"Come sink into me and let me breathe you in
I'll be your gravity, you be my oxygen
So dig two graves 'cause when you die
I swear I'll be leaving by your side

So you can drag me through hell
If it meant I could hold your hand
I will follow you 'cause I'm under you spell
And you can throw me to the flames" Follow You by Bring Me the Horizon

Chapter 13

We've all run out to the front of the building, the adrenaline rush is enough to mostly sober me up. Are we going to have to fight? I don't want to fight anymore. Doesn't stop any of us from being poised for battle though. The door to the strange aircraft opens. Rather than some freaky looking green men exiting there's a different looking but still familiar muscular form making his way towards us.

"Thor?" Steve relaxes as his friend comes to stand in front of him.

"It is so good to see you all. We have had a most trying journey." Thors hair is much shorter than usual and he now has an eyepatch. I wonder who he means by we?

Stumbling out of the ship is none other than Bruce Banner. My eyes shoot to Natasha who is as usual difficult to read. Her eyes look a little sad though. Behind Bruce is Thor's troublemaker of a brother, Loki.

Tony pulls Bruce into a hug, it's very unlike him but he always has had a soft spot for his fellow scientist.

"So I'm assuming you're finally not on the wrong side of things if you're here with your brother and Bruce isn't trying to murder you?" Loki has come to stop near me for some reason.

"You'd be correct Agent Angelov. At least for the time being, it's lovely to see you again darling." In the short amount of time I had known Loki he had tried to take over our planet but that still hadn't stopped him from swinging wildly between saying horrific things to try to scare me to flirting in a disarming way, clearly to get a rise out of me. Seems he hasn't changed too much.

Bucky shifts beside me, glaring at the God of mischief. I'm sure it's the way he clearly seemed to shift slightly in front of me when the doors to the ship opened that cued Loki in on the intimate nature of our relationship. Thus why Loki had to add on the "darling" to his remark. He seemed to still just love to grate at people.

"Is this your new lover my lady? It wounds me that you seem to have forgotten me so quickly." Yea, I think I might still kill him regardless of if he's turned good or not. Bucky practically growls and reaches for the knife in his back pocket.

"Brother! You must refrain from tormenting our friends with your careless words. We have only just arrived, please show a little restraint." Thor puts a large hand on his brothers shoulder, Loki looks a little disgusted as he pushes Thor's hand off of him. "Lady Liya it is so wonderful to see you!" The tall god pulls me into a overwhelming embrace, lifting me off of me feet. He sets me down with a smile before turning to Bucky. "Steven has told me much about you Bucky Barnes. It is an honor to meet you." The two men shake hands and Bucky even manages to smile a little.

"Not that I'm not thrilled to see you Point Break but what exactly are you doing here with a giant spaceship filled with Asgardians?" Tony is looking into the open door of the ship. There is indeed a shit load of what looks to be Asgardians standing inside.

Thor proceeds to tell us the story of his sister and Ragnarok and the destruction of his home planet. He tells us he has plans to take his people to Norway to settle down but he wanted to make a stop to our facility to drop of Bruce and ask if he can assist us in anyway. To say it's a short and sweet visit it putting it mildly. They leave almost as quickly as they came with promises to visit as soon as they're settled. Can't blame the guy since he has to find a home for all of his people. Bruce looks more than a little lost.

"Hey Bruce, want to come up and have some lunch with Bucky and I?" Tony gives me the side eye like he can't believe I'd dare to take his science bro away from him. I try to convey in a look that I want to check and see how Bruce is doing after these years away from Earth. He apparently gets it because he tells me he's going to get Bruce's old room cleaned up and talk to Pepper. Natasha has disappeared with Steve ahead of us. I need to talk to her too later. Bruce seems grateful for the invitations and comes up to my suite with us.

Both men are sitting at the kitchen table while I make us just some quick subs and chips. They're both silent, which honestly isn't too out of character for either of them. Bruce was always on the shy side and Bucky sure as hell Isn't very talkative with anyone other then Steve and I most of the time.

I sit down beside Bucky and across from Bruce. We all start eating in silence. I can't handle this awkward silence shit.

"Uh, thanks Liya. I can't remember the last time I ate anything normal." I smile at Bruce for finally speaking up.

"No problem, it's isn't much but I figured it would be something quick. Sorry for stealing you away from everyone but I figured you might appreciate some peace before you get thrown back into the fold by Tony. I know how overwhelming he can be." He chuckles and nods his head.

"I appreciate it. I missed the guy but I'm still a little disoriented. You've always been good at reading me and respecting my need for quiet moments." I have a lot of love for Bruce Banner, he has always been kind to me and gave me a chance despite his distrust of Shield. He opened up to me about his many insecurities. And of course I had to care about him when my best friend cared about him so much at one time. Him leaving really did a number on Natasha which made me lose a little respect for him but I also understood why he felt he needed to do it. Now it's been years and he's obviously been through a lot so I'm just going to try to be a good friend like we were before. I'll reevaluate after I speak to Natasha again.

"I know Steve has told you about Bucky before and I'm sure you learned about him in school but this is him obviously. He's kind of like you in a sense, sucks ass at communicating unless you pry it out of him." Bucky looks unimpressed by my introduction and I can't help but laugh. He holds his hand out to shake Bruce's.

"Nice to meet you Bucky. Steve definitely used to talk about you a lot and everyone learns about the Howling Commandos growing up." Bucky looks a little shocked by this.

"Yea I saw an exhibit at a museum about myself, definitely made me feel old. Nice to know I'm in history books to." He doesn't sound as grumpy as he usually does when he's talking to other people. I think he and Bruce will get along well.

"So not to be presumptuous but I'm assuming the two of you are together?" We must be super obvious even when we aren't touching or anything.

"Yes sir. Poor Bucky here is stuck with me, we're soul mates." The look on Bruce's face is one of surprise. Bucky smiles softly at me and takes my hand in his.

"Wow, that's unexpected. Soul mates are so rare in this day and age. I've always been very fascinated by it. I know people don't get marks anymore but I wonder if there's anything scientifically that can show some kind of data or connection? There must be something that makes two people so drawn to each other." I never really thought about that. Is there something that you can see under a microscope or in black and white that shows the connection between Bucky and I?

"Could always ask Tony if he's done any research on it, he and Pepper are soul mates too." I just can't imagine that Bucky would want to submit to some kind of experiment. Bruce looks shocked.

"What? Tony was able to keep something like that to himself? That's incredibly surprising." That's very true, Tony is terrible at keeping his mouth shut about anything

"So, how are you doing Brucey? Thor said you were the other guy for a long time." He lets out a long sigh.

"Honestly I'm still processing everything. I helped Thor out on Sakaar and Asgard but I really haven't been myself for long. It's like I was in a coma for years and my brain is trying to catch up." I can't even imagine what he's going through right now.

"I'm so sorry Bruce. You just have to take it a day at a time, we'll all help you get back up to speed. I'm always available to talk." He smiles gratefully.

"It'll be nice to get back in the lab again. I think if I get back to a normal routine it will help a lot." I'm surprised when Bucky speaks up.

"Would you mind if I maybe came and watched you work sometime? Back when Steve and I were growin up I was always real interested in science. I'd like to try to start putting myself back in the world a bit more. Maybe there's somethin I could do to help. I loved watching Shuri work in Wakanda." Holy shit! He asked for something! This is huge, he's found an interest in something and wants to pursue it. I'm so proud of him, maybe it's silly that him wanting to have a hobby is making me tear up. Bucky notices my watery expression.

"You alright doll?" He wipes away a tear that's escaped my eye but I can't stop smiling. I press a chaste kiss to his lips since Bruce is here.

"I'm perfect babe, I'm just happy." He raises an eyebrow in confusion and just chuckles before turning back to face Bruce. Bruce looks just as confused as Bucky does.

"Uh, yea of course you can. Might help to have an extra pair of hands and eyes sometimes. Steve has always asked me a lot of questions about my work but never seemed to grasp it or be really interested." It's pretty silly how happy this is making me.

"Yea, that punk was never into any of that really. Didn't stop him from signing up to be a science experiment of course, but that was only because he wanted to fight so damn bad." He's still carrying on a conversation, I'm thrilled. I kinda want to screw his brains out just because I'm so giddy about him initiating a conversation. But let's get real here, I always want to get him naked.

"So are you going to get into this whole Avengers business too Bucky?" Here we go. I look to my boyfriend to see his reaction. He lets out a deep sigh.

"I don't know. I want to help Steve. I want to make amends for all the pain and death I've caused. I highly doubt Stark will ever trust me to have his back though. I think about what I want all the time now. I'm good at fightin, I'm good at completin a mission. But is it wrong of me to want to take a step back and try to just live for awhile? All I've ever done is fight and kill, I don't know if I can keep doing it, if I want to." He sounds so lost, so vulnerable. I squeeze his hand tightly, I just want him to be happy.

"I don't think it's wrong to want more than all of this. I mean, I never wanted in to begin with. I felt like you, felt like I needed to make amends. Then I felt like I HAD to, all those guys needed me, well needed the other guy. Seems to me like the Avengers are getting bigger and bigger, they've got more people who want to fight. You're not Tony or Steve or Natasha, you DON'T have to fight anymore if you don't want to. If you still want to help there's plenty of things you can do without getting out there and avenging, hell if you want to go live in the middle of nowhere and spend all day with your soul mate doing nothing I'm pretty sure you've earned that." Bruce Banner is a gift to this world. This man said he was still out of it but he sure doesn't sound like it. Bucky looks a little choked up. He needs to hear things like this, he needs to know he's more than a weapon.

"I…I think I gotta take some time to figure it out. I wanna try new things and I wanna take care of my girl, that's all I know right now." He's smiling so brightly at me, his stormy eyes are shining with adoration and I really feel like I could drown in them. I love this man so much.

Bruce chuckles, his cheeks a little red.

"I've seen this woman take out guys twice her size, pretty sure she can take care of herself. But I get it, and you guys seem great for each other. Liya here looks happier than I've ever seen her. Stick together and I'm sure you'll figure out right where you need to be."

Bucky is still beaming at me, his metal thumb brushes sweetly over my knuckles. "I'm already right where I wanna be Doc. Wherever Liya is, that's where I belong."