|Towards the Endgame|

•Chapter 138• Just Me And You

"Do you believe him?" He asked her. A day has gone by now. Twenty-four hours, and Y/n still has no idea what or who to believe. Really. "If Peter says he doesn't know, he doesn't know." She answered. They sat together on the porch, just the two of them, Y/n and Bucky. Their hot drinks were getting cooled by the breeze. The sky was gray, but it was still very bright outside. They could see the lake from here, and it was as calm as it could be, even with the wind stroking over it every now and again. The trees were the same. Bucky would not say the words out loud quickly, but this place brought him a certain type of peace. "And you believe him? Just taking his word for it?" He is not trying to come between the two teens. Bucky is only trying to be realistic. "That has not always worked out." He reminded her carefully. Y/n looked at the lake and tried to avoid eye contact with him for a little while. She knows Peter is great at editing, and she would be lying if it didn't seem a little suspicious. But where would he have gotten the time? And why would he bother? No, this is a weird situation, but Peter has nothing to do with that little line. "I know." She mumbled. "Doesn't mean I can never trust him again." Bucky sighed and leaned back in his chair. He, too, turned his head and looked out at the lake. "I'm trying to figure it out," Y/n mumbled. But she could not do it. As much as she wanted to see that little detail that would solve it all, she could not find it. They could not sit around like this for much longer. Tony and Natasha were still out there, and who knows what they are doing? Or better yet, who knows what Toomes is doing? "You're saying she is not real. She seemed pretty real to me, Buck." She pointed out. "I've seen this plenty of times before. Hydra used to cover up their tracks all the time with altered footage. Most folk don't see it, and I don't blame them." He used his right hand to pick up his mug with hot coffee in it. "This is not Hydra." Y/n shot him a suspicious glare. "Right?" He hummed and nodded his head. "As far as I've been told. You never know if there's a little cockroach who survived. Same thing happened during the war -" "Same thing happened with you and Captain Popsicle." Bucky glared at her, but Y/n could only grin mischievously. "Very funny."

Y/n pulled the blanket she had over her lap a little up to her stomach when another breeze passed by. Bucky watched her closely but did not say anything. She insisted on sitting outside. It was not cold, not for him, but Y/n is still fragile, hence the blanket. "You said she is a hundred percent not real." Bucky nodded his head. "But Peter says she was. His hand did not go straight through her like it would have done with a hologram." That is the tricky part. It is not a glitch in the footage, that is for sure. This is intentional. Something they were not supposed to see. They caught the mouse but have no clue what to do next. Toss it out the window? Never speak of it again and set it free? It might come back if you do that. Bucky looked at her. She did not like that glint in his eye. "I remember seeing a thing or two a couple of years ago. That seemed pretty real..." Y/n sat up straight and shook her head whilst disagreeing with him loudly. "No, that is not what this is." She told him sternly. "Peter would have noticed if it had been a trick." Y/n defended her boyfriend, even though Bucky was not attacking him. "It varies. I've even noticed that. I can't blame the kid." When he is too focused on one thing, he can't focus on something else. But she wanted Bucky to be wrong so badly. "I'm keeping my mind open, is all," Bucky said to her. This is a difficult matter, and they could not afford to make any mistakes. Y/n kept replaying the scene from yesterday over and over again. Yes, she watched Peter's face closely. No, she did not see any muscles twitch; no lies were detected, not in that moment. That did not mean that they were not there. Bucky was right about keeping a close eye on Peter and what he tells her. Y/n already made a promise to herself: do not believe everything Peter tells you. And it pains her to make that promise. Could anyone really blame her for that, though?

Bucky softly blows on his coffee before lifting the mug to his lips. Y/n could only watch. "I am so jealous of you." She said as he sipped his coffee. "Your mom said no caffeine. So no coffee." Peper did say that. She wants Y/n to get healthy, so all she got was some green tea. No caffeine. All natural. Y/n did not hate it, but she missed the privilege to choose. "Still jealous." She pouted. Bucky tried to shield his mug with his hand so Y/n could not lurk and dream of it being in her hands instead of his. Though it felt a little strange to have her stare at him the way she did, his hands especially. "I don't want to wait for the answer to come to us, Buck." She mumbled. "I want to figure it out as bad as you do. Nobody wants loose threads. That's why we need to weigh out the options here." She did not like to think that Peter was lying. He isn't. And she definitely does not want to think about holograms. She has had her hands full of that already. Toomes is playing a nasty game here, and the girl is a major part of it. "Think Pete's gonna run into her again?" Bucky asked her. He would swing through the city again soon. If not tonight, then tomorrow. Could be. They have yet to figure out what her plans are or were. Maybe she has already succeeded, and they do not know it yet. "I hope he stays as far away from her as he can," Y/n told the super soldier.
A small click of the door made both of them turn their heads. Morgan's face peeped out with her longer hair dangling on the side in a messy braid. "Can you help me?" She asked very quietly. Y/n lifted the blanket off her lap so Morgan could sit on her lap. She giggled as her big sister untied the mess she had made. "Did you do that, Maguna?" Morgan nodded her head. "You were almost there. Hey, why don't you tell Bucky what you did at school the other day?" Y/n shot a cheeky smile at the super soldier as her little sister started to ramble about their small story time they had in class. Bucky had no choice but to sit through it all and nod along.

Peter bent down to pick up another shirt that he had tossed on the floor. He does not remember having these many clothes. A pair of pants disappeared under his bed weeks ago, and he only just found them again, covered in dust and webs. A knock on the door sounded. "Hey, doing okay?" May asked her nephew. Peter glanced at her from over his shoulder. She held two glasses of water in her hands. "Gotta stay hydrated." Peter smiled at his aunt and thanked her. She stepped inside and sat down on his bed as she handed Peter his water. The boy promised May he would clean his room, and after weeks, he finally got to it. One side of his room is already squeaky clean; he even mopped the floor there. The other side was still a bit of a mess, but it's progress. Nothing to complain about there. May is just glad he's finally doing it. "Doing okay?" Peter nodded and chugged his drink down even faster than his aunt poured it in. "I thought you were gonna see Y/n today." Peter looked through his window at the gray sky. "Perfect day to clean my room. I'm not in a rush. And I promised you a while ago." May hummed. "I'm glad you're making good on your promise." She really was. "Are you and Y/n okay?" That boy is cleaning his room instead of running off to his girlfriend. Peter is clingy if given the chance. May has always found it very sweet. But a teenager not wanting to spend all the time he could with his girlfriend, a boy like Peter? That is a little suspicious, if not worrying. She knows this boy like the back of her hand. Cleaning his room is not at the top of his list. Definitely not.

The boy nodded and let out a quiet hum. "Yes. Why? Why? Did she say something?" Peter had no clue why May would ask him this. Yes, there is a strange tension hanging above his head with the whole Black Cat situation they are in. He could only hope Y/n believes him. He did not alter those images. And that woman is real. God, where do they begin? "I'm a little worried about you, Peter." The boy frowned at his aunt. "Worried? About me? Why?" May pointed at the piles of clothes on the ground. "Because you are cleaning your room." She chuckled. "Come on, just me and you. Talk to me." Peter sighed and sat on the floor in front of his aunt. "May, I really messed up." Peter started. May's expression shifted almost immediately. "What happened?" Her nephew waved his hand around. "It's okay. It's okay... There was a situation, with another girl – nothing happened – but it ended up in Y/n's lap and she was pissed. I mean pissed." May nodded along, swallowing her comments for now. "Tony was really mad at me before that. I kind of brought someone to their house whom Tony hates. Big mistake. But I don't want to press Y/n with visits." This was true. He did not want Y/n to get annoyed with him. It is best not to test her patience right now. "Okay..." May paused, "That doesn't sound great. That doesn't sound great at all." She took a very deep breath as she tried to take it all in. Peter awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.

Peter explained as easily as he could to his aunt about what they found. The strange footage and how Y/n might suspect him of having corrupted them. "I didn't do it. I wouldn't know how. And it definitely wouldn't have looked like that. This looked so real, May. If you had seen her, you wouldn't have been able to tell the difference." He told his aunt. "They really believe she is fake. Like some kind of robot or one of those intelligence things -" May has no idea what she is talking about when it comes to technology. Peter admires her for trying. "That's what we are trying to figure out right now." And that is a lot harder than Peter had first expected. Sure, a couple of things have passed through his mind already, a couple of theories. Is there one that holds even a little bit of fact? Peter might never know. "Y/n's a clever girl. The two of you might figure it out together sooner than you think. Just be careful, please, Pete." May could not tell him to stay at home, not to think about this, to ignore it all, and move on. She is not that kind of parent, and that does not work with Peter. She could only be happy with Peter being this honest with her about the situation, even if she understood very little about it. Sometimes, she hopes she'll wake up, and it turns out to be all just a dream or a game of pretend Peter has been playing all this time. You can't change it. No matter how much you want it. "You're not in any real danger, are you? Or Y/n?" Peter scratched his throat gently with his nails. "Uh... well... do you remember when I told you about the man with the wingsuit?" May's eyes open widely. "Peter -" The boy held up his hands. "I don't like it either! I didn't invite him!"