The Park, Sunday Morning

[ifwebeworthy]

Don had not had a good night. Adjusting to having a body again didn't seem like it should be as much of a struggle as it had been, especially when it came to making it rest. The sensory input was too much sometimes, particularly with his leg beginning to itch as his new tattoo healed, and his brain tended to chuck up nightmares as it tried to process his time in the void, most of which was really not something a human brain was ever meant to process.

When Don had given up and offered to tap Thor in at two AM, Thor had refused on the basis that the thunder that accompanied their switching places might have woken the tower's other residents and, more mercilessly, that Don had to adjust. He was alive; he had a body. He had to remember how to live in it.

Which was why he'd picked up a coffee from the gremlin Starbucks in Stark Towerlet's lobby this morning and dragged said body out for a walk to further familiarize himself with the town before eventually stopping to rest on a bench in the park.

"Okay," he said to the ghost of a god sitting beside him, his face tipped up as if he, too, could feel the warmth of the sun on it when Don knew perfectly well his current state did not allow that. "You were right. This doesn't suck."

(Open park is open!)

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[sith_happened]

Anakin and his son Christopher were heading to the playground when he spotted Don on the bench. Christopher went running for the slide and Anakin headed over to Don.

"Good morning."

[ifwebeworthy]

"Dean Skywalker," Don said as Thor faded back to the void now that Don had the prospect of other company. "Good morning." He gestured toward Christopher with the hand holding his Starbucks cup. "Yours, I'm guessing?"

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded. "My youngest son, Christopher," he said. "He had too much energy to stay in the house today."

[ifwebeworthy]

"Must be nice," Don, who had never been a child and who was currently running on caffeine and the chivvying of a god, murmured. "You have other kids?"

[sith_happened]

"Three more," Anakin said with a nod. "Timelines get a little complicated here, but I have adult twins who live in my home galaxy, and my daughter and son who live with my wife and I here."

[ifwebeworthy]

Don knew a thing or two about timelines getting complicated, Because Marvel. Thor had met his descendants from the future a time or two, although he himself had...not. "Wow, four kids," he said. "Holidays must be busy...although if your older two live in another galaxy maybe they do different holidays?" he guessed.

[sith_happened]

"They don't need to come in for Christmas," Anakin agreed. "Luke tends to come in for the school's homecoming--we went to school here for a few years."

[ifwebeworthy]

"Oh, that's nice," Don said. "Kind of like a family tradition?"

[sith_happened]

Anakin laughed. "Oh definitely, even if it's unplanned. I was here as a student. My son came, and a different version of my daughter, three grandchildren, a great-grandchild, my apprentice, my teacher, his teacher--"

[ifwebeworthy]

"Oh, wow," Don said. "That's a lot." Congratulations, Anakin, that sounded like it might be more complicated than the royal family of Asgard, although probably not more complicated than the Avengers.

Definitely not more complicated than the Summerses.

"...in that order, or...?" He was a little scared of the answer, even with his awareness of the time travel shenaniganry.

[sith_happened]

"No," Anakin said, laughing. "The great-great grandson showed up when his grandfather wasn't even married yet."

[ifwebeworthy]

"No pressure or anything, right?" Don joked. "Wow. That's..." He trailed off and shook his head. "Wow. Kind of great, though. That you get to meet so many...generations or whatever, I guess."

[sith_happened]

"It's a little overwhelming at first," Anakin admitted, "but now I almost look forward to it."

[ifwebeworthy]

"I can't relate," Don admitted, "but then, I don't have any family." He guessed Loki could always show up. Sure, he was dead, but also he was Loki, so it wouldn't be that much of a surprise...but also that still wouldn't be his family.

"Then again, a version of my ex-girlfriend from another universe where apparently I am really different was already here when I got here, so...there's that."

[sith_happened]

"That I can relate to," Anakin said. "A woman wearing my first wife's face arrived a few years back. It was very awkward."

[ifwebeworthy]

Oh, yeah. Jane had mentioned that, now that he thought about it (the caffeine, it was caffeinating). "So, get this," Don said, leaning toward him a little bit to share the joke. "Same woman." He settled back, took a sip of his coffee, and admitted, "You're not wrong about the awkward." Plus Don came with extra bonus awkward in the form of Thor.

[sith_happened]

"...and now it's more awkward," Anakin said after an admittedly awkward pause while he processed that.

[ifwebeworthy]

Don shrugged. "I mean, she's not actually my ex-girlfriend," he pointed out. "As far as I know, my ex-girlfriend is in New York, not being Thor." Yet.

[sith_happened]

"Oh, she's much taller than my wife was," Anakin said. "But the face is eerily similar."

[ifwebeworthy]

"She's not actually that tall," Don ratted her out. "Or blonde. That's...it's a Mjolnir thing. 'The power of Thor.'" Which he still had questions about, but you couldn't just ask someone why they were worthy.

Especially when they were your ex-girlfriend.

[sith_happened]

Nooooo, that would end very badly, and Anakin was an expert in things ending very badly.

"The power of Thor changes your height and hair color?" Anakin replied.

[ifwebeworthy]

"It's a whole package deal," Don explained. "The armor, too." And then there was him, but he was a special case.

Wait.

"Is...is Jane Thor all of the time?" That seemed odd, now that he thought about it.

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded. "Most of the time, yes."

[ifwebeworthy]

Don considered that for a moment, then said, "Huh." Maybe it had something to do with the hammer being broken? She didn't seem to know much about that, so she might not have answers, and again, probably wouldn't appreciate him asking. "It's probably none of my business anyway." As her ex, yes, but there were other considerations he wasn't about to share with Anakin.

"Apparently I don't look the same where Jane's from, so that's weird." He frowned at his coffee. "I wonder what I do look like?"

[sith_happened]

"That's a strange thing to contemplate," Anakin admitted. "I apparently look the same in all dimensions. They recognize me right away."