The Ides of July // Loki - Book 1 ✓

Bonus Chapter #3: Meeting Steve + Sam

"Well, hey there buttercup," Tony quips as Steve steps out of the elevator and onto the main living floor of the Avenger's tower. "Don't you look like a big bundle of patriotic joy delivered right to my doorstep. Lucky me!"

Steve rolls his eyes, "Shut up, Tony."

"Ouch, Cap. Ouch," Tony replies, clutching at his chest. "Spitting in the face of my hospitality. What happened to the good ole boy from Brooklyn? Did your momma raise you up with those manners?"

Anna walks toward the room, the sound of Tony's voice echoing down the hallway before she catches sight of Steve or the other man who followed him off the elevator. She grimaces and debates whether or not she should spin around and head back to her room before shrugging.

"I knew you liked the sound of your own voice, Tony," she calls out, turning the corner to enter the room. "But this is getting excessive."

She spots Steve, a small smile curling up the corners of his mouth, and her face flushes bright red. Halting mid-step, a look of horror comes over her momentarily while the embarrassment passes.

"You must be Anna," Steve says, breaking the silence. "Natasha told me all about you. I'm Steve. Steve Rogers."

Sam steps up next to him, digging his elbow into Steve's ribs and wincing when it does more damage to himself than to the super soldier.

"This is my friend, Sam Wilson," he continues, obliging his friend with a chuckle.

Anna smiles politely, "It's nice to meet both of you."

"Is this why you haven't been responding to any of those online dating profiles I've been sending you?" Tony interrupts, pouring himself a glass of orange juice. "You've already got a 'friend'? I didn't know you were batting for the other team, Cap. I gotta say, there's going to be a lot of broken hearts on your eHarmony profile."

Sam cackles, "Nah, man. He hasn't responded to any of your emails because he still can't figure out how to use his phone after Natasha changed the language setting to Russian."

It's Steve's turn to blush, and Anna can't help but smile at the sight. Clearly, Steve is just as wholesome and good-natured as Natasha told her - maybe even more so - and she's glad she won't be the only one suffering from Tony's incessant teasing. Then again, it looks like Steve gets it from his friend Sam too.

"I can fix that," Anna volunteers, taking pity on the poor man.

Tony mock snores loudly, "Boringggg."

"Much like your company," Anna shoots back at him. "You don't see me complaining."

"Hey, listen, missy," Tony frowns, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "You don't get to walk into my house and just say whatever you want. We won the war. Besides, the British aren't supposed to have a sense of humor."

Anna smirks, "I'm sorry, what's that? You want me to break your nose again? Last time, I hadn't trained in twenty years. Now I've been working with Natasha."

He claps his hand over his nose, rubbing it, and shakes his head. Grabbing a bag of grapes from the fridge, Tony gathers his orange juice and moves to leave the room.

"Come get me if we're doing a superhero sleepover tonight," he says over his shoulder. "We can wear matching onesies. Dibs on Batman, since Robin there makes a perfect sidekick."

Sam grumbles underneath his breath, "How the hell you put up with that guy."

"You get used to him," Steve and Anna say in sync.

Anna rubs the back of her neck, "Can I get you guys something to drink? We have beer."

"Beer, please," Sam replies, stepping forward to take a seat at the bar.

Steve shakes his head with a polite 'no, thank you,' so Anna grabs a beer out of the fridge for Sam and herself. Ever since she returned to Earth - well, once she was given the all-clear from the doctors - she started drinking a bit more than she used to. It hasn't become a problem, yet, but the familiar buzz of alcohol burning the edges off her pain isn't the healthiest way of dealing with her separation from Loki.

Popping off the cap, she passes a beer to Sam before taking a swig out of her own.

"Want me to take a look at your phone?" She asks Steve, holding out her hand.

He nods sheepishly, pulling the device out of his pocket before sliding it across the counter to her and taking a seat. A few seconds later, Anna's tapped through multiple screens on the device settings and reverts the phone's language back to English. She taps back to the home screen and slides it back to him.

"You need a better password if you want to keep Natasha from doing that," she recommends. "0-7-0-4 is almost too easy to guess."

Sam chokes back a laugh, barely refraining from spitting out his drink.

"Your password is 0-7-0-4?" He asks Steve, who snags his phone and sticks it back in his pocket. "The fourth of July?"

Steve shrugs, "Tony said to set it to something easy for me to remember, like a birthday or something. I barely know how to use the thing, so it's not like I have state secrets on it that need to be protected."

"Wait..." Anna holds up a hand to silence Sam's laughter. "Is your birthday the fourth of July?"

Both of them freeze, waiting for Steve's reaction, as a subtle red creeps up his cheeks before Sam cracks up laughing once more. Anna bites her lip to prevent a smile, patting Steve's hand as he shakes his head.

"I'll take that beer now," he grumbles. "Not that it'll do anything."