#imagine tony never proposed to pepper here | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thisisarcanereverie · 3 years

Text

Should’ve Known Chapter 14

A/N: FINAL TIME SKIP. Also we are reaching the point now where there are only maybe 3 chapters left in this series but res assured I will be doing asks and will be writing small side shots to this series. Because I did leave a bunch of detail to the imagination. Also PLEASE INTERACT IT GIVES ME LIFE. Like seriously hearing active feedback on chapters really helps motivate writers like me to write.

DISCLAIMER: I don’t own Wanda or Steve they are owned by Marvel, I don’t own the gif either.

WARNINGS:Angst, Swearing, loss, dark themes, 18 + from here on out.

WORDS : 3,113

SUMMARY: Months turn into years and now the twins are six years old. Unexpected visitors arrive and things take an unexpected turn.

In case you missed last chapter

series masterlist

ULTIMATE MASTERLIST

Sunlight danced through the crack in the sheer curtains in your shared bedroom and glinted off of the ring on your finger.

Wanda couldn’t help but stare at you, appreciating every detail of your face, the way your nose twitches occasionally, the sound of soft breathing coming from you, and the rise and fall of your chest as you simply existed in this moment. She thanked every star she could that you existed. You changed her life for the better and she dreads to think of what life would have been like without you and the two beautiful children you gave birth to six years ago.

You kept her grounded, you and the kids made her feel loved like she hadn’t felt since Pietro was taken from her.

Wanda would be damned if she let anything take her family away from her again.

Wanda still had her nightmares, the scars left behind from Vision and from Pietro, her parents, and Agatha were still there. But thanks to you those scars became simply that, scars. Scars that were faded but would forever remain there.

However, as her old fears started to fade, new fears came to light.

Some nights she dreams that Agatha had been right, that Wanda only brought chaos and death. She dreams that you and the kids died horrifically like everyone else she had ever loved.

Other nights she dreams that she is the one who killed you. On those nights you spend hours combing your fingers through her hair and rubbing those familiar comforting circles on her back. Bringing her back to where she was now, that you and the kids were still alive.

Then there were those special nights when her dreams were sweet and full of love. Sometimes she’s reliving a happy memory with her family before the bombing, sometimes she dreams of Vision and sometimes it’s with two boys that she doesn’t recognize but she knows she loves. However, if she’s really lucky, she dreams of you. Wanda dreams of sitting on the porch with you, sipping steaming tea with honey, grey and white in your hair, but your eyes are as youthful and as full of love as ever. Wanda dreams that her hair is peppered in grey and white as well, wrinkles of time written on her face, and that in the end she had never been what Agatha claimed she was. the Scarlet Witch, the Harbinger of Chaos, the Destroyer of the World. She dreams that all of that was just myth and that in the end all Wanda was, was Wanda Maximoff.

Your wife.

Wanda feels the corners of her lips curl upward as she remembers proposing to you. She did it at home, she hid it in the popcorn and you nearly choked on the damn thing. After spitting the ring out Wanda had the worst case of butterflies she ever felt. Wanda knew that marriage was an off subject for you and you weren’t quite sure how you felt about it and Wanda respected that greatly. However, she wanted to let you know that if you ever change your mind, Wanda would gladly marry you whenever you wanted, be it fifty years or an hour. So long as she got to be with you in the end.

Wanda’s patience with you and the respect that she held for you and vice versa. You didn’t know you could fall even more in love with her.

You and Wanda had been happily married for three years now and it was safe to say this was the happiest either of you had ever been.

“Staring’s rude babe.” You muttered under your breath as your lashes fluttered before you fully opened your eyes. Taking in a brand new day in the same old world.

“Stop being so beautiful in the morning then I’ll stop.”

“Am I not beautiful any other time in the day?” You teased her.

“No,” Wanda said before starting to litter your face in soft kisses.

“You’re gorgeous in the afternoon,” Wanda whispered as she kissed your neck, nipping it slightly causing you to giggle. “You’re exquisite in the evening,” Wanda’s lips trails up your throat, her talented hands wandering as she did, “and you’re downright divine at midnight when the moonlight peaks through our curtains and bathes you in this silvery light.” Wanda’s lips are at the corner of your mouth now, your breathing now becoming hitched as Wanda’s lips are so far yet so close to your lips, “It’s at that time of day that I stare at you the longest.” Finally Wanda’s lips place a gentle but loving kiss on your lips. Her lips on yours never failed to make your heart flutter like it was the first time, fireworks and electricity running through you like wildfire.

Just as you were about to deepen the kiss you heard the door to your shared room slam open, tearing your lips from Wanda’s to see two small figures rush and jump on your and Wanda’s bed.

“Good Morning Mama and Mommy!” You heard the excited voices of your twins say. You and Wanda scooted aside to make room for the two already rambunctious twins in between you.

Steve immediately went to cuddle by your side while Scarlet went to Wanda. Even when the twins were infants they had a preferred parent that they naturally drifted to. For Scarlet it had been Wanda and for Steve it was you.

You looked at Wanda who looked at Scarlet like she was the world, in fairness she looked like that at Steve and you as well. And instead of scaring you, it felt nice. It warmed your heart to know that Wanda felt the same way, that the people in that room right there were your entire world.

Once the twins settled in between you, you and Wanda kissed the tops of their heads to which Steve giggled as you kissed raspberries on his cheeks.

“What’s on the agenda today little ones?” Wanda asked, Wanda often missed out on most of the day due to training with Strange. She’s gotten very proficient over the years at controlling her powers, Wanda’s learned more about herself and what she could do over the past six years and the more she learned the more frightened and amazed she was.

“We’re going to go pick raspberries to make jam and pies!” Scarlet said excitedly.

“Don’t forget,” You chimed in, booping your daughter's nose lightly with your index finger, causing her to giggle her bell like laughter, “that’s only after we finished our classwork today.”

Steve let out a groan while Scarlet seemed to buzz with excitement. Scarlet loved learning, and Steve did too although not as much as his sister.

You had been homeschooling them, for fear of the worst. You knew that they were young and the likeliness of their powers showing themselves when they were really young were slim. However, you knew that their existence alone would cause a tsunami of reporters and agents ready to probe them. You knew there was a chance that their powers may never come, however until you were certain you and Wanda thought it best to homeschool them.

It wasn’t bad, you took them to the park for them to play with kids their own age. After all, Nat did teach you the best way of hiding was in plain sight and acting naturally.

---

You and the kids had just got done with school work for the day when you grabbed three baskets and headed to the raspberry bushes in the garden. Wanda had cast a spell on the bushes to make them grow raspberries anytime in the year.

You laughed and watched lovingly as the kids ran around the yard playing tag. You counted your blessings that they got along with each other, maybe all the Sokovian whispers to your belly had done something after all.

You gathered the three baskets of raspberries and brought them back inside. You washed the raspberries at the sink and occasionally checked outside the kitchen window to make sure that they were alright.

After cleaning the raspberries you fixed them with a snack of apple slices and celery. You went on the porch to call them in when a vision of red, white and blue caught your eye.

the Shield.

It brings you back to Steve, his baby blues and his smiles and Tony’s funeral.

You had heard what happened in New York with the Flagsmashers all those years ago and you would have gotten involved had you not been heavily pregnant at the time.

You're brought back to the present when the Star Spangled Man with a Plan (now upgraded with wings) asks your twins where their mom was.

“Sam...” You say, the tall man turned to you and it was then you see that he wasn’t alone. You don’t know how you could have missed the roaring of the motorcycle in the yard and the other tall man. “Bucky....”

The men walked toward you while the twins ran.

“Mommy! Mommy! There are people here to see you.” They say at the same time, it wasn’t very often that you had company, much less unexpected company.

“I see that,” You said evenly, keeping your face straight as the two men in front of you widened their eyes in realization. You tear your eyes away from them and to the two children in front of you and you knelt down to their height. “Why don’t you two go inside and play while Mommy talks to these gentlemen for a second.”

“Do you know who they are?” Lettie asked curiously, her eyes scanning the men.

“Do we get to meet them?” Steve asked excitedly, looking amazed at Bucky’s metal arm.

“I’ll let you know that in a second, but for right now go inside and play.” You said firmly, the twins waved goodbye to the men before heading inside. You waited until you heard the door close behind them to walk toward the men in front of you.

“Boys,” You greeted motioning the porch chairs on the other side, “take a seat.”

Sam and Bucky listened and sat down.

“Do you want a drink?” You asked, arms crossed.

“Got anything strong?” Bucky asked. His eyes are not meeting yours.

“It’s Scotland and I am a mom to twins,” You pointed out, “of course I do.”

“I’ll take that then.” Bucky said, you looked at Sam who simply shook his head. You went in and grabbed the only bottle of Whiskey and a glass.

By the time you gave Bucky the whiskey they seemed to have processed what they just saw. Sam looked at you with pity and concern, meanwhile Bucky looked off in the distance, anger radiated off of him in waves.

“Are they Steve’s?” Sam asked. You simply nodded.

“I only found out a month or so after the funeral,” You revealed, “I didn’t even know I was going to go through with the pregnancy until the events of Westview happened.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“The less people that know the safer they are,” You explained, “I wanted to tell you.”

“But you didn’t” Bucky chimed in, his voice was shaky and his grip on the glass tightened.

“They’re the children of the former Captain America and Sargent Steel,” You said, “I have to keep the people who know about them tight and few.”

“Who all knows?” Sam asked.

“Director Fury, Director Rambaue, Pepper, Strange, Wong-”

“Does your husband know?” Bucky interrupted. Sam looked confused before he noticed the subtle wedding ring on your left hand.

“Holy shit you got married.” Sam said, astonished.

“Yes I am,” You confirmed feeling slightly awkward since it only took you this long to realize that you never officially came out to them.

“My wife knows.” You said vaguely, you see both of the men's eyes widen in shock. Sam recovered faster than Bucky who took another drink from his whiskey.

“Who’s the lucky girl?” Sam asked.

“That would be me.”

You all turn your heads to your wife, still clad in her Scarlet Witch form. If it wasn’t for the fact that you had company you know your lips would be all over her by now.

She winks your way and you flush. Wanda didn’t need to read your mind to know exactly what you were thinking.

“Hold up,” Sam said, “You married her?!”

“Yup.” You confirmed as her form sat down next to you and grasped your hand.

“How long has this been a thing?” Bucky spoke for the first time in a while.

“Why do you need to know?” Wanda asked, her hand firmly holding yours. Bucky held his hands up in surrender before taking one last swig from his glass.

“The bottom line is, only Wanda and the rest know, and I guess now you two do as well.” You said. There was a long pause of silence, before Sam spoke.

“I won’t say anything.” Sam said finally, before nudging Bucky out of his staring spell.

“Boys,” You call out as you see that they’re about to leave.

“I truly am sorry you had to find out this way, but I was only doing what I thought would keep them safe, and now that you know you’re free to visit them anytime.... It would be good for them to finally meet their fathers old friends.” You said. You see Sam and Bucky nod, you reach out for a handshake only to be pulled into a firm hug by Sam.

“I understand Sarg, you only did what you thought was best.” Tears pricked at the corners of your eyes as you returned the hug. Bucky still couldn’t look at you.

You knew that you had broken his trust and you would work on getting it back. You just hoped that whatever grudges he had against you wouldn’t stop him from forming a bond with the kids.

After Sam lets you go Bucky surprises you with a hug as well, his beefy arms encasing you firmly.

“We’ll be visiting again soon.” Bucky promises as he lets you go and shakes goes to shake Wanda’s hand.

“Wait,” You say as Bucky already is making his way to his motorcycle and Sam prepares for flight.

“Yeah?” Sam replies.

“There’s one thing I don’t get,” you said, “what brought you guys here?”

Sam paused for a second before replying.

“I was just flying overhead, Bucky and I got word that there might’ve been an abandoned HYDRA base here but, turned out to be a faulty tip.” Sam said before saying his final goodbyes as he lifts off into the air and Bucky peels out of the driveway.

“He was lying.” Wanda says, her eyes giving off a faint red glow.

“I know.” You say, Sam’s pulse jumped when he spoke about the abandoned HYDRA base. You softly grab her hand and bring it to your lips, planting a small peck to the back of it.

Wordlessly you walked hand in hand with Wanda through the front doors and continued with the regular evening schedule.

You and Wanda made dinner as the kids helped set the table and talked about the day. The kids asked questions about who the men were and you and Wanda answered as best as you could without giving them the full truth. Which was surprisingly more difficult. Eventually dinner ended and while Wanda got the kids ready for bed it was your turn for dishes. After dishes were washed and rinsed you let them air dry in the rack and went to tuck in the twins with Wanda.

Wanda and you kissed their heads goodnight and then proceeded to the couch.

Just as you made your way to the couch you noticed Wanda standing still.

“Wands, what's wrong?” You asked, reaching out to her.

“Nothing it’s just,” Wanda started as she played with her hands, “I have a bad feeling, like something is about to happen.”

“Come sit on the couch and talk me through it.” You say as you lead her to the well loved couch. You and Wanda sit and immediately fall into the position you always do, her leaning into you and your arm swung around her shoulders. Wanda had long since transformed out of her Scarlet Witch form but she still looked magical to you. Her fiery locks cascading down her dainty shoulders and just a hint of sparkle on her cheeks remained. You felt Wanda give a deep sigh before speaking.

“I don’t know what it is, it’s not anything deadly but it fills me with dread just the same.” Wanda said with her green hues giving off a faraway look, “something is about to happen and I don’t know what it is.”

“Whatever happens,” you say, maneuvering her so that way she faces you, “we’ll face it like we’ve done most things. Together.” You press your forehead to hers and let your eyelids flutter shut and Wanda follows suit.

“Together.” Wanda whispers back as she finally closes the gap between you in a promise like kiss.

---

“Buck don’t do this,” Sam tried to stop the centurion. Over the course of six years the two men had grown close and eventually Sam had earned the privilege of calling the taller man Buck.

“He has the right to know.” Bucky responded, icy eyes focused solely on the communicator that their mutual friend gave them for ‘universe level threat emergencies only’

“We promised her we wouldn’t tell anyone Buck.”

“No,” the Brooklyn man gruffed, “you promised her you wouldn’t tell anyone. I didn’t promise shit. So don’t worry your pretty little head about breaking your promises.”

“First off thank you for finally admitting that I’m pretty,” Sam said before attempting to snatch the communicator and failing. “Second off, we should’ve told her the truth from the start. Instead of leaving puzzle pieces to put together.”

“She had plenty of puzzle pieces. It's not our fault she didn’t put them together.” Bucky said not looking the man in the eye, “He left her a message on the phone and a message in the personal notebook. It’s not ou-”

“If you’re going to say not our fault again I’m going to slap you.” Sam interrupted. “You know damn well that (Y/n) was as strong as steel, but Nat and Tony’s deaths wore her down, but HE was the breaking point. HE fucked up man, HE has to live with that and THAT’S NOT our job to help him make up for that.”

Just when Bucky starts to reconsider, the communicator beeped.

MESSAGE SENT - - - MESSAGE RECEIVED - - - MESSAGE INBOX (1)

- ON MY WAY_CSGR

#wanda maximoff #wanda maximov #wanda marvel #the scarlet witch #scarlet witch x reader #lgbt pride #Bucky Barnes #sam wilson #sam x bucky #steve rogers x reader #Steve Rogers #should've known #part 14 #MCU #Marvel MCU #Elizabeth Olsen

96 notes · View notes

themculibrary · 2 years

Text

Tony And Rhodey (Ironhusbands) Masterlist 2

Links Last Checked: April 27th, 2024

part one

A Bot's Beautiful Mess (ao3) - everythingsace Rating: General

Summary: Dum-E halts. In Other-Dad-Rhodey’s hand is… a box. It is a small, velvet box.

Dum-E knows what this means. The bot has seen the movies and shows. He knows what this is.

The bot screams.

(Or: Rhodey asks Dum-E to assist him in proposing to Tony. Dum-E does his best.)

A Guide to Handling the Unhandleable Tony Stark (ao3) - nightrider101 Rating: Teen And Up

Summary: Written for the following prompt on the Avengers Kink meme: The rest of the Avengers assume Tony is an unbound Omega by the way he acts. He's reckless and carefree and does what he wants. Imagine their surprise when they find out that Rhodey is Tony's Alpha. They're all confused at the way Rhodey lets Tony act and how they can be away from each other for long periods of time and Rhodey's just like 'He didn't want to give up his career and I didn't want to give up mine. And I gave up trying to tell Tony what to do years ago.'

Drowning (Without You) (ao3) - ayerlind Rating: General

Summary: IM1 post-Afghanistan, Tony and Rhodey face three months' worth of pent up emotions during a quiet moment together.

Falling Head Over Heels For You (ao3) - SoBeBold Rating: General

Summary: A weird psychic impulse won't stop pulling at Tony, and it's ruining his life. He's falling all over everything trying to figure out where the hell it's taking him. He wishes it would just go away, and it finally does, when he falls in just the right spot.

Home for the Non-Holidays (ao3) - CrunchySalad Rating: Explicit

Summary: Jarvis (the human one) is visiting Tony for the weekend. Pepper has warned the Avengers that Jarvis never approves of anybody except for Rhodey, but the gang takes that as a challenge to do their best to impress him. Rhodey himself isn't particularly looking forward to the weekend, for reasons that are related to the fact that Jarvis is always pushing him to make an honest man out of Tony, despite the fact that they aren't actually together.

i can't seem to get a grip, no matter how i live with it (ao3) - psikeval Rating: Teen And Up

Summary: Tony knows he's got no business being a father.

i let you carve your name all over my insides (ao3) - deathsweetqueen Rating: Explicit

Summary: A warm, hot, heavy palm lands on the curve of his hip and Tony groans into his pillow, clutching at it like a lifeline.

A laugh falls in his ears, tickling the hair on the nape of his neck.

Tony turns towards the side, eyes blinking open with some struggle, only to centre on dark eyes blinking down at him, a smile curling on Rhodey’s lips.

Later on, he’ll deny it to his grave, but he screams, surging up, grappling for Rhodey by the shoulders.

“What are you doing here?” he demands. “You weren’t supposed to get back stateside for another two weeks. What are you doing here, Rhodey?”

Rhodey laughs. “Things finished up sooner at the base than I thought it would. If you’d rather I come back in two weeks, I could-”

Tony silences him with his mouth, dragging Rhodey down on top of him with a yelp, his duffle bag falling onto the floor with a heavy thump.

I See Your True Colours (ao3) - MagicaDraconia16 Rating: Teen And Up

Summary: In a fit of wishful thinking, James Rhodes tells his mom that he and Tony Stark are dating.

He then tells Tony that his mom thinks they're dating (because, duh, he told her so).

Surprisingly, Tony actually agrees to play along with this. It's going to be an absolute disaster.

...Isn't it?

James Rhodes In 8C (ao3) - what_alchemy Rating: Explicit

Summary: Tony has always known.

Love Me Like You Do (ao3) - NotEvenCloseToStraight Rating: Mature

Summary:

“My name’s Tony Stark.” the kid said, peering down from the top bunk, a mess of hair falling into his eyes. “But you can call me Tony.” “I know who you are.” James set about remaking the bottom bunk so he could sleep there. “I’m James Rhodes.” “Can I call you Rhodey?” “No.” “Well…..” Tony lit up with a smile that could only be called devilish. “Can I call you Honeybear?” “Under no circumstances are you to call me Honeybear.” “Spoilsport.” “Brat.”

Peter Parker's Step-By-Step Guide to Get These Two Dumbasses to Kiss Already (ao3) - everythingsace Rating: General

Summary: Rhodes was on the floor, his legs pulled up beside him, and Mr. Stark was kneeling down beside him, asking questions and checking if he was okay. With the biggest heart-eyes he’d ever seen. Peter’s jaw dropped as he stared, his eyes turning to Rhodes, only to realize that he had the doe eyes, too. Not quite as bad and obvious, but holy shit. Holy shit.

smells just like you (ao3) - samandbucky Rating: General

Summary: Tony wears Rhodey's shirts when Rhodey isn't around, the others tease him a little for it.

The Champagne Room (ao3) - Not Applicable (not_applicable) Rating: Explicit

Summary: Tony stopped short and leaned back on the pole, hips jutting out in front of him, and he rocked them from side to side as he sang along, “Do you like good music? Do you like to dance?”

the first time (ever I saw your face) (ao3) - sara_wolfe Rating: General

Summary: Five firsts in the lives of James Rhodes and Tony Stark.

the great pretenders (ao3) - peterparkr Rating: Teen And Up

Summary: Peter’s an aspiring con artist, Tony and Rhodey are partners in crime in every sense of the phrase, and Pepper just wants a expensive painting to hang in her house

Traditions (ao3) - ruffaled Rating: General

Summary: Every year on the death anniversary of Tony's parents, Tony and Rhodey start the day by visiting their graves. Afterwards, Tony retreats into the solace of his workshop while Rhodey loiters outside, waiting, hoping, for his husband to come out. This time, Rhodey breaks from tradition and ropes in outside help to cheer Tony up.

we made it work (ao3) - samandbucky Rating: General

Summary: Tony gets injured on an Avengers mission that lands him in the hospital, resulting in Rhodey coming home to see him.

You Just Don't See It (ao3) - BlossomsintheMist Rating: Teen And Up

Summary: Set during the plane scene in the first Iron Man movie, Tony and Rhodey get a little caught up in each other.

#themculibrary #tony stark #james rhodes #ironhusbands #ironhusbands masterlist #masterlists #m/m

3 notes · View notes

enchantedlokii · 3 years

Text

Know Your Value

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: language

Characters: Edwin Jarvis, Ana Jarvis, Peggy Carter, Howard Stark, Maria Stark, Tony Stark, Daniel Sousa, Steve Rogers

Mentioned: Whitney Frost, Jason Wilkes, Rose Roberts, Aloysius Samberly, Joseph Rogers, Michael Carter, Bruce Banner, Loki Odinson, Natasha Romanoff, Nick Fury, Pepper Potts, Jack Thompson

When Edwin Jarvis first learned that his wife would never be able to have children, he had been devastated. He couldn’t understand what he had done to deserve this. What Ana had done to deserve this. She was never supposed to be injured at the hands of Whitney Frost. She was never supposed to be injured at all.

He only realized it was his own fault as he followed Peggy through the desert. The woman’s words hit him like a truck. He had almost lost the woman he loved because of his actions. Then, he thought it would make it better if he got revenge. Even if he died in the process. For years, he thought he would never forgive himself, but that forgiveness came when he learned that Howard’s wife, Maria, was pregnant.

As much as Edwin loved his friend, he knew that Howard wasn’t the fatherly type. He was rambunctious, inappropriate, and a bit crude at times. And he was a busy man. Especially now, with Stark Industries having reached its peak. He knew that this poor child would never have the father figure that he deserved. So he promised himself that he would do whatever he could to help this child once he was born.

Edwin and Ana didn’t meet Tony until the day that Howard and Maria brought him home, but they immediately fell in love with him. Ana had took him carefully and held him close to her chest, rocking him back and forth and humming a Hungarian lullaby. If it were possible, Edwin believed he fell in love with her all over again in that moment.

As he had expected, Edwin and Ana helped a lot with raising the boy. They could see early on that he didn’t have a good relationship with his father. While he and his mother were closer, Maria Stark was a busy woman and often had to leave him in their care. They never minded, of course, but it seemed to take a toll on Tony. Especially as he got older and was able to understand exactly what his life was.

But there was something special about the boy. They all knew he was smart. To be the son of Howard Stark, one would have to be a genius, but this was more than that. This child was on a whole other level.

“What are you working on?” Edwin asked as he walked into the common area. Tony, ten years old at this point, was sitting on the carpet with parts spread out around him. He didn’t look up as Edwin spoke, but did acknowledge his presence with a nod.

“Hey, Jarvis,” he started, focusing on his project. “I’m trying to. . . Get this. . . Woah!”

The boy pulled his head back as a bolt went flying through the air, landing a few inches away. He grinned and looked up at Edwin. “I found this old radio set in the garage and was trying to fix it, but it’s pretty rusty. I’m not sure I can get it to work.”

“Right, I—” Edwin was interrupted by the sound of a doorbell. Confused, he looked up. “I wonder who that might be.”

Edwin started towards the door, hearing footsteps behind him as Tony followed. He was surprised when he opened the door and saw a familiar face. “Hello, Mr. Jarvis. Sorry to arrive unannounced.”

“Why, Mrs. Carter,” Edwin replied, stepping to the side. “Come in, come in. It’s been quite a while, hasn’t it?”

“Indeed,” Peggy replied, dropping her bags at her feet. “I would have called, but I feared you might be busy. Daniel and I need a place to stay for a couple of weeks. You don’t suppose Howard would mind us crashing here?”

“Oh, not at all,” Edwin told her. “He will be glad to see you.”

Peggy smiled before her gaze lowered to look at Tony, who was watching her with a confused expression. “You must be Anthony,” she started, crouching down and holding out a hand to shake his. “You’ve grown since I saw you last.”

Tony hesitantly took the woman’s hand and gave it a small shake. “Don’t call me Anthony,” he told her.

“My apologies,” Peggy said quickly. “What would you like me to call you then?”

“Tony,” he said simply, taking his hand away. Edwin was a bit surprised by the stiff movements the boy was making. It was as if he didn’t want to see Peggy. He supposed that he would not remember the woman, it having been several years since they relocated to Malibu, but it was unlike him to be so detached.

“Well hello, Tony,” Peggy replied. “My name is Margaret, but you can call me Peggy. I’m a friend of your father’s.”

“I know,” he said harshly before turning to Edwin. “I’m going to work on my radio now.”

Before Edwin could stop him, Tony was already returning to his spot on the carpet. The man was going to apologize before he saw Daniel struggling to carry a bag in. “Oh, let me get that for you, Mr. Sousa.” He took the bag from the crutched man and nestled it in the corner to move later. “Come, we have a lot to catch up on.”

Peggy was perplexed by the way Howard’s child reacted to seeing her. The boy seemed to want nothing to do with her, trying to avoid her in any way he could. It confused her, honestly, and worried her a bit.

“Are you sure about this, Peggy?” Ana asked. “I can stay with him. I don’t mind.”

“It’s not a problem, Ana,” Peggy assured her, holding her friend close in a hug. “You and Mr. Jarvis deserve a break.”

“Oh, thanks, Peg,” Ana said, smiling a bit before pulling away.

The moment Edwin and Ana left, Peggy turned to look around the building. It had been years since she had been here, but it still felt like home to her. She was beyond grateful when Howard and Maria agreed that it was completely fine for her and Daniel to stay as long as they needed.

It felt like old times again. Especially when Howard had proposed that they invite Jason and Rose and Aloysius over for dinner one evening in the near future. It just felt right.

But a lot had changed over the years. Her and Daniel were married now. They had two children together; a twenty-four year old daughter and a twenty-one year old son. Rose and Aloysius were married, but they didn’t have any kids. They did have a cat, however. Jason never got married, but he was one of the top scientists at Stark Industries now.

Then there was Howard. Peggy never imagined Howard settling down. The whole time she knew him, he had bounced from woman to woman. There were only a select few he saw as more than a toy. But he had changed when he met Maria. They ended up married a few years later, and then they had Tony.

“Right. Where is that rascal?” Peggy asked herself, starting her search. She found the boy in the garage, searching through a box. “Hello.”

“Hi,” he said dryly, not looking up.

“I was wondering if you might like to watch a film with me,” she started, trying to not let the boy’s tone phase her.

“I’m busy,” Tony said, continuing to search through his box.

Peggy contemplated for a moment, trying to figure out how to hand him. She started forward and crouched down, reaching to hold the flap of the box. “Maybe I could help.”

Tony glared up at her with a mixture of emotions in his eyes. “Can’t you get the hint and leave me alone?!” he snapped, pulling the box away from her. “I don’t want your help.”

Part of Peggy thought it might be wise to leave Tony be. She could always try to talk to him later, but she knew that it would be harder to get him to open up when there were others around. She had interrogated enough people in her life to know that. So, she instead put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. He flinched noticeably, but didn’t swing at her like she expected him to. “Is there a reason that you are acting this way?”

“Acting what way?” he muttered, refusing to look at her. “I just want you to leave me alone.”

“How come?” she asked. “I only want to help. I would like to get to know you, and I know this is not how you normally act. I asked Mr. Jarvis and he said that you’re usually an extreme good kid.”

Tony was quiet, looking down into the book. He looked like he wanted to say something, but no words came. Carefully, Peggy continued.

“You won’t hurt my feelings if you tell me what’s wrong, Tony,” she told him. “I can see you don’t like me, and that’s okay. But I would like to know why so I might be able to fix that.”

Finally, Tony looked up at her. “My father cares about you more than he cares about me,” the boy told her, his voice wavering slightly. “He talks about you all the time. You and Captain America. Every. Single. Day.”

Peggy felt her heart break for the child. She could easily see how upset he was by the fact. That’s something a child his age should never have to worry about; his parents loving someone else more than they loved them. It wasn’t fair. “I had no idea,” she told him. “I greatly apologize.”

Tony held her gaze for a moment before he sighed, his shoulders drooping. “I guess it’s not really your fault,” he admitted. He opened his mouth to speak again but quickly shut it, looking back down at the box.

“I suppose you want me to leave you alone now,” Peggy started after a few beats of silence. “I apologize for upsetting you.”

Peggy stood and started to turn away. She knew that she would need to talk to Daniel about finding someplace else to stay. She didn’t want to make this child miserable, and she didn’t see any way that she could turn things around. He had a good reason for disliking her, and frankly, she wanted to punch Howard for it. Because he had made his own child feel like there was someone more important than him.

“Mrs. Carter?”

Peggy stopped and looked over her shoulder. Tony had stopped looking through the box and was standing up. He looked hesitant, but finally met her gaze. “Yes, Tony?”

Tony shuffled his feet as he replied. “A movie. . . A movie sounds nice,” he told her. “If. . . If you still want to watch one.”

Peggy smiled and nodded. “That sounds splendid,” she replied, feeling her heart melt at the way his eyes brightened. A smile formed on his lips and he hurried after her. Maybe she could turn this around.

“Ow, hey!”

Howard held his cheek, rubbing it gently. He had been punched by Peggy Carter before, more than once, but this time he had no idea what he had done to deserve it. “What was that for?”

“Do you care to explain why your child believes you care more about me than you care about him?” Peggy asked. Howard could see fire in her eyes as she spoke. She was furious with him.

“Peg, I swear I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Howard huffed. “The kid is probably just looking for attention. You should just ignore him when he acts like that.”

“Ignore him?” Peggy questioned, following him as he moved to put his suitcase on the table. “Is that what you believe parenting is? Ignoring your child when he’s upset?”

“You know that’s not what I meant,” Howard said sharply, turning to face her once again. “I don’t ignore Tony. I’m busy. You understand that, right?”

“You’re supposed to make time for your children, Howard!” Peggy snapped, throwing her arms out. “They’re impressionable. Especially one as smart as yours. He’s going to remember this when he’s older and it’s not going to be good.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Howard asked. He was a bit offended by her criticism. It was unusually harsh for Peggy. “That I’m a bad parent?”

“If you can’t see that you’re hurting your son, then yes! Yes, it means that you’re a bad parent!” Peggy hissed at him. “Do you not realize how lucky you are to be able to be there for your son?”

“Peggy, you’re talking out of your head. Have you been drinking?” Howard asked lightly, trying to lighten her mood.

Peggy took his shirt in her fist. “Do you forget that Steve’s father died before he was born?” she asked. “Do you forget that my nephew grew up without his father because my brother died when he was f*cking five years old?”

“Peggy—”

“Do you forget that Ana cannot have her own children?” She pressed. “That her and Edwin would give so much to have a child, yet you act like yours doesn’t even exist!”

“Come on, Peg,” Howard started. “The kid doesn’t need me.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” she said, letting go of him. “To be a genius, you’re a bloody idiot. F*ck you, Howard!”

Howard watched as Peggy turned to leave. Before she slammed the door behind her, her gaze burned into him. “Steve would be so disappointed if he found that you idolize him. That you use the fact that you knew him to make your child feel inferior.”

Without another word, she was gone; leaving Howard to run his hands through his graying hair and try to comprehend what just happened.

“You’re leaving already?”

Peggy frowned as she heard the small voice behind her. When she turned, she found that Tony was standing there, giving her a sad look. She sighed and crouched down in front of him. “Is it because of me?” he asked. “I-I’m sorry, Mrs. Carter. I changed my mind.”

“Hey,” she said softly, putting a hand on his cheek. “This is not your fault, Tony.”

The boy was quiet, looking down at the ground. Peggy turned to Daniel and the man understood, limping away into the other room to give them some space. She took a breath and turned back to the child, giving him a small smile.

“You are so incredibly smart,” she told him. “I can see that just from being here a couple of weeks. You have a wonderful mind.”

Tony gave her a small smile but didn’t say anything. “I know that things aren’t perfect here,” she continued. “But I want you to promise me something. Can you do that for me?”

The boy nodded quickly without hesitation. “Y-yeah.”

“Good,” she replied. “I want you to promise me that you will do your best to do what’s right, no matter what the cost. With a brain as big as yours, you could change the world some day. I have no doubt that you will, but I want you to promise me that you won’t let that opportunity pass by when it comes to you.”

“Okay,” he breathed. “Okay, I promise.”

“Thank you,” she replied, pulling the boy close and kissing him on top of the head. “One more thing; know your value, Tony. Know what you’re worth and don’t let anyone try to convince you otherwise. No matter who they are or what they’ve done. No one knows you better than yourself.”

“Big man in a suit of armor. Take that away and what are you?”

Tony wasn’t sure about Steve Rogers even before those words. He had spent his whole life hating this man. The man that his father had always cared about more than him. And then to hear him say that. To hear that he after all Tony had done, this man refused to call him a hero.

Yet here he was, standing in the elevator next to this same man. The man who was holding an opened watch, looking at the picture of the woman they were going to see. Why he had agreed to this, he had no idea. Why he had been the one, when Steve asked him if he knew Peggy; “her and your dad were really close;” he had been the one to say “sure, I still do.” He had actually laughed at the man’s reaction to finding out that she was still alive.

Now that they were here, in the same building as Peggy Carter, he felt like he was betraying her. That he was going against the promise that he had made to her decades ago. That he wouldn’t let anyone talk to him the way Steve had talked to him on the helicarrier.

It was only because of what Bruce had told him after the Battle of New York that he didn’t back out or even humiliate Steve in front of Peggy, telling her what the man had said to him. Because they were all being controlled that day. The stone in Loki’s Staff, the Mind Stone, had been influencing them. All of them. That’s why he and Steve were butting heads. That’s why Natasha tried to convince Fury to lock Bruce up. That’s why Bruce had picked up the staff without realizing it.

“I’m worried she won’t be happy to see me.” Steve’s voice pulled Tony from his thoughts.

“Right. About that,” Tony started. “She might not actually remember you. Not at first, at least. Never fails, she calls me Howard every time I step through that door. I have to remind her who I am. Never remind her he’s dead, but I think she figures it out.”

“She has Alzheimer’s?” Steve asked, a sad look crossing his face.

“Afraid so, Cap,” he replied, sticking his hands in his pockets before making his way out of the elevator. “But she’s a strong woman. It doesn’t bother her.” He paused outside Peggy’s door. “Let me go in first. Try to explain it to her so she doesn’t completely freak out, okay?”

“Okay,” Steve agreed, standing against the wall so he wouldn’t be seen when Tony opened the door.

Tony took a shaky breath and knocked before pushing the door open. He gave a small smile as Peggy turned to look at him. “Hey, Aunt Peg,” he started gently.

The woman’s eyes lit up. “Oh, Howard,” she started. “It’s good to see you.”

Tony tried to hide his annoyance as he moved closer. “No,” he reminded her softly. “It’s Tony. Remember?”

“Oh, yes,” she said with a small smile. “I apologize. You look so much like him.” She shifted in her bed and Tony moved to help her sit up. “You were on the news.”

“Yeah?” he asked, acting surprised. He glanced towards the door, wondering if she had seen Steve too or if had been an interview clip. Either way, she might not fully remember.

“Yes,” she said, lifting a hand up and placing it on his chest where a faint blue light was visible through his shirt. “It was you.”

Tony smiled and put his hand on hers, gently lowering it to her bed. “I brought someone with me that wants to see you,” he told her, speaking a little louder to make sure Steve heard him outside the door. “Is that alright, Aunt Peg?”

Peggy’s eyes flashed with confusion, but she nodded in reply. He closed his eyes and stepped back. “Capsicle?”

Steve stepped in, his hands clasped in front of him as he smiled at Peggy. He looked uncertain at first as Peggy searched his face, trying to recognize him. “Hey, Peggy,” he said quietly. “How’s my best girl?”

Tony could see the moment that Peggy recognizes Steve, and that’s when he decided to step out, leaning back against the wall and trying to collect himself. Part of him said that he should leave. That Steve would be done with him now that he had gotten what he wanted. He would be disappointed if he waited behind. But he stayed anyway, trying his best to not eavesdrop on the conversation that was happening inside. His phone dinged with a message from Pepper asking how everything was going, and at the same moment he went to respond, Steve stepped out of the room, slowly closing the door behind him.

The man stood there for a moment with his forehead pressed against the door. His eyes were closed, Tony noticed, and he was frowning. “I don’t like seeing her like this,” he breathed.

“Yeah, me either,” Tony admitted, standing up straight and pocketing his phone for now. Hesitant, he brought a hand up and patted Steve’s shoulder. “But she’s happy.”

Steve nodded. “Who is he?” He asked after a moment. At first Tony was confused, but then he realized the other man must have saw the pictures in her room.

“His name was Agent Daniel Sousa,” he told him. “A P.O.W. One you saved. He was injured in the war and went on to work for the SSR. She always said he was the first one to treat her as an equal. I met him a few times. Good guy, really.”

Steve nodded slowly, straightening up before facing Tony. “Thank you,” he started. “For bringing me here.”

“Yeah, don’t mention it,” Tony replied, putting his hands in his pockets again. “I should get back to the tower. Ms. Potts has some evening plans, I believe.”

“Right, right,” Steve nodded again. “I should. . . Um, Ms. Romanoff and I were going to train later.” He put a hand over his forehead. “I completely forgot.”

“Yeah, good luck with that,” he snorted, remembering his own experience sparring with the woman. “I guess I will see you the next time Fury gets in over his head.”

Tony turned and started towards the elevator before he heard Steve sigh. “Wait, Tony,” he started, causing him to look back. “What I said. . .”

“Is forgiven,” he finished for him, shrugging like it wasn’t a big deal. Like it hadn’t caused his thoughts to spiral every night since. “You’re not too bad, Old Man. You have a lot to learn, but you’re not too bad.”

He saw Steve roll his eyes, but he held a smile. He turned and continued towards the elevator. “Natasha’s single, by the way,” he called over his shoulder as he pushed the button.

“And there it is,” he heard Steve mutter. He smirked as the elevator dinged in front of him.

“I don’t need a congressional honor, I don’t need Agent Thompson’s approval, or the President’s. I know my value. Anyone else’s opinion doesn’t really matter.”

#marvel #mcu #avengers #edwin jarvis #ana jarvis #peggy carter #howard stark #maria stark #tony stark #daniel sousa #steve rogers #agent carter #iron man #agent sousa #captain america

22 notes · View notes

maevemarethyu · 3 years

Text

The Pack (3/?)

(Not my GIF)

(Bucky Barnes x Reader)

The Night Wolves. New York’s most prolific and secretive gang. Always watching yet somehow always out of reach. Always slipping through the Avengers grasp.

Until they got you.

You were a street rat. A grunt working for the most gruesome group of criminals New York had ever seen.

Captain America wasn’t expecting much when they brought you in, he certainly wasn’t expecting you and his best friend to get along so well. You were a courier, nothing more.

Or so they thought.

Warnings: Violence, Cursing, Talks of Murder, Actual Murder, Talks of Abuse, Kidnapping, Depictions of Abuse, Crude Humor, Sexual Humor, Bucky Barnes (because he needs a warning all in himself), Sad Boi Hours.

You groan against the rays of sunlight the next morning, regretting that you let Wanda keep you up as late as she had.

Mountains of snacks and Sam Wilson being scared out of his shorts wasn’t what you had been expecting from movie night, but you weren’t disappointed in the least. For some reason you thought the Avengers would be the no talking and veggie trays type of movie watchers. Thankfully that wasn’t the case and you were able to eat your body weight in caramel corn once you got it out of Bucky’s grasp. The man had a serious sweet tooth and that somehow added to his disgustingly perfect charm in your eyes.

You had half a mind to think that it was nothing more than an elaborate ploy to gain your trust. Had being the operative word. After watching the man spill and entire milkshake on his lap when you accidentally brushed up against him on the couch you decided that the man couldn’t put up a front for the life of him.

Even if you ended up being wrong, you were impressed.

When you finally open your eyes, your mind wanders to Flora and Maeve. More than a week had passed since you last saw them. No matter how humble and welcoming the Scarlet Witch was, she wasn’t your sister like those two were.

You once again find yourself regretting this plan. There had to be another way. It didn’t even have to be a better way. Just any way other than this.

The clock on your phone reads seven in the morning and you groan again. Normally by this time you were sitting in your office, planning another hit with your choice of coffee in hand. Gracie would be winding through your legs and the girls would be hounding you to take better care of yourself. You banish the memory with a shake of your head. Daydreaming wouldn’t solve your problems. You were stuck here until the end of the month. Only twenty-six more days to go but, who’s counting.

Not you, that’s for sure.

There’s a familiar knock at your door and you debate between pretending to be asleep of answering it.

The choice is made for you when Bucky’s baritone voice calls out. “Hey, uh, Wanda wanted me to ask you to meet her in the common room.”

You decide to feign sleep.

“She also left you some clothes.” He adds.

The sound that passes through your lips is somewhere between a moan and a growl. Were all the Avengers morning people? You didn’t think you could handle that.

You definitely couldn’t handle Rogers’ holier than thou aura before noon.

Rolling out of bed, you stretch your arms above your head and open the door mid-yawn. You throw in a pout for good measure when you meet Bucky’s baby blues. To your satisfaction, a blush rises on the man’s face. Serves him right for waking you so early after a late night.

“Thanks Bucky.” Hopefully he doesn’t realize the sincerity in your voice is forced when, in an odd sense of déjà vu, you take the bundle of clothes from his hands. “I’ll give you your shirt back after I wash it.”

He mumbles something along the lines of take your time before flashing you a shy smile and making his way back towards his room. After his blunder last night, he’d begun to relax around you more. He laughed a bit harder when Sam cracked jokes and relaxed into the couch next to you after changing where as he had been stiff as a board when everyone first took their seats.

Honestly, if you though his voice was velvet; his laugh was in knee-buckling league of its own.

Barnes was a complete package and you think it a shame that you were natural enemies. The both of you could have done great things together.

Your phone goes off on your nightstand, breaking you out of the great things you were imagining, and you dash for it.

It’s a call from Liza, Flora’s cover contact, and you could just scream in glee. This was her first attempt at contact and like hell you were going to miss it.

“Hello?” You answer in a sing-song.

“Hey girlie. I haven’t seen you at the shop in a while! Are you okay? How are things?” Her familiar voice warms your heart. There wasn’t a doubt in your mind that this call was being recorded so you had to choose your next words carefully.

“Sorry to worry you. I’ve had a really hectic week, so much has happened. I had to leave the city for a while because of dad but, I’m safe I promise you. I’ve met some really nice people that are letting me stay with them. They’re looking out for me while we get dad back on his feet.” Holding the phone between your ear and shoulder, you begin to slide out of your clothes and pull on the clean ones.

“Really? That’s nice of them. What are they like?” There was an edge to Flora’s voice that only you would notice. She was worried for obvious reasons.

“Well the first few days were rough because it was all guys and they’re clueless on how to deal with women.”

You hope Flora could read between the lines. The men are clueless and suspect nothing. Let alone that I’m the Alpha. Sexism at its finest.

“Oh geez.” You snort at her exclamation. “But, you said the first few days. I’m assuming there’s another girl there now?”

You nod even though she can’t see you. “Mhm. She really nice and really helpful. I’m surprised the men can function without her. She wears the pants around here. I’m actually going to meet with her now.”

Translation: She’s the brains and powerful to boot. We should be weary of her.

“As she should.” Flora proclaims haughtily. “You be careful okay? And let me know when you’ll be back! We miss you.”

Your hand pauses while slipping on a sock. “I miss you guys too. Hopefully we can get dad better and come home soon. This place isn’t home.”

“Home is where the heart is Val. Toodles!”

After the call disconnects, you stare at your phone in shock. You never, in the time you’ve known Flora, thought you would hear the woman say toodles. You never thought you’d hear anyone use the word. This whole plan was bringing out the crazy in all of you.

You make for your door, shoes in hand, ready to face the Witch. Flora’s call had lifted a weight from your shoulders and you’re able to walk down the hall with a pep in your step. Things were going to plan and nothing put you in a better mood, even if it was a plan you despised with every fiber of your being. You even managed a cheery hello to the Star Spangled Ken Doll when you pass him.

He reciprocates with wide eyes that follow you down the hall.

Wanda is waiting for you on the couch; sat next to her is a face you had only known through magazines.

“Hey Valerie!” The witch greets with a smile. “This is Pepper Potts-Stark.”

You knew who she was; of course you did. The woman was a legend. Starting as Tony Stark’s assistant she eventually married the billionaire and proceeded to take over his company when he passed. Since she gained control, Stark Industries had skyrocketed to numbers even its founder couldn’t reach. The woman was the best businesswoman in the world and a mother on top of that.

“It’s nice to meet you.” The woman grins, extending a hand for you to shake, which you do with wide eyes.

“Me?” You guffaw. This woman was your goddam hero Valerie Mason or not. “It’s nic-amazing to meet you. Mrs. Pot-“

“Please, call me Pepper.”

“Pepper.” You rectify giddily. “Its very nice to meet you too.”

“Wanda told me the boys brought you in here without any clothes or other necessities. I give you full permission to smack the hell out of them. I swear, the three of them would lose their heads if they weren’t attached to their bodies. I’m pretty sure FRIDAY has to remind them to wash their hair.” The redhead whispers conspiratorially with a roll of her eyes and you could swoon on the spot.

“So, since Steve has refused to let us take you back to your apartment, we’re going to be taking you shopping.” Wanda continues as the duo stands. You could cry tears of joy. Shopping with the Pepper Potts.

And Scarlet Witch, of course but, Pepper Potts.

But, you weren’t you. You were Valerie Mason and she would say- “I can’t let you do that. I can deal with what I have. You’ve already done so much.”

“You won’t talk her out of it.” Pepper laughs. “We’re taking you out. End of discussion.”

“But Captain Rogers-“

“Is staying in a building I own. If he doesn’t like it he can leave.” The billionaire shrugs and you weigh the pros and cons of proposing to her right there.

“Besides. We need dresses for the upcoming gala. You included.” Wanda affirms while looping her arm through yours. “And you need something other than Bucky’s shirt to wear around.”

It’s Pepper’s turn to look at you with wide eyes. You guessed it wasn’t every day Barnes gave his clothing to strange women. The knowledge filled you with a twisted sense of pride but, you duck your head to avoid the woman’s gaze.

You wait until you’re out of the building to lift your head. The fresh air felt amazing to breathe in. The morning sun left you feeling energized and warm.

The car that pulls up in front of you is the same model you have stored in your garage and it sends a pang of longing through your heart. You missed your car.

And your cat.

And your bed.

And your pool.

And-

“Are you ready?” Pepper asks, opening a door for you. All thoughts of the things you missed fly from your head (aside from Gracie that is) as you squeeze into the luxury vehicle.

“As I’ll ever be.”

Maybe this month wouldn’t be awful after all.

By the time you return to the compound, your feet are aching and your arms feel as though they’re about to fall off due to the weight of your bags.

You’re so absorbed in your wallowing that you almost walk past the giant green thing in the kitchen.

Almost.

Wanda had warned you that Banner was coming home today but, you had forgotten somewhere between SoHo and Manhattan. His back was turned to you so, you take the time to observe him. The man was huge. The videos of him scaling buildings and taking down aliens didn’t do him justice. According to the Witch he had mellowed out completely but, that did little to calm your nerves.

You relax when you hear the signature clinking of a spoon being stirred in a mug. The Hulk was making tea if your sense of smell was on point.

You debate not introducing yourself and just making a break for you room before deciding against it. You’d rather meet him one on one rather than in a room filled with watchful eyes.

“Um… Hi.” You start, starling the man. “You must be Bruce Banner.”

The green giant turns towards you slowly and you’re taken aback by how kind his eyes look behind his small glasses. He holds a teacup between his thumb a pointer finger, which he’s careful not to spill.

Banner nods, extending his unoccupied hand before thinking better of it and retracting the gesture. “You must be Valerie Mason.” His eyes travel to the copious bags in your hands and he grins shyly. “Pep and Wanda got to you I see.”

“Apparently I’m going to a gala and I needed a dress.”

Banner’s eyes turn solemn at your words and you fear you may have said something wrong. The last thing you needed was for the Hulk to lose his cool and throw you out a window.

“Is it that time of year already?” He mutters; more to himself than you. He must see the question in your eyes because he clears his throat. “It’s the gala celebrating Thanos’ defeat and to remember those we lost. Tony, Vision-“

“And Natasha.” You finish. You had heard rumors of the romance between the Hulk and Black Widow but, you’d always chalked it up to a reporter’s overactive imagination. The pain on his face tells you that those weren’t just rumors. “I’m sorry. It must be hard.”

“Yeah well, it doesn’t get easier.” The teacup shudders between his fingers and, for a moment, you fear that it would shatter in his grip.

It doesn’t and the giant man lets out a sigh. “I should probably get back to the lab. You should stop by if you’re interested in… well anything really. We’ve got it all.”

You’d have to take him up on that offer. Sure, the Hulk’s size was intimidating but, you were never one to back down from a challenge and the opportunity to sift through one of Stark’s labs wasn’t one you’d miss.

“Thank you. I’d like that.” Banner gives you a tired smile before lumbering off and you almost pity him before you check yourself. You had a very limited amount of fucks to give on a given day and you weren’t going to waste a single one of them on the Avengers.

From the hall he disappeared down, you hear something shatter and a quiet shit.

…Okay, maybe you could spare one. Plus, strategically, getting the resident genius on your side could only help your position.

With an idea taking root in your brain, you rush towards your room, hitting the breaks before you crash into one Steve Rogers who doesn’t look like he’s moved since this morning.

“Sorry Captain Rogers. Didn’t see you there.” You stutter, turning on the awkward charm that, according to Pepper, Valerie Mason had in loads.

It doesn’t work. Blue eyes lock onto the bags in your hands and a frown mars the blond’s face.

In a split second decision, you shift your bags so that the several Victoria’s Secret logos are revealed and whatever the man was about to say dies in his throat. A blush crawls up Rogers’ neck as he mumbles incoherently before rushing off, leaving you in a state of victorious satisfaction.

He’s gone so quickly, its almost funny and you’re free to go to your room without persecution.

Not that Wanda would let the Captain berate you. You had a feeling the Witch was going to be one of your best assets in this situation. You felt for the woman. She had lost her parents, brother, and the love of her life and you almost feel guilty for using her need for attachments to your advantage.

You manage to open and close your door with your foot before promptly collapsing on the floor. Shopping with the richest woman in the world and the most powerful woman in the world was no joke. You were half-surprised you survived.

“Hey FRIDAY?” You call out from your place on the floor.

“Yes Miss Mason?” The AI replies cheerfully. You weren’t used to a cheerful AI. MARVI had an attitude you couldn’t seem to program out of him.

“Can you get me the numbers of a couple pottery studios willing to do custom pieces?”

There’s a beat of silence before she speaks again. “May I ask what the custom piece is?”

“A mug.” You sigh. “A really big mug.”

“I will get right on that Miss Mason.”

Your room goes silent once more and you revel in it. You had always preferred the quiet of an empty room to the non-stop chatter of a party. It was the main reason you had gotten a home far from the city. Wildflowers and green fields as far as the eye can see had always attracted you more than sky high buildings and the constant bustle of everyone thinking their lives are more important than common fucking courtesy.

You had lost count of how many people you wanted to throttle for bumping into you on the sidewalk.

No matter how much you wished to stay in your place on the floor, you had a feeling Pepper wouldn’t forgive you if you let the dress she bought wrinkle because you were too lazy to hang it up. It would be a shame; the dress was beautiful even if you didn’t want to go to the gala it was for.

You had a feeling that emotions would be running high during the memorial and emotions weren’t really your forte. You feared that your lack of understanding would completely blow your cover. For as long as you could remember you worked liked a robot from one job to another. There was a certain amount of feeling in your line of work but, nothing like what the Avengers had faced.

Now, now. Enough of that.

You pull yourself off of the floor with a huff and remove the dress from its bag before unfolding it. You’d have to get it tailored because the store only had it in a size larger than yours but, you couldn’t pass the gown up. Wanda had pulled the black dress with gold detailing with such glee that saying no would have been akin to kicking a puppy and you were above animal abuse.

After hanging the dress up, you move on to the other bags, folding and putting away their contents until all that’s left are the same bags you used to scare the Captain away.

He was pathetic. One of Earth’s mightiest heroes running away from a striped bag. Maeve would get a kick out of that.

Wanda would too. You’d have to tell her tonight at dinner and you were quite looking forward to it for the first time since being brought here.

After dinner, you’d have to go up to the roof as well. Pepper had mentioned that it used to be her favorite place in the compound at night. That she could see the stars for miles and, more importantly, it was deserted and there were no cameras.

Staying in the confines of your room would drive you mad if you let it so, when the woman told her about the little escape, you made it a goal of yours to spend a bit of time out there every night.

In blissful loneliness.

After dinner (complete with Wanda teasing the Captain about the bag incident) and after you’re sure everyone else has gone to bed you slip on a new set of sleeping clothes before making your way to the kitchen.

It looked eerie with only one light illuminating the area but, you make do. After searching the cabinets, you finally find where the mugs were stored then, you start the process of boiling water. It was chilly tonight and you’d be damned if you went to sit on the roof with nothing to fight off the cold.

As you wait for the water to heat, your mind wanders to dinner once more. It was the second time you had eaten with the Avengers but, the first time you had been so nervous that you hadn’t really taken anything in. Now that you had time to study the group, you had noticed a few oddities.

But, at the top of your list was the way the Winter Soldier refused to look his Captain in the eye; or even look at him in general. Your first assumption was that, much to your dismay, the Captain was more Bucky’s type than you were but, then you saw it.

It was brief – only a flicker in Bucky’s blue eyes but, it was one of the only emotions you understood completely.

Anger.

Anger mixed with something you could only describe as betrayal. Something Rogers did hurt his best friend beyond repair and you wanted to know what. You don’t even attempt to integrate it into your mission. You just wanted to sate your own curiosity and another, dare you say protective, part of you needs to know why anyone would hurt the human embodiment of a cinnamon roll.

Barnes was so sweet you could eat him up.

The whistling of the kettle brings you back to reality and you quickly pull it off of the stove before the noise wakes any of the other residents.

The drawer next to you opens on its own accord, nearly giving you a heart attack before you see the boxes of tea sat inside.

“Thanks FRIDAY.” You grin with a low voice as you search through the boxes. Next to a tiny jar of honey is a container of lavender and you take it as a sign. While the tea steeps you pour in a healthy dollop of honey before making your way to the elevator.

The warmth of the mug seeps into your bones and one sip of it brings a bright smile to your face and you climb the floors. You’d have to ask FRIDAY about ordering a book for you to read during your nights on the roof.

The elevator doors open with a quiet ding and your smile grows as you step out of the box and follow the signs down the dimly lit hallway. You were only a few steps away from the beginnings of a new and solitary tradition of yours: dream of your future plans of calling Maeve and Flora without watchful eyes on you as you push the door open.

The dream is quickly shattered when you spot another lone figure standing at the railing and a hiss of disappointment leaves your throat before you can stop it.

The figure was definitively male and white which really rained on your parade since the only two white guys in the tower were super soldiers with super hearing and that meant he heard you open the door.

You curse your excellent deductive reasoning as the figure turns, moonlight shining off of a metal appendage.

“Oh, it’s just you.” Once again, your mouth works faster than your brain but, the same can’t be said for the man staring at you with an open mouth. “Sorry to interrupt. I’ll just go.”

You go to turn on your heel but, Bucky’s gruff voice stops you in your tracks. “No wait. I’ll go. You can-“

He was back at it with the puppy eyes and overly sweet demeanor. The way he shyly shuffles his feet and stumbles over his words were quickly becoming your kryptonite.

You find yourself shaking your head in refusal. “You were here first.”

Blue eyes lock with yours and you let out a nervous laugh befitting of your cover. Something about this man never failed to catch you off guard and, as someone who craved control, you hated it.

“Or.” He mumbles after a moment. “We could both stay. If you want.”

You didn’t want. You wanted to sit on top of the building alone and be yourself. You wanted to drop this innocent girl act and scowl to your heart’s desire. You wanted to flip off the moon and curse at the stars.

You wanted to be you and you couldn’t do that with Barnes watching you from two feet away.

You almost decline before you think better of it. It was late and no doubt the man was tired. You had learned a long time ago that people were willing to admit things in the dark that they would never voice out loud with the sun’s ray warming their body. People don’t feel judged by the moon’s gentle gaze.

This would be your first step in the direction of getting to know what the Avengers know and then some.

You knew your answer but, you didn’t like it one bit. “I’d like that.”

Tags: @cherryblossomskye @hollarious @vicmc624

#bucky #Bucky Barnes #bucky fanfic #bucky x reader #bucky x y/n #marvel

8 notes · View notes

angstsfordays · 4 years

Text

Tell Me Now

Summary: The best part about love is always that bit before you actually confessed your feelings and officially be together. That mutual pining and fluttering feeling. But that would not last forever. You got to tell that person someday before it’s too late.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader (Main pairing), Steve Rogers x Reader (Supporting pairing)

Warnings: LOTS OF FEELINGS. Maybe a few swear words? Mutual pining and much slow burn that will make your heart ache.

Word count: 10889

Notes: Thank you for supporting my story: Stay with Me and For You! If you haven’t check it out, be sure to do so! I’m back with a new post that has been in my drafts for a while. Since I’m finally on a break from school, I managed to continue working on it!

This time, I’m back with a Bucky story and it will be in the same universe as my two other posts. So for Bucky’s stories, Steve’s girl will be named Ro(salie). In Steve’s stories, Bucky’s girl will also have a name (undecided yet) otherwise it will just be weird like Reader 1 or 2. Just take note again that Ro (in this story) is an OC from my previous two related stories!

Hoping that this story can cheer everyone up in these difficult times. Take care and stay safe! Wear masks and practice social-distancing! Anyways, hope y’all enjoy this one too! IT’S REALLY LONG BUT I HOPE IT’S WORTH A READ. Let me know what you think! 😊

———————————————————————

“I imagined you would have plans on a Friday night.” You were still in a deep pile of work before the voice of your boss snapped you out of your concentration.

You could not hide the frown that formed on your face as you looked up to meet his face. “I wonder who decided it would be a good idea to have a crossfire in the Amazon forest.”

“Well, we can’t decide where the bad guys want to be? Plus, no people were hurt, we were well away from civilization.” Tony tried to downplay the aftermath of the previous mission. The team were intercepting the trafficking of dangerous weapon materials by a rogue organisation. Said organisation thought it would be escape unscathed and undetected through the biggest rainforest from Earth’s mightiest heroes.

“There were no people but there were tons of wildlife, Tony! Animal activists and nature conservationists are basically rioting! That’s two more to add to the list of people that are pissing at the Avengers!”

You retorted at your boss’ almost nonchalant attitude. You knew he was not surprised that the Avengers always received backlash even if they were only trying to save the world.

It was a long week for you, having to clear up this PR stunt caused by the Avengers. You have started working for Tony Stark as his new assistant for the past six months. With Pepper taking over Stark Industries as CEO, Tony Stark could solely focus on his Avenger duties.

However, even with Friday, he needed someone on the ground that could help him with matters that require human interactions. More specifically, to deal with the Public Relations side of the matter.

Needless to say, while people are grateful for the Avengers, there are some who weren’t. Mainly any government authorities who aren’t able to control the Avengers. Fame has two sides of the coin and Tony Stark hardly has time to juggle bad press and public relations on top of his Avenging duties.

You were recruited after you left your previous job, playing the whistle blower to your company whom you found out were involved in shady dealings linked to Hydra. You refused to defend them and save them with a PR campaign, thus you gathered all evidence and decided to throw them under the bus.

Life was hell for you after, you found yourself to be in danger courtesy of your previous employer. He decided to hire a Hydra agent to take your life and you were fearing for your life. You knew that you might not be able to convince the police to help you with this matter and you were sure that you would be dead.

But with whatever luck you had left, the attempt at your life was intervened by the one and only Avengers. You still remembered how your door was knocked down by Captain America and Black Widow decided to make an entrance through your window. What a dream, right?

You remembered shaking terribly as both Avengers fought off your terribly strong assassin. As you backed up to get away from the scene, your back collided into a hard chest. A cool, metal hand had held you close and your heart leap in fear. You turned back to see the Winter Soldier, as stone cold as you have known him from the news, his eyes held a reassuring stare that prevented you from screaming your lungs out.

You did not know what prompted your next actions but you threw yourself at him, arms encircling neck and hiding yourself in his warm embrace. You hoped that he could protect you. You did not want to die just yet, you believed you still had a lot of things to fulfill in life.

And that was basically the beginning of your new life. After being rescued, Tony recruited you into the Avengers though not as an Avenger. You wished, ha! Instead, you were hired as the PR director for the Avengers. Tony Stark was impressed with what you did previously with your previous company and decided to hire you to manage PR for the Avengers. God knows he would not want to deal with that.

It was also to make sure you were under protection with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and that you did not need to worry about any attempts on your life. The agent and your previous employer were dealt with. You were in a much better place now.

“Come on kid, let me make you a drink.”

“I don’t think that it is appropriate in the workplace, boss.” You jested but you knew he mean well. Tony is a great boss despite his occasional oddities. He respected and trusted you, and that is all you really ask for in a boss.

“How about as a friend?” He shrugged off your previous comment before gesturing you to follow him to the exclusive lounge area for Avengers. This was entirely different because it was located in the private living quarters of Avenger members. All other personnel did not have access to it, even you until not long ago.

When you were first introduced to the team, you could not believe yourself to be in that situation. You became fast friends with the girls and it was Rosalie or Ro as she liked to be called (who’s also Steve Roger’s girlfriend) that made you feel at home with the team.

She was impressed at your bravery to stand up to injustice and made it a point to be your friend. She would sometimes ask you out for lunch or coffee, eventually inviting you to hang out with the rest of the girls.

All of them were so normal, unlike their fierce and badass images as Avengers. You could really see that they were just normal people with everyday problems. They have come to seek your advice on everyday stuff, such as dress for a party or planning a surprise for their significant other.

Then one day came the big question.

“Do you have anyone special, Y/N?” You crinkled your nose at Ro’s question and shook your head. You never thought about it since you have been busy with work.

You had only one serious boyfriend after college but you broke off the relationship when you realised that he was not the one for you. He wanted you to be the trophy wife in his life, proposing to you a couple of years after you started your career. He assured he will take care of you as he started climbing up the corporate ladder. He wanted to start a family but you knew you wanted more.

You wanted your own career and be part of something more meaningful and bigger than yourself. There was no way you wanted to be confined to a home taking care of children. Sure, you might hope for it in the future but you knew the potential that you had. You were not going it to give it up so easily.

“Never really thought about it.” You shrugged as you drank your iced coffee.

“Oh come on, Y/N. There are plenty of guys here in the compound, don’t tell me there isn’t one that caught your eye.” Your eyes widened at Ro’s words. While subtle, your body language did not slip past the keen eyes of Natasha Romanoff. There was one guy. Maybe. But you were not going to let them know.

“There isn’t any.” Your answer was curt before taking another sip of that coffee.

“You’re lying.” Natasha answered smoothly, if you were not close with her you would have stopped yourself from throwing daggers at her with your eyes.

“There isn’t-” You look to Wanda who was giggling at the exchange and your eyes widened at the possibility of-

“Wanda! Don’t you dare!” You warned the young girl as you knew what she was capable of. God forbid she read your mind and figure out whose image first popped in your mind. She threw her arms mockingly and gave an expression like she would not dare to so even while she had a wide grin on her face.

“Who is it?!” Ro started getting excited at the prospect of her friend having her crush.

“No one! Oh look at the time, I need to brief Tony about something-some meeting- something…BYE!” You hurriedly walked out of the pantry. You knew that the girls would hound you for answers and you were not ready to face that yet.

———————————————————————

“Earth to Y/N. Yoohoo!” The sound of Tony’s voice snapped you out of your thoughts once again and the incident with the girls that happened only yesterday.

“Wha- what?”

“I asked for your favourite poison?” Tony quipped before he started to open the cabinets for his liquors.

“Uh- surprise me with your best.” You tried to give a fast answer as you were just interrupted from your memory of yesterday. Tony threw a smirk over his shoulder before he went ahead to get some ice.

“Oooh, is Tony making drinks?” A new voice appears and you turned to see Ro entering the lounge. Behind her were the rest of the Avengers who were slowly filing into the room.

“Be prepared for an amazing show.” Tony started to wave his hands like a showman. He closed the cocktail shakers and started doing an awkward dance to a song that he requested Friday to play. It was overall cheesy and greasy, unlike his usual public image.

You started laughing and clapping to cheer him on. There was some holler in the background and Tony finally poured his concoction into a fancy glass. Adding in a small umbrella, he presented it to you. You turned to the rest of the team to show it off before taking a sip.

“It’s called ‘I cannot live without you’ because we cannot live without you now, Y/N.” Tony did a dramatic wave his hands before bowing. You chuckled at his theatrics before downing your drink.

“On behalf of the team, we’re sorry that you have to clean up our shit.” Tony exclaimed to which everyone snorted but agreed. They knew they owe you big for clearing the PR mess after every time they had to do their job of saving the world.

Natasha and Wanda decided to join Tony behind the bar and make some drinks for everyone as well. Everyone took a seat around the lounge table near the island and Ro took the seat beside yours.

“You worked hard, Y/N. Thank you.” She went in to hug you from the side.

“Anything for you, baby.” You petted her like she was your child.

“Thanks again, Y/N.” Steve (you could never get over the fact that you were on first name basis with Captain America) chimed in. You responded with a salute and spoke.

“Just doing my job, Steve.” The rest all started sitting down one by one with drinks passed out. Everyone fell into easy conversation.

A flash of blue passed by your eyes and you saw Bucky Barnes taking the sit across you. He was dressed in a long-sleeved blue Henley with dark pants. He just had his hair cut short and you could not help to leave a small gasp when he turned to meet your eyes.

You immediately swerved to face Ro who was talking to Steve. Seeing that she was busy in conversation, you turned your head to the other side to meet Natasha who was giving you a confused expression at your flustered one.

Your hand reached out to your drink to get another sip, unknowingly Bucky’s own fingers brushed against yours to reach out for his drink on the same table. Your eyes immediately averted to scan his reaction and he gave you a curt polite smile. You tried to muster a response, any really to show that you were cool-headed.

Bucky threw in another nod as he raised his drink and you nodded in response to his gesture, his mannerisms threw you off guard. In your almost entire year of working with the Avengers, you barely had a solid interaction with the Winter Soldier.

By that, you mean that the most interaction you had was a nod in the hallway, a greeting in the morning when you passed by the gym on the way to your office or when he saw you getting off work in the evening. There also was the occasion asking of refills for coffee when you see him in the pantry. And that was it.

Your first meeting with Bucky had left a big impact on you because for the first time you had felt an indescribable emotion that only he had on you. You had always had a strong independent spirit and never felt the need to depend on someone. That was how you were raised in your household and your parents had pushed for you to exceed in life, given that you were from a second-generation immigrant family.

That kind of mentality had been ingrained into your life and you never let your guard down with people. Not until that fateful day…. for the first time you just wanted someone to depend on. But no matter, Bucky Barnes is out of your league, you reminded yourself.

You have seen how the gaze of female agents or staff move over to him whenever he stepped into the room. He did not even need to try, which was even the more annoying part.

Snap out of it, Y/N.

“Hey Y/N, you would not have gotten sick of us, yet right?” Sam quipped up in the conversation. You did not know what the context of the current conversation was but you just decided to answer away.

“Hmm, I don’t know. Is a drink really going to make me stay?” You shook your empty glass and Wanda initiated to refill it.

“Well then ask away, my dearest and indispensable employee. What would you like as an early bonus?” You jokingly made a serious face and looked like you were pondering hard on the question. Nothing really came into mind as you were happy with what you had for the moment.

“Maybe a vacation?” Natasha suggested with her brows raised. You nodded with a thoughtful expression, that would indeed be nice. Would you go to the beach or the mountains for a nice personal retreat?

“That’s too simple. You should use Stark’s card to the fullest advantage.” Sam said smugly and you returned with an expression that showed agreement.

“How about a boyfriend?” Ro’s voice suddenly injected into the conversation. You swerved your head to face her, eyes widened at her bold suggestion.

“Oh, what’s this all about?” You could already imagine the gears spinning in your boss’ head and you really wanted to strangle Ro for a quick minute.

“Y/N deserves someone special in her life, you have been overworking her too hard Tony.” Ro continued with a playful expression and you swore you were going to lean over and-

“Get some, get some!” Sam started cheering to which Ro joined. The both of them acting like children.

“I don’t understand, what is Miss Y/N getting?” Vision suddenly asked in the midst and you saw Wanda giggling with an embarrassed expression at her boyfriend’s innocence.

“Stop it, Rosalie! You know I don’t like to talk about this!” You gave a fair warning to the hyped-up Avenger whom Steve almost seemed embarrassed of as he sighed at his girlfriend’s antics.

“Hey! You know I don’t like it people call me Rosalie!” Ro retorted as she folded her arms.

“Well, you crossed the line first.” You threw back a squinted glare.

“Oh come on, I just want you to find someone that can make you happy because you make us happy.” Ro started walking towards you with her hands outstretched, wanting to give you a hug.

“Uh-uh, you don’t get to be all cute on me after what you did. Steve might fall for it but I won’t.” You held up an accusing finger to which Ro pouted.

“Steve, she is so mean to me.” The girl started pouting and went to sit on Steve’s lap, hugging him like a teddy bear. Steve returned the embrace but not before looking up to you and mouthed to you ‘sorry’.

You knew Ro meant well like a sister but you REFUSED to speak of your non-existent love life in front of everyone (well specifically HIM).

“Oh come on, Y/N. Ro just wanted the best for you. It’s important to work hard but one must play hard” Sam added on with a smirk to which you threw him a glance that hinted for him to zip it.

“You sure there is no one you’re interested? I happen to be a great matchmaker myself on top of being a billionaire, playboy wait scratch that I married with a kid, philanthropist…” Tony gestured to himself smugly.

“How about no Tony, I am not going to be one of your special projects.” You waved your boss-friend off before running your hands through your hair, exasperated at what tonight’s conversation started leading to.

“Oh come on, there are plenty of men in the compound. Take your pick, any pick. I will set you up.” Tony insisted and made a gesture to actually pull up a holographic database of all personnel data.

“Oh my god Tony. Believe it or not, I don’t need your help and I am not confident about YOUR taste in men.” You gasped in shock at what he was doing and wanted to squirm into the corner of the couch that you were sitting on.

“Well then, I am sure you will be confident in my taste.” Natasha’s voice pulled you out of your recluse and you returned a disbelieved look towards the redhead.

Your eyes averted once more to the beautiful brunette in blue across you to gauge his reaction to all this sudden intervention. Bucky looked aloof and amused altogether, he had his usual calm demeanour but you could make out the small upward curve of his lips. What was he really thinking about, you wondered.

“Argh fine. If I let you have your way, can we stop having this conversation that I never needed.” You issued an ultimatum to the group; you just wanted this conversation to end.

“Deal.” Natasha answered while Ro nodded eagerly from your side.

“Fine, If there is someone nice, you can introduce him to me.” You threw your hands up in defeat before crossing them over your chest, signalling to the team that you are so done with this ordeal.

“Yay!” Ro got off Steve’s lap and started doing a celebratory dance by swing her hands in circles. Everyone’s attention went to her and her little dance was met with amusement. You could not help but to laugh at her excitement, your eyes suddenly caught the sight across you.

Bucky Barnes suddenly had a hardened expression on his face unlike before and his eyes stared right into your soul (as cheesy as it sounds). It suddenly threw you off guard because this was probably the most intimate interaction you had with each other and you immediately tried looking everywhere but him.

“Please promise he won’t be weird.” You turned to your redhead friend and requested with a pout. Her eyes fleeted somewhere else before meeting yours.

“Trust me, Y/N. Believe it or not, I am a psychic when it comes to this sort of things.” You definitely had faith in your friend, I mean she would never sabotage you. Right?

———————————————————————

You return to work on Monday well rested. You manage to give yourself a personal retreat over the weekend by visiting cafes and bookstores. You even baked some Nutella tarts on Sunday and planned to give it to the team to share.

As you stepped into your office to put your things down, Friday requested you to head down to laboratory. You gave yourself one last look in the reflection of your glass office, straightening your tan midi pencil skirt and light blue blouse. You took your Stark Pad and place the earpiece on your left ear.

You were ready to face whatever work would bring. You took light confident steps to the level that the laboratory was on. Walking in to the open lab space, you saw Tony and Bruce exchanging playful banter, well more so on Tony’s side.

The two men’s attention turned to you once you stepped into the room and you were welcomed with smiles.

“What’s up, boss?” Your eyes went to Tony before going to Bruce. “Morning, Bruce.”

The scientist returned your greeting with a warm smile before walking back to his workstation. Tony signalled for you to follow him as he started pulling up holographic images and was looking through some data information. “So how’s your morning?”

“Good. Friday said you wanted to see me. What do you need me to do?” Your statement made Tony rolled his eyes as he made a jokingly exasperated expression.

“Diving into work talk so early at 10? Relax Y/N.”

“Some people actually start work earlier, Mr Stark and I’m not paid to relax.” You knew Tony was unlike any boss, he definitely had his quirks but it was not something you could not work with.

“You almost sound like Cap for a second there, how did I get such an employee like you?�� Tony almost looked thrown off for a moment but you knew it was in jest.

“You offered me a job after saving my ass from an assassination attempt on my life.” Your deadpanned expression drew a laugh from your boss. He held up his hands before resting one on his hip.

“You never fail to surprise me Y/N. Anyways, okay onto business, we have a visitor and I need you to show him around.”

“Alright? Who is it?” Looking up to your boss with curious eyes, you were surprised when he let out a sigh- as if he were actually concerned about the matter.

“The government is sending in an agent to check in on the Avengers for a yearly assessment. It is part of our compliance to be transparent with what we actually do. Of course, we do not divulge mission information and all that. But they do want to know how we run operations on a general basis.”

“And you chose me because….” Your brows furrowed at the sudden revelation of information.

“You are the perfect person for the job. You know exactly what and what not to show them without infringing on our privacy.” Tony answered nonchalantly while instructing Friday to work on some scientific analysis.

“Right, of course. I’m the PR girl.” You answered with a knowing expression.

“No, you’re now my trusted adviser and there is no one else I trust with the task.” Tony looked up to meet your eyes with a serious expression for a short moment.

“Adviser? I’m just in charge of PR.” Placing your free hand on your hip, you made an exasperated stance as you gave Tony a questionable look.

“Oh well, would you look at that? You’ve been promoted. Congratulations, that will be your bonus for handling the Amazon stunt.” Tony started clapping to himself before making a grand hand gesture.

“Seriously, Tony? That’s like my job, it does not call for a promotion.” Your brows quirked and you had to give him a ‘I’m not buying this’ expression.

“Well, I’m the boss. I’m right, you’re wrong and thus I can promote you.” He gave you an all-knowing expression before he suddenly had a look that said he was reminded of something. “He will be here in 1 hour.”

“You are giving me 1 hour to prepare? Oh my god, Tony. That’s too little time!” You started stomping in your heels before frantically looking to your Stark Pad and asking Friday to send you information on your soon to come visitor.

“You can make it work; you always do.” Tony gave you a thumbs up with an eat-shitting grin. You could not even return him a verbal response and let out a short grunt before making your way out of the lab.

“I am experienced enough to do this. I am capable enough to do this. I can do this” Chanting a mantra to calm your nerves, you started preparing information on your Stark Pad to come up with an agenda to welcome the government agent.

You were definitely going to request for a vacation soon after this.

Walking to the lobby at 10.45 am, you stood by the receptionist desk as you waited for your visitor. You chatted with the receptionist, Jenny briefly to calm your nerves. She was a sweet-looking lady in her early 40s who was a single mother of two boys. However, her appearance was just a façade as you knew her to be tough and hard worker who was great at her job.

You once witnessed her putting a rude government employee who was here to accompany a higher up in meeting with you boss. She took no shit from the man who looked down on her for being a ‘front desk lady’ and asked her to get coffee.

That moment never failed to make you feel good about being a woman.

Looking down at your Stark Pad, you read through the profile of your visitor. Keith Wellings. Age 45. A federal agent with the US government for almost 20 years. This man rose the ranks quick to his connections and tenacity to mix with the right people at the right time. He is definitely going to use this opportunity to curry favour both sides.

He will definitely make it hard to pass assessment in exchange for favours from your side. Keith will definitely be careful on how he presents this assessment to his bosses as he definitely knows the government will go to any lengths to get dirt on the Avengers. He will be on the offensive on this visit. You need to make sure he does not cross any line.

You could hear the footsteps before you saw someone walking through the door. To your surprise, the man entering through the door does not look like the one in your tablet.

He had a sense of familiarity around but where had you seen him before?

“Y/N Y/L/N! How has fate brought us together again?” His voice ringed an alert in your memory and you took an intake of air to calm yourself. There was no way it could be….

“Teddy Radnor?” Your voice was soft but you knew he could hear you. This was evident in how his face lit up at your recognition of him.

“It’s great to see you again.” You did not anticipate the hug that was coming for you and almost dropped your tablet as he pulled you in for one.

Teddy Radnor was your college friend. You both were studying the same major and became fair friends. You saved him from getting humiliated at a party by agreeing to be his ‘hot’ date as part of his frat house orientation. You were from the sister sorority which you only agreed to join as it was free housing on campus.

Teddy was a bit of a dork back in the college years and he was only in the fraternity because his family were legacies. You still thought he was a nice and sweet guy, albeit he started being clingy seeing that you were the only person who was genuinely nice to him. You did see him as a friend and brother though you knew he saw you otherwise.

While you did attract some attention from guys, you were focused on your studies. Teddy made sure to be the buffer and saw himself as your unofficial boyfriend. You tried on many occasions to give him the hint and ultimately told him the truth. He seemed to accept it but he believed that he could stand a chance one day in the future.

You lost touch with him upon graduation. You were busy in your career and you heard that he was busy advancing in his too. You just never thought you would be reunited after five years later under such circumstances.

“Wow, you’re working with the Avengers? That’s so awesome.” Those were his first words as he released you from the hug.

“Yeah, I switched job. And you’re working with the government? Wow.” You tried to match his enthusiasm.

“Yes-yes, not easy but I figured if I worked hard enough, I would be able to work in a place of importance.” Teddy’s words reminded you of why you were friends with him in the first place. Even while he’s sometimes awkward and couldn’t take a hint on your unrequited feelings for him, you knew he was a good person.

“I’m proud of you Teddy. I know you always wanted to work in public affairs.”

“Well, I could say the same for you. You’re working with the Avengers. I can’t believe I’m also here. Keith had another work thing so I was called in at the last minute to replace him.” You nodded in understanding. So that’s why Teddy was here.

Lady luck had to be on your side. You knew Teddy and Teddy definitely would not make it hard for you. This assessment would be a breeze.

———————————————————————

You gave Teddy a walk through of the entire compound, from the back end communications to the training grounds. He looked like a child at a playground with a piece of candy. You were sure he would give you the benefit of a good assessment.

You had lunch with him in the cafeteria and was ready to seal the deal when you heard him mention one important thing. “I know it sounds unprofessional of me but between friends, I want to let you know that I’m secretly a huge Avengers fan. I was stoked when I got the call to come in.”

“Oh yeah, who’s your favourite?” You tried asking casually, trying to hide the fact that you had a plan up your sleeve.

“Oh my gosh, they are all amazing. They truly are, but it has to be Cap for me. He really is the cream of the crop for me.” Nodding deviously, you already had a feeling that Teddy’s idol had to be Steve. Teddy was the history buff back in college.

“Of course, I understand Teddy. Well, it just so happens that I am acquainted with Cap and I could introduce you to him.” You gave your most award-winning smile to hook him in. Teddy looked at you for a moment before speaking. “Oh I see what you’re doing.”

You tried to conceal your expressions and gave him a confused frown at his words. Shit, was he catching up? “You’re trying to butter me up.” Shit, he did. Teddy continued on talking.

“And it’s working slightly but I still have to be impartial about this assessment, Y/N.” You heaved a small sigh of relief before smiling sweetly up at him again. “Oh come on, Teddy. I am just doing this for an old friend.”

“Old friend, right….” It was meant to be a mutter to himself but you could hear it loud and clear. You tried to brush it aside as you asked him if he was done with lunch. The two of you cleared your plates before continuing the walk through.

You brought Teddy to one of the lower levels and stopped in front of the door. You did not have to do anything as Friday recognised your presence and went ahead to open the door for you. Teddy turned to look at you in amazement once more while you returned a smug look in return at his response.

The two of you were brought to the sight of an Avengers-only training exercise. Saving the best for last, you peeked at Teddy’s response and had to bite your lip from forming a full-on grin.

Hook, line, sinker.

———————————————————————

Bucky Barnes had to focus. Steve had come up with a new training regime for field operations after reviewing past mission scenarios.

Playing to each member’s strength, Steve came up with offensive and defensive pairings for field combat. He was paired with Ro in the exercise, she was on defence while he was offense. While Ro had firepower with the nature of her powers, Steve decided she suited long range attacks with her ability to fly and that she can direct her powers from a further distance.

The duality of her flame like energy blasts was able to incinerate and tranquilize made her perfect to defend the team from attacks. Bucky on the other hand, more experienced in operative work will be the one to sneak into enemy lines and obtain the necessary data or item of interest.

In this particular scenario, Ro had to build an energy -based force field to defend the both of them from raining firepower. The rest of the team collectively tried to break the barrier while Ro had to endure it and bring Bucky into the ‘enemy base’.

Bucky looked over to see Ro enduring attacks from both Vision and Natasha. Steve was overseeing the practice while Sam took the side-lines to help Steve with the analysis of the training practice.

Bucky focused on defeating the holographic images that Wanda was conjuring to mimic potential enemies. Bucky’s ears suddenly perked up at the sound of new arrival into the training room.

Looking up, he saw you with an unknown man who seemed like he was in awe of everything. Bucky broke concentration for a moment and felt himself being punched in the jaw by one of the holographic enemies.

“Bucky, why are you not focusing-” Steve’s words were interrupted as he too looked up at the presence of new arrival into the room.

“Alright, we can take a break. Buck, Ro, the both of you were doing great. It was the right decision to pair you two together. We can resume again later.” Steve’s approval was all he needed for him to let loose and catch a breath.

Reeling away from Captain mode, Steve immediately switched to boyfriend mode. He went ahead to grab the water bottle and towel before making his way to his girlfriend. As Ro immediately gulped down the water, Steve lovingly wiped up the sweat on her face and placed a peck on the side of her temple. Bucky could hear him whispering ‘You did so good, darling’.

Ro gushed outwardly at Steve’s words by muffling her squealing into the towel. Steve chuckled at how she can still be blushing like a schoolgirl even when it was a year into their relationship. Bucky started to feel envious because he also wanted that relationship with someone too. Perhaps with someone who just entered the room.

The mysterious man and you started making way down the steps to the training grounds. Bucky gave the guy a once over, he looked decent enough but he didn’t like the way he was standing so close to you.

“Steve, I would like for you to meet someone. This is Teddy Radnor, he’s an agent from the government and is in charge of the assessment today.” You finally revealed who and where the guy was from.

“Captain Rogers, it is an honour to meet you. It’s an honour to meet everyone here, really.” This Teddy fellow stepped ahead to give Steve a handshake. Steve, putting on his public persona greeted the guy with a courteous smile.

“Likewise Agent Radnor. I hope you had a good experience.”

“Oh definitely. Y/N here has been a great host.” Agent Radnor placed his hands around your shoulder as he responded. You looked slightly taken aback by the sudden contact which made Bucky felt defensive all of a sudden.

As he was standing nearest to you, he though of taking a step forward to intervene when you turned to smile at Agent Radnor, looking embarrassed. What was going on-

Steve must have sensed the same thing he had because he asked what exactly Bucky had on his mind. “You two know each other?”

“Yes, we were college friends and in the same fraternity-sorority house.” Agent Radnor was quick to answer eagerly as he looked to you for affirmation. You just silently nodded in agreement.

“Oooh, college friends. Were you two close?” Ro started to join in the conversation as she stood beside Steve.

“Yes, yes indeed. In fact, I kind of confessed to her but she told me no. She did not see that way and wanted to focus on her studies which I respected that.” Agent Radnor seemed very pleased with his answer when it garnered intriguing responses from the rest of the team.

Bucky already started to dislike him.

“Teddy!” You were shocked at his sudden revelation and looked like you wanted to crawl into a hole as you brought up the Stark Pad to hide your face. You had a grimaced expression formed on your face after removing the tablet from your face. Your frown then turned into an irritated expression causing Bucky to follow your line of sight to find out what was the cause of it.

Bucky turned to see the girls namely Ro, Natasha and Wanda exchanging hush whispers with Cheshire grins on their face. Steve, Sam, and Vision did not know how to react in this circumstance and looked at each other awkwardly. Bucky did not like this man one bit.

“I’m sorry. Too much information. I always tend to be socially awkward when I’m nervous. I babble and say awkward stuff. I guess it’s because I’m just such a big fan of everyone. Oh wait, too much information again. I’m an agent and should be impartial during this assessment-” Agent Radnor started blabbering on and on, it was almost uncomfortable to endure.

You placed a comforting touch on his arm and tried to calm him down. ‘It’s alright Teddy, they’re just normal people like you and I.’ Bucky heard you say to him.

Even if Agent Radnor had embarrassed you before, you still offered him reassurance. That was one of the many things Bucky admired you, how effortless you were with people and the comforting presence you brought when you were in the room.

Bucky knew this was why you were so good at your job and that Tony Stark trusted whole-heartedly to place the well-being of the Avengers as your highest priority. He admired how level-headed you were no matter the crisis and the positivity that you had in ensuring that it will be dealt with.

More importantly, Bucky admired how you were genuine around the team. He was not sure when Tony recruited you after saving your life from Hydra. He was amazed at your bravery to stand up to injustice even if you did not any hero like powers. He was not sure how you would be like with the team, he preferred to keep you at a distance as with any strangers.

However, you started gaining fast friendships with everyone with your easy-going personality soon enough. He could see similarities between you and Ro in how you are friendly towards others but he could also see the difference. While Ro had an infectious and bubbly energy, you on the other hand draw people in with your cool and calming presence.

Bucky always wanted to get closer to you. He just didn’t know how to. Whenever he sees you, it was as if everything in him stilled and he could not express how he really felt. He only resorted to making sure he acknowledges your presence when in the same room, this was his way of him respecting you.

Bucky was not sure how else to approach you without making a fool of himself. He envied how the rest of the team were easy to warm up to you and he wished he could do the same too. But Bucky knew he didn’t deserve someone like you. Perhaps with his past, he does not deserve to be loved by someone at all.

Agent Radnor continued to have small talk with the rest of the team while Bucky looked on silently. You were looking on the exchange with interest without saying anything. You provided smiles of reassurance to Teddy as he spoke animatedly of his admiration for the Avengers.

Your eyes suddenly met his. Blood started rushing to his cheeks as he tried his best to maintain eye contact with you. This was the most imitate way that he could have with you without actually having to talk to you. God knows what nonsense would come out of his mouth if he actually tried to have a full-length conversation with you. How you render him speechless was beyond him.

Bucky could sense that you were getting nervous, your started blinking and your eyes were fleeting. Was it too much? Did he overdo it? Bucky saw you tucking a hair behind your ear before sending him a small smile his way.

While subtle, your smile made his breath hitched. Bucky then remembered to return the same gesture and the corner of his lips went up when he saw you trying to hold back a full smile while looking on the ground.

He wished he could have seen your full smile but he was sure you did not want to attract attention from the rest. What Bucky didn’t realise was that three devious women were observing this subtle exchange between you and him. The three women let out silent gasps as their theory was confirmed.

They always thought that they were imagining it because Bucky Barnes was always trying to mask his emotions around you while you tried your hardest to do the same. Wanda had her theory first before Natasha caught on immediately. Ro was the last but boy oh boy, when she knew, she was the most excited to bring this pairing to life.

Ro glanced over to Wanda and gave her the signal by rubbing the bridge of her nose. With a wave of her hands, Wanda caused one of the nearby pipes to burst and hot air started gushing, creating a high-pitched scream.

The sound took everyone off guard and Bucky went ahead to take you into his arms when he first heard the loud burst. You immediately returned the gesture and allowed yourself to stay in the protection of his arms.

When the realization of what happened dawned upon everyone, everyone let go of their ears to turn and check on each other.

Teddy was huddled and squatting down on the floor while most of the team squirmed slightly at the outburst, given that they were more used to loud sudden noises during field operations.

You opened your eyes and your heart started to race wildly as you found yourself in close proximity of Bucky. The previous time you were so close was during the first time when you two met and he saved your life.

“You alright, doll?” Did he just called you doll? You were hearing correctly right? Bucky chided himself as he realised what he had said. Who was he to call you doll? You may not even like the name!

“I’m alright, Bucky.” Bucky’s hands were still around your shoulders.

“Thank you.” You continued and it seemed like Bucky was suddenly snapped out of a trance. He let go of you immediately and you tried to adjust yourself, looking at the ground as you couldn’t meet his eyes.

Your exchange was not missed by Teddy who got back on his feet.

“Oops, better call maintenance.” Ro suddenly chimed in. Oops? Bucky’s brows frowned as he found Ro’s words to be weird in this situation. He looked to see Ro exchanging glances with Wanda but could not put together what was going on.

What were those girls up to?

———————————————————————

“Well, I hope you will give us a good assessment. We really are just folks trying our best to help the world.” Steve sealed the deal as he tried ending Teddy’s experience on a good note.

“Of course, Captain. I am well aware.” Teddy gave a salute to Steve to which Steve returned awkwardly with matching enthusiasm. Teddy gave the rest an acknowledging nod and you gestured for him to leave. You suggested for him to return to a private space for you to wrap up the day.

As Teddy walked up the stairs, you quickly turned back to the rest of the team and gave Steve a thumbs up. The team gave silent holler and cheers as a sign of support and you gave a reassuring expression in response. They knew you had it in the bag.

You led Teddy to one of the small meeting rooms on the office level and discussed over how the assessment will conclude. Teddy had noted down his remarks in a government issued smart tablet of his own and he informed you that he would have to come up with a more comprehensive report for submission.

You understood and thanked him for his time. As you walked Teddy out to the lobby, you continued to make small talk and caught up on what you missed in each other’s lives for the past six years.

“Well, this has been fun.” Teddy turned to face you.

“Indeed, not trying to influence you using the friend card but I really hope you can give us a fair chance on this assessment. The Avengers may look glamourous with their hero-act but there’s a lot of work that goes on behind the scene. It’s really a lot of work and sacrifice on their part, putting their lives at risk so that they can make sure those who are not able to defend themselves are given the chance to live.” You tried to conclude the assessment on a positive and sincere note.

“Spoken like a true PR representative.” Teddy spoke as he chuckled.

“No. I’m speaking as someone who really truly witnessed it first-hand.” You hoped that Teddy could hear the sincerity in your voice and know that you were speaking from your heart. Teddy was not able to find the words to respond so he just nodded in understanding.

“Well, you will hear from us in a week.”

“I look forward to it.” You gave your most heartfelt smile. You initiated to say goodbye to Teddy first, wishing him the best in his work. He returned the same gesture and he started walking off.

As you saw him leaving out the door, you turned back to head to your office after a long day. Your name was suddenly called and you could see Teddy re-entering the building again to walk up to you.

“What is it, Teddy?” You were curious to know why Teddy had returned barely after he left. Looking over, you could see Teddy nervously rubbing his hands together and cracking his knuckles. You knew this was his tell sign of nervousness back in college. Guess he still had the same habit.

“Hey, Teddy. What’s wrong?” You tried to reassure him, hoping to calm his nerves with a supporting tone of voice.

“I was- I wanted-” You kept quiet to indicate for him to continue his sentence. Teddy looked at you straight in the eyes before he spoke.

“Y/N, I was hoping after this is over, we could have dinner together. To catch up again. Would that be alright?”

“Oh Teddy…. I’m not too sure, would that be alright-” You were starting to panic. Was he suggesting this so that…

“This is not some sort of exchange in any way and it would not affect the results of the assessment.” Heaving a sigh of relief, you looked up to meet Teddy’s eyes. It was déjà vu all over again, this was exactly how he looked like when he confessed to you back in college.

“I’m not too sure Teddy-”

“Please. Would you like to give me one more chance? To prove that maybe it can work out between us. I really really like you, Y/N. I still can’t forget about you after all these years….” You wished so hard to not be in this position again.

You weren’t sure if you wanted to agree to this, knowing that you maybe had feelings for someone else. Even if it was impossible between you and said someone.

But you couldn’t lead Teddy on when you know your heart isn’t fully in on this.

“I would let you know again. Maybe once this is over?” You tried to give a neutral answer, one that didn’t give him too much hope but also not a crushing answer. Well, it seemed to please Teddy as he had a wide grin on his face when he heard your answer.

“Alright, sure. Yeah. Should I get your number?” He suggested with his grin still full-on.

“Well, I have yours. Stark Technology and all-” You pointed to your tablet and he just nodded in understanding.

“Great, well I hope to hear from you soon. With good news.” Now it was your turn to nod and Teddy took it upon himself to bid you goodbye with a hug. You returned it and then send him off.

Releasing a big sigh out of your body, you were glad that the day was really over.

It was soon evening and it was time for you to end work. You were packing up your stuff when Friday informed you that you were wanted in the Avengers’ private quarters.

Wondering what it could be about, you swiftly made your way there. You were then greeted with the sight of Wanda and Bucky making dinner while everyone was waiting at the table.

“Y/N!” You first hear Ro’s voice before you even entered the room. The rest followed in their greetings. The smell of food immediately drew you to heading over to where the chefs were.

“Food smells so good.” Taking a deep inhale, the smell of home cook food was starting to make you growl with hunger.

“Perfect, cause it’s for you.” Natasha remarked as she was helping to set the table.

“For me?” You asked excitedly as you placed your things down and went ahead to stand beside Wanda as she was stirring something in a pot.

“Tony had to go home to take care of Morgan but he told us what you did for us today.” Natasha continued saying.

“It was nothing. Just part of my job.” You tried waving it off casually as Wanda offered you a taste test of the soup she made. You gave her a look like you were in love as the soup tasted so so good.

“Bucky is making your favourite. Mac and cheese.” You could die on the spot as mac and cheese was your ultimate comfort food. You peeked out behind Wanda’s silhouette to look at Bucky earnestly topping different layers of cheese on the macaroni.

You bit your lip, debating privately on which sight was more delicious? Stop it, Y/N. You chided yourself. This was highly inappropriate. Bucky looked up from his cooking to meet your gaze and you decided to give him an appreciative smile. “Thank you. That’s so sweet of you.

“It’s nothing.” His voice was low and muffled and sexy, oh my god, you needed to control yourself. Bucky’s entire being was doing things to your insides.

Soon, dinner was ready to be served and everyone gathered around the communal table. Everyone started digging in and fell into conversation immediately. As everyone was having second rounds, Natasha who was sitting across you spoke up.

“So how do you think the assessment went?” Natasha asked you with a curious gleam in her eye, as if she was expecting something.

“It was good, I think we can expect good results. Teddy really seemed impressed by what we have here.” Your friends nodded as they listened to your answer.

“Or more specifically, he’s impressed by what we have here.” Ro looked at you with an all-knowing grin.

“Ro! Teddy and I are old friends but college besides that would have been entirely inappropriate. He’s here to do his job.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time someone mixed work and pleasure.” Sam sent you a smug look as he wriggled his eyebrows. You scoffed at what he was insinuating and shook your head while reaching out for a glass of water.

“So?” Natasha drawled out the word as she asked. You made a frowning-confused face and tilted your head to signal for her to continue. “That’s it?”

You knew exactly where she was steering to in the conversation and you could back out of it, but you knew she will stop at nothing to get answers out of someone. Placing down your cup, you let out an exhale as you held onto your temple as if you had a headache.

“Teddy asked me out.” You weren’t surprised when your friends let out gasps at your revelation. Well more so on the girls and perhaps Sam. Vision, Steve and Bucky had neutral expressions worn on their faces.

“Please, are you really surprise?” Your eyes averted to the girls who seemed more excited at what you had just revealed.

“I’m surprise he got the balls even. He might have gained some respect from me.” Natasha coolly remarked as she took another bite of her food. Such savagery….

“Hey, Teddy is not so bad!” You protested.

“You gained a soft spot for him?” Natasha calmly quipped back.

“Come on, I’ve been friends with him throughout college. He is odd at times but he’s harmless.”

“Like a Teddy bear?” Sam chimed in. His words gained many laughter and he even tried giving high-fives to show off his wit.

“I’m not going to talk to you people if you’re going on like this!” You threatened to back out of the room. Pulling your chair out, you started to clean your own dish and you could hear the rest of the group continued on their chatter. You could hear Steve reprimanding the rest like a disappointed parent at his kids’ behaviour.

Bless Steve.

As you returned to the table, Natasha spoke up again. “So are you going to say yes to the date?” You knew everyone could sense your hesitation and your eyes went to Bucky who had a passive expression on his face. Oh god….

“I don’t know, Nat.”

“What do you mean know?” Ro continued. “He’s not expecting you to go on a date to get a better assessment, is he? If not, I WILL-” Ro went on to mimic a punching gesture with both hands and Steve had to calm her by pressing down on both her hands.

“Yo Y/N. That won’t be cool, I’mma also-” Sam went on to make his own gesture of beating Teddy to a pulp. Steve once shook his head at the immaturity of his friends but he held a serious look as he turned to you. He was indeed worried if it was really the case.

“No-no, Teddy wouldn’t. He said it’s not like that. He just wants to reconnect.” You tried to calm your two rather rash (but loyal) friends.

“Do you want to?” This time Wanda was the one who spoke up. Taking a moment to seriously think about it, you figured what was the harm on going on one date with Teddy? Would it really be that bad? If you don’t feel the same way, you could always settle it there and then.

Why were you denying yourself at a chance at love again? You figured it you could start dating again. “Maybe. I don’t know. I should try, should I? It’s been awhile….”

“Listen to your heart, sweetie.” Wanda reached out to hold your hand dearly. You smile gratefully at her support.

“I will think about it, anyways I told him I will give him an answer once this is over. So I still have time.” You said to reassure your friends. You tried redirecting the conversation away from this topic and continued to spend a little more time with your friends.

Bucky Barnes tried his hardest all evening to not falter. Hearing that agent had asked you out stirred up some emotions within him. He realised you were not going to be available forever. An amazing woman like you will catch the eyes of other and eventually they will make a move to ask you out.

Bucky caught Steve glancing over at him. Even without talking, he knew what his friend was trying to tell him. Go for her before you lose your chance, punk! Steve while terrible with dealing with women except for his own girlfriend was not stupid. He was still able to read the room and more importantly, his childhood friend.

Steve always had his suspicions. He noticed how Bucky’s eyes fleet to you immediately when you entered the room and how they lingered too long for it to be a normal behaviour. Bucky was eager to greet for you even if it didn’t look like it. Bucky while accustomed to the team, was still reserved with strangers.

Steve could see that Bucky was always conscious of how he acted around you. You might not have noticed but Bucky always tried to look out for you in his own subtle way. Perhaps, it was not easy for his best friend who sometimes remained in the dark shadows of his thoughts, believing that he did not deserve to be happy with someone because of his past.

Steve knew Bucky wants to be loved by someone special and that he deserved to be loved. He just wants this punk to not sit around and wait any longer.

You decided to call it a night and wanted to return home. The girls were whining for you to stay and asked why you could not stay at the compound for good. There were plenty of rooms in the private quarters for you to call your own.

You refused, saying that you deserved your own quiet space away from dealing with this chaotic energy (referring to the team). Ro protested at your words but you just laughed it off and bid farewell to everyone.

Steve looked over to Bucky and with the power of eye contact and practically 90 over years of friendship, signalled non-verbally to Bucky that he should take action. Wanda’s voice popped up and stated that you had forgotten your car keys on the counter.

Raising his hand up, Steve indicated for Wanda to pass it over to him. Wanda gave him a smirk before using her powers to push the keys onto Bucky. Steve gave an approving nod at what she did and both people turned to Bucky to give him a ‘what are you waiting for?’ look.

Clutching the car keys in his hands, Bucky got out of his seat and gingerly made his way to the garage. He took in deep breaths as he quickened his steps in hopes of catching up to you.

Luckily, you were not far along and heading for the elevator. He called for your name and you were surprised to see him. Bucky took the last few steps to face you and he look down on the ground for a moment to adjust himself.

“You forgot your keys.” He started off nervously as he stretched out his hands to pass it to you. Your mouth made an ‘o’ shape as you realised why he even came up to you in the first place. You let out a nervous laugh and took it from him, not forgetting to thank him as well.

“It’s nothing.” Bucky replied. Silence followed with awkward tension.

“I gotta go, can’t wait to be back in bed.” You tried to break the silence. There was another pregnant pause and you chided yourself for even trying. This was going nowhere.

“Yes, you had a long day.” Bucky tried coming up with another response. No use forcing it, this was even more awkward than the time Teddy confessed to you. You heart sank in disappointment. Should you even try? Were you willing to give it up before giving it a try with Bucky?

Bucky’s movement snapped you out of your inner thoughts as he began to make his way back. He gave you a once over and nodded to bid you goodbye once more.

The words were at the tip of your tongue. You wondered if you should-

“Hey Bucky.”

Bucky stopped in his tracks and immediately turned his body back to face you. What could you possibly call him for? He made his way back to you and stood face to face to you. His eyes bore into yours and you had to take a gulp before gathering courage to speak.

“Should I go?” Your question caused Bucky to be all confused and you then realised you weren’t clear enough.

“Should I go on the date with Teddy?” While your question was indirect, but you were hoping he got the drift. If he liked you any one bit, he would not let you go on the date. If he had any ounce of interest in you, he would stop you right?

Your held strong eye contact with him, trying to gauge his feelings through non-verbal cues as you figured he was trying to come up with an answer. Seconds felt like hours, he did not give you an answer.

You let out a low chuckle. What an idiot you must have sound like? Why would Bucky care about your date at all?

“I’m sorry. I’m asking stupid questions. Goodnight Bucky.” You made your way to press the elevator and stood right in front of the lift. You hoped Bucky would just leave and save yourself from more humiliation.

As your elevator came to your floor, you were going to take one step in when you felt a hand grabbing onto your wrist. You turned to see Bucky with a slightly panicked look on his face.

“Don’t go.” You scrunched your face into a confused expression as you tried to understand what he meant. His next words caused your heart to skip a beat and the corners of your lips to move up.

“Don’t go on that date with him.”

��——————————————————————

Hello my readers! You didn’t think this was the end, did you? Thanks for sticking till this end of this long ass one-shot!

Here’s the bonus epilogue for this story.

You sat in the corner of a café that you looked up online. It was a third-generation family business that had the best pastries in New York. You pick on the loose threads of your yellow gingham midi dress as you waited for your date.

The bell of the café rung to signal the arrival of a new customer. You looked up to see a man in a dark outfit of black and blue. Black jacket over a blue t-shirt and dark washed out jeans. He was wearing a glove on his left hand and an eager smile on his face.

Bucky made his way towards you and first complimented on how beautiful you looked. You returned the same compliment and ravelled in how he easily embarrassed he was at the slightest praise.

The two of you went ahead to the counter, picking out a few sweet treats and two iced coffee. When your order was set on the table, you went ahead to cut a slice of cake and offered to him first.

Bucky eagerly took it and your heart melted at the bashful boyish grin he donned. The two of you fell into an easy conversation and you brought up something on your mind.

“These pastries are so good; we should get some more and you can bring it back for the rest of the team.” Bucky nodded in agreement as he took a sip of his drink.

“You know, Natasha had something to do with bringing Teddy in that day.” Your statement had Bucky’s attention on you. “Yeah, she told me a few days after. Trust her to use her skills to do something like that.” You laughed before continuing explaining.

Apparently, Natasha had a hand in making sure Teddy replaced his colleague for the assessment that very day. When questioned if she had any intention to bring you and Teddy together in the first place, she laughed and shook her head. She always intended for this plan to push you and Bucky towards the right direction.

She believed that if Bucky realised you cannot always be there and will eventually end up with someone else possibly, he will stop being in denial. Bucky commented that Natasha truly was a work of wonder and said that he was eternally grateful for her intervention.

Bucky reached over to hold your hand with this flesh hand but you went ahead to also grab his gloved vibranium hand too. It was your way of telling him that you accepted him whole-heartedly and loved him very much.

Bucky brought both your hands up to place multiple kisses and tell you how he really felt. He knew he shouldn’t hold back his feelings anymore and that you deserved to know how important you are to him.

“Doll, you’re the best thing that happened to me.”

———————————————————————

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #james buchanan barnes #bucky barnes #bucky x y/n #bucky barnes x y/n #marvel fanfiction #angstfordays

142 notes · View notes

simsadventures · 4 years

Text

After All: Chapter 7: Please

Summary: Tony learns about Hannah, and has a real problem remaining cool. Meanwhile, you spend your time with Bruce, and as Bucky sees you with him continuously, he gets a little jealous.

Warnings: angst, angry Tony, jealousy, fluff, swearing

Word Count: 2461

A/N: I got carried away with the Tony bit a little, so my apologies. Anyway, thank you everyone for the positive feedback, means a world to me. Love you all 3000!!

Series Masterlist __ Masterlist

< Previous Chapter

Tony was seething. He was sitting in his chair, listening to all Bucky had to say, even if it took all his willpower not to jump at him. His relationship with Bucky was almost nonexistent, and he was on the team pretty much only because Steve insisted on it, and swore he would take care of his friend. Tony never went on a mission with Bucky; fortunately, the world being a little less crazy nowadays, so the whole team rarely got together on missions.

He was well aware that Bucky did all those things, even killing his parents under mind control, but that didn’t mean he had to suddenly like him. And Bucky wasn’t that fond of Tony, to be honest, he thought of him as a narcissistic asshole, but he never let his emotions get the better of him. He knew he was lucky to be on the team, to have a safe space, and on top of it all, friends bordering with family. The two of them never really tried to spend some time together, so it was a surprise for Tony when he saw Bucky marching towards his office.

He was pissed not only at Bucky and Hannah, even though his anger was primarily directed towards those two. He was also mad at himself. He gave you a job, hell, he did everything he could to persuade you to come and work with them. He thought of you as one of the most brilliant scientists and inventors of this era, and he needed you on the team. He promised you the best working place you could imagine, and here you were, bullied by members of his team. He obviously didn’t pay enough attention to you, because if he were, he could’ve seen what was coming.

Even when Bucky finished the whole story, Tony remained calm. He was sure if he spoke up, he’d actually kill someone. So he took a few breaths and closed his eyes, trying to think of the best thing to do. He knew he had to fire or at least transfer Hannah fro screwing up with people like that. His problem was Bucky. If he could, he would send him flying out of the window behind him, and just the thought of it made him smile a little. Yup that would make him happy for sure and Tony would bet you’d like to see it too.

But as much as he wanted nothing more than to hurt Bucky, he knew it wasn’t an option. Not really.

“What do you propose I do, Barnes?”

Bucky stared at him, dumbfounded. He expected a lot of things, but not a calm and collected Tony. At least on the outside, anyway. “I can’t really tell you what to do with Hann-“

“Oh, I’m not asking about Hannah. I’m asking you, what do you think I should do with you? I understand that you had pretty much no idea that Y/N is not a HYDRA agent. But you still hurt her pretty much, from what I hear. So can you tell me what I should do with someone like you? Because let me tell you something. I would be ecstatic to punch the living hell out of you, I really would, but I don’t think it’s my place. I don’t think I have the right to punish you. I believe that whatever Y/N’s got for you will be punishment enough. So, be on your way, and I advise you to try and stay clear of me for at least the next two days. This calm demeanour will wear off rather quickly.”

Bucky widened his eyes a little, nodded sharply, and walked out of Tony’s office. He expected to be sidelined from missions for a month, or something like that. But Tony was right. Every second that you didn’t speak to him, and genuinely didn’t care about him, hurt ten thousand times more than anything Tony could do to him.

As soon as Bucky left Tony’s office, Tony shouted at F.R.I.D.A.Y. “Friday, I need you to send agent Burks to my office, ASAP.”

“Yes, sir. Agent Burks is being informed.”

Tony just hummed and stared out the window. He knew she was a reasonably good agent, but at the same time, this country had many good agents, so he wouldn’t miss her. Hell, he didn’t know what she looked like. He was sure that the second she comes to the room he’d know immediately, but at the current state, no face was coming to his mind. He patiently waited, gave few orders for FRIDAY to sent out, until he heard the door open and close.

He turned around and there she was. As he thought, he was aware she was one of the agents, but that was all he could say to their relationship. Even his relationship with Barnes was stronger, Tony thought, and the thought almost made him snicker. What a paradox!

“Sit down, agent Burks, there are some things we need to discuss.”

Hannah had to idea what would Mr Stark want. She wasn’t aware of anything she’d done wrong, so she could only hope this was some kind of promotion or a pay raise.

“You wanted to see me, Mr Stark?”

She smiled sweetly. She was, indeed, a beautiful woman, but Tony couldn’t care less. One, he had Pepper, and she was the most beautiful woman on Earth, and two, this woman in front of him was a lying bitch trying to get somebody’s attention by hurting other people. And Tony couldn’t stand people like that.

“It got to me that you’ve been acting unprofessionally lately. You have anything to say for yourself?”

“M’ sorry? I’m not aware of me doing anything wrong, sir.”

Right, Tony thought and smirked. If she at least had the decency to come clean and beg for forgiveness. Not Tony’s, of course, but still.

“So you’re not aware you came with a fairytale that one of our best scientists is a spy, and you also didn’t put this very idea into Bucky’s head, then?”

There was a silence in the room. Tony could have sworn he saw all the thoughts running through Hannah’s mind, while she was trying to think of some lame excuse.

She wanted to speak up, but Tony stopped her. “You know what? I don’t even wanna hear it. You’re a good agent, I’m willing to acknowledge that much. But you are obviously a shitty person, and, to be honest, I, nor anyone else wants such a person around. But because you are good at your job, I’m not gonna fire you. You will be transferred to the CIA, with whom, as you might know, we collaborate very closely. They are always in need of more people, and I already sent a message to their headquarters, and you are very welcomed there. I didn’t tell them about what you did, but trust me, if I found out that you’re still doing shit like that? I will make sure everyone in the States knows, are we clear?”

“Sir, yes, sir!” Hannah all but saluted him and ran out of his office. He sent a few other agents to her room, making sure she really leaves and leaves without talking to you. That was Tony’s primary mission. Tony thought the whole thing was a success, nobody fought him, and everyone was doing exactly what he wanted them. Good day at the office, he thought and made a mental note to come by your lab the next day, to see if you were ok and if you knew that Hannah was no longer part of the team.

—-

The day Tony came to your office was one of the happiest in the latest history. At first, you were pretty shaken, because you were that kind of person who never tried to make a problem to others, especially by going to the boss and complaining. But it wasn’t you, and it kind of surprised you when you learned that it was actually Bucky.

You knew about the relationship Tony and Bucky shared, so you were confused as to why he would go to his “boss/colleague” for you. Because from what Tony said, it seemed that, indeed, Bucky went there so that Hannah wouldn’t bother you, primarily. What surprised you, even more, was that Tony was actually speaking in a very positive tone about Bucky. Not friendly, of course, but in a way that you saw that Tony sympathised with Bucky. After he left, Bruce came running towards you, asking you what that was all about.

When you told him the whole story, Bruce insisted that the two of you had to celebrate getting rid of that bitch. Bruce had a lot of emotions towards Hannah, and you knew that her only luck was not meeting him in a hallway somewhere. It could have been the last she did, for that matter.

It was a Friday night, and you invited Bruce over to yours, to watch a movie and eat a shitload of popcorn. That was your kind of perfect Friday night!

You decided that Superman vs Batman was the greatest choice for the night, and settled on the couch. Not that you were paying much attention to the movie, thanks to Bruce’s constant babbling. He finally asked Natasha out, and you had to prep him for his date the next night. You were telling him about great places to have dinner in Brooklyn when suddenly, you heard a loud knock on your door. Bruce was standing up to get it, but you pushed him back into the couch and went to answer it yourself.

When you opened the door, you saw Bucky standing there, three packs of popcorn in one hand, and a bottle of wine in the other. It was Friday night, he thought that he could start mission “Redemption” by going back to your favourite activity. It was an olive branch, you knew that, but there was no way in the world that you’d throw out Bruce and let Bucky in. And having the two of them together was a bit risky too, Bruce was still on the verge of breaking Bucky’s jaw whenever he saw him.

“What are you doing here, Bucky?” you wanted it to sound harsh and distant, but all you got out of yourself was a meek little nothing. You were a pussy, you thought to yourself and inwardly rolled your eyes at your behaviour.

“I thought we could watch a movie, Y/N. It’s Friday, you know?” he smiled, and you couldn’t help but smile back at him. He really was a handsome man, you gotta give him that.

“It’s nice of you, but I already have company. Maybe some other time. Goodnight, Bucky.”

You could see that Bucky’s eyes roamed across your little apartment before his eyes landed on Bruce. He clenched his jaw, mumbled his Goodnight to you both, and was on his way.

You were aware of how it looked, you and Bruce watching a movie on Friday night, with a blanket previously draped over the both of you. But you were just good friends. You shrugged your shoulder and gave your full attention back to Bruce, who was a very hopeless man when it came to the woman. He might have had 7 PhDs, but he lacked a basic course in being around women he wanted to impress. It would have offended you a little if it weren’t Bruce. But you let it slide and told him all about the first day touches and all that. Although, you were quite sure it would work differently with the Black Widow herself.

Next time you saw Bucky was in a gym. You wanted to get in at least some form of shape, and Bruce offered that he’d go with you. Hulk was bulky and all, but he had problems lifting a heavier bag.

You were both on a treadmill, chatting freely, sometimes laughing so much so had to step to the side so you wouldn’t fall off that devilish thing.

Bucky was sparing with Steve, who learned about what happened and beaten the crap out of Bucky. All seemed to be good now, so it was harmless jabs here and there. Bucky was looking at you and Bruce, and his breathing got heavier. He couldn’t help it but saw almost red at the moment. He wanted to be there with you. He wanted you to feel comfortable enough with him to laugh like that. Damn, he loved your laugh. It never ceased to make him smile as well. He couldn’t believe he lost the privilege to make you laugh because some bitch told him to. He was even more stupid than he thought.

Steve stopped as well, following Bucky’s gaze, and smirking lightly. “What is it, jerk? Little jealous, are we?”

“Shut up, punk. I’m not jealous, and I’m definitely not jealous of Bruce!”

“Sure thing, buddy. I think we both know the truth. Why don’t you talk to her, huh?”

Bucky sighed and turned to face Steve again. “You think I haven’t been trying? But every fucking time I try to apologise again, or just simply talk to her, Bruce is there, like a loyal puppy.”

“Oh, and who’s fault is that, bud? If only you spoke to me, made sure that Y/N was really a target, you could’ve avoided this situation altogether. But because you are scared to love, scared to show your real self to someone, you all too eagerly shoved Y/N away. I would like to help you, my friend, but that’s something you gotta realise on your own. Because that girl? She is gold, and I think you know that too. So if I were you, I’d put my head out of my ass and beg her for forgiveness, even if it meant fighting Hulk.”

Steve finished his speech with a punch to Bucky’s ribs, which sent him to the floor. “That’s for trusting someone more than me.” He smirked and helped Bucky off the ground.

Bucky looked in your direction, where you were now stretching, your ass in the air, and he gulped. Hard. You were gold, inside and out, and he would get you back. He simply had to. There was no other way.

You looked in Bucky’s direction, knowing well enough he was watching you stretch, so you gave him a good show of what he was missing. You were no Hannah, but you were yourself, and that was enough. There was a little, a tiny part of you which hoped it would be enough for Bucky as well. And by the way he was adjusting himself just by watching you, you wanted to think it was.

/ Next Chapter >

After All:

@iheartsebastianstan @kneel-begyourpardon @owlyannah @readermia @kolakube9 @ibookishqueen @thewintersoldierswifu @emogril @the-melancholyfeels @pinkleopardss @supervengerslock @the-soulofdevil @jessyballet @sebbbystaaan @bxrnsfeyson @38leticia @sparkling-gayyyy @paradisiacalsparks @deansbbysblog @eileenalone @lustgardn @wantingtobekorra @backflip-into-a-garbage-can @voltage-my2dlove

If you’d like to be tagged comment/message/send an ask. If you like the story, please reblog :) any comments are appreciated, even the critical one. Always a space to get better, so let me know what you guys think.

#bucky #bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #james bucky barnes #bucky barnes fanfiction #avengers #avengers fanfiction #bruce banner #tony stark #mcu #mcu fanfiction #marvel #jealous bucky #multiple chapters #after all #the winter soldier #the winter solider fanfiction #the white wolf #black widow

615 notes · View notes

certifiedskywalker · 4 years

Text

Dating Carol Danvers Would Include...

This is a Carol X Fem!Reader headcanon list! I hope you all enjoy it!

When she crash-landed on Earth, Carol did not expect to fall a second time.

So, you can imagine her shock when she met you.

She had never felt that strange, almost sickening feeling of love before

Yet it felt familiar

As if Carol had gone without it and was recovering that part of herself in the wreckage.

You, for the most part, were taken with the woman that had fallen from space.

Only, she fell from space….and you worked for SHIELD….

Nick was adamant and wanted to turn her in.

“Think about it, Y/N.”

“I have and I don’t think that’s right.”

“Right?”

“She’s here on a mission.”

“So are we! You want to compromise that?”

You glanced over to where Carol sat.

Despite saying she was a superpowered being, a special operative, it was plain to see that she was listening.

Her blonde hair had shifted off her shoulder when she went to lean in.

Nick snapped his fingers and pulled you back to the conversation.

His gaze softened when you met his eyes.

“Y/N, you know that-”

“I know.”

“If the director gets a hint of it….”

“I know.”

You frown because it’s the 90s...height of the Clinton era…

...the ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ policy had just been passed….

Despite the fear of possibly losing your job, you stick to the mission…

You stay with Carol and hope Nick understands.

He does, but that doesn’t stop him from trying to complete his mission.

After that, after the Skrulls, after the Cree, it’s just you and Carol.

For someone that had just saved an entire part of an alien population, flown in space, and kicked the ass of her previous mentor…

...Carol looked beautiful.

You weren’t sure if it was the kitchen lights of the Rambeau house or the afterglow of victory, but you couldn’t take your eyes off of her.

You wanted to savor the sight of her.

“So, where are you going next?”

“Wherever people need me,” Carol said smoothly; as if she had said it before or as if she had been waiting to say it all her life.

“That’s noble of you.”

You teased her with a smile but Carol did not return it.

You feared you had overstepped.

In reality, Carol hated that she had even answered.

She didn’t want to leave you, not yet

Maybe not ever.

“Sorry, I-”

“No, it’s not you. Well, it is, but not that way.”

That caught you off guard.

“What?”

Carol set the dishes she was washing down and turned to face you.

You met her brown eyes and felt your heart skip a beat (as cliche as it sounds, you couldn’t describe the feeling otherwise).

Carol leaned close and you could smell the sweat and soap clinging to her skin.

“You make me want to stay.”

You wanted to kiss her right then

Right there

And not care who saw

Or what people had to say

Carol wanted to kiss you too.

But Monica walked in, her dark curls in pigtails, smiling proudly.

“Dessert?”

“I like where your mind is at, kiddo,” Carol teased.

The wash of warmth fled from your skin as Carol helped Monica carry the cake into the dining room.

The rest of ‘Alien Thanksgiving’ went smoothly

You stepped outside while Carol and Nick finished up cleaning

The air was thick and hot in Louisiana and you weren’t quite used to it yet.

But why would you have to get used to it?

Carol was leaving, soon, and you had to get back to SHIELD

Nick was bubbling over with a new idea that he didn’t want to share in the company of civilians

No matter how much those civilians knew already.

So, for the moment, you lingered on the Rambeau’s front porch and looked up at the stars.

Your eyes were so busy tracing the implied lines of constellations that you didn’t hear the door open.

When it snapped shut with a metal ‘clang’, you didn’t turn around.

“Ready to leave already, Fury?”

When you didn’t get a reply you felt your stomach twist into knots.

The hairs on the back of your neck rose with apprehension

As you spun on your heels, you grabbed at the gun strapped to your waist and held it up.

Carol didn’t even flinch as you brought the barrel to the front of her face.

“You need to step with your dominant foot.”

“What?”

You were too breathless and agitated, your heart beating wildly in your chest, you understand what Carol meant.

However, you began to grasp some semblance of meaning when Carol’s warm hand wrapped around your wrist

And she proceeded to disarm you

But not in the traditional way.

Going through SHIELD training, you knew of the common way to disarm an assailant.

You had drilled each step over and over until your feet ached and hands were sore.

So you knew when Carol was doing something different.

For a second, you brushed it off.

There are about a billion ways to disarm someone, you thought, SHIELD didn’t know them all.

But the way Carol did it ended with your face a mere inches from her own.

“You need to step with your dominant foot,” she repeated.

It was the least sexiest phrase anyone could say

Yet, something in Carol’s eyes as she spoke made you shiver.

Her hand still clung to your wrist and you wanted to lean in

You wanted to melt into her.

Your will power was wavering and you knew that Carol saw it.

She leaned in, brushed her nose against yours.

The touch made you quiver with excitement

Excitement and fear.

“Don’t think about it,” Carol whispered and her breath tickled the sensitive skin of your neck.

Her words were enough.

You leaned in then, pressed your lips to Carol’s and sealed your fate.

You would be lost in love like this forever.

Carol’s hand slipped from your wrist, and your gun, which she held in her other hand, clattered to the ground.

Then her hands found their place on your hips and drew you body against hers.

She was strong.

You knew that already, but it was different to feel it.

Your own hands trailed up to Carol’s jaw and cupped her face.

It felt like every nerve ending in your body was fire, alight with something heat you had never allowed yourself to feel before.

You heard Carol hum into the kiss, felt the slight vibration and smiled.

Then you frowned

And pulled away from her.

Your hands fell from her face, curled into small fists that rested against her collarbones.

Carol’s chest was heaving, her cheeks pink and you knew you looked just as much a mess as she did.

“Did I do something wrong?”

The question was quiet when Carol asked.

Almost like she was a scared child.

You shook your head.

“No, you did everything right.”

“Then why are you upset?”

She lifted a gentle hand and the warm flesh of her palm was pressed against your cheek.

“Because you’re right by leaving too.”

Neither of you knew what to do then.

So you just stayed on the porch and basked in what little time you had left together.

The next morning, Carol left.

You hugged her but didn’t ask when she would be back.

The hug lingered a bit longer than the rest, and you knew it was her own way of saying ‘goodbye’

Or maybe ‘sorry’

Or maybe ‘I love you’

You weren’t sure which so you pulled away and watched her take to the skies.

For the stint of time Carol was away, you busied yourself in work.

Every so often you’d sneak a peek at the atmosphere scanner Fury had installed on his first day of Director.

He had been promoted fairly fast after his Avengers proposal.

You and Phil raced up the ranks right alongside him.

Although you went a bit more slowly.

“Any disturbance?”

“What are we, Jedi?” Nick countered as he pulled his eyes from the screen.

You only frowned in reply.

“Y/N, she’s out there doing what we do here but for an entire galaxy.”

“There must be others that can do the same,” you fired back, angrier than you had intended.

“That’s why we’re here, trying to find them,” Nick sighed.

You felt your breath catch in your throat.

Better than sobbing, you thought bitterly.

Although, you did a lot of sobbing after Thanos

After the snap.

After you watched Nick and Maria turn to dust.

But, once more, you busied yourself with work.

Steve, Bruce, and Natasha fell into the same boat as you.

You all would take shifts, watching the pager you had found in the heap of Nick’s ashes.

It hadn’t stopped blinking until…

Bruce was wild with panic, posing theories of all sorts while Steve watched the blinking light fade.

Natasha was quiet, stoic, as she thought.

For you, it was like the last puddle of hope had been drained.

Then, there was a flash of warmth, one that sent your body into a frenzy due to its familiarity.

Without wasting another second, you turned and saw her.

Blonde hair a little longer, eyes cold and pointed.

Then she saw you.

Her tense shoulders fell and her gaze softened.

Just as Bruce began to ask who had just appeared before them, you ran into Carol’s arms.

“You’re back,” you whimpered.

All your walls came tumbling down.

“I wish I had never left.”

In the beginning, Carol didn’t leave your side.

Between meetings about Thanos, brainstorming to what to do, you and Carol would make time for each other.

You’d share meals, train to together, or watch Carol train on her own.

Walks along the beach (Carol had always heard they were romantic, but after she doesn’t get the appeal).

Sharing a bed with her, kissing her on the cheek, holding her hand, without fear.

Carol loves to initiate

Whether it’s coming up behind you and kissing the back of your neck

Or linking your pinkies then your hands as you’re talking about something you read.

Carol made the post-apocalyptic world Thanos had given you feel a little less lonely.

However, the time came when Carol did all she could do on Earth.

“I made a promise,” Carol told you as you sat on your shared bed.

You were frowning, arms crossed over your chest as if you could protect yourself from the sting of Carol’s absence.

“I have to go back. You and the rest of the team can protect what you have here. Thanos is gone.”

“The team is falling apart. Tony and Pepper are gone. I don’t know where Bruce or Thor ran off to.”

Your face fell into your hands.

“I don’t want to lose you too.”

You felt the mattress dip as Carol sat by your side.

Her hands pulled yours away from your face and you met her eyes.

“You’re not losing me.”

You sniffled, “then can you make another promise?”

“For you? Yes, anything.”

“Promise to come back to me.”

Carol leaned in and kissed you.

You wanted to pull away, not wanting to make her departure as hard as the first time.

But you didn’t.

If Thanos had done anything worthwhile, it was that he taught you life is short.

You have to savor what you have every moment.

Especially before it’s gone.

So you kiss Carol, long and hard and full of passion that you had kept bottled up for years.

You kissed her like your life depended on it.

Maybe in this universe, it did.

198 notes · View notes

a-simple-imagine · 4 years

Text

Commitment Issues

Synopsis: Dealing with some turbulence within their relationship. Pepper and Tony try to make up for going away on business in the middle of a fight with y/n.

Pairing: Pepper Potts x fem!reader x Tony Stark

Words: 7.3k+

A/N - This story means a lot to me but because it was never quite what I wanted it to be, I never posted it.

It had started out as nothing more than an innocent crush on your boss. Or more so your boss's boss. The CEO. It was a little embarrassing how often you found yourself entranced by her at work events and parties. You knew she was married but there was just something so captivating about Ms. Virginia 'Pepper' Potts. Perhaps it was her undying dedication to stark industries. Her work ethic was something to admire. Or maybe it was the way she presented herself to the world; always elegant and sophisticated. She was immaculate. Anyone who had met you would say you were quite literally the opposite. Then again maybe the thing that makes her so beautiful is the sprinkling of freckles that always show up in the sun or the way the corner of her eyes crinkle when she laughs. She had a smile that could brighten up any room given a chance. You truly admired the woman she was and sometimes you couldn't quite figure out if you wanted to be her or be with her. Either would suffice although the responsibility of running Stark Industries didn't seem like something you would enjoy. Often as you saw her pass by your mind would drift to her husband. Anthony 'Tony' Stark. He was nothing like his wife but they do say opposites attract. You sort of appreciated how they contrasted. He was messy. There wasn't a clear structure to him and you weren't sure you'd ever quite figure him out. He also seemed a little full of himself but perhaps that just came along with being a billionaire and genius. You will admit he's handsome though, very much so.

Looking back you probably should have figured something was going on sooner. You'd started spotting Mr. Stark around the office a lot which was strange. Sure it was his company but you weren't important enough to receive frequent visits from the self-proclaimed visionary himself. Everyone suggested he had a soft spot for you. Some people saw that as a bad thing but you weren't really doing anything other than being yourself. Your fellow coworkers knew you had a crush on Pepper; pretty much everyone who knew you did. Except for the woman herself then again she hardly knew you. Turned out Tony found it rather sweet that you admired his wife so highly; you played it off as innocently as possible. Every work event after that Tony would always find a reason to talk to you often stupid reasons but for reasons all the same. He would try to joke around with you but it was awkward because you simply saw him as your boss. He put you on edge. Every word that came out of your mouth carefully planned, out of fear you'd lose your job. During a charity event the company was hosting, Tony had approached you with an unusual proposal. How he managed to keep a straight face was beyond you because your entire face flushed with heat. He worded it badly all things considered because it wasn't until you spotted Pepper across the room that you realised he wanted a threesome. Out of sheer embarrassment, you asked if you could think about it before running away. You avoided them the rest of the night but you couldn't help but wonder what it'd be like with them. Too see Pepper... in such a way. You try to shake the thoughts away, he probably wasn't serious anyway; just making a joke. An Inappropriate one at that but you'd never tell HR. While you waited for the bartender to pour your drink, you hadn't thought to watch out for your boss but here he was again. Turns out he was serious and that Pepper was the one to choose you. He explained that if you didn't want to they wouldn't ask again but this time you struggled to turn him down. Pepper wanted this; she wanted you and that's all you had wanted since you were first introduced.

That night, you ended up going home with them. Tony's place was huge and high tech; exactly how you imagined it. A lot nicer than your crappy apartment downtown. You awkwardly sat on their couch, bouncing your leg a little. Anyone could tell you were nervous but how could you not be? Tony offered you a drink as Pepper sat down beside you; for once you were scared to look at her. She spoke softly and slowly, reassuring that if you didn't want this they would have a driver take you home. There was no pressure to do anything. You didn't want to leave but you also weren't entirely sure you could go through with it anymore. These were your bosses. They controlled your career. Tony assures you that whatever you're decision it wouldn't make a difference to your job at Stark industries but you couldn't help but think he was lying. They both thought it was best to just talk a little and see what happens. You agreed and as you slowly learned more about them you began to relax. In the end, you did sleep with them. It wasn't amazing or in anyway life-changing but it was good. It was different trying to figure out how to make it work with three people. Tony handled himself pretty well while Pepper, on the other hand, was a lot more gentle and slow. You don't fault her for that, it was still enjoyable it just wasn't what you expected. She touched you like a porcelain doll; almost too scared that she'd break you. Not to mention you had almost no clue what you were doing so that added to the overall awkwardness. You hadn't planned to spend the entire night but the next morning you had woken up in their bed. They offered you breakfast but you ran out as fast as you could and that was the end of that. It was just sex. Only... it wasn't. One time turned into every so often which became frequent rendezvous. Things changed from just sex to wanting something more as you were invited out for dinner. If it was just sex there was no reason to invite you to a fancy restaurant that was way overpriced in your opinion. You could hardly afford anything on the menu. Tony insisted that he'd pay so there was no need to worry but you wouldn't let him do that. You wanted to at least help out even if it'd basically clear you out. You stuck with water to drink and ordered something small in hopes of keeping the price low.

It was probably naive to think it would all just work out. Starting a new relationship with a married couple? How stupid could you be? It had been slow going at first. Everything was completely private but as with any new relationship, you began to spend more time with them. You quit your job at Stark industries so you wouldn't look like you were just sleeping with your boss to work your way up the ladder and ended up moving to a rival company using a glowing recommendation from Mr. Stark himself. It was a few months into your relationship that you finally came out to the world or more like you were forced into the public eye. The press caught you kissing Tony which lead to affair rumours. Having your face plastered all over magazine covers and trashy websites was definitely a new experience. At first, you tried to ignore them but they quickly figured out who you were and then things got mean. Angry messages and death threats overwhelmed your social media. You didn't realise how much hatred people could have for someone they hardly knew. So many insisted Tony could do better and they were right at least for the most part. He already had better in the form of Pepper, what the public didn't know was that she was also a part of this. You fell into a dark place for a while beginning to believe everything that was said. Tony and Pepper tried to help and it did a little. They explained if this was something you couldn't handle then the relationship would never work because there's always gonna be complete strangers around the world wanting to give their two cents about things that had nothing to do with them. There were ways to block out the noise and they could help with that but you had had to learn to not take it all to heart. Knowing Pepper went through a similar experience when she first started dating Tony really helped you. You changed all social media to private and asked to politely discuss just telling everyone about your relationship. They put out a press release. It was all very official; very weird. And thus the relationship blossomed into a beautiful, chaotic mess with plenty of ups but also a lot of downs. And now you were dealing with your biggest problem yet. An argument that officially felt like the end. The two of them had run off to London before you had a chance to figure it all out leaving you alone in a house that has never felt less like home. It was theirs. After a day or two, you packed up and left. You just couldn't deal with being there right now. That's why you had sought refuge at the Avengers compound. Thanks to Tony, you actually found yourself befriending a certain redheaded superhero. You hadn't told her about the fight. You hadn't told her that you couldn't bear to be alone in their house right now. You figured she knew to some extent and that's why she kept asking how you were doing and letting you devour the compound's supply of red velvet cookies. They made you think of Natasha. The fiery red of her hair and the surprising amount of sweetness she hid under her shell. But you had to go home sometime and Natasha was practically pushing you out the door. She even offered to drive you home but it seemed that was just a ploy to get you to speak to Pepper and Tony. They were back early and sat in the living room when you first opened the door. You had nothing to say to them and so you turned to leave but your name falling from Pepper's lips brought you to a stop. As angry as you were, you had missed them. They'd just up and ran off for two weeks, how could you not? You remained still willing yourself to walk back out the door but being pulled back by soft words of apology. Tony was Being uncharacteristically quiet. He had a hard time expressing himself but the least he could do was apologise if not just for leaving in the middle of a fight. You agree to hear them out so you set up shop in the kitchen. A mug of hot chocolate held still by your palms, steam rising and filling your nostrils with the rich smell. The two of them stood on the other side of the island. It was beginning to feel like a You vs. Them situation but that wouldn't be new. It often felt like that. That was part of the issue. Pepper held a cup of coffee while Tony was chewing on a toothpick. Neither of you says anything. You take a sip of your drink, the warmth spilling through your veins it nicely contrasts the chill in the air. Their icy stares. It's Tony who finally attempts to slice through the awkwardness.

"So did you miss us and by us, I mean me?" You sigh into your mug, keeping your eyes on him as you take another swig of your hot beverage. Once he realises his playful nature isn't going to work here he straightens up and tries again. "Are we actually going to talk or just keep staring at each other."

"I have nothing to say to either of you," You reply calmly, placing your mug gentle against the kitchen island. At this point, you were just sticking around to finish your drink. It may not be true in all cases but in this case, paying more than average for hot chocolate mix was definitely worth it. Paying like thirty dollars seems silly but god did it taste good.

"This is hard for us too," Pepper announces. "But if we don't discuss it won't be resolved."

"Funny because if I remember correctly, you're the ones who ran off to Europe when I wanted to talk about it." You respond harshly.

"We had to," Tony shrugs. They had to. It was for business. They went away on business a lot, sometimes alone, often together. You didn't have that problem because your job wasn't anywhere near as important. You return his shrug. Downing the last of your drink, you rise to your feet.

"I think I'm gonna go- thanks for telling me your back by the way." You grumble.

"We actually got back yesterday-"

"Tony." Pepper said in a way you knew was to get him to stop talking. "Where are you going? You live here with us,"

The logic was lost at sea among the tidal waves of your anger. You had no destination, you just didn't want to be around them. You leave and they don't try to stop you.

You end up at a hotel. Nothing too fancy but a night to yourself was well deserved. You nearly went back to the compound but that seemed silly. You order room service to avoid leaving your room. It was quiet; perhaps overly so. When Natasha shows up the next day you're not even surprised. She talks to you with a lack of knowledge almost like she'd been sent here. You wouldn't put it past Tony to enlist the help of the redhead. She offers you a ride back home no less. It was never your home, you want to tell her but you just shake your head. The way to get you into the car was a change in destination and a promise of free food at a restaurant of your choosing. You pick your favourite place which is a small Italian place downtown. It serves the best vegetarian lasagna you've ever had. It's not exactly cheap but it's also not too high end that any average joe couldn't afford it. Natasha doesn't even question it and by the red velvet cookies sat on the dashboard, you knew she expected you to come with her. And of course, how could you say no to cookies. When you pull up to the restaurant, you take a cookie and jump out the car first. Waiting on the sidewalk for Natasha to join you before heading inside together. You should have guessed they'd be there. Natasha had been too adamant. You glance to her with a look of betrayal. You turn on your heel to leave but Nat takes your hand.

"Just... hear them out." She mumbles softly. You give in to her request. Walking further into the otherwise empty restaurant. They're sat at a table in the middle and you join them.

"Order whatever you want, my treat." Tony smiles softly, handing you a menu. You take it but only because Natasha has promised you free food and you were hungry. Ordering a serving of Bucatini all' Amatriciana with a side of fresh garlic bread, the waiter happily takes your menu and runs off to get your drinks. It doesn't take long for him to return with the water you asked for. Tony ordered a scotch while Pepper already had a glass of white wine. How long had they been waiting?

"So-"

"We're sorry," Tony blurts out. Pulling his gaze to the table. "I... I'm sorry. The conference was important but we should have at least tried to smooth this over before we left."

Your eyes flicker between the two. What was the point of this conversation now?

"We want to figure this out. We want to go back to normal."

"I don't." You wanted this relationship. You loved these two people so much it hurt but you couldn't go back to the way things were. That wouldn't solve anything. It hurt that they thought the biggest issue was their trip. Tony opened his mouth but didn't say anything, instead leaning back.

"This isn't what you want anymore?" Pepper asks softly as she takes a sip of her wine.

"I never said that," you respond quietly. "I just don't want things to go back to how they were- in case you hadn't noticed not all of us were happy."

"Then let's talk about that," you glance between both of them. "We want to work this outright, Tony?" She nudges him softly and he sits up a little straighter.

"Y-yeah, we do," your eyes narrow in on the otherwise confident man. He was never this quiet. Never this timid. You shrug as you spy the waiter with your orders. He places the pasta dish down before you and you inhale the delightful smell that makes your mouth practically water. Tony is sporting a Lasagna while Pepper apparently went for a classic spaghetti bol. You reach for a piece of garlic bread, taking a hearty bite. You almost groan at how good it is. "We want to make things right," his words pull you from your food daze, eyes flickering to him.

"Okay," you pick up a fork and dig into your meal. As do the two others. An uncomfortable silence falls upon you as you struggle to converse. Even as you finish up and the waiter takes your plates, you're unsure of how to cut through the tension. You hear Pepper sigh softly. She was on her second glass of wine since you arrived.

"We need you to talk to us," She states, a certain degree of meekness to her words; almost like a plea. You wonder if they'll like what you have to say.

"I don't know what to say," you lie, pulling your gaze to the white of the table cloth which you had accidentally dropped a few specks of sauce on.

"Whatever you want," Tony piped up. "Tell us off. Scream and shout. Just tell us what's wrong so we can fix it- or at least try to, I guess."

"I..." Your words trail off before you've even begun. You can't put the feelings into words in a way that doesn't seem trivial. Expressing your feelings was never your strong suit, maybe that's why you fit so well with them. There was always a degree of unexpressed emotion. Pepper was probably the most secure but even she struggled sometimes. Finding a balance in her life was always going to be difficult. You stare at the glass of water, watching drops spill slowly down the side. "What's the point?"

"To help us understand," Pepper replies softly. "You at least owe us that."

"Dessert anyone?" Tony announces, grabbing the menu from the stand at the edge of the table. Pulling it open and hiding his face behind it. "Waiter,"

The young man comes rushing to the table to ask how he can help. You don't order anything, neither does Pepper but Tony decides that you'll change your mind and picks a cookie dessert. A little pretentious but in all fairness when it does arrive you're very much in the mood for it. You watch Tony with careful eyes, looking away every time he tries to meet your gaze. "I really like you guys-"

"But?" Tony interrupts. You remain silent for a moment and he pushes the plate towards you, holding out a spoon. You reluctantly take it,

"but you make me feel like an outsider." You dig your spoon into the edge of the soft cookie, giving them or more so Tony a minute to process. "It always you two and then me. It's like I'm the third wheel." You pop the spoon into your mouth, the cookie and ice cream are an absolute delight for the tastebuds. Tony made a good choice. "I don't want to be the third wheel in my own relationship."

Pepper and Tony exchange a glance. "That's not-"

"True? How would you know?" You spit back before taking a deep breath. "Just let me talk okay?" Tony gives you a small smile. "I know you don't mean to but whatever is happening here has got to stop. You guys need to stop treating me like a kid for starters, I know I'm not ancient like you two but I'm old enough to be in a mature relationship."

"Ancient?" Tony questioned bring a smile to your lips which just as quickly faded away.

"I want to belong in this relationship not be the bit on the side that you keep in your house for when you get bored."

"It's not like that," he argued, turning to Pepper obviously looking for help. "Right?"

She stared at you with a weird intensity, her head tilted to the left. You turn back to the dessert.

"That's what you think of this?" She piped up quietly. Your eyes narrowed in on her. You're confused by her wording but you shrug. "That we just keep you around because we're bored with our relationship?"

"That's how it feels," You reply. You watch Pepper struggle to settle on an emotion to express. A subtle change from anger, confusion, and sadness

"Y/N..." she sighed softly, closing her eyes for a moment. "I'm not bored with Tony, I never have been. You were a fantasy with a crush which made you perfect but every time you'd leave we'd find ourselves missing you. Wondering what you were up to, who you were with? I couldn't get you out of my head." Pepper admitted. "I'm sorry if you think we're treating you like a kid but it's not intentional and we respect you as our equal. Tony is the only kid in this relationship,"

"Hey!" He hummed.

"I think I speak for both of us when I say that we want nothing more than for you to stay in our lives." Your eyes flickered to Tony briefly, he gave you a small, innocent smile.

"We wouldn't have kept you around this long if we didn't."

Pepper sighed loudly. "Tony- I'm sorry about him."

"I'm used to it," you chuckle half-heartedly.

"So we're good?" Tony asks looking to you with soft eyes. You drop your gaze.

"You say all these things but nothing you've done suggests they're true. How do I know things won't just go back to the way they were?"

"You don't," pepper replies. "But we can work on it together... if that's still what you want."

"I... I... adore you both," you express softly. "but I don't know-"

"Y/N," Tony interrupts. "please just... give us a chance here."

"...okay." You say after a moment, a smile appearing. "We'll try again."

"That's a relief," Tony sighs softly. "Otherwise this whole thing would have been for nothing."

"What are you talking about?" You question, as you drop your spoon into the dish. They exchanged a glance before giving you a soft smile.

"While we were in London, we actually thought a lot about you," Tony starts.

"About what you mean to us. How long we've been doing this. How we could express that this is something we want as much as we like to think you do and so,"

You'd been holding your breath since pepper started taking but you finally felt a dying need for oxygen. Tony rose to his feet, rooting through his pocket. "I've actually had this thing for a while now. I saw it a while back and thought it'd be perfect but I was waiting for the right time and now seems as good a time as any,"

Tony walked alongside the table, coming to a stop before you. He knelt down on one knee and a wave of panic hit you, knocking you completely off balance. Pepper got up now too and walked up behind Tony. She knelt down beside him. Tony pulled out a black ring box, piping it open to show a diamond ring. Your heart stops. You're not sure if this is a good feeling or not as you stare at the ring. "Y/N, will you-"

"Are you asking me to marry you?" You interrupt frantically.

"No," Tony replies. "Well not exactly,"

"There is no such thing as a three-person wedding, you could marry Tony or I but it's bigamy." Pepper explains and you let out a breath. "Unless that's what you want?"

"I..."

"We have another idea," Tony quickly adds. "A commitment ceremony. It might not be legally binding but it'll be the same to us." You can't help but think it won't be the same. That they're always going to have a legal marriage over you. And logically maybe it wasn't the best idea right now considering you were fighting just moments ago but your heart has never listened to your brain anyway. You wanted this. You wanted commitment; to just feel like that they want you as much as you want them. "It'll be us forever."

"...okay." You mumble quietly; cautiously even. "Yes."

"Yeah?" You nod a little.

"Great," Tony groaned as he pushed himself up. "I wasn't sure how much longer my knees were gonna handle that position." Pepper stood up too, giving you a smile as she holds her hand out for you. You take it and she pulls you out of your chair. Arms snake around you as she pulls you closer. Connecting your lips before you have a chance to speak.

"It's about time, I was starving." You pull away from Pepper to see Natasha entering the restaurant. Others filtered in after her, your brows furrow a little. "I had to go get food down the road."

She gives you a warm smile. Why were the rest of the avengers here? Natasha walks up to you placing her hand on your shoulder. "Congrats," she offers you some fries. You just shake your head a little. "Your loss. Can we move this along then?"

"Give us a minute, red."

"Don't call me that," Nat hums, drifting past to take a seat.

"What's going on?" You wonder.

"Oh we're doing this thing right now, did we forget to tell you that?" Tony quips. You look to pepper who is just watching you with a fond smile.

"We don't have to though if you don't want to." Pepper assures you. "It seemed much more romantic in our heads. Just us and some friends."

"It was just unexpected." You explain, looking into the blue of her eyes. You give her a gentle smile. It was a silent agreement to let this go forward.

It had all been planned out that you didn't have time to just stop and think about what you were doing. Happy was the one who stood and affiliated the ceremony. The others sat around you. You stood with Tony on your left and Pepper on your right. She had hold of your hand the entire time. Giving it a gentle squeeze ever so often. They spoke pure words of love and acceptance, clearly prepared beforehand but you didn't have the luxury of preparation so you had to wing it. You sit at a table that had been pushed to the side for the ceremony. Slowly ripping off pieces of garlic bread and popping them into your mouth as you watch Pepper, talk with Natasha and Wanda.

"Just like old times, eh?" Tony sat down in the chair next to you. "Catching you, staring at my wife or should I say our wife."

"How things have changed since then." You reply softly, Tony rests his hand on your thigh.

"You don't sound too thrilled about that,"

You pull your eyes away from Pepper to Tony. Giving him a smile. "It's not a bad thing, I just can't believe it. I never imagined this being my life."

"You and me both," he chuckles, patting your thigh. "I didn't wake up one day and think I'd be in a three-way relationship."

"I used to fanaticise about running off with your wife." You tell him. "I always found her absolutely breathtaking that my mind would just create this fairytale. You were never part of the equation."

"Ouch," He teases, pulling his hand away.

"You mean a lot to me now though. I'm happy about the way things turned out." You explain, turning your attention back to Pepper. She caught you staring and gave you a smile. "We're not perfect but we are beautifully chaotic."

Pepper walks over to the both of you, placing her glass of wine down. "Out of everyone here, I never expected you two to be the ones sitting on the sidelines."

"We were just talking about you."

"All good things I hope."

You nod. "Of course."

"Come on, I think it's time for a first dance." Pepper insists, reaching for your hands she pulls you up and drags you to the middle of the room. The crowd parts a little and you glance back to Tony who hasn't followed. Her arms secure around your neck and you place your hands on her hips. Enthralled by the look in her blue eyes; she was happy, content, perhaps a little tipsy. She wore a comfortable smile as you swayed to the gentle music that filled the restaurant. "What's on your mind?"

"You." Her smile gets bigger and she pulls you a little closer. Your hands connect around the small of her back. "You look... relaxed. Are you happy?"

"Are you?" She deflects.

You take a moment to think about it. About the events of the last couple of weeks. About the ceremony. Even the words they had spoken mere hours before. "I am," you nod.

"I'm glad," she insists. "All we want is for you to be happy and I'm grateful that it's with us."

Her lips press gently against your own. The sweet taste of wine lingers among the red of her lipstick. It's soft and gentle like the first time she ever kissed you. "Sorry to interrupt but I can't help but notice you seem to be kissing my wife."

He wore a smug smile. You roll your eyes as you turn to him. "My apologises, Mr. Stark."

"Oh, I was actually talking to Pepper."

"You're an idiot," the woman insists with a shake of her head.

"Yeah but you're stuck with me," you kind of zone out as the two of them talk. Admiring two people with whom you now vowed to share a life with. Sure it wasn't legally binding but it was still meaningful.

"Earth to Y/N," Tony taps you gently on the nose bringing you back to reality. "You seem about ready to leave."

"You know me well Stark," you smile. "My social reserve just ran out."

"Let's get you home then," he holds a hand out for you which you gladly accept. Abruptly pulling you against him. He kissed you; hard and passionately. "Sorry. Couldn't help myself."

You take his hand as well as Pepper's. "Let's go, please."

It was late when you finally arrived home. Tony had you against the wall almost as soon as you stepped through the door. You kissed back willingly, allowing him to drift down to your neck but before too long you stopped him. You were tired and not in the mood. They didn't push you for anything. They simply joined you in bed. Pepper decided to read a little of the novel she keeps on the bedside table while you lay between the two of them playing absentmindedly with Tony's hand.

"Where should we go for our honeymoon?"

"We're actually doing that?" You questioned, glancing upwards at him.

"Why wouldn't we?" Pepper wonders. You want to say it's because they're always working but you don't, you simply shrug. You weren't going to turn down getting to spend time with them.

"If you could go anywhere in the world Y/N, where would you go?" Tony pondered. There were so many possibilities that you didn't really have a place in mind.

"I'm not sure."

"Think." Tony insists. "Literally anywhere."

"I don't really care as long as it's just us three."

"Somewhere tropical, maybe?" Pepper suggests. "Get away from the hustle and bustle of New York."

"Tropical and secluded. I think I can work with that. Does this weekend work for you two?"

"I'll see if I can get it off work."

The next few days pass by quickly and you leave your packing to the last minute. Tony assures you it's fine since you're traveling privately but Pepper keeps saying you should've started earlier. Flying always makes you a little anxious. It can't be helped. You're sat next to Tony, staring out the window at the mostly empty tarmac. You were yet to actually take off and Pepper was already on her laptop. When she caught you watching she assured you that she wouldn't spend the rest of the honeymoon glued to the screen, she just had some last-minute things to sort out. You gave her the benefit of the doubt. As the jet roars to life, you find yourself gripping the armrests.

"Calm down," Tony places his hand on top of yours. You look towards him. "Everything is gonna be fine."

You're safely making your way through the air. Distracting yourself by pressing together two Lego pieces and add them to your current work in progress. Tony is helping you and you're convinced he's being extra slow just to accommodate you. "So where are we going anyway?"

"Turtle Island." He replies casually. "Fiji." You nod along like you have an idea of what he's talking about. "I got us the Vonu point villa."

He pauses to grab a tablet, getting up the information before sliding it over to you. "Elevated at the north end of the spectacular Blue Lagoon, and completely secluded, Vonu Point offers unbroken views of powder-white beaches, the sea, and nearby islands. Inside, an inviting spa bath overlooks the archipelago. The villa opens onto a private garden, where you can enjoy 300-degree sweeping views from the day bed or the hammock." You read out loud before looking through the pictures. Who needs a private garden? "This is some rich people shit."

"I could have rented us an island or even just bought one but I thought this would be much more your speed," he casually adds like that's not the most upper one percent thing he has ever said to you. "We can enjoy a resort but it's still secluded enough that no one will hear you moan when we have hot nasty sex"

"Ew," you comment, pulling your eyes away from the screen and back to your Lego masterpiece.

"What? It's gonna happen."

"Yeah but... don't say it like that." You continue looking through the website. It was definitely a luxury getaway. Not including staff they only let around twenty-eight people stay on the island at one time. There are acres of land between your villa and the rest so you were guaranteed privacy. And the services they provided were above and beyond. It was the type of place where you could be in the middle of the lagoon, demand a drink and they'll get someone in a boat to deliver it. Very fancy. Nothing you could ever afford. Nothing you ever would have even thought of. You imagine this is equivalent to paying for a weekend away for Tony. What's a couple grand on a private island getaway. "Can we go snorkeling?"

"If that's what you want to do then yeah."

"Ooh, they have a spa." You comment. "I've never had a massage before. Never liked the idea of stripping for a total stranger who will then rub oils all over me but I've always wanted to try. We can get a couples massage."

"A massage is definitely the first thing on my list," Pepper comments, not even looking up from her laptop.

"How long until we get there?" You ask, feeling a little giddy about your destination.

"No clue. It's a pretty long flight like fifteen hours?"

"What?" You question. "That is an insane amount of time to be trapped in this flying death box."

"Don't insult my jet, she's beautiful." Tony scolded. "It'll be worth it in the end, I promise. Just sit back and relax. How about I put on a movie and we can finish this Lego set?"

"That's not gonna take fifteen hours," you huff. "No, but there's a bed in the back so you could probably sleep through most of it."

"Fine. Let's do it." You return to the Lego set as Tony works on the in-flight entertainment. "But I'm gonna complain the entire time."

"Kind of expected it." Tony jokes and you throw a small Lego brick at him. He ducks out the way, a smirk on his lips.

"Now you have to find the brick because we need it to finish your lab." You huff. Tony had a lot of merchandise regarding his status as iron man, most of it went right over your head but you bought a Lego set of his iron man lab before the flight to amuse yourself thinking it'd only be a few hours. They had tones of avenger sets.

When the plane finally lands you had to take a boat to the island. It was a lot warmer than you had dressed for and it was also a lot later than you expected. The moment you got into the villa you dropped onto the bed, snuggling into the duvet. It was softer than anything you've ever felt before. "How long are we here for?"

"Two weeks," Tony answered

"You can afford that much time off?" You wonder, leaning up onto your elbows. Pepper was already beginning to unpack her case. Tony was staring out the window.

"Who's gonna tell us no?" You watch Pepper. Wondering how she'll handle two weeks without a schedule but maybe she needed the time off. You think she does.

"Good point." Tony pulls open the double doors and walks out onto the decking of the private garden.

"I'm gonna take a shower," Pepper informs you, pausing to meet your eyes. Towel resting over her arm. "If you want to join me?"

You smile as you get up to follow her. Tony walks in moments later. "Where you two going?"

"Shower."

"Ohhh can I join?"

You're about to answer when Pepper interrupts. "No, girls only. You'll have your fun later."

"I don't know about that, I'm more than ready for bed."

"Not fair."

You shrug a little before following Pepper into the bathroom. She flips on the light to a very clean and fancy bathroom, turning on the shower before beginning to strip. "You just going to stare at me or?"

You quickly remove your clothes too and step into the hot stream of water behind her. Closing the glass door along the way. The water feels good as it slides against your tired muscles and you just stand there; simply enjoying it. The feeling of Pepper's hands on your waist brings you back to reality. She pulls you a little closer, placing a small kiss against your lips. "Turn around." She whispered gently. You did so and you weren't sure where this was heading but Pepper began to use a loofah to wash your back. A comfortable silence falls between you as she did so and you were more than happy to return the favour. It was soft and intimate but not inherently sexual which was... nice. You dried off and put on a nightshirt before crawling into the bed. Plopping down in the middle, you felt so small underneath the covers. You had no clue where Tony was while Pepper was still finishing up in the bathroom. You would have stayed awake for them if your eyelids weren't so heavy. When your eyes flutter open, it's still dark out. You're not sure what time it was but Tony still hadn't returned but Pepper was sitting next to you, the table lamp on as she reads her book. You watch her for a moment, admiring the calm before shuffling a little closer. She catches your gaze and you give her a smile before nuzzling into her side and going straight back to sleep. Next time you awake they're both next to you asleep. Pepper had moved so you're now asleep in her arms while Tony you can feel but can't see, you smile to yourself as you gently move in her arms and go back to sleep.

A couple of days pass and it's absolute bliss being here. It's relaxing and private. You haven't done much here yet, mainly just stayed in the villa or explored the immediate area. You had a massage with Pepper, it was hard to relax with a complete stranger rubbing his hands all over you but it did wonders for your back and by the groans that fell from the other woman's lips she certainly enjoyed it. The sex had reached a new level if that was even possible. It was rough but passionate. Absolutely no holding back. You didn't know you could feel so much pleasure but they liked to prove you wrong; Pepper especially.

You had gotten into the habit of waking up before the two of them and wondering to the beach to enjoy the early morning sun before it got too hot. You'd sit on the sand, bury your feet and watch the waves sway back and forth. Today was no different. You were building a sandcastle out of wet sand when someone finally wonders up behind you.

"Thought I'd find you here," It's Pepper looking fresh-faced and cheery. She's sporting a very beautiful sundress. "What are you doing?"

"Playing in the sand." You reply, grabbing a handful and letting it fall back to the ground in a staggered way.

"Five or twenty-five, guess we'll never know." She hums playfully. She often made comments about the little things you do. You wondered if it's a pet peeve for her; one of the many things that you do that probably annoys her.

"I forgot your heart is supposed to die once you reach eighteen. Trade-in fun for paperwork."

A snort of a laugh as she sits down on the towel beside you. "You're cute."

"Do you want to help?" You wonder, glancing towards her and placing a quick kiss against her lips. "Or is building a sandcastle beneath a CEO."

She took a handful of sand through her perfectly manicured fingers and added it to your creation. "I like to get dirty sometimes."

You chuckle a little, brushing sand up to reinforce the walls. "Trust me, I know that all too well."

Tony joins not too much later. "You two having fun?"

You glance back at him. Pepper brushes herself off and stands to go to him; gently kissing his lips. You just offer him a bright smile. "More fun now that you're here."

"Ready for breakfast? I'm thinking we could have it out here today."

"Sounds perfect- I just need to finish this first." You declare. Inspecting the sandcastle like it was a work of brilliance.

"You could finish it later,"

"I could yeah," you nod but are yet to actually move.

"Come join us when you're ready." Be declares and wanders away with his wife in arm. You watch them go, a warm smile on your lips. Life was good so far although it hadn't been very long; you were happy. Happy to be spending time with your favourite people. "If you don't hurry up though, I'll eat all the melon," Tony calls out loudly.

"That's not fair," you huff. You take one last look at your sandcastle before getting up and following after them.

#tony stark x reader #tony stark #tony stark x pepper potts #Iron Man #pepper potts x reader #tony stark x you #tony stark x reader x pepper potts #marvel #tony stark imagine

169 notes · View notes

evien-stark · 3 years

Text

✧I Need You✧ Chapter 190

The location of choice this time, for such a short but much needed getaway, was a snowy mountain retreat. Large but cozy cabins littered across a picturesque village. Perfect distance from one another. Nobody came to places like these to interact with other people. They were isolated, distant, and perfect. Down to the last detail. That’s what money would get you. And that’s exactly what the both of you needed.

You’d gotten in on the afternoon of the 24th after delegating all your duties that were important enough to be given to someone trustworthy (mostly Pepper), and the rest got put on hold. Everything could wait. You and Tony needed this. He wanted to go. You had too. So you’d gone. And that afternoon that bled into evening was devoted solely to tossing the luggage in a corner somewhere and basking in one another.

But as the next day dawned, finally, the day of your anniversary, you tried to keep your nerves at bay. No matter how it went, you knew you’d already been outplayed. Tony’s proposal had been so heartfelt and real. He’d waited for the exact right moment to give it. Had asked you more than once when he could, and respected your wishes up until that sunset at the lake. When you and he were both ready. How could you compare to that?

It was too much to ask that you did. That you could even try. But… you did have some plans. It was unfortunate, that you had to keep your walls up, just so that he wouldn’t get a good hint that something was up. But even that was a little suspicious. The two of you shared everything. Yourselves included, in that intimate way that only the two of you knew how, you were sure. You tried to soften his curiosity by keeping his attention in other gentler ways. Lingering kisses, long passing touches.

A whole morning passed by that way. Afternoon came. He’d started a fire. The two of you curled up. It could have been then, but it wasn’t. You sipped on cocoa, listened to the snow and the wind outside. Watched something meaningless. Talked about all the important nothings. Just enjoyed the sound of each other’s voices, each other’s company. Uninterrupted. Like it was supposed to be.

But you knew. You knew he could tell something was off. He’d been thinking about it all day. Trying to mull over exactly what it was. And you bided your time. Waiting until the exact moment when it seemed like he would ask. That was just about as the sun was going down. Tit for tat, right? He opened his mouth, brow popped in that signature arch, but you stopped him with a well placed kiss. It soothed his nerves but only slightly.

When you were finished, “I’m gonna go take a shower. Can you get dinner started, please?”

That questioning gaze only deepened. You’d staved him off. But not really for that much longer- ...though you had asked him to do something. And so… “Yeah. Sure, honey.” Looking at you like that for just a few more seconds, thinking you might fess up to whatever it was that seemed to be on your mind if he did.

And maybe that would have worked normally. But not tonight. You left him with another kiss, disappearing into the bedroom. This was probably not a great setup. But…

You hoped with all your heart that the payoff was worth it.

---

She left without another word and Tony sat there a little while longer, watching her go. The sounds of the shower turning on were not far behind her disappearance. Something was up. He wasn’t sure what just yet, but eventually he’d get to the bottom of it. As far as their anniversaries went, this one was extremely tame. ...could it be that she was disappointed?

He doubted it. She’d never been high maintenance. Never had grand expectations or desires for large gestures of love. It was one of the reasons he loved her, in fact. She never expected much, which was why it was so easy to try and give her the world.

So what was she thinking about that had her attention so far away?

...probably everything else. They’d come up there to get away but. There really was no getting away from any of this. Tony hadn’t expected to see Coulson in her office two days ago. But the feeling he’d gotten- like someone had put an ice pick through his ribs- just before rushing up to her, he’d known something was very wrong. Sure, he wanted to get his hands on that book report Coulson had dropped off, but her well being was far more important.

There just was no escaping any of this. And maybe running away was making it worse. A one-step-forward-two-steps-back kinda deal. Maybe she was worried about all the work piling up while they were gone. She was definitely stuck in a hole over… well, everything else. Herself. Something that killed him. He had no way of fixing that. And she’d made him promise to stop investigating. -which was a loose use of the word, and one he treated himself to. Because he didn’t want to remember that day in the lab. What it had done to her.

Never again, he’d made that promise, and he was sticking by it. But what could he do now that he had? How could he solve her if he’d told her he wouldn’t do that? How could he make this better for her? It pained him to his core that he just… he couldn’t. By her own will. And his.

He didn’t want to think of running off together for their anniversary as a mistake. It wasn’t. But-

“Tony. Could you come here, please?” He had barely noticed the sound of the shower turning off. In fact, he’d been so far in his own thoughts, only the clock on the oven he was standing in front of tipped him off to the fact that he’d been on physical auto-pilot for far longer than was okay. She’d probably been out for a while.

“Yeah-” A clipped answer in response as he turned off the burners and slid a pot lid atop his current offerings. He wiped his hands clean on a dishtowel before throwing it back on the counter and then turned around to make a straight line for the bedroom. They’d talk about this now. Get it all out in the open. He’d assure her everything would be okay. Promise, if he had to. And then-

...and then-

He was about two steps into the bedroom when he realized he’d been bamboozled. Which was a hard thing to do to him. Almost impossible. But he hadn’t expected she’d planned for anything- no, instead he’d just been worried about her- so…

It was nice to see that she was okay, and had just been being sneaky. In fact, it eased him rather immediately to see her standing there in some long, slinky, black mesh robe. Fur around the cuffs and hem. Lingerie expectly picked to his tastes. He was sure there wasn’t a more beautiful woman in this entire galaxy. Not with the way she smiled at him- yes, in just that way, as their eyes met. The way that made his muscles go slack and his heart pick up double time.

She was backlit by what had to have been two dozen candles. The shower had been a ploy. She’d just been doing setup. Which was fine by him.

He put his hands on his hips. “Now- wait- don’t tell me. If this is my anniversary gift… there must be a marriage certificate in those robes of yours. Aaand… an officiant hiding in the closet? In which case I’m very sorry about our morning escapades.”

Her gentle smile turned his heart into a puddle. “You’re one step ahead of me. Like always.”

“Okay. Allow me to get back in line.” Excited very suddenly. She’d planned this all out- for him? He wasn’t worth all this trouble. That was for sure.

...which was why when she produced a little black box his brain short circuited. Just a little. Yet another impossibility that only she could produce. He very suddenly wasn’t sure what to make of any of this. He no longer knew what was going on. That was… sort of exhilarating, in its own way. Because it wasn’t the usual terrifying unknown-

It was her unknown. Something she was gifting to him. And if he was just patient for a few moments longer, all would be revealed. ...he was just a little bit dizzy suddenly. And very hot. One stupid sound escaped him as he pointed uselessly, “...uh?”

Then that smile of hers turned into a sunny grin and even in the low light he could see the heat touching her. Or- actually- he could feel it. Wrapped up in her. The way she felt. Soothing, calming- just… inexplicably the feeling over deep unfathomable love. “We got lucky, I think. The sixth anniversary is the iron anniversary, you know.”

Despite himself, “Gotta love it when things line up just the right way.” And he was noticing- now at least- as he zeroed in on that box- it was brushed iron, in fact. Maybe it had… what could it even be? Cufflinks? A watch? -no, too small for a watch. What would she give him on their anniversary? ...because it was her it wouldn’t be either of those things, actually, now that he was thinking about it.

That was too ordinary. She was too clever and too sentimental to just give him a random object- even though he’d treasure anything she got for him. But if not those then-

He felt the little roundabout turn of his head, the squinch of his brows, the little hang of his mouth as she opened it.

Inside was a ring.

A ring.

And finally it made sense.

She turned just a little bashful, and that touch she lent to him of that feeling, probably not intentional, had a blush rising in his cheeks, and stars opening up in his eyes. They weren’t there, he was sure. In a bedroom in an overly expensive cabin backdropped by a snowy mountain. They were… somewhere else.

Far away.

Just the two of them. The only people that mattered, at present moment.

“Maybe it’s silly, and- sure, you proposing to me obviously means you’re ready to get married. You want to get married. And I already said yes, so I do, too. But. We never do anything halfway. I don’t wanna start now. And it’s not just for imagery, but it’s because you deserve it. You deserve to know that I love you as much as I do. You deserve to know how much you mean to me. -that you’re everything to me. And that I love you. With everything I have. Everything I am. And that I can’t imagine life without you- and that I’m ready to not just be your wife but for you to be my husband.

I need that, too, I think. Because I haven’t stopped thinking about it. I need you. You make life so much easier- and that’s saying a lot. You’re my rock. You’re my steadiness. You always put me first and I will never stop putting you first, either. I love you. I love life with you. I love knowing without a doubt that you’ve always got my back. And I love having yours. I love that we’re always a team. So- sure- we’ve already done this once but… I want to do it again.”

She wedged the ring out of the box and then tossed the box onto the bed. Stepping closer to him, he felt like she was encompassing all of him as she moved into his space. His heart was thudding in his chest, and he was mostly sure he was still wearing that completely stupid, dumbfounded look. Brows now raised far up, eyes just a little wide.

But her smile then set a calmness in him, and while he’d already been sure, more than once now- he knew he would never love anyone like he loved her. She was it for him. His home. His partner. His once-in-a-lifetime thing.

...how could she not be, when she was proposing to him?

“Tony Stark, will you marry me?”

Because he’d asked her. He’d asked her if she wanted to get married to him, if she wanted to continue this crazy life with him, take it one step further, and she’d said yes. Now it was her turn. She was asking and so-

There was no way yes would do it justice.

He cradled her face in his hands, carefully but swiftly, tilting her up so that his lips could find their rightful place against hers. He held her like that. Really held her. Every part of her, he knew in that moment. Responsible for so much, yet gratefully so. They were trading hearts.

He couldn’t have asked for a better one.

“I love you.” Murmured against her when he finally found something important enough to say. Yes- important. Maybe one of the most important truths he knew. So he needed to say it again. “I love you.” He felt the wash of tears, not just his own, but hers, too. She mumbled something with a choked laugh and he didn’t catch a single word of it, but he knew what she was asking regardless. Leaning in, he pressed his forehead against hers, resting the weight of his world against her so easily. Laughing then as he managed- “Yes. Absolutely, yes.”

As if there were any other way to answer that question.

When happy-tearful kisses turned more towards happy-tearful laughter, he found the strength to peel away. But only so he could hold his hand up. “If we’re doing this, we gotta go all the way with it.”

She gave him a strong nod. “Oh. I agree.” They were bathed suddenly in that light. The one that belonged to her. Ethereal and odd. Beautiful and incomprehensible. The one that seemed to burst forward from her heart.

It was probably strange. The way he felt as she slid that ring into its rightful place. There was a wholeness- the same kind he got in those moments where they seemed to blend together. Just belonging to one another so fully. But then once it was seated, he couldn’t help but hold his hand up and really look at it- though the low light of the room made it hard. “Iron, I imagine? If we’re going with the theme here?”

Her feline-like grin was almost a little too telling as she peered up at him. “Well- actually- it’s a gold titanium alloy…”

Alright. She’d already been gunning for perfect woman award. But this? This was just over the top.

...she really did own him, didn’t she? He just belonged to her so completely. And he was very fine with that.

It was an elegant, slim black band with a gold stripe in the center. And swimming in that gold was what looked like a red line- almost like a heartbeat, but he recognized it soon after- “Sound wave?”

“Matches the inscription on the inside.” She was daring him with this.

Maybe he’d rushed to put it on. Maybe he’d have noticed the words she’d carefully chosen had he taken his time. But a file like that? Maybe not embedded in the ring itself- but- “FRIDAY, a little help here?” Figuring she’d been up to all this- she must have taken it that far, too.

“Yes, boss. Playing for you now.” Suspicions correct.

The sound of her voice took over the room. Soft but sure.

I need you. Then. Now. Always.

That was his. That was his to keep forever. No one else would ever have access to that. No one else would ever know about it. No one else would ever hear it. Because those words belonged to him. That promise belonged to him.

She belonged to him. Just as much as he belonged to her.

If luck existed in this universe, he’d burned out all of his the day he’d met her. But so long as he held on to her, everything else would be okay. So long as he had her… he would be okay. Life would make sense as it continued to pull apart at the seams in ways he’d never imagined. But it was fine.

Because he had her. And they were getting married.

He loved her with every atom in his body. Every inch of his being. If souls were real, she’d long ago dipped her hands into his and just taken residence inside him.

His hands had found her again. Just hanging on. “I love you. I love you. I love you.” Each declaration paired behind a kiss and another and another. He was positively drowning in her. But that was fine. That was right where he wanted to be.

#Tony Stark #Tony Stark x Reader #INY Chapter One Hundred Ninety

5 notes · View notes

peterparkerincorrectquotes · 4 years

Note

more parkyfam = spideyfam content!! (as long as you feel comfortable with sharing it please and thank you)

parkyfam!!!!! I’M SOBBING THAT IS SO SOFT— I’m referring to my family as that from now on

• So every time one of my family members does something spideyfam-ish, I either make it into a textpost or I write it down for future use. Now is my time to shine. Here are some Pepperony energy interactions between my mom and dad

dad: alright, I’m headed to my friend’s house. his truck is making weird noises and he wants me to check it out

me: ok! bye!!

mom: Monica.

dad: what?

mom: his wife’s name is Monica. there’s nothing worse than getting there and not knowing her name when she knows yours

dad: *laughs and leaves*

me: did he… ask you what her name was??

mom: no. I just know him.

• Like? The subtle shade. The caring way she told him her name, so he wouldn’t be embarrassed. The apparent disappointment. It’s the epitome of Pepper energy

• Later that day, my mom went to the store, and she wanted to buy my dad more eggs (not a Tony thing, but it’s important to note that my dad LOVES eggs; he eats A LOT of eggs. Like. Just eggs. No dinner plans?? Don’t worry, my dad is already cooking four MILLION eggs.)

• Using commas after emojis? Throwing shade at her husband (whom she loves very much, I promise)? The pun? Being responsible and going shopping? Okay, Pepper.

• She just EXPOSED my dad like that. Pepper would do that. me: oh that’s smart! her: no. he’s just a mess.

• Next, I would like to get into the story of how my dad proposed to my mom. He had this whole nice evening planned!! I mean, like, fancy dinner, I’m pretty sure there was a walk on the beach in there somewhere, and it was a perfect setup! Very cute, very wholesome! Obviously I wasn’t there, but I imagine it was a solid idea.

• Of course, his dumb ass got too excited, so as soon as my mom got in the car to go to said nice evening, he just? Whipped out the engagement ring and proposed right there. In the car. Like a dumbass.

• But a SOFT dumbass.

• It has Pepper and Tony energy because 1) Tony would definitely be too excited to wait. Like when they needed to give the press news so he impulsively went, “Oh, I could just propose to Pepper, duh.” 2) He would also 100% have a whole evening planned and then never utilize it like?? big Tony energy. He is entirely capable and willing to put lots of thought into romantic gesture, but does he? No, he just GOES FOR IT 3) My mom brings this story up sometimes and sounds (faintly) annoyed but she… still said yes. So, clearly it wasn’t that bad

• The only other one I can think of (at the moment) involves my brother. He was super young and hadn’t learned to speak. Hadn’t said his first word yet. My dad was driving him somewhere, as dads occasionally do, and someone cut my dad off. Suddenly slamming on the breaks, my dad yelled, “FUCK,” as dads often do.

• Now, my brother was very small, but he knew how to make some noises. So, what did my brother do? Yup, he sat in the back seat, going, “f… fu….. fff….” and meanwhile my dad was sitting in the front seat like

“DON’T, MY WIFE WILL NEVER LET ME HEAR THE END OF IT IF YOUR FIRST WORD IS FUCK”

• Like. Tony would. Evidence??

• bonus:

153 notes · View notes

imagine-loki · 4 years

Text

Gifted

Title: Gifted (Sequel to Giftless)

CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: 52/?

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 woke Loki way earlier than he wanted to get up the next morning. In fact, it was only about two hours after you had finally gone to bed the night before. “Sig~” he growled, not bothering to open his eyes. You laughed as you got out of the bed, to better wrestle him out of the bed to join you. “We just went to bed,”

“C’mon, Lo, pajama party downstairs. It’s tradition,” you told him, grabbing his hand to drag him out of the bed.

“No, Sig,” he grumbled, still not bothering to open his eyes. You ripped the blankets off of him. He ignored you. Silly frost giant was unaffected by the cold.

“If you don’t get up on your own, I’m going to carry you,” you threatened.

“You cannot,” he replied matter of factly. “Come back to bed,” he insisted, curling up to better go back to sleep.

You shrugged, unperturbed. “You’re choice,” you teased. He cracked open an eye at that, but otherwise didn’t move. He was calling your bluff. You stepped forward back toward the bed. He shut his eye, thinking you were wisely coming back to bed. He was wrong. You grabbed the arm and leg of one side of his body and hefted his weight over your shoulders in a fireman’s carry. He yelped when you lifted him from the bed. He wasn’t expecting you to succeed. You laughed, checked your balance, and proceeded to walk from the suite.

“You have made your point. Put me down!” Loki protested from where he was carefully not squirming as he didn’t want to be dropped.

“Stop squirming,” you told him firmly as you stomped across the hall to the suite that was actually his. It was hard to walk gracefully when you had a full grown man draped across your shoulders. “You made your choice,” you reminded him pleasantly as you pounded on Loki’s suite door with your free hand. Thor and Sif were staying there while they were in town. Thor used to have his own suite, but he’d been living on Asgard exclusively for awhile when he had to take on his proper responsibilities.

Thor finally came to the door to answer your pounding. “Morning Thor,” you greeted him brightly, while he gaped at the scene of you with a Loki draped over your shoulders. “We’re all meeting downstairs in five minutes for a pajama party. It’s tradition the morning after the ball,” you explained. Thor looked pointedly at the pouting Loki stuck on your shoulders. “He had a choice of getting up or being carried,” you explained, grinning up at Thor, who usually used that tactic on Loki. Thor just laughed.

“Thor! She refuses to put me down. Help me, brother!” Loki whined, sounding pitiful and plaintive.

“Little Brother, I, for one, am smart enough not to argue with your darling soulbond. She is frightening when angered,” Thor replied pleasantly, with a small bow to you. You gave him a head bow in return, accepting his compliment. “Would you like assistance, sister dear? I know he can be quite troublesome,”

“I’ve got him. He’s behaving for me. Thanks for the offer though,” you replied with a grin.

“You are not carrying me down the stairs! You will break both of our necks!” Loki protested.

“Of course I’m not,” you replied sweetly. You waved to Thor and teleported yourself and Loki downstairs to the commonroom.

There were roars of laughter and cheers of “Sigyn!” from the supers already gathered. You very carefully set Loki on your couch. He huffed indignantly and it took quite a few kisses to thaw him out again.

“How did you do that?” he asked grumpily. He finally moved over on the couch so you could join him. You poured both of you cups of coffee from one of the many pots spread around the room and got you each a plate of coffee cakes and cinnamon rolls. These were also spread around the room. Helene was well prepared for you to all be up early for this.

“What? I’ve carried you before,” you protested. Just because you were small didn’t mean you were a weakling. Loki just gave you a look. “Oh, right, you were unconscious for that event. It was in Asgard, right after you escaped from Balder. You had teleported to me and then passed out in the snow because of that stupid power he put in me,” you explained. He nodded. “You had also neglected to tell me that because you’re Jotun you wouldn’t freeze in the cold, so I had to carry you to a cave and try to make a fire,” you added.

“I did wonder, though we were a bit distracted at the time. So why are we having a pajama party at…5am?” he asked, checking the clock on the wall. He was less grumpy now that he’d gotten some coffee in him.

You gestured to the TVs which were all on the same station. “Channel 9 does this for us every year. Since we’re all at the ball, we can’t watch the footage, so they reair it at 5am the morning after so we can watch it. We’ve made a pajama party out of it,” Thor and Sif joined you a minute later. Sif was half-asleep, cradled in Thor’s arms. You smiled and moved closer to Loki on the couch so they had plenty of room. You also made sure they had coffee and breakfast foods and explained the party again for their benefit.

“It’s starting!” Nat called. A hush fell over the crowd while you all watched the footage from the night before.

“Nat, your dress was so pretty!” you called back from where you were curling up more comfortably with Loki.

“Yeah it was!” Nat agreed. “Though you and loverboy stole the show,” she grumbled, causing everyone to laugh.

The news crew announced every super as they appeared in the procession, though admittedly you and Loki got more air time than most of the others. Tony and Pepper got a lot of airtime too. The rest of the events were pretty standard, showing off the supers dancing, various celebrities in the crowd, all of the costumes and pretty masks.

Finally came the event you were all waiting to watch: the waltz. Everyone’s eyes were glued to the screen. You had all worked our asses off all of the previous month to get the dance just right. It was just as gorgeous as you had imagined. Everyone’s hard work was obvious. The dance was a lot longer than it had felt while you were performing it. The camera crew focused on the second group as they split off, and then the third when they split off, and finally on yourself and Loki when you did the new set of moves, and finally the proposal.

After your pajama party, you had to send Thor and Sif back home. They had only come to visit for the ball. Loki sent gave them an illusion to take with them so they could show the proposal to Frigga. She would be glad to see it. “The time is coming,” Sif reminded you in a whisper when she hugged you goodbye. “Do not forget we are available to help and do not be afraid to call on us for aid.” All you could do was nod and wish them a safe journey home.

You spent the next couple of weeks studying for your finals. It was cheating to let Loki read your textbooks too, since he had a photographic memory and anything he learned you not only learned too, but had access to later through the soulbond. You didn’t care, as long as you knew the information, it didn’t matter how you learned it.

You also spent all day the Saturday before exams cleaning out your apartment. You were giving it up at the end of the semester. You were never there anymore since Loki had come back. There was no reason to keep it, especially when you teleported to class most of the time anyway. After everything was sorted, you used magic and a fancy spell to put everything in storage or back in your room. The landlord at least couldn’t complain about the apartment, since it was cleaner now than it had been when you moved in. Magic was a great thing.

You greeted Loki with a kiss after your last exam. He was holding takeout bags of Chinese. He had come to like the cute little Chinese restaurant on campus and agreed to meet you in the student center after your exam. You were standing in the middle of the most crowded building on campus, kissing like the silly college kids you appeared to be, and ignoring the kids taking pictures of you when they recognized one or both of you.

Then suddenly Loki shoved you hard away from him, his eyes wide in shock.

You stumbled backwards and fell hard on your ass, unprepared to be shoved away from him. That was so unlike him. “Lo?” you started asking, looking up to see what was going on.

The Chinese food bags crashed to the floor as screams erupted around you.

“Loki! No!” you screamed when the image in front of you finally made sense, finally cleared in your mind. Loki was falling, a spear through his chest, lightning coursing through his body, though you didn’t know from where. He had shoved you away to save you from being impaled too. The shield you had put into his watch was glowing around him, but it hadn’t helped.

There was only one reason for it not to have helped. Loki’s magic, most of your magic, didn’t work against Balder.

You couldn’t focus on Balder right then though.

You ran to Loki, catching him before he hit the ground. Your shield recognized you and let you in without hesitation. “Loki? Loki! Stay with me!” you ordered him. You felt the drain of your own power as the soulbond fought to save him. You pulled the spear from his chest, trying not to think about the whimper of pain that was all he could manage. “I’m sorry, love,” you whispered as you placed one glowing blue hand to the wound. You had to get him stable. Then you had to do your job. You yanked your phone out of your pocket. “Call backup!” you snapped at it. You usually hated phone voice commands, but this one was useful and all of the team’s phones were programmed to recognize the command.

“I told you you would come for you, pet,” Balder’s voice boomed, seeming to come from all around you.

Shit.

You were out of time.

You set a healing spell on Loki, forcing it to keep working as you broke physical contact and turned to face where Balder’s voice had come from.

You were grateful that the civilians had run, and pissed at Balder for attacking you when you would be least prepared for it. You should have been safe here. It was an unspoken rule, even among the villains. They didn’t attack schools. No matter how evil they were, no matter what, they left the kids, even the college kids, out of their battles. Balder had ignored those rules completely by attacking you there.

Loki was still unconscious at your feet, your healing magic slowly knitting him back together. You were alone in this until backup arrived. “I’m sorry, Lo,” you whispered. He would hate you for this. You knelt again, murmuring a spell he had used on you once. A portal would appear below him, that would drop him in the infirmary.

Before you had finished, before the portal had opened, Balder attacked.

You threw up shields of fire around you. Normal shields wouldn’t work against Balder. Loki’s magic, and any magic you had gained from Loki through the soulbond wouldn’t work against Balder. You could only use your own natural abilities.

Balder hesitated at the fire shield. “You need some new tricks, pet,” he sneered, reaching a hand through the flames. You only barely ducked in time to not get electrocuted by his touch. His magic and powers still worked perfectly fine against you. It was only Loki who was immune. You threw a dagger at Balder and he backed away from your shield. You threw more healing magic into Loki, watching as the wound closed. You didn’t care how fast it was draining your power. You needed help to defeat Balder.

/Wake up, Loki!/ you shouted into his mind. He was finally stirring. Thank all the gods.

You spent too long in one spot while you were healing Loki. You had trusted in the fire to protect you. You should have known better. Balder had reached through it already. Balder reached through and grabbed you, ignoring the pain the flames must have caused him, holding you by the throat off of the ground. You pulled a dagger and stabbed him with it out of reflex. He howled in rage and pain and threw you across the room into a wall. Your vision swam and you cried out in pain as the blow broke through all of your shielding. You concentration on the flame shield around Loki had been shot when your head hit the wall and the shield failed.

You teleported back over to Loki, though the effort made you dizzy and almost sick. You’d hit your head sickeningly hard and you knew it was bad. Your head was bleeding, bad, the blood dripping to the floor, your vision was doubled and blurry. This was bad.

There were clones of Balder everywhere.

You didn’t know if they were clones or if your vision was so messed up from your head wound.

You had three powers of your own and you used all of them then. None of them seemed to do any good, despite that you were the strongest super in existence. Most of your powers just didn’t work against Balder since you’d gotten them from Loki.

“Give up, pet. You will kill yourself, and my brother if you do not,” one of the Balders said reasonably.

You threw a dagger and fireball at it.

You nearly cried in relief when your reinforcements came. You crouched over Loki, defending him with fire and daggers while your head and the room spun.

You didn’t see the lightning from one of the clones until it was too late. It went straight through your chest, throwing you into Tony. You gasped, trying to breathe as the energy vibrated its way through you. Tony set you gently on the ground. “Stay down, Sig,” he ordered, turning to the fight when your life wasn’t in immediate danger. Supers were stronger than normal humans, so even though you were bleeding from a massive head wound and had just gotten shocked with lightning, you were down but not in immediate mortal danger.

You obeyed Tony for about thirty seconds while you fought to breathe again. You couldn’t move until the energy faded, until your heart decided to work properly again, until you could at least breathe.

Those thirty seconds were too long.

You struggled back to your feet, fighting for every movement.

“Loki! NO!” you screamed, stumbling a few steps forward, as you threw more fireballs. One of Balder’s clones had gotten to Loki. You realized as all of the other clones vanished that this was the real one. Loki was struggling to his feet, a dagger drawn. Balder grabbed him by the throat, holding him off of the ground.

“You will join me soon, little pet, if you want your soulbond back in one piece, anyway,” Balder told you softly, almost kindly. Before any of you could do anything, he teleported away, still holding your Loki.

In an instant they were gone.

“LOKI! NO!” you wailed, trying to summon the strength to teleport after them. Tony grabbed you, holding you in place.

“Kat, no, we need a plan of attack,”

“I have a plan. Attack,” you snarled at him, throwing his own words from years ago back at him.. “He took Loki!”

“I know. And we will get him back, I promise you. But you’re in no shape to fight. Loki will be fine while you heal and we regroup. We need a plan to go after Balder He will decimate us if we just go running off half-cocked,” Tony was too reasonable for once. He had to be. He knew you were unreasonable when love was involved. He was the same way and he loved you too much to let you go. You knew he was right, but it felt like giving up, not to run off to save Loki. Before you could argue again, Tony knocked the daggers from your hands and swept you up into his arms. You didn’t have the strength to fight him. You were too dizzy from the head wound to even try. “The kids will clean up here. C’mon imp, off to the infirmary, then we can go save Loki,”

You’d failed.

You’d failed Loki. Failed your soulbond, your fiancé, your love.

You had to get him back.

The world swam around you and went black. Saving Loki would have to wait until you were capable.

Hopefully it would be soon enough.

#Loki #Lover #Submitted fic #submission #Gifted #chapter 52 #nekoamamori

35 notes · View notes