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Love is for children. It is a trite concept, just four letters written in ink or whispered recklessly. What they have is visceral and unnamed but written across skin in scars and scattered across the world in blood and debts.
New York is the fate of the world in the balance a bargain for one man. It is a trust in that man, the Hawk they’d all just seen nearly take down the Helicarrier, because she nods. It is a foot propped on her chair because of an injured hip that everyone takes as a sign that she is his. It is not the start or the end.
Seattle is a knife in the back and left for dead. The Director himself alerting his master assassins and sanctioning their revenge. It is blinding rage and ledgers soaked anew in red for the sake of their Bird. It is two weeks by her hospital bedside and then rebirth. It is an ex-wife and emotions that never really went away. It is a lack of jealousy. The already intertwined returning even closer with the woman dressed half in white and sunshine hair whose just as dark beneath as her protectors. She is a wrench thrown in the others’ understanding but what they are is crystal clear to them.
Rome is proof. It is a seamless fight for the three of them. No injuries beyond bruises and small scrapes. It is a quiet night in the safe-house, healing touches and whispered pasts in a city of histories.
Washington D.C. is unexpected reunions. The return of a best friend to one and a mentor and lover to another all in one person who can’t remember any of that until he does and it’s too much so he flees. It is the start of lies that won’t easily be forgiven no matter the intentions or the positive results.
Phoenix is two months off of the grid in a safe house no one else knows about, S.H.I.E.L.D., Avengers, or otherwise. It a divided man reconciling with himself and rising up as one. It is leveling out and becoming a bigger whole. It is three becoming four in fits and starts. It is fighting and fucking, shouting and pleading. Most importantly it is coming back stronger than ever.
Cape Town is a test. It is four assassinations in one night that will save countless lives and back in a quinjet before anyone even knew they were there. It is exactly what the Director knew his new dream team was capable of.
Brooklyn is the aftermath of D.C.’s lies. Relief and betrayal, anger and joy all in equal measures at once. It is their refusal to move into the Tower, needing a private space away from prying friends and the public eye. It is a rift but it will be okay. It is questions. An astronomer wants to know why the Bird is no longer a scientist but a fighter. One soldier wants to understand the other now returned to him but so very different. A C.E.O. tries for the friendship she had with a Spider’s lie. The billionaire asks lewd questions over shots of whiskey the Hawk doesn’t drink. It is deflections. Their secrets don’t belong to the individuals anymore but to all of them and if they don’t have that trust they have nothing. It is the final beginning.
Stalingrad is the first start and stop. It is an orphan made into a ballerina into a warrior into a spy into a Spider and even a Widow like her namesake. It is a Soldier made to believe he is other than himself to be Winter and a ghost. It is a secret affair and dangerous thoughts and emotions their handlers thought they’d programmed out of them. It is pain and punishment and separation meant to be permanent.
Waverly is another start when an alcoholic father beats his family and destroys himself and his wife. It is orphans running away to the circus where one becomes jaded and the other transforms into a Hawk. They both would fall before they could truly rise.
Madison is a meeting between the Hawk and the Bird. It is a shared mission that seems doomed until it all falls into place. It is a realization that they work well together and maybe just maybe there is really something there.
Las Vegas is a hasty marriage. It is young and foolish, a statement that they are still alive and fighting. It is like a bandage for a bullet wound. It is recognition that they are alike but not yet an understanding of how they fit together.
San Diego is good while it lasts. But then it is all shouting and not listening, too hurt to see how the other hurts too. It is divorce papers and a transfer request neither fully wants.
Sau Paulo is the start of a chase and a recognition that they are the same. It is a fire unwanted and a desperate attempt to save lives. The Spider's flight and the Hawk's pursuit.
Siberia is hate sex, desperate and rough. It is the Spider's bite, a permanent reminder on the Hawk's shoulder and bruises across her skin in the shape of his hands.
Tokyo is the Spider trapped in an alley until her assailants fall with arrows in their backs. It is an even fight, a determination to go down fighting and a desperation to save. It is a different call and the start of a debt.
Abidjan is bad intel. It should end with them in body bags. But it doesn't, not for them. They are calm as they fight side by side from behind a totalled car.
Budapest is the destruction of a sex traffic ring in a day. It is hours of fighting to save the girls. It is labelled a success but the Spider is shaken. It is a week before extraction spent holed up in a hotel room, only leaving the bed when absolutely necessary.
Cairo is a whole cocktail of drugs slipped into the Bird's drink and waking up three days later with no memories of those days and pains she doesn’t want to analyze. It is feeling like the haze would never lift mixed with terror and adrenalin. It is him walking in expecting her still to be unconscious and not expecting to be slammed head first into a wall and choked to death with his own belt.
Boston is guilt. It is the Hawk not knowing what to say or how to help her but wanting desperately to be able to. It is a gentle hand on his shoulder and a silent conversation. It is him stepping back because this is something the Spider knows intimately and knows how to come back from better than anyone else. It could have been a disaster but it is just another step towards where they need to be.
Antigua is the Bird back in the field and back to herself but still needing time and space.
Singapore is the Bird saving both of their asses but disappearing before they know it was her.
Buenos Aires is a clusterfuck that requires all of the Director’s best. It is reckless and selfless stunts from the three that balance out. It is everyone of their agents making it out alive when it could have easily been none. It is a promise to catch up once things settle.
Dubai is why the Bird is not there when the Trickster tries to take the Hawk from the Spider. It is a secret as she hunts down shadows the Spider’s past before it can catch up with them.
Paris is an escape from the tension after Brooklyn. It is the Spider and the Soldier kissing in the rain because they can. It is happiness even though they miss the other parts of their whole.
Praia is a bust mission but more worthwhile than they’ll ever admit. It is a chance for the Hawk and the Bird to talk and fully heal the old wounds.
Latveria is the farseeing Hawk running blind into an underground A.I.M. lab to save his Soldier.
Chicago is the Spider’s leap off a twelve story building to get to her Bird.
Moscow is too many and too few memories and the Soldier’s destruction of an entire Hydra base for trying to play with his Spider’s mind yet again.
Venezuela is nearly bleeding out on the forest floor. It is the Bird’s ripped clothes for bandages and dragging her Hawk’s unconscious body over a mile back to base.
Tel-Aviv is a favor to the Bird’s Agency. It is the Soldier taking a bullet meant for the Spider and her meaning it when she swears in Russian that she will never forgive him if he dies.
Casablanca is an informant who won’t take no for an answer when he’s got a different payment in mind winding up on the front page of the newspaper when his body is found bludgeoned to death. It is three days on the run from the local authorities when the Council ties the Director’s hands and won’t let him intervene.
Madrid is the Spider with a broken wrist giving her Bites to her Bird.
Dubai is a wordless toss of the Bird’s staves to the Soldier so he can vault up to their Hawk’s position.
Culiacan is the Hawk giving the Spider his bow when she’s the only one who can fit through the opening to the roof. It is a breath and a shot between heartbeats, an exploding arrow finding its mark and then bullet cover from archery calloused hands.
Shanghai is supposed to be a quick in and out capture and return but at the end of the day the Spider’s ledger has more red though her debt to the Hawk is a small step closer to even (it never will be completely though). It is a night spent on a hotel rooftop in ridiculous formal wear.
Santiago is another disaster. It is all of them against an entire army. It is the others really noticing how fluidly they work. Even amidst the chaos the four are nearly silent, moving around and with each other as if this was a dance. The Asgardian is the only one who gets it, who has seen and experienced the bonds of warriors unafraid and unapologetic in their giving and taking of comfort and companionship outside of battle and trust and faith during.
Malibu is a black tie affair. It is the Spider ensnaring a mark in her web. It is the CEO asking the Bird about jealousy or frustration. It is a smirk and shake of the head. They know what her actions mean to her and to them. Besides, the others have not seen her really dance.
Asgard is an unexpected respite. It is a celebration rather than fighting. It is the first time anyone sees them for what they are immediately and does not question it. It is the Prince and his Warrior’s good-natured laughter at the others’ confusion because they know this sort of bond all to well themselves. It is the acceptance and honor that none of them think they deserve but all of them needed.