Back on Track

He had just woken up when he heard someone knocking on the apartment’s front door. He wondered if it would be a problem if whoever it was saw him at Matt’s place.

He was making his way to the bathroom when Matt came out of his room. He was almost dressed, wearing dark grey suit trousers, and buttoning a white shirt.

“It’s okay. As long as you’re okay. She knows.” Matt walked to the door.

“I’m- She?” Steve heard the hinges creak.

“Hi Jess. Please, come in.”

“Did you just wake up? Isn’t it a bit late for you?” She tilted her head. “Were you working late? Or “working” late?” She didn’t gesture the quotation marks, but they were implicit.

“Sort of.”

“Oh. I didn’t know you had company.” She had seen him. “Or that you swung that way, for that matter. Good for you!” She punched him lightly on his arm. No. She didn’t. Matt caressed the place where she had once she turned.

“This is Steve. He’s a frien-“

“Hello Jessica.”

“Steve.” She raised her eyebrows, surprised.

“You two know each other?” Matt looked at him, then at Jessica.

“I think I should be the one making that question. But yes, Cap hired me last year. He was trying to find a friend of his.”

“She tracked Bucky down to a flat in Brooklyn.” Steve explained.

“Then he vanished. You know how spies are.” She shrugged and turned to Steve. “Why are you here?”

“I will be defending him in court.”

“So you’re still running from justice.”

Steve’s half smile seemed to be a good enough answer, as Jessica nodded.

Steve phone buzzed in his pocket.

“I’m sorry. Would you excuse me for a minute?” He took a few steps back towards the living room’s window to start checking his texts.

SAM WILSON, 8:14: Were did u spend the night?

SAM WILSON, 9:21 : Are u with a woman?

Matt and Jessica were still speaking about him.

“He also happened to walk on me while I was fighting some muggers last night.”

Steve typed ‘Yes. And with a man.’ Sam then replied with a emoji he couldn’t really understand.

“He had heard Foggy and I talk, and put two and two together.”

Steve put two and two together again and replied ‘Not like that’ to Sam’s text. Probably too late. He was aware that he was blushing slightly when he joined Jessica and Matt again.

“Look at him. He isn’t all muscle!” Jessica looked at Steve, then at Matt. “Well, it is good to know you’re not going to join the Avengers and leave me all on my own.”

“We’d be lucky to have him, but I doubt we’d ever be able to persuade him to leave Hell’s Kitchen.”

“I’m sorry, Jessica, I didn’t even ask. It’s not that I’m not happy to see you or anything, but you didn’t mention you were gonna come by. Why exactly are you here?”

“I think I may have a lead on that drug cartel you were trying to track down last month. I thought you should know. I was on my way to watch a client’s husband anyway.” She took her phone from her light coloured jeans’ pocket. “I’ve still got some time. Would you like to grab a cup of coffee?” She was asking Steve too.

“A client just called. He wanted to meet earlier than planed, so I’m afraid I should pass. We can talk later. Maybe raid tonight?”

“Sounds good. Shield-man? Wanna catch up?”

“I - I shouldn’t be seen in public.”

Matt smiled. “He’s got shades and a cap.”

“Great! Is there anything else you need? Face paint, maybe? A fake moustache?”

 ***** 

They left Matt’s building shortly after. He decided not to use the cap. As Jessica pointed out ‘Seriously. Do you want people to think you’re some celebrity? Like, a movie kind of celebrity? They’ll pay more attention to you if you wear that’.

Steve and Jessica said goodbye to Matt a few blocks from his home, and continued walking towards Jessica's destination.

She had stopped for coffee at a place she seemed to know, while Steve waited. She returned, cups of coffee in her hands, but suddenly stopped in her tracks.

“Here. Take this.”

“Sorry?”

She handed Steve the cups while she took her camera out of her bag.

“Shit! I cannot miss this.”

Then Steve saw him as well. Tony’s new protégée was swinging from one building to another, apparently following a car on the run.

“The New York Bulletin is gonna love this.” Jessica smiled while taking pictures.

“Are you investigating Spider-man?”

“No. I mean. It started out like that. That guy from Daily Budge paid me to get pictures of him.” Jessica took another shot. “I did. But then he wanted more personal stuff. Unmasked pictures, information about who he was… So I said no. And he wouldn’t take my photographs anymore. Too bad. ”

“You quit?”

Jessica looked at him. “What? Don’t look so surprised! I wear no mask. But if he wants to keep his on, then I’m not going to take that away from him.”

“I’m glad.” Steve laughed. “Wait. Do you know who he is?”

“I wouldn’t be such a good P.I. if I hadn’t found out.”

They then heard a crash. The car was driving too close to the side of the street and it had hit a traffic sign.

Spider-man was getting close. He shot one of his webs and the car got caught on it. Despite the driver’s attempts, it seemed like it wasn’t going to move. The boy got closer and opened one of the doors. Nope. He tore it out.

“Robbing doesn’t get you anywhere, you know?” He then shot some more webs at them. Steve couldn’t see it, but he guessed he intended to immobilize them.

“I need to get closer.”

“I probably shouldn’t-“ But Jessica had run to where the car was. And Steve followed.

“Hi! Spider guy!” Spider-man turned around to look at her. “Hey. Would you mind if I took a picture of you next to the bad guys.”

“Hmm…I guess not. Yeah. Why n - Hey Steve! Can I call you Steve?” He waved at him. Yes, he hadn’t changed much in those months. “It’s me! Queens, remember?”

“Yes.” Steve smiled awkwardly. “Hi.”

“You know him?”

“Yeah. We’ve met.”

“Should I pose? How should I pose?” He was looking at Steve. Oh, boy. He started to understand how Tony had gotten more patient.

She shook her head and prepared the camera. “Just. Do whatever feels right. Be yourself. I don’t know. Show how happy you are after catching those criminals.”

It was enough to motivate him, apparently. Jessica took a couple of pictures. She looked satisfied. And so did the kid.

They were almost surrounded by people, as Steve had just noticed.

“I should go.”

“Okay, I have everything I need. Thank you, Spider-man!”

“No problem! Wait, what newspaper is this for?”

“New York Bulletin?”

“Cool.” His face was covered, but his body language indicated that he, indeed, thought it was cool.

“Here, take this.” Jessica started searching for something in her bag. It turned out to be a small card. “If you ever need anything, just call. Or come by. Whatever works best for you.”

Spider-man looked at it. “Wait, are you an investigator? Are the photographs for an investigation?”

“Oh, no. They’re for the bulletin. But keep an eye out for the Daily Bugle. They want to know about you. Like, know everything. You’re lucky I don’t do that kind of stuff.”

“Do they? I-“ They were leaving.“Thank you-“ He looked at the card again. “Ms. Jones!” Then he waved at Steve. “Bye, Cap!”

“Goodbye Spider-man!”

 They were lucky the police was just getting there, Steve though.

“Coffee?” He offered Jessica one of the two cups.

“Yes. I’m. That was unexpected. I had to. No one saw you, right?” Steve guessed that was as close as Jessica would get to apologizing. It worked for him.

He shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

“Good.” She sipped from the cup. “I guess you may want to leave now.”

“I probably should. My motorbike’s a couple of blocks from here.”

“South?”

“Yes.”

“Then let me go with you.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, my client and his wife aren’t gonna stop cheating on each other if I’m not there. I will get the pictures somehow. Plus, I think I’ve made the day anyway.” She patted the camera hanging around her neck.

They walked through the crowd and Steve told her about Bucky. And fighting Tony. And the Accords, and the trial. She occasionally grunted or let out complains regarding the need for superheroes to answer to authority. It surprised Steve that take any of their silences as an opportunity to talk about herself. But now he understood why Matt had enjoyed sharing experiences with him. It was nice to get to talk about this stuff with Jessica, she was a good listener, but she didn’t seem keen on sharing personal stories.

Suddenly, Steve saw her. Detective Prendergast. She had been there after the Incident. As part of the police force that helped evacuate the place. She knew him. She, as many other police officers, was trying to find them. She was on the other side of the road.

He had to hide. In plain sight. He wished Natasha was there. She was good at this kind of -

He turned to Jessica.

“I’m gonna kiss you. Is that okay?”

Jessica raised her eyebrow. “Sure. Are you always this formal?”

His lips met hers. The kiss was rough, but soft. Steve kept looking towards Prendergast out of the corner of his eye.

He noticed Jessica was holding him tightly. She was indeed strong, and she wasn’t holding back. He decided not to, either. And they drew each other deeper into the kiss.

The light turned green, and the woman walked. And so did everyone else. But Jessica and him stayed there. And Prendergast went away, eventually.

Steve slowly let himself go from Jessica.

“I’m really sorry. This woman, she is NYPD. She’s one of the people who are looking for me. I had to hide and there was no other -“

“Relax. Boy, was it that bad?” She exhaled on her hand and sniffed. “I brushed my teeth this morning.”

“It. It’s not that. It was great.” He was worried. And blushing.

Jessica shrugged. “Yeah. I kind of though so too. I mean, you’re strong. A kiss like that could have thrown any other person to the ground. You don’t find someone you can kiss like that that often.”

She was right. Steve hadn’t though about it for some time, but it had taken him a while to get used to his strength. He remembered kissing Peggy like she was fragile. And she was tough. It wasn’t like he had kissed or touched many other people ever since. Not like that. And, being honest, that one time Nat had kissed him, he had just stood still.

“I’m guessing this was just a…one time, to avoid the police, thing. Right?”

“Yeah,  I guess. I’m sorr-“

“Please stop apologizing. I get it, you don’t like me like that and you are not a ‘fling’ kind of guy. That’s fine.” She shrugged. That and her half smile were kind of her signature, Steve thought.

The light was green again, and they crossed to the other side of the road.

“Do you know anyone else like us? Strength-wise?”

He thought of Bucky. If he had to compare his strength to someone else’s, it’d be him. He sure would be able to  hold him as tight as Jessica had. He sure could -

“I kind of had a thing with this guy. He’s strong. And his skin…he can’t barely be hurt. Pretty useful.” She smiled. And so did Steve. She coughed. “It was…interesting. It got complicated. He’s not in town anymore. He and justice...it's complicated.”

"I understand."

"Did I just perfectly described your relationship with justice." Jessica scoffed.

Steve laughed, as they got to the street where he had parked.

“Thanks, Jess. It’s been fun.”

“You know me, I’m a funny person.” She smiled, cynically. “Back to confinement?”

Steve nodded.

“I still don’t get why you won’t go out more. You just did.”

Steve laughed. “I wasn’t planning on doing this. If Tony hadn’t dragged us to that restaurant yesterday -“

“Yeah, yeah.” Jessica patted his chest. “Take care, Steve. And, you know, come around sometime. There’s always someone in New York who needs to get their ass kicked. It doesn’t have to be aliens.” She started walking away. “It could even be me.”

 Steve watched her leave until she turned a corner. He thought he should probably text someone before leaving. But certainly not Sam.

STEVE ROGERS 10:46 : On my way.

His phone buzzed almost immediately.

WANDA 10:47 : I’ll inform the kids.

He was about to leave, when his phone buzzed again.

CLINT BARTON 10:49 : Common opinion here is you should bring Chipotle.

STEVE ROGERS 10:50 : Can’t you guys pick a place where I don’t have to look the waiter in the eye to tell him every single ingredient I want on my burrito?

CLINT BARTON 10:50 : Just bring some food. Or decide who cooks today and deal with the consequences. Your choice.