#help one time someone gave me a ton of shield cells and i tried to show gratitude by spam crouching but i forgot that that automatically

[giorno-plays-piano]

Rx Queen

Pairing: criminal!Bucky Barnes x Reader 

Warnings: obsession, stalking, non-con, breeding, minor depiction of violence.

Words: 2567. 

Summary: James Buchanan Barnes was the most difficult patient you had ever treated as a criminal psychiatrist. His release from prison doesn’t make things easier for you. 

_____________________________________ 

You turned off the phone and threw it on a chair, clenching your teeth. Whatever Dr. Strange wanted you to do, you wouldn’t stay another day in this goddamn place, waiting to be abducted or even murdered. It was too much. Today you found the new bottle of your favourite perfume on your nightstand. It wasn’t there before you went to bed last night. In fact, you could hardly remember the last time you bought yourself a perfume.

It all started two months ago when James Buchanan Barnes, the patient you had been working with during those seven long years, was finally released from State prison after serving 15 years of life sentence. The Soldier, as prisoners called him, once gone mad and murdered his commander. Bucky – that’s how he asked you to call him during your first seance – had PTSD, antisocial personality disorder, and severe depression. You could say he became better after all those years of treatment, including insane doses of antidepressants and mood stabilizers, but it was not enough to set him free. He was dangerous, psychotic even, yet devilishly clever: he knew how to portray a man who had reconsidered his life choices and deeply regretted taking someone’s life. 

You knew he had never truly cared. Patients like him did not have capacity for remorse.

You started treating him once you became a criminal psychiatrist; Bucky was among your very first patients. Now when you thought of it, you could hardly believe Dr. Strange just transferred a patient like him to you, a young girl with too little experience to handle an unpredictable psychopath hiding behind a façade of a victim. Of course, you made many mistakes, starting from telling Bucky about your own past and some mental issues. That time you believed you can gain trust of your patients by being more open about yourself. You were a complete idiot.

Now there was not much to do once his time in prison was up. You didn’t have true evidence to make him stay. A part of you wasn’t even sure you wanted it – when a riot had started in the prison three years ago, it was Bucky who shielded you with his own body from Brock Rumlow, a serial killer and your second most dangerous patient. Bucky was the only reason you were still alive.

But he was also the reason why you were leaving in haste, packing only necessities. 

It all started quite innocently with him sending you flowers and thanking for everything you had done for him. It didn’t alert you that he knew what your favourite flowers were. You thought it was just a coincidence since bouquets like these were sold in any flower shop in the city.

Then you stumbled upon him in a café where you often had your breakfast on weekends. It could alert you, but Bucky was sitting with a charming red-haired woman, her manicured hand resting on his thigh. She didn’t quite strike you as his sister, especially since you knew he had no relatives left after his violent father died in a car accident. Seeing such a beautiful woman with him just two weeks after Bucky was released from a prison was surprising, but you knew how seductively charming Barnes could be. Besides, he looked really good in his biker jacket, his tight black jeans showing his strong muscular legs.

In the end, you just talked to both of them a little and gave your advice on which dishes to choose. You walked away, praying you were wrong about Bucky and hoping he could settle peacefully like some of your former patients. Actually, even though many of them were imprisoned again, others were able to return to normal life. Some even had families now – from time to time you received thank-you notes with nice photos and many heartwarming words. It was probably one of the few things that made you keep your job.

It was over now. You were not going to stay in a place Bucky break into multiple times. Maybe you were not sure before, but the bottle of perfume was an obvious sign. It also meant that when a week ago you woke up and smell a man’s scent on your sheets you were not delirious. Bucky was there. He was laying beside you on your fucking bed.

How did it happen? Why didn’t you see his obsession growing with each day? You were his psychiatrist; you knew him better than anyone. How could he hide his infatuation with you for so long? Of course, you knew he had some feelings for you, but it was never that bad. You thought he would forget about you once he would be released. In the end, now you were not the only woman he saw around.

You kept stumbling upon his beefy figure more and more often. You realized Bucky was stalking you when after a month of his release you saw him watching your house from the forest. He was hiding behind the trees and bushes. It was a miracle you managed to see him at all – after 15 years he was still the Soldier, his skills remaining keen.

You tried talking to Dr. Strange. It wasn’t your first time being followed by your former patient, and police had always assisted you. But Barnes wasn’t like any of those stupid psychos who left tons of evidence behind them. Police had nothing to work with.

Well, you weren’t going to sit there and wait for Barnes to come and get you. You had no idea what was going on in his unstable mind, and you weren’t ready to take risks. You had already booked a flight to Austria tonight.

It was scary, thinking about wandering around a city you had never been, in a foreign country where you had neither relatives nor friends. But Barnes would have a hard time following you there, and that’s what mattered.

You threw a pack of salted cashew in the bag and returned to the bedroom to grab your phone from the chair. It wasn’t there. Although you dropped it just five minutes ago, your phone simply wasn’t there.

You were so fucked.

Next minute you were in the kitchen grabbing a knife, but a strong muscular arm knocked it out of your hand, and you felt Bucky’s musky scent. He stood behind your back, caging you with his bulky arms. You froze and held your breath. You knew you better obeyed the man instead of provoking him to become violent.

“And where were you going, honey?” His husky voice was enough to make you tremble. “It’s not nice to leave without saying goodbye, is it?”

“Please, Bucky.” You did your best to hide how frightened you were. “Stop.”

“No, honey.”

He leaned closer to you and buried his nose in your hair, inhaling its smell. His rough hands were already caressing your body through the clothes.

“You’re free to start a new life. You can find a good woman, have a family if you’d like.” Panic was rising in your chest. 

“That’s exactly what I’m doing.”

“No, Bucky, it’s not.” You said in a calm voice. “It will only get you back behind the bars. Don’t throw away your life, please.”

“What life?” He growled, turning you around harshly, and you almost fell on his chest, his arms holding you still. “I have no life. I should have never left my cell, you know this better than anyone else. I’m rotten. Damaged goods. I will never have the life I’ve always wanted. Do you know I have nightmares every fucking night again?”

“It’s because you don’t take your pills.” You carefully put your hands against Bucky’s chest. He tried manipulating you, you knew that. “When was the last time you had thioridazine?”

“Stay with me, and I’ll take whatever pills you want me to.” He grinned suddenly, cupping your face. 

Bucky’s strong athletic body emanated heat, and you were already sweating from both his closeness to you and an extreme agitation. Why did it take you so long to leave? You should have done it the first thing in the morning, just grab your documents and money and run to the car. Maybe then you had a chance. Unless Bucky had already been hiding inside your house…

“Why do you want to make a wrong choice again?” You felt his heart beating loudly with your palm against his chest. “You are given a chance to start over. If you want me to consult you still, I can figure something out. I can continue helping you, but you need to find your way. Don’t you think it’s good to meet new people, have friends, find a job, date a girl?”

“Who wants to deal with a psychopath like me?” He let out a chuckle, his expression darkening. “No one can handle me, doc. No one but you. Do you know I wanted to commit suicide before you showed up seven years ago? If not you, they’d already buried me.”

Before you opened your mouth to protest, he turned you around again and gently nudged you towards your bedroom. You broke out in cold sweat. If Bucky was able to outpower Rumlow, that beast of a man, he would have no problems forcing you to do whatever he pleased. It took three strong prison guards to bring someone like Bucky down. You were helpless.

“No one out there is good enough.” His breath was tickling your ear. “You’re the only one, can’t you see? Maybe I’m rotten to the core, but you still helped me. You made me better.”

You stopped in front of your bed, the white cotton sheets and blue blanket crumpled. You stormed off early in the morning once you saw a bottle of perfume on the nightstand and didn’t care to make your bed.

You needed to keep calm. As far as you could see, Bucky didn’t plan to murder you, not when you would accept him, that is. He obviously had a nice plan how to make you stay with him without police knowing, but as long as he kept you alive you still had a chance. You needed to play along.

“On the bed.” He let out a low growl, and you felt the bulge in his pants pressing against your ass.

Shivering, you took off your slippers and sat on the bed facing him. His erection was obvious; Bucky was breathing heavily, his pupils dilated. The next second he was pulling his black t-shirt over his head, and you saw his shredded body littered with scars. You saw one particularly long one on the side close to his waistline: this was the one Rumlow gave him when Bucky was protecting you during the riot. The man let out a quiet laugh when he saw your eyes focused on a nasty pink line.

“Why are you frightened, honey? I know you want a family too. You good-for-nothing ex wasn’t able to give it to you, but I can.” His hands landed on your bared shoulders, and you flinched a little. “Let’s get married, and I swear I’ll do whatever you tell me to.”

“Bucky, relationships don’t work like this.” You whispered, withholding a cry when his hand pushed you down on the bed. 

“Don’t they?” The man smiled and cocked his head to the side, removing his black leather belt. “You do something for me, I do something for you. That’s what I learnt in prison.”

You dragged yourself back as quickly as you could, but your back was pressed into the wall once Bucky put his knee on your bed. There was nowhere to run.

“Don’t be scared, honey.” His sweet voice broke the silence, and he crawled to you, slowly caging you with his bodyweight. “Let’s make a deal. You marry me, you bear my child, and I will return to prison. I don’t care if they’ll give me twice more pills or make me a lethal injection as far as you take care of my kid. You’ll love my kid, won’t you? You’ll take care of them. You’ll make them a better person than I am.”

The more he spoke, the more feverishly he touched you, his left hand pinning your palms above your head. He traced his arm along your breast, ripping your shirt with so much force that its green buttons ended on the floor. You realized your cheeks were wet with tears when Bucky kissed you on the forehead and wiped your face with his other hand.

He wanted to have kids with you. Why? Why you? Why did he consider you a perfect mother? Why did he consider returning to prison? Why was he ready to trade his goddamn life for a chance of having a child? Why couldn’t he have a child with someone else and just keep living?

Oh, of course he couldn’t. Bucky loathed himself. It wasn’t uncommon for the patients with Cluster B personality disorders, and it was probably true he wanted to end his life since you saw his self-destructing behavior. In the end, even his effort to save your life back than in the prison might be some kind of a suicide attempt. 

And the reason he wanted you and no one else… Well, you were the one who had been taking care of him all these years. The only one to navigate him through his nightmares when everyone else gave up on him. He saw good in you. He wanted it for himself. He wanted to make sure his child would never be treated the way he was.

You cried out when Bucky suddenly forced his cock into you. It felt like he was ripping you apart – he was huge. Your eyes flooded with tears again, and he cooed at you softly, pressing his chapped lips to your burning face. You couldn’t even remember when was the last time you had sex since you broke up with your ex a year ago. Thankfully, Bucky gave you time to adjust. He kept whispering filth into your ears and stroking your naked thighs. When did he take off your jeans?..

He kissed the top of your head, playing with your hair, and moved his hips slightly. You hissed in pain, but then realized it was a bit better – the pleasure started building up slowly, and you squeezed your eyes shut. No, no, you were not disgusting, your body tried to cope the best way it could, nothing else, it was a perfectly normal reaction, you knew that. Then you felt Bucky licking up the shell of your ear and whined desperately.

“It’ll be ok.” He whispered and kissed your temple. “I’ll take you to a nice place, and we’ll be there all alone. Once I make sure you’re pregnant I’ll return to prison, I give you my word.”

You bit down on your lip to muffle the noise coming out of your mouth.

“If they keep me alive, I might become your patient again.” He sounded almost ecstatic, rutting deep into you. “I’ll do whatever you say. I’ll stuff my mouth with your pills. Please, just stay with me.”

Staring at the white ceiling, you bit your tongue so hard your mouth filled with blood. You’d survive this. You’d get him behind the bars again. 

You wouldn’t stay.

[wiypt-writes]

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch:17 I’m Not Going Anywhere

Summary: Katie keeps vigil at Steve’s bedside and in full protective ‘dad’ mode, Tony engages the Stark Industry lawyers when the UN Senate comes calling. But the Winter Soldier has gone back into the shadows, taking one of Steve’s only living ties to his past with him. And no one has a clue where he’s gone.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Warnings: Violence, bad language words, angst and smut (NSFW) NO UNDER 18s thanks.

A/N: I LOVE LOVE LOVE these edits once more from @angrybirdcr​

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Chapter 16

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

 “He’s panicking…let me talk to him.” Her voice was soft but full of authority.

Then, a familiar hand closed over the one that he held over the mask on his face and she gently spoke this time directly to him.

“Shhhh…” He felt her other hand gently run over his forehead. “Baby, you’re in an ambulance. Try and stay calm, okay?”

And then his eyes focused, just for a second. The panic that had hit him dissipated as Katie’s face filled his vision and he gripped her hand, not wanting her to leave him.

“I’m not going anywhere…” She assured him. “I promise.”

And he believed her. He felt himself relax and fell back against the bed and his eyes closed again, the last thing he heard and felt was her…

Steve’s hand was still tight around Katie’s when they arrived in the emergency room. She went in with the paramedics who took Steve in charge and, as they escorted Steve into the operating room, the realization that she finally had to let go of him crushed her. The same Doctor who had taken care of Fury and her in the warehouse approached her with a nod, and she was suddenly extremely thankful that the Director had as many fingers in as many pies as he did. It was an overwhelming relief to see a face she knew she could trust.

“Miss. Stark, I need you to leave the room, please. I’ll take care of him from here.” The Doctor put his hand on her shoulder to support his point and dropped his voice. “I promise. Fury’s orders”

Ignoring the urge to argue she let go and took a step back, her eyes still focused on the Steve as he lay on the stretcher.

“Heart’s rate climbing, doctor!” Announced one of the nurses. Katie could still see her soldier’s face disfiguring and the slight raising of his eyebrow and clench of his hand if he were trying to hold on to something. She let out a sob as she realised he was looking for her because she had left him, after promising she wouldn’t, and then the double doors of the operating room closed. Finding herself now alone and completely helpless, her limbs began to clench and she was suddenly very aware she was trembling. Then, it was as if someone had tightened a band around her chest, leaving her panting for air as her vision became more and more obscured by tears of panic.

She caught herself against the nearest wall before feeling her legs give way. She managed to lift them into a bent position, before bringing her arms around them so she could hide her head behind her knees as her throat felt like it had completely closed. She concentrated on Steve’s images floating around her brain, his touch, his kisses, how he held her, made love to her, the feeling of his laughter, his eyes, all their moments together.

We could get married if you want…

His face as he had spoken those words, the look she hadn’t been able to place suddenly registered in her brain. He had been hopeful. She closed her eyes trying to hold on to that memory. Eventually, after what felt like a life-time, she felt her throat begin to open again allowing her to take a deep breath, then the tightness in her chest and lungs eased and finally her brain. The hiss of silence in her ears was replaced by the usual murmur of a hospital and she could once again feel the sensations coming back along her limbs. She loosened her arms around her legs, stretching them out in front of her, and lifted her head to lean against the wall.

She had no idea how long she sat there. Minutes, hours…it all blurred into one as she focussed her attention on the doors he had been taken through. Eventually, her little bubble was invaded by a familiar figure hovering over her before Natasha slid to the floor, legs lying in front of her, her arm wrapping round Katie’s shoulder.

“Any news on how he is?” She asked.

"They’re still treating him, as far as I know.” Katie sighed, her head resting gently against Nat’s.

Natasha nodded briefly in acknowledgment before turning to look at her friend. “And you? How are you holding up?”

Katie looked at her, but didn’t answer as Sam’s familiar voice cut across the corridor.

“Katie! Natasha!” He hastened to join them, letting Katie take in his civilian change of clothes. He was bruised too, but overall, he looked okay. “How is he doing? Any news?”

Natasha took it upon herself to answer Sam. Meanwhile, Katie finally decided to get up from her position against the wall. The sudden movement and the long time spent in an identical position made her stagger a little. Sam hastily raised his hands to catch her.

“I brought you a change of clothes.” Nat spoke gently as she too stood up. “I’m so sorry, but I can’t stay. I’m already being summonsed for questioning, but Hill and I are going to do our best to keep your names out of it, both of you.”

“Frankly Nat, at this moment I couldn’t give a fuck about what my name is dragged into.” Katie snapped, her ton a little harsher than she had intended. She sighed. “Sorry…”

“It’s okay.” Nat shook her head, her green eyes catching Katie’s “Look, call me as soon as there’s news.”

She nodded. “Can you call Tony for me? He’s already tried ringing but I can’t bring myself to try and explain.”

“Sure.” Nat nodded. She pulled Katie into a hug, before she headed off up the corridor.

“Katie.”  Sam spoke gently. “There’s a waiting room down there.”

“No, I’m staying here.”

“You need to get a proper rest. You got shot yourself yesterday, remember?” Sam reasoned, his tone patient/ “Come on, you’re no good to Cap if you aint in top fighting form.”

Katie gave in and let Sam escort her to the waiting room where the two of them sat in silence. It was around four o'clock in the afternoon, some three hours after they had arrived, when the SHIELD doctor made an appearance. Katie was half-lying with her head against Sam’s shoulder as he was changing the annoying channels of the hospital TV every ten seconds.

“Miss. Stark?”

Sam turned off the television almost immediately while Katie was already on her feet in impatience.

"Yeah?”

“Sorry it’s taken so long but there was a few complications.”

“Complications?” Katie frowned “He’s got fucking super serum coursing through his DNA, it’s supposed to help him heal”” “And it did, meaning the wounds had started to close over which caused us a bit of an issue but he’s out of theatre and the surgery was a success.”

“So he’s gonna be okay?” Sam asked and the Doctor nodded.

“He lost a lot of blood but we’ve given him a transfusion and his vitals are stable. He’s gonna be fine.”

Katie let out a sob and covered her face with her hands, relief flooding every cell in her body as Sam wrapped an arm round her.

“We’ve moved him into his own room and it will be a while before he regains consciousness, how long we can’t say.” The doctor continued gently, before looking round and then back to her, his voice lowering “We have an armed guard on his door, Fury’s orders, but you two can stay with him.”

He beckoned for them to follow him through the corridors of the hospital. "He’s doing very well, all things considered.” He said stopping in front of a door. “But, just so you’re aware, he is heavily sedated to ensure he rests as he was quite agitated. Now, it’s just a case of letting him rest whilst the serum work its magic.”

“Thank you.” Katie choked out before she turned to the door and a hand gently touched her arm. She looked up and did a double take as she saw Evans stood there.

“Hey Nova.”

“Evans.” Her voice was a whisper, as he pulled her into a hug. “You…”

“No, I’m not HYDRA, probably the only one in STRIKE who wasn’t.” He swallowed as she stepped back to look at him noticing the shiny bruise adorning his right cheek and the split in his upper lip. “I swear I had no idea. It all started smelling a bit funky when they told us Cap was public enemy number one, and then when I heard his voice on that PA…” He shook his head, sadly. “I’m sorry I didn’t try to find you, help sooner…”

Katie shook her head as the ginger Texan man wiped at his eyes with the heel of his palm.

“None of us knew Paul.” The use of his first name made him look at her, and she was swept back into his arms again.

“How is he?” He asked as she stepped back, nodding to the room.

“I don’t know yet.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to keep ya.” He smiled and she gently squeezed his arm. “I’ll be right her if ya’ll need anything.”

“I don’t want anyone in here without my say so.” She instructed. Evans jerked his head to show he understood and she gave him a tight smile as she pushed the door open and stepped into the room, Sam following.

The sight in front of her made fresh tears spring into her eyes and she swallowed as she silently took in Steve’s condition. He was lying, asleep, in his bed with whilst IV’s and monitors recorded his vitals. He had stitches in several places on his face, nasty bruises around his left eye and jawline, and a huge swelling along the same eye that was likely to prevent him from seeing properly for a while. Overall, he was a mess.

“Katie-”

“I’m fine.” She interrupted Sam quickly in a hoarse voice, slightly tinged with her desire to cry. She took a shaky breath as she could hear Steve’s steady heartbeat reaching her ears. “I just need a minute.”

She slowly made her way to one of the chairs by the bed, settling down without looking away from Steve as she reached up to take one of his hands. It was colder than she could ever remember him being.

“Hey, Soldier.” She breathed in a shaking voice before pressing her lips to his bruised knuckles as she held his large hand in both of hers. For a moment, she thought she felt his hand contract in recognition but when she looked down he showed no signs of being awake. “I don’t know if you can hear me but I’m here, like I promised.”

******

The next few hours Sam and Katie stayed in the room with him and eventually Katie had to concede she really needed to clean up. She looked around for the bag which Nat had brought her some clothes in and stood up, grabbing it from where it sat by the door.

“I’m need the bathroom.” She looked at Sam and he nodded. “I won’t be long.”

She headed down the corridor and entered the ladies restroom, leaning over the sink. She glanced at the mirror, her eyes were red, face was dirty, hands still full of Steve’s blood and she looked all in all like a right mess. She set about washing her hands, her face and anything else that she could before she stepped into a cubicle and peeled off her lycra leggings and compression top. Dressing in the jeans and black sweater that Nat had packed, she was also touched to the point of more tears to see her friend had packed her some deodorant, a set of face wipes, dry shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste and a hairbrush. By the time Katie had finished she looked almost normal.

Katie pinged Nat a message to thank her and fill her in on the news that Steve was going to be okay and one came back almost immediately

Thank God, and you’re welcome. I just spoke to Tony. He’s on his way back from Australia as we speak, he’d already set off after seeing the news. He told me to tell you to call him, ASAP.

So she did.

“Jesus Kiddo!” Her brother exclaimed when he answered, “I’ve been so worried…how are you? How’s Cap?”

“He’s stable. Still out of it but…” Fresh tears sprung into her eyes at hearing her brother’s voice.

“I’ve had Pepper call the hospital, anything you or he needs…anything…” He stressed, gently “and she’s working to keep the press off your back.”

“Thanks. Where abouts are you?”

“Approaching Singapore airspace. I’ll be there as soon as I can, I promise.”

“’kay…”

“Love you Kiddo, he’s strong. He’ll be fine.”

“So everyone keeps saying.” She whispered, the sob catching in her throat.

Tony sighed “Look, this is Rogers we’re talking about. He’s as stubborn as you are.”

“I know.”

“I’ll see you soon. Call me if there’s any news, ok?”

But there wasn’t. Katie sent Sam home in the early hours of the morning but her vigil never wavered. Doctors and nurses bustled in throughout the night. Steve’s vitals were improving but he still didn’t wake up. She managed a few hours sleep, on and off, spreading herself across two of the chairs, waking at around five am. She gratefully accepted the offer of a coffee from a nurse who arrived to explain that they were about to move Steve into a bigger, nicer room, courtesy of Pepper’s discussions with the hospital.

It was around 10 am when Sam returned. The new guard who had relieved Evans for a shift stopped him immediately until Katie popped her head out of the door and told him it was okay. After he had frisked Sam he walked in, holding out a bag containing a breakfast sandwich.

“You’re an angel.” Katie smiled as she tore into it, unaware how long it was since she had eaten something.

The two of them ate as they watched the news reports on the TV in the corner of the bright room. They spoke of the Helicarriers, HYDRA’s plot having integrated the governmental organization as well as the impending investigation. Katie watched the footage of her and Sam whizzing around the sky, and listened as they had even rebuffed Steve’s message for more effect. The attack was all the world was talking about and all the news was focused on Steve’s recovery and the repercussions of his actions.

“The identity of the Avenger Supernova has until today remained a mystery but the rumours are beginning to amass than it is none other than Katie Stark…” One of the news readers was saying,“the sister of Iron Man and girlfriend of Captain America…”

Katie didn’t even flinch. It wasn’t like they wouldn’t find out anyway, as soon as those files they had dumped on the internet became common knowledge it was going to blow up, plus, it was pretty obvious now. What was annoying her however, was that it was as if they blamed them, in particular Steve, for doing what was right.

A few hours later just as Sam had left again, Katie heard a commotion outside the doors to the room and she stood up.

“You know me right? Tony Stark, my sister is in there.”

“Sir, I’m under instructions not to…”

“It’s okay, Davies.” Katie stepped out of the room and spoke to the guard. “He’s good.”

Davies sighed “Mr Stark, I’m gonna have to search you then.” He relented.

Tony shrugged and held his arms out, once he’d been patted down he shot Davies a contemptuous look and he entered the room. No sooner had he done that, Katie was in his arms, sobbing, the Doctor who had been checking Steve shot them both a look as he sidled out of the room quickly.

“Shhhhh Kiddo.” Tony gently stroked her hair as she pressed her face into his chest, his familiar aftershave and touch reminding her of all the times he’d soothed her before when she was upset.

“I’m so glad you’re here.”

Tony stepped back to look at her. “Red said you got shot.”

“I did, but I’m okay, see.” Katie shifted her top to show him the patch that was over her wound, which was healing well.

 “Sounds like you’ve been having a bit of fun without me.” Tony sniffed, “It’s okay, I’m not really hurt. Well, maybe just a little. JARVIS is in a whole heap of trouble for not telling me by the way…”

“I told him not to, you were in Australia, Tones.” Katie shook her head gently “Besides, this was all a bit crazy. There wasn’t really time, if we had waited for you to get back it would have been too late…and you could have been in danger and…” She looked over at Steve, his face was still a mess. “Look at him Tony…”

Her brother placed his arm around her and squeezed. “He’s gonna be fine.”

Katie lay her head on Tony’s shoulder as they sat down, his hand gently stroking over her hair, not once trying to get her to leave as he knew she wouldn’t. She’d burst randomly into tears again when she’d told him her car was now buried in the wreck of the Triskelion. It was a lump of metal, not something that mattered, but Tony understood. She was letting everything out, and he simply sat with her and soothed her, informing her that the car was ready for being changed anyway.

 “But I like my car.” She sniffed.

 “Kiddo, it’s almost nine years old. I got you that for your Twenty-First.”

 “And that’s why I like it.”

Tony had to chuckle, that’s what she was like. Sentimental. It was the gesture behind gifts that mattered to her, not the value. He’d brought her up that way to value money, even though they had it in abundance, and he was fiercely proud of the woman she had grown to be. Humble in many ways that he wasn’t.

“You know he asked me to move in with him.” Katie spoke again, breaking the silence after a minute or so. 

“Before marriage?” He teased. “Well, well, well.”

She snorted a laugh “That’s what I said. And then he turned round and told me we could get married if I wanted.”

Tony stiffened slightly before he looked down at her. “And do you want?”

She nodded. “Of course I do. Only I told him to ask me again with a big diamond.” She sniffed again before sobbing. “We both laughed but why did I say that? I don’t need a fucking ring, or-”

“Hey, hey.” Tony gently took her face in both his hands. “You just said it yourself. You both laughed. He won’t have taken it as anything but what it was, a joke. Steve knows you love him. Everyone does. Frankly it’s hard not to, it’s sickening”

She gave a wet laugh and Tony wiped at her cheeks with his thumbs.

“He’s gonna move into mine.” She smiled, as they both settled down again, her head returning to his shoulder. “His place is too small and full of bullet holes and…blood.”

 “Sensible” Tony agreed, pulling her closer.

At one point during the night Pepper called, filling Tony in on the fact that Natasha was to be summonsed to the UN for a hearing and that they wanted Katie there too, her secret identity as an Avenger was well and truly busted.

“Get the lawyers onto it.” Tony replied simply, glancing at Katie who was now asleep, across a makeshift bed consisting of four plastic chairs from around the room, head laying on his lap  As his hand gently smoothed her hair, his need to protect her boiled fiercely within him. “She’s not going anywhere, certainly not yet. Oh, and I need you to get hold of Happy. I have a couple of jobs for him.”

*****

Every single inch of Steve’s body hurt. His mouth felt like sandpaper, his head was full of cotton wool, his eyes hurt as the colours flashed in front of them. He screwed his eyes further shut against the painful light that still assaulted him through his closed eyelids. He took a moment to breathe, steadying himself as soft music flooded his ears. It wasn’t something he had heard before but it was pleasant, soulful, jazz-like. His head stopped spinning and he felt brave enough to crack an eye open. He glanced round the room, puzzled slightly. He was in a hospital. Then he remembered. The Hellicarriers, Bucky, and the last thing he had seen before blacking out, his girl.  He had been cold, and wet, but she had been there.  And she still was, at the side of his bed, head laying against Sam’s shoulder.

 “On your left.” He managed to croak out. Katie’s head jerked up from its resting place and they both glanced over at the bed where Steve was led. He smiled groggily before his head rolled to the side, flush back against the pillow and he closed his eyes once more.

At the sound of his voice,  Katie instantly jumped up and settled on the side of his bed, gently stroking his face.

“Hey.” Her voice cracked. “Welcome back.”

“’M so tired, Sweetheart.” He mumbled as she dropped a kiss to his forehead, his eyes remaining closed as he managed a small smile.

“Then sleep.” She instructed softly, the relief flooding her system that he was with them, albeit not totally, but he was with them. She gently smoothed his hair, and kept that up until she could tell he was back asleep.

 She turned to Sam who gave her a smile. “Lazy bastard.”

A few minutes later a nurse popped her head round the door. Katie smiled and told her about him waking up briefly and she nodded, checking the readings. “That’s a good sign.” she beamed, “His body will be drained, serum or no serum so him resting is part of the natural recovery process. When he comes round fully, come find me and we’ll get the doctor back.”

An hour or so later, the mood in Steve’s room was considerably lighter given his waking up before. Katie, Sam and Evans, who was leaning in the open doorway, were mid a playful discussion as to whether or not Voldemort could take Darth Vader in a fight. (Katie had started this whole thing after calling Evans “Ron Weasley with a rifle” on her way back from the bathroom) and were just about to dive into the whole schematics on Magic vs The Force when a voice spoke from the bed.

“What the hell are you three talking about?” Steve grumbled playfully and Katie’s head jerked up to see his eyes watching her and she was beyond happy to see they were full of their usual warmth, the warmth he had whenever he looked at her.

“Hi!” Katie breathed in relief as she stood up and moved closer to him, settling on the edge of his bed.

“Hey, Doll.” He smiled as she took his hand, her fingers snaking into his. His eyes flickered to Evans, taking in the man’s various bruises and he frowned.

“Got in a bit of a fight with Rollins.” Evans drawled with a nod, and Steve let out the breath he hadn’t realised he had been holding. The man wasn’t HYDRA. “He didn’t take kindly to me threatening to test out the whole ‘cut one head off, two more shall take its place’ theory on him.”

Steve gave a small huff of a laugh before he winced slightly at the movement and Evans nodded to him once more, before allowing the door to shut, returning to his post. Steve’s eyes fell on Sam who raised an eyebrow at him.

“You know, having a building dropped on my head wasn’t part of the job description”

Steve’s smile spread a bit further before he gently lifted his head up off the pillow, looking around before grimacing at the throbbing that filled each bone in his body “How long was I out?”

“Forty-Three hours and Thirty Seven minutes if you don’t count the last hour you’ve been resting.” Katie smiled gently, glancing up at the clock on the wall as she settled on the side of the bed. Ah, yes, Steve’s brain vaguely registered he’d woken up before, made some quip of some sorts.  “Not that I’ve been counting…” She finished and he smiled again, giving her hand a squeeze.

“Have you been here that whole time?”

“Yeah.” She nodded. “Sam’s been here too, a lot. As has Tony. He’s just nipped back to my place to change and make a few calls.”

“Trust me, two days aint that bad considering how you looked when you got here.” Sam added jokingly.

“Sam.” Katie reprimanded gently, looking at him.

“Alright,” He relented standing from his chair and holding his hands up, with a smirk. “I’ll go get that hot nurse, give you guys a minute.”

“Utter dog.” She snorted, the pair of them watching as he left the room and she turned to face Steve, tears in her eyes.

“You scared me.”

“Sorry.” He looked at her, and he was. He hated seeing her upset. There was a moment’s pause before he decided he had to know. “What happened after… did we?”

“SHIELD’s gone, Alexander Pierce is dead. Fury shot him. And as far as HYDRA, everyone major that was involved at the Treskellion is either captured or dead.” she paused, not sure if she should be telling him the full scale of what had gone down. Not whilst he was still recovering.

“What is it?” he frowned and she knew she wouldn’t be able to fob him off.

“Nat dumping the files on the internet means my identity as Nova is probably blown wide open. There goes our quiet life.”

“Nothing about our life is quiet.” he said a soft chuckle rising in his chest.

She grinned “True. Gonna be a lot of other shit to mop up though, The Treskellion was the tip of the iceberg. All the main SHIELD bases fell. America, Canada, Europe.”

Steve nodded along then asked the question he was almost afraid to hear the answer to. “Any news on Bucky?

"He’s gone.” Katie told him sadly. “I’m sorry Steve. I know how much he meant to you. But, I think he remembered you. He pulled you out of the river, told me to get help.” She continued to explain about their short exchange on the river bank and Steve listened, unable to stop the hopeful feeling spreading in his chest. Maybe there was a chance for Bucky after all, they just needed to find him. Katie watched him, and he smiled at her.

“I’m glad you spoke to him.” He nodded, and then a cheeky glint flashed in his eyes “Still think all the girls in Brooklyn were dumbasses for hanging off his arm and not mine?”

She gave a bark of a laugh and leaned down towards his face, rubbing her nose against his “Always.” She whispered, before giving him a soft quick peck on the lips.

******

Tony arrived back an hour or so later. He was genuinely pleased to see Steve awake and after gently grasping the soldier’s hand between both of his in a friendly, brotherly, gesture he sat down and delivered some interesting news.

“So the Goth Pirate called me.” He said, leaning back in his seat “He sounded amazingly well for a dead guy.”

“Fury called you?” Steve frowned

“Yeah. He’s laying low, you know, on account of being dead, and he wants to hand control of the Avengers over to us, Cap.”

Steve frowned, before he lay his head back on his pillow. He knew the Avengers would be needed again, especially now with SHIELD gone. He turned to Tony who continued.

“I think that’s the right thing to do, for us to take control” The billionaire spoke and Steve nodded.

“I suppose, but there’s something I gotta do first.”

“Yeah, recover.” Sam shot, drawing a faint smile from Steve but Katie knew full well he didn’t mean that. He was intending to go after Bucky.

They spent the rest of the afternoon making idle chit chat with Tony, who was already planning on further renovating the tower to house the Avengers full time in the wake of Fury’s news. Steve, Katie was pleased to see, was enthusiastic about the plans and listened, looking at the various ideas Tony showed him on the tablet. However, now that Steve was awake, the nurses seemed to be a little more reluctant to allow everyone to stay and at about six pm one of them politely suggested that Sam and Tony should be making their way home.

“You do know I’m paying for this, right?” Tony quipped at her. She shot him a look which made him visibly recoil and he turned to Katie pulling a face as he stood up.

“I’ve gotta get back to New York anyway.” He shrugged, pulling his sister into a hug. “Lawyers to speak to…new suits to build seeing as you blew yours up.”

“You blew it up?” Steve looked at her.

“I needed to send up a signal so everyone could find us.” She shrugged as Tony looked at her reproachfully.

“Yeah, I should be going too. I gotta tidy my place.” Sam groaned. “Someone trashed it.”

“You’re welcome to stay at mine if you want, for as long as you need.”  Katie offered, as Steve let out a sigh and began to mumble an apology which Sam waved away.

“It’s fine man, it won’t take me long to reorganise it all.”

“Speaking of which…” Tony looked at Steve then Katie as he fished in his pockets for something. “I’ve had Happy organise to clear your apartment Cap, now you two are shacking up together. He’s gonna have all your stuff sent Kiddo’s, save you a job. Oh and I figured you might need this.” He tossed Katie a set of keys. She glanced down at them, her eyebrow raised.

“It’s a Q5, rought over from my personal collection.” He looked at her and she smiled at her brother. “Try not to bury this one under a sky-scraper.”

“Thank you.” She whispered, giving him another hug, slipping the keys into her pocket. “I love you, Tone.”

“Obviously, because I’m the best big brother in the world.” He hugged her tight, and Steve nodded to him, thanking him with a look which Tony acknowledged with a sharp incline of his head in the soldier’s direction.

 As the two men left, Steve raised his right arm to bid them goodbye and the pair of them headed off down the corridor, chatting away animatedly. Katie watched them go before turning to Steve, who was yawning like a lion.

“You okay?”

“I just don’t remember the last time I was this tired…or in as much pain”

"Do you want me to get the Nurse, up your pain relief?”

“No.” He yawned again, he hated how it made the room spin.“Think I’m gonna sleep.”

She teased gently. “Again?”

He smiled and looked at her, swallowing. “Will…will you stay?” He asked, tentatively “Until I fall asleep, that is?”

“I’m not leaving you.” She cut him off and dropped a kiss to his forehead as she climbed onto the bed next to him “I’ll be here when you go to sleep, and here when you wake up.”

 “You don’t need to stay all night. You must be exhausted, you should go home and get some sleep.” 

“I’m fine…” She looked at him, before her body betrayed her and she too let out a huge yawn which she tried to stifle. He raised an eyebrow.

“Please honey, you need some rest too.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

 Steve shook his head. She really was obtuse at times.

 “What?”

“Nothing.” He lay his head back on the pillow a grin flashing across his face. “Just remembering what a stubborn, pain in the-“

“If you wanna get out of here any time soon, then I wouldn’t finish that sentence…”

“Miss Stark is that a threat?” Steve looked at her, a smile curling further across his face

“It’s a promise…” She grinned,  leaning over to kiss him gently. “Now go to sleep.”

*******

Steve was discharged from the hospital the next afternoon, the doctors having no reason to keep him any longer since he healed so quickly, though a cheeky nurse did warn that it wouldn’t be wise for him to engage in any strenuous activity, with a pointed look in Katie’s direction who merely rolled her eyes, a small smirk playing on her face.

They arrived back to Katie’s, no theirs, a little after 4 in the afternoon. Steve was dying for a hot shower, and a shave, despite Katie’s protests that she liked the stubble he had sprouted, and whilst he was under the scalding hot waterfall, Katie headed into the kitchen to grab a drink. As she opened the fridge for a bottle of water she wasn’t surprised it was fully stocked including a few bottles of expensive pinot grigio and some beer. There was a note stuck to one of the bottles, in Tony’s handwriting.

Couldn’t have you both coming home to an empty fridge now, could I?

Whatever it is he’s ‘got to do’, I know you’ll follow. So keep safe, stay in touch, and if you need help…you know where to find a good team.

T xxx

She read the note over again and smiled to herself. It was times like this that her brother always came through for her. She fired him a quick text message to thank him before she headed up to the bedroom to see if Steve was hungry.

“Hey love, just wanted to know…” the words died in her mouth at the sight of him, his upper body was flecked with droplets of water from the shower. The knife wound on his shoulder had faded to nothing but a fresh, pink scar and the bruises he sported were all starting to turn yellow now apart from one stubborn one on the right side of his ribcage that was still a mass of purple. But it was the round circle of scar tissue that stood out, on the left side of his lower abdomen, angry and red, where the bullet that had done the most damage had exited that caught her attention. Her mouth went dry and suddenly her eyes were misting over as it hit her exactly how close she had come to losing him. Quite simply, she wasn’t sure she could cope without him now, which scared her as she’d always been fiercely independent.

 “Hey…” he said, swiftly stepping forward, his hands cupping her face as he saw her face crumple “Sweetheart, I’m fine…”

“I know, I know but…” she sniffed. “I almost lost you and I couldn’t bear it if that happened…”

 “Well you didn’t.” He said, gently, “Gonna take more than that to get rid of me.”

His lips brushed hers, the lightest of touches but it set every single nerve end she had into over drive with desire. As her breath hitched she felt him grin against her mouth before he kissed her, slightly harder this time, parting her lips with his tongue. He pulled her close, moving his hands up to the small of her back, pressing her into him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, running the fingers of one hand through his hair while the others lingered at the base of his skull, holding him to her. They stayed like that for what felt like forever, the kiss growing in intensity, hunger, until Katie felt him hard against her stomach and her face was raw from the stubble that he hadn’t shaved yet.

 “The doctor said you had to take it easy…” she whispered into the space between them as they each worked to steady our breathing

 “Yeah…” he said, slowly moving her backwards, “But, what do they know?”

“Ermm a lot.” she snorted.

“You need proof that I’m all healed?”

“Depends on what proof you’re talking about…” she grinned as he dropped his hands to her ass, reaching down as if to lift her but she stopped him, hands on his wrists.

“Steve, your ribs…”

“For once in your life will you shut up and just do as you’re told…” He looked down at her. She was about to argue, about to tell him no, but as he looked at her, his eyes alive with desire she knew it was pointless.

“Yes, Captain…” she murmured as his lips crashed onto hers, but he didn’t try and lift her again, instead he backed her up the short few strides, before the back of her knees hit the side of the bed and she dropped back onto it.

“I’ll take it easy…” He whispered as he crawled over the top of her, sliding his hand up her jersey dress and into the waistband of her leggings and knickers, slowly sinking two fingers into her warm, wet depth. She let out a soft moan, open mouth grazing his neck as he felt her clench around him. “Easy,” he repeated before her mouth hungrily claimed his again. He moved his hands to reach down and they parted just long enough so he could pull her dress up over her head. His eyes automatically darted to the bullet wound on her left shoulder, that hadn’t healed half as fast as his, the stitches weren’t due out for another week

“I hate that you got hurt…” he muttered, slipping one bra strap down, then the other, before she arched her back allowing him to reach round and undo the clasp before he discarded it to the floor. His lips travelled across her collar bone and up her neck, drawing a soft groan from her lips as his stubble scraped her skin and once more his fingers claimed her. She writhed with pleasure at his strokes and he groaned gently, his lips working on the spot under her ear. He moved away for a second, to rid himself of the towel and crawled over her so that she was led flat, his hands pulling at the side of her black leggings, removing them along with her panties easily. He positioned himself over her, his tongue dipping into her mouth before he pushed into her, making her shudder slightly. His hands were on either side of her face, caressing her cheek and jaw as he kissed her again, rocking his hips as opposed to thrusting, the contact not breaking for a second. He dropped his head to her neck, his lips gently brushing her ear as he let out a groan, his hips grinding against hers.

It was soft, it was gentle, it was intimate, not rushed and Katie cried out his name loudly when her orgasm took her, her thighs closing around him. He was consumed completely by her, and he followed her over the edge, a loud moan rumbling in his throat. God he loved this woman with every single inch of his body.

“One day,” he mumbled, his lips brushing her ear, “I’m going to ask you properly.”

She understood what he meant. Smiling she looked at him, not a shred of hesitation on her face as her lips met his and she whispered into the kiss, “One day, I’m going to say yes.”

He couldn’t help the huge grin that spread across his face as he kissed her again, noses sliding carefully against one another to avoid aggravating any bruises before he rolled over pulling her to him, her words reverberating around his head.

 I’m going to say yes.

 His hand gently carded through her hair as he felt her relax into him and he dropped a kiss to the top of her head.

 I’m going to say yes.

 *****

The flashes of the photographers and the hustle and bustle of the audience were invasive. 4 days had passed since they had taken down SHIELD/Hydra and despite the best attempts of the lawyers that Tony had instructed on both hers and Natasha’s behalf, they had been summonsed to Capitol Hill.

What pissed Katie off the most wasn’t the attention, it was the fact they were being held accountable when they had done the right thing. Natasha felt the same, but the pair of them remained professional and unaffected by the staging of the conference before them. They both moved to the fingerprint reader before returning to their appointed places to answer their questions. Nat’s hair was as usual smoothed and perfectly capped on her shoulders, Katie’s was twisted back in a bun. Katie’s face still bore the bruises she had gotten from Rumlow, which were turning and fading and she probably could have covered them better but she’d chosen not to, simply to make a point.

“Miss Stark, you know Captain Rogers the best out of anyone in this room. Why do you believe he felt the need to take down our intelligence service?”

Katie wanted to laugh; it was such a stupid question to open with. But the serious look on his face told her he was serious.

"Taking down SHIELD was the morally right thing to do. If we hadn’t stopped that launch over twenty million people would be dead.” she said seriously. The congressman eyed her before jotting down something on his notepad.

The questioning continued from there. Not many people in the room were sympathetic to all that they had been through. In fact, Katie would go as far as to suggest that most were trying to find a weak spot or a way for them to trip them up. An hour in and it felt like they were going round in circles. Katie was getting pissed off. Besides her Nat shifted slightly, crossing her arms over her chest, the two women resisting the urge to look at one another.

“Why is there no news from Captain Rogers?” asked one of the men of the congress.

That was when Katie lost it. She turned to the front taking a deep breath as she looked up at the ceiling with annoyance, the eye roll she had been fighting came fully as she glanced back at the moron who had been speaking “I don’t know what else to say.” she spoke, her tone laced with sarcasm. “Maybe the fact he almost died might have something to do with it. That said, I think the new rock in the middle of the Potomac speaks for him in this case.”

"Perhaps he can explain to us how he hopes this country will ensure its national security because you have dismantled our intelligence services.” The Congressman insisted reproachfully.

This time it was Natasha that spoke, her attitude ringing across the room, she was pissed as well.

“What information?” She asked angrily. “HYDRA sold you lies.”

“Lies that you took care to spread.” The Congressman reminded, pointing at her with a knowing look. Natasha narrowed her lips to his allusion but it was Katie that answered, the final threads of her self-control finally snapping.

“Ste- Captain Rogers, sacrificed everything to save the lives of millions of people when he took that airship down into the ice over 70 years ago.” she leant forward “Not to mention the fact that my dad, Howard Stark, the co-founder of SHIELD also worked against Hydra in the war.” she took a breath and looked at Natasha “Agent Romanoff was almost killed by Hydra’s most deadly assassin on a mission 5 years ago. And more to the fact, 2 years ago we fought, side by side as part of the Avengers to keep the world and its people safe. And you’re seriously suggesting now that we would knowingly put those same people in danger?”

“Passionate speech Miss Stark, or should we call you Nova…” he said, making her snort and look away “And perhaps you’re right, maybe you didn’t know…but Agent Romanoff…” he turned to Natasha “It happens that a few in the commission have the feeling that, given your state of service for our country and against it, your place is more in a penitentiary than in a senatorial commission.”

Katie looked at Nat who took a deep breath, clearly collecting her thoughts before answering with confidence. "You’re not gonna put me in jail.” She paused for the dramatic effect before letting a small smirk curl the corner of her pink lips as she glanced at a Katie before looking at the front again “You’re not gonna put any of us in jail.” She arched a mocking eyebrow as she kept eye contact with the congressman. “You know why?”

“Please enlighten us.” He replied snidely.

“Because you need us.” Katie answered for her. “With SHIELD gone, the world needs the Avengers more than ever.”

Natasha smiled gently and continued “Miss Stark is right. Yes, the world is vulnerable. And we’re partly responsible, but we’re also the most qualified to defend it. So you want to throw us in prison? Go ahead” she shrugged “You know where to find us.”

With that she gently touched Katie’s shoulder and she rose gracefully from her seat, Katie following her. The pair of them turned to face the hordes of press, all of them were shoving microphones and cameras into their faces whilst they moved to the doors and pushed their way through the throng of people.

“Move aside please…” Happy was in his element, arm round Katie as he cleared a path to the SUV, where he opened the door to allow them to slide in. He pulled away from the kerb and sped off.

“We’ll head to Miss Romanoff’s first, then I’ll drop you home Kiddo.”

“Happy, what would I do without you?” Katie smiled at him. She turned to Nat who was looking out of the window.

“You ok?”

She shrugged “Could be worse.”

“So, what’s next for you?” she asked.

“Gonna take a bit of time out.” she said vaguely, shrugging “You?”

“Steve wants to track Bucky down.” Katie sighed “Although I’m not so sure it’s a good idea.”

She didn’t reply. They rode in silence until they reached her condo and Katie turned to her.

“Nat.”

She looked at Katie, her green eyes locking onto her friend’s.

“Don’t be a stranger. Come over this week, we can get takeout and make fun out of Steve, just like normal.”

She smiled and reached across the seats, giving her a hug. “I’d like that.”

****

The days following the hearing were peaceful as Steve and Katie mostly lounged at home, unpacking some of his things that Happy had sent over. They binge watched shows, cooked, went for walks and then one night Sam and Natasha dropped in for take-out and a few beers. Sam made sure he congratulated Katie and Natasha on them both basically telling the Government to kiss their asses.

“It was the best thing I’ve seen on TV in years!” he gleefully said, as Steve dropped a kiss to the side of Katie’s head. In contrast, Steve had hated seeing both her and Nat getting grilled. He’d offered to go himself but both girls had insisted they could handle it, and he should keep his head down for the foreseeable. It was the one thing that Katie knew she could do to protect him.

It was as Natasha was leaving that Steve pulled her to one side and asked her if she could get any of her old contacts to dig up any information on Bucky. Katie pretended she wasn’t listening to the conversation, but she heard every word as Natasha tried to warn him that it wasn’t a good idea, but, stubborn as ever, Steve insisted so she nodded, and promised to do what she could.

And now, almost two weeks later, they were stood in a graveyard. Katie supposed there were stranger places to meet up with your dead-not-dead ex-boss…

“Funny, most people need a Medium or a Ouija board to speak to dead people.” Sam quipped as Fury approached them.

“I see dead people…” Katie replied in an almost perfect impression of the Kid from The Sixth Sense, causing Sam to snort and Steve to chastise the pair of them for acting like a pair of school children in a graveyard.

“Sorry Dad.” Katie rolled her eyes and he shot her a disapproving look which she met with an equally sassy one of her own, and Steve looked away before he laughed at her.

"So, you’ve experienced this sort of thing before?” Fury asked, drawing up behind the three.

“You get used to it,” said Steve, looking down at the grave stone with Fury’s name on it, placed over an empty, buried coffin.

Katie slipped her hand into his, gently squeezing it.

“We’ve been data mining Hydra’s files. Looks like a lot of rats didn’t go down with the ship,” said Fury, He was standing by Katie’s side, staring down at his own tombstone, with sunglasses on and a hoodie over his head and he looked up at Steve “I’m headed to Europe tonight. Wanted to ask if you’d come.”

“There’s something I gotta do first,” Steve responded, simply.

“I assume you gotta do it too?” Fury looked at Katie. She shrugged.

“How about you, Wilson? Could use a man with your ability,” said Fury, turning his gaze to Sam.

“I’m more of a soldier than a spy,” responded Sam.

“Alright then,” Fury shrugged, shaking Sam’s hand before going over to shake Steve’s. “If anybody asks for me, tell them they can find me right here.” He said shaking Katie’s hand last as he nodded to the grave.

“You should be honoured.” Natasha’s voice drifted across from behind the three of them, making them turn around to see her walking up to them while Fury himself was already strolling away in the opposite direction. “That’s about as close as he gets to saying ‘thank you’.”

“Not going with him?” Katie asked.

“No,” she sang coming to a stop, keeping her hands behind her back.

“Not staying here,” Steve concluded.

“Nah…” she drew out the reply. “I blew all my covers, I gotta go figure out a new one.”

“That could take some time,” Katie raised an eyebrow.

“I’m counting on it.” She smirked, turning to Steve. “That thing you asked for; called in a few favours from Kiev.”

As she removed her hands from behind her back, she revealed a brown folder, which Steve took staring down at it with a contemplative expression.

“Be careful Steve,” she added, repeating her warning and he looked at her, nodding. “You may not want to pull on that thread.”

“Take care of yourself.” Katie said, looking at her, before giving her a quick hug.  “I think I’m going to miss you, just a little bit." 

"Only a little?” Natasha teased right back. “I’ll miss you too.”

She turned to leave and Katie gently reached over to tilt the file down so she could see it, wincing at the photo of Bucky in some kind of cryo-stasis. Steve looked at her, his eyes giving away his sadness and she gently ran her hand up his arm.

“I’m not sure I want you involved in this.” he looked down at her and she rolled her eyes.

“We live together you ass.” She looked at him, sternly “And we’re in this now, the both of us. I’m not going anywhere.”

She felt like she had been saying that a lot recently, and she had. But she wanted him to understand, nothing that happened could and would ever tear them apart.

 As Sam approached Steve closed the folder, but the man had already seen it. He shot a look up to the sky, his eyes locking on Katie’s and she gave him a quick look which was almost sympathetic as she registered Sam’s frustration. It didn’t go unnoticed by Steve either, he knew this could be opening a whole can of worms, or a ‘bucket of vipers’ as Katie had said the other night, but he had to try. He owed it to Bucky.

“You’re going after him aren’t you?” Sam asked.

“You don’t have to come with us.” Steve responded

“I know.” Sam remarked, before a smirk crossed his face. “When do we start?”

**** Chapter 18

**Original Posting**

[amethystroselilith]

Please Help Aether (Chilumi Crack One Shot)

This dumb af fic is dedicated to @jojosbizarredepression and is inspired by our convo and their adorable hcs!

I know I said fluffy crack, but the fluff disappeared... Might make my usual fluff one shots with Lumi coddling Childe though not gonna lie cause it sounds cute af

SUMMARY: A crack one-shot featuring dumb Chilumi and a suffering Aether who just wanna watch sunsets and drink wine

Can also be read in ao3: here

Aether knows that time...

The time that scares every big brother…

The time where their sweet little sister falls in love with a questionable man.

Aether already had that small feeling when he and his sister woke up in this world that they now call home.

The feeling intensified when they met the Cavalry Captain, Kaeya. The man hadn’t even been shy for flirting with his sister in front of him, immediately kissing her hand after the twins landed from luring Dvalin away from the city.

Aether immediately dislikes him, fearing that this flamboyant captain will break his sister’s heart.

So like every respectable big brother in Aether’s book, he keeps ratting him out on Jean and Amber, to keep him away from his sister.

Then there comes Master Diluc, who fits the category of being one of the most wanted bachelors; handsome, rich, and mysterious. At least that’s what Aether thinks based on their travels to different worlds.

Aether does not like Diluc at first, he seems to be a bit too cold and distant, he doesn't want his beloved sister to feel unloved. Though as time went on, Aether sees that he’s worthy of his sister.

The way he protects her, coming by her side as enemies run up to her, tending to her wounds when she gets hit or falls, and not to mention he’s rich.

When they get married, he’s going to live in luxury too, right? He’s family after all.

Aether was ready to give his approval if the redhead would ask him for his sister’s hand.

It was all going so smoothly and Aether can already imagine life; on their day offs, he will be sitting in front of the winery, watching the sunset as he drinks Dandelion Wine and enjoying the breeze.

So how come he’s inside a cell right now, arguing with his sister while said sister is protecting a certain ginger-haired fucker that had them ended there.

“Lumi, I swear to god, he’s so dead,” Aether said as he tries to climb over the geo constructs Lumine had set to separate him from her dear lover.

Said dear lover just stuck his tongue out at him when Lumine knocked him off with her anemo powers.

“Leave him alone, Aeth! Childe’s a victim here!” Lumine protested, keeping a close eye on her brother.

“Victim?! He almost murdered someone! That’s why we’re here, inside a fucking cell!” Aether argued with a groan.

Going to Liyue was a mistake…

He just wanted a little bit of an adventure with his sister before her hypothetical marriage with Diluc, and now his sister is dating a psychopath.

“Almost.” Childe rolled his eyes, “He tried to rob me, I had to defend myself!”

“Of course, baby, we know this. Their justice system is fucked up.” Lumine cooed, stroking his cheeks softly, making him purr and lean on her touch.

Aether gave them a look of disbelief, “You summoned a fucking whale in the middle of the city!”

“Yeah, but no one died,” Childe argued.

“You destroyed a huge part of the city...”

“And no one died.”

“We’re in jail because of you.”

“Ningguang is a bit harsh don’t you think?” Lumine huffed, “He was being robbed, how could she allow that kind of scam stall here?”

Aether sighed, “Lumi, we both travelled a shit ton of worlds before, carnival-like games are scammy as fuck and yet you still fell for Shitou’s words.”

“He outsmarted us,” Childe argued.

“...Yeah, I guess it wasn’t hard to do…” he murmured to himself but the couple didn’t miss it.

“Are you saying my baby is stupid?” Lumine gasped as she pulled Childe close to her chest as if to comfort him.

“Well, I’m not saying he’s smart.” Aether deadpanned.

“I’ll have you know, my baby is a master of different kinds of weapons.” Lumine huffed, “Isn’t that right, love?”

“Yeah, I’m almost close to mastering the bow,” Childe said proudly as he nuzzles to the blonde’s chest.

“By using your hydro blades?” Aether rolled his eyes.

“I use the bow too when they’re not available!” Childe huffed.

“And using your hand to throw the last arrow,” Aether added.

“What can I say? I love to improvise.” Childe grinned proudly.

“I know, baby, I’m so proud of you.” Lumine praised as she hugged him closer.

Aether didn’t know stupidity was contagious, and now he has to deal with this all his life? Well, not really since he and Lumine were immortal and Childe isn’t.

Unless…

He grabbed Lumine’s wrist, horrified to find out the mark that symbolises Lumine had shared her immortality with someone.

“Lumine, my dear beloved sister,” Aether’s eye twitched, “...who did you share your immortality with?”

Lumine beamed, “Why with my precious baby of course!” she said as she hugged Childe tighter, the ginger getting suffocated by her chest, he wouldn’t mind dying there, but he wouldn’t thanks to the mark he has on his wrist given by his lover.

Aether stepped back, “Lumi, you’re supposed to talk to me about this!”

“Oh, really? I don’t remember being consulted when you shared your immortality with your stupid pet fish!”

“How dare you!” Aether gasped, offended with her bad mouthing his precious fish when they were toddlers, “You have some audacity to call Bubbles stupid when you’re dating this idiot!”

“He’s not the idiot who wasted his immortality with a fish though!” Lumine hissed, “At least I can bring my baby with me to different worlds!”

“That’s so rich coming from you when you were about to share yours with your pet cat!” Aether called out.

Childe tensed pulling away from Lumine, “You said you never thought of sharing your immortality until you met me?”

“Baby, we haven’t met that time,” Lumine frowned.

“Doesn’t matter! You should’ve known you were going to meet me, I can’t believe you loved someone before me!” he sulked in his corner, rejecting Lumine’s inviting arms.

Aether raised his eyebrow, this is the first time Childe refused her, usually, his face would dive right in between her cleavage like the perverted bastard he is.

“But Childe I think that was you!” Lumine suddenly announced.

It immediately caught Childe’s attention, while Aether had never been so confused.

“Me?” Childe tilted his head in confusion.

“Oh my god, I just realised it, the cat has orange fur, blue eyes, and he would also tilt his head in confusion!” Lumine gasped, eyes wide in realisation, “And guess what I used to call that cat?”

“What?”

“Ajax.”

“Oh my god.”

Aether loved his twin, he really does, but he wished he could turn back time, figure out what mistake he had done to deserve his sister falling for an idiot.

He bit back his tongue to avoid calling out Lumine’s bluff, the cat’s fur was black and white with greenish-yellow eyes, and his name was Mittens.

“We really are soulmates.” Childe sighed happily as he went back into Lumine’s arms, “I can’t believe I was a cat in my previous life.”

Aether sighed, he’s too tired to deal with them so he let them be and walked to the bars, hoping to see any guards that could take him to a different cell.

A door opened followed by footsteps.

“Zhongli!” Aether smiled in relief, “Oh my god, please tell me you can help us.” he begged.

Zhongli smiled revealing a key, “Don’t worry, you are no longer prisoners.”

The three gasped excitedly as Zhongli opened the cell.

“How’d you convince Ningguang? She was so pissed.” Aether asked curiously.

“Well…”

~~~

After taking a sip of her afternoon tea, Ningguang feels a little sleepy. It didn’t take long until she fell asleep on her desk.

“Ningguang, Tianquan of Liyue Qixing.”

“Who’s there?” She tried to shield the blinding light, trying to see the mysterious figure.

“It’s me, the Geo Archon.”

Ningguang gasped, “My Lord, you have appeared in my dreams again.”

“I would like-”

“Yes, I accept,” Ningguang said excitedly.

“...What…?”

“I accept to be the next Geo Archon.” she repeated, “That’s why you’re here, right?”

“Uh… no…”

“Oh… I was ready to produce my own money, that kinda sucks, but okay I guess...”

“Anyway, I heard you sent the travellers and the Fatui to jail...”

“Yes, they destroyed half of the city, My Lord.”

“Yeah, well about that, you should let them free.”

“...They destroyed half of the city…”

“Yeah, but like no one died.”

“...The reconstruction is going to be expensive, plus helping those merchants who lost their stalls…”

“Bad things will happen if they stay in that cell…”

“What will happen?”

“Just really bad things, believe me, you don’t want to deal with that. Trust me, I’m Morax.”

“I… Well, yeah seems legit, I’ll set them free by your words, My Lord.”

“Ah, also there’s this fine gentleman from Wangsheng Funeral Parlor that’s having some rumours surrounding him about his debt. That is totally not true and everyone who says so is a liar.”

“I shall dispel the issue.”

“Also give him the key to free the prisoners.”

“As you wish.”

“Okay, cool, cool. Thanks, bye now.”

~~~

“Damn, Zhongli, will you be my best man at my future wedding?” Childe said in awe after Zhongli tells his story.

“Remove seafood in the menu.”

“Eh, we can talk about it.”

“Will you also do the honours of being an uncle to our future children?” Lumine asked.

“I can babysit for a high pay rate.”

“Fair enough, we’re planning 20 or more children.”

Aether fainted, the thought of dealing with that amount of mini Childes far too overwhelming and scary.

Please send him help...

[keanureevesisbae]

eunoia - chapter 1

Summary: Quinn is back in Delacroix, Louisiana

Sam Wilson x Quinn (Asian ofc)

Warnings: Some spoilers for Civil War, Inifinity War, Endgame and TFATWS

Wordcount: 3.2k

Masterlist // eunoia masterlist // Previous chapter

I watched AJ and Cass grow up into the boys they are now. It might be obvious to some, but I came to the realization that every step of their development is crucial. Teaching them boundaries, new skills and their abilities when it comes to social interaction.

Noticing that importance, made me wonder even more about the things that had happened in my past. What significant events happened for me to become who I am today. I don’t feel like anyone, like I have no personality, no history.

Fragments of memories are the only things I have left of my past. I remember laughing with people, though they remain faceless till this day. I remember warm weather, cold weather, but the hugs are the same. They are loving, caring. But there is also a lot of pain and exhaustion. There is confusion when I saw Bucky for the first time being contained in a small cell.

But those fragments are not equal to an entire memory.

Everything I started to experience is from the moment Zemo let me out of that cell back in Munich. Fighting alongside the Avengers, though never actually being one of them, meeting people during my solo trips through the country and sleeping in abandoned buildings by myself, since I had no money.

Delacroix, Louisiana, however, is the only place I dare to call home. I know there is a place somewhere that used to be home, but since I haven’t found that yet, I’ll rely on the place that feels most secure.

Of course I was aware that going here could mean bumping into Sam. It’s a risk I’m willing to take, because I missed spending time with the Wilson’s, especially AJ and Cass. I wonder though, what Sam might think. Me spending time with his family in the years he couldn’t.

I grew so close to the three of them, whilst we only had one thing in common.

Knowing Sam.

Since Tony’s funeral and Steve handing the shield to Sam, I have been wandering around the different states, even making slight detours to Canada, hoping to find something. I have been so desperately wanting to know something for so long. Anything that could be something that should be a treasured memory of mine.

Much to my dismay, I am still left in the dark. I have no idea who I am, where my roots started and who is out there missing me.

Are there even people missing me?

After I scolded the boys for growing, I hold up my hand to the older guy who has been appreciating my arrival from the moment I got here a little over five years ago. ‘Hi Carlos,’ I say to him.

‘Miss Quinn!’ he exclaims, rushing over to me in the fastest pace he can and hugs me tightly when I’m within arms reach. ‘Oh, do I love it when you join us.’

‘I love to be back.’

‘You’re gonna help me out, right?’ Carlos asks. ‘Things go much slower without you here. No one has come even close to your strength.’

‘I figured,’ I say with a smile. ‘I’ll help you out, okay?’

He blows me a kiss, before AJ, Cass and I walk towards Sarah and Sam. I shouldn’t be nervous, but I am. While Sam was contemplating whether or not to take the shield from Steve, I sneaked out. Ran off hating Steve. Hating the fact that he got older. Being able to go back in time, to not only place back the Stones and what not, but also to grow older with Peggy.

The love of his life.

He got to live his happily ever after with someone from his past, something that I would probably never experience. It took me months to realize that I wasn’t mad at him.

I was simply jealous.

Sarah opens her arms for me and I don’t waste a single second before letting myself being engulfed in her warm embrace. How I longed to feel a hug from her. ‘I missed you,’ she says to me.

‘I missed you too,’ I admit softly.

‘Don’t you dare leave me alone for too long.’ She holds onto my upper arms and glares at me. ‘The kids missed you too much.’

‘We did,’ they confirm in unison

I can’t help but laugh. ‘I missed them and you too much as well, hence the reason I came back.’

‘Oh, so you didn’t came back for my brother?’ She cocks an eyebrow. ‘He too just arrived.’

Sam scoffs and I pretend to roll my eyes, but I cannot miss the tone in her voice. She always pestered me about her brother, saying that if he were still here, we’d probably be all over each other.

Yeah right…

I remember first arriving here and staying in the guest room, one where Sam used to sleep if he crashed here in Delacroix. She caught me looking at pictures of Sam and slightly bullied me because of it. Maybe it seemed like I liked him, but the truth is: I realized how much I missed him.

Back when I helped out the Avengers, he was the only one I truly trusted. Because I cared so much about him, I went out of my way to go to his DC apartment in the midst of all chaos, to grab some personal belongings of his and make my way to his family.

Sam promised me he would always have my back and I don’t blame him for not keeping his promise. It’s just that now that he is back and I’m about the face him, it hits me how much his five year absence killed me deep down.

I’m too afraid to meet his eyes, but I know I have to eventually. ‘Solely for the kids,’ I say to Sarah, because that is the main reason I came back. The kids and Sarah.

Sarah squeezes my upper arms, almost as some encouragement and I look up to Sam. ‘Hi Quinn,’ he says to me, his voice warm, welcoming and trusting.

I missed him. I missed him looking at me. All of his attention directed to the person he’s talking to. It’s good to be on the receiving end of it.

‘Hi Sam.’

‘How are you?’

I have no idea actually. ‘I’m okay,’ I answer. ‘You look good.’

He seems a bit surprised, but a slightly cocky smirk appears on his lips. ‘As do you.’

Sarah frowns, as she looks from me to Sam back to me again. ‘How about you two catch up?’ She opens a cool box and grabs two beers. ‘I’ve got your favorite, Quinn. You must be tired from your trip. You deserve it.’

‘You’re the best, Sarah, thank you.’

Both AJ and Cass stand next to me and give me a tight hug. ‘You’re already taking her away, uncle Sam?’ AJ asks. ‘That’s so unfair. We want to know how the battle against Thanos went.’

‘I’ll be back before you know it,’ I say to them, slightly touched because they don’t want me to go.

‘Is this Superhero talk?’ AJ asks, looking at his uncle.

‘Boys, I told you,’ I say, ‘I’m no superhero.’

‘But you’re really strong,’ Cass says. ‘I think you are a superhero.’

‘She totally is,’ Sam says. ‘You should’ve seen her in the battlefield.’

I don’t do blushing, but I do this other thing: my ears turn in this fiery red color. It’s horrible, I hate it and of course today of all days I’m wearing my hair up in a ponytail, for everyone to see how the tips of my ears turn red.

‘Uncle Sam, to be fair, we like her more than we like you.’

Sam cocks an eyebrow. ‘Is that so?’ he asks. ‘That means I need to work extra hard to be number one again.’

‘If you get me one of those flying suits, you two are even.’

‘AJ,’ Sarah says, ‘we spoke about this. I’m not gonna let you fly around. Sorry Sam, you’re in third place.’

‘Third place?’ Sam asks, pretending to be offended. ‘Why third?’

‘Because mom is number one, auntie Quinn is number two and you are number three,’ Cass says. ‘Duh.’

Sam and I sit on the dock, both staring at the old boat. Paul & Darlene. A nearly nostalgic smile appears on my lips. ‘Sarah and I tried to fix it up,’ I say, flicking the cap off the beer bottle, doing the same for Sam. ‘Emphasis on tried. We didn’t have a lot of money, we had tons of other stuff to do and I have no idea on how to fix up a boat.’

Sam nods, grabbing the beer from me as I hand it to him. ‘Figured, think the two of you broke something in the process,’ he chuckles.

‘That would’ve been me, I’m sorry.’ I take a sip of the beer and think about the next thing I’m gonna say. ‘So,’ I start, ‘you gave up the shield.’

‘Not in the way you might think,’ he says, almost in a bit of a defensive tone. ‘I didn’t give it up. I gave it to the museum where it belongs. It’s a piece of history, not mine to use.’

I frown, as I fear that he might not know what I know. ‘You think it’s gonna stay in a museum?’ I ask.

Now he looks up. ‘Of course, what do you think?’

‘Well,’ I say, ‘it’s not gonna be part of the exhibition. There is… Someone who will receive the shield soon.’

It pains me to see his expression. The hurt, the betrayal. Poor Sam, he obviously wasn’t told about that. ‘I had no idea.’

‘I’m so sorry,’ I whisper.

‘How do you know?’

I shrug. ‘I went to one of my hackers,’ I say, ‘to see if he could help me with carefully running my picture through any database. We stumbled upon some governmental documents and it read that once they had the shield, they would give it to some guy who is training for it. I believe his name was John Walker.’

‘That could be anyone,’ Sam notes with a scoff.

‘Exactly,’ I agree, ‘but it shouldn’t be anyone. Steve gave that shield to you, not this John Walker guy. I’m not saying that giving the shield for an exhibition was wrong, but… I do know this is not what both you or Steve had in mind when you gave the shield to the Smithsonian.’

Sam shakes his head and from the looks of it, he is beating himself up over this. ‘They should’ve told me.’

‘Had they told you, would you kept the shield?’

He nods. ‘It’s Steve shield, not mine, not this John guy.’

I have no idea what I should say to him. I want to say about myself that I know how to comfort someone, but that someone is not a grown man. The only ones I can remotely comfort, are AJ and Cass and when necessary, I can sort of calm Sarah down (though I have gone wrong there maybe once or twice).

‘Is this John Walker gonna go public any time soon?’ Sam asks.

‘I don’t know.’

‘Why do you think Steve gave me that shield?’

I was not expecting that question at all, but it’s an easy one to answer. ‘You’re the only one worthy of the shield, of that legacy. You are more than Captain America’s friend, Sam. You are the only one that can live up to the expectation.’

‘I don’t know, Quinn.’

‘Listen, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t have hesitations. It only shows that you are humble and I think that is exactly the type of man Steve wanted for the shield.’

From the looks of it, Sam grows more and more uncomfortable. To redirect the conversation, he clears his throat and says: ‘Bucky isn’t gonna like this.’

Oh boy, I hadn’t even thought of that. ‘Have you spoken to him?’

He shakes his head. ‘Nah, he ignores my texts.’

I can’t stop my smile. ‘Mine too.’

‘Oh, you’ve been texting him?’ Sam asks. eyebrow cocked.

‘Sometimes,’ I say, ‘it’s just that I figured we had something in common. He just went totally AWOL after his pardoning and I have no idea what he is doing. I bet he doesn’t even wanna be found. If there is something going on, he’ll show up.’

‘Well, good thing Bucky doesn’t even know where I live,’ he says, ‘think you and I are safe for a while.’

I chuckle, looking at my beer bottle. ‘Yeah, bet you’re right.

That night, I walk into the room I always sleep in when I stay over at the Wilson’s, only to discover a shirtless Sam, in nothing else but boxers near the bed. That looks abnormally good, I think to myself, before I realize that it’s considered rude to just walk into a room like that. ‘Oh,’ I say, ‘I’m so sorry.’ I pull down the sleeping shirt, hoping it covers up my legs more.

‘No, I am,’ he says. ‘I could’ve known you would sleep here. Let me grab some blankets and I’ll take the couch.’

‘You’re taking the couch?’ I ask.

‘Yeah.’

I’ve slept on that thing and if it was uncomfortable for me, who is the size of a kid, it must be even worse for him.‘The bed is large enough,’ I say. ‘Pick a side.’

‘I don’t want to cross any line, Quinn.’

‘You won’t,’ I say. ‘Believe me, I shared sleeping spaces with people, most of which were… different than you, in the negative sense.’

‘Right,’ he says. ‘I want the right side, closer to the door.’ I watch Sam stepping in that part of the bed and slide underneath the covers and I walk around the bed, stepping in as well. We stare at the ceiling and the only thing we can hear is the breathing of one another.

I missed being in the Wilson’s residence. I missed the talks we would have, the food we would eat and the way the boys would talk. They’ve gone a long way and I sound like an old grandma, but I am so proud of them. Growing up during the blip, watching their mom work hard, that must’ve been tough, but they pulled through.

They grew up to be fine young men, who are strong, who are kind and mostly, who still know how to be kids.

But what’s different now is the presence of Sam and it’s not an unpleasant one. He obviously loves his sister and nephews and even after coming back from a rough mission, he gives them his time and attention.

Everything he has to offer.

Even if that means annoying his sister about the family boat. Sarah told me all about that dragon of a money sucker. It costs a lot and she doesn’t have time nor the money to renovate.

‘Where have you been?’ he asks.

‘When?’

‘Those five years and those months after the shield.’

I let out a sigh. ‘I have been wandering around the country after the blip, hoping to find out more about me. To no luck, I came in empty handed. After the shield, I continued wandering. Just realized I needed family. I needed Sarah.’

‘Thanks for helping her out.’

‘Oh, she didn’t need helping out,’ I say. ‘Besides, I wasn’t much of a help.’

‘I bet you were,’ Sam says with a smile. ‘You’re tired, go have some sleep. We’ll talk tomorrow.’

That night, I yet again have a dreamless dream. I never dream. Maybe I did, but I don’t remember. I barely remember everything. There are three major things in life that are the foundation of my life.

I hate cold weather, the person who has been playing a major role in my life is Bucky, who I haven’t spoken to for months and I have enhanced powers, but I have no idea where they are coming from.

Things in my life never made sense.

I remember when Zemo freed me, only for me to roam through the city of Münich and be caught by the team of Everett Ross. How Bucky has been a part of my life, has always been a mystery, because Bucky can only tell me he would see me back in his cell, before Hydra wiped him.

But what have I got to do with Hydra?

The next morning my eyes flutter open. I take a deep breath and lift up my head, only to realize I was resting it on Sam’s strong chest. ‘Morning,’ he says, his voice deep and it almost sounds like liquid gold.

Shit, I’m too close. ‘Good morning,’ I say, pushing myself up. ‘I am sorry.’

‘Don’t be.’

‘Sure? You feared you were overstepping, but now I am the one. How long have I been… resting like this.’

‘The second you drifted off to sleep. You’re a wild one. Think I’ve got at least a few bruises and broken ribs with that super strength of yours.’

‘Sorry,’ I chuckle. ‘I hope you’re okay.’

‘I’ll live.’ He sits up straighter and rubs his eyes.

‘How did you sleep?’ I ask.

‘Alright,’ he says. ‘It always takes a bit of getting used to when I get back here.’

‘I see.’

The door barges open, only to see Sarah. ‘There you two are,’ she says, tying up her robe she wears over her pajamas. ‘You should see the news. They are announcing the new Captain America.’

My heart stops beating for a moment and I look over my shoulder to see Sam. He gets up, puts on some clothes, while I grab some sweats. We all walk into the living room, only to see the boys already sitting in front of the screen.

‘Every day Americans feel it,’ the man on the television says. ‘While we love heroes who put their lives on the line to defend Earth, we also need a hero to defend this country. We need a real person who embodies America’s greatest values.’

I watch Sam staring at the screen, as he talks place on the couch. I carefully sit next to him, hoping he is not spooked by my presence.

He isn’t.

‘We need someone to inspire us again, someone who can be a symbol for all of us. So, on behalf of the Department of Defense and our Commander-in-Chief, it is with great honor that we announce here today that the United States of America has a new hero.’

I don’t know whether Sam is disappointed in himself for believing the shield was gonna be exhibited in the Smithsonian or in the government who betrayed him.

Either way, watching this must be awful.

‘Join me in welcoming your new Captain America.’

The new Captain America. It’s like a punch in the gut. The cheering, the waving of the generic John Walker holding a shield that isn’t his.

I place my hand on his knee and for a split second I fear he is going to swat it away.

But then I feel the warmth of his palm on my hand and he looks to the side. He doesn’t say anything, but his eyes say enough.

‘I’m sorry,’ I say.

He nods. ‘Yeah, me too, Quinn. Me too.’

[andrewmoocow]

Steven Universe: The Fantastic Mutants chapter 5: Never Again (originally posted on November 16, 2020)

AN: Good to see you all again my dear readers! How have things  been? Am I being too intrusive? Well, doesn't matter! It's good to be  back in business after a few weeks, so let's just cut to the chase, shall we?

--

"So  how much of this show is actual camping?" HYDRA Bob asked Peridot as  they, along with Deadpool & Lapis, watched Camp Pining Hearts  together at the X-Mansion while surrounded by massive amounts of snack  foods and garbage. "A fair bit, but pretty much everyone comes for the  romance," Peridot answered. "Yeah," Wade stated. "like your crippling yaoi addiction."

"What is yah-oy?" Lapis asked while  mispronouncing this new word just as Pearl came in with a broom. "You really should learn how to pick up after yourselves as guests." The Gem  grumbled while sweeping up crumbs off the carpet. "Hey, wise up Pearl,  I'm basically an honorary member!" Deadpool remarked. "Hey, Flat-Top,  gimme a refill on my coke here!"

"And you should also treat the  people housing you like friends, not your servants." Colossus reminded  them, just as disgruntled as Pearl, while he gave the Merc with a Mouth another bottle of pop when suddenly, Xavier came in. "Ah, Professor!  Would you be so kind as to help us teach Wade here some manners?"

"It's alright, Piotr." Xavier calmed the metal mutant down. "Although Mr.  Wilson here can be a bit of a nuisance, we do need all the help we can  get to rescue Steven and Kitty."

"Thanks for the save Cap'n." Wade  grinned at the aged mutant when someone knocked at the window. "Hey,  anyone in there?!" the voice of Spider-Man called from outside, latching  upside down onto the glass. "Peter!" Pearl exclaimed. "Long time no  see. How are the other Avengers doing?"

"The big six are off in  space right now, and the reserves are holding down the fort for now."  The web-slinger answered as he opened the window and leaped through it.  "When your message reached us, I was the first to take it and brought  along a few pals who might be useful."

As Peter finished talking, a  silver and blue blur burst through the front doors, stopping to reveal  itself as Quicksilver. "Pietro, good to see you!" Colossus exclaimed.  "Must mean Wanda isn't too far behind, da?"

"You are correct."  Scarlet Witch answered as she followed her brother. "Hello again Crystal  Gems." She greeted the Gems. "Hello to you and Pietro too, Wanda,"  Garnet replied as she stepped into the room. "It certainly has been a  while since Thanos. I hope you both are well."

"Oh, never better  Garney!" Quicksilver responded as he sat down between Peridot &  Lapis to watch Camp Pining Hearts with them. "Ooh, I love this show! I  always felt Pierre & Percy have really good chemistry."

"Thank  you for agreeing with me good sir." Peridot added pridefully. "Oh, quit with the shit already!" Wade interjected crossly. "No one ever talks about Pierre and Paulette!"

"You take that back, you crimson clod." Peridot snarled threateningly at the mercenary and soon, an  intense shipping debate between the two began. "Oh, this could take a long while." Pearl sighed in exhaustion.

"I just watch for all the crazy shenanigans these campers get up to." Spider-Man gave his opinion while snatching some snicker-doodles from the ottoman.

--

"Come on, work!" Kitty groaned in frustration as she continuously tried and failed to break her and Steven from their imprisonment without using her mutant powers. "If only I could find a way to break this collar, then  we'd get outta here easier."

"Why don't I give it a shot?" Steven  suggested, deciding to use his shield to cut the bars apart. However, that failed as well. "It's hopeless. If I didn't come, then maybe we wouldn't be stuck here."

"Hey, don't beat yourself up like that  Steven." Kitty comforted her fellow mutant. "I'm sure the Gems are  already on their way to save us, so try and keep your chin up until  then." She implored Steven, but he remained downtrodden. "Let's face it;  we're here because of my mom."

"Oh, mother issues?" Kitty  realized. "I get it. That's perfectly normal. But you can't always let  the sins of the parent bring you down." She assured him. "Yeah, sins  like taking part in universal genocide before realizing that wasn't good  and instead doing things far worse than that." Steven grumbled, much to  her surprise. "Whoa okay, didn't see that coming!" Kitty exclaimed.  "Far worse how? Did she actually murder someone?"

"She  deliberately left tons of Gems and other races to die for her just  because she was bored of being Pink Diamond, let two of my friends to be  imprisoned for thousands of years, forced Gems who cared for her to  suffer from her faked death and who knows what else!" Steven complained.  "And then there was that whole thing with Magneto."

As if on cue,  the aforementioned leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants stepped into  the brig to interrogate them. "I see you've been making yourselves at  home while you could." He declared before grabbing Steven by the shirt  collar through the cell bars. "Tell me boy, why do you have her  gemstone? Was it passed down to you?"

"As a matter of fact, yes."  Steven answered. "When I was born, my mom died to give birth to me, and I  got her gemstone and all her powers as a result. She also left me with  all her baggage from ages ago, including when she was once a member of  the Great Diamond Authority."

"Great Diamond Authority?" Magneto  wondered, and Kitty seemed just as confused. "Yeah, I have to agree.  There are more Diamonds out there?"

"That's not important right  now," Steven said before Magneto set him down. "Still, why go after me in particular? We're both mutants. We should be on the same side!"

"You already know about how Rose abandoned me at Auschwitz, but the Gems only told you half the story," Erik revealed, turning away from Steven  & Kitty in the process. "My part of this tale is far more complex  than you realize. Like many a Jew during the war, I was prosecuted by  the Nazis for my religion and sentenced to death. But I was a special  case."

--

Heavy rain poured upon  Poland in 1944 as a large group of imprisoned Jews marched sorrowfully  through Auschwitz, their world nothing but drab colors aside from the  bright yellow Star of David on their clothes signifying their religion.  All around them, more of their people were forced to perform possibly  lethal jobs for their superiors and be treated horribly should they fail  to work or try to resist.

One young man in particular named Erik  Lehnsherr watched just as miserably as his fellow Jews and began to  notice that many of the other prisoners had brands on their arms. As  soldiers began coldly leading their prisoners away from the group,  Erik's parents Edie & Jacob were forcefully separated like the rest  from their son, with Edie being particularly hysterical about having to  leave her child.

Erik raced after his parents in an effort to see  them one last time, but the gates closed before he could get a chance,  and another Nazi grabbed the boy to keep him under control. However,  something miraculous happened. When Erik fruitlessly reached out towards  the gate, it began bending towards him. Another Nazi aided his fellow  soldier in detaining the boy, and two more raced towards him as the  fence began twisting more and more.

Erik's mutant powers awakened  that day as the gates were ripped open with a mere stretch of his hand,  but he was quickly stopped with the butt of a gun to his head from a  fifth soldier. "Bring ihn zu Dr. Schmidt." that soldier commanded his  subordinates. The four Nazis nodded and dragged the unconscious boy  away, to where his destiny would soon be realized.

--

"And  that's where you first met his mom, right?" Kitty asked her captor.  "Yeah, I don't think we need to hear how she ditched you again."

"As I stated, the story is much deeper than that," Magneto said. "Allow me to continue."

--

Soon,  HYDRA had come to assist the Nazis in stopping the Howling Commandos  and the Crystal Gems from instigating the Auschwitz breakout. As Rose  began fighting off soldiers, she began counting off the fleeing Jews.  "Let me see how many we got," Rose muttered while trying to do a  headcount. "Agh, there's too many of them! I can barely keep count when  I'm surrounded like this!"

"Less than a million!" Garnet counted  for her leader with her future vision. "However, there are still a few  that we were too late to save, namely the Lehnsherr family. Klaus  Schmidt is holding their son Erik."

"Klaus?" Rose soon came to a  realization. "That was the boy in the office! I have to go ba-" Before  Rose could finish, a HYDRA enforcer took advantage of her letting her  guard down and fired with an anti-Gem weapon, poofing her form.

"Rose!"  Pearl exclaimed while rushing to the deactivated gem lying on the  ground. While Captain America covered for them with his shield, the Gems  made a hasty retreat. "But what about those other Jews?!" Amethyst  exclaimed. "A few prisoners should take this from here." Garnet  answered, just as the Sonderkommando charged at their captors with guns,  knives, axes, and grenades.

Inside the building where Klaus  Schmidt was stationed, the mutant Jew slithered around the hall to avoid  being caught again. Nazis raced outside to combat without once taking  notice of the boy making his escape. Taking a moment to peek outside the  window, he noticed the Gems escaping the concentration camp and  furrowed his brow angrily. "Sie haben mich verlassen."

As the  warfare continued, Erik quietly made his getaway with his newly awakened  mutant powers and used a wrecked chain fence to fly himself away from  Auschwitz.

--

Many years later in  1963, Magneto was holding a demonstration in New York to make a speech  about the superiority of mutants when she showed up again. Rose Quartz  had decided to show her face to him again after leaving him to rot all  those years ago in Auschwitz, and only now, she shows up with an excuse  to try and make peace.

"You can try to rope yourself into my good  graces all you want Gems," he growled, preparing to fight the Crystal  Gems. "But nothing can ever change the past!"

Ripping a nearby  water tower off its supports, Erik prepared to smash it on top of Rose,  Garnet & Pearl, but then came a loud shriek coming from the Irish  mutant Sean Cassidy, aka Banshee. "Top o' the mornin' to you ladies!"  Banshee exclaimed and let out another scream that brought the master of  magnetism to the ground. "Now Neal!"

"I got you!" the Indian  pyrokinetic Neal Shaara, or Thunderbird to his teammates, boomed while  turning his body into plasma and landing a few hits on Magneto, but the  German fought back by expanding a force-field that pushed him back.  "Longshot, Angel, Mimic, it's all you now!"

"You got it!" Longshot  replied while standing on a rooftop with Mimic and Angel Salvadore and  preparing to throw a large knife at Magneto. "Just got one shot at  this." He muttered to himself just as Amethyst hopped up behind him.  "Hey, what you guys doing?" she asked the three mutants, catching  Longshot off-guard. "Do you mind squirt?!" Longshot barked, but then he  noticed her gem. "Say, you wouldn't happen to know those three, right?"

"We  can discuss it later!" Angel said while sprouting fly-like wings and  flying off. "Hey, wait for me!" Mimic exclaimed, copying his teammate's  power by growing insect wings of his own and soaring after her.

"You  guys wouldn't happen to be like ol' Maggy over there?" Amethyst  continued asking Longshot, who harshly shushed her while trying to keep  his concentration. "Okay, sheesh!"

"Now Longshot!" Banshee  exclaimed as he let out a loud shriek at Magneto to knock him  off-balance, allowing Longshot to fling his knife at the evil mutant.  But Erik stopped the blade before it could reach his face with his  powers and threw it right at Pearl with a wicked grin.

"Pearl,  no!" Rose cried out as she dove in front of her confidant, letting the  knife stab her instead, causing her to ultimately poof and retreat into her gem.

"Rose!" the remaining Gems shouted, racing to protect  their leader's inactive gemstone from Magneto. "Well, that should do  nicely for now." He snidely muttered. "But know this Crystal Gems, we  shall meet again someday soon. Even if we have to wait years to do so!"

With  that, Magneto zoomed off into the sky and left the Crystal Gems &  the X-Men below. "So, sorry about letting your boss end up like this."  Longshot nervously apologized. "That was my knife he threw at her after  all."

"It's alright. Rose will recover soon." Garnet assured the mutant. "By the way, I didn't get your name."

"Call  me Longshot, leader of the X-Men!" Longshot proudly replied. "These are  my teammates; Banshee, Mimic, Angel Salvadore, and Thunderbird. We're  all mutants."

"It is a pleasure to meet you." Thunderbird greeted,  extending a hand to Pearl. "Mutants? I think I remember meeting one, centuries ago." Pearl replied, shaking Neal's hand. "You wouldn't happen  to know anyone named En Sabah Nur?"

This revelation caused the  X-Men to gasp in shock. "Wait, you met Apocalypse?!" Mimic cried. "Let  me guess, you guys know him as a real bad guy?" Amethyst quipped. "Yeah,  he's about yay tall, superiority complex, total Darwinist." Angel  replied. "Come along. We can tell you more about him."

"And maybe  we'll introduce you to the professor too." Banshee added happily. "We'd  be glad to meet your professor." Pearl agreed, and Garnet & Amethyst  nodded as well.

--

"So that's how the  Gems met Xavier!" Steven realized. "But how come you remember that last  bit happening? You left after poofing Rose."

"Don't think about  it." Magneto assured him. "And now that I have you in our clutches,  watching Doctor Doom experiment on you will be so satisfying."

"But still, you can't just vent your vengeance on a kid!" Kitty exclaimed.

"Yeah,  this isn't what Xavier would want!" Steven replied, forcing Magneto to  drop his stoic façade. "He knows you can be better than this, barring  the terrorism. You're both on the same wavelength when it comes to  protecting mutants, but kidnapping one of your own for your own sake is  just wrong!"

"Y'know, that does seem like something Charles would  say. Though he would've said it better." Magneto relented, pressing a button on the cell to let Steven and Kitty out. "Fight them off while  you still can children. I shall take the blame myself."

"Okay Steven, let's get outta here!" Kitty declared excitedly. "And no matter what happens, I got your back!"

"Actually  Kit, I think I got yours." Steven replied, just as another door opened,  and Mystique stepped into the brig. "Erik! Why have you let the  prisoners out?" she asked Magneto. "It was the boy who convinced me."  Erik revealed. "As it turns out, he's quite good at turning people to  his side."

"Well, you're too late child." Mystique said to Steven. "We have finally landed in Latveria."

--

The  Crystal Gems, X-Men, Fantastic Four, X-Force, Spider-Man, Scarlet  Witch, and Quicksilver all marched to the Blackbird, ready to go out to  Latveria and save Steven & Kitty. Human Torch and Cyclops were in  charge of piloting the plane while Xavier planted his wheelchair in the  back.

"So tell us what we're in for Reed." Garnet asked Mister  Fantastic, who gave a sharp sigh of regret. "You should know by now that  Doctor Doom is our family's greatest adversary. Intelligence on par  with my own, mastery of the mystic arts, psionic abilities, the works."  Reed explained. "But what I'm sure you probably don't know yet was that  we knew Doom long before he turned out like this."

--

"Victor,  have you gone mad?!" a younger Reed yelled at his college classmate  Victor, who was standing in front of a large machine generating an  unstable portal. "This machine is highly unstable and could explode at  any moment!"

"I do not care what it takes, Richards!" the man who  would be king of Latveria cried as the machine was on the verge of  self-destructing. "This is the only way I can see my mother again!"

"Hey  Stretch, we got everyone outta here!" Ben Grimm, back then a normal  human being instead of a large rock creature, called for his classmate  while he, Johnny and Sue burst into the laboratory. "You gotta come with  us!"

"No Reed, we can see our mothers again, together!" Doom  tried convincing his rival. Reed hesitated for a moment, weighing his  options between escaping with his friends or getting to see his late  mother Evelyn again. But as he made his decision, he turned away from  Victor. "I'm sorry Vic. But I've moved on."

"How dare you?!"  Victor screeched, while his four contemporaries fled the scene. "Don't  you dare run away! We could've been something more!" Just then, the  portal machine has just about reached its boiling point, and caused the  lab to explode with Doom inside. The last thing he said before the room  collapsed on him was a scream of "RIIIIIIIIICHAAAAAAAARDS!"

--

"Never  saw him again after that incident. Ol' Iron Mask got expelled, then he  just vanished offa the face of the planet." Ben regaled in the present  day. "That is until he re-emerged as some young upstart billionaire  named Victor Domashev, who funded the space flight that made us into the  Four we are today."

"Hey guys, less backstory, more blasting  off!" Amethyst snapped her fingers. "Pretty sure Steven might be on his  way to being dissected by now!"

"Yeah, and a certain author friend  of ours wants to get this out as quickly as possible." Deadpool agreed,  his medium-aware comment inciting odd stares from the others. "Can we  move onto the next scene already?!"

--

As  Mystique had declared, Steven was now in the European country of  Latveria, famously ruled by the Fantastic Four's arch-nemesis Victor von  Doom. He and Kitty were led through the aesthetically medieval capital  city Doomstadt, where its citizens whispered in German, Hungarian and an  unknown third language reminiscent of the latter dialect.

"Victor, we have brought the child. And an unwanted guest." Mystique announced  in front of Doom's castle as they crossed the drawbridge. The castle was  guarded by numerous robot soldiers that bore Doom's face, all of them  giving Steven cold and unfeeling glares as he was finally brought before the man who's face the robots bore.

"Steven Universe." Doctor  Doom boomed, resting on his throne while the boy was handcuffed in front of him. "I have heard much about you these past few months child. Erik,  I must commend you for getting the job done, although I've heard of  your possible betrayal and won't tolerate it." Then Doom turned to  Mystique. "Thank you Ms. Darkholme for alerting me of this before you  arrived.

"You are most kind Doctor." Mystique thanked him with a bow. "We hope you return your end of the bargain and grant us mutants  sanctuary in Latveria."

"Raven, you must listen!" Magneto cried to  his second in command. "This boy calls himself a mutant, just like us!  We can't just let Victor experiment on him like this. What if he has  something else planned?!"

"SILENCE!" the king of Latveria roared.  "It seems this child has made you soft Mr. Lehnsherr. No matter." He  rose from his throne and stepped towards Steven & Kitty to give them  a good look. "He shall become useful to me soon. And as for the girl, take her away."

"Yes your Highness." Mystique complied, snapping her fingers to have Juggernaut take Kitty away.

"Hey,  put me down!" Kitty hissed, struggling to break free from the massive  mutant's hands, which was easier said than done since her powers were  still restrained. "Don't worry Steven, I'll find a way to save you!"

"Ah  shaddup!" Juggernaut groaned loudly, stuffing a big finger inside the  smaller girl's mouth to keep her quiet when Mystique put a hand on his  bicep. "And what do you want Bluey?"

"It's about Erik. We may  resort to terrorism to fight for mutant rights, but I think allowing a  child to be experimented on may be going a bit too far." Raven whispered  to Cain while they moved farther away from Doom. "Besides, he is a  mutant much like us."

"So I've heard." The Juggernaut muttered. "But shouldn't he count more as an alien because his momma was one?"

When  the Brotherhood mutants left the throne room, Steven was left all alone  with Magneto and Doom. "What do you want with me Doom?" Steven asked the king. "Was it really necessary to have the Brotherhood kidnap me  when you could've had your robots do it?"

"Why I couldn't have  just sent my Doombots doesn't matter." Doom declared. "But what does  matter is what I want to do to you. You see, you're special Steven, as  you probably know. A being who's a mixture of human and alien DNA, and  that alien DNA might prove very important to me." He explained to  Steven. "I wish to use those genes for my own ends. Perhaps make an army  of similar beings, or perhaps become part-Gem myself to gain ultimate  power! Which is why I chose you in particular."

"Doctor, an  invading ship is approaching Doomstadt." A Doombot announced as it  walked into the throne room. "Shall we send out the reinforcements you  selected?"

"You may, #1961." Doom replied, pressing a few buttons on his arms that opened a door, and behind it were four supervillains.

Trapster, a man in goggles with a container of glue-like substance on his back, attached to a hose with a gun at the end.

Mole Man, a deformed midget in a green suit with a blue visor who was holding a staff in his hand.

The  Puppet Master, a bald, dark-skinned man accompanied by a pair of  human-sized marionettes in the shape of the Human Torch and the Thing,  that he controlled with a special remote.

And the Wizard, a purple armor-wearing supergenius who floated in the air with special anti-gravity discs.

"Frightful  Four, it seems we have some uninvited guests." Doom revealed to the  four villains. "I insist you deal with them at once, while I make my  little guest here at home."

"Yes Doctor." The Frightful Four said  in unison, then the marched out of the throne room to battle. Once again  Steven was alone in the throne room with Victor & Erik, and the  former was all too eager to get things started.

"Now then, shall we begin testing?" Doom asked Steven maliciously, and Steven replied with a very nervous gulp.

--

After  three months of work, it's finally done! We're getting close to the end  of this guys, and I couldn't be more excited. But for now, I think I'm  gonna take a little break to focus on college stuff for a bit, and I'll  be back soon with not just a new chapter, but also a brand spankin' new  Steven Universe tale I've had on the brain for a while. It's an AU  rewrite of Steven Universe Future aptly named Steven Universe: Alternate  Future. If you want to know more about this upcoming series, I've  already got an entire episode list on my DeviantArt page along with  drawings of some original characters created for it. Until we meet  again, toodle-oo!

In Loving Memory of Sean Connery

1930-2020

& Alex Trebek

1940-2020

[notyetneedcoffee]

Old Fashion Way Pt. 7

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader

Warnings: None this chapter

When you finally unlocked your apartment door and kicked it closed behind you, you could barely stay on your feet. The entire SHIELD complex went through extreme screenings before being allowed to leave the building. You were starving. Because of the bullshit, you never got dinner.

Kicking off your shoes, you dropped your purse on the hall table on the way to kitchen. That’s when you noticed. The scarf covering the table was wrong side up. You flipped up the silky fabric and opened the little drawer in the front of the table. The few mementos you kept there had been moved.  

A movie ticket stub. A dried rose.  A sketch on a napkin.  Someone went through your things. Thankfully, nothing in your apartment could be directly tied to Steve. Unless, they could recognize his sketch of a fox.  

You looked around, feeling uneasy. SHIELD went through your home. What did they leave behind?  

In the kitchen you ate leftovers, leaning against the kitchen counter. Your brain was moving too fast to even register what you ate. There was no way Steve would ever move against SHIELD without reason. You trusted him, more than any organization. Now your work, your organization, was after him.  

You had to find a way to stay safe.  

If anyone out for Steve knew about the two of you, well, you didn’t want to think about that. Grabbing your nightshirt, you shut off the lights and changed in the dark. Laying there, your mind wouldn’t shut down enough for sleep. However, by the time the sun was coming up, you had a plan.  

Getting up and dressing for work as usual, you left a few minutes early. Stepping into your favorite coffee shop, you let the one other person go ahead of you. So you would be alone in the shop. “Hey, Mandy.” You smiled at your favorite barista.  

“Morning.” She smiled. “Want your usual?”

“Yeah, please.” You stepped up to the counter. “Hey, could I ask you for a favor? Could I use your phone real quick? I pulled a bone-head move on my way here.” You showed her your old phone with a broken face.  

“Sure,” Mandy unlocked her phone and handed it over. You stepped away and quickly dialed your sister’s number. She answered with a sleep fuzzy voice.  

“I need you listen and do exactly as I say. This morning call my cell and my work leave priority messages. I need to come home. Dad’s in a bad way.”

There was a momentary silence. Then she responded, clear and clipped. “Got it. Talk to you soon.”

You hung up. Her husband spent eight years working for the DOD. The whole family knew how to respond to an emergency and get the details later.  

Handing the phone back to Mandy, you also gave her your coffee money and a generous tip. “Thanks for the help.”

“No worries. Have a great day!”

The morning went as planned. You received phone calls from your sister and then you put in for three weeks of emergency leave. Almost immediately, Angela arrived at your office door demanding you follow her. She led you to a small conference room, where you were left alone for more than three hours.  

One of the agents finally came in, a folder in hand. He sat across from you. You leaned forward, spinning your empty coffee cup slowly in your hands. “Going to tell me why I’ve wasted half a morning here when I’ve got so much to do?”

“It’s a rather suspect time to put in for an emergency leave of absence." He replied.

You sighed. “It’s not, really. Dad’s been going downhill for some time.” You frowned. “You ever taken care of someone with Alzheimer’s? It’s awful. It’s exhausting, and it can go to shit at a moment’s notice.” You frowned hard at the agent. “I’ve got tons of leave on the books. Time that the agency owes me. This is my family. Are you going to make me chose between my family and my job, agent?”

“The timing is...inconvenient.”

“I’ll be sure to let my dad’s doctors know.” You swallowed, not having to fake your nervousness. “Don’t make me quit over this. Please. I don’t want to leave SHIELD and I sure as hell don’t want to sue because I was forced to quit under duress despite policy.”

“When were you planning to travel?” The agent opened the folder and clicked his pen.

“Nothing’s booked yet. Tomorrow sometime, next morning at the latest. There are several flights from DC to Seattle.”

“You’ll be gone how long?”

“I don’t know. I put in for three weeks. May be more, or less.”

“Where will you be staying?”

“Not sure yet.”

At that the agent gave you a suspicious look.

“My sister’s place is small. Emotions are running high. I may be there. I may get a hotel. I won’t know until I’m there. It’s not like I’ve had a lot of time to plan this.”

“Very well.” He closed the file, never writing a word. “Take your work phone in case any current activities require your input. Your leave is granted.” He stood up and walked to the door. “You’re free to go back to work now, and...” He paused in the door, glancing back. “I remember how rough my grandmother’s dementia was. I’m sorry.”    

You were home packing after finding the latest flight you could justify taking. By nine o’clock tomorrow morning you would be on a plane to the Northwest. The scuttlebutt at work only got worse. No one at  SHIELD seemed willing to outwardly say anything, but you gathered enough bits and pieces yesterday to hear Steve supposedly went rouge, Director Fury might be dead, there was a terrorist attack on one of the major roadways in Bethesda that wasn’t really a terrorist, and Agent Romanoff was missing.  

Getting the hell out of Dodge was looking better all the time.  

Your personal phone rang. Unidentified number. “Hello?”

“Sweetheart, don’t say anything but yes or no. Just listen.” Steve’s clipped voice came quietly over the phone. “You know I didn’t do what they say I did.”

“Yeah.” Your heart was in your throat. You had so many questions, wanted to say so many things.

“Things are bad, really bad. You need to get away from there. Can you do that?”

“Yeah.” You answered, more determined.

Steve paused. “You already have, huh?”

“Yep”

“Good girl. Thank God.” He breathed. “Can you lay low someplace? Not at home?”

“Yeah.”

“Nearby?”

“No.”

He knew about your family. “West coast?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. Really good.”

You could hear Steve breathing as you waited for him to continue. His voice dropped down to a whisper. “I don’t know how this is all going to turn out, but just in case, I need to let you know how much I... You brought part of me back to life that I thought died with that plane crash... thank you, Sweetheart, just thank you.”

You swallowed back tears, biting your lip to keep from saying all the things you desperately wanted to. The realization that this might be the last time you spoke with him, just hit you so hard that it stole every bit of breath from your lungs.  

He heard your light gasp, a small sniffle. “It’s okay. Alright? You’ll be okay. I have to go. I’m sorry.”

The phone went dead.  

You hung up and tried to swallow down your tears, you still didn’t know if your apartment was bugged our not. Instead, you finished packing, moving on autopilot. The band of pain wrapped around your chest made breathing difficult. You schooled your face to an impassive calm, much like you did when you dealt with your father. No outward pain to see.  

Finally, the suitcase zipped up, you moved to the bathroom and stepped into the shower. Scalding hot water beat down over your head, poured over your face, as the pain unwound. Tears mingled with the water. You silently cried, wept for what you could be losing, released the tears from the tension and fear, until the water ran cold. Once dry and ready for bed, exhaustion pulled you into a deep sleep.

You’d gotten to the airport with plenty of time only to find out your flight had a two hour mechanical delay. So, you waited, and waited. Sitting at the lounge, drinking coffee and watching the morning show on the television, you debated on ordering lunch. It looked like two hours was an optimistic estimate.  

The local news cut in to the show with an emergency. Three enormous heli-carriers were battling each other over the city, over SHIELD. You called out. “Hey! Turn that up!”

The bartender turned up the volume.  

“...also getting reports of a massive data dump from somewhere within SHIELD. All initial indications seem to show that the Hydra infiltration included key positions, including the top director.”  

Another news anchor cut in. “They’re going down! The carriers are indeed crashing. I sincerely hope anyone in the vicinity have been evacuated. We can see debris falling in all directions. The reports that Captain America led the team to stand against whatever the Hydra action may have been are yet to be substantiated. There are no official communications coming from any of our sources.”

You watched in horror as the heli-carrier busted apart and exploded, falling from the sky. One of the television anchor’s word rang in your ear. “Let hope he wasn’t aboard, because I don’t know how anyone could survive that.”

The phone in your pocket vibrated, making you jump. You looked at the number. Your sister’s. “Hey.”

“On the news. That’s why you’re coming home, isn’t it? You knew something was going to happen.” She sounded frantic.  

“I knew something, but not this. I had no idea it was this bad.” You stared at the screen, unable to look away. Please, you silently prayed, let Steve survive.

“You didn’t know? Had no idea?”

“Of course not!” You snapped.

“Sorry. Sorry.” Your sister huffed. “You got a heads up, though. You were running.”

“Yeah.” You looked around, seeing you were alone and figuring there was no point in secrecy any more you answered. “I saw them, from my office, try to gun down Steve. He’s my friend and I know him well enough that he would never move against his superiors unless they deserved it.”

“Wait,” She paused. “Steve? Steve Rogers. You’re friends with...”

“Yes. Good friends. I trust him and I really hope he’s okay.” You curled into your seat, watching the footage on the screen.  

“Are you still coming?”

The question took you by surprise. You really didn’t have to, not yet.  Of course, you didn’t know if you even had a job now. “I think I need to figure a few things out first.”

“Okay, let me know. And sis, stay in touch. I’d be lying if I said this doesn’t worry me.”

“Promise.” You hung up, paid your bill and went to the counter to change your ticket.  

It was late evening before you gave up and checked into a ridiculously expensive hotel room. Traffic was impossible. The city was on lock down. Every hotel room was taken. No one was moving. Still, it was relatively safe, food was available, and your credit card could handle the expense.  

Flopping on the bed, you contemplated pulling out your computer to find more information while you ate room service. The news had been non-stop speculation. The details being pulled from the data dump were becoming more salacious. Still, none of it gave you what you wanted.  

Close to midnight your phone rang. “Hello?”

“Hey, uh, is this Y/N?” A deep male voice asked.

“Who is this?” You knew that voice but couldn’t place it.

“Yeah that’s you. This is Sam.”  

“Sam.” You breathed. You’d only met him the one time, when Steve brought him over to help you move.

“Hey, I just wanted to let you know that our, uh, mutual friend is alive and healing up.”  

A whoosh of air left your body. “Thank god.”

“Don’t know how long it will be. Don’t know how messy the red tape is going to get either. Still, I thought you should know.”

“Thank you.” Tears, not so painful now, ran down your face. You could wait. Steve was alive.  

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[evien-stark]

✧I Need You✧ Chapter 161

Somewhere in the middle of your third cup of extra large coffee, fourteen boxes were delivered to the lab space that was now being used like an office. As it had turned out, coffees and pastries did not fix the problem. You tried to divvy up the boxes evenly among your team so as to ease the burden on everyone. 

Though Steve did have a very good question. “What is it we’re looking for?” 

Right. You’d had old SHIELD files pulled- because Ultron had deleted the virtual ones on Strucker and List. He had to have had a reason for doing so… what was it, exactly? What did those two know that would help you find him? Or better yet, help you ascertain what the hell he was doing with all the materials he was gathering. 

Natasha seemed to be your wingwoman on this operation, as she gathered her thoughts and got an answer out ahead of you. “These guys had a wide net. It’s unlikely they were just scientists in a dark basement their whole careers.” 

The lightbulb went off, and you found yourself nodding. “Ultron likely questioned them in their cells. He’s collecting something- he must be looking for something else. Something they knew about.” 

Tony pulled the lid off one of the boxes and dumped his files in a heap on his corner of the table. “First we gotta figure out what box is which. Who was in charge of filing over there? Because if we have them on staff, I want them gone.” It was hard to tell if he was joking. 

Steve was showing a little bit of his agitation as he threw a very purposeful look Tony’s way. “So what box are we looking for?” 

It was weird that you, Natasha, and Tony all spoke at the same time. “Contacts.”

But that trio-chorus seemed to put some quiet into him and he put his head down and started sifting through files. The quiet in the space was a little much to deal with, but it really wasn’t the right time to be playing music or chatting. So you just had to deal with it. And stranger still the headache that came with it. 

There was a race to see who would pull the right file. Maybe that’s what was making everyone so anxious and uncomfortable. ...no, it was probably the looming threat of war via a muderbot that also had murder-twins now accompanying him. Yeah. That was probably it. But whatever it was, everyone was bogging you down. Unintentionally and unknowingly. You just weren’t clear enough to deal with the waves being sent out from every direction. 

At the very least, Tony seemed to have pulled himself together enough to throw a strong mask up and banish his spiraling somewhere deep, deep down. It really wasn’t a good solution and it was probably going to bite the both of you later. But that would be later. Right now you had to focus… focus and read- read paragraphs of text and titles that you had to then reread five more times because you weren’t processing anything you were looking at. No help. Useless- 

“Known associates-” Steve called out, maybe about an hour after the sorting had started. So he was the lucky winner. Everyone took a handful of files out of his box. “Well. Strucker had a lot of friends.” 

Bruce nudged his glasses up, flipping quickly over a few documents. “Well these people are all horrible.” Said in such a casual way. 

It was to be expected. Hydra were terrible people themselves. It should have been no surprise the company they kept was just as abhorrent. Maybe that was an extra bad thing though, as Tony waved a hand and pointed. “Wait- we know that guy.” Bruce took the papers Tony was impatiently and silently demanding through gestures and handed them over. You shifted over in your seat when he tilted them a little closer your way. “From way back in the day. Operates off the African coast. Ringing any bells?” 

“Ugh.” Yes, you remembered the mug looking out at you from a SHIELD blacklist file. Big bulky man. South African accent encrusted with slime every time he opened his mouth. “Klaue.” You had had a few awful interactions with him. Everyone he came into contact probably did. He thought he was so much more of a hotshot than he actually was- 

“Didn’t you threaten to rip his arm off- more than once?” There was a brief and almost sweetly fond twitch of a smile on Tony’s lips as he looked at you. 

“Didn’t understand the meaning of no.” The worst type of handsy. The two of you stopped your stroll down memory lane and you looked up at the group. “Ulysses Klaue. Black market arms.” 

The wholly judgmental glare from Steve sent an uneasy ripple of exasperation through you. He was really going to have to get over himself at some point because this was really not working out right now. Tony gave one back, though, with a harsher set of steel. “There are conventions, alright. You meet people.”

Feeling the need to continue defending the both of you, “We never sold him anything.” While you didn’t say it, the thought was broadcast loudly- so you better stop looking at us like that. 

Tony pulled the folder back his way, fingers trailing down some of the lines of text. Datadumps that SHIELD had collected on him. His tone was a little wistful, “Last time I saw him he was talking about finding something new. A game changer. It was all very Ahab.” 

“If he was even telling the truth.” While, even that long ago, you hadn’t picked up deceit from him, Klaue was a man that liked to talk big and make even bigger promises that he never lived up to. “He kind of fell off the map after that.” 

Thor reached over, tapping something on the file. “What is this?” 

Tony narrowed his eyes in a small squint. “Uh- it’s a tattoo- I don’t think he- did he have this last we saw him?” Turning it around to you. 

You scrutinized the image carefully as Bruce turned away from the group to start typing at his computer. The mark you were being asked to look at was… just that. A mark. An almost angry looking red burn in his skin on the side of his neck. The answer came seconds later, “No. Definitely not.” You’d have remembered something like that.

Shifting his finger down, Thor outlined one of the black tribal tattoos on the top of Klaue’s chest. “No. These are tattoos. This is a brand.” 

Easily you found yourself nodding. “Makes sense. He probably pissed off someone he shouldn’t have.” 

A chirp came from Bruce’s computer and he tapped at his screen. “Oh, yeah. It’s a word in an African dialect meaning thief. ...uh, in a much less friendly way.” 

Putting your hands up flat, “What did I say?” There were so few victories to seize right now. You could have this one. 

Steve came around to stand behind the both of you. “What dialect?” 

Bruce sat forward a little more, trying to read off his screen. “Wakanada? Err- Wa- Wa… Wakanda?” 

Sitting back you shared a look with both Tony and Steve. This was… this had just gone from very bad to absolutely terrible. The air in the room went cold. Tony put his hand on the back of your chair. “If Klaue got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods…” 

You agreed easily with him, “Ultron wants a word with him. Definitely.” After saying this you nearly called out- mouth open- and then closing. Shoulders falling. Stopping yourself from calling JARVIS just in time. Only lucky there wasn’t enough time to feel that deep well of sadness over it. Instead you turned to your own laptop to start a trace. 

Steve was shaking his head, though. “I thought your father said he got the last of it?” 

Behind you you felt Tony shrug, and felt even more the bitterness that came with his easy dismissal. “Dad said a lot of things.” 

There was no room right now for any levity, yet Natasha tried anyway. “Look who’s talking.” 

Tony huffed out a little laugh with a drop of his head. Since he took it so well, you decided to follow up. “One of his finest traits.” 

Bruce took off his glasses just as soon as you got a hit, looking up at them. “Wait- I’m behind- I don’t follow. What comes out of Wakanda?” 

Steve shifted back, giving an almost longing glance at his shield, which was resting against one of the cabinets. But it was Tony who answered, “The strongest metal on earth.” 

Resignation buried you deep where hope was quickly dying. “Vibranium. And if Ultron gets his hands on it, we’re gonna have more problems than we know what to do with.” Something got stuck in the back of your throat and you found yourself swallowing hard. “We have- there’s a hit. I have his last known location. He’s operating out of a giant scrapyard near Johannesburg.” 

Clint, who had been sitting suspiciously quiet through all of this, got up from his spot on a nearby table. “I’ll fire up the quinjet. Everyone good to go?” 

Bruce sighed. “Like we have a choice?” 

                                                                     ---

It was too soon to be suiting up and heading back into battle, but Bruce was right. What choice did you have? If you had had any shred of optimism left, you would have been looking forward to this being the end of it. You could go to the scrapyard, find Ultron there, and put a stop to him. But… there was the possibility he wouldn’t even be there. That you’d miss him and he’d have made up with a thousand tons of vibranium. Or… maybe he would be there. And this would all go south. 

Your mind was so much of a mess that too long after takeoff, flying side by side with Tony, you realized- “Hey- are you borrowing LUNA?” His suit no longer had AI assistance. It took every last ounce of strength you had to keep your feelings to yourself so as to not damage him further. 

“Flying solo. For now.” His tone was eerily quiet. His face on your chat window on the HUD was also pretty impassive. 

But you knew better than that. There was just no time for it right now. Which was probably only making it worse. “The suits can do that?” 

“Well. They don’t pilot themselves.” You weren’t sure how you’d gotten a grin out of him, but if he wanted to use his ego as a backing board to hold himself up, that was fine. 

“Oh. So what you’re saying is I couldn’t do it.” 

“Absolutely not. No offense.” 

“None taken. Not all of us are geniuses.” Stroking said ego wasn’t going to hurt, either. 

“You’d be bored of me by now, if everyone was.” It registered, as he was quick to respond, what he was doing- 

It was probably very quiet in his suit. Maybe in general. Tony talked to JARVIS constantly. He probably didn’t even know he was doing it half the time. So until touchdown… you resolved to fill the silence for him. “Bored of you? Impossible. Speaking of… your birthday is coming up soon.” 

“Don’t remind me.” 

“Too late. Would you like to do something boring? Or something fun?” 

His eyes focused up a little on your screen, and his smile was soft. There was a gentle touch of realization. He knew what you were doing. Chatting. The reason why… “We making plans right now?” 

“I don’t see why not.” 

“Well. In that case…” 

Thank you. His gratitude was like a loving touch on your heart. Able to focus on something else for the first time since it had all happened. If only for a little while.

                                                                    ---

As the team edged up on the warehouse and LUNA alerted everyone on the main comms that Ultron was certainly inside, a plan was quickly formed. The heavy hitters were going to meet him head on. You didn’t exactly consider yourself in that subgroup, but that was where Tony was headed- and you… you wanted to face Ultron again. In the hopes that this time would go much differently. Nat and Clint were stationed to creep up on the edges and scout. And Bruce was remanded to the jet. Waiting on a code green everyone prayed wouldn’t. Especially him. 

Once the jet landed, you, Thor, Steve, and Tony worked your way up the back of the compound. Ascending up the closest set of stairs up to the balcony that Ultron was on- a shriek pierced the air. He was already doing damage- probably taking the Vibranium by force. But as the four of you got closer, you weren’t quite expecting what you heard him saying- 

“Don’t compare me with Stark! He’s a sickness!” 

That seemed to almost literally pull Tony out as the leader of the group, standing just a little bit in front of the rest of you. “Ah, junior. You’re gonna break your old man’s heart.” 

You weren’t really sure how you felt about this. About… just sort of giving in to being his creator. Was this the legacy you wanted? ...not that you had a say in it, at this point. Ultron turned, and you got a little closer to Tony’s side, spying the twins standing not too far away. Ultron set his sights on the both of you. He was… a lot different than that little broken suit in the Tower. Now sporting a big, almost beefy (if it could be called that) metal frame. “If I have to.” But no less menacing. 

“You’ve changed. Who built that for you?” Unable to help but ask. You already sort of knew the answer- 

“I built myself.” He put a hand up to his chest in an almost overly dramatic flourish. “Aren’t you proud of me? Do you like it?” You were glad that you had your helmet up. 

The face you made was not flattering. And probably would have upset him. Tony lifted his arm. “Come quietly. And we won’t have to break that, too.” 

Thor spoke up behind the two of you. “There’s no need to break anything.” 

Ultron scoffed. “Clearly you’ve never made an omelet.” 

You watched as realization- almost ...something close to impressed- dawned on Tony’s screen. “He beat me by one second.” 

One of the twins- the tall boy, Pietro- stepped a little closer out from behind the protection that was Ultron’s massive frame. “This is funny, Mr. Stark? It’s what…” Gesturing down below to a stockpile of missiles, “-it’s comfortable for you? Like old times?” 

Immediately Tony glowered, even though they couldn’t see it. But you could. “This was never my life.” 

Steve flanked Tony’s side. “You two can still walk away from this.” 

The girl, Wanda, tilted her head with a very thin smirk. “Oh we will.” 

Steve put his hand out, almost like he was reaching towards her. “I know you’ve suffered-” 

“Ugh.” You were… actually sort of glad that Ultron gave such a groan of dismissal. Now was not the time for what you assumed was playing more of the blame game. Ultron shook his head. “Captain America. God’s righteous man. Pretending you could live without a war.” He looked like he might be smiling. “I can’t physically throw up in my mouth, but-” 

Thor threw his voice forward. “If you believe in peace then let us keep it.” 

Ultron rolled those glowing red eyes of his. “I think you’re confusing peace with quiet.” 

Trying for what little sense was left- he was clearly deranged- “We can have both. Let’s talk about this.” 

Setting his sights on you, Ultron stilled, head shifting to the side, gaze piercing as he smirked. “I’d like that.” 

Tony interrupted the sudden staring. “What’s the Vibranium for?” 

Half turning, Ultron’s tone dried up. “I’m so glad you asked that, because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan.” 

There was barely any time to react- almost like a replay of what had happened at the Tower. A few repurposed Iron Legion suits blew by Ultron, aimed at the four of you, and you put your hands up to block one flying right into you, forcing you back into the nearest wall. Chaos erupted. This time you at least had an edge. Putting your hands up you fired off a dual repulsor blast, firing right through the suit. To make sure it would stay down, you put your hands inside the hole and then pulled it apart with one clean jerk. 

Looking up, you saw Tony going hand to hand with Ultron- no way to tell who would end up the victor. Which was good. It meant Ultron hadn’t outclassed the rest of you yet. But as you jumped into flight to try and assist him- to try and give him an edge- something pulled you back down. 

Warnings started sliding up on the HUD and LUNA’s voice was not far behind, “Ma’am, the pressure on the suit is increasing!” 

“Pressure? From where?” As you asked you felt an unseen force clamping your arms and legs together- dragging you down. And as soon as you were there- 

Something else smacked directly into you and as much as three blinks of your eyes went by- and the scenery changed with each one. First the warehouse- then outside somewhere green- then somewhere much further- and before you could even react to being shunted away so fast, that same blur

Pietro you knew- Pushed you down and wrapped heavy chains around your entire body, locking you up. So tight it hurt. Even through the suit. Just the angle he was forcing your arms into. Your team was still fighting- they were yelling- Wanda was in play- she was hurting them-

But your attention was split. Once you were completely at his disposal, he stopped moving at that speed, crouching down with a smug satisfaction about him. Stupider still, just as you were about to pull your arms out with the strength of the suit, he reached for the Heart Reactor and locked his hand over it. 

The jolt that ran through him was immediate. A protocol not that long ago enacted. Your brain was a sudden whirl. You couldn’t remember if he would- all you knew was that he was being electrocuted- 

You had no idea if he would die- 

“LUNA disable the suit!” You didn’t have to ask twice. The nanotech peeled away, and the power shut off enough to allow him to fall back, twitching. It was almost counterproductive, because the next open of your mouth, you were going to ask her to reactivate- 

But another hand was on your chest from behind. Sharp and metal. Pointed talons poking your skin through your shirt before he twisted the Reactor off your chest and tossed it just a few feet away from you. Just as Ultron rounded your position and moved to crouch in front of you, Pietro rolled up onto his hands and knees, breathing hard, “You bitch-” 

Ultron sharply turned his head. “You made a careless mistake. That’s hardly her fault.” The two of them looked at each other and then he issued his next order. “Go get the other one.” 

There was a small rebuff of resentment from Pietro, but he got to his feet and blur-red off without another word. Your mouth opened to say something- anything- this was your chance to pretend you could plea to a sense of decency he probably didn’t have- but Tony was in your ear on the comm. “Natasha we could really use a lullaby.” 

Oh. Oh no. Clint’s response was quick. Ultron was watching you listen and process all of this. “That’s not gonna happen. Not for a while.” 

The next logical step was made. Tony called out for you- “Honey? I need assistance. Immediately.” The implication was or else. Or else there were going to be a lot of casualties. You understood now. Wanda had probably unleashed the Hulk. A city was very close by. 

...this was worse than you ever could have imagined. 

Though your mouth opened, Ultron reached out to tilt your chin up and close it for you. “LUNA, why don’t you take a nap?” 

She answered him. “Powering down.” 

Ultron smiled. “Good. Now we can be alone.” 

There was no way out of this but to sit here and… try and talk to him. ...that was what you wanted anyway, right? “I thought you weren’t going to talk about your evil plan?” Trying not to give away how terrified you were. How useless. Powerless. 

That cold hand reached back to push some hair away from your eyes. Tuck it behind your ear. And then he cupped the back of your head with a painful scratch at your scalp, forcing your head up higher to look him in the eyes. “Do you think I’m evil? Who’s fault would that be, I wonder? Now-” He held a finger up. “Let that sit for a minute. I want you to really think about it. Then we can chat.” 

He was so… so human. And still so very angry. 

 As he stood, he started waving his arms around and his tone became somewhat bored. “Sorry I have to put you in timeout. Circumstances being what they are… I’m sure you understand.” He was so… so very strange.

But as you were left sitting there, a little bit helpless- by design- you really couldn’t help but wonder- How were you going to fix this one?

[imagine-loki]

Gifted

Title: Gifted (Sequel to Giftless)

CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: 25/?

AUTHOR: nekoamamori ORIGINAL IMAGINE: 

Imagine that you are Stark’s niece and you secretly share a strong relationship with Loki since he entered the crew. One day you get hurt so bad during a mission that you are about to die.  Loki knows a spell that will save you and share his immortality with you but you and he will be linked forever sharing thoughts, pain, emotions…

RATING: T NOTES/WARNINGS:  Also on AO3 click here

You allowed yourself the tears, the heartbreak, the hopelessness. You allowed yourself the grief, if only for a little while. You only had a little while to grieve.  You had a shit ton of work to do if you were going to find a way out of this. You only had your wits to work with right now.

You were doomed.

You shook those thoughts away. There had to be a way out of this. There had to be. So you laid on the bed and closed your eyes. You had a small semblance of an idea. At least a starting place on where to look for a plan. You hadn’t gotten only Loki’s powers through the soulbond, you also got all of his learning and years of study. There might be something in all of that knowledge and study that would help you now.

You took inventory of what you had to work with. You couldn’t use your powers or Loki’s while your powers were bound. You needed to get Balder to take the manacles off. That would take some lying. You could handle a little lying. You had gotten better at it in your time knowing Loki too, he was known for having a silver tongue for a reason as well as being the god of lies. You needed to make the lie convincing, though. That would take more work…

You also had the soulbond. There was power in the soulbond itself, you knew, and it didn’t follow the same rules as your natural abilities, or the abilities you had gained from Loki. You rummaged through the information you had at your disposal, looking for anything you and Loki had studied about the soulbond that might help. You noticed that new pieces of information were being added and you smiled. Loki was researching the soulbond too. You tried to reach him through it, to touch those new pieces of information as they were added, to let him know you were there, but you couldn’t reach. You needed some kind of catalyst to boost the signal enough for him to make the connection. He couldn’t find you through the shielding to make the connection on his end and you couldn’t make the reach without boosting the soulbond. 

How to make the boost…

Your thoughts were interrupted when a servant burst in to the room and brought you a tray of food. You automatically thanked them. Thank all the gods that you only murmured it. That didn’t stop him from ending up on the ground, unconscious. Two other servants dragged the first one out of the room while glaring at you. You just clapped your hands over your mouth horrified at what you’d done.

You had to be more careful.

You were left for days or longer in that cell. You lost track of time way too quickly. Balder occasionally came to visit.  You guessed it was once a day. He always wanted to see if you were willing to join his side yet. You kept finding different ways of telling him to go away and leave you alone. You were avoiding telling him to fuck off. You didn’t want to give him any ideas. You don’t know how he was doing it, but he was also forcibly draining your magical energy when he came to visit. You knew you were a disgusting mess. You hadn’t bathed since he kidnapped you. He kept promising you would be treated like a queen the second you gave in and joined him. He was torturing you until then. 

Asshole.

You desperately needed to get out of that cell soon.

You rifled through every piece of information and knowledge and learning that Loki had given you, ever piece of learning you had gained through your own studies. Something had to be able to boost the signal of the soulbond, something had to let you get through the shields, through the powerblocks.

Then you got the answer. It was arcane magic and something that Loki wasn’t supposed to have studied. Frigga would be disappointed to learn he had anyway. You were just grateful for the knowledge right that moment. The answer was stupidly simple.

Blood.

Blood could boost the power of magic. It was unethical to use someone else’s blood without their consent of course, but that wasn’t necessary now. You just had to figure out where to get the blood you needed. Your split lip had long since healed and it wouldn’t be logical to bang your face up more to reopen it, plus that would be even more obvious what you were up to. After searching the room, you managed to find a loose screw in the bed-frame. That would do.

You laid on the bed with your back to the door as you steeled your nerves for this. It was going to suck, but it was the only way. You needed help and you needed magic to make the lie convincing. This lie had to be the most convincing one that was ever told. You had to make Balder believe you without any doubts.

But where to make the cut? You was limited on where you could reach because of the manacles on your wrists. You finally decided on your left arm, near the soulbond marks, where you could make it look like you slipped and fell and cut your arm on the bed-frame or something. It was difficult with only a screw, but you managed, and smeared your blood over the soulbond. You felt the power in the soulbond pulse and flare. Loki! you thought down that pulse as loudly as you could.

You felt his telepathic presence in your mind an instant later. /Finally! I couldn’t find you, my darling. Are you alright?/

Is the connection secure? you asked him, thinking the ASL signs for the words instead of the words. You couldn’t risk your request being overheard by another telepath. No one in Asgard besides Loki knew ASL.

/It is secure. No one can overhear us/ Loki reassured you quickly so you didn’t have to work so hard to answer him.  You sighed in relief. That made this a lot easier /Are you alright?/ he repeated.

I’m not injured you told him truthfully. But I need help. You wished you had proper magic, as sending telepathic messages without proper telepathy was much more difficult. 

/I still cannot sense where you are/ Loki growled across the connection.

I know. Balder said this place is really well shielded. So you can’t even find me through the soulbond. I’m going to have to get out of here on my own.

/I’ll come find you, love/ He promised.

You can’t, not until I at least get out of this building. You reminded him of what you’d literally just said.

/You said you need help?/ He asked, knowing you wouldn’t have long.  At least he got back on topic. 

My powers are bound. I need to trick Balder into unbinding them and I need a couple of illusions for that. You explained to Loki quickly.  

/What illusions do you need?/ You hesitated and couldn’t believe that you was asking this of him. This was going to hurt him so much for you to ask. /Just tell me what it is, darling. I will do anything to get you out of there safely/ Of course he could feel your emotions across the bond and knew you were upset about asking. 

So you told him the two illusions you needed. They were in place instantly.

/I cannot hold the connection. Whatever you did to boost the signal past the shields is fading. I promise we are all looking for you. Is there anything, anything you can see that might help us?/ Loki asked, desperation in his voice. 

You stood up on the bed to look out the tiny window. There’s snow outside. That’s all I can see.

/That’s a help. There are not many places with snow this time of year. We will find you, and I will kill that idiot brother of mine/

Whatever happens, whatever you may overhear, please, do not believe a word I say after this: I love you. you told him as you felt the connection fizzle away. You prayed that you had gotten enough of his silver tongue to pull this off.

You steeled yourself, going over your plan again and again while you waited for Balder to come back. This would have to be the best act you’d ever done and the best lies that ever came out of your mouth. There would be no second chances, no room for any doubt, and Balder would have to believe every word that came out of your mouth. So you went over your lines and your plan again and again and again, until you heard his ever so polite knock on the metal door.

Showtime.

[shipping-n-handling]

hey idk if your still doing the writing prompt thing, but can you do one for bellarke?

Hey anon! Sorry for getting to this late, I’ve been doing a ton of schoolwork recently. I’ve been obsessed with the 100 and bellarke for a couple years now, so this was a nice change of pace from my normal content. Hope you enjoy, and I will be sending my therapist bills to you ;)

In the end, even stars must eventually die.

Clarke had been organizing the newly elected leaders of Sanctum and instructing them on the responsibilities of their roles. Raven was revamping the radiation shield surrounding the sanctuary and manufacturing more mobile stations to eventually expand it as the population grew. Murphy and Emori were somewhere in the Prime’s compound making that same population grow, while Indra, Octavia, and Diyoza were instructing Sanctum’s Wonkru-infused guard in hand-to-hand combat to further their skills. Gabriel, Niylah, and Jackson attempted to establish a larger hospital amongst the buildings of the sanctuary, while Gaia had taken it upon herself to create a history of the settled moon for posterity. Madi and Hope (reluctantly) were finally taking part in normal activities like school, while Bellamy, Echo, Miller, Jordan, and a dozen of Sanctum’s residents combed the nearby woods for supplies and isolated Children of Gabriel cells.

After Wonkru’s slow integration with Sanctum’s citizens and the downfall of the Primes, Clarke was beginning to imagine for the first time that they might finally be ready for peace. Russell Lightbourne had been exiled by demand of the people, realizing that a slow and sure death was a fitting punishment for one who had been running from it for so long. Octavia’s disappearance into the temporal anomaly along with Diyoza and her daughter’s reappearance had been enough of a headache for Clarke, who was now dealing with rebuilding a once-functioning society. The elected leaders, though they meant well, were very new to their positions and needed careful guidance. If left to their own devices, Clarke was almost certain Sanctum would starve or be embroiled in another war by the year’s end.

With an involuntary huff of frustration, she plopped down on the chair that headed the large table and rubbed her temples slowly. One of them, a native to Sanctum, droned on about the seasons on the moon and the traditions that came with the first harvest of the year, most of which had been centered on the Primes. In her mind, Clarke’s thoughts drifted outward beyond the meeting hall towards the woods, where Bellamy was undoubtedly trekking with the scouting party. A small smile flitted across her lips as she imagined him enduring Jordan’s growing love of corny jokes, which he had learned from book discovered in Sanctum. In her mind, she could almost picture both Bellamy and Miller rolling their eyes at the end of each punchline.

In the intervening months since the collapse of the temporal anomaly, Bellamy and Echo had slowly drifted apart. There was no big fight, no public declaration, but it soon became apparent to everyone that they had decided to call it quits. Both Echo and Bellamy separately told Clarke that they had just realized they were too different, their outlooks on the world too disparate. Despite their split, both remained friends and continued to build the sanctuary alongside Clarke and the others. Despite herself and the friendship she shared with both Bellamy and Echo, Clarke had felt a surge of hope when she pieced it together. Inwardly, she chastised herself over these feelings, that a relationship that appeared to make Bellamy happy had failed, but she could not help it. Sometime over the past several years, she had fallen in love with Bellamy Blake.  

While she could not point to a single moment that caused it, Clarke remembered vividly how she came to the realization. It was over a year into her isolation with Madi on Earth, when they had just gotten done with a fishing excursion. Like a ritual, Clarke had retreated to the rover and was beginning to set up the equipment to initiate her daily radio call towards the Ring. Madi had followed her to the rover and began watching her with a curious expression.

“Clarke,” She asked in Trig. “Why do you still do that?”

“Do what?” Came the muffled reply as she leaned forward to grab a particularly uncooperative cable.

Madi eyed her efforts with slight exasperation. “Call him. You said it’ll be a few more years before the ground is livable for everyone, and he hasn’t responded to any of your calls so far.”

Clarke paused before answering. Though she had assured Madi otherwise, there remained a possibility that Bellamy and the others had not been able to make it to the Ring. Or worse, that they did exist up there and were never able to come back down. The thought of never seeing Bellamy again haunted her nightmares. Oh, no. “I have to hope that h-they can hear me.” She responded finally, earning an raised eyebrow from the small girl. “It’s important to have hope. Besides,” She added teasingly. “If I don’t give them directions, they’ll completely miss us and I’ll be stuck alone with you forever.” Madi rolled her eyes and began walking back towards the camp.

“Whatever,” She called over her shoulder. “Say hi to Bellamy for me.”

Clarke’s heart lurched, the realization hitting her like a ton of bricks. It wasn’t the group she was desperately trying to reach, not entirely. Though she missed them terribly, it was Bellamy that she tried to contact each day. The thought of hearing his voice on the other end had been the only thing that staved off the nightmares, the image of him suddenly appearing enough to quell the despair she had gathered in her heart. Reaching back in her memories, it had always been Bellamy that she reached for when the situation turned sour, whenever they needed to face some great threat, it was always his hand that she grasped tightly like a lifeline. Through all the trials and heartaches, he had remained a constant in her life since their arrival on the ground.  Now that he was gone, Clarke was desperately trying to keep him alive in whatever was she could.

She loved him. Damn it, she thought. Love was a weakness. In the distance, Madi was cursing in Trig as the fish she was holding slipped from her grasp and landed on the ground. A small smile spread across Clarke’s face as she beheld the tiny warrior, who was angrily dusting off the fish with a rag. Warmth filled her heart and with it, the knowledge that she would fight to the death to defend Madi from whatever danger the future might hold. The strength her feelings caused Clarke to think again of Bellamy and the love she now realized coursed through her veins. Perhaps love was not weakness after all, she thought distantly.

Clarke’s memories shifted to the months following the fall of the Primes. With Bellamy and Echo no longer together, the former had begun spending most of his free time around Clarke. It wasn’t until Madi and Octavia separately pointed it out that she realized that he may feel the same way about her that she did for him. That revelation, Clarke remembered, had nearly knocked her off her feet. After all the things she had done, after everything that had happened to both of them, she still found it hard to accept when good things happened. The thought of Bellamy actually loving her back was reminiscent of the daydreams she used to have during her time with Madi.

Despite her knowledge of his supposed feelings and their near constant proximity, the two of them had been dancing around each other for the past several weeks. It was that sweet, sweet tension before one of them decided to take the final leap and openly state their feelings. Though they had already waited so long, Clarke could not deny the appeal of the buildup. Her thoughts constantly strayed towards him, her heart pounded furiously inside her chest whenever he was in the room, and he filled her every dream. She nearly kissed him yesterday when they had been sitting outside the compound watching the sunrise, seeing how the light caught his eyes and the way he seemed to instinctively lean into its warmth. It was maddening. Beautifully maddening.

Clarke was ripped out of her memory by a question fielded to her by one of the elected leaders, causing a flash of irritation. As she gave her answer, a sudden drop in her stomach preceded a loud alarm blaring across Sanctum. After years of constant fighting and danger, Clarke and the others had developed almost a sixth sense for when trouble was around the corner. While she ushered the leaders out of the room and rushed to see what the problem was, her heart began to clench in a way that told her everything was not right. Something was wrong.

She saw him before they managed to tell her.

A motionless figure was being carried by the remaining scouting party, covered in what appeared to be Bellamy’s coat. Looking around, Clarke could not see the coat’s owner, scouring the small crowd that had gathered around the returning group. Worry turned to panic as her breaths began coming out in short rasps, eyes still scanning the crowd. Octavia was there, so was Echo and Miller. Jordan was being carted away by two of the scouting party, looking slightly bloody and bound for some reason. Where was Bellamy?

Octavia walked slowly over to her, looking like someone had hollowed out her body and taken away her spirit. Tear-streaked cheeks lifted and bloodshot eyes found Clarke’s. A dull feeling appeared in the back of her head, her neck soon stiffening in panic to appear frozen as Octavia took a breath.

“Clarke,” She rasped, her voice sounding hoarse. Like she had been yelling. “Clarke, something happened.” The look on her face and the flat tone in her voice sent chills down Clarke’s spine.

Realization it her. No. “Octavia?” Her voice trembled, as her vision became blurry.

It had happened so fast.

Unknown to them, the influence of the Primes still ran deep in Sanctum. As part of the Adjustment Protocol, several members of the Sanctum populace had been indoctrinated to be loyal to the Primes. Quietly, over the past several weeks, they conspired to assassinate the new leadership and seek out the exiled Russell Lightbourne. The scouting mission had been suggested by one of the agents as a ruse to kill Bellamy, Octavia, Echo, and Miller. Jordan, it seemed, had been forcibly converted to their philosophy during his time recovering from his stab wound. Without warning, the loyalists turned on them once they had gone far enough from Sanctum, intending to kill them quickly and quietly.

Only the honed instincts of the group saved them, having sensed the movements of their would-be assassins only milliseconds beforehand. While Miller fought a crazed Jordan, trying to calm him down, Bellamy, Echo, and Octavia engaged the remaining party. In the chaos, one of the loyalists had thrown a knife at Miller. Without hesitating, Bellamy had jumped in front of the knife, hitting him squarely in the chest. This enraged the others, who quickly finished off their attackers and subdued a stunned Jordan, who seemed despondent after Bellamy’s actions. Octavia numbly told Clarke how she was with him as he died, having only a few precious seconds before the light left his eyes forever. The last words on his lips had been her name. That was too much for Clarke, who blinked back tears and shook her head furiously, refusing to believe this was all real.

He couldn’t be gone. Not now. Not when they were finally seeing what peace looked like.

Her throat constricted and she couldn’t speak. Her heart felt like it was being forced apart by hand, each half held by icy cold fingers. Wordlessly stepping away from Octavia, who still appeared to be numb, Clarke desperately made her way through the crowd towards where she guessed the body had been taken. Before long, she found herself standing in the hastily constructed medical wing, with both Jackson and Niylah looking at her worriedly. In front of her laid the long covered body of Bellamy Blake.

With shaking hands, Clarke removed the coat that covered his face and fell to her knees at the sight of his lifeless face. A strangled sob escaped her lips as she beheld him, the expression on his face strangely blank without the worries and burdens that she normally saw on it. One of her hands found the front of his shirt while the other came to rest on his cheek. Tears streamed down her face as she let out a wail, the sound of her heart breaking into a million pieces. She never got to tell him. Never got to tell him how much she loved him or live the life that she had finally dared to imagine with him. As Jackson and Niylah slowly left her alone with what remained of Bellamy, Clarke felt the despair that she had kept at bay all these years start to creep back into her heart. All was lost, and now she was alone. Alone against the growing darkness.

Madi found her hours later, still clinging to Bellamy with white-knuckled hands. Her bloodshot eyes staring blankly at his face, as if the sheer power of her gaze could somehow bring him back. A small hand carefully covered the one she had gripping Bellamy’s shirt. Clarke did not look at her, never taking her eyes off the face that would never smile again for her. Another one found Clarke’s shoulder, bigger and with more weight. Octavia had walked in and sat down beside her. Despite herself, Clarke found her gaze pulled toward the younger Blake sibling. A stab of pain flashed in her chest. The only Blake left.

While Octavia’s eyes were no longer red with grief, the expression behind them was reminiscent of how she appeared after Lincoln’s death. But she had grown, had faced her demons and defeated them, and now she looked at Clarke who seemed to be empty inside.

“I know that look.” She said carefully. “You can’t give up, Clarke. Not now.” Madi’s hand squeezed tighter as if to punctuate her Octavia’s words.

Clarke looked back at Bellamy, fresh tears streaming down the familiar paths on her face. “He’s g-gone.” She choked, her voice shaking. “Gone, Octavia. And I n-never…“ She couldn’t finish her sentence, but both Madi and Octavia understood.

“He knew, Clarke.” It was Madi that spoke this time, her voice cutting across the air like a bell. “He knew. We all did.” This statement did not comfort her, it only reminded her of all the wasted years.

“Look at me.” Madi’s voice rang again, its tone causing Clarke to meet her eyes. “It’s important to have hope,” She reminded her. Those words stomped on whatever remained of her heart, echoing in the chamber it used to reside in.

“He wouldn’t want you to give up.” Octavia added, forcefully this time. Almost enough that Clarke believed her.

In the end, all stars eventually die. Even the brightest, most extraordinary light in the sky must one day fade away. And all that will remain is the dark promise of an empty night, forever stretching beyond the world towards the infinite horizon.

[cchellacat]

What’s Mine is Yours

Love All The Marvel Ships Challenge 

Day Six ~ Wearing The Other’s Clothes

Darcy knows Tuesdays are a bad idea, the worst in fact, because according to Jane’s flow charts, graphs and computer simulations this is the day of the week that Darcy is most likely to be kidnapped on.  You would think with that sort of data available she would have been more careful when deciding to do a quick run out to the nice Italian two blocks down to get their lunch, but alas the odds were against her.  She and Jane had been awake for three days cataloguing the data from some once in a lifetime astronomical event and SOMEONE had forgotten to change the day calendar hanging on the office wall.  With barely a glance at the date, Darcy assumed it was Monday and went on her merry way.  She didn’t even reach the Italian before she was bagged and tagged by some evil Hench-men.

This was a first for Darcy, usually it was the goons from A.I.M that rocked up to pick up her fine ass. Today she’d hit the kidnapping lottery and won the grand-prize, it looked like her current captors were some branch of Hydra.  She wasn’t too worried, it’s not like she hadn’t been in this situation before, after all, surely one brand of kidnappers couldn’t be worse than another? Right?

Wrong, so, so wrong.  She’d been strip searched and them stuffed into a hospital gown before they threw her in a cell.  To add insult to injury, she was freezing, no heating, no blanket and when she’d complained, loudly, someone had thrown water over her.  Which is how she came to be sitting in a cell with hypothermia setting in.

By the time the sounds of possible rescue appeared she was nearly numb from the cold.

When the door opened she didn’t have the strength to do more than shiver in the corner where she was curled up.  The man who stepped into her line of sight lowered his gun quickly once he had assessed she was not a threat hunkered down to look at her.  She didn't recognize him but the gleaming metal arm sort of gave it away anyway.

“Hey, I’m gonna get you out of here, okay?  Can you walk sweetheart?”

“I can try.”  She told him through chattering teeth.  He eyed the loose gown, still damp, clinging to her skin and made a noise of anger.  She was only vaguely aware of his muttered cursing.  It turned out she couldn’t walk after all, hell she could hardly uncoil from her foetal position.  He had dispassionately tugged the wet material off of her and then she was enveloped in warmth.  The hoodie had had taken off and put on her fell all the way down to her knees.  The last thing she remembered as he carried her from the facility was how fucking grateful she was for that ratty warm hoodie that smelled like week-old man sweat and gun powder.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Being on the run with the Winter Soldier was a fuck ton of fun, thought no one ever. It was however an education.  Darcy had tagged along after him more out of a sense of fear at first.  He was one scary motherfucker.  What little she remembered of leaving the base had been the veritable trail of bodies laid out along their exit path.  The files he had stolen were all digital and encrypted.  With Darcy’s ability to hack, he’d been happy to provide the equipment she needed to help decode the files.   There was all sorts of interesting suff on there.  Like why they took Darcy in the first place and it had nothing to do with Jane.  Turns out she had stepped on a few toes when she had hacked the Shield database years ago, that she had information she didn’t know was important and though it wasn’t clear how, they had discovered that she had an eidetic memory.  They had brought her in for interrogation, luckily the same base they had taken her too had also been on Bucky’s list of revenge hits.

So here she was, three months later, kitted out head to toe in black Kevlar and leather watching his six like some sort of femme fatal from a cheesy porn thriller.  At this point she’s not sure if she’s sorry not to be going back to her old life just yet or if she’s fallen so deep down the rabbit hole that she just doesn’t want to leave anymore.

Bucky, as he insists, she call him, is one broody son of a bitch but underneath the gruff exterior and the muscle there’s a vulnerable guy desperate to find meaning in his life again.

She stays awake some nights unable to sleep for the tossing and turning and occasional shouts that come from his room.  If she ever gets the chance to hurt the people that hurt him she’d gonna take it with both hands and eviscerate the fuckers.  Which is why she’s following him into an occupied Hydra base at dark o’clock in the morning.

Bucky’s sure that the book he’s looking for will be here, or at least copies of it.   He’s explained as best he could about the trigger words and how it sends him out of his own head leaving only a highly suggestible assassin behind.   Darcy had him wear coms in both ears, if he starts acting funny because someone begins spluttering bullshit phrases or words she’d blast Metallica so hard he’ll bust an ear drum.  Better that than him gone and her dead.

They get in and out with little fuss.  Hydra will be down around 55 personnel and a base in Sweden but she and Bucky bear are up one copy of the infamous red book and a lead on where Karpov, the last holder of the original copy might be living.

She showers and gets ready for bed, everything she owns is in the wash right now, she’d been soaked in blood down to her underwear.  He’d been pretty brutal tonight, in fact in the months she’s known him he’s never been so violent.  It’s her fault, she knows, she let her guard down for a just a second and one of the guards got the drop on her.

He’d had her by her hair, twisting it till her head was wrenched to one side, the cold metal of the gun he held, pressed up under her jaw.  He’d tried to get Bucky to surrender, but Darcy refused to be the cause of his recapture, besides, she’d probably be dead if he was.  The second the goon had focused solely on The Winter Soldier and started to spout off random words in Russian Darcy had brought her arms up, breaking the hold the goon had on her and ripping a chunk of hair out of her scalp so hard in the process that she’d yelped even as she ducked down.  The three knives that buried themselves in the operatives throat cut open his carotid in a dramatic spray of blood that had drenched her in the coppery fluid.  The guy had been dead before he hit the ground and Bucky had grabbed her roughly, checking for injuries.  She joked the only thing hurt was her pride, he’d taken that like a led balloon and then tipped her chin up with his hand and made her look at him.  They had stared at each other, her feeling scared and exposed and him vibrating with fear and anger.  The kiss he planted on her felt like it came out of nowhere and at the same time somehow inevitable.  The way she had responded hungrily had probably left him in no way uncertain how she felt about him.  But since getting back to the crappy apartment they were renting he hadn’t said a word to her.

When she leaves the bathroom she finds he’s left her a t-shirt of his to wear to bed.  It’s soft and worn from many washes and although it’s clean the scent of him still clings to it.  It skims the back of her thighs, half way to her knees and she sinks thankfully into her bed, pulling up the covers and hoping for sleep.

This time when she wakes to hear him thrashing on the other side of the wall, she makes her way to his room and crawls into his bed.  She whispers soothing words and chatters till he finally calms down.  He comes awake slowly and she wonder if she should have left before he woke up but then decides that if they’re gonna make this work they both have to acknowledge that things have changed.

When his eyes open he gives the softest smile to her and reaches out and pulls her close till she’s snuggled into his chest, both his arms encompassing her.  It’s like that for a long time, them just lying there, touching each other innocently, mostly, as they cuddle.  The warmth of him is hard to ignore through the thin t-shirt and she wraps herself tightly around him.  He buries his nose in her hair and breathes her in, the hot puff of air as he exhales tickles her ear and sends a spark of want through her. That’s when he speaks, the words he says feel like cold water being poured over her.  

“We have to go in.”   Darcy tries to wrap her brain around his words.  In the beginning she had tried talking him into going to the Avengers for help but he’d resisted.

“We…. Or me?”  The silence echo’s around her question.  It feels as though there is no air while she waits for his answer.  

She leans up on her elbow and stares down at him in the dimness of the street light filtering through the windows.  The shadows play across his face as they take each other in.

His hand rises to cup her face and she presses her cheek into his palm, he gently tugs her bottom lip with his thumb and Darcy closes her eyes and lets him draw her down into a kiss that makes her spine arch and her toes curl.  It escalates quickly, the heat between them igniting.  He flips her onto her back and she eagerly parts her thighs, cradling him between them.  The gasp she makes when he presses his growing hardness into her core spurs him to rock against her.  Darcy whimpers into his mouth, her hips grinding up into him with each thrust. Tugging on his hair to get his attention he stops, both of them panting.

“We, or me?”  She isn’t going to let this go any farther until she knows what it means, for both of them.  Is this just one night?  An accumulation of stress and close quarters and life and death?  Or is it more?  Maybe she fell out of the idea of fairy tales long ago, but in this second she wished for her own.  It didn’t have to be easy, it didn’t matter if there were obstacles and murderous organisations after them, she just needed this, him and her, together, because she knew she was falling for him. Had, in fact, already fallen in the instant his ratty hoodie had been gently tugged over her cold naked body in that facility, what seemed like a life time ago.

Bucky knew what she was asking.  But he had been running for a long time.   Even before the war he’d always felt he was running form something.   From settling down, from making a commitment, from the fucking war, god knows if he could have found a way to avoid the fucking draft he would have.  He’s been running his whole damn life, maybe it’s time to stop.   The fact was, he wanted to stop.  It was time to face what had happened, time to fix what he could.  Maybe if he took the chance, he could have this, could have her, be happy.  She’d wormed her way under his skin with her strength and her humour, the way she never gave up, determination running through every inch of her.  She wasn’t scared of him, didn’t pull away in disgust from him, even after what he’d done yesterday.  Even soaked in the blood of the man he’d murdered she had kissed him.  Kissed him back like she meant it, like it was a promise.   Staring into her eyes he makes a decision, it’s time to stop running and start living.

“We…  Us…  If that’s what you want.”  The way he says it, she knows he means more than just them going in together, he wants what she wants, them, a future.

“Yes…  that’s what I want. Together, we do it together.”

“Okay.”

“And I’m keeping the t-shirt.”

“What’s mine is yours sweetheart.”  He says as he peels it off her.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

5 years later

It’s been a rough week for Darcy, she’d done nothing but potter around the apartment organising and reorganising like crazy.  Sleepless nights plagued her constantly, no matter how many times she tossed and turned she just couldn’t sleep.

Bucky was due home in two days, but she wished it would be sooner.  His work for the Avengers was important and she didn’t begrudge the time he spent on missions.  It was just that right now, right now she just really needed him.

Earlier on, while sorting through the closet she had found an old duffel bag, one that they must have brought with them from Europe when they finally came back to the states for help.  In the bottom of the bag she found a ratty old hoodie, the ratty old hoodie, in fact.   Bringing it to her nose she had inhaled the musky scent of him and promptly sneezed from the dust.  She’d wasted no time putting it in the wash.

Ensconced on the couch later that evening, wearing nothing but the hoodie and a thick afghan tucked over her lap watching an episode of Call the Midwife she felt herself finally drifting off.

It was the warm hand rubbing her belly over the hoodie that woke her, the feeling of the tiny limbs kicking back against his hold bringing a smile to her face.

“You’re back.”  There was nothing better than a Bucky shaped surprise, on any day of the week.

“You look tired doll, little bump keeping you up?”

“Little bump doesn’t like it when you’re gone.”  Her hand covers his and he settled into the couch and brings her onto his lap.  Ever since she told him she was pregnant he’s treated her like spun glass, no matter how many times she tells him, he still treats her like the wrong knock or jolt might break her.  It’s endearing but frustrating.  Right now though, she’ll take it.

“Where on earth did you find this old thing?”  He asks, plucking at the material of the hoodie where it stretched over her tummy.

Shuffling round a little she looks up at him and kisses along his jaw.

“I found it…. In the … back … of the closet.”

“Still looks good on you doll.”

“True, but I bet it would look better on the floor.”

At that he lifts her into the air and makes for the bedroom.

Stumbling over the hoodie the next morning as he goes to make some breakfast for his very pregnant wife, he agrees, the hoodie looks great on the floor. Still, he picks it up and folds it carefully.  He has a feeling she’ll be wanting to wear it some more.

NEXT

@captain-rogers-beard

[divagonzo]

Beloved  (Ch. 1 Bishop’s Castle)

A/N: So this story (because to do this justice needed to be longer than one chapter) was inspired by this particular post and while RL got in the way a bit and the story fought me some, Ch.1 is ready for posting.

Rated M/18/NC-17 for later chapters but also some triggering aspects starting in chapter one. Trigger warning tags will be applied at the bottom of this post.

(And I’m going to make the Tumblr version Ace safe but have its full version on Ao3.)

Tagging @remedial-potions , @weasleymama @kingronw @vivithefolle @austenpoppy @melimelrockswell1204 @ashleopardd since people asked to be tagged when this first went around. (Sorry @justsaya for the extra tag.)

Ch. 1 - Bishop’s Castle

A03 // FF.net

“Damn it Harry! why the bloody hell are we always picked for shit duty?”

Harry looked up from his stack of parchment, quirking an eye at his best mate across the desks. “What are you on about?” He returned to his own stack of parchment, scribbling away and only offering 1 ear to his best mate sitting across from him in the department.

“See this?” He held up a five-foot long piece of parchment. “That bugger Robards is sending us out tonight to corral a loose Werewolf. And I was actually hoping to get caught up on the mound of paperwork but this cropped up.”

“Werewolf?” Harry reached for the parchment and Ron reluctantly gave over. “Yeah, some poor sod in the Midlands. So I was told, the family has a safe room and everything was on the up and up and somehow the person escaped while turned and are running loose on the moors.”

Harry looked up from the parchment and gave Ron a particular look. “Trowbridge?” Harry scanned the parchment again and stopped cold. “That troll? Fuck.”

“Now you see why I’m beastly. That sod can’t do shit. He failed his apprenticeship 3 times before being told not to apply again.”

“You mean he’s the same one – “

“The same one. There’s a reason why Bailiffs rarely make Auror – because of the Trowbridge rule.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah. He’s on loan for the month since the other team is out on assignment, with no headquarters communications, wherever the fuck they are.” Ron ran his hands through his hair, leaving it looking a little like Harry’s this evening. “I don’t like this, not one bit. Why couldn’t we get someone who knows which end of the wand to use?”

“Me neither. Bugger.” Harry handed back the five feet of parchment. “I guess we’ll have to plan on this being a three-person operation since he’s incompetent.”

“Wainwright! Trowbridge! Potter! Weasley! Ten Minutes!” the guttural bark of their Senior Auror Hemera Jones erupted from the Director’s office. “Debriefing now.”

Ron and Harry both grunted before collecting their wands and cloaks for her office. As one of the Senior Aurors, she had an office, for what little she was in it. The four men crowded into the wardrobe-sized room, refusing to take a seat. Fighting over the lone seat in the small space would be pointless for how long they’d be in there. “I’ll make it brief. A werewolf is loose on the western side of the Shropshire Hills. The person in question, Maggie Grey, normally, so I’m told, is content to sleep off her debilitating condition after receiving a Wolfsbane Potion. Tonight, it didn’t work somehow and she tore through the wood door and off into the night. Our task, gentlemen, is to apprehend her safely and return her to a magically sealed cell until she recovers. She is to not be harmed, gentlemen, at all costs.”

“All costs? The hell?” Ron piped up.

“Shut your gob, Weasley. She’s a Greyback victim during the Coup. She was targeted since her husband is a Muggle and she’d spoken out against the regime. Yaxley sent Greyback to handle it and he bungled it intentionally or otherwise.” She gave all of the men a pointed look. No one would bother admitting that they were all glad that the bastard was dead, thanks to Ron and Neville.

“The Director said that her husband is a Muggle and a Muggle Healer at the local hospital. We can’t let her be hurt because it’d be a fuck ton of paperwork to do and I for one don’t want to spend a week dealing with Muggles and having their memories obliviated. Anyone here want to do that?” Four voices grunted in agreement. “Yeah, me neither so stunners only. We’re here to apprehend, not arrest. There’s a big difference, especially with the change in Ministry protocols.”

“So where are we going?”

“We’re taking a portkey to a little place called Bishop’s Castle. It’s on the edge of Wales but we’re landing about a mile northeast of there. It’s the only landing location for ten square miles. Once there, disillusion yourselves and track her down. I want this handled with as little fuss as possible. We can’t scare the Muggles or even the magical folk who live there. No one wants to know that a person with their affliction lives in their tiny hamlet.”

“And if there’s a muggle in her sights?” Harry asked. “Do we stun them both and go from there or what? What if she’s already hurt someone? What then?”

Hemera huffed. “I’d prefer the Muggle not be hurt but use your best judgment. Dismissed.”

The four men collected their overcoats and checked their limited amount of gear. One by one they left her office and made their way to the Portkey room. Director Robards, in one of his first acts as Director of the Aurors, was to designate a spare conference room into a portkey room. On the hour and half hour, arrivals would come into the department – only on Auror authority – and on the quarters, departures would happen. He mentioned in one of the first meetings that Harry sat in on that they needed somewhere secure to come and go without going through the Ministry lifts or entrances and exits. Too many nattering employees giving away Auror departures became a problem after the Purge.

“I don’t like this,” Ron muttered. “Bloody werewolf capture. And we get picked.”

“Stuff it, Ron. It’s our job. Anyone else would try to harm the poor sod. She can’t help her condition.”

“Like Remus and his furry little problem, right?”

“Something like that,” Harry whispered. “It would be nice once the better potion is approved for wider use. I hate that Remus never saw it or got to use it.”

“Yeah, me too.”

They traveled down the back way, coming to the room with a minute to spare. The others, including Auror Jones, were present and accounted for. Their portkey for this trip was a manky rucksack, with the buckles rusted and the leather fraying from the seams. Harry knew better though, that it was magically secure so it wouldn’t fall apart. He could feel the magic sending waves off. It had to be powerful for him to feel it this distinctly.

“Potter, you’re on point. Weasley, take East. Wainwright, south. Trowbridge, North. Potter will snoop around the township and I’ll apparate to the Belfry of the Church on the South side of the hamlet.”

“What do we do if we come across our target?” Trowbridge seemed a little slow on the uptake tonight. “You said stunners only but what if she turns on us? You expect us to take a bite on a full bloody moon.”

Hemera Jones pulled a face. “You git. You know plenty of second-year spells to prevent her from laying a paw on you or anyone else. Use them. Don’t hurt her unless it’s a last resort. Sorted?”

He grunted. Everyone put their hand on the rucksack as it turned blue and they departed for a small village far and away from London.

Minutes later, the five people landed softly in a field outside of the small town. Once on their feet and verifying everything arrived with each one, they disillusioned themselves to Auror Jones satisfaction. She apparated away, disappearing to the belfry of the tallest point on the town – the church on the south side. If anything went sideways they were to send up red sparks. Most of the muggles would think it was some random fireworks.

Each man took off, intending to search the town first before spreading outward. It was drawn up simply, and the most efficient, to cover the most area without disturbing the town inhabitants. Hopefully, the late hour would have most of the village residents asleep in their beds.

Ron grumbled under his breath, especially considering that he saw his breath with every exhale. Crass words stumbled out, especially considering the actual mortal peril they were in. The late night chill bit his nose and ears, leaving them as red as he would be mortified. His poor Mum would probably have a litter of kittens if she knew the circumstances. Fortunately, it was almost close to midnight and Mum wasn’t the one who stayed up late.

Ron turned a corner, past a small lot of autos, parked for the night with grotesque yellow signs showing how much they were for sale in Muggle currency. He kept walking, with a purpose but not so fast he’d miss anything out of the ordinary. Ron pulled the Deluminator from his pocket and pocketed all of the security lights on the back parking lot of whatever business he was walking around. It was a huge risk, going around looking in the dark but having the balls of light available would give him an advantage if he was caught out.

Mounds of wood were stacked meters high, even taller than himself. The rows of processed wood went on for meters upon meters, even higher than his head. “Oh this isn’t going to be good,” he thought to himself. “Bloody fuck, a werewolf and a blasted lumber yard; just what I need tonight.”

Ron kept is wand out in front of him, constantly thinking of a shield charm first if the poor bugger tried to attack him. Ron stepped gingerly between the stacks of processed wood, listening for any noise, ordinary or otherwise. He continued onward, walking up and down the rows, his wand lit to flush out any shadows that might conceal a frightened werewolf.

He stopped and listened, straining his ears. There, off on another row, he heard some wood crash to the asphalt under foo[TJW2] t, along with a high pitched whimper. Since it wasn’t Hermione and it was pushing half eleven, this was either a thief or his target.

He took off towards where he heard the crashing wood. He could have apparated but didn’t want to risk scaring the werewolf or accidentally landing on a petty thief. With steps trained in stealth, he tread softly towards where the noise was. Sure enough, a pallet of wood had fallen. Instead of lighting his wand, Ron popped the Deluminator and released the lights he nicked from around the corner. The balls of light escaped and hung in the air, lighting up the preternaturally darkened space.

He heard a whine a second before he was knocked to the ground. He lifted his head and saw the werewolf racing down the pathway towards the end of the building. The blighter looked no bigger than an over-sized bun.

“Shit,” He jumped up and took off running after the scared bugger.

She turned the corner and he tried to pour on the speed while wishing he had brought his broom to chase the quarry easier. Somehow she was leaving him in the dust and he was the fastest Auror on staff. All of those empty hours running with Harry paid off, even if he might lose sight of his intended.

Ron pulled his wand and cast red sparks up in the night sky. Within moments he heard the sounds of displaced air whooshing into his vicinity.

The balls of light followed him, casting an eerie glow in the area. The werewolf was right on the front edge of the lights, barely bathed in any illumination. He saw Wainright apparate 20m down the drive, near where he came up into the lumber yard and Harry was 50 meters up the street from his momentary position, running hard towards where he was.

Ron kept running, hoping to corner the furry Ms. Grey where he could stun her and safely transport her back to her safe confines for the night. Then again, he hoped someone else apprehended her. He didn’t fancy spending hours working on paperwork and multiple debriefings, especially if she was injured.

Ron saw movement to his right and felt magic flowing past his head.

Bright light blinded him an instant before he felt the blast.

His world blinked out.

Harry was there first. Wainright was immediately at his left shoulder.

“The fuck you playing at, Bronwyn? You hit Ron? Are you mental, a lunatic?”

Harry stared at the other member of their search party, murder in his eyes and on his mind. Vivid Green eyes were full of fury, all focused on the one who didn’t know which way to work his wand. He stared until Trowbridge blinked and he set his focus on his best mate lying in the grass at his feet. Harry yanked the ruck off of his back and reached deep, trying to find the dittany and pads. His hands grew slick trying to staunch the bleeding from his best friend’s head. The preternatural glow from the confiscated lights from the lumber yard bathed everything in an eerie blueish white hue. The dim lights next to whatever building they were lying next only added to the fact that Ron looked close to death already. Blood was seeping through Harry’s fingers, coating his boots, soaking the knees of his trousers and the ends of his jumper sleeve. He finally grasped the enormous stash of pads and shoved them onto the wound, watching the pad soak through. Merlin, not again. He’d lived through this once already. “Stay with me,” He growled before turning to Wainwright, working feverishly to protect their location from any curious eyes this late at night.

“Call Jones now,” Harry yelled at Bronwyn. He didn’t stir from watching Harry work on Ron’s injury.

“Damn it, call Jones now!” He yelled and Wainwright sent up red sparks, three sets in a row – the Auror emergency notification. In seconds she landed softly on the grass three meters away. “Report!” she barked at the three men.

Trowbridge spoke up first. Harry was too busy trying to grasp the dittany. Every time, it slipped from his fingers. “Weasley was chasing Ms. Grey. I saw him running after her. I thought – “

Wainright cut him off. “Trowbridge cast a powerful stunner and missed. He’s lucky that he didn’t take Weasley’s head off with that bit of careless magic. Instead, he hit the side of the building.” Wainwright illuminated his wand and showed an enormous chunk of masonry had been blown off of the side of the stone building. “The stone, it hit Weasley before knocking him backward like a bloody bomb blast. It’s sheer luck that he didn’t land on the stone wall and break his bloody neck.” Not two meters behind them was a one meter stone wall, topped with various river stones, mostly with rough edges.

“It was a stunner, just like Jones told us to use. He moved in front of it.”

“Yeah, and your wand movements were Bombada,” Wainwright countered.

“Damn it, I can’t get the bleeding to stop,” He complained as he threw over his shoulder the first handful of pads and thrust a second set on them. He patently ignored his sodden trousers, socks, boots, and jumper sleeves. He shifted his knees, trying to keep Ron’s head propped up just enough where he could keep the compress on his head. He didn’t dare use magic, not when he didn’t know the extent of the injuries. One bad spell to quell the bleeding could leave him in the Janus Thickey ward for the rest of his life.

Harry refused to do that to his best friend.

“I can’t get the dittany. He needs a healer now.” He felt one tear escape. “I’m not a healer. I can’t save him.” He said under his breath. “Damn it, Ron. Stay with us.”

“Potter, get him out of here.” Jones shoved something into his hands – a copy of the Auror field manual on arrest procedures. The book was already iridescent blue – a portkey for the Auror emergency landing ward at St. Mungo’s in London. Harry lifted Ron into his arms, looking like a horrific impersonation of Pieta by Michelangelo. He folded Ron’s across the book and across his body, looking so pale in the preternatural lights.

Blood dripped down from the wound onto his trousers, watching each moment seep by like cold custard. The gauze wouldn’t staunch the bleeding. They needed a healer now.

Harry fought the immediate memories of the last time he saw Ron like this, severely injured and on the edge of death. He couldn’t face that again. Instead, he looked across to the remaining Aurors present.

“When we return to London, you’re facing an Inquiry. If I have any say, you will be booted from MLS. And,” Harry saw the book glowing brighter, “if he dies, I will personally strangle you with my own two hands. The fuck – “

Harry didn’t hear the rest of the Jones’ vicious yet soft-spoken harangue. He was holding onto Ron for dear life, awaiting the landing at St. Mungo’s. He had seconds to prepare his knees for the landing. He’d need a strong pain potion after the landing.

Ron was dead weight in his arms. Frothy pink bubbles were erupting from his nose and mouth. Both sets of robes were a grotty mess. “Stay alive, please,” Harry begged to whatever deity would listen and grant his heartfelt request. “I need you.” With a crash, they landed in the secured zone for Aurors who were injured. “Emergency! Auror Down! I need a healer!” Harry yelled through the room. “Auror down!”

[diinofayce]

Like A Whisper In The Night pt2

Pairing: BuckyxOFC | Word Count: 5,178 | Warnings: Swearing, talk of human trafficking

Previous Chapter

Chapter Two

Layne opened her eyes when she felt the quinjet touch down on the tarmac. She groaned and stretched her cramped shoulder muscles, her attention grabbed by Greg Andrews who was yelling at them all through a strip of fabric that he was being gagged with. 

“Welcome back, kid,” Steve chirped pleasantly, clapping his right hand on her knee. Layne smiled softly, still unused to any real interaction with the main squad. Bucky just caught her eyes with his and gave a reaffirming smile. 

Bucky had spent the flight back to Stark Tower keeping a careful side eye on Layne as she napped. He bantered with Steve and Nat with Clint adding his own snarky remarks here and there. Whenever the quinjet jostled, even a little, his eyes immediately shot over to Layne to make sure she wasn’t disturbed. It wasn’t until touchdown that he had gently tapped her away with his foot, pretending not to notice Steve and Nat smirking at each other.

“Thanks,” she said softly. “What are you guys going to do with Greg?” 

Natasha got up and opened the door to the quinjet; hopping out she offered her hand to Layne which was gratefully accepted. 

Steve attached his shield to his back and took Andrews when Bucky passed him off. “We’re going to take him down to holding. Black Widow will be heading the interrogation.” He answered, his hand holding Greg Andrews’ upper arm firmly making the older man walk nearly on his tiptoes.  

“Can I come watch?” Layne asked, hope filling her voice. The team seemed to be warming up to her, and she was hoping she could ride out that good luck into actually seeing Natasha in action.  

“Nope,” Steve replied, popping the ‘p’ for emphasis. “You’re going to go to get checked out by Dr. Cho and then write your report. I want a full explanation of what happened.”

Layne tried not to look defeated. She could argue that she felt fine and could just do with a nap, but she knew that arguing with Captain America was probably not a good idea. She also didn’t think an argument of procrastination on her report would go over well either, but she still couldn’t help the snark of; “Not like anyone will actually read it.” 

Layne stalked off ahead of them with fire in her steps. Bucky and Clint came up behind the shell-shocked looking Steve, both trying very hard not to laugh. “You should let her watch, Cap,” Clint said.

“She was the one to get him, after all,” Bucky added, smirking as Steve sighed in defeat. 

“Yeah, alright. Someone go hunt her back down while I bring this scumbag downstairs,” Cap ordered, hauling Andrews into the facility.

“Go get her, tiger,” Clint laughed, smacking Bucky on the shoulder as he passed by him. 

“What? Why me?” Bucky barked back.

“I have to go check the quinjet back in. Plus, I don’t know. I feel like you might enjoy the walk.” Clint yelled back without looking at his teammate who was flushing a very telling shade of pink.

Bucky let out a huff of air, shooting the lock of dark brown curl that had dangled down next to his nose out of the way. “Enjoy the walk. Whatever the fuck that means. You enjoy the walk.”

Muttering to himself like he was most people avoided him in his hunt for Layne. Even Pepper had started approaching him with a file before her right eyebrow shot up and she detoured into a side room to look for someone - anyone - else. He took the elevator to the living quarters but stopped dead when the doors chimed opened, and he was faced with rows of doors. The sudden realization that he didn’t even know what room was hers hit him. What kind of teammate were they to her that none of them knew the extent of her powers or where she lived or even what she liked to order at the bar? Which was weird because what Bucky did know about Layne was that she always chewed her left thumbnail when she was concentrating on a book or her phone and that she washed her hair every three days because the third day it was always up in a bun. He knew she preferred Converses over combat boots, something that drove Cap up the wall, and that she could spit better than some men he knew which was oddly charming. Bucky knew a ton of superficial things, nothing of any real value, but he doubted most of the team noticed them. Now to figure out which door was hers, rubbing his hands together he went down the list in the process of elimination.

~*~

Layne slammed the door to her room shut and pulled out her phone to send an S.O.S. text to Wanda. She pulled a bottle of white wine out of the mini fridge in her room and pulled down two glasses and a corkscrew. She looked at herself in the mirror on her living room wall and let out a sigh; she looked like a mess. Her eyeliner had melted a bit and ran past her waterline, making her look like a raccoon after a bad trip, and a binder was barely containing her thick chestnut hair. Scrubbing at the eyeliner with her thumbs and ripping the binder out of her hair she raked her fingers through the chocolate mass, alleviating the pressure of it all being tied to the top of her skull. She took a step back and gave herself a once-over, she never really got used to seeing herself in the black uniform that matched the one Natasha wore mostly because she never got to wear it with any frequency. Layne tilted her head to the side, her hair all tumbling to the right in a sheet, as she reached up to the zipper at the top of her breastbone and zipped it down to just above her navel, a flash of red lace holding everything in place. For never being any sort of field agent Layne was still in fantastic shape, she had been doing kickboxing and yoga since she was fifteen, so her stomach was toned, and her ass was tight even outside of this sausage suit. She nodded at herself in approval; it felt good to let the girls breath a bit. Layne didn’t think she’d ever be Natasha Romanoff hot, but she could hold her own. She just had to make some plans to go out a bar with Wanda sometime soon so she could get some normal guys to look her way.

Layne picked up the corkscrew and went to work on the bottle of wine while thinking about the mission. Not even so much the mission, more so the post-mission in the plane. She thought about their conversations and felt a rush of appreciation again towards Clint when Layne remembered how he stood up for her. Although, the idea of her getting herself killed in some bought of need to prove herself was a bit exaggerated; Layne had a fantastic sense of self-preservation. She thought back to all the little ways Bucky had actually touched her; her hand, her knee, and when she had returned to her body she swore that it felt like someone had been touching her face. Layne had thought Barnes was attractive when she first came to Stark tower, but it became apparent pretty quick that he didn’t have the time of day for her. As soon as the team learned Layne didn’t have some super cool background or specialty combat training it felt like it became a game to see how long she would last.

Layne had her master’s degree from the University of Minnesota in science with a specialty in genetics. She had written her thesis paper on the genome that reacted with the Terrigen Mist and how it changed the DNA cell structure and the possibilities of it causing hereditary ramifications and the impact that would do to civilization. That was what had attracted Tony Stark to her to begin with, once he learned what Layne was capable of herself it opened up a whole different job offer than just working with Dr. Cho and Dr. Banner in the labs. Not that she didn’t do that too, microscopes were much more comfortable than guns.

Pouring herself a large glass of wine she took a deep drink just as there was a knock on the door and she felt almost giddy with excitement.

“Wanda! Finally!” Layne called through the door sliding open the lock. “Get a load of this…shit…” Layne trailed off, confused, as she opened the door to find Bucky Barnes on the other side of it and not Wanda. 

Bucky immediately flushed a brilliant crimson and cleared his throat, turning his head and pointing at her chest. Layne looked down at herself and let out a squeak, dropping her wine glass and slamming the lapels of her suit closed.   “Son of a bitch,” she swore, embarrassed, bending down to grab her glass and turning around quickly. Placing the glass on a side table and zipping her suit back up she pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’m so sorry, Barnes, I was expecting Wanda. You can come in.” Layne turned back to him, biting her lip and looking at him apologetically. 

Bucky nodded awkwardly and stepped into Layne’s room; he didn’t feel the need to mention that she was blushing as brilliantly as her bra which offset the creamy flesh of what he had seen of her chest and abdomen. He distracted himself around at the various band posters; Led Zeppelin, HIM, DOROTHY, Coheed & Cambria, and a big tapestry of Chris Cornell spattered the walls along with thirty or so odd shaped mirrors that hung in ornate and neon colored frames. “What’s, uh, what’s with all the mirrors?” Bucky asked pointing at one of them.

“They stop me from projecting in my sleep. Sometimes, if I’m not dreaming, I’ll project, and then the mirrors keep me in my room,” Layne explained, leaning against the back of her sofa.

“How do the mirrors manage that?” Bucky asked, crossing his arms over his broad chest, his pectorals flexing with the movement. Layne looked down the chorded muscle on his arms and had to refocus her thoughts quickly. She brought her eyes back to Bucky’s and was momentarily caught up in just how deep and blue they were. Shaking herself mentally she scolded herself for acting like a weird little school girl and telling herself sternly to focus.

“I can’t see in my astral form, not with normal vision anyway. Remember how that one time I told you it was kind of like being a ghost? Well, I can focus on people’s auras and am drawn in from there. I’m getting better at picking out individuals in a crowd, but usually, I’m drawn into a particularly strong aura. I found out though, thanks to Dr. Banner, that I’m far more interested in being in my own body. So we put up these mirrors because then my astral form will see my body right away and just go home. I didn’t want to risk taking over any of you in your sleep.” Layne explained, wringing her fingers together nervously.

“That is both cool and terrifying,” Bucky said with awe causing Layne to smile softly.

“It would be cooler if I could control it.”

“Well, how much do you practice?” 

Layne scoffed and shook her head. “How am I supposed to practice, Barnes? This was my first big kid mission, and it went questionable at best. No way Cap is going to want me puppy dogging along on another mission after this.” Layne moved past Bucky to pour herself another glass of wine since the first one was pitifully soaking into her carpet. 

Bucky smirked and took the wine glass from her hand, setting it back down on the table. “Well, I don't know about that. He thinks you’re capable enough to come watch the interrogation.”

“What? Does he? Why didn’t you lead with that, Barnes? Put your coat on, let’s go,” Layne grabbed her phone to shoot a quick text to Wanda for a rain check and opened the door for him.

“My coat is on,” Bucky replied sounding confused, following behind swiftly.

~*~

The elevator doors opened, and Layne rushed out, Bucky reached out to with his flesh hand to catch her by the wrist. “Hey, calm down. Remember, you’re an agent not a kid on a field trip,” Bucky scolded softly. Layne flushed and let out a huff of air. She wanted to argue but knew he was right she needed to get her house in order. Layne steeled herself and nodded sharply, Bucky smirked and let go of her wrist. Layne’s fingers twitched, and she was confused at how her body seemed to miss his touch suddenly. “And you keep calling me Barnes. You know, you’re allowed to call me Bucky.”

Layne hummed softly and followed Bucky down the hallway, staying a step back as he stopped at a large steel door and knocked twice. Steve opened the door and looked at Bucky and Layne waiting in the hall before stepping back and letting them in, closing the door behind them. Layne walked up to the window and watched Natasha try to pry information out of Andrews. The older man’s hair was disheveled, the white streaks sticking out of the ink black in tufts, and his eyes were still bloodshot. Dried blood crusted and cracked around his mouth and peppered the collar of his dress shirt from where his nose was bleeding during his mental struggle with Layne.

Layne stiffened, only for a second, as Steve stood behind her. “What happened in his head, Whisper?” Steve had his Captain voice on, and Layne tilted her head a little to the left, wondering if she was part of this interrogation as well.

“I was following Barnes up the stairwell to the roof when my vision swam, and it felt like a Dremel tool was powering through my ears. I couldn’t focus, I could only hear high pitched squealing,” Layne recounted, her memory flashing back on the stairwell. She took a shaky breath as she watched Natasha coax a smirk from Andrews, his thin lips widening to reveal teeth that were too white and too straight. Her eyes glazed over slightly as she slipped back into the memory. “It was like, tentacles almost, reaching out of the darkness and wrapping around me. But there isn’t a ‘me’, really, just my being and there isn’t a ‘him’. Usually, when I take over someone their being is ejected from their body, there can only be one host at a time, but Andrews found his way back in, and it was like he was trying to strangle me. I couldn’t focus on keeping control of his body because I had to focus on keeping Andrews out of me. It was like hot honey, and I couldn’t shake free. I took what last bit of control I had and asked Barnes to knock me out.”

Layne jumped slightly as Steve put his hand on her shoulder. “Has that happened before?” he asked, his voice losing it’s commanding edge feeling much softer; like a parent comforting a child after a nightmare.

“Sort of. Back in Hong Kong with the acrobatic Hydra agent,” Layne cast her caramel eyes to Bucky, and he looked at the floor, shifting from one foot to the other. “It’s okay, I always understood why you had to shoot her, I actually set you up to shoot her. She was the first Inhuman I tried to overtake; I wasn’t expecting the power in her blood to feel like it did and when I overtake someone initially I get random flashes of their memories. Whether its memories they want me to see or they’re just pulled at random, I don’t know, but her were horrible and twisted and I got a little lost in them. I was stuck in her body, and I couldn’t push her out. I should have just left her but I saw her plan to attack Barnes, and I wanted to try and stop her. I blocked her abilities, but I couldn’t do much else,” Layne turned her focus back to Natasha and Andrews, flinching when Natalia pounded her fist on the table and slammed her chair back. Greg Andrews laughed at her openly, and Natasha just glared before slamming her way out of the room.

Bucky’s brows were furrowed as he looked up at Layne, her brown hair cascading down her shoulders and settling on the swell of her breasts. He liked her hair tied back more; Layne tended to try and hide behind the curtains of her hair. “I always wondered why she just ran straight for me. She had been flipping and dodging around that whole fight, and suddenly she just ran straight to me.” His blue eyes were looking at her with a mixture of confusion and awe.  

Layne nodded at him. “She hadn’t even used her abilities yet, she was a teleporter. She could tell I locked her down and it pissed her off. Then I set in her mind the plan to just charge you down.”

Steve had opened his mouth to say something when their door burst open and Natasha stomped in. 

“I don’t get it, Cap, I tried everything. I tried sexy, I tried mean, I tried saying please,” Natasha said looking like she had sucked on something sour. “He’s locked up tight and hiding behind some excuse that the kid scrambled his brains.”

“That’s a lie,” Layne said, still staring at him through the one-way mirror.  

“I know it is,” Nat sniped before turning back to Steve and Bucky. “What do we do?” 

“You send me in,” Layne said before the boys could open their mouths. All three of them whirled on her and stared at her like she had grown a second head. Layne steadied her gaze and planted her stance. “I can do it. I’ve been inside his head, I know his ticks, and if all else fails, I can just persuade him. It probably wouldn’t hold up in court if that’s what you’re going for here, but it’ll move us along the ladder,” she argued. When the three looked like they were just going to argue back, she held up her hands. “Please, trust me.” 

“What can it hurt?” Bucky caved looking at his teammates.  Layne looked at Bucky sharply, her eyes widened in slight surprise. Natasha scoffed and rolled her eyes, tossing a hand in the air.  

“Sure. Why not. Let her in, Cap.”  

Steve looked Layne dead in the eyes, “If I see any sign you’re losing ground, I’m pulling you out.” Layne nodded in understanding, and he opened the door for her. 

Leaving Bucky, Natasha, and Steve in the observation room, she put her hand on the knob of the interrogation room and took a deep breath. She readied herself and pushed the door open, closing it softly behind her. She glided over to the table with ease and flipped the chair around backward before slinging her leg over the side. Layne rested her forearms on the back of the chair and settled her chin on them; she locked her warm golden eyes to the cold steel grey of Greg Andrews’.

They sat there in silence, Greg fidgeting slightly causing Layne to cock her head to the right and smile at him softly. She never lost eye contact with the sleeze of man. Layne had to assert dominance, that was the number one that made Andrews’ uncomfortable, women in power. He had to have control, feel on top, and Layne had every intention of sitting here calmly until he cracked.

In the observation room, Bucky, Natasha, and Steve all stood right up to the glass, shoulders almost touching. Bucky tried hard to not stare at Layne’s ass as she straddled the chair, the black fabric stretching over her curves in a way that made the spot between his eyebrows sweat. They watched with bated breath as they stared silently at each other waiting for the other one to make the first move.

“She looks oddly comfortable in there,” Steve assessed, chin in his hand as he chewed softly on his middle knuckle.

“Well, she’s been in his head. I’m sure sitting at the same table isn’t nearly as daunting,” Bucky answered, the conversation helping to break the stare he had locked on Layne’s backside. 

Natasha put a hand up to silence them as Layne lifted her head, putting her left elbow on the back of the chair and her chin in her hand. Greg had broken the eye contact first, looking down at his shaking hands. Natasha hadn’t scared him, she didn’t know the things about him that Layne knew. 

“So, Greg,” Layne spoke lazily, sounding like she didn’t want even to be there. “I’m sure you don’t really want to talk to me. I know Black Widow and I are much older than the girls you usually like to spend your time with.”

Andrews stiffened and his hand shot to the knot of his tie, for the first time looking a little uncomfortable. He knew that this woman had been inside his mind, controlled his body, knew so many of his secrets, but he didn’t understand how. “You have no proof,” he rasped, and Layne just shrugged nonchalantly. “You’re completely correct. I do not have proof, but I’m not here looking to throw proof at your feet. I’m here to save those girls and I’m hoping you could just tell me about them. Where you got them, where they are, why Hydra wants them, that sort of thing,” Layne drawled, drawing invisible circles on the table top with her finger.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Andrews insisted, fidgeting with the lapels on his suit jacket.

“You run a security company, yes? Why don’t you tell me about the security files you had on your office computer for Hydra?” Layne asked coolly.  

“Why don’t you just dive back into my head and find out for yourself?” Andrews sneered in a last-ditch attempt to sound like he had control and wasn’t afraid of her, slamming his hands on the table in front of him, his long bony fingers splayed out on the cold metal surface. 

Layne’s hand that had been drawing little patterns on the table lashed out as quick as a whip and grabbed one of his hands in her small one. He gasped and tried to pull back but Layne’s grip was firm, and she slowly turned his hand over so the palm was facing the ceiling and she brought her other hand over to trace the deep lines in Andrews’ palm with the tip of her pointer finger.

The three agents in the observation room were all but holding their breath, watching her with fascination. The calm and serene manner that she was handling this interrogation was that of an experienced professional, not the goofy lackadaisical girl they were so familiar with seeing around the Tower. Natasha was pulling on her bottom lip softly with her fingers as she watched Layne with rapt attention, Steve has paused the soft chewing on his knuckle, but it stayed in his mouth as his curiosity piked. Bucky was leaned against the frame of the one-way glass, his hands on the sill as he stared intently at the scene unfolding. He watched as Layne took Andrews’ hand in her own and a weird sensation of nausea and anger flared in the pit of his stomach; it was a like a bear waking up from hibernation and letting out a roar that shook the forest. Bucky’s fingers gripped the window sill and his shoulders locked as Layne traced a lineup and down Andrews’ forearm, following the bright blue vein from his wrist.

“I think, Gregory, it would behoove both of us if you could just tell me,” Layne whispered sweetly. What the three in the observation room couldn’t see were the big doe eyes she looked at Andrews with and how the warm caramel of her eyes flared to life with a brilliant amber glow, like someone poured molten lava into her irises. Andrews took a visible gulp and cleared his throat, his gaze starting to cloud over.

“I-I can’t. They’ll kill me,” he answered, his voice strained.

“You’re not worried about them, Gregory. You know you’re safe with me. It’s just you and me here, and no one here can hurt you,” Layne soothed, her fire eyes staring deep into Andrews’ trying to convince him to yield.

Greg tried one last weak and futile attempt to take his hand back from Layne before giving in and letting his posture slump. It was as if the weight of his life suddenly came pounding down on his shoulders. He sighed and loosened his tie with his free hand.  

“Hydra hasn’t been able to source girls from The Red Rooms in Russia for a few years now. They started with the mail order girls of Thailand and Russia instead, finding that for every ten girls they brought to their facilities at least half showed promise of something more. I had hired an intern a few years back who turned out to be one of their insurgents; they have people placed in almost every prominent company in the world. I thought at first they wanted my company for the security features we provide, but it turns out they had discovered my taste for…for Asian massage parlors. Soon I had gained them access to the deep underbelly of human trafficking and I couldn’t get out unless they released photos of myself and a few underage girls to the press,” Andrews’ explained, looking and sounding exhausted.

“Where are they taking them?” Layne asked, bile high in her throat and she could feel her energy beginning to drop drastically but if she could just keep it up for a little bit longer. If she could only find out where they were taking the girls, then she could go back and finish that bottle of wine (that was half gone and she got basically none of) and take a nap.

“I don’t know that. I knew Hydra had a base in Hong Kong, but your people infiltrated it. They had just enough time to get all the girls out before your lot blew it all up.”

“What happened to the girls who didn’t show promise?” Layne asked, fearing the answer.

“All I know is they didn’t get sent back,” Andrews responded, confirming her fear.

“Who was your contact?” Layne asked reaching down into a pocket on her thigh and coming out with a pen and paper. She placed it in front of him and resumed lightly stroking his arm. “You should write it down for me, so I don’t forget.” If Bucky watched Layne’s fingers close enough he could see the skin she brushed on Andrews’ arm would let out a soft glow, like a faint flashlight lived under his skin. Just watching Layne use her powers of persuasion looked warm and soothing and he couldn’t help but wonder if she could do that glow thing without using her ability. He had an odd image of Layne tracing her magic fingers down his bare chest, his skin lighting up like fireflies, and had to shake his head to regain focus.

Andrews licked his lips before grabbing the pen and sliding the paper to him, writing down a name and a phone number. “Her name is Mae Ling; she drove the van that would pick up the girls. That’s the only contact I have.”

“What other dealings did you have with Hydra?” Layne asked, making a mental note of the phone number scribbled down.

“My security systems are in place in most major weapons makers and distributing sights, including local gun shops. When they needed to make a hit I just made sure the security system failed,” Andrews said with ease. Layne swiped up the pad and pen and broke contact with Andrews, he gasped and looked like his heart had been ripped from his chest. “What are you?” he asked her shakily, the clouded gaze leaving his eyes only to be replaced with fear. He clutched the arm Layne had been holding to his chest like it was going to fall off of him.

“Nothing but a whisper,” she said with a sneer and stood up, leaving him alone in the interrogation room. Hearing the door click closed behind her she let out a whoosh of air and placed her palms flat on the wall across from her, her arms outstretched and her head down. She felt like cement weights were attached to her all over her body. The door to the observation room opened and the three stepped out from where they had been watching with surprise and appreciation.

“Layne, that was fantastic,” Steve praised, holding his hands out in case she should drop. Concern was etched over all their faces when she looked up and smiled softly to try to alleviate it. “How did you handle that so calm?” 

“Thanks, it just takes a lot out of me. I don’t do it a lot. He hates feeling like he doesn’t have influence over women, Natasha was working too hard to get information out of him, it made him feel like he had power. I had to take that feeling away,” Layne explained and passed the notepad to Natasha. “You’ll probably want to run that right away.” Natasha nodded taking the notepad and then cautiously reaching out and placed her palm on Layne’s cheek. 

“You did great,” she said before turning around and taking off to bring the information to intelligence. 

“I need to go debrief Fury. Andrews can sit in there a bit and sweat, you, however,” Steve said focusing back on Layne. “Need to get back to your room and rest. I’ll make sure to put in a glowing review after today’s mission. I’m glad Bucky and Clint talked me into letting you watch.” Cap clapped Bucky on his metal shoulder before heading to the elevators. 

Layne looked at Bucky with her eyebrows knitted together. “You helped convince Cap to let me watch today? Why?” she asked, not that she was complaining or anything, but it’s not like he’d ever stuck his neck out for her before. Or had anything to do with her before. Sticking up for her to come watch the interrogation and then to actually get in the room with Andrews was a new side of Bucky that she hadn’t experienced.

Bucky just shrugged, “Seemed only fair. You’re the one that caught him in the first place. Come on, doll, let’s get you back to your place."

Layne snorted with laughter and pushed herself off the wall, teetering slightly before finding her balance again. “Taking me to my door. What a gentleman you are.”

Bucky flushed and ducked his head, letting his hair fall around his face to hide it. “Yeah, well, it’s not a big deal. Plus, you’re going to need all your energy. After what we saw in there you can bet your butt Natasha is going want a front seat demonstration.”

Layne let out a groan, and she punched the button on the elevator to go up to the living quarters. “Should have run off to join the circus,” she moaned. The doors closing on her and Bucky as he let out a raucous laugh.

NEXT CHAPTER

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[dabblinginmarvel]

Eff This, I’m Out

Plot: Steve and Former-HYDRA!Reader fall in love after a raid on Hydra.

A/N: Here comes another busy week. But hey, this one was tons of fun to write and pretend that I had no courses to focus on this week.

Warnings: Bad word maybe? Reader gets locked in a cell similar to one engineered in Civil War.

Word Count Total: 1417

Short Imagine #155

Title: Eff This, I’m Out

Things were a bit tough at your job. People were running around all the time, keeping secrets, buying and selling on the black market, trying to take over minds and world governments….

It wasn’t a stretch to say that your job had high stress levels. It didn’t allow a high turnover rate, nor a quick hire rate.

But you wanted out. Your morals were starting to win over. You knew it wasn’t an acceptable reason to have started and you honestly could have done a better job at standing your ground despite being blackmailed at the beginning.

You got your chance to leave, though. It wasn’t easy, but it didn’t come with the threat of an instant death.

The black door behind you burst open and you jumped, spinning around in your chair. There stood Captain America with his shield up and a gun in his other hand. You threw your hands up in surrender, eyes wide. He lowered his weapon a couple of millimeters.

“Please, arrest me. I don’t want to be here. Just get me out of here.”

He lowered his weapon more. “Get me onto the system and I’ll get you out.”

You opened all the files you could think of, bypassing extra security, and stood up from the chair. The man glanced around for a split second, then motioned you over to a bare wall. Your hands flew up again and you did as you were told.

Footsteps and yells came from the hallway, starting to get closer and you looked from the unclosable doorway to him and then back again. He was looking at you when you looked at him again.

“Do you know how to defend yourself without a gun?”

“Yes, sir.”

He pointed to a rod that made up of an unassembled metal bookcase and you nodded. He didn’t know you were very good at fighting with a pole. The one you held in your hand wasn’t very heavy at all, just long. You stood at the doorway with it in hand and waited for the voices to get nearer. They didn’t, but the footsteps did. You jumped out and swung your pole, stopping inches from your target as you realized they were not your coworkers. It was two of the Captain’s friends.

“Woah, hey now!” Iron Man called and his accomplice with the bow in one hand grabbed the pole with the other, tossing it to the side as you relinquished it immediately. Iron Man grabbed your hands and bound them hard with metal he engineered himself.

The Captain stepped out of the room, a computer being shoved into his bag with one hand and his shield in another. “Tony, they’re a friendly.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“They let me into the system, they didn’t try to attack me, they didn’t try to fight you, and they’ve asked to be arrested.”

“Could be a plot, Rogers,” Tony said.

“And I’ve already been over it. I’m sure they will be very cooperative. Just loosen the cuffs, I can already see red marks.” Rogers motions to your wrists. Tony lifted his face shield and then one metal glove retracted. His hand moved behind you and after a moment, the cuffs loosened a little. Your hands stopped tingling and the burning in your wrists turned into a mild sting.

“Thank you,” you said softly. He didn’t even look at you. Rogers, however, gave a slight nod.

Shouts from above sounded out.

“We should move,” Tony said.

They dragged you out with them and while you tried to keep up, it was a struggle because those men were fast.

You were put on a jet, blindfolded, and they put earmuffs over your ears. You took a few deep breaths, trying to calm the anxiety building in your stomach, and leaned back against the wall that you were strapped to. A hand placed itself over your shoulder and you jumped, but it was gentle, patting your shoulder reassuringly. You could tell it was the Captain, because who else would it be?

The flight was long and while you wanted to fall asleep, you couldn’t. You had to make yourself to stay alert for the entire flight. You didn’t know what could happen, but you couldn’t risk it.

After the flight, you were dragged through the interrogation process and you answered honestly and welcomed the incarceration cell that they had for you. There were no issues, no scare tactics, and no bodily harm, which was a pleasant surprise - and a pleasant change from what you were used to.

Your cell was small, but brightly lit and you didn’t have to worry about a dead someone having left something nasty behind in a corner.

After a night of rest, which to be honest, was not full, nor refreshing, you had a visitor.

“Captain? What are you doing here?”

“I want to understand.”

“You do?”

“Yes. Why allow us to arrest you?”

“I wanted out and they would have hunted me down and killed me if I left of my own accord.”

He scoffed like it was the easy way out. “So prison is better than what they had planned for you?”

“I didn’t want to be there, either. I didn’t like doing the work, I didn’t like the cause, and I sure as hell would go back and kick my ass when I made the decision to join, if I were given the chance. Like I told you all, I will give you all the information I can. I want to be useful and never go back. Please.”

“You are aware that they have likely changed all of their security codes thrice by now.”

“I am fully aware, and as I have helped program the code generator when it went through the major upgrade, I know how to predict the coming ones.” You smirked.

True to your word, you worked with SHIELD under intense supervision and got them into the system. You didn’t bother to ask what happened next. It was none of your business.

The Captain, or Steve, had continuously visited once a day. In fact, he had started bringing you your dinner to apologize for the suspicion on you. You had passed every psych test, medical test, bug sweep test, tracker test, and trust test. You even got them access to your HYDRA file. Everything was laid out and still no one trusted you. Well, maybe Steve was starting to.

“How did you even start working there?”

“Believe me, I didn’t want to.” You sat cross-legged on your bed, leaving your food untouched until Steve left, like usual. They had stopped chaining you to your cell wall by your ankle, which was the first sign in weeks that you were not considered a major threat anymore. “After my family died from an explosion that I later learned was caused by them, I had nowhere to turn to and started in on a life of crime. Petty theft, but I found that I was good at it and started stealing larger stuff, more techy stuff, and learned that I was good at coding. I taught myself and they somehow found me. They knew what I had been doing and blackmailed me to join. Like I said, nowhere else to turn. It was a stupid choice, I know. And my guilt now doesn’t excuse what I did then. I don’t think anything ever will, but I can keep trying. Whatever I can do to reverse my sin, I’ll do it. I have to.”

Steve was nodding along with you, then sighed. “Bad things happen to all of us. What happens to us doesn’t define us; it’s what we do with it. And now, you’re choosing to do the right thing, so I would say you are on the right track.”

The way he looked at you made you catch your breath. There was something happening between you two, but you didn’t want to place it. If you did, then you would have to come to the conclusion that you and he would never work. You were certain that you would be here for the rest of your life, locked inside the building and never let out. You had already come to terms with that, but developing feelings for Steve would certainly complicate those plans.

You had to put it to the side.

Little did you know that he was struggling with the same thing across from you through four inches of bullet-resistant glass.

- - -

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[mysticdaddies]

Saeyoung Wedding Dance: One Shot

Hello everyone c: since the munchkin war has ended not so long ago, I decided to get started on the Wedding Dace One shots :,) In case you missed the others here they are, Saeran Choi, Jumin Han, Jihyun Kim/V , :) In my personal opinion, this is the most emotional wedding dace one shot I have ever written...  I cried so hard writing this one shit...some of the emotions come from within me... I hope you guys can feel the emotion :) Thank you - Savior Saeran 

Why cant I fake my smile around you? Why did you have to be my biggest weakness. I am suppose to be the strong one but when it comes to you, Im always weak. What have you done to me? 

I breathed in and out watching how my body slowly releases the stress that it has been carrying. However, that moment of release only last a few seconds and then the stress comes back again. I looked at the mirror and saw myself. If people saw my reflection, they would see a clown who is always happy with life no matter what. Sadly, that’s not even the truth at all. When I look at my reflection, I don't even realize who that person is. My thoughts were interrupted when I heard my best man knocking at the bathroom door. I opened the door and saw my brother/best man, Saeran Choi, and I give him a big old welcome smile. He didn't even look at me while he walked in and closed the door “How are you feeling?” he asked with sincerity. I gave him a quick glance and walked towards the sink to take a better look into the mirror “The real question is ‘how are you feeling brother’, you look like an adorable penguin!” I managed to say with a chuckle. I noticed his stern face expression because of the mirror and I noticed him walking towards me. He put his hand in his pocket and took out a long black box and opened it. I was shocked seeing chain with a cross in the box.  He looked into my stunned eyes and took out the chain from the box and showed it to me “I know that I caused a lot of trouble for you and (y/n) and I may not say it often, but I appreciate the both of you so much. You two are my family and I uh love you um b-brother” he said softly. He then proceeded to put the chain on me “Now while I fix this, why don't you tell me how you are really feeling?” he looked up with a smile on his face. There are only two people who can knows the real me: my brother who has a special place in my heart, and the love of my life, (f/n) (l/n), who has the power over my body and soul. I looked at him while my act slowly breaks apart infant of him and he pulled me into a hug and I hold on tightly crying, mumbling my fears and joys. He held me tighter and I cried harder. 

TIME SKIP: WEDDING DANCE

The exact moment when I heard the double doors open and the church/space station was playing the wedding song, I saw the birth of a beautiful angel. An angel god sent me and my family, to help us continue on with life. Many hours passed and we made it to our reception. Thankfully god made (y/n) perfectly for me because she didnt get upset when I mentioned months back that the wedding dance song will be a surprised. I know she may be thinking we are going to do something silly but she will be wrong. I need her to know how much I love and appreciate her. I guided her to the middle of the dance floor and signaled for the lights to dim down a bit. I looked at Saeran so he can signal the DJ to start the song for our first dance: Because You Loved Me by Celine Dion

For all those times you stood by me, For all the truth that you made me see, For all the joy you brought to my life, For all the wrong that you made right, For every dream you made come true, For all the love I found in you, I'll be forever thankful baby, You're the one who held me up, Never let me fall, You're the one who saw me through through it all

She looked so beautiful that I wondered what exactly did I do to deserve to be her true ending. She could of had anyone but she choosed me out of billion of people out there. (Y/N) decided to spend the rest of eternity together with me and I am truly blessed. I gave her a twirl while we were dancing and when she came back to me I leaned in closer so she can hear my words “Can I show my true feelings for you” I asked softly. You looked at me with your beautiful eyes and tip toed to my ear “Of course my amazing husband” you said sweetly. Ugh. Your voice makes my heart melt. I brought you closer to me and gave a heavy sigh “ Im honestly really scared to tell you but I need you to know this because you are stuck with me till we get grey and old. When I had to search you information before you can officially become an RFA member, what caught my attention was your facial expressions. It had so much sincerity that it astonished  me that someone can be so pure. After having the honor of meeting you, I pushed you away because I wasn't worthy of your love. I was suppose to be miserable because I don't deserve happiness. You slowly became my happiness and I resented you for it because I didn't want to taint you with my darkness. I would never of imagined in a million of years, that my God sent me you to prevent myself from being consumed in darkness.” The memories of our journey was hitting me like a ton of bricks. I brought her closer to me just imagining if my greatest fear did come true. What happened if I actually love my brother and my love? The thought of that made me crack up the chain I had around my heart that only I could ever open. 

You were my strength when I was weak, You were my voice when I couldn't speak, You were my eyes when I couldn't see, You saw the best there was in me, Lifted me up when I couldn't reach, You gave me faith 'coz you believed I'm everything I am, Because you loved me

I was scared to show her how I truly felt because what happened if she realizes that I'm only alive because of her? I decided to ignore my negatives thoughts and lightly gave a quick dip and then brought you back to me. I caressed your beautiful skin that somehow belong to me now “Thank you (y/n) for accepting all of me. You were the only one in the RFA to laugh at my jokes and never once, never fucking one you called me weird or made fun of. You actually understood me and that scared me. It scared me because you saw through the many mask I had and I knew I didn't deserve you. I was too broken for you or for anyone else to fix. Somehow you saw past Agent 707 and Luciel and noticed how fucked up Saeyoung Choi really is. You didn't care how much I hated myself because you were always there. You were there when I cried myself to sleep, when I tried to take my life away, when I tried to push everyone away.... you were always there. Why did you pick me? Why did you decide to make me your final route? There is a saying that whoever you made your final route is the one that you were always destined to be with. Thank you for allowing me, no I'm sorry, for giving me the honor to be your soulmate. If it wasn't for your love (y/n) I wouldn't have learned to love myself. I wouldn't  even have my brother back in my life. If it wasn't for your help, we would be distance but you helped us became a family again. Damn (y/n), I owe my life to you and I'm not afraid to admit it. Thank you for making me feel human.”

You gave me wings and made me fly, You touched my hand I could touch the sky, I lost my faith, you gave it back to me, You said no star was out of reach You stood by me and I stood tall, I had your love I had it all, I'm grateful for  each, day you gave me, Maybe I don't know that much, But I know this much is true, I was blessed because I was loved by you

Just feeling your arms intertwined behind my back felt like a dream. Did I really deserve this? If this was a dream, I'm going to cherish this moment forever because if I wake up and you weren't next to me, I would at least have you in my dreams. Call me selfish but I'm glad you chose me in the end. I will forever thank the man above for allowing me to be your true ending.  Looking at your face lend against my chest while we move around in circles sends chills throughout my body. Knowing for a fact this is reality brings tears to my eyes and its finally time I told you how much I truly worship you.

You were always there for me, The tender wind that carried me, A light in the dark shining your love into my life, You've been my inspiration, Through the lies you were the truth, My world is a better place because of you

I grabbed your hands from behind my back and brought them to lips. I kissed it ever so gently and looking into your beautiful eyes killed me. I am alive because of your beating heart. I am happy because of you gave me a reason to be happy about something. Just waking up next to you, whether you are snoring or not makes me happy. When we have petty arguments it made me happy because it just meant that we were going to come out of it stronger. Emotions started to flow throughout my body because the chain around my heart finally broke. I fell to my knees and started to sob while my hands clenched around yours “You were always there for me, when I thought all hope was lost, I looked for your hand to hold to reassure me that everything was going to be okay. You are my strength (y/n) choi and every ounce of cell that created me belongs to you. You own me because you prevented me from giving up hope on love and life.” Tears and love were flowing out of my body because I was finally giving my all to you. I hold your hand even tighter because I'm not finished yet “The tender wind that carried me, when I was down you helped me get back up. You were there defending me from the world because you knew how badly the world hurt me. You looked past my faults, and accepted me for who I am!! You are my shield and I promise you that I will catch every star and hand it to you. You deserve every thing in the world and I promise that I will fight for you and make sure you are happy, because your happiness fuels me into becoming a better person (y/n). A light in the dark shining your love into my life, when you tried to love me I tried to stop you because how can you love someone who died many years back? You didnt care because you knew there was still life in my trying to fight the darkness and I couldn't do it alone. You extended your hand to me my love and I thank you for not letting me die. You've been my inspiration, through the lies you were the truth, you were the one (y/n) to show me the truth of it all. When I found out the truth about Rika and Jihyun, you were there to keep me steady. You were also there to show me that its okay to be sad. That its okay to feel worthless because they are all reasonable emotions but you also showed me that I cant be in that state forever. You helped me become a better Saeyoung and I will forever worship the ground you walk on. I look forward to the day I can tell our children our love story. I look forward to spending the rest of my life with you (y/n). My world is a better place because of you, and when I take my last breath looking into your eyes our story will rewind quickly in my head before I close my eyes for the last time. Just know this (y/n), when the time does come for me to leave this earth, just know my soul and heart will forever stay with you. Just know I will be protecting you and my brother even when I'm not there. Just know, I will be waiting for you my love so we can spend paradise together”. 

I'm everything I am Because you loved me

You helped me back up and embraced me into a hug. I hold you tightly wanting our body and souls to become one. I notice that you pulled away ever so slightly giving room for your hand to signal someone to come over. I tried looking but the tears in my eyes were giving my vision a hard time. I then felt a delicate hand wiping my tears away and I was able to see my brother having tears in his eyes. I cleaned his tears away just like when we were little kids. I then grabbed (y/n) and Saeran closer to me into a big hug “Thank you for everything. I will am forever thankful for the both of you. (Y/N) I love you and thank you for making us a family again” I felt the arms of my brother and my wife wrap around me and I knew from this moment I had two rocks in my life. I would die for this two people. They are my biggest weakness and I will forever show them how much I love them till my last breath. 

Thank You. 

Thank you (y/n). 

I’m everything I am, because you love me (y/n)

I love you my angel.