And They Were Roommates (STEVE ROGERS X OC)

Chapter Two

Taylor woke up to the blinding sunlight pouring through her massive windows on the wall, making her squint as she forced her rigid body to sit upright. The papers she was reading the previous night were scattered around her on her bed, some had even fallen onto the wooden floor underneath her, sliding halfway under furniture.

Sighing, she stood up, stretching her arms over her head with a satisfying crack, then bent down to gather the papers hastily, dumping them all into their holder without any arranging. Glancing at the clock on her bedside table, she gave out an audible groan, burying her face in her hands. It was still early, and she cursed herself for forgetting to close the curtains which led to the sunshine blinding her.

Not having anything better to do and knowing fully well that she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep without her mind bothering her, Taylor took a shower and freshened up, changing into her workout clothes. In one of the rooms, she had a treadmill set up and she liked to run every morning, sticking to a strict schedule that ended up being broken more than she dared to admit without hurting her own ego.

After the workout, she sprawled out on her rug for a little while to calm her heartbeat, then had a quick breakfast, consisting of the previous night's leftover lasagna. She tidied up the living room as best as she could and started searching for her lost phone since even though her memory was mostly top-notch, she still always left it somewhere unpredictable. She didn't really understand how she did it, but she once left it in the fridge next to the milk that she was originally going to get out.

With an annoyed sigh, she grabbed her tablet from the coffee table and sent a message to Tony, asking when they would finally be coming over. As soon as the message was delivered, the doorbell echoed through the house, and she looked up, furrowing her eyebrows.

She stalked through her short hallway in her bunny slippers, going to her front door with a rather suspicious look. Her brother made her mistrustful about anything and everything, so she patted down her leg to check if she had a weapon on her, precisely the knife that was gifted to her by Happy for her previous birthday.

Biting down on her lip, she unlocked her door and swung it open, revealing Tony with an excited little Maddy. Tony's face lit up as soon as he saw her sister, and Maddy was already mid-jump as she fell into Taylor's outstretched arms, squealing in delight.

"Didn't think you'd come this early," Taylor commented, glancing over to Tony who was in the middle of kicking his shoes off at the entrance, making himself home. "Are those mismatched socks?"

"I was in a hurry since the princess here wanted to be here as soon as possible." Tony rolled his eyes, looking down to inspect his socks, not believing her for a second. One was grey, and the other was black with white polka dots on it. It made Taylor cackle.

"I wanted to show Taylor my newest creation!" Maddy shouted, climbing on top of one of the couches with her small backpack. She unzipped it hastily, throwing it away as she got her hands on what she needed. "ROBOCAT!"

A small gray metal cat was held high in her hands, its green eyes blinking back at her as if they were real. Taylor looked to Tony, puzzled, who just shrugged and threw himself down into the armchair, running a hand through his hair as he watched his daughter bounce on the sofa. He appeared tired.

"Did you really make that Mads?" Taylor asked in disbelief as she gently took it from her. "It's really cute."

"Well...dad helped. But I designed it!" The grin reappeared on her lips. "And it's yours!"

"Mine?" Taylor echoed, chuckling. Maddy nodded at least five times.

"I wanted to give you a present so you're not too lonely here."