Just a Little Phishing (An Avengers FanFic)

Chapter 5: JC Penny's Department Sale

                                    CHAPTER 5: JC PENNY'S DEPARTMENT SALE

The next morning Rosie was up extra early to get to the gym when no one was there; if you saw the rest of the people on the ship you would understand. Everyone in this god forsaken carrier looked like they were carved out of solid marble. Even if it wasn't an Avenger in the gym being all muscley, the SHIELD agents were also well equip with the beach bod to make others feel bad. It didn't help that Rosie wasn't the best runner, probably the worst, and she didn't want to be judged for her Forest Gump style tromp. Quickly she dressed in the obscure, mismatching workout clothes she brought and made her way through the barren metal halls of the carrier. At least the buzz of agents was finally gone at three in the morning.

It seemed that she wasn't the only one who wanted to workout alone because one Steve Rogers was attempting to break a punching bag inside the workout room. Though he didn't notice her enter the  room, which was probably for the best. He was too busy with his old school punching bag. So quietly she inched through and took place on the treadmill closest to the water jug hoping to god Steve wouldn't look up and see her flailing.

After thirty minutes of running and three major decreases in the speed of the treadmill, Rosie was caught off guard by the sound of cracks spreading through the metal wall. Steve had punched the punching bag off the hook-- an impact that left a crack in the floor and wall. Taking that as a good excuse to stop her dog panting and running, Rosie walked over to him, her icy blue eyes staring straight into his, "Are you okay?"

Steve, whose haunted past was written across his eyes, looked up to see Rosie standing next to him, "Yes ma'am, I'm fine." Confusion flooded his eyes, Steve couldn't quite understand what this girl was doing at 3:30 in the morning workout room. Even more why did she care about him breaking a punching bag, she looked like she had never used one before.

With a light in her eyes, she smiled, "You don't have to call me ma'am. I'm not that old." In fact she was the youngest in the group.

"Sorry." Her little laugh lightened some of his tension and emotion easily but that didn't mean that he was just going to open up to her.

Noticing the dark cloud hanging over Steve's head, Rosie cut straight through to the issue by bluntly asking, "What's wrong?" It definitely didn't occur to her at that moment that Steve Rogers probably didn't want to talk about it, especially not to her.

"Nothing."

"Oh yeah, well nothing doesn't punch a 100 pound bag into a poor defenseless wall," There it was again, her light laugh, it reminded him of something he'd lost. "So how are you really?" From what she could see Steve was covered in a small layer of sweat from the workout and it certainly didn't look like it was nothing. Rosie was also slightly jealous he was barely sweating because she was covered head to toe.

There was something about sharing his problems that set him off a little but she seemed easy to talk to. So when he did speak up it was very vague, "I'm a little out of place."

"I'm a little out of place." She pointed at herself with an infectious grin: that was the truth. Sometimes it felt like she was the only person in this whole ship that enjoyed candy and soda for hours on end. "What are you really?" Again it seemed that Rosie was lost on the concept of personal space.

"Torn." He didn't know if he should open up to Rosie but for some reason he did, "I'm not supposed to be here. I've missed too much." Maybe she couldn't empathize but it was very clear that Captain Rogers needed someone there for him. He didn't feel like he belonged in the 21st century but he couldn't go back to the 40s. Most of his friends were no doubt gone or almost gone except for him. It was like falling into a endless pit.