Chapter Seven: Waiting
Steve remembered this feeling of waiting. A nagging, wretched knot, constantly tightening, tedious enough to lull one to sleep, but vexing enough to keep one awake. It was the feeling he'd had when waiting to hear if Bucky was coming back to base alive, when waiting to see if he'd get yet another rejection, or maybe they'd finally let him in to do something with his life, when waiting for that long dreadful moment when he'd asked Fury, "What about her?"
Waiting to see if the Avengers would be assembled again was one of the worst stretches of- how many days had it been? Steve glanced at the calendar. Eight days. Eight days of telling himself to stop worrying, eight nights of staring at the ceiling.
When the call came and Maria's voice only said the words, "Assemble, 37 N, 116 W, tomorrow, 05:00," at the other end of the line, Steve was more relieved to have an answer than he was anxious that things were worse than expected.
It was sad, now that he thought about it, that Maria had given no further sentiment. She was still taking it pretty hard on herself. Though she'd been in a whole different wing of the aircraft at the time of Phil's death, she confided to him at the funeral that she should've done something to help him. She should've protected him, the way she'd promised his mother she would.
Being back on the military base, was like coming home, or returning to summer camp and the friends you made their last time, bonding over campfires and tug-of-war, only in the army, they'd bonded over visits to the infirmary.
He saw a good number of the same agents who he'd seen on the Avengers' last mission. The olive-skinned woman with a long ponytail who'd helped him open the science fiction-esque, biometric doors, the southern Vietnam veteran who showed him to his living quarters and who told him stories of his first love when he was feeling a little depressed and missing the woman he still considered to be the love of his life.
Then he saw him. The man that made his skin crawl and itch, whose name made his mouth twitch, and worst of all, he didn't know if it was to smile or to frown.
"Popsicle! Glad you could make it!"
Tony Stark.
Hey, everyone! I'm so sorry that these chapters are being so slow-paced. I promise they'll pick up speed, I'm just trying to give insight into what's gone on since the movie ended. So here we go: we finally have Steve in the mix!
Also, I apologize that it took so long to get this up, and there really isn't an excuse for how long it took me, so I guess that's it: Sorry.
As always, thank you for reading and for your wonderful support! It is much appreciated! Please review!