A New Friend
It was a brisk morning as the sun rose over the nation’s capital. As the sky changed from black to pink to blue, a young man continued his morning run. He was nearing the end of his daily run, only 30 more minutes, he estimated, when he heard footsteps behind him.
This neither fazed nor shocked the man as he was used to seeing others on his run. “On your left.”
He barely paid attention to the other man, a soldier by the looks of his stature, and focused on his breathing. That was, until he heard footsteps again, not long afterward.
“On your left.”
He blinked in confusion, but the man was nowhere to be seen. Shaking his head, he continued his run. Then he heard the footsteps again. “On your left.”
This time he watched the man fly past him and pushed himself to run faster. Captain America may have lapped him, but he wasn’t about to let it happen again. He pushed himself so hard he nearly missed the familiar sound behind him
“Don’t say it. Don’t say it!”
“On your left.”
“Come on!”
He tried to push himself faster, but a cramp in his leg let him know that it was time to stop. Breathing heavily, he dropped next to a tree and waited. Sure enough, he didn’t have to wait long before the blond man slowed to a stop near him.
“Need a medic?” The super soldier smiled.
“I need a new set of lungs.” Forcing out a laugh, the man looked up. “Dude, you just ran like, 13 miles in 30 minutes.”
Steve shrugged. “I guess I got a late start.”
“Really? You should be ashamed of yourself. You should take another lap.” Pausing to breathe, he looked up again. “Did you just take it? I assume you just took it.”
Deciding it was time to change the subject, Steve gestured to him. “What unit you with?”
“58th Pararescue. But now I’m working down at the VA.” Reaching his hand up, he took the hand Steve offered and climbed to his feet. “Sam Wilson.”
“Steve Rogers.”
“Yeah, I kind of put that together.” Sam teased as he bent over. “Must have freaked you out, coming home after the whole defrosting thing.”
Steve sighed. “It takes some getting used to. It’s good to meet you, Sam.”
“It’s your bed, right?”
Steve was confused as Sam’s voice rang out, so he turned to look at him. “What’s that?”
“Your bed, it’s too soft.” Sam clarified. “When I was over there, I’d sleep on the ground, use rocks for pillows like a caveman. Now I’m home, lying in my bed, and it’s like…”
“Lying on a marshmallow.” Steve supplied knowingly. “Feel like I’m going to sink right to the floor.”
Though he had friends and people to talk to, it was different knowing that someone really understood how he felt.
“How long?” He asked his new acquaintance.
The other man shrugged. “Two tours.” Then he decided to change the subject. “You must miss the good old days, huh?”
It was Steve’s turn to shrug as he thought about it. “Well, things aren’t so bad. Food’s a lot better; we used to boil everything. No polio is good. Internet, so helpful. I’ve been reading that a lot, trying to catch up.”
“Man, I wish I could have been there to see your reaction to that.” Sam teased.
Laughing, Steve shook his head. “Yeah, I think I might have driven my girlfriend crazy with all of my questions and with how many times she had to explain each thing to me.”
“Ah, so the famous Captain does have a girlfriend.” Sam smiled, mostly because he saw the emotion on Steve’s face. “I thought I’d heard a rumor about that.”
“Yeah, well, it’s not a secret but also not something we go yelling from the rooftops.” He paused. “But that’s another plus…the important people. It’s not so bad with them around.”
He thought of Kara, a woman pulled straight out of space, going through exactly what he was now. He also thought of Layna, the little girl that had stolen his heart and eased the ache that had settled there every now and then.
Nodding, Sam sighed. “Marvin Gaye, 1972, “Trouble Man” soundtrack. Everything you missed jammed into one album.”
Steve took out his notebook and nodded, adding the suggestion to his list of things to look up. “I’ll put it on the list.”
As he finished writing, a high-pitched chime sounded from his phone. Pulling it out, he saw that Natasha had texted him to prepare for a new mission.
“Alright, Sam, duty calls. Thanks for the run.” Then he shook his hand. “If that’s what you want to call running.”
“Oh, that’s how it is?” Sam joked.
“Oh, that’s how it is.” Steve laughed again.
As Steve started to leave, Sam spoke up again. “Any time you want to stop by the VA, make me look awesome in front of the girl at the front desk, just let me know.”
“I’ll keep it in mind,” Steve told him as Nat’s car sped up to meet him.
“Hey, fellas. Either one of you know where the Smithsonian is? I’m here to pick up a fossil.” She said as soon as the window rolled down.
“That’s hilarious.” The captain told her dryly.
Behind him, Sam grinned. “How you doing?”
“Hey.” She said by way of a greeting, and Steve smirked.
“Can’t run everywhere.”
“No, you can’t,” Sam said, shaking his head as they drove off.
Kara breathed heavily as she fought her opponent. She threw a punch and felt the hard surface beneath her knuckle give way as the contents inside started to spill out.
It had been two months since she and Steve had been able to see each other in person, even with her ability to fly back and forth quickly. Between his missions, Supergirl, her daytime job, and Layna…they had both been overwhelmingly busy. The stress of it all, and the pure heartache she felt (but wouldn’t admit), had started to take over her mind, and she needed to relieve it.
Throwing punch after punch at her target, her mind shut off, and she let the anger seep out of her. It felt like a lifetime when a hand touched her shoulder, and she flung herself around, shoving the person off of her.
Then she froze.
“Wow, okay…wasn’t expecting that,” Tony told her as he got himself up from the floor. “Though in hindsight, you weren’t responding to anyone, so I guess I should have.”
“Tony…” Her voice caught in her throat.
Holding his hands out to the side, he shook his head. “Hey, I’m good. Are you?”
Blinking, Kara looked back at the old car she had been using as a punching bag and winced. “Oops.”
“Those were some pretty strong punches.” Her brother mentioned. “Anything you want to talk about?”
Shaking her head, she sighed. “Not really.”
“Good. Because JARVIS has been trying to get ahold of you.” He informed her.
“What villain is it this time?”
“Layna’s school.” He knew he should have elaborated the second her head shot up. “She’s okay. They just want you to come down and figure out a situation that happened or something.”
“I have to go.” She nearly sped bout of the room, but Tony caught her arm. “You can’t keep me here.”
“I’m not.” He eyed her curiously. “But I can go with you.”
“Fine. But let’s go.”
Walking into the front office of Layna’s school, the siblings glanced at each other with the feeling that all the air had been sucked out.
Kara approached the desk and smiled. “I got a call about my daughter, Layna Stark?”
Nodding, the secretary smiled. “The principal’s office is right down that hall. He’s waiting for you.”
They were gone before she finished, and the second they entered the room, Kara’s eyes darkened. On one side of the desk, the principal sat with folded hands as her teacher stood behind him. On the side closest to her, Layna sat in a chair with her head dropped almost to her knees. She didn’t need super hearing to know that she’d been crying.
Walking over to her daughter, she crouched down and grabbed her hand. “Hey, bug. You okay?”
“Miss Stark-”
Looking up at the principal, Kara’s glare deepened to the point that had Tony stepping forward just in case her heat vision started up. “Excuse me, Mr. Ferdinand, before we start, I would like to make sure my daughter is okay.”
Layna sniffled. “Hi, Mama.”
Eyeing her daughter, the Kryptonian sighed and rose to sit in the chair beside her daughter. Behind them, Tony leaned against a bookshelf.
“As I was saying, Miss Stark, your daughter has been brought here on a shocking and unexpected behavior.” The man continued now that he had her permission.
“What happened?” Kara asked quickly, expecting to hear about a power that had accidentally surfaced.
This time, the teacher she knew as Mr. Quick walked forward. “We had a recent assignment where the children had to write an essay on a person that they considered to be their hero that wasn’t their guardian or parent. As I was grading Layna’s last night, I noticed that her topic was Captain Steve Rogers.”
She hadn’t known that, but her heart lifted a little at the knowledge. “Well deserved, I believe, as Captain America is a national hero.”
“That is true, Miss Stark.” The teacher nodded. “However, your daughter did not write about Captain America; she wrote about Steve Rogers.”
Kara blinked, and her head tilted in confusion. “I don’t follow.”
“We do not encourage lying at this school, and while your daughter’s essay is very well written, she details how Captain Rogers is her hero because of how he takes care of her in her personal life. She explains that he is a hero for loving her like a father, even when he didn’t have to, and that he calls every night before bed.
“Your daughter’s imagination is an incredible thing for a child to have; unfortunately, this assignment was supposed to be written with facts or examples from their lives. When I tried to ask her about this, she was adamant that she was telling the truth.”
“Wow. We really need to get her into a smart school, K.” Tony said as he put his hand on Layna’s shoulder. “You guys are aware that I’m Iron Man, right? Isn’t it possible that she knows him?”
“While your relation to both your niece and Captain Rogers is well known, it is an outlandish notion to let a child think that a superhero is her father.” The principal chimed in.
“But that isn’t what she said, is it?” Clearing her throat, Kara settled back in her chair. “Layna, why don’t you take Uncle Tony to your locker and get your things. I think we’ll be taking a long weekend.”
“I’m sorry, but you can’t just-”
“Actually, as she is my daughter, I can do exactly that which I just did.” Kara spat.
They waited for the pair to leave the office, and as the door shut behind them, Mr. Ferdinand leaned forward. “I understand that it can be hard to believe that your child would do something like this…”
“Well, actually, I do believe it,” Kara smirked. “Considering it is all true, I do believe that she would be so amazing to write the essay on Steve.
“What I don’t believe is that a school so rooted in truth and factual information is accusing my daughter of something where she did nothing wrong.”
“Miss Stark, please understand that we do not do this lightly.”
“Please tell me, Mr. Quick, do you fact check your sources when you grade homework assignments?” She asked.
“When the need calls for it, yes.” He told her firmly.
“Well, it is self-evident that you did not fact check in this case.” She told him, knowing she had them now. “I would like for you to type my name into the search bar on Mr. Ferdinand’s computer if you will.”
“I do not see how-”
“Humor me.”
Sighing, both men did as she asked. She knew the moment they realized their mistake. “Yes, you see, I have been in a relationship with Captain Rogers for a while now, and it is pretty common knowledge.”
“Miss Stark…I am so sorry.” The principal stood as she did.
“Save it.” She told them. “Where do you get off bullying a child into feeling heartbroken over the fact that she is being told someone she looks up to isn’t for her to do? Now, I m taking my daughter home, and she will not be returning until Monday.”
She started to walk away and then paused. “Also, I would appreciate a copy of that essay if you wouldn’t mind. I know someone who would probably love to read it the next time he is in town.”
Then she walked out the door.