Restart [ discontinued ]

Contrary to popular belief, dahlias weren’t really your favorite flowers. 

Morgan knew this as a fact, even at an early age. So when she asked her mom why people were pilling said flowers outside of Stark Tower- among all the other stuff already there from weeks before-, Morgan was confused as to why her mom said ‘it was your brother’s favorite’.

They weren’t. Despite being so young, she distinctly remembers when she found out otherwise.

(“Wha’s t'is?”

It a warm spring day, a day that she got to spend time with you, and she wanted to go prancing around into your flower bed. It wasn’t often they’d spend time at his house, which was a shame since she really liked your garden. There are a plethora of flowers surrounding the two of them, but Morgan points towards a specific flower.

Back turned to her, you absentmindedly hum an answer. She can’t see what you’re doing, but she’s too mesmerized by a certain flower to care. It’s a pretty blue, with lots of petals, and there are some little flying things around it buzzing about.

“A lollipop.”

“A lol'pop?”

Just as you turn around, Morgan reaches out and grabs at the petals. She hears you huff and shuffles over to where she was crouching. She yanks, pulling a few petals out and just as she was about to stuff them in her mouth, she hears you laughing.

“Aye- no- quit tryna ta’ stick 'em in your mouth,” you reach over and pulls Morgan away from the flowers, chuckling as she falls limp in your grip like jelly. She likes hearing you laugh. “'less you want me to bite your fingers off!" 

She falls into a giggling fit as you nip at her fingers. You pluck the fallen petals and sprinkle them in the dirt. Morgan, with a big grin (and a few missing teeth), settles right next to you. You’re both sat on the stone walkway. She points towards the flowers she just tried to eat.

"Wha’s t'at?" she repeats.

"Dahlias. They come in a whole bunch of pretty colors.” Now that she thinks of it, there were a bunch of flowers similar to it. 

She glances up at you. It’s a familiar name for sure, one that she hears you talking to a lot. A female voice rings in her head, and she lights up.

“Jus' like t'e one that- that soun’s like Tor?”

You make a funny face and pause before snorting. Morgan swears she heard a faint whisper- a female voice- but she’s not too sure if she actually did hear it or not. She doesn’t care though, too busy looking at you for an answer. You grin, amused.

“Yeah, just like the one that sounds like Thor.”

“Did ya’ name her t'at 'cuz you like dahlias the mos’?”

You shift, expression changing, and Morgan scrunches her nose as you wipe her face clean of any muck from the flowers. You brush stray strands of her hair back gently and answers with a soft voice.

“People always think that, but dahlias were never a favorite of mine…” Your eyes glaze over for a split second, voice quieter, “Just named her that for funsies.”

She didn’t know what that funny feeling in her chest was when you said that, but looking back on it now, even at a young age she definitely picked up on the lies in your mouth. But she said nothing of it, instead opting to point at other flowers and asking about them.

Granted, she didn’t notice how your shoulders eased up when she didn’t pry.)

But another thing that confused her was why they were placing dahlias there in the first place. She kinda has a vague understanding of why there were flowers and stuff for her dad- he’s not coming back for a long, long time, and everyone misses him.

Of course, she misses her dad too. She knows that he’s… Never really gonna come back home. As much as she waits for him to pop into her room to tuck her into bed, only her mom tells her goodnight nowadays. It’s not him who plays with her before lunchtime, it’s always someone else now. It’s nice- she gets to talk with Uncle Happy and Uncle Rhodey more. But as much as she’d rather it be her dad there for her, she understands he’s not coming back.

But for people to put flowers for you? 

It made no sense to her.

Her mom says it’s because you’re not coming back either, just like dad. Morgan’s confused, and when she tries to tell her that you’re not gone and that you’re coming back, she only gets a strange expression from her mom.

'Oh, sweetheart…’ she says.

But Morgan doesn’t really dwell on it for long when her mom switches the channel to Nickelodeon. And besides, she’s not really upset about you being gone right now. You’re gone a lot- she sometimes doesn’t even see you for a month sometimes. She knows you’re busy. So this isn’t really different this time around.

Besides, she knows you’ll come back soon.

After all, you promised to play house with her when you come back.