This is a very short and fun one-shot. Don't judge, no hate alright? I have been having exciting problems with a crush of mine (it's very complicated, and frankly, I'm into him way too deep. Sigh, sigh.) and he recently has enter my dream. I think he must dreamt of me too, because every time I dream of him, the next day, he would look at me as if to search for something, although I don't know what. His face is unreadable like that (yes, it does frustrates the hell out of me). Okay, anyway. This one-shot has everything to do with dreams. And our favorite couple- Maria/Steve. Hope you'll like it. No flames, please. Review, if you have time.
*- I'd imagine SHIELD agents must have cabins instead of homes, you know. They're soldiers, anyway. And soldiers only got the chance to go back home only once in a while. Right? Please, correct me if I'm wrong.
**- 'they're back'. Maria was talking about the whole Avengers team. Not Captain America alone.
*- I apologize for the vulgar language. There, you have been warned.
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to their rightful owner(s)
or maybe i'm just a dreamer
by BigBenMitchell
Maria Hills sits on her bed and stare onto the floor of her cabin*.
The floor is a dull sight, so is everything else in the small cabin of hers, but that's not exactly why she's staring at it. She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. In less than ten minutes, she would have to be ready to start her work. Her toes touches the cold ground and suddenly, the dreams she just had rushes back into her mind. She usually doesn't remember any of her dreams, mainly because there's no point to, but this one struck her by surprise.
She dreams of laughter- something that is completely different from her other dreams.
Other dreams, although now she could only remember little of it, consists of deaths. A lot of them. If not death, something that made her wish she could drop dead on the moment. But not laughter, never laughter. She used to have hope that one day, just one day, she would wake up and find herself smiling because of her dreams. But that hope vanished miles away when she was sixteen. She knew what real life was about- survival of the fittest. So, hopes and dreams and cotton candies are long time gone until...
Maria Hill bangs her head against the cool metal of her wall. Laughter. That's what she remembers. She remembers being pull with her hands and she's laughing. She's actually having a good time. That's certainly new.
She remembers images. Small images. Small figures. Two of them, the figure which stood out the most. A boy and a girl. The girl is smaller than the boy, but not one of them could possibly be more than ten years old. The boy has short, wavy blond hair and a cheeky smile. She doesn't remember much, but she could have swear there was a scene where she hugged the boy in her arms and kissed him on the cheek, all the while he's laughing a bubbly laugh. Something churns in her stomach and Maria knows it isn't because of her empty belly.
And then, unexpectedly, another set of laughter rings through her brain and she remembers the girl. The girl is around the age of five years old, and was jumping where she is, wearing a big smile on her lips. She has long blond curls running down her back and cupping her petite face. She's pointing towards something and Maria shuts her eyes completely, trying to remember what. A hippo.
Zoo, they were at the zoo.
She was at the zoo and the girl was pointing happily towards the animal, urging her to come closer. The boy, who is just standing next to her, pick up his pace and run to join his younger sister. That was what they were- siblings. A big brother and a little sister. But what had that have anything to do with her?
Her heart thumps. She remembers she was hug from behind and for the first time in her lifetime, she's not taking a fighting stance. She was actually hugged from someone she knows and someone she was... intimate with. Maria groans, because there were only so little of people she ever had any intimate contact with. And she was saying something in the dream, but she couldn't remember what. All the words that were being said, it all muffled together and only ended up being sounds. Sounds she couldn't understand at all. But there was one part, the man who was hugging her laughed...
His laugh was something else, something she never thought she would ever heard in a million years. The cheerfulness, the happiness, the amusement- it all came together and melded in his loud laughter, which now echoes in her head like some sort of bell. But somehow, she finds herself warming up to that sound and actually likes it...
Maria gets up and shakes her head. She has no time for this- to reminisce dreams she is fairly certain will be just another wishful thinking.
She has works to be done and people's faces to scream at-
Blue eyes.
Blue eyes looking back at her. Blue bright eyes blinking at her happily, belongs directly from both the children. And just like some sort of a speed-forward slide shows, the images of blue eyes swim through her head. A toddler in her arms cooing, her eyes are vibrant with blue. The boy at younger age, crying about something and his small fingers covering his damp blue eyes. The girl kissing her on the cheek and she's staring right into her blue eyes. She's laughing about something and staring at a familiar warm gaze, who also has the same blue eyes. The boy and the girl waves at her, their blue eyes are clear even from a distance, asking her to come faster towards them and watch the hippo...
"Come on, mom!"
Maria's eyes widen and her hands hold onto the wall to steady herself.
What the-?
'Agent Hill, Fury wants to see you' a voice comes over her communicator and she stops. Quickly pulling the last zip on her suit, she takes a deep breath to calm herself down. Why would she get so nervous on just a dream? Something that is just useless and gives her pointless headaches. She shakes her head one last time and clear her throat before responding back to the communicator, informing the voice she's on her way. With one last tug on her suit, she walks out of her cabin.
Only to bump into something that is firm.
She almost lost her balance when a strong grip grabs her shoulder. Out of reflex, her hands reach out to the arm's which is holding her to keep herself from falling butt-flat on the floor. Now, that would be pretty embarrassing thing to happen. Her eyes are on the floor and her teeth is biting so hard on her lips, she could taste a little bits of blood swirling in her tongue. Damn you, stupid dreams!
"Are you alright, Agent Hill?" a caring, deep voice speaks up and Maria averts her eyes upward.
It's none other than the famous Captain America looking back down at her, holding her with his hands on the blade of her shoulder. Oh they're back**, she can't help herself from groaning, but nods her head at his question. But as she was just to say her thanks, her eyes meet with his. Blue. Just like her dreams. Just like the kids. Maria takes a step back immediately. "I'm f-fine, Captain. T-thank you."
He nods and retreat his hands back to his side. Confusion written all over his face, "Are you sure, Agent Hill? You look almost... anxious."
She stares at him, trying her best to bury her emotions in. Oh I'm beyond anxious. "I think I could, um, handle myself, sir."
"If you're certain then," he isn't convinced, she could tell but she clearly doesn't have time for this. If she's late for Fury, there's nothing telling her what will happen. She collects her breaths slowly and brave herself to look into his eyes -blue, it's still blue. It hasn't magically change into some other random color like she had hoped it would- and gives him her best professional expression, "Well, if you'll excuse me, I will go now..."
"Of course," he steps away to give her way. Glancing back at her, he offers her a genuine smile. Something in her drops. "I'll see you later, Agent Hill."
She nods. I hope not. And walks away.
For the rest of days, when she doesn't have anything to fill her time with, she would convince herself that Steve Rogers has nothing to do with her dreams, dammit! and she would glare at the floor as if it had done harm to her. But that effort clearly didn't work when she overheard Steve Rogers laughs. It's cheerful, it's happy, it's full of amusements- all bubbles up together and echoes in the air. Much like her dream.
Maria slaps her palm with her forehead.
"Oh fuck*."
Looks like her dream might have a chance to come true after all.
"...dreams are the shadow of something real."
-Peter Weir's 1977 Australian movie 'The Last Wave'
Fin.
