Helios (Steve Rogers x Male!OC x Darkling)

XXV

"Aleksander," you whispered, thinking of him and only half-expecting him to show up. You looked up into the mirror of the bathroom, having realized it the safest place for the moment, and sighed when you saw him standing behind you. Turning around, you still looked at him in wonderment over how he'd just appeared out of nowhere in an instant. "You've got to teach me how to do that."

"It'd be my pleasure," he smiled as he walked towards you, his hand on your waist as he looked down at you.

You put your hand over his, moving it off of you and stepped back against the cabinet, "I have some questions." You said as you saw his smile falter and step back.

"I'd be surprised if you didn't," he said and looked around. "Should we go somewhere else?"

"I uh, kind of have somewhere to be in a while."

He scoffed, shaking his head. "With that selfish man of yours?"

You sighed, deciding not to reply but instead focus on what you needed to know. "How did you find me?"

"Your power, there's an aura that surrounds you. Similar to the one you must be seeing around me," he said casually, leaning against the wall. "With some practice, you can sense it from a distance but the more you inhibit your powers, the bigger that aura around you becomes. I can sense it and avoid it, those who can't can get seriously bothered by it without knowing the cause. Makes them irritable."

"Oh," you said, taking in his words. "Our powers are-"

"Similar," he finished your sentence. "In all honesty, there are none other like us."

"I want to learn then," you said. "The powers, everything. You can teach me."

Aleksander's lips turned into a smile, "Can I?"

"Please,"

"I can't teach here," He said and just as you were about to ask why not, he continued. "I just can't. For some reason, my powers don't work as well here. Besides, the city's too loud."

"Oh," You sighed even though you knew you could ask Tony for one of the emptier floors but chose to go with whatever Aleksander had to say for now. "I can't leave here for too long."

"It's not magic, you know. I just can't chant a spell and have you master it in a day," he said, looking away. "Our powers aren't toys to play with, Lios. They're dangerous."

"Trust me, I know but-" you stopped when you heard Steve call for you from the room. You looked at Aleksander who had heard it as well and had straightened up.

"Let me know when you're ready," he said and without waiting for your reply, stepped back into the shadows and disappeared.

***

When Steve came back and saw that you weren't in the room, his heart had almost skipped a beat and the worst came to his mind. Even as he knew he was clearly overreacting, he couldn't be helped but be reminded of the hours he had spent in silence without knowing a damn thing about your whereabouts or whether you were ever going to come back on your own or not. He had his phone in his hand and had just dialled SHIELD to get your number tracked again as he called out your name, hanging up and sighing with relief when he saw you walk out of the bathroom. He could tell from your face that you could see that Steve was clearly worried but was glad when neither of you chose to speak about it.

"Sorry," You said, walking out. "You ready to go?" 

Steve smiled and nodded, telling you he had to change first and walked over to the wardrobe. He was still a little jittery from thinking of the things he had planned and even though he had just made sure everything was working and in its place, he was still nervous about a lot of things. Top of the list, of course, was you not liking it and it worried him to death to have to even imagine the disappointment on your face tonight of all nights. He cleared his thoughts as he changed into dress pants and a shirt and was about to put on his Chelsea boots when his eyes fell on a pair of sneakers similar to the ones he had seen Tony wear. He clearly remembered you had complimented him and decided to wear those instead, putting on a casual blazer and bringing your jacket to you.

"Everything okay?" He asked, seeing you look out of the window as if in deep thought about something.

"Yeah," You said. "What are we eating?" 

"You pick," He said with a smile, helping you in your jacket as he held it for you while you put it on. You chuckled and nodded, putting the name of your favourite fast food place on your phone's map to show Steve. 

It didn't take you long to drive there and get your order but Steve refused to eat in the car like he'd said before and drove off to the other side of the city instead.

"The food's going to get ruined," You said, groaning a little at the traffic.

"It was ruined when we got it," Steve remarked, eyeing the packet at the backseat. "The oil's literally seeping out of the container."

"Shit, that's the dip," You said, reaching back and setting it straight. 

"Hey, that's not safe," He reached out his left hand to pull you back but you made sure that the things were in order before you sat back. "Anyway, we're almost there."

"Steve, this..." you looked out and even though a part of you knew now what the 'place' Steve said was going to be, you still hoped it would just be a park or something instead. You could see houses lined up on both sides of the street with expensive cars in their driveways. Before you knew it, Steve pulled into one of the driveways and the garage door opened on its own to let the car in. You got out and walked out of the garage just to look at the street and back at the house.

"It'll be ours," he said, getting out of the car to stand next to you, looking at the house with his hands on his hips. "Of course, you can redesign it if you want but-"

"Man," You sighed, choosing not to say anything at the risk of ruining whatever it was that Steve was feeling. You helped Steve get the food inside as he went on about the house and how he had planned it so far, keeping everything minimal for now so you could set it up with him later. "How much was it?" You asked and knew the moment you saw his face that you shouldn't have. He didn't answer and instead went on to set the food on the table. 

"Stark said we can still keep our place at the tower, by the way. Just in case."

"Maybe then we could-"

"Oh, and we won't be the only celebrities here," Steve spoke. "A few live down the street so the security's pretty tight. I mean the realtor said it isn't surprising if a camera or two gets you on your way out but it's mostly clear." and so, you let Steve steer most of the conversation while you two ate and settled on the sofa in the living room once you were done. Steve let you scroll through the TV but just ended up putting on a random movie that neither of you paid attention to. 

"Barton was asking for you by the way," He said after a while. "I met him earlier, he said you hadn't been responding to his texts?"

"Oh right," You shook your head, pulling out your phone. "I did see his message but totally forgot to reply."

"I talked to Mark by the way," Steve said, eyeing your phone as you replied to Clint's text. "He thinks it'll be fine if you choose to not attend any of the press events from now. I mean a couple there and then but I'll take care of most of them."

"Yeah, that does sound good," You said, putting your phone away with a sigh. "I wanted to talk to you about something else too,"

"Yeah?"

"I might be going away for a couple of days now and then," You said and got the exact expression from him that you had expected, his brows furrowed and looking like you'd almost told him you'd killed a cat. 

"What for?"

You sighed, "I kind of know someone who can help with my powers. It's a bit messed up right now and I think it'll be for the best if I get it together. Kind of about time."

"Who's this person?"

"Well," you took a breath. "You don't know him so-"

Steve eyed you, "He's that guy you kissed, isn't he?" He asked and scoffed when you didn't reply. "Up to you then, do what you want." He said, getting up. 

"It's not like I'm going to make out with him, I already told you-"

Steve shrugged, "Up to you." and walked off.