For the-lady-razorsharp and her excellent fic Bad Guy (which is NSFW) and can be found on AO3 under her pen name LadyRazorsharp. Please note that this is a Rare!Pair.
He lay there with her, a tangle of arms and legs, both content in the moment.
She began to draw circles on his chest. It was relaxing, and in response he both sighed and tightened the arm that was around her. They looked at each other simultaneously, small smiles on both faces.
She broke the silence.
'Don't you wish that sometimes we could be free? Just you and me and this poky little cottage in a meadow? No strings attached, no responsibilities. No International Rescue, no Chaos Crew?'
He mused.
Sometimes, while growing up, he used to fantasise that he was an only child, that he wasn't a six-year-old looking after two younger brothers with another on the way, that he was a pirate, a musketeer, a lost boy flying through the sky in search of other lost souls. That he wasn't a ten-year-old caring for a baby, a toddler and two older brothers, lost in grief. That he hadn't joined the air force to find more people to worry about – gunner, co-pilot, squadmates.
That he was as free as the bluebirds that visited Kansas every year, flying off on migration to better climates.
Yes was the honest answer. Sometimes he did wish he was free. But he had grown up with responsibility since the day he was born, and he knew no other way, it was core to his being.
Who is Scott Tracy if not responsible? The thought made him tighten his arms around her and he bestowed a soft kiss to her forehead.
'Yes. Sometimes I do think about a simpler life. But we would not be who we are without the responsibilities we carry. I have my brothers, you have yours.' (And much more, though that thought remained unspoken.)
She sighed in response. The Hannah in her saw Scott's point immediately. The Havoc in her wanted to scoff and deny. But it was true. Her dumb ox of a brother needed her in a way that she had never needed anything, and she knew Scott felt the same about his brothers.
Much as they went so well together, they both had responsibilities that could not be shirked. She got up first, showered and dressed and made scrambled eggs while Scott took his turn. Neither mentioned that thought again, and Scott stood watching Hannah disappear down the path and through the meadow before he left himself, happy at the few moments of freedom they could snatch together.
Freedom from responsibility? He didn't think that would ever be possible.