Dimidium - Marvel Studios [7]

five.

I stood at the foot of the bed, the blinds pulled all the way open as the sun flooded in through the large windows. It was quiet in here, which was what I needed, spending my whole morning sitting in the lab and staring at the machine Bruce and I had made a few days ago. I was waiting for something to change, for a message to pop on the pager or for an alarm to go off to signify a security breach. I was waiting for something that could trigger the start of the process of us trying to reverse this whole thing.

My arms were crossed over my chest as I stared at the wall above the bed, three pictures frames hung up perfectly straight as the clean glass reflected the sun light. My eyes drifted towards all three of them, the first one being a picture of Steve, Bucky and I which was in a SHIELD file from the 40s that I had found in an overhaul one year. It was taken when we were getting promo pictures taken for the howling commandos, all of us in our wartime mission suits.

We were definitely meant to be acting serious, staring past the camera in heroic stances, but we couldn't be far from it. I'm pretty sure Bucky had just made a joke, making Steve laugh, which just made me laugh along with the pair of them, and I remember the crew getting extremely angry with us for not cooperating with them. The one sitting in the middle was a picture that someone had taken the original six Avengers all piled into a small pizza joint.

We hadn't bothered with wearing caps and sunglasses, so you could see the people of the other side of the counter who were making our pizzas looking a bit starstruck to see us all. We didn't even know the picture was being taken, so it looked just like a bunch of friends grabbing pizza, which was exactly what we were at the time. I bit the inside of my cheek, staring at them as I shook one of my legs, looking between the pictures.

I let out a deep sigh as I jumped up onto the bed, walking over to the wall, which was proving to be difficult on the soft mattress. I pulled the pictures off of the wall, balancing them on my hand as my eyes fell onto the last one that was hanging up by a nail. Steve and I stood at a gala dinner we had attended quite a few years back now. A long dress on and my hair professionally curled and Steve in a crisp tux with his arm around my waist as we smiled at the camera.

I continued to stare at it for a moment, those times being a lot simpler than what life currently was. I let out a sigh as I grabbed it quickly, pulling it off of the nail and stacking it on top of the other two. I jumped off of the bed, walking over to the dresser and pulling open the bottom drawer. It wasn't too full, just a few shirts that I never really seared sitting in fit and collecting nothing but dust. I put all three of the frames in it, pushing it closed as I took a small step back, my eyes stinging with the threat of leaking a few tears.

There was no way to get away from it. We hadn't had any word on Tony since the day that he went missing, meaning the chances of finding him at this point were extremely low. Whenever the woman on the other side of the pager was going to show up I was hoping it would be soon. If we even had the slightest of chances to make right what we did wrong, she held all the power in her very powerful hands.

My foot hit the base of the bed as I sat down, propping my elbows on my knees as I put my head in my hands. My fingers worked their way into my roots as I let out hair fall over my face, taking in a few deep breaths. All I could think about was the sight of Bucky turning to dust right in front of me. His shaky breath calling my name as I turned to see him disappearing. Was I ever going to catch a break when it came to Bucky?

The train fall. The Winter Soldier. The cyro freeze.

He seemed so close this time. Like we would be able to defeat Thanos and I could finally have him back. But clearly things went in a completely opposite direction. I was pulled out of my trance as I heard the door being pushed open, making me let out a breath as I wiped my cheeks free of tears quickly. I looked up, expecting to see Steve standing against the doorframe with pity in his eyes, his arms outstretched to hold me and comfort me, but Natasha stood there.

"Were you crying?" she asked me, running her hand through her hair as she leaned her shoulder against the door, scrunching her nose at me. "No" I said to her as I wiped the bottom of my nose quickly as she stared back at me for a moment. "Good" she said as she moved out of the way, motioning through the door. "Come on, lunch is ready" she said as I looked up at her, pushing my hair behind my ears as she motioned again a bit more aggressively.

"What is it?" I asked her as she dropped her hand down by her side, shaking her head slightly. "You don't care, you'll eat anything" she said to me as I stared back at her, about to counter her as she let out a small laugh, raising her eyebrows. "You know I'm right" she said as I let out a sigh, putting my hands on my knees as I stood up. "Shut up, you jerk" I said as I stood on the spot, Natasha walking out of the door backwards as she tapped her hands on her thighs. "Come on" she said coercively, acting as if I was a dog as I sighed again, following her out of the room after closing the door behind me.

——

A/N: another shorter chapter sorry about that and also sorry that I haven't updated in a few days
i'm still trying to establish how everyone is feeling, and I just feel as if Natasha buried her emotions after the snap first happened, and what else would Natasha do except from make fun of people?
please vote and comment and i will see you soon