Home sweet Home

The last few days hadn't been too terrible for Midori. True, the food was rather simple and the locals were an odd mix of both advancements and archaic devices, but at least she didn't have to spend anymore time in that evening gown of hers. It had been ruined during her brief time on that other earth, as had her heels. She had been sad to let it go, but a few of the women in Asgard had promised that there were fine tailors in the city who knew what soft fabrics would look best on her. Not that Midori was a china doll or anything. After all, the current clothing she had, consisting of suede and fine linens fit well enough and were to her liking, even if she felt like something out of a renaissance fair.

When the day came to choose her lodgings, she knew exactly where to go and who to room with. Rather than picking her 'mother' and 'sister', she had a better idea. It wasn't that she didn't trust the women. No, they were the closest thing she had to relatives here, but she kept feeling like she'd wake up with a knife against her throat if she roomed with darling Jessica and they happened to have a fight. So instead, she followed James to his place.

Rather than knocking immediately after his door closed, Midori waiting a few minutes, if just to give the illusion that she wasn't stalking the man. Once her patience had grown thin enough, the dark haired woman made her presence known. Hopefully he would forgive her for their little fight a few days ago.

"First, let me apologize for slapping you. If I hadn't gotten here with Viper and Jessica Drew.... who is her child in another universe, at least that one is, I would never have hit you in the first place. Secondly, please tell me you have not already found or made a promise to another refugee as I would rather sleep with you than anyone else." All right, so that had come out a little wrong, but she hoped that he knew what she had meant, and besides they actually had slept together once or twice or more already.

Not really waiting for a reply, Midori went on in, slipping past James as he stood there. She did a quick survey of the house; kitchen, living room, bathroom, and beds above. Not much, but it was a nice change of pace and between the two of them it wouldn't be crowded at all. "I promise to be a model roommate and everything, James. Just please, please, let me stay and I promise you won't regret it one bit. If nothing else, I know you need a cook. Don't tell me otherwise. I still remember that sad excuse for an omelette you made me that one morning. And you say I'm the one who poisons people? Don't be cruel, your food is barely edible."

Not about to take his possible no for an answer, Midori placed her small bag in the other bedroom and sat down on the mattress, testing out its comfiness. "Well, what do you say? Is it a deal? The two of us?"

“Standing around in a robe is hardly messing with you, James Rogers,” Midori said nonchalantly. “But if it is for you, I suggest you go back to basic training and learn how to handle doing things under pressure.” This was how things usually went between them; verbal banter back and forth with little physicality, unless they were in public or if James actually had the audacity to try and ruin any of her plans involving HYDRA. If that was the case, then she would usually try to kill him. Usually. But she supposed their relationship was like her mother’s and Jessica Drew’s. The real Drew woman, not the Madame HYDRA one. A complicated hate-love relationship.

The first time they had met was a few years ago. Midori had made the blatant, rookie mistake that should have easily been avoided in hindsight. She had been overconfident. She had set the bar too high for her first solo mission, and, as a result, more than a few expensive pieces of technology were lost. She argued her case against both her superiors and her parents for days, but it made no difference. Her mother oversaw the next series of missions she was assigned. That had been rather embarrassing. But, Midori learned that she was far better as a distraction to the heroes, keeping them from their actual tasks. She ended up leading James on a chase that spanned half the city. It was fun and invigorating, as well as dangerous. That first night, she had left him hanging, both figuratively and quite literally, with a simple, green-lipped kiss. Their next encounter, he quickly learned from his mistake and it was her turn to be stuck, pinned against James and a wall. Blood already pumping and hormones being what they were, one thing quickly lead to another and Midori soon found herself thinking ‘God bless America’.

"If you don't like me taking this bedroom, I could easily claim your bed. You know I don't take up much space," she smirked, an expression that seemed to speak volumes.

"It's not my fault if you weren't trained to prepare for the unexpected grabbing hands of a woman." Okay, so there had been a bit of hands-on activities while James cooked. But could you blame her? Truth be told, he was an excellent cook and, had he not been a member of the Avengers, Midori would have gladly taken him home to meet her parents. Hell, with some persuasion her mother could have seen the irony of her daughter marrying the son of Captain America. But no, James was too much like his father. And his mother for that matter.

Midori sat there for a few moments, quietly looking down at the floor. “The truth is James, I don’t know who else to room with. I have no connection with this Viper, I don’t trust that Jessica Drew.” That statement was actually obvious, she had never trusted any Jessica Drew and had once actually waited in the woman’s apartment in order to enact a bit of payback for hurting her mother when Midori was a child. She considered Jessica to be an evil bitch no matter what. “At least with you… I sort of know what to expect. You have your pseudo-parents here and…. Dammit, James, you’re making me beg here! You know that I’m no good at that sort of thing,” she snapped. “If you don’t want me here, I’ll break Aldrif’s rule and find my own place to live. You know I’m not above doing that.” She could feel herself getting flustered and that was a sure sign that James was winning without having to say much of anything. “God, why the hell did we have to have sex that first time?! If we hadn’t then neither of us would be in this current situation!”

"Yes, but you loved what I was doing anyways," she smiled. "Besides, cooking breakfast in your boxers? You could have been burned by hot grease. You know I don't like it when you're hurt." Although it was a different story when she did the hurting and controlled just how bad it actually was.

Midori's eyes widened at James' comment regarding Viper. "Did you... you just said my mother had a motherly instinct?" This was a huge, crucial moment for the two of them. Normally, James would just call her mother crazy and be done with it. But here he was admitting that she was actually good at how she raised Midori, which caused the young woman to smile. However, at the mentioning of the teasing, her smile dropped somewhat. "That was entirely your fault. Now you know better than to upset the Silver Serpent." Upon saying her codename, Midori actually laughed. It was such a stupid name with an equally stupid origin. She had found an old drawing she had done at the age of six or seven, showing what she assumed was herself as a great hero beating up the so called bad guys with her parents helping. Underneath the picture, scrawled in crayon was the 'Silver Serpent'. Later on, when her mother asked what she wanted for a call sign, Midori had joked and referred back to that old drawing. Her mother then called her bluff and assigned her that name, possibly in a bid to get her to accept the title of Madame HYDRA instead, something Midori was not keen on doing. So far, neither party was willing to budge on this little game of theirs.

"That was a poor joke then," she answered before thinking on what he had said. "Just you and me? Really? We can do that? I want you, James Rogers. I want you more than you realise. And I want us. I want to be together without the fighting and needless charades. Can we please be together?" She was still HYDRA, deep down, and she knew he was still Captain America, but right now that didn't matter. Right now she just wanted to be Midori and James.

"Then there are clearly two options for me to choose. One: Never ear robes while in your presence, just so you have something to wear while cooking breakfast. Or two, buy you a secondary robe. Clearly the first is easier as I have no money at the moment," she said with sort of a half smirk. It was suppose to be a joke, however, her answer was actually more of a truth than she'd like. Midori, like many of the other refugees, was broke at the moment. The only reason she had any possessions was due to the kindness of strangers.

Oh, she knew James was trying to be nice and everything, but it turned out that he was failing horribly at his efforts. "How about you just stop trying to give my mother a compliment. I was raised perfectly fine. I don't go around judging your parents, do I?" Not that much, at least. "The origin is top secret, James. You'll have to earn the right to hear it." Which would be never, as she never planned to tell him since, if she did, he would likely never stop laughing about it. "At least I came up with my own code name. You were just being lazy."

Midori sat there thinking it over for a few quiet minutes. He was right; there really was no need for heroes or villains. HYDRA was dead and, save for a particularly small group of people here, no one knew who she really was. They could actually start over and be themselves. "I think I would like that," she answered, standing up and smiling softly at him. She then pulled the taller man closer, giving him a soft, tender kiss, one she had rarely given him in the past. It was a new beginning, so why not have a new style of kiss as well? "Thank you for letting me stay."

"I like watching you cook, James. There is no reason for me to stay in the living room that far away. I'll behave and sit at the table, hands where you can see them. If need be, I'll have a pair of handcuffs made to ensure my good behavior." Naturally, the smirk she gave regarding the restrains seemed to imply that Midori had more ideas for them. But then again, she could also have just been messing with James.

"I'll behave more now, James, I promise." It did sort of help that his parents weren't actually here. But, truth be told, Midori never had a problem with Steve or Zinda, personality-wise at least. They were generally nice and she had found herself, on occasion thinking about what it would be like to have them for relatives. "Of course your father's old. He's what, over one hundred and twenty now?" If Steve and her mother shared similiar birth years, her estimates wouldn't be that far off. "And I still say you're lazy with your legacy name."

Midori's jaw dropped as James said what he did. "You asshole! Did you just cockblock me? I can't believe it. What, you think condoms are the only way to keep babies from happening?" she chuckled. "There are other ways to keep a woman from getting pregnant. I'll find the right medicine. But until then..." She pushed him down onto the bed, straddling him and delivering a rather rough and hungry kiss. "I'll just settle for kisses and rather heavy petting. Maybe other things, if you're up to it."