italics = flashbacks / memories

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𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞.

𝐈𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞.

~ 𝙘𝙞𝙧𝙘𝙪𝙢𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨

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TO SAY VIOLET WAS PANICKING WOULD BE AN UNDERSTATEMENT. She'd done it. She'd finally dumped her piece of shit boyfriend, correction ex-boyfriend, But now reality had set in. And with reality came... panic. It wasn't a well thought out plan to begin with, but she knew she couldn't stay in the relationship any longer. Especially after the events of last night, Violet knew she had to leave.

Things hadn't gone exactly as she'd expected them to though, and that was where she was unsure of what to do.

When she told John that she was breaking up with him, he just laughed. Then after a few seconds, he got angry.

Shoving her up against a wall, he leaned in so their faces were just inches apart.

"You're nothing without me," he sneered, "you're not going anywhere."

"You don't get t—"

As she tried to stand up for herself, he simply laughed, though there was no humor in his tone. "I don't think so. You're too pathetic to leave. Now clean this fucking place up."

After that, he'd gone back into their bedroom, got dressed for work, and stormed out the door without another word.

Forcing those moments from her mind, Violet began pacing around. And after less than a minute, she began to overthink again. Violet knew what John expected to happen. Since he'd 'put her in her place', he assumed she'd just do whatever she normally did at home during the day, and since he'd be gone for a couple of days for a business trip, he'd expect the place to be spotless and for dinner to be on the table when he got home.

10 minutes later, Violet remained in the same spot, sat on the couch with her knees pulled up towards her chest.

"Guess I should get packing," she finally mumbled to herself. Brushing the nonexistent dust from her pants, Violet made her way to the bedroom and pulled her suitcase out from under the bed. As she mindlessly folded clothes and began putting them inside, she thinks back on her relationship with John Walker.

In the beginning, he had her believing that he was genuinely a good guy, and that he really loved her. He always said exactly the right things, and in that honeymoon stage, they never argued. He was sweet, planned the best dates, basically, he swept Violet off of her feet.

Just 6 months into the relationship, Violet made the decision of saying yes when he asked her to move with him to California. His job offered him the chance to relocate for much higher pay, and he instantly accepted. Violet was sad, but brightened up when John said he wanted her to move with him. He filled her head with how great it would be and all the adventures they'd get to go on. She was so smitten, she didn't even consider saying no.

Yelena, Steve, Sam, Wanda, and Kate all warned her against the idea. Some said that 6 months was waaay too soon, others said she should just stay in New York and try long distance.

None were more against it than Pietro, who had quickly come to think of Violet as a sister, and if asked, he'd say she was his best friend.

The one area where Violet and Pietro disagreed, was on her relationship with John. From the very beginning, Pietro was the first to think that something was off. But he loved Violet, and said that whatever she decided, she would have his full support if she ever needed someone.

The first red flag was that John not only insisted that they fly to California, he also completely disregarded Violet's fear of planes. But she brushed it aside, telling herself that he must just be so excited to get to California and start that new chapter of their life together.

Once in California, John slowly began to change. Within a month, Violet barely recognized the man she lived with. He began talking down to her, insulting her while always reminding her that she was absolutely nothing without him. That it was only the 2 of them, so she better not fuck things up or she'll have nowhere to go and no one to turn to out there.

Around everyone else, he was still the caring man that she first fell for. It was those moments that Violet clung to. It was why she convinced herself to stay, because she hoped he'd turn back into that man.

Finally after 6 months in California, and right around their 1 year dating anniversary, Violet reached her breaking point. After an incident that she now couldn't even bring herself to think about, she knew she couldn't keep living like this. She feared that if she did, she might not be alive much longer. But what were her options? John was right, out in California it was just the 2 of them. And though she suspected that her friends knew what kind of guy John really was, she'd done her best to hide it, and she felt scared to turn to any of them, even Pietro.

"Fuck," Violet wiped away a tear. She hadn't even realized that she'd been crying.

As if able to sense she needed someone (because he somehow always seemed to know, Violet swore it was his superpower), her cell phone rang, and she knew without looking that it was Pietro calling to check in. Everyone else mostly communicated through text. Well, Steve was a bit old fashioned and preferred calling over text too, but he always text her first to make sure she wasn't busy.

"Hi," Violet tried her best to put on a happy voice. "How'd the big meeting with Fury go?"

"What's wrong?"

"— nothing, I just asked how your meeting went."

Pietro sighed, and Violet could hear him shutting a door. Looking at the time, she realized that he'd be at work right now. "Okay, now do you want to tell me the truth this time?"

That one sentence was all it took for Violet to finally let her tears fall. "I— I finally did it," she whispered, laughing just a little despite the situation, "I broke up with John. Or tried to anyway."

"Tried to? What does that mean? V, did he do something??"

Violet bit her lip as she contemplated telling Pietro everything that was really going on. But he always had a temper when it came to anyone messing with her.

Once in high school, a boy lied about a date and said that he'd taken Violet's virginity that night, when in fact all they'd done was kiss once. He showed up at school 2 days later with his arm in a sling, and he'd walked up to Violet, mumbling an apology before practically running in the opposite direction.

It was no secret who'd done that to him. It was no secret, because Pietro admitted it, saying the guy only got what he deserved.

"N—not physically," she decided she'd tell him that it was a lie much later, once she was back in New York. "I just couldn't take it anymore. He's at work now and I'm trying to pack up my shit but it's hard because I don't even know what to take. I left behind so much in New York and I honestly can't remember what I bought, and what was bought with John's money."

"I'm gonna kill that motherfu—"

"Pietro, no, please. You don't ever need to do something like that for me. I'll be okay, I just... I have to figure out what to do with all of this stuff and then I'll find a way back to New York."

Pietro is pissed that he flew to Tokyo to take a meeting with Nick Fury. Despite Violet's protests, he says that he's cancelling the meeting with him tomorrow and coming straight home. After nearly 5 minutes of convincing, he finally agrees to not cancel anything, but as soon as Violet is back in New York he says he doesn't care what's on his schedule, he's coming home to check on her.

After that, he quickly runs through the list of their friends, seeing who might be able to come help Violet. Nat and Yelena are in Russia visiting their dad, and Violet has to beg him not to tell them yet. Wanda and Vision are out of the question because Wanda is nearing her due date, and shouldn't be by herself for more than a day when the twins could come at any moment.

Peter is an option, but Violet shuts that down. Despite only being a few years younger, she still thinks of the shy awkward teenager that he was when they first met.

There were the other 2 Peter's, who also oddly had the same last name has her Peter. She'd met the second one when out for groceries one day, so she jokingly referred to him as Peter # 2. And one day while John was thankfully out (because he would've freaked), the man Violet dubbed Peter # 3 entered her apartment. He was so focused on his book that he entered the wrong apartment. His was the one next door, and he also often kept his door unlocked.

Despite Peter # 3 seeming like the best option, Violet still said no. She didn't know him that well, and couldn't drag him into her mess when after it was all done, he'd still be living across from John. If Peter helped her and John found out, she didn't even want to think about what he'd do.

"I could call To—"

"No. He wouldn't want to hear from me anyway. And I'll be okay, I promise. I already feel so much better after venting and confirming that this is the right decision. I'll find a way back to New York. Maybe rent an SUV since I don't have enough stuff to fill a moving truck and—"

"V, you know this is a different situation. Look, do you trust me?"

"You know I do," she responds without hesitation.

Pietro pauses for a moment before speaking again. "I'll call you back in a few minutes. I'm going to make some arrangements, and no I won't tell you what they are just yet. But you trust me, and this will get you out of there as fast as possible. Okay?"

Violet closes her eyes for a few seconds, trying and failing to make the tears go away. "Okay."

After reassuring her that everything will work out in the end, Pietro says he's going to go make those arrangements and he'll call her back as soon as everything is set up.

Not wanting to just sit around and wait for his call, Violet decides to pack the rest of her things. It doesn't take very long, because she meant it when she said she couldn't remember if most of her belongings were purchased by herself, or John. Not wanting to give him another reason to hunt her down when he discovers she actually left, in the end, most things are left behind.

2 packed suitcases and a hot shower later, and Violet is finally beginning to calm down. Most of the fear and nerves are still there, but she feels just a little better than she did when John first stormed out to head to work. Realizing her exhaustion is causing her mood to worsen, she decides on a quick nap. Realizing that Pietro could call back at any moment, she puts her phone on loud and right under her pillow, so that she'll hear the moment it begins ringing.

That quick nap turned out to be a lot longer than planned, because it's over 2 hours later that Violet is woken up to a series of loud, sharp knocks at the door. She instantly grows scared, but calms once she realizes it can't be John because he wouldn't knock.

Rubbing her eyes in an attempt to feel more awake, Violet slowly makes her way to the door. She looks through the peephole, and her eyes widen in surprise. When she opens the door, she's face to face with Tony Stark for the first time in over a year.

He remains silent, simply pulling Violet in for a hug. That small act causes her to burst into tears all over again. And this time, the tears aren't just for everything happening with John.

Almost exactly a year ago, Steve and Tony had a big falling out, and the whole friend group was unwillingly dragged into it. Violet and Steve have always been like brother and sister, so it came as a surprise to no one when she took his side. But that didn't stop Tony from lashing out, and cutting off contact with anyone who was "against him", as he put it back then.

It only just now dawns on Violet that he must be Pietro's plan, and it means the world that he's there.

Violet hugs him even tighter, trying to once again force herself to stop crying. As she stutters her way through an apology, Tony rubs small circles on her back, telling her that she doesn't have anything to be sorry for, and that they don't have to talk about all of that right now.

"Do you— are you living in California now?"

Tony shakes his head, telling her that he's still mainly in New York. "I'm just here on business, I was already on a flight back to New York when Pietro called, so I had the plane turn around."

"Alright motherfuckers, I'm ready to commit a crime and that crime is murder!" Rhodey barges in, looking around as he swings a sword.

"Where did you get that?" Violet asks, unable to hide her surprise and confusion.

"Wait did you take that from my trunk??"

Violet turns to Tony, eyebrows raised in amusement. "You have a sword in your trunk?" She laughs again, once again facing Rhodey. "Were you going to stab John with that?"

He looks down at the sword for a moment, as if considering it. "No. Just off with his head!" He does a slicing motion before gently setting the sword down.

"What, umm — what exactly did Pietro tell you?"

"Not much, understandably. But the gist of it is that John is going to be out of town for a couple of days so," he glanced at his watch, "we gotta get this show on the road! How much do you have left to pack?"

Violet could feel the shame coming off of her in waves. "I... that's everything," she meekly pointed to her suitcases by the door.

"Oh, well that's okay!" Tony quickly recovered. "Now we can get the hell out of here."

"Can you wait a few moments? I just need to do something first." Once the men both nod, Violet rushes to John's office, grabs a small stack of papers, and begins quickly writing. After it's all done, she neatly stacks the pages together and goes to the kitchen, using a magnet to stick them to the fridge. The first thing John always does when he gets home is have a beer, so Violet knows he'll see the letter right away.

(((if anyone was curious, this is the letter she wrote)))

As Tony began wheeling one suitcase towards the SUV,  Rhodey paused before he and Violet followed behind.

"I know it might be hard to leave them behind, but if you think there's even a chance that he'll track you, you should leave your phone and any other technology. I think to be safe—" Rhodey slowly trailed off, seeing that Violet was already removing her laptop, phone, and AirPods from her backpack.

"That's everything."

Only a few minutes later, they're all on the way to Tony and Pepper's home in California. Violet wants to ask a million questions, but doesn't even know where to begin, so she remains silent.

"You okay kid?"

She looks up and makes eye contact with Tony from the rear view mirror. "I'm just... I can't believe this is all happening. A year ago I would've never even thought about leaving John. Then six months ago when we moved to California and I started to see the sort of person he really is, I still didn't think I'd ever be able to leave."

Since being in the back seat, Violet doesn't see Tony's knuckles turn white from gripping the steering wheel so hard. He has half a mind to go find John right now and make sure that he doesn't bother Violet, or anyone else ever again. But right now, he knows the priority is making sure Violet stays safe, so he silently tells himself that he'll deal with John another time.

Violet finally allows herself to feel calm, and safe for the first time in a long time, once Tony uses a remote to open the gate that leads down his driveway. Knowing John won't be able to find her here makes it a little better.

Once they're parked and Tony and Rhodey have exited the vehicle, Violet follows, and finds herself in awe as she looks around the property. The last time she was here, Tony had yet to start any sort of transformation, and the place looks entirely different now.

"Not bad huh?" Tony turns to face Violet and spreads his arms out, as if to say 'look at all of this'.

"Tony, thank you," Violet is relieved when the tears don't start again. "I don't know how I can ever repay you for—"

Tony shakes his head, saying she doesn't need to thank him, and this is the least he can do. "We didn't speak for about a year because I was so stubborn that I couldn't see you were only doing what you thought was right. I should've never expected anyone to just take sides. Rogers and I talked, and we both had no right to expect that from any of you, and also shouldn't have gotten upset when people actually listened and chose sides. You were dragged into our mess, and for that I'm sorry."

They talk for a while, Tony updating Violet on everything going on in his life, and Violet is immensely grateful for the distraction.

"Now I know you're worried about getting back to New York. But don't worry, there's no flying involved. Since I am my own boss, the two of us are going to take our time driving and by the time we're back in New York, you'll have forgotten all about he who I can't name or I might actually throw up."

As he opens his mouth to say something else, his phone rings. Despite sending it to voicemail, it immediately begins ringing again. "Sorry, I should probably take this incase it's an emergency—" Once Violet reassures him she's okay, he steps out to take the call.

Violet does her best to not eavesdrop, but after a few moments she can't help but hear Tony arguing with whoever he's talking to. It's not loud enough to hear specifics like what's being said, but it's clear that Tony is upset. Creeping towards the door, Violet manages to hear "I don't care. Tell them to move it or just cancel it altogether! I — no I don't need to explain why to anyone. I'm busy tomorrow and for the foreseeable future." There's a short pause, and then "well then tell them to call me and I'll yell at them myself!"

Now she feels even more guilty, knowing Tony is cancelling work all because she's afraid to get on an airplane.

After wrapping up his phone call, he enters the house and is immediately met with Violet asking what he just cancelled. Though he pretends to not know what she's referring to, it's clear that she knows he's lying.

"It was nothing important. And nothing that can't be arranged for later. Even if it can't, something better will come along."

"If it's not important, can't you just tell me?"

"I— you remember that prick I told you about, Ransom? He wanted to finally set up a meeting and—"

"Anthony! Edward! Stark!" Violet smacks him after each part of his name. "You have been trying to get an in with the Drysdale Corporation for years. If you don't call back and tell whoever that was that the plans are back on, I'm getting the information from your dad and going to the meeting myself."

Tony scoffs, "how could you possibly know that my dad knows?"

"Because even though he retired from Stark Industries, you still fill him in on everything because he appreciates feeling involved. Also we all know Howard loves me and he'd totally tell me. So..."

Trying, and failing, to contain his laughter, Tony lets out a sigh, "it's true. He does, and he would. Fine, I'll tell you. The meeting is in Boston and I'd have to leave tomorrow. But I don't—"

"Take the meeting, Tony. I can figure something else out. You are not allowed to hire someone to drive me, by the way. You're already saving my life right now. I can extend the drive and just take my time doing it all myself. As long as I don't drive too much in one day, I'll be fine."

As Violet looks at Tony, silently pleading that he'll say okay and still go so that he isn't putting his life on hold for her, it's like she can see a switch go off in his mind. "I gotta make a call. I think I know how to make this alright. Because I don't know if I'm too comfortable with the idea of you making the drive all by yourself. You trust me?"

"Always", her reply is almost instant.

"Hey, I can practically see the gears in your brain turning. Don't let your thoughts go there. I've known you a long time, and you can't blame yourself or this. Absolutely none of what happened to you is your fault. You are a good person, and John Walker is a fucking piece of shit. Speaking of which, I do have a possible solution—"

"No."

"What! You don't even know what I was going to say."

"I do, and absolutely not."

Tony holds his hands up in surrender, "just hear me out okay? I have a friend, Nick Fowler. He owes me a massive favor and I can cash it in—"

"And have him kill John?"

"Well he has worked for the CIA and knows how to cover shit up! Just let me talk to him and I swear—"

"Tony. I love you, but no. I don't need that on my conscience. Thank you though, it is nice to know you'd risk prison for me."

"I am going to make a call though. Don't worry, not to Nick. But take this," he opens his wallet and pulls a card out. One side is completely blank. The other simply reads N.F., and there's a phone number underneath. "If anything ever happens and you need help, you call him and tell him you're a friend of mine and you're cashing in my favor. Okay?"

Knowing Tony will only accept one answer, Violet nods, tucking the card into the back of her phone case. "Okay, I'll call him if I ever need help."

Tony heads outside to make his call, and Violet ducks so that he doesn't realize she's just on the other side of the door, listening. "I know we haven't talked in a long time and — wait, fuck. Don't hang up alright? I — she needs you." A pause. "Yes, that she." Another pause. "How soon can you get to California?"

Assuming he'll be back inside soon, Violet quickly walks over to the kitchen, sitting down on a stool just as the door opens again.

"Is— is your plan alright?"

"Y—yes! My plan will be here tomorrow afternoon. Tonight though, you obviously can't go back. We have plenty of guest rooms, and you know Pepper would love to have you stay over. Morgan overheard me telling her that I was coming to pick you up soon too and she freaked out about a possible sleepover. So now you have to stay, it's basically illegal not to. Now come on, I'll show you your room."

Tony bows, holding his arm out. "Come along now."

When they reach the room, Violet nearly bursts into tears. Morgan has littered the bed with drawings and what she assumes are meant to be letters, but are really just a bunch of scribbled lines.

"Told you she was excited about you coming over. But she might try to drag you to her room later. Now you will also notice the large white bags with the Apple logo on them. I had a hunch you might have to leave your things behind so I made a few purchases."

As Violet opens the bags and begins pulling all of the different sized boxes out, she looks back to Tony in shock. "I can't possibly accept all of this! Anthony, what the fu—"

"Language! I made a pit stop as soon as I landed back in California. The laptop and phones still need to be set up and charged. But they both came with a 50% battery so almost everyone's phone numbers are in already. I will also not be accepting any further protests about how this is too much. We all joke about how I have a stupid amount of money, more than anyone needs in their lifetime. So let me help you with a little bit of it, please."

Before Violet can attempt to protest him spending this much money on her again, Tony says he's going to go make some phone calls about going to Boston, and he'll let her get some rest.

Wide awake, but knowing her body probably really does need the rest, Violet lays down while scrolling through her new phone. She smiles as she scrolls through the contacts. Besides Tony, he also put Howard, Steve, Peter, Nat, Yelena, Kate, Bruce, Rhodey, Thor, Loki, and a handful of others.

She then notices that she already has a ton of unread messages, and for a brief moment, there's panic that John somehow found her phone number and is attempting to contact her already. But then she scrolls through the messages, and immediately feels relief.

peter 🕷
hey v! tony gave me your new number, just wanted to reach out and say i love and miss you ☺️ i'm taking you out for lunch when you're back in new york!

steve 🇺🇸
hey violin 👋🏻 i'm glad you're safe now. i'm always here if you ever need anything, no matter what time it is. i love you and miss you!

wanda 🪄
hi my love ♥️ call me whenever you get the chance, and if you need me i'm always here. i love you.

rhodey 🤖
we'll have already seen each other but let me know if you want me to kill john. swear to god i won't tell tony.

clint 🏹
hey kiddo 😁 if you ever need to get away, you're always welcome to come stay with us. the kids miss you (okay i admit, i do too). we love you, and can't wait to see you again!

unknown number
did you pick up the pizza?

unknown number
i just realized this is not in fact my grand son. well anyway hi stranger, i'm stan

yelena 🔪
hiiiiii! tony says you'll be back in new york soon and that you'll be getting a new apartment! let me know when, i'm taking you shopping. do NOT let kate take you. you know she only has one fork in her entire apartment??? that is not cutlery. anyway, Я тебя люблю!
                [ Я тебя люблю! = I love you! ]

kate 💜
idk what yelena text you, but she just called me and was laughing like a crazy person so don't listen to her. i miss you and am so excited to see you! let me know if you ever need anything okay?

loki 🐍
hi love, let me know when you're back and we'll do dinner 🍝🍕🥂 and also let me know if you want me to kill walker. i love you and will see you soon!

thor ⚡️
violet! it's thor. call me whenever you're free! okay siri, end text. siri, send text.

After responding to everyone, Violet feels her eyelids grow heavy, so she decides she actually will take a nap.

One hour later though, she wakes up after having a nightmare. And it's not long before her anxiety creeps back in. Stress, worry, genuine fear that John will find her, and who knows what he'd do.

"YOU'RE HERE YOU'RE HERE YOU'RE HERE!!!" Morgan bursts into the room, immediately jumping on the bed and tackling Violet in the biggest hug.

Luckily for Violet, Morgan provides some much needed distractions for the rest of the day. Tea party, dress up, putting on concerts to her favorite songs, she doesn't even have time to think of John once.

That night when Morgan and Pepper have gone to bed (Tony's still awake, she can hear him tinkering in his lab, but she doesn't feel quite ready to talk about... things, yet), Violet lays awake. And she begins to think of everything that could go wrong. Maybe leaving John is a mistake. He's still out of town, so if she went back right now then he'd never know she attempted to leave in the first place.

Finally at some unknown time, Violet manages to fall asleep. But once she opens her eyes again, the thoughts are quick to return. She can't stay in those bad thoughts for long, because just as she's thinking of how John will react when he gets home and finds her gone, Morgan once again runs into the room and jumps on the bed. Pepper follows closely behind, apologizing and saying she told her to wait until "Aunty V" had come out of the room.

Glancing at the clock, Violet realizes that it's already 7:30am. She has been wallowing in her own thoughts for nearly an hour.

"You wanna help me pick out something to wear today?" Violet asks Morgan, who claps and turns giddy with joy. After throwing out nearly every piece of clothing in one of the suitcases, Morgan decides on one of the first outfits she pulled out.

Violet quickly goes into the bathroom to change and brush her teeth, and goes back into the room just as Tony gets there. Pepper ushers Morgan out of the room, promising Morgan that she'll be able to play again as soon as they're done talking.

Once they're gone, Tony informs Violet that his backup plan is arriving at 1pm today.

"Why can't I know who it is again? I mean it has to be someone I already know, because you wouldn't ask just anyone to drive across the country with me. And someone I don't know probably wouldn't agree to it anyway."

"What can I say?" He shrugs, "I love a good surprise".

Around 9am, after everyone has had breakfast, Tony helps Violet bring her suitcases out of her room and back by the front door. He reassures her there's no rush to leave, but he figures she'd want to get the hell out of California as quick as possible, and Violet admits that he's right.

After that, Violet spends the next couple of hours watching movies in the living room with Morgan, while Pepper hops on a long conference call, and Tony takes work calls and prepares to leave to Boston not long after Violet and her mystery road trip partner hit the road.

At exactly 12:45pm, the doorbell rings. She immediately tenses up as she watches Tony walk towards the door, wondering who the hell he asked to make the trip with her. It definitely wasn't Peter or Bruce, because they've got big mouths and definitely would've accidentally told her by now. That, and Peter probably would've asked about a roadtrip playlist or something, thus spoiling the surprise unintentionally. And it's not Yelena or Nat because they're still in Russia. She doesn't think it's anyone else that text her either, just based on what they said. So who—

"Hey V, come meet your roadtrip buddy!"

When Violet makes her way to the front door, she's stunned into silence. She had her ideas of who it definitely wasn't, but nothing could've prepared her for who Tony actually chose.

The man who broke her heart.

" — Bucky?"

"Hey doll, been awhile."

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bottom gif by IvvyKy ♥️