Steel Hearts

- 30 -

The next morning was spent lazily in bed, both of us warm under our blankets and too comfortable to get up. Once we had decided that we probably should get up, I change into an oversized sweater and jeans before wandering to find Thor.

Pepper had stopped by to be with Rhodey, needing a sense of closeness to Tony who had yet to return or make it known that he had been caught in the blip. I spent several hours with Thor, attempting to get his mind off of anything but Thanos. Enlisting Nat's help to see how many force fields we could bounce his new axe 'Stormbreaker' off of before Thor could recall it. The record was fifty-seven before Thor decided he was going to cheat and used Rocket as a distraction.

"I will not hesitate to blast you out of that tree!" I yell up to the raccoon perched at the top. He was throwing leaves, pine cones, pebbles, and anything else that could qualify as a distraction as they thunked against my force fields.

"You wouldn't dare!" He yells back at me, dropping a pebble to try and hit me. I caught it in an energy wisp and whipped it back up into the tree at him, rustling a few leaves free from a branch near him. The two of us went back and forth for a few moments. He continuously threw things at me and I threw them back in retaliation.

Nat just sat off on the side, laughing to herself as she watched with Thor. The two of them looked much more upbeat than they had been several hours ago.

We went back inside once the sun had started to go down, each of us branching off in our own direction. Hearing water running as I walk down the hallway, I follow the sound to the bathroom.

Steve was in front of the sink, razor in hand. He was lost in thought.

"Can I convince you to keep the beard?" I question, leaning against the doorframe.

"I can't look at it without thinking about what happened," his eyes were sullen, falling as he gripped the sides of the sink and his head fell.

I nod and step into the room, wrapping my arms around his waist from behind, "That's understandable."

He set the razor down, turning to face me. In a split second, I saw mischief in his eyes and before I knew what happened, shaving cream was swiped on my face. In retaliation, I swipe the glob off of my face and onto his forehead. We broke out into a fit of giggles because of how ridiculous the both of us looked with shaving cream all over our faces. Some had gotten on my sweater and hair, but that was an easy fix.

While I washed my face and wiped my sweater off, he shaved. I needed to change my shirt, the wet spot apparent from my trying to wipe the shaving cream off. As I ran my fingers through my hair, I hopped up onto the counter.

"I could use a serious haircut," I mutter, yanking my fingers through a knot toward the ends of my hair and grimacing at the slight pain. My hair had grown too long, almost to my waist and the purple streak had grown larger as well with time.

Steve had stopped shaving for a moment, only about half done and he looked even more ridiculous than before, "It's been a long time since I've seen you with short hair."

Shrugging, pulling all of my hair over my shoulder into a side braid, "I like it long, but not this long."

His hand danced across my back, just lower than my bra strap, "What about here?"

"I like it. I'm gonna change out of this shirt real quick," I motion to the wet spot on my front and he nods.

Making my way down the hallway to Steve's room, it was more our shared room than anything since I spent more time in his than mine, I peeled the sweater off of me and rummaged around in the closet for one of Steve's flannel button-ups. Settling for a grey one, I shrug it on over my shoulders and leave the top two buttons undone before changing into a pair of black leggings purely for comfort's sake.