A tech savvy Elf with a dumbass approach to life accepts the offer of joining S.H.I.E.L.D from Godfather Nick Fury, where she doesn't just catch the eye of Steve Rogers but his Hydra brainwashed ex-lover James Buchanan 'Bucky' Barnes. Young Rosie mu...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Steve stood at the edge of her living room, a sweatshirt in hand, a brow raised. What was he doing here? Rosie stumbled for a moment. "Steve...? What are you doing here...?" He looked well bar the dark bruising on his cheeks, stitching lining some of it. Took came skirting out from behind him, Duckie in his mouth, eyes looking up to the man. He hadn't even noticed her.
"Uh, I've been house sitting, and looking after..." He bent down to Took, taking hold of the duck. "Took, while you were in the hospital." That's what he was doing? Throwing the duck, Steve's blue eyes met hers. "I'm sorry, Prim, that I didn't come visit you once you'd woken up." He was? "It was wrong of me, I should have been there. Are you mad at me?"
Was she? From what she could remember, he was in just as bad shape as she was. Rosie shook her head, pink strands hitting her cheek gently. "No, I'm not mad. I know it must be hard for you, with everything..." Steve stepped further into the room, the air growing thicker as her eyes met his.
"Doesn't excuse it, though." He said softly, shaking his head as he moved to sit down on the sofa, Rosie gazing widely at him. "You were in the hospital and I didn't come to see you, when I know you would have been there by my side every hour I was laying in that bed, if you could."
Her hand reached out, settling on top of his other one. " Steve, " She stressed, squeezing it. "I understand." But the blue didn't lift from their joined hands, his jaw flexing as he sat stoically. "Seeing Bucky, having to fight him... It's not going to be easy on you or your feelings, and if you need to take time, you need to take time. I'm not going to hold it against you if that's what you need."
"But why? Why are you so patient about this?" It seemed like he didn't understand, that this was entirely foreign that one person should make allowances for another.
"Because I like you Steve, and knowing that you're hurting is something that I want to ease for you." She told him. "And if that's giving you distance, that's what you need. I'm not going to rage or argue about that, because it'll push you further away, and I don't want that." And Rosie meant every word as she lifted his hand, and settled it in her lap. It was so much larger against her own, that much bigger as he turned it, swallowing hers completely inside his grip.
Steve squeezed. "I don't want the distance either, but you have to know, I plan on finding Bucky."
The news didn't faze her, it didn't shock her, but what it did do was send a small flash of ice cold fear down her spine as she nodded. "I know." Rosie didn't understand the fear. Was it fear of losing Steve to Bucky? Or losing that part of Steve that thought Bucky could return as Bucky. It would kill him to think that the Winter Soldier would only ever remain that way, that the man he loved would die a second death; and Rosie wasn't sure she wanted to watch that happen.
"You don't want me to do this?" He asked.
She shrugged. "I don't know, but I'm not going to ask you not to." Their eyes met, her teeth biting into her lip. "You do what you need to do."
