Touch Football mega thread

[nola_eleanor]

There was a field not too far from Phoenix Effect that was too small for all the various sports leagues in the city to have snapped up for weekend practices or games, but big enough for the fairly flexible game of touch football, so that's where they played. People came and went for most of the afternoon, though the game itself only lasted an hour and change. Almost everyone played, but there were several people watching, choosing to cheer or heckle or talk amongst themselves as it suited them.

When everyone got together enough to actually start the game, they divided into two teams, with Matteo as the referee. Zach's team was made up of Hazel, Max, Hanne, Nori, Nick, Alex, and Oliver; Kyle had Elspeth, Joel, Carrie, Caleb, Irene, Sam, and Elena on his team. It wasn't a blowout, but Zach's team won by a few touchdowns and were crowned the victors. Despite a couple minor accidents, everyone came out of it in one piece. More or less.

Comments

Dani

[nola_buckybarnes]

Joel felt so guilty about being MIA—ugh, that little turn of phrase hit a lot closer to home these days—for so long that he actually showed up for the game early, hoping to maximize his time with Elspeth and everyone else. It wasn't their fault he'd woken up one day and remembered he was a Super Soldier.

Which reminded him—he needed to keep focused and not get too into the game. It'd be easy to forget himself. Thank God this wasn't tackle.

There were only a few other people milling around the field when he walked up, and he wasn't sure how many were just random passerby. One face, though, he definitely knew. Like, really, really knew. The same way he knew Steve.

"Wanda?" he said, keeping his voice low. The incredulity still came through loud and clear.

[nola_wanda]

Dani had finally convinced herself to go to the park like Oliver had asked. She went early, well before the game was supposed to start, hoping it would be quieter and less crowded. Really, her plan was to stay just long enough that she could see Oliver. The library was waiting for her, after all; Ian might be waiting for her.

She was standing a little way away from anyone else, unsure of what to do until Oliver arrived, when she heard her name. Well, one of her names. Dani turned in the direction of the voice, knowing it wasn't Oliver's, eyes widening in surprise.

"Bucky?" It wasn't really a question, though; he couldn't be anyone else. The sense of recognition was stronger, surer than it had been with Pietro, which was confusing in its own right. She barely knew Bucky beyond fighting together, a few shared words, and things the others had told her. Was it just because she remembered being Wanda longer now than in that first shock of memory when she'd met Oliver, or did it mean something about her, or about Bucky, or about why they were here?

[nola_buckybarnes]

Joel huffed out a laugh of surprise and went straight to her, opening his arms. "Am I glad to see you!"

Sam

[nola_quicksilver]

It was kind of nice to have something normal and wholesome to look forward to after all the tumult of the past few days. A nice touch football game in the park with friends on a beautiful spring day! What could be more carefree than that?

Of course, they were also folding in a meetup with other universe-displaced people. But that was just efficient scheduling.

By the time Sam and Oliver arrived at the park, others were already there, though the game wasn't even close to starting yet. Way at the other side of the field, Sam's chess nerd friend Zach was setting up some goal markers, and he cheerfully raised his hand to them in greeting before going back to what he was going.

Oh, and he was Hank McCoy now.

Oliver stopped in his tracks, his elbow jamming sharply into Sam's side. "Scott! I mean, Sam—whoever—are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

[nola_wanda]

Dani hugged him immediately, laughing quietly in sheer surprise. "I'm so glad you're here." More than anything else, she felt relieved. It was easier, seeing someone she was happy to see but who wasn't tangled up with her grief or anger or longing. Just an ally, a friend, someone she'd shared a world with.

Though, just to be sure: "What's the last thing you remember?"

[nola_buckybarnes]

Joel fluttered a hand, mimicking the wind blowing. "Becoming ash." He grimaced slightly. "I watched the movies, so I know it happened to you too. I'm sorry."

[nola_wanda]

"No, but that's good, it means we're from the same universe." And since she never would have assumed otherwise before meeting someone who wasn't from her same universe, Joel probably wouldn't either. "My brother Pietro is here, only he's not my Pietro. He's...another version? I guess? of him. And he has friends here from his universe, but I don't know any of them, so it's...it's really good to see you." Not that Bucky had ever known Pietro, but it seemed like important information.

[nola_buckybarnes]

"Another universe?" Joel whistled low. "This is even more intense that I thought when it was just me and Cap."

[nola_wanda]

"Steve's here? That's good. This is all completely insane but I feel a little better not being alone." Having to sit with memories only she had, having to see posters for a movie that everyone else took as entertainment but that made her want to cry until she didn't have tears left, it had been eating away at the very small reserves of strength Dani had built up for herself.

[nola_buckybarnes]

"Yeah, for the longest time I thought it just us two getting fucked with. I'll let him know you're here too—maybe it's all the Avengers? Well, and Avengers-adjacent." Joel took out his phone and started texting.

[nola_wanda]

"Pietro's friends aren't Avengers in his world. They're mutants. I think he said he and his boyfriend are in comic books, but their friend is also in movies. But not our movies." The only thing powerful enough to mess with reality on this level was the gauntlet, but even that didn't make sense. Not when Steve was there too, not when they'd ended up in a world with the same problems Thanos had supposedly been trying to solve.

[nola_buckybarnes]

There was a beat of silence before Joel said, "Huh. You know, I can't say this is how I assumed universes worked."

[nola_wanda]

"I never thought much about how universes worked," Dani admitted. In both lives she'd had more immediate concerns to worry about and a lack of experience with pop culture that played with those kinds of ideas. "I'm Dani. In this universe, or however it works. Dani Worthington."

[nola_buckybarnes]

"That's what you'd rather be called?" Joel asked, just to clarify. "I'm Joel here, but it doesn't matter what you all me. Steve's Steve, which makes it easy."

[nola_wanda]

"Wanda's fine." She felt more comfortably Wanda right then than she had so far. "I just wanted to make sure you knew. So you can find me, and for when other people are around." Like this football game, where it would be weird if she got called by two different names in front of strangers.

[nola_buckybarnes]

"Oh, you don't want me to call you Scarlet Witch in public?" Joel asked, but he was teasing. He held out his phone. "Would it be okay to get your contact info and pass it on to Steve too?"

[nola_wanda]

Dani rolled her eyes with a small smile. "Seems a little unfair to deal with the code name when I don't have the powers to back it up," she retorted. She put her phone number and email in his contacts before she handed the phone back to him. "Steve should have it too, yes. I spend a lot of time in the library, so my phone's on silent a lot, but I check it pretty often."

[nola_buckybarnes]

"Are you studying, or just a reader?"

[nola_wanda]

"I go to Tulane. And the public library is usually where I meet up with my brother. Dani's brother, not Pietro." Was it ever not going to be weird to have to differentiate the two?

[nola_buckybarnes]

"I go to Tulane, and Steve teaches there," Joel exclaimed. "Maybe that's a connection." He paused. "Having a brother here must really complicate things for you, though."

[nola_wanda]

It was weird, thinking she might have crossed paths with either of them on campus and had no idea. "It was complicated before all this; I don't know if there's a word for what it is now."

[nola_buckybarnes]

"Surreal? I wondered for a while if this was just me in stasis again and Hydra was feeding me a dream," he confessed.

[nola_wanda]

"I could make people see things, but not on this scale, not nearly. I have to assume it's real, and not a dream or an illusion or anything like that. For some definition of real. There are good reasons I'm not a philosophy major."

[nola_buckybarnes]

"Ha—same. I study history, and I have't heard of anything like this, needless to say."

[nola_cyclops]

And Sam thought nothing about today would be more exciting than efficient scheduling (that was not a joke). But Oliver hadn't needed to elbow Sam (ow) -- Sam was seeing what Oliver was seeing, and also not in the least worried about being called Sam and Scott interchangeably. And how could he not be called Scott when he was looking across a field at Hank McCoy?

Now that Sam knew what he knew about himself and his life as Scott, it all seemed so obvious. Of course Zach was Hank; of course Hank was Zach. He grinned and turned to Oliver. "Yes, I see Beast too."

God, who knew how many of them were here!

And if he could be anyone, Sam was so glad Zach was Hank. He and Hank had butted heads a hundred times, and both of them had their share of being right or wrong in their disagreements -- Sam knew he, at least, had come to take Hank's words as a conscience barometer and a reminder of the impact of his actions.

But the most important thing was that Hank was family. They had known each other since they were kids; the younger, more fun Scott had made good friends with Hank and it was the kind of bond that had stuck; in times of crisis, Sam trusted Hank with his life.

"I can't believe he's here." Thousands of memories crashed over Sam anew.