behind blue eyes [bucky barnes]

onehundredandtwentyfive

"Welcome to our life. There's no turning back."

Song: Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears

. . . . .

Once outside the ship, Maria quickly made her way to where the rest of the group was located. She was heading for her father - desperate to come up with a plan. At any second Thanos could appear, and they needed to be as prepared as possible. But the girl was distracted when she got pulled off to the side.

"M- Maria," stuttered Peter Parker, who looked more than slightly freaked out. "What exactly is going on here?"

The girl's heart shattered for him. He was just a kid, one who was barely even able to drive. Now they were about to ask him to help fight an intergalactic nuisance. Parker should have been worried about going to prom and visiting Shuri, not the fact that they were stranded on an alien planet. Maria felt overly protective of him - knowing that he was practically her younger brother by that point.

"We are about to come into contact with a very bad guy. A purple one to be exact," she said, trying not to sound too overwhelming while also providing more than what a child would need to hear. "He's going to try to kill us, Peter. But I'm not going to let that happen."

"He- He is?"

"He is," nodded the girl. "This isn't child's play anymore, okay? This isn't the simulations at the compound that you're used to practicing on. If he gets the chance, Thanos will kill you."

Parker nodded, but Maria could tell he was getting more and more terrified by the second. The girl immediately pulled him into her arms, letting him embrace her. If she knew anything about the teen, it was that the last thing he wanted to do was seem weak in front of the rest of the group - including her father. Parker always wanted to put up the brave front, but sometimes that was hard. Maria completely understood that, possibly far more than the boy would ever know. So, in that moment, she provided him a safe space to let himself be vulnerable.

"I didn't say goodbye," he muttered into her chest. "To May, or Ned, or MJ, or... or Shuri. I left and I didn't even get to say goodbye..."

"There is no need to say goodbye," the girl immediately said, kneeling down to get eye level with Parker. "Because you're going back home. Thanos may try, but he isn't going to kill any of us. You're going to get to go back home and everything is going to be fine, understand me?"

"But-"

"No. No 'buts,'" Maria said before smiling at the boy. "You're a gryffindor, right?"

"Yes..."

"And gryffindors are known to be brave and courageous. So I need you to do that for me. Can you be brave and courageous?"

When Peter nodded, Maria knew it was all going to be okay. She stood back up and wrapped her arm around him, leading the two of them over to where her father was standing.