Marvel Oneshots

Smoke Clears (Grant Ward)

Written for Fictober 2022 on Tumblr! Also slightly inspired by the Andy Grammer song "Smoke Clears".

Prompt: "I chose you."

Summary: Whenever Y/N imagines the future, Grant is there. After everything comes to light in the wake of Hydra revealing themselves within SHIELD, that future looks impossible, until Y/N decides to do something about it.

****************

"If you really love me, Grant, you'll choose us and the life we might have together over all this Hydra bullshit. That's what I'm doing, I'm choosing you. Over SHIELD, over everything. If you feel the same way... don't miss our flight."

The last words I'd said to Grant Ward, my best friend, boyfriend, and the love of my life, played over and over in my head. I fidgeted in front of the boarding gate, and since Grant wasn't here and the plane wasn't boarding, I couldn't do anything but obsess over every tiny detail again and again in my mind.

Three weeks ago, Grant and I had been sitting in bed together, daydreaming about our future and retirement amidst the current mission chaos of the week. We'd only been dating a few months, but we'd been best friends for much, much longer, and I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was my soulmate, and that after a good, long career at SHIELD, we'd get our happy ending together.

Two weeks ago, SHIELD fell. Hydra revealed itself within our ranks and crushed our entire organization over the course of about 48 hours, and I'd lost more than a few friends. In the chaos, I'd been separated from Grant for almost the entire time, which had caused me non-stop stress. That vision of riding off into the sunset with him seemed more like a daydream and less like our actual future.

A week ago, me and the rest of Coulson's team discovered that Grant had followed his old mentor, John Garrett, and betrayed SHIELD. He'd been working with Garrett to take us down, and that daydream of a future finally snuffed out completely.

Last night, after suffering a week-long rollercoaster of emotions covering everything from heartbreak to rage to emptiness, I decided enough was enough. Grant had crossed a horrible, horrible line, and betrayed me and everyone we cared about. But he also hadn't crossed any lines he couldn't come back from yet, and I wasn't going to let him.

Despite everything, I still loved him with every ounce of my heart. I still wanted to be with him, and I still wanted our happy ending retirement in the sunset. Sure, we wouldn't be able to finish out good careers at SHIELD and retire together with our names in places of honor, but I could live with that. As long as I had Grant.

I'd decided to take matters into my own hands and make the future I wanted, with anything I could. I'd called Grant, and when he picked up, he sounded like he was hurting just as bad as I was. I told him I'd booked two tickets to Malta, one of the only places on Earth where we could disappear and SHIELD couldn't come find us, and that if he cared about me as much as I cared about him he'd meet me at the airport and get on the plane with me.

And now that plane was officially boarding. With Grant Ward nowhere in sight.

I continued to fidget as the first class passengers started boarding, and I scanned the crowd for any sign of the man I loved. Slowly, the crowd around the boarding gate thinned as more and more people got on the plane, with still no sign of Grant. With each passing second, the despair crept in.

My boarding group was called, but I didn't move a muscle. I'd already decided I wasn't going back to SHIELD, no matter what Grant decided–I couldn't stomach hunting him and possibly being asked to kill him somewhere down the line. But I didn't necessarily have to take this flight. If Grant didn't show, I could book another one, maybe to somewhere else. Malta had nothing for me; its only appeal was the protection it would offer Grant.