I woke up wincing in pain. A dual headache making itself known for the third morning in a row. The tightness in my chest not having gotten any better, yet. I got out of bed and made my way to the bathroom making sure Steve wasn't in there first. When I was sure it was clear I went in grimacing at the bruise across my cheek and jaw and the almost broken skin on the temple disappearing almost into the hairline. My torso didn't look any better than my face.
After getting clean I got dressed and went to the kitchen. I got to work cleaning it from top to bottom, then I moved to the living room. Halfway through Steve walked in.
"Jayson, have you been cleaning all morning?" He questioned.
I swallowed hard, nodding my head.
"Oh, why don't you take a break and take a walk with me?"He suggested.
I only shrugged.
"Shrugging isn't an answer. It was a yes or no question." He said.
"Sure," I said flinching.
We went outside and the afternoon sun felt great on my skin. We walked down a different way than we normally did. The air smelt slightly more damp over there. The silence stretched between us until Steve broke it.
"Are you taking care of your injuries?" He asked.
"yes." A lie.
"Good, how is your school work going?"He questioned.
"Fine." Another lie, I'd been neglecting both.
"You know, I don't know why you're lying. Jarvis and Maria have let me know that you're not doing either." He said stopping and crossing his arms.
I cringed.
"So, do you want to explain?" He asked.
I took a step away from him. "I've been busy." I stuttered out.
"Cleaning things that aren't dirty?" It was more of a statement than a question.
I shrugged.
"What's going on?" He bit out.
"Nothing," I said flinching as his arm raised.
He looked shocked and lowered his arm.
"Let's go back to the house." He said turning on his heel and walking away.
I followed behind him, watching the ground. The walk back was silent. When we got back to the house I started the school work that Maria had sent over. I could hear Steve talking to someone but didn't bother to listen to what he was saying.
Third POV
"Tony, I need help," Steve said hoping Jayson wasn't listening in.
"Sure what's going on?" The billionaire asked.
Steve explained briefly what happened between the housemates three nights before.
"Tony, I really need to fix this, the kid thinks I'm just going to start beating on him all the time." Steve pleaded.
"Don't buy him anything that he'd allergic to. I made that mistake once with pepper. Does that help?" Tony asked.
"Not really, I'll call Bruce," Steve said.
"Yeah, do that." Tony agreed before hanging up.
Steve groaned inwardly and called Bruce.
"Hey Steve, what do I owe this pleasure?" Bruce greeted.
"Bruce, I need advice," Steve said continuing on to explain what happened.
"And it was an accident?" Bruce confirmed.
"Yes, just a knee jerk reaction that I couldn't stop in time." He said pinching the bridge of his nose.
"You need to learn to control yourself better around him." The Doctor said.
"Thanks, Bruce," Steve said hanging up.
He sighed in frustration then another person popped into his head. He quickly dialed the number waiting for an answer.
"Hey Captain, I'm kind of busy right now," Rhody said, the sounds of combat raging in the background.
"Please, Rhody I need your help." Steve once again pleaded.
"Alright, what's going on?" Rhody asked.
Steve once again explained. Rhody was shot at until he kicked the person, hard in the chest.
"I'm trying to help a friend, you're being rude," Rody said to one of the many henchmen. "Sorry about that. Alright here's what you do..."
The line went dead and steve sighed
Jayson's POV
I finished the school work and laid my head down on the computer desk, taking a deep breath. In thirty minutes I'd have to start dinner but I didn't want to face the warden. His mood swings were starting to make my head spin. Had I'd known he'd have lost his temper and struck me then I would never have pushed him in the first place. I sat up and slowly made my way to the kitchen. I started on dinner and relaxed at the normalcy of it. The small escape didn't last long once Steve entered the kitchen. My whole body tensed which made it difficult to hang on to anything.
"Jayson, you don't have to cook every night. You are allowed to say no." He said.
I didn't say anything in return.
"I'm sorry for hitting you. It was a knee-jerk reaction. I swear it'll never happen again." He said sighing.
"You said you wouldn't hurt me." I sounded exactly like the kid I pretended not to be.
"I know and it'll never happen again." He promised pleadingly.
I just shrugged. He walked closer to me and my body tensed impossibly. He sighed returning to his spot.
"What are you making?" He asked.
"Steak," I said mixing the cranberry reduction.
"Sounds good, when will it be done?" he asked.
"In five minutes," I informed him.
He nodded moving carefully around me to grab plates and silverware. I tensed again but tried to hide it.
Third POV
Over the next few days Steve called Wanda, Vision, Thor, and Sam. Wanda offered to warp Jayson's reality so he wouldn't remember it, which Steve turned down saying that avoiding the situation would make him a hypocrite because he was trying to get Jayson to stop doing that very thing.
Vision told him to apologize. Steve explained that he had and Vision not understanding the true emotions on both sides asked if he'd done it correctly. Steve wasn't sure he had but thought that saying sorry should have been enough.
Thor told him to make a romantic gesture, like destroying something, like mount Rushmore and rebuilding something in that spot for the world to see. Steve told him there were no romantic feelings between them and Thor was at a loss.
Sam suggested that he draw the kid something with his "Mad Skills". Steve explained how that was the cause of Jayson walking on in the first place. Then Sam suggested a date, which Steve, once again said that there were no romantic feelings between them. Sam just laughed.
Steve waited for Clint to answer on the fourth day.
"Hey, Capsicle." Clint greeted.
"Clint, I need help," Steve explained for the eighth time what had happened.
"Hit him again," Clint said.
"That seems counterproductive." Steve reasoned.
"It'll either make it worse or snap him out of it," Clint said.
"Clint, I'm not going to hit him again," Steve said with finality.
"Fine ask Nat, she's better at this," Clint suggested.
"I'll do that. Thanks anyway." Steve hung up.
Steve waited until the next day to call up Natasha. She answered and Steve repeated the something he'd told the others.
"Have him fight it out with Agent Sparkles. Trust me." Nat said referring to Agent Young.
"Are you sure about that?" Steve asked.
"Yes, it won't completely make everything go away but it'll help him start moving in the right direction," Nat explained.
Jayson POV
"we're going for a walk," Steve informed me as he walked by the library.
I stood and followed him without arguing even though I did not want to go on another walk with him. When we'd got outside we were greeted by Agent Young. He stood looking ready for a fight.
"Alright, I want you to fight. The only two rules are that it isn't going to end in death or hospitalization." Steve said.
"I don't want to do this," I said fully prepared for a beating for defying him.
"Then prepare to just defend yourself," Steve said.
Agent Young took a swing at me that I blocked. He went to kick me but I twisted so he missed. It went on like that for a while until we got too close to Steve. The agent kicked out, I dodged and his foot made contact with Steve's sternum. He didn't budge or act like he was in any pain but the kick still made me angry. I snapped retaliating with a kick of my own. It hit his arm forcing him back and the crack coming from his shoulder was oddly satisfying.
"Alright, that's enough," Steve said grabbing me and pulling me away from the downed agent.
"Please don't touch me." I bit out trying to calm myself down.
The captain released me with a smile. He helped the agent up and the shoot hands. I watched them carefully. Steve turned toward me grinning.
"You did a number on him," Steve told me walking toward the house.
I followed him while Agent Young headed the other way. Once we got inside I could feel the happiness rolling off of Steve.
"Good boy, now sit," Steve commanded playfully.
"Fuck you," I said crossing my arms.
"Language," Steve said looking more serious.
My jaw dropped," Did you just seriously say 'Language'?"
"Yes." He confirmed.
I couldn't help the laugh that bubbled up my throat. He'd really just told me to watch my language. Once I started laughing I couldn't stop. Soon my sides were aching and I could barely hold myself up.
"If you're done let's watch a movie," Steve suggested slightly irritated.
"Yeah, sure," I said wiping my tears away.
Steve put on a random movie and sat on the couch. I sat on the opposite end throwing my feet in his lap. I could feel his eyes on me for a minute until he looked away again. On movie number two I felt him shift and one arm draped across my legs. I expected to feel fear or anger or something. Nothing happened and I continued to lay across the couch with my feet in his lap content.
The days passed by quickly. Walks, training, and movie became the norm between us. I hadn't laughed again but I found myself smiling more. it had been three weeks since the day Steve forced me to fight Agent Young, four weeks since he had struck me, and two months, two weeks and three days since my imprisonment. I blocked Steve's kick aimed at my head. I grabbed his leg and pulled him closer so I could get him on the floor.
We hit the ground and Steve's arms wrapped around my head and neck in a sleeper hold. I threw my elbow back into his ribs but it didn't work. My vision soon started going black and Steve let go rolling away from me. I took deep breaths until my vision came back. Steve stood over me grinning and offering a hand. I took it and was pulled up.
"here," Steve said sitting next to me and handing me a bottle of water.
"Thanks," I said sipping in.
"Fury wants me to take you on a walk around people. To test how you act around them. He wants us to go this afternoon in Central Park." Steve said.
"Alright, I can handle that," I told him.
"One more thing, he wants you to be in your other form," Steve said shyly.
I smirked. Fury's test wouldn't prove anything against me. That afternoon we were walking into Central Park. It was a Sunday and parents had brought their children to play on the beautiful day. We were five steps in when a group of young girls ran over to us.
"Hey mister, can we pet your dog?" One of the girls asked.
"Sure thing," Steve said.
I was very tempted to bite him but these girls were just normal kids. The children in this all gathered around me running their fingers through my fur gently. They all commented on my looks in this form and that I was such a good. I stood calmly letting their tiny hands roam my body until they were done. They said thank you and went on their way.
"Are you okay, Jayson?" Steve asked quietly as we continued.
I nodded as best as I could.
The next person we came across was a woman who was jogging. She slowed to a stop as soon as she laid eyes on me.
"Oh! Your dog is so cute, may I pet him?" She asked.
"Yeah, go ahead," Steve said as she crouched down.
Her hands caressed my face, head, and neck. She smiled and cooed at me sweetly. I sat down letting her basically have her way with me. I could smell the leftover cocaine in her system. The smell was slightly irritation but I could handle it. She gave Steve a flirtatious grin thanking him and jogging away. We continued on our walk for about five minutes until I started to feel weird. The last normal paced thought to cross my mind before I took off running was it must have been on her clothes not in her system. Steve ran next to me giving me a glance every once in a while. We ran for about twenty minutes before I felt myself dropping from the high. I stopped by a shady area with benches. I laid next to one and Steve sat down.
"Jayson, what was that?" Steve whispered.
I tucked my ears back and closed my eyes not realizing when I fell asleep. I blinked my eyes waking up some time later. Steve was still sitting on the bench nest to me. I stood up stretching, glad that my body normally worked through drugs quickly.
"Are you ready to finish our walk?" He asked.
I replied by tugging the leash. He laughed and we continued walking until a young woman with a one or two-year-old son stopped us.
"I'm sorry to bother you but may we pet your dog?" She asked.
"Sure," Steve said.
She knelt down with him, showing him the proper way to pet an animal. A couple of times he got a bit rough but she quickly corrected him.
"He's so tolerant." She commented.
"yeah, he is. This is the first time he's really dealt with children" Steve said.
At that point the young boy brushed my nose, small fingers touching the hairs inside. I sneezed, loudly. The smell of piss filled my nose as the boy began to cry. His mother shushed him telling him it was only a sneeze while the captain apologized profusely. We quickly left after apologizing once more. She smiled and reassured us that we'd done nothing wrong before saying goodbye. We walked for a bit longer until a familiar scent filled my nostrils. I stopped. Steve looked in the direction the smell had come from. Hagstrom stood with several Hydra agents a ways away.
"Jayson, run," Steve said dropping the leash.
I turned sprinting away. I almost didn't notice the sound of people screaming as the sound of gunfire filled the air. I continued to run even though I was itching to turn and join the fight. But in this form, I wasn't as flexible and would be more vulnerable to the bullets. I continued to run until I was thoroughly worn out then I felt something encircle my neck. I panicked turning and struggling.
"You're okay boy, we're not gonna hurt you." A round man said holding the stick attached to my neck.