END-GAME

Theo had been in the same place for two days now.

In their supposedly new apartment in Brooklyn.

They'd manage to set everything straight long before the last battle. Every book, every piece of cloth, they were all in place.

An apartment filled with Steve's things; with his old uniforms, with pictures of both of them. With his handwritten letters to her, his scent. And she was sitting down on the floor of their bedroom,merely existing in between his lost essence and his absence.

“You could have at least made sure your things never arrived..”,she whispered.

This was a pathetic state to be in. Theo knew that much.

She had no tears left to cry; she felt drained of all emotion at that point.

But two days weren't enough for her to let it all out. It had all happened all too fast for her to completely grasp it.

She noticed how yet another bottle emptied itself. She chuckled bitterly at the view of what was now three bottles of gin, all empty. One of them,she had managed to break upon one of the many fits she was urged to have.

She stood up slowly, and walked over to the living room. Upon the fireplace, that's where they were to keep the bottles. Her and Steve had made a pre-order, a deal with the moving company employees.

They'd get to have one bottle each if they managed to get everything in place. After all, Steve thought it would be nice to hold a gathering,once everything was in order. But that was long before they even though of battling Thanos again.

And so, no gathering happened for their so called new home. It was just Theo, and the bottles.

She reached for one bottle's neck; held it in her palm,slowly eyeing the liquid. She was officially out of gin,and had moved on to whiskey. Her eyes unintentionally fell on the pictures laid by the fireplace, right on a piece of furniture Steve had on his previous apartment.

It had all sorts of framed photographs on it. A few were Theo's; her alone standing right in front of a Blue Ridge Class Amphibious Command Ship,on her first ever mission as a marine corp.

Her father had shot that picture; she looked so damned happy there. Wearing her uniform; her cammies,in that so familiar green printed woodland pattern. Next to it were a couple more, the most recent ones being of her while she was a SEAL.

Then, the ones she had with Steve. Her,with him and the Maximoffs, Natasha standing next to her. This was taken after a mission gone extremely well,after Steve had taken over the duty of making the Maximoffs proper Avengers.

Wanda was a nice one; not too talkative, extremely empathetic. Her brother, not so much. Next, one of Steve and Bucky from the 40s and a much more recent one,from six years ago.

The one she hated the most though, the one she couldn't bear looking anymore was the one portraying her and Steve alone.

It was a couple months after getting together, right after a mission in Moscow. Even after the blip, there still were things to be taken off; no vacation happened.

They were both wounded; Steve wearing his dark blue uniform, his hair messy and face filled with some blood and dirt. Theo herself was laughing with something Natasha had said right before taking the picture; her braids were frizzy, and she was covered in grazes and bruises.

Steve was shown having an arm around her shoulders, his hand cupping her chin as she laughed.

This was the epitome of happiness for them. Or,so she thought. God knew how long Steve had been planning on getting away from her. How long he'd knew he was still in love with Peggy,and not Theo.

She impulsively grabbed the framed picture and threw it on the floor; it broke into many little fragments of glass. That was when she heard the bell ringing.

She put the bottle down and went ahead to open the door. She saw Wanda with Natasha and Peter,just standing there. Peter was holding a box of some sort,looking like it contained a cake or something,she figured.

Theo knitted her eyebrows at that sight; she herself wasn't in any position of having guests over,all things considered.

Peter was the first one to walk in,uninvited of course,passed right through Theo.

“Whoa- that's a nice place”,he gasped as he looked around.

“Sorry about him”,Natasha sighed. “He insisted on coming along..Brought you cake. Said it would be rude to not bring anything..”

Theo sighed and massaged her temples; after a few seconds she motioned her hand,allowing them to come inside,seeing how Peter had made himself comfortable in the living room,sitting on the couch and kicking the air with his legs.

“I brought you cake”,he said when they all came inside.

“Yeah...i know. Thank you”,she said,her voice coming out empty.

“It had strawberry frosting. Thought you'd like it. You like strawberries,right?”

Theo took the cake from his hands,eyeing the floor mostly. The broken glasses were still spread all around the floor. This was really a place that wasn't supposed to be shared by her.

“Yes,Parker. I like strawberries”.

She took the cake and went into the kitchen. As soon as she left the room,Wanda picked up the pieces of glass with her powers, red masses bringing the picture to it's original state. Theo noticed that as soon as she came back, but chose not to say anything.

“I..I only have booze and water. Um..”,she shook her head,going over to the fireplace to see what was left, “Whiskey..Some vodka and uh..and..Brandy? Shit, who the fuck drinks Brandy...”,she mumbled to herself.

Natasha pursed her lips.

“We're fine Theo. Sit down”,she said quietly.

Theo did that, though she didn't like where this was going. There was a reason behind their visit,she wasn't naive.

“Loki's party is taking place tonight”,Wanda breathed out in a warm smile.

“Loki's party was supposed to happen two days ago..”,Theo said,no color in her voice whatsoever.

“Yeah,well.. Thor,he thought it would be better to wait a couple days. There were still some issues with um.. Clint's memorial and all.. Nevermind, it's happening tonight and we,uh,, we thought-”

“Your brother already bothered me once with this shit”,she spoke rather crudely. “Is that a thing for you Maximoffs? To annoy people that much?”

Wanda pulled her lips to a thin line,lowering her glance down. Natasha snorted out a sarcastic chuckle,forcing Theo to give her attention.

“Got something to say there, Romanoff?”

“Yes”,she almost spat,losing her smile all at once. “Get a fucking grip of yourself Theo”.

At that point Peter was feeling awfully uneasy by the built up tension in the room. He would have spoken,just to break the ice,or the starring contest in between Natasha and Theo, but he feared he might get a beating for it.

“You're not the only one Steve let behind”,she continued.

That was when Wanda opened her eyes widely and grabbed Natasha's arm. Her eyes alone were enough to speak for herself; they said that Natasha had gone too far.

Theo on her end was looking at her with a clenched jaw.

“Do you really wanna go there, Natasha?”,she asked calmly,awfully so. Enough to give Peter some chills. “Do you really”,she raised her voice now, “wanna go there? Are you truly that big of an asshole?”

Natasha formed a sly smile on her lips,leaning further on the couch. She crossed her legs,simply eyeing Theo down.

“Somebody has to”,she hummed. “We all lost people. Not by choice; not all of us had that privilege,Bennet”.

Theo closed her eyes slowly. She wasn't about to have a breakdown right in front of them. She denied doing so.

“Yes”,she huffed out,her voice cracked. “And you don't see me goin' around dictating how you should mourn the life you just lost”.

“Get that stick off your ass,Theodora”,Natasha raised her tone. “We are a family”.

Theo gulped down the knot sitting on her throat. She didn't speak; feeling the unfairness smothering her, all she could do was just sit there and watch as Natasha had her fit at her.

“We all lost, and we all won. Wanna grieve?”,she arched an eyebrow at her, “Do it with us. Not alone”.

Her lips parted; she had never actually thought about it like that before. Theo was never the one to get too close. Theo never considered herself to be a part of anything that mattered much.

She snorted. “You surely have a charm, Romanoff”,she said,shaking her head.

Natasha smiled, pleasure of accomplishment shown throughout her eyes and face. She motioned her eyebrows at her,while looking at Wanda who was now more calm than before.

“What's new?”,she shrugged.

“Wait- she's not mad now?”,Peter mumbled in Wanda's ear.

“No”,she smiled. “I think she's not”.

Theo stretched her back as she turned around,ready to get inside the bedroom. Her voice echoed throughout the living room as she spoke.

“I'm not dressing up though”.

“Yes you are”,Natasha ordered.

Theo rolled her eyes and sighed.

At times, she hated Natasha. And at times, she thanked the universe for having her there.

She used the bathroom they had placed by the bedroom; she washed her face as much as she could, wishing her state wouldn't be that obvious to everyone else.

The water was warm enough for her to take a quick shower,and she really needed it. Her breath, her hair, her entire body stank of booze and sweat.

The warm water felt good against her skin, though it made her most recent wounds hurt rather much. It wasn't close enough though to make up for all that had happened. Afterwards, she dressed up.

Nothing much, a pair of black pants Natasha herself had given her as a birthday present a year ago – enough to please her,she thought – and a black leathered shirt with open shoulders.

“By the way-”,she shouted all the way from the bedroom as she was coming to the living room, “anybody wants to stay? It's a nice apartment and I could really use the rent split”.

Wanda grimaced,raising her eyebrows. “Really?”,she hummed.

“Yeah,Wanda,really. I'm not as rich as I look”.

Peter raised his hand, excitement written all over his face.

“Oh- how about me? I've been thinking of searching an apartment and you know, Brooklyn is a good place to live,and-”

“Do I look like i'm in the mood to mother you,Parker?”,she asked with knitted eyebrows.

“Hey-”,he almost shouted,offended. “I'm 22! An ~ adult ~”.

“Nah. Blip years don't count kiddo. You're still 17”.

Wanda patted his shoulder,her lips pursed. Peter crossed his arms against his chest,pouting.

“Never mind”,he mumbled. “You're too mean anyway..”

“What was that?”

“Nothing. Sorry. Nothing”.

She arched an eyebrow at Natasha. “How about you Romanoff? Care to leave DC?”

“You know I can't. I'm a city girl,Theo”,she hummed.

“Brooklyn is a city,Natasha”.

“Not in my book”.

Theo snorted,rolling her eyes at her. She would have asked Wanda as well, but she was smart enough to figure that wherever Wanda went, Pietro followed. And,Theo wasn't up for that particular challenge.

“Need help braiding your hair Rapunzel?”,Wanda asked,wrinkling her nose.

“Get your red goo off my hair,Maximoff. I'll braid them myself”.

“Goo?!”

Peter smiled,now him being the one to pat Wanda. “I told you she's mean,didn't I?”,he whispered to her.

Theo began braiding her hair, as she said she would, her hands behind her head as she did so.

“So. Is Loki as insufferable as I remember him to be?”

“Oh..”,Natasha hummed, “That's an understatement”.

“Oh come on”,Wanda gave Natasha a look. “He's not nearly as bad as the first time we fought him. He's.......evolved”.

Peter turned his entire body over and looked at Wanda,his face showing nothing but a call for b-s.

Natasha chuckled at seeing his face,but Wanda chose to dismiss them both.

At that point Theo had managed to braid her hair entirely, much to Natasha's constant impression,as per usual. Always thought this was a hidden talent of hers,but didn't comment on it at the time, all things considered.

“Yo, Parker”,she called on to him as soon as she stood up. “Want me to ruin another NCIS episode for you?”,she asked in a sly smile.

Peter opened up his nostrils. His lips curved completely down.

“She always does this man..”,he sighed,turning to Wanda. “It's a nice show,why do you have to ruin it every time?”