cries about them

[ She picks her head up when she feels the door open, and she’s not ashamed of the fact that there’s tears in her eyes when she meets his gaze. The absolute wrecked look on his face is enough to send them spilling down her cheeks as she closes the distance between them in a step and throws her arms around his neck, clinging to him tightly.

Reassuring herself that he’s real, he’s here. Because he’s probably questioning the same.

The urge to say sorry is on the tip of her tongue, but that feels… trite. Wrong. She’s not sorry for the choice she made. But she’d known how it would hurt him. Hurt the others. Steve. Bruce. They’d all lost too much already, all of them. If she’d seen any other way in that moment… But she hadn’t. And she’d do it again.

So she didn’t say it, but she did give a broken sort of laugh as she pulls back to cup his face in her hands, the touch grounding her. It was easier to fall back on the lighthearted banter they’d always shared, even when times were at their worst. She’s relieved for the normalcy of it. Her voice shakes, choked with emotion, but she manages a crooked smile for him. ]

I know. I might have exaggerated. I didn’t even have to blow anything up this time.