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inky-duchess · 4 years ago

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21 History Ancedotes for my 21st Birthday

So today I celebrate my 21st birthday and I have decided to gift you all with 21 of my favourite historical Ancedotes. Some are funny, some are sad and some are plain bizarre but I hope the make your day 💜

Mary Maloney, an Irish-born suffragette in England followed Winston Churchill around while he was campaigning for a seat in Parliament, drowning out everything he said with a very large bell and calls for him to apologise for his comments on women's rights and suffrage movements.

Clodius Pulcher was a well born Roman noble during the last day's of the Republic. He gave up his Patrician status to become Tribune of the Plebs (an office in which one had to be a Pleb) by being adopted by a much younger Plebian man who became his "father". Clodius was a bit of a riot, sneaking into religious festivals dressed like a woman to sleep with Caesar's wife, building a shrine to Liberty in the ruins of the Conservative Cicero, vetoed the last speech of one of the Consuls (who basically did nothing all year and was apparently going to roast Caesar) and burned down the Senate House with his funeral pyre (the Plebs who loved him literally tearing up the furniture to build his pyre). He was honestly the best fun.

When laying on her deathbed, Queen Caroline of Ansbach turned to her husband George II of England and told him he should marry again. George refused to ever wed again... But added he would have mistresses. Caroline said , likely with a roll of her eyes, "oh my god that doesn't matter."

Florence was a pretty cool city in the Renaissance until Savanorola came to town. He disliked the loose living artists that crowded the city, with their naked pagan gods and rampant homosexuality. He expelled them all with help of the French hoping to make Florence Holy Again. When the Borgia Pope excommunicated him and sentenced him to death, one man in the crowd was reported to have said. "thank God, niw we can return to sodomy." One Floretine man in the 1490s said Gay Rights.

So this list couldn't be complete without an entry of the only American politician I love, Alexander Hamilton who was just a walking entity of sass. I could go on about his sharp sarcasm or his disaster bi vibes with John Lauren's but my all time favourite Alexander Hamilton ancedote has to be this exchange with Thomas Jefferson "There are approximately 1010300 words in the English language, but I could never string enough words together to properly explain how much I want to hit you with a chair."

Caterina Sforza was an Italian noble woman during the Renaissance. She was apart of the powerful Sforza family, which drew many enemies to her. One fateful day at Forli, Caterina's children were snatched as hostages. The besiegers threatened to kill her children if she did not cede the castle. Caterina refused, lifting her skirts and shouted to the besiegers that she had the means to make more children.

Hannibal Lecter's creator Thomas Harris was happy to end his great character's story with the original trilogy. However his publishers forced him to write an unneeded prequel explaining why Hannibal became Hannibal. Thomas Harris agreed lest he lose the rights to his character so he wrote Hannibal Rising, where Hannibal as a young man hunts down the Nazis who ate his sister with a katana.

Nell Gwyn is my favourite mistress of Charles II, mainly because of her sass. Once while trapped in the middle of a riot where Londoners swamped her carriage thinking she was Charles's Catholic mistress. She popped her head out the carriage and told the people "Pray good people be civil. I am the Protestant whore." She also dosed her rival Moll Davis with laxatives in order to free up some of Charles's time and she once flashed her underwear at the French ambassador after asking him why the Franch King did not pay her to spy on Charles because she was with him every night. A true Queen.

Emperor Ai of the Han Dynasty of China once rose from his bed to go do some ruling when he realised his lover, Dong Xian was sleeping on his sleeve. Rather than disturb his lover, the Emperor cut his sleeve off at the wrist to leave Dong Xian nap. Nothing has ever been more romantic than that. Y'all could never.

Princess Margaret the sister of current Queen Elizabeth II was a socialable Princess and often tasked to visit the up and coming music stars of the day on behalf of the Crown. When meeting the Beatles one evening, she noticed George Harrison was acting a little odd. When she asked what was the matter, he replied "We arent allowed eat until you go." Princess Margaret laughed and promptly left so the Beatles could get some dinner.

During the Siege of Jadotsville, Irish soldiers under the flag of the UN were attacked and besieged by local insurgents allied with the Katanga Regime. The insurgents numbered thousands while the Irish only had 158 soldiers, all who were lightly armed. They radioed to their allies assuring them that "we will hold out until our last bullet is spent. Could use some whiskey though".

Napoleon was famous for writing raunchy letters to his wife, the Empress Josephine while he was away. She used to reply with really mundane letters or not at all. She really just could not be bothered with him.

Josip Broz Tito was so fed up with Joseph Stalin sending assassins to kill him, he wrote to Stalin personally to say "If you don't stop sending assassins to kill me. I will send one to Moscow and I won't have to send another." It didn't work but Big Dick Energy.

Successful Roman soldiers returning from war often got to march along in parades known as Triumphs. During this, it was customary for them to sing bawdy songs about their commander. One surviving one about Caesar goes like this "Romans, lock up your wives. Here comes the bald adulterous whore. We pissed away your gold in Gaul and come to borrow more."

Matilda, Lady of the English was a woman so badass that history cannot handle her. She was the daughter of Henry I who left his throne to her after the death of her brother. She was away in France when her father died and her throne was snatched by her cousin Stephen. They battled back and forth for years with neither side ceding any ground. Matilda was once besieged in a castle during a snow storm, with Stephen's men all around her. Instead of fighting her way out. She simply donned a white cloak and walked out of the castle. Just walked out without any of Stephen's men seeing her.

Pedro of Portugal once fell in love with a beautiful lady in waiting called Inez de Castro. For years, they lived as man and mistress, popping out a few kinds. Pedro's dad really did not like Inez and wanted Pedro to find a legitimate wife so he had her killed. Pedro returned home to find the mother of his children dead. Pedro went a little crazy. He had all his father's assassins killed, ripping out their hearts as they had done to him. When Pedro ascended the throne, he demanded the Pope legitimize his children by Inez. The Pope not wanting to upset the King, said he couldn't because Inez was never crowned Queen. Pedro dug Inez up and crowned her as Queen, having all the nobility swear loyalty to her corpse. The Pope had no choice but to agree to his request.

A famously clever general once saved an entire city with an ingenious stragety to sit outside the city waiting for the attacking army to come. The attack had come to fast for the city to ready themselves for a Siege so, the general had to move quickly. He evacuated the city and took his place waiting for the army to come. The enemy forces stopped and took one look at him and bolted, thinking he meant to lure them in one of his famous traps.

Michaelangelo was really badly treated by the Vatican when he was painting the Sistine Chapel. He constantly fought with the Popes over the design and his work, which he was paid peanuts for. Michaelangelo got his revenge in his work, painting the gates of Hell behind the Papal Throne and an angel flipping the ol' fig (the Renaissance version of the bird) toward the Pope's chair.

Peter the Great was not a perfect guy. He kept serfdom as a practise in his kingdom, he had his son tortured to death and he could be an unpleasant guy. But Peter was a dreamer. He wanted nothing more to build a fleet for Russia and bring Russia beyond its borders. Peter took a gap year from ruling Russia to wander around Europe. When he stopped in England, he was granted Leicester House to chill in while he did his shipwright studies. It was here that Peter found a new passion. The wheelbarrow. Cue Peter and his new found English buddies drinking in Leicester House, punching the artwork and rolling each other around in barrels across the house's Great gardens.

Diogenes is hands down a walking shit post. He was a great thinker in Greece during the reign of Alexander but a rather dry, sarcastic wit. He lived in a pithos/a jar because he shunned all vanities and values of society. He trolled other philosophers, attending their debates to heckle them and eat loud foods through them. When Alexander the Great came to fan boy over him, saying that if he were not Alexander he would like to be Diogenes to which Diogenes just said "yeah me too, now get out of my sunlight."

Cosimo de Medici was the son of a Floretine banker with a great knowledge and love of art. Cosimo wished for Florence to release its potentially and join the Renaissance. He hired Filippo Brunelleschi to finsh the Great Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore which had láin unfinished for over a century, a symbol of a failure of ambition. The builders had lost the knowledge of creating a dome so large so it remained unfinished. Despite much opposition from the other nobility and denouncers of the Renaissance, Cosimo's dream of the completion of the dome was completed, making it the largest brick dome in creation at that time. There is nothing like achieving your dreams and certainly nothing like leaving a lasting reminder that screams 'I was right and you were wrong' to stand for centuries.

#Instead of doing shots I decided to give you all a gift #History is our greatest gift #And it's filled with dick jokes and idiots #Anyway happy birthday to me #Go forth and enjoy this great gift #history dump #History Ancedotes #History bites: kinda?

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wiypt-writes · 4 years ago

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Stark Spangled Banner

Ch15: That Tie Looks Real Expensive

Summary: On the run from SHIELD, Katie and Steve find Natasha at the hospital when they head back for the memory drive. Their search for the truth leads Steve on yet another trip down memory lane and, as more truths bubble to the surface, the three of them are left running for their lives and are forced to seek help…

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Warnings: Language! Violence, and someone gets pushed off a roof but he’s Hydra so, meh.

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

A/N: Not one but TWO edits from @angrybirdcr in this one!!

Chapter 14

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

After a bit of a skirmish on the bridge out of the Triskellion involving a Quinjet and some nasty looking road blocks, they made it out relatively unscathed all things considered and headed to the boxing gym they trained at so Steve could change. Katie told him to leave his suit behind in the hope that the tracking systems would give whoever came looking for them a bit of a detour. At her suggestion, in an attempt to keep them as unnoticeable as possible, he also locked his shield in his locker, with the view they’d collect it when it was safe to do so.

They reached the hospital with no further issues. Katie was feeling the effects of the fight in the elevator and the leap of faith they’d taken out of it and was stiff and bruised but she did her best to keep pace with Steve as they strode down the corridor. When they reached the vending machine, Steve stopped and peered into it, frowning as he realised the row where he had hidden the stick was empty. Then someone appeared behind them, and he saw Natasha’s reflection in the machine, blowing bubbles from the gum she’d obviously bought to retrieve the stick.

Steve spun round, temper reaching boiling point as he grabbed her by the neck in a display of anger Katie had rarely seen from him, pushing her into a room opposite.

“What happened to you?” She looked at Katie’s face, her eyes taking in the bruising around her left cheekbone and the split in her lip.

“Rumlow.” Katie snapped back, unwilling to discuss any further. Her patience with this whole situation was running thin and she was sick of not knowing who she could trust. She had resigned from SHIELD for this precise reason, and here she was, getting dragged once more back into their shit.

“Where is it?” Steve demanded, looking at Nat as he reached up and threw down his hood.

“Safe.”

“Do better.” Katie suggested, glaring at the woman she thought was her friend, not sure anymore whether or not to trust the red-head.

“Where did you get it?” Natasha asked.

“Why would I tell you?” Steve countered.

“Fury gave it to you,” she narrowed her eyes at him. “Why?”

“What’s on it?” Steve ask, ignoring her question.

“I don’t know,” Natasha answered.

Steve lightly slammed her against the wall his patience thinning quickly, anger blazing from every inch of his body. “Stop lying,” he said through gritted teeth.

“I only act like I know everything, Rogers.”

“I bet you knew Fury hired the pirates, didn’t you?” Katie said, looking at her.

“Well, it makes sense. The ship was dirty, Fury needed a way in…”

Katie let out a frustrated laugh before she spun around away from Natasha, groaning.

“I’m not gonna ask you again,” Steve threatened.

“I know who killed Fury.” Natasha spoke as Katie turned to face her again. “Most of the intelligence community doesn’t believe he exists. The ones who do call him the Winter Soldier. He’s credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years.”

“So he’s a ghost story.” Steve concluded releasing her and taking a step back.

“Five years ago, I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran and somebody shot out my tires near Odessa.” She said, looking him straight in the eyes “We lost control, went straight over a cliff. I pulled us out, but the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer, so he shot him, straight through me.”

Natasha pulled up her shirt, revealing a scar on her lower left abdomen.

“Soviet slug, no rifling. Bye bye, bikinis.”

“Yeah, I bet you look terrible in them now.” Steve half joked.

“Going after him is a dead end. I know, I’ve tried.” Nat stated before she pulled out the thumb drive and held it out for all of them to see.

Steve eyed her before taking it and putting it in his pocket before he looked at Katie then back to Natasha.

“Let’s find out what the ghost wants.”

*****

“You know you could have picked something a little more subtle.” Nat hummed as she lounged in the backseat of the truck that they had taken from an industrial estate opposite the gym when they had stopped to pick up Steve’s shield and ditch Nat’s Corvette on their way out to New Jersey.

They had gotten what they needed from the Mall, including the location of where the AI that kept countering Natasha’s commands on the pen drive was coming from, which to Steve’s shock had been Camp Lehigh, the place he had trained and been selected for Operation Rebirth. After a close shave with the STRIKE team, in which Katie and Natasha’s stealth skills really had been put to the test, although Steve hadn’t objected to one part in particular where he’d had to kiss his girl on the escalator, they had bolted for Natasha’s car and made it out, unscathed and thankfully with a few new changes of clothes each.

“It’s a truck, lots of men drive trucks.” Steve replied, as he comfortably drove with one hand on the wheel, the other on the gearshift, eyes focussed on the road.

“Because they think it looks cool when in fact it just makes them look like douchebags who are compensating for something.” Nat responded.

Despite himself, Steve couldn’t help but quip back playfully. “Maybe I am.” “Well I know that’s not true” Nat replied, her voice full of a smirk. “Katie told me.”

Steve felt his cheeks flush as Katie shifted in the seat beside him, whipping her head round to face the woman. “Jesus, Nat!”

“What were your exact words?” Natasha continued, a teasing expression on her face. “Oh yeah, if that thing wasn’t enhanced by the-“ “If you don’t shut up I’m gonna come back there and slap you into next week.” Katie hastily cut her off. She turned back round, glancing at Steve. His cheeks were flushed red with embarrassment but there was a faint trace of a smirk on his face, his eyes still focussed ahead. He could tell she was looking at him so he kept his eyes on the road, fully aware he blushing. But as far as discussing their sex life with her friend went, he supposed that there were far worse things she could be saying.

“So where did Captain America learn how to steal a car?” Natasha asked a few minutes later as Katie noticed that they were passing a sign welcoming them to New Jersey. All things considered they’d made pretty good time.

“Nazi Germany” Steve looked over his shoulder at her. “And we’re borrowing, take your feet off the seat.“

Natasha eyed him in the mirror, but did as she was told before she leant forward between the two front seats.

"Alright, I have a question for you both, which you do not have to answer. But I feel if you don’t answer it though, you’re kind of answering it, you know?”

“What?” Steve asked exasperatedly.

“So before in the Apple store… you guys were like engaged…” She began a hint of a smirk on her face. “Any chance of that happening for real?”

Katie moaned and, upon hearing her, Steve felt something in his stomach tighten.

"That bad an idea huh?” He asked stealing a glance over at her.

“I didn’t say that.” Katie sighed.

“No but it kinda sounded like that’s what you meant.” Steve continued.

“I not even gracing that with a response” Katie shot him a look.

“You gonna grace my other question with a response?”

“Which was?”

“Whether you’re gonna move in with me or not.” He stole another glance at her but before she could reply he felt Nat shift a little.

“You asked her?” She aised her eyebrows. “Will you fuck off?” Katie snapped. She’d had enough and well and truly reached her fill of Natasha’s sarcasm, of SHIELD, of everything.

“Take it easy Stark.” Nat drawled back, nonplussed. “You know, if you don’t want to answer a question straight you could try making something up.”

“What, like you?” Katie scoffed, looking at her over her shoulder

“You know the truth is a matter of circumstances, it’s not all things to all people all the time. And neither am I.”

"That’s a hard way to live,” Steve commented as he took in the red-heads words. Besides him Katie shifted, agitatedly and he knew she was pissed. Natasha was supposed to be her friend and all this had shaken her trust.

“It’s a good way not to die, though.” Natasha mused unconcerned.

“You know, it’s kind of hard to trust someone when you don’t know who that someone really is.” Katie shot the red head a pointed look and Steve held his breath for the sarcastic response he was expecting back. He really didn’t want to have to split up a fight between the two. But knowing his girl as he did, he had a horrible feeling it would go that way if Natasha bit back. Thankfully, she didn’t, her tone was soft, almost wistful when she answered

“Yeah.” Natasha replied, looking through the window. “Who do you want me to be?”

“How about a friend?” Steve jumped in.

“Well, there’s a chance you might be in the wrong business, Rogers.” Natasha smirked returning to her comfortable position in the backseat.

They sat in silence for a bit and Katie turned to look at Steve. If there was one person in all this she could trust, she knew it was him. She had no idea what they were going to find, what they were going to walk into but she trusted him with her life, and loved him with every inch of her being. And she wanted him to know, in case this all went wrong, just how much.

Steve shifted in his seat as he could feel her eyes on him for a while before she spoke finally.

“I’m not gonna move in with you.”

Steve’s head whipped round, his mouth dry at her refusal, before he returned his attention to the road, trying not to read too much into her rejection, as she continued to speak.

“Your flat is full of bullet holes, your bed is in the wrong place and frankly it’s too small for all my stuff. You’ll have to move in with me.”

Wait, what? That wasn’t a refusal.

He looked at her, aware a grin was spreading across his face. “Seriously?”

She nodded, returning her gaze to the front, and he did the same as her fingers tangled into his right hand where it was resting on the pillar between their seats, gently pulling it into her lap so she could trace shapes on his palm.

And, surprisingly, there was no sarcastic comment from the back seats.

*****

“It’s some kind of recording,” Natasha frowned as she tried to make sense of what was happening in front of them. They’d scoured the camp and after a long search, just as they were ready to give up, Steve had spotted that the munitions building was in the wrong place. Further investigations had led them into a huge, underground bunker and, after an hour or so more of searching, they had discovered a secret Elevator that led down to a huge room full of ancient computers…and a more modern USB terminal.

Natasha had plugged in the USB device into the port, which had activated the system and now, well, now Katie had no idea what the fuck they were looking at.

“I am not a recording, Fraulein. I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945.”

Steve sighed heavily as the computer screen showed a black and white photo of a familiar odd looking man with round glasses. Zola.

“Who is that?” Katie asked as Steve glared at the photo on the computer screen.

“Do you know this thing?” Natasha questioned sceptically.

“Armin Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull. He’s been dead for years,” Steve explained shortly as he walked round the back of the screen, looking for anything that would explain how it was working.

“First correction, I am Swiss. Second, look around you. I have never been more alive. In 1972, I received a terminal diagnosis. Science could not save my body. My mind, however, that was worth saving. Two hundred thousand feet of data banks. You are standing in my brain.” Zola explained.

“How did you get here?” Steve questioned, returning to the front of the television monitor.

“I was invited.”

“Operation Paperclip.” Natasha supplied as her and Katie exchanged a look.

“What?” Steve asked.

“After the War Shield recruited German scientists with strategic value.” Katie replied, her eyes still on the screen.

“They thought I could help their cause. I also helped my own.” Zola continued.

“HYDRA died with the Red Skull,” Steve snapped.

“Cut off one head, two more shall take its place.” Zola said confidently

“Prove it.” Steve challenged and Katie had to stifle a sigh as she was pretty sure they were going to regret that.

“Accessing archive.”

The computer screen began to screen old footage of the Red Skull and of the original SHIELD founders.

“HYDRA was founded on the belief that humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom. What we did not realize, was that if you try to take that freedom, they resist. The war taught us much. Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly. After the war, SHIELD was founded and I was recruited. The new HYDRA grew. A beautiful parasite inside SHIELD. For seventy years, HYDRA has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping war. And when history did not cooperate, history was changed.”

Various photos flashed up as he spoke of events through the course of modern history. Besides him Katie gulped when they reached the assassination of JFK, and the photo zoomed in on a grainy image of the masked man with the metal arm in the distance, aiming his rifle, The Winter Soldier.

“That’s impossible, SHIELD would have stopped you,” Natasha said quickly countering the computer.

“Accidents will happen.” The computer screen then revealed a very familiar item, the newspaper reporting Howard and Maria Stark’s deaths. Steve felt his mouth go dry as he realised what Zola was telling him, whilst besides him, Katie took a deep breath as she looked at the screen, her Parent’s faces looking back at her in black and white print. And then the ringing started in her ears.

Her parents had been killed. By HYDRA.

When she spoke again, her voice was as desperate as she was. Desperate for this to be nonsense. “No, that’s not… they died in an accident… it was a car crash…”

“Things are not what they seem.” The screen drawled back

“You killed them?” Katie’s chest was heaving, the anger now evident in her voice as it coursed through her veins, her voice loud as she balled her fists “HYDRA killed my parents? Why?”

A photo of Director Fury flashed up.

“HYDRA created a world so chaotic that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice its freedom to gain its security.” Pictures of three helicarriers were shown next, and Steve feltl the angry heat spread up his neck, blistering and raw. “Once the purification process is complete, HYDRA’s new world order will arise. We won, Captain. Your death amounts to the same as your Life; a zero sum.”

Steve’s anger boiled over, and it appeared Katie’s had as well as the pair of them surged forward. Katie lashed out with her right foot kicking over a chair in anger and Steve brought his right hand crashing into the TV, smashing the screen. It only resulted in silencing the Swiss man for a moment, before he spoke cockily once again from a different monitor

“As I was saying…”

"What’s on this drive?” Natasha asked quickly stepping in front of both Katie and Steve to avoid the pair of them destroying anything else.

“Project Insight requires insight. So I wrote an algorithm.”

“What kind of algorithm? What does it do?” Katie demanded.

“The answer to your question is fascinating. Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it.”

Suddenly, the doors they came through started to close. Steve threw his shield attempting to catch them before they shut completely but it missed and he caught it as it ricocheted back.

“Guys, we got a bogey, short-range ballistics. Thirty seconds tops.” Natasha announced looking at her phone, her voice earnest.

“Who fired it?” asked Steve, as he starting to look for an alternative escape route.

“SHIELD.” She looked at him, then to Katie.

“Admit it Captain, it’s better this way. We’re both of us, out of time.” Warned Zola.

Katie looked around for any sign of a way out, knowing it was pointless. She spotted a grate in the floor not too far from where we were and yelled at Steve. Catching on to what she was saying, he easily threw the top off as Natasha pulled the drive out of the port that was on the desk.

“Get in!” Steve yelled. Natasha hopped down into the space, then Katie followed, the two girls getting as close to one another as they could to make room for Steve in the small space. He jumped down and pulled them both in close before holding his shield over their heads.

The missile hit a split second later. Instantly, heat, smoke and pressure surrounded the three of them. Steve could feel the ash in his throat and he had to fight with all his strength to keep his shield above them, as the debris from the collapsing building above rained down into the space they were hiding in. Letting out a groan he braced himself and simply stayed as strong as he could, and eventually the noise subsided. He could hear Katie’s heavy breathing as she struggled to maintain her calm, coughing slightly as she spoke.

“Nat?”

No answer.

Steve grunted again as he pushed against his shield trying to clear away the debris on top of it just enough to get out. He let out a sigh of relief as, following a third huge heave, light flooded down into the chamber. With another almighty shove, he managed to clear a path for him to climb out. He scrambled up, checked around to make sure it was safe and the he glanced down at the two women.

“You okay?” he asked.

“I am, but Nat’s passed out.” Katie blinked up at him, awkwardly shifting Natasha around carefully in order so Steve could lift her out. Carefully he set her down on the floor and then wrapped his hand around his girl’s wrist and pulled her out of the hole. Immediately she crouched next to Nat.

“Her pulse is strong. I think she just fainted, she doesn’t do well in tight spaces, like me.” Katie coughed harshly before she paused at the sound of a familiar hum growing steadily closer.

“Quinjets.” Her eyes grew wide.

“Let’s go.” Steve ordered quietly, scooping Natasha up in his arms. Ensuring Katie was in front of him at all times, they quickly began navigating their way out of the rubble as they headed back to the truck.

Katie climbed into the backseat and Steve laid Natasha down so that her head rested in Katie’s lap before he jumped into the driver’s seat, starting the car and taking off down the dirt road.

Neither of them spoke for a good five minutes. Katie was still trying to make sense of what Zola had said. HYDRA had killed her parents, for no other reason that she could think of bar the fact her dad had worked tirelessly against everything they stood for, as part of SHIELD. Her eyes misted over and she tried to blink back the tears, keeping her breathing even. She knew if she started crying, after everything that had happened, she wouldn’t stop.

In the front of the truck, Steve’s head was also reeling. All this time, HYDRA had grown within SHIELD, he’d gone into the ice for what? He wiped his hand over his face and glanced in the rear view mirror. Katie was looking down at Natasha, gently carding her hands through her friend’s hair, but he could see her eyes were wet. He felt another flash of anger. How could Fury have not noticed? How could Peggy have not noticed? So many goddamned questions.

“What…” Natasha’s voice was croaky and Steve glanced back again to see the red head’s eyes fluttering as she looked around.

“You passed out” Katie looked down at her. “We’re alright now, we got out ok.”

She sat upright and blinked again, “Thanks…”

Steve turned back to the windscreen as the car fell into silence.

“So, where to now?” Nat asked the question. No one answered which caused her to suggest “Tony?”

“No” Steve and Katie both said at the same time.

“For one thing he isn’t in the country.” Katie shook her head. “He’s in Aus working on some deal.”

“And they’ll be watching the Tower.” Steve continued, “It’s not safe”

“We need to get hold of Hill.” Katie licked her lips. “She’s the only one in any of this I trust now.”

Steve pondered, and then had to concede she was right. “Alright, but we need to lay low whilst we do. Any ideas?”

“Yeah.” Katie nodded. “And it’s a crazy one, but one that no one will ever suspect as no on in SHIELD knows the guy exists. Not yet anyway.” Steve shot her a questioning glance in the mirror, which turned into one of realisation as she finished. “Sam Wilson.”

“Honey we hardly know the guy.” Steve shook his head.

“Well trusting people we do know hasn’t exactly worked for us so far, has it?” Katie snapped back, a little tetchily. Steve opened his mouth to argue but Natasha cut him off.

“Nova’s right. Sometimes the person you have to trust is a stranger.” *********

Once they had tracked down Sam’s address, which was fairly easy to figure out when you had access to JARVIS via a StarkPhone, Sam let them in without so much as a question, the fact that the three of them were battered, bruised and filthy declaring everyone they knew was trying to kill them told him all he needed to know. He offered up his guestroom and Steve, being the gentleman that he was, let both Natasha and Katie go before him, giving Sam a brief overview of what had happened.

Katie and Natasha both showered quickly, and now they were currently sat quietly in the guestroom while Steve used the en-suite. He washed his face and looked in the mirror, letting out a sigh as he glanced back at his reflection, various bruises already covered his arms and upper body thanks to his accelerated healing but that wasn’t what bothered him. He was completely and utterly at a loss as to what to do next. Turning, he opened the door and saw Katie sitting behind Nat on the bed, drying the back of the woman’s red hair. He locked eyes with her, gave her a small smile and then looked at Natasha who was staring into space.

“You okay?"

"Yeah,” She replied quickly, too quickly.

Steve set down the towel he was drying his hands with and entered the room then sat on the chair across from the girls. He leaned his elbows on his knees and looked at Natasha carefully. “What’s going on?”

“When I first joined SHIELD, I thought I was going straight. But I guess I just traded in the KGB for Hydra,” Natasha confessed, looking down at her hands. “I thought I knew whose lies I was telling, but I guess I can’t tell the difference anymore.”

“There’s a chance you might be in the wrong business.” Katie teased earning a small smile from the redhead.

“I owe you.” Natasha sighed quietly, “Both of you.”

“It’s okay,” Steve smiled.

“If it was the other way around, and it was down to me to save your lives – and be honest with me – would you trust me to do it?” She asked quietly, her green eyes locked onto Steve’s.

“I would now,” said Steve. “And I’m always honest.”

“Without question.” Katie added as Nat turned to her, a smile growing on her lips.

“Well,” She said as she looked back at Steve. “You seem pretty chipper for someone who just found out they died for nothing.”

“Well, guess I just like to know who I’m fighting,” Steve sighed in response, although she had hit a nerve.

“I made breakfast,” Sam’s voice came and the three looked to see him leaning up against the doorframe. “If you guys, eat that sort of thing.” He added as he left.

Steve inclined his head slightly, smiling as Natasha stood up and left the room, shouting after Sam to see if he had a hair dryer, earning her a sarcastic response about him not having had an afro since the late eighties. Katie made to follow her but Steve caught her arm gently as he too rose from his chair.

“Doll.” He started, wanting to talk to her about the discovery but she cut him off, shaking her head. She didn’t want to talk about it. It was too painful and the fear of what Tony would say was eating her up.

“You know, after mom and dad died, Tony lost it.” Katie sighed gently, voicing her fears. “When he finds out they were murdered it could push him over the edge again.”

“Don’t tell him then.” Steve found himself suggesting. He didn’t approve of lying, but sometimes if knowing the truth was detrimental then…

“And then if he does find out, and then realises I knew and didn’t tell him?” Katie swallowed, shaking her head “I don’t know what’s worse, Steve.”

She looked utterly lost and broken and Steve felt a lump catch in his throat as he pulled her to him, kissing the top of her head. He was desperately trying to think of something that would raise her mood, and then he found himself for some strange reason thinking back to the banter the three had shared in the truck and he knew just how to do it.

“Did you really tell Natasha I had a big…” He looked down at his girl as she gave a small chuckle, the sound music to his ears.

“No I said you were a big dick…she must have misheard me”

He rolled his eyes and a sarcastic “ha ha” fell from his mouth as she smiled, sliding her hands up his chest.

“What I actually said was that if that thing…”she glanced down at his crotch before looking back up. “wasn’t supersized at the same time you were, I have no idea how you managed to stand upright before the serum.”

Jesus she was incorrigible at times. But Steve loved her for that. And he was also secretly pleased she thought he was packing, so to speak. He smirked as his hands slid to her hips. “You’re a nightmare.”

“Yeah but you love me.” She grinned.

“Yeah, yeah I do.” His lips met hers in a soft kiss before the pair of them sighed, the moment of humour and good nature slipping away as they both remembered exactly where they were and why they were there.

“Come on.” Steve took her hand and together they headed down the hall into the kitchen area, the smell of food hitting his nostrils made his stomach grumble.

“You all look a hell of a lot better.” Sam commented as Katie grabbed a few things for her plate- a couple of pancakes, fruit and toast. Steve smiled a bit at the quasi-compliment before he sighed, biting into a piece of toast.

“Well, it’s been an eventful twenty-four hours.” He responded as he slipped into a chair.

“I aint got anywhere to be.” Sam shrugged as he looked at Steve “I know you gave me the overview but how about you give me the details?”

Katie sat down next to Steve at the table and looked at him, then to Natasha before they launched into a detailed explanation of what had happened as Sam listened intently asking questions and serving coffee out to them as they continued explaining over the next thirty minutes or so.

“So, the question is, who in SHIELD could launch a domestic missile strike?” Natasha asked from where she was stood, leaning comfortably back against Sam’s countertops.

“Alexander Pierce,” Katie confidently answered, finishing her coffee. It was amazing how much of the situation now was starting to slot into place following food and caffeine.

“Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world,” Natasha walked towards the table, standing behind Katie, almost snorting at the irony of the situation.

“He’s not working alone, Zola’s algorithm was on the Lemurian Star.” Steve continued.

“And you told me that Jasper Sitwell was too.” Katie added, as the three of them shared a glance. There was another piece of the puzzle.

“So, the real question is,” Steve looked at Katie then to Nat “How do the three most wanted people in Washington kidnap a SHIELD officer in broad daylight?”

“The answer is, you don’t.” Sam dropped a file on to the table to the right of Katie.

“What’s this?” Steve asked, standing up as Natasha picked up the file.

“Call it a resume.”

Katie stood up as well so the three of them could look at the file.

“Is this Bakhmala? The Khalid Khandil mission-that was you?” Natasha asked and Sam nodded. She then turned to Steve. “You didn’t say he was a para rescue.”

“Riley?” Katie asked nodding to the photo of Sam and another man.

“Yeah.” Sam answered gently.

“I heard they couldn’t bring in the choppers because of the RPGs,” Natasha recalled. “What did you use, a stealth chute?”

“No. These.”

Sam handed Steve another file and he opened it, his eyes growing wide as they looked down at Sam soaring through the air using what could only describe as a pair of mechanical wings. He shared an impressed look with Katie before he glanced at Sam.

“I thought you said you’re a pilot?”

“I never said a pilot.” Sam countered with a little chuckle and a smirk.

“I can’t ask you to do this, Sam. You got out for a good reason.” Steve shook his head.

“Dude, Captain America needs my help. There’s no better reason to get back in.” Sam almost scoffed.

“Where can we get our hands on one of these things?” Katie asked, looking up.

“The last one is at Fort Meade, behind three guarded gates and a twelve inch steel wall.” Sam supplied, his tone a little dejected.

Steve looked to Natasha who nodded with a shrug. “Shouldn’t be a problem.” He almost smiled, looking at Sam with a smirk before he turned to Katie. “Reckon you can track down Sitwell?”

“Sam, you got a Laptop?” Katie looked to the man who nodded. “Then yeah, I can track him down.” She affirmed, dropping her StarkPhone onto the table.

********

The plan was as solid as they could make it. Steve and Nat were taking Sam’s car to Fort Meade to break out his kit whilst Sam and Katie stayed behind to track down Sitwell. It wasn’t ideal splitting up, but it was the best option they had. All four of them travelling would have attracted attention, plus this way if two of them did get caught, the other two still had a chance of getting the job done.

Steve drove the truck down the freeway, Nat lounging in the front seat as she looked at the plans of the base that they now had courtesy of some expert searching via Google Maps.

“If we go in from the East Side we should have the element of surprise.” She spoke and Steve nodded.

“Right, we get in, we get out, minimum casualties, minimum fuss.”

Natasha hummed her agreement as Steve stopped at a red light.

“So, you actually asked Stark to move in?” Nat grinned.

“Yeah.” “I’m impressed. Your forty’s programming has been well and truly broken.” Steve rolled his eyes “Well I figured I want to spend the rest of my life with her so what does it matter?” He realised what he’d said instantly and let out a groan as Natasha grinned.

“You wanna marry her…” She said in a sing-song voice.

“People don’t always get married now.” Steve tried to shrug it off and Nat snorted.

“Bullshit Rogers! Soon as you can get a ring on it we all know you’re gonna.”

“Who’s we?”

“Everyone.” Natasha added sagely. “You two are like ultimate couple goals. It’s cute.”

Steve took a deep breath, staring ahead as he drove before he took a deep breath. “You know I kinda already asked her.” He looked back at Natasha who turned to him, mouth open. He had no idea why he was telling her this, absolutely no idea, other than the fact it felt nice to talk about something positive. “Well, not properly, but when I asked her to move in she was teasing me about us not being married so I said we could get married if she wanted, and-” “Great proposal.” Nat cut him off with a snigger. “What did she say?” “Told me to ask again with a, and I quote, big, fuck off tiffany diamond.”

“Every girl deserves a bit of sparkle.” Nat mused. “Unlucky for you, you’ve chosen a Billionaire to date.” “She’s not like that.” Steve instantly jumped to his girl’s defence.

“I know.” Nat soothed with a smile. “I know.”

They fell into silence for the rest of the way and, upon arriving at the base, they crept round to the best point of entry, following the heat scanners on Nat’s phone. Steve easily dispatched three guards, Natasha another two before they reached the room they were looking at. Natasha easily hacked the security codes thanks to something on her phone, Steve didn’t ask what, and they met no one on their way out.

Frankly, it went far too smoothly for Steve’s liking but he wasn’t going to complain. He just hoped Katie had got on as well with locating Sitwell.

***** Once Steve and Nat had left, Sam fired up the laptop for Katie and she plugged the end of her StarkPhone into the USB port.

“So you know this guy we’re looking for?” Sam asked, placing a coffee down next to her as she waited for the programme to run its magic.

“Vaguely.” She sighed out, knowing it would be easier if she knew him better. “But I can work with what I have.”

“So using what you have, how do we find him?”

“Simple, I’m going to check his work calendar.” Katie nodded at the laptop

“And you can do that?” Sam asked

“Not on my own.” She grinned

“Good morning again Miss Stark.” JARVIS’ voice rang out from the laptop, causing Sam to slop coffee down his shirt in surprise.

“Hey JAR, I need a favour. Again. And it’s urgent.” “Of course.” “I need you to by-pass the SHIELD firewall and access someone’s calendar without them noticing.”

“Certainly, but permit me to ask,is everything ok Miss Stark?”

“Nope it is not…” she sighed “I’m in trouble J, but I’m hoping this is gonna help…”

“Should I alert Mr Stark? Maybe call him back from Australia?” “Absolutely not.” Katie shook her head. “There’s no time, in fact I forbid it…”

Once she had explained what she needed, JARVIS set to work, informing her he was going to scramble the IP address and set up a ghost server which would, in turn, allow him to access the information without being detected.

It didn’t take long. Fifteen or so minutes later Sitwell’s calendar flashed up and Katie gave a little yell of triumph.

“JARVIS, you are a genius, buddy!”

“Why thank you, Miss Stark. But I only have about sixty seconds before I will need to close down the connection.”

“Understood. Right let’s see where you’re at, you fucker.” Katie mused, as Sam peered over her shoulder.

“Look, briefing over lunch with Senator Stern at Occidental… 13:00 hours…” He read, pointing at the screen.

“Then he has another meeting at 14:30 back at the Triskellion… so Lunch is our window.” Katie looked up at Sam.

“Gives us an hour and a half.”

“Cutting it fine.” Katie mused. “Ok, thanks J, you can disconnect.” “Certainly Miss Stark. Good luck.”

Just as the AI had shut the link down her mobile rang.

“We got it.” Nat’s voice instantly spoke as she put the phone on speaker. “All ok your side?”

“Yeah, we’re good.” Katie replied

“Any luck finding Sitwell?” this time it was Steve

“Yeah, he’s having lunch at Occidental with Senator Stern at 1pm.”

“Oh, how nice, they have a Senator involved.” Nat snorted sarcastically.

“And that’s going to be our only window before he’s back at the Triskellion at two-thirty.”

“Doesn’t give us much time…” Steve mused.

“What’s your ETA?” Sam asked.

“About twenty five minutes.”

“Okay, so let’s do the brain storming whilst you’re on the phone.” Katie tapped at Sam’s laptop. “The restaurant they’re going to is in the Business District, so we need somewhere secure that’s close by to take him for a little chat.”

She brought up the Google Map images so Sam could see.

“There.” Sam tapped at the screen, “There’s a multi-storey parking lot a few blocks down. We can take him up high…”

“And kick him off the edge.” Katie nodded.

“Stark, I like your style.” Nat replied, and Katie could hear the smirk in her voice.

“Okay so we got the where, now we need the how.” Steve sighed. “We can’t just pick him up at lunch. If the Senator’s there security will be a nightmare.”

"So we wait until he’s finished.” Sam shrugged

”But how do you get him to get in the car?”

“Simple. We give him a choice.” Katie eyed her gun where it lay on the table. “Do it or die.”

***** It turns out fear of death is a very, very good motivator.

Their plan went off perfectly. Natasha spoofed a phone number which Sam used to call Sitwell once he emerged from the restaurant after lunch. As predicted, Sitwell had been his usual cocky little shit of a self, asking Sam why on Earth he would what he was being instructed to do.

And then Katie had aimed her gun sight at him from her hiding place, the red laser sight clear in the middle of Sitwell’s chest.

“Because that tie looks really expensive, and I’d hate to mess it up.” Sam smirked.

Sitwell, resigned to his face, followed Sam instructions and as he left the little plaza upon which the restaurant was situated, Katie stepped out from her hiding place behind the wall of the bar Sam was sat at and pressed the muzzle of her gun into Sitwell’s lower back.

“One move and this goes straight into your spine. And I’ll make sure it doesn’t kill you, just leaves you with no feeling from the neck down…” She informed him, her voice low. Sitwell instantly tensed. "Miss Stark.” He grumbled out, seemingly more annoyed than scared. “Of course you’re involved with this.”

She took in a breath and glanced around, making sure none of the security team with him had realized what had happened. Sam was a few paces behind them and he gave her a nod to say they were clear before she turned back to Sitwell.

“You made me a wanted fugitive.” She shrugged. “Didn’t have much choice.” She stopped walking. “Now, get in the car.” She ordered, sternly.

“Where’s your boyfriend?”

“Get in the car.” She repeated. Sitwell stared at her, looked down at the gun before he swallowed and decided to do as he was told.

"We good?” Sam asked. Katie let out a breath and swiped a loose hair away from her face.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

They drove two blocks away and pulled up outside the large Starbucks on the main road.

“You know I could have got a coffee at the Restaurant.” Sitwell sighed, sarcastically. But his cocky demeanour soon dropped when both the rear car doors opened and Steve slid in one side, Natasha in the other.

“Good afternoon Agent Sitwell…” Steve turned to him, aviator shades covering his eyes. Sitwell looked at Steve, then to Natasha before his shoulders slumped and he bowed his head.

“Shit.”

******

Sitwell really was an arrogant little bastard, Steve had to give him that. The soldier easily manhandled the Agent onto the top of the Car Park roof, demanding to know what the Algorithm was, backing him up right to the edge where Sitwell had almost laughed, stating that it wasn’t Steve’s style to throw people off the edge.

Well, he had a point.

“You’re right. It’s not.” Steve released Sitwell, smoothing out his suit, letting the man nearly sigh in relief. Katie exchanged a glance with Natasha behind Steve’s back, the corner of her mouth twitched up slightly as Nat looked back. They were both going to enjoy this.

“It’s theirs.” Steve finished, before standing aside as both Katie and Natasha aimed strong kicks to Sitwell’s chest, sending him tumbling over the edge.

“So you’re definitely moving in together, then huh?” Natasha asked, peering over the edge as Steve and Katie did the same, listening to Sitwell’s screams growing fainter.

“Yeah.” Steve smiled, looking down off the side of the room, hands in his pockets. “Although I’m not sure how I’m going to cope surrounded by mess.”

Katie rolled her eyes, as Sitwell’s screams started getting louder again and suddenly Sam flew over with him in his grasp and dropped him back onto the roof, before landing a few feet away. The three of them turned toward Sitwell and he stuck his hands up in surrender, telling them everything.

"Zola’s algorithm is a program, for choosing Insight’s targets!” He rushed out.

“What targets?” Steve demands.

“You! A TV anchor in Cairo, the Undersecretary of Defense, a high school valedictorian in Iowa City. Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, anyone who’s a threat to HYDRA! Now, or in the future,” Sitwell continued to rush out failing to catch his breath.

“The future? How could it know?” Steve asked in confusion. At this Sitwell laughed as he stumbled back to his feet, looking at Katie before he glanced at Steve.

“How could it not? The twenty-first century is a digital book. Zola taught HYDRA how to read it,” He said getting confused looks from the Soldier in return, “Your bank records, medical histories, voting patterns, e‐mails, phone calls, your damn SAT scores! Zola’s algorithm evaluates peoples’ past to predict their future.”

Steve swallowed. He’d heard and seen more unbelievable things.

“And what then?” He asked, already thinking he knew but didn’t want to know the answer. Sitwell shook his head in disbelief as Katie exchanged a glance with Sam who was stood behind Sitwell. He shook his head in disbelief.

“Oh, my god. Pierce is gonna kill me.” He mumbled to himself and he tried to back away from the advancing super-solider but Sam reached out, holding him in place with a firm hand on his shoulder.

“What then?” Steve demanded louder.

Sitwell sighed as he looked at Steve. “Then the Insight Helicarriers scratch people off the list. A few million at a time.”

**** Chapter 16

**Original Posting**

#stark spangled banner #steve rogers #Katie Stark #steve rogers x ofc #steve rogers x original female character #steve rogers fic #steve rogers fanfiction #mcu #mcu fanfic #captain america #chris evans #chris evans characters

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astralaffairs · 4 years ago

Text

on fear under stark, dying lighting || thomas jefferson, fotp-verse

title: on fear under stark, dying lighting

pairing: thomas jefferson x reader, an fotp-verse oneshot

words: 5k

request: how would thom react if lets say maybe his neo-nazi supporters get too passionate abt their anger towards mc’s articles and um try to shoot/mug/harm her to stop her from writing anything else against thom?

notes: ok so first off lemme preface this w the fact that thom is a self respecting black man who has another self respecting black man as his running mate so tbr the neo-nazi white supremacists r not exactly his demographic of supporters. that said i fucking loved this prompt; set in the universe of freedom of the press, but not canon w/ the storyline

tags: @stargazelaurens @ivory-haired-queens @exoticxchicken8@assbuttstyles777 @distinguishedpotsticker @fukaaaaaaaa@hereforthepsyche-assessment @ivetoldamillionlies@fangirl570 @thealaddinkid @lasciviouspeach@snazzydoesthings @shy-and-awkward-daveed@rachelhermionerose @soft-weeb-s @gryffinclxw @anamrnk@daveeddiggsit @ayayayayana @marinovakovich@cryinghazelnutt @thefandomgirl03 @a-hopeless-fan @cloudynblw @tinywhim @lolidunnoaboutnow @siriusorionblackiii @fanfic-addict-98 @checkurwindow @nyxie75 @i-know-i-can @yxseminx @yavin4andor @sugacita @sstrawberry-fanta @youtxbemusic @queenwilty — hope i didnt miss anyone; lmk if you want to be added!!

Beep.

Y/N scrunched up her nose as her eyes fluttered open, the gritty, incessant sound of the machine grating on her nerves — while she was no stranger to the sound of her own heartbeat, she'd never heard it like that. When she finally tried to look around the room, she winced. The sterile-white LED lights lining the ceiling made her eyes burn; as she adjusted to it, slowly waking up, she began to notice the steady click of an IV drip not far from where her head rested.

She didn't move at first, blinking hard as the ceiling was her entire range of vision, but when she tried to sit up, a sharp pain shot through her shoulder, and she cried out, her hand flying up to the spot.

"Hey, hey, hey, sweetheart, lay down, okay? Relax, please. You're gonna hurt yourself."

The beep of the heart rate monitor accelerated in a fleeting moment, and steady, familiar hands came to rest gently on her good shoulder and her upper back, easing her into the crinkly mattress beneath her. She turned with wide eyes to find the last person she expected at her bedside as he propped her head up onto a pillow.

"Thomas?" she asked breathlessly. "Shit, I... What are you doing here? Did you bring me here? I don't..." Her brow furrowed as she eyed his worried expression, the small, scared frown he wore. As she tried to shift in her bed, turn to look at him, she gasped at the throbbing in her upper arm — with that, it didn't take long for her to recall exactly what she was doing there, though the details were hazy. She didn't know what to make of her current circumstance, though.

"Here, d'you want me to raise the back of the bed so you don't needa hold yourself up?" Though she'd screwed her eyes shut, her jaw clenched as she tried to bear the pain, as his hand ghosted down to her forearm, as he brushed his thumb across her skin, he could hear her pulse beginning to settle. She nodded, laying onto her back with a grimace.

A moment passed in silence while she tried to collect her thoughts. She let out a soft hum when the reclined top of the bed began to fold upward, letting her shift into a sitting position, she withdrew her right arm from Thomas's grasp, pulling it back to instead lace her fingers into his. "Better?"

"Mhm." When she again opened her eyes, he'd pulled his chair closer. She frowned. "How are you here? You... We're in public, Thomas; you can't..." She trailed off, but when the concern in his gaze didn't subside in the least, she said, "Did I die? Am I... Is this even real? I don't understand."

Despite everything, at her words, a teasing grin split his grim expression, and he squeezed her hand lightly. "Well, first of all, 'm flattered that you think wakin' up here next to me might actually be heaven—" She rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help her soft, endeared smile. "—but no, you're alright, just in the hospital. You're gonna be fine."

"I guess that's a relief," she sighed, pursing her lips. She eyed him with concerned hesitance. "But what are you doing here?"

"What d'you mean, 'what am I doing here?'" he asked incredulously, his voice soft. "Three of my supporters just tried to fucking kill you 'cause they were tryin' to defend my image. Did you think I wasn't gonna come see you? Make sure you're okay? I've been worried sick, Y/N."

"I..." She swallowed the lump building in her throat as she remembered everything that happened, how quickly it'd all gone down. With the way they'd cornered her, she was lucky to have escaped with a bullet in her shoulder. She was lucky to have even made it out alive. "I'm really, really glad you're here," she said with a weak smile, "but we aren't exactly holed up in your penthouse, right now. How do you plan to explain that you came to visit me in the hospital?"

"Well, officially, 'm here to offer my deepest apologies on behalf of myself 'n my campaign and to let you know that I entirely denounce what happened," he said, and as his gaze fell, as he couldn't bear to meet her eyes, she could see the remorse in her demeanor. "Everyone's just gonna think it's damage control, and I get why. Some of that was just an excuse for me comin' to see you. But really... I can't tell you how sorry I am that this happened. 'M so, so sorry that people came out 'n tracked you down, tried to murder you in my name. You can't... I can't begin to tell you how much I wish I could go back and do somethin' different to stop this from happenin'. That I didn't spend so much time messin' with you on Twitter. That I woulda—"

"Stop it," Y/N said, her voice hardly more than a whisper. She could see Thomas's eyes welling up, his stare glassy; she could hear his voice beginning to waver. "Stop. You know this wasn't your fault. There was nothing you could've done to prevent it. You're a good person, okay? I know you. Please, please don't blame yourself."

She squeezed his hand, and he shut his eyes tightly. "Fuck, I don't—" He sniffled loudly, reaching up to wipe the tears from his cheeks. "Don't know why you're comforting me right now. 'M not supposed to be the one who needs it; I don't wanna make this about me. 'M sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for. You aren't responsible for this, and I don't blame you for it in the least." At her gentle tone, he let out a ragged huff, still not meeting her eyes. She frowned. "Hey, look at me. You didn't do anything to incite this."

"You're too forgivin'," he finally said, lifting his head to meet her gaze. "I don't deserve it."

She scoffed at the words, breaking his gaze to shake her head in exasperation. "Thomas, if you don't deserve to be forgiven, that's because there's nothing to forgive. Please, this isn't your burden."

There was a skip, silence aside from the IV drip and the staticky beep of the heart rate monitor. "That's enough talkin' about me," he finally said. Y/N sighed. His deflecting was overt, but he didn't seem to care. "How are you? I don't just mean your shoulder, either. No one would judge you for bein' rattled after everything that happened."

She shrugged, and he could see the pain in her eyes. "I'm not great, if I'm honest. I was just so scared." She drew in a shaky breath. He took her hand in both of his, pulling his chair closer to her side. "How'd you even find out about this, anyway? Lafayette?"

"Now, why d'you think Lafayette woulda heard about you bein' in the hospital before I did?" He could only feign offense, but the eyebrow he raised was playful. She couldn't stifle her amused smile. "That hurts, sweetheart, really. He matters that much more to you than I do?"

"Shut up; you know that none of my other friends would tell you about this," she groaned, but any exhaustion in her voice was contrived. "Alex and his sister-in-law are my emergency contacts. Which one of them would've ever called you?"

"Alright, alright." Thomas huffed, trying to purse his lips to hide his grin. "James called me. Dolley saw it on the news."

"Oh my god, it's on the news?" Her eyes widened, and Thomas was struck with a pang of guilt as he heard her pulse begin to spike — there wasn't much she could hide when hooked up to a heart rate monitor. "Shit, I– I need to call Mira and Orlando; they've gotta be terrified. And Angelica, holy shit, I'm sure she's heard. What time is it? How long has it been since the story broke?"

"Hey, calm down, okay? They're outside. They know you're gonna be alright," he murmured, rubbing the back of her hand comfortingly, and he sighed as he heard her heartbeat slow. "Everyone's out there. James 'n Dolley came, Lafayette came... Hamilton brought his whole family. I met Angelica, just now."

Her eyebrows shot up, but a laugh was etched into her surprised smile. "Oh, no, tell me you're lying. I can't imagine that went well."

He hummed in agreement, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he watched her enthusiasm begin to grow. "Nah, not so much. Think she woulda throttled me out in the lobby if Mira hadn't stopped her."

Y/N groaned. "Of course Mira's out there defending you. Some priorities."

"Oh, would you rather your friends killed me with their bare hands?" He raised an expectant eyebrow, and when Y/N only shrugged, he scowled.

"Listen, all I'm saying is that if someone shot you in my name and James tried to throttle me for it, I'd understand."

Thomas gave a reluctant hum. "Forgot how much you liked havin' people's hands around your throat. Guess you'd probably enjoy it, huh?"

Her eyes widened as her breath caught, blood rushing to her cheeks. She could feel her skin burning, and somewhere in the background, she was vaguely aware of the rush of her heart rate monitor. "Thomas. Shut up, I swear to god."

He laughed when she tried to shove his hands away, yank her right arm out of his grasp, but when he just squeezed her forearm teasingly, she turned her head. She couldn't meet his gaze with the scowl she wore. "Aw, what's the problem? You only into that when I'm the one doin' it?"

"Thomas." She whipped her head back around to him with a wearing look, appearingly taken aback, but her teeth were sinking hard into her bottom lip. When she saw the mocking pout he wore, a chill ran down her back; her stomach turned.

"Y'know, I'm kinda havin' fun with bein' able to hear your heart rate." When he winked, the corners of his lips turning up into a knowing smile, the heat in the back of her neck flared.

"You're exhausting," she grumbled. He shrugged.

"Mmh, I can see that." When she turned to him with an eyebrow raised, he grinned. "Nothin' to be ashamed of, sweetheart. I know I—"

He was cut off by the click of the door being thrown open, and a nurse rushed into the room, closely followed by the small army of people there to see Y/N. They both pulled abruptly back from one another. Y/N's heart was pounding.

"Y/N! Are you okay? Did something happen?" Eliza asked pushing through to see you with wide, worried eyes. Y/N opened her mouth to respond, but when she just gaped at everyone for a moment, Alex immediately cut in.

"Jefferson, I swear to god, if you laid a finger on her, I'll end you. I knew it was a bad idea to let him in here," Alex scowled, glaring at Thomas as he strode toward them, but Y/N's brows shot up.

"Hey, woah, stop it," she said holding up her right hand, a silent request for him to come to a halt. Reluctantly, he did, still eyeing Thomas skeptically. "Nothing happened. I'm okay. Why'd you all come in here like this?"

"Your heart rate was rising, dear. We thought you could've been having a seizure, or a heart attack, or... or something," Dolley said, and Alex glared when she pushed her way in front of him. "How are you? I saw the video online, and oh, Y/N, it was awful. I couldn't bear to see such a thing happening to you."

"Dolley, hey." Y/N wore a soft smile as Dolley came to her bedside, resting a hand on her calf. "I'm okay. Not the best I've ever felt, but it isn't anything I won't be able to sleep off. That, and some painkillers, of course."

Dolley gave her a wry smile. "Let me know if there's anything I can do. I have a neglected bottle of rosé sitting in our pantry and two pints of ice cream in the freezer, so go ahead and pick your poison."

Y/N laughed. "I'll have to see what flavors of ice cream you've got stashed away, but either option is dangerously tempting."

Dolley was about to reply, but when Angelica emerged to her left, she jumped back, startled. "Anyway, why was your heart rate so high? You don't look like you're going into a coma, so what'd he do?" Angelica nodded toward Thomas, the look in her eyes all business and her brow furrowed. Thomas raised an affronted brow.

"Oh, please, Thomas wouldn't hurt a fly." As everyone began to disperse themselves around her bedside, the group who'd come to see her made Y/N's heart warm. She resisted rolling her eyes at the doting smile Mira gave Thomas alongside her words, which he returned gratefully. (Suck up.) However, Mira also turned to Y/N with a hesitant look. "Right, mija?"

Y/N pursed her lips, glancing between Mira and Thomas dubiously, but Thomas looked smug. "Yeah, yeah, he's in the clear," she agreed reluctantly. "My heart rate spiked because I stupidly tried to use both my arms to shift where I was sitting. It didn't feel so great for, y'know, my bullet wound." When she gave a weak smile, there were sighs of relief scattered throughout the group (Thomas's was the most adamant; he hadn't expected her to bail him out quite that easily).

"Well, we are glad to see zat you are alright." Lafayette offered her a soft smile, and when she found him standing directly beside Thomas, she reached out to squeeze the hand he had resting on the rail of her bed. A flicker of dejection passed through Thomas's expression, gone almost the moment it came.

"I'm glad to see all of you here. It was really sweet of you to come," Y/N said, looking around the group. Her eyes lit up when she caught sight of James standing just behind Dolley, a small smile resting on his lips. "Aw, James, even you showed up?"

"Of course, Y/N. We on Thomas's campaign have been incredibly concerned."

She rolled her eyes at his formal tone. "Yeah, yeah, talk all you want about your political agenda, but we both know Dolley dragged you along to visit."

"I truly can't help but take offense at that," James said, his brow furrowed, and he shook his head. Regardless, he wore an amused smile. "As though I'm unable to cross partisan lines for an injured acquaintance?"

"Aw, aren't we friends by now?" Y/N asked, plastering on a pout, and James laughed.

"I suppose so." He squeezed Dolley's shoulder, an eyebrow raised, and she shuffled aside, inadvertently crowding into Angelica's space. When James took a step forward, Y/N's eyebrows shot up at the bouquet of flowers he held, the envelope attached to them. "These are for you, on behalf of our entire campaign."

She had to shift in her seat to turn and take them from him in her right hand, but as she did so, she grimaced at the dull pain in her shoulder when she moved it. Thomas's hand shot out to support her before he realized where he was, and he stopped himself short, pulling his hands back into his lap with a wince.

"Thanks so much, James, these are beautiful," Y/N said, inhaling deeply as she held the flowers up to her nose. "Who picked them out?"

"I did." The sound of Thomas's voice among the group surprised her. Her eyebrows were raised when she turned to him, and she struggled to stop her small smile from widening at his words.

"Well then, thank you, Secretary Jefferson. I appreciate the gesture."

"It's the least I could do, Ms. L/N." She pressed her lips together; it was all she could do not to laugh at the formality in his tone. He gave her a sympathetic smile, but as she met his gaze, it was doting. "I'm terribly sorry that this happened. Please, don't hesitate to reach out if there's anything further we can do to support you."

She cocked a brow. "Care to pay my medical bills?"

"Gladly."

"Wait, seriously?" Her eyes widened. "I was joking, but I'm holding you to that."

"As you should," Thomas said reasonably, giving a shrug. "I understand how difficult this has gotta be for you, and for your family, too. We'd like to support you in any way we can."

While his gentle tone made her smile, holding his stare, but Alex scoffed loudly.

"Oh my god, don't fall for that, Y/N," he interjected. Y/N raised a brow. "He's just trying to avoid a lawsuit. Or convince you not to start bitching online about how he almost killed you."

"He didn't almost kill me," she huffed. She glanced back hesitantly at Thomas, and he was watching her with guilt heavy in his expression. "One of his supporters did. It's not the same thing."

"Yeah, they tried to kill you in his name. Why are you giving him a pass?"

"If you shot him in my name, would it be my fault?" She pinned Alex with an expectant stare, and he huffed. "You know it wouldn't, and this is no different. If you're gonna spend the next few minutes attacking him, go wait in the hall until he and James leave. My head already hurts, so I refuse to listen to you picking a fight."

Alex folded his arms. "Why aren't you kicking him out?"

"Because you're the one getting worked up, right now," Y/N said matter-of-factly, but Thomas sighed.

"I understand that you all want me gone. I won't impose," he said, and when he began to push his chair out, Y/N and Mira wore identical, dismayed expressions.

"No, no, you aren't imposing!" Mira insisted. "Please, stay."

"'S alright, Mira. I know when I'm not wanted. I should be goin'," he said, giving her a reassuring smile, but his nervous gaze flickered back to Y/N. "Unless, of course, you've got any more grievances you wanna air? I'd be happy to listen, but I don't wanna overstay my welcome."

"Actually," Y/N started, pursing her lips. Thomas's tense demeanor softened as she went on, "I have a few more things I'd like to say before you go. You aren't off the hook just yet." Though her expression was hard, Thomas was struggling not to grin at her not sending him away. Y/N looked back around to her friends and family. "If you'd all give me another minute? I need to get some things off my chest."

While everyone obliged her easily, turning to give her space as they started toward the exit, Dolley and Lafayette shared a knowing look. Y/N's nurse smiled. "I'm glad to see you awake and feeling better. I'll be on call if you need me."

"Thanks so much," Y/N said quietly, and Lafayette caught her eye with a grin.

"We will be back in a few minutes, chérie. Do not do anything rash."

Y/N's eyebrows shot up when he shot Thomas a wink before following everyone else out, and they sat another moment in silence until the door finally fell shut. Thomas breathed a sigh of relief.

"So, now that everyone's outta here, you gonna rip me a new one?" he asked playfully, and Y/N rolled her eyes, finally letting herself grin as she turned to him, leaning fully back against her bed.

"Don't tempt me," she warned, and he laughed lightly. "But I just wanted another minute with you. If you want to go or have somewhere to be, I'll understand."

"I'm gonna stay as long as you're lookin' to let me," he replied, and when he rested his hand on the bed's rail, she took it in hers.

"I don't know how long I can believably pretend to be yelling at you, but I don't want you to leave just yet. I'm really glad you're here." She swallowed hard, glancing down at where their hands were linked. "I've just... been so distant recently. Is it silly to say I was afraid I was going to die without seeing you first?"

He let out a light, breathy laugh; the look in his eyes was akin to relief. "Jesus, I hope not, 'cause I've been up all night worryin' about the same thing."

Her eyebrows shot up, and he gave her a sheepish smile. "You've been up all night?"

"How was I supposed to sleep?" he asked, his eyebrows raised. He shook his head in disbelief. "You have no idea how scared I was, sweetheart."

"I can imagine," she said with a sigh. "Thank you for coming. I'm sure it wasn't easy to get in here with my friends all ready to bite your head off."

"Mmh, not exactly," he agreed, tone dry, and when she caught sight of his irked expression, she raised an eyebrow. "I didn't get too warm of a welcome."

"How'd you convince them to let you stay here until I woke up, anyway?" she asked, and a lopsided grin split his expression. He shrugged. "Don't tell me you just waltzed in here, and they let you into my room. I know them better than that."

"Lafayette vouched for me."

"Seriously?" Y/N furrowed her brow. "And said what?"

"That it'd be best for you to be able to get everything off your chest before everyone came in to see you." He shrugged, and though Y/N rolled her eyes, his smile was smug. "Guess I'm lucky you're takin' pity on me, huh?"

"Really, Jefferson. I should consider being a little harsher next time. Really making you pay for being thoughtful enough to show up here and comfort me when I'm terribly injured." She bit her lip, eyeing him tentatively. "Hey, can anybody see us right now? Are there any windows or security cameras I'm missing?"

He shook his head, brow furrowed. "Uh-uh. Relax. It's just you and me, alright?"

"Then will you come sit with me?"

His eyebrows shot up when she looked at him hopefully, shifting over on her bed, but it wasn't until a moment later that he answered, his words hesitant. "I dunno, sweetheart. I know you're in a lotta pain, and I don't wanna accidentally hurt you. You should just rest."

"Please?" The look in her eyes was hopeful, and she ran her thumb across his knuckles. "I just... wanna be held. I know you've gotta go soon, but..."

She couldn't finish her sentence, instead just trailing off, watching him with pleading eyes, and he sighed. "God, I hate not bein' able to say no to you. Move over."

Y/N grinned when he stood, delicately propping himself up onto the edge of her bed and swinging his legs up beside hers. His left arm brushed against her right shoulder, and she winced, trying to prop herself up onto the side of his torso. His hands found her waist. "This okay?" he asked softly, shifting her to lay against his chest, and her smile went soft.

"Yeah. This is good." She hummed contentedly when he absentmindedly began tracing patterns into her hip through her hospital gown. "Thanks for being here. Not many people would be willing to fight through my friends just to see me for a few minutes."

"Well, I did have some help," he murmured, his lips just above her ear. "I mean, since you gave Mira the power of attorney and all, she got the final say on who was allowed to come in and see you. You know she's got a soft spot for me."

Y/N giggled. "I guess your whole 'golden boy' act does come in handy once in a while."

When Thomas huffed, she could feel his warm breath tickle the side of her neck. She shivered. "Y'know what, I'm gonna let that one go, but only 'cause you're injured."

"Or because you know I'm right," she teased, craning her neck back to look at him with a wide smile, and he raised an amused eyebrow.

"Mhm, 'cause I'm secretly a terrible person, huh?"

"Good thing we agree." She pushed herself up to lightly kiss the underside of his jaw. "I just wish you could stay longer. I know you probably have a million things to get done, but I hate that you have to use some bullshit excuse just to come see me."

"So do I," he sighed.

"I just wish we could do... whatever this is in the light of day."

"What if we could?"

"Thomas," Y/N groaned lightly. "It's a nice thought, but you know it isn't possible. You aren't going to drop out of the race for president, and I'm not going to stop covering the campaign. I like my job too much. I don't want to give that up."

"And I'd never ask you to," he assured her, "'S just a nice thought."

"Yeah," she agreed reluctantly, her gaze downcast. A beat passed in silence; they were both too caught up in their own heads to pay attention to the steady click of the IV drip within a foot of them, the buzz of the dying LED lights overhead. Finally, Y/N said, "Is there any chance you can come up with some excuse to come back and visit me tomorrow? I'll have my phone on me, so I can text you when the coast is clear."

"I'd love that," he whispered, pressing a kiss to the side of her head. He hadn't realized it, but she'd begun to doze off, her eyes fluttering shut as she laid her head against the warmth of his body, the steady feeling of his heartbeat in his chest lulling her to sleep.

"Thank you," she murmured, covering his hand with hers. "I love..." She trailed off when she could feel him inhale sharply, his chest rising against her back, and despite her fatigue, she knew enough to hold her tongue. "Love that you could make it here. Thanks again."

"'S been my pleasure."

She didn't respond, content to just rest in his arms, and his smile was soft as he looked down at her. Several minutes ticked by, and the pair was at peace in the sterile environment, relaxed despite the bullet wound in her shoulder, the danger she'd been in hours before, despite the tension that always hung heavy in their dynamic, unavoidable with the risk they were taking being together.

"Thanks for keeping me around, sweetheart," he whispered, and his words were met only with the heavy sound of her breathing, leveling out as she drifted further and further from consciousness. He swallowed hard. "I love you."

She was too far gone to hear him.

A few more minutes later, the room's door clicked open, and Thomas's eyes widened, realizing the position he was about to be found in. His eyes widened.

"Y/N, is it alright if everyone else—?" Lafayette emerged from the doorway alone, cutting himself with a soft smile when he caught sight of Y/N laid against Thomas's body, perfectly at peace in his embrace. "Ah, Thomas. I am glad to see zat she is being well taken care of," he said softly, a teasing lilt to his voice. Thomas couldn't take it too personally. "Is she... asleep?"

He nodded. "Has been for a few minutes. Think she's been needin' some real rest," he replied, warm gaze drifting down to Y/N's calm, absent face. "Y'know, the kind that doesn't come from faintin' in pain and some anesthetics."

Lafayette chuckled lightly, folding his arms. "I think zat it is for ze best," he said. "But I was sent in 'ere to see whether or not Y/N was done, ah... lecturing you for ze 'arms done. I am not sure I 'ave any way to tell everyone zat she is still busy in 'ere."

"Sounds like it's time for me to head out, then, huh?" Lafayette nodded, and Thomas looked down with a reluctant smile. "Alright, gimme a minute. Send everyone in when I get out of here, yeah?"

"Of course." Lafayette departed without another word, appearing to be rather pleased with the scene before him. Thomas sighed, trying to shift Y/N off of himself without rattling her, and when he gently laid her shoulders back down onto the mattress, her head resting to one side on the pillow, he leaned down to kiss her forehead softly.

"I'll be back for you tomorrow, okay?" he whispered, disregarding entirely the fact that she didn't hear a word of it. He finally lifted himself off of the side of the bed. "Goodnight, Y/N."

His footsteps stalled another moment as he stood beside her; his tender gaze swept down the entirety of her stature, but it was clouded with remorse when he once again glanced to the bloodied bandage wrapped around her shoulder. He swallowed the lump of guilt in his throat.

He turned off the lights on his way out.

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skullrock · 5 years ago

Text

the elevator - Steve Harrington x Reader

pairing: Steve x Reader

summary: based on this prompt: “first kiss reader / fem with Steve” - You’re stuck in the elevator with the Scoops Troop. Will you die before your first kiss?

word count: 1097

warnings: anxiety/panic attack, swears galore

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

You pace the top of the elevator with Robin, desperately trying to figure out how the fuck you’re going to get out of this situation. You were trying not to panic, instead deciding to think of this like a movie. A weird movie. Like, Indiana Jones, but instead of Nazis, you have God damn Russians.

Falling into this bullshit because of your insatiable crush on Steve was probably the most annoying part of this. You wanted to help him, gain some brownie points by spying on people beside him. Now you’re halfway to the center of the Earth. You have no food, no water, and even if you did, you were totally going to get shot down by Russians once they come for their delivery. You’re fucked.

You throw yourself onto your back. “Chances of me climbing all the way up there?” you whine to Robin.

“None in hell,” she replies, coming to lay down next to you. She turns her head to look at you. “Why do you want out of this situation so bad? You get to stay in a confined space with ahoy boy.”

“Yeah, well, “ahoy boy” pissed on the side of the elevator,” you answer, pressing your eyes with your palms. “I don’t care how cute he is, that’s … wack.”

“I don’t know what you see in him,” Robin says in response.

“See in who?”

You sit up quickly, whipping around to see Steve, who is climbing out of the inside of the elevator. He inclines his head, actually expecting an answer.

“No one,” you say quickly, standing up.

“Why are you talking about boys up here, anyway?” he asks, coming over to you and Robin. “We’re trapped in a death machine.”

“No shit,” you snap. “Are the kids asleep?”

“As asleep as they can be,” he answers. “Considering, ya know, we’re in a death trap.”

You start to feel sick. The reality of the situation hits you like a ton of bricks, knocking the wind out of your lungs, making your knees wobbly. Robin senses your dismay.

“Cut it out,” she hisses towards Steve, who throws his hands up defensively.

“Am I wrong? We’re probably fucked,” he elaborates, much to your chagrin. You move past him and lower yourself into the elevator, trying to get away from this anxiety-inducing bullshit.

You hear Robin and Steve bickering, hoping it’s not about you, and take a seat in a corner. You put your head between your legs and try not to cry. You could seriously not think of anything worse. Stuck, with a boy who doesn’t reciprocate feelings, with two kids you hardly know, and with your crush’s piss dripping down the wall opposite of you. You feel like the walls to the elevator are closing in – and for a second, you think they really are closing in. You take large gasps of air, holding your arms out in front of you weakly, choking back a sob.

Suddenly, Steve appears. He takes your outstretched hands in his, shushing you. He sits down beside you and throws his arms around you, holding you tightly.

“Hey,” he whispers. “I’m here. It’s okay.”

You cry even harder – the boy you’re in love with is holding you, and it’s just a bit too much for you to handle. Still, you sink into his side, clutching his uniform for support. He continues to shush you, rubbing your back gently. The contact slowly brings you back to Earth. You eventually stop crying, but you’re still pretty miserable.

“We’re going to die down here,” you whimper.

“No, we aren’t,” Steve coaxes. “I’m sorry about what I said. But when you get into these situations for three years in a row, you get –“

“Three years in a row?” You stare at him in disbelief and confusion. “You – how – why –“

“It’s not important right now,” he says. “I’ll tell you once we get out of here.”

“If we get out of here.”

“We will!” he insists, squeezing you. “We will get out of here, and you can – you can travel the world, and you can go to college, and you can go on so many dates!” He smiles down at you, and you seethe inwardly.

“I’m not going on dates,” you scoffed. “I’ve literally never even been on a date, so I don’t know why you’re bringing it up.”

He turns to face you with lightning speed. “You’ve never been on a date?!”

You shake your head. He blinks.

“I thought you were dating that guy that works with you at the Gap? With the blonde hair?”

“The delivery guy?” You laugh bitterly. “No, Steve, I’m not dating the guy who brings us inventory.”

“You’re saying,” he starts, “that you’ve never been on a date? Have you ever even – have you had your first kiss?”

“I really don’t need you to remind me that I’m about to die as a virgin.” You start to get up, but he pulls you back down. He looks deeply into your eyes, like he’s searching for something. After a few moments, he speaks.

“Close your eyes.”

You begin to question him, but he puts a finger over your lips. “Just close them, please?”

You do, against your better judgement. You wonder if he’s going to scare you or something, but nothing happens. Nothing happens for a long time. You’re about to open your eyes, but you feel his hands cup your face. Your heart jumps up to your throat, and that weak-knee feeling is back. His hands trace the outline of your face, down to your jaw. They come back up, and he ghosts his thumb over your cheekbones. You stop breathing. You desperately want to open your eyes, but you’re worried that he won’t be there – that this will be a dream.

Finally, he leans forward. His lips lightly graze yours, and he pulls back for a second to admire you.

“You’re so beautiful,” he breathes, and then his lips connect with yours. It’s electrifying; it’s something you’ve never felt before. His lips are warm on yours, softer than you ever thought possible. It feels like you’re floating. You don’t really know what you’re doing, but you try. You mimic his actions. Your hand lands on one of his, cupping your cheek, and he smiles into the kiss.

He eventually pulls away, and you stare at each other, hearts racing. You decide to break the silence.

“Don’t say something smart.”

“Wasn’t gonna,” he whispers. He starts to lean in again, but Robin interrupts.

“Hey, shitbirds!” she sneers, but its friendly. “About time.”

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taglist (message if you want to join!): @harrington-ofhawkins

#steve harrington #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington oneshot #stranger things x reader #stranger things oneshot #stranger things imagine #again - we luv a run-on sentence #also jen I love u.... thank u for being the sole person on my tag list... you're my rock

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honorarystripes · 3 years ago

Note

((Mun if you haven't seen wandavision yet ignore this ask))

why did you and Clint fuck up so badly with Wanda. Why are you and everyone on 'team cap' allergic to consequences. why did Tony get shit on for their choices they made as adults. Tony didn't out the cuffs on them, Ross did. Why did you get mad at Tony when he said Wanda was safe in the damn mansion, safe from people that wanted her dead or would harass her. what if she went for a coffee and things turned ugly? she would retaliate, of course. Why did you lash out at Tony for seeing the logic in the situation, for accepting the accords with revisions made. I can't even word this properly it's just every day I think of what went down with the accords and I'm so mad at you and I fucking hate Wanda. I don't understand why anyone would recruit the actual Nazi who willingly killed people and only switched sides when it benefitted her. I'm so angry. I know things have been resolved, you and Tony made up and I forgive you. But Wanda is as terrible as ever. Did you hear that she mind controlled an entire town and forced them into some torturous sitcom? the people were suffering so much they asked her to let them die.

"This is a loaded criticism if that's even what you want to call it. But I'll say now what I'll stand by from hence forth, I was not going to sign the accords. Even amended they were not what we needed, and I stand by that. We are not allergic to consequences though. We stood by what we believed in and Sam was incarcerated for it. So was Clint. They were held accountable and they were mandated, even Scott, to do home-imprisonment. That is not consequence free."

"Wanda is not a Nazi, she is many things but she is not a Nazi. I also think you have some anger misplaced because she was someone that signed on with Hydra because her home was being war torn. Not because she wanted to kill others or had hate in her blinders. Nazis purely act out of hate and world domination. She was trying to relieve her country of some pains it was going through and she signed up for the wrong cause. That's a mistake. Not something a Nazi would do."

"What Wanda did to Tony when she was on team Hydra is not something to be taken lightly but she signed herself away to the Avengers the minute she stepped out that door and fought Ultron with us. The hypnosis against Tony is something that she did and she can easily be called one of if not the main contributing factor to the reason Ultron was made. But she stood against him when she needed to. And she took the, I'll use your words, consequences of that when her brother was attacked. "

"What Wanda did in that town was what someone who has no control and an endless amount of power and pain can conjure up. I'm not here to defend Wanda, but I am here to tell you that I'm not going to cast the wrong lights on people. She has not always been in the right. I have not either."

"Tony once said to me that he didn't trust someone who didn't have a dark side. I told him he just hadn't seen it yet. I was willing to go to the ends of the universe for Bucky, and I still will. When you care about someone enough you are willing to walk dark paths to get there. "

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chilling-seavey · 4 years ago

Text

Passchendaele WW2 Extension - Say Your Prayers

Richie and Charlie,

I have heard what you boys know. I am being moved too when that day comes so it seems, in a way, we will all be fighting together. I want to say I hope to see you, but I suppose, as a nurse, I should say I wish not to see you at all. Fly safe, boys. You make us all so very proud. I’ll see you on the other side!

Your adoring sister and friend,

Frances

June 5, 1944

“Normandy?”

“France.”

“I know where Normandy is, Charlie.” Richard smacked his best friend’s arm lightly behind their whispered banter. They had been called into the main tent suddenly, only to find out that the day they had been training nearly a year for was finally upon them. They hadn’t been told where or when they were going or any details at all really, their only hint that their planned operation was coming was when their planes received black and white stripes over the wings. Invasion Stripes; a tactic used to reduce the chance that they would be attacked by friendly fire during large scale attacks. They didn’t know that, however, until it was the night before and that’s when their officers decided to tell them everything.

D-Day was what they called it. Operation Overlord for code. It was the Allies’ big push to try and regain foothold in Nazi controlled Europe.

“We will take off at dawn no earlier and no later than 0600, expecting to hit the beach by 0700. The Navy and the Armed Forces are landing on the beaches here, and here.” Their highest-ranking officer gestured to the map of Normandy set up at the front of the large tent. “We will be flying above Gold Beach over the 50th Infantry Division. The Canadians taking the north with the 3rd and the Americans taking two beaches to the south. We expect heavy fortification and we wish to minimalize as many casualties as we can so use your training and use it well.”

“We’ll see you at 0530 tomorrow, gentlemen. The fate of Europe – and the world – is in our hands.”

When they were dismissed and gave their officers a salute, the men shuffled back towards the bunk houses and Richie and Charlie walked behind the group slowly, trying to take in everything they had been told. They had never directly flown into enemy territory before and so much was riding on this one day.

“It’s all kind of settling in how important this is.” Charlie mumbled, scuffing his boot over the gravel they walked along. “But we already beat them once in Battle of Britain, so what’s one more dogfight?”

When he was met with no response, Charlie glanced over at his best friend. Richie had his hands in the pockets of his uniform and his head down.

“Hey.” Charlie nudged him lightly. “What’s on your mind?”

“I dunno.” Richard took a shaky inhale as he stopped walking and looked around the near empty air base they were back at after months of harsh training. “I just…I feel weird about tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I understand. I feel weird about tomorrow too. It’s a massive offensive and it’s going to be absolutely brutal.”

His honesty didn’t do much to aide his slightly younger friend’s anxieties.

“Listen, Richie,” Charlie stepped in front of him and set his hands on his shoulders, “We’re in this together, right? You and me. It’s been four years of this shit and it’s just one more day.”

Richard took a breath to try and calm himself down and he nodded, repeating softly to reassure himself, “Just one more day.”

“Yes.” Charlie smiled at him. “Okay?”

Richard nodded, although he still wasn’t completely at ease. Charlie could sense it but he didn’t pry, even when they joined a few of the other men for drinks and they each had a beer and discussed home life and all sorts of eccentric ideas of what they could be flying into the very next morning. Richard simply sat quietly beside Charlie and tried to hold in his supper.

Charlie didn’t realize he was just as riddled with anxiety until they returned to their bunks that night. He laid down and stared at the ceiling and couldn’t even get himself to close his eyes yet alone sleep; his heart was racing in his chest and he wondered if Richard could hear it from the bunk underneath him. Charlie rolled over and plucked the few photographs from his little shelf and shuffled through them; him and Evelyn as children, one of Mary, him the one of him and his father, a smiling one of him and Richard as boys with Corbyn bent down with them and their grinning faces squished together, one of his late Uncle Christian, and finally, a family portrait of Charlie and his sister and parents. He lingered on their soft smiles a little longer and his bottom lip habitually found its way between his teeth and he bit on it anxiously.

The bunkhouse was silent but a soft voice from below startled his attention,

“Charlie?”

Charles kept his eyes on the family photograph, “Yeah, Rich?”

There was a moment of pause as if Richard was nervous to ask his question, but he replied with an ever so quiet, “Can we pray together?”

Charlie shifted to set his pictures back on his shelf before shuffling to the side of his bunk and hopped gracefully to the cold ground. Richard wiped his eyes quickly as if to avoid being caught crying by his best friend that had been through life with him, and he kept his head down. Charlie shuffled onto his single bed with him and they sat shoulder to shoulder for a moment in silence. They were well grown men by then, barely able to fit easily into a single bed together like they once used to, but they found each other’s presence more than comforting and they folded their hands on their laps, bowed their heads, and shut their eyes.

Charlie led their little quiet prayer in a soft whisper as the rest of their squadron slept on.

“Dear Heavenly Father…please watch out for us and our troops tomorrow morning as we brave this front. Keep us strong and safe and in your care and help guide us to victory for a better world. In Jesus name:”

July 2, 1924

“Amen.”

“Good boys. Now right to sleep.” Elizabeth whispered softly, getting up from the side of the single bed and made sure the two six-year-olds were tucked warmly in together.

“Mummy, why do we have to say ‘amen’?” Charlie asked.

“It seals your prayer. Like sealing an envelope with a kiss.” Elizabeth explained sweetly to her son.

“Is it a kiss for God?” Richie asked from Charlie’s other side.

“Yes. I suppose it is.” Elizabeth chuckled. “A little amen to seal your prayer with a kiss and a please and a thank you.”

Charlie clasped his little hands together again and scrunched his eyes shut, “Please and thank you give us good dreams tonight. Amen!”

“Lovely.” his mother praised.

Richie copied his best friend and smacked his hands together too, “Dear God, please don’t let any monsters take us in our sleep, please and thank you, amen!”

“Oh goodness, you boys are silly.” Elizabeth laughed, leaning down to kiss each of their heads as they giggled at themselves, “Now it’s time to sleep. I’ll see you in the morning for a special breakfast.”

“Amen!” the boys replied in union before breaking into fits of giggles again.

In the dark of the bunk house and in the dark of the unknown, the grown young men sat shoulder to shoulder in the unfamiliar single bed, inhaled softly together, and breathed out a mirrored, “Amen.”

Taglist: @randomlimelightxxx @hopinglimelight @jonahlovescoffee @hiya-its-amber @chanelwonders

#✉#daniel seavey #corbyn besson #why dont we #daniel seavey fanfic #corbyn besson fanfic

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optimistic-dinosaur-nacho · 5 years ago

Text

Electric Love

(Playing It Cool) Me x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Language Summary: Your fellow writer is not telling this summary. I am. Me. The girl I love works along with my friends and I can’t get her out of my damn head. My friends told so many stories about love and I call bullshit on everything. That weird photo above is my heart. Can be a pain in the ass sometimes but I’ll get to the story of how I met Her.

This is all in his head as he tells you the story.

~~~

I’m hoping this is just my conscience. If not then...

You’re hearing one of the most embarrassing or great things I’ve done that got me to say this. I’m Me. And this is a story when I met Her. This could go back a while because she’s been in my friend group for a while. Talented script writer, she had been writing since she was a kid.

Her first book was a comic book. Never read it but she claimed it was about a soldier on steroids who saves the world from Nazis. I’m certain that’s what she said.

But this is where it takes a turn.

She’s my friend’s sister, Scott.

Hopefully you know the backstory.

Do you? If not let me rephrase it in a small dialogue. The day we met, he left a package and I chased him around. That sound good? Good. Anyway, I don’t feel love like anyone should do.

I’m not even sure I’m capable of it. Those three words, I just repeat the same thing I always say before I get a cupcake to the face.

“I just don’t see myself ever to feel the same way about you.”

Yeah. Messed up in your opinion. You see a girl, she falls in love and then it’s like a truck rams you into a pile of needles. I never get rejected. I’m the one to reject others.

But not her.

“Hey!” I flinched in my chair as she waved her hand, snapping her fingers. “You have to get this script done. You know how Bryan is,” She says. Shit. Got lost in thought about her.

Oh, crap. I forgot to mention her name.

“Hey, Y/N!”

There it is.

Scott comes over and spun the chair around to sit, “So, what’s going on?” He sighs. Y/N looks up to me like I was the one to tell. She was working with me on this like it was some essay for me. But her damn gaze just shuts me up.

“Um... So, the guy character has multiple personalities, he meets the girl character who has multiple personalities and one of his personalities falls in love with one of her personalities,” I said, Scott looks over to Y/N before chuckling softly.

“That sounds pretty good.”

Pretty good?

“It’s terrible,” I say. “It does not sound terrible,” Y/N says. I look over, “But it’s full of cliches. It had a gay best friend personality, it has a bitch girlfriend personality. It has a feisty Hispanic personality,” I rip of my glasses as the two laughed.

God, I loved how I make her smile. “She has a Black detective personality.” Y/N grins up at me, “You also have a scene where the actor runs through an airport,” She adds. I nod, “Yes, I forgot about that.”

Scott raises his brows, amazed, “I love running through the airport scenes.”

“I can’t do this. It’s not a good rom-com. I just want to write something as it is. I don’t want anything that’s comedy or romance. Just you know, play it out.” Y/N and Scott both sat there silently.

Great. I broke both of them.

Y/N looks over to her brother, “If I gave you 20 dollars, could you buy us lattes across the street?” She asked. God, she always knew how to cheer people up with a simple coffee.

Scott nods, “Yeah. Sure.” I looked over my shoulder and spotted my heart chilling in the corner. His lighter flicking in under his thumb as he watched me. I’m starting to think I’m going crazy.

“Hey,” Y/N spoke softly, I turned to look at her, “Let’s go over it. Okay? This is a rom-com correct?” I sighed softly and nodded. She reached across and grabbed my journal.

A journal filled luckily with no personal thoughts. Not a diary. Even if I did have one, it wouldn’t have anything to do with women or her. Maybe. She took a pencil from my book and held it in her hand.

“Have you heard about ‘10 things I hate about you’?” She asked. My brows furrow. Yeah, that Shakespeare movie about a boy who takes on a bet to take a girl out to prom just for someone else to take out the girl’s sister?

“Yeah?”

“Well, in my thoughts. If these characters have multiple personalities there will be some conflict between their personalities,” She spoke. The way she speaks when she tries to collaborate. It’s soothing. Tantalizing.

“It can be similar to Step Brothers-Which is not a rom-com film but it’s something to put down as a thought. Some of these personalities can fight for hours, but it some times...that one personality from each of them, they build some sense and they try to work their ways through love but they know it’s not gonna be easy.”

“So... What’s the ending?” I ask. The pencil reaches up to her lips. Right now? She had to do it now in a library? Her thinking pose has me shifting my seat. She noticed.

Crap.

“I’m sorry,” She pulled the pencil away from her lips, “I’m probably ruining your ideas, I shouldn’t have spoken about it. It’s your thing not mine-”

“No, no,” I cut her off, “It’s fine. I’ll think about it.” Y/N slips the journal back and she grins up at me. “If you need anything else, I’m open for some ideas.” I nod at her, “You might expect calls in the middle of the night, probably.”

She laughs lightly at that. A few seconds later, Scott walks with three cups of coffee. “All right. Here you go,” Scott hands us our drinks, returning him with a thanks.

Y/N reaches for her phone and she gasps slightly. “Shit, I got to go. I have a meet up with a friend, Derek. I’ll see you guys.” I watch her shoot up from her chair and grabbed her bag, rushing out of the library.

I turn to Scott, “Who’s Derek?” Great. That’s one way to sound like a jealous guy. Scott looks over and laughs, “You crushing on my sister?” I shake me head immediately, “No. No, I was just asking ‘cause...” I cut myself off. Why did I?

“Look, I don’t care that you like my sister. But if you’re boning her at this moment, you got to tell me now.” I close my eyes, “I’m not boning your sister, Scott. This is all some... stupid-”

“You’re falling in love with her? Why don’t you tell her? Do you want me to?” Scott asks. I shake my head, “No! Don’t tell her! Don’t tell her anything, I’m not capable of doing that... sort of thing...”

Scott raises a brow, “You mean not capable of accepting your feelings towards her? That’s the problem. If you keep this up, you’re gonna shut her out because of it. You set boundaries and then you start to push them.”

I close my book and slipped it in my bag. “I’m going.” Scott furrows his brows, “What? So, you’re just gonna ignore this whole thing? Not even gonna tell her?”

“I’ll see you at the bar,” Was all I said before leaving him there. Not knowing that my heart in that corner had lit the romance category sign on fire.

Fuck Romance.

“You really fallen for her?” Mallory asks, the boys around smiled. “Well, one day he’s gonna be moving into Scott’s house and he’ll have to listen to them screaming,” Samson says.

I dropped my head on the counter. Fifth drink in hand, I felt a bit tipsy. “I thought Y/N was coming, what going on?” Lyle asks. Scott sighed, “Well, I heard her and Derek were really working on a screenplay at her apartment so we’re going on without her.”

That Derek might get a punch to the face. The thought of her and him in bed. It rotted into my mind and I caved. Lifting up my head, I downed my drink. “Another, please,” I demanded.

After that, I took many more. I was on the edge of throwing up. My friends offered to take me home due to my tipsy stance and slurred words. I just walked away and I had to tell Y/N.

Stumbling up the stairs to her complex, I ended up at the gate. I’ve been to her apartment many times. Not what you think, though. Not yet. I reached for the rocks in the plant box and shouted, “Y/N!”

I then threw the rock. It missed her window but it met it with a loud bang. The lights were on and a shadow appears behind the curtains before Y/N opens her window and spotted me.

God, she was beautiful.

“What are you doing? It’s late?” She asked, I grabbed the bar and leaned in between the two bars. “Where’s that Derek douche? Huh?” Y/N furrows her brows, “What? Are you drunk?” She asked.

Leaning back, holding the bar with one hand, I pointed up at her, “I love you, Y/N.” I swung to the side and slammed into the wall. “Who is that, Y/N? Who are you talking to?” A man asks.

“A friend, he’s drunk and-” I peered up at the man I assumed was Derek and pointed at him. “You! You don’t deserve her! You don’t love her! Sex is better with me!”

“What the hell is he talking about?” Derek asks. Y/N sighs, turning back to me, “It’s not what you think, he’s just-”

“Oh, no!” I cut her off, I began to climb the fence, “I love you! You’re amazing! One of the best people I could ever have,” I belched, “Derek doesn’t deserve you. He doesn’t love you.”

My feet shake and slipped. Y/N gasps as I slam to the ground with a thud. “He’s just a friend! He’s gay, see?” She calls. I stumble onto my feet and panted, “He’s crazy? I’ll beat his ass for whatever he’s done.”

“I’m calling the cops,” Derek says, Y/N grabs his arm, “Don’t. He’s my friend,” She looks down, “I’m coming down! Wait there!” I swiped my hands down my chest as I peered up at Derek.

“Cops... fuck the cops... I...” I felt my head spin and I began to sway. Stumbling at the slightest I felt someone grab my shoulders. My hands instantly grab their forearms and I slowly opened my eyes.

There she stood.

“Hey...” I slurred, she cracks a grin, “Hey.” My hand cups her cheek in an instant, having her to look in my eyes. “I love you... too much...” I slurred. She smiles and placed her hand over mine. “You’re not in the right state,” She says.

I shook my head, “But I’m in the right place... and that’s with you...” Y/N uses her other hand and cups my cheek. This was a sign to give her a kiss. Leaning in, I was intoxicated. Though in my mind, I needed this.

The butterflies were going off in my stomach.

Wait. Shit. Not the right ones. I gagged. Y/N pulls away and takes a step back but her hand goes for my back as I leaned over to the side and got rid of those contents I took down at the bar.

Y/N cringed but she rubbed my back softly. After I finished and spat, she lifts me up gently. “Let me get you cleaned up and you can sleep in my bed.” I didn’t have the chance to say anything, I felt like I couldn’t.

I blew it once I gagged.

Derek was nicely removed from her apartment and she gave me the chance to take a shower. Use a toothbrush under the sink to get the alcohol taste in my mouth that’s been burning inside.

After that, I nodded off.

The next morning, I woke up to the light shining through the window. I noticed the familiar place and realized I was in Y/N’s apartment. I sat up from her bed and stood up.

Walking through her place, I found her in the kitchen. Her head turns to me and she grins, “Morning. I have a pill for you there. I was thinking you should lay off the coffee today so...”

I walked over and reached for the pill and water. “Thank you. And good morning to you.” She looks over and leans on the counter to face me. “You okay?” She asked. I peered up at her, furrowing my brows. For some reason, I just realized how sore my body was.

Oh, yeah. Fell down the fence. “I’m fine... just...” Shit. I zoned out again. Her grin never left her face as she gazed at me. It’s like I lost my hearing to everything around me.

Everything was gone except her. I look over her head to see my heart. Full on suit with a cigarette in his mouth. Smoke emitting from him, he nodded at me. What was he nodding at me for?

Something warm and gentle lands on my side and I look down to see Y/N. Her arm out, touching my waist as she steps closer to me. I felt frozen in time with her. This wasn’t no story or dream I was being told. This was happening.

I placed the glass down and watched her as she raised her other hand to cup my cheek. This is the opportunity. Don’t blow it up with another gag. My hands go to her waist and cheek.

Cupping them gently, her lips part to collide with mine. Fuck, it’s happening. Her lips crash onto mine and I froze. This was something different. It wasn’t wrong. It didn’t feel like the other girls I’ve called and asked for sex.

This gave me the good butterflies. As if we were perfect, our lips just seem to be a perfect fit. It felt so right. I felt love.

The loss of her lips pull away from mine so I opened my eyes. She grinned as she looks up at me. She lightly laughs, “You look sad.” I felt like I needed to hear that again because I didn’t catch it when I got lost in her eyes. But then it came back to me.

“Maybe because you pulled away,” I said.

She laughs, “Well, you almost could’ve thrown up in my face last night if I hadn’t.” I mentally felt embarrassed with that but when she smiled I guess it wasn’t bad. “I’m sorry,” I said.

Y/N shakes her head, “No. I’m glad you came up to say that. But you could’ve said it when you were sober. Would make you less of an idiot,” She says. My eyebrows perk up, “Well, either way I’d make a fool out of myself. I guess I fallen hard for you and got to upset I couldn’t tell you so I did that.”

She smiled, still chest-to-chest with her as she rubbed my side. “I’ve fallen for you, too.” I smiled at her and cupped her cheeks again, pulling her up for a kiss once again.

And that’s how I met the woman. You probably know this story already because...

You were the woman.

~~~

Woah... It’s so weird to break the fourth wall

TAGS: @jtargaryen18 @joannaliceevans-fanficblog @chrisevans-imagines @princess-evans-addict @ifuseekamyevans @bucksgoat @axen-gers @donutloverxo @rororo06 @sweater-daddiesdumbdork @elliee1497 @patzammit @stop-obsessing-over-those-actors @iguessweallcrazyithinktho

Want a tag? Just ask!

#playing it cool #me x reader #chris evans #chris evans x reader #narrator #best movie #rom-com #cevans #steve rogers #2014 #sex is better with me #steve rogers x reader #captain america #evansedit #evans

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sweater-daddiesdumbdork · 5 years ago

Text

Worthwhile

Summery: After math of battle between Steve, Bucky and Tony. Before arriving in Wakanda. Steve x Bucky x Y/n. Some angsty moments

Word Count: 2307

Done for a challenge by bigbandbombshell. Song BTSK by ms mr and picture the bottom northern lights landscape.

I found you in pieces you'd been torn apart A million one reasons to end before you start But deep down I knew No matter what in the end, it'd be me and you

Big teeth small kiss I turn to wax and melt like this Melt like this

~ BTSK Lyrics

Zemo had done it

Dismantled the team.

You had been there when Tony saw the video, Buckys pain crossing over his face when Tony realized it was because of the Winter Solider his parents were murdered. It was cold hearted assassination, as The Winter Solider was known for. No survivors. A stain on Buckys soul you doubted he would ever come to terms with, Steves breath was baited waiting for the drop.

“Tony Tony”

“Did you know”

“I didn't know it was him”

“DONT BULLSHIT ME ROGERS, DID YOU KNOW?”

Steve paused, then with a single answer he admitted the truth. “Yes”

And thats what resulted to where you were now. Steve had gotten you two out, with damages. Both men were brutally beat all over from Tonys grief, yourself sporting your own scrapes. But he dismantled you early, a hit to your head threatening your senses for now. Holing up in some no name motel in a nearby Siberian town, you woke to find yourself in a dimly lit room, two double beds, shitty wood panneling, dusty curtains blocking out the glare of light, Steve and Bucky looming over you to get you to awaken.

“Ugh, what happened?” Your hand braced against your forehead as you moved to a sit, dropping your face into your hands, as your elbows braced on your knees. A wave of nausea washed over you, threatening to over take you but then it dulled to a numb sensation. Steve squatted in front of you, looking you over momentarily with a grasp of his hands on your face making you focus on his searching eyes.

“You look like your going to be okay.” You snorted in thanks to his assessment, your fingers now tenderly probing to find where you were hit, wincing at the thump. Leave it to Tony to leave a bump on your head. Not your finest moment. Bucky lowered next to you on the edge of the bed, you leaned a bit against his right arm and looked at the two men. “We took out the Ironman suit, Tony wasn't going to stop. Zemo was taken into custody, T’Challa must have followed us when we left Germany.”

Your eyes turn to Bucky, and you don’t remark on his arm, the man looked defeated and exhausted. Dark marks under his eyes and blossoming bruises starting to form over whatever bare skin showed. You could only imagine the condition of his chest and back. Tonys suit was top of the line defense and weaponry, even against an enhanced. You move to a stand, going into the bathroom, running some hot water in the sink and splash it against your face, cleaning off any of the dried blood. You can hear Steve remark to Bucky that he would be back. Where he was going off to, you didn't know, but trusted whatever he had in mind. Grabbing a towel. You notice that much of Buckys marks are from where he hadn't cleaned up, so you grab some stuff from the limited bathroom and approach him.

“Let me help you? Should probably see what else needs to be patched up.”

You offer as you approach him, his eyes are shadowed as he looked up “No i’m alright. Don’t worry about me”

You werent gonna give him a choice though, cupping his face and tilting it up so you can get a better look, shaking head. “Sorry, I really wasn't gonna give to much of a choice Buck.”

He didn't argue, remained still as you cleaned up the cuts, but he remarked. “You know that bump to the head didn't change your demeanor much.” You dabbed at his eyebrow carefully.

“I got a hard head. Its going to take more then a smack to the temple to change who I am. You on the other hand Barnes are in need of stitches.”

Pushing you back lightly, he got up to go to the bathroom mirror, tilting his face this way and that, shrugging “Eh, I've dealt with worst. I will be fine.” Sure enough that made you sigh. You haven't known Bucky Barnes for long, but he never seemed to think he was worth the effort.

Steve is guiding the quinjet with the coordinates programmed into the dash, Bucky is sitting across from you “Whats going to happen to your friends?” Bucky asked after being silent for so long. You lift your head to look at him, knowing the sacrifice they all made to get here. “Whatever it is, I will deal with it” Steve says heavily, knowing that the team were now considered enemies and in a maximum gaurded facility. But when Captain says he will deal with it, you know the matter is closed. Bucky flexes his metal arm, its a part of him, but foreign, you see in his face he is regarding it as something that makes him less worthwhile, less of a good man. A perfect solider. “I don’t know if Im worth all this Steve.” Your jaw clenches, you had spent months studying Sgt James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes. His time during the Howling Commandos, the entire time he was in service. Many a night Steve told you stories that could never be found in any paperwork. To see this man think of himself as anything less then worthwhile, bullshit. Steve whipped his head around at this. “What you did all those years, That wasn’t you. You didn’t have a choice” Buckys jaw is set now, completely unforgiving of what was done to him, the testing, brainwashing, torture and whom it made him become. “I know.... But I did it”

His gaze went to his missing arm, and he cussed under his breath. “This on the other hand is gonna be far more difficult to deal with.” You leaned in against the bathrooms door frame, Your gaze caught his in the mirror, and you smiled at him. “We will figure it out Bucky, this cant be the first time you’ve lost your arm?” He rubbed at the shoulder where the metal and body connected.

“Actually, it is. Titanium doesn't necessarily wear out. I've never had cause to have it changed out, even after all the experiments.” He sighed as he pushed away from the sink and you stepped back into the hotel room. It was then Steve came back to the room “Alright, this is the plan. T’Challa is going to help us. Being war criminals now, we need to go into hiding, and Wakanda is in his control, borders are up against the rest of the world. You and Bucky are going there. And with the Vibranium.... your arm can be replaced.” Although minutes ago Bucky had seemed upset about the loss of his limb, he showed no emotion to this. Again reverting back to the not worth the effort vibe. “The King isnt out to kill me any longer?” Bucky sounded a bit doubtful, but Steve gave a shake of his head.

“No, he knows the truth now, that you had nothing to do with the bombing.” Steve continued with the plan. “There’s an SUV outside for you two, and heres where you need to rendezvous with T’Challas jet.” handing you a piece of paper, this is the moment you held up a hand as if asking a question, and his brow cocked at you. “Is that necessary Y/n?”

“Uh yea, since when did CAPTAIN AMERICA STEAL CARS?”

“Nazi Germany, okay. Its a necessary skill back then, and no I’m not teaching you.”

Bucky grinned, finally, hearing the two of you and whispered loudly to you. “Don;t worry, I will teach you later.” You made a fist pump in victory, smirking at the Captain. Just as quickly as Bucky lightened up, he got serious. “Your going after them Steve.” Steve glanced over the room, but they hadn't had any supplies with them, just Steves captain suit and shield. Underneath it he had on civilian clothes. Hell you were still in the stealth suit you typically dressed in on missions. Steve just looked at Bucky with a set resolve..

“I have to. They were only there cause I asked them to be. And we are now considered war criminals, the quicker we can go into hiding the better. I can get in that facility with Natashas help, shes already getting the location.” Honestly you couldn't disagree with his plan. As much as you wanted to be there to get Sam and the rest of them out, you knew the more he had to keep accounted for, the harder it would be for Steve. And Natasha, well this is what she did. She was all about stealth and secrets. Often when the Black Widow was noticed, it was to late. “Okay were all clear on whats happening Y/n and Buck?”

It was hours later, You and Bucky had been driving since leaving the hotel, leaving behind the small village areas and going back out onto the tundra. It would be inconspicuous area for a Wakanda Jet to land, unseen by eyes that could get that info to authorities. You had made yourself comfortable in the passenger seat, watching the passing landscape. It was already starting to get dark, leaving the inner cab in the shadows at this point. You really should say something, Bucky had been so quiet the entire ride, jaw set as if he had been clenching his teeth.

“What are you thinking Buck?”

His eyes never left the road. His hand clenched tightly around the wheel. “thinking about what a shit show this has turned into. All of this because of me. Steve shouldn't have ever come for me.”

“What? Bucky I’m calling that bullshit” your arms folding over your chest. You had to, hearing him was making you anger now, wanting just reach right over and throttle that man. If the roles were reversed, you know he would have gone head first with disregard for his safety for Steve. You hated all of them, all the organizations who changed Bucky into this man who couldn't see anything worthwhile about himself.

He rolled his shoulder. “You asked Y/n, You know for damn sure Steve wouldn't be known as a war criminal right now if he just stayed out of it. Or any of you either. Not signing those accords, fine. Thats standing behind your convictions, and understandable. But coming to save me. No, it wasn't worth that.”

At this point, you don’t even have the words to explain to him how wrong he was. In between a point in crying since you were tired from the days past events and now this. More then you were willing to just let slide. You sputter out “James Barnes, pull this fucken car over. RIGHT. NOW” Buckys eyes widen in shock at this outburst, he hit the brake, bringing the SUV to a stand still in the middle of the road. Your heart rate is thumping heavily in your chest at the rolling tension between you, and you turn in the seat to face him.

“Y/n jesus christ, whats wrong?” He looked over his shoulder at the backseat, see if anything was wrong, out the windows and back at you. He noticed the color in your face was heightened and your eyes flashed at him in anger.

“Words will never get through your thick skull will they Barnes. No matter what any of us say. I mean...” Your hands go up in the air, exasperated. Yes, Bucky had been traumatized over the years, and you should be more understanding. But today, your nerves were frayed, going into the unknown, you felt just at a loss in what to do. “You know what, forget trying to tell you, how about I just show you!”

Catching him completely by surprise, your hands grasp the side of his face and you arch across the cars counsel. Your lips crush against his own, and in his surprise he doesn't move, doesn't respond for a few seconds. But then his arm snakes around your hip, dragging you over to settle in his lap, lips parting to dart tongues around each other. Each trying to take control of it. A hand braces against the back of your head, your hair tangling into his fingers grasping you, tilting it to clash teeth, bruise lips, inhale moans. Fuck James Buchanan Barnes could kiss.

Separating, a flush of color rise in Buckys cheeks as he looked away at getting caught in the rush, your hands dropping from his face to his shoulders, sighing and looking down yourself. Your own face hot, unsure of what to say now. He softly broke the silence, when his hand moved off the back of your head and dropped to your thigh folded along his sides. “You know the last time I saw the northern lights like this was when I was with the Howling Commandos. I was getting in place to cover Steves back when he was about to bust into a bunker. It was just as green.” The warmth of his hand seeped into your thigh, you would not be able to forget the weight, the heat of him. “This though, might be a better way to remember them now.”

A smile crosses your face as you lean back, the cars wheel pressing into your back as you glance out the window to see what he was talking about. The swirl of the green lights painted the sky into one of the most beautiful moments of your life. “You see, that’s all Bucky speaking. The Winter Solider, he wouldn't have found that in the midst of all this.” With a shift after a few moments, sliding back into your seat just as a jet sliced through the green waves covering the sky. “Put it back in drive Barnes, our rides here.”

#writing challenge #buckybarnes #steve rogers #mcufam #marvel #bucky barnes x reader

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happybeeps-nat · 4 years ago

Text

header by @ao3commentoftheday

Alternate chapter 2 for You Look So Alive words: 3,401 (yep, I never ended up using them. I’m the worst) context: picks up right after Finn and Poe separated in chapter 1, Pe goes home with Bee-Bee A/N: this is for @imtheoutgoingsidekick-baby, completely unedited, I didn’t even read through it again before posting so I’m sorry lmao please bear in mind that there’s a reason I abandoned this

“Pa, we’re back,” Poe called as he pulled off his shoes and put his keys in the little bowl like the responsible adult he almost was. He followed Bee to free her from the harness and lead and stashed them in their rightful place.

“I’m in the kitchen,” his dad called back, followed by the distinctive clatter of him obviously trying to sort through their mess of pans.

Poe looked at the clock above the door. It was only 5:17. Wasn’t it a bit early for dinner? He decided to go see what his dad was up to.

And really, there he was, several pots and pans on the stove, apparently trying to figure out what pan to use for whatever he had planned next.

“Hey,” he greeted. “Are we expecting guests?”

His dad nodded while stirring something that smelled like his dad’s famous chili, then moved to chop veggies before checking the oven. “Yeah, turns out we are. Leia and Han are coming over for dinner.” He sounded tense, even pissed, and Poe was massively confused. Leia, Han and his dad were like Snap, Jess and he. Best friends and always up to spending time together even though their schedules didn’t align as often as they’d like.

“Is that not a good thing,” asked Poe, frowning.

“Oh, it is. Let me just--“ he stirred the pot some more before grabbing a fresh spoon and checking if he was satisfied with the taste. Then he took another spoon and put it in the pot right next to it and offered it to Poe. “Try this, this is the one for you and whoever else is veggie or vegan.”

Poe did. It was delicious. As always when Kes Dameron cooked, which was almost every day under Poe’s watchful eyes so he could learn some tricks. “Mmmh,” he nodded. “Very good. And it’s vegan, yeah?” Poe was a bit confused there, he wasn’t vegan and neither were Han or Leia.

“Yeah, don’t know everyone’s dietary preferences, so I though better safe than sorry.”

“Everyones? Paps, what’s going on? Who’s coming for dinner?”

Kes looked at the clock, turned down the heat on the two pots and oven to pull out a bunch of self-made tortillas. They always put them in the oven twice but not too long or they’s get too dry. Really, his dad cooking was more of a science than anything else and Poe usually liked to watch him be very concentrated. Now, though, he wanted answers.

Kes closed the oven and finally turned to look at his son, wiping the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. He looked Poe up and down and frowned slightly. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Poe dismissed. “So, what’s happening? What was it with the phone call earlier? Why are you preparing dinner for, like, ten people?”

“Leia called me earlier,” his dad began to explain, turning back around to check if everything was okay, if the heat was off and if it was safe to leave the kitchen. Then he gestured for Poe to follow him into the living room where Bee-Bee was excited to see them but didn’t move from her place on the couch, pretty sure that Poe would come to her. And he did. He was easy like that.

“So, Leia called,” Poe reminded his dad, hoping he would keep going.

He nodded. “She told me Luke was back.”

“Luke?” Poe frowned. “Wait, you mean… uncle Luke? Leia’s brother? He’s still alive?” He felt incredibly stupid to be asking that, because obviously he was still alive, man. It’s just that for years nobody had seen him or heard of him. “It must be, like, what? Ten years?”

“Eleven,” his dad sighed and ran a hand down his face. “He didn’t call, didn’t leave a text or a note. Just disappeared on us and comes back eleven years later, apparently with the brightest smile on his face and two kids in tow.”

“Excuse me?” Surely, that was a joke.

“Yeah. Apparently, he decided to adopt. Because apparently, he can do that now.”

Poe didn’t know what to say but also didn’t feel the right to judge Luke. He had last seen him when he was seven, right after… well. Right after his mother died. He took a deep breath and really, really didn’t want to judge Luke.

“So he has two little kids now, lives here again, and they’re all gonna come here for dinner to have an awkward and possibly bitter family reunion?” he clarified.

“Yup, seems like it. Leia wanted neutral ground. She doesn’t know me if she thinks I’m neutral ground for Luke fucking Skywalker.” The bitterness in his voice, the barely suppressed anger kind of broke Poe’s heart a bit because he knew where it was coming from.

“Paps, hey. Maybe he can explain.” Poe moved to sit beside his old man, rubbing a hand up and down his back. “Let’s just see what happens, okay? Maybe it won’t be too bad. And if it does get bad, this is your house, feel free to kick him out whenever you want to.”

At that, his dad grinned. “You’re right, I’ll just be a real Dameron and kick his ass if I smell funny business.”

“That’s the spirit,” Poe laughed.

After a while, his dad added, “They’re not little kids, though.”

“They’re not?”

Kes shook his head. “From what Leia told me, they’re your age.” He shrugged. “But I guess we’ll see anyway, he’s bringing them along.”

Yeah, that made sense… Poe didn’t really know how to feel about everything he’d just learned. But he tried to be open to anything, maybe Luke was this really cool and outgoing and charming guy and the adults would forget all about being mad at him. And maybe his kids were cool, too, and they’d all be having a good time.

Speaking of a good time! “Hey, is it still cool if Jess and Snap are coming?”

Kes grinned and got up. “Sure, I’ll make some more churros then.”

Poe laughed and stood as well, stretching his back with a groan. He found his dad looking at him, his head tilted, squinting a little.

“Poe. You sure you’re okay? You look beat.” Hah. The irony.

“I’m fine, paps, really. Just tired. And I really wanna go out and cuddle with Bee in the garden for a while. Call me when you need help in the kitchen or wherever?”

“Will do. Call me when you wanna talk about it?”

Poe huffed a laugh but nodded. “Will do. Thanks, paps.”

And as much as he wanted to go lie in the grass with his dog and not be a person for a few minutes, what he needed right now was a hug. So he went in for one, wrapped his arms lightly around his old man and felt him hug back tightly, making Poe tighten his arms, too. Dameron men were always down for hugs and Poe loved it, especially now. His dad was just a few inches taller than him but it always made him feel like he was just a little boy being held safely in his dad’s arms. Nothing could get to him here, nothing could hurt him here, not even Ben Solo. It was weird, it was probably stupid to be feeling that way about his father’s hugs at 18, but he didn’t particularly care about that. Society telling him it was stupid would probably only be one more reason for him to hug his dad, so there was that.

After a while, they let go of each other and Kes gave him a sort of bittersweet “I am your father and I love you but I am worried about you, son”-smile before returning to the kitchen.

“C’mon, Bee, let’s go outside and lie in the sun for a while,” Poe said to his already very excited dog. She yapped and seemed very happy at the prospect of just lying in the sun and getting all the scratches and belly rubs from Poe.

And so they lay there in the warm, soft grass. Poe on his back with his eyes closed, Bee-Bee next to him, her head on his chest, enjoying his gentle strokes and scratches. Lots of people didn’t think dogs could purr but Bee-Bee was ready to prove them wrong as she was practically vibrating, and Poe just loved her a lot, okay.

He was feeling calmer by the minute, breathing slowly and evenly, his eyes closed against the world and feeling safe again. Sometimes he was pretty sure his dad was watching them through the glass door leading to the garden but he was too comfortable to move and see if the was right, trusting his dad would call for him if he needed help.

After a while – it could have been an hour or five minutes, Poe didn’t know and he was pretty sure he nodded off once or twice – he did call, asking if he could prepare the table outside because there was more room in their garden than anywhere else in the house. A delicious smell tickled his nose which definitely made getting up easier. As he stood, so did his loyal, wonderful dog, looking up expectantly, and he smiled.

“Stay, Bee, I’m gonna be right back.” Before he went inside, he leaned down and pressed a kiss to her head and scratched behind her ear again. “Good girl,” he cooed when she returned to lying in the grass, her watchful eyes never leaving him.

Poe went to wipe down the table and chairs before getting the cushions to make them more comfortable for their guests. “Paps, how many people are we gonna be?”

“When are Jess and Temmin coming again?”

“Not until after dinner, you know them,” he called back from where he was fastening the cushions.

“Then it’s Leia, Han, Luke and his kids, you and me. That makes seven.”

“So Ben is not coming?” Poe asked just to be sure.

“Is he ever?” his dad grumbled, and Poe could not answer from the sheer relief he felt. Ben was not coming. He was probably out bullying another kid who wasn’t white, rich and hetero. Idiot Nazi piece of shit.

“Poe?” his dad called again.

“Huh?”

“I asked if you could help me set the table, the plates are already on the counter.”

“Yeah, sorry, that one chair gave me trouble,” he tried to deflect from his actual thoughts.

Thankfully his dad did not press and either chose to ignore him or really had more pressing matters to attend to in the kitchen.

Before long, Poe had set the table, prepared the other chairs so they would be clean, warm and comfortable, and helped his dad chop the rest of the vegetables into small bits for the burritos they were going to have for dinner.

6:30 came sooner than either of them had expected and just as the clock went from 29 to 30 the doorbell rang. Wow, someone sure loved being exactly on time.

“I’ll get it, can you put the tortillas in the oven again, por favor?” Kes said, wiping his hands on a towel and greeting their guests. Poe hoped his dad opening the door and dealing with the first inevitable awkwardness would lighten up the whole situation a little. So stayed back happily, preparing the tortillas and checking if the salsa and kidney-bean mix in the pots was warm enough, careful not to let it get too hot.

He could hear his dad and their guests, obviously, their house was not exactly spacious. Leia and Han were there and had apparently brought a bottle of wine that was way too expensive, so his dad made a fuss that Leia chose to ignore. And then there were other voices, strange voices that struck him as familiar in a very weird way. Must be Luke then. It made sense for his voice to be strange yet familiar, it had been eleven years after all.

They hadn’t really moved into the house yet but stayed in the hallway, probably still by the door, and Poe if Poe weren’t surrounded by delicious food, he’d think he could smell the awkwardness in the air. It was very unlike Kes Dameron to let any kind of awkwardness last more than two seconds, and this situation was a testament to how much Like Skywalker seemed to unnerve him. And Han and Leia, too, since nobody spoke for a while.

Well, couldn’t have that! “Dinner’s almost ready! Paps, get our guests something to drink and go outside, I’ve got this!”

That seemed to do the trick. There was a bustle as Kes led everyone outside and asked for their drink orders. After all, he took a Dameron Dinner very seriously, even though it was a very common occurrence. His dad was a picture-perfect people person. And Poe apparently into alliterations. Huh.

Poe took the tortillas out of the oven and covered the plate so they would stay warm, and filled the contents from the pots into bowls. He balanced the two plates of tortillas on one arm and grabbed one bowl of salsa-mix to bring them outside while his dad carried a tray with drinks after him.

He greeted their guests with a charming smile but concentrated on not being an idiot and dropping anything. “Good evening, everyone. I’m Poe, I’m your server tonight,” he joked as he set down the dishes. “Let me just get the rest and I’ll be all yours,” he added before he disappeared again.

He grabbed the last bowls and something to drink for himself before heading out again to properly greet everyone.

This time, he nearly did drop something. Because there, sitting next to who must have been Luke his daughter – a very beautiful girl – sat the boy. His boy. The boy who saved him!

“Poe?” his dad asked, a concerned frown on his face and Poe realised he had stopped in his tracks. In the door. And he was staring. At the boy. The beautiful boy who was looking at his plate and didn’t look like he wanted to be around a bunch of strangers in a stranger’s house.

“Yeah, sorry, hi everyone!” he grinned and set down the last bowl. Then he moved to Leia, greeting her first with a quick hug that could have been awkward for anyone who was not Poe Dameron, Master Of Hugs.

“Hello, Poe, so nice to see you again,” she smiled up at him from where she was sitting in her chair.

“You say that now,” he winked. “Just wait until tomorrow, you’ll wish you wouldn’t be seeing me all that often, General.”

She swatted at him and rolled her eyes. “Just keep out of my office a little more than last year, Dameron, I swear to God!”

Poe laughed. “No promises, ma’am.” Then he moved on to Han who gave him an eyeroll and a handshake, which was their usual greeting. Sometimes Poe thought Han didn’t really like him, but they had their moments. He’d figured a while ago that Han was just a grumpy and cynical person in general.

Then he reached Luke who actually got up again to greet him. Or he thought he did. But Luke was just staring at him. “You’ve really grown up, hm?” was all he said, awe in his eyes, realisation, and maybe something a little sadder.

Before Poe could say something, he heard his dad clear his throat and mutter something but he didn’t quite catch it. He ignored him and smiled at Luke, willing to give the man a chance.

“Well, you’d think that, but in here,” he tapped his temple, “I’m still that little boy that gets himself in trouble. So if I were you, I wouldn’t get my hopes up.”

Luke grinned, then laughed which sounded a lot like relief and pulled Poe into a hug that he reciprocated gladly. He didn’t seem so bad – he laughed at Poe’s jokes after all.

“I’m Rey,” the girl sitting beside Luke said and raised her hand, clearly expecting him to shake it. So he did.

“Poe. Nice to meet you, Rey. I love your hair,” he remarked and while he usually tried to make strangers more comfortable by complimenting them, he really absolutely did love her hair. Three buns of exactly the same size, it seemed.

She grinned and blushed a little, taking her hand back more slowly than she had reached out. “Thank you, Poe,” she said and she really sounded flattered and happier, less tense than just a second before.

And then he moved on. To the boy who was not just in Poe’s garden right after meeting him in a less than flattering situation! Nope, Poe must be dreaming or something. He fell asleep earlier and this was a dream, because the boy was now looking up at him, an eyebrow raised, and a little smile on his face.

“And you are?” Poe asked with an air of what he hoped was nonchalance, smiling politely at the beautiful boy and his big dark eyes.

“Finn,” he answered, very amused or intrigued or shocked or maybe all of the above.

“Poe, hi.”

“Hi, Poe. Nice to meet you,” he grinned and Poe actually felt heat rise in his cheeks. This was not happening! He couldn’t decide if he wanted to be happy or embarrassed or curious or all of the above. And he was staring at the boy, a grin plastered on his face, and Finn was staring at him, too, a very similar grin dancing on his lips. And this was not happening!

“Well,” his dad cleared his throat again and Poe realised everyone was staring at them, curious looks of confusion and even amusement on their faces – or in Leia’s case, a smug smile Poe couldn’t get behind. “Let’s get some food, shall we?”

And so the Dameron Dinner in capital letters, because everything was home-made and his dad a magician in the kitchen, began. “This looks very delicious, Kes,” Leia praised as she grabbed a tortilla and helped herself. There were nods of agreement from all around the table.

“Thank you for this, Mr Dameron,” Finn said and Poe’s heart raced because his voice was so smooth and the smile he gave his dad was so genuine and sweet.

“Stop it with the formalities, I’m Kes to you! And no problem, kid, I hope you’ll like what Poe and I made.”

“Oh, you helped?” Finn asked, curious. And Poe knew exactly where he was coming from. When did you manage to help with that between getting the shit scared out of you and getting punched in the gut. Twice.

“Nah,” Poe shook his head as he swallowed a bite of his burrito. “He just likes to share the praise. I literally just set the table, al the magic happening here is his fault.”

“You did help, though,” his dad insisted and Poe rolled his eyes but smiled. And Finn smiled, too, carefully taking a bite of his burrito and managing to keep the thing from falling apart.

Luke and Rey looked a bit overwhelmed and unsure of their technique, so Poe felt obligated to show them how to eat a burrito and not make a mess of themselves. He was met with grateful smiles and just so nobody would feel too bad, he loosened his grip a little, causing a bit of salad and cheese and salsa to fall on his plate. One of the two only plates who had until then been very clean.

Naturally, his eyes moved to Finn. Not because he was, like, drawn to him or something, nope. Only because they were sitting opposite each other and really had no choice but to meet each other’s eyes again and again. Because Finn was looking at him, too. And he was smiling a soft smile like he knew exactly what Poe had done just now. That soft smile of his, it was making Poe feel bold above all else. Still meeting Finn’s eyes, he winked at the boy, who looked away immediately, trying to suppress that sweet smile of his from happening, and Poe was sure he saw a flush a little. Although he could not be entirely sure with that wonderful dark skin of his. Anyway, a boy could dream.

#trivia tuesday #alternate chapter #finnpoe #stormpilot #star wars fanfic #teenage au #you look so alive #ylsa #chapter 2 #i dont even remember what i thought of this and its probably awkward but while i'm busy writing chapter 9 here you GO #thanks for asking mags :D #as you could see i have more *side-eyes myself*#i really need to stop with this bullshittery of alternate chapters help #wonder why it takes me so long to update? here's why #nat rambles #nat writes #this also reminds me to pick up again the storyline with kylo and also with luke and kes and help i have too much going on in this fic #but you love it huh #wild

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bear-jews-bitch · 5 years ago

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Wilkommen

Hey! This is my first Basterds fic. It was requested as “what the Basterds think of you when you first join” but I thought it might be better if I wrote it from Donny’s perspective with bits from Aldo and Hugo. So, here you go @liebgoth I hope it doesn’t suck :/

DONNY’S P.O.V:

Fuck. A. Duck.

We been waiting for this broad who’s meant to be helpin’ us for three days now and we still ain’t heard any word from her.

Three days “camping” outside on damp leaves in the freezing cold French winter. I say camping lightly because in order to camp, you gotta sleep outside. I ain’t been doin’ much of that because I’m too worried about how this broads gone and left us exposed without so much as an explanation.

I been tryin’ to convince Aldo to move on to the next town so we can get on with what we came here to do but he insisted that we gotta wait for the girl and, “treat her like a gentleman,” when she eventually gets here.

Apparently, she’s too important to our mission to leave behind. Or treat like one of us it seems, thanks to the Lieutenant. She better not expect me to act like no butler. She better be at least a little bit hot.

ALDO’S P.O.V:

I could see Donny seething from his place at the small campfire.

This girlie was really gettin’ to him and she wasn’t even here yet. I must admit I am quite annoyed myself, this woman has left us open and ready for attack here. Not that my boys couldn’t handle it, they just shouldn’t have to right now.

Donny had begged me to move on quite a few times during the last three days and I had half a mind to follow his pleas. But I couldn’t. Being told she was what stood between us and killing that son of a bitch Adolf was proof enough that we needed her. And when she got here she would be treated like a princess.

If only she’d turn up.

Pulling out my snuff box, I had just begun to sniff when I heard, rather than saw, a car in the distance.

I closed the box and turned quickly to my men who had all congregated around the fire before hand and were now attempting to put it out with their boots.

Quickly doing so, they took up their weapons and attempted to hide themselves behind trees. Peeking out from behind my tree, I was met with two bright headlights which belonged to a sleek German vehicle.

Cocking my weapon and shooting a knowing glance over at Donowitz, I knew this wasn’t gon’ be good.

HUGO’S P.O.V:

Not many things excite me. Not many things bring me absolute joy. But a German motorcar pulling up alone to our little hideout in the middle of the night? That was one of them.

I wanted to be the one to murder whoever the bastard was driving that car.

I knew that our sniper rifle was sitting perched and ready for use at the top of the hill behind me, so I turned and lay on my belly, crawling up to the rifle like a proper soldier.

Taking my place behind the gun, I curled my finger around the trigger, itching to squeeze but knowing I had to have patience.

Deutsches schwein. German pig.

I had gone three days without murdering any Nazi scum. That doesn’t mean none had been killed. Wicki got to kill the last patrol all by himself. It wasn’t fair.

The sight of the car door opening pulled me from my thoughts and forced me to look through the scope on the rifle.

Peering through, I was met with the sight of a head of flowing h/c hair and a rather revealing red dress.

Was ist los? What is this?

DONNY’S P.O.V:

Hearing the creak of the car door open, I pulled my shotgun up to my chest to grip it with my other hand, ready to aim at our mystery caller.

I turned to look at Aldo to ask for the signal to shoot but instead was met with a look of surprise laced with confusion.

He caught my eye and winked, then proceeded to walk out from behind his tree.

What is he doin’?

“Miss. Y/L/N?” he asked, hands in the air in mock surrender but I knew he had a .38 stuffed in his back pocket.

Wait... Miss Y/L/N? Is this our broad? What the hell is she doin’ in a Kraut-mobile?

“Yes. Ja. Oui. I would continue Mr. Raine but I’m sure my answers will be heard and understood by each of your hounds lurking in the trees.”

She is feisty. I ain’t heard her speak more than a few words and I can already tell you I’ll have trouble dealin’ with this one.

“How you know where they were?”

She laughed. It was such an unfamiliar sound. Female laughter. It was beautiful.

“Well Mr. Raine, I have no doubt that you tried well and hard to hide your men from me, and you may very well have succeeded, had it not be for the giant beast of a man you have hiding the tiny tree not less than five feet away from me.”

She was talkin’ about me! What the fuck! Giant beast?

I quickly came out from my hiding place and was intent on giving her a taste of a Bostonian scolding when I stopped in my tracks.

There stood this woman no more than five foot three, staring up at me expectantly. She was clad in a deep red dress that had a slit in the leg almost reaching her... Stop that Donny!

I met her E/C eyes and couldn’t think for a moment. There was a playfulness in them. Either this woman was crazy or cheeky. Maybe both...

Her rouge lips pulled up at the corners. She was smirkin’ at me. Maybe she thinks I’m hot... No, you moron, she’s smirkin’ ‘cause you’re standin’ there gawkin’ like an idiot! Say somethin’!

“Who you callin’ beast, doll?” I said, towering over her, tryin’ to ignore her cleavage right in my line of sight so I could focus on tryna’ be intimidating.

She said nothing, only winked at me before turning to my Lieutenant to talk.

Oh, I was gonna show her beast, alright. Just you wait, doll.

“Sorry for the wait, Mr. Raine. I’m sure you and your boys are none too happy with me.” she addressed all of us, the others having emerged from their spots. You got that right, doll face.

She sauntered over to the logs placed round the fire and sat down, the fabric at either side of the slit in her dress falling away, showing off her sculpted leg, all the way up to her thigh. Holy shit. Who has legs like that! I bet they feel like velvet... STOP! I ain’t supposed to be thinkin’ about her like that. Ain’t supposed to be thinkin’ ‘bout how her legs would feel wrapped round my head, or how she’d taste or how she’d whine as I licked her...

Holy fuck. I’m a lost cause.

“I hope my reasons for being so late will excuse me and bring some joy to you and your men. You see, upon arriving in France, I had planned to stay in my hotel room until it was time for us to rendezvous. But upon reaching my hotel, I was informed that my room would only be ready for my occupancy two hours after my arrival. So, I sat at the bar and enjoyed some very tasty cognac, and was met with an opportunity. A German sturmbannfuhrer, a major, approached me and was very smitten with me. I decided I could use a little fun and indulged him with the intent of eventually luring him to bed where I would, of course, murder him brutally.”

She paused only to take a drag of the cigarette she had just lit up, eyeing me up and down.

“The bastard was a gentleman, in his own terms. Wanted to wine and dine me before doing the dirty. Took a bit longer than expected. At one point I had to endure an hour long conversation, or rather lecture, about why the Luftwaffe are superior in every way to the RAF. I could have shot myself then and there but then you boys wouldn’t have had the pleasure of knowing me”

I saw the Lieutenant quirk his eyebrow at me, the same level of confusion shared between us.

“I eventually got him to take me home. Nazi prick had his pants around his ankles when I slit his throat. I raided his kitchen for supplies and brought any medicine he had with me. I left a little message for his Nazi friends too. Cut his dick off and put it in his mouth.”

She cackled. She looked maniacal. I could see the glint in her eyes that most of us Basterds had. And in that moment, I knew I had to have her. She was amazing, fucking spectacular.

I heard Omar gulp when she shot him a look, winking at him and settling her eyes back on mine.

“You scared Beasty?”

Nawh, more like highly aroused.

I narrowed my eyes at her and went to look in the car. Sure enough, the back seat was filled with food, some male clothes and toiletries.

“You steal his car, too?” I heard the Lieutenant ask her with an almost impressed tone to his voice.

She just giggled and stood up, bowing in a grand gesture.

Aldo looked her up and down and began clapping, shouting that, “this girlie deserves a round of applause!”

And as everyone was applauding, I couldn’t help but look over at her again, admiring the proud smile on her delicate face.

She was worth the wait.

HUGO’S P.O.V:

This woman. This woman who was so passionate about slaying Nazi scum, was to become a Basterd? No. That title would not do. She was an angel.

Who would have thought this beautiful woman is capable of such things. She is more like a bunny than a killer. Hasi. Meine Hasi. Bunny. My Bunny.

God has sent us wretched men His most perfect creation and I will cherish and protect her no matter what. She will be mine. She will be my joy in this world of hate.

And as I approach Hasi, hoping I will show her how much adoration I already have for her through my eyes and next moves, I take her delicate hand and bring it to my lips.

“Wilkommen, Hasi.”

FIN

#inglourious basterds #donny donowitz #aldo raine #wilhelm wicki #hugo stiglitz

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thundercakes22 · 5 years ago

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To Fight The Good Fight

Word Count: 978

Square Filled: Orange Sunset

Warnings: None

Rating: T

Read on AO3 here

Summary: It's a good fight. But how long do they fight it?

Steve turns the rickety pickup truck off onto a gravel road, following it through the woods until it deadends at lookout. He decides they’re far enough from the explosion and hidden from the main road to camp down for a few hours.

“Gotta patch up that leg,” he says, nodding to the small gash on Sam’s calf. It’s the first thing he’s said since they met at the rendezvous point.

Sam nods and follows him out of the cab, around the bumper and up onto the truck bed. He leans back, lets Steve take care of his leg and takes in the view. The break in the trees gives them glimpses of the distant orange sunset, stripped in pink and purple clouds. It’s a strange peace after the chaos of a raid and Sam’s thankful for the respite, not only for himself but also because Steve so clearly needs it.

Steve finishes bandaging the admittedly small wound and scoots up to sit next to Sam. He pulls Sam’s injured leg into his lap and leans against the cab’s window with a sigh. This wasn’t their first HYDRA base; wasn’t even their first one crawling with agents, but it felt different this time. Personal. Sam isn't sure what Steve saw in there, but he’s tense and giving Sam’s leg more attention than it really deserves.

“Sam.”

“Hmm?”

“I... I know we’ve talked about this, and you’ve made your choice and I don’t want to belittle that.”

Sam swings his head lazily to look Steve in the eye. “...Okay?”

“It’s just... is this what you signed up for? Is this what I signed up for? The danger, sure. And I have no doubts that you can handle it. But this? It’s a lot of death. Don’t we have enough nightmares between us?”

Sam sighs and looks back towards the sunset. “Ya know, I still have a lot of complicated, regretful and confusing feelings about the wars I participated in. I didn’t always know who or what I was fighting for. I’ll never be able to unravel the consequences of my actions or who the fault falls on or know exactly how much blood is on my hands. It’s one of the things I talk to my therapist about on those weekly phone calls you pretend not to know about.”

Steve ducks his head. Of course, he knows about Dr. Jackie. He always makes sure they’re in a motel or safe house by her Thursday afternoon call so he can take a run or find the nearest grocery store so Sam can have his privacy. He may also have avoided it because he knows sooner or later Sam will suggest Steve find a therapist of his own, and he’s not sure he’s there yet.

“But I can promise you this,” Sam continues. “I have no qualms, regrets or grief for any harm done to Nazis. Under any name. Fuck ‘em all. Those aren’t faces I expect to haunt me. Ever. I don’t enjoy it, but I don’t feel guilty about it either. That doesn’t make this easy , but it’s certainly not a hardship. Yes, I came with you because you’re my friend and you so clearly needed me. But I also came for me. I needed a fight I could believe in. Use my skills in ways I won’t doubt in ten years. This shit is gnarly, but I don’t question it or why we’re here. And I don’t question you.”

Steve rests his forehead against Sam’s temple. “How do you do that? Make the jumble in my brain quiet. Make it make sense.”

“Years of therapy with a licensed professional,” Sam snorts. “Specifically one I was not fucking,” he adds pointedly.

Steve huffs a laugh, nudging Sam’s earlobe with his nose. “Speaking of...”

Sam barks a laugh, shoving Steve’s chest so he can look him in the eye. “But really, Steve. Just because I’m generally fine with it, doesn’t mean you have to be. Bucky’s out. He’s safe and figuring out his own life. He’s not asking this of you and neither am I. If you wanna be done, we’ve got a house, friends, and family waiting for us on the East Coast. It’s up to you.”

“What about you? You just said you needed this fight,” Steve’s eyes search his face.

Sam shrugs. “I did. And I have no problems with fighting it. But there are others we can trust to take it up now. And I think all I really need is my wings and you.” Sam cups Steve’s cheek, thumb brushing across his cheekbone.

Steve’s shoulders droop and he collapses into Sam’s lap. Sam’s hand moves to the back of his head, carding through his hair.

“I’ll think about it,” Steve declares, face buried in Sam’s thighs. “Maybe even with a licensed professional that I am not fucking.”

Sam laughs again, tilting his head back and taking in the last warm rays of the day. “You know technically, you’re not fucking one right now, even though you brought me to this very pretty lookout that I highly suspect is the local teens’ favorite make-out spot.”

Steve’s head pops up, eyes already hot and hands moving up Sam’s thighs. “I’m sorry, is that an offer?”

Sam smirks, opens his arms and tilts his head to the side to give Steve easy access. He dives forward, wrapping his lips around Sam’s earlobe and tugging lightly with his teeth.

“You’re so easy,” Sam chuckles, the tease more flustered than he intended.

Steve sits back and flips open one of the compartments on the chest of Sam’s flight suit. Out pops a small container of lube. “Yeah, I’m the easy one,” he snorts.

Sam shakes his head, grinning up at him. “What a pair we are.”

Their laughter makes kissing a little harder, but they figure it out. They always do.

<3 thanks @samstevebingo

#Sam Wilson #Steve Rogers #Sam x Steve #onyourleftbingo #SamSteve #fanfic #SamSteve bingo

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what-is-your-plan-today · 5 years ago

Text

Stark Spangled Banner Ch 15: That Tie Looks Real Expensive

Summary: On the run from SHIELD, Katie and Steve encounter Natasha at the hospital when they head back for the memory drive. Their search for the truth leads Steve on yet another trip down memory lane, and as more truths bubble to the surface, the three of them are left reeling and are forced to seek help...

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

Warnings: None for this chapter bar them saying some bad language words and someone gets pushed off a roof but he’s Hydra so, meh

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist

Open for Tags- Ping me an Ask!

After a bit of a skirmish on the bridge out of the Triskellion with a Quinjet, they headed to the small boxing gym they trained at so Steve could change, leaving his suit behind in the hope that the tracking systems would give whoever came looking for them a bit of a detour. He also locked his shield in his locker, with the view they’d collect it when it was safe to do so, in an attempt to keep them as unnoticeable as possible.

Surprisingly they reached the hospital, both relatively unscathed. Katie was feeling bruised but she kept pace with Steve as they strode down the corridor. When they reached the vending machine, Steve stopped and peered into it, frowning as he realised the row where he had hidden the stick was empty. Then someone appeared behind them, and he saw Natasha’s reflection in the machine, blowing bubbles from the gum she’d obviously bought to retrieve the stick.

Steve spun round, temper reaching boiling point as he grabbed her by the neck in a display of anger Katie had rarely seen from him, pushing her into a room opposite.

“What happened to you?” she looked at Katie’s face, which was already bruising from the blow she had taken before.

"Where is it?" Steve demanded, looking at Nat as he threw down his hood.

"Safe."

"Do better." Katie suggested, glaring at the woman she thought was her friend, not sure anymore whether or not to trust the red-head.

"Where did you get it?" Natasha asked.

"Why would I tell you?" Steve countered.

"Fury gave it to you," she narrowed her eyes at him. "Why?"

"What's on it?" Steve ask, ignoring her question.

"I don't know," Natasha answered.

Steve lightly slammed her against the wall his patience thinning quickly, anger blazing from every inch of his body. "Stop lying," he said through gritted teeth.

"I only act like I know everything, Rogers."

"I bet you knew Fury hired the pirates, didn't you?" Katie said, looking at her.

"Well, it makes sense. The ship was dirty, Fury needed a way in..."

Katie let out a frustrated laugh before she spun around, away from Natasha groaning.

"I'm not gonna ask you again," Steve threatened.

"I know who killed Fury." she said as Katie turned to face her again. "Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists. The ones who do call him the Winter Soldier. He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last fifty years."

"So he's a ghost story." Steve concluded releasing her and taking a step back.

"Five years ago, I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran and somebody shot out my tires near Odessa.” She said, looking him straight in the eyes “We lost control, went straight over a cliff. I pulled us out, but the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer, so he shot him, straight through me."

Natasha pulled up her shirt, revealing a scar on her lower left abdomen.

"Soviet slug, no rifling. Bye bye, bikinis."

"Yeah, I bet you look terrible in them now," Steve half joked.

"Going after him is a dead end. I know, I've tried." She stated before she pulled out the thumb drive and held it out for all of them to see.

Steve eyed her before taking it and putting it in his pocket before he looked at Katie then back to Natasha.

"Let's find out what the ghost wants."

*****

“You know you could have picked something a little more subtle.” Nat said as she lounged in the backseat of the truck that they had taken from an industrial estate opposite the gym when they had stopped to pick up Steve’s shield and ditch Nat’s Corvette heading to New Jersey.

They had gotten what they needed from the Mall, including the location of where the AI that kept countering Natasha's commands on the pen drive was coming from, which to Steve’s shock had been Camp Lehigh, the place he had trained and been selected for Operation Rebirth. After a close shave with the STRIKE team they had bolted for Natasha's car and made it out, unscathed and thankfully with a few new changes of clothes each.

“It’s a truck, lots of men drive trucks” Steve replied, as he comfortably drove with one hand on the wheel, the other on the gearshift, eyes focussed on the road.

“Because they think it looks cool when in fact it just makes them look like douchebags who are compensating for something” Nat responded.

Despite himself he couldn’t help but quip back playfully “Maybe I am.” “Well I know that’s not true” Nat said, her voice full of a smirk “Katie told me.”

Steve felt his cheeks flush as Katie shifted in the seat besides him, whipping her head round to face the woman. “Jesus Nat…”

“What were your exact words?” she teased “If that thing wasn’t enhanced by the-” “If you don’t shut up I’m gonna come back there and slap you into next week.” Katie said cutting her off. She turned back round, glancing at Steve. His cheeks were flushed red with embarrassment but there was a faint trace of a smirk on his face, his eyes still focussed ahead. He could tell she was looking at him so he kept his eyes on the road, fully aware he blushing. But as far as discussing their sex life with her friend he supposed that there were worst things she could be saying…

"So where did Captain America learn how to steal a car?" Natasha spoke again a few minutes later as Katie noticed that they were passing a sign welcoming them to New Jersey. All things considered they’d made pretty good time.

“Nazi Germany” Steve said, looking over his shoulder at her “and we’re borrowing, take your feet off the seat."

Natasha eyed him in the mirror, but did as she was told before she leant forward between the two front seats.

"Alright, I have a question for you both, which you do not have to answer. But I feel if you don't answer it though, you're kind of answering it, you know?"

"What?" Steve said exasperatedly.

"So before in the store… you guys were like engaged…” she began a hint of a smirk on her face. “Any chance of that happening for real?”

Katie moaned, the red head had no idea how close to the bone she was. Upon hearing the moan, Steve felt something in his stomach stir.

"That bad an idea huh?" he asked stealing a glance over at her.

"I didn't say that." Katie sighed.

“No but it kinda sounded like that’s what you meant.” Steve continued.

“I not even gracing that with a response” she shot him a look.

“I’m still waiting on you telling me whether you’re gonna move in with me or not.” he said, his tone teasing.

“You asked her?” Nat raised her eyebrows. “Will you fuck off?” Katie snapped. She’d had enough and well and truly reached her fill of Natasha’s sarcasm, SHIELD, everything.

“Take it easy Stark.” Nat drawled back, nonplussed. “You know, if you don’t want to answer a question straight you could try making something up…”

“What, like you?” Katie scoffed, looking at her over her shoulder

“You know the truth is a matter of circumstances, it's not all things to all people all the time. And neither am I."

"That's a hard way to live," Steve commented as he took in the red-heads words. Besides him Katie shifted, agitatedly and he knew she was pissed. Natasha was supposed to be her friend and all this had shaken her trust.

"It's a good way not to die, though," Natasha mused unconcerned.

"You know, it's kind of hard to trust someone when you don't know who that someone really is." Katie shot the red head a pointed look and Steve held his breath for the sarcastic response he was expecting back. He really didn't want to have to split up a fight between the two. But knowing his girl as he did, he had a horrible feeling it would go that way if Natasha bit back. Thankfully, she didn't, her tone was soft, almost wistful when she answered

"Yeah." Natasha replied, looking through the window. "Who do you want me to be?"

"How about a friend?" Steve jumped in.

"Well, there's a chance you might be in the wrong business, Rogers." Natasha smirked returning to her comfortable position in the backseat.

They sat in silence for a bit and Katie turned to look at Steve. If there was one person in all this she could trust, she knew it was him. She had no idea what they were going to find, what they were going to walk into but she trusted him with her life, and loved him with every bone in her body. And she wanted him to know, just in case this all went wrong, just how much.

Steve shifted in his seat as he could feel her eyes on him for a while before she spoke finally.

“I’m not gonna move in with you.” she said, shaking her head, and his head whipped round, mouth dry at her refusal, before he returned his attention to the road, trying not to read too much into her rejection, as she continued to speak. “Your flat is full of bullet holes, your bed is in the wrong place and frankly it’s too small for all my stuff. You’ll have to move in with me.”

Wait, what? That wasn’t a refusal. She’d just said yes. She wanted to live together.

He looked at her, aware a grin was spreading across his face. “Seriously?”

“Gross…” came a voice from the back seat.

*****

"It's some kind of recording," Natasha said frowning as she tried to make sense of what was happening in front of them. They’d scoured the camp, Steve having identified that the munitions building was in the wrong place, and that had led them into a huge, underground bunker. After an hour or so more of searching they had discovered a secret Elevator that led down to a huge room full of ancient computers…and a more modern USB terminal. They had plugged in the USB device which had activated the system and now…well, now Katie had no idea what the fuck they were looking at.

"I am not a recording, Fraulein. I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945..."

Steve sighed heavily as the computer screen showed a black and white photo of a familiar odd looking man with round glasses. Zola.

"Who is that?" Katie asked as Steve glared at the photo on the computer screen.

"Do you know this thing?" Natasha questioned sceptically.

"Armin Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull. He's been dead for years," Steve explained shortly as he walked round the back of the screen, looking for anything that would explain how it was working.

"First correction, I am Swiss. Second, look around you. I have never been more alive. In 1972, I received a terminal diagnosis. Science could not save my body. My mind, however, that was worth saving. Two hundred thousand feet of data banks. You are standing in my brain," Zola explained.

"How did you get here?" Steve questioned, returning to the front of the television monitor.

"I was invited."

“Operation Paperclip," Natasha supplied as her and Katie exchanged a look.

“What is it?” Steve asked.

“After the War Shield recruited German scientists with strategic value." Katie said.

"They thought I could help their cause. I also helped my own." Zola continued.

"Hydra died with the Red Skull," Steve snapped.

"Cut off one head, two more shall take its place." Zola said confidently

"Prove it," Steve challenged and Katie had to stifle a sigh as she was pretty sure they were going to regret that.

"Accessing archive."

The computer screen began to screen old footage of the Red Skull and of the original shield founders.

"Hydra was founded on the belief that humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom. What we did not realize, was that if you try to take that freedom, they resist. The war taught us much. Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly. After the war, SHIELD was founded and I was recruited. The new HYDRA grew. A beautiful parasite inside SHIELD. For seventy years, HYDRA has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping war. And when history did not cooperate, history was changed."

"That's impossible, SHIELD would have stopped you," Natasha said quickly countering the computer.

"Accidents will happen." The computer screen then revealed a very familiar item, the newspaper reporting Howard and Maria Stark’s deaths. Steve felt his mouth go dry as he realised what Zola was telling him, whilst besides him, Katie took a deep breath as she looked at the screen, her Parent’s faces looking back at her in black and white print. And then the ringing started in her ears.

Her parents had been killed? By the Winter Soldier? By HYDRA? When she spoke again, her voice was desperate as she was, desperate for this to be nonsense. “No, that’s not… they died in an accident… it was a car crash…”

“Things are not what they seem...” the screen drawled back

“You killed them?” she said, the anger now evident in her voice as it coursed through her veins, her voice loud as she balled her fists “HYDRA killed my parents? Why?”

A photo of Director Fury flashed up.

"HYDRA created a world so chaotic that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice its freedom to gain its security." Pictures of three helicarriers were shown next, and Steve feel the angry heat spread up his neck, blistering and raw. "Once the purification process is complete, HYDRA's new world order will arise. We won, Captain. Your death amounts to the same as your Life; a zero sum."

Steve's anger boiled over, and it appeared Katie's had as well as the pair of them surged forward. Katie lashed out with her right foot kicking over a chair in anger and Steve brought his right hand crashing into the TV, smashing the screen. It only resulted in silencing the Swiss man for a moment, before he spoke cockily once again from a different monitor

"As I was saying…”

"What's on this drive?" Natasha asked quickly stepping in front of both Katie and Steve to avoid the pair of them destroying anything else.

"Project Insight requires insight. So I wrote an algorithm."

"What kind of algorithm? What does it do?" Katie demanded.

"The answer to your question is fascinating. Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it."

Suddenly, the doors they came through started to close. Steve threw his shield attempting to catch them before they shut completely but it missed and he caught it as it ricocheted back.

"Guys, we got a bogey, short-range ballistics. Thirty seconds tops." Natasha announced looking at her phone, her voice earnest.

"Who fired it?" asked Steve, as he starting to look for an escape route.

"SHIELD." She looked at him, then to Katie.

"Admit it Captain, it's better this way. We're both of us, out of time," warned Zola.

Katie looked around for any sign of a way out, knowing it was pointless. She spotted a grate in the floor not too far from where we were and yelled at Steve. He easily threw the top off as Natasha pulled the drive out of the port that was on the desk.

"Get in!" Steve yelled. Natasha hopped in, then Katie jumped down as well, the two girls getting as close to one another as they could to make room for Steve in the small space. He jumped down and pulled them both in close before holding his shield over their heads.

The missile hit just as he did so. Instantly heat, smoke and pressure surrounded the three of them. Steve could feel the ash and heat in his throat and he had to fight with all his strength to keep his shield above them, as the debris from the collapsing building above us rained down. Letting out a groan he braced himself and simply stayed as strong as he could, and eventually the noise subsided. He could hear Katie’s heavy breathing as she struggled to maintain her calm, coughing slightly a she spoke.

“Nat…”

No answer.

Steve grunted again as he pushed against his shield trying to clear away the debris on top of it just enough to get out. He let out a sigh of relief as he gave a strong push and light flooded down into the chamber. With another almighty cry and a heave, he managed to clear a path for him to climb out. He scrambled up, checked around to make sure it was safe and the he glanced down at the two women.

"Hey," he called “You ok?”

“I think so… Nat’s passed out.” Katie said, awkwardly shifting Natasha around carefully in order so Steve could lift her out. Carefully he set her down and then wrapped his hand around his girl’s wrist and pulled her out of the hole. Immediately she crouched next to Nat.

“Her pulse is strong…I think she just fainted…she doesn't do well in tight spaces, like me...” Katie said, coughing harshly before she paused at the sound of a familiar hum growing steadily closer. Quinjets.

"Let's go." Steve ordered quietly, scooping Natasha up in his arms. Ensuring Katie was in front of him at all times, they quickly began navigating their way out of the rubble. "Get back to the truck."

Katie climbed into the backseat and Steve laid Natasha down along the seat so that her head rested in Katie’s lap before he jumped into the driver's seat, starting the car and taking off down the dirt road.

Neither of them spoke for a good 5 minutes. Katie was still trying to make sense of what Zola had said. HYDRA had killed her parents, for no other reason that she could think of bar the fact her dad had worked tirelessly against everything they stood for, as part of SHIELD. Her eyes misted over and she tried to blink back the tears, keeping her breathing even. She knew if she started crying, after everything that had happened, she wouldn’t stop.

“What…” Natasha’s voice was croaky and Steve glanced back again to see the red head’s eyes fluttering as she looked around.

“You passed out” Katie said, looking down at her “we’re alright now, we got out ok.”

She sat upright and blinked again, “Thanks…”

Steve turned back to the windscreen as the car fell into silence.

“So…where to now?” Nat asked the question. No one answered which caused her to suggest “Tony?”

“No” Steve and Katie both said at the same time.

“For one thing he isn’t in the country.” Katie said, “He’s in Aus working on some deal.”

“And they’ll be watching the Tower.” Steve continued, “It’s not safe”

“We need to get hold of Hill.” Katie said, “She’s the only one in any of this I trust now.”

Steve pondered, and then had to concede she was right. “Alright, but we need to lay low whilst we do…any ideas?”

“Yeah.” Katie said, and it was a crazy one, but one that no one would even suspect, as no one in SHIELD knew the man existed. Not yet anyway. “Nat, any chance you can look up an address?”

“Sure…” she said, pulling her phone of out her pocket.

Steve shot her a questioning glance in the mirror, which turned into one of realisation as she spoke.

“Sam Wilson.”

“Honey we hardly know the guy.” Steve said, voicing his concern

“Well trusting people we do know hasn’t exactly worked for us so far, has it?” she snapped back, a little tetchily. Steve opened his mouth to argue back but Natasha cut him off.

“Nova’s right. Sometimes the person you have to trust is a stranger.” *********

Sam let them in without so much as a question, the fact that the three of them were battered, bruised and filthy declaring everyone they knew was trying to kill them told them all he needed to know. He offered up his guestroom and Steve being the gentleman that he was let both Natasha and Katie go before him, giving Sam a brief overview of what had happened.

Katie and Natasha both showered quickly, and now they were currently sat quietly in the guestroom while Steve used the en-suite. He washed his face and looked in the mirror, letting out a sigh as he glanced back at his reflection, various bruises already covered his arms and upper body thanks to his accelerated healing but that wasn’t what bothered him. He was completely and utterly at a loss as to what to do next. Well, whatever it was, he wasn’t going to find the answer in here. Turning, he opened the door and saw Katie sitting behind Nat on the bed, drying the back of the woman’s red hair. He locked eyes with her, gave her a small smile and then looked at Natasha who was staring into space.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," she replied quickly, too quickly.

"When I first joined SHIELD, I thought I was going straight. But I guess I just traded in the KGB for Hydra," Natasha confessed, looking down at her hands. "I thought I knew whose lies I was telling, but I guess I can't tell the difference anymore."

"There's a chance you might be in the wrong business." Katie teased earning a small smile from the redhead.

"I owe you." Natasha said quietly, "Both of you." She added looking at Katie

"It's okay," Steve said.

"If it was the other way around, and it was down to me to save your lives – and be honest with me – would you trust me to do it?" asked Natasha quietly, her green eyes locked onto Steve’s.

"I would now," said Steve. "And I'm always honest."

"Without question." Katie said as well as Nat turned to her, a smile growing on her lips.

"Well," she said as she looked back at Steve. "You seem pretty chipper for someone who just found out they died for nothing."

"Well, guess I just like to know who I'm fighting," Steve said in response, although she had hit a nerve.

"I made breakfast," Sam's voice came and the three looked to see him leaning up against the doorframe. "If you guys, eat that sort of thing." He added as he left.

Steve inclined his head slightly, smiling as Natasha stood up and left the room, shouting after Sam to see if he had a hair dryer, earning her a sarcastic response about him not having had an afro since the late 80s. Katie made to follow her but Steve caught her arm gently as he too rose from his chair.

“Baby…” he started, wanting to talk to her about the discovery but she cut him off, shaking her head. She didn’t want to talk about it. It was too painful and the fear of what Tony would say…

“You know, after mom and dad died, Tony lost it.” she said gently, voicing her fears. “When he finds out they were murdered it could push him over the edge again.”

“Don’t tell him then” Steve found himself suggesting. He didn’t approve of lying, but sometimes if knowing the truth was detrimental then…

“And then if he does find out, and then realises I knew and didn’t tell him?” Katie sighed “I don’t know what’s worse…”

She looked utterly lost and broken and he felt a lump catch in his throat as he pulled her to him, kissing the top of her head. He was desperately trying to think of something that would raise her mood, and then he found himself for some strange reason thinking back to the banter the 3 had shared in the truck. He looked down at his girl.

“Did you really tell Natasha I had a big…” She gave a small chuckle, the sound music to his ears. “No I said you were a big dick…she must have misheard me”

He rolled his eyes and a sarcastic “ha ha” fell from his mouth as she smiled, sliding her hands up his chest.

“What I actually said was that if that thing…”she glanced down at his crotch before looking back up “Wasn’t supersized at the same time you were, I have no idea how you managed to stand upright before the serum.”

Jesus she was incorrigible at times. But he loved her for that. And he was also secretly pleased she thought he was packing, so to speak. He smirked as his hands slid to her hips “you’re a nightmare…” he looked at her.

“Yeah but you love me.” she grinned.

“Yeah, yeah I do…” he said, his lips meeting hers in a soft kiss before the pair of them sighed, the moment of humour and good nature slipping away as they both remembered exactly where they were and why they were there.

“Come on…” Steve said, taking her hand and together they headed down the hall into the kitchen area, the smell of food hitting his nostrils made his stomach grumble.

"You all look a hell of a lot better." Sam commented as Katie grabbed a few things for her plate- a couple of pancakes, fruit and toast. Steve smiled a bit at the quasi-compliment before he sighed, biting into a piece of toast.

"Well, it's been an eventful twenty-four hours." he responded as he slipped into a chair.

“I aint got anywhere to be.” Sam shrugged as he looked a Steve “I know you gave me the overview but how about you give me the details?”

"So, the question is, who in SHIELD could launch a domestic missile strike?" Natasha asked from where she was stood, leaning comfortably back against Sam's countertops.

"Alexander Pierce," Katie confidently answered, finishing her coffee.

Steve looked at her, smiling softly. She was at it again, that analytical brain was going 10 to the dozen. It was amazing how different and better everything seemed once you’d eaten and how much of the situation now was starting to slot into place.

"Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world," Natasha said as she walked towards the table, standing behind Katie, almost snorting at the irony of the situation.

"He's not working alone, Zola's algorithm was on the Lemurian Star." Steve continued.

"And you told me that Jasper Sitwell was too." Katie said, and there it was, another piece of the puzzle.

"So, the real question is…” Steve looked at her and Nat “How do the three most wanted people in Washington kidnap a SHIELD officer in broad daylight?"

"The answer is, you don't," Sam dropped a file on to the table to the right of Katie.

"What's this?" Steve asked, standing up as Natasha picked up the file.

"Call it a resume."

Katie stood up as well so the three of them could look at the file.

"Is this Bakhmala? The Khalid Khandil mission, that was you," Natasha then turned to Steve. "You didn't say he was a para rescue."

"Riley?" Katie asked nodding to the photo of Sam and another man.

"Yeah," Sam answered.

"I heard they couldn't bring in the choppers because of the RPGs," Natasha recalled. "What did you use, a stealth chute?"

"No. These."

Sam handed Steve another file and he looked down at what could only describe as a pair of mechanical wings. He shared an impressed look with Katie before he glanced at Sam.

"I thought you said you're a pilot?" Steve asked Sam.

"I never said a pilot," Sam countered with a smirk.

"I can't ask you to do this, Sam. You got out for a good reason."

"Dude, Captain America needs my help. There's no better reason to get back in." Sam almost scoffed.

"Where can we get our hands on one of these things?" Katie said, looking up.

"The last one is at Fort Meade, behind three guarded gates and a twelve inch steel wall," Sam supplied.

Steve looked to Natasha who nodded with a shrug. "Shouldn't be a problem." he said, looking at Sam with a smirk before he turned to Katie. “Reckon you can track down Sitwell?”

“Sam, you got a Laptop?” She looked to the man who nodded.

“Then yeah, I can track him down…”she said, dropping her StarkPhone onto the table.

********

The plan was as solid as they could make it. Steve and Nat were taking Sam’s car to Fort Meade to break out his kit whilst Sam and Katie stayed behind, in an attempt to track down Sitwell. It wasn’t ideal splitting up, but it was the best option they had. All 4 of them travelling would have attracted attention, plus this way if 2 of them did get caught, the other 2 still had a chance of getting the job done.

Steve drove the truck down the freeway, Nat lounging in the front seat as she looked at the plans of the base that they had courtesy of some expert searching on Google Maps.

“If we go in from the East Side we should have the element of surprise.” she said.

“Right, we get in, we get out, minimum casualties, minimum fuss” Steve nodded.

Natasha hummed her agreement as Steve stopped at a red light.

“So, you actually asked Stark to move in?” Nat grinned.

“Yeah.” “I’m impressed.” she drawled “Your 40s programming has been well and truly broken.” He rolled his eyes “Well I figured I want to spend the rest of my life with her so…” He realised what he’d said instantly and let out a groan as Natasha grinned “You wanna marry her…” she said in a sing-song voice.

“People don’t always get married now…” he said, trying to shrug it off and she snorted.

“Bullshit Rogers!” she laughed “Soon as you can get a ring on it we know you’re gonna.” “You know I kinda already asked her.” he said, looking at the red head who turned to him, mouth open. He had no idea why he was telling her this, absolutely no idea, other than the fact it felt nice to talk about something positive. “Well, not properly but when I asked her to move in she was teasing me about us not being married so I said we could get married if she wanted…” “Great proposal.” Nat sniggered, rolling her eyes “And what did she say?” “Told me to ask again with a, and I quote, big, fuck off tiffany diamond.”

“Every girl deserves a bit of sparkle…” Nat mused “Unlucky for you, you’ve chosen a Billionaire to date.” “She’s not like that.” Steve instantly jumped to his girl’s defence.

“I know.” Nat soothed with a smile “I know.”

They fell into silence for the rest of the way and upon arriving at the base they crept round to the best point of entry, following the heat scanners on Nat’s phone. Steve easily dispatched 3 guards, Natasha another 2 before they reached their room, and she hacked the security codes. They met no one on their way out, and all in all it went far too smoothly for Steve’s liking. He just hoped Katie had got on as well with locating Sitwell.

And she had.

Once Steve and Nat had left, Sam fired up the laptop for her and she plugged the end of her StarkPhone into the USB port.

"So you know this guy we’re looking for?" Sam asked, placing a coffee down next to her as she waited for the programme to run its magic.

"Vaguely." she sighed out, knowing it would be easier if she knew him better. "But I can work with what I have…”

“So using what you have, how do we find him?" he asked

“First, I’m going to check his calendar.” Katie said, nodding at the laptop

“And you can do that?” Sam asked

“Not on my own.” she grinned

“Good morning Miss Stark…” JARVIS’ voice rang out from the laptop, causing Sam to slop coffee down his shirt in surprise.

“Hey JAR, I need a favour…this is urgent.” “Of course…” “I need you to by-pass the SHIELD firewall and get me into their server without being noticed.”

“Certainly, but permit me to ask…is everything ok Miss Stark?”

“Nope it is not…” she sighed “I’m in trouble J, but I’m hoping this is gonna help…”

“Should I alert Mr Stark…call him back from Australia?” “Absolutely not.” she shook her head. “There’s no time, in fact I forbid it…”

JARVIS set to work, informing her he was going to scramble the IP address and set up a ghost server which would, in turn, allow her to access the SHIELD remote log in without being detected.

It didn’t take long, 15 minutes later the SHIELD log in page flashed up.

“So People are lazy and 9 times outta 10 use the same passwords for all their accounts.” she said as she tapped away “And Sitwell is an arrogant ass hole, thinks he’s smart, clever so his password will be something to remind him of that, something that every time he types will feed his ego, remind him of what he’s doing right under everyone’s nose…”

And then it came to her. She took a deep breath as she typed in the words.

“Here goes…” she said, pushing the enter button. There was a short pause, before the Welcome Screen flashed up and she gave a yell of success.

“What was it?” Sam asked, hi-fiving her

“Heil HYDRA.” she smirked, tapping again. "Right, let's see where you're at, you fucker.” she said, as Sam peered over her shoulder.

“Look, briefing over lunch with Senator Stern at Occidental… 13:00 hours…” he read.

“Then he has another meeting at 14:30 back at the Triskellion… so Lunch is our window.” Katie looked at Sam.

“Gives us an hour and a half…”

“Cutting it fine…” Katie mused.

She had a quick scan through his emails, but there was nothing incriminating in there at all. Not that she had expected there to be, whatever HYDRA were up to it would be held on a completely different, hidden network.

“Ok, thanks J…” she said, logging out of Sitwell’s account “Can you disconnect.” “Certainly Miss Stark. Good luck.”

Just as the AI had shut the link down her mobile rang.

“We got it…” Nat’s voice said as she put the phone on speaker. “All ok your side?”

“Yeah, we’re good.” Katie replied

“Any luck finding Sitwell?” this time it was Steve

“Yeah, he’s having lunch at Occidental with Senator Stern at 1pm…”

“Oh, how nice, they have a Senator involved.” Nat said sarcastically.

“Doesn’t give us much time…” Steve mused.

“What’s your ETA…” Sam asked.

“About 25 minutes.” Steve said.

“Ok so let’s do the brain storming whilst you’re on the phone…” Katie said, tapping at the laptop. “The restaurant they’re going to is in the Business District…so we need somewhere secure that’s close by to take him for a little chat…”

She brought up the Google Map images so Sam could see.

“There…” Sam said, tapping at the screen, “There’s a multi-storey parking lot a few blocks down…take him up high…”

“Kick him off the edge…” Katie said, shrugging.

“Stark, I like your style.” Nat replied, and Katie could hear the smirk in her voice.

“Ok so we got there where, now we need the how…” Steve sighed. “Well can’t just pick him up at lunch, if the Senator’s there security will be a nightmare.”

"So we wait until he’s finished.” Sam shrugged

"But how do you get him to get in the car?" Steve asked

“We make him…” Katie said, simply, eyeing her gun where it lay on the table.

***** Turns out fear is a very, very good motivator. The plan went off perfectly. They spoofed a phone number, had Sam call Sitwell once lunch was over to instruct him to head to Sam’s car which was parked round the corner. As predicted, Sitwell had been his usual cocky little shit of a self, until Katie had aimed her gun sight at him.

“Because that tie looks really expensive, and I'd hate to mess it up” Sam smirked.

Katie stepped out from her hiding place behind the wall of the restaurant and pressed the muzzle of her gun into Sitwell’s lower back as he passed.

“Agent Sitwell.” she said “One move and this goes straight into your spine. And I’ll make sure it doesn’t kill you, just leaves you with no feeling from the neck down…” Sitwell instantly tensed.

"Miss Stark," he grumbled out, seemingly annoyed, "Of course you're involved with this."

She took in a breath and glanced around, making sure none of his security had realized what had happened to him. Sam was a few paces behind them and he gave her a nod to say they were clear before she turned back to Sitwell.

"You made me a wanted fugitive." she managed out through gritted teeth. “Didn’t have much choice. Get in the car." she ordered, sternly.

“Where’s your boyfriend?”

“Get in the car…” she said again. He stared at her, looked down at the gun before he swallowed and decided to do as he was told.

"We good?" Sam asked. Katie let out a breath and swiped a loose hair away from her face.

"Yeah, let's go."

They drove 2 blocks away and pulled up outside the large Starbucks on the main road.

“You know I could have got a coffee at the Restaurant” Sitwell said, sarcastically. But his cocky demeanour soon dropped when both the rear car doors opened and Steve slid in one side, Natasha in the other.

“Good afternoon Agent Sitwell…” Steve turned to him, aviator shades covering his eyes. Sitwell looked at Steve, then to Natasha before his shoulders slumped and he bowed his head.

“Shit.”

******

Sitwell really was a cocky little bastard, Steve had to give him that. He easily manhandled him onto the top of the Car Park roof, demanding to know what the Algorithm was, backing him up right to the edge where the agent almost laughed, stating that it wasn’t Steve’s style to throw people off the edge.

Well, he had a point.

"You're right. It's not." Steve said releasing Sitwell and smoothing out his suit letting the man nearly sigh in relief. Katie exchanged a glance with Natasha behind Steve’s back, the corner of her mouth twitched up slightly as Nat looked back. They were both going to enjoy this.

"It's theirs" Steve finished, before standing aside as both Katie and Natasha aimed strong kicks to his chest, the two of them sending him tumbling over the edge.

"So you’re definitely moving in together, then huh?” Natasha asked, peering over the edge as Steve and Katie did the same, listening to Sitwell’s screams growing fainter.

“Yeah…” Steve said, looking down off the side of the room, hands in his pockets. “Although I’m not sure how I’m going to cope surrounded by your mess.”

Katie rolled her eyes, her too looking down as Sitwell's screams started getting louder again and suddenly Sam flew over with him in his grasp and dropped him back onto the roof, before landing a few feet away. The three of them turned toward Sitwell and he stuck his hands up in surrender, telling them everything.

"Zola's algorithm is a program, for choosing Insight's targets!" he rushed out.

"What targets?" Steve demands.

"You! A TV anchor in Cairo, the Undersecretary of Defense, a high school valedictorian in Iowa City. Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, anyone who's a threat to HYDRA! Now, or in the future," he continued to rush out failing to catch his breath.

"The future? How could it know?" Steve asked in confusion. At this Sitwell laughed as he stumbled back to his feet, looking at Katie before he glanced at Steve.

"How could it not? The 21st century is a digital book. Zola taught HYDRA how to read it," He said getting confused looks from the Soldier in return, "Your bank records, medical histories, voting patterns, e‐mails, phone calls, your damn SAT scores…Zola's algorithm evaluates peoples' past to predict their future."

Steve swallowed. He’d heard and seen more unbelievable things.

"And what then?" he asked, already thinking he knew but didn’t want to know the answer. Sitwell shook his head in disbelief as Katie exchanged a glance with Sam who was stood behind Sitwell. He shook his head in disbelief.

"Oh, my god. Pierce is gonna kill me," he mumbled to himself and he tried to back away from the advancing super-solider but Sam reached out, holding him in place with a firm hand on his shoulder.

"What then?" Steve demanded louder.

"Then the Insight Helicarriers scratch people off the list. A few million at a time," Sitwell answered hesitantly after a moment.