To Guest DCDGojira: congrats on your cousin's engagement! Reading that last week made my day!

Intersession: Intern Rogers

Outside of Hudson Residence - 12:42 PM

Angela's been waiting for over thirty minutes. She'd call Xavier but he waited two days for her exams to finish so they could ride home together. And she didn't want to drive on the interstate for over an hour. At least she has her own car key so she could put her bags in the trunk (taking up most of the room) and sit inside while waiting.

She isn't sure how to feel about the year ending. She's glad that she doesn't have to worry about grades and tight schedules. The only downfall is that she won't be home for as long as she thought. Instead, she'll be in Washington for three months doing a work-study at the Triskelion. Angela was surprised that she got a position in the Triskelion as a freshman. When applying, she heard that only the best upper years got a position there. Maybe her name had something to do with it but Merida got stuck at the Academy.

Angela hears the trunk open. Since she didn't lock the door, she turns around and, as expected, sees Xavier throwing his stuff in. She turns back around and smiles when she hears the trunk close followed by the back door opening to put his last bag on the backseat. Seconds later, he's sitting in the driver's seat. They don't even have to talk to have a conversation. Yes, yes I came here earlier to use more room in the trunk. And I was disadvantaged since I had to walk to your residence to get to our car. But it's really more your car since I don't drive it. It's one of the perks of having a twin.

"Am I high maintenance?" Xavier asks as he starts the car. "Or do I look like I'm high maintenance?"

Angela puts her phone down. She has more questions than answers upon hearing those. She wonders what took him so long, if they will be making any pit stops on the way home, if anyone's coming with them, and why he's asking those questions. Angela knows it's better to answer his questions than ask any of her own.

"You're so low maintenance that, sometimes, Mom and Dad forget you exist," Angela says.

"Wow," Xavier states. "We haven't even left the parking lot."

Angela smiles to herself. "You're pretty self-sufficient."

"Exactly. You're the high-maintenance one which is why you get all the attention."

"Am not!"

"Are so!"

A whole car ride of this to come.

-o-

Somewhere on the Interstate - 13:10 PM

"So are you and Merida rooming together next year?" Xavier asks her.

Angela glances over at him as if he asked a stupid question. "Yeah. I know Merida would kill me if I wanted to change but I don't. I thought you were automatically paired with your current roommate for next year."

Xavier opens a hand to emphasize his point while keeping the other one on the wheel. "That's what I thought. Apparently, you have to fill out a form saying you want to keep your current roommate."

"Oh…" Angela slowly nods. "So you and Ashton will be roommates again?"

"Yup. Do you think I want to go through awkward icebreakers with someone else? Nah." Xavier switches lanes. "Ashton said he filled out the form for me since Merida gave him my student number."

That doesn't surprise her. "I think Merida took care of our form. I'll text her in a bit. She knows all our student numbers. I don't know how but are you surprised? She has the keys to our houses. It's for emergencies."

"She says emergencies."

"But you wanted Ashton as your roommate, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then it was an emergency."

"It wasn't an emergency."

"It so was."

Angela smiles because she's right and Xavier's stopped responding. Of course, she's right. She knows her twin. He wouldn't put any effort into making friends, especially since he's waited almost a year for his dearest ones to come back. She is too. At least he was lucky to have Ashton as his roommate because they became friends and he introduced him to Orchid and Brody. Now she knows them as well.

It's almost weird to make new friends because they've grown up just knowing the ones they've had. It's exciting to tell new people about herself and hear stories about different lives in return.

"Was not," Xavier continues.

"Was so," Angela adds with some chipper in her voice.

A whole car ride of this to join them.

-o-

A Week Later - Washington Apartment - 9:58 AM

It didn't hit Angela that an entire year passed until she was on a plane heading for Washington. She couldn't believe. A year ago, she was a cheerleader and a babysitter. A year ago she was fighting for her life alongside her friends when they were supposed to be graduating. A year ago, she watched her brother cry following Britney and Apollo's departure. Now she's assigned a summer job at the Triskelion. Life is good.

After she landed, she claimed her bags and took a cab to her SHIELD-provided apartment. On the way, she saw the Triskelion. It's different seeing the building now that she won't be a child running around the hallways with her friends. Still, she wears the innocent wonder with pride.

When she arrives at her apartment, one of her roommates, an upper-year who also has a work-study at the Triskelion, picks her up and brings her to their unit. There, she meets the rest of her roommates and drops her bags off. At that moment, they receive emails about their tasks for the next three months.

"Personal assistant to Chairman Wallace," Sanderson, one of the roommates reads from her phone.

"Student Secretary to the State Department," Marala follows.

"Assistant analyst for the Energy Sector," Chen adds.

"Runner…?" Angela says with confusion. Did she read that correctly?

"You run to make copies, answer calls, escort appointments, and, most important, fetch coffee," Sanderson explains. "You're basically running at all times."

Angela blinks, wondering if she heard that correctly. She should've slowed down in her track classes. Out of all the tasks, she's a coffee intern. She could be pissed but she's a freshman who got assigned at the Triskelion. Upper years envied her. Even her roommates are looking at her as if she just announced she will be Director Fury's right-hand man. They looked jealous of her job which she didn't understand since their tasks sounded cooler.

"You're fetching coffee?" Marala asks rhetorically. "That's golden. In my second year, I was a tour guide."

"That sounds better," Angela says.

Marala scoffs. "Please. You get to run out of the building and down the road. I have to walk at an indoor speed, memorize the building's layout and history, and practice a fake smile and customer service voice."

"Sounds better than scanning files to make them digital," Sanderson adds with an eye roll. "I now have glasses from staring at all those screens."

Chen points right at them. "You three can shut the fuck up. During my third year, I was sent to their daycare service."

The three girls, including Angela, wince at the sound of that role. Angela was a babysitter during high school but even she didn't want to be with a daycare. She loves babies and small children, but SHIELD spawn? No thanks. She's had enough of those and she's one of them.

It didn't occur to her until a week after that she didn't know any of their first names. She was pretty sure the others didn't know hers either. They, including herself, introduced each other by their last names, year, and program. Rogers. Sanderson. Chen. Marala. Angela can recall vague memories of being at SHIELD with her parents. Everyone would call each there by their last names as if it was their first. Most times, they didn't even use their titles. Now, that was happening to her. She didn't think the SHIELD lifestyle would hit her this early but it doesn't feel as strange as she thought.

-o-

Triskelion - 13:45 PM

Her job wasn't bad. She was always on her feet and doing a task. Fetching coffee was her main role but she only did that the moment she walked in or mid-afternoon. For the rest of the day, she would be escorting appointments or delivering files, whatever a superior agent asked.

Now, she's on her lunch break with her roommates. They all talk about what they've been doing and, again, they're jealous of her job. Angela still doesn't get it. They have jobs with proper titles and a concrete list of responsibilities. Aside from fetching coffee, she walks in and does whatever she's told.

Angela looks away from her food when she feels her phone vibrate in her pocket. Maybe someone finally responded to her.

Group Chat - Rogers Brigade
Members - Peggy, Angela, Steve, Xavier

Peggy: Quit complaining. At least you get to move around and see the city and building. I was stapling papers in a corner desk.

Angela: I wish I had a job coaching something like soccer. Or even a lifeguard. This is boring. I'm taking coffee orders and making copies.

Xavier: Coffee is the renaissance of the workforce. Coffee-fetching interns offer companies fresh perspectives with a steaming cup and critical support to boost team productivity.

Xavier: You're living the real SHIELD experience - not knowing what's coming but doing correctly.

Angela pauses, looking away from her screen for a moment. Xavier's messages remind her of the spiel she gave about Xavier being a soccer coach.

Steve: What brochure did you get that from?

Xavier: I told a kid that last part before the game, modified, obviously.

Angela: I hate you.

Xavier: Bet you wished I was fetching coffees with you.

Angela: You're right. You should jump out of the plane.

Steve: Still don't miss this bickering.

Peggy: Yes, you do.

Steve: How do I mute this chat?

-o-

Washington Apartment - 22:40 PM

Her roommates had to stay late at the Triskelion. Apparently, there was some classified meeting that would occur past normal working hours and she got to leave. Even Marala, the tour guide. Angela didn't ask questions since she got the apartment to herself. A part of her is happy since she can finally watch whatever she wanted and take up the whole couch. She got comfortable, got a bowl of tortilla chips, and was sprawled on the sofa scrolling through the movies.

Then, there's a knock on the door. Angela groans. She just got comfy. She puts her bowl on the coffee table as she straightens the wrinkles on her shirt. Angela walks over to the door and opens it. Her eyes widen when she sees James smiling at her. They've been texting and calling but she didn't think he'd come to visit her.

"Babe, hi!" Angela greets as she reaches forwards to hug him.

James wraps his arms around her as she leads them inside and closes the door behind him. Immediately, she cups his head and starts to kiss him. She's missed him so much. He presses her against the wall, holding his hands on her hips.

He quickly parts. "Are your roommates home?"

"Nope," Angela responds, starting to grin. "Why?"

"I have something I want to test out with you."

Intrigued, Angela follows James as he walks through the apartment. He looks around, impressed by the place and finds the kitchen. James clears the counter and pulls something out of his pocket. Angela watches the two small objects. At the snap of his fingers, they grow bigger and Angela's eyebrows wrinkle. James waits for her amazement but she isn't sure what's supposed to wow her. It looks like a busted machine. James looks back and starts connecting the pieces. Once it's put together, Angela's mouth forms a circle as she gets a closer look.

"You got a cotton candy machine?" Angela asks.

James nods. "I got you a cotton candy machine. You're a sweet tooth but I've never seen you work one. Don't worry about bringing it home, I'll drop it off back at your place when I head back. For now, I got this."

Angela nods her hands excitedly as James plugs the machine in and turns it on. How has she never gotten herself one of these before? Once a whirring noise starts, James takes a shrunken package of sugar out of his pocket and grows it back to a normal size. He tears it open and small pink granules fall out as he pours it inside the tube. James puts the bag on the counter as they hear the sugar crunching. They stand close, waiting. Both of their bodies radiate energy the other can sense. This is true excitement.

They gasp when little puffs of sugar start to form and fly out as wisps. Angela catches one with her hands and James happily watches as her face lights up with enjoyment despite them just starting.

"Alright, now we're talking," Angela says. "Where are the paper cones?"

James's face drops. " … shit."

Angela smiles. She isn't surprised at all. "I'm sure I can find a replacement somewhere around here."

"No, I have an idea."

Angela looks away for one second. When she turns back, she sees James with his sleeves rolled up and his arms in the machine. She should've seen that coming as well.

"James!" Angela screams concerned.

"Relax, it's fine," James responds.

They look inside and see cotton candy forming around his arms as if they were paper cones. Once they were big enough, James pulls them out and Angela is amazed. She thought he would've gotten amputated. James laughs at the success of that move. He too likely thought he would lose his arms. He holds them up like muscles for a second as Angela snaps a photo. When she lowers her phone, she laughs wholeheartedly as he holds an arm out. He gestures for her to bite some cotton candy as he does the same to his other arm.

That last part ended up starting off as an innuendo and I'm not mad about it.

Angela's chapter is the kind of productivity I wanted during my post-first year but that did not happen. Almost got it second year but then the pandemic came and fucked over my plans.