"Oh my God! Clint, this food is incredible. I didn't know you could cook." Pepper commented.
"Budapest, am I right Tash?" he asked his new girlfriend.
"Absolutely, he makes the best spaghetti bolognese in the world." she said and they high fived each other without even looking in the same direction. They were so in sync. We continued eating our dinner and talking about pointless subjects, but I couldn't help but notice that Steve looked really sad. It was probably the fact that he had read the article about Steve being blamed for Bucky's death. I just wanted to go over and give him a hug. Maybe I should ask him out to make him feel better?
"Hill?" someone said and I snapped out of it.
"Huh?" I asked the source, who was Natasha.
"Are you going to ask him?" she asked.
"Ask who?" Can she read my mind?
"Fury. Are you going to find out?"
"Find out what?" I'm confused. What the hell are they talking about?
"Find out how long you are allowed to stay here. We want to convince him that it is best for you to stay here on a permanent basis." she explained.
"You...you want me to stay here?" I asked the group.
They nodded and I said "Yeah, I'll ask him sometime over the course of this week." They nodded again and smiled at me, which was a bit freaky. When everyone returned to their meals, the only person that remained to stare at me was Steve.
'What is it?' I mouthed to him, concerned for why he was acting really weirdly.
'I need to talk to you.' he replied and I nodded. He kept looking at me for a moment and then returned to his meal. I did too after a couple of seconds, but I couldn't stop thinking about it. What does he want to talk about exactly?
Once everyone had finished their meals, I offered to wash up, but Clint insisted on doing it, so I left him to his own devices with Natasha. The others were still in the kitchen, but Steve slipped out earlier. I went out of the living room, to find Steve, but I couldn't see him anywhere.
"JARVIS, where is Steve?"
"Mr. Rogers is in his room."
"Thanks." I replied and walked down the corridor to his room. I knocked on the door lightly and heard footsteps come up to the door.
He looked at me with blood-shot eyes and tear stains down the sides of his face. "Steve, you need to tell me what's wrong now." I demanded as I shut the door and made my way over to his bed. I sat down and he came to join me.
"I feel like I can't do this anymore. Be in this time. It's too much. There's too many things to learn." He looked up at me. "I'm worried that I'm not going to fit in here."
I had trouble not trying to break down right at that moment. "Steve," I whispered. "You're going to be fine. You just need to practice."
"I know, but it's difficult." he said, now standing up. "I don't feel right wearing these clothes. I act differently. I speak differently."
"You don't have to change that. Maybe the clothes, but I like the way you act and speak to people. It's part of who you are." I said, coming up to meet him. "You don't have to change all of you."
"I feel like I need to do that to be part of society Maria." He shook his head. "I wish I just stayed in that ice block sometimes."
He looked down at the ground and I came forward, wrapping my arms around him. "Don't say that. Never say stuff like that." I said, tears pouring down my face. "It's not your fault that you're stuck in this time, but you sure as hell aren't going anywhere. Okay?"
"Okay." he whispered and hugged me back.
"I know that the serum makes things that are bad even worse, but you have to get through it." I pulled away from him, no matter how badly I wanted to stay wrapped in his arms. "I'm here for you." I reassured him.
He nodded and replied "Can you stay with me please? I don't want to be alone."
He looked kind of shy about asking me, but I liked that part of his character too. I liked everything about him. "Of course I will." I replied and sat back down on the bed with him again. "Being part of today's society isn't about how much money you've got, even though Tony begs to differ. It's about being who you are. You are Steven Rogers and no one in this time zone can change that."
"I like how you think of me as Steve and not some sort of hero."
"Steve, you are a hero. No matter what you say. You've saved this whole city. But that doesn't mean you're not Steve Rogers either. Take Romanoff for example. She is Black Widow and Natasha Romanoff at different times. You can be both Captain America and Steve Rogers." I said. He did a small smile and looked sheepishly at the bed covers that we were sitting on.
"Thank you." he said, his eyes looking up once more. "You've really helped me."
"That's okay Steve." I replied, smiling.
"So, how do I become a 21st century guy?" he asked. We then spent hours talking about the stereotypes of men in the 21st century and then how guys are really like. It was getting really late and we were now both lying on top of his duvet, heads on the pillows, looking up at the blank ceiling.
We had gone into a comfortable silence and I decided to ask him "Can I stay here tonight? I just...can't be bothered to walk back across the hall."
He nodded and replied "I wanted to ask you to stay, but I didn't know whether it was appropriate or not." he explained, sounding a bit nervous.
"It's fine. I'm here as a friend to help you. And that's what I'm going to do."
"I don't really want to be alone right now." he admitted.
I turned my head to face him and replied "I'm here for you. Don't worry."
I got up and put the laptop over on the desk. I turned round and asked "Do you have a shirt I can wear? I don't really want to sleep in this." I said, gesturing to the jeans and top I was wearing.
"First drawer." he replied and went into the bathroom on the other side of the room.
Okay, which top shall I wear? I searched through his drawers, very neat drawers, and found a large plain black t-shirt. His size made his tops much bigger than my small frames. I took off my top and jeans and contemplated taking off my bra. I usually sleep with it off, but is it a bit inappropriate? Screw it. I looked around to make sure no one was behind me and there wasn't.
I reached back to undo the clasp and clicked it off, after fiddling with it for a while. I threaded the straps through both of my arms and dropped it onto the floor. I quickly puled the t-shirt over my head and put my arms through. The shirt ended at the top of my thighs, only just covering my pants, and smelled of him. I fought against the urge to sniff his shirt. I picked up my clothes and turned around, finding Rogers standing there in only boxers. "I-I'm sorry. I..I didn't see anything, don't worry." he said quickly.
I just nodded as it was the only response I had at the minute. He didn't see anything...apart the entire back view of me, apart from my ass basically. Not exactly the worst thing in the world, at least he wasn't faced with staring at the front of me.
I put my clothes on the desk and then made my way over to the bed. I pulled the cover back and got into bed with him. I faced the opposite direction to him and said "Night Steve." as he turned of the light.
"Night Maria." he replied and we both went straight to sleep. Our conversation continued in my dreams.
"Hey Steve is there something I can ask you." I said, rolling over to look at him.
"Sure." he replied and turned around to face me.
"Have you ever...you know...kissed anyone?" I asked, nervously.
"Once, but no one since I woke up."
"Okay." I said and returned to face my side.
"Why?" he asked, curiously.
I turned back around and said "I was just wondering."
He put his hand up against my cheek and I found it difficult to breathe. "Are you sure that's the only reason?" he asked, his voice sounding deep and sexy.
"I was just wondering whether you've had any other...'experience'...with women." I said, with a raised eyebrow to show my meaning.
"No, but you can always help me get a better 'experience' of life in this century." he said and pulled my head towards him. He kissed my forcefully and with so much passion. I straddled his hips and took off his shirt quickly. I madly kissed his lips as my hands ran over his beautiful body. His hand holding onto my hips were firm and strong, making me know that he wanted me too.
Our kisses were getting quicker and more heated. I felt like the air was being sucked out of my lungs and-
I woke up breathing insanely fast, like the other day when I woke up from a dream about Rogers. I sat up in a cross-legged position, put my elbows on my knees and rested my head in my hands.
"What's wrong?" someone asked from behind me. I forgot Steve was here. He was just opening his eyes. He must have been asleep.
"Nothing." I replied quickly. "Sorry for waking you up. Night Steve."
I laid back down against the sheets and tried to go back to sleep. After ten minutes, I was fast asleep.
I woke up a couple of hours later, still in his bed. I didn't expect me to move really. I didn't dream about him again. If I did then I definitely cannot remember, but I never do. I always remember Steve. I got up and went over to get my clothes on the desk.
"Morning" Steve said from the bed, rubbing his eyes from tiredness.
"Good morning." I replied and then looked over at the clock. The time said 8:30. "I need to go and get changed, so I'll see you at breakfast Rogers." I said, smiling. "Hope you feel better." With that, I left the room and left him still lying in bed. I didn't think he was a sleeping in kind of person, but then again I did wake him up during the night.
I got dressed into a white blouse and some black jeans. I know black jeans aren't professional, but I couldn't wear work trousers. Way too professional and this is the Avengers Tower. I shut my door and turned around to see Steve shutting his door too.
"Hey." I said as we started walking down the corridor.
"Hey. Thank you for coming to see me last night." he said.
"That's okay. I'm sorry I woke you up during the night."
"That's alright, just know that I am here for you if you need to talk okay?" he asked, to which I nodded to in response.
We entered the kitchen and Steve greeted them with a "Good morning everyone."
"Morning." they all replied at the same time, which was a bit freaky.
"Look at this." Stark said typing on his phone and pulling up a video onto the kitchen table screen showing Natasha and Pepper. What is this?
"You slept with Barton!" Pepper shouted on the tape.
"Do you want to say that any louder?"
To be honest...I'm not really surprised. Natasha turned around slowly to Stark pulling out a knife from her jeans. I saw Steve's eyes go wide and I was worried what she was going to do.
"I didn't tell anyone! I showed them!" Stark said, as some form of defence. They obviously had a discussion about not telling us.
Natasha just smiled evilly in response and Banner said "It was nice knowing you Tony."
Tony was petrified and couldn't move. Pepper's intelligent words of "You'd better start running honey." pulled him out of his frightened trance.
Stark ran towards the lift and Natasha shouted "JARVIS, lock all exits." which JARVIS did.
Natasha walked over to him, like an animal hunting its prey, as he was banging the lift door shouting "JARVIS, YOU TRAITOR!"
He turned around slowly to face Natasha. "So..." she began, twirling her knife in between her fingers whilst keeping in eye contact with him, "What am I going to do with you, eh?"
Stark was still stuck against the wall, but not for long, because Natasha then beat the shit out of him. Kick, punch, head-butt. Result - A knocked-out Tony Stark.
She turned around to us. "Wanna help me tie Stark to the roof?" she asked.
We all agreed.