"Miss Mayfield," a British voice said from inside my room making me bolt up and look around in a panic, struggling to keep myself calm.
"Who-what? Who's there?" I called after my initial sweep of the room showed it to be empty.
"I am quite sorry to have frightened you Miss Mayfield. I am JARVIS, Master Stark's A.I."
I sighed in relief and threw myself back down onto my pillows. "It's very nice to make your acquaintance JARVIS." I felt silly talking to the ceiling, but hey, I worked for S.H.I.E.L.D and if that taught me anything it was just to go with the flow.
"The pleasure is mine Miss Mayfield," JARVIS's accent echoed through the room. "Master Stark requests your presence in the kitchen."
Oh shit. I had completely forgotten what Steve had told me last night. I basically ran out bed, rushing to get in and out of the shower –hm I had my own bathroom. Awesome-, brush my teeth, and my hair. I slipped on the tile floor and hit my arm on the sink. "Mother fuck!" I threw on a pair of denim shorts and my favorite Black Sabbath t-shirt as well as a pair of sneakers and booked it out the door. I ran down the hallway before realizing…"Shit." I had no idea how to get to the kitchen. "JARVIS?" I called out quietly.
"Yes Miss Mayfield?"
"…Can you please tell me how to get to the kitchen?"
"Of course Miss Mayfield. This way." I followed his instructions and I finally found myself in the kitchen. Everyone was already gathered around the table that was set in the middle. No surprise, only the best appliances littered the Stark kitchen. Though, I didn't really see Stark being a cook.
"Lady of the Fields!" Thor was the first one to notice my arrival. He gave me a bone crushing hug that managed to lift me off the ground. "I was just about to traverse to find you. I had thought you may have attained some injury that kept you from attending this gathering." He was still dressed in his normal outfit. That shopping trip was definitely looking like a good idea.
"Good morning to you too Thor. I'm perfectly fine, I just overslept," I smiled. We walked toward the table. "And Thor?"
"Yes Kathy of the Mayfields?"
"I would really like it if you called me Kathy or Kat." He gave me a determined nod.
"Very well Lady…Kathy." He draped his arm over my shoulders.
"Good morning," I muttered embarrassed as I sat down at the table. They mumbled the greeting back. I found myself seated between Thor and Steve while Tony sat across from me. I avoided looking at him. Yesterday on the roof was still on my mind.
"…you do look just like your mother." I tried not to focus on it too much. It was probably just an observation. He's a scientist. He observes things. A plate of scrambled eggs and bacon was placed down in front of me and I glanced up to see Bruce setting it down. I'd say he looked exhausted but that wasn't even the proper word for it.
"Thank you Bruce." He patted my shoulder.
"Not a problem Kat." He made his way to his seat next to Tony. I had to suppress a really girly scream of excitement. He called me Kat! Mentally I did a little dance in my head. I had no problems admitting that I was nursing a really big crush on the doctor. I was still only twenty, still basically a teenager, and he was just so, ugh. No words.
"Okay," Steve started, "seeing as we're stuck here for the time being, I think we should focus on two things. One being ground rules. Two being that we all try to get along." There were murmured forms of agreement, even from Stark. He definitely looked worse for wear. He laid his head in his hands and kept it like that. Oh. He was hung over. Makes sense. No one else really seemed to care though.
I had never drunk before, but I used to have friends that did so I kind of knew what he must have been feeling. I went over to the really fancy coffee maker while the others, well, Steve, came up with a set of rules that we needed to follow.
1. No one in the labs unless Tony and by extension Bruce gives you permission.
2. No firing weapons unless under immediate danger.
3. Try not to break anything.
4. We all have to take part in doing chores and making meals (Tony raised a weak protest at that, saying he could hire a maid and a chef. He was shot down by everyone.)
5. Don't leave the tower without letting someone know where you're going.
I figured those were fair rules. I took a deep breath before setting the freshly made cup of coffee in front of Tony. He might be a total jackass, but my friends used to tell me that hang overs hurt like a bitch. He just nodded his thanks to me. We finished our breakfast in silence. We still barely knew each other. No one had any idea what to say. I guess that might've been Stark's job but he was useless right now taking the first sip of his coffee. He raised an eyebrow.
"Milk and three sugars?" he asked me. I shrugged.
"That's normally how I take it. If you want I can make you an-" I started but he cut me off.
"No. No it's fine. This-this is how I take it anyways." Then it was my turn to raise an eyebrow. Huh.
"Stark? Is there any chance you have a pool somewhere in this monstrosity of a building?"
He actually cracked a small smile. "JARVIS help direct Kit- I mean Kathy to the pool on the lower levels."
"Of course sir," the A.I responded.
"Thank you Stark." And then I followed JARVIS's instructions, while asking him questions about the building and well anything I could think of, until I was finally at the Olympic sized pool. I didn't care that I didn't have a swim suit. I stripped down to my undergarments and dived straight into the pool. Oh sweet Jesus that felt good. And as I floated on the water something hit me. My mother detested coffee. I had to learn to make it myself.
And that was the first of many things I learned I had in common with my father.
The next discovery came later that night when Steve decided that we should watch a football game. Now Steve is cool and everything but he was the definition of an all American boy. He watched sports. I hated sports. Baseball, basketball, hockey- who the fuck watches hockey besides Canadians?- but he absolutely adored football.
It was Steve's turn to pick what we watched. We created some odd schedule for T.V time since Stark could pretty much get whatever show he wanted whether it was actually or not at the click of a button. I sat squished between Thor and Bruce, and my heart wasn't doing some weird fluttery thingy being so close to Bruce, not at all. Natasha made herself comfortable on the floor and Steve and Stark sat in recliner chairs.
Steve was flicking through channels, while Bruce and I talked about my idea to take Thor out clothes shopping- he thought it was a bad idea- and Tony tried to explain how the television worked to Thor with some input from Natasha because Thor looked so lost.
"Can we watch the football ga-"
"No!" Stark and I yelled at the same time. It was silent for a second before Bruce started laughing. Once again, his laugh is like unfairly hot. Thor and Natasha joined in while Steve just kind of looked like someone kicked his puppy.
Stark and I made eye contact, observing each other before we too broke out in laughter.
"So looks like father and daughter aren't so different after all," Bruce said. I stopped laughing. What was wrong with me? I was in the same room as Stark and I was laughing and enjoying myself. I was nothing like him. I got up and walked back to my room, thanking God I had had JARVIS help me memorize the layout of the place. I heard Bruce call my name but I ignored him. He jogged to catch up to me.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean-" I threw myself at him, wrapping my arms around his waist and for the second time he held me when I cried.