Chapter Text
In hindsight he should have tried to deflect the blast with his shield but it had still been flying through the air towards one of Loki's minions at the time and Natasha had been in trouble right then. So he'd jumped in front of the blast because he's a super soldier-it's kind of his thing. The thing he's struck with though immediately isn't pain, it's 'something isn't right'. When he gets to his feet there's no blood or even a wound, almost as if the shot had phased right through him which really wouldn't surprise him considering who they're fighting. There's still a tingling in his muscles but it's easy enough to ignore when there are more pressing matters to attend to. Like trying to hold off the enemy while Thor tries to reason with his brother. He's not entirely sure that will work since it's never worked before however he isn't about to get between a god and his brother.
“Thanks,” Natasha holds out her hand and he takes it to pull himself up.
“You alright, Cap?” Clint asks him through the communicators. He's got a bird's eye view from where he's perched and the others aside from Natasha had been busy. Steve tries not to think of Clint as Big Brother.
“Fine. Avengers, we've got to keep the fight contained to this area, there's a school nearby full of kids-the last thing we need is for the conflict to reach them.”
“You got it, Captain,” Iron Man replies, cutting a line in front of Loki's forces with his repulsors. He lands beside Steve loudly and addresses the odd looking troll-like creatures currently trying to take over Manhattan, “you want to be a big uh...whatever you things are? Try crossing this line.”
There's a split second of calm until they charge across the line, waving their weapons and yelling wildly in a language they can't understand. Natasha gets first blood with her Widow's Bite which only seems to make the things angrier before they fall over after they're tazed to hell. She turns to Iron Man and they exchange 'well it works' shrugs. Steve throws his shield, taking out a few trolls while Natasha is throwing others to the ground with her legs-it's still impressive no matter how many times he sees it. Iron Man is alternating between punching and repulsors, Clint is lighting them up with arrows and Hulk is...smashing. He looks up to see the progress of Thor-it seems to be going well- still, they can't hold the line forever. The tingling in his muscles gets stronger as the fight wears on until it's something closer to pain but he can't exactly stop to rest because he's a little bit sore.
Thor eventually gets Loki to call off what's left of his people however he still manages to escape capture anyway.
“My apologies, friends, it seems that my brother has once again disappeared.”
“Don't worry about it for now, Thor, we have clean up to do,” Steve shakes his head, “think you can handle the heavy lifting, Iron Man?”
“Going to pretend I didn't hear that, Cap.”
The police trickle in as they're in the middle of picking up any debris left over from the attack and send them home where JARVIS has taken the liberty of ordering them their after battle foods of choice. Bruce still has shawarma as if that's the only thing acceptable to eat after a fight because that's what they'd eaten the first time but the others have a mix of pizza, poptarts and what is probably something Russian. Tony always has some sort of fast food while Steve prefers to just eat whatever is left over from last night's meal. There's still enough pizza for him left over from Clint though as usual so he doesn't say no when it's offered to him. They sit in comfortable silence in front of the television watching some sort of sports movie until Tony changes the channel to Deadliest Warrior which is easily one of Thor's favourite shows.
“These men fight with such valour and yet I have not seen nor heard of them on Asgard,” Thor always says in between bites of poptarts as if men acting like they're from the Spetnaz or are samurai all go to Valhalla. No one has told him yet they're just actors of course.
“Must be the time lag between the realms. Asgard gets all the best shows late,” Tony says and Thor buys it because he's got as much guile as a golden lab and expects others to be the same.
“So, just making conversation here but have you ever thought of punching your brother in the face, Thor?” Clint...Well, Thor is mostly right about Clint although Steve hasn't figured out whether it's on purpose or not.
“Barton why don't you go back to your nest?” Natasha's stone cold gaze lingers on him until he shuts up about assaulting siblings. Even if it could be argued that Loki did need some sense knocked into him.
“I just want to know where they get the data for this, I mean, they say they designed it themselves but I'm not buying it.”
“Really, conspiracy theories about Deadliest Warrior?” Tony smirks, “you know, you've got a point, Banner, these guys don't look like the type to program their own tech.”
And then after turning to Natasha, “but then again, Fallaces sunt rerum species.”
The corners of her lips turn up ever so slightly, only made perceptible by the human eye thanks to the shadows from the overhead lighting-Steve figures it's some sort of in-joke because everyone he's talked to says Latin is a dead language. He smiles too, though and closes his eyes as he rests his head on the back of the plush couch to better soak in the atmosphere surrounding him. This is nice. Despite everything that had happened before with the team hanging onto peace and cooperation by their fingernails they're still all here together in the tower talking like friends. It dulls the aches in his body at the very least, puts his mind at ease until the next time Loki inevitably escapes or some other villain wants their time in the spotlight.
“Everything alright, Cap? You took the full force of Loki's temper tantrum beam there,” it's Tony, Tony who he fights with almost daily, Tony who pretends to be a lot worse of a guy than he is, Tony who had had him utterly fooled up until he'd hitched a ride on a nuke. Tony who for a minute there had made him think of Bucky even though they would both abhor the comparison he's sure.
“Fine, the fall hurt more than whatever he shot me with.”
“If you say it was magic, Thor, I'm changing the channel to What Not to Wear.”
“I do not understand your threat.”
~~**~~
Steve wakes slowly, his muscles hurting more than is probably necessary to get the point across that he should really make sure not to schedule his heroing on days he's been assaulting the gym equipment as well. If it hadn't been cloudy out there would have been sunlight trickling in through the small gap in the curtains which have been drawn at the first sign of him stirring but he's done more than run in bad weather before, some overcast conditions aren't about to stop him from jogging. His room is fairly modest despite the entire floor he inhabits being ridiculously extravagant otherwise. Tony had waved off his complaints about spending too much money because he really did have his own apartment in Brooklyn saying that really, he had more money than he could probably ever spend. Probably. That had made Steve frown but it isn't the Depression anymore and people in the future are stupid with money. When he'd said that to Natasha on the first night they'd all spent together in the tower she'd just shrugged and said “let them be stupid”.
When he steps under the spray of the shower he groans, normally he would save it for after his run but by the time he'd made it to his room he'd been almost falling asleep on his feet. Drowning in the shower didn't seem like a very fitting death for Captain America or Steve Rogers. The water feels better than it has any right being and he's already going through a more challenging exercise routine in his head as he lathers his hair. If he's getting this sore after a couple hours of fighting it means he's slacking. Of course Clint and Natasha generally lounged all day after one if they could(or as close to what could be called lounging by Natasha) but they also didn't have the serum to keep them going.
“JARVIS is there anyone in the gym right now?”
“Seeing as it is 1am, Captain Rogers, the answer is no.”
“What?”
They'd gone to their respective floors after one definitely so it can't be 1am unless he managed to sleep through the entire day. It's happened before after infiltrations of Hydra camps but never after the ice. He holds up a hand to block the spray of the shower as he looks up to the ceiling.
“What day is it?”
“August 23rd, Captain.”
That can't be right either. “JARVIS how long have I been asleep?”
“By my clock, roughly two days, sir.”
Hadn't anyone tried to wake him?
“Attempts were made to rouse you however they were unsuccessful. Mr. Odinson was particularly thorough in testing his...hypotheses.”
Thor has an air horn from god knew where because it hadn't been gifted to him by any of the Avengers. That's really enough said. Steve rinses his hair then steps onto the bath mat before pulling a towel off of the rung, “I must have been more tired than I thought.”
“Indeed, Captain. Shall I prepare the gym for your morning workout?”
“Well I guess it is technically the morning,” Steve says mostly to himself while towelling himself dry.
“For once you and Mr. Stark would be in perfect agreement, sir.”
“Not sure if I'm happy about that,” he folds the towel and hangs it up again, “but I shouldn't complain, Tony is a smart man, a real asset to the team, I mean.”
Jeez, he's talking to a computer. A very intelligent computer but still a computer. “Shall I tell him so?”
“I don't think he needs the ego boost.”
“Quite right, Captain Rogers.”
A very, very intelligent computer. He's seen that Space Odyssey movie despite Tony telling him that he shouldn't and he really shouldn't have. Luckily JARVIS shows no signs that the Avengers will be yelling “open the door, JARVIS!” any time soon. His workout clothes consist of a t-shirt and a pair of track pants which he'd been told(and agreed) were way more comfortable than slacks while working out. He wraps his hands once he gets down to the gym and JARVIS turns on the lights for him then goes to work fighting imaginary enemies. If it hurts more than normal, well he just ignores it.
At least until the chest pains start.
“I am sensing respiratory distress, Captain, shall I call the medical staff?”
Steve shakes his head, makes sure JARVIS knows that the noise he'd made had supposed to be the word no. He takes a knee, tries to slow his breathing to something less than panicked gasping and then the pain ebbs, disappears. There's still a slight wheeze to his breaths when he gets up but that too stops after a sip of water. Okay, that hadn't been normal. He rubs at the centre of his chest with his hand as he had done so many times after an asthma attack before the serum. But that hadn't been one of those. It couldn't have been.
Could it?