Deja Brew

I hate to be the bearer of bad news Captain, but we have a problem.”

“Fury? What are you doing here?” Tony asked.

“There is something I need to discuss with the Captain. Preferably alone.”

“I know you’re saying that to make it look like we have a choice, but I know it’s a demand,” Tony said as he sauntered out of the room. Bruce, Natasha, and Clint made their way out after him, each looking at Fury with varying degrees of concern.

Fury made his way over to the chairs that were previously occupied by Clint and Natasha. He sat down in the chair closest to Steve, looking him over for a minute before speaking.

“How are you feeling Captain?” He asked, seeming to genuinely care.

“Wonderful. Tony ruined my love life,” Steve responded sarcastically. “So, what were you going to tell me to make things worse?”

“I’m more interested in how Tony ruined your love life. Care to give me the highlights?”

“I asked out the person I’d been crushing on for a while. Said person managed to figure out that I was not only the current asshole running around in the Stars and Stripes, but I’m the one who did it in the 40’s as well. They freaked out. Tony told me to go there and fix it the next day. Threats of calling the cops were made. Here we are.”

“Does this person have a name?”

“Bucky. He’s Tony’s new engineer. According to the tin man himself, Bucky is on the list of people you approved to know. Why?”

“Because last night someone leaked to the press that you were still alive.”

“What?”

“The world knows that you’re still alive. There wasn’t much detail on how you managed to stay alive, but there was proof that it’s you.”

“What do you mean proof?”

“There were pictures of you leaving a coffee shop called Deja Brew. The person who leaked the information also pointed out that your fighting style hasn’t changed since the 40’s. The only thing they got wrong was thinking you’ve been alive the whole time.”

Steve felt lightheaded. He could feel his heart beating faster and the heart rate monitor beeping in time with it. There was no way that what Fury was saying was true. There was no way in hell that Bucky would do this to him. Yes, he was mad at Steve, but he wouldn’t stoop that low.

“Bucky is your top suspect, isn’t he?” Steve choked out.

“He’s SHIELD’s number one suspect, yes. Mine, no.”

“What?” Steve gaped.

“It seems too perfect. If I were a betting man, I’d say someone waited for someone outside of SHIELD and the Avengers to find out.”

“So what’s going to happen to Bucky?”

“SHIELD wants to take him into custody to interrogate him.”

“Is there any way to prevent that from happening?”

“I’m glad you asked,” Fury smirked. “As long as Barnes stays on the restricted floors of the tower, no one from SHIELD can take him. They have no concrete evidence, so they can’t get a warrant to access those floors. But they could take him from anywhere else. Stark has him in the lab now and sent Happy to get Barnes’s stuff from his apartment.”

“So he’s going to be safe staying in the tower?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

“I’m glad you are happy with that decision Captain. Especially considering he’s going to be sharing your floor for the foreseeable future.”

“He’s going to what?” Steve asked, eyes widening. “Did you miss the part where I told you he wants nothing to do with me, or did you just elect to ignore it?”

“Oh I heard that part,” Fury said as he got out of his chair, making his way towards the door. “But Barnes said he gets enough of Stark at work. You’re the only other person he knows here. I hope you two can make this situation work.” With that, Fury exited the room, leaving Steve alone with his thoughts.

Steve wasn’t entirely sure what to think about the situation. If he were an optimist, he would be excited by this. He would be able to talk things out with Bucky. He would have the chance to properly explain his side of the story. Sure, it might take Bucky a while to be okay with things, but eventually he would be understanding. He would even forgive Steve and they could go back to dating.

If Steve were a pessimist, this would be the worst possible thing to happen. Bucky would do everything in his power to avoid Steve. If Steve entered a room, Bucky would leave. If Steve tried to talk, Bucky would tell him to shut up. Bucky would turn into another Stark, spending as much time as he could in the lab and avoiding human contact. It would make him hate Steve more than he already does.

In actuality, Steve isn’t getting his hopes up. He knows that things will be weird for a while. He hoped that after a few days Bucky would be willing to talk. Eventually, Bucky would be able to forgive him and they could become friends. Steve would always want more, but he would accept it is Bucky wanted them to remain friends.

He’s going to prepare himself for the worst case scenario though. If everything goes to shit, he can say he knew it. If things go well, he can be happy that things went better than he thought they would.

After a few more minutes of running through possible scenarios, Bruce came back into the room. He checked over Steve quickly to assess his injuries. All that was left were hardly visible scars. Bruce took out his ivs, and Steve was on his way to his floor.

When Steve got up to his floor, Bucky was already there. He was going through boxes, presumably the things that Happy had brought over from his apartment.

Bucky stiffened when he sensed Steve’s presence in the living room. He turned to face him, trying to look indifferent.

“Steve,” he said, monotonously.

“Bucky,” Steve replied, emotion clear in his voice. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I’m so sorry about every….”

“Don’t,” Bucky cut him off. “I’m still pissed as hell at you. I only chose to stay on your floor because Stark would drive me insane and I don’t trust anyone else here. And note, I use the word trust very loosely with you.”

“I completely understand. I know I lied to you, and I’m kind of the reason you are in this situation. The floor is big enough that we can avoid each other until you decide you want to interact with me, if you ever decide you want to. You’d be justified if you didn’t. Until then, I’ll keep my distance.”

“Hopefully not too far,” Bucky said, lips twitching as if repressing a smile.

Steve gave him a shy smile in return. “Oh, I was going to make a pot of coffee. You want a cup?”

“Sure, coffee sounds great.”

“Great.”

Steve made his way to the kitchen to get started on the coffee. When he stepped into the kitchen, he saw the remnants of his breakdown last night. There were shards of glass all over the place. There was blood smeared all over the tile. It looked like someone had been murdered.

“Jarvis, make sure Bucky can’t hear the conversation we are about to have,” Steve whispered.

Steve felt his phone vibrate. He pulled it out to see that Jarvis was calling him. Well, technically, the call was from ‘asshole ceiling robot.’

“Mr. Barnes is too close to have a private conversation. What seems to be the problem, Captain?” The A.I. asked through the phone.

“My kitchen looks like someone was murdered in it. Why does it still look like that? I figured Tony would have sent someone to come clean it up, especially knowing Bucky was going to be moving in.”

“Sir was distracted. First, attending to you. Then, dealing with the media and trying to get the revelation of your identity under control. Plus, trying to keep SHIELD away from Mr. Barnes.”

“And you didn’t think to send someone? Artificial intelligence my ass. I guess I have to deal with this myself,” Steve grumbled. Then he hung up, not allowing Jarvis to respond.

“What do you have to deal with yourself now?” Bucky asked, appearing out of nowhere. Thankfully he was on the other side of the counter, unable to see the mess on the floor.

“Shit,” Steve said, startled. “What? Oh, it’s nothing. I can handle it. Nothing for you to worry about.”

“Are you lying to me?” Bucky asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“No?” Steve answered unconvincingly.

Bucky stared blankly at Steve.

“I’m not really lying, I don’t think. There was just this thing that happened last night. It’s nothing I can’t handle on my own. You don’t have to concern yourself with it. Really,” Steve stumbled out.

“Mhm, yeah I’m going to come back there and help you.” Bucky started to walk around the counter.

“No,” Steve tried to stop him. “There is broken glass all over the floor. From last night. That’s the thing I have to deal with.”

“Steve, I can help you clean up some broken glass. Helping will actually make me feel like I’m earning my keep.”

Bucky made his way to the side of the counter that Steve was on. When he looked down at the floor, he froze as the sight.

“Steve, is that blood all over the floor?”

“My instinct is to lie and tell you it’s marinara sauce, but it’s not.”

“Who’s blood is it?”

“Mine,” Steve said sheepishly. “Does that make it better or worse?”

“I’m not sure. Why is your kitchen covered in your blood?”

“I, um, I went to throw away a few glass bottles and tripped. The glass shattered and I fell on top of it.”

“Oh. Where is your broom? We should probably sweep up the glass before scrubbing the floor.”

“The broom is in the closet in the living room, Mr. Barnes,” Jarvis told him.

“Thanks, J,” Bucky said as he made his way to the closet.

“Wait, hold up. You’re friends with the asshole ceiling robot?”

Bucky stopped halfway back to the kitchen.

“I’m sorry, the what?”

“Asshole ceiling robot.”

Bucky burst into laughter. He bent over, using the broom handle for support. When he finally straightened, he had to wipe tears from his eyes.

“Oh my god. That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day,” Bucky chuckled. “Thank you for that, Stevie.”

Steve couldn’t help but smile. He wasn’t entirely sure why Bucky was laughing, but he was and that’s what mattered. Also, Bucky had called him ‘Stevie,’ so he was counting this as a win.

“I mean, I’m not wrong,” Steve tried to defend himself. “Jarvis’s speakers are in the ceiling, A.I. is basically just a robot without a body, and he’s a dick.”

“This keeps getting better,” Bucky barked out another laugh. “Seriously Stevie, my day has been so shitty. Thank you for this. Now let’s get this kitchen cleaned up. The sooner we do that, the sooner I get the cup of coffee I was promised.”

Steve took the broom from Bucky and started sweeping up the glass. While he was sweeping, he told Bucky to get the mop and the cleaning products under the sink. Bucky had finished mixing the cleaning products with some water in the mop bucket by the time Steve had swept all the glass into the dustpan.

Despite Steve's protests, Bucky insisted on doing the mopping. So as not to feel useless, Steve started making their coffee. When it was brewed, he poured it into two mugs, leaving enough room for milk and sugar if Bucky so desired.

Steve set the coffees down on the drink room table just as Bucky finished with the mopping. The pair sat down across from each other, Bucky adding milk and a hefty about of sugar to his coffee.

Steve looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

“What? I like sugar,” Bucky said defensively.

“I didn’t say anything,” Steve replied, taking a sip of his coffee.

“You didn’t have to. I could hear you thinking it.”

They sat in a slightly uncomfortable silence as they drank their coffee. Steve wanted to break it, but wasn’t sure how to. In the end, it was Bucky who broke the silence.

“I’m sorry about the last couple of days. I might have overreacted a little.”

“I don’t blame you. I lied to you. You had every right to be upset.”

“I’m still sorry for being a jerk.”

It’s okay. Plus, you being a jerk is part of why I like you,” Steve smirked.

“You’re such a fucking punk,” Bucky teased. “So, um, is it too soon to ask you a bunch of questions?”

“About what? Captain America?” Steve asked him, smile dropping from his face.

“Oh, no! No, I don’t care about that. I mean, I do, cuz it’s a part of who you are and everything, but that’s not what I was going to ask about. I wanted to know more about how you are adjusting to the new century and how you’re dealing with the world finding out you're still alive. Which I didn’t leak.”

“I know you didn’t. Fury thinks it’s someone from SHIELD, and I agree with him. As for how I’m dealing with this, I haven’t really had time to process it. Fury told me and then I came right up here.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. I have no idea what’s going to happen. I wouldn’t be shocked if I had to release a statement or something. Pepper will probably show up at some point to talk about it. So, what were the other questions that you wanted to ask?”

Bucky immediately dove in to asking Steve questions about his experiences in the twenty first century. Steve was happy to tell him as much as he could. He told Bucky about how when he first woke up, he knew something was wrong. The baseball game playing on the radio was one he had gone to a few years before. The agent they had posing as a nurse didn’t have the right silhouette.

Bucky asked how he was dealing with all of the new technology. Steve laughed at that. Steve told him that he adapted quickly. He had no problem with the new tech, Jarvis excluded, but his team still treated him like he was in his nineties. He told him that he first wandered into Deja Brew because he was running away from Tony trying to explain how a tv worked.

They laughed at stories about Clint trying to explain electricity to him as if he hadn’t grown up with it. Bucky was not at all surprised that Natasha was the first one to figure out he was smarter than he let on.

They spent the next two hours talking about everything that popped into their heads, movies, tv shows, music, et cetera. Bucky was surprised by Steve's knowledge of pop culture, learning that he spent a lot of his time trying to get with the times. He even gave Steve a few suggestions for his list that he hadn’t added yet.

The talking didn’t stop until the elevator doors opened and Pepper stepped out.

“I’m glad to see you two are getting along so well. Tony said he was worried after last night, but it seems that things have worked out to a point,” she said as she saw them sitting together.

Instead of addressing Pepper, Bucky turned to Steve.

“You told Tony about what happened?”

“Not willingly. There is a reason the ceiling robot is called an asshole. Plus, Tony is the one who told me to go to your place last night. I was going to wait a few days.”

“I can’t believe you took advice from Tony,” Pepper cut in.

“It was more like a threat. He said if I didn’t go on my own, he would put on the suit and fly me there. I figured the first was the better of the two options,” Steve defended.

“I disagree,” Bucky added. “It would have been hysterical to see Tony flying you around.”

“Thanks Buck,” he deadpanned. Then he turned to Pepper. “So what brings you down here?”

“I wanted to talk to you about possible ways to go about addressing the fact that you’re still alive,” she told him. “I wanted to give you both some time to get settled before I came to speak to you about it.”

“Well,” Bucky said, “I still have some unpacking to do. I’ll be in my bedroom if you guys need me.” With that, Bucky made his way towards his bedroom.

“So Steve,” Pepper began, “What do you think is the best course of action here? I want your thoughts.”

“Honestly, I’m not sure. Back in the day, we probably would have done a press conference. A few big newspapers would have sent their best reporters to New York and we would have spoken in a room with no cameras, just pens and paper. I assume that wouldn’t happen these days.”

“Sadly, it would not. Would you like to hold a press conference? Or would you prefer to do individual interviews? You could choose from new shows, late night tv hosts, or a combination of the two.”

“The late night tv could be fun. I also think that speaking with major news networks would be good. I don’t know what I would say though.”

“You wouldn’t have to worry about that. I would make sure that everyone ran their questions by me first so that you knew what talking points to prepare. Anyone who doesn’t comply would face the wrath of Stark Industries.”

“All right. I like the sound of that.”

“Wonderful. Many networks have already reached out and told the soonest they would be able to have you on their shows.” Pepper pulled out her StarkPad to look at the calendar she put together with all the suggested dates and times. “It looks like the first interview you could do is tomorrow morning at nine a.m. with Fox News.”