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Steve never expected coming back to the team would be a smooth transition. No one did. But three months into being officially pardoned and brought back on, he’d have hoped that it would be just that much less awkward. As in, not so awkward that he and Bucky would get their own place for the time being, and “commute” to the rebuilt compound as needed until tensions eased.
On the flight to New York when first coming home, he’d rehearsed in his mind all he wanted to say to Tony; all the multiple ways he owed him apologies and vows to make amends. But once he was in a private conference room, face to face with Tony, he couldn’t look him in the eye; all his carefully planned words reduced to muttered apologies, which he seemed to nonchalantly accept. After that, feeling the air still tense and cold, he and Bucky went apartment hunting.
At one in the morning, the city was about as quiet as Brooklyn was going to get. Bucky had gone to bed two hours before. Steve envied that; the man could sleep anywhere, at any time.
But Steve hated the quiet of nighttime. If anything, it kept him wide awake. After all those months being on the run, his mind sensed danger in total silence. Not that he got much sleep in noisier places, either; always having to keep one ear open in case they had to get up and relocate at a moment’s notice.
The solider stood on the small balcony with a cup of tea, enjoying the cool late-September weather and looking over the darkened city streets from their apartment’s view. The borough had changed so much in seventy years, but there was still just something about it that made it feel more like home than anywhere else. Brooklyn was always welcoming to him. The only apology he felt he owed Brooklyn was leaving it behind, and he could tell it forgave him.
Smiling to himself, he turned and went back inside, closing and locking the glass door as he did. Sitting on the sofa, his eyes finally began to feel heavy. He set his cup down on the coffee table and stretched out on the couch. Maybe if he just closed his heavy eyes, it could trick his mind into falling-
THUNK.
Steve’s eyes snapped open and jumped to his feet, his heart pounding as his eyes darted around. Outside his door, hanging upside down, was a familiar red suit and large, white eyes. The person waved at him.
“Hey, Mr. Captain Rogers, sir?” came Peter’s voice muffled by the glass. “Can you let me in, please?”
It took Steve a moment to register who this was and what he had been asked as his heartrate slowed, but he then said, “Oh! Uh, yeah!” He stumbled over to the door and unlocked it. Peter let himself fall from the web he hung on, hitting the floor, turning a somersault, and landing squarely on his back. Wincing, he took off his mask and looked up at the solider standing over him. “Hey.”
Steve cocked his head in confusion. “Hey, Queens.” They were silent for a moment. “Um…do you want to tell me why you were hanging outside my apartment?
Peter carefully pushed himself to a sitting position. “Ah, ya see, I was on patrol, and I swear, I was about to head back home, ‘cause ya know, I got a curfew and stuff, but then, then I saw some guys fixing to rob a Taco Bell. And I’m like, ‘huh, why rob a Taco Bell? That’s a weird choice-“
“Kid, what happened?” Steve interrupted.
“O-oh right, so long story short, the fight went on for awhile, and then I got kinda lightly stabbed, so I had to start swinging home, and I knew I could make it-“
This got the older man to flinch in surprise. “You got stabbed?”
“Lightly stabbed, Captain, sir! Anyway, I didn’t see how bad it was until I got up to go home, and realized it was bleeding pretty bad, but then Karen, ya know my AI, said how close I was to you guys’ place, and I know you guys have those super soldier first aid kits…”
Peter continued to ramble while Steve was already making for said first aid kit. Tony and Bruce had put together a few kits that were fit to help super soldiers; kits that also turned out to be suited for one semi-reckless Spiderling.
Still not believing what was happening, Steve began to prepare sutures and a bandage.
“…and I know Mr. Stark is gonna be mad that I’m late, and he’s probably yell at me, but I figured he’d be less mad if I wasn’t bleeding so much, right?”
“Kid, where did you get stabbed?”
“Oh yeah, hang on.” Peter struggled to his feet and tapped the center spider logo on his chest, the suit releasing and dropping to pool around his ankles, the bloody wound immediately visible on his right thigh.
His eyes widening, Steve stammered. “Sit on the couch, kid.”
Peter glanced at the off-white couch. “But I’ll get it all bloody!”
“Couches can be replaced. You can’t be. Sit.”
Still a little hesitant, Peter sat down, keeping as still as possible as Steve knelt in front of him, already soaking a gauze pad in sterilizing solution.
“So lemme get this straight, you got stabbed, and then you swing over here?”
The teen shrugged. “Yeah, I wasn’t gonna go all the way to the compound, and even though May has medical training, I doubt she’d be able to do much for me with standard stuff!” He hissed as the solution stung the wound as Steve began to clean it.
“May?”
“Oh! Yeah, my Aunt. I live with her when I’m not staying with Mr. Stark.”
“…and she…allows you to run around fighting crime?” The wound cleaned as best as he could do, Steve began to prepare to stitch it.
“I mean, she doesn’t like it, and when she found out by accident, she flipped out at me, and then dragged me all the way to the tower to yell at Mr. Stark.” He chuckled, but then winced as the needle went into his skin. “I think she’s the only person he’s really afraid of!”
Steve smiled. “She sounds like she cares very deeply about you!”
He nods, his expression softening. “I’m… kinda all she has left…and other than Mr. Stark and everyone, she’s all I got left…”
Steve paused at this, looking up at Peter mid-stitch. “If it’s any consolation, kid, I’m in the same boat.”
Peter wasn’t sure how to respond. “…oh yeah?”
The solider nodded, tying off the last suture. “It was Buck who took me in when my mom died. He may not be related to me by blood or by marriage, but he’s my family. He’s all I got.” He doused another cotton ball and began cleaning off the sutures.
Peter nodded, the words, “…and the others on the team.” seemingly came tumbling from his mouth, likely before he could stop them. Steve immediately looked up at him, and the teen’s eyes widened at Steve’s startled expression. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you, I just-”
He held up a hand and cut off Peter’s rambling. “Queens, deep breath.” He waited while Peter followed instructions. “I’m not upset, I just…don’t see how, not after all I did. Especially since Tony doesn’t seem to forgive me…”
Not that I blame him for that… he tacked on mentally.
The teen simply shrugged. “Mr. Stark is pretty bad at showing emotion. I honestly hadn’t seen much of his caring side until I was turning to dust on Titan.”
Peeling off the backing of a bandage, the first words Tony said to him as he landed back on Earth after the snap echoed in his mind, the heartbreak in his voice even clearer than when the words had been spoken.
“I lost the kid…”
“…but he really does forgive you, and he’s not sure how to really go about talking to you right now.”
With a knot forming in his throat at those words, a sad smile crossed Steve’s face as he plastered the bandage over the sutures. “You heal fast, kid. I thought I’d have to do more in terms of stitches. You’re lucky it didn’t hit anything important."
Peter nodded. “That should be gone by tomorrow. The next night at the latest. I just didn’t want to bleed out, ya know? I feel like Mr. Stark would bring me back to life just to kill me again.”
Steve put away the rest of the kit and sat beside him, thinking a moment before speaking. “If you want to know the truth, I don’t know how to talk to him either. I wish I did, but I might just have to settle for being a part of the team with him, and nothing further.”
The teen gently smoothed over the bandage, clearing mulling this over. “Now, I might be wrong, or totally out of line, but I think you guys just need to…ya know. Talk. It might be weird at first, but it’ll probably get easier, ‘cause it seems you both really want to forgive each other… but you just don’t know how to go about doing it.” When Steve didn’t say anything, he added, “Just…start talking about whatever comes to mind, I guess…again, I might be totally wrong, but-”
Suddenly, Peter’s phone rang. Grimacing, he pulled it out to see Tony’s name and image on the screen with an incoming video call. He looked over at the man next to him.
“Go ahead and answer it.” Steve assured.
The teen answered the call. “Hey- hey, Mr. Stark-”
Tony interrupted, exploding at him angrily. “Don’t you ‘hey Mr. Stark,’ me! You’re in humongous trouble! You’re way past curfew, you’re not in your suit, and Karen’s last ping was from Brooklyn? What the hell are doing there?”
“Oh! I uh…I got…hurt…and before you say anything, I did the responsible thing and not try to swing all the way upstate, and instead I’m at Mr. Captain America’s, and-”
“You’re at Steve’s?” Tony asked, his voice taking a new tone, one that Steve couldn’t figure out.
“Yeah.” He looked up at Steve, a questioning look in his eyes, offering him the phone.
Before Steve had a chance to make up his mind, Peter’s phone was in his hand, Tony staring back at him from the screen. “Um…hey Tony…”
“Rogers.” They fell silent for a moment that felt like it lasted forever. “…is he okay?”
“Oh! Yes, he was bleeding from a stab wound. I cleaned and stitched it up. He should be good to swing on home soon.”
“Sorry, the service in Brooklyn must be terrible, did you just say a stab wound?”
“It was a light stab wound!” Peter groaned.
Tony rubbed his temples. “Peter, your aunt is gonna have my head if you keep this up…just get back in your suit and go home, stop bothering Steve.”
“He’s not a bother, Tony.” Steve said before he even realized he was saying it. There was a pause again. “Umm…look, it’s late, he’s hurt, Buck and I would have no problems with letting him crash here tonight.”
Tony pondered this a moment, his jaw opening and closing with words that died halfway to coming out. “Well, it is a school night for him…okay, if it’s no problem, then make sure he calls his aunt and lets her know.”
“I’ll make sure.”
“Good. Thanks, Rogers. Hand the phone back to him, will ya?” Peter took his phone back, biting his lower lip. “As for you, young man, we’re going to have to have a little talk once you come by tomorrow…”
Shaking his head, Steve got up to go to the hallway closet and grab an extra blanket as the conversation continued.
Throwing his head against the couch, Peter groaned. “How long without the suit…?”
“One month. Starting after school tomorrow!”
“A whole month?”
“Yes. Don’t argue, or it’s gonna be two! Now call May and go to sleep.”
“Okay…goodnight, Mr. Stark.”
“Sleep tight, Underoos.”
Steve got back to the couch and handed Peter the blanket as the teen hung up the phone. “The bathroom’s down the hall on your left. Help yourself to anything in the fridge. Buck and I will be in the other room if you need us.”
“Okay. Thanks for letting me stay here, Captain Rogers.” Peter said, stretching out on the couch and unfolding the blanket.
Steve smiled again. “Call me Steve.” He made his way to the bedroom. “Now call your aunt. I’m sure she’s worried about you.”
Nodding, Peter pulled up his contact list and found her number. Putting the phone to his ear, he said, “G’night Captain-Rogers-Steve-sir!”
Chuckling, the solider replied, “Goodnight, Peter.” And vanished into the bedroom.
~~~~
As morning sun crept into their room through the curtains, Steve slowly woke, stretching and yawning. A moment later, a metal arm gently draped over his chest and a warm body pressed against his back, a kiss being planted on his neck.
“Morning, punk.” Was Bucky’s sleepy greeting.
Steve laughed, playfully shoving him off. He leaned over to kiss him before standing up and going for the dresser, pulling out workout clothing. “I gotta warn you, we have a guest currently on the couch.
Bucky sat up. “Who?”
“Uh, you remember that Spiderboy?”
“Stark’s kid? The super strong one?”
Pulling on a pair of shorts, he turned back to his boyfriend. “Do we know any other super strong kids?”
“What’s he doing here?”
“Came in last night. Got stabbed while swinging around Queens and needed the super solider first aid kit.”
Bucky blinked and then nodded. “Figures.” He tossed the blankets off himself and got up, pulling on a bathrobe. “I’ll go see if he wants breakfast.” He walked into the living room, only to come back a few seconds later with a piece of paper in hand. “Never mind, he’s already left. He left a note, though.”
Steve took the paper, reading it aloud, “’Dear Steve- had to leave early to run home and change and get ready for school. Thanks again for all your help. I don’t mean to be weird, but here’s my cell number. If you’re okay with it, text me sometime. If not, just pretend I didn’t include it. Anyway, thank you, and tell Mr. Bucky I said hi! -Peter Parker.’”
Bucky snorted. “So why do you get ‘Steve,’ but I get ‘Mr. Bucky?’”
Before Steve could answer, his cell phone rang. He strode back to the bed and grabbed it off the bedside table; Tony was calling.
The two soldiers exchanged glances before Steve answered the call. Thankfully, it was only a voice call this time.
“Tony.”
“Morning.”
There was that pause again.
“…you’re up early.”
“Yeah, between having a five-year-old and an enhanced teenager who has little-to-no self-preservation skills, I barely sleep.”
Steve felt his face break out into a grin. “Not that you ever truly slept in the past.”
“Touché...” There was the sound of Tony sipping from a mug -probably coffee. “Listen, I just want to say thanks…ya know, for helping him out and letting him spend the night.”
“It really was no trouble. He called his Aunt and went right to sleep. He was gone before Buck and I got up.”
There was a pause, and then Tony huffed. “He would’ve gotten about four hours of sleep. Great, so that means he’s either downing an energy drink and will be bouncing off the walls by the time he’s here tonight, or we’re gonna have a repeat of me having to get him from school after he passes out from exhaustion on the gym floor.”
The super solider chuckled. After all the tension, this conversation was so unexpectedly…easy. Relaxed, even. “You should try to get some rest yourself. Get ready to deal with that.”
“Pfft, what’s another all-nighter for me?” There was another sip of coffee and brief silence, though this pause didn’t bother Steve as the others had. “You get Fury’s message?”
“Yup. Meeting tomorrow at seven. We’ll be there.”
“See ya then.” And Tony hung up.
“Everything okay?” called Bucky from the kitchen.
Steve looked at his phone, and then at the note Peter had left behind, remembering what the kid had said the night before…
…‘cause it seems you both really want to forgive each other… but you just don’t know how to go about doing it. Just…start talking about whatever comes to mind, I guess…”
At the time, it seemed like just the ramblings of a teenager, but as the ease of the phone call truly settled in his mind, Steve felt a glimmer of hope for the first time since Siberia. Smiling to himself, he opened a new contact on his phone and programmed the kid’s number.
“Maybe you were right, kid.” He muttered, before raising his voice and calling out, “Yeah, Buck. Everything’s gonna be okay.”