The Bracelet of Bonds ~ An Avengers Soulmate AU

Chapter 17; An Uncomfortable Interaction

Sam's POV

The party was in full swing and everybody was having a great time. Pepper, Rhodey, Bucky and Pietro did an amazing job with the decorations. They livened the whole place up. Bruce and Wanda did an awesome job with the food and drink as well. It was a fantastic party, so much better than the boring and fancy ones Tony has to hold for Stark Industries.

"Sammy! Stevie!" Tony exclaimed, catching the attention of both of us who were at the pool table. We paused our game and walked over to our mate, who was standing with a tall brunette guy in a suit with a cool beard. He had a really nice beard.

"This is Quentin Beck" he introduced, "He used to work with me, but now he's started his own business, Beck enterprises, he doesn't need me anymore", Tony joked, earning a laugh from Quentin who gave him a side hug. I swear I heard Steve growl; he was always the overprotective mate.

"That's not true!" Cool beard guy spoke.

"My company runs on BARF technology... god, we really need to work on that acronym. Without Tony, I never would've been able to develop the tech, really great mate you've got here guys, hold onto him".

"Don't worry, we will" Steve spoke through gritted teeth. Tony shot him a weird look and I laughed, before disguising it as a cough.

"Well... Excuse me while I go chat with Coulson over there, great party Tony!" Quentin said before smiling round at us and leaving.

Steve clenched his jaw as he stared at the man's retreating form, "I don't like that guy, he gives off a weird vibe, stay away from him Tones" he declared.

The shorter man chuckled, thinking this was some sort of joke, "Okay Cap".

"Hello gentlemen" Came a familiar voice, and we all grinned and turned to face the one and only Maria Hill.

"Heyyyy!"

"Hi!"

"MARIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" 

We greeted our friend, and she smiled brightly at us, "Where are the ladies?" she asked, looking around.

"Wanda and Nat should be rightttt there," I pointed, to the bar. "Oh look, Psyche's there too" I said, surprised but pleased.

"Oh shoot yea! I already said hi to her, I was just coming to tell you guys that she's here but then Quentin came over and-"

"Started trying to hit on her" Steve interrupted Tony.

"What? No, he started to talk to me abou-"

"No, he's HITTING on HER" Steve exasperatedly voiced.

We all turned to look back at the bar area, where the girls were lounging. This time, Quentin was there too. Chatting with Psyche.

Tony fidgeted nervously, "He could just be talking... non-flirtingly" but he didn't look convinced.

Maria shook her head; she appeared unsettled, "No, look at the other girls. Wanda and Nat look pretty pissed off".

Steve nodded, "Besides, you forgot about my super soldier hearing and I can tell you that is NOT just a friendly conversation".

I clenched my fists instinctively. I was gonna rip that hot beard off Quentin's stupid face and feed it to him.

Poor Tony looked like he was about to have a breakdown and combust out of anger. I placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, we'll just go over and stand there okay? Make sure he doesn't do anything". He nodded.

"Maybe he doesn't know she's mated..." Maria added thoughtfully as we walked over.

"Oh he does, he said something about her soulmarks" Came a new voice, we all jumped slightly and turned to see Bucky.

He shrugged, "I have super hearing too".

The rest of us guys walked over to the bar. Maria had broken off from our little group to go talk to Nick about something.

Psyche saw us approaching and smiled, giving a light wave, which all of us returned. We sped up slightly as we walked over.

"Hello ma'am" Steve greeted in his charming way when we were close enough.

"Hi guys!" she greeted back.

"Hey!" Bucky and I both said in sync.

"Jinx" he whispered, and I rolled my eyes.

"Hello again!" Beck jabbered at us cheerily , as if he wasn't just trying to chat up our mate. I resisted the urge to roundhouse kick him.

"I was just talking to Psy-"

"Mr Beck! Might I introduce you to Leo Fitz?" Came the voice of Director Fury.

Oh thank Thor...

I turned a little to see Maria in the distance, giving me a thumbs up. I nodded with a smile, silently thanking her for her indirect intervention.

"Oh, of course" Quentin responded smoothly before grinning round at all of us and walking away with the pirate-director.

Nobody knew what he'd been saying to Psyche except the girls and the super soldiers, no matter how badly I wanted to ask, I figured now wasn't the appropriate time to ask.

"Thanks for that", she said quietly, her happiness never wavering, but she was obviously unnerved by whatever Beck had said to her.

Tony opened his mouth, obviously wanting to ask the question that was on both of our minds. However, a glare from Pepper shut him up and he decided not to ask.

"Oh, I see Clint!" Wanda chirped, trying to create a distraction from the tense situation we were in, "Laura's with him!".

Psyche  was obviously relieved at the change of conversation, "Is that his soulmate?", she inquired, earning a nod and verbal affirmation from Nat.

Maria had walked back over to us by now and tapped the cosmic witch on the shoulder, "Sikes, we should introduce you to Laura, she's quite the astronomer, you'll love her!" (A/N: YAS I MADE LAURA GOOD AT ASTRONOMY IDK WKHDBWJDHJWHDJ)

Tony snorted, breaking the Psyche is just an acquaintance for now charade in one sentence, "You won't love her too much I hope! We do want you, you know?".

Everybody laughed, and just like that, the ice was shattered. Psyche was no longer a stranger, but a mate to the Avengers.

A/N: Wtf did I write lmao it's so weird and the plot makes no sense, eh, it's fine. I'll have to make a part 2 to this, I just wanted to get a chapter out ASAP. I think this is the shortest chapter I've written so far.