𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘴 , peter parker

042.

GLISTENING DIAMONDS.
042. ❛ quantum physics. ❜

"YOU KNOW, I WOULD offer to cook you two dinner, but you both seem pretty miserable already."

Natasha quickly masked her emotions, slowly looking up to see Steve leaning on a nearby bookshelf. She noticed his flannel in his hand, then his blonde hair pushed back neatly, then, lastly, his eyes that were blue with worry. "You here to do your laundry?"

The corners of Steve's lips tugged upwards, "To see a friend."

Natasha smiled, but they both knew it was fake. The frustration in her eyes and the tremble in her tone weren't exactly supporting factors. She folded her hands, "Clearly, your friend is fine."

Steve paused, fidgeting with his car keys. "You know, I saw a pod of whales when I was coming up on the bridge."

Natasha's eyebrows lifted and for a moment, she seemed happy, "In the Hudson?"

"There's fewer ships, cleaner water..." Steve trailed off. He walked over to Diana and let her put her head on his abdomen. He played with her hair, hugging her back and sighing softly.

Natasha leaned back in her seat, staring up at the ceiling. "You know, if you're about to tell me to look on the bright side..." she glanced back at him, "I'm about to hit you in the head with a peanut butter sandwich."

Natasha pursed her lips and Steve moved down to kiss Diana on her head, "Hey, hun, burn that cigarette out." He then sat himself in the chair in front of the desk. "Sorry, Nat, force of habit."

Diana didn't comply and instead zoned out, staring off to the side at piles of items. There was a pause before Steve continued, "You know, I keep telling everyone they should move on... grow. Some do, but not us."

Natasha's eyes glazed with fresh tears. "If I move on, then who does this?"

"Maybe it doesn't need to be done."

"I used to have nothing," Natasha said in a weak tone. "And then I got this. This job; this family." A tear slipped down her cheek as she looked at Diana who slowly burned out the cigarette, a pool of guilt swirling in her stomach. "And I was... I was better because of it. And even though, they're gone, now, I'm still trying to be better."

Steve nodded at her words, "I think we all need to get a life."

Natasha smiled sadly, "You first."

Diana looked up with tears in her eyes as well, blowing out a puff of air from the lump in her throat building up, "Getting a life is overrated and i'm happy where I am, thanks."

A holographic message appeared and Natasha swiped it through without looking. The feed for a camera flashed in the air and the three turned to watch. "Oh... hi! Hi! Is anyone home?!" A male voice asked anxiously.

Diana's eyes widened as Steve and Natasha both rose to their feet their faces twisting into a serious expression. "Holy shit." She breathed out, her heart palpating, "That's Scott."

Scott Lang stood at the front gate with a brown van behind him. "This is Scott Lang. We met a few years ago?! At the airport i—in Germany? I was the guy that got really big— I had my mask on. You wouldn't recognize me."

"Is this an old message?" Steve asked in disbelief, barely able to grasp at reality.

"It's the front gate."

NATASHA, STEVE, and Diana shared a skeptical look as they watched Scott pace back and forth, mumbling inaudible words to himself.

Diana rubbed her eyes in annoyance and looked up at the man who was still pacing, "Scott! Stop pacing or, so help me god, I will—"

Steve cleared his throat, cutting the girl off with a pointed look. He raised his eyebrows at Scott, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," He muttered. He pressed his fingers against his eyes before dragging them to his chest where he clasped them together, "Have either of you ever studied quantum physics?"

Diana nodded and Natasha shrugged, "Only to make conversation."

Scott hopefully pointed at her and Diana, "Okay, so..." He began to say. "Five years ago— right before... Thanos... I was in a place called the Quantum Realm. The Quantum Realm is like its own microscopic universe. To get in there, you have to be incredibly small," He explained.

"Hope. She is my... She was my-" His voice cracked and Diana saw he started to blink faster, "She was supposed to pull me out. And then, Thanos happened and I got stuck in there."

"I'm sorry. That must've been a very long five years," Natasha was quick to say, empathetic but still not seeing where this was leading.

"But that's just it. It wasn't," Scott said firmly. "For me, it was five hours." When he saw their confused eyes, he elaborated, "See, the rules of the Quantum Realm aren't like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable—is that anybody's sandwich? I'm starving," he cut himself off as he spotted Diana's unfinished sandwich on the table. He rushed over and stuffed a large bite in his mouth, sighing contently at the taste.

"Scott, what are you talking about?" Steve asked, crossing his arms.

"So," Scott continued, swallowing his food. "What I'm saying is... Time works differently in the Quantum Realm. The only problem is right now, we don't have a way to navigate it. But what if we did?" he asked, only adding to their confusion.

"I—I can't," Diana gave up trying to understand what he was saying and plopped back down on her seat.

"I can't stop thinking about it. What if we could somehow control the chaos? What if we could navigate it? What if there was a way that we could enter the Quantum Realm at a certain point in time but then exit the Quantum Realm at another point in time? Like..." He intently looked at them. "Before Thanos."

He then looked at Diana and pointed a finger at her, "Wait—why the hell do you still look seventeen? Shouldn't you be twenty-one or something?"

"I time traveled." Diana pursed her lips and gave the man a sarcastic smile as she crossed her arms over her stomach in comfort, trying not to think of the day where it all went wrong.

As she said that, Steve looked up abruptly, as if it finally clicked in his head, "Are you talking about a time machine?"

"No, of course not. No, not a time machine," Scott quickly said. "It's more like a... Yeah, like a time machine," he agreed eventually. "I know, it's crazy. But I can't stop thinking about it."

Natasha looked at Diana with hope in her eyes but Diana just teared up and slightly shook her head. It was obvious she was scared of the possibilities that they could unleash.

"There's gotta be someway... " He sighed. "It's crazy..."

"Scott," Natasha said. "I get emails from a raccoon. So, nothing sounds crazy anymore."

"So who do we talk about this?" Scott questioned.

Diana sighed and let her eyes tiredly look up at Scott, "Tony motherfucking Stark."

"Language, Diana!"