❨ 𝑽𝑰𝑹𝑨𝑮𝑶 . . . 𝑏𝘰𝘰𝑘 𝑖𝑖 ❩
﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌
━━━ 𝙱. 𝙱𝙰𝚁𝙽𝙴𝚂 / ❛ i will 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙡,
𝙨𝙝𝙚'𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙡 of 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 ❜
━━━━━━━━━━━━ ∘༄⋅°
𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍, 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆
𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝚃𝙷𝙸𝚁𝚃𝙴𝙴𝙽 !
DIANA HAD SLEPT in her room alone, the cold sheets pressed against her face, her body huddled close in itself. Tony had modified each bed that year. If it was winter, you could raise the heat to make your body warm and toasty. If it was summer, you could raise the A/C. Simple. Her head had started aching due to the fact that she had gone to the gym for a few hours and didn't drink water afterwards. Horrible mistake. Her head pounded with each heartbeat, every movement making her dizzy and her eyes sensitive to light. She groaned as she turned on the light beside her bed, but gasped dramatically when she saw a pair of brown eyes staring at her, a huge smile on the face of the man's. "Wanda wanted me to wake you up," he shrugged, "I'm Barry, by the way."
He held out his hand nicely, and when Diana took it to shake it, he instead pulled her off the bed. "Also, Wanda made breakfast."
He started strutting away. He reached the door before Diana could open her mouth. "Wait!" SHe cried. He turned back to her, the smile never wiping off his face. "I'm Di-"
"Diana. I know, Bucky told me a lot about you... or as much as he could remember."
Diana smiled. Her eyes twinkled and a carefree laugh bubbled out of her. "I'm not going to say the cliché 'I hope only the good things' line if that's what you're waiting for." Barry laughed along with her. "Don't worry, he talks about you like you are the first and only thing he sees. He really loves you, you know." Barry walks out, leaving a smiling Diana in his wake.
"But I don't want to take things fast because look where that went," she muttered to herself, swinging her long legs off the comfortable bed. She just wanted to stay in bed all night long, but according to Steve, today they had to train. Especially Bucky to get used to fighting with one arm.
"Hera be with me."
DIANA FOUGHT AGAINST Steve, their shields clashing together as they swung and turned, their fists connecting with the other's skin enough to inflict a little pain, their eyes trained on each other. "When are you going to surrender Steve?" Diana asked as she threw him across the room, his body landing with a muted 'thump'. "Possibly never," he retorts. He lunges at her, Diana sidestepping to get a clear view of his side in order to land a punch on it.
"You have to realize that I have really fast reflexes Steve. Hell, I could watch Barry go by without a problem."
Steve shakes his head as the older woman continues to casually taunt. "You don't really talk this much during a mission." Diana smiles, "That's different, I actually know you."
"And anyway, you may not realize it, but your punches hurt. Badly. How strong are you?"
Diana shrugged. "I don't know. I still haven't found a force with which to test myself with."
"You need an off switch."
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't."
"You do." Steve goes to jab Diana's side, but she easily grabbed his arm, stopping him in his tracks.
A loud clap comes from the other side of the gym, a male's voice soon following. "Yeah! How does it feel like to be a little bit regular? Huh? She better say, On your left, because she is on your left!" Steve bows his head. "Sam..."
"On your left."
Steve looks up to see a smirking Diana. He was shocked, to be honest. "Did you just turn my own saying against me?" Diana nods, laughing. "Yep. How does it feel?" Steve looked defeated. He was tired, he wanted to sleep all day long, but he had to take charge around here. "Honestly, I don't like it. But, I just have to get used to it."
Sam's dark hand comes down on Steve's shoulder. "Buddy, there is no getting used to it."
"Steve, you alright?" Diana furrows her eyebrows together. She noticed the dark bags under his eyes, the way that he lagged during their fight. "Do you need some sleep?" Steve nodded, "Yeah, I could go for an 8 to 13-hour nap right now." Diana helped him up, using his bicep to pick the super-soldier to his feet. "Why don't you go to bed? I'll take charge around here for a while." Steve shook his head. "I don't think sleep is an option."
Diana cocks her head. "Why?"
"I have to create a file on Barry. So Fury can know who he is."
"I can do it for you."
"They want me to do it," Steve looks at his feet, "I still have no idea why."
"Well, it's because you're the captain. Our boss, per se."
"I sometimes wish I wasn't."
"What do you mean, Steve?" Diana placed a comforting hand on her long-time friend. She wanted to know why he was being moppy today, and she knew it wasn't from the lack of sleep. Sam had thought the same thing as he wrapped an arm around the blonde.
"I think my time was a long time ago. The time of World War 2 and the start of Captain America. That was my time. This one isn't," he shrugged, pouting his lip a little bit.
"Steve, don't say none of that shit. You saved many lives ―"
"Yet many were lost because of me."
"― and many have a debt to pay to you. If you didn't take down the Red Skull in World War 2, imagine this world being run by Nazis, imagine all this," she motions to the beautiful greenery outside, the city outline in their view from the large window, "would be gone. It will all be ash and rubble. But guess what? It isn't. It's thriving. There's deer that walk on our lawn, trees to produce our oxygen, human life to make this world a better place. And guess what? It's all because of you."
Steve gave Diana an appreciative smile, "No. You started to make the world a better place. If you hadn't killed Ares, there might still be a world war going on. My mother told me stories about you when I was a little kid. She told me how you killed Ares in order to stop the first world war. I wanted to be like you. I really did."
"You're even better."
Steve furrowed his eyebrows, "What do you mean I'm better? You're a GodKiller, Diana."
Diana sighed. "I abandoned my duty for a long time. And you? You had no other choice. You were stuck in ice, and I wasn't. I roamed the Earth trying to find normalcy. To be like any regular human. I tried to be like Jane Foster. A scientist. An artist. Even a daycare worker ―"
"You and these kids, I swear, Diana." Sam shook his head mockingly.
Diana smiled. "But it didn't work out. When you got out of the ice, you immediately went back to protecting people. You're selfless. It's in your nature. You think about others before you think about yourself. You saved many people's lives, and that's a hard debt to pay."