Lessons In Love: Chapter Thirty-Eight: Nigdy Nie - Never No (Part 2)
Stephen kept thinking about the awkward exchange that he had with Tony at the door. He was staring at a spell, and Clea was wondering if he was really reading it.
Victor was taking his levitation spell, and applying it to the book in front of him. He wanted to make it rise up off the table.
Clea saw Victor's focus, and she thought that he was very sweet. She could tell he was was a gentle and sincere young man.
Her thoughts slipped to her distant husband, and then she looked directly at his younger self.
Stephen looked like he needed a break.
"How many times have you read that spell?"
"Three times. I got it, I've just.."
Stephen closed the book. He looked up at Clea, and he tried not to over-fixate on her skin and eyes. Stephen didn't want to freak her out, but it was hard not to look. He was staring, and she gently smiled.
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
Victor's youthful voice filled the room they were in. WHAT THE SHIT? Stephen immediately looked at his brother. Clea was confused with the question. She still smiled, and responded for clarification.
"Boyfriend? Oh, right. I do not have one of those."
She remembered what that word meant. Victor was asking, because he knew that his older brother liked her. Victor could tell, and he thought it was funny.
He proudly smiled at Stephen, and the humiliated look on his face made Victor continue.
"Do you want one?"
Christ. Stephen sighed, as Victor pointed at his big bro. Clea held her smile and she decided to tell them what she did have. She didn't have a boyfriend, the woman had something that was much more stubborn.
"I have something here that is called a husband. We have been married for a long time."
How long had it been? Clea thought it over, because time was pretty irrelevant for them.
Ouch. Stephen's icy heart felt that one. His dream girl was taken, and Victor wouldn't zip it. The young one mentioned that he didn't see a wedding ring.
Clea explained that she, and her husband, did not follow that marriage tradition. Victor was all ears, but Stephen needed to go.
He had a ton on his mind, and he felt swamped. The would-be-doctor said that he needed to go outside, and Victor kept chatting as he resumed his work on the levitation technique.
Clea watched Stephen leave. He headed out, and wandered the property for a short while.
Guess who he saw up ahead. Stephen saw someone that got on his last nerve. Bucky Barnes was looking for the older Steve.
He saw Stephen, and the would-be-soldier headed in his direction.
"Have you seen the older Steve?"
Bucky reluctantly asked him, because he was the only person that he saw for a while. Stephen didn't answer. He just waited for Bucky to get out of his sight.
The would-be-sorcerer didn't like him. He didn't want to engage with Bucky, and his question could go to hell.
Bucky caught the hint, but he didn't care what Stephen thought. He kept looking at him, and he waited for a response.
"Bravo, on the alarm."
"You're still stuck on that shit? Move on already..."
Stephen brought up the fire alarm, because in his mind, that was unfinished business. Bucky reacted with a sarcastic tone, and Stephen started closing his fists.
Nah.
Stephen didn't want to move on. He wanted to do what the voice said in his head. The voice assured him that he could put Bucky in his place.
Off in the distance, the younger Steve could feel an energy. He didn't like the feel of it, so he snapped out of his mini-coma.
The younger Tony felt the same exact thing. He was controlling an energy with both of his hands, and then he suddenly stopped.
Baby Steve, and Baby Tony both felt like they needed to go somewhere. Shit? They both dropped their thoughts and left.
Steve fixed his clothes. He ditched his room, and he headed to his right. Tony took off on his older self. He needed to head left, and the young brunette headed up the stairs.
Holy moly, holy moly, holy moly. He journeyed all the way up, and he followed what he felt.
Steve saw Bucky and Stephen. Tony saw the same thing, and he noticed when Steve walked up.
Something was up, because Stephen had his hands to his side, and Bucky looked stuck in place. Stephen really wanted to hurt him, or attempt the spell that he read several times.
The crowd around Bucky and Stephen was growing, because Clea could feel what was happening.
Victor followed her, and the older Tony joined the watch party.
Stephen was adding pressure to Bucky's body, and he thought about destroying it. His anger was being fueled, and there wasn't much that Bucky could do.
He was only trained for physical combat. Bucky was not the Winter Soldier at that time, and he had no weapon to protect himself. Stephen had the upper hand, and he even held him at a distance.
Stephen wasn't listening to anyone. Steve said that he needed to let Bucky go, and a few others spoke up.
Stephen brought the would-be-soldier upward. He brought him up off the ground. Thanks to an amazing thing called gravity, his action added even more pressure to Bucky's body.
Stephen debated two things. He wanted to burst him open like a melon, or attempt to banish him with a spell. Clea's voice started getting through to him, but Stephen managed to tune her voice out entirely, as he decided.
"Agamotto ko prakasa dvara.."
He almost spoke out an incantation to banish Bucky out of that realm. Before he finished the spell, a strong hand quickly slammed over Stephen's mouth. It startled him, and he was unable to move.
Stephen stared directly at his older self, and all the energy that was churning out of his body was shut down.
The older Stephen shut that shit down, and Bucky almost crashed to the floor. That cloak detached and stopped the fall, while Stephen just stared at his older self.
He looked pretty pissed off. Actually, he looked really pissed off. Borderline... lethal. The younger Stephen was intimidated immediately, and that hand was roughly released from his mouth.
Stephen couldn't move. He couldn't speak, and his feet were not on the ground. He didn't realize that he levitated, and the older Stephen maintained his angry expression.
He was going to banish Bucky. Stephen decided not to kill him, but that in itself was a terrible thing.
That's why the older Stephen was so friggen pissed. He blamed Roma for establishing that ridiculous Surveillant Council. His younger self didn't value life at that point, so his power struggle with Agamotto was going to be hard to control.
He processed that, and gave a sharp look over at the younger Steve. That version of the soldier never saw a war.
Then, he looked at the younger Tony. That one never had to set himself free. Those lessons were vital for all of them, and he wanted to know why Roma altered everything without considering that.
The older Stephen almost spit fire at his younger self, but he saw Clea. She tried to talk to him, but the sorcerer froze up when he saw Victor. He looked upon his younger brother. Victor was wearing a familiar Pink Floyd t-shirt.
That simple thing caused the sorcerer to disappear, but he kept his younger self locked up.
He didn't want him to move an inch, and the others slowly approached the scene. Whoooooo hoo hoooo, that one was a doozy.
The older Tony pointed that out, as he made sure everyone was ok.
Chapter: END
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