The Ghost Initiative (Avengers Next Gen)

Book 2 Chapter 12

Nate's P.O.V

I stood outside Melody's room again, just as I had every day since Alex fell. Her door was dinted and you could see where James had glued it back together during her shower a few weeks ago. My knuckles hovered over the cracks in the door as I tried to steel myself against the potential tongue-lashing Mel could give me. My other hand rested in my pocket, flipping the familiar shape repeatedly as I hesitated. Down the hall I could hear Bucky open his door, his footsteps moving down the hall towards me. I turned to look towards him, watching as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes moving towards the kitchen. He stopped to stand in front of me for a moment, a yawn fighting against his lips. 

"If Rosie doesn't start going to sleep at a decent time every night I'm going to drug her at dinner every night" Barnes let out a quiet laugh, I jabbed my thumb towards the kitchen as he huffed. 

"I think her family might have an issue with that Barnes. You could try *tiring her out* if you know what I mean..." I smirked as he started blushing, grumbling under his breath as he walked away. 

Once Bucky had walked down the hall I turned towards Melody's door again, thinking back only a few seconds to the lovestruck look he got every time he talked, saw or even thought about Alex since he had gone on that date months ago. Breathing deeply I raised my hand again, knocking quickly once before bracing for impact. 

Melody's P.O.V

I sat on my floor, trying to pick up the shards of plates and cups that I had smashed over the past 5 months. Flinching as a particularly sharp piece sliced my finger, tears pooling in my eyes from either pain or embarrassment. I couldn't believe I had treated everyone so horribly when Lexie fell, the way I had pushed Nate away; yelled, screamed and thrown stuff every time he had tried to help me. I could see that he was standing outside my door like always, trying to convince himself I was worth the trouble despite everything I had put him through. 

I heard a sharp knock, and my heart dropped. ' No special knock?' He must be furious with me. I inched towards the door, trying to force myself to open it... Whatever he said to me from here on out was entirely justified given the way I had treated him. My hand hovered over the door nob, grazing the indents left over from Howie knocking it off the hinges.

I took a deep breath, swinging the door open I expected to face an angered Nate Barton; only to see nothing at eye level. Confused I looked around expecting to see him hiding around some corner too scared or hurt to look at me. Instead, I glanced down to see Nate... My Nate bent down on one knee fumbling with something in his hand. 

I cleared my throat, fighting the giddy feeling in my stomach as my mind flew through all the possible reasons he could be in that position. Nate jumped slightly, dropping the small box he had been trying to open and falling on his backside with a small grunt. A giggle escaped my lips on instinct and I leaned down to help him, holding my hand out to him. 

"Do you want a hand?" I questioned sheepishly, now fully aware of how badly I had treated him all over again. The seconds it took for him to grab my hand felt like hours as I waited to see if he was here to reciprocate the anger I had pushed at him recently. 

"Well, this is honestly a bit embarrassing... Can we just - maybe - retry that?" Nate rubbed the back of his neck, leaning down to pick up the box he had dropped. I nodded slightly, seeing something move in the corner of my eye. As I went to look Nate bent down again, grabbing one of my hands as he moved. It felt as though my entire body was on fire and freezing at the same time, my brain moving faster than I had ever run as I tried to work out what he was planning. I watched as he took a deep breath.

"Melody Magda Maximoff, 11 years ago Nicholas Fury put us together on a mission... And you couldn't stand me -" He let out a laugh" - Me on the other hand. I knew I wanted to be with you the moment you tripped getting onto that quinjet, I promised myself I would to there to catch you every time. I know I haven't kept that promise lately, I fell in love with your stubbornness and independence when we were younger, and I wouldn't change a single thing about you all these years later." I let out my own little laugh as he spoke, trying to work out if this was his final goodbye or something more romantic. 

"This is my roundabout way of saying I love you Speedy. From the way you crinkle your nose when painting, and how you try not to tap your foot during long meetings but end up tapping your fingers instead. I love the way your hair bounces back and forth when you go on a jog, I could spend hours watching you try to remember a word in English by going through every other one of the languages you know instead. It would literally take days for me to list all the things that make me love you, Mel... But I can't remind you how amazing you are if you shut me out every time it gets hard. You need to give me - No you need to give US more credit than that, We've survived so much together already." He had tears in his eyes as he spoke, fiddling even harder with the box in his other hand, letting go of mine in the process. He let out a half laugh before looking back up at me. 

"It won't open... I've had this thing in my pocket for 8 months and now it won't even open." He let out a huff, placing the box on the ground. "I don't need it." he muttered. 

"Melody, will you marry me?" Nate sat there, down on one knee... asking me to marry him. I must have stood there in my shocked silence for a while because he started to look worried. Suddenly Nate started apologising, standing in front of me frazzled - tears still in his eyes- telling me how he should have known if was the wrong time to ask. I didn't even think, didn't even realise I was moving until it happened; I suddenly pulled Nate into to most passionate kiss I could muster, childish giggles slipping out between breaths. 

All around me, colour seemed to come back into the world, it was like all my hope had come back the moment I wrapped my arms around his neck. I held him as tight as I could against me, scared if I let go he would disappear. But instead, I leant my face away from his and spoke between happy tears. 

"Nathaniel Pietro Barton, there is nothing I want more in this world than to marry you! I'm so sorry... about everything. Babe, I missed being around you so much." Through a fit of infectious laughter, Nate managed to pick me up and spin me around in the hallway, littering kisses all around my face in the process. Slowly we stopped our celebration to stand just outside my door, I leaned down to grab the box he had left on the ground flipping it around in my hands. Smiling I realised his nerves had caused him to try and open it backwards. 

"Are you going to be correcting me on everything after we get married Speedy?"