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Fandom The Slowest Burn of All [CLOSED]

The metahuman chucked the bowling ball towards the girl, almost shocked when it stopped just before her shoulder. “You have to be quicker than that.” She added, watching the ball come hurling back towards her. She caught it a foot in front of her, letting it rest and twirl before she sent it hurling back. “You are seriously asking me about that man’s feelings?” She scoffed, rolling her eyes as she lifted her feet off of the ground, letting herself hover in the air as they played their weird game of catch.

“If I was looking at it from my view, I would tell him he could fuck off the closest cliff.” She grunted as the ball was thrown back even harder, the force of the impact causing her to catch it only half a foot from her face. “But since you see something in him, here is what I will say.” She whipped the bowling ball back even harder, raising her eyebrow as she flew over to the adjacent wall. “If I did as much as lay a finger on you he would gut me like a fish, and not in a brotherly protective way.” She grinned at her for a minute, grunting as she caught the flying ball. The force of the ball caused her to lose focus, her feet dropping back to the ground as she staggered against its weight.

With a defeated sigh the ball dropped from the air, the loud crash it made echoed through the room. “Jarvis, implement phase two.” Kailyn said, her eyes darting across the room. She nodded at Aurora before she took off Steve’s sweatshirt and threw it to the side, walking towards the center in just her shorts and sports bra. In the center of the room, a staff, a two sets of throwing knives, a bow and arrow, and a gun seemed to rise up on a glowing pedestal right out of the ground. “Alright, I am not going to baby you or pretend like you are weak and useless because you aren’t. Time to clear your head. Jarvis has been programmed with ten different holographic bad guys, we use our power to defeat them before they defeat us, and we win. Think of it as a more exciting version of paintball. When you are hit you will hear this.” A loud ding ran throughout the room, echoing against the walls. The room seemed to transform before them as they grabbed their weapons. Kailyn ended up opting for the throwing knives and her usual staff. Hiding spots and pedestals rose up all around the room as a timer began to count down from sixty.

Kailyn ducked behind one of the platforms with Aurora, keeping her eyes searching around as she spoke. “Five hits each and we are done for. They usually make you do this alone but wheres the fun in that?” She muttered, smirking at Aurora before she ducked back down. “So do tell me, a forehead kiss? What happened before that?” She listened to the woman talk as they snuck around, a grin coming to her face. “Maybe if Parker wasn’t so focused on becoming Stark he could actually see what he has in front of him. God, I want someone to look at me like you look at Parker.” She said, glancing back at the girl. “What?” She asked, the confusion on the woman’s face throwing her off. “Oh come on Steve? It’s nothing!” She said, grabbing the lid off of the trash can to use as a shield. She peaked around the corner to see two hologram guys making their way towards where they were hiding. “Alright, I will take the right you take left.” She whispered, taking a deep breath before she stood and sent a red hot knife ripping through the air towards the faceless figure. She ducked behind another column as she Jarvis spoke.

“Two down. Eight to go.”

The meta grinned at Aurora. “You know he is like a hundred years old. I thought he was going to have a heart attack when I walked into the room with shorts on.” She shook her head, her eyes going wide as a figure appeared behind Aurora. “Duck” She hissed, chucking another knife out past the womans head. The knife lodged into the wall behind her as Jarvis announced that another had fallen. “Plus, the man is way too good for me. A hero doesn’t go for the killer, it’s way too cliche.” She smirked, leaping onto one of the columns. There was a smaller column that Aurora could move over to be able to get to where Kailyn was, and the meta just gestured. “Well, aren’t you going to do your thing?” She waited, pausing at the woman’s apprehension. “Oh don’t be a baby! You aren’t weak just man up and move the thing.” She said, looking out to see another figure sprinting towards Aurora. “I would hurry if you don’t want to be dead.” She yelled down, smirking as she watched the girl struggle. “If we win this I will personally slap Bucky in the face.” She said, trying to give the girl something to fight for.

As the pillar began to move the meta watched nervously as the figure got closer and closer. “Aurora any day now.” She muttered. She wanted to go down and help, but she wanted the girl to prove that she could hold her own.
 
Upon hearing Kailyn's first response, she rolled her eyes. Aurora should have known that she would throw a snide comment in there about Peter, but she really couldn't blame her all that much. She was happy that she'd ignored it and not reinforced it, though, because Kailyn continued soon after. Her next words actually gave her something to consider. "Yeah, well you don't see the mixed signals he sends. At this point and after yesterday, it's enough to make me want to slap him. And I'm not a violent person, so that's saying something."

Their impromptu game of catch intensified and Aurora found herself actually having to focus quite hard to control the bowling ball and send it flying back to Kailyn, each time a little harder than the last. Finally, the meta dropped the ball and spoke to Jarvis. "Phase two?" Aurora questioned, watching as weapons appeared. She listened closely to the instructions of their newest training game and stepped forward to pluck the quiver of arrows from the pedestal. She wasn't planning on using the bow, since she didn't exactly need it to move the arrows.

"Well this should be interesting, considering I've never really fought with weapons before," she muttered, but followed instructions. If Peter had taught her anything, it had been it try your hand at anything that came your way, even if it made you uncomfortable. She was still trying to carry that lesson over to outside of training, though. Apparently, so was Peter, if Kailyn was right.

As they crouched behind a pillar, Kailyn asked about the forehead kiss and Aurora sighed. “I had a nightmare and he must have heard me, so he came in to see if I was okay. He apologized for yesterday and warned me to be careful around you. Then came the damn forehead kiss before he left the room,” Aurora explained as they she moved behind the next pillar and peaked around. She grabbed two arrows from the quiver and held one in each hand.

Upon hearing Kailyn’s next words, she gave the meta a slightly incredulous look. “Is it that obvious?” Aurora asked, “How do I look at him anyway?” She saw the two holograms before Kailyn did, but she was still a bit preoccupied with the subject, “Besides, I can tell you someone who looks at you like that,” Aurora said before going left and sending an arrow into one of the hologram bad guys.

She rolled her eyes at Kailyn’s denial regarding Steve. “Please. You were wearing Steve’s sweatshirt, so don’t pretend like you weren’t in his room instead of your own,” Aurora teased. She ducked when Kailyn told her to and they continued the game. “I haven’t known Steve for long, but I know that he doesn’t take relationships lightly. Hell, he doesn’t take anything lightly. So trust me, he likes you.”

Aurora watched as the meta landed on one of the pillars and she looked around to see that a hologram figure was heading her way. She attempted to move the smaller pillar, but the mass of it made it difficult to move. Aurora tried focusing her frustration into it, but that had waned some, so she had no choice but to switch to something more powerful. Kailyn’s words about slapping Bucky actually encouraged her plan B emotions.

As much as it hurt, she thought about Casen and the assholes that had murdered him, allowing the anger to coarse through her until she felt the energy reach her hands. With an audible grunt, she disintegrated the column, and sent shards flying behind her. Jarvis announced that she had defeated the hologram and Aurora joined the meta before feeling the blood trail out of her nostril. She knew that this was a sign that she needed to stop soon, but she was also determined to finish the game.
 
Kailyn watched as the girl concentrated, her eyes widening as the pillar seemed to shatter. Once Jarvis announced that the man went down a smile came to her face as she waited for the woman to climb up to her level. “Nice.” She said, giving the girl a nod before she crouched down to survey the rest of the room. “There’s one guy in the top right corner, you spot him?” She muttered, her eyes flickering up to Aurora. “There’s two in the back left, and the others have yet to generate yet.” She added.

She jumped from the pillar, leaping onto the next podium that was halfway across the room. “I will take the two on the left.” she half shouted across the room. Not exactly the best strategy for sneaking around, but she was used to just winging everything so having a game plan wasn’t exactly her- style. The meta jumped down, taking two hits to the shoulder before she let her knives fly, the satisfying ping of them sinking into the wall truly bringing a smile to her face. She went over to where Aurora stood, the crumpling hologram in front of her. “You should really learn to control the nosebleed thing, really takes the badass out of your moves.” Kailyn whispered, cracking a grin towards the girl.

“So, forehead kiss. Just tell him how you feel, the worst he can do is say he doesn’t feel the same.” Kailyn moved out to the middle of the room, her eyes scanning the area. “ Now Steve, I don’t think he is truly my type.” She muttered, jumping as an arrow flew past her ear and another hologram went down. “Thanks.” She added, giving the girl a nod as she tried to survey her surroundings. Seven down, three left to go. “Steve is just so… good. Maybe I could go for Bucky, you know the two psycho killers have to get along somehow right?” She shrugged. “But you, you and Peter could work. You are both good-hearted and terribly optimistic. It’s a match made in freak heaven.” She smirked and shook her head as she went to scale another podium.

“What can I say? I like to have the high ground.” She added, more as a matter of fact than anything.

---

Peter groaned as his alarm went off, it was ten am, his usual wakeup time was two hours earlier but for the sake of letting the building get rebuilt from yesterday’s activities, he had decided to push training off to the afternoon. The man got up, forcing himself to trudge his way to the bathroom to freshen up. He took a deep breath before hopping into the shower, hoping the hot water would wash away any sin he had committed. Of course, that was never truly the case.

Once he was out he slipped on a pair of jeans and a button-up t-shirt, smoothing out his hair in the mirror as he brushed his teeth. In the back of his mind, he could feel something was wrong, but he couldn’t place it. The man sighed, shrugging that bad feeling off of his shoulders as he finished getting ready for the day. He stretched out his arms before he went out the door, quickly making his way to Aurora’s room as he usually did. He would always walk with her down to get breakfast, always. He gave a short knock, impatiently tapping his foot as he waited. He knocked again, a frown crossing his face as the door remained closed. Aurora was never late. Ever.

Peter unlocked the door, peeking his head inside. Maybe the girl had just slept in, he simply was overreacting. His eyes landed on her bed, his frown deepening. She wasn’t in her bed, and the bathroom door was open. “Aurora?” He asked, stepping into the room and looking around, his eyes widening at the realization that it was empty. “Son of a bitch.” He cursed, promptly exiting the room and making his way down the adjacent hallway to Steve’s room.

The man gulped as he knocked on the door, he hated to disturb the man, especially knowing that he probably looked insane, frantically searching for a girl who he was just mentoring. When the door opened Peter sighed, his eyes searching the room for a moment. To his own surprise, the meta’s shoes were placed by the front door, her hairbrush thrown on the bed. Peter raised his eyebrow, he would have said more on the matter if he wasn’t busy searching for Aurora. “Have you seen Aurora? She was gone when I went to check on her this morning for breakfast.” He shook his head, he was getting nowhere. “What about the meta? Have you seen her? Clearly you have been getting a bit close to her.” The disgust was clear on his face as much as he tried to hide it.

When he reached the realization that both the meta and his girl were gone, his face hardened. “Jarvis scan the property for any sign of the two girls,” Peter said, ignoring Steve who seemed to follow him as he paced down the hallway.

“They are both in the training center Sir. But I must tell you my program was overridden by-”

“Can it Jarvis,” Peter said, his eyes glazing over in anger. He turned towards Steve, the scowl clear across his face. “See what having that girl around is doing? I should have killed her when I had the chance,” he grunted, quickening his pace and ignoring the man behind him as he walked down the stairs towards the front door. He would put an end to this right now.

---

Kailyn let out a laugh as she hopped from podium to podium. “You know what you should do?” She said, glancing down at Aurora who was still on the floor. “You should just go up to Peter and kick his ass. Prove to him that you aren’t a weak little girl. You’re a badass and nobody should tell you otherwise.” Kailyn grinned, stopping at one of the podiums. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a hologram forming in the ceiling, and then her idea struck her.

“Alright, just stay still. I am going to lift you up and you can do your arrow thing, he is right behind you top right corner.” She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and clearing her mind as she tried to center herself. The meta held her hands out in front of her, focusing on Aurora’s placement in the room. The wind began to pick up as she manipulated the air around the girl, slowly lifting her off of the ground. She opened her eyes, grinning as the girl rose up, as long as her focus was solid Aurora would be fine.

Kailyn watched the arrow fly, the hologram dissolving under it. She began to slowly lower Aurora back down when the door to the training building slammed open, her focus breaking. She whipped her head, about to shout at whoever interrupted her when the web hit her. The electricity knocked her clear off the pedestal, sending the meta flying back. Time seemed to slow as her body froze up, the energy behind the webs melding with her own. She looked over to see Aurora still falling, weakly reaching her hand out to cushion the girls fall instead of her own. The meta slammed into the concrete floor, her breath leaving her lungs as she watched the simulation power down.

Peter ran over to Aurora who had landed gently for someone who had just fallen from the sky. He ignored the choking half-naked metahuman in the corner, his eyes searching for any sign of harm to Aurora. He looked to the blood that trailed from her nose, his anger igniting. “I told you to stay away from her.” He whispered, his voice quivering in anger. He looked over at the metahuman who was groaning on the floor, blood coming out of her mouth from coughing so hard. Steve was kneeling next to her, so his mind was able to shift back to Aurora “You disobeyed me, hacked my system, to do what? Play superhero?”

Kailyn was coughing, struggling to catch her own breath as Steve came into view. She cracked a grin, grabbing his hand in hers as she wiped the blood off of her mouth. “You know, I almost beat the game before you two dipshits walked in.” She grunted, her chest still heaving as she struggled to catch her breath. She rolled her eyes at the man’s obvious stiffness. She knew that she was practically naked in his eyes but in her eyes, she was still much too clothed for her own liking. “I overheat easily what do you want from me?” She groaned, putting her head in Steve’s lap as her vision and lungs finally began to clear up and go back to their working order. She overheard Peter talking, her smirk only widening. “That was me actually. Can’t let her take all the credit.” She added, watching the man turn on his heel towards her. The look in his eyes actually made her pause, but his anger would only fuel her own. If Steve wasn’t holding on to her hand she would have choked the man out by now.

“Of course, I don’t know why I thought Aurora would do something so careless.” Peter made his way towards the meta and Steve, his anger taking the best of him. “You have done nothing but cause chaos since you’ve gotten here. You’re lucky I don’t put a bullet in your skull the second-”

Kailyn grunted “The second I mess up? You need me more than I need you. You try putting that bullet in my head and see how you catch the other metas. Go on, I dare you.” She sat up, her body still leaning against the supersoldier. “Besides, nobody was hurt until you showed up.” She took a deep breath, her eyes connecting with Aurora. “It was all just fun and games, right?”
 
She looked up to the right corner and saw the hologram bad guy that Kailyn had referred to, since she’d called the two to their left. Aurora focused on the arrow in her hand before letting it fly through the air. Arrows were light and fairly easy to move, but the focus required to get the trajectory right was what had her nose bleeding. Not surprisingly, Kailyn commented on it. “I think it will get better after I build my stamina up. It’s my body’s way of telling me that it’s under strain,” she told the meta.

Aurora stayed on the ground while the meta jumped up onto a podium again. She considered what the woman said about telling Peter how she felt. The thought honestly hadn’t crossed her mind before now because she couldn’t see it as being an option. He was her mentor and, with all the mixed signals, she feared the rejection. Especially since she was so inexperienced in the relationship department.

“I’ll telekinetically slap you with something if you break Steve’s heart like that,” she teased, though there was a little truth to it. Aurora was pretty sure that everyone could see the way that their beloved Captain looked at Kailyn. She didn’t know a lot about him, but she knew that he was a good man and he deserved to be happy with someone.

——

Steve was slipping a shirt over his head when there was a knock on his bedroom door. His first thought was that it was Kailyn coming back from wherever she’d gone while he’d still been sleeping, but when he opened the door, he saw that it was Peter. Steve noticed the man’s gaze shift to take in the presence of Kailyn’s belongings, but he asked about Aurora first.

“I just woke up like twenty minutes ago,” he replied, making it obvious that he couldn’t know where Aurora was. “Are you sure she’s not in the Green Room like usual?”

Steve’s facial expression hardened upon hearing Peter’s tone when he spoke about Kailyn. “She has a name and, no, I don’t know where she is. Unlike you, I don’t keep constant tabs on her. She’s not an animal.”

Peter wasn’t really paying him any attention, though, as Steve followed him. He could tell that things could escalate, as they had yesterday, and he wasn’t about to let that happen. He’d let Peter find Aurora, but he’d also be there to make sure that all hell didn’t break lose again in the process.

——

Even Aurora had to laugh at her suggestion to kick Peter’s ass, “I’ve threatened to do it a couple of times during training. But it’s hard to take him by surprise with his sixth sense and everything.”

She raised an eyebrow when Kailyn told her to stay still while she lifted her up. Air rushed past her ears and she gasped a little when she began to float upwards. Aurora briefly looked down as fear sparked in her chest, but she pushed it aside and focused on the projection, sending an arrow into the hologram’s chest. Kailyn slowly lowered her down and Aurora smiled, actually enjoying the fun that they were having. It didn’t even feel like training.

Suddenly, though, the air current dropped out from below her and she screamed as she free-fell for a moment before her fall was cushioned by a rush of air. She looked over to see that a taser web had hit Kailyn hard, sending her to the ground. Her gaze followed the path that it had come from to land on Peter, who was approaching her. Even though she knew that it was him the moment she’d seen the web, she was shocked that he’d just done that.

Steve was just as shocked, but more so pissed off. His immediate concern wasn’t kicking Peter’s ass, but rather making sure that Kailyn was okay. Then maybe he’d lay him out.

He rushed over to the meta and knelt down beside her, grabbing her shoulder to steady her body. The electricity had run its course by now, so he wasn’t affected, but Kailyn looked like she was in pain.

“Damn it, are you okay?” he asked, smoothing some hair from her face and taking in the blood that was trailing from her mouth. He was about to yell at Peter, but it seemed that Aurora had that covered. So he turned his attention back to Kailyn, barely noticing that she’d grabbed his hand due to his sudden realization of her lack of clothing.

“Uh...no judgement here. But if you haven’t noticed, there aren’t many women here so it’s not something I see everyday,” he told her, though he’d be lying if he said that he hadn’t stared for a few moments too long. Steve was a gentleman, but he was still a man.

“What the hell is your problem?” Aurora yelled, ignoring the fact that Peter was trying to make sure she was okay. She did make sure to wipe her nose free of blood, though, having noted that Peter’s eyes had shifted down to notice it. Aurora wasn’t surprised that he was angry at the meta - that seemed to be his default when it came to her. She was surprised at his angry tone with her, however. “Disobeyed you?” she questioned, her tone disbelieving. In the back of her mind, she knew that Peter meant well, but his control-freak attitude lately needed to stop.

Peter’s attention was shifted to Kailyn, though, and he left her side as an argument ensued between him and the meta. When Kailyn looked to her for some help, she stood up and walked over to them.

“Yes, we were just having some fun and she was actually helping me,” Aurora tried to tell him.

“Peter, can you just calm down? If Kailyn wanted to hurt her, she would’ve let her fall,” Steve said, clearly having taken a protective stance between Peter and the meta as his arm went around her waist.

Aurora came around to face Peter in an effort to get him to take her seriously, but she should have known that he’d be too focused on his anger toward Kailyn. She huffed slightly and suddenly stepped forward, quickly silencing Peter’s retort with her lips on his. It was just for a split second and she barely felt it, but it was enough to silence the entire room.

She pulled away and stepped back, almost like he’d burned her. “Shit,” she muttered, “Did I really just do that?”

“You really just did that,” Steve confirmed, slightly amused.

“Okay, uhm...” she sputtered, shifting her weight. Steve actually had the audacity to laugh, which cause Aurora to give him a glare over her shoulder. “Well it shut everyone up, didn’t it?” she said, throwing up her hands.

“Look,” she said, mainly to Peter, “I’m done with the fighting and the controlling.” She chanced a few steps back to him, a blush still painting her cheeks, “Steve’s right. She could’ve let me fall, but she let herself hit the ground instead. If you cared about me at all, you’d be telling her ‘thank you’ and not chewing her out over nothing.” Aurora was sensible, but she was also frustrated and tired of the babying.

“Now I’m getting out of this sweaty top-“ she said, slipping the garment off quickly, “and taking a shower. How about don’t kill each other.” And with that, she left the training facility and headed back to the main building.

“You know, she’s not as good as you at proving a point,” Steve said to Kailyn, though he didn’t say it too loudly, so as not to risk setting off Peter’s anger again.

“What is with everyone and stripping today? Do I need to take off my shirt or something to even the playing field or...” Sam jokingly called from the door, having caught the tail end of whatever disagreement had been going on.
 
Kailyn flinched as she felt the strong arm wrap around her waist. She froze in her spot, the bare touch of her skin connecting with Steve’s had taken her by surprise. She blinked for a moment, her shock subsiding as she watched Aurora get up on her toes. Kailyn knew what was about to happen before it even went down. She smirked, giving Aurora a nod as the woman left in a huff. “So loverboy.” She said, her movements still stiff the electricity that had coursed its way through her body just moments before. “I believe you owe me an apology.” She left Steve’s side, her right hand planting itself on her hip as she used the staff in her left hand to help move her forward. Electric bolts surged up and down the staff as she spoke, the energy from her body transferring onto the metal in her hand.

“I owe you nothing,” Peter grumbled. He went to go take a step to leave when his legs froze to the ground. “Release me before you make this any worse.” He warned, the fear in his eyes taking over where the anger used to be.

The meta grinned, circling the man like a predator circling its prey. “Come on pretty boy, it’s really that simple. Just two words and you can run off like a wounded dog.” She rose her eyebrow at him, the grin not coming off her face.

Peter groaned, throwing his head back in defeat. “Fine. I’m sorry, will you release me now?”

Kailyn shook her head, the grin not wavering. The ice stayed strong, only adding to the man’s frustrations. “You are sorry for?”

Bucky, who had joined Sam and Steve in the corner at some point shook his head. “Is this why you like her Steve? Some sort of dominatrix shit going on there?”

Peter groaned again, rolling his eyes at her. “For hitting you with a taser web, now release me before I have Jarvis blow you in half.”

The meta shook her head, letting the ice slowly melt away. “You will give me clearance to use the training facility and anything I need. Is that understood?”

The man shook his head, waving his hand at her. “Jarvis give the girl some clearance.” He muttered before finally exiting the training facility and going back to the main

Kailyn pouted slightly before she made her way over to the datapad controlling the training room. She put her hand on it and it lit up green, the instant access she was granted caused the pout to turn into a grin. She felt the men in the room shift a bit, the footsteps coming up behind her made her stiffen for a moment before she relaxed at that familiar pine and cottonwood smell. “I still have plenty of energy left and need work on my fighting, and you three boys seem to have nothing to do. Care to join me?”

Sam shook his head “For what exactly?”

Kailyn looked at the datapad, she had programmed another fight with ten more holograms. The weapons rose from the center of the room again, this time a shield was included. “For a little fun game” the girl added, practically skipping over to the center and grabbing the throwing knives again. She grabbed the gun and tossed it to Steve, followed by the shield. She could see the hesitation in his eyes and put on her best pout. “Please? Just one more?” She begged, her face lighting up when the group finally caved in to her wishes. “Alright boys, let’s do this.” She said, starting the simulation up. Maybe she could finally learn how to fight with a group.

----

Peter groaned as he walked up the hill, his head still spinning from the kiss that he thought he just felt on his lips. He was confused, to say the least. He trudged his way into the building, his frustration softening as he headed to the kitchen. Peter grabbed a muffin and an orange before he slowly made his way to the green room. He sat down, watching the butterflies and ants as they made their way throughout the room.

He knew he could have gone after her, but he wasn’t one to do the chase. He would wait for his flower to come to him. After an hour, or maybe three he couldn’t tell, his flower approached the room. A small smile picked up on his lips as she approached, his hands calmly laying in his lap. When the door opened his eyes fluttered open, resting on the new presence in the room.

“Aurora.” He whispered, taking her in. He had so many things he wanted to say, so much to tell her, but he couldn’t get the words to come to his mouth. The man rose to his feet, leaving the muffin and orange on the bench as he closed the distance between the two. His hand cupped her cheek, studying her for just a moment before he closed the distance, even more, his lips pressing against hers. He let his lips tell the emotion he couldn’t as he pressed her gently against the door, and when he finally took a moment to draw himself back he pressed his hands on either side of her, a sloppy grin coming to his face. “You have no idea how much I have wanted to do that,” he muttered, leaning back in and kissing her jaw ever so gently.

Finally, he pulled away, cupping the girl’s face in his hands. “I am sorry if I am trying to control you too much. The last time I wasn’t able to control everything I lost it all. I lost Tony, I lost myself, I don’t know…” He trailed off as he felt her presence back in his mind again, the calming energy bringing him back to where he stood. “I don’t know what I would do if I lost you too.” He whispered, his eyes finally finding hers. His lower lip was trembling as he studied her, his delicate little flower. “I can’t lose anyone else Aurora. I can’t.” He whispered the pain he had shoved so far down into his past finally coming to light.

Despite his greatest fear of connecting to someone again, he finally did. To say he was terrified was an understatement.
 
Steve reluctantly let her go when Kailyn began to stand up from her spot beside him. He stood as well, watching as she began to taunt Peter. Even though Steve had half a mind to stop her, he decided to let it play out. It seemed that Sam and Bucky had as well, given that they didn’t stop her either. The kid kind of deserved it after the stunt he’d pull yesterday and the taser web just moments ago.

He shot Bucky a surprised look at his comment. “Who said I like her?” he muttered, crossing his arms over his chest defensively.

Bucky snorted, “Don’t bullshit me. I know when my best friend is smitten. I’ve seen that look before.”

Steve didn’t give him the satisfaction of a reply. He was too busy watching as Peter finally gave in. Maybe Aurora had made her point after all. And all it took was a one second kiss?

The men watched in amusement as Kailyn tried out the palm reader and it lit up green, signally her access to the training programs. He was the first to approach her, noticing the muscles tense in her shoulders. Steve wanted to reach out a relax them with his touch, but he resisted. The other two men were just a step behind him and they’d likely tease him endless, if they weren’t planning to already.

“So you two were playing this little game before we came in, huh?” he asked, glancing at the data pad to see the training program details. He was hesitant, which Kailyn picked up on, because she was soon begging him to indulge her. There was no way that he could resist her request when she was sticking out her bottom lip and giving him the puppy dog eyes.

Steve sighed, “Fine, but Bucky gets the gun. The shield is all I need.” He tossed the gun over to Bucky and shrugged, “You’re better with it and I never liked them much back in the day anyway.”

“Your loss,” Bucky shrugged before readying the gun to fire.

He’d done this simulation before, so he knew that it started off fairly easy before progressively getting harder. Steve glanced over to Kailyn and smirked as the first hologram appeared and he kept his eyes on her as he chucked his shield at the target, effectively taking it out before catching the shield as it came back to him. “Let’s see what you’ve got to contribute to the team, then,” he challenged.

----

After leaving the training room, she focused on her making her feet carry her into the main building and upstairs to her bedroom, ignoring the confused stares from Hope and Scott at the sight of her attire. Aurora hadn't been lying - she needed a shower. The warm water relaxed her tense muscles and she was finally able to begin to process what had just happened.

Her first feeling was panic. Despite Kailyn's advice earlier, she couldn't shake the thought that Peter would reject her. Aurora mentally kicked herself as she ran a hand over her face, letting the water rinse away the shampoo from her hair. She wasn't sure how long she was in the shower for, but the skin on her fingertips was wrinkled by the time she turned the water off and stepped out.

She spent a little while staring at herself in the mirror and brushing out her hair. Aurora usually blow-dried her hair after a shower, but that was because she tended to shower at night and didn't want to lay down with a wet head of hair. So she made sure to at least get the knots out before allowing it to air dry, though she knew that it would settle in slightly frizzy waves.

Was she stalling? Yes. However, Aurora knew that she'd have to come out of her room eventually, so there was only so much time she could kill in her bedroom before she decided to head downstairs.

She knew that there was a chance that Peter would be in the Green Room, but she chanced it anyway. Half of her was terrified to see how he'd act around her now, thinking that things would be extremely awkward, and the other half was curious. Sure enough, when she entered the Green Room, he was there. She opened her mouth to say something, but the way her was looking at her made her pause. Aurora hadn't made it but about two slow steps from the door by the time Peter was in front of her. He cupped her face like he'd done so many times before, but there was something different in his eyes that she couldn't place. She didn't have much time to think on it, though, before his lips enveloped hers. Her breathing hitched slightly from the unexpected move as she was backed against the door, but her attention was on the extraordinary feeling of Peter's kiss. She'd kissed him just a little over an hour before, but it had been so quick and light that she wasn't able to feel much from it. But this kiss was filled with emotion, so much so that it took her a moment of processing before she kissed him back.

By the time Peter pulled away, Aurora's breathing was uneven and her head felt like it was spin slightly in a fog. It was a giddy feeling, but also a little disorienting. "I wish you had," she was able to say, though it was shy and whispered.

Peter continued to speak and she listened intently as her breathing slowly evened out some. Her chest constricted upon hearing the pain and fear in Peter's voice. Her gaze studied his face before flashing back to his eyes. She knew that she couldn’t promise him her safety when there were people out there that could hurt her. She could, however, promise that she would be there for him as long as she could.

“I don’t plan on going anywhere, I promise,” Aurora whispered, taking a small step forward to bring her closer. She studied him for another moment before reaching up to run a hand through his hair, her hand coming to rest at the nape of his neck to gently play with the hair there. “It’s okay. I’m scared too,” she said before once again closing the space between their lips. If he allowed her to, Aurora was pretty sure that she could kiss Peter for hours and be content.
 
The metahuman watched in awe as Caps shield flew through the air, and he seemingly took out one of the holograms without even glancing in its direction. “Wow” She whispered, her gaze tearing back towards the man as his shield flew back across the room. She had never seen him fight before, and as she watched him move her breath was taken out of her lungs. It was incredible. The girl was shaken out of her awestruck state by the sound of gunfire, the loud popping ripping through the air without a second thought.

Kailyn shook her head as she ducked behind a pedestal, pressing herself against the cool surface. She tensed for a moment as Bucky joined her side, his metal arm pressing against her, keeping her pressed to the wall. “Bucky get your hand-” she didn’t have time to finish her sentence as he peeked around the corner, firing two more shots into the holograms. “Oh, that isn’t even fair!” She whined, ignoring his chuckle that followed her complaints. “This was much more fun with the girl who didn’t know how to fight.” She muttered, grumbling as she began to climb the pedestal.

Once she reached the top she crouched down, much as Peter would have, taking in the surroundings beneath her. “Alright, there are two in the back corner, one in the back left, and one center. Rodgers go to the lowest center pedestal and hold up your frisbee.”

Bucky scoffed “You are putting him in the direct line of fire, not a great plan. Try again.”

Kailyn shot a glare towards him, her brows furrowing as he spoke. “I think I know what I am doing. Steve follow my lead.” She shook her head as the men resisted. “This is my game, not yours. Follow my damn lead.” She hissed the anger that was building inside of her slowly seeping its way out. She watched as Steve began to move towards the center, a smile coming across her face. After taking a moment to breathe, she stood up, holding her hand up towards the light in the room. The light began to flicker and spark before it exploded, the surge traveling towards the meta. “Everyone get off the ground” She ordered, her tone coming across as the bolt hit her, the electricity surging through her arm. With her other hand, she reached over and burst one of the many water pipes, flooding the area.

With as much power as she could muster the girl lept from her pedestal, flying towards the man crouched on the center pedestal. Her fist hit the metal, the sparks flying off of it and into the floor, electrifying the water. “Four more have fallen. You have four left.” Jarvis announced, his robotic voice flowing in one ear and out the other of the meta who kneeled in front of Steve, holding her right hand to her body. “Son of a bitch.” She whimpered, the redness of her knuckles giving away her source of pain. “God that thing hurts.” She said, shaking her hand as she stood up, trying to center herself.

Sam chuckled, shaking his head as she stood. “Its unbreakable, you will break yourself first before you break it.”

Kailyn frowned, glancing at the man before glancing back at Steve. “Didn’t Thanos break it?” She stated, not thinking about anything as she spoke. As the man visibly stiffened she winced, regretting not thinking before she spoke. “Sorry I just-” She paused as a hologram appeared behind Steve. She grabbed him and spun, switching places with the man as the hologram let out a shot. She was struck in the shoulder, the pain from the fake bullet ripping through her. Even though the holograms were fake, the bullets they fired were set to give the pain of a real gunshot wound. The meta groaned, raising her non-throbbing hand as she sent the hologram flying back into the wall, the air whipping through the room as she lowered her arm. “You should really watch yourself.” She muttered, leaning against the mans back as the placement of the pedestals began to change. “Jarvis, how many more do we have?” She asked, ignoring Steve and jumping from the pedestal onto the now flooded floor.

“There are three left, and the setting has gone to hard mode, would you like me to set it back to normal?”

The girl shook her head before she lept up, joining Bucky on his pedestal. “No we should be all set. We have an Avenger here so I think we have a good shot.”

Sam frowned “An Avenger? What about the rest of us? We fought Thanos too you know.”

Kailyn smirked, crouching down once more. “I didn’t see you mentioned in Earth’s Mightiest Hero’s: Thanos Edition. Maybe they forgot to put your names in the book.”

-----

Peter looked down at the girl, his eyes connecting with hers. “You won’t. I won’t let it.” He whispered, letting her close the space between them once more. His trembling hands cupped her face as he pressed into her, taking her in like a forbidden wine. Finally, he pulled away, his lips leaving a trail down her neck as his brain wrapped around what had just happened. “Aurora, you must know that I will do anything in my power to keep you safe. If I have to take that meta-” He paused, his grip on the girl tightening.

He would do what he must to keep his precious flower safe. The metahuman was powerful, but he still had access to the bullet lodged in her stomach. He could blow her sky-high before she was able to know what was happening. He would do anything to keep Aurora safe. No matter what the consequences were. “Some things I do you may not approve of.” He muttered, pulling back slightly to look at the girl. “But you must know everything I do is to make sure you are safe.” He ran his hand through his hair, sighing as he pulled back.

The man paced for a moment pausing as he stopped in front of Scott and Hope’s ant farm. “There’s a new metahuman threat that has popped up.” He muttered, pulling the datapad out of his pocket. He projected the file throughout the room, the scenes of dead bodies would have been enough to turn anyone else away but he had seen worse. “They are able to turn into a toxic gas, they have killed four people so far. In two days I am going with Rogers, Scott, and the Metahuman to go take down this new threat.” He paused, trying to find the best way to come across with what he was about to say.

“You will not be coming with us. It is too dangerous and I can’t risk it.” He said, bracing himself for her response. He would do anything to keep her safe, she couldn’t be at risk. He couldn’t lose himself again.
 
Since he’d basically challenged her to show them what she could bring to the table, Steve decided to go with her idea. Besides, it was much better for them to get any mistakes or misjudgements out of the way during a simulation, rather than in the middle of a real threat. So he followed her instructions and stood on the indicated pillar, though he made sure to call over, “It’s not a damn frisbee.”

Steve watched her, curious to see what she would do. When the electricity appeared and Kailyn told everyone to get off the floor, he braced himself and held his shield up securely.

He had to admit that she was smart and used her powers to their full advantage. Steve could have warned her about punching the Vibranium shield, but it probably wouldn’t have done any good. Kailyn was already moving by the time he’d figured out her plan. Steve was chuckling at her reaction, but the laughter died in his throat when she mentioned Thanos.

Kailyn seemed to begin to backtrack once she’d taken in his expression and the sudden tension in his muscles. Steve didn’t think about Thanos or even speak his name if he could help it, and neither did anyone else. The subject was kind of taboo, actually.

Her words were cut short and Steve tensed when she maneuvered to place herself between him and a hologram. He visibly winced when she was shot, hating that he’d been distracted long enough to allow something like that to happen. Steve balled his fists as Kailyn jumped down. She was still going full steam ahead, but he was suddenly done with this whole simulation. The feelings from the events with Thanos were still very much raw for many of them.

“Jarvis, continue the simulation without me,” he said, tossing his shield into the dock of a pillar that suddenly rose from the ground. Steve jumped down and made his way to the door, ignoring the stares and Sam’s voice asking, “What’s up, man? Are you okay?”

——

The connection between them was so undeniable and strong that it surprised her. Aurora had never been romantically involved with anyone before, so all of this was extremely new to her. Her body felt like it was alight with pure energy. The very air around them seemed to spark and a breeze rustled through the plants. Aurora took a short, deep breath when Peter pulled away to calm her energy some, but it spiked again when he kissed her neck. She resisted a sigh as her skin tingled underneath the touch of his lips and had to repeat the process of taking a deep breath once he’d stopped. Because Aurora was more so preoccupied with focusing on calming her emotions so her abilities didn’t get out of control, she didn’t respond to his words about the meta.

When Peter projected a scene to illustrate his words, Aurora visibly winced at the scene of violence that was portrayed. She was glad to hear that they would be pursuing the threat, but Peter revealed that she would not be involved

“Peter,” she said, softly. Aurora could tell by his expression that he was anticipating her rebuttal. She pushed away from the door and approached him, “If we’re going to do this, whatever this is between us, you have to trust me. I’m stronger than you think and I need you to have some faith in me.”

Aurora turned to run a hand over one of the many plants that were in the Green Room. “But I also know that I have to trust you too. So I’m not going to fight you on this. I’ll stay here, if you’ll promise to come back,” she continued, setting aside her pride for him. She’d seen just how scared Peter was. Aurora wanted him to see her as a strong woman, but she also didn’t want to hurt him anymore than he already was
 
Kailyn’s smile fell from her face as she watched Steve’s whole demeanor fall from his face. The pain in her shoulder was nothing compared to the pain she got from watching him seemingly fall apart over the mention of a name. Of course, she didn’t know what they went through with Thanos. Thanos did give her the power she now had, but she didn’t hate him for that. She had hated him for taking her uncle, but of course, that was Tony’s decision. So she didn’t have a reason to hate the being, besides turning upstate into a warzone and giving her power, she couldn’t really think of a time that he had hurt her.

Of course, she could never read a room correctly. She never knew the right thing to say or when she stepped over a line, she never could tell when she went too far or pushed the wrong buttons. Socially speaking, the meta was a mess. Always saying something wrong, ruining the moment for everyone. This was no exception. “Jarvis cut the simulation.” She whispered, her eyes focused on the door that Steve had walked out of.

Maybe Jarvis didn’t hear her, or maybe Jarvis didn’t care. Either way, the sharp sting that she felt in her side caused her to snap into reality. “Son of a-” a string of curse words flew from her mouth, the throbbing ache coursing through her muscles. “Jarvis I said to cut the damn simulation” She yelled, flipping the air off as the holograms faded away and the pedestals began to shrink back into the ground. The girl jumped from the pedestal, walking over to where her borrowed t-shirt was. She snatched it off the ground and held it in her hand as she walked towards the door, ignoring Sam and Bucky until she felt the familiar cold metal hand on her side.

“Thanos is a sore subject for us all still,” Bucky said, his eyes searching hers. “Even though its been five years, we haven’t all healed yet.” The metahuman nodded, ready to brush past him to go check on Steve but his grip didn’t change on her. “Give him some time.”

Kailyn’s face soured, her neutral expression turning into a deeper frown. “Don’t tell me what to do.” She snapped, ripping out of Buckys grasp. She huffed and went out of the door, her eyes scanning the property. She saw Steve walking towards the main building, and was about to run over to him when the words from Bucky stopped her. She sighed, holding his shirt to her chest. If he needed time, that is what she would give him.

The girl decided to go for a run, her feet deciding where to take her. She lapped the building four times, her legs finally giving out as she finished the fifth lap. She crumpled into the lawn, her legs giving out beneath her. She still held the t-shirt near to her chest, taking in the smell of cottonwood and pine as she caught her breath. She was angry, angry at herself for ruining the moment as she always did. Tears welled up behind her eyes and threatened to spill, but she was stronger than that. She let out a scream that she had held in, the release of her anger causing the electricity in the main building to flicker slightly. She was angry and frustrated, the consequences of her actions finally catching up to her.

The meta laid in childs pose, her body folded up like paper. The grass around her began to burn slightly as she breathed out her frustration, focusing on the smell of cottonwood and pine. She was about to let a tear fall when she heard the footsteps approaching. “You are so predictable,” Hope said, biting into her apple as she stepped over the burned line in the grass. “One thing goes wrong and you fall apart. You brought up Thanos, but hell you didn’t know better. So what, now you’re going to pout until someone comes out to fix you? Grow up.”

Kailyn frowned, taken back by her words. She didn’t make any move to change her position but decided to speak. “I am not pouting.” She grumbled, forcing the tears she once had to fall into her eyes once more. “But what do you want me to do? To say? You don’t understand what I saw. I saw him just-”

“Fall apart? Like you pulled out the one piece of brick that held him together and ruined everything? If you can pull the brick out you can place it back. We all need someone to rebuild us, now go rebuild him.” Hope smiled at the girl who slowly unfolded herself, brushing the tear off of her cheek. “And put a shirt on.”

Kailyn laughed, brushing her hair out of her face. She slipped Steve’s shirt on and began to jog up towards the building, pausing before she got all the way. She was about to ask Hope where he was when the woman answered for her. “He is in the gym, north hall. The one that is only made of windows.” Kaily gave her a grateful nod before she ran into the building, her feet taking her past the green room and up three sets of stairs. “God, why are there so many stairs?” She grumbled. She finally got up to the north hall, half panting as she made her way towards the gym.

The sight she saw took her back, Steve was covered head to toe in sweat, there was three broken punching bags on the floor, and soon to be another one that he was hitting. The anger behind his punches made her frown, she had never seen him hit with anger, she had only seen him hit with a purpose. The meta tipped toed her way into the room, her eyes going wide as the punching bag flew off the hinges, sand pouring out of it as it hit the ground. “Hey.” She whispered, her eyes tearing from the bag and towards Rogers who seemed to be doing a great job ignoring her.

“I am sorry that I brought him up.” She said, making her way towards Steve. She put herself in front of the replacement punching bags, forcing him to look at her and stop ignoring her. “It’s okay to still hurt. He caused so much damage, so much hell. You can still hurt Steve.” She reached her hand up to his face, lightly moving him so she could look him in the eyes. “But you can’t push everyone away. Especially not me.” She whispered, her eyes searching his. Her bottom lip quivered as she looked at him, her hand trembling as she slowly brought it down to her side. All of a sudden she realized how close she was to him, inches apart from him. The overwhelming smell of cottonwood and pine filled her nose, bringing over the wave of comfort she craved. She needed him to trust her, and despite the many reasons she had given him not to she would be damned if he didn’t.

----

Peter sighed, his worry falling off as Aurora took the news lightly. “You will have plenty of missions to join us on.” He muttered, his eyes scanning over the images that were rolling around the room. “But right now, your powers aren’t advanced enough. I would be too worried trying to protect you that I wouldn’t be able to focus. The meta, her powers are developed enough. She can hold her own. Plus Steve will be there to make sure it all goes well. Everything will be fine, I assure you.”

He turned off the datapad, the images around the room disappearing as he slipped the pad into his back pocket. “You will spend the few days we are out training with Scott and Hope. Once you are reliable and developed enough you can join us. Plus, you will need to design your own suit.” He grinned, looking at the woman. “But that will all happen in enough time when you’re ready.”

The man closed the space between them, his lips going on Aurora’s once more. He broke the kiss after just a moment, his breath hitching on the girl’s neck. His lips grazed her skin, ready to fill the space his with lips when his phone began to ring. Peter grumbled, sending the person to voicemail as he began to kiss down her neck. He was about to say something when the phone rang again, and he pulled away, looking down at who was calling. The name Nick Fury caught his eye, and he shook his head, sending the man to voicemail once more.

The man was about to speak when Fury opened the other door to the room, walking in. “What did I say about sending me to voicemail Parker?” The one-eyed man looked at the two, his brow raising. “If I call you better answer do you understand? Come with me, we have things to discuss.”

Peter’s cheeks filled with an embarrassing red as he looked between Aurora and Fury, his hand nervously going through his hair. “I guess I have to take this.” He smiled at Aurora, kissing her forehead before he began to walk over towards Fury. He paused for a moment, glancing back at her. “Go find Scott or Banner, they will continue your training for the day.” His arm was tugged by Fury and he stumbled out slightly. “I will see you for dinner!” He called, grinning as he was pulled from the room.

Peter couldn’t be sure of much anymore, but he was sure that he was unconditionally and irrevocably falling for the girl who he had rescued just months ago.
 
There was a small, faint voice in the back of his mind that felt guilty for just up and leaving. That voice knew that Kailyn hadn’t meant anything by bringing up the subject of Thanos, but any intent didn’t take away the fact that the very subject brought up so many repressed emotions for him. So Steve continued his trek back to the main building, not hesitating in his march across the lawn. He wasn’t sure if Kailyn would follow him, but Steve didn’t particularly want her to right now. He didn’t want to accidentally take out his anger on her and say something that he didn’t mean. That wasn’t him and he knew his emotions enough to know when he needed to be alone to vent.

So he immediately went to the gym, where he settled on taking out his anger on the poor, innocent punching bags. Those punching bags became Thanos in his mind, though, so each punch was delivered with a certain amount of unexpressed rage and guilt. Sure, Thanos was dead and everyone had been brought back, but that didn’t change the fact that some people lost five years with their loved ones. It also didn’t change the fact that they’d lost people along the way.

Nat. Tony. Vision.

Each of them were a void that no amount of time or punches could fill.

Steve heard someone enter the room and he glanced over quickly to see that it was Kailyn, just before landing a final blow to a punching bag. He ignored her approach, honestly mostly because he wasn’t sure what to say, but Kailyn was persistent as always. He sighed when she placed herself in front of him, giving him no choice but to acknowledge her presence.

He released a breath upon finally looking into her eyes. His resolve and any anger that he’d had crumbled as he took in the expression on her face and the unshed tears in her eyes. Steve reached up to tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear, busying his mind with the simple action before speaking. “I don’t think I could push you away, even if I wanted to,” he breathed, the honesty raw in his tone. “There’s something about you that I can’t shake. And I don’t want to.”

——

Listening to his words explaining that she’d be able to join in on missions after she was trained more, she felt the familiar pang of disappointment. Aurora wanted to develop her powers, but the process didn’t produce instant results and it could be frustrating at times. She also had this overwhelming urge to impress Peter somehow, though he already knew everything that she was capable of. Aurora knew that she had to take what she could get in this instance, however. She could tell that he was trying to see her in a different light - not as just a fragile thing. Peter at least realized that the time would come when she would be ready to fight beside him. And for now, that was enough.

All thoughts of anything and everything else disappeared when Peter kissed her again. There was just the two of them, caught in a moment together that she wished would never end. Aurora kissed him back eagerly while her arms instinctively wrapped around his neck to pull him closer. When he pulled away, she felt his breath fan against her neck before his lips brushed against her skin, causing goosebumps to rise up on her arms.

A phone began to ring, breaking through her Peter-induced haze slightly. He quickly ignored the call and this time, when his lips kissed her neck, Aurora couldn’t hold back a small sigh. Her hand was just about to come up to run through his hair when Peter’s phone rang again. She watched him send the call to voicemail again. Having seen the caller ID on the screen as “Nick Fury”, she was about to tell him that he should probably answer when the door to the Green Room opened and Nick Fury spoke.

Her cheeks burned, realizing that the man had caught them during an intimate moment. Perhaps if they were going to continue the habit of kissing each other, it might be better suited for a less public place. Despite her embarrassment, she had to smile and laugh when Peter bid her adieu and was pulled from the room by Fury.

For the remainder of the day, Aurora followed up with her training with Banner. The man was always understanding and was able to pinpoint ways that she could use her strengths to make up for her weaknesses. She generally enjoyed training sessions with him - it was refreshing and less pressure than her normal combat training. When dinner time rolled around, Aurora happily went downstairs to take her usual seat at the table, knowing that she would see Peter.

Sam almost immediately gave her a curious look after taking in her smile, “Are you bi-polar or something? Because the last time I saw you, you were pissed off and storming out of the training center.”

“What? I can’t have had a little Green Room therapy and calmed down?” Aurora retorted.
 
The meta studied the super-soldier as he spoke, her eyes drifting over his harsh features as she watched him. He was mesmerizing to her, the way he held himself with such high accord or the way he was able to bring the team together with a minimal effort. He was the pure version of herself, something she now found herself striving to be. She rose her hand up to cusp his face, delicately running her thumb over his jawline. “Then stop trying to.” She whispered, her brows furrowing as she spoke.

Kailyn rose to her tiptoes and lightly kissed him on the cheek before pulling away, a blush running to her face once she realized what he had just done. “Meet me outside on the front lawn in twenty minutes.” She grinned, squeezing past the very still figure of Steve. “Don’t be late!” She added, exiting the room and practically skipping down the hallway towards the stairs. She broke out into a full run, doing her usual leap from the balcony and cushioning her fall as she landed.

The girl burst into the kitchen which was slowly filling with people. She used a burst of air to move Aurora out of her way, the grin on her face telling more than she would ever let anyone know. “What are you doing?” Scott asked, looking at the girl as she quickly rifled through the kitchen. She was grabbing containers of food and dessert without even giving the others a second glance. “What has you all...happy?” He asked, not taking her silence as an answer.

“Oh, would you mind your own business, Scott?” Bucky said, shooting a glare at the man. He walked over to the meta, a lopsided grin on his face. “He likes apple pie better.” He muttered, switching out the containers for her. He grunted as the girl gave him a quick hug, the strength behind her movements knocking him off guard.

“Sorry, but thank you!” Kailyn added, shoving all the containers into a picnic basket. She grabbed a blanket from off of one of the chairs before she sprinted out of the room. She half ran half walked to the front lawn, quickly setting up the area. She laid out the blanket and brought out the food and containers before she widened her stance, solidifying herself with the earth. She took a deep breath before she raised the earth up into four large pillars and two smaller pillars. She softened her stance as she reached out for the water in the fountain, delicately arranging it into a swirling pattern over the pillars, within a second it froze into place, the crystal-like shards glistening in the moonlight. She used her last ounce of energy to light the torches that surrounded the setup, hoping to keep the bugs away.

Once she finished she took a deep breath, trying to calm her heart back down. She was so busy setting up the area that she failed to notice Steve had come outside, the sound of him breaking a branch as he walked caused her to jump into the air, her entire body tensing up before it relaxed as she registered who was in front of her. “Oh god I didn’t even notice you there.” She said, a blush quickly covering her face. “Care to join me?” She asked, once again studying him under the moonlight.

~~~~~
Peter made his way to the kitchen, frowning slightly as he noticed the meta outside setting up a picnic of sorts. He walked into the kitchen, a smile coming to his face once he saw Aurora again. “What the hell is the meta doing outside?” He asked.

Scott scoffed “I asked the same question but nobody answered me.”

Bucky snickered “She is having a picnic. What are we contracted to have to eat together?”

Peter sighed, taking his seat at the head of the table. “No we are not.” He muttered. He grabbed a piece of chicken and a roll, quickly biting into the roll. He sighed into his food, his hand reaching under the table to grab Aurora’s.

As Banner sat down he eyed the two of them, rolling his eyes slightly. “You two don’t need to always be touching each other.”

Peter blushed, but his hand didn’t move. “So Scott can have his ants on the table but I am the one crossing the line by holding her hand?”

Scott shrugged. “You know, he has a point.”

Peter grinned, finishing off his roll before biting into his chicken. He relaxed back and took in the conversation, finally letting go of Aurora’s hand as he reached for more food. He was about to speak when Jarvis spoke. “Sir, there seems to be-”

“Not now Jarvis.” Peter muttered, waving his hand to dismiss the voice. He relaxed a bit more and ate some more as he continued to listen to the conversation. About fifteen minutes later Jarvis spoke again. “Sir please there is an urgent-”

“Jarvis what did I say about interrupting during-” Peter was cut off by the sound of a scream. He rose to his feet, his face paling three shades. “Stay here.” He muttered to Aurora, not caring if she listened or not. He slowly stepped around the table, his walk turning into a sprint as another cry rang out. What he saw when he looked out the window made his mouth go dry. There were two metahumans standing over the bodies of Cap and Kailyn, one was emitting a green hue and the other was a carbon copy of Steve. He and the others sprinted outside, but the second they got there the two were gone. “Jarvis get me a location on those two where did they go?” Peter asked, ready to take off at a moment’s notice.

~~~~~~~

Kailyn was studying Steve once again as he spoke, her intense gaze only softening as a breeze hit them. A shudder rippled through her body as the chill finally set in, it was getting colder than she was used to. “God I hate the cold.” She muttered, moving closer to Steve to take in his body heat. She rested her head on his shoulder, gazing up at the stars. “I used to try to count all of the stars in the sky, I thought that maybe one day I could visit them all.” She whispered, her body cuddling into Steve’s even more as the wind began to pick up.

“So what was it like back in the day?” She asked, her genuine curiosity taking the best of her. “Is there anything you miss?” She looked up at him, her eyes studying his before she put her head back down and listened to him talk. She let herself be enveloped by his words, the passion, and pain flowing through her from the way he spoke. She was fully listening to him, her attention never faltering as he spoke.

Perhaps she should have kept her guard up, maybe if she did she would have noticed the owls go quiet. She would have noticed the air around her get colder, or the fact the faintest sound of footsteps could be heard. But of course, by the time she noticed, it was already too late. She looked up, her eyes settling on Bucky who stood before them. “Bucky?” She asked, squinting to try to see him.

“I need your help. Come over here.” He replied. His voice was almost robotic in a way, but Kailyn played it off as Bucky just being weird. She removed herself from Steve before she stood, walking over to the man. She paused, a green hue catching her eye. “What the hell-” She was about to say more when the hue formed into a person who swung at her, slamming her across the face. Bucky grabbed her and forced her hands behind her back as he held a knife to her throat. “Who the hell are you?” Kailyn asked, the panic in her voice only increasing as she saw the man who had formed from gas was standing in front of Steve.

“Just keep your pretty mouth shut and we won’t harm you. We aren’t here for you sweetheart.” The man responded, his attention turning towards the supersoldier. “Remember me?” He asked, his grin widening as the confusion spread across the mans face. “Here, I will give you a hint.” The man swung, his fist connecting with Steve’s head. “You took everything from us when you had your little pissing match with Iron man. Now I will take everything from you.” He grinned as Steve’s look of horror crossed his face.

“Don’t touch him!” Kailyn screamed, fighting against the hold Bucky had on her. Within a second Bucky turned into Steve, the metahuman shapeshifting behind her. The man behind her kissed down her neck, his thick german voice sending shivers down her spine. “We said to keep your pretty mouth shut.”

Kailyn gulped, her throat running dry as she continued to fight back. The knife dug into her throat, blood slowly dripping down as she fought. A cry escaped her mouth as the meta behind her grabbed her waist, pulling her back into him. “You are not Steve” She kept whispering, her hands going hot with rage. She grabbed his hand, the searing of his skin sent him to the ground with screams of pain. The meta who manipulated gas turned towards her, anger filling his eyes. “You betray your own people by working with them? Fine, I will take you both out.”

In an instant he was gone, the air filling with a toxic green haze again. Before she could even think her lungs filled with poison gas, and she was on the ground choking on her air next to Steve. The pain that filled her was unbearable, every breath she took was pure agony. She was drifting in and out of consciousness, her vision filling with black dots. She didn’t know how much time had passed when the figure of Aurora seemed to appear out of nowhere, followed by the figures of Bucky, Sam, Peter, and Hulk. Kailyn grabbed Aurora’s hand with her own trembling hand, her eyes searching the girls. “Help. Me.” She choked, her voice straining over the pain. She watched Bucky approach her, unable to run away as he picked her up. Blood dripped out of her mouth, her eyes drifting over to Hulk to see him also picking Steve up.

Peter looked at Aurora, his anger taking over. “Stay here, I will be back.” He grunted, tapping his pendant as he took off. He was covered in his suit before he left the ground, hurling himself towards the woods. He was going to take down the metas responsible for this, they would not hurt his flower.

Peter got back several hours later, the shapeshifting meta being dragged behind him. He threw the man into a cell, his anger finally residing as he made his way to the infirmary where everyone was sitting. He made his way up to Aurora, his hand interlacing with hers. “You should get some sleep.” He muttered, his worry for her quickly taking over his own. “How are they doing?” He asked, searching the group for his answer. If nobody started talking he was going to get angry very quickly.
 
When she gently touched his face, Steve let out a breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Kailyn was careful and her voice was soft - both were things that he knew that only he was privy to. No one else in the facility probably believed that she was even capable of being gentle. Steve, however, had never formed any judgments about her. He'd allowed himself to slowly see her for who she really was and he knew that she was trying to be better.

He was surprised when she kissed his cheek, though ultimately pleased. His face heated up with a blush, but the dim lighting in the room hid it some. Steve watched her with an intrigued expression as she told him to meet her outside in twenty minutes time. A smile crossed his features, which served as a confirmation that he'd be there.

"Okay, Rogers, get yourself together," he muttered to himself once Kailyn had left the room. He stared at the punching bag for a moment, trying to process what had just happened, before it dawned on him that he was drenched in sweat and needed to shower before meeting her on the lawn. Steve quickly made his way to his room and jumped into the shower, washing up with an excitement and urgency that he wasn't used to having. When he was done getting ready, he'd changed into some casual clothes and his dirty blonde hair was still damp, but combed back.

Steve exited the facility and began walking across the front lawn, wondering where Kailyn was exactly. He’d made sure that he wasn’t late, so he assumed she was already outside. When he spotted her after a few strides, he slowed down a little and noticed the transformation of her little area that she’d set up. Steve wasn’t exactly surprised by her powers at this point, but he was impressed by her creativity and spontaneity

Once Kailyn had finally noticed that he'd approached, Steve gave her a smile in greeting. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I was just admiring your handiwork. It's beautiful," he replied, walking forward to join her on the blanket. He wasn't sure what she had in mind when she'd told him to meet her on the front lawn, but it definitely wasn't a picnic.

He settled into a comfortable lounging position - his legs we’re laid out straight in front of him and he sat up with his arms propped slightly behind him. Steve noticed that she’d shivered just before she mentioned the cold and she scooted closer before resting her head on his shoulder. He hesitated a moment, busying himself with following Kailyn’s gaze up to the stars and taking in her words.

As she asked him about his life decades prior, he immediately smiled at some of the memories that came to mind. Steve gently shifted a little so that he was no longer leaning on his arms and could use one to wrap around Kailyn’s shoulders. “Life was a little slower-paced back then,” he told her, “We didn’t have all of the technology and distractions. I miss that, and I miss the music.”

Steve continued to tell her about the 40s, how things had changed, and how hard it had to been to acclimate to the modern time after he’d come out of the ice. He was so engrossed in both Kailyn’s presence and the memories themselves that he hadn’t realized that anyone had approached. Only when she said Bucky’s name did he realize that he was standing in front of them. If only Steve hadn’t allowed himself to get so distracted, he may have been able to avoid everything that happened next.

——

Aurora noticed that her body immediately responded when Peter entered the room and spoke. Her heart rate quickened and the familiar swarm of butterflies took flight in her stomach, especially when he sat down and grabbed her hand under the table. Their contact, it seemed, didn’t go unnoticed.

She blushed at Bruce’s comment, having not realized that their interactions with each other had been that obvious to anyone else. She had expected Peter to let go, since they hadn’t discussed exactly what everything meant between them now. Something had definitely shifted, but Aurora kind of wanted to let things settle into place on their own. She was afraid that if she inquired too much into it, then something would shatter and she’d somehow lose whatever she currently had with Peter. It seemed that he’d finally allowed himself to open up to her and the last thing Aurora wanted to do was ruin that.

Dinner continued as per usual, with some snappy comments and plenty of sarcasm to go around. She always enjoyed the conversation at the table. There truly never was a dull moment and, despite their bickering, these people were a family.

The comfortable rhythm of the meal, however, came to a screeching halt when Jarvis attempted to get Peter’s attention again just before a scream echoed from outside. Peter told her to stay put and she was actually going to listen to him, until everyone else left the room. Aurora didn’t exactly want to be left alone at the moment, so she followed everyone outside.

——

Bucky’s tone was different. He knew his best friend’s voice and something was definitely off. Steve stood, took a step forward, and tried to reach out for Kailyn’s hand to stop her, but he was too late. Her name had barely left his lips before a form materialized and promptly hit her. Steve immediately went into combat mode, but the meta-human with the green hue was blocking him from retrieving Kailyn, who was now being held captive by Bucky’s form. He started to go in for an attack, but the green-hued meta-human’s words stopped him. Steve didn’t remember this guy, but the man’s next words were enough to leave him slightly frozen, giving the meta-human enough time to aim a well-landed punch.

Having pushed past his shock and confusion, Steve took a stride to return the favor, but he suddenly dropped to the ground when his chest constricted painfully. He gasped for air, but it seemed that either his lungs weren’t working properly or the oxygen wasn’t able to make it in. Steve continued in his struggle to breath, and his expression shifted from fear to pure concern when he looked over to Kailyn. He wanted so badly to save her, and the man’s hands and lips on her body were enough to send Steve into a white hot rage. But lack of oxygen had him weak and feeling dizzy. It was only moments before his vision began to fade and Steve was left unconscious.

——

“Oh my god,” Aurora muttered when she approached the scene. Steve was passed out cold on the grass, Kailyn struggled to breath just feet from him, and a green gas was dissipating around them. She dropped to her knees next to Kailyn and instinctively squeezed the girl’s hand when she took it and begged for her to help.

Bucky came over to lift her into his arms, while Bruce picked up Steve. She only barely heard Peter’s words before he’d engaged his suit and left. Aurora stared after him for a moment while worry for his safety clenched at her heart. She wasn’t able to linger on it for long, though, because an idea suddenly popped into her head.

"Wait, Bucky, put her back down," Aurora said after jogging to catch up to him. She didn't have full confidence in herself to do what she had in mind, but she had to try. As it stood, they didn't have any information on the poison gas and it could very well kill Kailyn within minutes, especially if any more of it was able to get into her bloodstream. Bucky seemed hesitant, but he followed her instruction and gently laid her back down on the grass.

"Everyone back up," Aurora said as she closed her eyes, "I don't want anyone else breathing in the gas." She focused her mind on Kailyn's chest, much like she did when slowing someone's heart rate. At the same time, she channeled the first emotion that her mind attached to. Her moments with Peter were still in the forefront of her mind, so she latched onto them. The emotions paired with him were strong and much more positive than any other emotion she'd tried to use to fuel her abilities in the past. It was almost easy to push them outward, as Aurora focused on her friend's lungs and extracting the gas within them. It took a few seconds, but she opened her eyes to see the green gas finally rise out of Kailyn's airway and into the air above them. Once it was all out, she quickly manipulated it higher, until it dissipated into the night air.

----

A couple of hours had passed and everyone was still gathered in the infirmary When she saw that Peter had finally returned, her chest swelled with relief. Aurora felt like she was finally able to breath again. Her emotions grew even more when he immediately approached her and didn’t hesitate to intertwine his fingers with hers.

She shook her head slightly at Peter’s suggestion, even though she knew that the exhaustion was probably evident in her face. “I couldn’t rest until I knew you were okay,” Aurora told him, giving his hand a squeeze.

Peter inquired about Steve and Kailyn. His tone was suddenly serious, which prompted Hope to turn to give him an answer, "Bruce gave them both a sedative so that they can rest. It looks like Steve is going to be fine and Kailyn is being closely monitored.”

"I was able to get the gas out of her lungs, but Bruce wants to make sure that it doesn't have any side effects from entering her bloodstream," Aurora added in explanation.

"It was actually quite impressive. She had flawless control, even though she had no way of knowing what molecules she was even dealing with," Hope said, openly praising her efforts to save Kailyn earlier.

Aurora gave the woman a thankful smile and shrugged, "I had the right emotional motivation and a pretty strong memory to work with." Hope returned the smile and left the two of them alone, allowing Aurora to finally give in to her mixed emotions.

She stepped forward and reached to wrap her arms around Peter’s neck to embrace him. Aurora sighed into him, “I was really worried. You have no idea how happy I am that you came back.”

——

Given the fact that Steve had an enhanced metabolism, his body tended to process medication more quickly, so he awoke before Kailyn. He immediately sat up quickly and looked around, but a large green hand pushed him back down onto the pillow. Steve looked up frantically to Bruce. He realized that he probably looked slightly possessed, but could anyone really blame him?

“Where’s Kailyn?” Is she okay?” Steve asked.

Bruce knew better than to deny Cap the information. The man’s tone was deadly serious, which wasn’t something that anyone heard all that often. It was reserved for when Steve wasn’t having any arguments or distractions from whatever his mind was focused on.

“She’s sleeping. She’s going to be fine, but I’m monitoring her vitals just in case,” Bruce answered, “She inhaled some unknown gas. I’m trying to identify it now. Aurora removed it from her lungs, so she should recover quickly. You breathed some in as well, but your enhanced metabolism probably helped rid your body of that as well.”

Steve relaxed slightly, relieved to find that she was going to be okay. He let out a breath before quickly swinging his legs over to get out of the hospital bed. “Slow down there, Cap. You might be a super soldier, but you need rest,” Bruce advised, though he wasn’t listening.

“Uh, Barnes! A little help in here?” Bruce called out, signaling for Bucky to intervene.
 
Love. Worry. Terror. Fear. Sadness. Anger. Rage. Nothing. That was the exact sequence of emotions Kailyn went through before she blacked out into Bucky’s arms. She couldn’t remember him putting her down, or Aurora saving her life, all she could remember was Bucky’s hands on her waist and Rodgers’s lips on her neck. She was transferred at some point or another to the infirmary, at which point she couldn’t tell. All she knew was that Steve, her Steve, was hurt. She was too weak to stop them. At no point did she attempt to use her power. She let him get hurt and did nothing to help.

Of course, those past regrets cannot solve her current problems. When her eyes fluttered open and her mind regained its consciousness some ten hours later she was finally able to place her mind back to where she failed. The other emotions she had felt before were long gone, the only thing left was anger. Perhaps terror and sadness were there too, but they were too weak to really make an impact on her.

The fact that she could see and hear was a good sign she supposed, but the tube that was jamming its way down her throat was not something that she particularly wanted to wake up to. There were needles and tubes running in and out of her body, twenty of them to be exact. The sooner she could get the tubes out the sooner she would be safe. She needed to get out of the room, out of the building, and the hell out of New York.

~~~~~

Peter listened to Hope rattle on about the newest discovery to Aurora’s power that had occurred once he left. He gave a weak smile, his mind still racing with all that had happened. He was weak again, he let himself become interlaced with so much that two of his teammates and his most important one especially could have died. It was Thanos all over again. Peter watched the two talk, nodding every now and then to seem like he was engaged in whatever they were talking about, but his mind quickly drifted off to other issues.

When Thanos had arrived he was just a child on a school bus, worrying about his next science project. He was following Mr. Starks’ orders of course, but he wasn’t paying enough attention. If he had paid more attention maybe he could have done more. When they fought Thanos in outer space, if he had paid more attention, maybe he wouldn’t have been dusted into oblivion. When he did come back and went with Strange to fight Thanos for the last time if he had just gotten to the van in time he could have saved Mr. Starks life.

Of course, he could never live on just the maybe side of things. He had to get better, get stronger, get faster, so that way he would never have to wonder if things were too difficult for him again. He could never be the coward that backed down from a fight. He spent five long fucking years training to be in the best damn shape of his life, and when the fight came to him he was once again too distracted to intervene. If only Stark could see him now, and see the man he became. The weak, pathetic, man.

At some point, Aurora put her arms around him, but he was too numb to return the gesture. He still liked her but after the day’s activities, he was tired, sore, and angry. He wasn’t angry at anyone but himself, but he also wasn’t the best at keeping his anger to himself. He pressed his hand to her back for a moment before he pulled away, his brow furrowing at the yells of Banner looking for Bucky. “I need to check on him,” Peter mumbled, following Bucky into the infirmary.

Bucky hadn’t taken any notice to the boy following behind him, his attention had turned towards his best friend. “Steve man I’m here.” He said, pushing Banner out of the way and placing his hand on his best friend’s shoulder. “What did I tell you about staying out of trouble when you go after the girls?” He gave the man a toothy grin, but the grin faded at his question. Before he had time to answer, Peter answered for him.

“The girl is fine Rodgers,” Peter said, his eyes studying the man on the bed. “She is okay and in the next room, but you need to rest a bit more before you can go and see her. Don’t make me web you to this bed.”

Bucky scoffed as he shook his head and grabbed the wheelchair in the corner of the room. “I know him, and he will not rest until he has seen her. Now either we take him there or he will break through all of us to get there.”

Peter frowned, his gaze turning into a glare towards Bucky. “You should follow my orders when-”

Bucky shook his head, helping Rogers into the chair as Peter spoke. “Kid, you mean well, but let him see her. You would be the same way with Aurora.” He smirked as Peters jaw tightened, wheeling Steve out of the room and towards the next room. “Now Rogers, you might not like the sight you see, but she was fighting for her life out there so you need to understand that they had to do this,” Bucky whispered. When they reached Kailyn’s door he hesitated, giving the man time to prepare for the sight. However he was the one that should of prepared, he was not ready for her reaction.

Kailyn had pulled the tube out of her throat, and her breaths were raspy and short. Her struggle to breathe was decreased by the adrenaline that coursed through her body as she began to rip the tubes out of her arms. The last tube to go was the tube circulating her blood of any poison left. It was thick and inserted into her left arm. There were two tubes technically, but only one needle. The blood was coursed through a machine before going back into her body. She was about to rip it out when the door opened, and to her horror there stood a shocked Bucky, an angry Banner, and a sitting Steve. Her eyes flickered to Bucky, the flashbacks to what had happened that night quickly triggered her adrenaline once more.

The meta quickly got to her feet, grabbing the three scalpels on the bedside table and backed herself into the corner. ”Make one step towards me Barnes and it will be the last step you ever take.” She said, her voice shaking as her hand trembled.

Bucky rolled Steve in further before stepping around him, his hands raised into the air. “Easy there, Rogers just wanted to visit you. Don’t do anything irrational. Just put down the blades and we-”

“And we can what?” Kailyn spat out. Her hands were trembling as she shrunk like a wounded dog into the corner. “You are going to stay the hell away from me.” She said, shrinking herself lower as a tear dropped down her cheek. “Now get the hell out, all of you.” She added, trying to blink away the tears as they came to her eyes.

Bucky made a step towards her, not thinking she would do anything but boy was he wrong. The meta raised her right arm and let the scalpel fly, the sharp ping it made as it pierced the wall behind his head echoed through his ears. He looked back, the scalpel had hit just centimeters away from his ear. “Steve man can you help-”

“I said to get the hell out!” Kailyn yelled, her entire body shaking in fear. If she could shrink into the wall she would have. Her gaze shifted towards Steve who was now standing, his words flowing through her like music to her ears. She let him get closer, with each step he took it seemed that another tear fell down her face. “Please” She whispered, the others in the room seemed to fade out around her. “He-he.” She watched as the man got closer, still holding her scalpel’s tight. “He touched me.” She said, her voice breaking as she spoke. When Steve was within one foot of her she dropped her weapons, finally letting the tears flow freely.

The girl let Steve wrap his arms around her before she collapsed. Her full-body sobs were muffled by his pine and cottonwood smelling t-shirt. She didn’t notice Bucky gesturing for the men to leave. She didn’t notice Banner coming over and inserting tubes back into her arms. The only thing that mattered was that she had her Steve. After god knows how long of her silently crying into his arms, she heard Banner speak. “Rogers you have to come back to your room.” He said, clearing his throat in an attempt to make his point.

Kailyn shook her head into the man’s chest. “Please no please just stay.” She begged, her voice still muffled into him. She practically pulled him off his feet and onto the bed, curling herself into a tight ball with her head on his chest. “Don’t leave me.” She whispered. Maybe it was the release of emotions, or maybe it was the drugs that Banner had just pushed into her IV, but eventually, she was once again greeted by the familiar darkness she craved so much.
 
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When Peter seemingly brushed her off and went to check on Steve in the infirmary, Aurora frowned. Hope caught her expression and gave her a sympathetic look. "It's been a long evening," she told her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, it has," Aurora muttered before bidding "goodnight" to everyone and heading back to her room. She took a shower in an attempt to wash away the anxiety and hint of rejection, but it didn't exactly work. She slipped into some pajamas and attempted to go to sleep. Aurora sighed when she realized that it just wasn't going to happen. Her mind was too active, but she was also too tired to want to get out of bed and go to the Green Room or anything. Plus, she didn't really want to risk running into anyone. Talking at her feelings at the current moment wasn't appealing, mainly because she wasn't sure exactly how to explain them yet and she felt like she may be somewhat overreacting.

Aurora was staring up at the ceiling, thinking about Peter's contrasting moods from today, when she heard some noise. She listened carefully and, as if the universe knew her thoughts, the sounds were coming from Peter's room. Concerned, she slid out of bed and exited her bedroom. She pressed her ear against the door for a moment, seeing as she didn't think it would be polite to just storm into Peter's room. Aurora realized, thought, that they were distressed sounds, so she quickly opened the door and looked around.

Peter was in bed and she could tell that he must be having a nightmare, though it was pretty dark in the room, so she could only see his outline. She took a quick glance around (a habit that Peter had taught her) before approaching the bed and leaning over to gently place her hands on his face. "Peter, wake up," Aurora said. She trailed one hand down to grip his bare shoulder, trying to ignore the fact that he wasn't wearing a shirt, and shook him. "Hey, hey, it's okay. I'm here," she added, once he seemed to begin to wake up.

----

Steve's somewhat frantic eyes focused on Bucky when he appeared. If he wasn't so worried about Kailyn, he probably would have laughed at his joke. Well, at least until Peter showed up. He was just glad that Bucky seemed to take point in the argument with Peter because his would have been much less polite. "He's right, Parker, I will fight you to see her. Don't pretend like you don't understand that," Steve said, his voice hoarse.

Bucky helped him into a wheelchair, and his chest constricted at the possibilities that flashed across his mind as he was wheeled away from his bed and to the next room. Steve was usually pretty good at controlling his anger, but he felt white hot rage course through his body when he thought about those men hurting Kailyn. Despite Bucky's warning, he was eager to see her. His best friend meant well by giving him some time to mentally prepare himself, but Bucky also probably knew that Steve would stand up and walk in himself if they didn't get a move on.

What he saw when they entered the room wasn't at all what he'd been expecting. He'd come up with a worst-case scenario in his mind, but he hadn't included Kailyn freaking out and having pulled the tubes out of her body. Steve's eyes went wide as he noticed the scalpels in her hand and he recognized the slightly crazed look in her eyes. It was mixed with a handful of different emotions, though. Kailyn was scared and angry, which he completely understood.

Steve winced when Bucky tried to approach her, but a scalpel went flying through the air. Before his best friend could even get his sentence to him out, he was on his feet and slowly approaching Kailyn. Something told him that she wasn't going to hurt him, so he wasn't as hesitant as he probably should have been. "Shhh, it's okay," Steve said. His body was still sore and tired, but the currently situation with Kailyn was enough motivation for him to continue walking across the room to her.

"It's okay. We're okay. I'm not going to let anyone hurt you again," he continued. When he was finally able to wrap his arms around her body, Steve released a breath and squeezed her tight as her body went limp. He gently lowered her to the floor and he sank down as well, pulling her into him and stroking her hair. "He won't touch you again, I promise. I'm here, just relax." Steve kissed the top of her head as Banner began to re-insert the IV and whatever other tubes they'd had her hooked up to. Once he was done, the man encouraged him to go back to his room, but Kailyn was quick to interject.

He would have stayed regardless, but it seemed that she wasn't really searching for an answer. Steve allowed her to tug him down onto the bed with her, ignoring the throbbing in his head. "I'm not going anywhere," he said, holding her close until she fell asleep, all the while running his fingers through her hair in an effort to calm her down. Banner must have given him another sedative as well, because he felt himself drift into the comforting arms of sleep just moments after Kailyn had fallen asleep.
 
Peter shook his head as he left the infirmary, he had never seen Rodgers so intent on getting to a girl. He hadn’t known him that well and they weren’t particularly close, but he supposed if that would get him to calm down then he should let him get his way. Stark would have done the same thing if it was Pepper, and he would have been the same way if it was Aurora. “Aurora….shit.” He mumbled, shaking his head once more. He should have told her what happened, he should apologize. He should.

He made his way up the stairs and down the hall towards his room, taking a moment to pause before her door. His fist hovered, and after a moment he put it down. He would apologize tomorrow, he didn’t have the energy to do so tonight. His mind was still racing from the encounter today, it wouldn’t seem sincere if he just apologized now….well, that’s what he told himself at least.

Instead, the man continued on down the hall and into his quarters. His room, much like Rodgers’ room, was bigger than the others. As the two heads of the team, they got the two master bedrooms. His stuff was what he called ‘chaotic organization.’ He knew where everything was, but he was not neat and tidy like Rogers. His clothes were strewn about everywhere, no obvious rhyme or reason to the average eye. But to him, it was peaceful chaos. He went over to laundry pile number two and grabbed the black boxers that laid on top. “Jarvis? Why can’t you do my laundry yet?” He said, smirking as he made his way towards his bathroom.

He stripped down once he got there, throwing his clothes into the laundry bin by the bathroom door. He kept his pendant on, of course, he never took it off just in case. He turned the shower onto the hottest setting, perhaps an attempt to wash the sin off from the day. He knew that no matter how hard he scrubbed, the sin had already stained his soul. Nevertheless, he scrubbed until his skin was a pale red shade, washing away the blood and dirt that had gotten on him from the fight with the new meta. Of course, the meta he had fought was only the gas man’s sidekick, but it was a start.

He got out of the shower, drying himself with the towel before slipping on his boxers. He didn’t bother with a shirt anymore. One time a few years ago someone tried to break into the facility and his shirt got caught up with his pendant, from that day forward he vowed to never make that mistake again. After he brushed through his hair he made his way back out to his main bedroom and decided to just flop down on his bed. He was tired and still a bit frustrated from the day so finding that sweet darkness he so craved was not as difficult as it used to be.

A few hours later the nightmare hit. He always had nightmares the following years after the great battle, but they had stopped after three years. Perhaps his own frustration with himself triggered it, or maybe it was the lack of apologizing to Aurora, he would never know. He found himself back on the battlefield once more, watching Stark make his last move. “Thanos…” He mumbled, tossing around in his bed. “Stark don’t…” A tear dripped out of his eye as he continued to toss and turn. “Just let it be…” He felt someone shaking him, ripping him from his dream. “Just let it be me!” He exclaimed, jolting out of bed, and halfway across the room.

Peter stood, panting against the side of the wall, trying to calm himself down. The tears that were stuck in his eyes finally dripped out, though he made sure to wipe them away as fast as possible. He felt Aurora stand to come closer to him, but he held up his hand. “Don’t.” He whispered, his chest still heaving from his dream. “When Thanos had arrived I was just a child on a school bus, worrying about my next science project. I was following Mr. Starks’ orders of course, but I wasn’t paying enough attention. If I had paid more attention maybe I could have done more. When we fought Thanos in outer space, if I had paid more attention, maybe, just maybe I wouldn’t have been dusted into oblivion. And get this, when I did come back and followed Strange to fight Thanos for the last time if I had just gotten to the van in time then Stark would have been alive today.” He paused for a moment, his chest starting to slow down a bit.

He turned to face Aurora, his eyes still red from his breakdown. “I knew I had to get better, get stronger, get faster, so that way I could never have to wonder if things were too difficult for him again. I spent five long fucking years training to be in the best damn shape of his life, and when the fight came to me, I was once again too distracted to intervene. If only Stark could see me now, and see the man I became. The distracted, pathetic man.” He slid down the wall, hanging his head in his hands. “I almost lost my best man out there today because I was distracted. If Steve had died, I couldn’t have forgiven myself.” He felt her stare on him, but he just continued. “What if… what if Stark chose wrong? What if I can’t lead this group?”

He listened to her talk, the sound of her voice bringing over some sort of calmness to him. He gave her a grateful nod before he stood up, making his way over to her and wrapping his arms around her. “I am sorry for my actions today.” He whispered, planting a kiss on her head. After a few moments of silence, he let her go, before heading back to his bed and throwing himself down onto it. He looked over at her as she headed to the doorway, his brain quickly deciding whether or not to ask her to stay. Ultimately, he spoke. “Aurora wait.” He looked at her, his gaze focusing in on her once more. “Stay, please.” He practically begged, jutting out his lower lip. Once she finally agreed he moved over on the bed to give her space to get on before he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. “I will protect you.” He whispered. After a few moments, he once again slipped into oblivion, letting the comfort of Aurora drift him off to a much-needed sleep.

~~~~~

The meta awoke the next morning, the tubes that were once flowing out of her body were now gone, the only thing left in her arm was the IV saline drip. She quickly ripped it out, wincing only slightly as the tube left her arm. She glanced down at the now slightly conscious Steve under her, a slight smile coming to her face. “Hey.” She whispered, her hand moving to his chest as she studied him. “I’m glad you’re okay.” She murmured, bending slightly to let her lips graze his cheek. As the man began to stir she finally spoke. “I will never let that happen again. I promise.” She said, her voice barely even a whisper.

She moved off of the bed and grabbed one of the two sets of clothes that were left on the bedside table. She ducked into the bathroom to change and get ready, finally emerging after ten minutes. It was ten-thirty, breakfast time for the crew. When she walked back in she grinned at the awake Rogers, her mood eerily chipper for someone who almost died less than twenty-four hours before. “Hurry up and change. I am still up for a morning run!” She nodded before she slipped out of the room, heading her way towards Peter’s room.

The girl knocked on the man’s door impatiently. She knocked again, smirking as she heard a groan coming from the room. “Come on Peter.” She muttered. She landed one more knock before the door was open, and to her surprise, it was not Peter at the door. “Aurora!” She said, her confusion easily readable across the room. She dropped her voice down to a whisper. “We need to talk about this later. I am out for one day and you shack up with him? Damn I haven’t even gotten that far with Rodgers. Congratulations.” She smirked, straightening her back up as the tired and confused Peter walked up behind her.

“Peter! I need to talk to you.” She said, grinning at Aurora.

“Who discharged you from the infirmary?” Peter grunted, slipping his hands around Aurora’s waist.

“I did” the meta replied, her eyes never leaving the man. “I want in on the interrogation.” She said, her voice hardening as her smile slipped off of her face.

“Absolutely not,” Peter replied. “Go back to the infirmary.” He added. He went to shut the door but the girl’s hand caught the doorway.

“Peter, I almost died because you wanted to keep up your dinner talk. Let me in on this new meta. I am not asking again.” She added, her eyes narrowing as she struggled to keep the door open.

Peter looked at the girl, then looked at Aurora. After a long couple minutes of thought, he finally conceded. “Fine, but you will be accompanied and have a wire placed on you. Now get out.”

“Thank you!” The meta added, her grin only spreading. “Aurora, if you want I am going to go for a run around the training center. Feel free to come down!” She took her hand off the door before backing up and walking down the hall.

Peter closed the door before he went back and flopped on the bed with a loud groan. He looked up at Aurora and furrowed his brow slightly. “Don’t look at me like that, she’s your friend.” He added before thrusting his head back down into the mattress.

~~~~~

Kailyn made her way down to the outdoor track that wrapped around the training center. Bucky was there, stretching out for their usual run. Kailyn stopped in her tracks and watched him, her body stiffening as he moved. She was frozen-stuck in time as he stood there stretching out. She was about to turn back and run to the main building when she heard the familiar footsteps approaching.

The presence of Steve always seemed to give her some weird confidence that she never knew she had. She relaxed slightly, her shoulders relaxing as he walked down the field. “You have very loud footsteps you know.” She said, giggling to herself. The girl walked forward, her movements stiff as she made her way towards Bucky. She got to him and took a deep breath before she quickly raised her hand and smacked him upside the head. “That’s for letting some meta steal your face.” She added, seemingly needing a reason to justify her actions.

“Yeah yeah, payback for something I didn’t know I did. Don’t you think the scalpel was enough?” He asked. As he waited for her reply he pulled out three oranges from his bag before he chucked one to her and Steve.

“You’re lucky I was crying too much to aim well. Now, who’s up for a run to clear the mind before I get to go interrogate our prisoner?” She grinned, peeling into her orange eagerly.

“Even I didn’t get clearance for that. Who the hell gave you clearance?” Bucky asked in between bites of his orange.

“It pays to know the right people to pull.” The girl added, flashing her smile at Steve as she finished up her last bite of orange. She needed a run to get her head in the game. She planned to get answers today, no matter what it cost.
 
Peter awoke more suddenly than she’d been anticipating, startling her when he flew out of the bed. She jumped up herself while eyeing him cautiously. Aurora’s eyes were filled with worry and a deep sympathy. She knew what it was like to have nightmares plague your otherwise peaceful sleep. She wondered what this one had been about exactly for Peter to say to let it be him instead, though she could hazard a guess.

Aurora knew about the battle with Thanos, of course. Everyone did. She’d experienced the blip herself and had been one of the vanished, but she was still learning about the events that Peter had experienced. It was hard to put yourself in someone’s shoes when they’d experienced something like that. It was even harder considering she hadn’t known Tony Stark.

She went to approach Peter, but he held up a hand and warned her against it. Aurora frowned, immediately thinking that he didn’t want to be near her for some reason. She knew that she was lingering on his attitude toward her earlier and she shouldn’t judge based on that, but it was hard for her. Their relationship, whatever it was, was so new that it still scared her. Aurora was half expecting him to reject her, so going without reassurance was difficult. But she knew that he needed her right now, so she pushed those feelings aside.

His words were heartbreaking and, towards the end, Aurora felt tears well up in her own eyes. She took a moment to look at him, this broken man of hers that tried so hard to appear strong. Cautiously, she took a few steps towards Peter as she spoke, but didn’t crowd him. “You’re not pathetic,” Aurora said, shaking her head adamantly, “And I didn’t know Tony, but I know that he would’ve been proud of you because I’m proud of you. You are kind, loyal, and the strongest man I know. One thing I learned from all of the pent up guilt and fear from my experience in the lab was that I needed to feel all of it. Process it and use it to become better. You’ve helped me do that, so now I’m going to help you. You’re not alone anymore, Peter.”

When he embraced her, she let out a sigh of relief. She took in his familiar scent and warmth before he pulled away and went back over to the bed. Aurora took this as her cue to leave to go back to her own bedroom and she’d almost made it to the door when Peter spoke. His words stopped her in her tracks. She turned to look at him as he asked her to stay, her eyes widening slightly in surprise. Aurora had never slept in a bed with anyone else, not since she and her brother were little and had to share a bed at the orphanage.

“Okay,” she finally said after a pause. Aurora made her way over to the bed and slid under the covers. She hadn’t been sure what Peter would do, but she was pleasantly surprised when he wrapped her in his arms. “This is really nice,” she whispered, closing her eyes to take the feeling of his skin against hers.

Peter’s own whispered words made her smile, though she couldn’t help but think that she was also protecting Peter from himself. With his warmth slowly seeping into her body and the steady rise and fall of his chest, Aurora was finally able to fall asleep.

The next morning, she was awoken by a knock on the door. Aurora rolled over slightly and stopped when her body pushed against Peter’s. She sighed when there was another knock, smirking when Peter groaned next to her. After gently slipping out of his arms, even though she really didn’t want to, Aurora went over to the door and opened to to reveal Kailyn.

She gave the girl a confused look because, after the events of last night, she hadn’t been expecting her to be up and about. Aurora didn’t get the chance to question her, however, because Kailyn spoke first. The meta’s whispered words caused a blush to paint her cheeks, but she didn’t respond because Peter had walked up behind her. Aurora’s breath caught a little at the feeling of his hands on her, but she tried to focus on the conversation.

It seemed that Kailyn wanted in on interrogating the new meta, but Peter didn’t look too thrilled about the idea. She met his gaze when he looked over to her and tilted her head slightly in an effort to communicate that he should give her some leeway. Finally, Peter agreed and both girls smiled before he shut the door.

“You’re admitting that she’s my friend,” Aurora smirked, obviously teasing Peter after he’d plopped back down on the bed. She climbed on as well, but hovered over him with a twinkle in her eyes. Waking up beside him had her in a good mood already. “I’m gonna have to go on that run, you know. I have a feeling that she thinks we did more than just sleep last night and I need to dispel the thought before she interrogates me.”

——

When Steve began to wake up, he still felt a bit sluggish from the previous events. His body had processed the trauma and healed itself, but the residual emotional and mental trauma was still there. Waking up with Kailyn right there with him was comforting, though. He was about half-awake when she got up. Steve gave her a lopsided grin when she greeted him.

“Hey,” he responded, his voice also still a whisper. Sleep was heavy in his tone and her touch was slightly distracting, so he cleared his throat before speaking again. “I’m fine,” Steve assured her, snaking his arm tightly around her to pull her closer, “I was worried about you. I almost lost you.” He hadn’t dared to give full thought to those words yet, but having her in front of him here and now, without so many tubes, allowed him to more easily process what had happened. Though, the thought of losing her wasn’t at all easy to think about. Steve could still feel the rage and worry constricting his chest some.

He watched Kailyn as she got out of bed. Steve was glad that she was feeling better and able to move around, but he felt the loss of her presence beside him as disappointment. He’d have loved to just lie in bed with her for a little while longer.

When she emerged from the bathroom ten minutes later, Steve was still in bed. Kailyn seemed to be in an extremely good mood, all things considered. Apparently, she wanted to go on the morning run and, even though he wasn’t sure that it was a good idea for either of them, he agreed.

Steve quickly freshened up. Thankfully, someone had brought his toiletries and a change of clothes to the infirmary. After using the bathroom, he brushed his teeth, splashed some warm water on his face, and changed into the T-shirt and basketball shorts. Steve applied some deodorant and half-way styled his hair before exiting the infirmary.

When he approached the track, he was just able to catch the slightly troubled expression on Kailyn’s face before it disappeared when she looked over to him. Steve wasn’t sure what exactly had her upset, but he had a feeling that it had something to do with the shape shifting meta and Bucky. He wasn’t going to push the subject, though. At least, not right now.

“I do not,” Steve argued when Kailyn accused him of having loud footsteps, “Besides, I wasn’t even trying to be light on my feet.”

When Kailyn approached Bucky, he understood why she was feeling a bit uneasy. It was indeed regarding the shape shifter guy turning into Bucky, though he wondered why that bothered her so much, other than the obvious deception of it all.

Bucky tossed him an orange and he caught it easily before beginning to eat it. Steve almost choked on the juice when Kailyn mentioned that she’d be helping with the interrogation of the new meta. He briefly wondered how she’d convinced Peter to allow her to help and he wasn’t so sure that it was a good idea. Though, he didn’t get the chance to comment on it because Aurora walked up to the group, now dressed in her work out clothes.

Aurora gently grabbed Kailyn’s arm and pulled her away from the men. “What you mentioned earlier?” she began, “It wasn’t exactly like that. I just slept over. Nothing even happened, not even a kiss really.” Her voice was at a whisper, even though the men weren’t within earshot. “So see? Nothing much to tell. I don’t even know what everything means right now,” Aurora continued before switching subjects to get the attention off of her and Peter, “But you have a lot of explaining to do about you and Steve. What’s going on there?”
 
The meta was in the middle of talking to Barnes when her ears quipped up. The sound of some angry stomping caught her attention, causing the girl to spin around just before Aurora pulled on her arm. “Hey-” Her words got caught in her throat when Aurora spoke first. “Listen I just-” She sighed, running her hand through her hair. She pulled her arm out of Aurora’s hand with a small scoff. “I was joking, and you wouldn’t be overreacting if something didn’t really happen last night. So tonight you will be required to spill the details to me, got it?”

She sighed, turning around to go back to the boys when something Aurora said caused her to stop dead in her tracks. She turned on her heel, closing the space between them. “Nothing happened with me and Rogers. I slept in a hospital bed with him. He just helped me when I was panicking on the meds. There is nothing going on between us do you understand?” She didn’t know why she was so harsh on Aurora. Maybe she was trying to convince herself that nothing was going to happen. She was terrified to tell the truth. She trusted Steve with everything, but how could she trust someone else and not herself?

The girl turned around with a smirk on her face. “Now I know you can’t go as fast as the rest of us but-”

“Of course she can’t! That’s why I will join her!” Peter shouted, his breathing ragged as he jogged down the hill. He came up from behind Aurora and slipped his arms around her, kissing her neck softly before he looked up at the very clearly annoyed meta.

“Oh of course. Now you two are a little unit. You know at least Rogers and I-”

“Shut it right there,” Barnes warned, throwing a jab into the girl’s side. “Just because you can’t compute normal human emotion doesn’t mean he can’t. Shut your mouth while you’re ahead.”

Kailyn’s jaw dropped as she began to compute what the man had just said. “Bucky you son of a bitch.” Her eyes hardened for a moment, the anger coursing through her veins clearly visible. “You’re lucky I don’t-” She stopped as she felt the familiar hand on her shoulder. Whatever Rogers had over her she couldn’t figure out, the calming wave that rushed over from just his hand on her confused her slightly, but she wasn’t going to complain. “It’s on.” She said, her frown quickly turning into a smirk.

“You probably won’t beat me, you did get your ass kicked yesterday. Which reminds me, why didn’t you use your powers?” Bucky asked, his seemingly innocent question sending chills down the girl’s spine.

“Well I just didn’t…You see I really just….I wasn’t thinking about…” She stuttered everything out, her guilt racing up to her. Why didn’t she use her power?

“So you don’t even know? You just stood there and let Steve get hurt? I thought you were this big macho who could handle her own. Clearly you just-” Bucky continued on, not even thinking about anything as he spoke. He shut up after Steve reprimanded him. Once he finally realized the damage he had done, he slowly walked up to the meta, his expression softening. “Look if you don’t want to discuss-”

The meta stepped away from Rogers, meeting Bucky halfway. She wrapped her hand around his neck, halting the blood flow to his brain for a moment. “I failed yesterday. I will not fail again. Do not look at me like a failure again.” She let the man go, turning her back to him as he began coughing at the feeling of fresh air. “Does anyone else want to question my motives yesterday, or shall we move on?” She turned around, eyeing Peter and Aurora and ignoring Steve entirely. After Peter shook his head she sighed. “I know I promised a run this morning but now I need a way to get my...frustrations out. Let’s fight.”

Peter nodded, a grin coming to his face. “Let’s. How about Cap, Aurora, and I against you and Barnes?”

Kailyn shook her head. “I don’t want Barnes. You, Cap, Barnes against me and Aurora?”

Peter grunted, a scowl forming on his face. “Fine, Two super-soldiers take you and I will take Aurora. We can go inside and set up-.”

Kailyn once again shook her head. “No, we duel outside. Everyone back up.” She closed her eyes and grounded herself. She rose her right hand, letting the earth rise in different pillars and piles to provide hiding spots. She calmed herself down after a moment, letting the earth settle into place. “Jarvis bring out Caps shield, my knives, and whatever the sticky boy needs.” She smirked, climbing to the top of a tower she had built. The meta watched as a robot came out with everything on a platter, the sight of Steve grabbing his shield was enough to open the floodgates. She wiped the dopey smile off of her face, tearing her gaze off of him as she jumped down from her pedestal to grab her throwing knives.

Bucky grabbed the gun before he pulled Rogers to the side. “We all know Parker will go for Aurora, so what’s your plan for the girl?” He took a bit to listen to Rogers’s plan, which seemed pretty watered down compared to his usual plans. “You can’t go easy on her because you are head over heels for her Steve. She will kick your ass without a second thought.” He sighed, finally agreeing with the plan. “Let it be known that I don’t like this plan.”

Kailyn walked over to Aurora, but her eyes never left Rogers. The way he stood with his shield was enough to make her drool. There was something about it that just turned her on. Aurora had spoken, not that the meta was really listening. It wasn’t until she was shaken that her attention was ripped from Steve and put back to the current situation. “Okay fine, maybe I like him a little.” She whispered, a sloppy grin coming to her face. “I just don’t know what it means. Every time I trust someone they betray me, and I will be damned if he follows the pattern.”

She ran a hand through her hair, her eyes flickering to the ground. “I am really just a loner with a lot of baggage that I haven’t yet claimed. It’s not something I can ask him to take on. It’s not fair to him. He is too good for me, he is just so… good. Yet here I am, I somehow made him like me, the girl who murdered her mother.” She shook her head again, blinking away any tears that threatened to show. “I was weak” She muttered, leaning against one of the pillars for support.

“I won’t be weak again.”
 
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She'd honestly anticipated Kailyn getting a bit defensive about her feelings towards Steve, but she hadn't expected her to deny it with such a hard tone. It caused Aurora to take a step back in slight fear that the meta would lash out at her. In a way, she trusted Kailyn, but even she couldn't deny that the girl was incredibly emotionally unstable.

When she was already about to give Kailyn a retort about the fact that she wouldn't be able to keep up with the rest of them, Peter's voice reached her ears and she immediately smiled at the sound.

She hadn't been sure what or if they were going to tell the team about their relationship. Aurora didn't really feel that they needed to. After all, everyone had probably already figured it out by now, but she had wondered how Peter might interact with her around everyone else after things had shifted between them. But it seemed that her worries weren't warranted because he didn't hesitate in wrapping his arms around her and kissing her neck. Aurora let out a steady breath when Peter pulled away. "Hey," she said, turning her head to kiss his lips briefly.

Of course, Kailyn didn't look too happy about the situation, but Aurora didn't feel guilty for her newfound happiness. She was actually quite confident that she could find the same thing with Steve if she'd just allow herself. Bucky interjected with his usual sarcasm, which seemed to please the meta even less. Steve noticed the shift in Kailyn's mood when he looked over while talking with Sam, who had stopped after already finishing his morning run. In a few quick strides, he'd made his way over to her and placed a light hand on her shoulder. Steve could feel her muscles relax, but what Bucky said next had them stiffening again.

"Buck, enough," he ground out, his tone hard and final. Steve's hand reached down to grasp Kailyn's, but she barely even seemed to register it. Meanwhile, Bucky's eyes flashed to his best friend's and he stopped, but apparently the damage had already been done because Kailyn snapped a moment later, causing everyone to pause in surprise. Even Steve didn't make a move to stop her. However, if she was really feeling this worked up about how she'd handled the situation last night, then he'd have to speak with her about it later. Both of them had been taken completely off guard and the situation never should have gotten to that point with the security measures that they were supposed to have, so Kailyn had no reason to feel guilty, especially since she'd almost died herself.

----

Kailyn had apparently deemed that they would be sparring outside and no one really dared to argue. Pick and choose your battles, right? This didn't really seem like something worth bickering over, as even Steve felt that he needed to get some pent up emotions out and it didn't really matter where that ended up being. He grabbed his trusty shield when it arrived and settled it comfortably into place on his arm. While he was still fiddling idly with the strap, Bucky tugged him a few feet away.

"Don't let her fool you. She was practically on her death bed yesterday. She's not one hundred percent, I can tell. So we're not going full-force with this," Steve said with a shake of his head. Bucky, however, wasn't liking that plan at all, which caused Steve to roll his eyes and sigh. "You don't have to like it. Just go easy with the gun, okay?"

----

Aurora was re-tying her shoe laces when the meta began walking over to her. She realized that Kailyn wasn't even looking at her though. Unsurprisingly, her gaze followed the woman's to land on Steve, who was talking to Bucky. She smirked, "I think you're drooling a little." She glanced back down to her shoes, finished tying them, and stood up before realizing that Kailyn hadn't heard a word that she'd said. "Earth to Kailyn!" Aurora said, shaking the girl's shoulder a bit. That seemed to get her attention and she smiled knowingly when Kailyn actually admitted to liking Steve.

"Look, if there's one thing that I've learned since I got here, it's that emotions don't make you weak. I suppressed them after my brother died and it ended up doing the same to my powers. I'm just now trading in the anger, fear, and guilt for something more positive. And believe me, it's much stronger. In fact, if it wasn't for those emotions, I probably wouldn't have been able to get the gas out of your lungs. So stop fighting it. Trust me, it's much easier and, I mean, look at him," she said, gesturing over to Steve, "Would it be all that bad?"

Aurora went to walk away and start her sparring match with Peter, but she paused momentarily and cast a look over her shoulder. "By the way, if you want to be my friend, stop with the intimidation game."

"Don't go easy on me, Parker," she smirked, as she tugged her hair up into a tightly secured ponytail and came to stand in front of Peter. Aurora didn't really expect that he would, but she knew that there had been times when he hadn't used his full strength, especially in the beginning stages of her training. But there was something different about her today - she felt alight with pure energy and it was like it was just itching to be released. So she was actually glad for Kailyn's idea of some fighting practice.

Their sparring match started off fairly normally. It usually took her a little while to get into the groove of physical combat since it still wasn't something that she was used to. Peter clearly had the upper hand, almost from the get-go. Aurora was tired of being the underdog, though. She wanted Peter to see her for who she was and be proud of that, so she conjured some of the emotions linked to the very man in front of her and pushed them outward. She stopped a well-aimed jab from him, twisted his arm behind his back, and flipped him over onto the ground, all without touching him. Even though Peter attempted to get up, Aurora had his body successfully pinned to the ground. Using the same technique she'd done with Kailyn the night before, she pulled the air from Peter's lungs. Of course, she would never seriously hurt him, so Aurora let go within moments, but held it long enough to have him gasping for air.

"I win," she smirked, quickly bending down to kiss his lips.

----

During the super-solider fight on the other side of Kailyn's make-shift sparring ring, Steve followed his plan to a tee. He gave Kailyn just enough fight to challenge her, but not enough to overcome her. Steve could tell, just by her movements, that she wasn't fully recovered yet, but she was too stubborn to listen to even him. Plus, he knew just as well as anyone else that it was good to let Kailyn get her frustrations out.

The meta had climbed to the top of a platform when he spotted Bucky's aim on her. Steve knew that he wouldn't miss, but before he could stop him, a shot hit her square in the chest and she fell from the platform with a sickening thud.

"What the hell, Buck?!" Steve exclaimed, clearly angry, "I told you to go easy with the damn gun!" He quickly went over to Kailyn to make sure that she was okay before rounding on his best friend and giving Bucky's chest a firm push. Steve wasn't sure what had gotten into him, but he was unbelievably pissed off all of a sudden.

"What were you trying to do, huh?" he continued, surprisingly everyone when he landed a punch to Bucky's face. A brief fight ensued between the two friends, who were pretty evenly matched, though Steve had managed to pin Bucky and couldn't seem to stop throwing punches.

"Hey!" Aurora shouted, but that failed to gain the attention of either of the super-soldiers. She huffed and telekinetically separated the two men, even though Peter had intervened. It wasn't easy to do, but she was able to pin them to opposite pillars, despite both of them struggling to break free of her hold.

"Do both of you want to go into timeout like you're four-year-olds or do you think we could tone down the testosterone a little and have a civil conversation?" she said, her tone clearly frustrated. Aurora held them in place for a few more seconds while shifting her gaze between them both. When she released them, she gave a small, satisfied smile when neither of them argued further. They were both clearly still steaming, but at least the situation had deescalated some.
 
Kailyn looked at Aurora, a frown forming on her face. “I don’t mean to play the intimidation game I am just-” She stopped mid-sentence, unable to come up with a good excuse for her actions. She honestly didn’t mean to play that game with Aurora, but her tone always came across like that. The only person she wouldn’t dare do that too was Steve, but nobody would ever believe her. She covered her self on the outside with a giant ego to push everyone away, yet Steve managed to break down all of her walls. She felt exposed, innocent, submissive even when she was with the man. The opposite of what she kept up to the rest.

She rearranged her throwing knives in her pocket as she tried to even her breaths out. Her lungs hadn’t fully recovered yet, but she was able to supplement her breathing by forcing air into her lungs to keep her oxygen levels up. The previous night she wore an oxygen mask to help her breathe, but she hated the infirmary and needed to get out, the girl would have never been discharged in the state she was currently in. She would never let Steve know, and it was barely noticeable unless you were studying her finger movement as she breathed. She was running out of energy as she kept it up, but her anger fueled her to go on. She ducked behind the pillar and helped herself take a deep breath to clear her head. She could get through this day with nobody figuring anything out...or at least she hoped to.

~~~~~~

Peter grinned at Aurora before he began to stretch out a bit. He planned to do what he always did, take it a bit easy on Aurora but still give her a challenge. He didn’t see her as the stong gifted woman that she was, he saw her as a delicate being. Fragile enough to break in his touch. He believed that she could defend herself, but could she kick his ass? No way. He studied her as she walked over to the meta, almost frowning at the idea of her being away from him. He wiped the look off of his face when she walked back, the frown being replaced with his usual sloppy grin.

“I won’t I won’t” Peter mumbled, his eyes never leaving her. Finally, the match took off, and he was ready for it. Peter always had the upper hand with fighting against the superhuman, he had promised to go hard and he meant it. Peter fought like he was fighting for his life, landing jab after jab and avoiding Aurora’s jabs just as easily. “You are strong and I know that. Focus on your emotions before I truly kick your ass.” He added, ducking below her swing at him.

Aurora landed a good jab on him, but he quickly avoided her next one. “Come on, your emotions. You have to be quicker than that.” He spun her around to throw her off and was about to comment again when he felt the hit to his side. “Son of a-” The next thing he knew was he was on the ground, pain radiating through his back. He was about to comment again when he felt the air leave his lungs, his eyes widening at the lack of oxygen. He was impressed. Maybe his flower wasn’t so delicate after all.

Finally, she returned his ability to breathe, and his mind was busy rushing with what had just happened when she bent down to kiss him. “That was” He gasped, trying to retain his normal laser focus. “That was impressive.” He said before he launched himself back to his feet. He brought Aurora in for a kiss, only breaking when he heard the shouting between Captain and Bucky. “Ah shit, you have got to be kidding me.” He said, rolling his eyes. “I need your help” He added towards Aurora. He left her side and quickly picked up his pace as he ran towards the fighting. He would be damned if they hurt each other over something stupid.

~~~~

Kailyn hid behind the pillar, her focus now centered on her breathing and her strategy. She planned to kick some ass, whether she was injured or not. She moved to the front of the pillar to face Steve, a smirk on her face as she threw the first punch. She could tell that he was going easy on her, and she was damn sure to make him regret it. The meta landed every jab she could, grunting as he deflected her with his damn shield. She pulled out a throwing knife, pinning his shirt to the pillar of dirt. “Got to be quicker than that.” She added, disappearing behind another pedestal to go face Bucky.

Bucky was waiting for her, his frustration with Steve coming out full force onto her. “So tell me, why did you stand there like a helpless idiot when the two metas kicked your ass?” He asked, throwing a punch into her stomach.

The meta grunted, staggering back into another pillar. “I panicked, have you never panicked before?” She asked, quickly recovering and ducking away from his next swing. “It won’t happen again.” She added.

“I don’t panic. I never have, never will.” Bucky said, landing another good hit on her side. “I thought you would be just like me, as you have been so far. But you’re weak, just like the rest of them.” He swung his arm and hit her open-handed across the back, leaving a large hand-shaped welt on her skin that wasn’t covered by the crop top. “You made Steve weak too, you know that right?”

Kailyn whimpered as she fell to the ground, backing away from him as quickly as she could. “I am not weak.” She whispered, throwing him back with a large burst of air. “What Steve does has nothing to do with me.”

Bucky shook his head. “You think that? I have watched my best friend fall for you since the day you got here three months ago. He is more focused on you than anyone else. He is weak, just like you.” He had covered up his anger over the past three months, but now it was finally coming to show.

The meta froze his feet to the ground before he could move any farther, her anger fueling her movements. “I am not weak.” She said, shakingly standing up.

“Then prove it!” Bucky shouted

Kailyn took some water out of the air and used it to slash three deep gashed into his cheek. She sharpened the rest into needle-like daggers and thrust them into his right arm, causing the man to cry out in pain. She was about to do more when Steve popped up out of the corner of her eye and she bolted. She didn’t want him seeing the huge bruise on her side, or the red hand welt that was perfectly embedded on her back. She unfroze Bucky before she sprinted away, climbing to the top of a pillar to catch her breath.

The girl watched the two men step out a moment later, her eyes focused on Steve as he moved towards her. She stood up, barely registering the sound of a gunshot before the bullet hit her square in the chest. As hard as the girl tried, she couldn’t keep herself on the tiny pillar. “Oh god.” She mumbled, toppling over and falling the ten feet down to the ground. She let out a groan as she smashed into the ground, the air leaving her lungs from the impact. She pulled the bullet from her chest, struggling to shove air into her lungs as fast as she needed it. Her world began to spin around her.

Of course, she didn’t register Steve coming to check on her. What she did register was the sound of arguing between the two. She slowly stood to her feet, swaying back and forth as she watched the two go back and forth. She was about to step in when Peter spoke, and Aurora flung them back.

“You two need to calm the hell down,” Peter shouted, his glare landing on both of them. “You are acting like children over what? A pathetic, useless, meta who will be kept in the prison of SHIELD after she has served her purpose.” He stopped a slight grin on his face. He saw Steve began to fight harder, so he quickly webbed him to help Aurora out a bit. “I told you not to get to close Captain.” He spat out, his eyes narrowing on the man. “If you have an issue with it take it up with Fury, not me.” He added, shaking his head.

Bucky stopped fighting, his mouth dropping at the words he had just heard. He was angry at Steve, but this pissed him off even more. He felt Aurora let him go and he calmly walked over to Peter before he punched him square in the jaw. “You need to learn to keep your mouth shut.” He spat, shaking his head. He was about to say more when he heard footsteps behind him.

“You all need to chill out.” Kailyn slurred, her breathing short and jagged. Her body was actively shutting down as she spoke, so she tried to get out of much as possible. She turned towards Steve, squinting at him to try to focus her vision. “You baby me too much.” She said, staggering around a bit as she continued to speak. The lack of oxygen was inducing her into a drunk like state of euphoria, causing her to let down her guard and just say what was on her mind. “Just because you are hot as hell doesn’t mean you can baby me. I will kick your ass.” She giggled, ignoring Peters call of concern as she continued to speak. “You make me feel safe, and I love that, but come to the modern century man. Just make out with me for fucks sake.” She spun around, staggering over towards Peter, Bucky, and Aurora.

The meta then focused on Aurora and Peter, a sloppy grin on her face as she struggled to breathe. “You two are cute.” She said, focusing on Aurora. “You are my best friend here you go get that man.” Her vision began to blacken, but she pushed forward. Her focus shifted to Peter. “I will not be going to prison.” She said, her breaths becoming more and more shallow within the seconds. “Aurora will make sure.” Finally, she turned to Bucky and she began to lean on him for support. “I like you.” She felt his arm go around her waist to support her a bit.

“I like you too,” Bucky mumbled, using his free hand to flip Steve off in the background. Whatever he could do to piss him off was making him happy. Steve may be his best friend, but whenever they fought they fought hard.

“You are just an asshole,” Kailyn added, her feet slowly slipping out from under her. “But you don’t baby me, so I respect that. Let’s go to your room okay?” She collapsed into his arms, finally passing out.

Bucky scooped her up, his hand perfectly matching the hand-shaped welt on her back. He turned towards Steve who was still webbed to the pillar. “You heard the girl.” He added, a mischievous grin coming across his face. “She wanted to go to my room. Good luck with that.” He shrugged as he adjusted his grip on the girl, cradling her as he began to walk up towards the main facility.

Peter sighed and walked over to Steve, who for sure wanted to lay him out. He started to peel the webs away as he spoke. “You knew that was the deal from the beginning, I told you not to get close to her. She will rot in a cell after she is no longer useful.” He backed up from the steaming man as soon as the webs were off. “If you and Bucky continue to fight over her, I will send her to SHIELD to get rid of the problem.” He turned towards Aurora as the man stormed off. “It’s what’s best. She is too unpredictable to stay in society.” He muttered.

~~~~~~

Bucky had brought the meta to his room and had called Hope to shower the girl. He was angry at Steve, but he would never touch his girl without her consent. He wasn’t a monster. The infirmary had brought up an oxygen mask and IV bag filled with saline and meds, so once Hope finished washing her, changing her, and braiding her hair she was hooked up to the IV bag and oxygen tank.

The meta was tucked away into his bed, so he sat down on the couch. Banner said she would need to get through the IV bag of meds and oxygen for at least three hours before her lungs should be fully functional again. If she had listened to the doctors at the infirmary and just stayed an extra three hours this morning, none of this would have happened. Of course, when did the girl actually listen?

Bucky wasn’t surprised when he heard a knock on the door. He knew who it would be just from the knock alone. “Yeah one second.” He said. In order to piss off his guest just a bit more, the man stripped down to his shorts, with his plan to answer the door shirtless hopefully being just enough to piss off the man on the other side more. He opened the door, blocking Steve from coming in and raising his eyebrow towards the man. “I thought you would have been here an hour ago. Did you already go beg and plead with Fury?” He shook his head, his jaw clenching as the man spoke. “I don’t know if she wants to see you right now. Let me ask.” He turned slightly to show Steve that the girl was in new clothes and attached to an IV pole and an oxygen tank on his bed, just another thing to slightly piss the man off.

“Do you want to see Steve?” He asked. The meta let out a groan and rolled over, her shirt riding up enough to expose the handprint on her back. Bucky smirked and turned towards Steve, never wiping the smirk from his face. “I think that’s a solid no. Maybe come back later.” He said, his words laced with sarcasm. He knew he couldn’t exactly beat Steve in a fistfight, but he could always piss the man off with everything he did.
 
"The deal from the beginning?" Aurora sputtered. She looked between Peter and Steve's retreating figure for a moment before nodding and biting her lip to calm her anger. She was done being the fragile little girl that everyone seemed to think that she was. "I'll be damned if she gets locked up. She's a human being, Peter," she said. He had warned her that there would be things that he did that she didn't agree with, but this plan of using Kailyn was wrong on multiple levels.

Aurora stepped up to him, "I was locked up. I was experimented on and tortured. I could've very well turned out with just as much emotional trauma as she did. Tell me, when you rescued me from that hell hole, what did SHIELD intend on doing with me? Were you just going to use me until I'd served my purpose? What is that purpose, Peter? Please tell me, because if that's how you guys operate around here, then just go ahead and be done with me. You can't just let someone care and stir up all these emotions. If you want to break someone - shatter their heart - let them fall in love with someone and then tear it away because they've served a purpose."

She looked directly into Peter's eyes so that he could see the unshed tears in them. She'd leave it up to him to decide if she was truly just talking about Kailyn and Steve or not. Aurora wasn't even sure herself. "So go ahead. Have I served my purpose for you? For SHIELD?" Aurora blinked, releasing a tear and stepped back, "This isn't the man that I want to be with. That I...care for so deeply."

She knew that she was being harsh and maybe a little dramatic, but Aurora was doing it for a reason. He had to see what the true effect of his actions could be on someone. Being used like that and then thrown away like you were nothing was no way to treat anyone, especially not when Kailyn and Steve had obviously invested strong feelings into their budding relationship. Neither of them deserved that heartbreak. And if it took her pushing him away and saying some things that she might regret later, than so be it.

----

Steve had known that she wasn't fully recovered, but he hadn't realized just how bad it was or he definitely wouldn't have allowed her to fight. When she began stumbling around, worry clenched at his chest. She wasn't acting like herself at all, even though the words coming out of her mouth sounded like uninhibited thoughts. Steve pushed them away, even though his mind begged him to linger on them. Did she really want him to "make out" with her? It wasn't like the thought hadn't crossed his mind. He was a man, after all. But his feelings for Kailyn went way deeper than just lustful thoughts.

When she stopped at Bucky and he scooped her up into his arms, Steve's jaw clenched. If he wasn't currently webbed to a pillar, he'd have jumped right back on Bucky regardless of the fact that he was holding Kailyn. When Peter turned his attention back to him and reprimanded him for getting to close to the meta, he scoffed. "It's pathetic and hypocritical that you can't sympathize with having feelings for someone who's damaged considering your feelings for her," Steve said, gesturing to Aurora before he walked away, back to the main building.

Later, once he'd taken a long, scalding hot shower and managed to calm himself down, Steve marched over to Bucky's room and knocked loudly on the door. When Bucky opened the door, he looked up to the ceiling and took a breath upon seeing his friend's attire and the fact that Kailyn was changed into fresh clothing.

"We need to talk. Now," Steve said, grabbing Bucky roughly by the arm and pulling him out into the corridor. Once the door had closed behind him, Steve gave his friend (ex-best friend?) a serious look. "What the hell are you doing, Buck? Are you just trying to piss me off using her? Because mission accomplished. Or do you actually have feelings for her?"

He hoped to whatever entity resided above that Bucky didn't, but he needed to know. The man was Steve's oldest friend and, as much as he liked Kailyn, he didn't want a woman coming between them. In fact, they'd made an agreement long ago, as teenagers, that any girl that the other liked was off limits. Whether or not that still applied however, he supposed, was debatable. Those were the words of teenagers and they were practically old men now. Steve had lost Bucky before, so perhaps he could handle losing him again. But something inside of him want to avoid the fallout at all costs. And the first step to that was finding out what Bucky's motive was.

"And if you do have feelings for her, then why is it that you clearly hurt her earlier? I saw the marks on her skin and the bullet was aimed for her chest. You could have killed her."
 
Peter clenched his jaw as Aurora chewed him out. He hadn’t meant to spill the secret just yet, he wanted to save it for when the meta was being taken away. “Aurora you were a rescue mission, we wanted to help you escape from the hell you were in. That thing is a murderer with an emotional state more unstable than Bucky. She is too dangerous to keep around. SHIELD trusts you, they don’t trust her. You have to understand this is out of your control.”

Peter knew he fucked up when he called the meta a thing, he groaned as Aurora continued to chew him out. “When we brought her onto the team it was within a condition to bring her in. She is still wanted by the feds and by the state of New York. Do you think I have the power to wipe her past clean? I don’t. You were a rescue mission, she only has a purpose to serve. She is already causing fights between two of my best men and you expect me to change Fury’s mind? I tried to Aurora, I tried to after you became friends with her. I couldn’t find enough reasons to keep it around.” He sighed. “Come with me.” He commanded, hoping the woman would follow him.

He made his way to the training facility and cleared his throat. “Jarvis, start-up protocol 4311,” He said, hanging his head in defeat.

“Sir are you sure? We have never-”

“Just do it.” He said, his shoulders tensing up as Aurora joined his side.

A few moments went by before the image of Nick Fury popped up, his face clearly annoyed at the intrusion. “Boy, this better be good. Someone better be dying over there I swear-”

“Aurora wanted to know why the meta will be transferred to you after we are done,” Peter said, gulping as the man’s gaze hardened.

“Well of course. The meta was never a permanent member, she was meant to be a prisoner until you brought her on board. She will serve her purpose, then be taken from you so she is not a burden-” He knew he chose the wrong words the second he was cut off by Aurora. “You just don’t understand, you were a rescue and she is a temporary ally to-” He sighed, shaking his head as he kept being interrupted. He hated being interrupted. He heard her out though, listened to her words, and thought on them as she spoke. When she was finished he turned to Peter. “You let Rogers get close to her?”

Peter winced. “I placed him in charge of her when she got here. I never thought he would-”

Fury shook his head, silencing the boy. “We need Rogers here more than anyone else, more than you. I will talk to him if he can keep her under control, she will be his responsibility. The second she steps out of line, she is turned into SHIELD. I want a tracker embedded into-” He was cut off for the third time by Aurora, his jaw clenching. “Fine, no tracker. I want her monitored very closely. I want her off of the interrogation tonight. Understood?”

Peter nodded. “Yes sir.” He mumbled, and the hologram went away. He ran a hand through his hair, groaning as he reflected on the conversation. “This is going to be a lot of paperwork.” He grunted, shaking his head as he refocused on Aurora. “But if it will make you happy…. I will do it. I will do anything.” He said, his lips slowly moving into a small smile. “I could have never done what you just did, he would have never listened to me.” He added, studying her for a moment. “It’s… impressive.”

~~~~~
Bucky glanced at Steve, his mischievous grin only widening as he was pulled from the doorframe. His plan had worked, but the bastard was already in his meditation phase, so pissing him off again would take a lot more than just simple things. Of course, anything that involved the girl was up on the list of things to set the man off. “You really think…” Bucky scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief. “You really think I like her?” He let out a full laugh, unable to stop. The accusation of him being into the meta truly was the icing on the cake.

“Steve, I am not into her.” He finally said, wiping the tears from his eyes. “If anything, the fact that you are into her is enough to turn me away.” He shook his head again, trying to dispel the thoughts from his mind. “You were never one into many girls, so for you to finally be into someone and move on from Peggy after seventy years is a miracle. I wouldn’t get in the way of that.” He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “The meta and I are close friends. She tells me shit, and I can finally have a sparring partner who doesn’t mind me leaving a mark. We get our anger out on each other, leaving bruises and welts from time and again but she never complains.”

Bucky began to pace, his mind racing with the things he wanted to say to the man. “You never understood my anger, always tried to make me push it down, to blend in. She matches my level of crazy. Am I not allowed to be friends with her because you want to get down her pants?” He narrowed his eyes on the man, knowing that he continued to push buttons with him.

“Another issue you constantly have. You are weak Rogers. You have never been weaker than now. All over this girl. You get distracted, get injured, make stupid mistakes, and for what? To get some tail? You are better than that.” He said, his eyes never connecting with Steve as he continued to pace. “You baby her in training and are shocked when she can hold her own in a fight. I train that girl every day because I know if she were to get injured or god forbid die, you would be defeated. The least you can do in return is to focus on the mission at hand and ignore her in battle. It makes you weak. It makes her weak. You are going to get yourself killed over her.”

He let the words roll out of his mouth, finally letting his grievances go. Bucky turned to face Steve, his arms crossing over his chest. “So ask me again if I like her. Make yourself look more of a fool than you currently are.” Bucky turned from the man and grabbed the doornob, determined to get back into the room. “Son of a bitch!” He shouted, shaking his hand violently as the metal seared his skin. His day couldn’t get any worse.

~~~~~~~

Kailyn stirred awake as the men fought outside. She had already been on the oxygen and meds for an hour and a half, finally cutting the pain out of her burning lungs. She wasn’t strong enough to get up just yet, but that didn’t mean her powers didn’t work. She focused on the doorknob and heated it up for a while as they argued back and forth. They were going to fix their issues before bringing her back into this.

“Jarvis.” She breathed out, her breath was more consistent but it was still ragged as she spoke. “Link my voice to the hallway.” She asked, coughing violently as she tried to breathe. Her groan of pain could be heard in the hallway as she wiped the blood from her mouth. Finally, she spoke. “You two idiots need to talk things out. I can’t have my friends fighting.”

Bucky grinned at Steve. “Sounds like she just labeled us both as a friend, how does that feel?”

Kailyn coughed up some more, her jagged breathing easily heard out in the hallway. “Bucky shut your mouth.” She said, struggling as she tried to breathe and talk at the same time. “The doorknob will cool down in thirty minutes. Either makeup with each other and come back in calm or stay pissed off and leave me alone.” Her voice cut out as she went into another coughing fit, her struggle to breathe causing her automatic IV to send in some more calming meds. Within a moment, she was out once again.

Bucky turned towards Steve, his jaw clenching. “Just admit that she has made you weak and an idiot for thinking I was into her and we can move on from this. Simple as that.” He said, not planning to budge from his spot any time soon.
 
When Peter led her into the training building, she wondered what he could possibly be showing her in there that she hadn’t seen before. But when a hologram image of a rather disgruntled looking Nick Fury popped up in front of them, Aurora took a small step back. However, the man’s choice of words had her bristling with anger all over again.

“A prisoner, right. Because that’s humane. I was a prisoner too and SHIELD rescued me from that. My powers could be just as dangerous as hers so why -“ Aurora interrupted, but Fury continued.

She interrupted him again and, this time, he listened. “The fact that she has powers doesn’t negate the fact that she’s still a human being. She obviously faced some serious trauma and we’re just immediately treating her like she’s a lost cause without even trying to help her? That doesn’t really seem like the kind of hero stuff that SHIELD does.” Aurora let the men finish their discussion. She’d said her piece.

Fury’s face disappeared and Peter began to stress over the results of the discussion. Even though she’d pretty much just been yelling at him and interrupting THE Nick Fury to argue a point, Aurora smiled to herself. It wasn’t freedom for Kailyn, but it was a start.

She looked at Peter and tried to stay mad at him, but she just couldn’t. He was trying and Aurora was pretty sure that she saw where the problem was now. Peter was more or less just following orders, though he could still stand to shift his perspective some.

“Damn it,” Aurora muttered, “I can’t even stay mad at you.” A small smile broke out on her face again and she stepped closer to Peter, taking his hand. “You know that I don’t really think you’re using me, right?” She hadn’t meant that part, even as she’d said it, but she’d been running off of frustration and anger, so Aurora had ended up being more dramatic than she cared to admit.

She edged closer to him, smirking at his praise during their sparring match earlier and his compliment regarding dealing with Fury. “So are you finally gonna start treating me like a woman and not a little girl?” Aurora questioned, teasingly trailing her finger up Peter’s arm and to his chest, “Unless you need me to kick your ass again, then that can be arranged.”

——

For a moment, Steve was confused. Bucky actually started laughing. It wasn’t that crazy of a question, right? In his defense, Bucky had been pretty convincing in his acting. He felt the relief wash over him when he realized that his best frienddidn’t have any feelings for Kailyn. Even though Steve still wasn’t sure what to do with his own feelings for her, this definitely simplified the situation.

“Okay so you were just trying to piss me off,” he nodded, biting his tongue to keep from getting mad at Bucky all over again.

Steve hadn’t been expecting him to continue, but when Bucky started pacing, he could tell that a lecture was coming. He couldn’t even remember that last time he’d gotten one of th. It kicked him back to their war days, when he’d looked up to his best friend.

“I never said that you couldn’t be friends with her. You’re the one that had the shitty idea of pretending to have something with her just to spite me. I had to ask,” Steve explained, “And this is about more than just...that. She’s beautiful, but I feel something for her on a much deeper level than that.” He wasn’t even going to approach the subject of being weak and distracted while around Kailyn - that was something that he’d have to give some serious thought to later. Because Bucky was at least somewhat right, but Steve wasn’t about to admit that to him after the fight they’d had.

Bucky reached out for the doorknob and jerked back when the metal burned him, which actually caused Steve to laugh. He knew that it was Kailyn’s doing even before her voice drifted through the hallway.

“Shut up,” he muttered when Bucky commented on Kailyn’s use of the word “friends.” She was obviously struggling to breathe, judging by the sound of her voice and the coughing. Steve itched to go to her, but it seemed that neither of them were getting through the door until they resolved their dispute.

For a second, he thought about denying everything that Bucky had said, but then decided that it wouldn’t be worth the trouble. “Fine, I was distracted. Can we move on now? Fighting with you is exhausting,” Steve admitted. When it came to admitting defeat, Bucky was probably the only person he’d show his belly to.
 
Peter sighed, his lopsided grin only widening as he embraced Aurora. “Fine, but you will always be my flower alright? No matter how strong you are, I will always protect you.” He squeezed a bit harder before he placed a kiss onto her head. “Now my flower, I need your help once more,” He grabbed her hand lightly and walked with her to the main building. He brought her to a conference room and pulled out a chair for her before bringing up the gas meta’s file.

“This is the guy we need to take down,” He said, wincing at the obvious statement. “I need your help to figure out how the hell we are going to do that.” He added, pulling up a simulation. “You pop out an idea and Jarvis will test it. It’s alright if you can’t come up with one that works, I have been doing this for hours and have yet to figure something out.

He glanced over at his flower, a grin on his face. “Show me what you got.”


~~~~

Bucky’s lip quipped up into a slight smile. “We are equally matched now if anything I have an unfair advantage because of my metal arm. The only way to win against you Rogers is by getting under your skin.” He shook his head, sighing again at the man. “If you want to continue to train her like a broken doll, have fun. Just don’t be surprised if she comes back from our training with more bruises than you can count.”

The man could tell he struck a nerve with Steve, but he kept going strong. “I get more bruises than she does.” He lifted up his shirt to show Steve the large bruise that was to the left of his naval. He put his shirt down and lifted up his right sleeve to reveal the perfectly bruised teeth marks in his arm. “She fights dirty man.” He mumbled, pulling his shirt down over the mark. He clasped Rogers on the shoulder, giving him a firm nod. “Next time we fight, try to at least punch correctly.” He added. Bucky turned on his heel and went to go grab the doorknob when Jarvis spoke up.

“I am afraid the knob is still hot, she just received meds to put her out for a while. She won’t be able to cool down the handle. I suggest you wait-”

“No need Jarvis,” Bucky said. With a quick motion of his leg, he broke the door down, letting it loudly slam open. Unlike Steve, his room had things just strewn about everywhere. He didn’t pick up the cleanliness and organizational skills from the army. The meta was laid on his bed, shaking from the cold saline pumping into her system. Her IV pole had three bags on it, with only two emptied. The mask she wore left her face as red as her back. Bucky went over to the girl and hovered his hand about the welt on her back. “Pretty impressive right?” He grinned, even after Steve gave him a hard look. “Alright fine, I am going to go get something to eat. Just take as long as you need.” He said before walking towards the busted door. He paused as he grabbed the edge of it. “She would want you to be there when she wakes up.” He added, giving him a nod before he left and closed the door behind him.

~~~~~

Kailyn began to stir about an hour later. The meds were finally wearing off and she was onto her last half bag of saline. She groaned, the pain in her back finally overtaking the pain from her chest. Bucky had kicked her ass today. She would, of course, get him back for that during tomorrows training session, but for now she had to live with the pain. Of course, a hand-shaped welt on her back was a pretty badass scar to have anyways so she really didn’t mind.

The meta felt another presence in her bed, she kept her eyes closed for a moment as she gaged the situation. The spell of cottonwood and pine took over her senses, bringing a small smile to her face. She turned over and blindly found Steve, cuddling as deep as she could into him. She let out of sigh as she slowly opened her eyes to look up at him. “Hey” She said, still stuck in her groggy haze.

Once she was coherent enough she removed her oxygen mask, but didn’t dare touch her IV line. As long as there was fluid left in the saline bag she knew Steve wouldn’t be letting her off the hook anytime soon. She lifted her hand up to his face, gently stroking down the side of it as she studied him. “Do you boys always fight like children?” She asked, her lips budging into a small smile. “Of course I get the fun super soldier abilities without the metabolism” She muttered, still a bit loopy from her medication.

Maybe it was because she still had morphine in her system, or maybe she had finally found an ounce of courage, or maybe he made the move, what happened in that moment she wasn’t entirely sure. What she did know was that the space between them closed quicker than she could comprehend. Within an instant, her lips were on his, or maybe it was his lips on hers, she couldn’t quite tell. Her world melted away as they met, the anger and fear she had were gone as if they never existed. She melted into his arms, pressing her body to his as the sparks flew down her spine.

She finally had to pull away to catch her breath. Maybe she didn’t get the super soldier breathing ability either. Kailyn dipped her head down to his chest, panting for a moment as she caught her breath. She didn’t know what to say, but maybe silence was a good thing. She took in his cottonwood and pine for a moment, letting the euphoria in her mind die down. The silence quickly became awkward, so she brought it to herself to end it. “The hand-shaped welt on my back is pretty badass” She finally said, looking up that the man with a sloppy grin. She needed him more than she cared to admit.
 
She sat down in the chair that Peter had pulled out for her and looked up to the screen that displayed the gas meta's file. Aurora glanced over to him and bit her lip, thinking. Peter was actually involving her in the planning, which was new, so she wasn't about to disappoint. Of course, she didn't anticipate being allowed to go on the mission for the gas meta, but contributing to it was enough for her. It showed that Peter was beginning to take her more seriously.

Aurora thought for a few more moments before standing up and pacing slightly. She recalled what little information she actually remembered from science classes, given that she hadn't even finished high school due to being kidnapped. "Okay, so gas particles are the least stable phase of matter. The molecules are more spread out and move quickly past each other. When I got the gas out of Kailyn's lungs, it was difficult to control. I can move a solid by treating it more like one big molecule, but for the gas, I had to focus on each molecule almost individually. It took a more powerful emotion and memory for me to be able to pull it off," she said, more so talking aloud to herself.

"So I would assume that taking down the gas meta while he's controlling the gas would be too dangerous. It spreads too far. What if you were able to draw him out and keep your distance until he tired? There's gotta be some kind of limit to his powers. I mean, he's not in-human or anything."

——

Steve stared up at the ceiling as he waited for Kailyn to wake up. He started out pacing before realizing that he needed to stop the anxious movement. When she awoke, he didn’t want to cause her any more stress than she was already under. Plus, he seemed to be constantly stepping on things while pacing Bucky’s floor, so he had to resist the urge to clean somehow.

He was pretty good at compartmentalizing his emotions, so as he laid beside Kailyn on the slightly disheveled bed, Steve thought deeply about everything that had happened and carefully filed it away. The fight with Bucky, Kailyn’s questionable fate when it came to SHIELD, and his own feelings toward her. Steve knew that he needed to figure them out and assess how best to handle them before one of them got killed. The whole game of tip-toeing around it wasn’t working. He needed to be less careful with her.

About an hour later, Kailyn began to stir beside him. Steve turned to look over to her while his arms were propped behind his head. It was only a moment before her body was against his and Steve could no longer think through his thoughts as neatly. She tended to set every nerve and fiber of his being into overdrive, which was another thing that he’d have to get under control.

“Hey,” he said back, cracking an amused smile at the obvious grogginess in her voice. She, of course, mentioned the childishness of his fight with Bucky. Steve breathed a sigh before shifting to wrap an arm around her. What happened next ended up being seared into his mind, even though it all happened in a slight blur while he was in the moment.

Steve had pulled Kailyn closer to his chest and turned more onto his side, which brought her face closer to his. And he honestly hadbeen planning to make a move, but when she shifted her gaze to his and leaned closer, something in him seemed to snap. Suddenly, he couldn’t think of anything else and Steve just acted on impulse. If anything, he would treat it as the last reckless thing he did when it came to Kailyn. After today, he’d have to have more control.

The moment their lips met, Steve knew without a shadow of a doubt that he wouldn’t be able to let this woman go. Fury would have to take her away over his cold, dead body. His arm easily secured her body flush against his own and his hand came up to rest on the nape of her neck as his lips continued to savor the moment.

By the time they pulled away from each other, Steve was breathless as well. A smile spread across his face, touching his eyes, as Kailyn rested her head against his chest, which was rising and falling more quickly than normal. He didn’t know what to say, but he was pretty pleased with what had happened. Kailyn, however, seemed to feel the need to fill the silence.

“Only you would say that,” he chuckled, beginning to stroke her hair. “You need more rest. For me, please. Then, I promise, I’m done babying you.”

——

“I look ridiculous,” Aurora said, eyeing the cocktail dress that Kailyn had practically forced her into, “It’s a birthday party, not a night club.” The dress was a beautiful, vibrant emerald color, but she couldn’t get past the plunging neck line that cut incredibly low and left very little to the imagination.

She bent over a little in front of the mirror in Kailyn’s bedroom and immediately stood back up. “If I end up unintentionally flashing everyone, I’m blaming you,” Aurora said as she continued to tug at the tight material. “Seriously, though, how do you -“ she abruptly stopped when she caught sight of her backside. “I actually have an ass now? When did that happen?”
 
Kailyn let out a sigh at Aurora’s comment. “Aurora, there are fucking ants pouring drinks and DJing downstairs. Now, do you want to impress your man tonight or not? “ She asked, raising her eyebrow at the woman. “I had to spend over four thousand on that dress so you better well wear it with pride, do you hear me?” She chuckled at Aurora’s agape mouth. “I inherited six million from my mom, it wasn’t any stolen money….I think” She mumbled, shaking her head as she grabbed her dress from the closet.

She had actually hidden the dresses in her room, making Jarvis swear to secrecy when they had come in the mail. She slipped on a little black dress of her own, the fabric barely enough to cover her own ass. “When you don’t wear Walmart clothes, you get some shape. It’s a shocking theory in itself.” She added, grinning at Aurora. She brushed through her hair and flat ironed it down before applying some red lipstick. “Now loosen up, Peter is the one that is supposed to be all stressed out.

She grabbed Aurora by the hand and gently pulled her from the room and out into the hallway. “Since that kiss three weeks ago? Steve hasn’t done anything. This dress may actually give him a heart attack.” She mumbled, smirking as she walked hand in hand with Aurora down the hallway. She could already hear the music playing and smell the food cooking, it was going to be a good night.

Outside there was a ship parked next to multiple cars. She frowned at the sight, but let it go as she kept walking with Aurora. “I would jump down the staircase like I usually do, but I am afraid that would-” She should have been looking where she was walking. A large metal ax was leaning on the wall, its blade pointed outwards, just enough to leave a red mark on her skin. “Oh, you have to be fucking kidding me.” She grumbled. “These men leave their toys everywhere!” She exclaimed, picking the weapon up and taking it with her. She let go of Aurora’s hand as they rounded up near the staircase. “Hey” She whispered, looking her up and down. “Show him what he’s missing.” She grinned and rounded the corner with Aurora.

Peter was standing with Captain at the bottom of the stairs, trying to make small talk with the man as they both awkwardly waited for their girls to come out. “So, see any good sports games recently?” He rose his brow, the man seemed to be ignoring him. “Hey I know it’s not ideal but-” He turned his head to look where Rogers was looking, and thats when he saw her. His mouth went dry at the sight of Aurora, he felt like a high schooler seeing his crush all over again. The world seemed to melt around him as she descended those stairs. “Woah.” He whispered.

“Woah indeed.” Bucky said, clapping Rogers on the shoulder. “Don’t mess this up Rogers, or I will have to kick your ass.”

Peter cleared his throat as Aurora came up to him. He nervously adjusted his tie and offered her his hand. When she took it his face erupted in a grin. His whole world revolved around her. He didn’t even notice the ax-wielding meta next to her. “You look… beautiful.” He whispered, his mouth unable to form the words he was trying to speak. He was in his usual tux and tie, nothing over the top. “I hope you have time to join me for a dance tonight.” He muttered, bowing his head down to kiss her neck.

“Hey don’t ruin the makeup. It costs more than your life Parker.” Kailyn added, giving him a playful glare before she walked over to Steve. “I couldn’t find anything from the 40s so I had to dip from this century in fashion. I hope you can forgive me.” She shrugged the devilish grin that was on her face never coming off. She turned to Bucky who extended a drink out to her. “Do you know who’s ax this is?” She asked, showing him the huge hunk of metal that she hid behind her back.

Bucky blinked for a moment, his entire brain going quiet. “Oh my god.” He said, dropping the glass he held to the ground. “Thor, she’s worthy!” He shouted, his eyes never leaving the meta. The entire room came to a quiet lul and everyone seemed to focus their attention on the meta, staring at the ax in her hand.

Thor came thumping over, a beer in one hand and a sandwich in the other. His grin was massive as he stared down at the girl he had heard a lot about. “I can see you chose wisely Steve. She’s worthy!”

Kailyn blinked as he removed the ax from her hand, unable to comprehend what was happening. “I’m what?” She asked, too confused with the entire situation going on. She looked at Bucky, then at Steve who tried to explain what had happened, but she clearly wasn’t grasping the situation. “I am going to go drink until things make sense.” She muttered, slipping away as quickly as she came.

Bucky looked at Steve, his eyes still wide from what had happened. “Go get her. Don’t mess this up.” He added, patting his best friend on the back before disappearing into the party.

Kailyn and Thor were at the bar together, chatting and laughing about both of their adventures. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Peter and Aurora come up, and her grin widened even more. “Peter! Thor and I were about to have a shot off, want to join?”

Peter shrugged and let go of Aurora’s hand. “Sure, my metabolism burns faster than yours so why the hell not?”

The bartender, which was a giant ant, lined up 15 shots of tequila. Five for each of them. A timer was set by Hope who counted down from ten. “Oh, Peter have you heard? I’m worthy.” Kailyn added, just trying to throw the sticky man off guard.

“You’re what now?” He asked, but the timer had already set off. They all downed the shots in less than a minute, with Thor finishing first, the meta coming in second, and Peter coming in last. “That wasn’t fair! You threw me off guard. She threw me off guard.” Peter tried to explain to Aurora, pouting slightly.

Kailyn grinned. She didn’t even feel the liquor in her system. “Maybe we can do the second round in thirty.” She stood up from her stool and stuck her tongue out at the man before she turned around, bumping into Steve who had apparently been watching the entire time. “Hey” She grinned. Alright maybe her metabolism wasn’t as fast as she thought it would be. “You should wear suits more often. You look good.” She whispered. Her eyes studied him as if it was the last time she would ever see him. She was still mad about her three-week dry spell, but the sight of him standing tall and proud in front of her was almost just enough to satisfy her. Almost.
 
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