Roommates

Rip off the band-aid

"I'm doing much better, thank you. One day at a time right." He quoted a previous conversation they'd had a few years back.

Nodding she gave him a careful side hug and a light tug on his braided beard. "Exactly. How's Val and New Asgard doing?"

"She's a much better King and politician than I'll ever be. As for my people. It's been an adjustment, but they're doing well. You should come visit soon, you'd love it." He had made the suggestion the last couple of times he'd been by, but she was always busy with work or with her family. Now that she was down a job maybe she would take him up on it.

"You know what, count me in. Let me check my schedule and I'll give you a call. I could really use a vacation." Pulling out her phone she tapped into her calendar and began looking for a solid block of time where she could take off without it interfering with her freelance work or the two shoots Charlie had booked her for. It might be a minute before she could go, but she was definitely down.

Peter piped up as she was scrolling through her calendar. "She really could use one seeing as she's never taken one in all of the time I've known her. And from what I heard about the last few years she's become a workaholic." He grinned at her mild glare before kissing her cheek and going to find food and a towel to clean off his face.

Excitement filled Thor's blue eyes that she was finally saying yes. "Excellent. I'll have someone come in to clean out the guest room and I'll talk to Valkyrie about giving you a proper Asgardian welcome!" Without thinking he scooped her up in a bear hug forgetting that he was covered in still wet paint. Setting her back on her feet Thor grimaces when he sees his mistake. "Forgive me, Jamie, I've ruined your clothes."

Waving him off with an amused laugh as she looked down at her paint speckled shirt and jacket. "No big deal, Sparkles. Now it looks like I'm a part of the team." She joked in good humor to set him at ease.

"We'd love to have you join us." A soft eastern European accent came up behind her. Wanda smiled as she gave her a hug in greeting.

"What do you mean? She is already one of us." Her brother says, speeding over having kissed Jamie cheek and shooting her flirtatious wink. Soon enough the twins went off on a tangent making her laugh as she gave Thor another hug telling him she needed to find Bucky.

"No need to go searching for me, doll. I'm right here." He said with a wide grin as he came over and began to coo at Alpine who'd been quiet until she heard his voice. Taking her bag he unzipped it to pull the excited meowing feline out to give her cuddles. "Were you a good girl for Jamie?"

"She was the best. Hardly complained during her first cab ride." Bucky's answering smile made her heart beat in double time. That is until her eyes met Steve's and then her heart fell into the pit of her stomach. Forcing her smile to stay in place she tried to greet him and Sam as if everything was normal. "Hey Wilson, I heard you had a hard time today. Heya Spangles."

Sam rolled his eyes while Steve gave her a quiet smile. The feeling of nervousness was clearly two sided. Grumbling Sam crossed his arms petulantly. "I demand that if we do this again that Bucky and Clint sit it out. They have an unfair advantage in their marksmanship."

"You're just mad that you couldn't hit me once, even when you resorted to cheating." Bucky grinned as he gave Jamie a side hug hello asking her how her day had gone. "How'd your appointment go?"

"It went well. Helpful." She said, giving Steve a side glance. Catching his eye she raised her eyebrows letting him know she had a question for him. Jamie really didn't want to wait any longer for this conversation. What she'd told Bucky yesterday had been true. Steve had been waiting a long time for this talk and it wasn't fair to make him wait or get his hopes up. "Steve, do you think we could go somewhere alone to talk?"