Chapter 9
Steve’s been adjusting to the modern world for a few weeks now, and he’s got a new routine down. He wakes up at 6am, like he always did, and goes for a run until 8am. He runs through the neighborhood, then runs all the way to the old corner diner, now a bakery, where he stops and grabs a muffin and takes one to go for Lee. After that, he runs back home, takes a shower, and makes breakfast, eggs and bacon for him, and an omelette with cheese for Lee. By that time, about 9am, Lee wakes to the smell of bacon, and joins Steve for breakfast.
Steve finishes his breakfast, then sits down in the living room, and watches some morning television. He watches anything, from cartoons to sitcoms, to talk shows. Lee finishes his breakfast and makes himself a smoothie with protein and at least one vegetable, Steve has no idea why, and then he retreats to his study in the loft. Steve’s been up there, and he loves the space, but he’s learned that when Lee is in the study in the morning then he doesn’t like to be disturbed. Lee reads for a while, but then will work on paperwork of some sort at his desk, and Steve avoids his desk as much as he can. The computer that rests there still feels foreign to him, just like his phone. Lee types away for hours at a time, sometimes, before getting up around 1pm to make them lunch.
By then, Steve’s tired of TV, so he joins him for lunch and then sits with Lee in the loft, sketching. Lee finishes his paperwork around 4pm, then heads downstairs to prepare dinner. Steve sometimes helps him, learning new recipes, but most of the time Lee likes to make dinner himself. Dinner is ready around 5pm, and they eat together, quiet but content. Steve washes and Lee dries the dishes, and neither of them bother with the dishwasher. (‘It doesn’t clean the dishes right, so I gave up on it,’ remarks Lee.) 6pm comes, and they decide usually to take a run together around the park, then they both hit the gym down the street. Steve takes to punching bags, and Lee does yoga with a group.
They both finish around 8pm, and they jog or sometimes walk back home together. By 9:30 they’re both showered and in bedclothes, Steve in pajama pants and Lee in a t-shirt and boxers. Life is quiet, and their domestic… assignment is uneventful. Sometimes they go out, instead of making dinner, and they’ll catch a movie or some kind of local event and eat out. Lee likes to take Steve to new things, like the food festival last week, and Steve takes it all in stride. Any questions Steve has, Lee answers-- “Lee, what’s a chimichanga?”-- and Steve just learns.
Eventually something has to change. Change comes when Steve is watching his morning television and there’s a knock on the door. He goes to get up, before Lee calls, “I’ll get it!” and bounds down the spiral stairs to the door. He opens it, and standing there is Tony Stark.
“Tony!” Lee greets, and lets him inside. Tony’s cheerful and his hands are full of fresh strawberries, when he turns and sees Steve. Lee hurries to introduce him. “Uh, Steve, this is Tony Stark, Howard’s son. Tony, this is Steve, as you probably know.” Tony eyed him up and down, face unreadable.
“I’d recognize that face anywhere,” said Tony. “So they found you, popsicle. Should I say Capsicle? Yeah, I like that, rings better in the ears.” Steve got up from the couch, and walked into the foyer, and faced Tony, who was much shorter.
He stuck his hand out, and they shook it out. “Nice to meet you, Tony. I’ve seen you on TV, but Lee didn’t tell me you knew each other,” he said, and glanced at Lee, who looked sheepish.
“Totally didn’t cross my mind, sorry about that Steve. But nevermind that, what brings you here today?” Lee turned to Tony.
“What, a guy can’t visit his friend? Who has contacts? With Nick Fury?” Lee groaned and walked over to the couch, and flopped down in it dramatically.
“What do you want access to now, Tony,” he grumbled. Tony held his hands out, mock-surrender, and joined him on the couch. Steve decided to sit at the counter, and watch their exchange from afar.
“Lulu, baby. Come on.” Steve did not like that, but he kept quiet. “I need Nick to give me access to a few satellites. Just a few! Not the whole grid!” Lee scoffed.
“What do you really want Tones. You and I both know you can hack the entire grid without detection, you don’t need to bother with asking Fury.” Tony rolled his eyes and wrapped his arm around Lee’s shoulders.
“Okay, fine. I’m throwing a birthday party in two weeks and I want you there, but I also want to prank Fury, so I want him there too. You happy?”
Lee scrutinized Tony’s face for a moment. “Why the hell didn’t you say so? I’ll be there with Fury. Can Steve come too? He’s never been to one of your famous parties.” Tony turned to Steve, who smiled politely, and Tony got up from the couch.
“Sure, sure, you can come Cap. Maybe you can be the ice sculpture.” Steve’s polite smile faltered slightly, and Tony grinned and walked to the front door. Lee got up and followed, and opened the door for him.
“Well, I’m off. Lee, tell Nat to suck my dick.” Lee rolled his eyes.
“I’m not telling her that.” Tony laughed, and walked out. They said their goodbyes, and Lee shut the door.
“So…” Lee started. Steve just looked at him expectantly.
“Lulu, huh?” Lee actually blushed, embarrassed.
“It’s not like that. I’ve known him since he was small, he called me that when he was little. I think he just said it to see if he’d get a rise out of you.” Steve made a little hm sound, and Lee sighed. “Look, Steve, Tony’s… He’s a handful of a person. A lot has happened to him. Fury’s trying to recruit him into SHIELD, and while I don’t really want that to happen, well, Fury’s my supervisor. It’s his call, but it’s also Tony’s decision to say no.” Steve got up from the counter, and stood in front of Lee, a little closer than usual.
“Well then, Lulu,” he says, and Lee’s blush gets deeper. “It’s about time for the gym, don’t you think?”
They get ready, and run a lap around the park, then run to the gym. Steve’s punching bags are victims to his fists, the sand spewing out of them as he replaces each broken one. Lee watches through the windows of the small yoga studio, stretching his legs and following the instructor’s poses. He stretches into the arm-balancing split, his abdomen stretching, and his arms taking the weight of his legs. He looks up, and Steve’s at the doorway, staring intently at him. Lee feels a flush to his cheeks coming on, and follows the instructor, moving into an easier position, the downward dog. His flush only got deeper then, because he realized it gave Steve the perfect view of his ass, and fuck is he staring, no he couldn’t be, shit shit shit. The instructor ended the session then, and the other people surrounding him picked up their things and slowly filed out of the studio. Lee grabbed his bag, and followed Steve out of the studio. Steve still hadn’t said anything, and Lee started to get nervous. They walked into the lobby of the gym, and Lee paused confusedly.
Fury was standing there, waiting for them.
“Good evening, sir. What can I do for you?” Steve asked, and Fury motioned for them to follow him outside, where a car was waiting. They piled into the backseat, Fury taking the passenger seat up front, and said nothing until the car left the parking lot.
“Remember when I said I’d have an assignment for you soon?” Steve nodded, and Fury handed him a manila file. “We’ve got an assignment for both of you, as well as Stark and a few others.” Steve frowned at Tony’s name, but didn't comment. He opened the envelope and began reading, and Lee leaned over to read bits of it as well.
The file contained specs and details about the Tesseract, the blue cube that was lost in the ocean before Steve… well. Steve frown deepened, reading the information.
“Hydra's secret weapon?" Fury nodded.
“Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you. He thought what we think, the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs.” Steve put the pieces together, flipping through the rest of the file, and confirming his suspicions.
“Who took it from you?” He asked.
“He's called Loki. He's not from around here. There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in.”
Lee looked a little puzzled. “The… The Norse god? That Loki?”
Fury nodded. “Thor’s brother, from when we had the Mjolnir incident.”
Steve sighed. “Nothing surprises me anymore.”
Fury scoffed. “Ten bucks says you're wrong. There's a debriefing package waiting for you back at Agent Leigh’s apartment.”
They pull up to the apartment, and they get out of the car. Fury leans his head out of the window. “Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?”
Steve tucked the file under his arm. “You should have left it in the ocean.”
“If you’re in, then we’ll see you in twelve hours. 9am sharp, we’ll pick you up. Have Agent Leigh let me know.” They drove off. Steve turned around, and walked back into the apartment.