The Metropolis Dork Squad, Captain America, and the Falcon in... Angst, Death, and Taxes

[stands_for_hope]

[continued from here]

The day had arrived. The trap had been set.

They'd gone to Lois's apartment the day before and made their intentions clear, hoping that with a short period of time, the HYDRA forces wouldn't be able to pull together anything that was too hard to handle.

Jim's paycheck had come in, so he'd treated a rather delicious dinner for the three of them, which had been followed up with some surveillance work, a couple of flights over the various buildings to scout for good positions (both to look for snipers and to drop Lois), and a watching of The Incredibles since there weren't any good games on.

Lois hadn't quite gotten Jim into a french braid with flowers, but she had managed to twist up a few smaller braids and tuck the remainder into a pony tail to keep the worst of it out of his face. If Lois was happy about it as much for it's utility as to give Jim a firm, physical reminder of the people who cared about him... well, she wasn't about to say it out loud.

Clark was with them until roughly half an hour before and informed them just before he left that Captain America was on the ground, apparently sketching one of the ruined and as yet unrepaired buildings on a bench nearby with large 'easel case' while the Falcon was half a mile away on a rooftop. Thankfully, while a good portion of the surrounding area had been destroyed during the attack on Metropolis, this neighborhood was semi-functional (if largely empty during the weekend) so he wasn't entirely out of place.

That just left Lois, her HYDRA pin tucked in place at her collar, and Jim in the empty office room, doing their best to psych themselves into believing this would work.

...and Clark going to investigate the singular figure hiding out on one of the higher rooftops nearby.

Comments

[kolodnoykovki]

Jim heaved a sigh, shaking his head. "And that guy who was with him - Sam. Probably the closest thing he's done to making a friend since he woke up."

[stands_for_hope]

"Pretty much. And even Sam told me that he can't get in half the time. I cheated and used Grandma Margot."

She leaned back against Clark, who was staying very firmly quiet during all of this, an unreadable expression on his face.

"If you want to know if he wants to make out with you? Couldn't tell you. I know how he felt about Bucky Barnes, something you are going to have to ask him yourself," and she was gentle but firm on that point, "but I also know he knows that you're not the same person. I do know, though, that he loves you. And... I can't exactly blame him."

She shrugged.

[kolodnoykovki]

"I'm..." He took a breath, then looked away. It was hard to put words to. Harder than it should by any stretch, but he'd been failing at the concept for hours now. Eventually, it had to work, right? "I know he knows I've changed," he exhaled. "And I know he cares. That wasn't the question. Problem is, that isn't what matters. It's just what's easiest to say."

And that made things complicated.

[stands_for_hope]

"Obviously." And she did sound like she'd been expecting that answer. Lois was guiding the conversation as much as she was navigating it.

"So the question is: what matters? I've got a guess but I'd rather hear it from you. Assumption is not the reporter's way, after all."

[kolodnoykovki]

And that was the question. "What matters... is..."

What was the word? This was what he'd been thinking of, trying to figure out, and he only had the barest skeleton of an idea. "It's... Balance."

But there was more than that.

"There are two people in my head," he blurted at last. "There's Bucky Barnes, who everybody sees as a hero, who knew Steve Rogers, who knows how to make roast and how to fix walls, and there's... the Winter Soldier, who knows how to kill people in untraceable ways. And now there's Jim, trying to figure out what fits between both, what stays and what goes, and it's... balance. I do okay day to day, sorting things out, but when he's around, everything tips one way, and the other side fights back."

[stands_for_hope]

Lois nodded, something settling into place for her as she'd obviously had her theories. She pretty much lived with Jim, she had seen the Winter Soldier...

"Jim disappears between Bucky trying to get to his friend and the Winter Soldier trying to kill him," she said, only the lightest guessing tone to her words. She was reasonably certain.

"And the more Captain America is out, the stronger the Winter Soldier. The more Steve, the more it's Bucky. But both of them put you out of balance. Am I right?"

[kolodnoykovki]

He nodded slowly. "Sounds right, anyway," he agreed. "I have reactions I can't stop. When he's being all Captain America, it gets so easy to let training take over."

So easy. So easy to let everything that had been zapped into his brain do its job. Like falling into a bed that suited every plane of his body--

"I need to build Jim up strong enough so Steve and Captain America don't knock him over."

"

[stands_for_hope]

"And Sam, Clint, and Margot are going to work on getting Steve to come out behind the shield on his own," Lois said with a firm nod.

"It'll be easier for you to be in balance if he is, after all."

Clark looked up at Lois and it was obvious that he was both deeply impressed and incredibly touched that Lois had dived headfirst into the whole thing. It was... not something he was good at and she constantly amazed him.

Lois just smiled.

"Don't be too impressed. It's not just me. This is a joint operation of the official second-string sort-of-Avengers. We planned things."

[kolodnoykovki]

Jim gave her a faint smile. "I still mean to see Margot eventually. Hopefully not when Steve's visiting, but eventually. I promised she could laugh at my hair." And there was a part of him that definitely looked forward to it.

[stands_for_hope]

"She's about an hour out, near where my parents live at the base. We can go out some weekend."

She smiled.

"When you're not dead on your feet from work."

[kolodnoykovki]

"And when I've had the chance to get some appropriate clothes," he agreed, with a small but sincere smile. "For girls like that, there's a dress code."

Just a little of the past, he thought. Just enough to bring back a little of the charm, a little of the comfort.

[stands_for_hope]

Lois looked over at Clark.

"You told him about Rosetti's?"

"I mentioned it."

"Just don't mention it to Olsen unless you want him to get dragged there."

"I'm helpful, not insane."

[kolodnoykovki]

"And now you two can go, too, because somebody knows how to dance." He looked over at Lois. "He's a fast learner. Faster than I am."

[stands_for_hope]

Lois smiled with a bit of pride before kissing his cheek.

"We'll have to give that a shot when you're up for it. Someone here cleans up nice," she pointed out, "and I don't get to see him dressed up much."

Clark blushed.

[kolodnoykovki]

He smirked. "Just slick your hair back and don't forget the suspenders."

[stands_for_hope]

"I wear suspenders to work normally. It's just under the jacket," he said with a blush.

Usually, Clark retreated to his room to change as soon as he got home.

"You'll have to help me with the hair, though."

[kolodnoykovki]

"I can do that," he chuckled. "Between the hair and a shine on your shoes? You'll look vintage."

[stands_for_hope]

"Earth vintage, anyway," he said with a little grin.

[kolodnoykovki]

He smirked. "Well, that's what we're going for. I'd offer to help with you--" Jim looked over at Lois. "--but I have no idea how to do women's hair."

[stands_for_hope]

She settled in Clark's lap primly.

"I know what I'm doing. But thank you all the same, Uncle Jim."

[kolodnoykovki]

"I can tell you if you get it right, and that's as far as I'll go with it," he smiled.

[stands_for_hope]

"Sharpen up your compliments, then," she said with a little grin.

Clark nodded dutifully before reaching up and cleaning off a smudge of chocolate icing from her jaw.

[kolodnoykovki]

"Chocolate on your jaw, flour in your hair -- you've got a little to go before you're ready to go out on the town..."

[stands_for_hope]

"Flour in my--"

She looked at Clark. Clark was even more innocent than he usually was. Which meant there was only one possible culprit.

Jim got a loooooook.

Then she sat up straighter.

"I'll bring back the powdered look. Really vintage."

[kolodnoykovki]

Jim just gave her a shit-eating smile, popping the last forkful of his cake slice into his mouth.