Brooklyn Boys|Marvel x Male OC

31 - Downtime

People find comfort in different places and environments. For example, Steve finds comfort in his apartment and listening to 40s music, Tony finds comfort in his family, Nat finds comfort in shooting the shit out of targets. For me, it's training in the gym with more 'modern' fighting music. Last time he was at the compound, Peter composed a training playlist for me, consisting of The Score, Imagine Dragons, Sam Tinnesz and a few others.

So, I have this playlist on in my headphones and training with the sparring dummy the team called 'Wesley' for some reason I've never been told. I hit the dummy at its diaphragm, stomach, chest, nose and other places on the upper torso that would hurt just as much with a heavy amount of force, which causes Wesley to rock back and forth every so often.

"Come on!" I shout to Pietro as we wander up the hill, him being a few feet or so behind me, "I thought you're supposed to be fast!"

"Not when I've been helping around the village all day." He yells up to me, rolling his eyes.

"At least you got off your ass!" I replied.

"That's it!" Pietro shouts and speeds up to me, tackling me to the ground.

"Ok, ouch." I laugh, pushing him onto the grass next to me. I lay back and gaze up at the sky, watching the pinkish clouds pass over Sokovia. The sky was a similar colour, orange and pink at the bottom, blue above. 

"You alright?" Pietro asks, propping himself up on his elbows.

"Apart from the pain in my side thanks to you," I laugh, "I'm ok, I guess."

"You don't sound very 'ok,'" he states, "what's going on?"

"I don't know," I sigh, "I'm just wondering if Steve's ever tried to look for me. I know he's still alive and with the Avengers, but what if he's just forgotten all about James and I?"

"From what I've heard about your friendship with Steve," Pietro begins, "I'm sure he hasn't forgotten you or James. The Avengers have been on multiple big missions over the past few years, so he's probably just consumed with his superhero business."

"'Superhero business,'" I laugh, "yeah, probably."

"How about you? Are you ok?" I ask, changing the subject.

"I'm alright," Pietro smiles, "I got a haircut the other day."

"I noticed."

"How does it look? Is it ok? Is it too short?"

"It's not too short, P," I laugh, "it looks greats."

Pietro smiles and nods in response, and lays beside me. I smile to myself and go back to watching the clouds pass overhead. 

"Laurie!" Someone shouts from behind me, making me snap out of my daydream.

"Oh, hey Nat," I say, "you alright?"

"I'm surviving," she sighs, "you?"

"Pretty much the same," I frown, turning back to Wesley, "what are you doing down here?"

"I came to see you."

"That's nice."

"You know we can hear you swearing from down the hall?" She laughs.

"Really?"

"Mhm."

"Sorry." I sigh and take my sparring tape off.

"It's alright," she smiles, "we all have to destress in some way."

"I guess. Where's everyone else?"

"Steve's in his room, Thor's down by the dock, Bruce is in the lab with Rhodes."

"The usual then." I chuckle, sitting on the edge of the boxing ring.

"Yeah." She smiles faintly.

"How are you coping?"

"The same as usual," Nat sighs, "I've never really been sure about how I should process things because we were never taught that in the Red Room."

"Fair enough." I reply.

"You seem pretty confident that we can get everyone back." Natasha states after a few moments of silence.

"I was just trying to give everyone hope, you know?" I say, "but now, I'm not sure if we can save them."

"It was like a heat of the moment thing?"

"Yeah, I guess so," I sigh, "our current best-case scenario is that Tony is still alive... but even that seems impossible right now."

"It's all going to be alright," Nat reassures, "if there's one thing I know from this job, it's that you have to keep going and stay confident."

"I know," I half-smile, "I'm trying my best."

"You miss him, don't you?" Nat asks as we wander up to the main room of the compound.

"Who?" I question.

"Pietro," she replies as I nod, "you two have seemed quite close since we found you in 2014."

"Yeah, well," I sigh and chuckle, "it's just... I... I don't know."

"It's alright," Nat laughs softly, "I know."

"What?"

"Don't worry." She grins and walks off, leaving me with confusion.

"Ok then." I say to myself and head outside to the dock to see Thor.

It's a quiet day outside, though I suppose it's a quiet day everywhere seeing as half the population is gone. The compound is usually a quiet place anywhere, as it's away from the city.

Thor's sitting on the platform that was built on the lake, staring out at the water, either asleep with his eyes open or zoning out.

"Thor?" I whisper softly as I approach him, trying to not freak him out.

"Thor?" I ask again, sitting on the floor in front of him.

"Afternoon, Laurie." He sighs softly.

"You doing alright?" I question.

"It's been a very rough few years."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I left earth in 2014, after Ultron and Sokovia," he begins, "I left to travel across the universe, on a quest for... I can't even remember what now."

"Odin, my father, died in 2017, leaving the sister neither me or Loki knew about to be let out of Hel," Thor continues, "she destroyed my home, and within a matter of days, Thanos killed half our people and my brother."

"Oh. I'm really sorry about that." I sigh.

"It's alright." Thor smiles softly.

"What was Loki like?" I ask.

"Mischievous," Thor chuckles, "though, he was the God of Mischief."

"He invaded earth in 2012 with the Chitauri," he continues, "aiming to take over the world and become King of Midgard."

"Midgard?" I ask, "sorry, I'm not familiar with Asgardian mythology."

"Earth," he informs, "Loki failed though and was imprisoned in Asgard a few days later."

"I remember being told about that," I say, "by Tony I think."

"Where is Stark?" Thor questions.

"We... don't know," I sigh, "he went missing a few days ago, but we don't know if he's gone too."

"What happened to the remaining Asgardians?" I ask.

"They've gone to Tønsberg, Norway," he says, "I'll probably be leaving for there soon."

"Well, good luck." I smile, standing up and walking back to the compound.