The Brother, the Boy, and the Shoe || B. Barnes

Fittings and Firearms

The pounding in her head as she woke up made Allie question the entirety of her choices in life. Groaning to herself, she attempted to peer through the sliver of sight she could muster before having to scrunch her eyes shut once more. It was official: she was hungover. 

A snoring to her side quickly shook the feeling of the hammer in her head and the sharpness of the light that would shine in her eyes. Quickly opening her eyes and looking down the length of her body, the blood drained from her face in horror as she realized the state that she was in. Sitting upright and looking around the room, she found her garments scattered against the floor alongside those of a man. 

Slowly looking to the side as she heard a snoring in the bed beside her, she had to stop herself from shrieking in horror. Beside her was a very asleep and very nude Howard Stark. Scrambling to cover herself with the sheet, she inadvertently woke the man. Her heart pounding against her chest in a panic as her eyes were wide as she watched him, Howard only seemed to blink himself awake with a groan.

"Good morning," was all he said as he realized that he was with her.

"What the hell did we do?" Allie hissed at him.

"If I remember correctly, we slept together," he winced at the sunlight from the window as he looked towards her. 

Allie felt a horrible feeling settle in the pit of her stomach as she attempted to think of the previous night. Pushing through the hangover to focus, she found she could only remember brief moments of her night with Howard. The thoughts made her flush a bright red before the memories from inside the bar began to flood back. Remembering the people that she had spoken to at the bar, she looked at him with widened eyes.

"Are you okay?" Howard's brow furrowed in concern.

"My brother cannot find out about this," Allie's face paled.

"What would happen if he did?" Howard looked at her with a blink.

"That's the thing. He's big now. I have no clue what he would do to you if he found out," she swallowed harshly. "No one can find out. The less people that can say something and tell him about this the better."

"Alright," he nodded. "He doesn't find out about this then."

"Good," she nodded. "Now, what time is it?"

Groaning as he turned to his other side, Howard glanced at his watch that sat on the table. Seemingly shrugging it off as he turned back to her, he gave a small wave of his hand.

"Nine o'clock," he seemed dismissive as he settled back underneath the sheets.

"What!" Allie's face paled once more as she began to scramble to stand, taking the sheet with her.

"It's only nine," Howard assured her.

"I should have been at the base's hospital tent two hours ago!" she hissed. "I'm always up and ready to do my job. What are they going to think when I arrive back at the base looking as if I've been in some sort of incident."

"Well, we were in some sort of incident last night," he reminded her.

Turning on her heel to face him, she quickly realized that he wasn't seeing her point. Holding the sheet tightly around herself, she walked back over to the bed. Leaning forward, she looked Howard in the eye.

"Look, Howard, you're a very nice and charming man, but you are not a woman," she frowned. "If anyone finds out about what took place here tonight? Rumors circulate, my judgement is questioned, I might even lose relationships that I thought I had. All the while, everyone only puts the label of a playboy or a Casanova on you. I have to keep my nose straight while I'm out here."