The Lightning Strike

Clint and Bucky have it good: a stable bond, and the rest of their lives to enjoy it. Both are doing well in their first year of college, working out where best to go and what to do when they’re finished with it for good. It looks like a smooth ride. Until a bank robbery goes wrong, and that supposedly indestructible bond is put to the test.

Bruce Banner dislikes being a bother. He likes risky science, and books, and maybe he has a thing for bad TV dramas, and he definitely has a thing for Betty Ross, who just so happens to have a thing for him. Her father, however, does not. Maybe because the name on Betty’s wrist isn't his, nor is the name on Bruce’s wrist hers. So he should probably stay away from her, right?

Steve would be head over heels for Sharon even if she wasn’t his soulmate. She’s incredible - and, as Tony keeps saying, their children would be “blonde beacons of badassery”. Admittedly, Steve’s often thought of having a family with Sharon, even if the idea of settling down doesn’t hold the same appeal to her. He’s not stupid: it’s a dream for a few years’ time. Not now, when they’re both barely twenty and have far more important things to be worrying over than a little symbol on a plastic stick.