Chapter 10
Stiles nerves were shot when he rolled to a stop in front of Steve’s apartment complex and texted him that he was here.
Nick nudged him from the passenger’s side. “Relax buddy, everything is going to be just fine. He’s going to talk to our group, you are going to drop me back home and then you are going to go out and have fun. You guys have been training together for months now, you’ll be fine!”
Stiles nodded, remaining silent, hands still clutching the wheel as nick stepped out of the jeep to hop into the back seat so Cap could sit in the front with Stiles, obviously taking his job as wingman seriously.
When Steve opened the passenger door and slid into his jeep, stiles felt his heart thud painfully in his chest and tried his hardest to move past the emotion. This wasn’t a date; it was just friends hanging out together. No matter how much he would like to read into it and how much he was in love with him, they would never be more than friends.
Steve smiled at Stiles, sending him into heart palpitation so strong he fumbled with his keys.
He was finally distracted by Jarvis speaking up. “Always a please Mr.Rogers.”
Steve was taken aback for a moment before he snorted. “Hey Jarvis, I see Tony is being a worry wart and set you up in Stiles jeep.”
Stiles snorted when Jarvis piped in. “Quite right Sir, I have full access to take over the vehicle should emergencies require it.”
Steve grinned back at him before stiles finally put the Jeep into drive and they were on their way.
When they finally arrived to Safe Spaces, Stiles took a deep breath and felt Steve’s hand squeeze his shoulder gently. “Relax Stiles, I’m the one talking to all of them and you are acting like you’re being led to the gallows. Trust me, everything will be fine.”
Stiles nodded before exiting the vehicle, the others following suit.
When they got to the entrance, stiles grinned at the guard. “Gabe, my man.”
The older guard, highly amused, bumped fists with Stiles. “How’s it going kid. I see you brought Captain America like you promised.”
His eyes twinkled with mirth, obviously having heard everyone chatting about it. Nothing got past the man.
Steve smiled, stepping forward and shaking his hand. And Gabe waved them in with a smile. “Everyone is super excited to meet you, head on in.”
When they stepped in, everyone was already settled down in their chairs, chatting. The room went completely silent when they noticed who had walked in.
Stiles and Nick took their seats and Julia rose to her feet to shake Steve’s hand before turning to the group. “Alright everyone, today we have a special guest who’s agreed to speak to us. I’m sure you all recognize him. Please Welcome Steve Rogers also well known as Captain America.”
The group clapped politely and Steve stood to attention, smiling to everyone, causing more than one person to have minor heart palpitations. “Hello everyone, as Julia mentioned, my name is Captain Steve Rogers and I’m sure most of you know me. But I am not here to talk about myself today. “
Everyone looked to each other in surprise, but Steve continued. “When Stiles asked me to come and speak to you, he mentioned a few of you have struggled with being accepted and felt alienated and alone and that you did not think any of the avengers would be allies. When I heard that I was taken aback by this. We are a group of misfit superheroes who don’t fit into society’s norms ourselves. I thought to myself what could I say to these kids, what stories could I possibly say that would leave them feeling proud to be who they are and empowered. “
He looked over each and every one of them, letting that sinks in for a moment before he finally spoke, lips quirking. “And that is when I realized that the best story I could tell you has nothing to do with the avengers themselves, but with the little people that in the end are the true heroes. I’m sure all of you have heard of the military abolishing the don’t ask don’t tell policy. It honestly should never have been input in the first place. Now in the forties it was a much worse time to be gay. Being gay in the military however was much easier. The majority of the women I served with were Lesbians. Peggy was probably the only one who wasn’t and she was pretty fluid in her sexuality.”
The group chuckled and Steve smiled lightly. “One day Peggy and I were called into General Eisenhower’s office. He looked Peggy straight in the eye and then my own before giving us an order to ferret those lesbians out.’ We’re going to get rid of them.”
A few people gasped in outrage and Steve’s lip quirked in humor. “It gets better trust me. Peggy looked at his secretary. Who was standing next to me, and said, ‘Well, sir, if the general pleases, sir, I’ll be happy to do this investigation for you. But you have to know that some of the names on this list might make you regret the decision.’
"And he kind of was taken aback a bit. And then this woman standing next to me said, ‘Sir, if the general pleases, the first name on that list will be mine.’
"Then I looked at him, and I said, ‘Sir, you’re right. They’re lesbians in the WAC battalion. And if the general is prepared to replace all the file clerks, all the section commanders, all of the drivers—every woman in the WAC detachment—and there were about nine hundred and eighty something of them—then Peggy and I will be happy to make the list. But I think the general should be aware that among those women are the most highly decorated women in the war. There have been no cases of illegal pregnancies. There have been no cases of AWOL. There have been no cases of misconduct. And as a matter of fact, every six months since we’ve been here, sir, the general has awarded them a commendation for meritorious service.’
"The general stood silent for a moment before he finally said ‘Forget the order.’”
The group cheered and Steve beamed. “Though you might feel alone, know that there you most definitely are not and the world is slowly changing. The women and men that I served with fought to keep this country free and we are slowly seeing that come to life. We’re seeing more and more states voting for same sex marriages and passing anti-discrimination laws. It’s definitely not overnight but things have changed so much from when I was younger and know I will fight for it to continue on this path. I don’t stand for bullies, no matter the kind. Everyone should be free to love who they choose freely without fear of repercussions.”
After that speech, everyone started to ask him questions and things turned much more casual with such a small group. Steve had everyone wrapped around his little finger in no time.
Everyone took a photo with him,much to Stiles amusement and Stiles vowed to set up a Facebook account for Cap by the end of the night and teach him how to use it.
When they were finally done, they dropped Nick off, who gave them both a wave and wished them luck on their adventures.
Steve shook his head and met Stiles gaze and they laughed lightly. “So where to? I have my part of this adventure in the back. I’m going to teach you how to play call of duty and we are watching movies.”
Steve grinned. “I’m taking you to an old Diner that was actually open when I was still trying to get the army to enlist me. Bucky and I had plenty of double dates there back in the day.”
When they walked in they were quickly ushered to a booth by a cute waitress dressed in an old fashioned uniform. Steve ordered for them, having control of this half of their time together. It was on the tip of Stiles tongue to call it a date.
Stiles eyed Steve’s phone on the table and grabbed it, ignoring the arch of Steve’s brow. “This has been driving me crazy so give me a sec.”
When the food arrived he grinned, opening up the camera app. “Say cheese.”
Steve smiled at the camera and Stiles tried not to fumble when he took the photo.
Once he was done he passed it back to Steve. “There, you now have a Facebook, I’m sure Tony will be hacking it momentarily so you won’t need to add him. But I just added myself to your friends list. I’d suggest you only add people you know because knowing you, thousands of people will be requesting to be your friend within a few seconds. I’ll show you how to use it as you go. It’s not too hard.”
Steve took a look at it, laughing when he saw that the photo Stiles had taken was now his profile picture with the description of. “Taking Stiles out to the Diner to show him what real food is.”
Steve saw the share a photo button and pressed on it and the camera app popped up and he smiled. “Well since you took a photo of me with the food, let me take a photo of you.”
Stiles grinned, leaning over to slide the straw around his tongue so it looked like he was taking a drink, lips quirking in amusement.
Once the photo was taken, Steve added a short description. “Stiles enjoying some good old fashion diner food. I’m showing him what I did back in the day for fun and later he is going to teach me what he does for fun. Apparently we are playing call of duty.”
Stiles snorted on his end when he saw the image posted and typed a few things and then Steve heard his phone chirp and looked down. “What does tag mean?”
Stiles laughed. “Tagging means you’re putting who is in the photo. So if I tag myself I’m putting in that I was in this photo. You can tag me as well when loading a photo so I don’t need to do it.”
Steve nodded, checking the new comments on the photo.
Stiles had commented that he was going to own him tonight and Tony had commented that he was offended he was not invited out and see if he was inviting them out next time he had Indian.
Both of them snorted at the comment before Steve finally spoke up. “So this is why so many people are always looking down on their phones. “
Stiles grinned. “Yeah some people are a little addicted.”
He placed his phone down and so did Steve. “Let’s ignore the phones for now since right now we are in the 1940’s, right?”
Steve grinned. “You got it.”
Stiles practically inhaled his food, loving the curly fries and burger and ordering two more milkshakes before they finally paid, Steve refusing Stiles money, paying for them both.
Once they were done, they made their way back to Steve’s apartment building, nodding to a few neighbors who waved hello before Stiles was ushered into his apartment.
In no time he had his XBOX hooked up and passing Steve a spare remote. “If you get good enough we might be able to connect online and see if a few of my friends are online.”
It took Steve about half an hour to get the hang of it. At first his screen was going all over the place, causing Stiles to cackle in amusement.
Once Stiles felt that he was good enough, he passed Steve a headset and showed him how to connect it to the remote and did the same to his own and they connected to the internet and Stiles grabbed his phone, sending out a mass Facebook message to his friends letting them know that he and Steve were going online to play COD and if anyone wanted to join them to do so now.”
In no time he saw his the Icons popup on his friends list as online and grinned to Steve. “I knew they would hop on as soon as I said you were playing with us.”
Steve chuckled. “So I get to meet your friends from back home, if only virtually?”
Stiles nodded getting everything set up for a campaign and pressing start.
He eyed Steve and grinned, mouthing ‘just you watch.’ “Hey guys, what’s up?”
The first voice to speak up was the one he was most expected to hear. Scott was practically Screeching. “Are we seriously going to play Call of Duty with Captain America!? Stiles I thought you guys were doing something together.”
Allison’s voice piped in. “Scott, you said they were teaching each other how they have fun. This definitely counts for how Stiles likes to have fun.”
The next voice snorted. “I think we all know there are other things he would be doing for fun and we don’t want to hear about it.”
Danny snapped back. “Jackson behave or I’m disconnecting you, don’t think I don’t know how just because you’re in the UK.”
Stiles groaned. “Remind me again why I ever allowed Jackson on my xbox friendslist.”
Stiles could almost hear Jackson’s smirk. “Please Stilinski, who else would you talk smack with.”
Stiles sighed deeply. “That is true.”
Steve chuckled and everyone went silent, causing stiles to laugh. “Come on guys, it’s just Steve, no reason to go all shy on him.”
Steve chuckled. “Hello everyone. Apparently we are all going on this op together? Seeing as Stiles is my superior officer in this, I defer to him in all tactical decision making.”
Everyone was silent once more for a moment in disbelief before Jackson finally spoke up. “So you’re saying that you want Stilinski to be our CO in this op… Skinny defenseless Stilinski who couldn’t even get onto first line.”
Stiles Stiffened and Steve shook his head. “Being a commanding officer has nothing to do with how physical strong someone is. It has to do with who knows enough to make the best tactical decisions. I trust Stiles to have my back and I also trust he has much more knowledge in this area than I do.”
Stiles smiled thankfully at Steve as everyone agreed including Jackson, albeit a bit grudgingly.
Stiles threw commands out to everyone like a general and they won campaign after campaign. Steve swelled with pride when Stiles whooped at their final victory, the other team, swearing in their ear.
He high fived Steve who laughed, reaching over and ruffling Stiles hair and Stiles squawked. “Steve no! Not the hair, bad touch!”
Everyone went silent for a moment over headset and then Danny tentatively spoke up. “Should we, maybe leave you two alone?”
Stiles and Steve looked at each other and burst out laughing.
After that everyone said their goodbyes and they disconnected and Stiles grinned pulling out a DVD from his backpack. “Figured we could finish off the evening with one of my top picks of movies Captain America must have missed out on and has to watch. I’ll order pizza, my treat this time since you paid for lunch, I already have snacks as well. We are going to sit down and marathon the original Star Wars trilogy and you will love it.”
He dialed the number for his favorite pizza place and ordered while taking out bags and bags of candy and chips, popcorn and pop until the coffee table was groaning under the weight.
Steve shook his head amused. “How are we supposed to eat all of this?”
Stiles stared him down seriously. “Do not challenge me.”
He snorted and grabbed two bags of popcorn and headed to the microwave to get them ready.
When the pizza arrived, Steve had a few bowls ready with candy and popcorn, chips and they each had a can of coke in hand.
Before popping the DVD in, stiles pulled his phone out and grinned, sliding in closer to Steve. “We need to take a picture so I can pick on Scott about not watching Star Wars yet.”
Stiles stretched his arm out, getting the snacks in the shot and the DVD between them, Steve moved his head so it was touching Stiles, cheek to cheek and it took everything Stiles had not to fumble the phone. He managed to snap the shot without looking like he was blushing too much and couldn’t help but smile at the photo. They looked like a couple getting ready to have a date night.
He quickly tagged Steve in the photo with a quick description. “Getting Cap to watch movies that are a crime not to have watched. We are starting with the Star wars Trilogy. Scott, Captain America will have watched Star Wars before you have. Feel the shame buddy.”
Putting his phone away he put the DVD in and settled himself next to Steve comfortably and they started to watch the movies, Cap asking questions here and there and Stiles running a commentary.
They ate and ate and Stiles managed to make it through the first two movies.
Steve was watching the final movie, when he felt weight pressing against his shoulder only to see Stiles was down for the count, his head resting on his shoulder as he snuffled gently.
Steve couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face as he paused the movie and Scooped Stiles up and walked down the hallway and gently placed him into his bed, slipping his jeans off, knowing he would not be comfortable sleeping in them and tucking him in.
Tiptoeing out of the bedroom and closing the door behind him he made his way back to the living room, putting away the leftovers and grabbed his phone, dialing Phil.
He answered at the second ring. “Coulson.”
Steve grabbed a blanket and extra pillow from the closet as he spoke. “Hey Phil. Just wanted to let you know Stiles is down for the count. He passed out and I didn’t want to wake him up so wanted to let you know he’ll be sleeping here tonight so you didn’t worry.”
He could almost hear Phil nod over the line. “Alright Steve, Thank you. Just let him know I won’t be here when he gets home and might be late getting home, we’ve got a rough case over here I need to be at the office to supervise.”
Steve nodded. “Will do.”
Hanging up, Steve settled himself on the couch with his pillow and blanket and pressed play, finishing the last movie before falling asleep, owing it to Stiles to finish the Trilogy.
He had been right, Steve had really enjoyed the Trilogy.