Chapter Text
You’re trying not to let today get to you. You feel heavy and sore all over, like you just ran a marathon. Oh god, and it’s only Tuesday.
You untie the brown leather cuffs from your wrists, leaving them on your desk before stripping from your shirt and pencil skirt, leaving you in only your plain nude underwear set. You step into the bathroom, moving sluggishly and by pure muscle memory, stripping the rest of the way and getting in the shower.
The water’s warm, running soothingly over your skin and loosening your tense muscles. You stare at the cream colored tiles, letting the water run for a minute before washing quickly and stepping out.
You still feel exhausted and miserable, so you change quickly into your comfiest pajamas before curling up on your pull out couch.
You stare unseeing at the dark ceiling, it’s not that late, but it feels like midnight. The busy sounds of the city that never sleeps barely muted from outside the thin walls of your small apartment. It feels like you never sleep either.
-
You wake up with a sigh and a headache, rolling out the couch and dressing slowly with your eyes closed.
Panties, bra, shirt, skirt (damn, you didn’t shave your legs yesterday), dress pants, tuck shirt into pants. Tie the leather cuff to your wrist.
You wash your face and brush your hair, grimacing at your reflection in the mirror before doing your makeup and leaving, purse and jacket in your hand, short heels clicking on the tiled floor.
You don’t bother making the bed, no one’s going to see it but you.
-
Someone slams into you on the subway and you feel your brain jolt inside your skull.
A baby’s crying, screaming and wailing.
You feel like crying too.
-
You arrive at the building, tall and impossible to miss. A big, shiny “A” plastered right at the front. You’ve affectionately dubbed it “The Asshole Tower”.
As soon as you walk through the door a pile of documents is thrust into your arms.
You sigh.
-
The pay is better than your last job, not by much but still. At least you have a job, a steady income, an apartment. You just wish your mother would stop pestering you to get a husband.
It’s bad enough you’re here, filing documents and answering calls and writing emails and bringing creepy old men their “coffee, sweetheart”. You had come here looking for a dream, a fresh start. You’d taken a job as a secretary at an accounting firm before quitting and ending up here.
You knew this would stray you even further from your dream, eat at your soul, but a girl’s gotta eat.
Your couldn’t deal with anything of the romantic sort right now. You knew looking for your soulmate was pointless, they didn’t want you anyway. And you really didn’t feel like dating anyone else when you didn’t actually feel the need to.
Anna said you should download a dating app, so you wouldn’t be lonely and your bed would be warm. But what did she know about failed romance? She had found her soulmate in kindergarten. You tried not to be jealous.
She had squealed in excitement when you told her you were working at the avengers tower, it didn’t matter if you had never even seen them. The tower was big and it’s not like they frequented your side of it. You didn’t tell her that. She already worried about the dark circles under your eyes, you didn’t want to tell your best friend that the dream you had both planned for you was dying a painful death and you didn’t even have the comfort of smoking hot heroes walking by you every day.
-
Someone screams at you for a mistake they made.
That night you fall asleep crying.
-
You’re late and everything’s a blur. Clothes then makeup then door then subway then street then the tower then the elevator.
You’re still fuzzy, like you just woke up. Your calves are burning from walking in a hurry.
You plonk down on your chair and Marina, your cubicle neighbor, winks at you and places a cup of coffee on your desk.
“You’re an angel” you pant, tanking a gulp of the lukewarm beverage, not even flinching at the bitter taste.
“Y/N!” Someone shouts. Your eyes widen and you finish the coffee in three more gulps, jumping up from the chair and hurrying away.
“Take these upstairs to Glenn please? I need to get to a meeting” you glance at your desk and at the tower of files sitting on top of it.
“Sure” you say, mentality rearranging your schedule in your head. If you’re quick you can get back here in five minutes and have lunch at your desk to save time.
You take the folders, learning from past experiences that it’s best to just stay quiet and get it over with instead of arguing and wasting time.
You get to the elevator, humming anxiously on the way up and shooting out the doors as soon as they open. Your heels clack on linoleum as you hurry down the empty hallway. You’re scanning the doors for the one you’re looking for when a heavy hand lands on your shoulder.
You jump, eyebrows raised and eyes wide as you turn around to look at whoever it is. You barely hold in a gasp of surprise when you see who it is. Holy shit, it’s the winter soldier.
“Sorry” he grimaces, looking sheepish “you’re not who I was looking for.”
He waves at you awkwardly before disappearing around the corner.
But you can’t breathe, can’t move as you stand in the middle of the hallway looking forward blankly. Your jaw is slack and your arms loosen with shock. You just met your soulmate.
The world tilts, snapping into place, thunder cracking in your chest.
The files you’re carrying fall to the floor with a splat.