I haven't re-read this chapter yet. I'm posting this at 5:30 AM where I am.
Edit 8/19/20:
Surprisingly, there wasn't much to edit. Congrats 5 AM me from 3 days ago.
Clint pranced into the communal. His lips settled in a mischievous grin when he spotted the whole team present. Though his focus seemed to be zeroed-in on Steve specifically.
Lauren followed him in, shuffling her feet. She could feel Natasha watching her as they entered. She looked at her briefly without meeting her eyes and sighed. She was going to get teased. She just knew it.
"Lauren was flirting in the bookstore!" Clint blurted out in a sing-song voice.
"I was not!" Lauren argued defensively.
"Dude even picked out a notebook for her! Bet he slipped his number too didn't he?" Clint continued to tease her waggling his eyebrows.
Steve raised an eyebrow at her in question. It made her feel like a kid being scolded by a parent for talking to strangers. But knowing it was Steve made her roll her eyes. In contrast, she could see James grinning. It was like he approved of her flirting or was just amused, she wouldn't know. She'd ask later.
"Didn't think you'd be the type to flirt around Deery." Tony commented, "What happened to that Cervus guy? He got you blushing and spluttering with just a text."
She could already hear Steve's questions despite him only staring at her, his eyebrow raised. (Still? Again?)
"I told you, mister… " Tony gave her a hard look, "Tony – he's just a friend. I was just surprised is all."
"Right," Tony replied, dragging the word out. He exchanged looks with Natasha. An unspoken agreement passed between them.
Lauren could already hear the teasing their looks entailed. But Steve's continued stare prompted her to mouth 'later' to him.
At that point, she chose to start on dinner and some snacks since it was a bit too late for a proper lunch. She was craving for some stew. Maybe something from the home, adobo maybe or lutong paso. And maybe some Filipino-style grilled cheese sandwich bites for a snack. She let herself focus on preparing the food to drown out Clint's teasing.
She started on the snacks first. She grabbed some generic white bread, processed filled cheese, brown sugar, and butter. She could feel the Avengers watching her, the odd addition of sugar in the mix caught their attention. She blasted the butter in the microwave to soften it up for easy spreading. She buttered both sides of the bread slices, paired them, then lined them up. She grated the cheese on the top slices and sprinkled sugar on half of the laid-out slices to play safe. She proceeded to assemble the sandwiches, making sure to put a marker on the sweetened ones, and used the panini press (because of course, a Stark kitchen would have one) to cook them so she was free to prepare dinner.
Just as she was going to grab the ingredients for dinner she was stopped by Tony.
"Nope, no cooking dinner tonight Deery. I've taken the liberty of ordering pizza."
"Okay? But why?"
"Well, since you've met everyone minus Point Break. I figured you should have a welcome party." Tony replied with a wink. "Get to know everyone and all that."
Lauren wanted to protest, she didn't need to have a party to feel welcome. But judging from the amused grins of the whole team, she knew there was no stopping them.
Dinner plans decided, everyone settled around the communal. Tony and Bruce were on the dining table discussing something related to the physics of Tony's latest suit design. Steve and James sat on the breakfast bar chatting. Natasha was with Lauren in the kitchen but stayed by the coffee machine that she started for everyone. Clint went off somewhere after asking Lauren what drink she'd pair with pizza. She absently replied with 'beer', but after she saw Steve's chiding look she quickly amended it to 'root beer'. Her amendment earned her a knowing look from both agents.
Clint later appeared with a case of drinks in hand. It was root beer, but Lauren was surprised to find that it had alcohol. Steve saw the alcohol content and just shook his head. The pizza arrived about an hour after Clint and everyone gathered around the dining table.
There was pleasant conversation all around. Clint acted as a sort of moderator, who mostly just prompted Lauren to recount how she met everyone. Everyone's second names or full names came up once again, along with a few curious questions about powerlifting, mostly from James and Natasha.
When all the pizza was gone and everyone was finishing their drinks, Lauren couldn't help but notice that there was still an awkwardness between Tony and Steve. She knew about what happened with James and Tony's parents. But that couldn't be the only thing, right? James wasn't liable for what he did when he was brainwashed. Or maybe Tony didn't see it that way or couldn't separate the Winter Soldier from James. Is that why James was happy to be called his actual name rather than his nickname?
She shouldn't be speculating. Maybe she should ask someone. Would Steve or James mind if she asked them? She decided to try asking when she talked to them about Cervus.
It was almost midnight when Lauren finally found herself alone with the two super-soldiers. She fiddled with her phone, turning it in her hand. She wasn't sure why, but she felt nervous about the conversation to come. Not because she didn't want to talk about it, but mostly because this was the first time she's talked about it sober. She limited herself to only two cans of root beer. Mostly because Steve made it a point to give her a stink eye every time she tried to grab another.
Steve plopped himself onto the couch across her. James was just about to leave to let them talk.
"I don't mind if you stay James." She called to him. Steve gave her a sheepish smile, which was his way of apologizing for telling James all about her previous word vomit. She took a deep breath and exhaled. "So, where do you want to start?"
"How much of last night do you remember?"
"I wasn't drunk Steve, I remember everything."
Silence engulfed them as they all thought about how to start. The sound of the evening shower made the silence less awkward.
"Have you been drinking that much since you came here?" Steve decided to ask. His eyes shined with concern.
"Oh god, no. I know I like telling you my drunk stories, but I promise you I've grown past that. This last week has just been stressful. I mean, I'm grateful that you offered me a place to stay, but I couldn't stay unemployed and mooch off you guys, you know. I didn't think that Clint was telling the truth that Tony would actually hire me to cook for you guys. So I kept looking, then yesterday something else came up and I just… I just needed something to help me unwind."
"Okay… What do you remember?"
"I remember everything Steve. I wasn't that drunk." She could feel the frustration and embarrassment well up in her as she repeated herself.
Steve scoffed, "You sure about that?"
Lauren didn't get it. One bottle between two people – well, one person and one super-soldier – that wasn't a lot.
"Lauren, when I found you last night only a quarter of the bottle was left. Then we shared another bottle. But you still drank twice as much as me even with me pouring."
Lauren winced at his chiding and the realization that her old drinking habits surfaced.
"Sorry, I'll control myself better next time."
"No more drinking alone." Steve made her promise.
"Promise."
"Do your friends know about your drinking habits?" James, who was silent through the whole exchange, piped up.
"They don't… I mean, I've drunk with them before and they know I got drunk often in college but they haven't seen me get myself drunk. I control myself better when I drink with them cause I know I have to keep them out of trouble."
James gave her a sympathetic look. "Yeah, hell I had to get good at boxing because of this guy." He jabbed his thumbed at Steve. "Thankfully it earned me some cash too. Else all that hard-earned skill would've been wasted on saving his sorry ass from trouble."
That got them talking on lighter subjects. Starting with James telling how Steve just didn't know how to back down from a losing fight, and Lauren having to prevent Iris from being sent out from class by teachers almost every single day of their school life. That one time James made Steve ride the Cyclone in Coney Island. Lauren telling them of how she had to plan how to sneak out during school hours. Either because Iris somehow managed to convince them to go on a food binge (those challenges where you had to eat this huge amount of food within a time limit) or Greez just had to help some abandoned animal, immediately. James was about to start on another story about Steve, but was stopped when Steve cleared his throat, ears pink from embarrassment, asked:
"What got you so concerned before you left earlier?"
Lauren thought about how she was going to answer. On one hand, she could tell them the truth about Cervus and maybe reveal a bit more about their shenanigans as teenagers. They were already on the topic after all. But then, it would raise questions she wasn't quite ready to answer yet. So maybe a little white lie for now…
"I got this message you see, from courier service telling me I have a package arriving. But I haven't ordered anything recently. None of my friends or family have told me they're sending me something either. So, yeah..."
The two men's eyes widened in alarm. A package from an unknown sender and origin just a week after she moved into the Tower was suspicious.
"When it arrives, don't forget to have Friday scan it first and call anyone from the team before you open it up even if Friday deems it safe. Just to be sure, okay?" Steve urged her.
Lauren, dumbfounded, stiffly nodded her head in reply. That was an unanticipated reaction. She repeated his instructions in her head so she won't forget. But their paranoia reminded her of something.
"Friday… She's Tony's AI, right? Does he…" Lauren hesitated to ask her question, paranoia getting the better of her for just a moment but she pushed through, "When Friday scans the package, will Tony know about the contents?"
That made Steve pause for a minute before he could answer.
"I think… as long as it doesn't contain a threat to the Tower your privacy will be respected. But well, if Tony somehow catches wind of a mysterious package arriving for you, he's likely to show up anyway when you open it. He likes knowing what goes on around here. Especially after…"
'… after finding out about James.' Lauren continued in her head when she heard Steve trail off as his eyes subconsciously turned to James. A tense atmosphere fell between them at that moment. It was clear to her that neither was ready to bring up the cause of their awkwardness with their landlord. She wasn't sure how long they kept silent, but James, thankfully, was able to break through it.
"So, Deery, care for another drink tonight?" He teased her good-naturedly.
"Yeah, nope. Not tonight. Tomorrow maybe?" She replied with a wink. Earning an eye roll and laugh from Steve and James.
With the tension broken, their talk ending on a light tone, they decided to call it a night.
Just when Lauren was about to settle down for bed. Her phone rang.
Lauren will finally have her talk in the next chapter! I originally planned for it to be the ending for this chapter but it just didn't seem right to me. Sorry about that. Will post the next one sooner than this one! Even if I have to post it unedited. Promise.