Toxic | Steve Rogers

Chapter Twenty-One: Their First Fight

Steve was once again, unsure of what to think. After all, he had been getting more and more experience in the surprises and secrets department.

This time, two new concepts of a surprise stood before him.

One was smiling at the other, eyes filled with encouragement. The other was nervously looking at Steve, in which Steve was staring just as heavily back. Steve's eyes traveled to each person in the room, studying their reactions.

Wanda's lips were parted, and here eyes held a sense of distrust at the two surprises in front of her. Tony had his arms crossed, and he only had to deal with one concept, seeing as he had already known about the first one. But his face showed a different story. His features were thoughtful, as if had already known. Sam barely knew who Clint was, so he had only one concept too.

And Steve. He had two concepts of a surprise to deal with. One he could handle, the other he could not. Steve just could not wrap his mind around the fact that Natasha had a sister.

And the fact that that person was Adora, was unthinkable.

Natasha had always been withdrawn, giving no hints to her past, just like Adora. The only thing Steve knew about Natasha's and Adora's pasts were that they went to that dreadful school.

"The Black Widow Program" Adora says, her eyes trained on Steve. He looked up at her, his thoughts scattering.

"That's what the school was. A program for Russian sleeper assassins" Adora told him, her voice so emotionless, it hurt. She was guarding herself. In case one of them challenged her. Challenged the fact she kept so many secrets that he had to stumble upon accidentally to find them out. Steve knew she could hear every thought he was thinking, which he was thinking intentionally. It wasn't his fault Adora could hear him.

Steve looked up to see Adora's eyes flash angrily at him. Indignation filled him at her look, and he stepped forward grabbing her arm, pulling her out of the room despite her protests.

"What are you—" she started, but he cut her off by pushing her roughly into his room. Steve let go off her, but only for a moment, the anger surging through him making him push her against the wall. Her eyes were wide, but didn't hide the anger behind them.

"Why do you have so many secrets?" He growled, pushing against Adora's shoulders. When she didn't answer, he tried again, with a different question.

"Why?" he asked instead, the anger faltering from his voice.

"Why keep secrets?" Adora retorted bitterly, "Because I have too. If I told you every single thing about myself, my past, I'd be open to too many weaknesses. I don't share things for a reason, Cap" Steve glared at her.

"You know you can trust me"

"But what about everyone else here? Tony is already nosy enough, and I don't need him knowing things that aren't his business"

"Adora, you know you don't have to keep secrets. You only choose not to be open about them" Steve fired back.

"Steve, you don't understand"

Steve let go of Adora, spinning around to walk away, but then walking back. He ran his fingers through his hair frustratedly.

"But that's the thing!" he shouted, "I do understand! You're just like you're sister in that aspect, you think you're the only person in the world with problems, but you're not!" Adora's mouth fell open, and her features harden.

The tension in the room heightened. and it was so thick that Steve could almost choke on it.

"That may be true" she said, her voice so dangerously low, that it scared Steve a little. With each word, she stepped forward, glaring icily at him. "Everyone has secrets, Steve. Just because I have more then the average Joe, doesn't mean I don't want them kept" And with that, she stormed past him, bumping him forcefully as she did.

Steve had made a mistake.

When Adora got mad, she got mad. She was the kind of person, that when they get mad, they are quiet, but that was scarier then if they had yelled. Steve almost wanted her to yell, just so that he didn't have to feel so much regret.

And the worst part was, he didn't have time to mull over the circumstances of what just happened, because they had a mission to complete. And if they were both mad at each other.

But Steve knew one thing.

He had to leave her alone, let her blow off steam. He wondered if she would go to the training room, like he did when he was angry. Steve only hoped that another fight would not ensue during the mission.

Breath in.

An eerie sense of peace swept through his mind, and all he could hear was his heart beating. His surroundings seem to slow, and he could see everything in the room at once. Every sound, his heart, the air conditioning, the distant sound of people talking in the other room.

Breath out.

And it was gone, every one of his sense back to normal. All Steve wanted to do was escape.

Walking out of his room, he entered the kitchen, stepping carefully, as if he could sense if Adora was there.

Sam and Tony were quietly exchanging words, while Wanda and Clint sat together on the couch, their voices easily heard.

Sam and Tony looked up as he walked in, their faces solemn.

"Was she in here?" he asked.

Sam looked sad. "No"

For some reason, Steve let out a sigh of relief at this. He walked towards the fridge, and pulled out the milk. He grabbed the cereal from the top of the fridge, making himself a bowl of cereal.

Steve ate in silence, everyone in the room watching him as he did. He paid them no mind, only staring ahead, lost in the swirling of wind that was his mind.

He ate quickly, desperate to go to the safety of his bed, shrouded my the blankets, away from the reality of his detachment from Adora. Moving quickly, he dumped his bowl in the sink, and practically ran out of the kitchen.

The last thing he heard before he closed his eyes was Tony's voice.

"It's their first fight, of course it's going to be hard. Let's just hope they make it"