𝑵𝑶 𝑻𝑰𝑴𝑬 𝑻𝑶 𝑫𝑰𝑬|𝑩𝑼𝑪𝑲𝒀 𝑩𝑨𝑹𝑵𝑬𝑺 𝑿 𝑶𝑪

Hold My Girl

"I've got time, I've got love, got confidence you'll rise above. Give me a minute to hold my girl. Give me a minute to hold my girl" - George Ezra

Steve's PoV
⋆ ☽ ⋆

The whole team sat at the outside bar, laughing and joking together.

Even Percy was joining in, she was sat in between me and Buck-she was drinking neat vodka whilst Bucky and I stuck to beer. Bucky and I were retelling old stories about us from the forties, something everyone seemed to be enjoying since most of them were embarrassing me.

"I had to pull ya ass outta that alley way, 'I could do this all day' what are you terminator?" Bucky lightly smacked the back of my head with a grin.

"Shut it jerk" I laughed back at him.

"Punk" he replied.

Percy hummed amused and I felt her lean a bit more into me. I beamed down at her, thankful she was beginning to feel comfortable around all of us thanks to Bucky. Percy began chuckling a real hearty laugh.

"Uhh, Percy's doing something weird with her face" Sam pointed jokingly.

"I believe, that is her smiling" Clint joined in on the joke, causing Percy to roll her eyes at the teams antics.

"You both just..." Percy trailed off turning to me.

"Reminded me of my fratello" she admitted. "My brother" she confirmed for the non-Italian speaking people around.

I knitted my brows, I had no idea Percy had a brother or even a family before Hydra. Percy never revealed much about herself; she never trusted any of us enough. It was understandable, I think after Hydra she thought that the only way to survive was to never show a hint of emotion-slowly but surely she'd began opening up.

"What was he like?" Wanda leant forward in her chair wanting to know more about Percy's life.

"He was so sensitive, would cry about anything and everything. But he was so sweet, our father didn't deserve Elias" Percy's smile faltered when she discussed her father and I sensed some bad blood between them.

"My father was always drunk, my mother practically ran Hydra" Percy smiled sickly down at her drink.

"Your mother was part of Hydra?" Bruce raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Percy's eyes flickered to her drink again almost ashamed. I spotted Percy and Bucky's hands intertwined, under the table like Percy didn't want anyone to know she needed that support.

"That's why you were there..." Pietro surmised with sad eyes.

"Yes. They wanted to me to be the next leader of Hydra: Grim with no emotions, no mercy and a talent for knife throwing" Percy repeated ghostly like she was some sort of tourist attraction; how could her own parents do that to her?

"My father supposedly didn't want me in Hydra but he was always so drunk it never mattered what he wanted" Percy sighed.

"What happened to your brother?" Tony questioned, taking a huge swig of his drink clearly upset by what Percy had been through-it was clear Tony thought of Persephone as a daughter ever since he'd rescued her.

"I never saw him again after I was rescued...I left him" Percy grimaced angrily at herself.

"Percy" I slowly snaked an arm around her shoulders, weary that she wouldn't like the contact but she didn't move from my hold.

"you didn't leave him. You were badly injured, traumatised, scared. You were 19 then...hell, you only became an avenger when you were 21. You needed to heal" I assured her.

"Percy...you know we could try to find him" Natasha voiced.

"He could still be with your parents or" Nat stopped her sentence wisely.

"In Hydra?" Percy finished dryly.

"Some things are better left hidden. I am not sure I'd like the answers we'd find" Percy concluded with a curt nod.

Bucky's PoV
⋆ ☽ ⋆

I lay in bed after a full day and partial night with the team.

I adored seeing my Percy that happy: she smiled and laughed and joked. She looked as if she felt safe, not constantly looking over her shoulder but I also now understood her paranoia and reluctance to show feelings. Her parents had experimented on her-deducing that she simply wasn't enough on her own...they hadn't shown her any sort of affection or love. How could Percy show what she'd never received?

"Soldier?" Percy softly called out in the darkness of my room.

I raised my head, seeing her lingering in my doorway hesitantly.

"Can I come in?" She asked in a small voice.

"Of course, doll" I cooed.

I lifted the covers for her and she stepped inside them like she was dipping her toes in a pool to determine its temperature: her movements were so thought out, hesitant and careful. Her hands glided over the pillow. We faced each other but didn't touch.

"Dove?" I murmured sleepily.

"Yes amore mio?" She mumbled just as sheepishly.
Amore mio=my love

I couldn't help but smile at my newfound nickname. She'd still never called any of the team by their name before, not since she'd been here; I suppose to her it was a way of disconnecting her feelings. If someone doesn't have a proper name they can't really fully exist. But her calling me her love, was her way of edging closer to letting me in.

"I know you said you didn't wanna look for your brother, but if you do, if you ever wanna search for your parents and take them down. Look for your brother-I promise I'll be with you the entire way" I vowed.

"Till the end of the line?" She giggled at me and Steve's promise.

I rolled my eyes at her but nodded.

"Till my heart stops beatin" I shifted my chest slightly closer to her.

"Amd then some, doll."

Her eyes fluttered open at my words, she glanced down at her body as if making some sort of decision. She then scooted closer to me, curling up against my chest-I could feel her heart beating a mile a minute. I opened my arms as if I'd been waiting for her this entire time and truthfully...I had. I wrapped around her-pulling her even closer if that was possible.

"Okay amore mio" she sighed happily.

"I want to find them, with you" she said into my chest.

She snuggled her face into the crook of my neck and I felt her fingers brushing my forearm.

"You got it, doll."