Chapter 19
Celia wriggled a little, trying to get comfortable again and fall back to sleep. She furrowed her brow, confused by the spacious bed. This wasn’t the couch in her apartment. It was much softer and smelled like men’s soap. Celia tried to get her sleep addled brain to focus, remembering how she got into this situation. Random hookups were not her style. She gasped when the events of the last two days came back to her, her eyes springing open to see the bulging arms of a super soldier lying next to her.
She had been asleep. Bruce was right! Celia sat up, peeling the headpiece off and setting it down next to the machine. Steve was sleeping on his back on top of the covers, open history book resting on his chest. Overcome with so much joy and relief, she threw herself at him, forcing a startled oof out of his mouth.
“It worked!” Celia exclaimed, hugging him tightly and smashing the book between their chests. Steve breathlessly chuckled a little, squirming under her weight. She let him go, leaning back so he could sit up and get his bearings.
“Yeah, sorry I fell asleep too. I was meaning to get up but…” Steve trailed off, putting his book back on the table.
“It’s been a long couple days,” Celia said, finishing his thought. She flopped back down on the bed, staring at the ceiling. It was like her life restarted, pushing her out of the limbo she had been wading around in. But now that sleeping was figured out, she just had to figure out the rest of her life.
“Jarvis, what time is it?” Steve asked, standing up and stretching. He rolled his injured shoulder a bit, but Celia didn’t see any signs of discomfort on his face.
“It is 7:14pm Captain,” Jarvis answered.
“Wow, we slept like five or six hours?” Celia asked, in awe. It felt like the most restful sleep she had ever gotten in her life.
“Looks like. We’re gonna have a hell of a time going to sleep tonight,” Steve noted.
“What do we do now?” Celia wondered out loud. Now that there wasn’t an urgent problem to solve, it felt weird being in the tower. She wished she was back at her apartment alone, but she promised Steve she would stick around, at least for a while.
“Well, I don’t know about you, but I definitely am starving now,” Steve laughed, rubbing his stomach as it audibly growled.
“I can make us dinner, if you’d like?” Celia offered, rolling slowly out of bed. She didn’t want to leave its warmth, but she was kind of hungry too. And she wanted to do something to try to thank Steve for all he’d done for her.
“You don’t have to do that. There’s usually something leftover on the common floor. I don’t really have much in my kitchen.”
“I’m very good at whipping something up with whatever ingredients I have available. I’ll never be able to make up for all you’ve done for me, so just let me cook you dinner.”
“Alright, and there is something you can do for me,” Steve said slyly. Celia stood silently, waiting for whatever it was that Steve would propose. “You have to stop thinking you owe me anything.” Celia rolled her eyes.
“So I’m gonna pretend like I don’t owe you anything while you pretend to not feel guilty every time you look at me?” Celia asked, raising an eyebrow. Steve laughed, shaking his head and walking toward the door.
“What’s that saying you all have now? ‘Fake it til you make it.’ Seems to be where we’re at.”
“I’m sure we’ll both do great,” Celia chuckled. She picked up her bag that was resting by the door, giving it a little jiggle. “Anyplace I can freshen up?”
“Of course! I wouldn’t mind a shower myself, now that you mention it,” Steve said, leading her down the hall to another bedroom that was empty. “There’s another bathroom through here you can use.”
“Thanks,” Celia said, refraining from making a joke about showering together to save water. She didn’t want to make him feel more uncomfortable, after accidentally sleeping in the same bed as her. She walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. It wasn’t as fancy as the one she and Steve had cleaned up in the day before, but it was still very nice. There wasn’t a bathtub, but there was a walk in shower enclosed in glass, with multiple showerheads. If this is what a bathroom in an unused guest room looked like, she could just imagine what the other floors of the tower looked like. There were little bottles of toiletries lined up on the shelves, but Celia took her own out anyways. She didn’t want to take any more than absolutely necessary from Tony.
After the quickest, most luxurious shower of her life, she stepped back out into the hallway, hair a bit damp and dressed in her usual white shirt and black pants. Celia wandered back to the living room, walking back to stand again in front of the large windows. The sky was getting darker and the lights of the city were starting to turn on, casting a lively glow over the streets.
“I punched an alien over there,” Steve bragged, pointing to the street below. Celia hadn’t heard him approach, but was able to stop herself from jumping in surprise.
“Very impressive,” Celia laughed, turning to face him.
“Where were you that day?” Steve asked, leading her to the kitchen.
“I was up north with a client fortunately,” Celia said, gesturing to the fridge for permission. At Steve’s nod she opened it, not surprised by the lack of options. He pretty much only had the basics, nothing for making a complicated meal. “You weren’t kidding about not cooking much, were you?”
“It’s okay if you want to admit defeat and go to the common floor,” Steve challenged with a raised eyebrow. Celia scoffed, not going down without a fight. She grabbed the eggs and bread from the fridge, plotting in her head.
“You wouldn’t happen to have any spices, would you?” Celia asked, hoping for a miracle.
“I’ve got some salt,” Steve said proudly, sitting down on a stool on the other side of the counter. Celia snorted, going back to the fridge and grabbing more ingredients. Steve had the stuff to make a basic ham sandwich, but that wouldn’t be very impressive. She wanted to knock his socks off.
“I can’t believe you have this amazing kitchen and you don’t even use it,” Celia said, moving around like she was always here. The appliances looked brand new and barely used, the pans unscratched and top of the line.
“I never really cooked much growing up. And then in the Army I just ate what they gave me. Now, Tony pretty much provides all the food from someplace or another. Do you cook a lot?”
“Every meal,” Celia answered, adding a few slices of lunch meat to a sizzling hot pan.
“I’m pretty sure that’s precooked,” Steve said, pointing to the pan.
“I’ll leave the alien fighting to you, you leave the cooking to me,” Celia shot back, flipping the meat when the bottom started to brown and bubble. Steve lifted his hands in surrender, sitting back and watching her work. She whisked some eggs while waiting for the meat to finish, adding a little bit of the table salt.
“What’s your favorite thing to cook?” Steve asked, snagging a corner off one of the finished slices of meat. He hummed appreciatively and she shifted the plate away from him, not wanting him to eat it all before she could use it.
“I love cooking someone’s favorite meal and just watching them enjoy eating it,” Celia said with a smile, pouring the eggs into the pan the meat was cooked in. She rolled a couple slices of bread in the egg, leaving them to cook for a bit. “I also love baking bread. It’s so much fun trying different recipes and techniques, then watching it rise and bake. Making it is almost better than actually eating it.”
“My mom used to bake bread,” Steve said with a soft smile. “It was usually cheaper to make it than buy it. The whole apartment would be filled with the smell. And she’d let me have the end pieces, because they were my favorite.”
“No cutting off the crusts for you, got it,” Celia said, feeling warmed by the fact he would talk about his past with her, even if it was just an innocent story about food. She folded and flipped the eggs, adding shredded pieces of cooked ham and some cheese she found, getting everything hot and melty.
“People cut the crust off of bread?” Steve asked, sounding scandalized. “How wasteful.” Celia chuckled, flipping the finished sandwich onto an awaiting plate.
“Dinner is served,” Celia said with a flourish, bowing gracefully as she presented Steve with the plate. Steve grinned at her antics, reaching to grab the food before stopping with a frown.
“You aren’t eating?” Steve asked.
“I can only cook one at a time,” Celia said, pouring more eggs into the pan.
“I’ll wait for you then. It would be rude to eat before your food is done,” Steve stated, always the gentleman.
“No, eat it now, while the cheese is all melty,” Celia argued. She wanted her food to be eaten in its peak form. “I insist.” Steve acquiesced, picking up the sandwich and taking a big bite. Celia watched his face, looking for a positive reaction. Steve chewed, the corners of his mouth turning up. The dutifully polite man he was, he waited until he swallowed before commenting.
“This is great!” Steve exclaimed, taking another bite. Celia smiled, pride swirling in her chest. She went back to finishing her own food, her own hunger ratcheting up seeing Steve enjoy his meal so much.
“Wait until you try it with bacon,” Celia commented, taking her first bite. Steve’s eyes lit up, running through possibilities in his mind.
“I could help you make more and we could make some for the whole team,” Steve suggested. “I scramble a mean egg.”
“Sounds great,” Celia said, staring down at her sandwich. She wasn’t sure if the rest of the team would appreciate her presence. They didn’t really get off on the right foot.
“The team will love you,” Steve said, noticing her unease. She sighed, picking at her food.
“People don’t usually appreciate random people thrust onto them. What even is my place here?” Celia asked. What was the point of her even being here? Was it just to hide her from the public, in case word got out about what happened? Was the serum government property, which made her government property too? Were the rest of the Avengers having a meeting about how to get rid of her right now and Steve was just the decoy?
“Honestly, I don’t know,” Steve admitted, flicking at a crumb on his plate. “I still think it’s better for you to stay here. And it’s not like we all knew each other before we teamed up. We just kind of got stuck together and it works, mostly.” If what she had seen so far was working, she’d hate to see what he’d consider not working. They all seemed to care about each other, but they didn’t seem to see eye to eye on a lot of things.
“You’ll tell me the truth though, right? If things aren’t going well with the others. I don’t want what happened to me to interfere with your loyalty to your team,” Celia asked, reaching to grab Steve’s empty plate. He stopped her with a firm hand on her wrist.
“I don’t think it will come to that. We’re a pretty accepting group of people, even if we don’t give off that impression at first. I’m sure it’ll all work out and I’m the Captain, so I have a pretty good handle on these things,” Steve said confidently, flashing her his best Captain America smile. “There is one problem though. You’re crazy if you think I’m gonna let you wash these dishes after you cooked me dinner.” In a flash he released her wrist and grabbed the plate from under her hand, leaning forward and grabbing her own as well.
“You mean there isn’t a robot around here somewhere to do that for you?” Celia quipped, taking the cooling pan over to the sink.
“I’m pretty sure Tony hoards all the robots in his lab,” Steve said with a laugh. Celia grabbed a towel from a drawer, waiting for Steve to start when he eyed it and tried to snatch it out of her hand. “Hey, I told you I was cleaning up!” He jerked on the end, but she held tight.
“I was just going to dry!” Celia defended, pulling back on the towel. They were stuck in a tug of war over the towel, friendly glares on both of their faces.
“It would be very easy for me to take this from you. Barely any effort,” Steve bragged, flexing a little.
“Why haven’t you then?” Celia challenged, bracing herself for the competition.
“Am I interrupting something?”