VITALITY ↝ B. BARNES [1]

[18]

Music played through the speakers as Elysia descended the staircase into the common area, a smile crossing her face as she took in the scene before her. Balloons drifted around the room, dark except for colorful lights that moved and changed in time with the music. As she stepped into the room, Tony waited with a glass of sparkling champagne, handing it to her as everyone else in the room began to clap.

"To Sparky," Tony announced, raising his glass as, one by one, the others joined him. "Without whom, none of this would be possible."

"Sparky!" the others cheered in their toast, taking a sip as Tony wrapped an arm around the pink-haired woman in a side hug.

"I hate you, Stark," she mumbled, smirking as she shook her head and sending a small static shock to where her hand still rested near his back, causing him to jump slightly in surprise.

"Hey now," Tony warned, rolling his eyes as he began to step back. "Just because your powers are back doesn't mean you have to start shocking everybody."

As Tony released her, Bucky stepped forward from between Steve and Sam, pulling her into a celebratory hug and kissing her on top of her head. "Oh, look at them, Steve," Sam chided. "They're adorable. Go on, you two, get a room."

"Oh, shut up, Wilson," Elysia said, unable to help the smile on her face as Bucky raised his metal arm, flipping Sam the bird.

"So what's the next move then?" Natasha asked, her voice joining the mix. "Now that the code's broken?"

Elysia and Bucky shared a quick look. "We test them," Elysia explained. "If the words don't work anymore, then it's done, and we move forward. If they're still in there..." she trailed off, searching for the right words. "Then we're back to square one."

"But we are not thinking about that tonight," Tony reminded them. "We're taking the night off after all of the work you and the Valentes put in, and we'll go from there in the next few days. You did a good thing, Sparky. Take the night off."

Elysia looked back at Bucky with a nervous expression, but to her surprise, the man next to her nodded reassuringly, one hand still resting on her back. She nodded finally, turning back to Tony. "Okay," she agreed.

"I hope everyone's hungry," Wanda announced, gesturing to a table filled with food before lowering her voice just enough for Elysia and Bucky to hear. "Don't worry, Vis didn't cook any of it. It was all me."

"In that case, I'm starving." Elysia chuckled, moving towards the food table as, one by one, the groups began to split off as the Avengers began to mingle.

Spread out on the tables were an endless number of platters, filled with enough food to feed a small army, and Elysia wasted no time filling her plate before taking a seat next to Bucky, Steve, and Sam, and beginning to dig in. Elysia felt the stress beginning to melt away as she watched the men next to her converse, jokes being told and old memories from the 1940s reminisced as Bucky and Steve recounted some of their old tales of growing up in Brooklyn. Although the two men couldn't be more different than who they were over seventy years ago, they spoke about the adventures as if it were only yesterday, and Elysia couldn't help but smile at the stories they'd told.

"We had money for the train ride back," Steve said, giving Buck a pointed look. "But some genius decided to spend our money on hot dogs, and trying to win a stuffed bear for a redhead."

"Ever the gentleman," Elysia joked, leaning her head against Bucky's shoulder. "So what happened? How'd you guys get home?"

"We had to ride in the back of a freezer truck," Bucky explained. "Luckily, they took pity on us and we were home before Steve's mom expected us at his place for dinner."