Learn to Fly

Chapter 20

"...that winged people WILL be given rights and protected by the constitution!!" Cheers and screams of joy erupted from the crowd. It was deafening, but no one cared. Steve and Bucky full on kissed each other on the lips they were so happy, and Loki even gave Thor a side hug. No one was more proud however, than Tony. Eventually, they moved the celebration to the common room, with shawarma, as they sat on the couches, talking and laughing. Peter was the one to stand up and talk to everybody.

"So!" He started, "I think that everybody has seen my wings. Since it's legal now, could we see all of yours?"

A chorus of "Sure!"s echoed through the room.

"I guess I'll start," Steve said when no one said anything. He stood up and stepped out of the way before unstrapping his wings. Huge gasps came from the crowd of Avengers. Gleaming, 12 foot wings took up the entirety of the space, and people marveled over the colors. Most of the wings was pure white, followed by stripes of deep maroon, silver, and navy blue ending at the tips of the feathers. Steve looked rather sheepish and allowed his wings to droop and sat back down. Bucky couldn't help but pet them softly.

"Wow" Peter breathed. The wings were nothing less than expected of Captain America.

"They didn't always used to be so... large." Steve explained, "When I was a little guy, they were maybe 5 feet? The blue and red didn't really show up until the serum," Bucky unstrapped his gleaming silver wings, and used them to hug Steve. "I think the silver is for soulmates," he said quietly, and Steve kissed the top of his head. Peter had to stop himself from squealing just a little bit (What? He's a fanboy at heart). Wanda was the next one to speak up.

"My brother and I didn't always have our wings. When we were experimented on, the tesseract gave us wings as the source of our powers."

"Hydra was brutal with us," Pietro added. "They didn't intend to give us wings, so they just bound them and beat us more." Wanda and Pietro shared sad smiles as they let out their wings. Wanda's were solid red and fluttered lightly as red magic gathered around them, while Pietro's were light turquoise with silver tips, but remained motionless.

"Can you even fly, Piet?" Wanda teased. He huffed, and flapped his wings. The problem was that, like his legs, they moved with superhuman speed, and within milliseconds, his head hit the 25 foot ceiling. Everyone got a good laugh as he floated to the ground, dazed. "I... did not see that coming." he admitted. When they finished their giggling, Bruce was the next one to let his wings out.

"They don't appear when the other guy comes out," he said quietly upon receiving looks of confusion. Loki was next to unveil his wings. Thor gasped the loudest.

"Brother! Your wings are magnificent! They are worthy of a true asgardian!" Loki only smiled softly. You could see where the broken feathers were healing.

Scott let one of his wings pop out, smiling like a goofball. "Uh... Scott? You have ant wings?" Clint awkwardly asked. He nodded. "Pretty cool, right?" Murmurs of confused agreement followed. All that remained were Tony and Stephen. Stephen went first.

"I only have one now," he said quietly. "The accident that damaged my hands ruined the other one." Tony stroked the wing softly. Many of the feathers were damaged or small, but it was nonetheless beautiful. The main color was white, but stripes of red, blue, green, and gold were scattered throughout. Tony finally let his wings out. He winced as he did so, like they hadn't seen the light of day in many years. The wings were small, almost shriveled, and about half the size they should have been. The color was bright, ruby red with gleaming gold tips, although it had definitely faded.

"As you know by now, my father Howard hated wings. Mine weren't even normal, so that just made the beatings worse. Honestly, I think he only let me keep them as punishment."

The room was silent for a moment until Peter got up and hugged his father. All the avengers joined in, never wanting to let go of each other.