Coming Down ➢ Steve Rogers

seventeen

Chapter Seventeen;

Being reunited with the Avengers was like being reunited with family.

Walking the short distance from the car to Avengers Tower was like walking in a haze, a dream, where nothing was just quite real. Instead everything was distant, as though in some far off dimension, where perceptions of reality weren't like Earth's. All that was real for Delaney was the hammering of her heart in her chest, a beat that pulsed throughout her body, and the way her breaths were loud and made her sound like she had just run a marathon.

Then she opened the door, and everything happened at once. JARVIS announced something in his calm robotic voice, and within seconds Tony Stark himself span around the corner, threw his arms open wide and shouted, "There she is! Hypnosis!"

Delaney blinked, her eyes barely taking in Tony's figure before she was pulled into a bone-crushing hug and she was desperately gasping for air. "Let me breathe, Stark," she spluttered, still too overwhelmed to feel anything at all.

"You haven't missed me enough to call me by my first name?" Tony asked dramatically. "I'm hurt."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Tony."

But still, she smiled. He was starting to feel familiar again, not just a figment of her imagination or a piece of a dream. He was there, beside her, warm and with calloused hands and the stubble on his chin irritating her own smooth skin.

He released her, and Delaney's eyes honed in on the other Avengers. Bruce Banner; a little more worn, perhaps, but still smiling and genuine and steadfast: the kind of man Delaney could spill her life story to and know she wouldn't receive any judgement whatsoever. 

And – and Clint. 

He hadn't changed a bit, which brought memories of hours in Starbucks rushing back to her mind and a lump in her throat. He was still her best friend, her mentor, the older brother she'd never had.

Steve and Natasha moved from behind her to stand beside them and Delaney sucked in a breath, tears spiking her eyes as she took in just how real they all were: they were all standing in front of her, in real life, the people she had too briefly been able to call her teammates. Her family.

And it suddenly just felt so right to be standing in the same room as them, as a part of them, a group where she wasn't different and feared or just a weapon or target to their eyes but instead, a family, a group she could relax with and joke with and count on to have her back no matter what scrape she managed to pull herself into.

These people are my family.

Delaney couldn't hold herself back anymore: she ran up to them, each moment spent apart a moment that was physically painful that she couldn't stand for a second longer.

Bruce was the first person she barrelled into; he reached out, grabbed her arm and pulling her toward him. Delaney had the feeling that he didn't hug people too often, but he embraced her like a treasured family member even if they hadn't been able to speak much during their time avenging New York. "It's good to see you again."

"You too, Bruce."

Clint folded his arms, face devoid of expression. "You had a lot of nerve, running off like that," he said flatly.

Delaney halted in her tracks, as though someone had been controlling her and mid-motion suddenly pressed the stop button. She deflated, heart sinking through the floor. "I have an explanation -"

"I know," he sighed. "Or you wouldn't have done it."

Delaney bit her lip. Her chest was caving in, each word another punch to her gut. She had missed Clint Barton so damn much and then... this. This was her reception. "Clint -"