As Time Goes By, Marvel Zombieverse Steve/Tony microfic

[hohaiyee.livejournal.com]

I know it's nowhere near Halloween, but I just came across this very haunting Iron Man cover that Arthur Suydam did for the 5th edition of Marvel Zombies (back in Nov/Dec 2007). It references the Demon In A Bottle storyline, and there is a real Classic Horrors feel to it, more than visceral gore, it is a horror that is also gorgeous and tragic;



I really hope that they have this cover in large poster format, unglossed paper like one of those old movies posters.

Is Casablanca (1942) public domain yet? If I have the means to, I want to do a short zombie movie scene that references it. Undead walking outside an old motel in broad daylight, and inside, you hear the Casablanca song Knock On Wood sung by Dooly Wilson on an old TV set. Pans out and you can see an abandoned bar, and a lone drinker hunched over on her stool, tiredly taping her knuckles on the bar.

Instead, I wrote this Steve/Tony fic, set in the 2149 universe weeks after the outbreak...I'm probably stretching out the timeline here, because I think the Silver Surfer had actually arrived before weeks had past?

[As Time Goes By]

You must remember this
A kiss is still a kiss
A sigh is just a sigh

The underground theatre has long been deserted, a relic of the 40s with sheet draped rows of seats, and dust layered carpets. The small sliverscreen rests behind a narrow stage, where skits and dances were once shown between the movies.

For weeks, an old man have been living down here, sleeping in the green room with his grocery cart of canned food. Steve didn't know what his plans were, beyond that, but a caved in skull has taken care of everything.

They were taking a break from the others, strolling arm in arm through the older district of New York, when Tony noticed that one of the utility panels had been recently tempered with. The old man was in the cleaned projector room, watching Casablanca. The loud duel of the anthems drowned their footsteps, as Steve snuck up, shield in hand...or maybe he was almost deaf because he was wearing a broken hearing aid.

Dinner was eaten in shameful silence. Slowly because they weren't that hungry yet when they started, and slowly because they were praying that their clarity of mind would last. Regaining sanity with the remains of their meal before them, was worse than the intolerable frenzy that the hunger brings. Still, neither Steve or Tony have the mind to dread sanity when they were hungry, the way they dread the hunger when they were sane.

Mindless of the gray grease that sticks to his uniform, Steve sat in the front row, his chin on his fist as the credits ran down the screen, thinking about the sure-voiced gents and effulgent dames he grew up with. Steve said not a word though, when he pulled Tony into his lap, Tony who came back from the green room, necrotized flesh still showing through layers of foundation.

ETA: Lighter Side commentfic (that I would love for someone to draw out nudge nudge wink wink)



Steve frowned, the best he could, what with half his forehead missing (he really should do something cosmetic about it).

"Tony, the team isn't going to be happy about having one more mouth to feed."

"I swear, it followed me home!"

"You still have bits of dinner caught in the creases of your armour."

"Oh, ew, um...here kitty, here...see Steve, it's cleaning me!"

*sigh

Comments

[dieewigenacht.livejournal.com]

See?

Miracles I tell you!!


God, and I thought that the only thing Zombies were good for was killing contest, but no! Now you made it cute, I don't know if that makes me happy or sad.

Miracles!

Dude, Marvel Zombies was effing brillant

[hohaiyee.livejournal.com]

It was very grotesquely funny, but it came through at tragic at the same time. Like, when Steve was first coming out of his hunger after his team was eating a woman, he tried to rally, saying that they are Avengers, they will go back to the mansion and find a cure.

Then they ate Jarvis, and all hope was abandoned. The next you see Steve, he's fighting Thor, while trying to defend what he did, telling Thor that he has to understand that they tried to fight it.

Then Steve reverts to a shell of stereotype, where he talks in military terms, about how 'rations' would be divided.

There was that scene where the FF came home to find their children eaten, and Reed was like, "We thought they would be safe" (We thought wouldn't be neglecting our duties as parents to go superheroing because they should be safe here), and his elastic arms were wrapped around what's left of Franklin several times like a blanket.

Re: Dude, Marvel Zombies was effing brillant

[dieewigenacht.livejournal.com]

Yes, indeed.

Marvel Zombies is a piece of art!

So full of gore and really nasty and disgusting scenes.

There's a couple of things that give me the creeps, and when I say that it's that it is really really good.

I haven't seen it all though...and that thing you are saying about Reed sounds so creepy and tragic!

Re: Dude, Marvel Zombies was effing brillant

[hohaiyee.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen it all either, just the HC editions of Dead Days, and I think Marvel Zombies 1...or 2, it was the one that starts with Magneto being eaten.

What was the things that gave you the creep? For me, it was when Nova went into Peter's dark apartment, and Peter was eating his love ones, and telling Nova to go away because doesn't he understand that there isn't enough?

...then there is Hank, talking to an unconscious Black Panther, about how if they were ever cured, he would still eat people. Hank?

If this was another universe, zombie children will scare me more, because they are small and fast, but when you already have superhuman zombies, the threat comparison is lower.

[intravenusann.livejournal.com]

I'm super new and super intimidated, but I've got to start commenting somewhere/sometime and I love Marvel Zombies and this? Oh man, this made my life. Zombies + Cuteness + Steve/Tony = Pinnacle of Win.

And you really touch on the sick tragedy that was the onset of Marvel Zombies, which was really the best and most disturbing part.

[hohaiyee.livejournal.com]

By the time the zombies ran into 616 Storm and her husband, I was rolling my eyes, because it was dragging a bit long, but still funny when they bicker...though I'm not so sure about Tony calling Luke Cage ghetto...

A lot of it was irony and injoke, like when they ate Galactus, and all those visual references to other universes, like when Steve pointed at his missing forehead in the same pose as Ult!Cap when he was dissing France...

I've only read the Marvel Zombies HC that starts with Magneto being eaten, and ends with them running into Storm, plus Dead Days. I think the best ones are Dead Days, and every scene with the FF in Marvel Zombies. Emotionally speaking, it's a punch to the gut, and I think Reed's action in Marvel Zombies actually foreshadowed his action in Civil War.

Like, Zombieverse is very much like 616 prior to the outbreak, except for Colonel America, eh? In Marvel Zombies, we really get (or is suppose to get) that Reed is actually a very emotional guy, who doesn't know how to deal with his emotions, and when he's hurt and/or afraid, he'll do something crazy to protect his family...without consulting his family.

[intravenusann.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, I think the whole thing might have worked a bit better if it had some limits and a complete story line, but I guess I figured it sort of took off and popularity made it grow until it just wasn't so good anymore. I've come to expect that from all things Marvel.

I gotta admit, I picked up Marvel Zombies for the... zombies. All the emotion and drama was a bittersweet surprise. Because one part of me was like "What is all this drama? I just want zombies!" but another part of me absolutely loved it, like something I never realized I had wanted.

It's another world and as far as I'm concerned, all the worlds are SORT of like 616, just maybe tweaked slightly.

I think you've got Reed pretty much pegged as far as I am concerned. And that's why I think his actions in Civil War were forseeable. He always does what he does for the best reasons he has. He is just that smart, but unfortunately he thinks of himself as being that smart and does not consider that when making any decision he should consult with the people it will impact, especially his family. Because he's as right as he can be, but he isn't perfect and not keeping people informed of his actions and, more importantly, his feelings and motivations ALWAYS bites him in the end, because when other people aren't informed they tend to not just go along with his super brilliant plan of the moment and then he blames himself. Doesn't mean I am not mad at him for a lot of his Civil War and aftermath actions. Lots of intelligence, but not so much foresight. And not so much with the sensical talking words and sharing his feelings.

re: RICHAARRDS!

[hohaiyee.livejournal.com]

Reed and Tony is really alike that way, except that Tony is more worldly due to being brought up in business, but in terms of normal human interactions, they kind of Fail. Reed worse than Tony, because he has aspergers (though even without, being a genius lab monkey would still make him a bit different)...but Tony's problem with people comes out without him risking his own life when he should have handed the reigns over, and dating the long string of women who have hurt him. Both are a part of the Illuminati, which bit off more than earth can chew by poking at the Skrulls before they have any defense against the Skrull invasion. That's like going to the Pyromaniac's door, shaking your finger over how they better leave your paper house alone when you have no functioning hose.

Unfortunately, Sue is also a bit like Steve, both of them underestimate Tony and Reed's ability to close off and fuck up. They both have had high esteem of Reed and Tony, Sue because she was a young girl when she had a crush on Reed, and Steve because Tony was the first person he saw when he came out of the ice. Yes, the on the geniuses with the plan to explain it, Tony should have spoke to Steve even before the government, and Reed should have talked with Sue instead of the Mad Thinker...but Steve and Sue KNOWS those two, and should have been more patient and persistent.

...and while Sue and Reed never duked it out the way Steve and Tony did, because for one thing, they are older and have children...and probably because their fighting style tends to be less physical. Though Sue is still very scary. In FF:Civil War, when the break up finally came, when Sue accused Reed of being like the Nazis and Reed clenched his fist, Sue immediately said, "You've just made a fist, use it, put it away, or I'll take it off at the wrist." ...that's like, um, WORSE than beating each other up. Then there was the part where Sue was soooooo angry when Reed persisted in his "I know what's best for everyone and I'm only being a facist(except I'm not!) to Protect You", she put a hole through all the layers of their home with her forcefields! ...Sue completely lost her mind, because while Sue has forcefields, she can't sense if there are other people in the house other than the two of them eh? Where were the children?

Re: RICHAARRDS!

[intravenusann.livejournal.com]

Reed and Tony are quite alike, but for very different reasons. Reed thinks "I am the smartest, I have to do this alone. If I do this, then everything will work out perfectly because I know it will. If things just followed this equation, then they'd be absolutely the most ideal possible." Whereas Tony has A LOT more issues and needs to have control, needs to get perfect, needs to do this ALONE because if he needed other people he'd be 'weak' he'd be admitted that he wasn't strong enough or smart enough, which is basically the same as saying not strong or smart at all to him.

But oh yeah, the skrull thing was like... Wow. They're smart, but maybe not so much common sense? Or whatever that took. Probably common sense. And maybe a little bit of humility.

Sue and Steve are very similar, but Sue sees through Reed a lot more easily. Still, three splits gutted me in Civil War: Cable and Deadpool, Sue and Reed, and Steve and Tony. I'm glad Sue and Reed worked things out, even though... Yikes, I'm glad I dropped Civil War when I did and only came back and read it all recently. Just... ouch. Ouch. Ouch.

Sue Richards is a scary woman. She knows she's not as smart as Reed, but she has heart and she could have kept him from doing some of the morally unforgivable things that he did and when he comes around she does make him promise "no more traps. no more clones" and all that. Well, I suppose he promises that as a bid to get her back, but it's what she wants. The thing that is best, but not at the expense of his integrity. Which is I think the point of their fight--if he's going to make bad choices, either she feels he should follow through on them 100% so she can do something about that, or stop being lukewarm evil. Use it, put it away, or lose it. That did concern me, but I figured even royally angry... maybe they were out with Ben or Johnny or... someone? I can't imagine her having that fight at all if the kids were home. Simply because of not wanting anyone, especially the children, even to hear it. She seems oddly together and forward thinking in Civil War, what with all the stalking she does. She even stops Tony from drinking, God bless her.

As for Steve and Tony, I just don't think Steve has the outlook to be able to understand where Tony was coming from. I also really don't think that Tony wanted it to end peacefully and with as little death as possible, which he says again and again and again. Steve if Captain m-f-in' America and I just don't think he realizes how angry and suspicious and bitter the average person has gotten because of all the collateral damage superheroes insecure. He thinks people remember the good and take the bad as a lesson, like he does. Not because he's 'perfect' like Tony says, but because he's decent, optimistic, idealistic, etc. He does make mistakes, he just learns from them. And Tony is pretty deep in himself during Civil War, and even before that. Pretty much forever, really, he thinks if the problem connects to him that it is his fault and that he, and he alone, must fix it. And so much of that and the darkness in Tony, is so beyond Steve's comprehension that they absolutely cannot see eye to eye. Steve couldn't have understood him by inference and empathy, because he's just not wired like that. And Tony was never going to spill about his feelings and the deep, weird, complex twists of his mind, his hunches, but also his weaknesses and his fears and all that. Which... sucks. As we all know.

[tsukinofaerii.livejournal.com]

The kitten still gets me.

Zombies shouldn't be cute. but Tony and Steve are cute by definition and... The paradox eats nags me. D: But there's still that touch of tragedy... It is a good microfic! (pets it)

[hohaiyee.livejournal.com]

Please don't pet the zombie microfic, unless you intend to feed it.

[tsukinofaerii.livejournal.com]

>-> (eases hand away from the zombie microfic)

[fairady.livejournal.com]

I really, really like that cover. <3

Also, the fic is heart wrenching and the little-bitty one after it somehow fixes it all. I guess that's the power of kittens though. They make even zombies cute and fluffy.

[hohaiyee.livejournal.com]

It is awesome.

I think Tony is actually very vain, when he remembers to look at himself. Like, he'll grease up his pretty clothes without a thought, and the fact that he'll look like a hobo after days down in the lab won't bother him...but if he was going out to some social function, and he were to prim in front of his vanity table, which exist even in the original cover with pretty craved details and all, he'll be really vain about the way he looks.

The heart wrenching bit for me is how everything gets corrupted, good intentions. The Avengers intended to go back to find a cure, but they ended up eating Jarvis. Peter rushed home intending to get his loved ones to safety, but he ended up eating them when he's hungry. Tony and Steve intended to go out for a romantic walk, trying to pretend everything was normal, but it turns to horror anyways.

Tony and Steve didn't intend to hunt, the streets were already deserted, and there Tony was, mocking at how old everything is, the old phone booth, the old clunky electrical boxes, and then they noticed that someone is living down there, and they just couldn't leave it alone.

I've always really like it when someone angsty is followed up by a light little omake. In fact, I wonder if that was the original use for omakes in Japanese manga. After a long serious story, they have a cute little sidetake. ...and I think in collections of short stories, the order they are presented in matters as much as the content. Like, I read Bending the Landscape, Horror, and I really would have liked it better if they struck the one with the birds and optimistic ending at the very end.