Hyacinth | MCU

chapter twenty six

The ceremony was short and sweet. It would've been Mallory's thing, Allura thought as she smiled to herself. Steve turned and looked at her for a few moments, as if trying to read her, before standing and holding out his arm.

Allura stood and walked over to the picture of her friend. Even in a photograph she still felt so alive. She touched Mallory's face, smiling again, before linking Steve and leaving the church. They would be burying her nearby, but Allura wouldn't want to see that, she had decided.

Walking through the double doors, the light breeze hit her face, blowing her hair around madly. Steve chuckled at this, before saying, "Come with me? I have something to show you."

"Of course."

They walked for ten minutes before arriving at the local park, strolling down the winding path near a beautiful lake. Allura admired the simple view as Steve led her to a brown bench opposite.

"So," Allura started, "What did you want to show me?"

He stared at a swan that was gracefully floating on the water, before turning his head.

"When you were," he paused, "...gone, I tried thinking of other ways apart from trying to get you back to fill my time. That's when I came here."

Allura rested her head on his shoulder. "So what's so special about this place?"

"Well, the reason I came here was to arrange to meet with Mallory."

The girl's eyes shot wide open and she sat up to look at him. "What?"

"Yeah. The first reason I wanted to was to see if she would know anything about you that I didn't," Steve explained. "Turns out she knew even less."

Allura looked down at her hands, exhaling.

"But even if it didn't help finding you, it was the thing I looked forward to most every day."

"Every day?"

"Every day, same time same bench. I'd ask her how things were going, then she'd ask me, and then we'd talk about you. Mostly reminiscing, funny things you used to do, your outrageously stubborn personality," he chuckled lightly. "And that's how it was. Then, some days, when either one of us were frustrated, we'd just talk about how much we missed you."

The girl made eye contact with him, smiling sadly. "I did miss you Ally."

"Ally?" She tilted her head questioningly.

"That was another thing we did. She helped me come up with a nickname for you, it definitely took up some time. Do you like it?"

Allura sighed before answering, "Only when you say it. Allura sat back into the bench and closed the space between them.

"I remembered something a couple days ago when I was at her apartment," she spoke. "It was after we had met the first time, she had done me so many favours even though I kept so much from her. I was leaving, to get to New York, and she hugged me. It wouldn't have been a big deal to her, but it was to me. I'm pretty sure that was the first time anyone had ever touched me in a caring way. I remember playing it cool, probably complaining, and that's when she said: 'you'll thank me for it someday weirdo.' She was always right, it was so annoying."

"Now you know how I feel," Steve tried to hide his smile but burst out laughing when he was met with Allura's shocked face and a rough punch to the arm. "Shut up," she said through laughter.

When they both calmed down, Steve said, "I told her you know. About you, who you were and what you could do."

"What did she say?" Allura gulped, her smile fading.

"She understood, of course she did Ally she was one of those people. But she always said she would still kick your ass when you got back from 'wherever the hell you were' for not showing that you were actually a cool person."

The girl rolled her eyes, images of them together popping into her mind. They both sat in silence for a few minutes, watching the water sway to the breeze gently.

"She would be proud of you, you know."

"I'm just glad you met her, so you know how amazing of a person she was."

"You're right about that. It was always the same at the end of our talks that Mallory wouldn't let me leave until she called you once."

"Of course," Allura grinned. "Although I'm not even sure if I still have a phone, I was floating in space."

"Right of course, almost forgot."

She faked a loud gasp. "Am I having a weird dream or did you just use sarcasm on me Rogers?"

He laughed, and threw his arm around her, lifting them both up off the bench.

"Maybe," he whispered playfully in her ear before she shoved his face away, giggling.

"Where to next?"

"The Compound of course. Tony's got a lot of reasons to host a party, and you being back is one of them," Steve replied, as they followed down the path again.

"Oh great. Well, you're a good distraction Rogers."

Steve raised an eyebrow at her, before replying, "I hope that's not all I am to you."