The Bracelet of Bonds ~ An Avengers Soulmate AU

Chapter 4; Soulmate 13

Stephen's POV

I stumbled into the Avengers tower with a huge grin on my face and climbed into the elevator which would take me to the common room, my eyes were glazed over like an infatuated idiot, and that's exactly what I was. Any poor man would be after discovering they were mated to perhaps the most lovely woman on the planet. I sighed dreamily as my mind recalled her long and shiny black hair, her entrancing blue eyes, her beautiful smile, the shy pink blush that coated her cheeks when she first saw me, and the overall glow that seemed to radiate off her. I remembered how her face lit up as she talked about cosmology and her powers, her sharp wit and clever mind which weren't hard to spot. Leaning against the side of the elevator, I recollected her kind, sweet, innocent and pure aura which was so rare to find in today's day and age.

She was perfect. And I was in love.

The elevator doors slid open slowly and with a large beam still on my face, I walked into the empty common room and collapsed onto the couch. Letting out a contended sigh, I closed my eyes and once more, memories of the young, breathtaking sorceress flooded my mind.

Oh Psyche... what have you done to me...?

My quiet little moment was soon disrupted though, as 8 of my soulmates and Clint barged in seemingly out of nowhere. I opened one eye, then another and slowly sat up, they hadn't noticed me yet as they seemed to be in the middle of quite a heated debate. I chewed on my bottom lip as I observed all of them.

Tony, Steve, Bucky, Bruce, Sam, Thor, Loki, Pietro and of course, Clint Barton, who none of us were mated to yet loved and cherished as a very close and dear friend.

"I'm telling you, SANTA IS EVIL!!" exclaimed Pietro, a couple of the men rolled their eyes while others nodded in agreement. I too shook my head at this odd statement as a small smile grew on my face out of amusement. Everyone continued arguing this bizzare topic, but Loki soon spotted me and silently walked over to the couch, sitting down right next to me, and giving me a little smile which I returned. We proceeded to divert our attention back to the small group of heroes.

The topic continued to be debated and Loki informed me that the girls were at the mall and Peter was at university. Nobody noticed us until the playful little argument was over, the winning side somehow ended up being, 'Barney deserves the death sentence'. Finally, everyone averted their attention to Loki and I on the couch, after I received a few acts of affections and Clint was done making gagging faces, everybody scattered and sat somewhere around the common room.

That's when the topic of our 13th soulmate was brought up. It wasn't the first time we discussed this, everybody was always curious about this, and it was frequently brought up. Bruce initiated this one. "So, Steve here thought that Sharon was our last soulmate..." he began with a smile playing on his lips as he placed a hand on the Captain's shoulder. Steve flushed and looked away, I bit my tongue, not wanting to give away anything yet... call me selfish, but I wanted to keep the knowledge of Psyche to myself a little longer... just a few more minutes of course! 

Tony perked up at hearing this, "Carter? The blonde chick?" he inquired, getting a couple nods in response. Bruce too nodded before continuing, "Anyways, Cap here decided that he was done observing her from a distance, so he finally got close to her... and I must say he was quite disappointed when the 13th tattoo didn't start burning". Everyone laughed and chuckled at this piece of information, it was always hilarious hearing about failed guesses of possible soulmates. "Well, I'm glad it wasn't her... I honestly never did like her much, we probably would've had some trouble if she turned out to be soulmate 13 along with Agent 13". Everyone nodded in agreement, none of us liked Sharon after the one time she tried to kiss Steve right in front of Sam and Bucky.

"Anyways, changing the subject..." Clint said, "has anybody met the new agent yet, Psyche Delvaux?" my eyes now started to tingle with anticipation as I finally decided on telling everyone present about my new knowledge on soulmate 13, yet I waited to hear whether any of the others had a lead on her. Addressing Clint's topic, Thor shook his head, "I did hear a few people talking about her, but I haven't met her yet". There was a few murmurs of "yea" and "same" amongst the men before Clint spoke up, sighing happily, "I can't believe Fury finally brought her to New York! There are rumors going around that she might be a new avenger", this statement spiked everybody's interest and we all continued listening well as Clint rambled on, "She's probably one of the best and most powerful agents around the world, she's a total badass! And not to mention she's some sort of witch, with these awesome blood bending and telekinetic powers!" Looking around the room, I noticed everyone's faces already lit up with admiration and excitement at Clint's few words, and I just smiled.

As a silence begun to settle over us, I decided to break it, "I met her". My soulmates and Clint all looked at me, the archer literally squealed like a teenage girl and ran over to me, "OH MY GOD, YOU'ER JOKING RIGHT?!" I shook my head, "I met her at the library of enchantment, she was... unique to say the least". Everyone gathered around me and looked at each other with elation... except Loki.

Loki gave me a look of suspicion, before opening his mouth and uttering, "You're hiding something".  This caused all the heroes in the room to quickly contort their faces from eagerness, to confusion and we all looked to Loki for an explanation. Yet, Loki now kept quiet, and pursed his lips before he bore his beautiful green eyes into mine. I noticed the occupants of the room were now staring at both Loki and I, waiting for either one of us to break the tense atmosphere. After a few seconds of contemplating what to say, I decided it best if I got straight to the point.

"She's soulmate 13"

All of a sudden, the avengers in the room all started talking at once, their voices all overlapping and colliding, causing an incoherent noise I failed to decipher. I covered my ears and shut my eyes, still failing to drown out the noise. Luckily Bruce noticed the state I was in, and thankfully exclaimed exceedingly loudly for everyone to shut up. That got their attention, and they finally stopped shouting. 

"Why didn't you tell us immediately?" Pietro asked in a gentle voice, I bit my lip, "Ummm... I... don't know, I intended to, but I just saw her today in the library like I said, I was a bit overwhelmed and shocked", I informed him sheepishly. I was grateful when Steve saved me from further questioning by interfering, "Well that isn't important... what is important is knowing how we can get her to accept our bonds", a few nodded, but I soon put a halt to everyone pondering about that, "She already accepted my bond, I'm sure she'll accept yours too".  The atmosphere around the room lightened as it dawned on my soulmates that Psyche was not going to be one of the common soulmates who are stubborn and arrogant and don't accept the bond easily. 

Loki shook his head in dissappointment, "The one day I don't go the library of enchantment... our soulmate is there". This earned light chuckles from everyone present and Bucky rested a hand on my shoulder, "Tell us more about her", he demanded. I cracked an idiotic grin as I went into a rant about her, "Well... she's just perfect really! She is insanely smart, and so easy to talk to! and... and... she does happen to have the amazing powers Clint mentioned, and she's extremely stunning! It's unreal! She has these big blue eyes, you can actually see the galaxy in them! Her hair is so shiny and silky, and long and pretty!" Everyone continued to observe me as they grinned, "Sounds like you're already head over heels..." Tony joked. I was hypnotized just at these thoughts of her and nodded shyly as a blush coated my cheeks, I still went on, "and... she has these red lips which are just so kissable! You have no idea how hard it was to sit there withou-" I stopped and gaped with wide eyes as I realized what I had said. Hearty laughter echoed around the room while I hid my red face in my cloak.

Soon after the laughter died down, Sam spoke up, "If she's that great... I can't wait to meet her". All the man children in the room were bouncing on the balls of their feet in delight and joy at finally discovering their last soulmate. Clint was shaking his head while muttering something about, "unfairly lucky idiots scoring a hot badass agent". 

"If she's a S.H.I.E.L.D agent, it should be pretty easy for us all to meet her around somewhere, anytime somebody comes across her, tell us immediately", Steve concluded. After taking in this information, everybody dispersed, squirming with joy and thoughts of their new soulmate.

Operation Psyche Delvaux was a go!