The Life I'm Running From

31\ A Return to *Somewhat* Normalcy

I stopped in front of my apartment door. It felt like ages since I've been here, even though it's only been three weeks. I had forgotten the paint was chipped by the bottom right corner of the doorframe, and that there was a scratch across the door just above my eye level.

My hand went to my pocket, and then I realized I didn't have my keys. Hopefully Danny was home.

After two knocks the door flew open. Danny was standing there, dressed in full yoga attire. I only had time to smile before she swept me up in a rib-crushing hug.

"I haven't seen you in so long," she said. "It was so lonely without you around."

She released me and I stepped into our apartment, dropping my backpack on the ground. "I'm glad to be back. My room at the Avengers Headquarters was really boring."

"The Avengers Headquarters." The door closed behind Danny. She stared into space for a minute before looking back at me. "How was that? Did they treat you okay?"

I sat down on our couch, letting the familiarity wash over me. "They were fine. Tony Stark was a stuck-up billionaire, but I didn't talk to him. I hung out with Peter a lot, and made friends with this girl named Wanda who is kinda like a daughter of Hecate. Steve kept talking to me. Checking up, making small talk, you know."

"Steve?" Danny's eyebrows drew together. "Superhero name?"

"Captain America."

"Ohhh." Danny brushed a piece of curly hair away from her face, and studied me. Her eyes went from my face, to my shoulders, down my arm, landing right at... "Your wrist." Danny sucked in a breath. "Your band is really gone."

She walked closer to me, and gently lifted my arm, examining my wrist. The scabs had fallen off and now I only had three pink scars where the hooks used to be. Danny frowned. "This healed fast. Are all of your abilities back?"

"Yep." I withdrew my arm and she sat beside me. "And I've got control now. It took a little practicing, but I got the hang of them again."

Danny nodded. I noticed that her lips were slightly redder than usual—meaning she had worn lipstick at some point today. She must've had work this morning. So it didn't matter that much that I'd been gone. She had her job to busy herself, which wouldn't have left her time to wonder about me.

"Did the Avengers ever find out you were a demigod?" Danny asked.

I hesitated, colour tinting my cheeks. "Well... I kinda told them. Not right away, but there were these two Norse Gods, and they figured out part of the story, so I just filled in everything else." I stopped talking, looking to see Danny's reaction. She didn't seem surprised.

"I figured you'd tell them eventually." Danny smiled. "You don't like to stay quiet."

Smiling, I playfully elbowed her. "I can stay quiet."

"Sure you can." Danny adjusted her tank top. "How did they take it?"

I thought back to that conversation. "Well they were surprised, but not as surprised as most people would be. They deal with a lot of that stuff anyways. I was worried for a second though that they wouldn't let me leave."

"Really?" Concern struck her eyes. "Why not?"

"Because I might be 'dangerous'." I made air quotations. "It's stupid. But they agreed to let me leave, and if they were really concerned, they could just ask Peter what I was up to."

Danny nodded, and tapped her fingers against her legging-clad thighs. "What does Peter think about this all?"

"I haven't really had a one-on-one conversation with him about this." Suddenly my pulse quickened. "Do you think he'd care?"