Frost

Chapter 17

A smile broke out on Ivy's face. She swung her arms around her brother and clung to him like a monkey. This time, though, Howard didn't mind.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm the best" he said cocky, but returned Ivy's hug anyway.

"You're my sanity too" Ivy whispered into the hug. Because no matter what was to come, Howard would be there. He was the one who kept them together and didn't let them lose their minds.

~°~

"What did you do?!" was the first thing Ivy asked when she saw Steve. A few minutes before, she had seen Peggy walking down the hallway in a rage. And since Howard was with her and was not the cause of Peggy's anger, it could only have been Steve. He himself had a look of regret on his face. Ivy may have been Steve's friend, but she was also Peggy's. And in this situation, a feeling told her that whatever had happened, it had been Steve's fault.

Steve looked dejectedly at the floor as Ivy stood in front of him. Her hands were settled on her hips and her eyebrows were pressed together.

"Peggy saw me have a kiss with someone else," Steve muttered glumly. Ivy's eyes widened. She looked at Steve in shock.

"You what!" she asked so loudly that even Howard looked over from the far corner of the room.

"She kissed me!" Steve tried to justify himself.

"You didn't push her away!" retorted Ivy, upset, and Steve looked down.

"I was surprised... Overwhelmed... It was my first kiss..." Steve admitted  quietly. Ivy's eyes softened and she stopped looking at him like she could kill him right here and now. After all, he had hurt her best friend's feelings.

"It was your first kiss?" Ivy asked  more gently, and Steve nodded sheepishly.

"I know... I'm 25 and -"

"I haven't had my first kiss either," Ivy admitted with a small smile to make Steve feel better. Steve looked at her in surprise.

"Really, you haven't? I mean you are.... You look.... Uhm..." he stammered nervously. Ivy didn't know whether to laugh or to be offended. "Now don't be so overwhelmed by it. It's not my fault that more than half of men are assholes" Ivy retorted defiantly, raising an eyebrow. "Now don't change the subject! How could you do something like that to Peggy?" Ivy asked again, looking like an angry mother. "I thought you liked her!"

"I do!" Steve admitted, looking tensely to the side. "I know I screwed up.... I'm an idiot" he sighed.

"You are" Ivy agreed with him. It wasn't the answer Steve would have liked to get. The look on his face gave it away.

"Do you know what fondue is?" he asked uncomfortably.

"Did someone say foundu?" Howard asked from behind Ivy. Ivy let out a little shriek and winced. She hadn't caught Howard sneaking up on her. He grinned proudly at his little sister and put an arm on her shoulder as he looked skeptically at Steve.

"Fondue's just cheese and bread, my friend," he explained. "But it's also an inside joke between Peggy and me" he added.

"You have inside jokes?" Ivy asked in surprise. It wasn't like Peggy and Howard were best friends.

"You don't?" Howard asked back, to which Ivy gave him a warning glare.

"And it looks to me like she thinks you've got a lot more going for you than that."

Howard led Steve through his new lab while Ivy walked behind them. She kept looking around and touching some of Howard's stuff. Howard hated it, the reason she might did it. Howard's techs unwrapped and installed futuristic machines. Workers replace the blown-shattered windows. Ivy, thankfully, hadn't been there when Howard had half-blown up his lab, again.