Chapter Text
You keep your face carefully blank as you study your cards. The man sitting in front of you has a smug grin on his face. You haven’t responded to his last move, but he’s fairly sure that he can beat this young dreamer. You’ve been smiling to yourself the whole while. Everyone seems to make this mistake. Apparently a young twenty-something girl who is clearly an artist isn’t a very intimidating poker opponent. Fortunately, you are savvier to the world than your sketchbook and hopeful expression convey, and you are more than capable of winning a poker game with this joker. That’s why, when a ticket which you happen to recognize as one onto that new big cruise ship (which, incidentally, the famous Avengers will also be traveling on), is thrown into the pile at the center of the table, you can’t help raising an eyebrow at the gambler.
”Really? You want to risk losing your ticket out of here?”
The man scoffs.
“As if. And, besides, it’s not like I don’t have other ways to get out of here, unlike you. Artists don’t make money.”
You raise your other eyebrow. He’s obviously trying to land a low blow.
“Touché,” you say, shifting through your cards. "That's a good one."
The guy grins.
“I try,” he says.
“So do I,” you say, and you slam your cards down onto the table, a triumphant smirk pulling on your lips. He stares at your hand, trying to wrap his head around the fact that you just won, while you leap up and out of your chair, knocking it over. You let out a whoop.
“I’m going to go on the JARVIS! With the Avengers! What a beautiful day!”
The bartender just shakes his head at you with a chuckle.
“Then you better get going, because the ship leaves in under an hour,” he reminds you. His words bring you back to the present with a jolt, and you quickly slide all of the money off of the table and into your duffel bag. You stuff your sketchbook in beside it and zip the bag closed before grabbing the ticket and bouncing out of the bar with a cheery wave at the guy working the counter. He just shakes his head again. He’s gotten to know you a bit, because you’ve been frequenting this place for the last little while. You love it. All the different patrons with all their different drinks… There’s so much to draw. Just like there will be on the freaking cruise ship that you are going to be standing on in less than an hour! You bounce out of there with a squeal, taking no notice of the odd stares coming your way.
You’re on your way!
You get through the security check fairly easily – and quickly, thank goodness – and make your way onto the massive ship, gaping at the sheer size of it. You don’t know a lot about the ship – keeping up with current news isn’t easy when you don’t really have a home base, nor is it a priority – but you do know that it was designed (and probably mostly made) by Tony Stark, the billionaire who also doubles as Iron Man in his spare time. Because he’s a billionaire and has a huge ego, the ship is absolutely awe-inspiring, and your mouth seems to hold itself open as you admire all the little details. This is the first voyage it’s taking, and he’s done a lot of marketing – not that he needed to. Just the fact that Iron Man and Captain America would be on the boat has done a lot for reeling in buyers of tickets. You’ve heard women say that if they can’t marry an Avenger they won’t marry at all. You personally can’t understand it. Sure, they’re good looking men, but if you’re going to give your heart away, you prefer to give it to someone that you already know. That train of thought, though, leads to a station that you prefer not to visit, so you shove the rising memories to the back of your mind and force yourself back to the present, where an official looking person is offering to take you to your cabin.
You don’t even try to keep the wide grin off of your face as you skip along the hall behind the maid. You’ve always loved the ocean and everything to do with it, so the fact that you’re going to be on a ship for a month (Yes, that’s how long the cruise is. Hadn’t you mentioned that Stark was a billionaire? He never did things by halves.) makes you almost unbearably happy. You thank the woman who showed you to your room with a brilliant smile, and her chapped lips split into an answering grin, apparently infected by your enthusiasm. You push the door to your cabin open and inhale sharply.
It’s beautiful. You’ve never even been inside of a room this nice, let alone stayed in one. There’s a towel folded into a teddy bear sitting on the bed, which is tucked into the corner of the room and somehow built into the wall. There are screens everywhere, and you suspect that some surfaces were also screens, just inactive right now. You peek inside the bathroom and marvel at the way the toilet and sink and shower are set up to give the tiny room a spacious feeling that you never would have believed possible in a room so miniscule. You step back into the main living space and admire the desk that is fastened to the wall and the chair that is fastened to a track on the floor, so you can slide it back and forth but it is still secured down. You shake your head at Tony Stark’s brilliance as you set your duffel bag down on the bed and flop down beside it. You lie there for a minute, staring up at the ceiling, until the reality of your situation hits you. You’re on a cruise. For three months. For free. You let out a screech of pure joy and bounce up. You want to go check out the deck.
By the time you got up to the top level, you felt completely overwhelmed. The luxury is unbelievable. When you opened the doors to walk up, it felt like you were strolling through the downtown area of a big city. There were bars and shops and gift stores with various pieces of merchandise that said ‘JARVIS’ on them in big bold letters. (JARVIS is, incidentally, the name of the ship that you’re on, just in case you'd forgotten.) Once you got out of the ‘downtown’ area, there was a freaking waterpark, complete with slides, a splash pad, and a pool that you’re pretty sure was even bigger than Olympic-sized. You gawked at the rows upon rows of lawn chairs that looked nearly endless. Almost all of them were filled with flawless, suntanned girls in tiny bikinis. You rolled your eyes at them before climbing the next set of stairs.
The next level was a games level. There were pool and ping pong tables, a miniature basketball court, and a mini golf course. (You’re actually pretty sure there were more, but at this point you can’t even remember.) You walked over to the railing that looked down at the pool level, staring at the way the decks were set up like a set of stairs themselves. The pool section looked like one block, this games level looked like the next, and… you bit your lip in anticipation as you started climbing the next set of stairs.
This one was the one you were looking for. When you pushed your way through the crowd to the railing that did not overlook the games deck, you got a faceful of salty wind and a tingle in your body. When you first got up here, it was almost packed with people eagerly awaiting the departure. Soon enough, the horn blew, loudly enough to make all of the children and even a few of the adults cover their ears, and the huge vessel chuffed its way out to the open sea. For a little while, people excitedly exclaimed over the brightness of the sun and the blue of the water, but then talk turned to the cold of the wind, and they slowly trickled away.
Now, several hours after you first came up, you’re the only one left on the deck, and you’re just as enraptured with the line where the sky meets the water as you were when you arrived. You love the ocean, and the way that the waves dance, and the gulls that swoop around, snatching bites of fish. You love the way the clouds move and the saltiness of the air. You breathe deeply and let out a sigh of contentment. You wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.