"Being together is more important than how we're together."
"You really mean that?" she whispered and reached up to push a strand of hair out of his face, letting her fingertips linger on his cheek.
He leaned down to place a gentle kiss against he...
Location: Outskirts of new Avengers Campus, Upstate New York Date: June 13, 2020 Time Stamp: one month after the wedding
"How long will you be gone?"
Shooting a brief, almost saddened glance over his shoulder at the building he was leaving, Thor trudged through ankle-high grass, his heavy footfalls matching those of the man walking beside him. "Given the number of threats growing throughout the nine realms," he answered honestly. "I doubt I will return anytime soon."
A slight scowl forming between his eyes, Lucas shoved his hands deep into the pouch of his black hoodie. "Well, if you need any help out there, you know where to find me." With the New Avengers Facility towering from the forest behind them, warm light glowing from the multitude of windows, and the full moon shining overhead, it was as if they were walking in daylight.
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Picking up on something off in Lucas's tone, Thor stopped walking and fixed his piercing blue gaze on the former Hydra mercenary. "Do you wish things turned out differently?" he pried, searching for an answer lying just beneath the surface.
"Different?" Lightly clearing his throat, Lucas rubbed the back of his neck, his fingers tracing an old scar that never healed properly. "N-no, not at all."
"Then why do I sense that you are discontent?" Thor said, more a statement than a question.
"I-I'm not. It's just...a lot to take in, ya know?" Shoulders falling as he let out a deep sigh, Lucas's forest-green eyes searched Thor's face to see if the god would be empathetic and allow him to verbally work out his jumbled thoughts.
Smiling the slightest bit, Thor nodded, silently indicating that he would listen.
"All this-" Lucas motioned to their surroundings, and up the hill toward the Compound. "-is amazing but...I don't really feel like I belong. I spent so many years in fox holes, covered in sand and dust, sleeping on rocks beneath the stars, wondering which terrorist group had a bounty on our heads that it's hard to switch back to normal life. Sam and Bucky warned me coming home'd be an adjustment, but I never thought it'd be this hard."
Scrubbing a hand over his face before letting his arm drop to his side, Lucas studied the individual blades of grass around his sneakers. "I should be grateful, I guess..." he said lowly. "T'Challa and Bucky got the UN to fully pardon me, so I'm free to do whatever I want, but I don't know what that is anymore."
"You'll find your place again, I am sure of it," Thor declared with conviction. "Until you do, rely on your family. Protect what they hold dear while you find what that means for yourself."
Trailing off, Thor gazed out across the lush, moonlit hillside and sighed, a smile appearing on his face. "This realm..." he began as if he could see the entire thing from where he was standing. Perhaps he could. "It holds a special place in my heart. The people dwelling here are blissfully ignorant to the chaos all around them." He turned back to Lucas, making a curious glint appear in the young man's eyes. "In my prolonged absence, a man of power equal to my own must look after them. I am hereby placing Midgard and its inhabitants under your charge." Thor swung his arm between them. "Guard them well."
