Chapter 26
Natasha has the most inspired (and most terrible) idea of a present for Cap’s Birthday: a karaoke machine, complete with disco ball and all. Even Valkyrie joins (the girl sure knows how to party and seems to have a particular affection for 90s and 00s hip hop). (Alex goes a little bit wild on Brooks’ Bitch and hopes Rocket’s video of it doesn’t end up in Lena’s – or Lucy’s, for that matter – hands.)
They cut Thor off from energy drinks. It’s uglier than weaning him off alcohol, looks even touch and go there for a second, and they let him compensate with sugar. Valkyrie drags him to the gym for a round in the boxing ring. In between (a lot of) bickering, he gets his ass kicked, bad. Not quite done yet, she then challenges Bruce to a match (there’s a surprising fondness to their interactions). He declines and since Alex’s down a sparring partner – and has been growing antsy ever since, as Lena’s repeatedly pointed out – she jumps in for him. Valkyrie’s style is eclectic, ever changing, and unlike Natasha she doesn’t shy away from using brute force. In fact, she seems to relish the pain. Alex, too, gets her ass kicked (not even Sun’s coaching will be able to help her best a superhuman) and she loves every single second of it. She splutters at Valkyrie’s offer to join her in the shower and makes a beeline for Lena’s room.
(Still, it’s not quite the same. She misses Natasha, alright.)
After ten days, Natasha and a withdrawn Clint Barton – the various cuts on his face looking on the mend – start attending their group brainstormings. Thanks to their combined knowledge, they manage to identify for each stone several moments in time, where they’re (pretty) certain of their exact location. No one’s too keen on making the acquaintance of the Dark Elves of 2988 B.C. or experiencing the butchery of World War 2, though, so they narrow it down to locations they know well enough. They need to play it safe, for their own sakes and in order to disrupt time as little as possible. 2012 New York, 2013 Asgard, 2014 Morag and Vormir emerge as strong contenders.
The ethics panel renders its second unanimous recommendation: between not doing anything and righting Thanos’ snap, they should try the latter. Lena argues with them for an entire day, brings up probabilities together with a laundry list of risks and wonders over dinner whether ethics should weigh as much as they do in the process. The panel is, however, split over the question of who exactly to bring back: pick and choose from those snapped (and if so, choose how) or bring all back, include Thanos’ victims from before or the victims of the snap’s aftermath. Where to start and where to stop? Its members agree to disagree and send them 500 pages of arguments for each scenario. It’s… not helpful. Still, in between calls with Sun and Avengers business, it turns into her and Lena’s bedside reading.
“Hey, do you mind checking my phone? I think I heard a ping” she asks, tying a towel around her middle and wiping the fog in the bathroom mirror. She towels her hair off (it’s getting long again, she’ll have to cut it), grabs her toothbrush and asks: “Anything urgent?” Since there’s no response, she puts her head round the door: “Lena?”
Lena’s looking at her phone – so far so good – with a scrunched up face.
“Anything come in?”
“Any particular reason you’d be receiving thirst pics in the middle of the day?”
She stops, toothbrush hanging out of her mouth. “What are you talking about?”
Lena lifts Alex’ phone up.
She draws closer to squint at the screen. Ah! She laughs: “That’s not a thirst pic. That’s just Sun.” Relieved, she resumes brushing her teeth, returns to the sink and spits.
“Just Sun…?”
She rinses the taste of toothpaste out. “Yeah. Sun.” She leans closer to look at herself in the mirror: shit, is that a white hair or just a trick of the light? Oh, “You two actually know each other: Sun Bak.”
“Sun Bak…?”
She makes her way back into the room: “Yeah, you met and bought her father’s company.”
“Sun Bak… From Bak Industries?”
“Yeah.”
“And how… Nevermind, we’ll get to that in a minute. Why would Sun Bak send you a shirtless selfie?”
Why is Lena acting so strange? “Sun’s been helping me train.”
“Train?”
“In martial arts. To best Natasha in the ring. She’s damn good.” She combs her wet hair back, out of her eyes.
“Oh.”
Is Lena… “You’re not… jealous are you?”
“Don't be ridiculous.”
“Lena, it’s totally platonic. Like…” She scrolls through their most recent exchanges: Sun at Gay Pride sandwiched between a pretty blonde and a gorgeous brunette each kissing her cheek (ok, maybe not this one), Sun and Mun visiting a movie set. “This one was taken by Mun, her boyfriend. See, that’s him. Sun’s straight. Well, ok, I don’t know that for a fact, but she’s very much in a committed relationship.” (And I have you.)
“And how do you know Ms Bak in the first place?”
“We met…” a grimace, “in Japan. Shortly after, well…”
Realisation dawns in Lena’s eyes: “Tokyo.”
“Tokyo” she confirms with a wince. And because she really doesn’t want to go there right now, least of all with Lena, she babbles on: “It was completely random. Then I traveled with them – Sun and Mun – for two weeks and we’ve stayed in touch ever since.”
“That is…”
“One hell of a coincidence, I know. Imagine my surprise when she started talking about you. I guess it truly is a small world after all” she chuckles fondly.
Lena looks at her for a beat, as if she’s trying to decide whether to believe her or not, before she scoots over and kisses her navel.
“Don’t start something you can’t finish” Alex squirms, her knees going weak.
“Who says I can’t?” with a twinkle.
“Don’t you have a meeting with Andrea?” she swallows, instantly turned on.
Lena looks up, pulling her forward: “Andrea can wait.”
L-Corp is usually an undisputable priority and Andrea doesn’t particularly look like someone who takes too kindly to tardiness, but Alex won’t complain. She hits the edge of the bed: “You were so totally jealous.”
“Well, if I were” Lena unties the knot of Alex’s towel, lets it drop to the ground “and only if,” her tongue trails over Alex’ abs while her hands wander “then I’d very much like to see you in the same situation.”
“You mean if I were to discover nudes on your phone?”
“MhhMhh.”
“You forget I’ve already seen what Jack sends you on a weekly basis.”
Lena laughs, head thrown back. “His fucks du jour. Jack was never one to kiss and not tell.”
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Do you kiss and tell?”
“Is that your way of asking me to send a nude of you to Jack?”
It’s Alex’s turn to laugh, “God no.”
“Now, enough about Jack’s conquests.” She pulls Alex by the thighs until she climbs onto the bed, bracketing her. “Do you want my mouth or fingers?” on an exhale.
Fuck. That question, right there, while her mouth is on Alex’ throat, making her tremble. “Anything”, she chokes, her hands holding onto Lena’s neck, already so ready, so desperate. “You?”
Lena’s smile grows wicked: “Everything.”