Seventeen Again from Heathers the musical
A/N: TBH this song is so fucking perfect for them and I just fucking can't. Really, go listen to this song and fucking imagine them. You gotta. It's worth it. My lord. Ya know what, go listen to the Heathers soundtrack while you're at it. You'll come out with something good.
The scene was quite picturesque if she took the moment to think about it. On a muddy cliff about a story or two high with the wind whipping everyone's hair as the rain beat down on them. It had started as a sunny day, but after Thor had called one too many bolts of lighting in the fight the storm clouds gathered and stuck pelting down rain at such a rate her skin stung as the ice cold water soaked through her catsuit. Thor now took his attention to making sure that the lightning didn't randomly strike the rest of the Avengers.
Not that they could even dodge if they wanted. Tony laid at the bottom of the cliff in a pile of mud, evidence of an iron grip having crushed the reactor in his suit, his faceplate having been ripped off by Hulk. One of the last things Hulk had done was an attempt to save the now dazed and immobilized Iron Man before he had been beaten to a state had knocked him unconscious. Bruce now looked up at them, pulling his tattered pants tighter as he shivered in the calf deep mud.
Clint was taking care of Wanda closer to the base of the cliff as she held her now concussed head, Clint himself with all his arrows broken and a broken leg. Sam was hanging in the nearby treeline, looking on in horror, one wing broke as well as the opposite arm. Natasha shook her head, feeling her own concussion turn her stomach as she touched her bloody lip. She had only lost consciousness for a few seconds but everything seemed to move in slow motion. She looked down at her fallen friends and saw abject horror on their faces as if their world was close to ending.
She looked up a few feet ahead of her at the top of the cliff to see what would make them look like a part of their soul was about to die. Then she saw it. A triggered James Barnes, who had done all this damage to the Avengers single handily, used Captain America's shield to strike him across the face, forcing the American Hero to his hands and knees.
She pushed herself up and off the ground, shaking off the slow motion that had taken over her world as she fought to save everyone else's. The rain stung her eyes as she sprinted, she could see Steve panting up to Bucky as the Winter Soldier pulled a gun out, cocking and pointing it at Steve's head. Natasha slid in the mud, pushing Steve to the ground, kneeling half on top of him as she put herself in front of the gun. Natasha's green eyes glittered up to Bucky's, if he was going to kill, she'd be the first one to die.
Instead, he faltered. It was brief, but she saw it and it bought her enough time to think, her last-ditch effort in an attempt to try and make snap back to himself.
"Fine!" She held a deep breath. "We're "damaged". Really "damaged". But that does not make us "wise"." Her breath shuttered as the gun dipped just slightly. "We're not "special", we're not "different", We don't choose who lives or dies." The dipped once more a small, hopeful, smile flickered to her lips. "Let's be normal, see bad movies, Sneak a beer and watch TV. We'll bake brownies or go bowling. Don't you want a life with me?" She paused, the rain and thunder the only sound anyone could hear, but Natasha swore she could hear their hearts beating as well.
She slid forward, off of Steve who was watching in dazed awe, and onto a muddy patch in front of Bucky. She kneeled before him, her movement seemingly snapping him back as he pressed the barrel of the gun to her forehead. "Can't we be seventeen? That's all I want to do. If you could let me in, I could be good with you." The gun shook in his head and against her head. Natasha swallowed thickly. "People hurt us-"
"Or they vanish," James croaked out.
Natasha's hopeful smiled came back to her face. "And you're right, that really blows. But we let go…"
"Take a deep breath," The gun in his hand relaxed slightly, dropping from her forehead but still trained at her.
Natasha nodded, carefully shifting her weight to stand up. "Then go buy some summer clothes. We'll go camping…"
"Play... some poker," His arm relaxed further.
Natasha nodded smiling as she now crouched before him. "And we'll eat some chili fries." She shrugged. "Maybe prom night?"
"Maybe dancing?" He smiled back at her, his arms now at his side, his gun still clenched in his hand.
"Don't stop looking in my eyes," Natasha stood in front of him, carefully reaching out to rest her hand on her face.
"Your eyes," The Sheild dropped from his hand with a thick clunk as he put his human hand on her face as well.
"Can't we be seventeen? Is that so hard to do?" Her shuttered out a breath, unsure if she was shaking from the freezing rain or if it was the heaviness of their current situation and how one wrong word or move from anyone would have a bullet in her and in Steve's brains. "If you could let me in… I could be good with you."
"Let us be seventeen," Bucky's breath slowly came from his lungs, unsure if he could breathe with the heaviness of trying to pull himself back from the darkest part of his brain. "If we still got the right."
"So what's it gonna be?" Natasha planted her feet at shoulder lengths feeling her hot tears mixing with the cold rain. He was right there, fighting to come back from the darkness, he just needed a push. "I wanna be with you."
"I wanna be with you," He shuttered his answer in a mental battle as he used her as his only grounding.
"Wanna be with you," Natasha pushed her forehead against his, her hand holding him to her with the back of her neck.
"Tonight," He gasped, his hand going to the back of her neck in return, pulling her into a rough kiss. They kissed, in a searing passion of attempting to bring each other close, to stay on the same plane and be together. He dropped the gun, it clunked into the mud, quickly sinking, as his other hand rested at the back of her lower waist.
Natasha pulled away, resting her forehead to his once more. "Yeah, we're damaged."
"Badly damaged," He choked out a laugh, feeling the tinglings of himself come back into his mind. "But your love's too good to lose."
"Hold me tighter," Natasha pinched her eyes closed, pressing herself closer to him.
"Even closer," He sighed, feeling as if he could just be a bit closer to her, maybe he wouldn't shatter as completely and as totally as he felt.
"I'll stay if I'm what you choose," Natasha nodded.
"Can we be seventeen?"
"If I am what you choose," She pinched her eyes shut fighting back more tears.
"If we've still got the right?"
"'Cause you're the one I choose," She opened her eyes, looking up at him to see her eyes matched hers in desperation.
"You're the one I choose," He gritted out to her, both of them falling onto their knees on the mud slick hill top.
She pulled him closer to her, resting his head on her shoulder as she looked up, watching the rain fall down on them, faintly aware of the other Avengers beginning to rally up once more now that the fight was over. "You're the one I choose."