Whoops! I posted this on tumblr, and forgot I didn't post it here. (Not that anyone is actually interested, but hey.)

If you follow me on tumblr, you know I have a fascination with wing!aus ...so that's what this is, basically.

For this oneshot, in the Avengers universe they actually all have wings and Sutton still manages to get dragged back with them. She just has a slightly different reaction to living there...

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There was a tautness growing around her chest by the day. Sutton summed it up to stress and to the fact that she still wasn't adjusting super well to the Marvel universe. After all, she was one of the only people in this entire world without wings. It was oddly alienating. But days of antacids and attempts at meditating hadn't helped. The tightness only grew. Sank in. Not to mention that her body had started to ache. It left her feeling uncomfortable in her own skin. Irritable and twitching.

She sat at the bar in the Tower kitchen and groaned as she rubbed at her shoulders, her head bowed down low and her eyes closed. The aching in her bones was getting worse. She'd never experienced stress pains that felt quite so deep. Usually they were sharper. Closer to the surface.

"Hey, you ok?"

A breeze shifted through her hair and Sutton cut her eyes up to see Steve. He was digging through the cupboard for a glass and he glanced passed his folded wings to look at her in concern. Sutton smiled before another ache rippled along her spine. She groaned and tried to rub the middle of her back.

"Just a back ache."

Steve blinked a second then flushed red and looked away, his feathers ruffling slightly as he awkwardly flexed them.

"Oh. Um, sorry."

Sutton looked up, wondering why he sounded so embarrassed when it clicked. She flushed red too.

"Oh gosh, no. It's not that," she said. "No. I thought it was stress because, like, I've been having this tension around my chest, but… It's been going on for weeks now. Painkillers and Tums aren't really helping."

Steve filled his glass with water and took a sip. The redness in his face slowly faded.

"Huh," he said. He tapped his finger against his glass a couple times. "That almost sounds like-" He didn't finish his sentence though. Putting his glass in the sink, he rounded the bar to stand behind her.

"Where does it hurt?"

Sutton gestured from her shoulder blades down to the base of her spine.

"Everywhere."

The hair at her temple tickled her face as another burst of air blew from her back. What had Steve so fidgety?

"Do you mind if I, uh, try something? I'd have to touch you." Sutton put her forehead in her hands and stifled another groan.

"Go for it," she said.

For a moment there was nothing. Just the static of something about to happen hanging in the air. Then fingers brushed lightly against the outsides of Sutton's back. A tentative warning that he was there. She flinched slightly in surprise, but settled back down and Steve increased the pressure of his fingers.

From shoulder blade to mid-back, he kneaded his knuckles down either side of her spine and Sutton melted. She sighed and slumped further over the bar, feeling a release in the ever present ache for the first time in weeks.

"That helps?"

"Oh my gosh. I should have gone to a masseuse two weeks ago."

Steve laughed lightly, but there was a strain to it. Sutton was in too much bliss to question why. He worked his way inwards closer to her spine. Sutton hissed slightly the closer he got and he let up a little.

Something felt…different. She shifted, sat up straighter, and tried to identify the sensation. But she just…couldn't. Steve stopped.

"Is it bothering you?"

He'd only stopped for a few seconds, but already the ache started to creep back in just as strong as ever. As if he'd never provided a reprieve in the first place. She was so tired of the pain!

"No." Her voice warbled. She was- was starting to cry? "Will it never stop? Am I just going to be in pain forever? Why am I crying in front of you? I didn't mean to cry at all!"

"Hey, hey, hey."

Steve fluttered around to her side. One arm and wing stretched out to drape over her in comfort.

"You're not going to be in pain forever."

"Everything hurts, Steve. Everything. Like, just imagine the worst growing pains you ever had and multiply it by five."

"I know a bit about growing pains," Steve said dryly. He sighed and his wings spread out only to quickly clap closed.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I could- take a look at your back," he offered. Sutton snorted through more irritated tears.

"You want to look under my shirt? Steve Rogers."

When he responded, his voice was a bit terse, annoyed.

"I want to rule something out."

Sutton went suddenly hot, her emotions flip-flopping from extreme embarrassment to irritation to despair and back again.

"If you think you can keep me from having to visit the hospital, go ahead, I guess. But no funny business."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

He sighed to himself and then tugged up on the hem of her shirt. Sutton flushed even hotter and hoped it wasn't visibly noticeable. But Steve only lifted her shirt up to mid-back. He pushed some air through his teeth and pressed against… something. It was her back, but it wasn't familiar. A ridge? A scar? Was she getting scoliosis?

"That explains a lot," Steve finally said.

"What," she asked, sitting up higher. "What is it?"

"Don't panic, but… I think you're budding."

"WHAT!"

"No, no, no, no; wings! Budding wings! On your back. Kids usually go through it, but you have the same symptoms, so…."

"I am not getting wings," Sutton said hotly. "That's not something people from my world do. It's not wings."

Steve tsked.

"It looks like the start of wings to me," he said.

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*Aaaaand end scene*