He Watched
He'd been curious about the twins since Maria mentioned them, how could he not be? Steve knew what it took to give everything for your country, even if it meant volunteering to be a science experiment. The twins could hardly be blamed if they'd ended up on the wrong side, what they had done, what Steve had done, it was a leap of faith. Faith that what's coming can't possibly be any worse than what's already there. Steve lived through a World War, he's intimately familiar with that feeling. He had been lucky. They hadn't. There but for the grace of God, he thought.
The twins had been just as terrible as they'd said when Steve finally sees them in action but it's not their skills that catches his attention that day, it's their eyes, Pietro's eyes, the eyes of someone who has saw their family and their country torn apart, the eyes of a kid who has had to grow up way too fast, the eyes of a kid who can't slow down. “Stay down,” he'd pleaded, not wanting to hurt him more than the world already had.
The twins are brave enough to help them in the end and Steve had felt like the air had been punched from his chest when he saw the small smile on Pietro's face when SHIELD, the real SHIELD had shown up. “This is not so bad,” Pietro had marvelled. Steve knew what that felt like and he wanted nothing more than to make sure the kid..the man, standing before him continued to have reasons to smile like that.
Then the world exploded in a scream of grief and red light as Pietro fell, eyes already blank and unseeing by the time Steve got there.
He'd watched silently as Pietro was loaded on to the ship, watched as Clint stretched out above Pietro's body with guilt and sorrow in his eyes.
He watched with joy as Clint realised that Pietro had started breathing again.
He watched with hope as a team of doctors whisked Pietro away.
He watched with happiness as the doctors informed Wanda that Pietro would be OK.
He watched with understanding as Clint refused to leave Pietro's bedside.
He watched with relief as Pietro finally woke.
He watched with disappointment as Pietro's eyes immediately sought out Clint. “Bet you didn't see this coming, old man?”
He watched Pietro and Clint dance around each other.
He watched Pietro and Clint fall in love.
He watched as Clint made sure that Pietro smiled every day, watched as the haunted old-before-his-time look in Pietro's eyes was replaced with something lighter, younger, something more free.
He watched Pietro's happiness and was glad.
“Treat him right, Clint.”
“Always, Captain.”