"Aren't you the same woman who told the government to kiss their ass a few years ago?" The Mills brothers heard Sam said in disbelieve as they were entering the common room where the rest of the avengers sat. Jack hurried to Pietro and Wanda, resting his chin on the silver-head's shoulder. Liam went to sit by Natasha, who was sitting on the couch.
"I'm just reading the terrain. We have made some very public mistakes. We need to win their trust back." Natasha responded with defensive tone.
"Focus up. I'm sorry. Did I just mishear you or did you agree with me?" Blinked Tony.
"I want to take it back now."
"No, you can't retract it. Thank you." Steve's phone pinged and the blonde looked down.
"I have to go." He said, threw the Accords folder on the table and left. Liam stared after him until Tony's voice broke him out of it.
"What about you two?" Stark asked, nodding towards the two brothers.
"I was never well known for choosing sides." Hummed Liam.
"You were never well known to begin with." Said Natasha and Liam slightly smiled.
"True and I might just use that to my advantage." Tony raised a questioning eyebrow. Liam sighed. "Last time I was under someone's command, they tried to erase my consciousness and replace it with Arnim Zola to walk around in my body. I hope you understand that I have some trust issues." Liam did his best to ignore the wide eyes and horrified looks the people who haven't heard the story gave him. And yet he found the soft fingers brushing against his wrist oddly comforting.
"I- uh- well-" Jack was struggling to put his thoughts into words and was constantly looking from Pietro to Liam to Tony and back.
"Jack," Liam caught his brother's attention. "This is your choice to make, okay? No matter what you'll choose to do, I'll always be your big brother." Jack stared at him with wide eyes full of desperation.
"I'll... I'll have to think it through."
-Time skip-
Not even two days went by and Liam was frantically calling Natasha after seeing the news about the terrorist attack.
"C'mon, pick up, pick up, pick up..." He muttered under his breath.
"Liam."
"Oh thank god you picked up, are you alright?"
"I'm fine, got lucky." Liam let out a breath on relief.
"You know when you come back I'm gonna shower you with cuddles, right?" Natasha on the other end smiled.
"I wouldn't expect anything less. I have to go now, there's a mess that needs to be sorted out."
"Okay, take care, I love you."
"Love you too."
-Time skip-
Humming a low tone under his breath, playing with Pietro's hair, Jack was in peace. The older Maximoff was sleeping on his chest, his face buried in his jumper. It was moments like these that Jack truly loved, just the two of them, sleeping or quietly chatting or just lazing around in general. Sadly, they were never not interrupted. This time, it was an explosion that shook them from their safe heaven.
"The fuck was that?" Muttered Pietro and got ready to go out into the hallway.
"Wait!" Jack grabbed his wrist and carefully peeked out of their room. He looked around for the attackers but saw no one. "It's clear, let's go." Pietro held his waist and sped off to the kitchen where he knew his sister would most likely be.
"Guess I shoulda knocked. Oh, hey boys, I hope I didn't interrupt anything." Clint said to them as they entered the kitchen.
"Just our cuddle session. What the hell are you doing here?"
"Disappointing my kids. I'm supposed to go waterskiing. Cap needs our help. Come on."
"Clint!" Wanda shouted in warning as Vision appeared behind the archer.
"You should not be here."
"Really? I retire for, what, like five minutes, and it all goes to shit." Clint glared and protectively stood between the three teenagers and Vision.
"Please consider the consequences of your actions."
"Okay, they're considered." Then the electric arrows that Clint set up beforehand triggered as Vision tried to come closer to them. "Okay, we gotta go. It's this way."
"I've caused enough problems." Sighed Wanda. Her brother squeezed her shoulder reassuringly.
"You gotta help me, Wanda. Look, you wanna mope, you can go to high school. You wanna make amends, you get off your ass." That moment Vision reappeared and knocked Clint back. "Shit. I knew I should've stretched." Clint grunted and started attacking the robot only to find his offence useless. Soon, he found himself being held in chokehold. Pietro had to hold Jack back so that he wouldn't end up the same.
"Clint, you can't overpower me."
"I know I can't. But she can." The archer said breathlessly.
"Vision, that's enough. Let him go. We're leaving." Said Wanda after confirming it with her brother and her friend.
"I can't let you."
"I'm sorry." She said, meaning it.
"If you do this... they will never stop being afraid of you."
"We can't control their fear, only our own." It was Jack who spoke this time, glaring at Vision. Then Wanda sent the robot through the floor, hopefully getting rid of him for a while.
"Oh..." Sighed Clint and rubbed his sore neck. "Come on. We got one more stop."