The Archangel (Avengers Fanfic)

Chapter Thirteen

The first minute outside, the sun hurt my eyes. We were both right, we had been inside way too much. It was warm out and I was enjoying the sun on my face. I drew my visor down from my eyelids to protect my eyes better from the sun, like sunglasses but I didn't have any of those. "This doesn't look stupid, does it?" I asked Bucky, feeling slightly self-conscious.

"No, it's functional, functional can't be stupid."

"Good answer." I said as I unbuttoned and shrugged off my shirt, and yes, I noticed how his eyes lingered but he was a gentleman and quickly looked away. I was more comfortable without the shirt anyway, I had to cut holes in all of them to accommodate my wings and the fit wasn't always right. "You mind if I stretch my wings?" I looked pointedly at the sky, I hadn't flown properly in a couple days and it was making me itchy to get back up there.

He laughed, "Go ahead, I'll be right here when you get back."

"You're the best date, Buck." Shit, it just slipped out. I didn't even realize what I said until I was already in the air. Oh well, best make the most of my time before I have to be grounded again. I flew far higher then swooped back down, laughing as I did a fly-by over Bucky's head. I made patterns in the air, a loop-de-loop, a heart, circles within circles. At one point I almost ran into one of Tony's suits, I wasn't sure if he was in it, but it clearly wasn't watching where it was going. I went back for another fly-by when I got an idea, an evil idea but he'd appreciate it after he got over the shock-factor.

I flew out of sight, which wasn't a cause for him to worry as I had done it a couple times already and flew up behind him, stilling my wings into a glide so he wouldn't hear me coming. Once close enough, I grabbed him around the waist and launched skyward. I'll pretend I didn't hear that little squeak. "Please don't drop me!" He shouted over the wind.

"Never!" I shouted right back as I broke through the cloud barrier. We were still under 20,000 feet so we could both breath just fine. I ignored the fact that his body was literally pressed against mine, mostly, well, I tried at least, but I could feel every damn muscle he had and it was sexy as hell. I felt his body relax against mine, trusting that I wouldn't let him fall. Knowing that I had his trust was a feeling that I would treasure. "This is my favorite place, no matter where in the world I could be, wherever they sent me, I could always come up here and watch the sunset."

It painted the clouds below in a flurry of rolling colors, mostly orange, but also pink and purple, a touch of blue, even a bit of green. Up here, there was nothing to block the heat of the sun, nothing to call your attention away. It was peaceful, a small slice of Heaven if there ever was one.

"It's beautiful." I had the distinct impression that he wasn't looking at the sunset, which made my cheeks flood with warmth not caused by the sun. I let us drift slowly back to the ground and alighted on a grassy hill just next to the pool. He turned in my grasp so our fronts were facing each other, faces just barely inches apart. "Angel, I'm—" He sighed, looking torn, "I'm not whole."

I cupped his face with my hands, "neither am I." I found myself wondering, had his eyes always been so blue? In the next moment, his lips had brushed against mine, breath fanning across my face that smelled of mint and peanut butter. It was hesitant, the kind of kiss where you don't quite know how the other person will react and you wait desperately for a sign that it was the right thing to do at all. I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity. How could I have hated a man who was really so much like me?

It started slow and languid, the only sound that of our heartbeats and the wind. His lips were soft and warm with the taste of peanut butter and chocolate still rich in his mouth. His real hand held the back of my neck while his metal one held the small of my back. I ran my fingers through his hair, it was soft and silky, slipping through my fingers like water, I could tell that he liked it when I played with his hair even without his say-so.