Pleasure Remains the Same -Helmut Zemo(eventual winterbaron) x Reader

Continued 18

Authors notes: Hi! Sorry it took so long, but hopefully adding a few new chapters will make up for it ;) I wrote the last words of the story the other day and cried like a baby lol... I will miss these three so much. But for now, here you go! 

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Top down,  wind whipping through the Benz, you cruise along the southern coast in the black vintage beauty; the docks all but disappeared in the rearview as you're sped away from the fantasy that had become home. It's nothing but onward towards your final destination now.

Turning around to let the already distant view of the yacht fade to memory, you look over at your man, that serious profile breathtaking and in dark contrast to the pale yellow world around you thanks to the rising sun. His eyes are on the road ahead, and your heart flutters as you take a deep breath.

You rest your head on the leather seat, as always finding it too easy to just stare at him— maybe years from now you'll get tired of the view, but you very much doubt it.

Sad as you are, there's a song stuck in your head, you've been humming it over and over; the minor notes perfectly somber if not overly dramatic, when it finally comes to you.

With a faint smile you reach for your phone, find it, and turn the music up.

Of course, Lana would have something for a moment like this. Now someone else probably wrote a better song first, but at this moment, Miss Del Ray is precisely who you want to hear. You face forward, sinking down in your seat with a sigh and close your eyes, letting the orchestral strings tug at the ones leading to your heart while Zemo drives you around the winding bends, water to your left, rocky hillsides dotted with beautiful architecture you will never see again to your right.

The airstrip is not far now and just far enough to leave a trail of emotion behind you.

When you open your eyes again you see your own reflection in the side view. You know this face well, of course. But this woman has changed so much in these past few weeks. You now know what it is to love and be loved so unconditionally that to leave a part of that behind seems absurd, and yet here you are... three down to two.

You glance over at Zemo again. He's silent as he drives, and you understand; he's as lost in his thoughts as you are in your own. You reach for him and lay your hand on his shoulder, just wanting to touch him. You don't expect him to do the same, but he takes his left hand from the shining black steering wheel and crosses it over to hold yours as he looks at you for longer than he probably should, his eyes showing a sense of understanding and care as he holds back his own hurt because yes, you'll be a duo until Bucky can visit, but there is no love lost between you. If anything saying goodbye to him has given you and Helmut something to bond over, although you're nervous about this new start. You really had found your rhythm in the Bronx with James Barnes.

All those late-night train rides from the bar, sharing street food when you were too lazy to cook, and yelling at Bucky to run to the bodega for chips with dip when your cravings for salty junk food hit hard once a month— and yet— living with Helmut will be predictably incredible, just in a very different way.

You're thinking lobster and champagne instead of chips and beer. Oh what's a girl to do, being spoiled by two very generous men. What a shame.

You smile at him because yes, you have a type and not it's not just wounded and broken things to mend. They both have a sort of formality mixed with a modern man's respect for women that you are drawn to like a moth to the flame.
You'd been nervous about living with Zemo at first since you hadn't yet, not truly. But you realize now that it wouldn't be so different after all. Not to mention the fact that you loved him first. Your heart opened to him so easily that it must have known, and if he loved Bucky before you? Well, you must all be on the right track.