The Scarlet Apprentice 2: The Multiverse Between Us

Friendships and relationships

Clouded by disappointment, the team returned to the zephyr with their heads low and hopes decreasing.

While the rest of the team surrounded the planning board in the main room of the zephyr, y/n diverged to a separate room - a room that was more hidden than the other rooms.

The room was one she'd gotten used to during her time with shield, so much that it became a place of comfort for her. So, in a desperate need of comfort, she snuck away from the bunch and returned to the small secluded room.

Once she sat on the makeshift seat she'd made all that time ago, her eyes began searching the room in silence. She was reminded of all the memories she'd made in the room until the small door of it was pushed open.

The loud noise of the heavy door opening caused her head to lift and her body to tense, but she relaxed when she saw who it was.

"I didn't think the door would be that heavy." Sam mumbled as he awkwardly stood at the door.

She chuckled softly and dropped her guard, lightly patting the space beside her after shuffling over to provide room for him on the seat. After being granted the permission, Sam pushed the door closed and sat beside her on the seat. He kept himself in silence despite his want to comfort her through a pep talk or story.

"This was where daisy and I would go whenever we wanted to get away from responsibility, take a nap, or just talk." She explained.

He hummed, "I thought there was something between you two."

"I never stopped loving her, Sam, I just stopped seeing her."

He furrowed his brows as he concentrated on listening to whatever she was going to say.

"The last time I saw her I was madly in love with her. And the only reason I stopped seeing her was because of a miscommunication."

"What do you mean?"

"This was where daisy and I fell in love, so this is where we claimed our place on the zephyr. It was our own little place in the world, tucked away from everyone else. When we came back from the future, everyone was shaken up. And then when the team lost two of its members, that was the last straw." She began her story, "Daisy told me she was going to leave with Simmons to go to deep space, but I couldn't leave with them."

"Why not?" Sam asked.

"Everything in my life was changing, I needed to stay in something familiar. I'd grown to love being an agent, I couldn't leave to go to space." She shook her head and shrugged.

She dropped her head as she prepared for the next part of her story; the part that soon became a painful memory to even think about.

"I'm not good with my words, and I never have been, so I wrote a letter to daisy. I poured my heart out into and told her that I couldn't be without her. I begged her to stay, and reminded her of how much I loved her. Days before she left I put the letter in this spot on the zephyr so she'd have time to read it. I knew she'd go here before leaving, so I knew she'd see it. Or, I thought she would."

As Sam predicted the next part of her story, he swallowed a lump in his throat in sympathy and sat in silence.

"But, I woke up one morning and they left early and on a different plane. I instantly tried to reach her, I tried to communicate to the zephyr but she was too deep into space to get any of my messages. And that was the last time I saw her. She left before she could know how much I wanted her to stay." She shrugged, even though it hurt to talk about, "I can't really blame her, I wasn't strong enough tell her that."

"I don't think that's your fault, y/n. You can't blame a coincidence on yourself, that's not good for anyone." He told her, "and what you're going through now, with Wanda... this is all really hard for you. It's okay if you can't stay strong through all of it."

She thought, "I love wanda, Sam. I really fucking love her. And I'm never going to do anything to hurt her, ever. I just-... it's hard for me to adjust."

Noticing the outline of tears surrounding her tired eyes, Sam shuffled in his spot and cleared his throat to speak - to admit something he'd never told anyone else before.

"You know, buck and I are actually in a weird part of our... friendship." He admitted to change the subject.

Realising what he was doing, she sniffed and cleared the lump in her throat, "how so?"

"Well, we both... we-..." he stumbled for the words to describe how he felt, "when I'm with him, it's like... it's different... as opposed to being with other people. It's like..."

While listening to him, y/n furrowed her brows in confusion. She squinted, predicting what he was going to say, but she wanted to give it a few moments so she wouldn't guess wrong.

"It's just..." he coughed awkwardly, "I haven't felt this before, it's new- it's new for me. I don't..."

"Are you trying to tell me you like him?" She cut him off to ask.

"What?" He asked, his voice taking a high pitch. It wasn't that what she said was wrong, he'd just never said it out loud, or heard it be said out loud, "no, I-... why would I-."

"Sam." She gave him a look. "You know I'm very gay, right? I'm not gonna judge you if that's what you're worried about."

He chuckled and shook his head, "no, that's not it. But thank you for that."

She shrugged and smiled proudly, "just letting you know."

"I don't know if he feels the same way." He admitted boldly, "I just don't want to tell him everything if it's not gonna be reciprocated. I love the bond we have now, the stupid jokes, the bickering. It's silly, but I love it. I don't want that to go away."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. One of the first girls i had a crush on was my best friend. I told her how I felt, and she never spoke to me again." She laughed it off, "I don't want to make your decision for you, Sam, but me telling her how I felt was the best feeling in the world. It was freeing, and it was beautiful. If you do decide to tell Bucky but it doesn't go how you hoped... I'll be here for you for as long as you need."

He smiled softly as he looked at the ground, "thank you, y/n."

"But, for the record, it's very clear that he likes you back." She shrugged.

He lifted his head up, "what?"

"Oh, yeah. Honestly, just a minute ago, when you said "friendship" I was a little surprised."