Next Generation

18: Back At It

The two weeks of James's recovery went by very slow. The kids still attented home school and trained every other day with the exception of Luke and James.

Not that Luke had much training to do anyway.

He'd go in once in while, for a period of about an hour or so to get anger management classes.

Other times, he was just relaxing in the den, reading up on online articles, playing online chess, and just catching up on his sleep.

Right now though, he was looking through various websites on a laptop Tony gave him for a new pair of glasses.

While pushing James off of Ultron, he broke his glasses in the process. He'd found them, only in shatters and snapped legs.

"I like those", someone whispered in his ear.

Luke jumped up, his heart beating at an alarming pace and his hair bouncing as he whipped around to see who'd scared him.

"Jesus", he mumbled as he held on to his chest. "I thought I was alone", he wheezed out.

Veronica sat up, giggling. "Sorry".

"Um", he straightened his position on the couch, "s'alright". He looked over her getup. She was wearing a fitted dark blue catsuit with a utility belt strapped around her waist. Pouches went around her thighs, God knows what was actually in there. Fingerless gloves covered her hands and her collar was propped up. "What are you wearing?".

Veronica looked down at her suit, smiling. "My training suit. You should really see my actual suit, it looks a lot better", she winked.

"Yeah, I bet you look great", he laughed, complimenting her.

"So what do you do while you're not training? Wander aimlessly around the Tower?", she asked.

"Most days I'm just locked up in my room, just reading and stuff", he shrugged.

"So why are you out here today? Something that pulled you out of your dungeon?", Veronica smirked, sitting next to him on the couch.

Luke blushed, looking everywhere but the exposed skin of her chest since her suit was bit zipped down. He hooked one long across the other, laughing nervously.

"Maybe", he looked over at her, not realizing how close she was. Her scent, it was..amazing. He realized he wanted her closer.

But why?

He felt himself lean closer at the same time that she did. Veronica reached up and swept over the tiny curls framing the side of his face.

"You look better like this", she said, their noses grazing.

Their lips were only milometers away and he began to lean even closer.

"Now where is Luke? He needs to hear the big news and- ohhh", Francis stopped in mid sentence.

Torunn, James and Jason appeared next to them. "Ohhh", he said again, this time wiggling his eyebrows.

Luke and Veronica quickly jolted up and went to the opposite sides of the couch.

"I- um, I..", Luke stuttered, sitting up against the couch.

Veronica's cheek flushed but she still managed to giggle. "Sorry about that".

"No, we're sorry", Jason laughed, walking over to Luke. "Who knew you had it in you?", he asked, patting his back.

"Um.", he mumbled.