#dontrequireyourhelp

     “Can I ask you a personal question?” Natasha’s eyes are downcast, and she’s not trying to hide how uncomfortable asking this makes her, but she feels compelled to know. Peggy Carter is the only one on their side who has gone through the process, who knows what this feels like, and Natasha’s conscience has been eating at her for years. 

     She takes a deep breath before plunging on. “You’ve been put into cryostasis before. Admittedly, you consented to this, so the circumstances may be different, but... was it painful? Does it hurt to go under?” 

When it’d come down the line that his parents had died in a car accident, Tony had known something was wrong just by how it was reported. Faulty brakes, said the news. Faulty brakes, said Obie. Not icy roads or too much to drink or swerving to miss an animal.

Faulty brakes.

In one of the late, great Howard Stark’s cars.

Bullshit, said Tony. So, he went digging. He turned his folks’ house upside down and shaken it until something interesting fell out. Two things, in fact. A covert government agency called S.H.I.E.L.D. (and if that wasn’t the most obvious, posthumous love letter he’d ever seen, Tony didn’t know what was) and something called Project Sleeper.

Which was how Tony ended up drunkenly breaking into a (seemingly) abandoned warehouse to pop open a cryogenic freezer holding the body of none other than the infamous Agent Margaret Carter. Not his best move, probably. Of course, it wasn’t his worst either.

🎁 "Happy Birthday,  darling. I hope you enjoy." [A large cozy blanket, a mug covered in stars, and various loose leaf teas straight from England with an astronaut tea infuser]

Carter’s gaze brightened at the gifts - a large grin spreading across her face as she glanced back up to Peggy. Absentmindedly rubbing the blanket between her fingers. “I- I don’t think I’ll- I’ll want to- to go to work tomor-tomorrow! ” she said with a laugh. “Thank- thank you, Peggy! I- I really do appre-ppreciate all of- of this. And I’ve- I’ve been mean-meaning to reread the- the Wayfarers series, so this gives- gives me an- an excuse now to do- to do that.”

“Hey, Peg,” Bucky said, looking down at where her comrade was lying on a stretcher, a smear of blood still on her skin and the edge of a bandage just showing beneath her shirt. “You had a real rough day, huh?” She held out the mug in her hands, hoping Peggy would be able to sit up well enough to grasp it and drink the steaming liquid inside. “Black tea with milk,” she said. “Two sugars, too; I pestered Howard till he scrounged some up for me.”

It helped, knowing people who were rich enough to finagle their way around rationing. And Bucky had always been willing to make herself extremely annoying in the service of cheering up her friends.

She settled onto a nearby crate, shifting until she found a comfortable position, and said, “I hear they’re plannin’ to send you to Guy’s for a bit for treatment and recovery. Should be a nice break for you, right? Sleepin’ indoors, baths with hot water... Almost like a vacation. Y’know, ‘cept for the bit where you got shot.”

@dontrequireyourhelp​ said: [ WAIT ]: realizing the receiver is about to leave the room, the sender hastily reaches out and catches their wrist, preventing them from continuing their departure.  (for bucky) PROMPTS THAT MAKE ME GO 👀 | ACCEPTING

Bucky quickly turns back at Peggy’s contact. There are concerns in his features. They are both trying to help each other as much as they can in this new era. It’s not always SIMPLE, but Bucky knows he wants to be there for her. Even if he also has a hard time talking care of himself. Maybe it’s easier to take care of other people.

SETTLING DUST PROMPTS.

— @dontrequireyourhelp

“I think that’s the least of our worries at the moment.” He replied, voice sounding frantic and completely unbothered at the same time in a way that only a Stark could manage, “We need to work on your priorities. ”

Peggy grew cautious at the sound of the loud thud at her door. She may be up but with the late hour the rest of the world should be asleep. Looking out she noticed a familiar head of brown hair and opened the door, revealing Carter. Before she could even greet her niece, the yong woman fell forward. Peggy caught her, looking out onto the hall to see if anyone followed before quickly pulling Carter inside. Carrying her niece to the couch, she laid the young woman down and began to look for any sort of injury as she asked EDWIN, the AI system Tony installed in her apartment to dim the lights. She wasn’t going to chance anything. "Carter, Carter darling, stay with me. I need you to open your eyes. I need to see those pretty eyes of yours. EDWIN scan for injuries please. I need to know what's wrong."

Carter knew she had to get help. That there was no way she could treat herself on her own this time. But... she couldn’t go back to the compound. There was no way she would make it back without blacking out, and no way she could face the others - not when she knew they would only ask a thousand questions as to what the hell she’d been thinking. Because... she hadn’t been. She had been reacting. Impulsively, recklessly reacting. There had been a threat, and--

She jumped in headfirst without her armor instead of falling back and figuring out a plan of attack. She thought she could handle a lone HYDRA agent, after all. It should’ve been fine. But they still managed to take her off guard and now she had a gash in her side that wouldn’t stop bleeding because she wouldn’t stop moving. All she could think of was that she needed to get help soon, and all she knew was that Peggy was close. 

She just... hoped that her aunt would let her in. Even after all the time Carter had spent trying to avoid her like she had with everyone else.

Hands clutched tight to her side, Carter did her best to stanch the bleeding as she staggered to Peggy’s home - practically crumbling against the front door as she shakily pulled one hand away to knock. Her chest was heaving, her brows furrowed tight with agony as sweat beaded her brow, and she was barely even standing. Was her aunt even home? What if she wasn’t? She couldn’t go to the hospital - she refused to go. There was no way she was going to let more doctors experiment on her again--

The door opened, and she collapsed - a strangled whine catching in her throat as Peggy caught her. Carter’s head was spinning, her surroundings blurring together, and she was hardly even aware of her aunt carrying her own to the couch. Hardly aware of her speaking as she ordered EDWIN to dim the lights, or of her speaking to her - asking her to open her eyes.

But, somehow, Carter managed to do just that - one hand still clasped against the wound as she let out a shuddering breath. “Sta-stabbed,” she rasped, struggling to try and pull herself as together as possible. To make things easier for her aunt to understand. But she was hurting and her mind wasn’t completely there, and she flinched as she attempted to push herself upwards despite a part of her knowing she needed to stop moving. And, even then, another panicked thought flitted through her head, and she clutched at her side harder - blood seeping between her fingers. What if Peggy took her to a hospital anyway? What then? She couldn’t go - not when she didn’t have records pertaining to her reactor. Not when no one could know about it - family or otherwise.