ᴋᴇᴇᴘɪɴɢ ᴜᴘ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴛᴀʀᴋ'ꜱ | Avengers POV | ON HOLD

FIVE: Family Meeting

Peter and I had been back a week now. Things were pretty normal, nothing exciting had happened the whole time you'd been back. Well apart from maybe one small thing. Okay who are I kidding the best thing happened. Nat and Bucky finally made it official! Bucky finally asked Nat to be his girlfriend. After months of toing and froing they finally gave in and admitted there feelings for each other. It was the most adorable thing ever! You couldn't help but take part responsibility for this too as any given opportunity for them to be around each other you made sure it happened. They were your best friends so if they were happy you were happy.

You and Peter continued planning your prank, everyone in the compound could sense something was brewing. This made Bucky and Loki very eerie. You and Steve had started to become closer too. Every morning at 5 am you would go down to the training centre and do your early morning workout. Ever since that morning when Steve came down and saw you he'd also started coming down at 5 am every morning too. You would then both grab breakfast together.

You just presumed it was a coincidence that he was up early but Nat and Wanda seemed to think otherwise. They kept teasing saying how it was cute you worked out and got breakfast together every morning. You just saw it as a sign of a good and strong friendship forming. You really liked Steve but only as a friend, you'd learned from London that it just wasn't a good idea to date people so you never allowed yourself to catch or should I say admit feelings.

*In the lab*

You'd spend the majority of the week in the lab. You've been working on your prototypes that you had been discussing with Peter for the big prank. Not that you'd tell anyone what you are actually doing, whenever your dad or Bruce came in you just played it off that you were developing old projects. That was enough for them to leave you be. Peter would check in now every couple of days to see how you were getting on. To be honest everyone would keep coming and checking on you. It wasn't like you to isolate from the group much but they knew when you were working on a project they'd not see you much.

"Hey Ari, I brought you a coffee"

"Oh hey Steve! How you doing! Thanks very much" you lean towards him accepting the coffee.

"Yeah I'm doing good thanks. What about you? Missed you at training this morning" concern in his voice. He was right though you skipped training to head straight to the lab. You were nearly done with your new gadgets so you wanted to get an early start so you could get them done and tested.

"Yeah sorry about that it's just I'm working on this project and I'm so close to perfecting it so.." you trail off as your laptop pings. "Sweeet!" You say to yourself moving your attention to the laptop. "What you doing there?" You forget Steve was there a moment. "Oh just hacking S.H.I.E.L.D's security system."

"Ohh.. can I ask why?" Steve looks very confused. "For fun." You say shrugging your shoulders turning back to the laptop. You pause before turning back. "My dad hasn't told you has he? I'm a bit of a computer nerd. But please don't tell him about this." You use your puppy dog eyes. This causes Steve to blush slightly before clearing his throat "sure don't worry about it." You can tell he's trying to make his voice deeper than normal. "I'll leave you to it Ari." He turns his back beginning to walk out. "Stay!" He stops and turns back round to face you. "Only if you want to. I'd like the company actually" smiling sheepishly looking to the floor. "Sure that would be great. Thanks Ari! So how can I help?" he walks back over to the workbench. "I said you could keep me company. I never said you could help" you both begin laughing. He knew you were right.

You and Steve continue to hang out for the rest of the afternoon. You're both joking and laughing with each other. You decided to pause your project as you and Steve were messing around too much for you to concentrate."Steve you're telling me you've never watched Jurassic Park! You've been out of the ice long enough! You have no excuses for not seeing that!" You say shoving him slightly.