𝒑𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒕 || s. rogers & b. barnes

14||; 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆

⤷ may 5, 2012
━━━━━━━━━━━

The day after the chaos of Manhattan, Irina finds herself standing outside of the café she works at.

Or worked at.

The sun shines down upon her, casting a soft ray of heat on her ivory skin. She has her hair done up into a ponytail, bangs falling slightly over her eyes as she stares up at the café sign, crooked as it was. Thankfully, it hadn't gotten totally destroyed in the chaos.

She blows out a breath, puffing her cheeks out as she debates going in or not. Would they even want her in? She was supposed to, but maybe Paul decided to fire her in her absence, or maybe after the battle work was cut and she was —

Irina shakes her head. No. No need to worry. She'll be fine. It's just work. Even if it would be just for a day.

She pushes the glass doors open, the bell above ringing to notify the café of her arrival. It was practically empty inside, not a soul to be seen. Slowly, Irina makes her way further inside, looking around. It looked dusted and cleaned, but she could still see some spare rubble trickling the floor from the slightly cracked ceiling. But it was still cleaner than it should have been, so someone had to have been in —

"Well, well," a voice drawls from the cash register. Immediately, Irina's eyes dart over, meeting Danny's poker face with a flare of panic. Her coworker gives a wry, crooked smirk, "if it isn't the resident superhero."

Irina inhales sharply, grimacing at him. "...I was on the news?" She asks in a small voice.

Danny gives a derisive snort, lifting up a cloth and wiping his hands as he walks away from the cash register and past the coffee makers. "You and your whole gang of billionaires, war heroes and secret agents," he says, coming out from behind the counter and walking up to her with an unimpressed look.

"So tell me, Emma, Ems, Emmy..." he stands in front of her, crossing his arms over his chest and frowning at her, "...was this ever something you were planning on bringing to the workplace? Because I saw the footage. You're, like, a witch?"

Irina purses her lips, letting out a sigh. "Danny..." she says, "...this isn't really something I can talk to my coworkers about."

Danny's frown grows, and his blue eyes flicker away. "Understandable," he mutters, "I just assumed that, you know, after three years of working together five days a week and the occasional sixth for overtime we'd be...more than coworkers."

"Danny," Irina murmurs, staring at him with sad eyes.

Danny puffs out his cheeks, blowing out a breath as he shakes his head, turning away. "You know what? Forget it. You've got this whole other life as this — Avenger person. I mean, you've taken on a god, for fuck's suck," he throws his hands. "I wouldn't even be surprised if you would want to suddenly up and quit and...go off and be some superhero -"

"I don't wanna quit," Irina admits, cutting Danny off. He pauses, turning to her with a confused look. She sighs. "This was it, Danny. This — This was my last gig," she gestures to outside, to the mountains of rubble and destruction. "I don't want to be an Avenger. I don't wanna fight anymore. I just want to live the life I've built for myself. I want to come into work and complain about dead inside lawyers and make latte art. I want to moan about rent and curse at Paul behind his back whenever he's being as ass. I —" she lifts her hands helplessly, and they drop to her thighs with a small slap.

"I'm not quitting. I'm not an Avenger. These — These powers I have? I don't want to use them anymore. I don't want to bleed and get bruised. I just want," she punches out a breath, looking off to the side with a frown, "...I just want things to stay the way they were," she admits with a sigh.