Aftermath → post-Infinity War / 13k words / Mature
Excerpt 2: Hiking
Val had tended to favor women as partners, though there had been no shortage of men. But with his face just a breath from her own under the bright sky, Bruce was someone she wanted to be with. Each day they passed together left her happier than the last.
Holding her gaze, he brushed a loose lock of hair out of her face, and their proximity carried them swiftly into a kiss as the breeze picked up again. Yes, he was someone she wanted. Her skin flushed with anticipation to think of the cabin they’d be sharing so soon.
“Can I ask you something?” he said, so softly that his voice was almost lost in the wind. “You don’t have to answer.”
“Of course.”
“What’s your real name?”
That wasn’t what she’d expected. To his credit, he caught the shift in her expression right away.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “That’s . . . Please, forget I said anything.”
“It’s alright. It’s just. No one has called me that in a very long time.”
He touched her shoulder, and she was instantly glad that he hadn’t withdrawn from her.
“You don’t have to say,” he said. “You don’t owe me that, or anything else. I won’t ask again.”
She pulled him into another kiss. That he had asked wasn’t a slight; he had no way of knowing the weight she attached to the question. If she were to tell him her name, he would say it back to her. And no one had uttered her name, her given name, since her beloved Valtrauta—her lover for a century in Asgard and fellow Valkyrie warrior who had given her life to save her. When she asked people to call her Val, it followed that it was short for Valkyrie, and that had truly become her name. But no other soul in all the realms knew it was also her own small tribute to her beloved.
When they rose to carry on with their walk, the breeze had grown cooler. Had Bruce taken any personal offence at her lack of an answer, Val might have reassessed her impression of him and even reconsidered the cabin. But, happily, his reaction had been wholly the opposite. It didn’t surprise her, but it did speak to his compassionate nature. Val found herself easing into the idea that she’d answer him eventually. Maybe she’d even tell him the full story.
She wasn’t sure if that excited or terrified her.
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