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crewhonk · 5 years

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...Of The Line (Introduction)

A series collaboration with @nomadsgrogers where she writes for Giovanna as the reader! We’re just projecting onto our writing, its FINE

Series Summary: Steve watches YN Banner grow up before his eyes-- from a shy, dorky sixteen-year-old to a fierce, brilliant woman who never fails to keep him on his toes. He knows that she’s untouchable, but that doesn’t stop him from being completely wrapped around her finger for the rest of his long life.

Series Warnings: Mutual Pining, age gap, gun use, these two are idiots-- seriously they're so dumb, slow burn

Pairings: eventual Steve Rogers X Banner!Reader, eventual Buky Barnes X OC!Stark

Words: 2.7K

Chapter Summary: Introduction of YN Banner, her brilliance and her meeting her best friend, uncle and one Steve Rogers for the first time. (warnings: battle of new york, english major discourse)

“... Of The Line” Masterlist

_______________________________

YN Banner had grown up under her father's wing. Her mother had left her at his doorstep in New York, swaddled in nothing but a baby pink blanket and a note describing how she was too much of her father. How she was too much of Hulk— the strength of him, and his same green eyes— it was too much for her mother.

He took her in without a doubt in his mind. He had never hulked out when she cried as a baby, or when she fell from a large boulder in Spain. In fact, Hulk seemed only concerned for her— no desire to show himself but all the desire in the world to shelter her from all that was bad or could hurt. And he did so— for sixteen long years, he had taught her to control herself, taught her to be gentle, and taught her to pick her fights only when she had no other option. She made her first perfect stitch at ten, she had corrected him on the progression of Gamma Cells at twelve. She was everything he could want in a child.

His heart, still, broke for her.

She had lost her first patient in Somalia—a child just shy of five to radiation poisoning. She had never had a home, nor a best friend, nor a proper education. Sure, she could explain the basis of nuclear physics in a way a child could understand (something he still couldn’t do) but she didn’t know how to write an essay, how to sit down long enough to understand the meaning of a story because hell, there was no time for that when you grew up running.

Until 2012 a few months after her sixteenth birthday when Natasha Romanoff swept her and Bruce to the big city of New York.

“What’s your name, Little Lamb?” She had crooned, tucking a strand of hair behind YN’s ear. Her touch was gentle, the caress of her still chubby cheek almost longing.

“YN Banner, Ma’am.”

“It’s Natasha to you, Pretty Lamb.”

Everything picked up after that— YN and Bruce had been shoved into an expensive lab (with swivelling seats!) and a time bomb of a weapon with probably the most overwhelming man on the planet. YN had actually grabbed his forearm when he jabbed Bruce int he side with a pen, hoping to bring out Big Guy. Her grip was too strong for that of a sixteen-year-old, and he wasn’t afraid like he should have been. He was amazed.

“YN Banner. Little genetic miracle. Nice to finally meet you and not read about you.”

“Touch my dad again like that and I’ll rip your arm off.”

“Good.”

_______________________

A few days had passed until the attack on New York. The man wearing horns and green silk had escaped along with the Big Guy and the Norse God, and they had returned with fire and blood and green blurs.

YN had been hiding in the bunker of the tower with a few of the civilian employees while the buildings crumbled around them when a girl around her own age sat beside her.

“Banner, right?” She asked, her dark eyes already on YN. YN only nodded, trying her very best to keep her cool under this very new, very stressful situation. She didn’t need to respond to the other girl for her to continue speaking.

“I’m Giovanna Stark. One night stand with my dad and I came out the other side of nine months. Left on his Malibu doorstep. Good thing too— Mom was apparently an English major. Can't do much with that though, can you? Write a book. Teach a few high school kids. Yell at the clouds or something.” YN found herself laughing more as the new girl— Giovanna— continued to ramble.

“Me too. I don’t know what my mom did— Dad doesn’t talk too much about her, but she didn’t like that I was too radioactive. Apparently, she likes her kids without Gamma radiation in their blood.”

“Wait,” Giovanna stopped her pity party with a hand on her knee. “You have Gamma in your blood?”

“Yes?”

“First, when dad saves the world can I take some blood? I’m going to be a surgeon in ten years and how cool would it be to write my thesis on Gamma blood and its benefits? Second, if I annoy you will you turn into a green monster?”

“I haven’t turned green yet, have I?” YN smiled, and Giovanna smiled back.

“I like you. I think I’ll keep you.”

___________________

As it turns out, Giovanna was just as smart as YN was— the two girls found themselves in the lab most hours of the day following the disaster that was New York. YN’s dad had hulked out, and Tony and his assistant (“they’re going to get married one day, honestly”) cleaned up the legal mess quickly and beautifully. Giovanna had drawn blood and babbled on excitedly in Italian about how different YN’s blood from any other humans blood she had seen before.

“Seriously, the way it adapts to the mutation as it multiplies is better than any porn I could find on the internet.” Giovanna rushed excitedly, putting the slides in the freezer and wiping down the counter. “This is brilliant— you’re brilliant.”

YN could only blush and smile, excited to have someone in her life who stretched her boundaries to the border of discomfort. She had been learning so much about how to be a sixteen-year-old in the past week that when Bruce walked into the lab one Monday night to ask if she wanted to join him in Australia, she could only wrap her arms around his neck in a tight hug.

“I think I’m gonna stay here, Papa. I— I can be a teenager here. I don’t have to save lives here, and I can actually finally read Harry Potter for the first time. I— I want to have as much of a childhood as I can.” She whispered a grimace on her face for fear of breaking her own dear father's heart.

“Good.” He only smiled tears of joy in his eyes. Finally, he could give her everything she deserved. “You stay here. I’ll come back every two weeks. Maybe I’ll even get you some presents occasionally.”

“Presents?” YN tried to quell her excitement. She hadn’t grown up with much, so the idea of her father spending money on her on things she didn’t need sent a small thrill jolting up her spine.

“Occasionally.”

“I love you, Papa.” She squealed, hugging him tighter. He squeezed back, burying his face in her messy hair and breathing her in. This would be the longest they would be separated and it scared the life out of him.

“Love you, Squish.”

______________________

It’s later that day after Bruce leaves on a fancy jet that YN meets Steve Rogers for the first time. She had stolen American textbooks before, read through them and rolled her eyes at the basic knowledge that was the American curriculum, but one topic she could never get enough of was that of the Howling Commandos. Bucky Barnes, quick with numbers and a gun and oh, so easy on the eyes. Timothy Dugan, always smiling under the bush of moustache hair on his lip. Gabriel Jones expert sharpshooter and the best translator in the American Army— twenty languages in his load magazine.

Steve Rogers, sickly small until a serum mutated his blood and made him a soldier with enhanced strength, speed, agility, stamina, endurance, reflexes, durability, and regenerative healing.

YN couldn’t say she didn’t like to see someone like her heightened to such a high pedestal.

Tony had thrown a dinner in celebration of the commemoration of the Avengers: Initiative. The dinner wasn’t much— take out from any place that hadn't been destroyed and was, in fact, still open. “God bless the working class,” he had said after finishing his second cheeseburger. Gio sat next to a mopey YN who was not yet used to being without her dad and chatted around the food in her mouth while YN picked at her fries.

“Roscoe! Nice fo you to finally join us!” Tony cried, grinning as Steve Rogers rolled his eyes and sat down next to Tony. God, he was even more beautiful here in front of her than in the books she stole. His blond hair was darkened by the water fo his recent shower, skin tinged pink from the heat of it but fresh nonetheless. His shoulders were beyond wide and thick, and his arms bulged under the fabric of his white t-shirt. YN flushed red at the idea of him picking her up and doing things her father would very much not approve of. His thighs were straining the dark grey fabric of his sweatpants and YN had to genuinely turn towards Giovanna and talk to her so she would force herself to not stare at this Adonis of a man.

She, in her distraction of him, hadn’t noticed that he was staring at her in much of the same likeness. Her skin was glowing and soft, probably malleable under his hands, the softness of puberty just barely leaving her stomach and shoulders and face— a soft thing which he almost immediately wished to protect. He wanted to hide her away from the world until she looked at him. Her eyes were impossibly gentle but had an arsenal of maturity behind them and a roaring fight behind the shine of her green iris. She had fought every day to be where she was now, and the intelligence in her posture told him already that she would continue to stay and continue to fight. Whichever teen was lucky enough to catch her eye would be blessed by Thor himself— this was, in fact, an angel among them.

“Sorry, the media wanted about one hundred quotes. Did you save any fries?” He asked, and YN swore she could hear his stomach snarl at the sight of food.

“Nah, they were good though, if that means anything to you,” Tony said halfway through a bite of his third burger. (“I’m a growing boy!”)

“It doesn’t but thanks,” Steve grumbled, grabbing a take out container of fried rice and pulling it towards him. One thing Steve loved about this whole new century was the diverse choices of food. Sure, he still boiled everything but he honest to god had no clue how to do anything else so take-out was a really neat invention. YN acted quickly, sliding her paper plate of fries towards him and offering him a small smile and a shrug.

“I wasn’t gonna eat much anyways.” And Steve blushed nodded a thank you before swallowing them all down in a matter of seconds. Kind girl, he thought.

They talked aimlessly, laughing about some of the things they had seen in battle and boasting about their teammate's work and the night passed quickly. YN, always the shy one, could only steal impossibly brief glances at Steve as if he was the sun and she couldn’t look at him too long for fear of being hurt.

“What about you, what do you want to do?” Steve asked her now, and she flushed at the intensity of his stare before looking down and picking at her nails.

“I wanna work at an outreach centre, I think. Or maybe make changes in government that allows for kids like me to be safer in their homes. Something with kids.” She said faintly— she genuinely wasn’t entirely sure if she would even be able to go to school, but Bruce had always taught her it was good to have plans— something to look forward to.

“That’s amazing.” He encouraged ducking his head to catch her eye. His smile was gentle and warm and YN’s stomach flipped. “Nice to know that you two are going to be leaders of your generation. Real trailblazers.”

The way Steve made YN feel seen was a feeling she really didn’t want to go away any time soon.

______________________________

It’s about three in the morning later that evening and YN was sprawled on Giovanna's white duvet, staring at the posters on her ceiling and listening to One Direction's most recent album (”Take Me Home”) as Giovanna sat next to her, painting her own toenails a bright blue.

“You’re more broody than usual.” Giovanna piped up after a song called ‘She’s Not Afraid’, and YN shot her a confused look.

“Pardon?”

“I know we just met, but you’re already easy to read. What’s going on?” Giovanna asked, putting the lid onto the varnish and hucking the bottle across the room. It landed in one of her clothing drawers and Gio fist pumped before leaning back on a hand and staring YN down.

“Nothing.”

“Liar.”

“I just— God. Steve’s really nice, okay?” YN groaned covering her face with her hands and groaning into them. Giovanna’s eyebrows shot up before a thrill shot through her bones— did she sense a crush? Was this what that was?

“Bit of a stick in the mud, honestly— but yeah, he’s nice. His butt’s nice too.” Giovanna smiled, watching as YN’s skin flushed a darker red and cheering silently to herself. God, she was good.

“Yeah, I noticed,” YN mumbled, dropping her hands to her sides and smiling at her new friend who squealed and threw herself back onto the bed before clapping excitedly. YN shushed her quickly for fear of her excitement waking up the others on the floor, and Gio shushed herself enough to only let out a tiny squeak of excitement every ten seconds. The two sat in silence for only a few seconds longer before YN opened her mouth to speak once more.

“I think this one singing now is my favourite.”

“Harry’s my favourite too.”

________________________

Three years had passed since then, Uncle Tony, as YN knew him now, had defeated the Mandarine (white cooperate guy playing the villain? Groundbreaking.), moved into his Malibu house, moved out of the house, rescued Dum-E and ended themselves back in the Avengers Tower. Flashy building with far too many rooms, but home. Always home.

YN and Giovanna had since become inseparable, bonding in a way only soulmates did and having the ability to almost communicate telepathically when words were not able to be said. They were both homeschooled by Tony and Pepper themselves, Bruce dropping by often and teaching them both about anatomy and other surgical procedures. Giovanna had almost cried the first time he complimented a sucre— textbook, he had said and she squealed and threw her arms around his shoulders.

“Thank you, Uncle Bruce!” She squealed into his ear. YN watched with bated breath— not out of jealousy but out of fear of Big Guy getting too uncomfortable. However, much to her surprise and joy, Big Guy made no move to show himself, only purring low in Bruce’s chest and hugging Giovanna tighter.

“Anytime, Brains. Now, YN come over here. JARVIS has a hologram of a heart that I want you guys to see.”

When YN and Giovanna weren’t in class or in the lab tinkering into the early hours of the morning with their dads, they were in the gym with Tony’s trainer, as Natasha and Steve had been posted down in Washington. She had worked their muscles and refined their fighting until they were almost lethal. It wasn’t until Clint had dropped by for. Weak they really became the pair to watch. Giovanna had become fond of the shining knives in the armoury, and YN had become fond of the arsenal of guns and Widow tech Natasha had left behind when she and Steve had left for Washington. Her aim was impeccable and her strategy on the matt threw even Clint a run for his money. It was an impossible match when Giovanna backed YN up— two angry, twirling tropical storms which could take out anyone who dared face them head-on.

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