel perfume and pine needles. "Thank you so much for coming," she whispered in the gardener's ear. "I missed you. We both did."

Eva flushed. "Pepper, I'm –"

"Don't worry about it," Pepper said, before Eva could continue. "Really. It's fine. Enjoy yourselves! It's rare we get a chance to, nowadays." She gave the two of them one last, radiant smile and fluttered off to make small talk with some celebrities.

"Where d'ya think the food is?" Alvie asked. "Betcha it's canapés. I hate canapés. I wonder how many people we actually know here. I think that's Romanoff over by the jetty – man, her roots are terrible. Not even yours are that bad, Eva."

Eva let her friend's chatter wash over her, soothing her nerves. Alvie was like an on-off switch; she either said nothing or everything, with no middle ground. "I only dyed them last month!" she protested.

"Exactly. C'mon, let's go find a chocolate fountain."

"They might not have one."

"It's not a wedding if they don't. Come on!"

It was, Eva grudgingly had to admit, a nice wedding – or reception, at least. Rich people were good at parties, both in hosting and attending, and Eva spent ten surreal minutes talking to someone about buying a holiday island. Not a holiday home on an island. A holiday island.

"Since the Snap the climate has stabilised dramatically," they were telling her, "which means that sea levels rising is no longer affecting real estate prices, so it's important to get a foot in the door with the Maldives before they're extortionate again. Of course, there's the complicated legal matter of resale when it comes to property belonging to those poor unfortunate souls who didn't survive the incident, but in these cases I think it's best to be cynical…"

Eva's eyes, which had glazed over somewhat, drifted off from the gammony face of the man she was talking to and, before she could stop herself, towards the bar. The urge to drink had been nibbling away at her the whole evening, and these days it was harder to find a reason not to.

"I'm telling you, my friend, a pint of that for me is like a droplet for you, now give me the bloody tequila!"

Eva blinked. She recognised that thunderous voice, those huge shoulders, the sandy hair that had admittedly grown out somewhat since she had last seen it –

"Thor!" she exclaimed, making a break from the conversation and running over to the bar where he was stood. "I haven't seen you in ages!"

"Eva!" Thor boomed, scooping her up into a hug. He smelled like booze, and his once rock-hard body felt squishier as she was squeezed against it.

"Ribs – cracking –" she wheezed, eyes watering.

"Oh, of course. Sorry." He put her down and patted her on the head. "I've been so busy in Norway, I've barely had the time to come over and visit! Speaking of Norway, I should introduce you to my plus-one – oh, no. Where's she gone?"

"Jane?" Eva asked, hopefully.

"No! Not – not her," Thor mumbled, rotating on the spot like a very big rotisserie chicken as he searched the cabin for his companion. "Don't be ridiculous, Eva."

"We can look for her outside, if you want," Eva said, taking his hand and tugging him away from the bar. The effect was like pulling on a twig to uproot an oak tree.

"Oh, but I was about to –"

"It's just that I'm trying really hard to stay sober," Eva said, "and I was hoping you could help me stay distracted."

"You should have said! Anything for you, little Eva. Let's look outside."

Eva yelped as her arm was nearly pulled out of her socket, Thor taking off for the lake.

Once outside, with the still mountain air melting into night and the worst of the party behind them, Thor seemed to sober up a little.

"I don't think Stark wanted to invite me," he said quietly, as they moved slowly through the pine trees.

"Same here. Have you spoken to him, yet?"

"No."

"Me, neither. Which is fine, I don't want to speak to him much either, but… Alvie says I should. She thinks it's just the grief and the guilt, making us all idiots."

"I'm not guilty," said Thor. "And I'm not grieving, either. I'm fine."

Eva said nothing at first, just squeezed his hand. "I think you're coping magnificently."

"Really?"

"No," she said, and he chuckled.

"You sound like Valkyrie."

"Who?"

"Me," said a new, surly voice behind them. Eva turned and saw a woman with long, braided hair in a beautiful silver-white suit stomping towards them. "Thor!" she snapped. "If you're going to drag me along to this, you can't just abandon me for the first mortal that takes your fancy! If you wanted a wingman you should have asked Korg!"

"No no no, you've misunderstood completely!" Thor exclaimed, dropping Eva's hand and waving his own in the air. "Eva, this is my friend, Valkyrie. Valkyrie, this is my friend, Eva." Then he stepped back and gave them both a very strange smile.

"Um," said Eva. "… Hi?"

The woman – Valkyrie – scowled, and pulled Thor aside. "You have got to stop doing this," she hissed.

"What?" Thor whispered, his expression one of sheer innocence.

"I am a grown woman and I can make my own decisions, Thor!"

"I just thought that, since you're so busy with the rebuilding of Asgard, it might be nice to let off a little steam with someone –"

"'Scuse me," said Eva, "I can hear you." They both turned to look at her. "It must be an Asgardian thing, 'cause your voices really carry."

Valkyrie blushed. "I'm going back to the ship," she said. "You're coming with me."

"What? But the party's only just started!"

"Exactly! No partying for you with the way you've been behaving recently. Come on, Thor."

"It's fine," said Eva, when Thor started to protest. "All the best food and drink's gone already. Quit while you're ahead." She gave him a hug. "Call me, okay?"

"Okay, coffee girl."

She watched them set off towards the car park, where there appeared to be a space ship landed across two bays.

Weirdos, she thought, turning on her heel and heading back to the house. They had been there a few hours, now – long enough that it would be acceptable to leave. Eva felt a little annoyed that Alvie, normally a recluse, seemed to be having so much fun while she stood around and nodded while people talked at her about trust funds and cyber security or whatever. Hopefully, the two of them could slink off without anyone noticing –

Thump!

"Ouch!" Eva said, stumbling from the impact of walking full tilt into someone. She had been so absorbed in her own thoughts she hadn't even noticed someone walking at a crosshair to her, let alone…

Damn.

"Ever the graceful mover," Stark said shortly, dabbing at the damp patch on his suit jacket that had, presumably, come from the now-empty glass he was now holding.

"Sorry," said Eva, looking down at her feet.

"That's a first." She risked a glance up, and saw that he was glaring determinedly at the horizon over her shoulder. Something Alvie had said drifted up through her memory. You two're more alike than you wanna think, y'know that?

"Thor just left," she said.

Stark nodded. "Probably for the best." In the sky above them, an owl hooted. "So. Jarvis and Kresk."

"Yeah."

"Technically, Jarvis is my intellectual property, so –"

"Oh, I'm sorry – did you copyright the name?"

"Would you be surprised?" Stark asked, quirking an eyebrow at her. "You, who know me so well?"

"What was he, anyway – your butler?"

"Jarvis? He was my father's. And since daddy was so busy with the full time job of being Howard Stark, I guess you could call him a surrogate father figure. If you wanted to get Freudian with it."

"Then you named an AI after him," Eva said. "Anyone would think you've got a heart."

"Yeah. Joke's on them, right?" Tony said drily. "Nice dress, by the way. Did you buy it for a funeral?"

"You look radiant too, Stark."

"You're the first person to say that to me. Pepper always gets the compliments. It's not fair."

It was properly night time, now. This far from the city, light pollution gave up with its shroud and the sky sprawled with a Pollock painting of stars and galaxies. Eva glanced up and, almost instinctively, found the W shape of Cassiopoeia.

"What I said," Eva began, slowly, "last time I saw you, when they brought you back… that I wished it had been you instead of him."

"Yeah," said Tony, "I recall. What – you gonna tell me you're sorry, or that you didn't mean it?"

"No," said Eva. That caught him off guard. "I'm not sorry. I did mean it. But it wasn't… it wasn't personal. I wish it had been anyone instead of him. You, or me, or Steve or that weird talking raccoon or anyone. Anyone in the world, just not him."

Tony nodded, and kept his head bowed. "I get it," he said, after a while. "If Pep… yeah. I get it. Let the world burn for just one person."

"You're a superhero," said Eva. "You don't get to say that. You have to save everyone."

"I'm retired."

"About time. You're ancient."

"Alright, pipsqueak. Calm it." He wrapped an arm around her neck and pulled her into his side, a gruff, rough hug that seemed to melt through her skin. "Thanks for coming. If I were you, I wouldn't have had the balls."

"Alvie made me do it."

"Right. Of course she did. On that subject, she's got in an argument with the head of Science for Stark Industries and I think she's about to throw fists. You should probably take her home."

"Probably." She patted his shoulder, and hopped up the porch steps of the cabin. "This place is really nice, by the way. We're only up the road, too."

"We were thinking about moving here," Tony admitted. "But if the local community is so rough, which is obviously is –"

"Yeah, yeah."

" - We might be able to get it for cheap," he said, and winked at her. "See ya round, neighbor."

"Congratulations, Tony," Eva sighed. "Don't keep the party going too late, or I'll have to make a noise complaint."

"You're just full of 'em tonight, huh?"

She flipped him off as she walked back inside. He waved back at her, and she had to turn away to hide the smile creeping across her face.

She had done it for Vision, of course. Alvie had been right – the thought of how disappointed he would be if she and Stark fell out because of him was almost too much to bear. Just for Vision. Not because she had wanted to. But… it was nice, talking to him again.

There were worse neighbors to have.

A/N everyone loves a wedding, right? I mean, the last one I went to I was so stressed from bridesmaiding I drank myself under the table and missed everything after the first course of dinner, but that's not important.