Nat watches him, can see the nervousness that sinks into his features, biting the inside of her cheek.
"Look- Frank- I don't want to do that if you don't want the attachment. I just. We can always just- stop. If that would be- better?"
Frank goes quiet, looking visibly nervous, sucking in a breath and crossing his own arms.
"Whatever you want, not," he says, sounding a littke defeated, "Yknow I'd never fight you."
Our deal.
[arms crossing, leaning back in her chair]
Its.... been almost 2 years now.
I know I came up with the terms, and I might be blurring the lines of it already, so.... why not.
[not making eye contact, fidgeting with the string of her hoodie]
"Got the alert that someone was digging around, I'm basically security for info. Are you sure its nothing?" She steps further into the room, settling on the edge of the desk closest to Lilith, leaning forward against her knees as she watches Lilith closely.
She hesitates, swallowing a thick lump in her throat and shaking her head, "It's nothing. Out of boredom more than anything. What... are you doing down here, Nat?"
Yea, see, that's why I don't. Pretending leads to blurring the lines. What we have is... strictly business I thought. *You* don't want attachment. That was the deal.
Moment of silence to just breathe him in, very glad that she can do this again, and have it be actually familiar, not a nightmare stuck in another universe. "So much."
Natasha knows shes throwing a lot at him, but easily goes when he grabs her around the shoulder, arms coming up to curl around him in return, hand soothing up and down his spine as she settles into his hold. "I know, I'm sorry, Steve. I... couldn't let Clint make that sacrifice,+
steve almost flinches away from her, but settles the moment she touches his arm. he searches her face as she speaks, almost unable to hear or comprehend her words over the ringing in his ears. he almost feels nauseous as his mind tries to catch up and make sense of her.
Live my life in the first universe I ended up in knowing I had family to get back to." She whispers, fingers coming up to thread through his hair, settling into his chest and gently scratching her nails over the back of his neck. "I missed you, Steve." Natasha says after a +
Universes before I got the right one. I promise I'm real. And you're not losing me again. Just. Who all is left? Whats left of our team? Is there even still a team? Sam? Bucky? Any of them still doing what they should be?"
Natasha takes in the way he says her name, and reaches out to him, taking his hand and squeezing tightly. "Hey, Cap. Long time no see." She says softly, finally giving in and sliding her chair closer, other hand coming up to curl around his arm, her touch gentle as she +
he’d been listless recently, falling back into old patterns, losing track of time, sometimes entire days. when he’d set out that evening, he hadn’t had any particular destination in mind.
Out of it he seems, and knows that its been difficult. "I told you I'd find my way back to you, Steve. I meant it. Vormir was not my end, even if it seemed like it. When you put the stones back, it gave me another chance, it just took me bouncing around a few different +