[A/N]: So, I've decided to make this a thing. I'm writing a series of shorts and posting them all the way up to May 6th, the release of Captain America: Civil War. This is day 24 of my Civil War Countdown. Enjoy.
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Peggy's funeral was hard. One of the hardest things he'd ever done, even though he had the entire team for support.
The day of the funeral, it was sunny. It made Steve smile sadly at the irony. "It damn well better be sunny when I'm buried, because it never seems to be sunny now!"
The whole team went with him, all standing there in their black clothes, with somber expressions on their faces. It was a reminder to them that no matter how invincible you seemed at the time, they'd all eventually die. Clint looked the most affected, though his face gave nothing away. But Steve could tell, in his eyes, that he was taking his reminder hard. Especially because of his family.
Standing in the cemetery, the Avengers slowly left one by one. Soon, only Steve and Wanda were left. When he asked her why she was still there with him, three hours after the funeral was finished, she simply replied, "Because you did the same for me."
It was true. When Pietro's funeral had been held, Wanda had stayed there, kneeling by his gravestone and clutching a bunch of wildflowers in her hands for hours afterwards. Steve had stood slightly behind her, not saying anything, just being there for support. They'd never mentioned it; she'd never thanked him and he'd never brought it up. But she had remembered.
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Of course she had remembered Steve staying with her; how could she forget. It was the third worst day of her life, preceded only by Pietro's death and the death of her parents. It felt like her heart was being ripped apart and sewn back together all at once. It had hurt, and she still wasn't sure how to get it to go away completely.
She understood. Losing people that close to you ripped a piece of your heart away, a part you'd never get back. Lose too many pieces, and you grew cold and unfeeling. Wanda felt it happening to her sometimes, and it scared her. She didn't want to become like that, and she definitely wouldn't wish it on anyone. Not even the worst person in the world or any other.
And certainly not Steve Rogers.
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Inspired by Sam Smith's song 'Lay Me Down'.