Helios (Steve Rogers x Male!OC x Darkling)

VIII

Once you had woken up and gone through your morning bathroom routine, Jarvis had notified you that Bruce was cooking breakfast and asked if you were joining, to which you had agreed. When you got to the main floor's kitchen, you saw Clint's grin before anything else. He was sitting at the table next to Natasha and they had a newspaper in hand.

"Morning," you smiled back at Clint as you walked to the kitchen and saw Bruce making pancakes. You poured yourself some coffee as Bruce spoke.

"Don't take them too seriously, they mean good," Bruce said to which you frowned in confusion. But before you could say anything, Clint turned to you and somehow still had that smug grin stuck to his face.

"I'm surprised you can still walk," he said but shut up when Thor put his hand on Clint's shoulder in warning. Thor walked over to you with a concerned look on his face.

"Did he force you?" He asked.

You furrowed his brows as you looked up at him and then turned to Clint again, "What did you mean?" You had somewhat got the idea that Steve must've boasted to them about your 'date'.

"Lios," Thor put his hand on your arm to calm you. From his little interaction with you and some observation, he had figured that though you were mostly calm, you had a tendency of losing your temper at times. You ignored him when you saw the headline, "Captain America's in Love!" on the newspaper in Clint's hand. You walked over to the table and took the newspaper from Clint's hand.

There was a picture on the front page right below the headline which showed Steve's face in his car pressed to yours. The picture was taken from behind you so your face wasn't visible but your hair was. Steve's hand could be seen on the back of your head and on his ring finger was the barest image on a platinum ring. You opened the newspaper to the page where the article was continued and there was a closeup on the ring.

You didn't bother to read the rest of it as you felt eyes on you. You looked up and saw that everyone was looking at you. The picture wasn't exactly clear but your hair was distinguishable. The image clearly showed silver hair. "This... This could be anyone," you said but they gave no reaction. There was no point to it. They knew.

You took a deep breath as you looked back down at the newspaper and realized how you must've looked. You had slapped Steve just a couple of days ago in front of everyone on the account of his condition and yet here you were now with his tongue down your throat. "Where's Steve?" You looked up and asked Thor.

"He's in a meeting, he must-" Natasha had started but stopped as Steve got into the kitchen.

"Good morning, everyone," he said and looked at you, "Morning, Helios," he said and walked too close to you. You stepped back, aware of everyone's eyes on you. You grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the room.

"Have you seen this?" You asked as you reached the elevator lobby that was deserted.

"I- yes." He replied. You took his hand and turned it over, watching his fingers. 

"Where's your ring?" You asked him.

"I don't wear any," he said.

"Those fuckers edited a stupid ring into the picture!" You yelled as you handed Steve the newspaper. Steve pretended to look at it, having well-known he had slipped a ring into his finger when he had seen the paparazzi click a picture.

"Watch your language, Helios," he said nonchalantly.

"What?" You looked at him, "Doesn't this bother you?"

"It happens all the time," Steve said and honestly, it did. He remembered one time he was just buying cereal when somebody had clicked his picture and headlines had been in the newspaper just the next day: Captain America can't do without a bowl of Cheerios! and till date, there wasn't a fan meet where he wasn't gifted cheerios.

"Not to me!" You yelled again but tried to calm your voice. "My fucking hair's in that picture, those-"

"Helios," Steve said in a stern voice, holding your hand in his.

"Oh, it's Lios for fuck's sake," you said but looked away as you saw Steve glaring at you. You brushed away his hand and paced the lobby, taking deep breaths.

"It's not that bad. Quite frankly, I don't suppose a lot of people even know you to be able to recognise you." Steve said.

You didn't reply for some time as you focused on calming yourself down. You were panicking and something inside you was unsettling you. It was a familiar yet dreadful feeling that you wanted to get rid of. "Steve," you finally spoke in a much calmer voice, "Phil would know,"

"I'll talk to him," he said.

"No." You said. "You won't. I'll do it." You said.

"Lios," Steve approached you cautiously and put his hand on your biceps as he slightly squeezed. "I'm really sorry for this, trust me. I am,"

You looked into his eyes for a second before signing, "Don't." You said. "It's not your fault the world is so stupid and intrusive," you said.

Steve chuckled a little, "Welcome to the life of an Avenger," he said.

"Seriously," you said, "Don't you get tired of it?"

"All the time," he said. "Where do you think I was right now? My PR manager had to deal with the world's news channels and reporters,"

You huffed, "There are people starving to death and all they care about is Captain America's love interest," you looked at him with a slight smile, "You have a PR manager?"

"Wait till you get yours," Steve chuckled. "Look," he said after, "I know you didn't want to tell Phil yet but if you want, I can be there with you when you talk to him,"

"I'd really rather not," you said awkwardly.

"Oh, I don't have to talk to him. It'd just help me sleep better if I knew he wasn't worried," he insisted. You looked at him for a couple of seconds and nodded. You were about to pull your phone out of your pocket when you realized that you had left it in your room.

You took the elevator to your floor with Steve, knowing you wouldn't be able to have breakfast with worrying about Phil. He probably hadn't seen the picture yet, you figured, but you'd rather him hear it from you than a news article. When you got to your room, you opened your laptop and had Steve stand out of the camera's frame as you called Phil.

"Yo," he picked up. His phone was flat on a table as you could only see the ceiling and his hands and a part of Phil's chin as he ate a sandwich. "What's up?" He asked with a mouthful.

"Finish it first," you said. You watched Phil finish his sandwich, reading something with his other hand. When he was done, he put down the papers and picked up the phone again.

"Everything okay?" He asked as he wiped his face with a napkin.

"Um, kinda, did you see the news?" You asked. Phil's face grew dark when you spoke again, "Oh, it's nothing bad, never mind. I just wanted to talk to you about something," you said.

"Hmm?"

"I uh, I kind of went on a date last night," you said. "And someone clicked some pictures that might or might not have been leaked," you said.

"Alright, send their address and phone number. I'll deal with it," he said instantly which made you suddenly feel wary of Steve's presence. You would've laughed had he not been here. You didn't want him to think that you needed Phil's help with things or needed him to clean your mess. Phil had probably read it in some weird parenting book to not blame the kid if something like this happened, you thought. You never understood why he liked those stupid books, they only made you feel as if you were an experiment and the book was a manual for Phil to consult.

"No, not like that," you said with a sigh, "Can you promise not to freak out?" You asked.

Phil frowned, "That question freaks me out even more," he replied.

You sighed before taking a deep breath. Just do it, you told yourself. "It's Steve," you finally said. "I went on a date with Captain America,"

"You're dating Steve?" Phil asked and for a moment you feared Phil would start fangirling but for once, you had some luck. "Do you have any idea how old he is?" This was much better. Phil was always like this, but he only did it to 'maintain a balance with authority and friendliness to be approachable but also someone your teen can rely on as one of his books had said.

"28," you said.

"More like 88," he replied. "What pictures?" He asked. "Did you send him your nudes?"

"God, dad, no," you said, flushed, "We just kissed and some guy clicked a picture and it's now all over the news," you said.

Phil furrowed his brows and looked closer at his phone as he Googled. "Huh," he said. "You're barely even visible,"

"Not unrecognisable though," you said.

"Right," Phil said as he drew his attention back to you, "Well, don't worry. I'll take a look into it, make sure your name doesn't come anywhere," he said.

"That's it?" You asked.

"Did you consent to the kiss?" He asked to which you nodded, "Did you use a condom?"

"Woah, ew, no, we didn't do it. It was just a kiss,"

"Good," Phil said, completely unphased. He suddenly chuckled as he shook his head, "You have a type alright though," he said. Your face turned red on his remark, "Seriously, why can't you ever date guys your age?"

"Whatever happened to 'never judge your kids'?" You said with a grin, it was a staple in all of his books.

"Aye, I'm not judging," he said defensively, "Just saying," he said. "Well, I'll have to run," he said, looking at his watch. "Everything else fine? You're alright?" He asked.

"Yeah. Bye, Dad," you said with a smile. Talking to him had felt like a weight had lifted from your shoulders. If he knew and didn't have an issue with it, then it was fine. You hung up and sighed.

"So I am your type," Steve grinned as you looked over at him. He was leaning over a wall with his arms crossed across his chest.

"Don't push it," you said yet couldn't help but smile. 

"Why do you call him dad?" He asked. "I thought he was your guardian," He wanted to ask why you didn't tell Coulson about the wedding, fearing you still might be thinking against it. But he felt like touching the topic right now could only possibly make it worse.

"Same thing," You replied, suddenly feeling a bit exposed even though Steve had already known about it.

"What happened to your parents?"

"I killed them," you said with a straight face, looking right into Steve's eyes.

Steve frowned, "That's not funny," he said but you just shrugged. "Come on, let's get breakfast. I heard Bruce was cooking?" he said as you stood up and he put his hand on your back. 

"Yeah, I think he was making pancakes." You said. Steve held the door for you and when you walked out, Steve briefly looked at you before he leaned in to give a quick peck on your lips. 

"Can I do that?" He asked with a smile. You sighed. You hadn't thought of the implications when you had kissed Steve last night. There was a picture of you on the cover page of pretty much every newspaper now, and whoever knew you now knows about the date. But you still couldn't deny, Steve was kind of sweet and he had helped you calm down as well. You nodded and kissed him back. Steve held the kiss for some time before his stomach growled, making you both laugh as you took the elevator to the main floor.