Caffeine Rush (Avengers Fanfic)

Chapter 26: Unofficial Welcome

Without much, or really any, protest, everyone together decided they would need beverages for what came next so I went to work at the nearby coffee station. It was probably the slowest pace I had ever worked at but also the most eyes I had ever had on me while doing so, I didn't let it hinder me though. I put the kettle on for Bruce and Loki, Steve got his americano just as I finished the drizzle on Tony's macchiato. Sam and Wanda both got a mocha (hot and iced respectively), which was handed off just as the medium roast drip coffee finished brewing in the pot for Thor and Bucky. Natasha got her strawberry latte, which she claimed tasted like chocolate covered strawberries and they all watched as I managed to get up enough speed to blend Clint's chocolate shake by hand before it slipped away again—leaving my hand aching and my whole body slightly more fatigued. When I noticed the perplexed looks I was receiving, I remarked as if it was nothing consequential, "what? The blender's broken."

Clint shrugged and accepted the shake. There was no difference between a speedster shaken and a regularly blended milkshake anyway. I poured Lokitty a saucer of tea and set out his cushion, he was still my cat even if I was mad at him, of course I had to take care of him. I wasn't actually gonna shave his tail, by the way, it was too soft and easy to play with, I'd be the one at a disadvantage, it would just be shooting myself in the foot if I went through with it.

When everyone had their beverages and had resumed their positions in the lounge, I chose a couch to sit against on the floor and quietly sipped my banana flavored buzzer—an energy drink with cream. Lokitty forwent the cushion in favor of slinking into my lap and curling up, his fluffy tail flipping back and forth over my unoccupied arm that he somehow also rested his little kitty chin on. "So, where would you like to start?" I prompted, tired of waiting for someone to ask the first question.

"Where do you store your nanomites?" Tony piped up in a casual manner, as if it was an everyday question he might just throw out into a conversation.

"They usually reinforce my shoes so I don't accidentally burn through them when I run without my suit. But when I'm not using them for anything, they condense into this." I pulled the normal chain necklace out of my shirt to show off my blue and gold lightning bolt emblem hardly larger than a quarter.

"Smaller than I expected it to be." Tony commented, Bruce offering an agreeable nod somewhere in my periphery.

"It makes up for size with density, this little baby could stop a bullet." I slipped it off and offered it to Tony, who had a hungry engineer look in his eyes that I recognized from Uncle T. "I'll want it back, preferably intact, when my speed returns, but until then, it's all yours."

"Why do you keep saying that?" Natasha asked, "isn't your speed part of you?"

"The human body isn't designed to run at the speeds that I can, my healing factor is closely integrated with my speed to account for constantly taking damage when I run, that's why I heal so fast. If I didn't have that then I would have been torn apart a long time ago, literally. It's just that I recover as fast as I take regular running damage so it balances out. Cold slows movement, including my healing, so while I'm recovering from this frost burn, I can still run, but my healing factor isn't keeping up with it."

Clint slowly lowered his shake and questioned, "So when you made my shake just now . . . ?"

"Technically I sprained my wrist." I admitted nonchalantly around a straw, Lokitty mrowed in concern but my buzzer was so good that I hardly noticed the sound or the looks I was receiving. "Normally I'd feel it for a couple seconds and then it would be fine, it'll just take more time while recovering, couple minutes maybe? Anyway, my suit helps prevent a lot of running damage so I'm never too concerned about it." I lowered my drink and admitted, "running hurts sometimes, but I'm not gonna let a little pain stop me from doing what I love."

That sunk in for a moment until Steve spoke up, "why did you come here? Why us?" Not asking about why I left, not asking about where I came from. They knew I was from an entirely different universe, parallel to this one, it was normal to ask questions about it but ultimately, that wasn't what mattered. What mattered was the here and now, this universe, these people, right now.

I gave it considerable thought before I slowly started to explain. "I wandered between universes and dimensions for a while, none of those were . . . quite right, I suppose. There was always something missing when I would pass through so I kept going. I found coffee here, that's what made me stop . . . But this world, it didn't need me, it wasn't in need of a speedster hero or a particle researcher or experimental engineer. And there was space for me, if I wanted it, a place to occupy where none existed. It's not as uncommon as you'd think for a world to lack a doppelgänger, but in a universe that so naturally mirrored my origin? The conditions had to be perfect for that to happen. It seemed like that was the natural course to take and . . . that's why I stayed. I met Tony by accident, and you know the rest."

"Why did you keep this from us?" Tony asked, suddenly very serious with a more pronounced touch of vulnerability that was usually hidden beneath layers of attitude and unhealthy coping mechanisms.

I put my buzzer down and stroked along Lokitty's back and down his tail as I uttered in a hushed tone, "I've been doubted before for the potential I have, and the consequences were not pretty—for me and the people who doubted me. I didn't want that to happen a second time, not in this universe and not with you all."

There was a moment where Steve looked to Tony and was met with a raised eyebrow and a nod, then Steve turned to Thor and a similar nod was received, the same occurred with Bruce, Clint, and Natasha, as if the captain was having a private, silent conversation with each of the original Avengers in turn. Finally, Steve stood, verdict ready to deliver. "Jesse Sharpe, codename Rush, you have been indispensable to us in both barista and part-time Avenger capacity since your arrival. Are you willing to make that position permanent? Will you join us?"

"As an Avenger?" I questioned, some hat off guard and looked to Tony for guidance.

"Don't look at me. He's the boss, I just pay for stuff and make everyone look cool."

I looked around at the others gathered present, and wondered if it was really possible. Could I really become an Avenger? Be one of them? Forget the team of defenders and warriors, forget colleagues, could I be part of this family? Could I finally belong somewhere? Belong with a group of people that accepted me even knowing I wasn't supposed to be part of this universe? I think I felt unbidden tears coming to my eyes.

Clint ruffled my blue hair like he would as a dad habit, "welcome to the Avengers, kid."