Steve Rogers/Captain America One Shots

Dead in the Water

Clint Barton's house was like something out a movie. A rustic farmhouse sitting on a beautiful bed of scenic land that seemed to stretch for miles. The house was large enough for the family growing within it, and raidatied warmth from every corner and crevice inside. The porch that wrapped around the front of the house, was wide and overlooked the stunning land that spilled outward, until it soon blended into the dark tree line. It was a painting coming to life before every eye that saw it, it's raw and natual beauty jumping out instantly to all those who stood amung it.

But for Steve Rogers... Clint's perfect home was a dream he had once, years and years ago. One that he had always invisioned coming true one day. But that dream faded long ago, and only now as Steve looked out the window from inside the beautiful family home, did he feel a sliver of what it would've felt like if his dream had come true all those decades ago.

Clint's secret and near perfect family, made Steve think of the family he could've had, if he had never become the hero every one saw him as today. He saw himself returning home from the war, and settling down with a woman who made his heart feel completely whole. He saw himself building a house just like this, one that could overlook the sun rising in the early dawn and setting just over a hill in the distance. He saw the children he would bare, running barefoot and giggling away up and down the halls. Their smiles and their laughs echoing in his head and in his heart. He saw himself sitting out on the porch as his skin turned old and grey, his wife beside him as they watched their grandkids run and play in the long grass before them. He saw a life flash before his eyes, one he wondered if he could've had and sometimes still deeply wished for. It was a beautiful life... and if he couldn't ever experience it, he was happy that Clint could. 

As a deep sigh escapes past Steve lips, his eyes that gaze out at the far stretched land out the window, spot something. On the many long steps that lead up to the front door, Steve's eyes fall upon a figure slumped forward. With their elbows resting weakly on their knees, as their head fell into their open palms. He watched with softened eyes as he immediately recognized the figure, although it was only her back that faced him from where he stood in the window watching. But it was all of her that Steve needed to see. 

He knew the blonde hair that blew haphazardly in the warm breeze, and seemed to tangle itself around her tense neck. He knew the way she held her body when she was deep in thought or lost in a memory too far to reach. He knew just about everything there was to know about her... and it didn't matter where in the world they were, he would always be able to pick her out of a crowd of a thousand people without a second glance. 

No one had made it out unscathed by the female twin's mind games. And even as Steve continued to shake away the unsettling sensation in his bones, from the too real dream she had placed in his head, he saw that the woman sitting out on the front porch steps alone was affected worse than he was. 

His boots seemed thunderous against the hardwood flooring of the house, and he felt as though each step he took and every move he made would in some way damage the beautiful home. But he still walked swiftly down the staircase and straight through to the front door. Peaking through the small window of glass as his hand slid around the knob, Steve gazed at the woman still sitting where she had been. Unmoved.

And as quietly as he could, as not to startle or frighten her by the sudden noise, Steve slowly opened the front door. The fresh air of the land around him filling his senses instantly, and there was a welcome clarity that came with the clean air. His footsteps seemed less heavy as he walked across the wide porch, and came to a swift halt as he reached the beginning of the steps. Leaning his hip against the frame of the porch, as his kind blue eyes swept over the woman he shadowed behind. 

"I'm not quite in the mood to be snuck up on today," She murmured under her breath, and Steve was taken a back for a moment. Not realizing she had known he suddenly stood behind her, for she hadn't moved not even an inch when he walked out.