ᴀɴᴀʀᴄʜɪsᴛ sᴇʀɪᴇs | B. Barnes, S. Rogers, L. Laufeyson

Hope Is A Confusing Thing | 30 |

Chickadee.

That night, he fell asleep to the memory of gold and silver eyes and a soft voice repeating the word he remembered.

He clutched the bracelet close to his heart, and for once, he was not tormented by nightmares.

-

10:43 am
May 6, 2013

Harli awoke on her twentieth birthday to the blaring of a car alarm outside her window.

Ugh, happy birthday to me. She swung her legs out of bed, glancing at her alarm clock. Damn, Steve musta' let me sleep in this morning.

She emerged from her room with tired eyes to find Steve cooking in the kitchen.

"Good morning sleepyhead." He said, looking up at her.

"Mornin'." She muttered, slumping forward on the cool countertop.

"Happy birthday." He placed a plate of scrambled eggs, sausage and bacon in front of her, along with a warm muffin.

"...please don't tell me you baked." She groaned, remembering the last time he tried to use the oven.

"I did not- I just ran down to the store and grabbed a pack of muffins then warmed it up in the microwave."

She snorted, and started munching on her bacon.

After several burnt and failed meals, she had slowly been teaching him how to cook for himself, and they often took turns making dinner. There were days that they were both exhausted from missions, so they only ordered Chinese take out or a pizza.

"So, what are we planning on doing today?" Steve asked around a mouthful of eggs.

She shrugged, "I've really got nothing I wanna do- so curling up on the couch and just bingeing movies sounds like heaven right now."

Harli was still recovering from the news that Thor had brought them two weeks before, that Loki was dead. Sure, she knew it wasn't true, but it still quite hurt.

She had moped around ever since, and not to mention that she hadn't been sleeping well since December, terrified of going back to that forest.

Her guides continued to remain silent, but she was used to it by now.

The girl often went for days without sleeping, specifically because when the caffeine wore off and she crashed, she didn't dream.

Steve had noticed this, and been worried about her. No matter how much he encouraged her to sleep, and reassured her that he was right across the hall.

He'd gone as far as offering to sleep in the same bed as her, to make sure he could wake her if she freaked out.

Harli never told any of the Avengers the specifics of the dream, only that she had a nightmare. That sort of thing was personal, and since she learned that her body could be affected if she was hurt in her dreams only reinforced the idea that sleep was bad.

-

7:12 pm
May 6

The two found themselves curled up on the couch that night, already on the sixth Disney movie.

Various people had stopped by to give her presents, and Tony offered again to throw a party for her that night.

She had politely refused, saying she only wanted a quiet night in.

For her birthday, she had mainly gotten jewelry after expressing that she wanted more of it. Natasha had gotten her makeup and a set of leather chokers that she absolutely adored the second she opened the box.