They had been watching a movie that night, Frozen for the thousandth time, when the last suddenly went out. It happened every now and then, someone would have too many power cords around their home or would have a heater going at the same time that they would be using the microwave and it would cut the power to not only their apartment but for floors above and below them, it had happened to Robin a couple of times before. Cecilia hated being in the dark, she had hated it since long before their parents had died, Robin just figured it had been a fear that she had just been born with, like Robin with spiders or Simon with heights, Cecilia hated being in the dark. So as James tried to calm the girl, Simon and Robin went around the house lighting up candles throughout the house. They had gotten used to doing stuff like this with Cecilia got afraid, Robin was just happy that it wasn't a thunderstorm, then she would have had to comfort both Cecilia and James and that was something that she was just not ready for. Simon handed her her fathers old acoustic guitar that the had used to play to the three of them when they were younger, Robin had practiced playing it when Cecilia got afraid and Simon would find just about anything to use as a drum set.
" Hey, Celie. What do you wanna hear why we are waiting for the power to come back on?" Robin asked as she sat on the floor, leaving both James and Cecilia on the couch, placing the guitar in the right position to play.
" The Sound of Silence." Cecilia whispered, she was wrapped lightly into James's arms, her lip quivering as she tried to keep from crying. James had wrapped a blanket around the little girl, Simon ran out of the bedroom and brought a teddy bear that Robin had had when she was a baby that she had given to Cecilia when their parents had died, Cecilia slept with it every night now.
" How did I know?" Robin smiled as she started to strum out on her guitar, trying to recall the exact notes that she was supposed to do.
She played whatever her sister asked for her to play and some other stuff that Cecilia didn't even know that she liked. She played all of the Simon and Garfunkel songs that her parents had sung from them, all of the songs that they had been named after. She played all of the classic songs from Night Moves or Landslide, hoping that no one would ever hear her singing them outside of those walls. Robin sang to her sister and in the shower, that was it, Robin knew that she could not sing if her life depended on it. But from the look on Cecilia's face, and also James who looked like he was listening to angels sing, she knew that she must have been doing something right with the bright smile that was on her face. Simon would sing in a bit, though he would just start smiling and go back to doing a bit of drumming where he felt like it was needed, Simon could sing better than she could, but they booth sounded like tone deaf cats screeching at one another in the end. Cecilia would hum along if she felt like she knew the song well enough, singing along if she really knew it, before she would settle back down and listen to her older sister sing once again. James, well he had no clue what any of the songs were, Robin just smiled up to him once in awhile, the way that he looked down at the girl gave her butterflies in her stomach. She wondered why he thought that she was made out of glass.
She sang songs that she would make up on the spot, she would sing songs that Simon knew to make him happy, she even tried to think of songs that James would have known when he was Bucky, but came up short with Elvis. Robin sang country, rock, pop, anything to make sure that the smile that was on her sister's face did not turn back into fear again. She really would have done just about anything to make sure that that little girl always had a bright smile on her face. Robin played that guitar for her sister until her figured hurt so bad that she couldn't feel them anymore and she knew that by dawn she would have blisters from those steel strings. Even after they started to hurt she kept playing because of the happiness that came to her sisters face, it was only after she thought that she could feel them bleed did she finally decide that it was enough for the night, even with the lights still off, she needed to give her fingers a break.
" So watcha think we could do now?" Robin asked to her little sister, tickling her lightly, Cecilia still in the safely of James's arms, James did not seem to mind whatsoever that his body was being used almost as a giant safety blanket.
" Man hunt?" Simon asked as he placed his drums back to the area they kept all of their pots.
" Man, we haven't played a game of man hunt in forever! I remember playing that with you and some of your friends in Paris. . . that was a fun night! Didn't you slip and fall into the river that night?" Robin said with a smile on her face, she loved the game.
" I thought that we were never going to bring that up again!" Simon hissed.
" Well you did come home soaking wet, I just lied and said that you had fallen into a puddle. I never said that I would not bring it up again, I just said that I wouldn't tell Mom the truth." Robin shrugged, crossing her arms as her brother glared to her.
" What's man hunt?" James asked, Robin could tell that he really thought that they were going to go out and track down and man that then kill him. That would be some hell of a game was the only thing that crossed Robin's mind as she chuckled.
" It's like a game of tag in the dark. And we can run away from you until you catch us. Its a lot funner outside but in New York City that would be like a target on your back saying please kidnap me." Robin said with a understanding smile.
" Man hunt! Man hunt!" Robin cried out in agreement, bouncing in James's lap, making him grunt and groan.
" Okay, then it's settled. Boundary lines?" Simon asked starting to blow out some of the candles.
" The apartment." Robin stated, feeling the motherhood side telling her that she needed to keep them safe, just in case this wasn't just someone blowing the powers.
" Lame." Simon groaned.
" Lame." Cecilia mimicked.
" Fine. The floor but no going down the stairwell or into anyone elses apartments." Robin groaned, feeling peep pressure from a five and twelve year old was pathetic.
" Yay!" Cecilia cheered, clapping her hands as she bounded out of James's lap and started running towards the door.
" Wait! We have to decide whose it!" Robin cried out.
" James." Simon and Robin said at the same time, James looking a bit frightened about the game. It was his first time so of course they were going to make him be it! It was almost like a right of passage into the game, the first time that you played you had to be the person that was the searcher!
" Don't worry, they'll be easy to find, me though, well good luck with finding me." She whispered as she gave the man a kiss before winking to him. " Now count to a hundred and keep your eyes closed. Don't cheat!" She yelled as she ran out of the apartment with her siblings.
" Us three are playin; with Bucky Barnes! I so excited!" Cecilia cheered as she went and hid behind the plant vase.
" Yeah, I can't believe it either. I'm running away from someone who is old enough to be my great-grandfather and playing man hunt with him. What a time to be alive!" Simon said as he ran down the hall in the other direction.
Robin found herself laughing and smiling thinking about how it was a person who had been at least trained by Hydra was now chasing three people around an apartment, looking for three kids whose parents were some of the top S.H.I.E.L.D agents in the world. This was definitely something that her mother would have said a big NO is if she would have been alive. Robin had somehow managed to get herself all the way up and on top of the Pespi vending machine that they near the elevator, it never had anything in it and right now it was one of the darkest places on the whole floor. Robin could feel her heart racing with every little noise that she heard. She figured that it would be one of the best places to hide from someone who had been hiding from Steve Rogers for awhile. She didn't know how good he was with finding people, but she figured that he must have been pretty good, and kept herself as far away from the edges of the machine as she could, curled up against the walls.
She could hear the giggles and shrieks from Cecilia, who had started to run the other way from James's who had roared when he found her like a dinosaur, but Robin figured that the little girl had gotten away when she started to run into her hiding area. With the girl James was so different than with anyone else, he was kind and brave and strong and everything that a little girl could ask for in a guardian, James was turning out to be Cecilia's best friend. Cecilia's little feet could be heard running through the halls, her giggles giving away the fact that James was running slowly not to catch up with her too soon. Robin felt like she had to mess with James, to make him think that the little girl had just vanished into thin air. So when Cecilia came in her area, Robin picked her up by one arm and pulled her up and onto the vending machine with her, wrapping her arm around the girl and placing her finger on the little girls mouth.
They had to keep one another from giggling as James finally came into the area, scanning in from head to toe. Robin could tell, he had been trained to look for people. She kept her hand around Ceclia's mouth as the little girl did the exact same thing to her. They were both smiling as James must have heard someone else walking down the hall and started to go in that direction to find if it was Simon or even Robin or Cecilia. She could tell, he liked this game, or the other side of him, the one that had been him before he had met Robin, liked this game a lot. Either way they were all having far to good of a time. But, just as Robin called it, James had found both Cecilia and Simon long before any of them could find her. She had hiding spots all over the floor that she had found while she used to walk around the building at night, unable to sleep, those were the nights when the nightmares had kept her up. Robin got to use all of her stealth moves that her mother had taught her to move around without anyone hearing her or seeing her. For the longest time she had just stayed, sitting on the couch, because no one came in to see if she had hidden herself in there. When they finally did, it was James who had come in to check.
" Hey there Tiger." Robin whispered before she got up and leaped over the couch, landing on her feet and keeping low.
" No training from S.H.I.E.L.D, huh?" James said with a smug smile, thinking that he had her trapped.
" Well S.H.I.E.L.D never did train me, but my mom, well she's a different creature all together." Robin smiled before James came lunging for her, her shrieking and jumped onto the counter before she got up and onto the refrigerator and got as far back as she could, smiling towards the man before. " Still gotta tag me." She laughed as Simon and Cecilia came running in.
" How did you get up there?" Simon asked as Cecilia just had her mouth open.
" I jumped." Robin shrugged with a laugh as James just looked so frustrated. " Told you that I wouldn't make it easy for you."
" Yeah, she always wins this game. One time she found both me and Celie within like three minutes of the game starting." Simon mumbled.
" You can't stay up there forever!" Cecilia said.
" Well you guys can't puppy guard me either!" Robin said with a childish smile.
" Hey Cecilia, come here." James said as he picked up the girl and put her on the refrigerator with her big sister. " Tag her for me."
" Ah crap!" Robin said as her sister tapped her shoulder, right as the lights came back on. " Common you two, time to get washed up and time to go to bed. I hope you guys didn't destroy anything with how long it took you to find me." Robin mumbled as she gave Cecilia back to James before she jumped into his arms, her spun her around once again, just like when they had been at Pepper's party.
Once the kids had gone to bed they both slipped into her bedroom as well. Though James was perfectly happy resting in her bed, Robin found herself sitting on the dresser, looking on the window at the nightlife that was around. She hadn't caught what had been said on the television about her, but she figured it couldn't have been good. Hell, Jordan had even texted her saying that they had caught her and Steve coming out of Stark Industries together, and all she could think was great, I am going to be the next big thing in the tabloids. But she could also understand how people would find it interesting, a model hooking up with not only Captain America but a super sexy guy as well, hell Robin would have hoped on that train if she could have. Steve Rogers was really hot, even Robin would not doubt that, she just never even thought about it, she had just danced with the guy and now they were dating. She sighed, hoping that it would just fizzle off when something else came up with someone who was actually famous.
No, what really had gotten to her was everything about her weight. She knew that it shouldn't of matter to her, hell, she had heard it all of her life when she started to work in the fashion world. But there was something about them saying that, when she felt her healthiest in a long time, that she was looking a little too big. She wondered if she was starting to look big, if she was thinking that healthy on her was actually fat. That maybe she was starting to have the opposite affect than people that had anorexia had, that when she saw healthy it was really fattening to the rest of the world. She didn't want to think about it, but whenever she tried to think about anything else, it would creep back into her mind. So she sat there, on her dresser, in her nightgown, watching the city that never sleeps. That is, until she felt a pair of chilly hands wrap around her waist, a pair of lips pressed against her neck, making her shiver in many different ways.
" You look like you are in a different world, Robin, what's on your mind?" James asked to her, kissing her neck once again, making her moan lightly.
" Nothing." She mumbled, wrapping her hand onto his hair.
" Stop lying." James said as he took his lips away from her neck, almost like a punishment.
" They called me fat." Robin mumbled as she felt his lips go against her neck before he realized what she said and spun her around so that they were facing one another.
" Who?" James asked, she could tell that he could see all of the hurt in her eyes.
" Just some magazines, I know, I know, I shouldn't care what they said but I. . . I do." She shook her head, feeling foolish.
" Fuck 'em." James said, leaving her speechless for a moment.
" Wh-what?" Robin said through a smile as out of no where he kissed right, hard, right on the mouth.
" Fuck 'em." He said once again.
" Well that seems like a lot of people to be fuckin'. Since when have you head such a vulgar mouth?" Robin said with a playful smile as she wrapped her finger in his hair.
" Since my girl seems to think that she is not perfect. Robin, you are like a feather, you are so light to begin with I don't even see how anyone could think that you were too big. You. . . there is nothing wrong with you just the way that you are and if you think that there is then I am going to have to tell you every hour. . . every half hour how perfect you really are." James said as Robin could feel a tear dropping from her eyes, she had never had someone be like this with her. " You really don't see it do you?" He questioned.
" I. . . I know that I am pretty, I have been told that my whole life. But perfect that is a word that I have never heard someone say about me before." Robin said with a faint smile as she wiped the tear away from her eye.
" Well you are more than perfect, you are the most important thing in my life, hell, you are my life." He whispered as he came in and kissed her one more time. " Robin. . . I. . . I love you." He whispered as Robin felt her whole heart flutter right into her throat.