multifandom oneshots/preferences

v. something wrong?--baron zemo

~~tfatws, no particular episode~~

Today was a lot for you. You got your ass beat when you were in over your head in a warehouse that was supposed to be empty and have some computers in it with important data in the hard drives but anyway it doesn't matter because you just had a panic attack and are now crying in your bathtub. 

But you need to be strong. Strong people don't cry after one fight lost, that's what your trainer always taught you when you were in SHIELD. You wonder if there are any exceptions for when there are multiple lost fights multiple days in a row. 

You pull yourself together for a quiet dinner where a certain Baron notices that you're just not acting like yourself. You can usually keep your head up after a loss, no matter how devastating. He knows something's off when that spirit he admires has somehow disappeared. 

After dinner, everyone retreats to their rooms to do what they do everyday which is digest the activities of the past 10 or so hours, come up with individual plans to present to the others at convenient moments of hardship the next day, and stare at the ceiling wondering where it all went wrong. 

Tonight, however, is different. Like always, you turn a movie on on your laptop and lay it on your bed, but you have no plans to watch it. It just started raining a bit outside and you've always like the look of rain in the dark. So, in your stealthy assassin fashion, you open your window and climb up the side of the building to the roof, where you lean against a ledge and watch the rain. 

Zemo has been looking for you for an hour. As selfish and vain he comes off, he truly cares for you and the others around him. Hating Bucky and Sam is easy, but you, with your wit and intelligence and...and your e/c eyes that gleam when you get an idea and your smile...it's hard to hate you. Helmut just gave in at some point and let himself become your friend. He never minded, if he's being honest. It was nice to have a companion like you who made him feel for once that everything might turn out okay in the end. 

It occurs to Zemo as he's about to tap on the threshold of a bathroom that you might be out on a walk or something. You like the rain. 

...

You quirk an eyebrow hearing something going on a few feet away. Presumably a man grunts and you tense up until you hear a Sokovian swear and chuckle to yourself. You move from your place on the ledge, stalk over to the struggling baron and smirk down at him. 

"Having trouble there?" you grin.

"Oh, shut up, I'm doing this for you damnit," Zemo scoffs as you give him a hand and pull him up to the roof. Zemo runs a hand through his now messy hair. "Your movie did not fool me."

You could lie and say that it wasn't meant to, you just wanted to have something playing when you came back in, but then you'd have to figure yourself out of that lie and the lie of "I'm fine" in front of a master of falsehood.

Zemo walks over next to you and takes a place leaning on the ledge with his back turned to you. You're about to move and take a place next to him when he asks you, "Something wrong?"

God, so many ways to answer that.

You stall by sighing and walking over to the ledge, but it appears you didn't have to say anything at all.

"I know this entire mission has been damaging for you, Y/n. It has for us all," Zemo mutters barely over a whisper as you lower your head. You don't want to admit how much an impulse decision to do a mission like old times has messed with your head. You suddenly weren't fighting alongside your fellow soldiers, it was more of an "enemy of my enemy is my friend" type deal, where after everyone's collective enemy has been destroyed no one acknowledges it ever happened.

"I think we all have changed a lot while doing this," Zemo continues. "Maybe in the end I'll get my redemption arc, you never know." He nudges your arm a little at this and you muster up a smile. 

A silence comes after that lasting a few long minutes. It's interrupted by an abrupt inhale from both you and Zemo. 

"Oh, did you want to say something?" Zemo asks with a little chuckle.

"No, I was going to make an awkward exiting remark then leave," you reply honestly.

"Hm, me too," Zemo smiles a bit. "Well, here: you're my friend, Y/n, and I'm here for you. If you ever need anything, you can call me and I'll be there no matter what, okay? I promise."

You nod as the baron pulls you in for a little hug before you both part ways. It was a small yet powerful gesture that gives you just enough of a push to contemplate in bed not when it wall went wrong, but when it might start to go right again.

...

tried sth a little different with a platonic one shot here but I hope you still liked it :)

thanks for reading and let me know if you'd like a part 2!