Sunflower🌻

“Why don’t you ever take it off?”

“It is forbidden. No living being is allowed to see my face.”

“That sounds lonely.”

“It is.”

|X|

When the mysterious stranger landed on Earth in search of a bounty, Earth had not exactly been welcoming, especially not after the events of New York City. Steve, however, was only curious to the stranger and his peculiar habits, such as that he never took off his helmet. Also, the man had an actual spaceship, so Steve was quick to offer his assistance.  

The man, who introduced himself as a Mandalorian, accepted his help, but he offered no name. Steve did not mind, he was allowed to sit in the cockpit and fly the ship around for a while, so he was long satisfied. 

His voice was low like a whisper, but smooth like the purr of an oiled machine, perfectly to be heard echoing through the abandoned hallways. “You are not quite like the rest of them, are you?”

There was little to be seen, nothing more than a shadow on the wall, and a flicker in the corner of his eye. Steve could hear him, feel him, the thrill of moving mass settling like a rumble in his chest, and the hum of energy floating through the air to pierce his ears. 

“You are not human... not entirely.”

“And you are not Asgardian,” Steve answered, speaking out into the hollow of the void that stretched around him, lights dimming with every passing second, “Not entirely.”

A low chuckle vibrated through the walls, coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Steve gripped his shield a little tighter, keeping it pressed close to his body as a form of protection. He had held his own against Loki before, so now should not be different. 

However, there was a hum of magic present that had not been there before.

“Don’t be afraid,” Loki said, sounding as if he stood so close, but there was nothing be seen, “I need your help as much as you need mine.”

Steve jutted his chin into the air, looking ahead stubbornly. “Who says I need your help?”

“Would you be here if not?” A slight breeze crept up through his clothes, slipping between the cracks. “I can feel the storm inside you, like a beacon does it draw me in. As you wander through the hallway to search for a man you lost, you do not realize that I am doing much the same.”

“You’re looking for someone?” Steve turned once more, having circled around in his spot more than once in the last few minutes. “Who?”

“All in due time, Captain,” Loki said, “All in due time.”

|X|

Each having lost someone they care about, they wander the Earth individually to try and find them again. Steve is desperate in his search for Bucky, begrudgingly accepting the help of a demigod who was too unwilling to admit he was at his wits ends as well.  

Later, they find out, that the vanishing of Bucky and Thor might have more in common than they thought before, binding the two together in their search more than they would like. It was a forced partnership, they would tell anyone who asked, nothing more than a need to achieve the same goal.

Beneath the surface, however, things were not what they seemed. 

Steve had never been one to visit a nightclub. Bars? Yeah, sure. A few drinks with friends, catching up, talking. He liked bars; they were cozy, welcoming, and overall not too full. Nightclubs, however, were a completely different story. He had never been to a nightclub before, but what he found here was... well. He did not have any words for it. Crowded, perhaps. Noisy. 

After walking around for a while, ordering a drink but not finishing it because it was nothing he liked after all, he was tempted to just go home. That was, until someone approached him. 

It was a very handsome man in an expensive-looking suit. He had styled, dark hair, and a smile that could charm rocks. His eyes seemed to shine in the lights of the club, and he moved like graceful liquid. They stroke up a conversation, and suddenly, Steve felt seen. 

Just like that, he was swept off his feet by the man’s inexplicable charm. The man who asked him what he wanted, instead of what others said he was supposed to want. No, not ‘want’, desired. 

And Steve, completely taken away by the man’s enchanting stare, blurted out what he had been trying to suppress for so long: he didn’t want to be lonely anymore. He didn’t want to feel like a little bit more of his heart was dying every single day ever since he woke up. 

Lucifer Morningstar. 

A name Steve had never expected to hear. 

Lucifer Morningstar.

A man who was everything but what he appeared to be. 

"Have I gone mad?" Natasha whispered, her eyes wide on the giant cat with long grey fur carrying light blue stripes in a tiger print. Its big turquoise eyes were fixated on her, exactly like a predator would, and when it curled its mouth into a giant smile, she could see its razor sharp pointy teeth. 

"I am afraid so," the cat answered, "You are entirely bonkers." 

It looked around for a moment, its paws so light in the air that it was almost as if the beast was floating- Natasha then realized that it was. It leaned forward, closer to her, and Natasha quickly stepped back. 

"But I will tell you a secret… " the cat spoke, a silent chuckle to its voice, "All the best people are."

“Who are you?” Natasha demanded, squaring her shoulders and masking her fear. She was not afraid. And even if she was, she sure as hell was not going to show it to some freak of nature. Her hand rested on her hip, at the place her gun rested. 

“Hmm... I knew who I was this morning,” the cat answered, floating closer once more, putting on a thoughtful face, “But I have changed a few times since then.”

“That’s not an answer.” 

The cat seemed to sigh, blowing out its cheeks as it rolled through the air lazily. “Such desire for answers, you do not like mysteries, do you? Well, I’m stranger. You’re stranger. Together, we are… strangers.”

The cat grinned again. 

Having enough of being toyed with, Natasha reached for her gun, determined to take it and aim it at the monstrous cat that was slowly floating into her space. But when she wanted to grab it, all her fingers grasped at was air. It was gone. Her gun was gone. 

In surprised shock, she looked up, only to be met with the second shock in just a few seconds. Instead of the giant cat floating through the air, there was now a woman idly playing with Natasha’s gun in her hands. She had hair exactly like the cat’s fur, perhaps even a little brighter than that. This could not be real. 

“I’m unconscious, aren’t I?” Natasha asked, dropping her hands as she eyed the woman, “Unconscious or drugged or very, very sick. Either way, this isn’t real.”

“Who am I to determine what’s real and what isn’t?” the woman asked, in the same voice as the cat had spoken with, “You may have noticed, I’m not all there myself. To me, everyone is mad. I am, you are. We are.”

“How do I get out of here?”

“Well, some go this way,” the woman said, nodding her head towards her left, “And some go that way.” She nodded towards her right. “But as for me, myself, personally, I prefer the short-cut.”

She gave Natasha a smile, one that was not filled with razor sharp teeth, and Nat may have liked that, feeling some kind of warmth being granted a smile like that, but at the moment she was too busy trying to determine how to get out of here, and back to her friends. This was enough craziness for today. 

“There’s never too much craziness,” the woman spoke, and Natasha jerked up and whirled around once she realized that the woman was now behind her. She opened her mouth to say something, but the woman was quicker. 

“You asked who I am, well... They call me Cheshire.”

|X|

Or: Natasha’s Adventures in Entirely Bat-Shit Crazy What-The-Hell-Is-Going-On Land. 

It was a rare treat, to have something so pretty so close by, and TJ was  basking in the attention and gaze of World War Two Super Soldier Captain fucking America.

It was rare because what he’s feeling right now, in his chest and blowing up his heart like a balloon, surpassed any high that drugs could have given him, and it was a treat because he had not expected Captain America to be the prettiest of all pretty boys TJ has met. 

Sure, TJ’s had his share of crushes in the past and he called a lot of boys ‘pretty’, but come on, even Douglas, Mister I’m so straight, has admitted to have had a celebrity crush on Captain America. But really, who hasn’t? 

It was almost funny how the poor guy really couldn’t catch a break. Gran’s been eyeing him all night, Elaine hung around him more often than not, Douglas was dying to get an autograph and a picture, and TJ... TJ just wanted to have a moment alone with him, to... well, make a move on him. 

No, for real, TJ was like ninety percent sure that Captain America was not straight. At least bi, maybe even more than that. 

As Ransom leaned forward on the table, a sigh slipped passed his lips, and he cast his eyes up after having wrapped his head around the fact that the guy before him was not just any weirdo, but a literal not-from-this-world weirdo. “So, if I got all this right, you’re from another universe, and in that universe I’m like your high school sweetheart?”

Bucky shrugged a little in response, making sure to flex the fingers of his metal arm as it lay on the table, to draw Ransom’s attention to the small plates that shifted with a low whir, hoping it would help make Ransom believe him, or at least that he was not some insane beggar from the streets- he knew what he looked like, with the hair and the beard and the closed-off body language, but he needed Ransom to know that he was not.  

“Well, you are more like a World War Two buddy I lived with for years and then forgot when I was brutally brainwashed and lost all my memories, but then remembered again when you let me beat you half to death seventy years later and recited something back at me that I told you back in the 1930s which you hoped would break me out of my brainwashing because you’re a goddamn idiot.”