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Tony Stark is dead, Natasha is dead, Vision is dead, Steve is on the moon, Wanda is M.I.A., and everyone left is scrambling to pick up the pieces. Everyone does stupid things when they are grieving, right? Some people cut their bangs, some people delete everything on social media, but you, you dated John Walker.
Steve was the person you were closest to on the team. He was your mentor, your confidant, your friend. You were heartbroken when he didn’t come back after traveling back to return the infinity stones. You watched as he gave Sam the shield. You tell him you’re happy for him, but when you notice Bucky didn’t come over you walk over to him. You glare at him as you say, “Did you know?” He nods and you continue, “You’re an asshole. You could have given me a heads up.” Bucky sighs, “Steve didn’t tell me, so I didn’t know for sure, I just thought he might decide to live the life he was supposed to.” You walk off saying, “You still could have warned me.” He tries to grab your arm but you yank it away and continue walking away.
Four months later.
“Was any of it true?
Gazing at me starry-eyed
In your Jehovah's Witness suit
Who the fuck was that guy?”
You are sitting on the couch while John is on the phone. It was supposed to be a romantic date night, but there he is talking to someone, he won’t even tell you who, once again. He is wearing a suit that is a bit stiff, but his eyes are making up for it. An hour later he finally gets off the phone and says, “Okay let’s go.” You stand up and say, “Finally.” He scoffs, “I’m sorry, that phone call was a lot more important than date night.” You roll your eyes, “Do I get to know what the phone call was about?” He shakes his head and smiles, “Not yet.” You nod and grab his arm walking out of the apartment.
As you are walking down the street some people recognize you and John turns on his most dazzling smile when they start to take photos. He wraps his arm around you and whispers in your ear, “ C’mon smile, you look like I’m holding you hostage.” You roll your eyes because this happens every time you go out, but throw on a fake smile for the cameras. As you walk past you see someone wearing a shirt that says, ‘Thanos was right’ and try to hold back your rage.
When you finally get to the restaurant the waiter immediately leads you to a table. As you pull your chair out John is already ordering champagne. You smile and say, “John, that's so romantic.” As you both sit he says, “Well, I’m celebrating tonight.” You sigh, “Do I get to know what we are celebrating?” He shakes his head, “You’ll find out tomorrow.”
Dinner continues and is going pretty well. He’s talking about how there is going to be a ceremony for him tomorrow and how you need to be there. You agree, asking what time. He says to be there at 10:00 am but the ceremony isn’t until noon. You roll your eyes but agree. When you ask for the check the waiter says, “It’s on the house.” You sigh, “That's not necessary.” The waiter shakes his head and smiles, “It is, you saved the world. Thank you.” John stands and pushes in his chair as you hand the waiter a 100-dollar bill and say, “Thanks.”
As you are walking back to John’s apartment he says, “It must be nice to get free stuff all of the time because people think you helped save the world.” You scoff, “Yeah it’s always nice to get a reminder of the time three of my friends died and one stayed back in time.” He stops and turns to you, “You are so ungrateful for the opportunities you gained when you joined the Avengers.” You turn to him and snap, “It was never about opportunities John, it was about helping people. I didn’t help them for free things, I helped because I could and it was the right thing to do.” He laughs, “Could you help though? I mean you’re no super soldier or genius. You don’t have any superpowers, you just do what Natasha did and not as well.” You jab your finger into his chest, “You’re being a dick. I’m going to my apartment, I need some space.” As you walk away you hear him call out, “You’re being dramatic! I’ll see you at the ceremony tomorrow.”
The next day at 11:45 you make it to where the ceremony is taking place. You decided to stop by the Smithsonian beforehand and were confused as to why the shield wasn’t there but it didn't matter. You almost think you are at the wrong place because this seems more like a press conference but you sit in the front row. Your heart drops when someone announces, “Meet the new Captain America, John Walker!”
As John stands there posing for photos you see red. Reporters who can’t get close enough to ask him questions flock over to you. A woman in red gets to you first, “You broke the law for Steve Rogers, how do you feel about getting a replacement for him?” Another reporter chimes in, “There have been many photos of you with John Walker, are you dating?” A third reporter says, “Are you proud that your boyfriend is the new Captain America?” You try to keep your cool as you say, “ He is not my boyfriend and he is no replacement for Steve Rogers”
“You hung me on your wall
Stabbed me with your push pins
In public, showed me off
Then sank in stoned oblivion
'Cause once your queen had come
You treat her like an also-ran
You didn't measure up
In any measure of a man”
Two months later.
After Sam and Bucky stopped the Flag Smashers they started to get the team back together. They asked you to meet with them at the reconstructed Avenger’s compound. When you walk in you see Sam and say, “Who funded the rebuild?” He smiles at you and says, “Pepper. We tried to talk her out of it but she was persistent.” You nod, “That was very kind of her. Who all is on board?” He looks down at his phone, “Uh, officially, Me, Bucky, Bruce, Wong, Doctor Strange, Rhodes, Scott, Hope, and Bruce’s cousin Jennifer Walters. Clint is staying retired but he might have a recruit, someone is swinging around New York we are looking into, and maybe you. Walker wanted to join but I don’t know if he would be a good fit.”
You nod, “What about Wanda?” He shrugs, “We can’t find her.” As Bucky walks in you say, “I’ll join on one condition.” Bucky interjects, “Sam, I don’t know if we want them on the team.” Sam scoffs, “And why the hell not?” Bucky chuckles, “Check John’s Instagram.” When you get on the phone to check his Instagram you see nothing about you. When you look at Bucky he says, “Oh, yeah, it’s on his private. That’s okay I’ll just read the caption. ‘I just want to say do not trust this person. They were dating me until I became a superhero like them. They are petty and vindictive. They only broke up with me because they knew I would be better at it than them. They can’t take constructive criticism, and they flipped out when I said they did what Natasha did, but not as well. Do not work with them.”
“Were you sent by someone who wanted me dead?
Did you sleep with a gun underneath our bed?
Were you writing a book? Were you a sleeper cell spy?
In fifty years, will all this be declassified?
And you'll confess why you did it
And I'll say, ‘Good riddance’ “
You look at Bucky, “You really believe that?” He shakes his head, “No, but you needed to know what he was saying about you.” Sam yells, “Why do they need to know that? You’re just being a dick.” Bucky raises his voice, “No I’m not. They need to say something back. He might have future recruits on there and they need to know that what he said isn’t true.” Sam sighs, “Once they work with them they’ll know that.” You decide to add, “Sam, what I think he’s saying is that recruits won’t be willing to work with me if they think I’m like that.”
Bucky nods as you continue, “I think we should have a little mixer tonight for possible recruits. Invite John too, if we get ahead of this maybe it won’t be so bad.” Sam nods, and as you walk further into the compound he calls out, “Don’t let it get to your head.”
That night at the party things seem to be going well. You talk to Jennifer about her work as a lawyer and Kate about her issues with her family. Scott makes some stupid jokes about how he didn’t know you were constantly being petty with him until Hope tells him to stop. When John finally shows up he calls out, “Sam, I’m glad you changed your mind. I’ll be a huge help to your team.” Bucky laughs, “This isn’t an invite to the team John, it's just a party.” John scoffs, “Sure it is. What the fuck are they doing here?” You wave at him but don’t say anything. Sam says, “Because they are part of the team.”
“And you deserve prison, but you won't get time
You'll slide into inboxes and slip through the bars
You crashed my party and your rental car”
John yells, “But I’m not? I can beat them in a fight right now. Let’s go.” He walks over and swings at you but you dodge, “John what the fuck are you doing?” He just glares and tries to punch you. Scott comes over, puts a hand on John's shoulder, and says, “Hey man, calm down.” John brushes his hand off, “I’m fine.” As he tries to punch you again you grab his arm and twist it. As he yells out you kick his legs out from under him while still holding his arm. As you let his arm go he says, “That doesn’t count.”
You look back at him and say, “Why? Because you didn’t win? Because I’m not a supersoldier? I don’t care if you don’t think it counts. I am tired of caring about what you think of me, I’m done, John.” As you are walking away you hear him get up and run after you, but before you turn around he yelps. When you turn around you see Bucky and Scott are both holding him back. Rhodey walks up and says, “That’s enough John, you’re leaving” John struggles but between the three men they walk him out. You hear Pepper say, “Hey, F.R.I.D.A.Y., put him on the banned list. I guess I decided to show up at a bad time.” Morgan who was beside Pepper walks up to you, “He was a meany.” You chuckle and ruffle her hair, “He was,” You raise your voice and add, “Everyone give it up for the smallest man who ever lived.”
“And in plain sight you hid
But you are what you did
And I'll forget you, but I'll never forgive
The smallest man who ever lived”