Prosperous In Battle

12: Selfish Love

I came downstairs a little later than morning, having little to no sleep last night I needed some rest this morning so when Bruce got up to leave I stayed as still as possible ignoring him until he left me alone to sleep. 

I came down to see Tilly and Peter at the island in the kitchen both with headphones on in front of their laptops. I assume they were submitting their physics exams. Peter had part of his online and part in person whereas Tilly had all hers online due to her not attending a real school. Tony sorted it all out for her to be able to take these finals. Meaning she should be able to go to college in the fall. 

She had her glasses on and was completely focused on her work, whereas Peter was nodding his head to the music he was playing and flicking his pen against the counter. I flicked Tilly's ponytail as I walked by, she looked away from her computer briefly smiling at me. She looked cute in her glasses. I smiled and said "Morning." And she nodded before going back to her work. Peter looked nervous when he noticed me his eyes darting around. 

"Morning Miss Romanoff." "I'm not mad Peter, chill," I say, turning to make myself a coffee. Coffee for breakfast is enough right? Right. He went back to his work. "How long have they been sat there for?" "They were there when I came down this morning... So 50 minutes?" Peppa said with a shrug making Morgan breakfast oats. 

Tilly looked like she has had no sleep, she had dark circles under her eyes that were half-hidden by her glasses but I could still see them, her skin was paler than normal indicating she was still tired or maybe Ill? Had someone poisoned her at the party? Was she hungover? She didn't seem drunk? She was tired, definitely tired. My point was proven when she yawned. 

"How long has she been up?" I asked Sam as he come into the kitchen, he took my coffee from my hands. I ignored it and poured another cup. "She was in the gym when I went down this morning... Like 5:30." "She was in there before you?" I asked with raised eyebrows. He nodded walking away. 

She got in at 1:30 last night... And up before 5:30. That's less than 4 hours of sleep. She'll be exhausted by the end of the day. I go find Yelena, she should know when she got up. "Hey." I sit on edge of the boxing ring, sipping my coffee. "Hey, you're up late." She observed I nodded. "Late night." "I heard." "You did?" "Steve warned us all this morning to stay out of your way." Yet Sam still took my coffee, brave man. "Do you know what time Tilly got up this morning, she looks like she's had no sleep?" "No." She came over to me. "She wasn't in bed when I went to the bathroom." "And that was?" "I don't know Nat. I tried to keep my eyes closed." "So how do you know she wasn't there?" "Because I fell over her blanket she left on the floor." I nodded looking into my mug. "Why are you so concerned?" "Because she's- I think we're in a fight?" "She didn't mention anything." "You spoke to her today?" She nodded. "in the meeting this morning. And then before her test thing, she does on that type-y thing. You know the one." She mocked using a laptop. "The laptop." "Yes." "She seemed okay?" "Yeah, That... She seemed okay. She was quiet again." I nodded. "Thanks." "You coming to train?" "I promised Ottilie we'd talk... Maybe later?" She nodded and I left. 

She had to be finished her final by now, right? I went in and Peter was seemingly done. His laptop closed and he was talking with Tony. Ottilie was still focused on the screen in front of her, her eyes jumped from word to word, she looked stressed. Since when did Peter finish before her in things like this. I sit beside her. "Are you okay?" I asked her to remove her headphone. "I'm busy." I looked at the screen, she had filled out all of the questions. I couldn't see why she was still looking at it... Avoiding talking to me. That's why she was still sat here. "You should submit it and go get some sleep. Yelena said you weren't in bed this morning and-"Leave me alone." She switched, she's never been this rude to me, or forceful before. "Ottilie." She slammed her laptop shut before storming off upstairs.