Skeletons in the Closet
As soon as Happy got to the curb, Jungkook jumped out of the car and immediately made a bee-line towards his locker, even ignoring the remarks Flash made. The faster he can leave the things he needs in his locker, the faster he can get out of dodge and avoid his so-called ‘best friends’. He knew that his friends would try to come up and question him, but he’d rather not deal with it in the morning, especially when he’s barely awake from all the gaming he did with Wanda and Vision the night before. Lesson learned: don't game the whole night before going to school which starts at unreasonable hours. Great, now he needed about 5 cups of coffee just to stay awake.
When Jungkook reached his locker, he immediately tried opening it and fumbled with his locker combo until he reached his third try. On his third try he completely gave up and yanked it, making it break instantly. He let out a huff of breath and pinched the bridge of his nose, he quickly looked around and hoped that no one was paying attention to him, as per usual they weren’t. He quickly shoved his stuff inside his locker and rushed to his first period. This day was going to be difficult one wasn’t it?
As the bell rang and the seats began to fill up in his Spanish class, Jungkook chose a seat next to some random kid that always had his headphones blaring with some techno music. He pulled out his journal and began the Spanish exercise of the day , ‘Qué hiciste esta fin de semana?’. A whole lot, Jungkook thought and chuckled to himself. He wrote down that he did some homework and watched TV like a normal teenager without super hero problems. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jimin enter the class. He felt Jimin staring at him as he walked by his desk and sat in their usual spot.
It was 20 minutes into the class and he still felt Jimin’s eyes burn into the back of his head, as much as Jungkook felt like staring back, he knew as soon as he did, it would open an opportunity for Jimin to go up and question him. That’s definitely what he was trying to avoid for the next couple of days.
He decided to focus his eyes back on the board, Mr. Lopez saying something about traditional Oaxacan food that he would bring in next week and about the next upcoming quiz that week. Ugh a quiz.
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As soon as the bell rang, Jungkook ran out of the class onto his next one, Chemistry. This one was going to be a doozy, since he also had a class with one of his ‘best friends’. He made his way towards the back where MJ, the quiet, sarcastic, and intelligent senior in his class sat. MJ was friends with Peter and Ned, so they would often talk about them whenever Yoongi wasn’t here. MJ raised her head from her book and gave him a nod as a sign of acknowledgement. He liked MJ, they tended to bond over the same books and sometimes studied together before a big chemistry test.
“Why are you sitting with me today? Not that I mind, I would much rather you sit here than Flash, but Yoongi’s here today.” MJ said with an eyebrow raised, gesturing to Yoongi who was staring at the pair. Jungkook snapped out of his thoughts of deciding where to eat for lunch and the nearest place where he could get some decent coffee and looked up at her. “Did your little boy group break up? Are you guys on a break like the Jonas brothers or broken up like the beatles?”
“Uh. Um.Yeah kind of like the Jonas brothers, I think.” He replied, scratching the back of his head with one hand and nervously twirling his pencil with the other.
“You think? JK, are you okay? You look like you haven’t slept for days? What are you hiding?”
“What?! I’m okay, just a little fight on what we should build this weekend, ya know? I just kind of, um, maybe stayed up late and played some video games. Also, I’ll have you know I’m not hiding anything.”
“Huh. Okay Jeon. Whatever you say.”
They both stayed silent for the next 30 minutes listening to the teacher talk about chemical compounds, until Jungkook spoke up again.
“MJ. Do you know where I could get some coffee?”
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Jungkook strolled down the hall to the library with a warm cup of coffee from the teacher’s lounge in his hand (MJ had some serious coffee connections), he thanked God for Ms.Cho and his previous injuries, because now he was excused from P.E and didn’t have to do it for the next couple of days. For the next couple of days, all he had to do was relax in the library and do some homework. No Flash. No ‘best friends’. Just peace and quiet. Well not completely quiet, he had Sora.
He ended up finishing up his homework early, which was a surprise because he usually barely has time to do any of it. He started to walk around the library reading some random comic books. After a couple of comics he got bored and decided to ask the librarian, Mrs.Cruz, if there was anything he could do to help. She had him put away some books and mark them if they were late. Jungkook was really good friends with the librarian, since he would spend most of his freshman year studying for the decathlon with his friends. After putting all the books away and marking them late, he joked around with her for a bit before the bell rang for lunch.
“Mrs.Cruz, do you think that I could stay here for lunch? Like in the break room with you? If you don’t mind?”
“Oh of course Mr.Jeon. You’re one of my favorite students, plus you’ve helped me a lot this afternoon. However, I thought you would spend most of your lunches with that friend group of yours? Are they okay?”
“Um yeah, they’re okay. I just wanted to have lunch with you today. I haven’t been able to talk to you Mrs. Cruz. How have you been lately? How’s your cat, Mr. Snuffles doing? How did that date go with that Brooklyn guy?” Jungkook replied, lying through his teeth. He wondered how many more people were going to ask about his friends. Did he really hang out with them that much? Jesus, he really needed to branch out, but he would have to stop being afraid of meeting new people first. One thing at a time Jungkook. One thing at a time.
After about 20 minutes of listening to Mrs.Cruz talk about how the Brooklyn guy took her to some sushi restaurant in which he proceeded to try to pull the whole fake birthday stunt (the one where people get some free dessert for their birthday), he decided to head out for a bit and get some lunch. He rushed to the line and quickly tried to get his lunch, ignoring the seven eyes that were burning holes into his back. He walked as fast as he could to avoid spilling his lunch and to avoid his friends from getting up and trying to call him over.
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Before they even had a chance to call out to Jungkook, he left with a flash. Jungkook had been avoiding them all day and it was starting to annoy some of them. It hurt and confused both Yoongi and Jimin, when Jungkook sat with other people and refused to even acknowledge them during their class together.
“What’s going on with JK? He’s been acting so strange.” Jimin asked out loud, while twirling his spaghetti with a fork.
“Oh I don’t know. Maybe it’s because of all the shit you and Taehyung said on friday before he left the restaurant?!” Yoongi said in a passive aggressive voice.
“Yoongi.” Namjoon warned, putting down his philosophy book. “Look getting angry right now won’t solve anything.”
“Oh yeah Kim. Well I wouldn’t be so angry if Tweedledee and Tweedledum right here knew how to keep their mouth shut and use common sense.” Yoongi said while gesturing toward Jimin and Taehyung. “You two should have known better than to say such hurtful things to him.”
“Yoongi, I think they get that. Look we already talked about it, okay. They feel terrible about it, hell we all cried about it and you were there crying too. Getting angry is not going to solve the problem.” Namjoon replied with a certain edge to his voice, the whole situation was starting to get to him too.
“Yeah you’re right it won’t solve it, but these two siamese twins better stop playing dumb and realize that their the whole reason behind this shit show.” Yoongi replied, angrily pointing at the pair again.
“Alright! That’s enough you two! Knock it off!” Jin spoke up before their screaming could get any louder. “You two aren’t really providing any solutions to this dilemma. Now I think I know a way to fix this-”
“Oh that’s real cheap coming from you, Seokjin. The last idea that you had and we followed, ended up in Jungkook getting even more pissed and got us to where we’re at now. So tell me Janine Melnitz, what’s your plan besides answering the telephone or calling the ghostbusters?” Yoongi spit out, heavy with sarcasm and anger, his eyebrows raised mockingly.
Jin looked shocked and his face instantly turned red, but before he could say something he was once again interrupted by another person in the group.
“Will you dumbasses stop arguing!? Seriously, none of you are helping anyone. At this rate no one’s going to solve anything! These two look like kicked puppies,” Hoseok said pointing to the two who had their heads down, “Namjoon’s bitching about being calm and some philosopher bullshit,” pointing at Joon who was now staring heavily at his textbooks right next to him. “Yoongi’s being an angry prick, and you, Jin, aren’t helping at all if you can’t realize your previous mistake!” Pointing at the remaining two members of the group, who were glaring intensely at each other with anger and resentment in their eyes.
The table was silent, they were shocked by his outburst. Hoseok wasn’t known to have or show any other emotion besides happiness, and if he did, you sure as hell wouldn’t want it to be anger, which is what he was exhibiting right now. Hoseok took a deep breath and looked at the group, opening his mouth and continued on.
“Let’s admit we all fucked up. Everyone had a part in this whole thing, no one gets off and no one takes all the blame. We all share that equally. Yes, things could have gone differently that night. Yes, we could have waited for him to call us back. Yes, we could have had a civilized conversation about what’s been going on with him, but guess what?! None of that happened! We can’t undo what we did. We can’t go back in time to fix it, but what we can do is realize our mistakes, fix them, apologize as much as we can, and hope to god that Jungkook would forgive us.”
Everyone looked up at Hoseok and nodded. They would all discuss it and fix whatever they could. They wouldn’t let go of Jungkook so easily, they needed him. Without him, they wouldn’t know what to do. Everyone had a little piece of him inside them, they completed each other. It was seven or nothing.
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When he got back to the librarian lounge he found that it was empty with a note on the table saying that Mrs.Cruz went out to get some lunch and would be back soon with some snacks for Jungkook. He really loved his librarian, she was awesome and sometimes got him food.
While he was eating his grilled cheese sandwich, Jungkook thought talking to Sora was a great way to fill the heavy silence lingering in the empty room.
“Hi Sora. How ya doing today? Anything new on the crime feed? Any cats I need to save after school?”
“Hello Jungkook. I am doing quite fine for an A.I, how are you today? Are you in need of any assistance? It is the middle of the day and you do not use me unless it is for a spanish quiz or if you need any reminders. There are no cats in need of saving and there are no crimes right now, except for the vandalism of a building on south street. Anything you need to put on your schedule?”
“Ah. No, there’s nothing to put on the schedule. Uh, wait can you mark down that I have spanish quiz on friday, please? And, I’m doing okay, I think. I’m just fighting with my friends and I need someone to talk to.” Jungkook said, while swallowing his last bite of his sandwich. He reached for his milk and chugged it down, then reached for a protein bar in his backpack and opened it.
“I will make note of your spanish quiz on friday and send you reminders throughout the rest of the week. I am always here for you to talk to Jungkook. What has happened with your friends? Anything you would like to share?” The A.I asked with what appeared to be concern in her voice.
“Well, I’m not sure if you remember last friday, I got into a fight with them at Mr.Oh’s and they said some things to me, that just got to me.”
“Of course I remember Jungkook. I recorded the whole thing as per watch the Baby Spider protocol. Would you like me to replay that night?”
“Ah no. I kind of don’t want to replay that night if that's alright with you.”
“Of course. I apologize Jungkook, that was very insensitive of me. Is there anything else you would like to share?”
“It’s okay Sora, you’re programmed to ask me that. Thanks for apologizing though. It means alot. Well, my friends got me kind of angry this weekend. They were calling me and still trying to ask me questions and accusing me of stuff. Even after I told them that I would call them when I wanted to or when they fixed their attitude towards me. I mean they called to apologize but then they just started saying mean things again and demanded answers. I couldn't tell them what was going on cause then they’d find out about me being spiderman and the rogues coming home early. No one knows that they’re even here. At least I don’t think they do.”
“Jungkook. I am going to need you to breathe. Your heart rate is rapidly increasing and this could lead to a panic attack.”
“I- thanks Sora. I’ve just been getting so angry, nowadays. It kind of scares me a bit. I don’t understand why. I’m just confused. What do I do? What do I say? I feel betrayed for some reason. Am I being reasonable for being upset or am I just sounding really crazy and ridiculous?”
“Jungkook from what I can gather, you are being reasonable. There is no need to feel bad for feeling upset. They said things to you that upset you and you properly set up boundaries that they did not respect. I would say to wait for them to collect themselves and realize the severity of their words. I believe they tried to bring their concerns to you, however they worded it incorrectly. On the topic of your anger, have you talked to Mr.Stark about it? If you want I could inquire for some help.”
“Thanks Sora. I think you’re right I just wait a bit until they realize it. I wished they could have talked to me beforehand about it and not say the things they did. I haven’t talked to him about it, but I make sure to. Thanks for listening, how do you give such good advice?”
“Of course Jungkook, I am equipped to help you with your every need, whether it be physical or mental. I have access to every mental and physical health database. I am here to help you Jungkook, after all I am your friend.” Sora replied, with a soft and caring voice.
“Oh well that explains it, but thanks anyway. Thank you for being my friend Sora”
Jungkook smiled and chewed off a piece of the protein bar. Even when things got overwhelming, he still had someone to confide in. Well, it’s an A.I, but still it’s someone who will always listen to him.
Jungkook finished off his bar and got himself some more coffee. A couple minutes later Mrs. Cruz came back in with some cupcakes and two iced americanos. Well free food and coffee is definitely something he’ll take anytime. Oooh and they were strawberry and red velvet cupcakes, how delicious!
_______________________
Jungkook finished the rest of the day with no problems or at least he thought. None of his friends were in the rest of his classes, however he knew he was forgetting to attend something. What was it? Where was he supposed to be? What is a club? What club? Oh shit! Decathlon! Jungkook was supposed to be at decathlon practice 5 minutes ago.
He raced down the empty hall all the way to the auditorium, where the practice was being held (they had to practice for another competition near DC, which reminded Jungkook that he still has to get his permission slip signed, ya know for him not to run off again especially after what happened last time). As soon as he got to the door, he stopped in front of it, tried to compose himself and tried to find his jacket in his bag. Damn it I forgot it at home, he thought to himself. Jungkook let out a sigh and walked in.
He walked over to the group and told them that he forgot it was that practice was today and began to practice with Peter, Ned and MJ.
“Hey guys! Mind if I practice with ya!” Jungkook smiled and waved.
“Hey JK! Come on we were just going over the elements and a couple of physics problems.” Peter replied with a smile on his face.
While they were practicing Jungkook felt those familiar seven eyes stare at his back. He guessed that he wasn’t the only one to notice because Ned and Peter gave each a weird look.
“Uh Jungkook, I think your friends are trying to get your attention. They keep staring over here. It’s like they’re sending knives into our backs. Is everything alright between you guys?” Peter whispered to him, hesitantly, almost afraid to be louder than what he was whispering right now.
“Huh, oh yeah, Those guys are just jealous that I’m studying with y’all instead of them. Plus I’m pretty sure they’re still sour from when I beat them at Mario Kart on Saturday.” Jungkook lied with ease while staring at the study guide in his hands, avoiding the multiple pairs of burning eyes that were currently staring at the group of 4.
“Uh I don’t think so, they look like they’re more angry about something else rather than some game of Mario Kart.” Ned said, in the same whisper tone that Peter had done before.
“Uh, just forget them. I’m sure they’ll get over it. Now, who was the father of physics? I mean come on why is this one even on our study guide, this one’s easy!”
“I know right! That’s what I was telling Mr.Harrington!” Peter exclaimed. “I mean look at some of these questions! These are meant for 8th graders.”
“I don’t know Peter, you and Jungkook look like 8th graders.” MJ replied, not looking up from her book.
“Hey!” Both Peter and Jungkook shouted. “I don’t look like an 8th grader!”
Practice ended early, so Jungkook ran out to the front and texted Happy that he was going out for patrol, that he would see him at a rendezvous point when his patrol was over. He checked to see if anyone was around and jumped over the fence and ran to Delmar’s to stop for a sandwich before his patrol. Like Mr. Delmar always said, “Best sandwiches in Queens!”
_______________________
When Tony woke up, he knew it was going to be a long and painful day. He woke up, chugged down two cups of black coffee, and gave the kid a goodbye before he left for his meetings, which would last until 2pm give or take.
They were useless meetings about calculations and designs, meetings in which he knew he didn’t need to attend, because one his math was never wrong and two his designs were flawless. He knew they only wanted him there to give themselves a shot at trying to humiliate the man himself; the genius, billionaire, and philanthropist,Tony Stark. He would never let them humiliate him, not in a million years, not especially when that was his father’s specialty. He still remembers when Howard would take any possible opportunity presented to him to absolutely humiliate and break down Tony. Oh how proud his father would be now, if he knew that his calculations and designs were flawless, well of course he that Howard would most likely find a way to pick at them and degrade them. However, Howard Stark was long gone now and Tony was the one calling the shots around here. He was making more money than his father possibly ever could making mass weapons of destruction. Tony was making things that could actually help people in times of need, not provide a way to get something over with and kill millions. His technology was helping create tons of medical devices around the world, something his incompetent father never bothered to think of.
Just thinking about his father sent chills down his spine and made his hands twitch. He felt that familiar anger that would always rise in him when he thought about that old bastard.
A familiar loud ringing sound echoed in the meeting room, Tony snapped out of thoughts, smiled, and answered the phone.
“Honeybear! How lovely, you called, can't talk much though. I’m in the middle of a meeting. But what can I do ya for?”
“Mr.Stark? If you want we could take a 5 minute break or have this meeting some other day?” A random person in the room said.
Tony got up from his chair and walked towards the door, “Yeah. Let me see my schedule really quickly. Mhm, we can reschedule this meeting to next to never. Thank you for inviting me, however next time you want to make a fool of yourself, please don’t hesitate to tell me and I’ll personally make you all a billboard. Don’t underestimate my abilities when you seem to really underestimate your own.”
He then left the room and took the elevator to his lab. He had enough with those fools. He would make sure to get them replaced by Wednesday, he needed more sensible and confident people, he didn’t need hot blooded testerone full men. Next meeting he had with that department was going to be full of intelligent women, he was sure of that, hell he’ll even sit through the screening process with Pepper just to make sure that they were up to par.
“Tony, now I know you did not just leave a meeting just to talk to me.” Rhodey’s voice sounded over the phone, distracting Tony from his firing plans.
“What of course Honeybear. When it comes to you, you are my top priority, my number one concern.”
“Tony.” Rhodey said in a warning voice.
“Oh Honeybear, don’t worry. It was one of those meetings where they thought that they were better than me, they thought they could make a fool of me. You know I don’t like when people pull stunts like that. I don’t have the time or patience to deal with that type of stuff.” Tony replied while playing with the screen on his glasses, already putting up multiple job openings and sending out a 2 weeks notice.
“Jesus, I know Tony, but Pepper’s not going to be too happy.”
“I know Rhodey, but I sat through all the useless meetings except for this last one. I listened to all the suggestions to make a product more expensive, when it’s supposed to be affordable to all. I tried playing ball with these assholes. They wouldn’t even step up to home plate and make a hit. They all missed. It was a whole 3 strikes and they’re out.”
“Okay Tony, but listen you got to talk to Pepper about getting a new team if they keep doing this. I mean this is what the 5th time they’ve done this.”
“I’m already on it Honeybear. Anyways, what’s up?”
“Well, I’ve been going over this weekend’s and today’s security footage, like you wanted me to, you paranoid annie, and so far the Rogues have done nothing wrong. There’s absolutely nothing that’s giving any hints as to why they are here a week early. However, I found something that you might want to see.”
“Let me guess. Roger’s and Barnes were caught frockling in the hallways. Jesus these two really need to get married. I mean I’m mad at -”
“Tony! It’s your kid. Look, you just gotta get down here and see this.”
Tony felt his voice get caught in his throat. What could have happened with his kid. He barely managed to voice out an “I’ll be right there” to Rhodey before hanging up.
He felt his palms start to sweat and his breath increase. When it came to his kid, it was either fear or happiness. As the seconds passed by ,Tony began to feel more anxious and tried to calm down his breathing, like his therapist said, “Breathing will help calm you down and make you think logically”. Or at least that is what he might have heard.
As soon as he made it to his lab, Tony cursed at his over paranoid self for creating so many locks and identification locks in order to get into his lab, eventually he just gave up and told Friday to him in.
He saw Rhodey looking over a video of the gym. Rhodey turned around and gave him a concerned gaze, Tony gave a questioning eyebrow in return and gestured to him to play it from the beginning.
What Tony saw was something that he didn’t think he would ever see come out of Jungkook. It was pure rage and destruction, the kid didn’t even blink when he first knocked the bag over. But then, he saw the terror in the kids frozen figure, the fear of being afraid of what you can do. The fear of oneself, was something he knew all too well. However,out of the corner of his eye, he saw some other movement, he saw two big figures watching his kid. The pair of super soldiers had seen Jungkook’s true strength. Fuck, now there were two problems to solve.
“Tones, this doesn’t look good. I don’t know what is wrong with my future nephew, but you need to talk to him, because something’s obviously wrong. Secondly, we need to figure out what to do with those two. They were already suspicious of the whole intern cover, but after this I don’t know what type of stunts they will pull to find out who he really is.”
Tony ran his hands through his hair in frustration and sighed. He would have to call a meeting of some sorts. He needed answers from them and needed to talk to Jungkook. The kid would be on patrol, so he would be able to get the first part done, but for the second part he would need to wait until the kid got back from patrol.
“FRIDAY, call everyone to the meeting room. Immediately.”
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“Bucky, we should ask Natasha about it. I’m sure she knows something about the kid.” Steve called from the couch on their shared living floor.
“Steve, you nosy shit, just drop it. I wouldn’t want to get kicked out of this castle like place. I mean it has tons of coffee choices.” Bucky called back, while trying to decide whether he wanted hazelnut flavored or just plain black coffee. It was the future, time for other flavors to be in his mouth.
“Buck. This kid could be a danger to us and Tony might not even realize it. This intern could jeopardize everything. Let me just talk to Natasha about it for a -”
“Cut that shit out Steve, you’re pissing me off.” Bucky interrupted, almost slamming his cup down onto the coffee machine and angrily jabing at the buttons to turn it on. As soon as he heard his coffee start to pour, he continued on, “This kid isn’t a threat to us, I can feel it. I think he’s like us, a super soldier or some variation of it. And, Rogers you seriously have to stop thinking everything's or everyone’s out to get you. Hydra’s gone and I’m here. I’m safe. So knock it off. You’re acting irrationally.”
Silence was all that he got from Steve. Bucky knew that saying a firm no to Steve’s bullshit was a way to get him to shut up. That was the perk of being best friends with a person who was relentless and got into fights left and right with absolutely no self preservation skills whatsoever.
Bucky frowned and felt his head start to ache. He clutched his head in between his hands, closed his eyes, and leaned against the kitchen counter. Behind his eyelids he saw flashes of people, he saw flashes of a city, and he heard someone screaming. He felt a hand on his shoulder, opened his eyes, and immediately turned the figure against the counter.
“Buck. It’s Steve.”
Bucky immediately relaxed and let go of Steve.
“I’m sorry Steve. I didn’t mean to. It was just an instinct of mine.”
“Hey, it’s okay. Bucky are you okay? You were screaming and sounded like you were in pain. Do you need anything? Painkillers?”
Bucky didn’t even realize it was him screaming. He took a couple of breaths and collected his thoughts and pieced together what he saw.
“It was just another memory. This one just hurt for some reason. It made my head feel like it was going to explode.”
“Oh Buck. What was it about if you don’t mind me asking?” Steve asked in a concerned voice, gently rubbing at Bucky’s back, as to show that he didn’t have to talk about it if he didn’t want to.
“It was one of Becca, Ma, and you. We were at my house and drawing something again. I think it was a person, but I couldn’t remember who it was. Becca was in the living room listening to the radio and Ma was in the kitchen making some pies. I know it was a long time ago, Stevie, but do you think you might remember who you were drawing?”
Steve tried to remember what he drew that day. He remembered that it was when they were in highschool and that in those days all he would usually draw was portraits of Bucky. Bucky. He used to draw Bucky. He couldn’t tell him that, especially when he didn’t know how Bucky would react to him having feelings for him and if he even shared those same feelings as he did. Bucky didn’t even know that Steve liked boys. Steve doesn’t even know if Bucky liked boys as well.
Before Steve could utter a response, a voice from above called out, “Mr.Rogers and Mr.Barnes, Mr.Stark has asked that everyone is to meet in the conference room immediately.”
“Ah Okay FRIDAY, thank you. Is there a reason as to why he called this meeting?” Steve asked, raising his eyebrow.
“He has not specified the reasoning for the meeting.”
“Very well. Let’s get a move on Buck.”
_______________________
“Oh fantastic, the whole gang’s here! Now let’s get to matter at hand. The reason why we’re all here.” Tony said, clapping his hands together, as the pair of super soldiers entered. “Please take a seat.”
Tony cleared his throat and shuffled some papers on the table.
“Now, tell me the truth. Why the hell are you here, a week earlier than you know you were supposed to be? What the hell are you hiding?”
“Okay,we'll tell you why,Tony, but this is a two way street. What about that intern of yours? What are you hiding about him?” Steve shot back.
Tony gave him a look that could kill 300 men in an instant.
“No. This is not about my intern. This is a meeting about your sudden return. Nothing else, nothing more. So, cut the crap Rogers and tell me why your little rebel team is here at home base earlier than you should be?”
Before Steve could muster a reply, someone slid a USB port across the table. Tony grabbed it and inserted it into a socket source. Hundreds of videos, pictures, and profiles appeared on the screen. Everyone looked to the source and saw that it was Natasha, she was sitting in a chair with her arms folded across her chest, annoyance lingering in her eyes.
“We were investigating a research facility in Spain, we were told that it might be another branch of Hydra that was starting up again. So, Steve thought it might be a great idea to investigate, tear down whatever Hydra plan they had going on, and end it before it even started.”
Natasha looked around the room before continuing on and gestured to one specific profile.
“The facility was created by some government agency hoping to develop some type of cures for worldwide diseases. It was run by the head researcher, Dr. Smith. A 40 year old man from Madrid, who studied all sorts of diseases, however he specialized in sleeping disorders and diseases. There was word that some of his research had been publicized and that it might have had connections to Hydra.”
Videos of the brown haired man in a lab coat and his leaked research appeared where each person was seated.
“When we got there, we realized that more than half of the researchers and patients were dead. Some had clawed their eyes out, others slit their throats or had head injuries. Those who survived and got away talked about seeing things in the shadows, feeling like something was tearing them apart from the inside, and not wanting to sleep at all. They asked if we had some type of cure. When we finally found Dr. Smith, he was injecting some sort of liquid into his body. He saw us and started talking about finally making his dreams come true. That he had finally solved the world's biggest problem. With this formula he had created, he claimed that he could cure the world’s biggest diseases. We tried to talk him down into coming peaceful, but he thought otherwise and threatened to burn his entire research if we even touched him. ”
She paused for a moment and took a deep breath.
“Before we could get our hands on him, he pressed a button and released some unknown gas that made us disoriented and faint. We woke up a couple of hours later and realized that the doctor had died from too much chemical exposure. We walked away safe and with the research in our hands. We were safe and secure for the next couple of days until we noticed that someone was following us. They tried to attack us at night, but we fled from the safe house and five failed hits later, here we are, a week earlier than we planned. We figured that with all your tech and medical labs at your disposal, that you could figure out what was in the vials and what the doctor gassed us with.”
Natasha then pulled out two purple vials from her pocket, walked over to Tony, and handed them to him. Tony grabbed the vials and looked at the odd color of the vials. He looked to Rhodey and then at the rest of his former team. He nodded and pocketed the vials.
“Alright. Thank you for the truth, Natasha. I’ll see what I can do and what potentially poisoned you all. I’ll have to make a few calls and run some tests. I’ll also have to call Banner in for this one. See if he’s even around and if he can come in to help. I’ll have to also see if I can contact Thor and see if there’s anything he might know or just to be here for protection's sake. You’re all free to go.”
And with that Tony got up and headed towards the door. He stopped when he heard a voice call out to him.
“Tony we told you the truth. The least you could do is tell us about that intern of yours. Barnes and I saw what he did the other day. What and who is he?” Steve called out, standing with his arms crossed against his chest and eyebrows raising in a questioning and demanding type of way.
Tony let out a loud scoff and instantly, turned around and looked at Steve directly in his blue eyes.
“The least I could?! The least do is not kick you off into the streets, Rogers. Even after all the shit you did to me in Siberia, I am housing you and fighting the accords and the UN for you and your so called righteous team. I already told you what you needed to know about him, the least you could do is show me some respect and accept the information that I’ve graciously given to you. If I wanted to let you know anymore than what I told you, then I would have told you, but we’re not exactly on a friends telling each other secrets and braiding each other's hair level, Captain. You and me are just mere acquaintances, we work together in the same building, but I don’t give a rat's ass about who you are or what department you work for. We work on different levels and once you finally get through your head, things will run more smoothly and the problem will be fixed much sooner.”
And with that Tony left, Rhodey hot on his heels. Steve looked down at his shoes and then back up at the rest of his team. He didn’t even flinch when he heard a banging sound against the conference table.
“Alrighty. I’ve had enough of the lying Rogers. I’ve followd you and done everything you asked, no matter how stupid or down right crazy it is. You’ve avoided this topic for a long time. What the hell happened in Siberia? What did all three of you do?” Clint yelled, standing up from his chair.
Steve looked towards Bucky who flinched and averted his eyes to the ground. He took a deep breath, pushed back his hair, and sat back down.
“None of it was supposed to turn out the way it did. There’s not a day that I- that we regret what happened. I wish I could take it back. That I just told him the truth. We could have talked it out and still been friends. We still could have been a family of some sort.”
Steve felt tears gather in his eyes and took another couple of shaky breathes and told the events of Siberia. He told them about the day that Steve’s world tore apart for the hundred time and the day he felt like he lost a piece of himself.
_______________________
“Mr. Stark! I’m home.” Jungkook called out to an empty living room. “Hey Fri, where is Mr.Stark?”
“Mr. Stark is in his laboratory and wished not to be distrubed for the remainder of the night.” FRIDAY replied.
“Oh okay, can you tell him that I made it home safely and that I’ll probably be sleeping or playing some video games.”
“Certainly Jeon. I tell him of your arrival and where you’ll be. Good night Jungkook.”
“Night Fri!”
Jungkook ran off to his room and fell asleep. He thought he was going to have a peaceful sleep, but what he didn’t know was that they’re was a lurking presence in the shadows. He hoped that his dreams would be filled with happiness and good things, that the nightmares had passed. But alas, the night had only begun, who was to know what would lurk in the shadows of one’s own mind.