Blood in the Water | 18+

𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘛𝘸𝘰

𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

I stepped up behind Aurora in our bathroom, my arms encircling her waist.

She smiled at me, leaning back into my chest and I pressed my mouth to her temple, the sweet smell I'd come to associate with my wife, vanilla, and cinnamon sugar, filling my nostrils and settling my anxieties instantly. Aurora never spoke when I was like this, knowing that I just needed to hold her when I thought I was going to lose her again. Not that I was worried about Aurora anymore, she could take care of herself, but I loved her. I loved her so much it scares the fuck out of me knowing one day someone could target her, someone could try to take her from me again. I was never expecting to fall in love, with my enemy's daughter no less, but Aurora had become the reason for the breath in my lungs and if she wasn't with me, I'm not sure what I would do.

Her bandaged hand brushed along my arm and I opened my eyes to see my wife, my beautiful, sweet, and loving wife watching me in the mirror. A blood oath, her brothers and she swore a blood oath because the three of them were terrified of losing each other. I reached for her bandaged hand, lightly stroking my thumb across the covered cut and she looked up at me, sweet doe eyes watching my facial expressions. "I wish," I whispered, kissing her temple before I continued, "I wish it didn't have to come to this," Aurora looked down at her hand, where the thin line from her oath was, "You should never have been scarred."

"Steve," Aurora spun so she was facing me and my eyes dropped to the scar that ran down the center of her chest, my thumb reached out to trace it lightly, and I felt the tears well in my eyes, my sweet girl, targeted because of me, by a monster who she was forced to call her father, "I was always going to be scarred," a gentle touch to my cheek when a tear slipped past my eye, "If not physically, then emotionally, it's okay, they make me look way cooler than I am."

I let a small laugh pass my lips, her smile lighting up when she heard the sound. If Aurora was the sun, I would gladly burn under her. Aurora's fingers touched the tattoo I had for her, a gentle caress of the aurora borealis, the tattoo I got after the first night I met her all those years ago. "We were always meant to cross paths, Steve," I nodded, watching her trace the lines of colors, "Our story wasn't rainbows and sunshine, but it's ours, and it's bloody but it's ours. I wouldn't trade it for the world," I held her wrist, pressing a kiss to the center of her palm, "I wouldn't trade you for the world."

"I watched you die," I whispered, and her eyes softened, "I watched you die and I couldn't do anything, I love you Aurora, more than you can ever understand. And you dying took my heart and shredded it, so seeing you with that scar, with a new scar because your brothers are scared to lose themselves in the mafia, it makes me ache," I wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her tightly to my chest, "I can't afford to lose you Aurora, not when you make me feel human, not when you make me feel normal."

"You're not going to lose me," She whispered, "I swear it."

And I believed her, I believed every word that she said, about our story, about her love for me, about how she would never leave me. But I needed the reassurance. Love was scary, everyone seemed to die, but Aurora, my fighter, my wife, my everything. She wasn't like the rest, she'd faced death, and she came back to me, and she would over and over again, Aurora would fight to get to me, she always has. And I would always fight to get to her, no matter the cost. She would always be by my side.

"Tomorrow," I whispered, and she nodded, watching every move I made, listening to every single word, "Whatever you see, however, I act, know that's not the real me," Aurora smiled at me, a soft genuine smile that I probably didn't deserve, but I sure as hell was going to soak up, "The monster that is the mob boss, Steve Rogers, is not the man you married."