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marvelandimagine · 3 years

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I think some people mad about the arm is not necessarily about the fact that Ayo disabling the arm itself, it's more of the fact that it was not necessary and the fact that Bucky had no idea they can do that. If I were to be honest, I think it was not that necessary because Ayo is well capable of taking him down without having to disarm him and she is definitely not threatened by him. I think what some people find upsetting about that scene is the fact that it kinda comes off as Ayo putting Bucky in a position where it would make him feel like he doesn't have full control of his own body after all. The Wakandans, especially Ayo, T'Challa and Shuri had every right to feel betrayed and upset but the point is they should have told Bucky about how the arm can easily be disabled like that, they didn't know Bucky was going to set Zemo free when they gave him the arm and regardless of the things they have done for him and if they were ones who gave him the arm, they should have at least told him about it, because it's connected to him, it's a part of HIS body. It doesn't matter if it was necessary to disarm him or not, the point is they should have told him about it because apart from the fact that it's his body and that it was a bit insensitive given his history, it's also a point of vulnerability, and the fact that she did it in front of Walker (and possibly Zemo) --- people who can easily turn on Bucky, could easily that to their advantage and attempt to disable it themselves. Just my thoughts on it.

Thank you for sharing your perspective, anon!

I’m going to use this long-ass reply to address this stuff with Ayo and also voice some thoughts I’ve had over the past few weeks seeing people paint Bucky into being this complete soft and harmless human that needs 25-7 protection which I don’t jive with — and this is me, a complete Bucky stan.

Many moons ago, I saw a post that compared 1940s Bucky moving with stealth and a loaded gun on the train to the Winter Soldier doing the same thing, essentially discussing the similarities and debating how much of non-brainwashed Bucky was in the Soldier. And I think the fandom forgets or chooses to neglect the following when painting him as this fragile, peace-loving guy:

Bucky was an incredibly skilled sniper in the United States Army. His job is to eliminate threats in the most efficient way possible, and he’s good at it. HYDRA gets their hands on him and + the serum, this gets magnified. It wasn’t like HYDRA turned him into someone with the ability and mental capacity to kill — that was already there. The brainwashing and torture just carved out the rest of him to leave those honed skills and an amplified ruthlessness with no moral issues, no sense of self to contend with. That ruthlessness is part of Bucky, whether people like it or not.

When Bucky is outside of HYDRA for the first time and hiding in Civil War and gets attacked, he’s so brutal in his actions that Steve Rogers, the man who literally was ready to die to save Bucky and free him when no one else believed in the good in him, intervenes because “Buck, you’re going to kill someone.” Bucky responds that he’s not going to kill anyone, but the fact remains: with or without HYDRA control, Bucky has a strong capacity for violence that hovers on brutality — again, what’s the most efficient way to eliminate or neutralize a threat? Like, I don’t want to kill you, but I’ll knock your ass out with cinder blocks to the chest.

Bucky has a good heart, he’s loyal, he’s smart, he’s caring, he’s the longest-standing POW in history and was turned into a slave for decades, put through unimaginable trauma and torture and horror with no escape. Bucky is also a strong and incredibly skilled super soldier who has a bionic arm, is a trained sniper, is unnervingly precise with knives, and self-describes himself as “semi-stable.” Zemo notes in the bar that “it didn’t take Bucky long to get back into form,” and he’s right because the ruthlessness and skill of the Winter Soldier is a part of him and always has been. We see it when he has his hand around Zemo’s neck and tells him he will kill him, when he rips the glass from his hand and throws it across the room.

And I’m sure the Wakandans know all this about Bucky, this light and his ability for hard-to-stop violence, whether from talking to Steve and Bucky or doing their own homework. And they still choose to help him out of the goodness of their hearts because he’s been put through hell and they believe they have the capacity to help him and it’s the right thing to do — they’re betting more on those positive attributes. And they put a failsafe on his arm, a literal weapon, and chose not to tell him. You know why I think that shows how much they did care about him? Because they could’ve blatantly come out and said “Hey, we don’t trust you,” and hurt him outright, but they didn’t because they’re betting on the light in Bucky to outweigh the dark or any future manipulation. That it’s a worst-case scenario function they hope to never have to use — so they’re prepared if shit hits the fan, and if it doesn’t, Bucky doesn’t have to be hurt feeling like he can’t be trusted. I see no issues here, they’re just being cautious.

Now coming to Ayo, my QUEEN Ayo. From that beautiful, beautiful opening scene, we get to see her support, her reassurance, her belief that Bucky will be able to work through this, even when he doesn’t believe it himself. She watches him fight and struggle and cry, and you can feel the hope in her and how moved she is when she gets to tell him it worked, he did it — he’s free. And she says it not once, but twice. And you can hear not just the comfort, but the PRIDE and warmth in her voice directed to him, who I’m sure she’s watched throughout the whole deprogramming process and gotten to know and is happy to see him work through the pain and come out on the other side.

And then she sees that same individual make a decision in freeing Zemo that she perceives as a “fuck you” not just to her country, but to her, someone who was charged with protecting her king. She could’ve just disarmed Bucky the second they met up, but she doesn’t. She takes the time to explain her side and her feelings, her guilt and her shame, and basically implies that she feels betrayed by Bucky because Wakanda helped him and now he’s doing something that’s hurting her country. And still, she doesn’t attack or just go get Zemo. She gives Bucky the benefit of the doubt and a whole 8-hour American workday to do what he has to do because again, she believes in the best of him. And then that time limit runs up, and he chooses to get in her way.

And that’s the final straw. She’s angry, she’s guilty, she’s frustrated, and she feels betrayed hurt by someone I think she did respect and care about, someone whom she worked with and helped and supported when he was his most vulnerable. Did she “need” to disarm the arm to fight Bucky? Probably not. But is she doing it in the heat of battle and adrenaline and a whole bucket ton of emotions, including what she sees as the White Wolf blatantly disrespecting her country and her as a person and even friend and she just says fuck it, I’m done? You hurt us and me, and I’m going to hurt you back? Oh yeah. And Bucky looks shocked, not because he’s a poor fragile baby and “oh no, my arm, how could you?? my TrAumA”, but in the dual realization of “oh shit, how’d you do that?!” and “oh shit, I think I crossed a line here.” And also, I don’t think a single person in that room would be able to recreate the disabling sequence other than Ayo — it’s way too targeted and specific for someone like Walker to pick it up in the whole three seconds it took.

People need to stop reducing characters to these black and white extremes of soft and hard, of good and bad. Doing so completely devalues and ignores the REALITY of the complexity of being human, and Bucky and Ayo are both great examples of that played by stellar actors who portray that range and depth extremely well. End of the day, my thought is that the failsafe in the arm was justified and people need to stop coming for Ayo based on this ridiculous narrative that Bucky is too traumatized and sensitive and too much of a fave to ever be challenged or he’ll explode into dust. Boy deserves a life of freedom and healing and mental health support, but he’s also still a formidable opponent with the capacity for violence and skillset to kill. People are more than one thing.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk!!

#Bucky barnes #winter soldier #falcon and winter soldier #falcon and the winter solider spoilers #faws spoilers #faws #james bucky barnes #marvel #dora milaje #wakanda #Ayo #Steve Rogers #falcon and winter soldier spoilers #marvel fandom #I really went off on this one huh #fatws #fatws bucky #fatws ep 4 #fatws spoilers

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val-made-a-mistake · 3 years

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❝LOVE IN THE DARK.❞

(not my gif)

summary: one world, one people, one love.

warnings: fluff, alcohol, mentions of gore, mentions of nazis, mentions of animal cruelty

word count: 4.3k

a/n: aww. i wrote this fic because i didn’t see anyone appreciating karli like she should be (yeah she blew up a building but i love her okay) and it’s kind of chaos ngl. loosely based off of love in the dark by jessie reyez, but i also reference miami 2017 by billy joel and electricity by silk city.

//////

SOMEWHERE IN LATVIA

The evening was pretty chill, as far as life with the Flag Smashers went. Karli had started up a little fire by the creek and Billy Joel was playing quietly out of Wyatt’s tinny Bluetooth speaker that had come with the pack of beer bought sometime during the pit stop to Kaunas: everyone was talking, pushing around food on plastic plates, all was well.

You noticed Karli grinning at you as you inhaled your third s’more.

You beamed back with your mouth full. “What?”

She looked away immediately. “Nothing. Just looking, that’s all.”

“Oh.” You peeled your mouth away from the graham cracker. “You want this next one to be yours?”

“Eurgh, no. Chocolate makes me sick.”

“Oh my god, and you never told me?”

You gasped overdramatically. “I’ve been runnin’ with you guys for how long?”

Eight months. You thought you’d withstand the Blip when it came for your family in Moscow, but upon watching your mother succumb to tuberculosis, you’d had different plans— emotional, determined plans, and you’d been moving from place to place ever since, trusting next to no one, daring looks becoming your secret language and your legs ready to dash if anyone saw you graffitiing another GRC poster. That was how you came in handy for the Flag Smashers. Karli had to pick between you or Wyatt to receive the last dose of super soldier serum in Madripoor; she picked Wyatt as she trusted you too much. Spreading the word is just as important, she’d told you. Actually, Mama Donya said everything else is expendable.

“You can never know someone completely,” Karli admitted, staring at the ground now— sheepishly. That was out of character for her.

You went to open your mouth again, but you heard a tinkle of piano and looked around. It was coming from the speaker.

“Oh yeah!” Wyatt reached over and flicked a dial, turned it up. “They turned our power down!”

“And drove us underground!” another responded, pumping his fist in the air. The music was dangerously loud, you knew someone might hear you out here, but too many people had already joined in, and you as well.

“But we went right on with the show...oh...”

“Seen the lights go out on Broadway,” you murmured to Karli, nudging her with your elbow, “You ever been to Broadway?”

She shook her head. “Never been to New York.”

“Oh.”

You munched thoughtfully on a slab of sour chocolate. “My dad took me there once.”

“Really? What’s it like?”

You yanked your marshmallow out of the way of a particularly high flame and estimated it would only take a few more minutes to cook completely, it was already turning golden.

“Loud. Lotta people. Kept forgetting my MetroCard,” you replied quietly. “But I got to see a show. Pretty sure it was what made my dad go broke.”

Karli laughed hollowly. “Sounds like you had wonderful parents.”

You shrugged, sliding your marshmallow off of the stick. “They were convenient.”

She stared at you for a long minute, and for a moment there was only merry music in the background and people conversing. Her hair was quite beautiful when she twisted it into a braid like that, you noticed, even though the red coils were escaping in tufts across her forehead.

“To keep the memory alive...” Billy Joel sang, and you jolted out of it.

You went to smush the marshmallow between the cracker and chocolate, but Karli stopped you. “What the heck. Give it.”

You raised your eyebrow and handed her the gooey marshmallow without complaint.

She bit into it and smiled again. “Delicious.”

Now you were the one staring. “Dork.”

Unfortunately, Wyatt sauntered over and sat between you on the leaf-strewn ground, breaking your little moment. “Hey guys. Nice night, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Karli answered, looking away, and you gazed up at the moon instead.

“Mama Donya said that a full moon means good luck,” you commented, sitting up straighter as the knife that had been thrown into your heart twisted, “A full moon symbolizes the height of power.”

Karli bit her lip and swallowed thickly. “When the rebels gather.”

“I miss her already,” Wyatt put in quietly.

“If she were here, she’d have told Y/N to stop eating s’mores two hours ago,” Karli laughed, and you paused in the middle of sticking yet another marshmallow on the twig. “Really, dude?”

Wyatt stared at you flatly. “She’s right. You should at least try to ration those.”

Without breaking eye contact, you pried the marshmallow off the stick and stuck it all in your mouth uncooked.

“Wow, hardcore.”

You winked. “You know it.”

Wyatt looked at you long and hard— you tried not to notice the way Karli’s eyebrows knitted together and sprang apart in a fluid motion— but shook himself out of it. “I mean it, okay? We all know Karl’s the boss, but if I were her...”

He glanced over at Karli this time. “I wouldn’t stay in Riga much longer.”

She pressed her lips together at this, thinking hard. “I believe I’m thinking along the same lines.”

“Where is there to go?” you put in softly.

When she looked back at you, you could’ve sworn her eyes glittered.

“Anywhere, if you’re brave enough.”

///////

SOMEWHERE IN FINLAND

Sipping a tequila in a bar just off the Baltic Sea, you watched as a group of Flag Smashers danced, trying desperately to fit in with the crowd so Karli could take whatever she wanted and get the hell out of there. Loss hung heavy on your mind now— it had been around a week since the group had lost Nico to the Captain America shield, and a little less since you’d had the time to mourn. You hadn’t known him all that well, but whenever he did talk, he seemed to know what you were thinking before you’d said it, and you’d appreciated that connection.

“Hey,” a stranger said, sliding up to you in what he clearly felt was a suave way, “What’s a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this?”

You surveyed him with your lips still wrapped around the glass. “Fuck off.”

The stranger’s face fell, but he didn’t go away.

“I’m not looking for company,” you hissed, and sure, it was a little overaggressive, but with some of the things John Walker had said to Karli, you had more than enough reason to be afraid of anyone who came your way, right? Now that Nico was dead, you were her most trusted member of the crew.

“Fine, fine...”

“Bitch,” you heard him mutter as he walked away. You downed your drink and signalled the bartender for another one.

Just like that, Karli appeared beside you, her hood covering up most of her face. “I got the money.”

She opened up a sliver of briefcase to reveal a cascade of dollars inside. “I haven’t bought us enough time. We need to go.”

“We’re going,” you muttered under your breath, trying to cancel that tequila order, “Okay, we’re going.”

To your surprise, as you both stormed away from the bar, the gang of Flag Smashers following your lead, Karli swapped out the hand on the briefcase to grip your wrist.

You could’ve sworn she heard your gasp, but—

BANG!

A gunshot ripped through the air, you whipped around just in time to see Wyatt go down, and the mask was on your face in seconds.

///////

SOMEWHERE IN SWEDEN

Another country, another funeral.

The most you could manage for Wyatt was giving his body the final push underwater; your vision had blurred with tears so intense someone had to refrigerate a spoon back at camp to stop the swelling of your eyes. Meanwhile, Karli had gone into some kind of shock. Her numbers were disappearing fast and the GRC was relentless in tightening borders, everyone affiliated with the Flag Smashers was on the cusp of losing. It was only a rumour circulating around the base, but apparently she’d gone out and killed a rabbit with her bare hands, by herself in the woods, and brought it back for everyone to eat. You understood the need to kill something.

When the days finally slowed, you found yourself sitting in your tent, hearing the breeze waft through the enclosure and feeling it tickle you through your comfiest pair of pyjamas. It was the first time since Finland you’d changed out of your clothes.

“Hey.”

You looked up, startled: Karli had poked her head inside of the tent.

“Hey,” you responded curtly.

“Can I come in?”

You furrowed your eyebrows. “Technically you’re already in.”

“I know, just...”

You fumbled with the zipper, and as soon as it was fully undone, she fell inside. Trying to keep some form of grace, she brushed a coil of hair out of the way and braced herself on her elbows. “Hey.”

You weren’t about to say “hey” a fourth time, but you weren’t confident enough to ask what was wrong with her either, so all you said was, “What’s up?”

Karli grimaced. “This rain has been putting out everyone’s fires, I got night watch eating Takis and breadcrumbs. Hope it ends soon.”

Night watch was always nasty no matter what the weather, you flinched just thinking about it. “It’ll all work out soon though, right? The gears are turning without us pulling them.”

“The gears are turning without us pullin’ ‘em,” she repeated, and looked at you in that strange way once more. “I think you’re right.”

Still wondering if the need for reassurance was a side effect of her grief, you said, “I know I am, Karl.”

She stared at the floor of the tent.

“Do you think I’d be a good Captain America?” she asked suddenly.

You tilted your head. “You’re not American.”

You watched rather nervously as Karli unbuckled her sleeve and flexed her arm. She was definitely firmer since she’d taken the serum, the stolen clothes that hung off her previously fit her now, but she also wasn’t anything like how Steve Rogers had come out in the 40s.

“Yeah,” she said plainly, “Maybe not. Don’t want to get citizenship, either. But - what if we became superheroes? After this is over and the world’s changed? Y’know, I once thought I’d be Professor Morgenthau before the Blip, now I’m not so sure.”

Her eyes were filling up with some kind of dancing starlight now. “But I do know that we can do anything.”

You narrowed your eyes. “We?”

Karli rolled hers. “Yeah. I mean, Steve Rogers had the Winter Soldier, Mr America, I - I mean, and - and Walker had, um-”

She cleared her throat awkwardly.

“They were calling him Battlestar in the news, remember? We can be just like that, but cooler. Think of it, Flag Smasher and-”

You opened your mouth and closed it, trying to find a name.

“Just ‘the Best’ with a period at the end of it,” you decided. “‘The Best.’”

Karli burst into laughter, and you smiled at her noise. You knew she always tried to sound tough, and she was tough, but whenever she laughed like that you realized how young she was. Not much older than you, you guessed.

“We’re gonna rule the world,” she grinned. Your smile grew weaker.

“Why don’t we focus on today instead?” you suggested. “C’mon, you should get some sleep. We gotta be on the road by tomorrow morning.”

Her lips parted— she looked so much like a doe— but she smiled, accepting it, and went for the flap of the tent. “Goodnight, Y/N.”

“Goodnight, Karli.”

“Let Wyatt and Mama Donya watch over your dreams.”

///////

SOMEWHERE IN ESTONIA

Back of a van, running on fumes both literally and physically. You’d downed what felt like a litre of sugary coffee that afternoon, feeling exhausted with every part of your body screaming for sleep, but you ignored it. You hadn’t slept in a week, you couldn’t. John Walker was now officially on your ass— he’d identified you as someone close to Karli, and your face apparently stuck out in a crowd, you weren’t sure if it was a backhanded compliment or not. Whichever, now you walked everywhere with a shotgun concealed under your armpit.

“What the fuck, man,” said the new guy in the most annoying Californian accent, “Can’t we just stop for gas, man?”

Karli glared at him. “You’re about this close to being left for dead.”

Your jaw hurt from how forcefully you’d clenched the inside of your mouth.

“Got word on the safehouse,” said Aminah from up front: she adjusted her hijab and beamed back at them. “They’re letting us in.”

Everyone around you gaped.

“Seriously?” someone asked.

“Seriously,” she affirmed.

Despite the obvious fatigue, everyone cheered and hugged the person closest to them: you wrapped your arms around a Madripoor native while Karli embraced someone you’d picked up in Riga. Maybe it was just a trick of the light, but he suddenly looked a lot like Wyatt. You’d been seeing his face everywhere lately.

“Oh my fuckin’ god,” you slurred. “Thank you, Mama Donya.”

“Thank you Mama Donya!” Karli exclaimed after you, bringing up the rear as everyone trooped out to the village.

///////

The water pressure in the bathroom was weak and lukewarm and the linen in the bedroom was scratchy, but you were grateful to have a bed to lie on after so many days of being on your feet. Even if it meant sharing a room with seven other people, three on the floor, two strung up on hammocks, and the last two on the beds.

And yet it was one of those horrible instances where you were so grateful to fall asleep, but you’d had your eyes open for so long you simply couldn’t. Your brain couldn’t get the memo. You heard everyone else drift asleep, you heard Aminah clicking her flashlight on and off in the other room, poised for night watch, and still you were awake as ever.

The hours passed by.

Your eyes were watering as you stared up at the ceiling. Go to sleep go to sleep go to sleep—

You felt a hand drift to your shoulder and you automatically lunged for your attacker’s throat.

“It’s just me!” Karli whisper-shouted, and you let go of her throat immediately.

“What are you doing still up?” you whisper-shouted back.

You squinted: in the dim light, you could see her silhouette shrugging. “I haven’t been awake as long as you, I can handle it.”

You felt a finger rest on your cheek. “You should get to sleep, though.”

“You scared the shit of me, so I dunno if I can anymore,” you mumbled, massaging your temples. You preferred not to ask why she was touching you. “Hold on, I’m getting up...”

You propped yourself on your elbows and fumbled for the band on your wrist: you’d been tossing and turning all night, so you rather Karli not see the atrocious state your hair was in.

“What’s your plan for Estonia?” you decided to ask as someone in the room gave an extra loud snore.

“Run and hope we don’t trip,” she responded coolly.

“Yeah, should’ve known...”

You felt Karli lean in close. “I’d also like to give you the honours of killing John Walker.”

“What?”

“He might think he has everything under control, but we’re the hunters, he’s the fox. It’s only a matter of time before we corner him, or he corners us.”

“Or we corner each other?”

“Yeah, exactly.”

You bit your lip. “Why me?”

“He killed Nico and he threatened my girl. I think she should do it, really drives the point home. We’re unstoppable.”

Your lips parted at my girl.

“I suck at killing people,” you said instead.

This was true. You could throw knives fairly well and knew how to shoot your gun, but whenever you were forced to murder, your blade always struck a few inches under your victim’s heart, and then you had to either watch them bleed out or slit their throat. If you just aimed right the first time, the death would’ve been instantaneous.

“Yeah, but I’m already envisioning it. It shouldn’t be a heat of the moment thing, it’s always better when you relish it,” Karli replied.

You cocked your head to the side. “You sound absolutely insane.”

“I’m starting to think everything about this is insane, honestly.”

Silence fell— the kind of shuddering silence where feeling brewed stronger than ever, it won out over that calculating silence. And with feeling like this, you could almost hear it through the broken thrum of the AC.

There was literally no other reason to do it, but you leaned over, gripped the nape of her neck, and kissed her.

You couldn’t see anything, couldn’t tell if her eyes were open or not, all you knew was her lips were soft and they made a soft pop noise when you drew away.

“Sorry,” you said immediately. “I - I dunno what came over me-”

“No, don’t be,” Karli said wildly, “It’s - it’s-”

“I - um - what?”

You stared at each other.

“Sorry,” she muttered. “That was - it’s just that - that was, um, my first.”

“Oh my god, I’m so sor-“

You couldn’t finish the sentence because she’d already leaned over and kissed you back.

Brimming with exhaustion wasn’t exactly the state you saw yourself in when you finally gained enough confidence to kiss Karli, but you felt your tiredness slip away at her touch.

You heard the pop noise again— felt it, really.

“Thanks,” she mumbled. “I - I’ve always wanted to do that.”

You felt a tap on your nose. “Now go to sleep.”

///////

SOMEWHERE IN GERMANY

You felt her arms around you before you saw her.

“I got you ice cream,” Karli exclaimed, holding a cone in front of your face.

“Oh my god, hi,” you replied, taking it from her and whipping around. “What flavour is this?”

“Banana,” she responded. “Walked past a stand and I couldn’t resist.”

“Aw, cool. Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

Life with Karli after the Estonian safehouse had been very blurry. You suspected she was keeping things ambiguous on purpose, never wanting to put a label on things, never wanting to show the others that she held you in much higher, much more suspicious regard, and for the most part, it was working. You were shot somewhere near Hamburg, she tended your wounds quietly at night, siphoned away the pain faster than anyone else could. Love in the dark.

A lot of the time, you couldn’t hold enough of it in your hands, because you couldn’t see it. You’d lived in darkness, sure, knew how to trust the silhouettes of people without seeing them fully, but that didn’t mean this lack was lonely sometimes.

“What are we doing this afternoon?” you asked as you walked along the cobbled street, running your tongue along the dripping soft serve.

“I have some of my guys running around Berlin,” Karli answered. “Unless you wanna rob a bank, today should pass quietly.”

The words I wanna rob a bank were on the tip of your tongue, but you swallowed them. “Okay.”

You reached into the bag hanging off your shoulder and took out Wyatt’s old Bluetooth speaker. You figured he would’ve wanted you to have it; you actually tolerated his Billy Joel rants. “You think I can get good WiFi out here?”

Karli shrugged. “Dunno. Tonight, maybe?”

//////

You’d lit a few candles next to the Bluetooth speaker in some kind of attempt at a Wyatt shrine, you hoped the other Flag Smashers would know what you were getting at. The most you’d managed for flowers were a few dandelions you’d pulled outside of the safehouse, the treasurer of the Flag Smashers was supposed to get a better bouquet of flowers at the market and still hadn’t returned.

Karli stood beside you. “Looks good.”

You were scrolling through your phone for songs now. “I feel like it could be better.”

“I don’t think he would’ve wanted anything too extravagant, though. Plus, it’s not a full moon out.”

She stepped outside to look at the rising moon, and you followed her: she was indeed right.

You grinned in spite of yourself. “You remembered that?”

“I remember everything.” She shot you a smile as you stepped back inside.

BANG!

You both nearly jumped out of your skeletons, but it was only Aminah, struggling to get a folding table through the front door.

You darted to help her automatically; Karli checked her watch. “I should get changed!”

“You have a change of clothes?” you squawked, cuing into Aminah’s signal to lug it left.

“You get ice cream, I get this,” she called back.

Unfortunately, more people were coming in the door.

“Help me with the groceries!” said someone.

You obliged.

//////

Half past ten and you were applying extra sticky lip gloss in the mirror while a very weird combination of modern day dance music and blues played outside the bathroom door. You were convincing yourself you weren’t totally panicking to see Karli in whatever she was wearing, so you covered yourself as much as possible: one of your mom’s old shirts, your leather jacket over your favourite hoodie, jeans ripped at the knees, and your mud-stained shoes you wore no matter what was polite in whichever country you found yourself in. Your theory was that if you covered up as much skin as possible, she wouldn’t see you shaking.

You took a deep breath and brushed your hair out of the way— you could hear a Beatles song fade out into something new.

Trying to force your face into an unbothered expression, you stepped outside.

You automatically spotted Karli across the room, eating Ritz crackers and deep in conversation with one of the men that had taken the serum with her a few months ago, Matthew, and your breath vanished.

She hadn’t done anything special with her hair or otherwise put on any jewelry, but she was wearing a shabby mauve-grey dress, and it was the only excuse your vision needed to completely explode in colour.

Your chest tightened like beautiful, golden sunlight had burst in your heart.

“Hey!” you exclaimed, sidestepping over. “You look beautiful.”

“Same to you.” Karli offered you a Ritz cracker; you took it.

You nodded at Matthew and he nodded back.

“I was just telling Karli the situation in Berlin,” he said.

“What’s going on?” you asked, mentally trying to squish your completely out-of-control heart back to where it was normally was in your chest. It was somewhere in your throat now.

“The bill for a GRC-funded special ops squad got through today,” Matthew explained grimly, “Exclusively in Germany. Not good for us.”

“Modern day Gestapo,” Karli muttered, grabbing another Ritz packet from the basket. No one could have buffets on the run, so the Flag Smashers were reduced to buying any unrefrigerated snacks at any store they could find.

“No one can change laws right away, unfortunately, so I was thinking about organizing a protest,” said Matthew. “We all gather outside City Hall, signs maybe, no guns this time, and we shout until they hear us.”

Aminah happened to be passing by in this moment.

“Oh, I like this song!” she exclaimed. “Dance with me!”

And so she grabbed the Flag Smasher closest and started for the centre of the room. You watched as they went.

“You’re right,” you said determinedly, turning back to Matthew. “Name a date and place, I’ll be there. They’re not gonna suffocate us.”

“That’s my girl,” he said casually, bringing out his flip phone to check a new message, and Karli smiled anxiously.

“Dance with me?” she asked, and a bit taken aback, you nodded.

“You give me a feeling, feeling so strong…”

You couldn’t find the beat, so you were reduced to awkwardly moving your arms around as Karli let her dress swish, much more graceful. Laughing, she took your hand and twirled you.

You whipped around and twirled her right back: you saw a flash of white teeth and laughed like an idiot.

“I know you’ve been treating, treating yourself wrong...”

More people were joining in now: they stayed where they were in their conversations, but you could see their heads moving to the beat.

“Imma love you differently, give you electricity…”

You did some goofy variation of finger guns at her and she instinctively did them back.

“And even if I could I wouldn’t turn on you, and I would stop the world for you…”

Then Aminah was there, and you twirled her around, which turned into her twirling Karli around, and all of a sudden there was this weird system with half a dozen other people spinning and laughing and singing.

You found Karli’s hand and spun her around, to more of the giggles suited for someone much younger.

“This love has no ceiling, I cannot deny…”

“C’mon!” you heard her saying, and you were bouncing together, which quickly progressed to stumbling into walls, and before you knew it she’d pressed soft, smiling lips to yours.

You let out a noise— “Mmph!” — and backed into the hallway.

“In here, in here,” Karli said breathily, and punched the door open with her elbow. The handle flew into the wall with a loud CRUNCH— even though she’d taken the serum months ago, she was clearly still adjusting to the effects.

So incredibly caught up in your body’s warm explosion, you hurried inside and nearly tripped over your own feet, magnificently stubbing your toe in the process.

“Ow!”

“Shhh,” she whispered, prying the door out of the wall and closing it more gently.

Your mouths were connected before you knew it, and you revelled in the feeling. She was pushing you down gently, and you let her, snaking a hand around her waist.

“I love you,” you whispered senselessly, and Karli stiffened.

For a moment you regretted it as the awkwardness seeped in.

“You love me?” she asked hesitantly as she gazed down at you.

You couldn’t help but smile. “Unconditionally.”

When she kissed you again, you felt a smile on her lips.

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