the strongest avenger (2)

seventy one

"I'm glowing?"

I look back down at my hands, examining closer at the white light encasing them. Looking further down at my legs and my arms.

"Sorry." I mutter, backing up away from them. "Just got lost in my thoughts." I swallow the thick knot in my throat. "Why were you looking for us?" I ask Steve, averting my eyes while I try to reign back my power.

"Uh—food. We got food. Did you want to eat?"

I did want to eat.

"Y—yeah. I'm hungry." I give them a smile and gesture for Steve to lead.

James walks slightly behind me as we leave the conference room, both boys quiet and myself trying not to be awkward. I startle slightly as James puts a hand on my lower back.

Turning so that our gazes meet, he taps his temple. I open up my thoughts.

Are you alright?

Yes. I look away from him, focusing on the back of Steve's head.

Where did you go back there?

Nowhere.

Snow...

I was just thinking about how people always do me wrong.

How so?

This isn't really a conversation that we should be having right now.

But we are going to have it.

Fine. Later though. I wanna enjoy my food.

With that, I pull from his mind and speed up, James lagging behind as I walk next to Steve.

"What's on the menu?" I ask him.

"Your favorite." He states as we get closer to the kitchen, sending me a smile.

"Chocolate?"

"Just wait and see."

I start to become slightly giddy as we near the kitchen, the sounds of muffled talking getting louder. We come around the corner and I'm met with the whole team sitting there, freezing and then smiling at me.

"Happy birthday!" They all say together, causing a wide grin to form on my face.

"Thanks." A small blush makes its way across my cheeks as I look at everyone.

"You're getting way too old Lia. You're catching up on me." Sam says which causes me to laugh.

I go over to Peter and sit down in the empty seat next to him, Wanda on my other side.

"We attempted to cook," Tony starts. "Morgan was helping, Pepper brought her up from the lake. But it didn't really work out..."

"So, we ordered takeout." Nat finishes.

"I don't care who made it. I'm just happy we're all together." I look around again, my smile faltering. "Where's Bruce and Morgan?"

"He said something about a breakthrough. He should be down soon, he was working all last night." Tony explains. "Pepper and Morgan ran out to do some errands, they'll be back later."

"Got it."

I look over and my eyes widen as I see what's for brunch.

"You got chocolate french toast? This is amazing."

The team laughs and Nat takes my plate, putting some food on it for me.

"So what were you two doing in the conference room?" Nat asks as she piles french toast onto the plate.