Reality in Motion

at-home pizza tour

"What is all this?" she was referring to the smattering of pizza boxes littering the floor of her apartment. She dropped her keys into the small ceramic bowl by the door, finally back from her walk around the square.

Something she was doing for nothing more than to keep up appearances; she couldn't have whatever agent that was monitoring the GPS of her ankle monitor get suspicious about her lack of movement. That would raise some questions, and might even cause a surprise visit. One she couldn't risk having given who was her current house guest.

"Uh, well," Steve got up from his crouch on the floor and brushed his hands off while surveying his work, "figured we could do a little pizza tour, but since it's a little bit risky to be out right now," he was referring to himself. Though Q was wary that anyone would recognize him given the facial hair he was currently growing out, "I brought the pizza tour to you."

Ever since Q had her momentary lapse in memory, Steve had been doing little things here and there to either test her memory or make sure she still remembered certain events or milestones. Amazon packages showed up on her doorstep that were puzzles she had already done, crossword and Sudoku books for the two of them to work through in the evening before retreating to their separate beds or couches. He asked her questions about certain topics they had discussed in passing, or moments they had shared together; like visits to the Smithsonian or the diner they went to some mornings after his run. There had been viewings of movies they had watched together: (500) Days of Summer, Hercules, The Fault in Our Stars - the movie they had seen on his birthday. Of course, complete with her go-to movie theater snack of too buttery popcorn and M&Ms.

Q had caught on to what he was doing rather quickly. But her surprise at the fact that he was making such an effort outweighed any other feelings toward the little quizzes he was giving her. It was even more surprising than realizing that he remembered so much about their relationship - even things from when they weren't in a relationship. A romantic one at least.

The fact that he had stuck around, despite how they had left things in Wakanda, made her believe that he really did care about her. Maybe they weren't together, and maybe it would be a long time before they got back together, but she was still grateful to know that he wanted her to be okay. And would do anything to make sure she was.

"Like the one we had in DC." she remembered fondly with an equally fond smile to match. His eyes met hers, a little smile peeking out of slight relief.

"So you do remember." he relaxed a bit at the realization that he wouldn't have to explain it to her.

"I'm not a complete blank slate, Steven." she chastised him a bit with a shake of her head. Sometimes she wondered how much he thought she actually forgot. The quizzes were becoming so constant that it was clear he thought that it was a lot.

Letting out a slight laugh, he moved over to the couch where two of her notebooks were resting on the cushions. The ones she had bought because she liked the covers but never actually used - preferring her yellow notepads because of the professional vibe they gave off. No SHIELD agent used flowered, hard backed notebooks that had little ribbons as bookmarks.

"Made up a few scoring sheets too," he grinned as he handed her one, "Cause if we didn't write it down, we'd just be fu-messing around." he reminded her while she gave him an unamused look. Still, she took the notebook to look at the scorecards he had sketched out on each page. The top of each page was titled with the name of the pizza place, and the same categories were present from their first pizza tour. He had even drawn little stars that were supposed to be filled in as a rating.

Over the past few days, Steve had done some research on what was going on with Q. While he wasn't sure which specific memories she had lost until it was pointed out to him, the internet proved to be useful in giving him a better understanding of the kind of amnesia Q was going through, along with little tips or tricks to help her heal. He was certain it would resolve on its own like it had with Bucky, but he wanted to be sure. Thus, the at home pizza tour. He hoped the familiar favorite food would help jumpstart whatever other memories she had lost. Pizza had been a staple in their relationship. It was something they always ate together, and had countless conversations over.