Power & Legacy || Steve Rogers (UNDER EDITING)

40 || brooklyn

I get down to Beat poetry
And my jazz collection's rare
I can play most anything
I'm a Brooklyn baby
-Brooklyn Baby, Lana Del Ray

June 5th 2010
Brooklyn, New York City

Two knocks sounded on the door to Steve's apartment before it swung open. Aria found him hunched over his dishwasher, expecting it in great detail.

"It's called a dishwasher. Ten points for anyone who can guess what it does." she quipped, leaning on the doorframe.

"Ha. Ha." he frowned, turning around, "In my day, it was customary to wait to be let in after knocking."

"We're friends, are we not?" she smirked, strolling inside, "I was just hoping to find you in your undies really." he turned as red as a tomato, "Joking. Sorry." she clarified, "So, what do you fancy for breakfast?"

"I'll make it. It's the least I can do for a friend."

"Now you're getting it."

He tried his best, though Aria's help was involved with several appliances, and eventually he managed to serve a bowl of porridge. They ate it, half in silence, half in small talk, before he excused himself to shower. Just as he did, her phone began to ring.

"Lia, Lia, Lia, how are you?" her father's jovial voice sounded.

"I'm just fine, thank you. How are you, pops?"

"I would be better if my daughter wanted to see me again. Pep and I are still in New York, if you care to see us."

"Sorry, Pep? That's a new name. When did she become Pep?"

He laughed, "Things change when you don't see your old man for a while."

"Two weeks." she clarified.

"Yuh-huh, so where have you been? Where are you now? Why are you in Brooklyn?"

"Why are you monitoring my location? I'm at a friend's place."

"I didn't know you had friends who didn't live in Manhattan," he says, suspiciously.

"He's a new friend."

"He?"

"Yes, he. Not all men are sex pests who try to get into the pants of every woman they meet."

"Well that's no way to speak to your father."

"I never mentioned your name." she laughed.

"So, who's this friend?"

"His name is... Stefan."

"Well that's a ridiculous name."

"Okay, Dad, are you calling for any purpose or just to harrass me?"

"Pep and I are heading back to Malibu tomorrow, I was hoping you'd spend some time with us before we do. Dinner tonight?"

"I'll see what I can do."

"What you can do? Is Stefan holding you hostage?"

She heard the shower turning off, "Very funny. I'll get back to you. K, love you, bye!"

Rolling her eyes, she slid her phone back into her pocket, then sat down at the table, pulling her laptop from her handbag. She resumed a report Fury has requested on her experience of the Expo.

Hammer's drones posed a threat to public safety but that is not to say Hammer himself was the threat. In fact, the largest threat he posed was his lack of control over his own creations. Upon realisation of-

"Was someone just here?"

She looked up to see Steve stood before me, tight white t-shirt on and grey joggers, his hair still wet. Sweet Jesus.

"I was just talking to my dad." she hesitated before clarifying, "On the phone... The mobile telephone."

The cogs in his head whirred for a moment, "Ah," he glanced at her computer, "and what is that?"

"A laptop. A computer but very small and portable, for accessing the internet and saving files digitally, immaterially."

He nodded, "Okay. Don't worry, I'm a fast learner."

"Oh, perfect, you'll be all caught up by next week." she closed her laptop, "I was thinking, how'd you like a walk around the city today? I mean, if you aren't ready, that's okay but it might be nice. You could show me your old haunts."

He smiled faintly, "Yeah, that would be nice." he paused, "Will it not be a bit of a spectacle, a Stark and Captain America out in the wild?"

"Well, Cap'n, allow me to introduce you to the world's most convincing disguise. The humble cap and sunglasses."

So there they were, half an hour loate, in the streets of Brooklyn, coffees in hand. It was a warm day and the sun beat down on them, "It's different."

She glanced up, "The coffee?"

"No, the city. Though the coffee is too. Nicer, less watery."

She smirked, "I couldn't imagine life before the latte. What was your Brooklyn like?"

"Different. Quieter. Not quiet but... a different kind of noisy. I know all these streets, all these alleys, been beat up in most of them."

"Huh. See, you've changed too." she looked ahead, at a busy intersection, where cars lined up, jammed at a red light, "That's what I was saying, people change, places change, but memories don't. Brooklyn is still home. Your memories are still piled up on every street... the streets themselves might just look a little different."

"Bucky and I, my friend Bucky, we used to sneak our way into baseball games and the movies. He'd charm his way in and me, well I was so small they wouldn't even notice. We'd take girls dancing on the weekend- well, Bucky would take 'em and I'd just tag along. I was never much of a dancer." a fond smile sat on his face, his eyes glazed over wistfully.

"Oh, I bet you can dance." chuckled Aria.

"No, really, I have two left feet, you'd lose a few toes."

"You'll have to show me some time."

"Do you dance?"

"Only in the club. I don't slow dance."

"So you... fast dance?"

She laughed, "Yeah, I fast dance. That, I'm sure I can teach you."

"There." he stopped abruptly.

She spun around to face him, "Hm?"

He pointed up at a building across the road, "Across there, that's where I lived, where I grew up."

"Home."

He looked down at the back of her head, as she looked up at the building, "I'm not so sure it was. It was just a place I lived. My memories weren't up there. Up there I was alone."

She spun around and he quickly averted his gaze, "So home is down here? In the streets?"

"I guess so."

She patted his chest, "Well then, welcome home Rogers."