flicker // peter parker

- spoken pain -

"Elenora,"Steve called. "I think we need to talk."

Elenora wish she had felt brave, or at least a little confident, but she didn't, and quite frankly, Elenora rarely did. Still, there was no use, so when Mr.Rogers stood, Elenora did as well. Tony, Black Widow and Winter stood as well, but Rogers sent them all a look, but Bucky ignored him and followed anyway.

And that's how she ended up in a conference room, standing awkwardly between an ex-villain and a hero.

"How about we take a seat?" Bucky suggested,
but when neither father or daughter answered,he stayed standing with them.

"I'm fourteen," she informed them.

Steve didn't look up from the table, and Bucky glanced between him and Elenora before replying. "We know, kid."

Steve didn't dare to look up, but she knew he heard her. Bucky, certainly did, with his index finger on his forehead, and his thumb attached to his cheek, his eyes on her.

"You're really my dad then?" she said asked a little louder.

Steve raised his eyes to hers, but he wished he hadn't. The girl's eyes were a mirror image of his own- sea blue with what seemed like a million messages. He felt lost.

"Yeah. I am."

She tucked some hair behind her ear. She felt like she was leading this whole thing- which was very out of character for her. "Bucky, I suppose you are Steve's... friend?"

"Boyfriend," he corrected smoothly, causing Steve to cough and blush. Her eyes widened.

"Oh, I uh, apologize, I mean, I should have-" Goodness, the embarrassment was a never ending pit that night.

"It's alright," Bucky assured me. "It's cute when he gets flustered, anyway."

"You guys know then," Elenora stated quietly. Bucky watched her intently, and when she fell silent, Steve did too. She felt an urge to continue. "About my powers. Is that why you came to get me? Because you want to use my powers?"

Steve answered this one- he couldn't hold himself back from it. "We came to get you so we can take you home, Elenora. So you can stay with Bucky and I."

Her eyes darted around the room, her mind struggling to form sentences. They wanted to keep her? No one has ever wanted that before. She felt dizzy. "But why? Why now? Why have you waited so long?"

Bucky sat back, knowing this wasn't his place. As Steve contemplated how he'd answer, Bucky shot Elenora a smile.Taking a closer look at the man, she saw that he was different. The broad casts, the articles, the gossip- all of it, portrayed this man as broken glass, a bad omen, a burden. But as she saw him now, even with the long hair and bags shadowing his eyes, the smile on face brought this brightness, his ocean-blue eyes shone with laughter. He wasn't shattered as Elenora thought, just a little cracked.

"I was afraid that you wouldn't be safe with me," Steve explained finally. "I was worried that you'd be targeted or kidnapped or-"

"I spent years of my life alone, and my father was out there, and he wouldn't come get me because of 'what ifs' ." Elenora couldn't believe that it had come out of her own mouth, but after it was out, she made no attempt to take it back. She had the right to be mean.

"What I did was wrong," he confirmed.

"Is my mother with you? I assume that you couldn't have made me all by yourself."

"That'd be a good guess," Tony scoffed, gulping down the amber liquid that occupied his glass. "Lemme break it down for you. Spangles over here had a lady crush, which was a pretty straight choice for him, and they- uh, how do I explain this, did the 'fondue'-"

"That is quite enough," Steve announced, placing his hand firmly on the table. "I think I can explain what happened on my own-"

"Please, Stripes. It took you fourteen years to approach the damn kid-" Tony broke in, waving the cup around quite dangerously. Elenora gulped back a plea for peace, and she could see Bucky was doing the same.

"I said shut the hell up, Stark," Rogers demanded, slamming his fist on the table. "You know damn well why I didn't get Elenora in the first place."

That was when Bucky proceeded to chime in with a, "Language, babe", and Steve sent him a look that clearly read, 'Don't go there'.

Bucky, did, in fact, speak up, defying Steve. "Steven Rogers, listen here." He continued when the soldier's gaze was on him. "This is your fault, alright? Tony didn't leave her, you did. And in all honestly, it wasn't a very good reason in the first place."

"James, I had a very good reason-" Steve defended, but Tony wouldn't have it.

"Rogers, dammit, being afraid of hurting her is not a good reason!" Tony exclaimed. "What are you not getting about this? Wake up, Mr.America, that kid right there?" A finger was thrusted in my direction. "She's yours. And, God, she's probably seventeen layers of f-ed up And that's on you."

And with that, Mr.Stark left, leaving an extremely unnerved Steve Rogers, and extremely uninformed Elenora.

Finally, Bucky tore the barrier constructed solely of strain and tension between a daughter and father. "We can finish this conversation another day, come on Elenora, Steve, you too."

"Buck-"

"Steve, enough. It's time to go home, okay? Elenora, let's go." He gestured for them to rise and leave the boardroom.

Elenora was going to protest, well, attempt to protest anyhow, but Natasha saved her, once again.

"Hey guys, I talked to Fury. He says Elenora should spend the night here. I wouldn't dare to go against him, Rogers, the man is pretty mad."

"About what?" That was Bucky, with his discomfort lacing his tone. Maybe he wasn't close to Steve's kid yet, but after meeting Elenora, he didn't want her to be alone. Not anymore.

"The fact that you kept Elenora a secret. That was enough to piss him off. Didn't help that she turns transparent." Her hand was on her hip. "Don't worry, I'll take care of her. Come, Elenora."

As Elenora walked out of the conference room, she didn't glance back at her father, in hopes he would know how it felt.