𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐘 𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑, avengers [discontinued]

31

ᴵ ʷⁱˢʰ ʸᵒᵘ ʷᵒᵘˡᵈ ᶠⁱⁿᵈ ʸᵒᵘʳ ᶜʰⁱˡˡ
'ᶜᵃᵘˢᵉ ᴸᵒʳᵈ ᵏⁿᵒʷˢ ᵗʰⁱˢ ˢʰⁱᵗ ᵍᵉᵗ ʳᵉᵃˡ
ᴬⁿᵈ ᶠᵒʳ ᵗʰⁱˢ ᵖʳⁱᶜᵉ, ʸᵒᵘ ᵏⁿᵒʷ ʸᵒᵘ'ᵈ ᵏⁱˡˡ

⊱ ──── 《∘◦●◦∘》 ──── ⊰

''Steve?"

"(Y/N)?"

When he said it back to her, it felt like he was pulling on her heartstrings. It felt so broken despite how well the words held themselves together. His eyes were widened, but she couldn't read the exact emotion behind them. It was almost as if thousands of emotions were swimming behind those pools of blue.

How long had it been since they'd last seen each other? Months? It felt like it had been years. And above all of those rapidly changing emotions behind his eyes, she could see the hurt and obvious confusion there. 

And there were words — words she so desperately wanted to say — but she couldn't bring herself to say them, almost as if her pride and yelling thoughts shoved them back down her throat. A part of her knew what would happen next because she'd been in situations like this, and no matter how hard she wanted to deny it, she couldn't because that's the reality they lived in. 

James had his arm wrapped around (Y/N)'s midsection, a blank look plastered on his face. ''You're Steve. I read about you in a museum,'' he said, eyes darting down to (Y/N) for a second out of pure instinct before looking back at Steve.

He stepped forward a bit, placing the black notebook down on the table slightly behind him. A bad move, because at the movement, Axel was growling and pinning his ears back and already in a position to pounce, which caused the blonde to put his hands up in defense.

''I know you're nervous. And you have plenty of reason to be,'' Steve started, eyeing (Y/N). The blues basically screamed questions at her, but her own seemed to darken, sending him a light glare. ''But you're lying,'' he finished. 

''What is this about, Steve? Why are you even here?" she asked. The words came out of her mouth a lot harsher than she thought, which made her whine, but she still remained aware of James' presence as he squeezed one of her hands, grounding her at the moment. 

''I wasn't in Vienna. I don't do that anymore,'' he protested, lightening his grip on (Y/N), clenching and unclenching his metal hand.

''Well, the people who think you did are coming here. And they don't plan on taking you alive,'' he summarized, getting a nod from James. ''That's smart. Good strategy,'' he said.

James shared a look with (Y/N), both of them begrudgingly nodding at one another as she put Nico on her shoulder and whistled for Axel, the white canine obediently then moving to leave through a hole big enough for him to fit through that she had made a few days ago in case of an emergency. Now seemed like a good time.