War

Chapter 10

Janis' POV

It was like a peace treaty signing, how intense this was. Tony and I sat across the dining table from each other in silence, waiting for the meeting to begin.

"This was called to order to discuss the events of yesterday. Where would you like to start?" I wondered, keeping my cool and putting on my best face and attitude. 

"Let's discuss the thing with Capsicle." My father suggested. I shook my head,

"It's being dealt with, don't worry about it." I told. Tony folded his arms,

"How? What action is being taken?" He interrogated. I was still confused about what I wanted to do about it, myself.

"I'll handle it, Tony." I spat, trying to seem as "together" as possible. Steve, who was standing to my side leaned in,

"What do you mean by that?" He asked. I turned my head slightly, not breaking sight of my father,

"We'll discuss everything later," I said in the same tone. Steve backed up into the doorway, giving me space to do what I needed. "Alright, next topic: Barnes." I moved on.

"How could you forgive him on the spot?" He wondered.

"He had a good alibi." I told, retreating back to my calm state.

"Alibi? He was there." Tony argued, turning the technical definition against me. I had my own reasons for using the word.

"Bucky that brainwashed. Do you honestly think that he still wants to kill me? Because he had a chance last night but instead, he came here for Steve. I think him being 'The Winter Soldier' at the time of the incident and not himself is enough of an alibi for me... He stays if he chooses, end of subject." I explained. Tony couldn't fight me on that, knowing that my views on people tend to be a lot more sympathetic. 

"Well, now I have nothing to complain about." He shrugged, trying to end the meeting there. I shook my head,

"We still have one more thing to discuss. You are not leaving this room until you shake my hand and tell me what I want to hear." I demanded. Tony looked at the table,

"You really wanna take over as Iron Man, don't you?" He asked as if he didn't already know the answer. I still meant business at this moment, so I just folded my arms and lifted my eyebrows. Tony took a deep breath and continued. "It's not that I don't think you can handle it... you really can, you're a strong girl... a lot stronger than me, for that matter. I guess I just can't find an excuse anymore... that's why we'll just take it one step at a time. Natasha will give you fighting lessons and when you pass those, come to me." He said. I was dumbfounded by how reasonable he was being about me bringing it up. Tony put his hand out, responding to when I said I wanted to seal it with a handshake. I got up, moved to his side of the table and I brought my hand to him and we shook on it, everyone in the room as a witness. I then brought his hand into an arm wresting clutch and squeezed it,

"I'm glad we could come to an agreement, dad." I smiled. Natasha spoke up from the corner of the kitchen,

"You know, Janis makes a good businesswoman. There's no better heiress to the company." She complimented. Tony nodded,

"She's a Stark, Tasha. More than that, she's her mother's daughter. She gets shit done."

I sat on my bed doing a rough sketch when my door opened.

"You said we were gonna talk." Steve said, closing the door behind him. I sat the sketchpad face-down and nodded,

"Yeah, I suppose I did. The only problem is, I'm not as pumped up as I was when I said that. Now I have to gather some confidence." I explained. Steve sat at the foot of the bed,

"You're breaking up with me." He concluded, not even asking but more so telling. I pulled off my reading glasses,

"It's not that simple, Steve... I can't just leave it at that. I have to explain myself and give you a reason to understand that this benefits you too." I told.

"It better be pretty convincing." Steve stated. I exhaled,

"Think about it this way: I'm 18 and you're 22 with 75 years of freezer burn." I started with that, trying to build up.

"So this is about age to you?" He wondered, still being cool and collected as always in heavy situations. I shook my head,

"No, it's not the numbers. It's the experience behind the numbers... what I'm trying to tell you is that we still have some maturing to do before we skip into anything big. I mean, you're my first relationship ever. I can't be the only one here feeling that we could be falling in love right now but there's something holding back both of us." I say, hinting around at was Wanda explained a few days back. Steve leaned closer and looked me in the eyes,

"There's someone else, isn't there?" Steve's blue stare looked right through me. I turned the tide,

"There's someone else in your life too, blondie. Don't even lie about it."

"You know about Pe- um... Agent Carter?" He asked. I nodded,

"Yeah, I do. She's your first love. Wanda told me you think about her a lot... dream about her, even. You also visit her, but she has severe Alzheimers so sometimes she remembers and sometimes she doesn't. You think about her like you were together just yesterday because time moved for her, but not you. Face it: you have to gather yourself before you get into anything more and I need to figure myself out beforehand as well." I told. Though he wouldn't admit it out loud, Steve knew how right I was.

   After our talk and brief "not goodbye forever, just goodbye for now" kiss, we parted ways once more. He went to his room, and I went to the lounge. Nearly everyone was sitting in a circle and chatting, but once I entered, the room fell silent.

"What? Something on my face?" I ask, trying to break the tension and figure out why I'm being stared at. Uncle Rhodey lifted his arm and gestured for me to sit next to him. Once I was seated, he placed his arm over my shoulders.

"So let's talk about this. Is there anything you'd like to share?" He prompted. I was 98 percent sure that everyone in the room knew everything already, or at least had an idea, but I cleared my throat and spoke up.

"So, I lied. I lied to Pepper, my dad, Auntie Nat.. I was never involved with Wanda, but I'm sure you've gotten that by now. I feel really bad about dragging her into it. I hate myself for forgetting that FRIDAY keeps the camera logs from the halls, and I really hate myself for what I just did to Steve, but I think things like this explosion take time... and I stole from Uncle Sammy... and I'm really sorry about all of this." I apologized to everyone. I got several approving nods and 'Meh's from the group before Uncle Sammy spoke over everyone,

"What'd you steal, girl?" My eyebrows flicked up, surprised he hasn't noticed yet. He shuffled to get his wallet out of his pocket and opened it up, jaw dropping. "You stole my wallet rubber? That's just rude." Everyone laughed at the comment as I mouthed "I'm sorry" to him with a pouty face.