Showered and dressed, William stood in the middle of the room staring at the door.

There had been a gigantic mirror in the bathroom, and although he had been curious about his own appearance, he found out that he simply couldn't look at himself.
One glance at his own eyes had made him wince and drop his gaze on the white tiled floor. An odd, painful sensation had ran through his chest like a spear and most of all, a sudden pain had started hammering away in his head. He hadn't bothered to try and look a second time.

He had tied a towel around his waist and rushed into the bedroom, it had taken him a bit too long to figure out what exactly a walk-in closet was. He had chosen a skin-tight shirt, slightly loose pants with many pockets and a black jacket. His colour choice was black, anything brighter than that would just catch too much attention. And one thing he didn't want was attention. Now he just had to find a way to get his stuff.

The sun outside was dipping low, hiding behind the trees.

His dull, blonde hair was still wet and stuck out in random places. The blisters under his feet were completely gone at this point and the bullet wound was barely an annoying itch.

He gazed at the door, trying to come to an understanding if he was allowed to leave or even open the door. Back in HYDRA, he'd get punished for even daring to think on his own.

It made him shudder.

He jumped as the female AI started speaking again. He'd never get used to that.

"If you're ready, Tony would like to see you in the living room."

Will didn't answer as he noticed the glowing white dots appear in front of him on the floor again. He didn't wait for them to start moving, he wasn't gonna follow that AI anymore, no way.

He made it to the door with two long strides, unlocking it. He hesitantly stepped into the hallway, listening carefully if he heard any other heartbeats beside Tony's. There was only an erratic one that he'd recognise everywhere, but other than that, nothing. Silence.

William still expected a SWAT squad to run out of the forest and try to take him into another cage once again. He nearly snorted at that, as if they could restrain him.

He quietly made his way into the living room, scenting the air to see if anything was amiss. The only thing that stood out was the heavy smell of cheese and pepperoni, he knew what that was but just couldn't put a finger on it.

"Look who finally showed up. I'm not much of a cook, so frozen pizza is on the menu tonight. I already ate, so go ahead."

So that's what the smell was, pizza.

Tony was lounging on the couch, legs thrown up on the glass table as he lazily read a book of some kind. A familiar dog was laying on the couch next to him, head resting on his lap as he slid his fingers over the dark fur. Noticing Will, Dog immediately tried to struggle out of Tony's hold and run up to the tense man. Her tail wagged heavily.

William stood awkwardly near the hallway, watching Stark struggle with Dog. He grunted as the dogs snout collided with his nose.

"Get your ass on the couch would you?" he said bitterly, trying to keep the dog down. He moved over to the white couch, sitting on the other end, making sure he was as far from the other man as possible. He already didn't like it. He tilted his head to make sure he could hear if anyone would be near the front door that was directly behind them.

Noticing William, Dog started crawling over the couch towards him, tongue lolling out of the side of her mouth and enormous tail wagging in happiness as she finally got to the man. He sighed in annoyance as she threw her upper body over him, trying to lick his clean face even cleaner. He pushed her snout away, eyes zooming in on the bandaged paw. Nice clean work.

Tony picked up the fallen book, trying to brush the dark dog hairs off his white cashmere.

"You seriously need to brush your dog, Spy." Once again, William didn't answer.

Instead, he was eyeing up the half-eaten pizza on the table. The smell made his insides churn in hunger, and he couldn't recall the last time he had eaten. He was fairly certain there was an apple or two in his backpack. Noticing him hesitating, Tony reached out for a slice and tore it in half, stuffing it all into his mouth and looking over at Will.

"I don't poison my pizza." he said with a full mouth, giving Will a pointed look.

His eyes flickered between the pizza and Stark, trying to see if something happened. When he went back to reading his book, William couldn't resist anymore and grabbed a slice, pushing the dogs face away from the food as he sniffed it over, peering down on it to see if there was anything amiss.

After taking a timid, first bite, it was over for the pizza. He inhaled it like there was no tomorrow.

"Don't forget to chew between the bites." he didn't even acknowledge the dark-haired man, sharing some smaller slices with Dog as well who gulped them down and thumped her tail against the couch in happiness.

The last slice fell from his hands, the dog happily eating it before Will could reach for it.

His icy eyes focused on the book with the familiar leather bindings, his journal.

The hair on the back of his neck bristled as he bit down a possessive growl. It was his journal and his only. He reached out for it over the dog, only to flinch and sit back as Tony slapped his hand with a pen.

"Don't you dare, all you do is glower and glare and tell me nothing about you so that's only my right. But it seems futile because not even my AI can read that handwriting." he said in defeat, tapping the side of his dark-framed glasses twice, which Will found oddly weird.

"all I can understand are the English words like cookies and sugar. Are you secretly into baking or something?" he said in a bored tone, throwing the book over to Will who caught it mid-air. He placed it under the dogs paw, securing it between Dog and himself. In all honesty, he was surprised Tony had given it back. He knew there was a picture of him and some strangers in there, but by the lack of questions, he had a feeling he hadn't gone through every page.

"So, as we are being perfectly civil here, tell me what is it in your blood? And why the fuck can't I find anything on you? Trust me, I can hack even FSD or CSIS databases, and you're nowhere to be found." so that was his kind of interrogation Will realized. Wash him, clothe him, feed him and let the dog pin him to the couch.

"I cannot say."

"Why?"

"it's classified."

"Can't you leak it?"

"no."

"not even a little?"

"no "

"just a tiny bit?"

"no."

Tony crossed his arms, looking as if someone had taken his cotton candy from him. William realized he was calmly stroking Dog's ears, the animal closing her honey eyes in bliss as she laid her head against his stomach. He never realised how calming it was.

"I demand you tell me."

William looked over, raising an eyebrow quizzically. The man wasn't much of a threat, so he didn't worry. However, the environment around them was a whole different story.

"Fine, but we're not finished. What about your blood? What's up with that?" William blinked groggily as Tony summoned a see-through tablet from literally thin air. The blue light mirroring from his tanned face as he gestured for Will to start speaking.

"Classified." well, it was but he could tell him if he wanted to. But he just knew telling or even showing the man what kind of monster he was, would most definitely make Tony hate him.

And he didn't want Tony to hate him, the man was speaking to him as if he was normal, as if he was human and not a fugitive or a murderer.

It was refreshing.

"I gave you clothes."

Will looked down at himself, they were expensive clothes for sure.

"I'll... Give them back?"

He just shook his head, he'd figure it out later, in the lab.

Tony had sent Morgan away to their neighbours place, he didn't want her around. Although Tony didn't fear for his life, he would never put her's in danger. The stranger in his house was timid and quiet, but there was something about him that just reeked of Tony's old life. The one back in New York. The one filled with adrenaline and danger and long sleepless nights.

His sleeping patterns had been better ever since they moved, but he had a feeling this glowering stranger would be a bit of a disruption in their everyday, mundane life.

Tony had no solid plan what to do, he didn't do plans. Steve did, Tony just improvised on the spot. He wasn't going to call the authorities on the weird Spy, not yet at least.

Sure, he had relapsed when he broke his 850$ antique chair but that must have been his training kicking in.

"Have you thought of therapy?" Tony broke the comfortable silence that had fallen between the two.

"Why?" in all honesty, William wasn't sure if anyone would be ready to unravel his mind.

Hell, even he wasn't ready for that.

Tony cleared this throat, obviously uncomfortable about the topic. "You're a young soldier with PTSD, Spy. I have a friend who works with... Those kinds of issues, I can give you his contacts or something." he said nonchalantly.

"I'm good, thanks." He didn't push anymore, just stood up and headed towards the bar.

"So what are we dealing with? Tequila, rum, sambuca?" he asked over his shoulder, rummaging through the bottles.

A faraway memory came to him, somewhere on a ferry. There were cots and people he couldn't name, there was soup and the smell of salty sea breeze. He smiled at that, a pleasant memory. One without the stench of blood.

"Whisky."

It seemed to be the right answer as Stark poured both of them some of the golden liquor before strolling back towards the couch and holding the glass out to him.

It smelt sweet and strong. "Stags Breath." Tony introduced, sitting down before taking a sip of the drink.

The drink had the characteristics of whisky burn to it, but it was softened with the sweet, mellow taste of honey.

"it's good." Will said, slouching it around as he looked down at the golden drink. He had a favourite now.

"Of course, it's Scotch whiskey, it's meant to be good. Anyways, back to you, Spy. Where are you heading anyways? To last mission? To kill an ex-lover? To murder the president? To take down a whole agenda? Tell me something at least."

If he thought alcohol would loosen his vocal cords, he'd be in for a surprise. Will wasn't sure if there existed anything that would make him drunk. If there was, he would probably hoard it.

"To Brooklyn. To visit an old... Friend." he actually hadn't thought about it, but after saying it out loud, he realized he really needed to go there. He wasn't certain why exactly, but there was something there...

"Brooklyn? What, were you going to walk all the way there?"

No, of course not. Will had a car but someone had to go and blow it up. Damn agents.

"Take a bus." Tony cringed at that, seemed like he wasn't a fan of public transport. Not that Will would take a bus, too many risks.

"If you say so. So, what language do you have in that journal of yours?"

The rest of the night went just like that, conversing about topics. No matter how much Tony pushed, some questions never got any answers. But to Williams disbelief, the man didn't even seem to think about locking him up or pushing his head underwater to get answers. He just scoffed and mumbled into his glass and went to ask the next questions.

It was only in the early hours of the morning that Will realized how tired the other man looked, so for the sake of his sleep, Will asked if he could go and doze off somewhere.

That morning he got two full hours of sleep before a centuries old nightmare still wrapped its dark, phantom claws around his throat.

A/n

Heheheheheeee

Yes, this author updated twice IN ONE WEEK WhAT-

Also, can we appreciate Tony's interrogation. Pizza and whiskey, that's how you do it with soldiers who have PTSD. Yes, Fury Squad, I'm looking at you and what you did to our boo Bucky.

Number 1. Squad where you at? Because same.

ANYWAY, I wanna say that all of your messages in my PMs or message board are awesome and I really appreciate that guys! I live for feedback, and the fact that some of you have actually sent me a direct message to say how much you love the book... It really makes me emotional every time, and I don't get emotional!

I mean, I could leave Planet Wattpad for a couple of months and when I'd return, the messages would still be here and keep me motivated to continue telling Williams story.

It's awesome, thank you all xx

Lots of love
Author xx