𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆 ━━━ ❪...

a/n
[ yes. pietro and steve. that's
all for now. ]

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SEVENTEEN
𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭
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TONY FOUND STEVE staring through the glass window, it separated the office area from where there were screens, in the control room, images of the Winter Soldier played on them, footage of the holding cell he was in playing in black and white.

He was still left wondering if there was any way Bucky remembered him, knew who he was or even had the slightest bit of good left in him.

"Hey, you wanna see something cool?" Tony approached him, his grey blazer tucked over his arm, he shook a black rectangular box in his hand, "I pulled something from Dad's archives. Felt timely."

Steve took a seat on the wooden conference table and watched as he lifted the lid, revealing two shiny, well-kept pens inside, they looked expensive. "FDR signed the Lend-Lease bill with these in 1941, provided support to the allies when they needed it most."

Tony placed them on the table next to Steve, he knew what Tony was trying to do, it would be an understatement to say that they didn't share the same views politically, "Some would say it brought our country closer to war."

"See? If not for these, you wouldn't be here. I'm trying to...what do you call it? That's an olive branch. Is that what you call it?" Tony sat on the chair opposite him.

"Is Pepper here? I didn't see her," Steve asked, changing the subject, looking over, as if she would be there.

"We're kinda...well not kinda."

"Pregnant?" Steve asked, hoping he had started on that simple life they had once talked about.

"No. Definitely not," Tony wasn't ready for that kind of commitment, he didn't know if it would ever be safe for him to bring a child into his world - where so many things could go wrong. "We're taking a break, it's nobody's fault."

"I'm so sorry, Tony. I didn't know."

"A few years ago, I almost lost her, so I trashed all my suits. Then we had to mop up HYDRA and...then Natasha. My fault. And then, and then, and then, I never stopped. Creating Vision...because the truth is I don't want to stop. I don't want to lose her. I thought maybe the Accords could split the difference."

Tony rose from the chair, leaning back to bounce off it, he paced around the room, "In her defence, I'm a handful. Yet, Dad was a pain in the ass, but he and Mom always made it work..."

He talked about Howard as if they both referred to him as 'Dad,' like they were brothers...

"You know I'm glad Howard got married," Steve smiled, "I knew him when he was young and single."

"Oh, really? You two knew each other?" Tony used a tone of fake surprise, "He never mentioned that, maybe only a...thousand times. God, I hated you."

Tony adjusted the pull of his collar as he entered his blazer, picking it off the chair. "I don't mean to make things difficult," Steve said, finally going back to the topic they had mutually avoided.

"I know because your a very polite person."

"If I see a situation going south, I can't avoid it. Sometimes I wish I could."

"No you don't," Tony corrected.

Steve's eyes flickered from the floor back to Tony's face, "No, I don't. Sometimes..."

"Sometimes I want to punch you in your perfect teeth," Tony said, "But I don't want to see you gone. We need you, Cap. So far nothing's happened that can't be undone, if you sign. We can make the last 24 hours legit. Barnes gets transferred to an American psych centre...instead of a Wakandan prison."

Steve frowned, picking up one of the fountain pens, he fiddled with it, rolling it around in his fingers. He was still going through it. He stood up, turning to Tony, "I'm not saying it's impossible, but there would have to be safeguards."

"Sure," Tony said, "Once we put out the PR fire, those documents can be amended...I file a motion to have you, Pietro and Wanda reinstated."

"Pietro and Wanda? What about 'em?"

"They're fine, they're confined to the compound currently. Vision and Strange are keeping them company, or at least Strange was."

"Oh God, Tony," Steve turned, "Every time, every time I think you see things the right way..."

"It's a hundred acres with a lap pool, it's got a screening room," Tony said, he had taken Steve's seat, "There are worse ways to protect people."

Steve couldn't believe what he was hearing, he knew the last thing Wanda needed was to feel more isolated from the world. What Pietro felt was something he was still trying to work out...

"Protection? Is this how you see this? It's internment, Tony."

"Wanda's not a US citizen and they don't grant visas to weapons of mass destruction!"

"Oh, come on, Tony!" Steve shouted, "She's a kid!"

"Gimme a break!" Tony huffed, "I'm doing what needs to be done...to stave off something worse."

*

"Captain," Pietro's thick-accented, smooth voice came up behind Steve, he was snapped out of his thoughts immediately as he turned around to see the young man approach him.

"Everything alright, Maximoff?" Steve's eyes were laced with concern, they became softer as Pietro greeted him with a smile, "What are you doing here?"

Pietro had caught Cap before he ran off to where they were holding Barnes, it felt right to have a chat with him. Sort some things out, he could tell that he was running.

"Everything's fine," Pietro stood in front of Rogers, his eyes scanned the man's face, his perfectly shaped lips - they looked soft and warm, his gaze jumped down to his cut chest. "I heard you'd be here. Just wondering...how you're doing?"

"I'm doing..." Steve sighed, "I've done better."

"This must be complicated," Pietro placed a hand on his shoulder, gripping the muscles on it, "Having Peggy just die, needing to make a decision this heavy. I'd run..."

"Running tends to leave things out of control."

Pietro shrugged, "It's the way I'd normally go."

Steve eyed him, watched as his words seemed to mean something else when he stared back at him, "You tend to run from a lot of things?"

"Most things. When I get scared, or get angry, but that was mostly before...it's one of the reasons I got these specific abilities, I think."

"What of Wanda?" Steve's eyes floated to the wall ahead of him, Pietro's gazes getting too much to handle.

"Ah, she tends to over think things. Likes to take the time to try and reveal everything about someone."

"She seemed to get along with the Doctor pretty quickly."

"Yeah," Pietro shook his head wittingly, " I know, she's different with him, I guess."

Pietro had noticed a significant change in Wanda's attitude after coming back, she seemed to have a lot less on her mind then before. He knew what it was like to tug onto her after the most severe of breakdowns, he was just glad she was more confident in herself now, even if it was a small change. And, even if it took Strange to encourage it...

"I always tried my best to stay the same...with Peggy."

"She meant a lot to you, yes? Maybe I can fill a void," Pietro lifted his hand to Steve's shoulder, the soldier watching carefully as he did.

Steve wasn't blind, or stupid, he knew that Pietro was trying to make some sort of advances on him. He was still yet to decide whether his intentions were sexual or not but if it was - he wasn't in the mood. Not to mention the prominent age gap between them that stirred him more than anything else, he didn't know how Strange did it.

Steve's eyes opened, realisation dawning over him, "Kid, I think your reading too far into this relationship. I don't mean to give you the wrong signals or anything but I don't even think I'm ready for this sort of thing. I'm sorry but I-I've got to go."

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WANDA MAXIMOFF SQUEEZED as much as she could into the medium-sized black suitcase lying on her bed, the room has several mountains of discarded clothes sprawled along the floor - items that proved unnecessary.

Running away was something that she considered as natural now, just a year ago she had been making her way through the streets. There wasn't any reason she couldn't again.

The only sound her ears were interested in was the one of clothes being thrown around her room, which is why she was oblivious when the sound of Vision entering her room by way of phasing shocked her.

"Oh my god, Vizh!" Wanda held a hand to her chest, "How many times have I got to tell you..." She twisted her head around the suitcase, finding the zip which she slid around the case, closing the bag.

She lifted the luggage off of the bed, dragging it along, past the shell-shocked Android and into the kitchen halls nearby.

"Ms Maximoff?" Vision called after her, smoothly rushing towards her with a golden gleam of light, his feet above the floor as he floated.

"Vision, I'm leaving," She sighed dropping the luggage to turn to him, a somewhat irritated look on her face.

"What do you mean?" Pietro had sped into the room, a blur rushing past them before he was noticed, "You're leaving? Are you serious right now?"

It was late, she was hoping to avoid Pietro's pleads, she knew he had done out but coincidentally he had only decided to come back when it wasn't the right time.

"Look, Pietr-" Wanda began to try and calm him, there was no real way to explain correctly. They all jumped as an explosion flashed in the distance, fiery lights reflecting on the window. Vision glided to the window, inspecting it carefully. "What is it?"

"Stay here, please," Vision warned the twins, he left them alone in the room.

There was a small twitch, a slight creak in the floorboards sent Wanda's eyes straight to the wooden knife rack, throwing the sharp object to the person's head. Her heart rested as she caught the sight of Clint Barton, "Oh my god, what are you doing here?"

"Wait..." Pietro tried to contain the smile on his face, "Aren't you retired?"

"Yes, but instead I'm disappointing my kids," Clint's hands raised, extending the bow in his hands, shooting two arrows opposite sides of the room, no one taking much notice of it. "I'm supposed to go water-skiing. Cap needs our help, come on." Clint nodded to Pietro and Wanda to follow along.

"Clint!" Vision's voice put a pause on everything, "You should not be here?"

"What? I retire for all of ten minutes and it all goes to shit?"

"Please consider the consequences of your actions."

Clint turned his head, acting as he was going through the thought process for a second, "Okay, they're considered. Okay, we gotta go."

Clint had known that Vision wouldn't back down without a fight, he waited for the arrows he had planted to do their job, their purpose finally revealed.

Pietro couldn't deny that he felt an inkling of a something for Steve Rogers and it only seemed to burn inside him with each passing day. He wasn't entirely sure whether it was purely unresolved sexual tension from training days, flashes of the Captain holding him down by the throat proved to be somewhat erotic...

Wanda, however, was going through an entirely different train of thoughts. She still wanted to make a break for it, everything just seemed to go wrong for her. Who was to say she wouldn't mess it all up again? Invoke another tragedy?

Pietro walked along with Clint, Hawkeye noticed the presence of Wanda was missing beside them, "It's this way."

Wanda scrunched her nose, sniffing in the air, her gaze averted, "I think I've done enough. You should go without me."

Clint frowned, he wasn't going to watch her doubt herself any longer, let guilt drown her where it didn't need to, "You gotta help me, Wanda. Look you wanna mope, you go to high school. You want to make amends, you get off your ass."

"Guys," Pietro alerted them as Vision was released from his electrified containment, "Might wanna speed things up."

"Shit," Clint cursed as Vision marched towards him, sending him to the floor with a punch.

He recovered quickly, reaching a hand behind his back, grabbing a baton and extending it with a quick flourish of his wrist, "I knew I should've stretched."

Pietro held Wanda's shoulder, "Hey, what's going on with you?"

"I'm..." Wanda sighed, "Are we seriously going to do this? Don't you care about what will happen?"

"Of course I do, but do you seriously want to stay on Stark's side?"

"I mean, I'm not exactly ecstatic about going rogue again either. Pietro, we really do need to consider our actions here..."

"I have. You don't get it, I want to be on the right side. I'm not running anymore...apart from actually running, of course."

They peered over at Hawkeye, who was now trapped in a headlock by The Vision, "Clint, you can't overpower me..."

"I know, but she can..." Clint's eyes said more than Wanda needed to hear, she jumped into actions, hands glowing with red as she separated them, taking control of the entity in his head...

She felt it's power, it felt as if she was controlling it or at least, Vision, pulling him down into the floor, his amplified weight crushing him into the marble surface below.

Vision's muscles tensed, he struggled against the
pull of the mind stone, but as they both knew - he couldn't control it. "If you do this...they will never stop being afraid of you."

Wanda winced as she pushed him further into the ground, "I can't control their fear," her hands drew further apart, "only my own." She impelled him into the ground, controlling the string of energy she had created, making sure he was sent flying as far down as she could send him.

Pietro and Clint peered over the hole she had created in the ground. Clint felt a tad sorry for the damage to the building, "Oh, come on. We've got one more stop."

"Already on it," Pietro picked up his sister in a clean swoop, "Keep up, old man."