Title: That’s a Wrap
Fandom: Marvel Comics (West Coast Avengers)
Rating: Teen
Length: 894 words
Warnings: no standard warnings apply
Notes: Outsider POV
Summary: Carl the cameraman is about to be out of a job, but maybe that’s not a bad thing. It’s time for the film crew to say goodbye to The West Coast Avengers.



“Well, I guess that’s a wrap.” Dave shoved his phone back into his pocket.

“Excuse me?” Carl said. Though he was pretty sure he already knew what Dave was on about. The writing had been on the wall for a while.

“That’s it, show over. This production has been officially canceled.”

“Did we even finish?” Carl wondered.

“I think it was more an open-ended concept type thing.” Dave shrugged. “You know how it goes. We shoot a bunch of stuff, do a bunch of interviews and then throw it all together and see what happens. Maybe we hit gold or maybe we crash and burn.”

They had definitely crashed and burned. “So, that’s it then. Did you tell the team yet?” Carl said.

Dave looked down at his feet and didn’t say anything. Confrontation wasn’t his jam.

Carl shook his head. “Fine, I’ll do it”

Dave gave him what was probably supposed to be an affectionate smack on the shoulder. “You’re the best.”

Carl sighed. How did he get himself into these situations?

He told Kate first. She was the team leader after all. After he explained the cancellation to her she smiled.

“Really?” She asked.

“Yep, sometimes that’s just how these things go, I’m afraid,” Carl said.

“That’s awesome. Sorry, I mean I know it was your job and all but I really didn’t love having cameras on us all the time. It got to be a bit much, no offense.”

Carl nodded.

“And I think we all need our privacy and well the money was nice and the new digs - do we get to keep our headquarters or is this an eviction as well as a cancelation?” Kate suddenly looked worried.

“I’m pretty sure you get to stay at least a year after production ends. You’ll have to check to contract though to be sure.” Carl shrugged. “It’s not really my area of expertise, I’m just the camera guy, remember?”

Kate nodded. She looked like she might hug him for a minute there but in the end, settled for gently patting his arm. Then she swung her gear over her shoulder and headed out the door. Carl didn’t know where she was off to and it suddenly struck him that it wasn’t his job to care anymore. Huh. It was a bit of a letdown really.

Sadly, Barton was off on a mission with the real Avengers. America and Ramon were on a date and Johnny - huh, Carl didn’t know where Johnny was. The kid tried to avoid the cameras as much as possible. Carl didn’t really blame him. He knew all that exposure could get to be a bit much.

Next, he headed to the entertainment lounge or whatever they were calling it these days. The room smelled vaguely of old Chinese food, sweaty gym socks, and lemonade. This wasn’t new. It always smelled like that in here. He slowly made his way through the piles of dirty clothes and empty take-out boxes. It was time to break the news to the two team members that Carl wished he could avoid. It wasn’t that they were bad people or anything. They were just really annoying. He found Gwen and Quentin on the couch playing what looked like a very violent and gruesome video game. Gwen was sitting on Quentin’s lap and the strange little shark with legs they called Jeff was dancing around their feet.

Carl had just opened his mouth to speak when Gwen jumped up and hugged him. “I can’t believe it’s over. I can’t believe you’re leaving and you didn’t even get killed once,” She squeezed him tightly and leaned in closer to whisper in his ear, “Not bad for a redshirt.”

Gwen let him go. Carl look down at his navy blue t-shirt and frowned. After a moment Gwen pulled a slightly crushed box with an extremely ratty-looking bow, out from somewhere behind her and held it out to him with a flourish. “Here, I made you cookies.”

Carl stared at the box for a long moment before reluctantly accepting it from her. “Um, thanks?”

Gwen hugged him again, crushing the box against his chest. Finally, she let go and he could breathe.

“Quentin, come say goodbye to cameraman number one.”

“My name is Car-,” He tried to say before Gwen put a finger up to his lips.

“Shhh…”

“Bye Carl,” Quentin said from the couch, not looking up from the game. Not even for a moment. But hey, he at least he knew his name, right? Gwen hugged him again and then suddenly he was sitting alone in his car, the box of cookies sitting in the passenger seat next to him.

He had no memory of getting in his car at all. He shivered and checked the backseat, just in case. Empty. He locked the doors and checked again in the rearview mirror. All clear. Carl pulled out into the street and it was fifteen minutes later when he finally breathed a sigh of relief. His head felt clear for the first time in months. He was finally free. He rolled down the window and tossed the box of cookies out the window and started to laugh. Some jobs were better left behind. The next time he took that kind of gig he was asking for hazard pay, that was for damn sure.