The Midnight Sky

Stars

I walked out onto the balcony, staring at the sky. It was a clear night, Stars shimmering millions of miles away. Sometimes I wish that I could have my own personal star. Something that makes me shine bright whenever I arrive. So people could know that I am here.

The screen door opened and Bucky stepped out. He had a cup of coffee in his hands. He extended it towards me. I took it.

"Look at the sky, Barnes." I nodded my head up.

Bucky's eyes lifted up.

"The Stars glistening, the dark and deep background. Peaceful." I muttered. "When I was younger, my mum would tell me that the stars were spirits. And they showed up at night because that's when the monsters appear."

"It's lovely." He agreed.

"I was born at twelve thirty in the morning. When I realized that, I immediately thought that I would never be a star in the midnight sky." I continued, pausing to sip my coffee. "And my powers came to be and I knew for sure I would never sit that high up. I believed I was one of the monsters."

"You truly believe you're a monster?"

I pushed my hair back. "Yes."

Bucky nodded slowly. "Why?"

"Because I've done bad things. Been a bad person. I killed two people rather than walking away and moving on. I melted their brains, for fucks sake."

"Why do you keep a attitude all the time?"

I handed him back the cup of coffee. "Because if I wasn't a bloody SWABA, I'd lose that significant part of myself again. The piece of good in my heart. No one gets close because that's how you end up hurt. And I vowed to never, ever, go through that again."

I got a call on my phone. It was Stark asking me to come downstairs in the lab. I walked down there slowly.

"Here." He threw my locket at me.

"How did you-"

"Dum-E gave me a hand." Tony shrugged. "I sealed the locket shut, the energy is brewing around in there so don't try to open it. It'll last a while and in the mean time, I will come up with something more permanent. Also, I want to run some tests on you. Figure out why your body isn't functioning naturally."

I wrapped my hand around the locket and felt the zap of the energy shoot through me. It was a better high than the old version of the locket. It was pretty cool, actually.

"I heard that you were an ass." I admitted. He smiled slightly. "And you took time to do this for me. Thank you."

"Like I said, I take care of my team." He didn't look up from the arm of his suit that he was fixing up.

Steve came down. "Tony. You hit forty nine hours. Forty eight was the deal. Let's go."

Tony sighed and dropped his tools. He stood up and as he passed me he said:

"Because they take care of me."