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

[justakidfrombrklyn]

"Just a couple more seconds," he said, finishing up a couple more lines before closing it and slipping the pencil into the coil. The sketchbook was then tossed into the bag again.

"Ready to go," and the chocolate bar, carefully wrapped, was tossed in as well.

"Shirts and then we're going home."

[kolodnoykovki]

"You need pants more than shirts. Clark volunteered a bunch of shirts. But first a sleeve to replace the one I screwed up." He stood, though, patting Steve's leg as he did.

[justakidfrombrklyn]

Steve stood up as well.

"Do you know what he means by 'designs' on the front? I mean, this is pretty plain," and he patted his chest where an astronaut was walking across with a boom box on one shoulder, "and I can't really think of Clark wearing anything too wild, but he did say he couldn't wear them out."

[kolodnoykovki]

"Yeeeah..." Jim laughed, sipping at his milkshake - he wasn't done with it yet but there were trash cans along the street he could drop the cup into when he was done. "His mom has a thing for buying him space and alien T-shirts."

[justakidfrombrklyn]

Steve's was gone but he took the time to toss his cup.

"Isn't that just a little perverse?" he asked with a little laugh.

[kolodnoykovki]

"I think it's one of those family jokes. And hey, if it makes 'em smile..." He shrugged, then said more quietly, "And she's really nice, too. Clark's mom. Her name's Martha. She's a really sweet lady."

[justakidfrombrklyn]

"I'm sure she'd have to be, the way he talks about her. You met her yet?"

[kolodnoykovki]

Jim shook his head, eyes half-focused on the sidewalk in front of him. "No, not in person. Talked to her on the phone, though, and she's... Well, I promised to go with Clark for Thanksgiving, and that I'd work on her upstairs. I guess I'm going there for Christmas, too - I'm sure she'd be fine with you coming."

[justakidfrombrklyn]

"I'll have to ask before it comes up," he said absently as they walked.

"Hopefully he won't mind. And it'd be nice to do Thanksgiving. You know, at someone's house."

Like a family goes unsaid. He'd spent the last two thanksgivings trying out a couple of turkey recipes. He'd asked Kate down the hall the once if she wanted to try some. She'd declined. He knew now why that was, but it still stung a little.

[kolodnoykovki]

"I'll ask her next time she calls to talk to Clark. I figure that's something to ask in person, not on one of those... chat things Clark uses." He kicked a pebble absently. "I'm gonna take a computer class at the VA. It's getting really frustrating, not knowing anything about 'em."

[justakidfrombrklyn]

"Oddly enough, those I picked up quick as a whip," he admitted, watching the pebble tumble away, "but I guess it helps that they make them easy by design. Mostly, I get caught up on all the other little things."

[kolodnoykovki]

"Part of it's 'cause I never use one," he admitted, "and the ones I have used... Well, the one at LexCorp that confused the hell out of me. I was able to fumble around enough to get the files out but that's about it. So I figure one class up at the VA and I'll get it figured out. This one woman there has an idea about... something to help me with flashbacks and stuff."

[justakidfrombrklyn]

"Sounds good," he agreed as they kept walking. He took the opportunity to look around at the neighborhood, getting a feel for it.

"I've mostly just... talked with Sam. Probably going to call him a little later once we're back. I let him know where I was and that, uh, everything was well."

He blushed a little.

[kolodnoykovki]

Jim nodded. "You... go ahead and tell him but tell him to keep it quiet. I mean, he's a friend, so... might as well know, right?"

[justakidfrombrklyn]

"He knows. He's... known. Since, uh... before you knew. He was one of the people who helped me to figure out the, uh... word. That I told you. But I haven't told him about us quite yet. Just my, uh, feelings about us."

[kolodnoykovki]

"Yeah, it's the 'us' part that I'm talking about. I figured it was... probably him you'd talked to. He seemed like a good friend last time he was around. I was just..."

Unsure. Terrified out of his mind. Wary.

[justakidfrombrklyn]

Steve waved off the end of that sentence, because ultimately, it didn't matter. They were... them now. And however they got there, it wasn't that important in the grand scheme.

"He won't say anything. Clint knows I'm moving here, so the rest of the Avengers do too... but I haven't... clarified 'us'."

[kolodnoykovki]

Jim nodded, glancing over while they waited through a light. "Yeah, it's... Well, we've only been 'us' for a few hours."

[justakidfrombrklyn]

"Feels right, though," he confided quietly before stepping out as soon as the light changed.

[kolodnoykovki]

"Not denying that. I just... kinda wish it'd happened before, even if I'm kinda glad it didn't, too." He walked calmly along the crosswalk, placing the sporting goods store in his mind. It wasn't far now, but they'd have to cross a few more streets.

[justakidfrombrklyn]

"Didn't think you were. I just... I guess it just kinda feels longer, is all I'm saying," he noted as he stepped up onto the curb.

"You want me to keep it vague with the Avengers? Cause honestly, outside of Sam? That's... about it."

The rest of his friends, his coworkers, the people he'd thought were friends... if they weren't SHIELD agents who'd been observing him, then they had turned out to be HYDRA (like his strike team), or they were dead. He hadn't exactly made many friends.

[kolodnoykovki]

"For now," he said. "I just... I need to get settled with things first. You know... it's... It's just weird for me. To be open about all this." There was still a thread of terror in the very idea.

[justakidfrombrklyn]

That got a firm nod.

"I'm fine with that."

A wry twist of his lips was explained a moment later.

"All the longer till I have to threaten Tony."

[kolodnoykovki]

That got a look and a raised eyebrow. "...Threaten him with what?"

[justakidfrombrklyn]

That... was a slightly awkward expression.

"It's mostly just a song and dance you have to go through with him. He's not a bad guy, but damn if he doesn't like pissing people off. Me especially."

He adjusted his hat a little.

"So he's gonna say something stupid he doesn't mean cause he thinks he's funnier than he is, I'm gonna tell him off, we'll tear into each other a few times, and then he'll remember we're not on a radio comedy and it'll be done."