Red Thorn

Chapter 35

December 2016

Whilst Sam and Tony had been bickering about whether or not the latter was responsible for all the Christmas shenanigans at the Compound, Steve and Bucky had seen it as a perfect opportunity to take their leave.

"Mind if I hop in first?" Steve asked once the pair made it to their apartment.

"Sure...Why the change?"

"I..." Normally Steve would hang around in the kitchen, have breakfast before making his way up to the apartment for a shower. "I just felt like it, I guess."

"Right," Bucky understood; he wanted to check on Red. "Let me know when you're out."

"Thanks."

He didn't want it to seem to Red as though he was worried and had come to check on her as soon as she had left, which is why he had taken the time to chat a little in the kitchen on their way up and take a shower. But he was worried, and he did want to check on her as soon as she had left, which was why it had been the fastest and most effective shower Steve had ever taken in his life.

"You can go now," he told Bucky, practically running out of the room and down to the kitchen to make Red and himself a coffee and grab the last of her secret stash of breakfast muffins. Fear of spilling the drinks the only thing stopping him from running back up the stairs.

He knocked on the door. "Hey, Red, it's me, can I come in?" There was no answer. He opened the door to the apartment and placed the makeshift breakfast down on the coffee table in the lounge area. Steve knocked again, this time on her bedroom door. No answer again, he could hear water running. "It's me out here, so don't go all stab at first sight when you get out of the shower, okay?"

Steve sat on the couch, watching the clock as five minutes went by, then seven, then nearly ten. He stood, something was wrong. "Charlie?" No answer, still. "Charlie, I'm gonna come in okay."

As Steve reached for the handle, the door opened. "Can I help you, Capitaine?"

The supersoldier jumped, startled. "Shit, Charlie, you scared me."

She chuckled to herself. "Language."

"Very funny." Steve glanced over his shoulder at the coffees and muffins on the table. "I brought breakfast."

"I know. I could smell the coffee from the shower." She smiled at him. "Thank you."

"Of course you could." Steve shook his head. "You're impossible to surprise."

"Yeah, well, you weren't exactly discreet," she told him, taking a seat on the couch.

"You weren't answering!"

"I was in the shower, Steven," she said. "What do you want me to do? Invite you in, next time?"

Steve nearly choked, spluttering his drink everywhere. "W-what?"

"I'm joking, relax."

"Yeah, I know, it's just–" Steve wiped at the coffee he had spilled. "I just didn't expect you to say that, that's all."

"Mmhmmm..." She took a sip of her drink, welcoming the warmth on her lips, much needed warmth after the freezing shower she had just taken. Charlie studied Steve as she did, something was up, he had been acting weird all day, his heart rate all over the place. A thought crossed her mind, one that worried her. "Are you sick?"

"What? Me?"

"No, the invisible man behind you," she said. "Oui, toi, idiot."

"Now, now, there's no need for name calling," Steve answered with every ounce of sass she had given him.