A/N — HOLY SHIT. 100k READERS??? ARE YOU GUYS SHITTING ME?? THANK YOU. SO MUCH. I'm shitty with updates but I swear to god I love you guys. THANK YOU!

———

Just an hour and a half ago, Steve's world tilted violently on it's axis when Natasha told him who Y/N really was—the Winter Soldier's former apprentice. The one and only phantom that had been on every possible enemy radar, and ally too.

Steve had his arms crossed and tucked tight to his chest as he tried to find some peace of mind on the skyway, facing the glass windows that overlooked the field below. The Avengers tower was vast, but the Captain preferred this particular spot whenever he needed some time alone to think.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing as a million thoughts per second ran through his head. She knew him, the Winter Soldier. Heck, she'd been trained by him. If she knew how he thought, how he worked...was it possible that she'd know where he was?

Steve would give anything to find him. Even if it meant giving his life. He'd been begging the universe to help him find his best friend and it looks like his solution had just landed right in front of him. When he told Natasha this, her head almost exploded in the process of telling him how stupid the idea was. But Steve needed to know, he needed to see for himself. If this was indeed his last option, then he'd be damned if he didn't at least try.

He clenched his fists, cracking the knuckle of his thumb in the process then brought his hand to the bridge of his nose, pinching it as he sighed inwardly. It was decided. He was going to ask Y/N to go on a very idiotic, yet very desperately needed mission.

"Oh, this is a very bad idea." The captain whispered to himself.

—––

"You look miserable."

Pietro's voice snapped me out of my thoughts and my head snapped up as he stepped out of the shadow. Immediately, I felt almost grateful for his presence at that moment. Even though I revelled in the glory of being alone, solidarity confinement was giving me hell after Romanoff's confrontation. At this point I'd take anything as a distraction from my own thoughts.

"I'm being held in a cage for God knows how long, what am I supposed to do? Smile?"

"Maybe." He shrugged as he took a stray chair and plopped down on it.

I bared my teeth, stretching my mouth in an extremely forced smile. "You mean like this?" I said without moving my lips.

"Exactly like that." He cringed, chuckling despite the nasty sarcasm I was throwing at him.

The room grew silent after that. I could only hear the sound of his sneakers scraping against the floor as he drew imaginary circles with his feet.

"What are you doing here?" The lack of conversation was tedious to me. I thought he was going to be a distraction at the very least but it turns out he was only making it worse.

"What?"

"What do you mean 'what?', you come to my cell and now you're silent. Out of all places, why'd you come here to mope around and do nothing? Because the last time you were here, you basically talked my ear off while shooting lasers at me through your eyes." I made a pointing gesture with two fingers as I made a poking motion in front of my face.

I couldn't stop staring at him. Somewhere along my angry speech, he had looked up from the floor and turned his eyes to me. It was direct and undisturbed eye contact that should have made me very, very uncomfortable but instead it was...insanely hypnotising. I didn't understand it at all.

"I can't figure you out."

What?

"Well you're definitely not the first one to say that, get in line-"

"No, you don't understand. I can't figure you out, at all. Frankly, it's frustrating and it's stressing me out."

"Wow." I scoffed. "This is coming out of nowhere."

"Nowhere?" He yelled, speeding towards me until he was just a mere centimetres away from the glass that separated us. "Out of nowhere? Do you not get how much you confuse me, huh Y/N?"

My stomach twisted painfully as he said my real name. I glared at him, determined not to lose the argument or whatever it was that was happening. "I confuse a lot of people, pal."

"Stop it." He spat. "See, this is what I meant. I don't understand you. We came from the same place and yet I can't...I just..."

"Same place? What the ever loving fuck are you talking about? Why are you so mad all of a sudden?"

"I'm not mad, I'm frustrated." He sighed, running his hand through his white locks. "You're driving me crazy, Y/N."

It took a full second for me to process what he was saying, but it still made no sense. The words he was saying were painstakingly familiar but the tone he was saying it in sent a dangerous chill down my spine. "What the fuck...okay, cut the crap Pietro. Is this some sort of trick they asked you to do? Who sent you here?"

He threw his hands in the air, jotting a thumb to his chest. "Myself. This isn't a scheme or whatever it is you're thinking."

I frowned, "Then what is it?"

He turned around and went back to his chair, taking a seat and closing his eyes. It was my turn to stand up and pace.

"Look, the last 72 or so hours of my life have been drastically confusing and there's nothing I'd love more than to hear an explanation...for everything. What the fuck is this? I just spent 3 scrutinising hours with Romanoff, going over my past and taking a trip down memory lane, except that my memory lane is just a horrible road full of potholes and hot, steaming coal! Now you're yelling at me about how much I confuse you? What do you think this is? A feelings brothel?"

He didn't look up or speed up close to me this time, he just stayed there on his chair with his head down, elbows on his knees and his hands clasped together.

Then he said something. It was barely above a whisper, but luckily the room was silent enough that I was able to hear it.

"I was ready to kill you when I first met you. I wanted to end your life as quickly as possible."

No surprise there.

"So, tell me why that's suddenly changed?"

My feet stayed glued to their spot. I had no answer to his question, not even a sarcastic retort. I had nothing to offer. For the first time in many, many years...I was speechless. These words were foreign and dangerous. A big red flag planted itself on the part of my brain that had 'Pietro' written on it.

"What are you implying?"

"You have some sort of hold over me that I can't get out of. I don't get it." Pietro was making my head spin and my heart tumble over my guts. "Is this a trick of yours? Some mind-controlling ability that you've hidden from us so you could get me to trust you? Were you dishonest about the full extent of your skillset?"

I couldn't speak, I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe. Normally, at this point I would think I had been injected with some type of paralysis poison. But my heart was beating wildly enough to prove that theory wrong.

"No. Nothing of that sort, Pietro."

"How do I know you're not lying?"

I stopped myself from holding a hand to my chest in an effort to keep my heart from beating itself out of its socket. The palpitations reverberated throughout my whole body like a bass drum. Somehow through the shock, I managed to squeeze out a single sentence.

"Because if I had the ability to control minds in the way you just described, I wouldn't even be here in the first place."

We stared at each other for a moment and then he shook his head with a heavy sigh and left the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts yet again.

And I thought he was gonna be a distraction for my thoughts instead of causing another prominent flow of them.

———

As soon as Pietro exited the room in which Y/N was being held, he bumped straight into Steve.

"Maximoff?"

"Captain. What are you doing here?"

"I'm..." he sighed, "...about to do something really stupid."