Eagle (A Loki love story)

Chapter 71

Plot Chapter

When I reached the pool at the end of the run, the sun was up and there was a healthy number of people out and about. Up ahead, I could see Steve closing in again on the man I'd met earlier so I pushed myself to a sprint and followed suit.

"No, no, no, no, no!" He shouted when I came up behind him, right at the corner diagonally across from the end.

"Race you!"

"You're on!" He was asking for it. I made a sharp turn and took off, flying directly to my destination.

"NO FAIR!" I heard Sam holler from behind. I just laughed to myself and pushed three more strides out, gaining enough momentum to get to the pavement, stumble to the grass, and collapse against a tree. My body was covered in a layer of sweat and just about everything was numb aside from my abdomen and lungs, which burned terribly for air and from the effort of taking in huge lungfuls of oxygen. Sam sat more gracefully against the tree next to me.

"In through the nose and out through the mouth. Otherwise, you could pass out from the sudden oxygen input." Hesitantly, I did as instructed but that didn't seem to do anything aside from make me more desperate for air.

"Need a medic?" Steve came walking over, only slightly winded.

"I need a new set of lungs! Dude, you just ran like thirteen miles in thirty minutes!"

"Yeah, I got a late start."

"Ha ha, really? You should be ashamed of yourself. You should take another lap." He looked away for a moment. Steve didn't move.

"Did you take it? I assume you just took it." Steve pointed at his shirt.

"What unit were you with?"

"58th pararescue. Now I'm working down at the VA." He held out his hand, "Sam Wilson."

"Steve Rogers."

"Yeah, I kinda put that together."

"Musta' freaked you out, coming home after the whole defrosting thing."

"Takes some getting used to." I snorted.

"Some getting used to? It took you a week to use the toaster! And don't even get me started on the microwave! I had to disable to fire alarm so the fire department would come running every time you tried to change a lightbulb!" Sam snickered.

"Really?"

"She's exaggerating."

"Mira Laufeyson." I introduced myself as Steve pulled me up.  I leaned on the tree for support, "And I am never doing this again."

"Right, well, good to meet you both."

"You too, Sam."

"It's your bed, right? Your bed, it's too soft."

"When I was over there we slept on the ground, used rocks for pillows like a caveman. Now I'm back, sleeping in my own bed and it's like–"

"–Lying on a marshmallow. I feel like I'm gonna sink right to the floor. How long?"

"Two tours. You must miss the good old days."

"Well, it's not so bad. Food's a lot better–we used to boil everything–no polio is good, and the Internet, so helpful, Mira had me reading that a lot trying to catch me up."

"I swear, I don't know how you figured it out." I turned to Sam, "I left him with a blank webpage for five minutes to see what he does and he finds his way to Tumblr! Worst day ever." Sam laughed.