"You're telling me that you got Captain America-the War Hero, Steve Rogers-to become best friends with a thirteen-year-old kid? What, is this supposed to slowly introduce him to how irritating Generation Z is? Project Training Wheels or something?"
...
Trigger Warning: mentions of abuse, suicidal thoughts, homophobia, and depression, among other potential triggers. If you believe ANY of these may trigger you and would like to know which paragraphs/portions to directly avoid, I will give you the specific headline dates to avoid—or skip the chapter entirely, please. All my love.
This chapter will include characters and their perspectives outside of Lizzie (more-so than usual, at least).
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𝙉𝙊𝙏 𝘼𝙉𝙊𝙏𝙃𝙀𝙍 𝙏𝙀𝙀𝙉 𝙈𝙊𝙑𝙄𝙀.
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𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐔𝐃𝐄 𝟏.𝟑: Who Are You, Really?
𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐀'𝐒 ─ 𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐋𝐘𝐍, 𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐘𝐎𝐑𝐊 𝐂𝐈𝐓𝐘
𝟏𝟖 𝐉𝐔𝐍𝐄 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟕
───○☆✸☆○───
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☆
Arthur Langley knew he was a lot of things: a State-winning Wrestler for the prestigious Midtown School of Science and Technology, a robotics and engineering scholar with Ivy League potential, a younger brother to a cardiothoracic surgeon (no, he doesn't ever want to talk about Matthew. Ask his parents about Matthew),the #1 Employee of the Month at the local grocery store around the corner from school, along with multiple accolades for his community service and work with marginalized and immigrant communities in the area. Arthur Langley was a genius, but Arthur Langley had a heart.
Art had a future, and he knew it.
But sometimes his potential fell on deaf ears, and sometimes, he found himself acting out in a way that reminded him of his father on his worst days—with bruised knuckles and wrists too precious to afford breaking for his career, unwrapped and welcoming any kind of damage like an idiot. He knew better than that. Summer break meant more time at home, but Coach would be none the wiser to the injury. The best part about his sport? No one thought twice about the bruises.
There was a drugstore off the corner of where his family's apartment sat for over fifty years, the latter untouched by even the worst of New York's devastation. Part of him wished his home had gone up in flames that day, or that one of the Chitauri-aliens would've barreled through his living room, taking his brother and father out with no suffering. Arthur was only twelve then, but he knew well enough that no one should ever think like that about their family.
