[1] 𝘿𝙀𝙑𝙄𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉 | 𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙨

#! 𝐁𝐎𝐍𝐔𝐒 𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐄 1: Here Comes The Sun

➸ 2015
📍WASHINGTON, DC

ERRORS MAY BE PRESENT

After The Fall of SHIELD before AOU
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GALINA'S HEAD was pounding — spinning.

Her body rolled around on the couch as the smell of bacon and eggs wafted into her nostrils as well as Here Comes The Sun by The Beatles singing in her ears.

"Has sleeping beauty awoken?" Steve's voice called out over the music playing in the background from his spot in the kitchen.

She groaned as she sat up slowly and looked over the back of the couch at Steve. "How did you know that I woke up if you can't even see me."

"I heard when your breath stopped being even."

"Creep."

"No, not creepy. Just making sure you're alright. You drank a bit too much. You're underaged, Lina."

She scoffs and rolled her eyes. "It's not my fault that you left your bar cabinet unlocked and I was feeling sad. The intrusive thoughts won." she paused. "And it doesn't matter if i'm underaged. I'm Russian i've had alcohol from the time I was five — it was practically in my baby bottle."

Steve shook his head with a small grin as he brought over a plate filled to the brim in breakfast foods and a tall glass of water over to her. "You are a piece of work, Galina Kuznetsov."

"Yeah well." she shrugged and stabbed her fork into the eggs as Steve sat down beside her. Galina looked over at him in question with the fork half in her mouth. "Aren't you gonna eat?"

"Oh I don't eat in the morning. Protein shakes for breakfast." he explained.

She looked at him in disgust and bewilderment. "Aren't you a super-soldier? You could eat five McDonalds franchises up without even gaining a pound."

He chuckles with a small shrug. "It just makes me feel better. More energetic, y'know? Just because i'm a super soldier doesn't mean that I shouldn't take care of my body."

"Mm." she hummed, still scanning over him as if he were an alien before continuing to eat.

"Why were you upset anyways? I left you for like an hour to pick up pizza and when I come back you're on the floor singing Madonna." he tried to make mild light of the mood while imagining the hilarious yet horrifying scene that he witnessed.

Galina's gaze fell to her plate and her expression fell. "I don't...I don't know. I was just watching my sitcoms and then..." she trailed off and shook her head before looking at him once more. "Have you ever been in love before?"

A small smile graced his lips. "I have. Twice, actually."

She sat her plate down on the coffee table in front of her and faced him. "What did it feel like?"

"Well," he inhaled sharply. "It depends on who it is. The first person that I ever fell in love with...they protected me. They were always there when I needed them and they truly knew me and I mean really knew me. When I was with them I felt safe — as if I could do anything."

She grins a bit. "You're talking about Bucky."

Steve sighs and rolled his eyes and continued on with his speech. "The second person that i've ever loved was Peggy...and sure you can say that I fall in love too easily or far too quick but she liked me for me...scrawny and unhealthy. She cared for me even before the serum."

"Will you always love them? Even with their faults and even though times are different? Even through everything?"

"Why are you asking me this?" he questioned.

Her lips turned down into a small frown and she looked down at her hands. "I don't know. I was just watching those sitcoms, y'know? The smart and strong husband along with the dotting perfect wife...and I was just thinking about it — thinking about how much the characters love one another and how they'd do anything for the other. I'm afraid that i'll never experience that."

Steve nodded, letting her continue.

"In the Red Room we were taught that love is for children which may be true but..." she shook her head. "Sometimes I long for it. I long for someone to hold me when I cry and actually care for me...because no one has ever cared for me from the time that I was brought into this world."

"Galina.." he said softly and grabbed her hands. "Look at me."

Her eyes met his, teary.

"You do not need a partner to be loved. There's a thing called platonic love that I feel for you and so does everyone else in our little Avengers family. Tony, Natasha, Thor, Aspen, Bruce. All of them. You don't need a husband or some boy to make you feel like that. Besides, you playing the dotting housewife seems to be a little bit out of your pay grade." he finished with a smirk.

Galina smacked his shoulder with a gasp. "What does that mean!"

"It means that you're extremely independent and don't need a man to solidify that."

"Is this your feminist era, Rogers?"

He let out a big chuckle as he squeezed her hands and let them go. "You're a pain in my ass, Kuznetsov."

"Thanks, Steve." she said sincerely.

"Of course." he patted her shoulder. "I'll always have your back."

And that's when Galina had an idea.

She suddenly grabbed his hand and forced him to stand up, dragging him into the open-spaced kitchen.

"What the—What are you doing."

"I'm making you dance with me." she swung his arms around in front of her. "Come on!"

He rolled his eyes with a smile before giving in.

Their sisterly and brotherly bond will forever be everlasting even apart.

And as they pranced around laughing and dancing to Here Comes The Sun at 9 in the morning, in Steve's Washington apartment, it solidified that.

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