A Call to Action (Avengers Fan Fiction #1) | REWRITING

Chapter 30

Steve joined me and leaned his back against the railing. He crossed his arm over his chest and watched the group inside through the glass. "But you didn't."

"I don't know what I would have done with myself. Killing someone I..." My voice trailed off. I couldn't finish that sentence out loud. Like. Have feelings for. Can't stand to not be around. Someone I didn't think who would like me back. My hazel eyes glanced down at my hands as I rubbed them together. "I'd be blamed by everyone. Outcast. Maybe even from Peter. I'd lose all the great friends I have now."

"It didn't happen. You can't be stuck in the past and think about what could have happened."

I scoffed, "Speak for yourself. You do that all the time."

He rolled his eyes. "At least I try to stay in the present." I stayed silent, not knowing what to say after that. Steve rubbed the back of his neck tiredly and declared, "You know, I forgive you. All you have to do is forgive yourself."

I closed my eyes and sighed deeply. My voice came out as a soft whisper, "I don't know how I can."

"You can't be stuck in the shadow that could have been. Just be glad it didn't."

I thought back to what Peter had said last night. He was right in so many ways. I opened my eyes and looked at the people below the tower. They looked like ants from up there, rushing to get to their destination. "I've been thinking I'm a monster. But monsters can do good. I was built for destruction, but Peter helped me realize that the destruction could be towards the end of some villains. I'd be making this world a better place. Right? I'd be a monster to my enemies, not everyone."

Steve nodded. "Yeah. That's definitely one way to look at it."

"I feel a lot better about myself now that I've had time to think. I just got to let go of the guilt..." I trailed off for a second and bit my lip. "I really like you too, Steve."

"Good, because I didn't want to hear you say the opposite. That would have been painful." His hand played with the top of mine and traced circles around my knuckles. "We'll take this one step at a time, right?"

"Yeah, of course, Rogers. As long as you're comfortable, I'm comfortable."

Rogers agreed and set his hand on mine gently. "Come on, Lillypad. Come inside."

"Lillypad? That's the best you got?" I laughed and intertwined my fingers in his. His touch was different somehow. A good different, like when I get that one special food I've been craving for a long time. The satisfaction of finally getting what I want. It wasn't only that. I felt...reassured. Reassured everything was going to be okay with him. My eyes flicked up to meet his blue ones.

"What? You don't think it's cute?" He asked and tilted his head to the side. He grinned in an adorable way.

I suppressed another laugh and my lips twitched up. "It's the cutest it's going to get with my name."

Peter noticed us as we walked inside and set his laptop on the coffee table. "You guys have to hear this." He typed for a few seconds and clicked the mouse. "After what happened in New York, people have made soundtracks for us."

"What does that mean?" Steve asked as he plopped down on the couch. He tugged me down next to him and kept his hand clasped to mine.

Tony sat up and answered, "It's like...if you were in a movie, the songs would be the background music. People post them online so others can listen to them quick and simple, unlike whatever dinosaur you guys played it on."

Steve shot Tony a look.

Peter pushed play on the video and turned up the volume. The orchestra started playing in the beginning. Trumpets and what sounded like a xylophone joined in. Soon, it was a beautiful orchestrated masterpiece. Drums even chimed in and added a patriotic theme to it. And just like that two minutes later, it was over. Peter replayed the song. "This actually sounds badass."

All of us nodded in agreement. Steve tapped his fingers against his leg to the song. Natasha bobbed her head. Thor clicked his foot against the floor. Tony shrugged and said, "It could be better."

Peter didn't listen to him and tried to pull Clint off of the floor. Clint became dead weight and wouldn't budge, complaining about it being too much work. When he was off duty, he didn't do anything. It was his relaxing time, which consisted of doing nothing.

Peter waved him off, "Whatever." He sprinted over to Bruce and tugged his arm. Bruce tried to do everything he could to make him let go, but failure was imminent. He gave in and stood up. Peter dragged him to the center of the room. Banner idly stood there with his hands clasped in front of him. A shy smirk settled on his face as he swayed back and forth. Peter pretended to fight him kung fu style along to the music. At first, Bruce wasn't into it. As the time went on, he acted out the scene as the villain and pretended to die towards the end. Peter fist pumped his hands into the air and did a little victory dance.

When the song ended for the second time, Tony stood up and stretched. "Well, that was a great...uh...whatever that was." Peter huffed and sat down. Tony rolled his eyes and finished what he was going to say, "I'm leaving to see Pepper. I'll tell her you freeloaders say hi."

All of us replied simultaneously, creating an inaudible, jumbled sentence together. Tony waved it off and left.

Natasha turned her attention to me. "Lil, I think you've got a real find on your hands. He might be worth top dollar at some museum."

Rogers rolled his eyes. "Very funny, Natasha."

"I know, I'm hilarious." She grinned and rubbed her hand through Clint's short brown hair. "Or maybe he'd be worth nothing at some antique shop. He has quite some sass on him."

Steve squeezed my hand and stated, "She has loads of these jokes piled up. She'll get through them all eventually."

"Yeah, like when you're ninety. Oh, wait, you already are. My bad," her emerald eyes lit up with fire and wonder at the same time.

"One day Natasha..."

Nat cut him off with a laugh, "One day when your turtle self catches up to me? Good luck with that, grandpa."

I giggled at that one. She was pretty sharp when it came to burns and wittiness. I had to hand it to her, it was easy at times. Steve did set himself up for it. I listened to their conversation go back and forth until Steve got tired of it. He got up and went to sleep. Clint was already sleeping up against Nat's legs as she ran her fingers through his hair. Peter logged off his laptop and went into his room to rest. Bruce drank a few bottles of water before setting off for the night. Thor wanted to go look at the night sky from the roof, so he left. That was when I called it quits. Today was a good day. There weren't going to be a lot of those left...