James made his way to the kitchens, absentmindedly toying with the pendants on his necklace. She had been on his mind ever since the first day they met. Sure, he was brainwashed and in the Red Zone when they met, but when he woke up the next day all he could think about was ravens wings, pretty brown eyes, and long wavy hair. When he saw her again, he knew it was her he had been dreaming and thinking about, and somehow it snapped him out of being the Winter Soldier long enough for her to see the humanity in him and befriend him.
James shook his head, remembering how she patched him up with what little she had in the sling bag she had brought with her. They stayed awake that night, him asking questions, while she sat on the rafters, her wings wrapped around her like a cloak, answering what she could. He remembered asking her about New York, what it was like now, and if they both got the time off, would she save him a dance. She laughed and jokingly agreed, both of them never thinking it would ever be possible. He made her promise to see him again, to which she replied: “You get lost again, sweetheart, I’ll come find you.” And he did just that; every single time.
Dance. She still owed him a dance. James smiled as he entered the kitchen; he now knew how to break the ice barrier Camilla had built.
“Lookin’ good, Sarge,” Sam Wilson said from the stove as he boiled water for his hot chocolate. He noticed the super-soldier, who was dressed in dark blue sweatpants and a maroon muscle shirt, walk I with a small smile on his face, “Heard your girl’s in the house.”
James looked up, startled, it took him a few seconds to recognize the man in the leather jacket and jeans, but he grinned back at Sam when he did. “Hey,” he greeted, “Yeah, she’s here, but I don’t know if she’s still my girl after what happened a while ago.”
“Trouble in paradise this early?” Sam asked as he poured the hot water into his mug, “Hot chocolate?”
James shrugged, “Yeah, thanks,” he accepted another mug full of the hot drink from Wilson.
“I mean, if it’s not too, you know, intruding,” Sam began, “What happened?”
“Well,” James said stirring at his hot chocolate, he decided on a whim to trust Sam Wilson. If Steve did, then he would, “I kind of told her I love her then she kicked me out of her room.”
Sam sputtered, choking on his sip of hot chocolate, “Man, that’s cold."
James just shrugged as he took a sip from his mug.
“I haven’t met this girl of yours yet,” Sam said, “But judging from her file, she’s not one to listen to her feelings, or to actually have feelings.”
“I wasn’t one, as well,” James pointed out.
“Nah, you were different,” Sam replied, “You had the feelings, just had them repressed, erased. But this one, if she’s anything like Agent Romanov, she won’t know what to do with them.”
James mulled this over, a slight frown shadowing his features.
“But, hey,” Sam shrugged, rinsing his now empty mug in the sink, “Like I said, I haven’t met her, yet. So I’m gonna go home now, I just got back from assignment, and I need my bed.” He said as he patted James on the back before he walked out of the kitchen.
In an abandoned cottage in the Black Forest, 3 years or so ago:
“What if you fall in love?” James asked the woman beside him whose hands were entangled in his own as they gazed out at the stars through a hole in the roof.
“What do you mean ‘love’?” Angel replied, never taking her eyes off the sky.
“Won’t you stop? If you find the right guy, settle down, have kids?” he probed.
“First of all,” she sighed, “I can’t have kids, it’s humanely impossible for me to have kids. The experiments they did on me whacked up my ovaries. Secondly, I think I already found the right guy for me,” she paused and looked at James’ wide-eyed, deer-in-the-headlights expression, and burst out laughing, “I’m kidding, Barnes.”
“Second?” he asked.
“Oh, so curious, love,” she tutted, but she was smiling, “Second, love is for children, and I was never a child. It’s the thing people hold onto to help them sleep better at night. The whole belief of having someone right for you out there does not exist. We are all stars,” she gestured to the night sky, “or fragments of them, floating through space making and leaving scars on each other.” She looked at him again and smiled, touching the space in between his eyebrows where a frown had settled in, silently telling him to relax, “Pretty philosophical for a hired tracker, huh?”
“What if you like the scar they left you with?” he asked.
“What?” she mumbled.
“You said we leave scars. What if you like the scar?” he whispered, inching closer.
“Then I guess you should hang on to that,” she answered softly.
“Will you mark me?” he smiled.
“Will you like it?” she smiled back.
“Let’s see,” he answered as he softly pressed his lips on hers.
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“And where are you headed this late, little missy?” Tony Stark asked as Val walked out into the hallway. Her room was right in front of Pepper’s office, the walls of which were made of glass.
“I’m a winged assassin, Stark, not a robot, I need food,” she snapped.
“Oh, touchy are we?” he chided, “I want you to meet someone first,” he said gesturing for her to enter the office through the open door.
Val sighed and walked in, immediately noticing the redhead who was dressed in a white pencil dress and blazer, and madly typing away at the computer in the far corner of the expansive office.
“Pepper, it’s rude to ignore guests, honey,” Tony called to her.
“Huh? What?” the redhead asked as she looked up from her work and noticed Val looking curiously at her, “Oh, sorry, hi, I’m Pepper,” she got up and walked over to shake Val’s hand.
“Hi,” Val smiled back, taking her hand, “Camilla Valentin, but you can call me Val.”
“Wait, why does she get to call you Val, and we all call you Angel?” Tony huffed.
“Because she’s a girl, Tony,” Val said simply, “It’s a sisterhood kind of thing.”
Pepper laughed, “So you’re Angel, Tony has told me about you.”
“Yeah, like 15 minutes ago, when Heavy Metal walked out of your room with a frown that could take the whole Chitauri army down,” Tony said, which earned him a glare from Pepper.
“Yeah, that ended pretty badly,” Val admitted, toying with the zipper of her open denim jacket.
“So, what happened?” Tony asked, not bothering to hide his curiosity.
“Tony!” Pepper reprimanded much to Val’s amusement.
“Wouldn’t you want to know?” Val teased, “But I’m hungry, so I got to go,” she started to walk out the door.
“Take Pepper with you,” Tony said, quickly handing pepper her handbag and pushing both girls out of the office, “She hasn’t stopped working, at all, and she hasn’t eaten,” then turning to Pepper, “Now, Pepper, honey, show Angel here around, you don’t want a guest to go hungry, now, right? Oh, and use the company card, ok? Dinner’s on me.” He smiled as he slammed the glass door in their faces, locked it and waved cheerfully at them.
Pepper rolled her eyes at him, and then smiled at Val, “Let’s go, then,” she led the way to the elevator, “I like your dress, by the way,” she told Val as she gestured to the navy blue sundress under the denim jacket.
“Thanks,” Val smiled, “I love your shoes!” she gushed at Pepper’s nude patent leather peep-toe pumps.
“Really?” Pepper giggled, “These were the first Jimmy Choos I bought, ever.”
“Oh my God, I love Jimmy Choos!” Val said, her voice going up a full octave.
“I know!” Pepper squealed back, “Hey, you know what, let’s get a quick dinner, and then go shopping.”
“What?” a shocked Val asked, not believing her ears.
“Yeah, I’ll call Tony and tell him about it, he’ll be fine,” Pepper told her, “Consider it a house-warming present.”
Val smiled gratefully at her, then looked at her brown gladiator flats, “This is the first time in a while I am actually going shopping with someone. I usually go by myself.” Val decided not to mention the short, frantic, 15-minute shopping sprees she had with Andy. The less people knew about Andreana’s existence, the better.
“Well,” Pepper hooked her arm in Val’s as the elevator came to a stop at the ground floor, “I’m honored to be your shopping partner, Val.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
James knocked on Val’s door for the second time, wondering if she was still mad at him, or if she was already asleep.
“She’s not there, Sarge,” Tony said from across the hall, a smirk playing on his lips.
“What do you mean she’s not here?” James asked, wasn’t she supposed to stay in the building?
“She went to have dinner with Pepper,” Stark answered on a shrug, “And they decided to do some shopping, too. You can’t keep a bird like that cooped up for long.”
James nodded and swallowed, “What time will she be back?”
“Before midnight, earliest,” Tony replied, “That is, unless Romanov and Hill decide to join them and they hit the clubs on an impromptu girls’ night out.”
James took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.
“You might as well come back late in the morning, Barnes,” Tony said, checking his cell phone, “Pepper just texted me. Romanov and Hill are taking them out for drinks. Looks like it’s going to be a long night for both of us,” Tony finished as he turned off the lights in Pepper’s office and made his way to his own room, “Goodnight, Sgt. Barnes.” He called back, his smile evident in his voice.
James sighed. He wasn’t going to get much sleep tonight; it would be a miracle if he slept at all. He made his way to his quarters, which was two doors down from Val’s, and sat on his bed, his back leaning on the headboard. He tried to ignore the faces as he closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
James’ eyes flew open as he heard clumsy footsteps and hushed swear words pass outside his door. He immediately got up, he wasn’t getting any sleep anyway, checking the time on the clock by his bedside table, and he saw it was 2am. He walked slowly to his door, and silently opened it. Peeking outside, he saw Val leaning on her door, wavy hair wild and windswept, shopping bags on the floor beside her; apparently, she was having trouble with the doorknob.
“Doorknob, stop moving, damn it,” he heard her slur, and he stifled his laughter as he walked towards her.
“Need a hand?” he whispered when he was close enough.
Val jumped, “Shit,” she covered her eyes, “Just open the door, James, and then leave. As a matter of fact, if you can open the door with your eyes closed, it would be better.”
James chuckled, “How could I open the door if my eyes are closed?”
“I don’t know, use your metal arm, or something, just don’t look at me while I’m like this,” Val answered, leaning her forehead on her door again, “The doorknob won’t stop moving,” she whined.
“Alright, sweets, let’s get you into bed,” James smiled, amused at Val’s drunken state.
“Mkay,” Val mumbled as she hungrily eyed James’ shirtless form.
“Angel,” he called, trying his hardest not to laugh, “My face is up here.”
“Mmmm,” she hummed as she moved towards him and tucked her face in the crook of his neck, her arms encircling his torso, “I know. Do you have to look so delicious?”
James laughed, “Come on,” he opened her door and lifted her, bridal style to her bed, where she removed her denim jacket and her sandals. James went back out and brought the bags in, only to find Val stripped down to nothing more than a pair of red lace underwear. He swallowed, his throat going dry.
Val never noticed him walk back into her room. This is what happens when she gets drunk; all her super-senses decide to take a vacation. All she could hear was the buzzing and bass from the club they went to, and all she could smell was tequila, sweat, and smoke. She stripped down to her underwear, and threw her clothes to a corner of the room, then crawled under the covers. That’s all she remembered before she blacked out.
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A/N: 628 reads and counting! you guys are AMAZING! Thank you, so so much! i hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. :) please leave a comment, a message, a review, whatever! thank you so much, and i will update soon!
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~A2V~