The Metropolis Not!Vengers in... Location, location, location!

[stands_for_hope]

[continued from here]

Steve wakes up slowly, happy and warm and content enough he's not sure where he is at first. The clues he gets initially aren't helpful because they're such universal parts of his life, as far as his hindbrain is concerned, that they're just a part of 'how he should wake up'.

There's a warm body up against him, deep brown hair pressed up against his nose and mouth that smells like home, a ratty old mattress beneath him that's too firm for anyone but someone like him--

And a metal arm across his stomach. Huh. That shakes some things loose.

It doesn't halt the grin on his face, though. That's... probably never going away, or at least it won't be budging anytime soon (probably until Jim looks at him, disgusted, and tells him to 'stop lookin' like a loon'). Instead, he just reaches over to grab his phone from the the bedside table (amazing the things that survive a plain crash when they're kept in the right pocket) and peers at the time.

Huh. Nearly two. That's fair. But--

"Hey, sleepyhead. You get some good rest?"

Comments

[kolodnoykovki]

He said something. When asked, when prodded, he says something, but who knows what it is, between being just on the edge of awake and having his face half-pushed into Steve's chest. What is clear is that he's plaintive, sleepy, and a little grouchy before he starts to sit up, part of him still very trained as to just which hand to use to rub at his eyes. And then his words turn... at least partly intelligible. "Steef? Ohright."

[justakidfrombrklyn]

Steve just nodded, as much because he was pretty sure that Jim wasn't functioning on words entirely yet as because it keeps him from accidentally mentioning that bed-headed and half-awake, his... whatever-they-are is absolutely adorable like this, bad enough it makes his chest tight.

Eventually--

"Still avoiding planes and oceans, as per orders."

[kolodnoykovki]

"Good." He sagged down, brushed a kiss to Steve's forehead, and then stretched. "Damn. Slept like a rock. You might be good for my rest."

His arm rested on Steve's leg once he'd stretched it out, moving his shoulder back into place. "Having you not in the damn water is good for my rest."

[justakidfrombrklyn]

"You're good for mine. Think it's that little snore you get once you're all the way out," Steve wondered absently as he reached up to ruffle Jim's hair a little. He couldn't muck it up any worse, after all.

"Not too sore, though?"

[kolodnoykovki]

"Mm, nah, m'fine," he answered. "Keep doin' that and I'll make you comb my hair, though."

But then, with a grumbled sigh, he draped over Steve and laid there, being a big, heavy weight across Steve's middle. "Mf."

[justakidfrombrklyn]

Steve's laughter was mostly sensation from that angle, a deep, stuttering vibration to go with the smile on his face.

"Well put," he noted, not terribly pressed to move just yet.

[kolodnoykovki]

He had Steve back. Not just saved from the ocean but...

Steve was back. Back in his life. Back sharing his bed - their bed. Like he had spent almost all of his young life, some of his older life. Now, somehow, this was... a comfort. Nostalgic. He exhaled a sigh. "Yeah. You're staying."

[justakidfrombrklyn]

"I am," he agreed. "Clint's gonna get my things sent down here from the Tower, and I've been put on... well, let's call it the reserve, as far as the Avengers are concerned."

He kept running his hands over Jim's back, reassuring himself this was all real.

"Also, I apparently rode a shark back to Florida. Lois and Diana let me know I'm ridiculous already, though, don't worry."

[kolodnoykovki]

"...A shark. A damned shark, Steve?" he asked, turning his head just enough to look over at him. "Never gonna let you out of my sight again. Next time you'll wade across on an elephant."

[justakidfrombrklyn]

"I didn't actually!" and Captain America or not, that was a squawk, "That's just the story Clint's put out to get back at me for leaving him to tell Tony I'm moving out for a bit."

And Jim got a flat look.

"Elephant? Where would I even find an elephant?"

[kolodnoykovki]

"I know you didn't, punk, and I wouldn't put it past you to find one of those huge eagles out of that book you're always reading. Elephant's gotta be easier to find than that."

[justakidfrombrklyn]

"The Eagles aren't like a taxi you can just whistle up. Why everyone seems to think that..."

But that was a discussion for an Internet forum and another day.

"So... I've got my hat, my--" he looked to Jim, "we stickin' with 'best friend' with Clark and Lois and everyone or--"

[kolodnoykovki]

And wasn't that the question? Jim exhaled, sitting up and turning to face him. "I... I dunno. It's... It's one thing when we're around... us." He twirled his finger, drawing an invisible circle around the apartment. "But I'm... I dunno what word..."

[justakidfrombrklyn]

"Could always just call you my best guy," he said with a little twist of his lips.

"Folks around here'll know what I mean. Everyone else'll just assume I'm being old fashioned." The smile turned a little withered. "They usually do that anyway."

[kolodnoykovki]

"Works," he said, nodding. "I'll go with that."

[justakidfrombrklyn]

He leaned over and pressed a kiss up on Jim's forehead.

"C'mon. Let's get out and see if we can get something done before it's dinner time."

[kolodnoykovki]

"Clothes. Bed. Art stuff. Milkshakes?" Slowly, he sat up and headed for his chest of drawers. Jeans, T-shirt, sleeve...

[justakidfrombrklyn]

"If you know where to get a good milkshake around here, I'm game," he admitted as he pulled himself out of the bed and straightened himself up. For once, he's sort of swimming in a t-shirt like he used to, because of all people, Clark's actually bigger than him. The jeans are belted as well.

"Might wanna grab a toothbrush and some other things as well. Can you think of anything we might need around here?"

[kolodnoykovki]

Glancing back at Steve, he saw one thing he needed, and he got it. He stepped over, pulling his collar aside to brush a finger admiringly along the line it exposed.

"Some more food," he suggested. "You an' Diana have appetites like horses. Good to see you eat, but we gotta keep the pantry a little fuller with more people eating."

[justakidfrombrklyn]

He reached over to pat Jim's metal shoulder.

"And a couple of lotions to try on the skin there," and his other hand settles on Jim's flesh-and-blood shoulder.

Then he was pulling on the Brooklyn Cyclones hat, tugging it down to cover his face and hair.

[kolodnoykovki]

"Grow a beard," Jim suggested. "Nobody'd ever expect Captain America with a beard."

He picked up his comb and quickly righted his hair. There was only one problem. No gloves in the bedroom and he still needed--

"Here," he said, pushing a thin, cloth-covered elastic band toward Steve. "Pull it into a ponytail. I can't do it without one of those plastic gloves."

[justakidfrombrklyn]

He slipped around behind Jim and took the elastic, combing the longer hair into place with his fingers. Then he was slinging the elastic carefully around the ponytale and finishing up by straitening the hair around Jim's ears from puffing up.

"A beard? You think I could look good with a beard?"

[kolodnoykovki]

"I think you could look less Captain America with a beard. ...And you've got a jaw now, so who knows, it might look good." He smirked over his shoulder before yanking a T-shirt out of his drawer (heathered blue - it'd do), a pair of jeans, and then a sleeve (green - good enough). All he lacked was socks and boots.

[justakidfrombrklyn]

"I always had a jaw. I just didn't have the face to fill it up," Steve said with a shake of his head as he watched Jim at it.

Then he was sitting down to pull on his own boots and a fresh pair of socks that had somehow made it's way into the room. Steve didn't question it.

[kolodnoykovki]

He changed easily enough, deodorant under one arm, pants soon enough belted around his waist, and then he was sitting down to put on socks, boots - and knives in his boots like always. Last came his wallet, slid into his front pocket. Some habits just weren't easily broken.

"Ready?"