Chapter 3
“I’m sorry about the wait, Steve.” Shen Wei looked tired, leading him back to his neat little office.
“Are you okay? You look exhausted.”
“Administrative things. I swear I’m doing what used to be the job of five.” he slid his glasses off, rubbing his eyes before giving him a bright smile. “Ah, enough about that, I promised you more books. I found some Tintin comics, I thought you might like them. I heard you used to draw comic books…”
“Tintin? Yeah, I found some when I was in France, they were good.” his face felt warm, that happy twisting feeling in his chest that he got when he was around him. Maybe… “so, Pepper, Stark’s girlfriend, she likes having family movie nights. The Avengers having a movie night, I mean. Nothing fancy, pizza, junk food and such to kinda blow off steam. Would you like to come over on Friday? Barring alien invasion, major natural disasters, terrorists, etcetera….” the doctor blinked.
“I’m invited?”
“Yeah, Pepper said I should bring you over, if you want to come. You don’t have to if you’re busy-”
“No. I mean, yes, I would like to come. And meet your teammates.” he looked down as he spoke, his ears turning red. At least this seemed as new to him as it was to Steve.
“If you’re sure.” his face felt hot. “They can be a little much. Stark might interrogate you. But Thor might bring over Doctor Foster, so you won’t be the only civilian over.”
“I would love to come. What time?”
“Um, hey Steve?” Peter called after him as he left Shen Wei's office.
“What’s up?”
“So you’re around superheroes and stuff, right?”
“...yes?” The kid looked nervous.
“So, um, like it might be easier to show you.” he mumbled, and then crawled up the wall before hanging upside down like his feet were glued to the ceiling.
“Petey.” Steve rubbed his eyes. “How.”
“I don’t know! A few days ago it started and I’m like, strong now? I can pick up a car. Well, most of a car. And I can kinda know that dangerous stuff is happening before it happens. And I jumped over a car! Like really, jumped over it before it could hit me-”
“I’m telling Dr. Shen.” he turned to head back into the office.
“No! Don’t! He’ll ground me! And then he’ll tell my aunt and she’ll cry.” would Shen Wei ground the kid? Probably not. But he would have that worried look and that would be bad enough for anyone.
“If he asks, I’m not lying to him. Get down.”
The kid dropped to the floor, awkwardly landing on his feet. “So, like, can I join the Avengers?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Why?”
“First off, you’re 15.”
“I’ll be 16 soon!”
“Still. You need to finish highschool and college first.”
“Oh come on! This is important! I can be a superhero and help out people!” Steve had thought like that once, and look where it got him. Petey was much too young to make that decision yet.
“I’ll tell Dr. Shen.”
“Fine,” he pouted.
“Things are getting dangerous, petey.” he patted his shoulder. “Come on, I’ll buy you a burger and you can tell me about what happened.”
He headed out with Peter in tow, the kid happily going on about a thing he was building out of bits of old computers he had salvaged. It was going to do…
something. Hopefully it wouldn’t be one of those things that ended up like the coffee maker. Or room 404’s overhead projector that was editing people’s powerpoints.
Or Shen Wei's last phone that apparently grew legs and disappeared into the ventilation system…
There was a guy sitting at the bottom of the building’s stairs, something about him screaming “cop” to Steve. Not that there was anything overly suspicious about the way he looked. Ratty jeans, a leather motorcycle coat, leaning casually against the wall like he was waiting for someone. But something about him got Steve's attention, especially the sharp way he looked at him and the kid.
“Steve rogers?” the guy smiled, almost flirty as he pulled out an ID. “Zhao Yulan. Can we chat a little?”
Peter looked up at him in worry, looking like he was ready to run or jump the guy before Steve patted his shoulder.
“Go ahead and get us a table.”
“Should I-”
“No, this shouldn’t take too long.” This cop had a holster under his coat, and looked pretty fit. He might actually be able to put up a fight.
“Nice kid.” he said, watching Peter walk off. “Yours?”
“I’m mentoring him.”
“Cool, cool.” he grinned, offering a lollipop. Steve declined and Zhao popped into his mouth. “Trying to quit smoking. Can’t smoke anywhere nowadays.” he complained cheerfully.
“So what do you want to talk about?” It made him itchy.
“You know Dr. Shen?” that itchiness got worse. “I’ve seen you hanging around here quite a bit and you’re not registered for any classes.”
“You’ve been following him?”
“There were a couple of attempted abductions on campus, both interrupted by the good doctor. And then the incident with you two- it just seems like a lot is happening around him.”
“...what precinct are you with again?”
“Special investigations.” he smiled that flirty smile, something not really reaching his eyes. “We keep an eye on some of the odder things that happen around the city that other precincts don’t want to deal with.”
“And you’re keeping an eye on us.”
“No one’s in trouble. We’re just chatting after all.”
“I need to go, I promised Peter lunch before he has to get back to class.”
“Sure, sure. Here, have my card. Feel free to call me if you need anything.” he handed it over with another bat of his eyelashes before Steve stalked off.
He didn’t like this, people asking questions about Shen Wei. it felt too much like… maybe he was a little biased because he really liked him. But there were rumblings, some non-human paranoia going on after the May invasion. Someone watching, looking into the doctor, the definitely non-human doctor… maybe he should ask Fury or someone to help.
Steve met the doctor in the lobby of the tower. Shen Wei had even brought a cake, the nicest homemade cake he’d ever seen. It was all very- he felt a little silly. He was a grown man and this was not the first date (because this was a date.) he’d had with him. But he felt like a teenager, bringing the new boyfriend to meet the parents for the first time. He was wearing a soft, somewhat old fashioned sweater over a button-up shirt and well-fitted khakis, somehow as always still perfectly neat.
“What sort of movie will we watch tonight?” he looked nervous too, glancing at the floor, back up to Steve and down again.
“Some sort of robot fighting movie. Tony picked it out.” Steve led him to the elevator that would take them up to the apartments near the top. It was a bit of a ride up there.
“Will there be a lot of people?”
“Just us, Tony and Pepper, Bruce and Thor. Natasha and Clint are working. Dr. Foster couldn’t make it tonight, but she was pretty disappointed she couldn’t meet you.'' He put his hand on the small of the doctor’s back, feeling him tense for a moment before relaxing into it. “Everyone will be nice, I promise. Pepper has threatened Tony with violence if he doesn’t behave.”
“Oh, good.”
“Don’t go out much?”
“University events, seminars and such. Not, ah, ‘hanging out’ so to say. Not in a long time.” he studied the floor of the elevator very intently. “What have you told them about me?”
“That you’re a professor at NYU, you like to cook, you’re very smart and all your students should be watched for future super-villainy. Natasha has threatened to fight me for your hand in marriage based only on the leftovers she’s stolen from the fridge.”
“Ah.” he looked up at him, smiling softly. “Thank you.”
Pepper was friendly and polite, an experienced hostess and happily accepted the cake. Bruce waved shily and Thor thumped the doctor on the shoulder, bellowing a happy greeting. Steve noted that it barely budged him, and Thor's friendly thumps were hard. (and maybe he was a little disappointed that he didn’t recognize Shen Wei as some sort of long-lost relative because that would have answered. So. many. questions.)
“So-” Tony had that look in his eye, the shit-stirring was about to start. “Where are you from, doc?”
“Oh, here and there.” Shen Wei was trying to eat the pizza with a fork. “I moved around often when I was younger.”
“Here, doctor, it’s easier if you eat it with your hands.” Thor explained helpfully. “Here, put chili on it too. It’s excellent.”
“There’s parmigiana cheese too, if you like that.” Bruce offered.
“Yeah? Like where?”
“Southern china mostly, before I moved to the united states for school.” he nibbled the edge of the pizza carefully. It was hard to maintain dignity while eating pizza.
“Tony…” Pepper said warningly.
“I’m just curious! I want to know more about Steve's friend here.” she glared, knowing better.
“And this bread is filled with cheese.” Thor explained, making sure to put a few stuffed breadsticks on Shen Wei’s plate. “You dip them in the tomato sauce.”
“Oh, I see.” he smiled at Thor as he tried one.
“So when did you move over here? A while back? Like in the 1930s?”
“How about we move to the living room and start the movie?” Pepper said, kicking Tony in the leg.
The movie was silly, teens and talking robots. Steve and Shen Wei sat on the love seat together, and it was dark, comfortably. Warm. With a belly full of pizza, Steve was starting to feel a bit drowsy. Shen wei shifted towards him, leaning his head on his shoulder before his breathing went quiet and even. Was he asleep? He looked so tired the other day, he shouldn’t be surprised. He snuck an arm around him, closing his own eyes. It was much too easy to relax into this, let the noise of the movie wash over him.
“Did they sleep through the whole movie?” Steve blinked awake, a little muddled. He could have sworn he just closed his eyes for a moment.
“It’s cute.” pepper half-whispered. “Go get them a blanket.”
“I’m not getting them a blanket! And who keeps texting Bruce?”
“Craig, the coffeemaker. It’s been watching the movie via Jarvis and they both have opinions about it.”
“You named it?”
“It named itself. I think Jarvis helped.”
Shen Wei's breathing changed, shifting then tensing. Steve squeezed his shoulder, hearing a soft release of breath as he relaxed.
“Is the movie over?” he asked quietly, voice blurry with sleep.
“I slept through it too.” It was very tempting to settle back into this very comfortable couch with him and go back to sleep. But Shen Wei pulled away, sitting up and rubbing his face. “Were you tired?”
“I think so.” he smiled shily, ducking his head down.
“Why don’t you stay over?” Pepper asked, ignoring Tony's squawk of protest. “We have plenty of room.”
“I couldn’t impose-”
“It’s a pain to get a ride anywhere this time of night. And Thor will make pancakes in the morning.”
“Aye, my pancakes are magnificent!” Thor was already pawing through a pile of DVDs, looking for another movie to watch. “I will serve them with strawberries!”
He looked up at Steve. “Do you-”
“Sure. Come on, I’ll show you around.'' He tugged him up to his feet, he was heavier then he looked, and led him out of the living room. “There’s a few different rooms. Or… do you want to stay in mine?”
(“You know that’s the same guy that worked with my dad back in the 40s, right? He’s wearing the same glasses!” he heard distantly from the living room.)
“It's… been a long time since I’ve been in a relationship.” he said softly, face turning red as he stared down.
“How long?”
(“That doesn’t mean you should be rude to him.” Pepper said. “He’s shy! And Steve likes him!”)
(“he might be like Loki or something, trying to take over the world!”)
(“by teaching O-chem?”)
“... tang dynasty?” he glanced up, he was smiling but there was a nervous tightness around his eyes, as if trying to cover up something painful. “Humans have… such short lives. One blinks and then they are gone.”
It must be a relief to have someone to admit this to.
“Do you remember Peggy?”
“Agent carter? Yes, lovely woman. Good shot.” Did he wince?
“She’s alive, but she has dementia. She’s… it's hard. Sometimes she forgets she had a husband, sometimes she forgets about me. So… I think I understand a bit.” and then he huffed. “Besides, we don’t know what the serum will do to my lifespan. You may have me bothering you for a long time.”
“I never thought of that.” he shook his head, gripping something under his shirt. “This… you shouldn’t trust me like this. You don’t know me. You don’t know what I am.”
“I know you care for your students, and they are loyal to you. I know you are kind. And I hope one day you can trust me enough to tell me more about yourself.”
“I…” he shivered a little, staring back at the floor.
“Come on, let’s go to bed. We’ll make a day of it tomorrow and talk more.”
“Yes.” he smiled a little. “It’ll look better in the morning.”