glow [s. rogers]

23

the beach was great. delilah had never been there with anyone but oliver so having steve there with her was great. and steve, of course, couldn't even remember the last time he had been to any beach. or if he had ever even been to a beach.

currently, delilah and steve were packing up the truck, full of all their luggage and various beach paraphernalia. simba was currently running in between their legs, trying to be as much of a nuisance as possible.

"come on, buddy." delilah cooed, picking up the golden puppy and loading him into the car, sitting on the front seat where she would meet him.

they said their goodbyes to oliver and bucky, who were staying for a little longer just to "enjoy each other's company" as they put it. to which delilah told oliver, "you're so lucky you can't get pregnant or else you'd be screwed. literally and figuratively."

"i'm going to miss it here." delilah said quietly as steve reversed the truck out of the driveway and the couple got on their way back to the compound.

"i'm sure we'll be back next year." he assured her, offering her a soft smile and rubbing her thigh.

"if i'm still here next year." she mumbled underneath her breath, hoping he wouldn't be able to make out her words or just blatantly disregard them. that's something steve rogers was extremely good at, if he didn't want to deal with something he would just ignore it until he couldn't anymore.

but this, he didn't want to ignore this.

"what do you mean 'if i'm still here next year'?"

she shrugged and struggled to maintain eye contact with him, her hands running through the dog's soft hair nervously.

"i found them." her voice was quiet and steve wasn't completely sure what "them" referred to.

"who?"

"my family, the rest of the asgardians. you know, all the people i didn't save."

he sighed, "it wasn't your fault, delilah."

"then who's was it?" she snapped at him suddenly, "i was supposed to be there, i was supposed to protect them." she was on the verge of tears but still yelled while her throat felt like she had downed a bottle of whiskey.

"then who protects the people here?"

"you do, the avengers do. you were doing fine before me and i'm sure you'll do fine after me."

he gripped the steering wheel so tightly that when his knuckles turned white delilah was sure that he was going to rip it off of the car, but he didn't.

"i don't want to talk about this right now." he spoke calmly but she knew he was angry, he didn't want her to leave.

"you don't want to talk about this ever." she complained, like a small child that didn't get their way.

steve simply pretended her didn't hear her and knew that if he stayed quiet long enough she would eventually get bored and fall asleep or just turn all of her attention to the dog, which she did quite often.

"wake up, doll." he whispered once the car was parked and they were back home, the measly three hour drive knocking delilah out.

"i hate you." she groaned, awakening slowly but not gracefully.

"uh huh," he nodded, getting their bags from the back, "i hate you too."

but as quickly as they entered the compound together they dispersed, the tense atmosphere still hung around them.

delilah made her way to one of the labs, eager to track the ship that her family was on. whether steve agreed or not, she knew what she had to do, she had to go home.