There are screams, so many screams. All Ashley wants is that doll, the one the other kids have, and her mother promised she could have it - but it's out of stock. She'd waited for months to come to France for it - what a waste of time. Mella has horror plastered across her face as she realises how disappointed her daughter is. Ashley tries convincing her mother that everything's fine, that she doesn't mind, but it's getting too difficult to lie. It's building in her chest, her skin is feeling prickly. Why should she lie? Why is everyone else allowed to express themselves but she isn't? The rain clouds are gathering outside the store windows, but why? Where are all of these clouds coming from? And why is the wind picking up? It's July, and it's mid-summer, it's-
"ASHLEY, NO!"
Ashley released a sharp gasp and shot up in the bed, a hand clutching her oversized Star Wars top. Her room was pitch black, so for a split second she was confused. It took several seconds for her to she remember that she was in her new Avengers Tower home. Then, slowly, her senses started to return.
Taste - warm saliva, a lot of it at that. She was clearly panicking.
Sound - nothing, it was deadly silent.
Sight - darkness.
Smell - nothing but that 'newly furnished scent' of her room.
Touch - ….actually, yes. Only then did Ashley realise that the bed was soaking wet.
"No way!" she groaned quietly in disbelief, swinging her legs out of the bed and jumping onto the floor. Her heart was pounding like a child after a bad dream. "Where's the light, where's the light?" she murmured to herself as that damp feeling started to grow. Then she stopped wandering aimlessly, took a deep breath, and refocussed herself instead. Panicking wasn't going to do her any good.
What was that thing Clint had called earlier?
"Hovis? Jardy? Jovis?" Ashley hissed into the darkness. No response. "Tardis? Jardis? JARVIS?"
"Yes, Miss Ashley?" burst through the smooth British voice. Ashley gasped and clamped her hands over her mouth.
"Oh! JARVIS h-hi…I'm trying t-to get…wait, what time is it?" she hissed loudly.
"It's currently 4:45am, Miss Ashley," JARVIS answered.
"Damn. Thank you - um, d'ya think you could turn on the light? Please?" Ashley winced sheepishly.
"Of course, Miss Ashley," JARVIS confirmed - and immediately, the room gave off a gentle orange glow. Only then could Ashley see the state of the queen sized bed she was in. It was absolutely soaked through; in fact the puddle was still sitting there stubbornly. It can't have been pee because it was clear, and had no odour. That could only mean that it was water from Ashley's fingertips, water from her own body - she must have began spouting it as the nightmare became more intense.
Thankfully, the fire and rocks had decided not to make an appearance.
"Shoot," Ashley muttered, ripping the wet sheets off the bed and bundling them together. "Shoot shoot SHOOT!"
"Miss Ashley, do you require anything else?" JARVIS asked, startling her again.
"Oh, y-yes! Please. Do you have a…laundry room here?" Ashley pleaded.
"We do indeed. Bottom floor and last room on the right - state of the art high speed washer-drier. You can take the elevator," JARVIS answered. Ashley breathed out in relief. She definitely preferred that over waiting for Pepper to get up to tell her that she had an accident.
"Thank you, JARVIS," she whispered back, before popping on her novelty Stark Enterprise slippers, tiptoeing through her bedroom door and slipping into the silent hallway, her bedsheets all bundled up in her arms. There was not a sound to be heard. She crept her way to the lift and called it up. It came swiftly and the doors opened up for her to enter. The interior was just as modern as the rest of the building, but because everything was so high tech that it was difficult to navigate. "JARVIS?" Ashley hissed again as the doors enclosed her in.
"Yes, Miss Ashley?"
"Hi again! Could you help me see what button to press to…you know, move?"
"Of course - going down," JARVIS confirmed, as the lift started to move.
"Why can't Stark make anything simple?" she muttered as she rolled her tired eyes.
"You'll get used to it," JARVIS' voice rang through the walls once again. Ashley smirked to herself, convinced that she could hear amusement lingering in the A.I.'s voice. Then the lift suddenly came to halt and the glass door slid open, revealing a brand new metallic hallway already lit up for her.
"Thank you again, you're a life saver," Ashley beamed to the invisible helper.
"My pleasure," he replied. Ashley regathered her bedsheets and took tentative steps across the hallway floor, hearing nothing but the sound of her novelty slippers slapping against the black stone tiles beneath her - that was, until there came the distant banging from somewhere down the hall. Her curiosity got the better of her, so she followed the sound, just to discover that it was emitting from the last room on the left. The thumping got louder as Ashley got closer and she realised door was slightly ajar, so she took her chances and peeked through.
But her breath caught dead in her throat once she realised who it was.
The room was a gym, in the centre of that gym was a punching bag, and punching that punching bag was Steve Rogers.
Steve Rogers was punching the punching bag in the room that was a gym.
His eyes were dark and focussed, there were sweat beads rolling stubbornly down his forehead and every punch he gave was more violent than the last. He was distracted, so Ashley took this as her time to leave - but being a super soldier meant that he couldn't be oblivious to anything. All it took was one quick glance and Ashley was caught like a rat.
Great.
"Ashley?" he frowned, holding the punching bag still and craning his neck around it. Ashley started to panic as she watched him approach the door, and she knew she had to play it off before she really embarrassed herself. So she fully pushed the door open with her hip and confidently strutted across the gym as if she wasn't just creeping on the guy.
"Oh! Hey Steve," she hummed casually. Steve raised an eyebrow and met her halfway with his face still full of bewilderment. "Bit early, no?"
"Bit late, you mean - I haven't exactly slept yet," he chuckled lightly, using the back of his hand to swipe the sweat off his forehead.
"You…haven't?" Ashley blinked.
"Nope," Steve confirmed quietly. "What're you doing up? It must be what, 4 or 5am?"
"4:45 last time I checked," Ashley answered flippantly, before she suddenly stopped in her tracks as she remembered why she was down there. "I…uh…h-had a rough night. An anxiety…nightmare." Steve nodded slowly and subconsciously redirected his eyes towards the bundle in Ashley's arms. His cheeks tinged red as he drew his own conclusion, whilst Ashley's eyes went wide once she realised what he was thinking. "It's not pee!" she rushed out, her cheeks also flushing just as brightly as his. Steve bit back an awkward smile. He was unable to tell if she was joking.
"Look, I don't judge-"
"No seriously Steve, it's not pee," Ashley frowned, lifting it higher so he could see that it wasn't stained. She knew this whole scenario would make her cringe later, but she was determined to prove herself in the moment. She could be stubborn like that. "It's literally water from my hands. It happens when I…panic."
"Water…from your hands?" Steve repeated slowly, now even more confused.
"Well, you've seen my mutation, right?" Ashley raised an amused eyebrow, causing Steve to raise his hands in defeat.
"Fair play," he hummed with a nod. "Soooo I guess you've come down here to wash and dry them?"
"You got it!" Ashley gave an awkward little smile before spinning on her heel and speedily making her way to the gym doors. She was so ridiculously embarrassed at this point. And what did she do when she was embarrassed? Run.
But no - Steve just had to say,
"Wait, Ashley?"
Ashley winced in irritation before turning to face him again, heart thumping with anticipation. "D'ya mind if I put something in with it?"
"Sure," Ashley hummed casually. She just wanted to get out of this predicament, and he wasn't making it easy. Steve turned away from her and Ashley looked on, assuming that he was going to grab an item of clothing from his gym bag. But, much to her surprise, Steve took the hem of his top and swiftly lifted it over his head, revealing his broad (sweaty), muscular, bare torso. His skin was glistening in the harsh industrial gym lights and Ashley could've sworn that he was moving in slow motion, like that weird scene in Twilight. By the time Steve had turned to face her again, crumpling the sweaty top in his hands, the look on her face made him freeze.
She was in awe, her plump lips slightly parted in pure bliss and her eyes staring directly at him. And that's when Steve quickly got embarrassed. Of course he had no clue what to do - he had been under the ice for too long and women completely confused him. But Ashley had already brought herself back to earth and awkwardly cleared her throat, outstretching her arms so that he could add his top onto the pile. "I…thanks! I'll pop it into…the…" Regular words just weren't leaving her lips anymore. "I'll…I'm sorry, Steve, but you're literally glistening. I can barely focus." Steve let out a sheepish chuckle and ducked his head slightly.
"I'm sweating, Ashley. It's gross, so I'm gonna go shower then try and get some sl-" Steve began to correct her - but Ashley wasn't having it. Steve may not know how to flirt properly - but she sure as hell did, and it was her time to shine.
Aside from when it was Scott, of course. He literally missed all the hints she was dashing out for years, so maybe she wasn't as good as she thought.
But still, today - she had to try again.
"So you're not gonna accompany me to the laundry room?" she frowned playfully, jutting out her plump bottom lip.
"Accompany you? Like this?" Steve frowned, gesturing towards that naked sweaty chest.
"I don't know how to use the machines! Don't let me break something else on my first day here - I already burnt a hole in Stark's wall," Ashley groaned. Steve sighed slightly before reluctantly agreeing, causing her to beam at him thankfully.
"Alright," he murmured, grabbing his water bottle and unhooking the punching bag from the ceiling. He wedged it under his arm and followed Ashley out of the gym, across the hallway and into the laundry room. There was a standard washer drier in there - it looked expensive but other than that, it was as simple as the average one could be. Ashley flicked on the light and got to loading the machine, but Steve interrupted her. "Don't worry, I got it," he assured her, gently lifting the bundles from her arms and doing it himself.
"Um, thanks…but I do know how to load a machine," Ashley smirked, still crouched beside him. She was far from the fake damsel in distress she was trying to convey - ironically, she liked doing things herself.
"If you know how to do it then, with respect - why am I here, ma'am?" Steve questioned her, eyes darting across to meet hers.
"Two reasons - one, I wasn't expecting a regular washer and dryer in a place that Tony Stark designed. Two! You have no shirt on and it's not a bad view," Ashley joked lightly, lazily gesturing towards his torso area. Steve chuckled again, and finished loading the machine before going to sit down on one of the benches. But much to his surprise, Ashley settled herself on the cold laundry room floor instead, leaning her back against the machine and drawing her knees to her chest. Once Steve noticed she was on the floor, he sat opposite her on the floor too. "You don't have to be so gentlemanly all the time, you know," Ashley raised a dark auburn brow, feeling a smirk began to play on her lips.
"I'm not doing it to score points - I just haven't really grasped how to behave 'normally' nowadays," Steve sighed a little ashamedly. Ashley stared at him for a few seconds.
"What do you mean? Nowadays?" she had to ask. Steve's eyebrows furrowed together at such an innocent but bizarre question - then it dawned on him that this woman may have had no idea who he was.
"I was kinda involved in an experiment in 1942…I was injected with a 'super-soldier serum', took down a terrorist organisation then was under ice for seventy odd years," he tried to wrap it up the best he could.
"OH! I keep forgetting that you're that Captain America dude, I'm sorry," Ashley breathed, shaking her head.
"Yes, I'm 'that Captain America dude'," Steve confirmed with a small smile. Ashley almost let out a squeal as she watched the adorableness practically ooze out of his face.
"I've heard about you, but I never studied you properly," she yawned, covering her mouth politely. "I never got to look you up. Barely touched a computer. I wasn't allowed to get too 'distracted', in case it made me fail my exams."
"Sounds pretty reasonable. Did you end up passing?" Steve blinked, resting his arms on his knees.
"…nope, I nearly killed everyone in the school! Twice!" Ashley beamed and gave him a sarcastic thumbs up. Steve chuckled and shook his head. "But this brings me to another point…what do the rest of you guys do? I know that Stark is Iron Man, Dr. Banner is the big green guy but the rest of you.…?" Steve took a deep breath and ticked each name off his fingers.
"Well, there's Barton and Natasha - Barton is an incredibly skilled archer and Natasha is a…well a 'super spy' who also kills," he started off, "then there's Thor, literal God of Thunder, he's got that all-powerful-hammer-thing…there's Christie-" Ashley tried not to let her eyes light up by the mention of her sister's name, "-she's another assassin kinda spy who does all the dagger and blade work, whilst Natasha prefers guns and combat. They'll both probably take some time to warm up to you but they're nice people on the inside, ya know?"
"Mmmm," Ashley hummed casually, so badly wanting to smile at his words. She could listen to Steve talk forever - his voice was like soft music to her ears; then to make it better, whenever he spoke about his teammates she could literally see that glimmer of excitement in his eyes. His entire demeanour was so innocent and incredibly pure - it was endearing to say the least.
She drew herself back into the room after realising she'd drifted off again.
"…then there's you of course. That whole nature thing must be a little tiring sometimes, no?" Steve was frowning at her. Ashley smirked and ran both hands through her loose curls.
"Yup," she confirmed before yawning again. "Tonight is a perfect example. I remember one time I woke up from a nightmare to see I'd burnt a hole through my mattress. I woke up on the floor - and my entire room was on fire." The genuine shock on Steve's face almost made Ashley burst out laughing.
"Why?"
"Why?" Ashley repeated with a light giggle. "Because that's what this thing does to me, unprovoked. It's insane, but it's real. It's very, very real."
"It sounds rough. Was it put in you…? If that even makes sense-"
"Nope. No injection, no lab accident…this is what I was born with. It's called a mutation, and there's many of us out there," Ashley informed him with yet another yawn. But before she could continue, there was an intrusive beeping from behind her, causing them both frown and look up over at the washer-dryer. The little screen running across the top was flashing the word 'DONE', causing Ashley to leap to her feet and open the door again. Both the bedsheets and Steve's top were sitting there washed, dried, neatly pressed and somehow - folded. "So it's not a normal washer dryer? I win!" she hummed, passing Steve his shirt which he received with a thankful nod. He hopped up too, leaving them both facing each other in a small silence.
It was the silences that Ashley hated more than anything.
"Well, I guess I should be getting some sleep - I'll see you later?" Steve guessed with a small shrug. Ashley stifled another yawn and nodded.
"Sure thing. My tiredness is catching up with me too," she admitted shyly.
"Do you want me to walk you back to your room?" Steve offered up.
"No thank you, Captain," Ashley declined politely, biting back a smile. "If I get lost, I'm sure that JARVIS will save me." Steve chuckled and nodded tiredly.
"Fair enough. Goodnight, Ashley."
"Goodnight, Steve!" Ashley turned round and swiftly walked out of the room and back to where the lift was awaiting her return, carefully ignoring the fact that she could feel Steve's eyes on her as she left. By the time she got back onto hers, Pepper's and Tony's floor - she saw that Tony was also awake, making a whole heap of noise with the blender in the kitchen whilst dressed in his plush grape dressing gown. Ashley winced at the sudden influx of noise as she stepped out of the lift.
"Morning, sunshine!" Tony beamed over the noise. Ashley gave him a tired wave and continued walking through the living room to her room. "Where are you coming from?"
"Had to wash my sheets," Ashley informed him with a tired yawn. Tony couldn't keep the amused smirk off his face.
"Awww, Lil Ash-Ash had a beddywetty?" he pouted in a baby voice. Ashley threw him the finger and simply continued to walk to her room, not bothered to explain herself right now. And why should she? She wanted to get back into the warm bed with those fresh sheets, so that she could bask in the thoughts of that rare one on one time with Steve Rogers.
Scott who?
…
I am so sorry for no chapter last week! The UK is slowly easing out of lockdown so naturally, I went out with my friends for the weekend - oops! Maybe two chapters next week to make up for it, huh?
We're loving Ashley and Steve though, right?