Aftermath (A Steve Rogers/ Captain America Romance)

Chapter 4: Lazy days.

Steve had been living with April now for just under a week. She'd took him shopping for clothes, showed him how to work a mobile phone, and had took him to see some of the sights of New York.
In the next few weeks Steve would be made to go to therapy sessions to evaluate his physcological health, and would soon be introduced to the rest of the team.
April had been told that Johnny would be home sometime within the coming week and Steve wasn't all too convinced that sharing a house with someone like Johnny Storm would be a walk in the park.

It was just past 11pm and April had been splayed out on the armchair watching television for the past 3 hours. Steve sat at the table flicking through the newspaper, as he finished off a snack.

It had been a lazy day, neither of them had done anything productive or remotely exciting, yet the day had gone so quickly.

As it creeped up to 12 o'clock, Steve glanced over to April. She was laid on her side, curled into a tight ball, with her face buried in the arm of the chair, fast asleep.

He couldn't help but smile at the sight of her.

Steve stepped over toward her and turned the telly off. Lifting her gently from the armchair he used one hand to support her legs, whilst the other wrapped protectively around her shoulders.
Steve carried his sleeping roommate to her bedroom. He cautiously placed April onto the mattress and covered her with the duvet. April let out a comfortable hum of approval and huddled closer into the sheets. Steve tiptoed quietly out of April's bedroom and proceeded to his own. He slipped off his shirt and fell heavily onto the mattress.
And that was when he smelt it. The same smell of thick smoke and ash that he'd inhaled when he first arrived at the house... This time it was stronger. His nose had managed to get used to it over the past few days, it had always lingered and had never really bothered him; But now he really could smell it.

Steve listened intently for a few minutes. He heard footsteps, the door opening and closing, and light switches being flicked. He kept listening, silently preparing himself for unwanted guests, until a smooth masculine tone spoke from the living room,
"Sweety?"