"So, what? It was too dangerous
for me to fight against Iron Man
and Black Widow last year because
I was too young and it was too
dangerous, but now some alien dude
wants to destroy the planet and I'm
suddenly totally cool to fight?"
Sequel to...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE | ALL THAT PAIN AND SUFFERING —
__________
i think we deserve a soft epilogue, my love. we are good people, and we've suffered enough.
-seventy years of sleep #4 // nikka ursula
__________
Rubbing the tiredness from her eyes, Bella trudged through the apartment building hall and made her way to her door. Through blurry vision, she jammed the key into the lock and shoved the door open. Without much care for where they landed, she kicked her shoes off in different directions and dropped her coat and bag where she stood. All she wanted was to put on some sweatpants and sleep for ten years.
"Well, aren't you just a ray of sunshine today?"
"Oh, leave me alone," she grumbled. "I just had the worst day ever."
She ripped the scrunchy from her hair and turned to face Steve. He was grinning at her from where he sat at the kitchen table. He stood and walked over to ruffle her hair.
"Sink's all fixed, kid," he said.
"Finally," Bella sighed. "Something good." She craned her head back and smiled up at him. "Thank you. I owe you my life."
Steve chuckled and shook his head. "That's a bit dramatic, I think. You still coming by tomorrow for dinner?"
"Of course," Bella said. "It's Joey's birthday. I wouldn't miss it even if the world was caught in a fiery storm of supervillains."
"No need to jinx us, Bells," Steve said with an eyeroll. "I'm getting old. Can't deal with that anymore."
Bella shrugged nonchalantly, paying his comment no mind. She knew that he was really just messing with her. It had been long established that the serum used on him back in 43' almost completely stopped his aging. He was just as spry as any other twenty-something year old superhero, even if he was technically forty in age.
"I'll see you tomorrow. Right now, I need to sleep."
"Okay." Steve pulled Bella in for a hug and kissed the top of her head quick. "Stay safe."
"Please, Steve, you know me. 'Safe and Cautious' is my middle name."
He shot her a look that said "Bitch please", but took her statement without argument. Bella walked him back to the door and watched him disappear down the hallway. Once she couldn't see him anymore, she allowed her shoulders to slump again. Rubbing her eyes, she trudged up the stairs and fell face forward onto the bed. Neglecting to even plug her phone into the charger on her bedside table, she shoved her face into the pillow and pulled the blankets over her head. It wasn't long before sleep took over and she was dreaming of daisies and long wedding dresses.
By the time she was shaken awake, she had no idea how much time had passed since she got home. Judging from the lack of light streaming in through the window, it had been a while.
