25

Chapter 25: Paintball is Totally Romantic

Notes:

Hey guys, yes this is Tuesday night but I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off tomorrow so it was chapter now or like super late tomorrow. And well, I'm thinking about it now.

Chapter Text

Wanda shared a confused look with Daisy before looking back to Darcy. "You want us to what?"

"Play drinking games, watch movies and help me fix Barnes's hobo hair. This evening, be there or be square. All that jazz." Darcy pointed at Pietro. "And you! I expect your presence, we need male backup."

"Uh.." Pietro seemed to shake himself out of it, stupid grin on his face. "Anything you want Beautiful."

Wanda sighed, her brother's terrible flirting was back then. But that wasn't even… "Didn't Barnes murder your grandparents?"

"He was brainwashed." Darcy waved a hand. "And he's human. Leaving him in the nicest solitary confinement known to man, except for visits from therapists and a lawyer for an entire weekend is dumb."

Wanda had to admit that wasn't the worst argument. Maybe she was just getting used to being dragged along by the Stark siblings? "Why us though?"

"Because he murdered our grandparents and is a super assassin who's like only a little way through having triggers removed. And between you three I'll be perfectly safe."

Daisy made a small noise. "That's not exactly terrible reasoning. In close quarters like that if he's as good as I think he is he could probably take me. I could slow him down but…"

"But with my powers to assist and Pietro to remove Darcy from danger we could handle him." Wanda finished for her.

Pietro rubbed at his thigh. "I'm still sore from saving Peter."

"Obviously, we'll probably just have a fun time dragging him from an angsty party pooper party." Darcy shrugged.

Daisy sighed. "Fine, Hunter stays with May and Peter if all of us are locking ourselves into the hulk room with Barnes."

"Already cleared it with my scruffy brit. Which not that I don't get it. I mean accent, he's reasonably hot. But Bobbie could do better." Darcy theatrically sat down in the armchair. "Now, who wants to paint their nails? Cause I look pretty in blue."

Wanda accepted she was going to be getting tipsy with a super assassin. "Well red for me."

"I could go black again?" Daisy seemed to consider that. "Or yellow? Is yellow my new color now?"

Wanda felt a flush as Daisy leaned against her. "You look good in yellow."

"Yellow babe." Darcy winked at them. "And Pietro, don't you think you'd look pretty in blue too?"

Pietro seemed to read the challenge for what it was. "I think I would be too dashing in blue. You might just throw yourself at me Stark."

"Only thing I'll be throwing your way is electricity hot stuff." Darcy leaned forward. "And my army of minions, we have the whole weekend."

Daisy cleared her throat. "About that, I may have told Detective Yuri I'd help her take down the Maggia crime families. So I have some groundwork for that to get started on."

"You…" Darcy pinched the bridge of her nose. "Younger siblings, you're all trouble."

Pietro grinned. "I know, they just find the most interesting of friends. I'm twelve minutes older you know?"

Wanda's powers swirled around her as she halted the spray of paintballs aimed at her head. She narrowed her eyes. "That wasn't nice."

"Nope." Daisy grinned and ducked back undercover before Wanda could chuck the paintballs back at her.

She twisted her hand, letting the paintballs she'd caught spin above her hand in a circle. Her powers stayed whirling around her. Wanda started to run, she'd been in one place too long. Jumping, her powers caught her, carrying her over the street down below. She wasn't sure how she felt about training involving running around buildings. It upped the stakes, and it made guessing where Daisy was going to come from a lot harder.

Huffing, she bent backwards, paintballs harmlessly flying over her where her head and shoulders had just been. With her right hand she threw the paintballs that had been picking up speed as they spun around her hand. They shot faster then they'd been coming at her.

"Fuck!" Daisy yelped as she dropped straight out of the air.

Wanda gave herself a second to just breathe. Shit, Daisy was getting better and better at not vibrating anything except what she wanted to vibrate. It made it harder to locate her.

"HEY!"

Wanda looked down at the gaggle of teenagers. She hopped off the roof, her powers lowering her slowly. "Yes?"

"Whaddya doing here?" A teenage boy chewing a lot of gum asked.

She tilted her head slightly. "Patrolling with Quake?"

"Can ya do a flip?" He asked, his accent was thick. Not that she could judge.

Wanda had never been asked that before. "No, not without my powers."

"That's lame." He booed, his friends grumbling in disappointment.

Daisy dropped down beside them on the sidewalk, her vibrations barely brushing past them. "Flips?"

"I can't do that. Though I have a feeling I will be able to if I continue to spend time with you and Spiderman." Wanda had already been pulled into 'helpful' stretching and strength training with Pietro.

Daisy laughed and then turned, she used the building wall behind them to run up and flip over. It was...really impressive.

There were appreciative oos. One kid, with an Ironman t-shirt bounced forward, sticking a water bottle on his head. "Can you kick it off without hitting me?"

Daisy did a spinning kick, sending the water bottle flying against the wall of the building. She looked at the kids with an amused look as they cheered. "Alright, now what are you four doing out here? I know you're skipping school, but have you eaten at all?"

"Ya not going to tell us to go back to class?" Their ring leader asked.

And Wanda couldn't help being curious about that as well.

Daisy looked at them. "Well, you should be in school. But I'd be a bit of a hypocrite to judge you for that. However, you know the hotdog stand down the block?"

"Yeah?" Ironman tshirt kid replied, face scrunched up slightly.

"Tell Mr Donavan I sent you and he'll make sure you eat. Now get on with you. And stay safe you hooligans." Daisy winked at Wanda before shooting back up to the roofs.

Wanda easily lifted herself back up. As she landed on the roof she walked over to Daisy. "Do you do that often, pay for people's lunches?"

"A bit." She leaned against the brickwork. "Didn't your brother steal to help the people in your old neighborhood?"

Wanda smiled while shaking her head. "I always knew he was going to get himself shot."

"Speaking of your other half, he should talk to Aunt May about work. They always need volunteers at FEAST, and they might be hiring. It seems like something he'd like."

Wanda settled next to Daisy, bumping their shoulders together. "He'd like that." She didn't know how to articulate her...just how much she valued this small family that had accepted her and her brother. What Daisy in particular's friendship meant to her. It was… "May I show you something?"

"Why wouldn't you be able to?" Daisy looked at her, head tilted to one side.

Wanda bit at the inside of her lip. But...she found not being able to communicate with her abilities left her unable to communicate sometimes. It was funny how integral they were to her now. They were an extension. "I mean show you." She let her powers swirl around her fingers, raising a hand.

"Oh." Daisy looked at her and then nodded. "Ok."

She hadn't expected that. But she was grateful for it. Wanda raised her hand slowly, giving Daisy time to change her mind. Her friend didn't flinch however. Wanda's fingers hovered next to the side of Daisy's head. The red light flickered, sinking into her. And then Daisy's eyes glowed red and Wanda shared possibly too much.

Wanda left her emotions bare. Affection, gratitude, that healing ache of loss, the purpose she was finding after the anger had been burned out, everything. The ugly things and the good. All of it. Just the honest truth of herself. An equal gesture of trust as the one Daisy had made letting her into her head.

Daisy's eyes, lit with the red of Wanda's powers widened, her mouth opening ever so slightly. As the red light faded all the way till it was just Daisy's warm brown eyes looking back at her, Daisy's expression remained. It wasn't anything Wanda knew how to read. Not without feeling for it and that wasn't her choice to reach for.

She lowered her hand and swallowed. Wanda felt she may have revealed more than she should have. This was...it could go so wrong. But it was done. And she didn't regret it all the same.

Daisy's eyes flicked across her face. Then she reached out, hand catching Wanda's face between her hands leaning in and pressing their lips together.

The breath caught in her throat. Pulling back Wanda pressed their foreheads together. "Are you sure?"

"No." Daisy had a sort of helpless laugh in her voice. "But I'm not going anywhere."

////

Bucky startled to his feet when the door to his secure room burst open. He aborted his instinctive reaction to vault over the couch and attack. Not a threat. Well...not the type of threat he was used to. But four college aged kids carrying boxes of stuff into his room didn't seem normal. He cleared his throat. "You shouldn't be here."

"Oh I'm very much supposed to be here." The curvy brunette who was leading the others replied. And oh that was Darcy Stark.

He took a step back, edging away. "Stevie didn't say anything about more than just you coming to check in."

"Duh, I didn't tell him." Darcy flipped some of her hair over one shoulder. "But let's be honest here, you murdered my grandparents so just coming in on my own seems pretty dumb. No offence or anything."

Bucky stilled and then had to nod. Actually, that one with the red sweater was the Scarlet Witch kid, and the one right by Darcy's elbow was Quake. And the man with them, he was the one who went really fast. "Smart, you brought people who could kill me without touching."

"Partially, also cause they're just part of the team at this point. And I looked at your schedule. I mean dude, you need a beer, some pizza and a night not about your tragic angst backstory. You rock the sad puppy eyes, but no one can only be sad all the time." Darcy lifted what was clearly a six pack of beer and set it on the table. "I even got special Norse mead for you."

"Norse mead?" Bucky repeated slightly dumbly. Because what?

Quake, or well Daisy moved forward with that smoothness of someone trained in combat. "We're not going to get drunk on you if you're not getting drunk with us."

"You want me to get drunk with you?" Bucky noted Wanda and Pietro setting down a lot of pizza, and oh that was more than just a single sixpack. He couldn't help how he categorized threats. Even if he'd had his arm he wouldn't be able to win. The others might only subdue him temporarily, but Quake's eyes said she'd put him down like a mad dog if it was required. Without hesitation.

Darcy shoved a glass into his hand. "Dude, you need some normality in your life. And we have some classic movies from your OG time. I'd say resistance is futile but that seems like something creepy asshole octo-fascists would say."

And well...he just sort of blinked. No wonder Steve just went with the pink hair thing. Howard's grandkid was a damn force of nature. "You are...not what I was expecting."

"What? Expecting weird facial hair and an impulse to shoot you into the sun?" Darcy pulled out what was definitely a jug of mead.

Daisy snorted. "Howard and Tony did have ridiculous facial hair. I wonder if the curse will strike with Peter?"

"He is at that age to experiment with terrible facial hair." Darcy pronounced. She looked over at Pietro. "You had some really dumb facial hair when you were a teen didn't you?"

Wanda spoke up. "He tried, I made him shave it. It looked like a dying caterpillar on his lip."

"I was a boy then. Now I am a man and have had my facial hair called ruggedly sexy." Pietro pulled out a tiny bottle of blue paint.

Bucky stared at them. He wasn't going to be able to understand this chaos. But..it wasn't Vision creepily looking in, or another therapist...and it wasn't setting anything off? So...maybe it wouldn't be bad?

Bucky felt himself loosening more than he could remember doing. It was warm and he felt sorta floaty. The film I Walked With a Zombie, had long since finished. The pizza boxes were mostly empty, and they were sitting around the table. And...he...he felt warm to be allowed into their fun. They all seemed so painfully young. Even if physically he fit in with them his soul didn't feel like it did.

"Right, my turn." Darcy straightened up, her shoulders wiggling slightly. "Never have I had super powers."

"Oh cheater!" Daisy protested, but all of them still drank.

Pietro brandished his fifth beer of the evening. "Ok, Never have I been a girl."

Darcy raised her middle finger at him while drinking. Daisy and Wanda both groaned as they did as well.

Wanda glared at her brother. "Never did I date a Hydra agent."

"That hurts. She was cute and there were not many options in Strucker's castle." Pietro grumbled while taking a drink.

Bucky was glad not to be drinking on that one. Only… Daisy was drinking too. He couldn't help looking at her questioningly.

Daisy lowered the beer from her mouth. "Grant fucking Ward. He was my SO in SHIELD, also Hydra scum. I emptied a clip into him, and stabbed him. Coulson had to crush his chest with his robotic arm on an alien planet to get rid of him. He was hard to kill."

Bucky tapped their drinks together. There wasn't much to say to that. Wanda reached out laying a hand on Daisy's shoulder briefly.

"My turn then." Daisy held his eyes. "Never have I been mind controlled to harm the people I love against my will." And then she drank.

Something unclenched in him as he drank as well.

"Does being lied to by an evil robot and convinced to assist it in destroying the world count?" Pietro asked, his eyes rather bleary.

Darcy leaned against the coffee table heavily. "No, cause you just got conned. He got whatever the fuck Hydra bullshittery drug, chair, torture nightmare. And she had an alien parasite in her head."

"Fine, well Never have I worked for Hydra." Pietro grinned stupidly.

"That's all of us." Wanda looked at her brother like she was considering whacking him. "We have all worked for Hydra."

Daisy's head tilted. "I mean SHIELD ended up as Shieldra. So that tracks."

"I'll have you know I never never worked for Hydra." Darcy protested. "I didn't let Hydra experiment on me and then send me out against the Avengers. And no Hydra kidnapping and brainwashing into a sexy murderbot. Oh and I said 'poo poo to you' to Shieldra." She beamed at them all. "Which means drink suckers."

Bucky snorted, he couldn't help it. He just couldn't and he laughed from deep in his gut.

"You're not shaving my hair off." He used his one arm to keep Darcy from approaching him with the shavers.

Daisy spoke up from where she was slumped on the couch, head on Wanda's shoulder. "I don't know, just give him a hair band and let him do the manbun."

"Manbun?" He looked between the sisters in confusion.

Wanda shared a look with Pietro. "Isn't that just a normal bun?"

"Yeah, but it's sexier on a dude." Darcy said solemnly. "You've got hobo hair Barnes." Her head lolled to one side. "We can trim some of the dead ends, give you some shampoo for giving it more body and if you pull it back into a bun in public you should be good."

He looked between the kids. "So I won't have pink hair?"

"Nope, but we brought nail polish. How do you feel about pink to match Capsical's hair?" Darcy brandished a bottle of the stuff.

Bucky...felt like this might have been what he used to feel like at the dancehalls before...everything. "Fine Doll, but I only have one hand so you're going to have to help me."

////

Peter waved into the camera on his laptop. "Hey, so uh what's our project?"

-"We have to write essays on a law or bill of some kind. Then we give a presentation on it in two weeks."- Ned explained from his end of the skype call. -"And we have to have a power point and everything."-

Michelle looked up from whatever she'd been doodling on her end. -"I think we should challenge ourselves and do it on the Boundaries resolution being argued about in the UN. It's relevant to our lives and actually interesting."-

-"I mean I think that would be cool?"- Ned adjusted his headphones.

Peter perked up, that would actually be useful. "Yeah that sounds great. I mean uh… it would be good. I actually read it the other day."

-"Interesting. Ned?"- Michelle asked.

-"Huh?"- Ned blinked. -"Oh yeah I read it after I heard about it. Seems kinda crazy to prevent international travel for enhanced."-

Peter sipped his juice, from the twisty straw. "You Michelle?"

-"Duh, I live for the countries of the world shooting themselves in the foot. And I thought I told you to call me MJ?"- She stared at the camera pointedly.

He winced. "Sorry, still getting used to that MJ."

-"You can do more of the research since you're at home."- MJ blew off. -"So we're against the measure right?"-

Peter bit at his lower lip. "Well uh...it's not wrong? I mean it's not about enhanced, it's about vigilantism and the Avengers. It let's countries protect their sovereignty."

-"You support it?"- Ned stared at him in disbelief, MJ's eyes had sharpened. -"But your sister is...well uh your sister."-

He frowned slightly, he'd listened to Daisy and Darcy arguing about the bill before. -"Well we can't just tell other countries they have to let our citizens in. It's like… with great power comes great responsibility. So shouldn't heroes follow laws? And there's a clausal exception for world ending threats. So if Loki opens a portal into France the Avengers can still go there and help without asking. They'd just have to have those actions tried after the event."

-"But the delay is going to get people killed?"- Ned's face scrunched up in confusion. -"They're heroes."-

Peter wasn't sure how to put his thoughts into words. He knew Daisy was nervous about legal oversight, but also accepted it was needed even if imperfect. And Darcy...Darcy talked a lot about the rights of nations, equality under law and international treaties. Also like horrifying ramifications if enhanced weren't treated like most people. Or well without defined exceptions. She was very passionate.

Which left him...well it affected him. "The UN has to do something doesn't it? And this one doesn't promote like imprisonment for enhanced who don't fall into line. Individual countries get to make their own decisions. Which in some cases is going to be bad. But it's their choice to make bad decisions. If that makes sense?"

-"So if a country chooses to let their citizens die it's their right?"- Ned spoke slowly. -"But that's dumb."-

MJ spoke up. -"But not without extensive precedent. Huh, the right to be stupid."-

Peter nodded. "I can pull up info. Like it's weird we're trying to take away international sovereignty but just with enhanced people right?"

-"But that would...it would let powerful countries take control of enhanced and force them to comply or be locked up."- MJ's straightened slightly in her chair, picking up a rubix cube and picking at it. -"The Accords would have given the US, Russia and the other members of the World Security Council the ability to police enhanced all over the world. They'd have a pet army of enhanced to fight for them or never get out of jail. All enhanced under the thumb of a few countries. Kinda diabolical."-

Ned let out a whistle of air. -"Holy shitnuggets. And General Ross would've had the Avengers."-

"So this one is...it puts limits but maybe they're good limits." Peter looked directly into the camera. And he was relieved to see his friends nodding along with him.