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ONE SHOTS
"do you remember that one time?"
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never the same | mini blurbs

what was diana doing for a year? well let's find out.

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THE FIRST
how to be a failure 101
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"FOCUS! FOCUS! FUCK!" Natasha yelled, jamming her fingers down onto the button of the controller in her hands, "Jesus Christ Renfrey, where is your head today, you literally never lose at this level."

Diana frowned at the giant "YOU LOSE" on her side of the TV screen, this was her third time seeing it and she wasn't sure if her eyebrows could furrow any deeper than they have at the moment. Her confusion clouded her brain.

"I'm not sure," was all she said, she set the controller down on her blanket-covered lap, a sneezing was itching its way up her nose as she stretched her hands out trying to get them to relax, "maybe it's cause I'm sick so I can't focus properly."

Natasha hummed at the response and nodded.

"Maybe it isn't the best time to play this then, we'll just go ahead and watch a movie or something," Natasha offered and Diana sent the woman a grateful smile.

Natasha grabbed Diana's controller and began shutting down the game and getting Netflix pulled up for the pair to watch. Now that Diana didn't have to put her attention onto anything in particular, she felt her shoulders relax and her jaw finally unclench from the stress of Natasha's yelling and trying to avoid the imminent death that her character faced in the game.

When Natasha finally settled onto the chair next to the couch, Wanda appeared in the room, or more so, just walked in, undetected by the sick blonde. A bowl with steam rising was carefully perched in the brunette's hands, a soft smile on her face.

"My mother would make Pietro and I this anytime we got sick," Wanda spoke softly as she stepped over and sat down next to Diana, handing the soup over, with a wave of her hand, red wisps coating her fingers, a spoon floated into the room and landed in Wanda's hand, then directly offering it to Diana to use.

"Thank you," Diana spoke softly as she accepted the utensil and got to work on the soup.

It was warm and delicious. The broth soothed her throat and the smell of the spices, combined with the steam cleared her sinuses. Diana wished she had more but at the same time, when she finally set the bowl down on the coffee table to be washed later, fatigue was clouding her mind. She was finally able to breathe clearly for the first time in days and she didn't want to pass up the opportunity to sleep.

Diana didn't even realize what she was doing until Wanda's fingers carded through her hair, her head was on the brunette's lap and her droopy eyes finally closed, allowing her to drift off to sleep peacefully.

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THE SECOND
t is for trauma
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THE ROOM WAS quiet and smelled like fruit.  The pale green walls were made even paler as the sun shone through the windows with no blinds. Diana was silent since she sat down. She couldn't help but assess everything in the room, she mainly eyed the windows, analyzing the locks on the bottom panes.

"Diana, can I call you Diana or would you prefer Ms. Renfrey?" The woman asked. Her name was Beth. Tony had found her and signed Diana up for weekly sessions.

"Diana, I don't like the "Ms. Renfrey" thing, it's weird," Diana finally responded.

"So, Diana, your friend Tony told me that you may need some help," she spoke.

Diana scoffed as she finally looked at her, Beth Andrews was a very petite woman with long dark hair and very pale skin, she probably had no blinds to find a way to get some sunshine since she spent most of her day in her office, helping her clients. Diana admired the laid-back setting of the space they were in, she could tell that it was designed to help the people who sat on this couch to relax, it makes it easier for them to open up.

That didn't seem to be the case for Diana. She sat stiffly on the cushiony leather couch. She couldn't help it. This was the first time she's ever met, Beth. She knows that the girl is only there to help, and Diana does want it, she just didn't know where to start. The nightmares about 2012, the nightmares about Ultron or Pietro. She didn't know if she wanted to go over her parents or Strucker, she wasn't sure if Beth was legally allowed to know about Strucker. 

Beth seemed to notice that Diana was feeling overwhelmed as she kicked off her sandals and tucked her feet under her legs in her chair, the limbs hiding in her maxi-skirt.

"We don't have to talk about the heavy stuff today," Beth spoke, "I want to assess you first anyways, so we can make our next few sessions just small talk, so I can get to know you, see if there are any ticks or triggers I can identify and we can go over them when you're more comfortable."

Diana felt the tension in her shoulders ease, the pressure to talk as slowly leaving her.

"I'm sorry, it's just I have around twenty-five years of stuff to work through and I don't know where to start," Diana spoke softly, she felt the sting of tears and she forced herself to not cry.

"That's okay, we'll address what we need when the time comes, I want to get to know you first." Beth's soothing voice calmed Diana's racing heart, "so, we'll start with the basics of small talk: what's your favorite color?"

Diana had to think about the question, she never gave such a trivial thing a second thought, but now that she had to answer it, she had to remember all the shades that she felt herself get drawn to.

"Blue, but more like an icy ocean blue," Diana answered, she furrowed her eyebrows, trying to remember where she saw such a shade, but nothing came to mind, "What's yours?"

Beth blinked. She seemed shocked that Diana would want to know, but she smiled quickly after, "Green."

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THE THIRD
caprisun captain
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THE EMPTY KITCHEN was cold due to the stillness of the air, no one had been in the room for a while, so the air had time to chill on its own. This sent a shiver down Diana's spine as she stepped into the open-concept room, her hair and clothes sticking to her from the sweat of her workout. It was around 1 in the morning and she had just gotten out of the gym. She couldn't sleep, it was something she was working on with Beth, but she couldn't help that her brain still gave her nightmares. Wanda had offered to help with them almost a hundred times, but Diana couldn't bring herself to accept.

Diana didn't want Wanda to see the nightmares about Pietro or Strucker, and especially not her. So, she settled for the gym, punching her pain into a bag until she couldn't hold herself up, and not even then would she stop.

Her body welcomed the cold as it soothed her heated skin. She walked silently in the dark, making her way to the fridge, the bright light inside making her cringe as she squinted. When her eyes finally adjusted, she assessed the contents of the fridge and gasped at the familiar pouch that sat in the center of the middle shelf.

Diana pulled out the pacific cooler flavored drink. She straightened up as she shut the fridge, holding the pouch to the back of her neck, shutting her eyes in relief. Her skin felt hot and clammy against the drink, so the cool, dampness was a welcome feeling. Diana sighed, getting impatient with herself as she prepped the drink and quickly finished it. She was standing over the trashcan when the lights flipped on.

Diana yelped and watched as the pouch evaporated in her hands when her energy destroyed it. She groaned and looked up to see Steve leaning against the wall next to the switches that controlled various lights in the kitchen.

"I was wondering who was stealing my drinks," He spoke softly to not wake up the others, the compound was large, but when it was this quiet at night, sound carries.

"I didn't know it was yours," Diana frowned, looking back at the fridge with regret.

"But you did know that it wasn't yours," Steve pointed out, making Diana shift her weight on her feet, her hand instinctively going to the back of her head to scratch.

"Normally no labels mean it's communal," Diana tried, her eyes going everywhere except for Steve's face, afraid of the disappointed look he's probably wearing, "What are you, the Capri sun Captain?"

Steve chuckled at Diana's embarrassment as he walked over to the sink, pulling a cup out of the nearby cabinet and pouring himself a glass of water. Diana watched as he did so, he was oddly wearing a shirt that fit him loosely, grey sweatpants adoring his legs and hanging low on his narrow hips. Diana smirked at the angle of his torso.

"You know you have the body shape of a Dorito?" Diana asked out loud, holding in her cackling laughter as she noticed Steve struggling to swallow his water as he choked.

He spun around with wide eyes that peered over the glass, his face was red from the coughing. Steve had to set the glass down and pat his chest, a desperate attempt to get his lungs back on track. He shook his head, his blonde hair that stuck in all different directions shook slightly as he did this.

"No I never thought to compare my body to a chip," He frowned, "what are you even doing up this late? Is it nightmares again?"

Diana frowned, she was hoping to avoid this conversation but nothing she did ever got past Steve Rogers these days. Especially now that he was in the room next to hers. Ever since she got back from the funeral with Steve and Wanda and she fell sick, he had been doting on her like a grandmother. At first, it was endearing, but after he nearly kicked down her door when she tripped over her shoelaces, things seemed to be getting intense with the captain.

"Renfrey?" Steve asked, making her widen her eyes in the realization that she had yet answered him.

"Yeah, I've been getting nightmares," Diana frowned, "I've only started to work on them with Beth but she said it'll be a while before I'll be able to take control of them, and that's even if my brain will allow me to remember I'm in a dream."

Steve nodded with the information as he studied her expression, probably assessing if she was telling the whole truth, which most of the time, she wasn't but Steve didn't need to know that, the only one who could read her like that was Natasha and that was because she was trained to do that for years before she even defected to SHIELD. Wanda would probably be able to do it, but she had assured Diana that she spent enough time in Diana's head to last her a lifetime and didn't want to invade Diana's privacy like that.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Steve asked.

"No, not really.'

"That's fine, but you should at least try to get some shut-eye tonight, lord knows you'll need it for your mission tomorrow," Steve smiled weakly.

Diana nodded slowly, looking around the kitchen one last time.

"Goodnight Steve."

"Goodnight, Diana."

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1.9k words

ahh!! the intermission is here!! and we have more besties for Diana to interact with!! I'm so excited to introduce Beth! she won't have as much of a presence like the Anderson's, but she is key to Diana's life as she is her therapist that Diana desperately needs!! quiet honestly, all the avengers need a therapist, but we won't get into that right now.

I want to thank you all for reading this far and I can't want for y'all to see the second half.

One last thing, thank you stilestastic for the idea of an intermission (god i love havoc) as this helps with transitioning such big time jumps and it really helps me with developing relationships.

speaking of relationships, lmk which interactions you want to see in phase 4!! almost none of it is planned before the airport fight so there's lots of room!!

see y'all at the next update !!

-greta