Bitty Stark Tower/The Void, Late Thursday Night

[ifwebeworthy]

After his shift at the bar had finished, Thor returned to the room he and Blake shared in the tower, where he took off his armor, checked it over before he placed it on the stand in the corner of the room provided for it, and dressed for bed, which he then laid upon and closed his eyes.

He found this part easy. Blake did not. He did not know where the difference lay. He only knew that when he opened his eyes, he was aware of his body, still on the bed, but he was not in it. Instead, he was dressed in the sort of rough linen shift his corpse might have been dressed in if he had left a body behind when he died or still had people to care for it, standing beside a pool of still, clear water in the midst of an endless expanse of grey rock under an opalescent sky. Beside him was a boulder, and Donald Blake was leaning against it, right leg pulled up, left stretched out in front of him, gazing up at that sky. It truly was beautiful, Thor had to admit.

Blake was dressed ordinarily enough--his boots, jeans, a t-shirt with a button-down over it--and Thor wondered, not for the first time, why. If he had left a body when he ceased to be, if they had known to mourn, if they had dressed it for burial, this is surely not what would have been chosen. If it had been left to him Thor would have chosen his scrubs, an operating gown and cap: the uniform of his great battles.

Blake was looking up at him now, waiting, and Thor eased himself down to sit beside his counterpart, and for a long moment there was peace until Blake broke it by saying, "You didn't choose the void over sleep so you could do some stargazing."

That was undeniably true as, "There are no stars here." Blake waited, and eventually Thor said, "The weekend several weeks ago that you do not remember."

"The one where people saw the future."

"A possible future, I think." He had to hope, at least. "One of many paths."

Blake made a 'perhaps' sort of sound, then admitted, "I thought maybe I was dead, and that was why you wouldn't say anything."

"You think that you could die, and I could live?"

"Yes," Blake said, and he sounded very certain. "Did it not happen before?"

"You were not dead," Thor protested.

"I was and I wasn't." Blake dipped his hand into the water, which Thor knew from experience was very cold, cold being one of the only things one could feel here, and watched it run through his fingers. "I am and I am not."

Thor was just going to leave that where it lay. "No, I meant...then. In the future. We had been sundered, though I do not know how." He clarified, "We both existed, separately."

Blake looked thoughtful. "So because you were the one who existed when the island did its thing, you were the one who was there."

"I believe so, yes."

Blake nodded slowly, turning that over in his head. "So why didn't you tell me that sooner?"

He sounded more like himself now, which was a relief even with what Thor had to tell him. "Because you had gone mad." Blake turned his head slowly toward Thor, his eyes wide. "You were hateful. You burned with it."

"I don't understand."

"Do you not?" Thor asked. "I do not remember everything from that weekend, Blake. I do not remember knowing why you went mad, but I can easily see why you might hate me."

"I don't."

"It would be quite reasonable if you did. I let you die."

Don shook his head. "You didn't know I was alive in the first place."

"I should have."

"I didn't know, Thor. I thought..." Blake trailed off; did not say what he had thought. He didn't have to, because Thor had thought it, too. He has combed his memory these past months, and can pinpoint now certain times when something he thought or said was clearly more Blake than him. He is sure Blake did the same, for that long stretch of endless time that he was here. "Do you think maybe that's why I went insane? Because I was never meant to exist on my own? Well. I was never meant to exist in the first place, but you know what I mean."

"Perhaps," Thor said reluctantly.

"You don't like that theory."

"No, I--in the absence of further evidence, it seems as like as any other to be correct. I do not like the implication of it. The notion that we can be separated, but that it would be dangerous to you."

"You would have to die, I think. Or one of us would, anyway. Only one of us can exist at one time, and death severs all."

Thor argued, "But I was alive."

"Death can be a temporary state. Tony gave half the island AEDs. I don't know. I don't...Thor." Thor had been looking at him already, but now he paid him the kind of uninterrupted attention that kind of tone deserved. "I have had to...to work very hard to keep my sanity." Thor can easily see how that would be so, here for so long, staring into the abyss until it whispered its secrets in his ear. "Even if we don't have answers...at least now I know there are risks. That's not worth nothing. Thank you."

"I could wish it was better news."

"If it was better news you wouldn't have kept it from me for so long." Thor couldn't argue with that. Blake knew him too well, after all. Blake let his head fall back against the rock, gazing up at the shifting sky. "Maybe. And it had been a long time." By mortal reckoning, perhaps, but Blake was mortal. It stung to think of, especially knowing how much time he had been robbed of already, but looking away from it would make it no less true. It was hard to keep track of time here, but with that sense he still had of his body Thor thought that a few minutes ticked by before Blake asked, "What about Asgard?"

"Asgard had been restored," Thor told him. "And I remember that it had moved from where it was when it first returned. I do not remember specifics beyond that."

"There you go. We knew it was possible, somehow or other. We just have to keep trying to figure it out." The silence between them settled, became companionable, until Blake said quietly, "It's funny. We never saw them anyway in New York, but...I missed the stars."

Well. Thor could fix that, at least.

He opened his eyes and got out of bed, then went up to the roof before he brought the hammer down and sent himself back to the void, and Blake out to look upon the stars. And also upon...

"Hey, there's a hot tub up here! And an entire fridge full of cheese!"

Thor settled against the rock Blake had been leaning on before they swapped places. It should have been warm from his body, but of course it was not. There was no warmth in the void. He didn't mind it, though. It sounded like Blake had the makings of a very pleasant night.

((Everything except that Thor got ready for bed and Don was on the roof is NFB. If any other tower residents want to join Don in his late-night exploration of the rooftop amenities/stargazing session, they're welcome to do so!)

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[the_best_sister]

Yelena had been slogging through a never-ending training video binge when she spotted some activity on the roof and another flash of lightning. She sighed, deciding she needed a break, and grabbed yet another PSL for the trip. Do not ask how many she’d already downed today.

When she stepped outside, it wasn’t Thor she found but Don. Well, that was unexpected.

"Oh, Dr. Donald Blake," she said with a smirk. "Didn’t think I’d find you playing on the rooftop."

[ifwebeworthy]

You had to cut yourself off from the caffeine eventually, or you'd never sleep. Ask Don how he knew.

"Yelena, hi!" he greeted her. You'd never guess he'd just gotten bad news, because, "Did you know there's a cheese fridge up here?" An entire fridge full of cheese would cheer just about anyone up...unless they were vegan or lactose intolerant, probably.

[the_best_sister]

"Well, I knew there was a hot tub, but a cheese fridge? That was definitely missing from the list of Stark Industries' assets," Yelena quipped with a smirk. "If there's any Oltermani in there, I'll make sure to update the files."

She leaned against the railing, glancing around. "So, what brings you to the top of the tower tonight, Dr. Donald Blake? I must have just missed Thor. There was a lightning strike up here not too long ago."

[ifwebeworthy]

"There might be," Don said, gesturing to the bounty of the cheese fridge. "I wouldn't rule it out. But I also wouldn't bother updating the files when it might not last until morning," he joked.

Oh, right. That. "I...think he went to bed," Don said. "I just wanted to look at the stars. You can't see them in New York." Or, as previously established, the void.

[the_best_sister]

Yelena raised an eyebrow, a grin tugging at her lips. "So, it is a cheese free-for-all," she replied, as if considering raiding the fridge herself. She glanced up at the sky, then back at Don. "Stars, huh? I didn't figure you for a star gazer/cheese aficionado. Most doctors I've met were more interested in their next patient or leased luxury vehicle."

[ifwebeworthy]

"Tony can afford it," Don pointed out with a grin that then slid off his face as he said, "And I can't practice right now. My license is held up in red tape. Not sure what I'd do with a luxury car on this island...luxury rickshaw, maybe? And, uh...well." He shrugged. "You can't see stars in the void, either." Mood dampener.

[the_best_sister]

Yelena smirked, glancing back at Don. "Well, you're not stuck in the void anymore," she teased, turning to take in the view of the town. "And thanks to Tony, you’ve got a killer view.. and a fridge full of cheese." She said with a thoughtful pause.

"But it would be even better with some crackers or something. I mean, what’s the plan up here? Jump in the hot tub with a wedge of Jarlsberg in your hand? Not exactly civilized."

[ifwebeworthy]

"There have to be crackers and stuff around here somewhere," Don realized. "This is Tony Stark we're talking about. He's not gonna have a fridge full of cheese and none of the accoutrements."

Indeed, Don had been so distracted by the wonders of the cheese fridge that he had not even noticed the accompanying wine fridge Elaine informed me of yet.

[the_best_sister]

“Well, let’s take a look shall we?” Yelena said pulling herself away from the view. She wandered over to the fridge to indeed find more than expected.

“Well, well. Looks like we have crackers and-“

Opening up the wine fridge she pulled out a bottle. “Wine. Probably expensive. Looks French. What do you say, Dr. Blake? Up for a snack?”

[ifwebeworthy]

"Don't mind if I do, Miss Belova," Don said. "I haven't found the Oltermani you requested--I'll be sure to put in a complaint," and then Tony would buy a stupid amount of Oltermani, probably, "but there looks to be a very nice Camembert, if you're interested.

"So. Working late?" Don asked her.

[the_best_sister]

“I wouldn’t call it working,” Yelena admitted as she picked out a bottle at mostly random and started to open it. “Some perky little intern shoved a bunch of orientation paperwork and videos to watch. I guess when the owner of the company is an Avenger you need more than the average training in weird circumstances. What about you? Did you teach today?”

[ifwebeworthy]

"Apparently one time the building was taken out by a were-elephant," Don said. "So I can see how they would have a lot of contingencies." He did not mention who the were-elephant had been. You're welcome, Jane.

"No, my class is on Mondays." He manfully did not say something about kids these days and their one class per week that would not have helped him beat those 'old' charges. "I'm co-teaching with Jane--I don't know if you've met her. Something along the lines of...dealing with gods. It's sort of a work in development," he confessed.

[the_best_sister]

“This explains why there is a video on what to do if the building is pelted with large mammals,” Yelena joked as she pulled out the cork with soft “pop”. “And you are a surgeon for the Avengers as well as a teacher of religion. Clearly you are a man of many talents.”

She found two large wine glasses and did a heavy pour in each glass; handing one to Don when she was done. “Or were you a victim of this legendary moose I’ve heard so much about?”

[ifwebeworthy]

"I wouldn't go that far," Don said as he took the wine. He gave it a sniff and a testing sip before he set it aside to slice the Camembert. Not that he was above gouging at it with the crackers like a savage, but he'd found utensils and he meant to use them. "The moose was definitely involved. I was supposed to teach anatomy. I guess by knowing Thor I know more about it than most people who are here, though, so it could be worse. Imagine if they'd asked me to teach modern pop culture," he joked.

[the_best_sister]

“Eh. You’re a smart man and know how to use the internet. I’m sure you’d do fine,” Yelena said with a hefty swig of wine. “Plus if that ever happens you can just play Taylor Swift albums every day. Then if you’re really evil you make the final exam about what’s-her-name. Chappel Roan.”

[ifwebeworthy]

"Oh, they played her music at the roller disco," Don said as he offered the cheese to Yelena, and then explained, "Tony and Steve turned the ballroom into a roller rink for their Pride party back in June." As you did, if you were Tony Stark.

[the_best_sister]

“Pfft. See? You got all the bases covered. I’ll find that moose and tell them you’re all set for next year,” Yelena teased as she swiped a slice of Camembert to nibble on.

[ifwebeworthy]

"Please don't," Don requested. "I'm going to do a health class next semester. With people coming from different universes and time periods I don't know if some of them have even heard of germs. Or...vaccines." He froze with his wine glass halfway to his mouth.

Odin's other eye, how much of this island wasn't vaccinated?

[the_best_sister]

Better get that medical license soon, Dr. Blake!

"I am only joking," Yelena said studying Don's expression over her wine glass. "I will never talk to Moose. And I assure you I am fully vaccinated."

[ifwebeworthy]

"Oh, good!" Don exclaimed. "That's...that's good. I had to do antibody testing after I came back, to make sure mine were still good." It was actually his second round, after the one he'd done on himself in Tony Stark's lab after realizing all his childhood vaccination records were fabricated. He held up his wine glass for a toast. "To vaccinations."

[the_best_sister]

“And the fact they save lives and don’t do stupid things. Like make you magnetic,” she said clinking her glass against Don’s. She took a small sip, paused, and then gulped down the rest and started refilling her own glass. “Tony has plenty,” she joked.

[ifwebeworthy]

"Pretty sure you need Magneto for that," Don said. He did not follow Yelena's example with the wine because he had been reminded of his limits recently enough, at Kitty's party, to not want a repeat performance on the roof of the tallest building around. "Did you have fun at the speed dating thing the other night? I was sorry to miss it."

[the_best_sister]

“Magneto? What’s that?” Yelena said with a snort of amusement. “And the three minute dates were fine. I met new people. I hung out with Thor which you probably know. I hung out with Adrian but we knew each other before that. I met Jane. It was very sociable. It was good to get out, I guess. How about you? Did you do whatever you had to that night?”

[ifwebeworthy]

"I did, yeah," Don said. "I got it taken care of. Thor mentioned that you guys were matched up. I didn't know you met Jane. She's my co-teacher, and...sort of my ex. I don't remember if I explained that whole weird situation or not."

[the_best_sister]

“I think you did. An ex girlfriend from another reality,” Yelena said with a nod and a sip of wine. “Which seems to be the same for everyone around here. Everyone knows someone from not quite their universe. Your situation seems extra awkward. An ex from another place you have to work with.”

[ifwebeworthy]

Don finished chewing a bite of cheese before he said, "It's so weird because we sort of know each other, but we...don't. And it's like that with several people here, but not...not like that." He shook his head. "I wouldn't recommend it, but I guess we don't get to decide.

"Oh! I can't believe I almost forgot. How's Fanny settling in?"

[the_best_sister]

“No, we don’t get to decide,” Yelena empathized.

Clint might not be her Ex, but the one here reminded of many things she screwed up. It made it easy to understand Don. At least somewhat.

“And Fanny is loving her new home. She has a yard to play in, a dog bed in every room that she ignores so she sleeps on all the other furniture. I think she likes it.”

[ifwebeworthy]

"Living the dream," Don said with a smile, then joked, "Maybe we don't tell her about the cheese fridge."

Fanny's supervillain origin story: cruelly denied access to the cheese fridge.

[the_best_sister]

“Absolutely,” Yelena agreed. “One piece of cheese and that dog has the worst gas afterwards. Next time I come to the office I’ll have to bring her. She’ll be sad Steve will be back to normal but happy to see Patriot.”