Universal Displacement

Closure and Endings

And then, after what felt like forever of driving, we pulled into this big parking lot, and we weren't fishing at all. My mom had pinched and saved and gotten enough help from my grandparents to take me to Wild Waves, uh, an amusement park."

Sutton smiled fondly and Steve mimicked the expression.

"I was so excited, I cried." She laughed. She shrugged then, tossing her empty coffee cup in a nearby trash can. "I don't know. I just remember I felt so special that birthday."

Steve threw his cup away in the same trash can; he hadn't ever been much for milking out his drink, from what she'd seen. He usually just downed the caffeine and waited for it do it's job. She sometimes wondered if that was leftover from his time in the army.

"It sounds like she really loves you."

"Yeah." She hummed.

"Buck dragged me to Coney Island once."

Sutton tilted her head as she listened. He hadn't spoken much about Bucky around her. She wasn't sure if he talked about Bucky to anyone, really. The conversation felt more vulnerable now that he'd brought up his friend.

"He was always trying to keep me out of trouble. I didn't make it easy for him." Steve laughed lightly and Sutton smiled. "But he never coddled me either. He dared me to go on the roller coaster that day, so of course I had to ride it."

"Obviously," Sutton agreed.

"I had a few bruises by the time it was over," Steve continued. "But I didn't care."

The Tower was in sight now. Sutton shoved her hands into the pocket of her hoodie and nudged Steve with her shoulder.

"He loved you too."

Steve flashed her a soft smile and opened the front door of the Tower for her, as he usually did. Sutton thanked him and they strode for the elevator together. It was a companionable silence, one Sutton hadn't ever imagined herself developing with a guy like Steve. But it seemed after the first few times of being literally breathless after jogging with him, silences were unavoidable. And really, he didn't ever make her feel like she had to talk. There was a certain peace he was able to radiate to others, even if Sutton wasn't exactly convinced he felt it himself all the time.

They both kept themselves occupied with their own thoughts until finally splitting off to their different floors. Sutton waved as Steve exited the elevator. She flashed him a soft smile then leaned back into the elevator railing as the doors closed and hummed in contentment.

Back in her own room, Sutton peeled off her dirty workout clothes and hurried to shower. Today was going to be a good day. Today she was finally going back to work.

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Maggie and Avery were ecstatic to see her back at Stark Industries. They greeted her with warm smiles and demanded that she allow them to take her to lunch, and she agreed happily for the first time. Sutton stuck to the story that she'd been in an accident and had been in a private hospital her entire absence. Perhaps she might've been able to pass it off as an unplanned vacation, but the arc reactor that was now a part of her could only be hidden for so long. The light shone through some of her shirts, and people were bound to notice whether she wanted them to or not.

The fact that she had a device entirely too similar to Tony's own reactor was a bit brow raising, but Sutton would only smile and say that Tony was a generous philanthropist when asked about it.

For now, though, she continued to wear shirts with collars above the collarbone and made of thicker materials. Thanks to it being winter, it wouldn't seem at all unusual.