Thaw

Big brother.

 I awoke early the next morning, 6:24 am to be exact. I had only gotten about 3 hours of sleep but hey, it was better than nothing! I had a shower and scrubbed my skin raw feeling dirty from the events that had occurred last night. I went to the closet that stayed untouched and walked in, I let my eyes roam around and picked out plain black leggings to wear with my regular white hoodie. I would wear my sweatpants but they were hopelessly dirty and I didn't want to ask to wash one piece of clothing, instead, I decided to hand wash it in in the sink, after I finished I set it onto the balcony to dry. 

I then left my room and went to see if Steve was around. I hadn't seen him for a few days and by few days I meant 2. It felt like longer tho as he was one of the people id bonded with most. After what happened last night I felt like talking to a friend. I rounded the corner and bumped straight into Thor. Just my luck *eye roll*. He just stared at me and proceeded to quickly stride away. I watched after him before continuing. My mind wandered back to what had happened in the library, nothing I could come up with could make sense of the impossible that had happened right in front of my eyes. I walked past the conference room and slowly backed up when I caught sight of the meeting happening inside. 

Tony was sitting along with Nick Fury, Steve, and a woman I had seen briefly when we were on the airplane to New York. this is it. Nick Fury is here to drag me back to Triskelion. I knew it was too good to be true. I felt my eyes grow glossier the more I thought about it when I was ripped back into reality, the door was swung open and Steve stood at it motioning for me to come in. all eyes were on me as I sat down in the farthest seat from Fury. "Astrid, there's been a change in plans..." Tony said. I looked down knowing what was coming next. They were gonna take me away. "You'll be starting school in 2 days," he said. I snapped my head up to look at him in disbelief. "I-I thought I was going back to, the- the... nevermind." I said with a shaky voice. "No, don't worry, you'll never see that place again," Tony said. "Oh... you know what happened yesterday?" I asked hopeful. "We still don't exactly know... But after breakfast, you'll need to come to the labs." Tony said. "We can go now, I'm not really hung-" "No. you'll eat and then." Steve cut me off with a pointed look. I just sighed and stood from the table. 

Steve followed after me and lead me to the kitchen. He set a large bowl of fruit in front of me and leaned against the counter crossing his arms, watching me. He acted like a big brother, making dumb jokes and made sure I ate every meal. It was cute but extremely unnecessary. "Where have you been?" I asked quietly. "I had... business to take care of." he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. I decided not to press on as he looked tired and ate a few grapes. I stood up and left to the elevators knowing he would follow. "Hey! You didn't finish!" Steve called from behind me. He quickly caught up to me and together we went into the elevator, he swiped his access card and we descended the levels. 

The door opened and we walked out. Side by side he led me to a room where Bruce and Tony were talking. They stopped when we entered and Tony called the head scientist over, she started making notes in her book and Tony called me over. "You just have to get a checkup before you leave. Also, we need to sample some blood," he explained. I just nodded and went to over to the woman, she took my weight and height, blood pressure and all the usual stuff. She then told me to sit at the table. Another doctor was called in and she took my arm and hooked it up to the machine that would extract the blood. Steve sat beside me and put his hand on my thigh which was now twitching up and down from nerves, I've always hated needles, worse than anything else at the prison. I gave him a small smile and he gave my leg a reassuring squeeze, I bit down on my lip as the needle pierced my skin and the slim tube filled with crimson blood. After 15 extremely long minutes I was finally done and they had 1 pint full of blood. The doctor had called Tony over and they talked in hushed tones. Tony turned and looked at me with an iron stare and nodded as the doctor continued talking. I tried to get up but my vision blurred and I stumbled down, I winced expecting to fall to the ground but instead, Steve had caught me and hoisted me up easily. "I should've made you eat the darn fruit!" he shunned himself. My vision had black spots in it now and I fought to keep myself conscious. I was awake long enough to see Tony rush over and say something I could not make out to Steve, he gently handed me to Tony and then everything went dark. 

I woke in my bed and let out a groan, my head felt like it weighed 10 boulders. Movement from the side of the room made me whip my punding head around, the sudden movement only made the pain increase. Tony stood and dropped a book down onto the side table by the reading nook. He walked over to me and laid the backside of his hand on my forehead, he let it linger a moment before pulling away. "How are you feeling?" He asked, "I'm fine, what happened?" I asked. "We took a little too much blood from you, your body didn't have enough energy to sustain itself so you passed out as a coping mechanism." he let out a sigh and I stayed quiet. "You need to eat properly, your bodies malnourished," he said getting straight to the point. I didn't like how serious he sounded compared to his usual sarcastic self. "How long was I asleep?" I questioned, purposefully ignoring his last comment. "Only 40 minutes, and don't change the topic." he said, "ok, ok, sorry I promise to... eat more? Is that what you want to hear?" "Precisely," he replied. 

He turned away and called someone in through his Bluetooth earpiece. Moments later a girl entered, she briskly came over, without a word she dropped a tray on my bedside table and hurried back out. Tony opened a pack of cookies and crackers, he opened the carton of orange juice, put a straw in it and gave it to me. He urged me to eat and I slowly brought a cookie to my mouth, his gaze never left me and I shifted uncomfortably "Are you just going to watch me...? That's a bit weird not gonna lie..." I said mildly amused. He just gave me a look and I knew what he was doing. "What do you think I'm going to do? Hide them under the pillow?" I scoffed motioning at the plate of snacks in front of me. "Honestly wouldn't be surprised," he said under his breath, he turned and went back to the seat by the bookshelf where he pulled out his phone. I ate quickly and finished mostly everything. I knew I was going to regret it later but finishing it was crucial in order to get Tony to leave my room. "I'm finished," I grumbled, Tony came over and took the tray but before he left he turned back. "Pick up your pillow," he ordered. I laughed and when he continued giving me a serious look I couldn't believe it. "Seriously? I thought you were joking..." I said, the smile disappearing, he didn't say anything so I sighed and picked up the pillows that sat untouched besides me. When there was nothing under he seemed content and left.