New York, 2012. It changed everyone somehow.
It changed Steve Rogers. It changed Tony Stark. Most of all though, it changed Aurelia Stark.
When nothing in Aurelia's world is what she thought it was, how will faces from her past change her whirlwind...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
All the things I did Just so I could call you mine The things you did Well, I hope I was your favourite crime -Favourite Crime, Olivia Rodrigo
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
February 1st, 2013 Washington D.C, USA
We knock on a glass door, standing there, bedraggled and exhausted. Ash covers Nat's cheek and a long cut runs through my eyebrow. After a few moments, the door slides open, revealing a very confused Sam Wilson.
"Hey, man," he says, looking us up and down.
"I'm sorry about this." Steve exhales, "We need a place to lay low."
"ASAP," I add.
"Everyone we know is trying to kill us." Nat chimes in.
"Not everyone." he steps aside, letting us in, before glancing around nervously and closing the door, pulling down the blinds.
A while later, Steve stands in the ensuite bathroom in a white vest, washing the grime off his hands. My head tilted to the side watching him through the open door, I sit back on the bed, keeping myself upright with my hands.
My hair is still damp from the shower I just took and it hangs limply around my shoulders. He scrubs aggressively at a smudge at his face that won't rub off and I stand up and walk into the bathroom.
"Here, let me," I say gently.
On the counter, there's a washcloth, which I take and run under the tap, dabbing at the dirt until it's gone. Then I run my hands through his blond hair and he kisses my forehead, before I walk back into the bedroom and sit down on the bed again.
He walks toward me and leans in the doorway, watching me intently, "You alright?"
"Mhm." I hum. He keeps watching me, "I'm always fine. You know me."
He walks into the room and sits down opposite me, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Ari..."
I puff air out, "I just- Ugh." I try to find the words, as I rub my eyes, exhausted, "You ever ask yourself what we're doing this for? Fighting and fighting only to find there's another war just beginning, more monsters in the closet." He cups my cheek and, with his thumb, traces the cut that runs through my eyebrow; I sigh and meet his gaze, "I joined S.H.I.E.L.D and I thought I was doing something good. All my life up until S.H.I.E.L.D, I was only 'Tony Stark's daughter'. This was finally something I was doing for myself and I thought I was doing good, after all the pain my family had put into the world." I move my stare down to the carpet, "Guess what I was doing was worse than weapons-making would have been." Now that I look up, he's standing over me, "I just want to be my own person for once. Every little part of my life has always been planned out for me. The second I got away from having Stark Industries forced upon me, I ran straight to my grandpa's agency. And then I got these powers and I thought finally I had something unique. But no, I'm destined to save the universe, whether I like it or not." By now, tears are rolling down my cheeks, and I lean forward, my head resting on Steve's chest, "I just wanna go home, Steve. I just wanna go home with you."
