both have sharp teeth

@vvolvesngirls said: “i don’t need this.” (from steve)

“You don’t need what, Steve?” She said, sighing as she ran a hand through her hair. “An argument? Guess what – we’ve passed that point.” The fights and the arguments were bound to come. Living in small safe houses, camping, never being apart from each other? Well, it lent itself to a bit of tension. She wasn’t used to fighting with Steve – in fact, they never really fought until recently. If anything, back at the Avengers compound, they’d simply had disagreements. Never like this.

“You’re the one that started all of this, anyway. If you would’ve just listened to me and followed my directions, we would’ve been able to stay at that safe house at least another month.” She wasn’t really as mad as she was making it seem. But her frustration had been building up for so long. She was frustrated that they couldn’t just go home. She was frustrated that they had gotten themselves into this mess – that Stark really had them labeled as fugitives. “You can’t be normal when you’re trying to hide from practically every person on earth. Someone recognized you. Now we’re here trying to figure out where the safest place is to even sleep.”

A sigh escaped her lips. “I thought you said that you would trust me, Steve. Listen to me. I thought you trusted that I knew what we needed to be doing.”

the pressure has been building, bit by bit, for weeks. it is only natural for it all to hit the breaking point. it still doesn’t mean he’s ready for it. his hands settle on his hips, with a disappointed shake of his head. 

“you know that i trust you,” he says. she has to know that. has to know he would trust her to save his life. its not the first time the both of them have been on the run together, but it’s certainly the longest. “but this is bigger than us, right now.”

he blows out a sigh of frustration, hoping to keep the tempers from flaring any higher. “i refused to sign the accords because i felt i had to be accountable. i didn’t want to hide behind a faceless authority, and i didn’t want them calling the shots -- determining who was worth saving and who wasn’t--”

Pietro sighed and lowered his head to avoid her gaze.  He couldn’t look at her the same.  Not anymore.  Not after what he had to do.  He could only imagine what she would think of their father.

“I’m doing what I have to Wanda.  People around the world…they hate us.  They want to kill and remove us all.  We have to fight back somehow.”

“ and so you choose to prove them right? to show them we are to be feared? ”

she’s just gotten him back and yet he feels so far. but, she does not think she can blame him. she remembers feeling so angry at the world she would do anything, let madmen experiment on her, to try to find some retribution for the pain. 

no. she’s the one who has changed. her time with the avengers... she cannot say it has been idyllic. she is all too aware of how the world sees her, sometimes at night she can still feel the shock collar around her throat. 

Pietro struggled to contain his anger, not to lash out at the spy.  In his mind she deserved it and he wanted to do it.  “But you’re trying to hurt her.  Trying to ruin this for her.  What right do you have?”

He didn’t let her answer before quickly moving up the stairs to Wanda, “I know that was…well hard to hear.”

wanda worries her thumbnail between her teeth, trying to piece everything together. pietro is alive. pietro has been alive. pietro has been alive and... involved in sabotage and, possibly, assassinations? 

“How busy are you ??” It’s the first thing he asks when he sees Eddie at the kitchen. He doesn’t know where their parents are, but judging by the silence there, they must not be home. “Do you wanna help me with a project ?? Or at least just keep me company at the lab ??

Clint finishes up his cup of coffee, depositing the chipped mug in the kitchen on the way to checking the door.

He’d been an agent and assassin too long to miss the shadow of two feet through the crack at the bottom of the door. He had an unexpected visitor.

He didn’t reach for the loaded Glock taped under the small counter top near the door. Even a half assed assassin wouldn’t show up at his door in the middle of the day.

Checking the spy hole Clint’s legs almost buckled under him. There’s no way he saw who he saw on the other side of the door.

No way.

It was impossible.

He was shaking. Shaking so much he fumbled the lock, managing to open it the second attempt, the door opening after a moment’s hesitation.

He stood frozen, staring wide eyed with disbelief. She couldn’t be standing there. He’d seen her fall. Seen her broken body. He’d felt it.

Then before he knew what he was doing, Clint lunged forwards, arms wrapping tightly around her slender body. She was real. She was really there and not a cruel trick of the mind. He was probably holding her too tight, but he couldn’t help but feel she would vanish if he didn’t hold onto her with everything he had.

Almost like she’s emerged from the moment it happened, Natasha looks unchanged from the day of the time heist, right down to the weave of the braid in her hair. Clint, on the other hand,  seems to have aged ten years in that time. His grief seems to radiate from him as he pulls the door open and watches her like he’s seen a ghost.

Before she can open her mouth, uncertain if anything would even come out, Clint’s arms are around her, warm and steady and even if it it is a bit too tight, she cannot blame him. Feeling him, solid in his embrace, makes her body feel a bit less foreign, a bit more real. 

Her hands cup the side of his face, feeling the pickle of stubble along his jaw, reluctant to pull away, she makes just enough space for her to rest her forehead against his. 

Pietro tripped backwards a bit, his body quickly jerking to look at Natasha.  He was ready to stop her if she was going to go after Wanda.  Everything would have been fine if she didn’t show up.  Wanda was upset with him, sure, but Widow just made it all worse.

“Look at what you did,” he said snapping loudly.  “Did you come here just to upset her?  What was your point in bringing all of that up?”

“i came here because a member of my team went missing in the middle of the night,” natasha says, words sharp and pointed as she looks in the direction wanda left in. 

goinbacktobed‌:

Clint had become something of a recluse in the time that followed, turning his back on what was left of the Avengers. The world was safe, order had been returned along with those taken. Except now there was a huge hole in his life. Nat was gone and it felt like a part of him had gone with her. Part of his soul was missing.

But life went on, or so they say.

Today was much like any other day, following the same routine which made it look and feel like he was functioning just fine. Except that was a goddamn lie.

Today his routine was interrupted by the buzzer, the light flashing to alert him to the sound he couldn’t hear, because Clint rarely bothered to wear hearing aids at home.

He thought about ignoring it, but for some reason he chose not to, pushing the button to open the door several flights of stairs below. It was usually one of his tenants anyway, forgetting their key and needing to be let in. They were forever doing that.

He’d wait a couple of minutes then check the door, he wasn’t expecting anyone but there was always the small chance it could actually be someone to see him.

The door clicked open and Natasha pulls open the door. In her haste, she takes the steps two at a time as she makes her way up to Clint’s floor. There is no roadmap for this, no answer for what it means to come back from the dead.

Her heart is pounding, not from the upward sprint, she realizes but with the flutter of nervousness that’s humming in her veins. To touch him, to make certain she is not a ghost herself.