Chapter 5: What's a Tesseract and Why Am I Not Asleep?
Disclaimer: I own a cat named Sir Fluffermunchkin the Third, but I tragically don't own Marvel.
Secondary Warning: Welp, here we go again. I literally just posted Chapter 4 and I'm already writing Chapter 5. I'm only mildly addicted so no worries. Thank you so so much again to everyone that has followed or favorited this story or mine. If it weren't for you guys I'd have quit like ten times by now. Thanks a million to my wonderful beta reader as I would be lost and using horribly bad grammar without you. Also we are finally at the beginning of the Avengers! Anywho, on to the thing!
Steve destroys another punching bag by sending it flying across the room. Still, I refuse to become any more than half conscious. Sleep is life.
"Trouble sleeping?" asks Fury from the doorway jarring me slightly farther towards being fully awake. Nope, I think as I bury myself deeper into my sweatshirt. Surely I'm dreaming. Even if I'm not, I don't care. It is too late at night and I am too tired to deal with Fury right now. I refuse.
"I slept for seventy years, sir. I think I've had my fill. Besides, Eve sleeps enough for the both of us," Steve replies. Damn your sass, Steve. I bite my tongue to keep from sassing him back in the hopes that if I remain still they'll leave me alone. Then the sounds of Steve's punches stop. Oh no. He walks over and nudges my leg with his foot.
"Wake up, you're sleeping on the job again." So apparently he doesn't want to face Fury alone. I can't really blame him. For his sake, I force my eyes open.
"I'm not sleeping. I'm just resting my eyes, you jerk," I mumble as I sit up.
"You should be out, celebrating, seeing the world," Fury suggests. Huh, that's actually a good idea. Maybe I could plan a world tour for him.
"When I went under, the world was at war. I wake up, they say we won. They didn't say what we lost," Steve tells Fury while unwrapping his hands. I feel like I'm missing something. Maybe if Steve would just talk to me I'd understand. Or maybe I'm lost because I'm still not really awake. I don't know it really could be either of those things.
"We've made some mistakes along the way," Fury supplies as a response. I snort. Some? Fury just ignores me as usual. "Some," he adds, "very recently."
"Are you here with a mission, sir?" Steve inquires. Duh, of course he is. Why can't Fury just give Steve time to grieve and recover? This better be big or I'm going to fight him. I even have a gauntlet I can throw down that I have been dying to use.
"I am," affirms Nick.
"Trying to get me back in the world?" asks Steve.
"Trying to save it," Fury admits as he hands Steve a file.
"Oh, how ominous," I chime in as I get up and move next to where Steve is sitting so I can read over his shoulder.
"Hydra's secret weapon," Steve recalls as he sees the picture of a weird blue glow-y cube. Huh? I'm lost again.
"Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you," reveals Fury, "He thought what we think. The Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs."
"Who took it from you?" Steve asks while handing back the suspiciously vague, small, and uninformative file.
"He's called Loki. He's not from around here," Fury replies. I suck in a breath.
"No way! Loki Loki? Like capital T, The Loki?" I babble before thinking. Oops, wrong train.
"Yes," Fury informs me before turning back to Steve. "There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in." He pauses for a millisecond before continuing, "The world has gotten even stranger than you already know."
"At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me," Steve theorizes as he gets up and starts gathering his stuff. Wait, we're leaving? Okay…
"Ten bucks says you're wrong," bets Fury. Why is Steve grabbing a punching bag along with his stuff? "There is a debriefing packet waiting for you back at your apartment," Fury tells us as Steve heaves the punching bag over his shoulder and starts heading for the door. I just follow like the lost and confused puppy that I am.
"Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?" Fury asks Steve.
"You should have left it in the ocean," Steve tells him with a edge of bitterness in his voice as he walks out the door. Dramatic much, Steve?
"Wait," I pause at the door, "am I even invited?"
Steve is in car by the time I get there. I swear I only stopped for half a minute. Stupid tall people with their long legs. I slide into the driver's seat and start the car before speaking.
"So," I begin hesitantly while heading back to our (Wait, when did it become 'our'?) apartment, "why are you so salty about this?"
"Salty?" Steve repeats while giving me an befuddled look.
"Yeah, salty. It's slang for bitter or upset," I inform him. I glance over to see he has his eyebrows raised.
"Really? Salty?" he echoes again with an bemused look.
"Yes," I sigh. "Now are you going to answer the question or no?"
"I don't know if I can get past salty long enough to answer it," he jests.
"Steve. I'm serious. I get if you don't want to talk about it or even if you just don't want talk to me about it, but I can tell you're bottling a lot of stuff up. You act fine most of the time, but I've seen you facade slip. I know you're hurting. That's really not good for you," I fret.
"Don't worry about me, Eve," Steve advises me.
"I can't help it! I'm a worrier and I have been since I was a kid. I worry about literally everything when it comes to the people I care about and you're my friend, so you're just gonna have to learn to deal with it," I tell him forcefully as I pull into the parking garage.
I get out before he can reply and head across the street. I get that we only met a week ago and I know I shouldn't expect him to just spill his guts to someone who is still at best a sorta friend to him, but I already consider him one of my closest friends. It's just hard to watch someone so genuinely amazing hurting and know you can't help. Steve followed behind me silently I realize as I stop outside my door.
"I'm sorry," I apologize quietly with my hand on the door handle.
"It's alright, Eve," he replies with a smile in his voice causing me to look up at him. He really is smiling. "It's nice to know I have someone looking out for me," he tells me. I smile back even though he may just be humoring me yet again, but I hope it's the truth nonetheless.
Inside we find two debriefing packets. First of all, how'd someone get inside past Dog? Secondly, so I am invited. Nice to know. I grab one and collapse on the couch to read it before heading to bed. Steve drops his stuff in his room, including the punching bag, then follows my lead and sits in my recliner. We sit reading quietly for a while before my eyes start getting tired again. Remember how I mentioned how boring debriefings are? Well, debriefing packets are even worse. I struggle along for a while longer before I give in to the burning of my eyes and shut them. Just for a second, I think.
That was longer than a second, is my first thought as I open my eyes to the sun shining through my window directly onto my face. I take a second to get reorientated. Well, I'm still on the couch, but now I have a blanket which is nice. I look over to see Steve asleep in the recliner with his packet still in his lap.
We're good at life.
I get up and check the time. We have less than half an hour before we need to be places doing things. Damn.
I wake Steve up and in under fifteen minutes we are ready and out the door. Yeup, definitely good at life.
