Venus | James B. Barnes✔️

lxix. 𝚝𝚠𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚎 𝚍𝚊𝚢𝚜

2018; Avengers Compound

EVELYN BARNES brushed her long hair, brown eyes staring at herself in the mirror. There was no life in them. No happiness. No energy to keep going. Evelyn was close to giving up. Tony had yet to return with Carol Danvers, Thanos was still gone, and everyone was on edge with each other due to anger at the situation. She had just gotten away from the Bruce before screaming at him since he was slowly giving up as well. She did not want to give up.

A knock on the open bathroom door had her eyes flickering to meet blue eyes shining in worry. She lowered the brush to the basin, noticing Steve scratching at his beard as if it was bothering him.

"You going to shave it?" she asked him.

"You think?" he asked her quietly.

"Up to you, Stevie," she said, giving him a small smile, albeit fake.

Steve hummed quietly, moving to stand next to her. Both stared at each other's wary and defeated expressions. He chuckled mockingly. "What a pair are we?"

Steve moved his hand to rest on top of hers.

"You've been sleeping?" he asked her after a moment.

Evelyn shrugged, turning her hand to intertwine their fingers. "Just about the same as you. I wish you'd sleep in the bed. We slept next to each other during our sleepovers back in the '40s."

Neither wanted to be alone. Evelyn and Steve were hardly sleeping as it was, but it was worse that first night when they tried to sleep in separate rooms. So, they slept in the same room from then on, but still, neither really slept. He had blankets and a pillow on the ground while she was in the bed, both staring at the ceiling until exhaustion hit.

"I just don't want to disrespect you or Bucky," he murmured.

"You're the most respectful man I know besides him," she said with a laugh that was actually real for once. "Stars and stripes bullshit, you know?" He grinned slightly, staring at himself another moment longer. He squeezed her hand once before letting it go.

"Yeah. I'mma shave it," he said finally. She moved out of his way, watching him do his thing.

He was shaving for about five minutes, getting the last bit of hair just as Evelyn furrowed her eyebrows. In front of her, the mirror began to shake ever so slightly.

Then, the shaking grew worse.

Both supersoldiers took off running out of the bedroom. They met up with Natasha, Bruce, and Rhodey. Pepper sat up from her spot in the common area, eyes widening at their running figures. She followed them out.

Evelyn forced her feet to stop as she saw a bright light carrying a large space ship to the lawn of the Compound. It was Carol Danvers. Evelyn almost let out a sob at the sight of the ship before she even knew what was on it. When the ship landed properly, Evelyn noticed Rocket walk toward it slowly murmuring the ship's name.

When the hatch opened slowly, Evelyn's hands shook as she noticed two figures. Her breath came out just as shaky as her hands as she noticed it was Tony being held up by a blue woman—the blue meanie Tony spoke about in his message.

Steve ran forward, allowing Tony to grip his shoulders tightly as the woman let him go. Tony's eyes flickered between Steve and Evelyn as the woman approached the men slowly.

"Couldn't stop him," he grunted out.

Steve gulped noticeably. "Neither could I."

Tony looked at Evelyn's distressed face. "I lost the kid."

She shook her head, a tear falling. "Tony, we lost."

"Is, uh...?" his eyes searched for Pepper. The woman pushed through the small crowd of people, basically tackling Tony with her arms, holding him tight as she yelled, "Oh, my God! Oh, my God!"

Steve stepped closer to Evelyn as she glanced away from the happy couple. "It's okay," Tony said to Pepper as he held her tightly. Evelyn noticed Rocket approach the woman who stayed close to the ship, sitting down and placing his paw on her hand. She held his paw tightly.

Evelyn help set up Tony on an IV and a blood transfusion since he was deathly ill. He looked it, too, with his sunken in face as pale features. As she made sure the machine worked, he grabbed her shaky hands.

"Barnes?" he asked her, knowing the answer by looking around the room.

She shook her head once before leaning forward and kissing his forehead. She turned and walked off to Carol.

"Thank you," she told the woman, both nodding as they came to an understanding. "I don't know how to repay you."

"I only wish to do more," she murmured, mouth opening to apologize for Evelyn's husband but deciding against it.

Evelyn moved away again, sitting next to Thor who sat alone on the side. She felt him shuffle a bit closer as she said nothing. Evelyn leaned her head against Thor's shoulder, and he allowed her to rest there—even taking one of her shaky hands in his.

"It's been 23 days since Thanos came to Earth," Rhodey began as he pulled up the holographic screen showing the people they knew who were snapped from existence. Evelyn watched Bucky's photo pass as if he was nothing. As if there was no chance of getting him back.

"World governments are in pieces. The parts that are still working are trying to take a census," Natasha said as she flipped through a chart. "And it looks like he did... he did exactly what he said he was gonna do. Thanos wiped out fifty percent, of all living creatures."

Tony's head went to look around the room as he frantically asked, "Where is he now? Where?"

"We don't know," Steve replied to him, his worried eyes shifting to Evelyn more than not. "He just opened a portal and walked through."

Tony glanced at Evelyn and Thor, eyes narrowing on Thor. "What's wrong with him?"

"Oh, he's pissed," Rocket said, causing Tony's eyes to widen. "He thinks he failed. Which of course he did, but you know there's a lot of that's going around, ain't there?"

"Honestly, until this exact second, I literaly thought you were a Build-A-Bear," Tony quipped causing Evelyn to smile slightly.

Rocket only shrugged. His usual wit was gone. "Maybe I am."

"We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now. Deep Space scans, and satellites, and we got nothing," Evelyn whispered out loud enough for Tony to hear.

"Tony, you fought him," Steve added.

Tony cut him off, however. "Who told you that?" His voice grew louder. "I didn't fight him. No, he wiped my face with a planet while the Bleecker Street Magician gave away the store. That's what happened. There was no fight."

"Okay," Steve said as he realized Tony was not in the right headspace.

"He's unbeatable," Tony added, hard look in his eye. Evelyn realized she had the same look.