Once again the four of you were in one of those shitty drive-up motels. Steve sat at the desk, his hand resting against his palm as he stared out the window. You were on the other side of the room, perched atop an amazingly uncomfortable armchair. Sam was in the corner, doing maintenance on his wings, while Nat laid across the bed staring at a laptop, a pair of headphones covering her ears.
It had been three weeks since your last mission, the arms dealer in Northern Syria. That also made three weeks since Steve's confession, and the last time you two had had more than passing conversation. To your companions credit, neither had mentioned you and Steve's lie-in, nor the uncomfortable silence that had appeared between you afterwards.
A soft ringing interrupts the relative silence in the room, and you watch expressionless as Steve hops to his feet and grabs a phone from the top of his bag. He stares at the name on the screen for a long moment, his expression unreadable, before he opens it. "Tony?"
You and Natasha look at each other with wide eyes and then back at Steve. "Bruce? Slow down." Natasha's hand grips yours on the bed reflexively. Steve's silent as he listens to whatever Bruce is saying, and you watch as the color leaks from his face and he lowers himself to the bed right next to you; the closest you had been in the past few weeks by far. Finally, he gives a weak, "Vision-we'll get him. We'll be there soon."
He hangs up, but doesn't move. You kneel down in front of him, gently pulling the phone from his grip, "Steve, what is it?" You ask, feeling sick all of a sudden.
"There was an attack in New York," Steve says, "Stark is missing. Someone named Thanos is after something called the Infinity Stones. Like the one in Vision. We need to find him before anyone else does." He breaks his gaze away from you, "Nat, do we know where they are?"
"Wanda hasn't checked in," Nat frowns, "But we last had her in Scotland."
"Let's go."
"There!" Nat points to where the distinct glow from Wanda's powers lights up a building. You swing the quinjet around and take it low, flying feet from the tops of the buildings.
"Take us down and then stay close," Steve tells you.
"You might need help," You glance in his direction.
"We might need a quick getaway," He responds firmly. You sigh as the three of them gather at the back of the jet; you fly down alongside the building and hover a few feet above the road.
"Hurry back," You say weakly, "I'm pretty sure this isn't legal parking."
You can't see anything from your position, and just when you've finally decided to put the jet down in the middle of the road, Sam soares through the open back, setting an injured Vision down. "Sam, what happened?" Before he can answer Nat, Steve, and Wanda climb aboard the jet.
"Take us up," Steve tells you, "We should get out of here."
"I thought we had a deal. Stay close, check in. Don't take any chances."
"I'm sorry. We just wanted time," Wanda says, her hand wrapped around the hand that Vision doesn't have pressed against his wound.
"Where do you want to go?" You ask, taking the ship up to cruising altitude.
"Home," Steve tells you, and you nod in response, turning the plane west.
You keep towards the back as you enter the room, although the government by this point knew who you were, they didn't know where. You didn't want to give anyone anymore reason to be hunting the fugitive Avengers down.
"Mr. Secretary," Steve says to the hologram in the center of the room.
"You've got some nerve," Ross responds, "I'll give you that."
"You could use some of that right now," Natasha gives him a small smile.
"The world's on fire," Ross continues, "And you think all is forgiven?"
You clench your fist as a familiar anger settles over you; it was outrageous that the wonderful, caring, heroes, you had spent the last two years with were considered criminals. It showed everything that was wrong with the world.
"I'm not looking for forgiveness, and I'm way past asking for permission. Earth just lost her best defender, so we're here to fight," Steve takes a step forward, his shoulders squared, "And if you wanna stand in our way, we'll fight you too."
Ross turns to look at Rhodey, "Arrest them."
"All over it," He responds before swiping away the hologram. "That's a court-martial. It's great to see you, Cap."
"You too, Rhodie," Steve gives him a hug, followed by Natasha.
"Well, you guys really look like crap. Must've been a rough couple of years."
"Yeah well, the hotels weren't exactly five star," Sam jokes.
"I think that's actually underselling it," You smile. It felt good to be done running, at least for the moment.
"Uh, I think you look great," You turn to see Bruce walking in, "Uh, heh, yeah, I'm back."
"Hi Bruce," Natasha responds with the soft smile you had only ever seen directed at him.
"Nat."
"This is awkward," Sam whispers and you elbow him gently in the ribs.
"We can catch up later," Steve says after a moment, "We need to talk."
"So we gotta assume they're coming back right?" Rhodey asks and Wanda nods.
"And they can clearly find us."
"We need all hands on deck," Banner says, "Where's Clint?"
"After the whole Accords situation he and Scott took a deal. It was too tough on their families," Natasha frowns, "They're on house arrest."
"Who's Scott?" Banner asks.
"Ant-Man," Steve says.
"There's an Ant-Man and a Spider-Man?" Banner responds in disbelief, "Okay, look. Thanos has the biggest army in the universe, and he is not going to stop until he… until he gets Vision's stone."
"Well then," Natasha stands up, "We have to protect it."
"No, we have to destroy it," Vision says suddenly, "I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head, about its nature. But also it's composition. I think if it were exposed o a sufficiently powerful energy source, something very similar to it's own signature. Perhaps it's molecular integrity could fail."
"And you with it," Wanda shakes her head, "We're not having this conversation."
"Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain that Thanos can't get it," Vision tell her gently.
"That's too high a price."
You watch as vision takes her face gently between his hands, "Only you have the power to pay it." Wanda strides away upset, "Thanos threatens half the Universe. One life cannot stand in the way of defeating him."
You all look to Steve then, and you know that it's his choice; you'll all go along with whatever he says. You also know that he'll make the wrong decision.
Steve stares down at the floor, "But it should," He looks up, "We don't trade lives, Vision."
"Captain, 70 years ago you laid down your life to save how many millions of people?" Vision asks, "Tell me, why is this any different?"
You see Steve inhale, but Bruce interrupts, "Because you might have a choice. Your mind is made up of a complex construct of overlays. JARVIS, Ultron, Tony, me, the Stone." He sounds excited now, "All of them mixed together, all of them learning from one another."
"You're saying Vision isn't just the stone?" Wanda asks, hope trembling in her own voice.
"I'm saying that if we take out the stone, there's still a whole lot of Vision left. Perhaps the best parts."
"Can we do that?" Nat asks.
"Not me," Bruce shakes his head, "Not here."
"Well that's not particularly helpful. Who can? Stark's…" You bite your lip, "Gone."
"You better find someone, and somewhere fast. Ross isn't just going to let you have your old rooms back."
"I know somewhere," Steve says after a moment, "I'll make some calls, but T'Challa will help us. I don't think Ross is going to storm the building tonight. Take the night, rest up. We'll leave first thing in the morning."
You hadn't spent a lot of time at the compound, but you're familiar enough with the layout that your feet automatically take you towards the room you had stayed in during your time there. You press your hand against the sensor at the door, and it turns green to both your surprise and guilt; Stark had never pulled your prints from security, after everything.
"(Y/n)," You turn to see Steve striding purposefully down the hallway towards you. His momentum doesn't slow as he approaches and when he finally reaches you his hands reach up and cup your face, and it doesn't even occur to you to try and stop him before he presses his lips to yours. Instead your body responds on it's own, your arms wrap themselves around his neck as you angle your head to deepen the kiss.
When he pulls away you're both breathless as you stare into each other's eyes. "Steve," You whisper the words even though the two of you are alone, "This isn't-I'm not good for you."
"I don't care," He responds, and then his lips are on yours again and you know you won't protest again. Your hand slides back, pressing against the door panel. You hear the door unlatch and you push it open without separating yourself from Steve. Together you stumble backwards into the room, dimly lit from the last rays of the day's light slipping between the blinds. When the back of your legs hit the bed you let yourself fall backwards, pulling him with you.
When you had let yourself imagine being with Steve you had imagined soft kisses and longing glances, not the fire he displayed as he pressed himself against you, soft pants escaping your lips.
It's too early the next morning when you're woken up to fingertips tracing soft patterns just above your hip.
"That tickles," You mumble sleepily, and they immediately still.
You open your eyes to see Steve, a soft smile on his lips, "Sorry."
You can't help the contented smile that spreads across your face. "Last night was…"
"Yeah," Steve lets out a little breathless laugh, "I just… We've never gone up against anything like this before and with what Thanos wants to do…"
"I know," You break away from his gaze and rest your cheek against his chest, feeling his steady heartbeat beneath your skin. You can't help but think that his reasoning was backwards; what he said was the exact reason the two of you shouldn't be doing this.