Happiness, hit her like a train on a track,
Coming towards her, stuck still no turning back,
She hid around corners and she hid under beds,
She killed it with kisses and from it she fled
-Dog Days Are Over; from Florence + the Machine
Amelia liked to think she was an observant person. She did spend a lot of her time people-watching; that's where her claim came from. From observing people as frequently as she did, Amelia believed she could pick up on even the teensiest detail. From the smallest change in someone's social mask, to the way the presented themselves in public, the teen knew, from the bottom of her heart, she was good at observing. And from that little hobby of hers, she liked to believe she gained a lot of knowledge. Amelia would say she could see how differently people were in public. Their social masks were very different, possibly a good way of subtly exposing their personalities and problems. Some were excellent at keeping an appropriate social self; others struggled with it and had to work extra hard; others had many cracks and openings in their social self. From those cracks came those select few who could manipulate and hurt them. That was something Amelia hated. She didn't like the idea of others getting hurt due to how they were as a person. It didn't seem right. But, at the same time, Amelia knew that as life. There would always be things that wouldn't be right, and some of those things were easier to change than others.
The others, however. . .well, it always took a lot of effort — a lot of blood, sweat, and tears — to try and make even the littlest change.
"Amy, are you okay?"
Snapping out of her thoughts, Amelia let out a surprised gasp. She nearly forgot she wasn't alone. Heat rushed to her cheeks as her head snapped in the direction of her voice: her little sister, fifteen year old Susie.
"Uhm, yeah," Amelia murmured, quickly averting her gaze. "I'm fine."
Susie's brows furrowed. "Are you sure?" she asked. "You've been acting a bit weird since we left."
All Amelia did was nod. She was a bit embarrassed she'd been caught so off guard like that; but she expected that from Susie. The fifteen year old was sharp and quick to speak up. If she noticed something was a bit off about a person, she wouldn't hesitate to call them out on it. That was the complete opposite of Amelia. The seventeen year old wasn't comfortable approaching people. She'd rather sit back and watch.
"Okay," Susie murmured slowly. "Well, can you give me the list? Dad wants us home quick. We won't get to the market on time if you're too spacey."
Looking down, Amelia saw the crumpled piece of paper in her hand. She hadn't realized how tightly she'd been holding it. Letting out a sigh, she handed the paper to Susie.
"Are you sure you're okay, Amy?" Susie's face contorted a little, looking worried. "You're all red. Are you sick or something?"
"Really, I'm fine." Amelia tried for a smile, hoping it looked convincing, but she knew it probably wasn't. Her sister couldn't be fooled very easily. That was probably the one thing that Amelia really hated. She couldn't exactly lie or fool her sister in any way.
As for Susie, she just looked at her sister for the longest two minutes ever. From the forced smile on the seventeen year old's face, to the way her sister's hands gripped the fabric of her pants. Susie could tell right away that there was something wrong, but Amelia just didn't want to talk about it. Frowning slightly, all the fifteen year old did was nod. She'd probably bring it up once they were at home.
°˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°
The sisters had been sent on an important shopping trip by their father, Vincent. They had been awoken relatively early, by their father, so they could hurry to the market and buy as much essentials as possible. Vincent gave Amelia the list and money, knowing that, as the eldest, she was more responsible. But the sisters knew that, as they walked down the streets of Brooklyn, that there might be a few setbacks. For starters, Amelia's wandering eyes and mind tended to slow things down a bit. Secondly, the family lived in New York. The streets would be relatively busy and there'd be plenty of people out and about.
Amelia did acknowledge the fact that her wandering mind and eyes did slow down her and Susie's trip to the market, but she knew it was partially out of her control to be like that in public. Observing was almost second nature to her, and she couldn't exactly not do it when she left the house.
When the market came into view, though, Amelia tried to keep her focus on the task at hand. She knew that Susie would divide the list between the two of them, which meant that she couldn't get distracted in any way. That was the most important thing.
"Okay, so the market's coming up," Susie said, "and we should probably split the list up to make it easier, right?"
Amelia nodded.
Susie smoothed out the shopping list before carefully tearing it down the middle. She tried to avoid ruining what Vincent had written, which she did successfully. "Take this," Susie said, handing her sister the lower half of the list. "Since you've got the money, we should probably meet at the registers once we're done. How does that sound?"
"That's fine."
With a smile, Susie nodded proudly.
When the sisters made it to the front of the store, they took some shopping baskets and looked at each other for a moment. Both knew what they were supposed to do, they knew where to go, what to get, and where to meet. They just needed a moment, an unspoken moment, to ensure the other was certain on what they needed to get done.
"Meet at the register?" Susie pressed.
"Meet at the register," Amelia confirmed.
With that, the two sisters entered the store and went their separate ways.
°˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°
Amelia looked at her list carefully. She wanted to make sure she didn't mess up. She didn't want to find out later she got the wrong product and had to rush around and find it. How embarrassing would that be?
Get some. . .bread, peanut butter, and some vegetables. Amelia's lips pursed. Lowering her hand some, the teen let out a sigh as she made her way over to where the bread was. And as Amelia made her way over to the bread, she took the time to just observe what was going on around her. She saw, obviously, others doing shopping of their own. It seemed like all kinds of people were out, too. Mothers with young children, maybe a couple guys here and there getting what they needed. There were a handful of elderly folks, trying to decide which brand would suit them best. Amelia watched them all closely, observing how they were.
Stopping for just a moment, right at the entrance of the bread aisle, the teen took a minute to just take everything in. Amelia wanted to feel the moment she was currently experiencing. A small smile came across her face, and she almost felt a feeling of peace wash over her. And, just like that, the moment ended. There was a tap on Amelia's shoulder, one that caused her to nearly jump out of her skin. With her heart pounding in her chest, with her eyes wide and a hand tightly gripping the front of her shirt, the seventeen year old whirled around, meeting the gaze of a young man. He had a slight smirk on his face and a playful glint in his eyes.
"I-I'm sorry," Amelia stammered. "I didn't mean to stand in your way. . ."
"Hey, you're fine," he stated. "I just wanted to see if you were okay. You looked a little. . .out of it for a second."
Flushing for the second time that morning, Amelia felt her hand grip on her list, crumpling the paper even more. God, and she liked to think she noticed things. She couldn't even see when other people were paying attention to her.
"I. . .yeah," Amelia murmured, lowering her gaze some. "I'm fine."
"Good." A smile came across his face, looking just as playful as the look in his eyes. It was almost heartwarming in a sense, but Amelia just couldn't bring herself to really care. All she wanted to do was avoid any eye contact with him. "My name's Bucky," he said.
Swallowing thickly, Amelia closed her eyes for a moment. Opening them, she glanced up at Bucky. "Amelia," she mumbled.
"Well, it was a pleasure meeting you, Amelia." Bucky's smile seemed to widen at that. With that, he walked away. And it looked like the smile never once left his face.
And Amelia knew that the blush would probably remain on her face until she and Susie made it back home.
°˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°
"I've got a loaf of sliced bread, peanut butter, celery, cabbage, and two tomatoes." Amelia looked at Susie, waiting for her to list off all the the things on her list.
"Milk, eggs, butter, flour, and sugar." Susie scanned the list and her shopping basket before glancing at her big sister. The two met, as planned, near the registers. They both wanted to ensure they got everything they needed before buying it all. Nothing would be worse, in their eyes, especially Amelia's, than finding out they didn't get all the essentials, or even got the wrong brand. That was why they decided to list off everything they got, just to make sure. "So are we ready to go?" Susie asked.
"I think so," Amelia stated.
"Okay, let's go then," Susie stated. "We've been here too long. Dad's probably wondering what's taking so long."
"Okay." Amelia nodded. With that, the sisters got in line. Their grocery shopping may have come to an end, but they still had their journey back home.
(A/N):
First off, I'd like to apologize for the time it took for me to post this. It's ridiculous, I know, but hopefully you guys can overlook that. But, in the end, I got the chapter up! That's the important thing, right? And, with that, I'll let you guys leave your reviews. If you've got any constructive criticism, be sure to leave it. Tell me what I can improve on and what I'm doing well in. I'd love to know what you guys think of this first chapter. And, with time, I'm hoping the story will improve!
Do I own anything in the MCU? No. No I don't. All I own are my OCs, my subplots, and the laptop I'm currently typing on. If you've got ideas for OCs or subplots, be sure to PM me or leave a review. I'll add them in as soon as possible.
Again, be sure to leave constructive criticism where you think it's needed.
Side Note: "So, recently, there's been some news here and there about the still untitled Avengers 4. For starters, Katherine Langford, who played Hannah Baker on Netflix's 13 Reasons Why, has been confirmed for having a role in the movie. Some are speculating she'll be playing Tony Stark's and Pepper Potts' daughter, but it's still unconfirmed on who she'll be. Secondly, and this is somewhat old, but a lot of fans and theorists — and it's been hinted at by a few Marvel actors — that time travel will possibly have some kind of role in the movie. Again going back to theorists, it's being said that Tony and Ant-Man will team up (and yes, after what happened in Ant-Man & the Wasp, Scott's stuck in the Quantum Realm, but he'll have to get out eventually) and travel back in time to gather the Infinity Stones before Thanos gets them.
Photos of the Avengers 4 set shows the original Avengers cast in their original uniforms — i.e. Steve Rogers in his old suit from the first Avengers, and the set looking almost similar to the New York battle, Loki's there with the muzzle he had on after he failed to conquer Earth and obtain the Tesseract, etc., etc., etc. — and people are saying Tony and Ant-Man travel back to 2012 to get the Tesseract. Some people have even noticed that Tony looks to be wearing S.H.I.E.L.D. armor, so he may go undercover to keep an eye on how things are going. Like, to make sure nothing goes wrong in the timeline or anything. I don't know. If you guys have any thoughts about Avengers 4 and the crazy theories surrounding the movie, leave a review."
Also, just to clear up any confusion you guys might have: Amelia is 17 (born in 1918); Susie is 15 (born in 1920); Bucky Barnes is 18 (the Marvel Wiki said he was born in 1917); Steve Rogers is 17 (again, the Marvel Wiki said he was born in 1918).
If you've got a random fact or story you'd like to share, you can leave a review on it. I'd like to think I'm a curious person by nature, so anything you guys feel like sharing would be awesome.
Hopefully you guys had a fun, and safe, Halloween!
And with that, my lovelies, I'll see you all later.
Chi August