Except for the occasional clink of cutlery on plates (purposely, on Clint and Tony's part, judging by the barely hidden smiles) the dining room is terribly silent.
Steve swallows another bite of steak
slowly. (He's been trying his hand at the grill; no one is choking so far, so he takes it as a good sign.)
He surveys the situation.
Levi sits across from him, right next to Erwin. His face remains impassive as he meticulously slices his steak, as well as his vegetables. Who slices their vegetables? Honestly? Who? It's not even just cutting up the veggies into more manageable bites. No, no, he's like... he's literally slicing them. He's slicing his freaking vegetables. Then he groups a bit with the steak so he gets an even fork of both in his mouth. Like. What. Steve doesn't judge, though. He just finds it a little strange.
Erwin eats his food normally and makes eye contact with anyone who looks at him. That includes Natasha, who is practically glaring, because she still does't trust either of them. If the man feels the tension, he doesn't show it. He just has this pleasant look on his face, like he's smiling beneath the skin. Then he just goes back to eating, as if one of the deadliest assassins in the world isn't thinking of all the ways she could kill him if he blinked wrong. (Even though, you can't really tell from the outside, because Natasha is actually a total dork. The assassin thing is a bonus.)
Well, he doesn't know anything about her, so. Whatever. He should've still been scared. Or at least uncomfortable, you know? (Everyone can only hope that all dinners in the foreseeable future will not carry on like this particular one.)
Anyway.
"Do you like the... the..." Steve starts, then uses his fork to gesture to the steak on Erwin's plate. "Is it okay?" Erwin looks at him, smiles, and nods.
"I'm enjoying it. You're a very good cook, Steven." At that, Tony nearly snorts his wine up his nose in an attempt to stifle his laughter, and Bruce has to rub small circles into his back to ease the coughing. Levi rolls his stupid squinty eyes like he's better than everyone there. Steve doesn't really take it to heart. Levi is just a mean guy.
Steve thanks Erwin, who continues to smile in praise of the steal despite Tony's idiocy. His smile is nice. Calming. Like one of those little lip quirks someone gives you when they're asking you to pass the gravy. He kind of does remind Steve of himself, you know, with the short blond hair (except, Erwin parts his on his left, while Steve parts his on his right. He thinks he looks cooler that way) and the baby blue eyes and the superhero jawline and that lip quirk smile. Hm. Erwin is pretty hot, I guess.
Once he's finished the last bite of his steak, he leans back in his chair, and Steve watches as he rolls the sleeves of his white dress shirt up. He vaguely remembers those brown jackets—and, what did they call it, 3D Maneuver Gear?—lying by the elevator doors to the common room. He also remembers the winged emblem stitched onto the breast pocket and the back, blue and white, merging into each other like clouds and sky. Maybe he'll ask what it means. Later. Not now. He isn't so sure if it's his place to ask so much about their home world just yet, even if Erwin is willing to share. After all, he knows how it feels to be out of place, you dig? Of course you do. You're a smart one, reader.
Speaking of which, Erwin is ready to leave the table. He's asking where the bathroom is, and Bruce politely directs him down the hall, after offering to wash his plate for him, because he is a guest after all.
So he pushes his chair in, and walks off at a leisurely pace, admiring the Pepper Potts-approved artwork on the walls as he goes. Levi remains. Natasha stares. Tony sips his wine with raised eyebrows. Steve feels awkward. It's an amazing process, really.
After a few more minutes and a few more empty plates, he decides that enough is enough.
"So." He claps his hands once. "Movie?"
When Erwin returns from his business, everyone wanders into the common area, where Jarvis kindly dims the lights. (Their impromptu guests have to be introduced to the television and the fact that in this world, people watch other people pretending to be someone other than themselves for fun. Sometimes, there will be explosions, but no one is really dead, even though they look it. Levi looks indifferent. Erwin is fascinated. Steve is just glad that he's not the lost one for once.)
Everyone argues over what to watch. Clint wants to see horror, but Natasha is up for sci-fi, and Bruce wants to watch Gravity. The arguing is a little annoying and a whole lot embarassing, because hey, grown adults here, and finally, Steve takes charge. He asks Jarvis what the choice should be, and the AI recommends a sci-fi horror-ish space movie called Sunshine, the riveting tale of eight astronauts tasked with re-igniting a dying sun.. It's a good enough compromise, so someone goes to pop a bowl of kernels and they settle in.
The first half of the movie, everyone keeps bothering Steve about how much one of the 'nauts, the Mace guy, looks like him. "I can't see it," Tony keeps saying, "I mean, eyes. Nose. Chin. Yeah. But the—the hair? Look at it. That's terrible hair. That's just not for America and her interests."
"Sounds just like him though," Natasha comments as she finishes her bowl of popcorn. She begins to reach for Clint's. She is denied through a series of hand flails and angered whines. She then goes for Bruce instead.
"I don't know, Tony. I think there's a resemblance," Steve shrugs. From the loveseat next to the couch, Erwin nods thoughtfully. On screen, the oxygen garden of the Icarus II goes up in flames. While he fends off Natasha's attacks, Bruce sighs sadly at the loss. "Too bad," he murmurs, before deftly catching a sneaking wrist. Too bad. It was a nice garden. (Plus, you know, it'd been an essential source of life. No big deal, though.)
Levi now looks like he wants to fall asleep. He's had that narrow eyed look since he realized the brawl in the beginning between Mace and the physicist Capa wasn't actually real. He's sitting on the arm of the loveseat, arms crossed, staring at the million-inch screen with that ever present glare on his face. His legs are crossed. At one point, Tony whispers that he probably has something up his ass, and Steve flicks the mechanic's ear in warning.
But gosh, Shorty looks just about ready to fall over.
And, surprisingly but kind of unsurprisingly, he does so.
The movie has just gotten to the point where the captain of the compromised Icarus Ihas somehow snuck onto its sister ship and tries to sabotage the mission. There isn't enough oxygen for the crew to reach the Sun, and when the chilling revelation is delivered through the ship's AI (Tony scoffs; Jarvis would've never let that happen) Steve definitely does not see Clint hide his face in Natasha's shoulder. But yeah. Things are getting crazy.
And then, they all hear a thump.
Erwin's gaze remains on the film in rapt attention with Levi's face smushed into the crook of his neck. Only when they hear soft snuffles is Erwin's cue to move. He smiles tiredly. "It's been a long day. It seems we're retiring for the night," he says.
Tony is trying not to laugh as he says, "Yeah, sure thing, 2.0. J? Be a dear and put the children to bed, would you?" Jarvis affirms his task quietly, and kindly asks for Mister Smith to board the elevator where he'll be delivered to his floor. Erwin thanks him, stands, and with all the grace and finess Steve has ever seen, slings Levi over his shoulder gently. Then he goes over to the elevator, stoops to grab their jackets, and when the doors open, he steps in. Before they're whisked away, he nods to the group of quiet Avengers. There's a quiet ping, and the two are gone.
"Well," Bruce grins, "they're adapting quickly." Steve 'hmm's slowly, absently rolling an unpopped kernel between his thumb and index finger.
"Maybe we should turn in too," he finally suggests. He isn't tired, but the atmosphere feels... different now. He feels like going to bed.
Everyone else agrees. Abandoning the popcorn bowls (tomorrow, they all tell themselves, even though it'll be Mama Steve cleaning up), they head up to their seperate floors. Tony heads down, brushes off Steve's questioning glances. "Gotta tinker, Steve-o," he flashes a smirk, then saunters out of the room. Huh. Weird guy.
Steve looks at the TV and watches as Mace freezes to death in a pool of coolant.
He turns on his heel and starts for the stairs, and behind him, Jarvis turns the movie off.
AM I A PIECE OF CRAP OR WHAAAT
HIGH SCHOOL IS ACTUALLY RLY DUMB AND THERE IS WORK
A BUTTLOAD OF WORK
BUT IM NOT ABANDONING THIS SO THAAANKS TO EVERYONE WHO IS STILL HERE
U GUYS ARE GREAT
AND UH SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT AND SERIOUS TONES OOPS I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT HAPPENED BUT YEAH
BYE