And here we are at another chapter. Wow, time sure does fly! I'd like to thank everyone who has been reading this story! It has been so incredibly awesome to get to read the reviews you write back. I don't always feel like a great writer, but when I read what you all have to say, it really lifts my spirit and brightens my day. I just want to personally say thank you to all of you! You all are AWESOME! And without further ado, I present to you the next chapter!
Chapter Twenty-Seven
"Hannah, wake up. Hannah, wake up. HANNAH, WAKE UP!" I could feel a pair of large hands shoving on me and my head shot up out of the mess of sheets. I struggled for the lamp light, but the mysterious pair of hands did it for me. I looked over to the owner of said hands and nearly screeched when I saw Steve.
"Steve, what the heck was that for?! It's four-thirty in the morning." I flopped back down and pulled the covers over my head, hoping I wouldn't die of embarrassment when I realized he had just seen my morning face. But Steve wasn't going to give in to letting me stay in my hiding hole. His strong arms quickly hoisted me back up to a sitting position and yanked the sheets away, much to my displeasure.
"Practice, remember? You're already thirty minutes late!"
"Come to think of it, you never said what time we were supposed to have practice. So I think this is more of an instructor error."
The excuse wasn't flying though. He crossed his arms sternly.
"This was your idea, remember?"
"Not at four-thirty in the morning!" I threw a pillow at him in response and it hit him square on the chest.
"Get up or I'll take you down as you are." He warned playfully. I think he relished the idea of carrying me out in my plaid PJ pants and t-shirt. With a sigh, I half-dragged, half-rolled myself out of bed and hastily put on some gym shorts and pulled my hair into a messy bun, Steve waiting patiently out in the kitchen with a thermos of coffee in his hand. Oh how I wanted a sip of caffeine right then. Sadly, there was no time for coffee since I had wasted it on getting around.
We put ourselves in the elevator and made our way down. I swore I fell asleep for half the ride on his shoulder.
"Don't fall asleep on me now." He gave me that famous Captain America grin and offered some of his coffee, for which I was eternally grateful.
"But you make such a good pillow." He chuckled lightly as we continued on our ride down to the gym.
Thinking on that topic, for a man of muscle, he was rather soft.
Why are you thinking about his muscles? Get your head on straight!
I shook myself. The early morning wake up call was making me delirious. The elevator doors swung open and wiped the thoughts from my mind. In the middle of the gym hung one lone punching bag.
"Punching bag?"
"Nope. First is warm up. Give me ten laps." I inwardly groaned. Laps? I should have known.
"Remind me to punch you later."
I couldn't remember how long it had been since I had gotten a good run. I used to do it a lot when Dad was still alive. But the past four years had changed my routine. Ergo, I felt winded once my ten laps were up.
"Now, drop down and give me twenty."
Push ups? Are you serious?!
But I did as I was told. I had to think of the main goal: become a good fighter. But who knew how long it was going to take to get me into shape. With my luck, probably forever.
I landed on the floor with a thud as I reached push-up number fifteen.
"Come on, maggot." My eyes didn't betray the twinkle of humor I saw in his.
"I am NOT a maggot." I retorted venomously.
"Alright, alright. Just finish up the push-ups, okay? You're almost there."
I don't know how I managed to get through the rest of practice. That punching bag quickly became my worst enemy. The bag full of sand was my height and probably twice my weight (or at least it felt that way). I was sure my arms were going to fall off.
"Give it a hard left." I pumped out another punch, only to have the bag knock me backwards, landing hard on my bum.
"Ouch." Before I could get up, Steve stretched his arm out.
"Thanks."
"I think we can call it quits for the day. You've done pretty good for a beginner."
"I bet no one gets knocked on their butt by a punching bag."
"It'll be our little secret." He whispered in my ear.
I managed to hold back a blush as he pulled his face away from mine.
Wait, why am I blushing?
"I think it's good we stopped anyways. You really need to take a shower." Steve pinched his nose in response and started ward off an imaginary odor.
"Hey!" I shoved him, but it didn't even knock off his stride.
"What? Is little Barton offended?"
"You are so dead, buddy!" He quickly took off for the elevator. He was lucky he was so fast, or else I would have socked him a good one. Well, if my arms didn't feel like Jello, that is.
I huffed as I waited for the next elevator to come to my floor. Sadly, we were at the bottom, and even if Stark's elevators could go lightning fast, sometimes they could be horrendously slow.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, momentarily blocking my impatience.
"Having fun?"
I could sense the humor in my aunt's tone.
"You didn't."
"You're good entertainment in the morning."
She and her beloved pain-in-the-butt of a husband had been watching the whole training session.
Demons.
And and it wasn't hard to believe that their children didn't fall far from the tree.
"I thought the best part was when you fell on your butt." Of course my uncle would cut in around that time.
I glared at the phone between narrowed slits, hoping somehow that he would catch the glare between his screen and mine. Sadly, we were not engaging in FaceTime or whatever you called video chat on this Stark phone.
Instead, I sent an emojicon with a tongue sticking out of it.
"That's real mature, Hannah."
"Like you act any better."
"I'm an adult, thank you very much."
"If you call watching Barney the big purple dinosaur all night with an entourage of toddlers an adult, then yes, you're an adult."
My uncle was silent. I imagined blissfully of my aunt laughing at him as I rode all the way back to my floor. And for once, I couldn't be happier that it was a long elevator ride.
I think the first training session went well, didn't you?