To The Sun [3] Endgame

Twenty One

Chapter Twenty One:

Hazel woke up to the smell of pancakes and bacon. She rubbed her tired eyes, kicking sheets off of her.

When they had gotten back to Steve's apartment, she had actually showered and then changed into some pyjamas. After the first snap, when Tony was stuck in space and Steve didn't want Hazel to stay all alone at Headquarters, he told her to pack a suitcase and come live with him. She did, having no other option. It turned out, she forgot to take that suitcase back. It was good thing she didn't, because everything else she owned had been buried beneath tons of concrete and glass.

Her feet slid onto the hardwood of the spare bedroom, which in her time here before had slowly morphed into a teen's room. She had racked up posters of random things, and pictures she had taken with Michelle, Ned and Peter. They're were tons of just her and Steve, and the rest of her Tony and some with Pepper. Natasha once stole her Polaroid camera and just snapped pictures of herself, those she gave to Hazel and from then they've been living on her closet doors.

"Why does it smell good?" Hazel asked groggily, finding her way to the kitchen.

"Bucky made breakfast." Steve said, and as she pulled herself up onto a bar stool a plate slid towards her.

Hazel rubbed her eyes, which still burned from crying herself to sleep. She picked up a fork and poked at a very floppy looking pancake, not really in the mood to eat. Something she thought couldn't be possible.

Bucky turned the stove off and turned to face them, watching as Hazel cut off a piece and put it in her mouth. It didn't take long for the awful taste to hit her taste buds, but she chewed it and swallowed it with a content look on her face. Steve took big bite of his own pancakes, but failed to pretend to enjoy it.

Bucky nodded slowly, as if understanding.

"They're good." Hazel protested, shoving another piece into her mouth. "See!" She said, chewed pancake falling from her mouth. Her hand flew up to catch it, but it landed on the counter.

"Ew." Steve mumbled.

Hazel glared at him, managing to get down the rest of her food. "You killed people in the war, but my chewed pancake leaving my mouth is ew?"

He nodded, pushing away his plate. Bucky glared at him and Steve shrugged, "You try it, then."

And he did, Bucky grabbed Hazel's fork and stabbed it aggressively into one of Steve's uneaten pancake. He picked it up and took a bite out of the side, munching on it contently.
A few seconds later, he turned and spit it out in the sink.

Bucky sighed, "I just wanted to do something nice."

"The thought was there. That's the important part." Hazel said, "Thank you."

"See, Buck." Steve smiled at him, "She appreciates it."

Hazel nodded slowly, pushing her own plate away. If the pancakes tasted like a mistake, she wasn't going to try the bacon.

The tv was on in the background, and suddenly is made a sizzling noise and they all turned, staring at it with odd expressions, as if it would fix itself.

"Damn television. I tell you, things were much easier without all this technology." Steve hopped off his seat and walked over to it, smacking it until the picture returned. He walked back over and sat in his chair.

The screen showed a women holding a microphone, talking into it with a solemn expression. "Today police have finally let us on site. Here behind us lies the Avenger's Headquarters, or what's left it."

Hazel frowned, watching as the women turned and pointed at the rubble as if nobody could see it. "Here is where the events took place, seemingly the ones that brought back the Vanished."

There was bodies of the mechanical creatures Thanos had brought with him for part of his army, those had been left behind by police. The women weaved her way around them, walking towards the lake.

"Tony Stark, the man who called himself IronMan, was found dead here just last night."

"What does she mean 'called himself' Ironman?" Hazel grumbled, staring at the screen.

"Natasha Romanoff has been declared missing as well. Along with the death of Mr Tony Stark, others have been added to the casualty list." The women gazed directly into the camera, "This organization called the Avengers were supposed to protect the world, but now what happens when the exact thing Tony Stark loved, just so happened to kill him—"

The TV went black. Hazel's vision flickered to Bucky who stood beside the screen. "You both don't need to see that."

She looked to Steve who was frowning, he knotted his hands together and sighed. "We weren't supposed to win this way. We were supposed to win without losing anybody, Nat and Tony should be here celebrating along with the rest of the world."

Hazel pursed her lips, "What's done is done. We can't go back. He would've done it either way, he knew what he was risking. I just..."

Steve's eyes were watering, and it was taking everything Hazel had not to cry.

"It just sucks." She added, rubbing her eyes. "Because he got rid of Thanos, a big threat. But that doesn't mean everything's gonna stop. More villains are going to come at us, and it's never gonna stop. If we can't protect the people he died to save, what he did was pointless. Then he died for nothing! What if he did— We can't let that happen. I won't—"

"I didn't know Tony very well." Bucky said quietly, walking over to them. "But from what I've seen, he wouldn't want anybody crying over him."

Hazel found it odd now, that Bucky would say so many things in such little time. The man was basically mute the first time she saw him, and it hadn't helped that he found out he had a kid. And she knew it would be hard for him, considering whatever she saw while she was stuck between stones certainly wasn't even scratching the surface of what he went through.

"No. But I've been doing it anyways."

Steve chuckled, giving her a sad smile. "Me too."

The room fell silent, then only a few minutes later did the fire alarm go off. They all sniffed the air, smelling smoke. Steve jumped off his stool and lunged at the stove, turning off the second burner that Bucky had forgotten about. Steve picked up the pan and held it up by the handle, turning to glare at his best friend.

"Really, Buck?"

Bucky only shrugged, "I honestly don't know what you were expecting."