First I heard about you was Tony Stark shoving his phone into my face in front of half the commune, trying to figure out if the texts you'd sent were real or hallucinations. Then trying to figure out if you're from an alternate future. Then losing track of time and self and reality entirely
I don't know you I don't know if I can trust you to be as careful as I need you to be now
[ it’s a funny thing, this message, because it’s saying a lot without saying anything at all. and bob is a high school dropout, but he’s always liked books and reading, when he’s had the time. the focus.
he knows how to follow the clues. ]
you’re not telling him he’s dead you’re shoving it down and hoping it doesn’t come out in the worst way possible
[ Before Bob, he thinks, Stephen's mind now semi-porous under Tony's touch, too many of them around saying and not saying things before that. But if Stephen's cowardice masquerading as kindness, as concern for the timeline, had ever really kept it from him, that's done now. ]
He just doesn't want to. If we force it, he'll break.
Edited (double now? In my house? I don't think so) 2025-10-03 05:32 (UTC)
because that’ll happen anyway and it’ll get worse the longer you drag it out
[ myriad fractures instead of a clean break. his arm healing wrong because he didn’t want to make things worse for his mom by going to the hospital. bandaids on bullet wounds. he knows that now. saw it, rising from the corner of his eye and spreading to the whole of his vision, his person, new york fucking city. ]
[ Questions whose ghosts have haunted him for almost two months, smothered and boxed and buried each time they try to resurrect. He almost laughs. Nothing stays dead here, does it?
Or maybe the problem is that no part of him will stay dead anywhere. ]
I know that
[ It's far too late to save him from the worst of it. It'll happen. It needs to happen. It should already have happened, Stephen's making it worse every day, and Bob isn't wrong to accuse him of self-preservation, but - ]
[ the iron man reveal like a rocket launch, reverberating around the world. even a kid from nowheresville florida, sitting in a hospital bed with an iv drip, knew that it changed everything. ]
but i think he’s in and out more because of this place we all are
If we sleep, we wake up and he's off in a field somewhere murmuring nightmares in unison with the others. Or drawing on the walls in the blood from fingertips he opened up trying to scratch words into the stone.
It's a good day if he's himself for more than half of it. I don't know if he can afford to lose his future here
trust me i know i’m useless man and when i’m not i make shit worse that’s why i’m asking you but you’re too busy pissing on tony stark’s leg or whatever
What do you think I'm going to do, spinal cord surgery our way out of this?
We're all as useless as each other here And we're all busy making it worse
If you want to consider yourself superiorly useless so it's my fault that you're stuck fetching Stark's sandwiches and sleeping on the floor, sure, be my guest.
Thanks. Maybe try asking them to miraculously fix everything we haven't collectively managed to for the last few weeks, since you're dissatisfied with my performance. They are the Avengers now
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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how about talking to me like im a dog
and not a person
i can feel the collar, man
i know
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... Right. ]
Sorry. Easy for me to be flippant
I asked because you worry me
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thanks
[ … ]
in what way?
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I don't know you
I don't know if I can trust you to be as careful as I need you to be now
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he knows how to follow the clues. ]
you’re not telling him he’s dead
you’re shoving it down and hoping it doesn’t come out in the worst way possible
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He knows now
[ Before Bob, he thinks, Stephen's mind now semi-porous under Tony's touch, too many of them around saying and not saying things before that. But if Stephen's cowardice masquerading as kindness, as concern for the timeline, had ever really kept it from him, that's done now. ]
He just doesn't want to. If we force it, he'll break.
1/2
or are you worried about you?
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and it’ll get worse the longer you drag it out
[ myriad fractures instead of a clean break. his arm healing wrong because he didn’t want to make things worse for his mom by going to the hospital. bandaids on bullet wounds. he knows that now. saw it, rising from the corner of his eye and spreading to the whole of his vision, his person, new york fucking city. ]
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Or maybe the problem is that no part of him will stay dead anywhere. ]
I know that
[ It's far too late to save him from the worst of it. It'll happen. It needs to happen. It should already have happened, Stephen's making it worse every day, and Bob isn't wrong to accuse him of self-preservation, but - ]
Has he mostly been himself around you?
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[ the iron man reveal like a rocket launch, reverberating around the world. even a kid from nowheresville florida, sitting in a hospital bed with an iv drip, knew that it changed everything. ]
but i think he’s in and out
more because of this place
we all are
cw: self harm, Oracle Business
If we sleep, we wake up and he's off in a field somewhere murmuring nightmares in unison with the others. Or drawing on the walls in the blood from fingertips he opened up trying to scratch words into the stone.
It's a good day if he's himself for more than half of it. I don't know if he can afford to lose his future here
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why are we all just letting this shit happen?
half the avengers are here
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[ If we could've fixed it by now we would've, BOB ]
What do you suggest we do, since we couldn't figure it out without you?
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i guess
trust me i know i’m useless man
and when i’m not i make shit worse
that’s why i’m asking you
but you’re too busy pissing on tony stark’s leg or whatever
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We're all as useless as each other here
And we're all busy making it worse
If you want to consider yourself superiorly useless so it's my fault that you're stuck fetching Stark's sandwiches and sleeping on the floor, sure, be my guest.
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[ why am i arguing with an old ass man fr ]
for the record, you can try asking yelena and bucky to boss me around
[ to answer the earlier question about his master. ]
good luck looking out for mr stark and definitely not mrs stark
[ while the rest us remember a whole VILLAGE exists. ]
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Thanks. Maybe try asking them to miraculously fix everything we haven't collectively managed to for the last few weeks, since you're dissatisfied with my performance. They are the Avengers now
[ anyway, bye ]
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