The Path of Time ★ [3] ✔ (EDITING)

An Unexpected Arrival

⏳ 2016

I sat cross-legged on my bed in my room. I enjoyed the quietness of the wing I was in. Wanda was next door to me, and she was one of the people on the team who wanted their space from time to time. Tony was nice enough to dedicate an entire wing of the base to just the two of us on the top floor, away from everyone else. It made the place quiet and peaceful and private. But at the same time, it also seemed to me that it was made to keep us away. We tried not to think about it.

I pulled my watch from my pocket. My fingers brushed the golden surface, polished to a shine yet aged and thin cracks snaking across its lid. I pushed the button at its top and it flipped open. Golden time dust floated out, swirling around the room. Pictures fused out of it: pirate ships, men on horseback, sword fights, trains. They melded together to create a circular shield. Slightly darker dust circled the surface of it, going clockwise, while lighter dust circled anticlockwise. A star bloomed in the center. Captain America's golden shield floated before me.

I smiled. It had been a wild ride for Steve and I. We'd been through a lot over the past few years as friends and now more. It actually felt weird to call him my...boyfriend. It didn't feel like that. I didn't like calling us that. It felt like we were more like...soulmates. And even that title felt uncomfortable. I didn't like calling us that either because it felt like were disregarding the other people we'd once had feelings for: Peggy and Eilian. I knew what we were, and that was all that mattered rather than saying what we were.

I'd tried my best to help Steve adjust to life without battling the common thug or warlord every minute of every day. He struggled. We both did. But we were powering through it. We'd spent a lot of time together. We'd spent Christmas together with the rest of the Avengers. And his birthday on the Fourth of July where we sat on the roof of the base and watched the fireworks.

In regards to work...well, to be honest, it was harder to fight now that we were together. We'd always spend too much time worried about each other rather than concentrating on the mission. And we didn't need to. We both knew we could take care of ourselves. But it was a habit now. We were afraid of losing each other. Afraid to face life without the other. I was afraid to face life without him. And with the future words I'd heard last year following me around like a thundercloud over my head, it felt like that reality was creeping closer and closer.