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It had only been a few hours since I left Phil and Captain Rogers on the bridge. I kind of felt like an ass for leaving so suddenly, but I panicked. Besides, I needed to be by myself for a bit. I had gone to my room and dug through my red Nike duffle bag for the one book I packed, Dracula by Bram Stoker. I've read it a million times, but it was still one of my favorites. I then headed to the cafeteria and grabbed a large cup of coffee, one cream and two sugars. From there, I wandered the halls of the ship, trying to find that one spot I discovered my first day here. After completing a couple of turns and stumbling down corridors, I found it.
It was a corner in a hallway with the grey walls and black paneled floors which were too familiar on the ship. It was opened to the second floor, which was really just a walkway that stuck out maybe about four feet from the right wall, protected by silver railings. This walkway had a few doors down the rest of the hall, but it seemed hardly used. What stood out the most was the fact that where the hallway took that left turn, instead of the usually wall was a large window that stretched up to the ceiling, revealing the outside sky. The second story walkway cornered off, ending just before the enormous window pane. The rest of that small passageway was made up of more giant windows. It was a tiny hallway, but it was beautiful.
I was sitting on the second level, back against the corner where the railing met the wall, knees to my chest, and my eyes lost in the book in my hands. I finished up reading the last sentence on the page and leaned my head against the railing, closing my eyes, sighing. I opened them and turned my head to look to the windowed passageway. The outside was a beautiful blue sky, sparse with white fluffy clouds. I could stare out the window all day and would never tire of it.
I heard faint footsteps down the other hall which drew me from my gaze. I straightened my head and leaned a little to peep through the railing. There were two figures heading towards my direction on the first floor. As they got closer I could make them out; one a tall, blonde man in a brown leather jacket; the shorter man in a black business suit whose hair is thin and slicked. I smiled as I saw Phil's grinning face become clearer. I could only imagine what he was talking to Steve about, for Steve's expression wasn't as thrilled as Phil seemed to be. His hands were in his pockets and he was looking at pretty much everything else besides the man next to him. As they got closer I could hear Phil say "It's a vintage set. Took me a couple of years to collect them all. Near mint."
Oh god, Phil, I rolled my eyes. Phil had this set of Captain America trading cards that he absolutely loved to show off. He was very proud of it. It was impressive for a vintage trading card set but he loved it too much. Phil loved Captain America too much. I would definitely say that he fan-girled to the extreme over this guy. If we were in high school, he would be that girl who doodled her crushes' name over and over again on her notebook, embroidered with giant red hearts. I let him talk my ear off about the soldier for the last week because he was that excited and I knew how much it meant to him. I was absolutely sick of it but I didn't tell Phil that. I let him go on and on and I would just smile. Now Phil was babbling about Captain America to, well, Captain America.
Steve was nodding his head, looked behind him, and back forward again with his lips pursed. Oh, poor guy. He's looking for a way out. I had to say something. "Hey, Phiilllll…" I softly called as I crossed my legs, dangling them over the edge. The two men looked up, clearly surprised.
"So that's where you ran off to" Phil amused.
I flipped my curly hair over my left should as I fumbled to find an excuse, "You know Phil, I, I thought you have that, um, that thing you told me about." Well, it's a start. Phil tilted his head slightly in confusion.
"I don't recall telling you I have a thing." he frowned.
"Oh, you know, that one thing," I was slightly pointing at him and shrugging. "That thing you uh, have… on the bridge or something." His face scrunched even more as he looked up at me. I raised my eyebrows in response and nodded faintly at Steve, hoping he would get the hint.
"Hmmm…no. I don't believe I have a thing today." Dammit Phil.
I rubbed my cheek as I continued, "Phil, that thing you have. On the bridge. You should go do that. Like now." Phil's expression relaxed as he realized I was trying to save Steve from him. He heaved a sigh.
"You could have just asked. It would have been simpler. Now both of us look like idiots," Phil taunted. "Now if you would excuse me, I have to be on the bridge. I have a thing," he sneered that last bit towards me. Phil then smiled at me then at Steve before turning and walking away. I chuckled as I watched him. I could always count on Phil's sass.
"Thank you." I turned back to Steve who was watching me with a smile on his face. "I couldn't think of a way to nicely ask for him to leave," he shrugged his broad shoulders. I beamed at him.
"No, it's fine. He means well. He…sometimes he gets too excited and forgets that people need their space," I said quietly. Steve smiled again, lingering. He turned to look down the hallway and I saw him bite his lip. I wasn't exactly sure what to do. I started to fidget with the sleeves of my sweater. He turned back looking a little nervous.
"Would you mind if I joined you?" he asked suddenly, his hand reaching to scratch the back of his neck. My eyes widened.
"Oh! Um, sure…" his question taking me completely by surprise. "I uh, I think there's a ladder down the hall…" I trailed off as I watched Steve crouch down a bit, then jump, easily reaching my level. In one swift motion, he grabbed the railing, swung his body over, and sat next to me. "Or that works too…" Steve's chuckle caused me to look at him with disbelief. "I…you just…" I was gawking at him, pointing from him, to the floor and back. I was trying to grasp that he casually hopped up to the second story walkway with no effort. I threw my hands up, "I don't know why I get surprised anymore."
Steve laughed at me, "It seemed easier than finding the ladder down there." My eyes connected with his kind, gorgeous blue ones; shaking my core. My nose filled with his sweet, subtly spicy, cologne. Butterflies suddenly fluttered in my stomach and I went back to playing with my sleeves. "I didn't get a chance before to ask what Director Fury meant about you." And there it is. I sighed and looked down at my hands in my lap. "You don't have to tell me. I was uh, I was just curious," he mumbled.
"Well, I'm a Grade A freak, and that's all you really need to know for now," I snorted. Shit, was that mean? "Sorry, I didn't mean for that to sound rude. It's just…I'm weird," I glanced at him apologetically. "I don't want to scare you." It was honest. I normally don't show off my mutant side too much, especially in front of new people. It could be a lot to take in. It wasn't exactly the first impression I wanted to give.
"I don't think you have to worry about that," he gave me a soft smile, his eyes innocent. My insides began to melt. "I've been through a lot of strange," he explained, turning his gaze to the window-wall. I studied his beautiful chiseled cheekbones. I noticed how his hair was a dark blonde at the roots and gradually become a lighter shade as it reached the end. It was perfect. But then his comment about strange brought me to a different feeling; one that was apprehensive. I watched his eyes dance with thoughts.
"So…I'm sorry. I know you've probably gotten this a lot, but, how difficult has it been to adjust to today?" I quietly asked. He shrugged.
"It's different. A lot has changed…" he trailed off. I followed his gaze out the window, unsure of what to say. I hadn't given his situation much attention until this moment. I couldn't imagine being thrown through time like he had. I shifted slightly and uncrossed my legs.
"Well…"I started, "you haven't died yet. So, there's that." He laughed and looked at me with a bright expression. I couldn't help but smile back.
"It's a start," he nodded. "There's some things that haven't changed," he added positively.
"Like what?" I smiled curiously at him.
"Well, there's beautiful dame- ladies! I mean women! Beautiful women like you," he stammered and looked away. My mouth slowly opened in surprise.
"Wait wait wait…did you just call me a dame?" I continued to gape at him in widening amusement. "That's definitely a first for me," and I laughed gently. Dame. Wait. He thought I was beautiful. Holy crap.
"Turns out I'm still nervous to talk to women," he blushed. I stared at him with such dismay and delight. He was actually serious. I couldn't believe it. I bit my lip and covered my mouth with both hands in an attempt to hide my smile. I tried to exhale normally but it came out in airy spurts. I took a deep breath in to steady myself. But I burst out laughing uncontrollably. I was gasping for breath as my cry echoed down the halls. I was so taken aback by that bombshell. I tried to calm myself down but the thought of Steve being afraid to talk to women was just too much. My stomach hurt from laughing.
"I'm- I'm sorry!" I managed to wheeze. I had to stop this, I mean I had tears in my eyes. I inhaled deeply and tried to hold it. I let it out and did it again. I figured I could breathe normally. I wiped the water from my eyes. I turned to Steve whose head was hung low, clearly embarrassed. "Oh I'm sorry! I am. I was laughing completely at you," I giggled. He looked at me sheepishly. I chuckled. Who is this guy? "You know, my life has taken some weird turns. Each time I find myself asking 'how did I even get here?' Like now. Here I am on a flying ship of a government agency, sitting next to a man who has superhuman powers, has punched Nazis in their faces, basically time traveled to the future, is asked to save the world again, and he tells me that he's nervous to talk to women." He snickered at my sentence. "I don't even know how to respond to that. It's not at all what I was expecting."
"What were you expecting?" he questioned me with a raised eyebrow. I looked at him with wonder in my eyes, searching his sincere face. His eyes beamed with curiosity.
"I don't know," I spoke slowly. "I think that I was expecting you to be kind of a douche."
"Oh really!?"
"But you're not! At least, not that I know of yet," I blurted quickly. "I mean, most guys who get any kind of recognition and fame like you have tend to be arrogant and full of themselves. Jerks, essentially. And you're just not."
"Well, now I have to be a jerk, at least towards you. It's the least I could do to repay you for humiliating me," he teased. He was being sarcastic with me. I loved it.
I laughed in response, "Yeah, okay, whatever you say, Steven." Oh crap, I called him Steven… To my surprise he looked like he enjoyed it. It was weird, I had never been this comfortable with anyone I just met. I barely gave nicknames to people, but I just gave one to the guy I started talking to several minutes ago. I couldn't help but take in his genuine, humble aura. We had barely been introduced to each other and I felt like I had known him for my entire life. He hasn't even said anything but my heart told me I could trust him, believe in him with every ounce of life in me. It was so calming. I hadn't realized we were staring at each other until a muffled "In the Mood" by Glenn Miller abruptly interrupted us. "Oh balls, I'm sorry!" I apologized as I tried to grab my phone from my back pocket. I pulled it in front of me. "Holy crap, I get service up here…" I muttered as I stared at the screen. I really hadn't checked my phone since I got on the ship. No one actually contacted me that much, anyway. The iphone screen read BROOKIE with a picture of a pale white, beautiful face that seemed like you could find it on a magazine. Her short pixie cut black hair made her look like Snow White. I don't mean just white, like I thought I was pasty white, but she could be thrown in a snow bank and no one would notice her except for her clothes. I smirked, but declined the call. I would have to call her back later. "I'm sorry. Here we are in the middle of discussing what a jerk you are, and then I'm the one who's being rude," I remarked, trying to be nonchalant, placing my phone behind me. I turned back to Steve who had the biggest grin plastered on his face. I began to laugh, "What?!"
"Glenn Miller?" he sounded like he was accusing me instead of asking me a question. I threw my hands up in protest.
"Yes, Glenn Miller. Glenn Miller is awesome!" His surprised expression continued to gawk at me. "Stop! You can't tell me that you don't like his music!"
"I never said that! I was just taken aback. I definitely wasn't expecting to hear that."
"I love this kind of stuff!" I joyfully exclaimed. "Well, I love all music. But man, older sounds, like Glenn, are my favorite."
"That was released in 1939. It was one of the favorite songs the kids would dance to," he stated. His eyebrows scrunched somewhat as if he were remembering something. I watched his face, still smiling, wanting to ask about other musical interests we might share. Steve tilted his head back to me with a soft smile. His eyes connected with mine. My smile faded as I peered into his sad stare. It hit me. Steve was just a kid. Early twenties, probably not even twenty four. He was probably trying to find a stable career he didn't' think he would hate too much. He was maybe thinking of settling down and having a family. Then a war started. He had Captain America thrown on him. A kid with so much responsibility all the sudden. All the happiness left my being and I felt, well, awful. I was familiar with that situation too well. Steve's faced turned concerned, "What's wrong?"
Shaking my head I replied, "It's nothing. I um…never mind." I gave him a small smile.
"Emma, you can't tell me it's nothing. You were happy and then suddenly you weren't. What's wrong?" he begged. He actually cared. He actually wanted to hear my problems. He wanted to listen to me. I was filled with empathy. I stared at Steve with wonder.
"It's just…you." His expression puzzled. I hesitated. I wasn't sure how to explain my thoughts. "I mean, this," waving my hands at him, "Captain America. How did you get to this point? Like, what made you decide you wanted this?"
He face softened as he exhaled deeply. "I guess I always wanted to do something with my life. I felt I could do something great if I was given the chance. I was offered to be a test subject for this," he pointed to himself, "when I finally got into the army."
I put my hand up to stop him, "Wait. When you finally got into the army?"
"Fifth time's a charm," he smirked. I must've had a disbelief look because he shrugged and explained, "I had to try five times to get into the army. I even used different names and hometowns. I was never accepted because I was pretty sick."
"Shut up."
"I'm serious! I had asthma, I was skinny. And short. Dr. Erskine had found me and got me into the army. He's the one who created the serum and said that he wanted me to test it out. So I did."
"And then the whole Captain America campaign happened?"
He looked a little embarrassed, "Yeah that uh, wasn't what I had in mind when I agreed to this. But it got me to where I needed to be."
"You know, Phil showed me some of your propaganda stuff. Like the uh, promotional video about war bonds? I have to admit, I'm not sure who I was more impressed with, you or your chorus girls," I sneered. Steve laughed.
"I, I don't have a good explanation for that. But like I said, it eventually got me to where I wanted to be. I mean, I saved the world from Nazis." I couldn't help but giggle. "I like knowing that I made a difference and I can still help out," his tone was earnest. I admired him. "What about you?"
"What about me?"
"How did you get here?"
"Oh, that," I was kind of hoping he would forget about this. I took a deep breath in. "Well, it's not as simple as a serum injection. It's a change in my DNA for whatever reason," I stated gradually. I fidgeted with my sleeves again. "No one really knows why it happens, it just does. I got very sick before it happened. I thought I caught the flu and was out for about two weeks. I woke up one day, feeling completely normal. Then weird things started happening," I looked at Steve who was completely confused. "Oh, I guess I should've started out by saying that I'm a mutant."
"A mutant?" he asked.
"Yeah, you know, someone who is different. There's thousands of us, all able to do something different. I mean abilities, powers. Kind of like how you're superhuman. It's like a different version," I began. He nodded for me to go on. "It sounds totally made up, but it's true. Trust me."
"No, I do. I trust you."
I smiled at his tender words. "For me, I um, I am able to control water." I looked at him, waiting for a response. He just raised his eyebrows in question. I bit my lip. I wasn't sure how to go about this, especially since I was nervous. Just then I remembered I still had some coffee in the mug behind me. I twisted to reach behind me, grabbed the mug, and took the cap off. I shifted so my body was facing Steve. I just looked at the cup in my hands. I moved my eyes to look at him, who returned my gaze with an encouraging expression. "Okay. I'm going to show you. Just don't freak out too much."
"I promise."
"Okay… We'll start with little things. Like this coffee. Since coffee is like 98% water, I can easily control it…" I held the mug in my left hand and hovered my right on the side of it. With a little thought, the coffee in the bottom of the cup slowly began swirling, as if and invisible person was stirring it. Casually, it lifted out of the cup in a steady stream. The liquid formed into a flowing ball as I opened my palm underneath it. I looked uncertainly at Steve who was in awe. He reached his hand up to touch it.
"You're doing this?" he was amazed as the coffee scattered from his finger.
"Yeah…" I directed the liquid back into the mug. I set it back against the wall.
"That, that was absolutely remarkable! Wow!" he marveled. He looked at me like I had just told him he won the lottery. He was so overjoyed that it made me snicker.
"You're not too weirded out, are you?"
"Are you kidding? That was awesome! So you can do that with anything water?"
"More or less, yes. I can do a lot more too," I replied.
"Like what?"
"Well, the reason I'm here is that I can kind of control people. And so I'm here to keep an eye on Dr. Banner," I wasn't too thrilled about saying that. I think my face showed it because Steve placed his hand on mine and gave me a sympathetic smile.
"Don't worry about it. You have an amazing gift. I'm speechless," he beamed. He accepted me. I was ecstatic. My heart fluttered in my chest. I was just too happy. And I wanted to show him more. I stared into his blue eyes. I watched his face turn to shock and he looked down at our hands. Mine had turned into a watery form and his slipped right through it. I laughed at his face. He looked at me completely astonished. But he started laughing too. "That's great! You're amazing!" he exclaimed. I reached my hand up and turned it back to my solid skin.
"That's kind of what Director Fury meant before," I explained. "I'm glad that you're excited about it." He grinned at me. I was content. It made me hopeful that maybe we were on our way to being good friends.
"Thank you for showing me. That wasn't like anything I've ever seen. But it's wonderful. It is," he chimed. He looked over his shoulder to look at the coffee mug. "Oh! I didn't realize I interrupted you." He extended his arm and brought back my book. He gently handed it to me.
"I kind of forgot about it," I joked. "Don't worry about. I've read it a million times."
"Dracula. I love this book. But I will let you get back to it. I have some things I wanted to do yet. I'll see you later?" he asked hopefully.
"Yeah! Of course. I'll be around. Or rather, I'll either be here or in my room most likely, if you need to find me," I smiled. He smiled back. And with that, Steve stood up, grabbed the railing, and jumped gracefully over it. He landed on the first floor, grinned up at me and then headed down the hall. I watched him go with a big stupid smile on my face. I brought my knees up to my chest and hugged myself. I haven't been this happy in a while. Who is this guy? He's too good to be true.