It's two weeks before Steve returns one evening, I look through the peephole before letting him in and quickly closing the door. He's soaked through from where it's raining heavily outside. The weather hasn't been the best. Some nights the room is stuffy and others it's draughty – a bit like tonight.
I'm almost at the point of breaking into the files that have been the hardest I've come across. But it's government protected. Their security systems may be strong, but I'm a better hacker. I just need one more day...
"You look like crap." I state helpfully to which I'm met with a rather unimpressed look. He does, but somehow manages to look incredibly gorgeous at the same time. He's injured too; so I'll have to see to that.
"Thanks. Hi to you too..." He retorts, taking off his gloves and heading straight to make himself a drink. "See you're still alive."
"Just because you're not here it doesn't mean I'm going to spontaneously combust." I huff and flop back down on the bed. "Soooooo, see you've got a nice cut on your face. Want me to crack out the first aid kit?"
He shakes his head. "It's not that bad."
"Sit down Cap." I sigh and get the kit from my bag, taking some sterile wipes and now working on his head as he sits down on the end of the bed. Droplets of rain are still falling from his hair.
I sense his eyes flicker up to look at me, as I concentrate on cleaning the cut. "You don't have to do this Aster."
My eyes meet with his. "I don't...but I want to." And then they return back to the cut and making sure it's clean and that he's not gonna keel over and die from infection. He's a super solider though, and by tomorrow it probably won't be noticeable. "Anything else I should know? Broken ribs? Blah, blah, blah."
"Nope, just that..." He replies as I take another wipe and clean the dirt from around the area. Steve now takes my wrist gently and pulls it way. "I'm sure it's fine."
I nod and say nothing, throwing the used wipes into the trash can and packing the kit back up. "Well, you should take a shower anyway...you'll probably feel better after. I have to say it's a better one than some of the other dives we've stayed in."
He chuckles and removes the top half of the suit and the white top underneath it, leaving just his trousers on. He must notice how quickly I look away. "You do realise you've seen it all before." True, however it's something I still have to get used to.
"Yes well...you still need privacy..." I say, not looking at him and keeping my focus on putting my things away. "Clean towels are in there, the maid dropped them off this morning. Good thing too."
He takes a change of clothes in with him and disappears to wash off the stress that was Fury's latest mission.
I lay back down on the bed and turn off the air con. It may have been warm and uncomfortable earlier but now it's draughty as hell. "Now you look much improved." I smirk as he emerges from the bathroom and put the controller on the table beside me.
"Yeah, now I need to sleep for a week." He chuckles and lays down next to me, groaning slightly as his body connects with the mattress. "That's better."
It's at this point that I decide to turn off the light and settle down next to him, listening as the constant whirring of the air con unit kept going. "Did you miss me?" my words are playful through the now darkened room.
"That a trick question?"
I turn onto my side to face him, finding that he was already doing the same to me. "Yes...yes it is."
He shakes his head with a small smile. "Well as you replied to me when I checked in, I knew you were fine."
"Not fine enough to take off on my own though." I state with a little bitterness. "At one point I was raring to get back to DC just to drop in on the General, but I didn't."
"You ever gonna shut up about this?"
"Not until you start treating me like an adult and not a kid." I bite back.
Steve shifts and now sounds defensive. "I don't treat you like a kid..."
"No but you think I'm one." I retort. "I can hold my own Rogers."
He gives up on me at this point. "I'm too tired to argue with you, go to sleep – we'll talk about this more tomorrow."
I turn away so my back is facing him, feeling the irritation. Is he ever gonna trust me fully? He did leaving me. I close my eyes and hope that I can get some sleep, the rain being the only sound against the windows.
In the middle of the night I get up grumbling and palmed the table next to the bed, looking for my bottle of water. "Fuck..." I mumble as it slams to the floor.
"Language." Comes Steve's tired scolding through the darkness and I jump slightly.
"Shit, Steve – sorry. Did I wake you?"
"Nope...can't sleep anyway."
"Weather's diabolical tonight isn't it?" I yawn and turn on the lamp, causing us both to wince at the light. "Geez." I rub my eyes to try and get used to the light.
He adjusts his pillow (more like a brick if it's anything like my own) and leans back against it. "The price we pay for being fugitives."
"Freezing cold rooms and nowhere that does a decent cup of coffee" I moan. "You owe me Rogers." And now take a swig of water from the bottle I've retrieved from the floor.
He nods. "Yeah...I know..."
"So Nat and Birdman are where?"
"Italy and Belgium." Steve confirms.
i snort, "Wow, and I had to get paired with you? I should've been sent to be babysat by Wilson."
There's a playfulness to my tone again as Steve chuckles. "You're always free to join him."
"I'm not allowed to leave your side remember. You're worried I'll get killed or something."
"No, I'm concerned that Ross will take you in."
I sigh. "If he does then he does. He's soon going to find out that I know something about him. I haven't served your head up on a silver platter to him yet. What's the time?"
He looked at his phone. "3.40."
"Wonderful..." I lean back, my head connecting with the headboard. "Ow."
"You should try and get some sleep."
"I'm wide awake now, so you're stuck for more riveting conversation with me."
Silence.
He sends a quick text to Sam and Nat to make sure that they are still alive and then puts the phone on the side table. "And you're usually so talkative..." he states as he notes the obvious silence.
"Ok Rogers, what shall we talk about? Because we've already covered the weather." I gesture to the window where the lightning can be seen slightly through the curtains. "I swear if my parents were still here then they'd probably be going mad at the fact I've been reduced to this. My mother especially."
"You miss her."
"Everyone misses their mother."
He nods. "Yeah...they sure do."
"What was yours like?"
Steve shifts to get comfortable. "Probably one of the kindest women I ever knew. She was a nurse, so I guess it suited her."
"And what did she think about you taking the serum?"
He says nothing for a moment before answering. "Nothing. She died when I was eighteen."
I smile weakly. That's some information that I didn't know. "I'm sorry."
Brushing this off he settles down more now, I turn off the light to ease our eyes. "It's fine. I got over it a long time ago..."
More silence hangs in the air until I break it once more. "I honestly can't wait to get out of this place. It's bloody freezing."
"I know." he pulls the covers over us a little more and I shiver slightly. "Some decent food would be better."
"Ergh, what I'd give for some pancakes right now" I groan and roll over to face him. "Try and get some sleep."
"Bit hard to come by."
"Is it coz you're sharing with a giiiiirl?" I coo
"Shut up."
"So commanding, don't you ever get bored of telling people what to do?"
"Go. To. Sleep." He tells me in the usual slow and blunt tone. Just like he did when he instructed me to keep to the hotel until he got back from his mission.
"Or?"
He looks at me darkly, "I won't be so reasonable."
"Never known Captain America to not be 'reasonable'"
It's like we've just switched. Something has changed, sure we've been on the run. We've been sharing a damn bed. My body just fitting close to his has me questioning myself. I want him to just reach out and touch me, but at the same time I'd also like him to fuck me into the mattress without a care in the world. My hands want to tug at his hair with urgency, his beard to burn right between my thighs. I've noticed his change in attitude over the time we've been running. He still likes to tell me what to do, to be in charge whether he's Captain America or not, but the whole new not giving a fuck is a turn on. Steve Rogers no longer wants to be the golden boy, so it seems, and he would soon be showing his darker side that was for sure.
"You don't know what I'm capable of..." he growls
I like to rise to a challenge. And this one I'm more than willing to do so.
"So show me?"