𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄

𝘈 𝘚𝘜𝘙𝘗𝘙𝘐𝘚𝘌 𝘗𝘈𝘙𝘛𝘠 𝘎𝘜𝘌𝘚𝘛

━━━ THE NIGHT OF THE PARTY CAME A LOT SOONER THAN ANYONE IN THE MCCALL PACK ANTICIPATED. Not that much even really went on in the Avenger's Tower the few days that Meilani and the pack stuck around for the party. Tony had hid himself in his lab with Bruce while the duo continued to work on a peace keeping AI that Tony had dubbed ULTRON while Loki's scepter rested on a desk nearby, reminding Tony and the rest of the team of their victory.

They had also learned a bit more about the two enhanced that showed up at the battle out of nowhere. The duo were twins named Wanda and Pietro Maximoff and they had both been orphaned at the age of ten. Wanda and Pietro hadn't been born with the powers they currently possessed — that being speed, telekinesis, mind control and other things — but were given them when they let HYDRA experiment on them. Much in the way Steve had been given his enhanced abilities by letting a government facility experiment on him. Which meant that if Wanda and Pietro got out, the team could possibly have a bit of a situation on their hands, but no one seemed too worried about that happening anyways. 

During their few days of relaxation before the party, the pack hung around the compound and got a tour from Steve and James Rhodes — who Meilani found out also went by War Machine — as there wasn't much else to do. Meilani even got to hang out with Natasha some more and the two girls had hit it off rather well right off the bat. Meilani especially liked to sit in the training room with Natasha while the Romanoff woman trained a bit. The two even sparred a little as Natasha wanted some extra practice going against something she'd never gotten the chance to fight before. She was an incredibly skilled and fun sparring partner and the two girls had done a training session together every morning while the rest of the compound slept as the duo never really slept too long.

Sawyer had been way too excited when he learned about a media room and had pulled a blushing Hugo away for a "date night" since the duo didn't get many of those back home. With all of the supernatural drama that Beacon Hills brought on a daily basis, the pack never really got the opportunity to relax the way they got to at the Tower. So the whole pack really took advantage of what they all considered a now small vacation and part of Meilani wished they wouldn't have to go back in the next week. This was the most she'd been relaxed since she had gotten bit in her sophomore year. Nothing had truly been the same since and right now it felt like old times with her pack.

The night of the party, Natasha had all but stolen Meilani away from Adrian and Victor while the trio hung out in the kitchen having a snack. Meilani had been the one to be hungry in the first place and the two boys had just followed her to make sure she didn't get lost. As if she didn't have enhanced senses to figure out her way back in the first place. Natasha didn't even let Adrian or Victor protest about stealing their friend away from them, tugging the true alpha girl away from the pouting boys and towards her room where she promised to let Meilani borrow one of her dresses for the party so she wouldn't have to wear jeans and a flannel like she'd done every day since arriving at the Tower.

The dress that Natasha had offered up to Meilani — which Natasha made Meilani promise to wear her sleek leather jacket with — wasn't one that she'd usually go for. It stopped about mid-thigh which accentuated her legs and made them look longer than they really were. The fabric of the dress was soft, but it clung to Meilani's body like a second skin and showed off all the right curves that Meilani hadn't even realized she'd had in the first place. Then the heeled boots that her feet were forced into made her slightly unsteady and Meilani stumbled a bit when she walked out of the bathroom in Natasha's room to stand before the full length mirror in the corner of the room.

"This dress is so tight it's like a second skin," Meilani huffed to Natasha who sat with her hands resting behind her on the bed. She was already dressed up in her party outfit of a cream dress and small heels and her hair was curled so it rested just beneath her ears. The assassin looked absolutely stunning and Meilani was slightly envious of her longer dress. "Natasha, I don't usually wear stuff like this."

"Which is a crime to anyone with a pair of eyes," Natasha retorted, pushing herself up from the bed and standing behind Meilani as she fixed up the girl's natural curls so they fell around her shoulders more. "You look hot and I'm sure a certain captain would agree with me. He won't be able to keep his eyes off you in this. Not like he's really taken his eyes off you since you cam here anyways . . . but you know . . . semantics or whatever."

Meilani froze in her actions of trying to pull down the dress more even though it was no use. Her brown eyes met with Natasha's in the mirror as her eyebrows furrowed softly in confusion. She knew she felt the same tugging feeling that Deaton had warned her about when she'd met her soulmate, but part of Meilani wanted to deny it and say it was just because she thought Steve was pretty. Not that she'd ever admit to that one out loud or anything, but there was no way Steve could be her human soulmate. "Steve? He hasn't been looking at me. Besides, even if he had, Steve had been a good host for Tony and has just been showing all of us around the compound. It's nothing special."

Natasha hummed and stepped around so Meilani could be eye to eye with her and she tilted her head to the side. A look that Meilani couldn't read crossed the assassin's face as she twirled another curl around her finger before letting bob back into place again. "You know, I would think as a true alpha you'd be able to hear Steve's heart beat or something. The man's cheeks have been pink ever since you arrived. Plus, he quite literally cannot take his eyes off you . . . almost like they're drawn to you in a way and he can't help it. I know he was in ice for a long time, but he'd never been like this around any other female until you showed up. Now, it might be me being soft for the first time in my life or something, but I noticed how you and Steve hung out when you weren't with me or your pack. I didn't see him doing that with the others."

Meilani chewed the inside of her lip as she processed Natasha's words. She knew that Natasha was noticing the way Steve and Meilani were quite literally drawn to each other. No thanks to the soulmate bond if Meilani's suspicions were right and he was that. It'd explain the warm, protective feeling she'd felt every time she was in the same room as him. Or the way she felt a small tug inside of her anytime Steve left a room and would go somewhere on the other side of the compound with Sam or Rhodey or Thor.

However, Meilani also couldn't speak of any of it because she didn't want to influence anything or make Steve feel like he had to be with her. Much like Meilani wasn't with Isaac — mostly because the soulmate bond was a lot stronger than that of a wolf mate bond — and she survived this long. How bad could it really be if Meilani just let the universe decide how things worked out? Deaton had even said that sometimes a werewolf — especially a true alpha — didn't even end up with either one of their mates. If things were meant to be than they would happen . . . right?

Whatever Meilani could have offered to Natasha was cut off by a knock on her door followed by none other than Steve's voice on the other side. He'd stopped by to escort her and Meilani to the party, especially with Meilani not knowing where the big, loft like space on the other side of the compound was. This only earned a knowing smirk from Natasha and Meilani was suddenly tugged in the direction of the door that the red haired assassin swung open.

Stood on the other side was Steve, dressed in a blue button up shirt that only made his bright blue eyes that much brighter, jeans, a leather jacket and dress boots. He offered Natasha a greeting smile before his eyes drifted over to Meilani and he froze at the sight of her. Hell, she'd even inwardly admit to taking a second to admire how good Steve looked. The muscles in his chest looked bigger against the tight shirt and Meilani was just glad that Isaac, Apollo nor Sawyer were around or they surely would have taunted her for the way her heart rate spiked for a moment as her eyes drank in all that was Steve Rogers.

The clearing of a throat snapped Meilani and Steve out of their dazes and over to Natasha who watched the two with amused eyes. It was almost like the two had been the only ones in the area for that brief moment and Natasha reminded them of her presence. She crossed gestured down the hall in the direction that party was being held and Meilani and Steve both nodded silently for Natasha to lead the way.

Meilani shut the door behind herself before she followed after Steve, falling into step with him while Natasha walked a few feet ahead. She tugged at the bottom of the dress again in the hopes that it'd shimmy down at least a little bit. "If you're staring at me because I can't really walk in heels — which I hate by the way — you can stop because I'm already silently judging myself. I can confirm I'll face plant at some point tonight thanks to these death traps."

Steve chuckled softly, a sound that was like music to Meilani's ears and she inwardly cringed as she knew why she was so drawn to the sound. "I'm sorry for staring. I don't usually do that, but you do look lovely."

"Lovely, huh?" Meilani mused, nudging Steve in the side with a small smile. The air around them was bordering between awkward and comfortable and Meilani just thanked the gods that the two had at least a few days together to get more used to the other. Meilani could only imagine what it'd be like if they didn't get the few days between the fight and party. "Is that how you used to talk up the ladies back in the forties? Bet they were falling to their feet around you."

"Actually, no. That was more my friends Raymond and Bucky," Steve denied, the sounds from the party becoming clearer as they approached the loft area where it was being held. Dozens of people milled about and chatted while many of them held flutes of champagne in their hands, all dressed in party clothing. It was the first non high school party Meilani had been to and her eyes searched the packed party area for her pack. "I was always that skinny kid that got picked on and they tried to save me more times than I can count."

Meilani relaxed slightly when she noticed all her friends sat around in a circle of couches on the other side of the room. Adrian had his arm draped around the back of the couch while Stiles leant slightly into his side as the duo laughed about something and drank. Scott and Apollo were sat on the other two cushions next to them as they spoke, Victor absently playing with Apollo's denim jacket while he perched himself on the arm of the couch. He always had to be touching Apollo in some way and Meilani found it rather heart warming as Victor hadn't always been that way. 

Then across from them Sawyer tried to convince Hugo to chug his drink while the curly haired boy shook his head at his boyfriend, clearly shy about doing so. He always tried to get Hugo to break out of his shell a little bit as the O'Dell boy usually was more reserved unless he was comfortable around you. Next to them was Isaac who would subtly throw balled up pieces of napkin at Adrian who shot him glares that would have him buried six feet under if looks could kill. Meilani made sure to yell at Isaac to knock it off in their mind link before she turned back to Steve with a small smile, following him towards the bar where he could get the two of them a drink.

"I've heard the name Bucky mentioned before," Meilani said, accepting her flute of champagne from Steve with a small "thank you". "I can't imagine you being skinny, though."

Steve leant his side against the bar as he absently twirled the champagne around in his glass. The bar area was fairly empty as everyone already had their drinks and mingled about in the rest of the spacious space. "I was and man did Raymond pick on me for it. Bucky usually joined in on it just to piss me off, but they were the best friends I could ever had back then. They actually tried to stop me from keep trying to get into the war with them because they wouldn't let me in with me being so small, skinny and having the medical problems I did."

Meilani nodded along to show she was listening, her heart aching for him slightly as she knew some of his story from all the documentaries done on Steve and his life back in the forties leading up to him being experimented on and turning into Captain America. However, actually hearing it from Steve made it that much more personal, especially with the mentioning of Raymond who didn't get spoken about much along with Bucky. "And then all that lead up to you being experimented on. I couldn't imagine losing my pack the way you lost Raymond and Bucky, Steve."

Steve nodded and took a small sip of his champagne, almost like he needed it with all the trauma that played back in his head. "I would give anything to have those two back next to me, if I'm honest. They always had this chaotic vibe around them, you know? Pretty sure they were soulmates, too, even though neither one of ever wanted to admit to it. Especially Raymond because he may have had the girls fawning over him, but he was always a bit more shy. Bucky helped a bit with some of the dates they went on . . . but I always thought it was because Raymond had feelings for Bucky and just never said anything. Times were different back then, you know? I think Raymond was scared how it would blow up if he ever acted on it, which is a shame because I know he would have been happy."

"You're a good friend, Steve," Meilani said softly, smiling at the super soldier as she finished off her champagne and placed her empty glass down on the bar. "You really believe in the whole . . . soulmate thing? You really think they were made for one another?"

"I do," Steve responded, finishing his glass as well and placing it next to Meilani's. "I like to think that everyone has someone that was destined to be with them and make them happy. I saw it with my own eyes with Bucky and Raymond so I know it must be real."

Meilani chewed the inside of her lip as she took in Steve's words, finding the whole thing ironic as he was literally talking to his own soulmate. Though, thankfully, Meilani didn't have to offer Steve anymore words when Sam Wilson — also known as Falcon — strolled over to the duo and slapped Steve on the shoulder, offering Meilani a warm smile in greeting. The duo didn't get to talk much in her time at the Tower, but Meilani liked him from what she's spoken to him of so far.

"Hey, sounds like you guys had a hell of a fight the other day. Sorry I missed it," Sam said to Steve, squeezing the man's shoulder before he let it go.

"If I had known it would be a fire fight, I absolutely would have called."

"Nah, I'm not actually sorry. I'm just trying to sound tough," Sam stated, earning a quiet laugh from Meilani in amusement. "I just love following cold leads on our missing persons case. Avenging is your world. Your world is crazy. Did you ever find a place in Brooklyn, by the way?"

Meilani raised her eyebrows and turned her gaze over to Steve. "You wanna move to Brooklyn? Like . . . out of the Tower?"

Steve hummed his affirmation and picked at a loose thread on his other wise pristine shirt. "I don't think I can afford a place in Brooklyn. My old stomping ground has really gone up in price since the forties, you know? Don't get much of a pay check from this."

"Well, home is home, you know?"

After talking to Sam for a bit more, Meilani excused herself to walk around and check on her pack. It was mostly an excuse to get away from Steve as the more she stuck around him, the stronger she felt the soulmate bond forming. If she was going to let this thing work itself out, Meilani couldn't let herself get too close just yet. Not when she wanted to let Steve have a choice in the matter. Thankfully, her pack had quickly welcomed her laughs and Adrian had all but pulled her onto the couch next to him when she'd walked over.

Meilani noticed Isaac's eyes on her the second she'd dropped next to Adrian and she glanced over to him. A soft frown was on his face as he analyzed her and she had momentarily forgotten that he was able to feel everything she did, hear her thoughts when she wasn't focusing enough to block him out. Surely, he'd heard everything in her head as she spoke to Steve and she offered him a sad smile in return. 

Things hadn't worked out the way Isaac and Meilani wanted it to and she couldn't let the same happen with her and Steve. Which was only more of a reason for the true alpha to try and slow things down the best she could.

A few hours later, just the team and McCall pack were left sat around the couches as they relaxed after everyone else left from the party. Her pack were all sat on the floor near the couches while Clint leant his back against the front of the couch while his knees propped up a bit underneath the small glass coffee table in the middle of the circle of couches. Natasha was sat next to him, sipping on her drink while Meilani had been sat on the couch in between Steve and Thor while the others all sat with the McCall Pack on the floor or stood around.

"No way, it's a trick!" Clint argued, referring to Thor's hammer on the table. He'd mentioned that only those worthy enough could lift the hammer that didn't look like it could weigh too much. Sure, it looked heavy, but it just looked like any old massive hammer and not something that was weighted down by worth and not actual weight.

"No, no, it's much more than that," Thor shook his head, clinking his glass of beer against with Steve's. 

"Ah, whosoever be he worthy shall haveth the power," Clint mocked Thor and threw his arms wide in the direction of the hammer. "Whatever, man! It's a trick!"

Adrian smirked in Clint's direction as he rested his pale arms on the couch behind Meilani, his chin grazing along the top of her head. "Why don't you try and lift it then if it's a trick? I'd love to see you lift it, arrow boy."

Tony snapped his fingers and pointed in Adrian's direction from where he stood to the side, nodding in agreement with the Martin boy's words. "I agree with the carrot top. Go ahead and lift it, Clint. Though, we know you had a tough week with your injury. We won't hold it against you if you can't get it up."

"That sounds vaguely dirty out of context," Sawyer commented, yelping quietly when Hugo elbowed his boyfriend in the ribs. "What? It's true."

Clint hummed and stood up with the drum sticks he'd been twirling the past twenty minutes still in his hand. He walked around the table to get where the hammer had been resting and wrapped his hand around the hilt, claiming he'd seen how it was done before. He laughed at himself when he couldn't make it move an inch and shot Tony a look when the man doubled over in laughter at Clint's failure.

Naturally, by that point, everyone had been challenged to lift the hammer. Tony had tried and failed, even with his Iron Man hand and when Rhodey brought out his War Machine hand to try and lift it. Both hands flared up with fire like they were in take off mode and nothing they did could make the hammer budge. Sawyer and Apollo had both gotten up together and tried to lift the hammer at the same time, claiming that their combined wolf strength would be no match for the hammer. They had been proven wrong fairly quickly.

And then it came to the team hyping up Steve to try and lift the hammer, Thor beaming like a kid on Christmas and clapping for the super soldier to try his hand at it. Meilani offered him two thumbs up as he passed her by to get to the hammer and leant forward with her arms leant on her legs to watch Steve try to lift Thor's hammer. Surely with him being genetically enhanced and experimented on, it would mean he could lift the hammer . . . right?

Wrong.

Thor's grin only broadened when the hammer didn't budge an inch, taking a long and triumphant sip from his beer glass. Once he was satisfied, he turned to Meilani next to him as Steve resumed his seat next to her. "Why doesn't the true alpha take a shot at it?"

"Yeah, Lani!" Natasha cheered on Meilani, clapping her hands together and letting out a resounding "whoop". "Put all these men to shame."

"Yeah, wolfie," Adrian nudged Meilani's head with a smirk. "Put us men to shame."

Meilani rolled her eyes playfully and pushed herself up from the couch. Much like she'd done to him, Steve gave her two thumbs up and an encouraging smile for what she was about to do. She waddled slightly as the heeled boots were beginning to squeeze her tiny, aching feet but she tried her best to ignore the aching, throbbing feeling in her feet as she stopped before the hammer. Her small hands wrapped around the hilt of the hammer, feeling the ridges from the design on it and her eyes faded to alpha red as she tried to summon all the strength she physically had in her body. 

Balancing her weight with one foot in front of the other for a better center of gravity on her heels, Meilani grunted as she pulled up on the hilt. No matter how much tugged and pulled on the hilt, the hammer didn't even budge an inch in any direction. Almost like it was super glued to the table that it rested on. 

"Huh, guess I am unworthy, my lord," Meilani teased Thor, bowing to him in a teasing act of respect.

"It was a good try, milady," Thor bowed his head back at her, taking another sip of his beer as he laughed joyfully in amusement.

"All deference to the Man Who Wouldn't Be King, but it's rigged," Tony complained, siding with Clint now that he had failed at trying to lift it.

Rhodey nodded in agreement and raised his beer bottle. "You bet your ass it is."

"Oh no, Steve, he said a bad word," Adrian sighed in mock sadness, shaking his head at Rhodey.

Meilani giggled at Adrian's joke and shrugged at Steve when he turned to her out of offense that she hadn't stuck up for him. "Sorry, Stevie, I told you that you would never hear the end of it from Adrian."

Steve slapped his hands to his sides and stood up from the couch. "I swear, it's like having Raymond back again."

Before anyone else could crack jokes at not only Steve, but the rest of the others who had tried their hand at the hammer, a high pitch noise burst through the room. Meilani and the other wolves yelped in pain, their extra sensitive ears picking up the sound much worse than the others. Her hands came up to try and block out the ear piercing sound as much as she could and, with Steve being the closest to her, he pressed his hands to hers in the hopes it'd help muffle the sound more. He'd come to realize over the past few days just how well the wolves could hear, especially Meilani who was strongest with her being the true alpha.

A mangled looking robot that looked like one of Tony's old robot minions limped its way out of the circular room on the other side of the loft looking area. All eyes snapped over in that direction and Isaac, Sawyer and Apollo all bolted up to their feet and took protective stances in front of the more vulnerable of the group. Steve's body had even absentmindedly stood more in front of Meilani, even though the mangled robot didn't show any signs of attacking yet. Almost like he had an deep, inner need to protect the true alpha who could her own just as well as any of the other Avengers in the room.

"Worthy? No," the mangled robot whispered in a distorted sort of voice. "How could you be worthy? You're all killers."

"Stark," Steve deadpanned, not tearing his eyes away from the robot. His body was tensed at the sight of the thing, clearly not getting any sort of good vibes from the robot. Which . . . neither did Meilani as she peered around Steve's muscled arm to look at the robot.

"JARVIS."

The robot looked around the room, its eyes glowing a bright white before its face focused on the team of superheroes and the McCall pack. Everyone was on high alert as they prepared for anything that might get thrown their way from the surprise party guest. All while Tony spoke quietly to the small tablet he held in his hands that JARVIS was connected to. "I'm sorry. I was asleep. Or I was a . . . dream. There was this terrible noise and I was tangled in . . . in . . . strings. I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy."

"You killed someone?" Apollo questioned incredulously, not having caught the scent of blood anywhere in the Tower. His blue eyes swam with confusion as he slowly stood in front of Victor more that stood behind him. The Blight boy may have the ability to cause or take away pain, but he didn't have the ability to heal and Apollo wasn't about to take chances. "who?"

"Wouldn't have been my first call, but down in the real world, we're faced with ugly choices."

"Who sent you?" Thor demanded, stepping up behind Meilani and narrowing his eyes dangerously at the robot.

"I see a suit of armor flying around the world . . . " Tony's voice played from the robot's mouth and all eyes snapped over to the billionaire who paled significantly at the sound of his own voice.

Next to Tony, Bruce had gone just as pale as Tony, the duo clearly having an idea of just what the hell was going on at the moment. "Ultron."

Ultron mockingly waved stiffly at the group before him and limped another step forward. "In the flesh . . . or, no, not yet. Not this chrysalis, but I'm ready. I'm on a mission."

Natasha's hands flexed on either side of her and Meilani could see the small bump in her dress where the assassin must have hidden her gun underneath. The Avengers had always come prepared no matter what, always awaiting for some sort of danger to come out of the wood work and attack them. Even Thor gripped his hammer from where he was behind Meilani. "What mission?"

"Peace in our time."

Without another word, two more of Tony's robot minions burst out from the room that Ultron limped his way out of. The group dropped to the floor and Steve grabbed Meilani, kicking up the coffee table so the robots would knock into it and brought her down to the floor. His massive body covered her smaller one, protecting her head and body from the damage that the two robots might cause as they continued to fly around. Bits of wooden pieces rained down from the sky from now broken table that the robots burst through.

"Stay down, you hear me?" Steve demanded, pushing away from Meilani as the rest of the team of Avengers fought against the robots. Each one of them going flying around the room and Apollo had even begun to swing at one of the robots as it flew down close to his and Victor's heads. 

Running and leaping up, Steve threw himself on the other robot, wiggling his body against it as he attempted to get the robot to fall from the sky. However, the robot just flew back and smashed Steve against the wall. It sent him flying down to the ground with a bunch of dark bricks raining down along with him. Meilani gasped as he heard Steve's body smack against the floor and she pushed off the floor, completely ignoring Steve's orders to stay down while he and the Avengers handled things. 

Letting out a room shaking roar, Meilani's eyes flashed red and she kicked her leg up and sent the nearby robot crashing into the adjacent wall. She ran towards Steve's shield that rested near the grand piano and she shouted his name, throwing him the shield as if it were a frisbee. He effortlessly caught it in his hand and threw the shield, sending it striking right through the middle of the flying robot and breaking into a dozen pieces right down the middle.

Isaac leapt up much like Steve had and took down the other flying robot, smashing it into the ground with him and coughed slightly as the hunk of metal broke beneath him. It sent the room into a quiet, tense hush as Ultron surveyed the damage that had become of the room. Natasha and Bruce had leapt over the bar, which had broken many of the glasses on the top of it and sent some of the alcohol on the wall crashing down and shattering with them. Adrian had huddled him and Stiles behind one of the couches, protecting his boyfriend's head. Victor peered out from behind the other couch with Hugo, icy blue eyes glancing around as if ready to send pain to the hunks of metal if he were able to.

"How dramatic," Ultron scoffed from his place, pacing back and forth and stopping Meilani's survey of her pack and the Avengers to see if everyone was alright. "I'm sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through. You want to protect the world but you don't want to change it. How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to evolve?"

Meilani stopped next to Steve who checked her over quickly, a sternness behind his eyes as he was clearly upset she didn't listen to him. She shrugged it off and watched with a wary gaze as Ultron bent down to pick up one of the broken up robots by its head, its wires hanging down like a dark sort of stringy curtain.

"With these? These puppets," Ultron continued when no one spoke, tilting his robotic head at the broken robot in his hands. He clenched his hand and broke the head of the robot, the front face plate popping off and sparks of electricity flickering out in an orange light before Ultron chucked the useless thing away from him. "There's only one path to peace. The Avengers' extinction."

Thor, having enough of Ultron's words, grunted in anger and chucked the hammer right at him. It tore right through Ultron's mangled body that had somehow been put together. His broken pieces went flying this way and that, the light in the eyes of the face plate slowly flickering out along with Ultron's voice that tried to say he was free. The hammer flew right back to Thor like a boomerang and he kept it raised, even though Ultron's "body" was broken up into dozens of pieces and parts.

That was one way to celebrate a win.

word count: ( 5.6k )

— um . . . wow i haven't written a chapter this long in a while. i have to pat myself on the back for that one because most of it was original content or added in lines and bits. so . . . i'm kinda proud of myself even though the fight bit with Ultron was a bit choppy, but we all knew i couldn't write fight scenes. so pls forgive me for that part. i tried my hardest, i swear!

— the mentioned best friend of Steve — RAYMOND MILES FOSSUM — is another oc of Ellis' this will have a part in this fic when Civil War hits. i will be giving not a spoiler, but i will confirm that once he comes in . . . all angst will break out and i'm just . . . i'm sorry. cause there's gonna be ALOT OF ANGST when Raymond is introduced in Civil War whew. as if Civil War couldn't get any more angsty . .  . i went and made it worse

— can ya'll believe there's still TWO WHOLE HOURS left of this film to go through? i might actually get to make this bad boy ten chapters like i wanted to and not shorter like i was fearing! am excited for all the content that's to come for ultron and i cannot wait to get further into ✨mcrogers✨ cause they literally run my life now and im not ashamed. just wait till steve finds out bout the soulmate thing, yall. I NEED THE CONTENT!