~April 9, 2015~
Tonight was the night when the party was held on by Tony Stark himself as everything in the lounge area is now fully prepared and getting ready for the social gathering. Inside the guest room where Helen is now fully dressed up pretty nicely in her simple yet dark blue evening dress and sat in her chair, looking at the mirror while combing her hair smoothly before putting on some light makeup, to make herself look natural.
This is the first time she has dolled herself up for such an event at the Avengers Tower. Never in her life that she would have thought of attending a party. For her head was always focused on her work in understanding the fields of cell biology having invented the Cradle.
Helen remembers the time in her high school days when many guys around the university wanted to ask her out for the prom, both the seniors and juniors in her batch. Despite her shy personality and always independent on doing things on her own, the male students are surprised that she declined their offer on being her escort or her date. Many of the students, even her colleagues didn't really understand why this woman who has such ethereal beauty and a genius- level intellect doesn't go to have fun more often.
The doctor shakes her head in amusement at that memory after getting herself done from applying makeup. Helen did a great job of putting it up very nicely as she looks at herself in the mirror. She never thought that this event tonight would make her feel a bit nervous, considering that social gatherings were never her thing and sometimes meeting new people makes her feel uneasy. Though her confidence still continues to stay with her from which she is glad that her emotions are still keeping in balance.
Helen then leaves her guest room with nothing else to bring but herself before closing the door behind and went straight towards the lounge area. As the room she was going is near, Helen slowly walks into the room where she can hear the guests talking and the background music playing as she enters the area.
The party at Saturday Night was in full blast on the ninety-first floor of the Avengers Tower. Tony had the music playing swiftly in the background all over the entire room and had also set up several pool tables in one corner for the people to enjoy, which was turning out to be completely popular with the veterans. Mostly though, the guests have their conversations about most various stations while the Avengers mingled around, all of them enjoyed Tony Stark's open bar.
The whole team was there, all dressed up at their best look. At the start of the night, Helen can see Natasha and Rhodey relaxed on one of the couches, chatting casually like any normal person would do while Thor exchanged war stories with some of the old veterans on the couches across the room. Truth to be told, it was kind of strange to see one of the Norse Gods dressed in anything but his armor he had been wearing the first time Helen had seen him. And now here he was in his nice grey shirt with a red overcoat and dark pants.
Helen then carefully descends herself down the stairs, Tony looks up to see her present with a grin as he took two champagnes from the bar before he approaches the Doctor.
"Dr. Cho, finally! You made it into this awesome jazz party of mine. I always thought you would be in the lab, continuing your research. Yet here you are, unexpectedly arrived." He greets her while giving her the champagne.
She takes the drink from his hand and smiled a bit playful as she spoke. "Well, this will be my only night off while I could use a little bit of socializing here in this "Awesome Jazz Party" of yours before I get back to my usual work."
Stark chuckled. "Glad you are here, Doctor. And oh!" Tony snaps his fingers ecstatically as if an idea had appeared on his mind. "There is someone I would like you to introduce. Come!" He gestures her to follow him as Helen moves from behind.
Surprised when she saw Tony approached Thor who stood up from his coach with a polite smile to leave. The billionaire patted his shoulder and spoke to him near his ear. The God of Thunder raised his eyebrows with an "oh" before Tony leads him to Helen's direction.
"Thor, meet Dr. Helen Cho." He raises his hand in front of her while introducing the Korean geneticist to the Norse God. "Doctor, meet 'Point break of Thunder'."
Thor rolled his eyes in annoyance yet somehow amused before smiling at Helen who also smiled in return before she greets him with a handshake. Unexpectedly Thor took her hand and kissed the back of her hand like a gentleman. Helen slightly blushes at the sweet gesture he has given her and bashfully giggles while Tony just amusingly scoffs at his tall blonde-headed friend's way of attracting a woman.
"It was such a pleasure to meet you, Lady Helen." He lets go of her gently as Helen is somehow flattered at him calling her "Lady" while shyly tuck a piece of her dark hair behind her ear but keeps herself look calm and casual as she greeted him.
"And it was an honor to meet you, Thor. Tony has told me much about you."
"Well, I hope my friend has told you great things. But I don't mind if he just told you not so great things about me." Thor chuckled slightly.
"Oh, don't worry." Helen giggled softly before continuing. "Mr. Stark only told me about how much of a great friend you are to him and your fellow Avengers."
"Well, you are right about that." He nodded in content before looking at Tony who winked at him in amusement.
"And Mr. Stark had told me that your girlfriend, Jane Foster is an astrophysicist. Is that true?" Helen asked with pure curiousness and delight.
Thor smiled when Helen had mentioned his lady love's name. Who would've thought that the God of Thunder, one of the most powerful warriors on Asgard, fell in love with a mortal woman who does not have the qualities most of the Asgardian woman have, especially Lady Sif who was well respected as a warrior and a perfect choice that his father, Odin wanted him to take her as his queen when the time comes for him to take the throne. But to Thor, Jane Foster was every bit of a woman he never thought he had loved and admired. The way she talked about comparing magic to science, never giving up on the work she had in her life and risking her own to help him in every impossible way he had dealt with like what happened in Mexico and London. Thor loved Jane the way she is, a beautiful, clever and intelligent woman that no Asgardian woman can compare.
"Yes, it is true. My beloved Lady Jane is an amazing astrophysicist."
Helen genuinely smiles at Thor when he speaks about his girlfriend. She can see in his expression that he cares and admires this woman so much. 'Guess this is what love feels like to him'. She thought.
"Can you tell me more about her?"
"Of course, Lady Helen." Thor grins gleefully.
Tony, on the other hand, smiles at the two before leaves them alone to talk as he strolls around and walked about to talk some of his guests while offering drinks to everyone.
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~o~
While the party continues to go on, Steve and Sam were enjoying a game of pool with a group of other veterans and from the sounds of it, Steve had beaten Sam on the game when he tries to push the balls into a hole but failed.
"Ooohhh come back, come back, come back." He waves his hand in swagger kind of way to get another round.
"You're never gonna leave this down, are you?" Steve chuckled at his friend who never gives on losing this game.
"Never in a million years, Cap." He winked at him with a playful smirk. "In fact, I'm sure I will beat you this time."
"Yeah, keep telling yourself that when this game is done, Sam."
And so many rounds have passed, Steve had won the game while Sam just gives up and let the Captain win like a good sport.
Even though he admits that he doesn't want to lose from the likes of his blonde-headed friend.
~o~
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~o~
After Helen is done having a conversation with Thor about mostly Jane and her work about the convergence, she carefully walks her way towards to take a seat when she saw Clint sitting alone at the indoor glass balcony where he wore a checkered smart shirt with a dark jacket and pants.
"Mind if I join in, Mr. Barton."
Clint looks up to see Helen standing on the side as he politely smiles at her. "I don't mind, Doctor." Gesturing her join in as Helen walks her way to him and stands in front of him, leaning herself on the bar while putting her hand on the stand.
"What's a person like you doing here drinking alone while many of the guests here are having a good time?" She asked.
"Well, I'm not much of a social gathering kind of guy, as you can see." Clint replied before lifting his glass and drink his brandy.
"So it would seem." She chuckled softly while fidgeting her fingers on the champagne glass.
The silence between them grows for a short moment until Clint suddenly blurted out. "So are you sure there's nothing different after you healed me, Doctor?"
"As I said, Mr. Barton. There's no need to worry as you will be made of you. And if your future girlfriend comes into your life, there's no chance that she will think that your side waist is "made of plastic" as you claimed." She explained.
"Well, I don't have a girlfriend. But I do have a wife." He said with a grin, amused to see the Doctor's eyebrow-raising with surprise.
"Oh! Really?" Her eyes blinked twice at Clint's sudden words about his wife.
"Yeah, but please don't tell anyone. Even the team. Alright?" He said with an almost pleading tone yet made a serious smile at her.
"Of course, Mr. Barton. I won't tell anyone, I promise." Helen smiled with reassurance.
"Just call me 'Clint'. Mr. Barton kinda makes me feel old." Clint smirked.
"Okay, Mr. Ba— I-I mean Clint." Chuckled nervously at her mistake. "I'm sorry, it can take a short while getting used to."
"No harm done."
"So… do you have kids?" She asked with a soft smile.
In return, Clint did the same as he replied. "Yeah, I do."
And with that, the two continue to chat mostly about Clint's daily life and family.
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~o~
As their game of pool wrapped up, Steve finally manages to fill Sam in about what had happened in Sokovia. The pair had walk-off by the time he finished explaining as Sam said. "Sounds like a hell of a fight, sorry I missed it."
They both walked up to the stairs at the same pace towards the upper indoor-balcony sitting area as Steve replied a bit teasingly. "If I had known it was going to be a firefight, I absolutely would have called." He smiled.
"No, I'm not actually sorry." Sam retorted as he continued lightly. "I'm just trying to sound tough. I'm very happy chasing cold leads on our missing persons' case." He gave Steve a wry smile as the super-soldier did in return before walking over to the railings, facing the party. "Avenging is your world. Your world is crazy."
The pair leaned on the railings as Steve said a little dryly. "Be it ever so humble."
They looked out into the party until unexpectedly Steve spotted Helen laughing with Clint as it was no surprise that they are talking about how she healed the archer with an impossible creation or something else they wanted to speak about. It has been three days since he last saw her after what had happened in the kitchen, this strange connection they had between him and Helen. Whenever he tries to see her during the next three days, she finds a way around to avoid him immediately and somehow this annoys him greatly. At this point, he wanted to talk to her maybe something about what happened between them. And he really can't help but wanting to be so close to her. His thoughts were quickly interrupted when Sam spoke out.
"You find a place in Brooklyn yet?" He asked curiously while taking a sip of brandy, knowing that was where Steve really wanted to go back to.
The Captain turned to face his friend and pointed out. "I don't think I can afford a place in Brooklyn."
Sam nodded before he replied rhetorically. "Well, home is home, you know?"
That made Steve pause as he glanced at Sam before he turned back to look down at Helen, his face becoming a little pensive. 'Home.'He thought. Thinking about the days on what had happened to his friends after being asleep while frozen solid. Knowing that most of his companions had lived their lives, many have good jobs and retirements, possibly raising their families and died peacefully in old age. Peggy too had lived her life to the fullest, got a great job while being an agent in her S.H.I.E.L.D days, find new love and got married to a man named Daniel Sousa whom he now knows that he is one of the soldiers Steve saved from the Siege of Bastogne and had children and grandchildren of their own. He really wished that he would go back into his original time where he can have that kind of life with Peggy if he didn't end up frozen. But he knows that there's nothing he can do about it, the time has done him good. And it would be so cruel to think that if he survives after the war and tries to win Peggy back. Though he was not that kind of a person to do so by stealing her away from her relationship with the man she had grown to love with.
Now the only home he has is the battlefield and he can't really tell whether he's going to be okay not surrounding himself with anything but army-related.
'I know that somewhere… out there is waiting for you.' Steve then again, remembers those words Peggy had told him as he continues to look at Helen from the lower distance then his thoughts slowly deepens.
'Will I ever find where I belong? Where I can finally go home.'
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About halfway through the night, Steve bid his friend Sam a goodbye and move on their separate ways before being dragged into by Thor, inviting him to get a drink as he patted the super-soldier's broad shoulder. "Come, let me get you a drink, my friend." He pulls him to his side by wrapping his arm around him.
"I can't get drunk." Steve pointed out, as he was continuously led by the blonde-headed Norse God to one of the booths near where some of the old veterans were sharing a large decanter of alcohol. Thor chuckled as he replied. "That is a good thing because I have just the right thing for us where we both can drink without getting drunk so easily."
Steve raised his eyebrow curiously as he watched when Thor pulled out a small flask, filled with some dark-colored liquid. An old veteran spotted the flask before called out curiously. "Oh, I gotta have some of that!"
"Oh no, no, no." Thor disagrees as he poured some of the contents into the glass. "See this, this was aged for a thousand years." He handed the glass to Steve politely gets his drink from him before sniffing it curiously. "In the barrels built from the wreck of Grunhel's fleet." He poured himself a glass before continues to speak. "It is not meant for mortal men."
"Neither was Omaha beach, blondie." Another old veteran with his sunglasses on interjected from his seat beside Thor. "Stop trying to scare us. Come on."
He gestured for Thor to pour them some of his alcohol as the God of Thunder glanced at Steve who just shrugged with no words to say of complaint.
Same as Steve's, he then agreed. "Alright."
Thor poured some of his flask's contents into the old man's glass, handing it back to the veteran. The others also called for some of his as well, and Thor just shrugged while passing around some of his Norse God alcohol to the group of veterans.
Moments later, the first veteran was led out gently by the two bartenders. The old man unable to walk on his own as he mumbled drunkenly "Excelsior". The other veterans were laid down and passed out on the table, completely knocked out by Thor's alcohol.
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Bruce wandered off after he finished chatting with Tony as he heads over to the bar. He was surprised to see Natasha alone behind the empty counter, looking beautiful in her white and black dress while she shook up a cocktail for a drink.
He walked over just as she was pouring the blood-red liquid into a cocktail glass as he asked jokingly. "How did a nice girl like you wind up working in a dump like this?"
Natasha grinned a little as Bruce leaned on the counter before she adopted a sad expression and said softly. "Fella done me wrong."
She grabbed another glass, pouring the remainder of the cocktail from the shaker while Bruce commented. "You got a lousy taste in men, kid."
"He's not so bad." Natasha replied while she struck a cherry in the drink as she pushed the glass towards Bruce, who glanced at it in surprise and then at her when she added. "Well, he has a temper."
Bruce smiled a little, thinking that Natasha was joking about it as she picked up her own glass and continued to add. "Deep down, he's all fluff."
The scientist also lifted his glass and Natasha murmured while watching. "Fact is, he's not like anybody I've ever known."
Bruce stared at her, suddenly a little unsure if the Russian was still teasing or being serious as the woman spoke out softly, looking at him carefully. "All my friends are fighters. And here comes this guy, spends his life avoiding the fight because he knows he'll win.
"Sounds amazing." Bruce muttered before drinking his cocktail, unable to think of anything else to say.
"He's also a huge dork." Natasha added with a small smirk.
Bruce scoffed a little at her words, feeling slightly embarrassed, but Natasha surprised him as she said encouragingly. "Chicks dig that."
He glanced at her again puzzled as to where she was going with this, especially when Natasha sat her glass down and suddenly asked him in a serious tone. "So what do you think should I fight this, or run with it?"
"Run with it, right?" Bruce asked with a confused look before he added. "Or did he… was he? What did he do that was so… He hesitated to find the right word before settling with Natasha's. "wrong to you?"
"Not a damn thing." Natasha sighed before she picked up her glass and added coquettishly. "But never say never."
She grinned at Bruce with her green eyes gleaming as she pursed her red lips before she turned and walked away, her black skirt flying out behind her. The scientist stayed where he was, leaning on the bar counter and somewhat puzzled by Natasha's random switches between flirtatious and seriousness.
He was startled from his thoughts when a voice spoke from beside him. "It's nice."
Bruce glanced over in surprise to see Steve leaning on the far edge of the counter, watching him. Feeling awkward for some reason like he'd been caught on doing something he shouldn't be doing. "What, what, what is?" He asked nervously.
"You and Romanoff." Steve replied with a small smile as he nodded at where Natasha had just been.
Bruce quickly denied at the Captain's claims, feeling embarrassed that he had been watched. "No, we haven't. That wasn't—"
"It's okay." Steve chuckled, interrupting Bruce with a raised hand. "Nobody's breaking any by-laws."
Bruce shifted uncomfortably as Steve continued, almost a little thoughtfully. "It's just, she's not the most… open person in the world. But with you, she seems very relaxed." He smiled.
"No, Natasha, she…" Bruce said as he tried to protest. "She likes to flirt."
Steve raised his eyebrow while reaching over the counter to take a beer he had originally come for before he witnessed the two talking together. "I've seen her flirt, up close."
He casually walked over towards Bruce as he added with a point. "This ain't that."
Bruce scoffed at this, causing Steve to sigh before he continued. "Look, as maybe the world's leading authority on waiting too long, don't." He smiled warmly but with a hint of seriousness.
He looked at Bruce right in the eye and told him sincerely. "You both deserve a win."
Bruce bowed his head slightly as Steve smiled a little wryly before walking off. The scientist frowned as he thought of what the Captain said, and asked after him. "W-what do you mean 'up close'?"
But he paused as he saw Steve walking his way towards Helen who then seems to be asleep, laying her head on the other edge of the couch. The Captain then sits beside her at the side of her thighs touching his while he looks at her with a soft expression, gently stroking her hair with comfort. Bruce can see Helen moved her head a little from Steve's touch but didn't open her eyes yet somehow relaxed as he continues to stroke her head softly as she went into a deep sleep not knowing that it was the Captain trying to comfort her to sleep.
From the way Steve stares at the young Korean geneticist is not something of a friendly gesture. He can tell from the looks of the Captain's face, it is the expression of a man in love. And Bruce somehow thinks that Steve does not know it yet, but maybe in time he will.
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~o~
Sleeping quietly Helen is right now, unaware of the person beside her. Steve silently watches her like a guardian angel looking after this woman in her sleep as he took a sip of his drink before looking at her sleeping form again. He honestly didn't expect to see her resting during the party hours but he couldn't blame her though, for she had been busy most of the time at the lab and wondered whether she ever had the day off for herself.
But the one thing Steve didn't realize is that Helen looked so beautiful tonight even more so when she sleeps, he also reminds her of a Disney princess character named 'Snow White' in the film he had watched before. 'Well, she does kinda look like Snow White when she sleeps.' He amusingly thought the first time he saw her sleeping that way.
Steve then thinks about how he feels for Helen. He barely even knew her as he had only known her for what, a few days and then suddenly he just had this feeling of a strange yet alluring connection he had with her when they first met. He could've just been friends with her or maybe be acquainted like Maria Hill or the other staff in the building. But no, instead he has these unknown warmth feelings he has for Helen.
And there is one thing he somehow knows about this kind of phenomenon. Steve may believe in God but when it comes to myths and legends he doubts that any of this is real.
'Soulmates'.
Steve scoffed at that thought. Really? Soulmates, him and Helen. He thinks of it is as nothing but a female's fantasy dream, though he does believe in first love and that's all that matters. And Peggy is the perfect woman for him, his first love and forever his in his heart yet Steve can't shake this feeling he has for Helen.
He hopes that God will give him his answer soon because he honestly can't take this any longer if it keeps happening when Helen is around with him while still having his undying love for Peggy.
It seems soulmates again to you is really weird huh (^^) ❤️ Well I don't mind one bit ❤️
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See you soon for the next chapter ;)
Review (^u^)❤️?