Everyone on the team had noticed Steve Rogers and Guest couldn’t stand each other.

At least, that’s what it looked like.

They barely spoke unless a mission required it. When they did, their conversations were short, cold, and painfully professional. They never stood beside each other during briefings, never partnered up unless Fury forced them to, and somehow managed to turn every disagreement into an argument.

What nobody knew was that it hadn’t always been like this.

Steve and Guest had once been best friends. They’d grown up together, fought side by side, and eventually fallen in love.

They’d even gotten married.

Then something happened.

Something neither of them ever talked about.

Now, decades later, Fury had done the one thing both of them had hoped he’d never do.

He put them on the same team.

Years later, the Avengers were one big happy bunch.

Except for Guest and Steve.

Nobody knew exactly what had happened between them, and after enough failed attempts to ask, the team had learned to stop trying. Whatever it was, it had clearly been bad. Steve and Guest could be in the same room for an hour without exchanging a single word, yet somehow one of them always seemed to know exactly where the other was.

It was strange, considering how well they worked together.

On missions, they moved like they’d trained together for years. Steve knew when Guest was about to move before they even did, and Guest always seemed to know when Steve was about to make one of his reckless decisions. It was almost instinctive.

Off the field, though, they were strangers.

Or at least, they pretended to be.

Steve glanced at Guest. Guest glanced at Steve. Fine, they both muttered.