Captain America

Gabi shook her head as she cried. “You don’t know. She made me think I was dying Steve and maybe I did die and this is the hell she’s putting me through. She can do that, she never did it before but she’s always known she could and now she’s against us and for him. He’s chaotic and he could kill hundred with a single thought if he wanted to. They held back before but I don’t think they will again.” In her panic Gabi barely realised what Steve was doing until he spoke. She looked at him like he asked, looked into his green flecked blue eyes and allowed herself to be captured by the honesty she saw in them. Tentatively she took the dog tags from his hands and squeezed them beneath her palm. “I– I’ll try.” The thing was; not even Steve could save her from Quentin and Wanda.

“Love forces you to make many sacrifices even if the logic is beyond our understanding. I can’t say what she or Quentin did was right, no, but I can say with certainty I would give anything to turn back and spare the devastation you all are pretty damn resistant to show here. We see more than you realize, you know.” Who could blame them? The Avengers and their younger counterparts shared common similarities concealing emotional baggage for the sake of the team, it’s what they were both trained to do, yet the longer trauma stayed buried, the longer it festered into a nasty wound that likely wouldn’t heal. “Now I know this isn’t some magical malady.” Steve gently pointed out, “It doesn’t erase those two from your mind, though I wish more than anything it can. I just want you to remember that it’ll always be your compass.”

Gabi scoffed and shook her head and looked away from Steve. “Seeing the footage is different from being there.” Her eyes began to water and she chewed on her bottom lip, anxiously she looked and made sure no one was around them as a tear rolled down her cheek. “Wanda and Quentin were my friends. When we were training we learned about each other’s abilities we knew everything about each other… but them. They were always growing and getting better and it was amazing because we thought they’d always be with us.” Gabi looked at Steve and her lip wobbled, “I don’t even know if this is real.”

Gabi shook her head, “What is there to say?” The mission had been a disaster, she and Robert had nearly died. Wanda had made her… Gabi shuddered at the thought, she sometimes woke gasping for air, still able to feel the phantom touch of her throat being crushed. “We lost. While I’m happy to be here because god knows you and Tony need this. Our world could be ending soon; literally. Clint wants us to have faith in a girl who’d rather hurt us than let us help. You haven’t seen the Steve – none of you know what they can do… what they’d be able to do.”

Steve reached up and rubbed at his lower lip with his index finger thoughtfully, taking the time and patience to remain silent as a sign of attentive respect. He wasn’t about to ignore her pain even if she was intent on doing so herself. “I’ve seen this world on the cusp of ending before, Gabi, long before the battle of New York. I know they’re capable of cracking the planet in two, I’ve seen the footage.” He sighed with a slight shake of his head, “If our roles were reversed and it was you in Wanda’s place, Tony and I wouldn’t lay down and give in. That only comes from a father’s love.”

In order to be a spy you have to know how to do a lot of things, man.

Apparently the army sucked in teaching you anything because I had to give you the rudimentary lessons on all that shit.

I’ll find something you can’t pull off one of these days.

James chuckled into his glass with a shrug. It wasn’t like he’d kept it intentionally a secret– everyone at the farm knew. Those that were in contact with him and Natalia on a regular basis knew, but he also knew that Steve had never been around both of them at the same time; it was all a surprise. “It could be a guy too, Steve, you never know,” he said before taking a drink of his glass, before his landed on the red-head in question; who is and always will be the love of his life, “her name is Natalia, though the rest of you know her as Natasha.”

“Oh, certainly, you could’ve-” Bucky’s last words cut off his intended statement like a hot knife effortlessly slicing through butter. Natalia. Natasha. No, it couldn’t be the same red-headed Black Widow Natasha Romanoff he’s known for years...right? Nat was prone to her secrets, becoming the expert in keeping intel hidden while enduring torture, so why should it come as a surprise she concealed something this significant under his very nose? “What.” The shock caused the small word to flee from his lips in a flat fashion. More so flat than he ever anticipated. “I don’t understand how you two-...I mean, it...” Steve’s features changed from emotion to emotion, going on a facial expression journey he never experienced before. “How long has this been happening?”

Gabi raised an eyebrow and feigned confusion, because deep down she knew what tried to imply and she didn’t know what the answer was. “What do you mean? I’m great.” She took a sip from the flute.

“I’m not just talking about the engagement.” Steve firmly pressed his lips together in a way that made him feel like a stern grandfather. Or a father, in Gabi’s case. “You barely said two words about the mission when we got back.”

Natasha smirked coyly at the Bucky remark and quirked an eyebrow at Steve, “Little did they know a hero stood before them.” If it wasn’t Steve and his inability to converse with a girl without stumbling over his own words, Natasha might have took offence to the innocent comments. “I think I’m fine without the help Steve. All the people you know I know too, remember?”

“I was just some kid from Brooklyn swimming in stubbornness.” Steve drummed his fingers along the counter as the countless attempts to enlist in the war briefly touched his memory. He had every disease in the book and his body weight could have caused the wind to knock him over, but his perseverance was a quality that brought him to Erskine. “Makes it easier to find someone for you. You’ll already know them.”

James couldn’t help but chuckle at the change of events. He remembered when they were in the forties– it was always him that set up double dates and roped Steve along. Now it was Steve getting married and trying to get a date for him. “Steve, you don’t have to worry about that one, I’m already spoken for,” he said with a simple shrug as he accepted the glass of the secret stash that he had an inkling to think that Tony knew how much that it wasn’t secret anymore. He held the glass up towards his best friend, “to you– snagging one of the most eligible bachelors and finding your happiness. Proud of you, Stevie.”

“I really think I mishear you. My best friend is already taken and he didn’t bother telling me.” Question after question threatened to leave Steve’s lips in the attempt at assuaging his relentless curiosity who could have captured Bucky’s attention enough that he thought to keep the identity a secret. Buck smooth-talked his way through many women way back when, but nothing to sound this serious. “I wouldn’t be where or who I am today without you, pal.” Steve clinked his glass against the man’s, “Now, what’s her name?”

Well don’t let me win every time, Rogers. As soon as something more historical than the two of us comes around, then they will move on more than happily.

Tony’s smile broadened as he return the squeeze. God, he really loves that man; his mind still boggled at how it all happened, but Tony sure was glad it all went the way it did. He’d never change a thing. “You do realize that no one really dances at these things,” Tony said with a chuckle as he lead the super-soldier through the droves of people that showed up before they were in a more clear spot than they were, his hands on Steve’s shoulders,“for you I’d make an exception.”

No, I’m officially obligated to pop your ego bubble just a little. I’d be surprisingly honored if it was a cat on another roomba that dethroned our couple gossip.