Purple Hope

Off the Jet

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"Stop struggling!" a harsh voice yelled. The man's muscles strained as his fist held tightly onto a thin, toddler-sized wrist.

"No!" the small child screamed in response, kicking the man repeatedly until he yelled out in pain and dropped their hand. They took off running down a hall, slipping past other guards that tried to grab them.

They came to a stop when they saw another child, slightly smaller than they were. Calling out, the two tried to run to each other but the smaller one was held by another guard.

The child struggled weakly before cowering away at the harsh words sent their way.

The bigger one continued to run, jumping to try and hit the guard but was grabbed and roughly stuck with a needle, making them go weak. Not long after the same happened to the smaller one, who was now crying.

They were both hauled off and set in the fortified back of a truck. The doors locked, and they were shipped off to the next location.

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Wanda and Pietro were in the middle of an intense round of go-fish when Clint landed the quinjet on the tower's landing pad. Nat had fallen asleep a third of the way through the flight, still leaning up against Bucky and shocking everyone. Everyone except for Bucky who was already out. She almost never sleeps in a public space, and just in the last few days, she's done it twice.

As soon as the jet landed, Nat blinked her eyes open. She watched as everyone collected their things and Clint came out of the cockpit. They already made it home?

She pushed herself up, turning around quickly in shock when she felt someone move behind her.

Bucky shifted in his seat as his side suddenly grew cold. Her expression softened immediately when she realized it was just James. He opened his eyes to see a now smiling Natasha. 

Barely taking a moment to think, he reached out, pulling her back to his chest, and tiredly mumbled, "Ты теплый. Спи дальше."
(You are warm. Go back to sleep.)

"Джеймс, мы должны выйти из самолета," she whispered through a smile.
(James, we have to get off the jet.)

"Джет?" he mumbled nuzzling his face into her hair.
(Jet?)

"Yes," she told him with a gentle reminding tone, "The quinjet."

His eyes shot open and Nat pushed herself up as he stood abruptly. She was watching him with a patient expression, amused by his reaction.

"Das sind nicht die sechziger," he muttered, slightly disorientated and blinking away sleep.
(This is not the sixties)

Natasha started laughing as she grabbed her few things. "Nein sind sie nicht," she said.
(No, it is not.)

He didn't speak much German, so he was confused why he switched to it in the middle of a conversation, especially one that started in Russian. He quickly came to the conclusion that he was still half asleep but wasn't quick enough because everyone was already off the quinjet.

Nat stopped at the bottom of the ramp and looked back, waiting for him to follow. So, he quickly swung his bag over his shoulder and followed her into the tower.

The seven Avengers stepped off the elevator, making their way towards the large room that holds their equipment and suits. They kept a lot of their things in their rooms but liked to drop off the things that they only need for missions. It was like their version of a locker room, except with larger compartments than a locker. All of them also kept go-bags there, packed up and ready if they needed to leave on a last-minute mission.

Vision came into the room as they were putting away their gear and walked straight over to Wanda.

"How did your mission go?" he asked, "Are you alright?" Looking over her to make sure she wasn't hurt, he gently cupped her face to examine it.

She placed a hand over his, leaning into his touch and giving him a tired smile. "Perfectly alright," she told him, "And the mission went well."

"Good," he said, smiling in return then looked to the rest of the team, "All of you are alright too?"

"Oh, how kind of you to ask. Yes, yes, we're fine," Tony sassed, waving his hand dismissively.

Natasha rolled her eyes at him while smirking at the couple. 

"When does Fury want to go over the mission?" Steve asked.

"At seven A.M." Vision replied.

"Great," Steve said, "We should all get some rest." They started leaving and he quickly added, "Don't forget to set your alarms. Tony. Alarm."

Tony turned to face Steve so that he could see him roll his eyes as he said, "Friday, set me an alarm so the capsicle shuts up."

"Setting you an alarm for seven," Friday replied.

"Before seven," Steve corrected loudly, glaring up at the ceiling.

"Alarm set for seven."

"Why do I even try?" Steve muttered while Tony walked away with a smug smile.

Bucky and Nat were the last two in the room, deliberately taking their time to be left alone together.

It worked perfectly because everyone wanted to sleep before the early meeting. Within a minute it was just them.

"I think Steve thinks this is weird," Bucky told her with quiet amusement, gesturing between them.

"Two very closed-off people that he's good friends with went from leaving a room when the other enters to falling asleep on each other after a mission. I'd say that would be a normal reaction," she pointed out, moving towards him.

"He wasn't weird about it when I would get memories back of him," he told her, "I always acted a little different after that."

"Yes, but like you said, the memories you got back this time weren't about him," Nat said, "You should just talk to him."

"Then you should talk to Clint because he obviously has some questions too."

"After you talk to Steve I'll talk to Clint," she said, already knowing the conversation she'd have with her best friend filling in the gaps she left when telling him about the relationship.

"Deal," Bucky nodded, "But he's probably already asleep so I guess I'll ask tomorrow."

"You have time," she said reassuringly.

There was another meaning behind those words, one both her and Bucky knew. They had time. It wasn't like it was before, they could take their time, do all the things they had wished they could.

With the lingering thought of the time they could spend together, they walked in silence back to their rooms, parting from each other with a heartfelt smile and the hopeful words of seeing the other again in a few hours.

No separating silently without even a glance anymore. No hiding their expressions. No sneaking around even though it was the middle of the night. No worrying about being found out.

They knew they would see each other soon and could say that out loud.

They could say what they wanted and show their feelings without fear of punishment because everything was different. They were safe here, surrounded by people who cared for them.

(A/N: Short chapter, I know, but the next one will be longer)