Raven was sitting at the table with Steve, both of them having pencil and paper in their hands. Steve was leaned back in the seat and Raven was curled up in hers, a foot propped up on the chair. He was itching his chin and she glared at him, "I swear to god if you don't stop doing that."
"Doing what?" He looked at her, breaking his concentration.
"Scratching your damn beard. You've been doing it for five minutes straight." She almost groaned.
He chuckled, "Sorry, it itches."
"Well you could shave." She muttered. She didn't like his beard at all, it looked weird on him. It was still short and scraggly at the moment, but she much preferred him clean shaven.
"No, he can't." Natasha came in the room with bags, "He has the most recognizable jawline in the world."
"I'm aware." Raven smirked at her.
"I got this for you." She put down a box of hair dye and Steve pursed his lips together at the color.
"I am not dying my hair," She picked up the box and read, "Medium Rose Gold. I'll just grow a beard like Steve, no one will ever look at me then."
He stopped his laugh while Natasha took the box back from her, "While you're not wrong. You have to do something if you're going to be outside."
"Problem solved. I just won't go outside." Raven gave her a charming smile. "Sam doesn't have to change anything."
"I think you're fine." Steve said, "As long as you don't start glowing."
"See, he thinks I'm fine. And what the Captain says, goes." Raven motioned to him, still looking at Natasha, "My hair's not as noticeable as yours is anyway."
"Which is why I'm going," Natasha looked at her box, "Ultra-light cool blonde."
"I hear they have more fun, so let me know." Raven joked, going back to her sheet of paper. Natasha went around behind her and as she passed, she saw what was on the paper.
She smirked, "You forgot the beard."
"For good reason." She looked at the paper. Steve tried to peak over and see what they were talking about and Raven turned her pad to show him the realistic drawing of him, but without the beard. He laughed and turned his own paper to reveal a forming sketch of her sitting in the chair, with her pencil and paper. She quirked her head, "Since when do you know how to draw?"
"Oh, about 1935." He smiled, "Guess my time in art school wasn't important enough to make it into my S.H.I.E.L.D. file."
"Look, more shared life experience." Natasha joked and the two of them shot her a look, despite the fact they were slightly amused by her statement.
"Someone's here." Wanda came into the room.
"Who?" Steve stood quickly.
"Me." They all turned to see King T'Challa on the other side of the room in another doorway. Raven stood too now, and he put his hands up, "Do not worry, I'm not here to start a fight."
"That's a relief, we just got the place all decorated." Natasha gave him a small smile.
"I heard that your friend, Fury, was looking for a way to deprogram Barnes." He took a step into the room, "We might be able to help with that."
"And why would you do that?" Raven asked, "We haven't exactly been friendly with each other."
"I know, and that is mostly my fault for not doing the proper research." He told them, "Barnes is a victim of Zemo, just as my father was. If I can help one of them at least, then I should."
Raven and Wanda were in the kitchen cooking when Bucky walked in, "Hey Wanda, Natasha was wondering if she could borrow you for a minute."
"Yeah." Wanda wiped her hands off as she left the room.
Bucky came up and looked at Raven stirring the stew they were working on. When he just stood there quietly, she smirked, "So is this the moment when you do the whole 'hurt my best friend and I'll kill you' thing?"
"More or less." He looked over at her.
"Consider me intimidated." She looked back at him.
"I'm going to Wakanda with T'Challa." He told her.
"Yeah, Steve told me he's leaving with you in the morning." She nodded.
He leaned against the counter, "While he's gone, you should have Wanda take a look inside your head. She wasn't able to help me, but it was also decades worth of programming. She might be able to actually do something for you."
She sighed with a laugh, "Should have known he'd talk to you about it."
"He really does care about you." Bucky told her, then a smile formed on his face, "But he also told me that he doesn't really like the idea of you thinking about killing him while doing other things."
"Ahh." Raven held back a smile, "Well, he doesn't have to worry about that, it's one of the last things on my mind except when I'm trying to go to sleep."
"And what happens the first time you two fall asleep together?" He asked. She stopped stirring the stew. Raven hadn't thought that far ahead. With someone like Steve, she figured it'd be a while before she had to cross that bridge. Bucky continued, "So, yeah, I did come here to give you the talk, but know that the longer you wait to try and get rid of it, the more worried he's going to get about it. And that's going to end up hurting him. He doesn't want you punishing yourself anymore for things you couldn't control. If you were able to forgive me for what I helped do to your brother…maybe it's time to forgive yourself too."
She kept her eyes on the pot, her voice soft, "I'll think about it."
Raven knocked on Wanda's door. Steve had been gone for three days and what Bucky had said to her had been echoing through her mind since he'd left. Wanda turned to her, "Raven, what's up?"
"Do you think you can do it?" She asked.
"Do what?"
"Get…get this thing out of my head?" Raven stepped into the room.
"I don't know, I wasn't able to help Steve's friend…but you might be easier?" Wanda turned on her bed, "I can still try though."
"I'd really appreciate it." Raven moved into the room, sitting on the bed next to her, "I'll owe you one."
"No, I already owe you. You've done a lot to help me." Wanda smiled at her.
"Fine, we'll be even then." Raven returned the smile.
"Now, just relax." The girl held up her hands on either side of Ravens face and Raven closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath. She could feel tingles on her temples and could feel the witch inside her mind, looking, searching through everything. Not moving until the tingling sensation stopped, she heard Wanda, "Did it work?"
"I…I don't know." Raven opened her eyes. "I think so?"
She was folding her laundry when there was a knock on her door frame, "Hey."
"Hey." She turned and saw Steve standing there watching her, "How's Bucky?"
"They put him back to sleep. It was his choice. Just until they can deprogram him." He walked into the room.
"That's good. I hope it works." Putting her folded shirt down she went over to him and hand cupping his neck she pressed her lips to his.
Nothing.
Steve smiled, his hands going to her hips. When she broke away, he looked down at her, "If I'm understanding this correctly, I think you missed me."
"Nope, just testing something." Her lips formed a thin smile. His brows creased and her smile grew wider. "I let Wanda…do the thing."
"And?" He chest tightened.
"So far so good." She told him.
A laugh escaped him, and he knocked the door with his heal, shutting it as he pressed his lips back to hers. "Good. Buck told me he talked to you about it."
"My god, what are you two, middle school girls?" She laughed.
"I'm glad you finally let it go." He ran his hand down her hair.
"That's not why I did it." She told him.
"Then why did you do it?" He asked.
She ran her hand up his shoulder to his cheek, "He told me that if I didn't at least try to get rid of it, it would end up hurting you. I don't want to hurt you Steve and if I chose to keep it then anything that I chose after that would hurt you. Plus, I have my reminder of who I should stay, right here."
"You're damn right." He put his forehead to hers, noses touching. "So…did you…you know, miss me?"
"Eh." She smiled, "Two weeks is a long time, but I waited on you longer before."
"Oh, you waited on me?" He laughed.
"Mmhmm." She leaned up to him, "I didn't want to intimidate you by making the first move. You old people and your traditions."
"I wouldn't have minded you breaking that one." He kissed her. His arms laced around her and he could feel the difference in the way she held him, no stiffness in her hands, she was leaning into him instead too.
Raven moved her hand from his shoulder to the back of his head, her fingers running through his growing hair. She felt him hold her tighter, they'd never gotten the chance to kiss like this before, her always holding back because of the command in her head, but now she didn't care. The kiss became deeper, their mouths opening more to each other.
Steve stopped for a second, their mouths barely apart and he breathlessly asked, "Where is Wanda? I want to thank her."
"Out with a friend." She brushed her nose against his.
"Friend?" He questioned, "What kind of friend."
"Oh, you know." She smiled, "The same kind of friend you are to me."
"And what kind of friend is that?" His lips grazed hers.
"The best kind a girl can have."
Before he kissed her again, he looked down at her, "Hey, I know this is probably stupid since now we don't have to, but is it alright if we take this slow?"
"Yeah, of course." She nodded, she knew that things like this for him didn't come as easy as they did for her. It's something that was still hard for him to get used too in the twenty first century. "Give you plenty of time to google as we go."
"That's how it's going to be?" He laughed.
"If you rather I show and tell you everything, I can." Her hand ran down his chest.
Steve swallowed hard, "What…what do you mean by that?"
She laughed kissing him again. As they kissed, she waited until he was relaxed into it again and nibbled on his bottom lip. Feeling his fingers tighten on her she smiled into him as he shifted his weight a little. Next, she waited until his mouth was slightly open again and grazed her tongue against his lips. He froze slightly and she gently let her tongue into his mouth.
When her tongue found his, his mouth opened wider, his hand moving to her head, tangling in her hair. Moving with her now he let his tongue explore hers and her mouth. As he leaned into her more, she pulled him closer, their chests pressed together.
Before they went any further, she pulled away, a teasing smile on her face, "Was that your first French kiss?"
Steve swallowed hard, leveling himself back out, his eyes still closed and answered, "Yeah. Yeah it was."
"Not bad, maybe I should let google keep doing it's thing." She cupped his cheek.
"No." His breath was shaky, "I like the way you teach."
"Class is available anytime then." She laughed. "I still hate your beard though."
"I'll shave the second I'm able." He told her.