The Twin Flame: Grumpy x Sunshine

You Need To Calm Down

"You are somebody that we don't know, but you're coming at my friends like a missile..."

Though you haven't actually slept, you creak open a bleary eye to the sunlight filtering in through the bedroom window.

A new day, just like Sam promised.

And though you want nothing more than to pretend none of this is happening, that there aren't people exactly like you running amuck and wreaking havoc, you can't find it in yourself to turn a blind eye.

You keep imagining what Karli Morgenthau looks like. Was she scared the first time she held a flame in her hand? Did her face light up with all the possibilities, both good and bad, brimming all around her? Was she revered? Or shunned like you were?

Did the world around her feel different?

You know there's only one way to get answers to those questions. And it might not be fair, but you know the only way to get those answers is by facing your fears. You reach for the doorknob, turn it, and face the outside world once again.

The morning outside your room is quiet, the air still. It's almost a comfort that the world turns with or without you, that people will march on, the sun will continue to rise and set regardless of you.

You almost laugh at how narcissistic the sentiment sounds, but after the years you've had, the world continuing to turn was all a person could really ask for. And the world turning without you having to fight for it was more than you'd ever gotten.

You quietly pad down the hall to the living room where Sam sits on the couch staring out the stained glass window. You watch him for a moment, the pensive, solemn expression that replaces his normal goofy grin. You wonder what heavy thoughts running rampant in his head are currently weighing on him.

You timidly clear your throat to make yourself known.

He slightly jolts, snapping out of his reverie to find you standing in the doorway. He softly smiles, "You're up."

You nod, offering a tight smile. "It's a new day, right?"

He cracks an even bigger smile, eagerly nodding, "Right."

"Morning," Bucky awkwardly greets, trying to play off his surprise at seeing you out and speaking to Sam without any bickering back and forth.

"So now what?" you prompt, plopping down on the couch, not quite beside Sam, not quite across from him, but perpendicular to Sam.

"Now, we go to this funeral and try to reason with Karli," Sam slowly exhales, rubbing his hands on his pant legs.

"Good," you agree. "I like that plan."

"Karli Morgenthau cannot be reasoned with," Zemo blithely responds, strolling into the room with an air of nonchalance and an unburdened smile. "She is too far gone."

"She's a kid," Sam defends.

"Hold on, Karli's a kid?" you interject.

"She didn't seem very child-like when she blew up a GRC building with people inside," Zemo guffaws.

"What?" you exclaim, wide eyes looking to Sam and Bucky for answers.

"She doesn't know how to control herself yet," Sam defends. "We know that."

"How do you know that?" you pointedly ask, demandingly crossing your arms as you face Sam.

"Things got a little out of hand when we first found out about them," Bucky responds for Sam. "Nothing too crazy."

"It wasn't your shoulder she set on fire," Sam bitterly mutters under his breath.

"She did, what!?"