It's Forbidden

Reject

After Steve telling Sam that Bucky and Aspen weren't together, the entire room fell silent. Everyone looked at Steve, including Bucky and Aspen. And then everyone looks to Aspen and Bucky. Tony looks around the room and he clears his throat. Everyone looks at him now. "Barnes is going and Aspen you go next time." Tony says, trying to get the attention back to the mission. He had chosen Bucky over Aspen because he knew Aspen and Steve were arguing and he didn't want it to compromise the mission.

Bucky and Steve were arguing as well, but they weren't siblings. And sibling arguments can't turn civil automatically even if it's for the sake of a mission. "What's the mission?" Natasha asks. Trying to help pull the conversation away from an argument and back towards the mission. "Retrieving viles of super soldier
serum that's going to be distributed to a terrorist organization." Tony explains.

Aspen looks at Bucky with worried eyes. She didn't like that his first mission consisted of a terrorist organization. She knew it would be dangerous and she was afraid that being on a mission would trigger his PTSD. And more than anything she wanted to be there for him but she knew she couldn't. "Buck I don't like this." She says to him. Not whispering, not trying to hide what she was saying, but in a low voice because she was scared and worried.

Bucky takes her hand in his, discretely, and gives her a soft smile, trying to help soothe the major anxiety he knew she was feeling. "I'll be fine Asp. We'll talk in
another room before I go, okay?" He whispers to her. He knew she had PTSD too. She was always scared for him, because when they were captured by hydra, they would always torture him first, excitement on him first, mind control him first. She had to watch it all. So she was always scared for him. Her mind always went back to him screaming. Not being able to fight. Him hurting.

And it hurt her. She couldn't help him. She felt helpless. And she felt like that now. Like she couldn't help him again. And she hated it more than anything. Because if something happened on the mission and she wasn't there, she wouldn't be there to help him. He would be all alone. And she never wanted him to have to go through anything alone. It was one of her biggest fears. Him having to go through something alone.

"Okay." Aspen said. She still wasn't convinced but she knew she had to be brave for him because she didn't want him to be worried about her while he was on the mission. She wanted all his attention on the mission. To make sure that nothing happened because he was worried about her. She wanted him to be fully focused on just the mission.

Tony sees everything going on and once again, brings everyone's attention back to the mission. Knowing Aspen wanted Bucky's full attention on the mission and not to worry about her while he was gone. "Suit up everyone." Tony says. "Everyone?" Peter asks hopefully. "Except you, Aspen and Banner." Tony says to clarify to everyone. Since he did say for everyone to suit up.

"Wow." Aspen says shaking her head. "Left with the rejects." She says. Obviously she was only kidding, and everyone knew that, she was trying to lighten both her and Bucky's moods and get their minds off the way they were feeling. Both of them had major desperation anxiety when they weren't together. Because they were always together. They were together during everything for so long that they didn't know how to be without each other anymore, but they knew they should try.

"Be nice." Bucky says to Aspen. Picking up what she was trying to do. He smiled at her and shook his head. "Sorry." Aspen says. "Care to include us in the conversation?" Wanda asks. They hadn't been whispering, not caring if anyone heard, but talking in lower voices. And they were drowning everyone else, as if it were only them in the room.

Just like they always did when they were around each other when the team was also around. When anyone else was around really. They were always only focused on one another. And they did it without realizing. It was something they had been doing since forever, and it became a habit. It became something they did every single time they were together that it was second nature. They never picked up on what they were doing until someone would point it out. And even after someone would point it out, they would still end up back in their own little world together.

"Secret mission stuff." Aspen says jokingly. Wanda knowing very well what's going on. "I just said you're
not going Aspen." Tony says. He clearly didn't pick up on the joke and thought Aspen really thought she was going on the mission, even though they had just said twice that she wasn't. "I have short term membory loss." Aspen says to Tony. She looks over at Bucky smiling with an expectant look in her eyes.

"That's that blue fish from the movie right?" Bucky asks smiling. Knowing that Aspen wants him to get her Disney reference. "Dory." She says confirming his answer was correct. "Bingo Bucky." She says smiling. She loved how he got her Disney references and even if he didn't get them he would still try to get them and he was almost always super close with his answers.

"Okay seriously everyone," Tony interrupts. "Suit up." He says. Aspen looks over to Bucky with a pretend sad face. "not me." Aspen says to Bucky sadly. "Apparently, I'm a reject." She adds. Making a fake crying face. Bucky shakes his head at her, trying to hide his smile and make it look as if he was disappointed in her. "If I have to tell you One more time to be nice-"