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]

"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."

[kolodnoykovki]

He looked over at Steve skeptically - then shook his head. "Okay then. That sounds... the opposite of fun. Tedious, maybe."

[justakidfrombrklyn]

"It sounds worse than it is," he admitted as he caught up a little.

"We started rocky since apparently, Howard... well, let's say things didn't go well between him and his son and me being one of Howard's 'friends' from back when--"

He shook his head.

"But now, it's mostly nonsense. He still doesn't get the idea that sometimes, you just gotta slog through the mud, but I figure, he'll get that now that he's takin' lead on things back in New York."

[kolodnoykovki]

"He grew up rich. Probably doesn't know any other way to be," Jim agreed. "And I think me and you were as close to homeless as you could get and still have a roof sometimes." But even in those times, there had still been some happy moments. Usually when they were curled up at night keeping warm by virtue of a thin blanket and the two of them in the same bed.

[justakidfrombrklyn]

"Pretty much," and he shrugged along with it, "He's the kind of guy who knows a lot, but doesn't understand much until he gets it in a knock to the face."

He held up a hand.

"Not that I've ever actually punched him, but it got close a time or two."

[kolodnoykovki]

"Well, we've gotta be careful who we punch, too," Jim reminded, but smiled. "I've still gotta teach Clark to fight. He has no idea how to throw a punch except to clench a fist and hope."

[justakidfrombrklyn]

That got a look.

"...seriously?"

He'd seen the guy lift a tank single-handed. And he didn't know how to throw a punch?

[kolodnoykovki]

"Dead serious," Jim nodded. "He never fought before. Ever. Kind of one of the reasons I keep stepping in. He's..."

Jim shrugged. "He's too nice to have to. And I've been on the butt end of a gun often enough that it doesn't make much difference to me."

[justakidfrombrklyn]

He wasn't going to say anything about Jim's choices. As far as he could see, they were pretty damn close to his own choices, to act when action was needed, to try and do what he could so as a soldier and as... whatever the Avengers were.

Heroes.

"I can't even imagine that," he admitted as they kept walking, "I mean, kids are kids. We got into plenty of scraps even outside of my, uh..."

His general tendency to defend anyone who needed defending.

"At least he's got a good teacher. You were, what, welterweight champ for Brooklyn before you left?"

[kolodnoykovki]

"Your memory's better than mine on that one, so I'll take your word for it," he chuckled. "But... y'know, it's..."

He took a breath then said, "I... should tell you the truth. Since you told me the truth. I left, but it wasn't because I signed up."

[justakidfrombrklyn]

Steve had been opening his mouth to say something, but he couldn't tell you what it was a moment later. His steps just stopped.

"What?"

He didn't sound disappointed or upset, exactly. Just... completely and utterly confused.