Hello, my wonderful readers! Here is the next chapter. Such excitement! Thanks for reading this and all my other chapters, you guys. You're so cool! And I hope everyone enjoyed Ant-Man! Unfortunately I've been so busy I haven't seen it yet but I'm really excited to do so! No spoilers please! ;)
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That's really all for now... Thanks for sticking with me, guys! Countdown to the end: 4 chapters!
Have a MARVELous day!
"Who is it?"
"It's just me," said Steve's voice.
"Come in," moaned Esca miserably.
She heard the door open and saw a brief flash of light from the hallway before Steve walked inside. When she'd reached her room, Esca had turned off the lights and simply sat on the bed, her knees crushed up against her chest in a futile attempt to restrain her tears. She knew that Pietro had been amazingly drunk and that he wouldn't remember what he said the next morning, but it still hurt.
He knew of her circumstances. It was one thing to mention them—another entirely to tease her about them with the rest of the Avengers listening in.
"Hey," murmured Steve as he sat next to her. "You okay?"
"No," she mumbled, burying her head in her knees. "I'm very upset."
"You have a right to be," sighed Steve. Esca glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and noted that he looked angry—and defeated. Had something just happened to him?
She was about to ask him if he was alright when he spoke again. "I know it isn't my place to apologize for him or anything, but Maximoff seemed really upset with himself over… what just happened. I talked to him," he added before Esca could ask. "He'll probably talk to you tomorrow once he's back to normal."
Esca sighed, not sure if she was comforted by this or not. On the one hand, she knew that he would talk to her eventually. On the other, she wasn't sure if she was ready for it yet.
"And anyway, you shouldn't take anything that was said into serious account. Whether he was drunk or not, never let it bring you down. You're an amazing person, Miss Esca: smart and resourceful and lovely. You're honestly too amazing to be brought down by anything regarding your past."
Esca felt a lump in her throat at his words. "Thanks, Steve," she managed to choke, not sure what else to say.
There was a bit of silence before Steve glanced at her and noted the way she was sitting. He sighed too. "It's alright, Miss Esca," he murmured, gently placing a hand on her arm. "It'll be alright."
Although he had meant it in a comforting way, that was what made the tears spill from Esca's eyes. Hearing her begin to cry, Steve pulled her close into a hug. Esca immediately wrapped her arms around him, needing the comfort. She wanted to restrain her tears, to keep herself from crying, but that wasn't going to happen.
And so she leaned her head on Steve's shoulder, grateful that he was with her. He kissed the top of her head gently before murmuring, "Will you be alright, Miss Esca?"
She nodded as best as she could with her head lodged on his shoulder. "I will be. I just… need a minute."
"I'll be here," he reassured her, making her smile.
"Thanks, Steve," she murmured. "That means a lot."
Esca felt rather than saw him smile, but he was quiet. For a while more, they remained like that—she took as much comfort as she could from his being there. After a minute, however, she sighed, "We should get some sleep. Thank you for coming to check on me."
"I'm not leaving until I know you get to sleep," he declared obstinately, which made her laugh.
"Steve."
"Esca. I'm staying here to make sure you're okay."
Esca couldn't help but giggle. "You're impossible, Captain."
"I'm protective," he defended himself, although there was a laugh on his face as well.
Seeing this, Esca sighed hopelessly and shook her head. "Fine, then, Steven. If you want to be overprotective, you may."
"Good. I wouldn't have allowed you to insist you were alright before I'm certain you were anyway."
She laughed again and smiled at Steve before burying herself under the covers of her bed. She felt him kiss her forehead before he declared, "I'll be in the chair over there until you fall asleep. Then I'll leave."
She nodded sleepily and murmured, "Good night, Steve."
"Good night, Miss Esca."
And Esca closed her eyes, feeling much better than before.
Esca awoke the next morning to feel the bed strangely empty. Before she was fully awake, she stretched an arm out as if to see where Pietro was—but then she remembered what happened the previous night, what he'd said and teased her about, and she frowned into her pillow.
But then she remembered that Steve had come to check on her.
She blinked and looked across the room. A small smile filled her face seeing the captain dozing in the chair on the opposite side of the room—apparently he'd fallen asleep as well.
Esca stretched before walking over to Steve and gently shaking his shoulder. "Hey there, sleepy," she murmured. "I'm going to go make breakfast. It'll be ready in half an hour if you want to use this time to sleep, okay?"
The captain mumbled something that she thought was, "Hold on, wait for me," before lethargically rising and rubbing his eyes.
She smiled as Steve stretched and joined her.
Once they were in the kitchen, Esca sighed and moved toward the stove. She felt like making French Toast this morning—she quickly grabbed the ingredients and starting combining them before she finally said, "Thanks for coming to check on me, by the way. In case I didn't say it earlier."
Steve smiled. "It's no problem, Miss Esca. You are my friend, and I wanted to make sure you were alright. How are you feeling, by the way?"
Esca took a deep, easy breath. "Much better. A good night's sleep helped, I think." With that, she smiled again and moved to the pantry, hoping to locate some cinnamon…
Suddenly, Esca frowned. She rummaged through the pantry: cumin, basil, vanilla, almond extract…
"Drat," she exhaled in defeat. "We're out of cinnamon. I need to go to the store to grab some more."
"Why don't you just do it after breakfast?"
"I don't think you understand the importance of cinnamon in my French toast," remarked Esca mildly, although she was restraining a grin as she said this. She faced Steve again and questioned, "Do you think you could guard this for me, to make sure it doesn't burn?"
"I've got that, no worries," said a new voice. Both Esca and Steve turned to see that it was Natasha, looking groggy yet gorgeous as always. She smirked and waved the two of them off. "You two go get cinnamon. I'm going to stay here and get my much needed coffee."
Her words suddenly reminded Esca—"Oh yeah, we need more coffee soon too. I'll grab some of that. Any requests on what kind?"
"Columbian," answered Nat immediately. "I don't care if Tony hates it, it's everyone else's favorite."
That made Esca laugh. "Alright, I'll grab Columbian and something else for Tony, then. Be back in fifteen minutes. Steve, do you want to come?"
The captain shrugged. "Sure, I'll come with you. I woke up too late for my walk, anyway, so this'll have to do."
Esca smiled, and then she and Steve walked to the elevator to head to the grocery store around the corner. When they were outside, Esca breathed deeply. "Sometimes, I just need to get out of the Tower… Do you ever feel like that?"
"Only every day," he replied with a chuckle. He glanced at Esca and remarked, "You look like you're waiting for something to happen, Miss Esca."
Hearing this, she shrugged. "Ever since helping out with your mission… I've been wondering… if maybe I could do so again. I know I didn't do much regarding firepower, but just telling you all what I knew, and being there, felt quite fulfilling. I… liked… being an Avenger. For just that little bit of time, anyway," she giggled a little sadly.
Steve glanced at her as she spoke and replied, "Well, Miss Esca, if there is another mission… if Nat and Bucky and Clint have trained you up enough… I see no reason for you not to come."
Esca beamed. "Really?!"
"Really," he declared with another laugh. He raised an eyebrow in mock suspicion. "You seem much too happy about this, Miss Esca."
"I just really like helping out," she grinned.
He returned the grin; it was silent between them for a while. Esca used the silence as an opportunity to gaze over the city streets… as it was early in the morning, it wasn't as busy as it normally was. But still, there were cars honking and dozens of people lining the sidewalks, all struggling to get someplace.
The smell of the city filled Esca, and she smiled as she looked across the street to see a little boy walking a puppy. His mother was buying something from a street vendor—probably a snow cone for her son.
But as Esca watched, the puppy broke loose from its leash, and it ran out into the street.
And the boy followed him.
And there were cars barreling right towards him.
Esca cried out and ignored Steve's question of what was wrong. She threw herself into the street, sprinting toward the boy, running as fast as she physically could.
The boy seemed to realize his mistake. He had caught his dog, and he held the little creature in his arms as he closed his eyes and turned away from the oncoming car.
"NO!" shrieked Esca. She threw herself in front of the boy and lifted her hands, attempting with all her might to throw a large shield in front of her.
There was a sudden scream—perhaps from the boy's mother—and Esca heard Steve and someone else scream, "Esca!"
A mighty CRASH and horns honking and brakes skidding, and Esca opened the eyes she didn't remember closing only to see the car heading towards her. Her shield hadn't been powerful enough to stop the car—only to slow it down.
In a last ditch attempt to save the boy, she used her powers to force him and his puppy back to the sidewalk.
And then Esca was tossed to the side as the car hit her—she spiraled through the air and landed on her back on the street.
"Oh my God," she heard the mother of the boy whisper. But other than that, the city suddenly became dead silent, for perhaps the first time in its history.
"Esca!" shouted a voice.
Esca glanced over to see Steve running toward her, a panicked look on his face. She felt her head being lifted up and she was confused, as Steve wasn't beside her yet.
She struggled to glanced over; she blinked as she saw Pietro, his blue-gray eyes shining with worry. "Esca Rarity," he gasped, "what the hell did you do that for?"
She sighed and tried to lift herself off the ground, but she cried out as she tried to sit up. The wind had been completely knocked out of her, and her stomach was going to sport a nasty bruise for the upcoming week or two. But she merely exhaled, "I had to help," at Pietro's insistence.
Pietro threw a hand to his forehead, looking immensely exasperated. "Are you alright?"
"I won't die," she retorted, shrugging. "I just… I need a minute."
Suddenly, Esca felt her hand being licked.
She started and glanced over to see the puppy licking her hand. Kneeling beside it was the boy. Now that he was closer, Esca could tell that he was only seven or eight years old; certainly too young to be hit by a car in New York City. And above him stood his mother, whose hands were to her throat as she gasped a strangled thanks for Esca's help.
For the first time, Esca realized that there were bright flashes surrounding her and the others. She glanced up to see cameras everywhere—cell phones encircled her. She looked at Pietro and Steve, both of whom were kneeling over her, their faces worried as they held her close.
Seeing their worry, Esca just smiled. "I'm fine," she insisted. "Really. I just… need another minute."
"Esca Rarity," began Pietro, but he couldn't say anything more.
As it was, Esca could see the question in his eyes. In answer to the unspoken why, she murmured, "If I'm going to be an Avenger… I'll need to act like one."
And then she exhaled and closed her eyes, needing to escape the chaos that engulfed her.