Love in the Dark (Steve Rogers fanfiction )

Chapter 3

"What Do You Mean?" - Justin Bieber

I'm running as fast as I can. Luckily there's been no one in the halls and I'm almost to my room so I'm feeling confident I'll make it without being seen.

I turn a sharp corner and I almost crash right into Nat, who is coming in the other direction. She has to put her hands up and grab onto my arms to stop me from hitting her.

"Woah, slow down Connors. Where's the fire?" she jokes.

"Nat! I'm sorry, I was just heading back to my room."

Between the labored breathing and the cracks in my voice there's no way she won't notice something.

"Hey." She says as her brows pull together.

There it is.

"Are you okay?

There's a second where I consider telling her. Everything that's happening is building inside of me and I need to let it out.

But now that things have escalated and gotten way worse, I really can't put Nat in the middle of this.

"Yeah. I'm fine." I lie. "I'm just tired. We came back late and I didn't get much sleep so..."

I see her go into spy mode. I can see it in her face, she's analyzing me. She knows I'm lying. But being the amazing friend she is, she doesn't call me out on it.

"Okay. Well Tony wants to have a meeting on the Price case. And since you were part of last night's mission he wants you there. But if you aren't up for it I can make up something."

I don't want to go to that meeting. I don't want to be around anyone right now, especially not Steve. But if I don't show up it's going to raise suspicions. I don't really have much of a choice.

I shake my head. "No that's okay. I'm fine."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah. Let's go." I say turning around and heading towards the conference room.

"Wait. Did you need to go to your room first?"

If I go back to my room I know I'm going to end up falling apart in tears and I won't be able to go to the meeting. The only thing that's going to keep me from crying is having an audience.

"No. I'm good."

Nat gives me a sympathetic look before throwing one arm around my shoulders and pulling me towards her as we walk back to the main building.

By the time we get to the conference room almost everyone is already there; Tony, Bruce, Clint, and Bucky are sitting at the table in the middle of the room. The only people missing are Sam, Rhodey, and Wanda, who are all on a mission on the other side of the world and Thor, who is currently on a completely different world.

"Kid!" Tony says, acknowledging me. "Thanks for joining us. Nat, thank you for going to get her. Now that you're here maybe you can explain why despite having one of the most technologically advanced cell phones you still manage not to answer it."

Crap. While drowning in nerves this morning I completely forgot to grab my phone. It's still sitting on my nightstand.

"Thanks for that Tony." I say sarcastically. "I actually left my phone in my room when I went out for a jog. Nat caught me on my way back and we came straight here."

I hate how well I just lied to him.

We both look over at Nat, who has already gone and taken a seat at the table next to Clint. Technically I'm not lying when it comes to her; but she knows that, despite having found me running, I definitely wasn't out for a jog.