The Twin Flame: Grumpy x Sunshine

The 1

"I persist and resist the temptation to ask you: If one thing had been different, would everything be different today?"

Sam POV

"You could try to reroute that through-"

Sam slaps Joaquin's hand away from his semi-damaged wing splayed out in the outdoor Tunisian cafe. "Could you not?"

"Oh," Joaquin chuckles, backing his hand away. "Sorry."

"I've been working for the Air Force for six months now. Every time ops touches him, he gets all glitchy," Sam explains, a humorous grin on his face.

"You know, those poor techs can't keep up with a billion returning IP addresses and your sick-ass Stark tech."

Joaquin abruptly stands up, rotating his phone around the marketplace as though he's searching for something. "All these LAF crews, they're trying to take advantage of the chaos, make some money. That I get, but there's- Oh, bam! There they are," Joaquin exclaims, holding up his phone to show Sam the red handprint on his screen. "I've been stumbling onto their manifestos on message boards. They're called the Flag Smashers.

"Is that a new thing?" Sam snickers. "Bad guys give themselves bad names."

"There's a lot worse names than that one," Joaquin says, tucking his phone back into his pocket. "But basically they think the world was better during The Blip. Trust me, it wasn't."

"Trust me. Every time something gets better for one group, it gets worse for another."

"Essentially, these people want a world that's unified without borders. So you could see why a lot of people are into that."

"Keep an eye on it. If anything gets serious, you let me know."

"No doubt. I'll, uh, I'll track the online chatter, see what they're saying. I do gotta ask you, though, 'cause online there's just been a lot of stuff about Steve, actually. Some crazy conspiracies," Joaquin awkwardly hedges. "So, some people, they think that he's in a secret base on the moon looking down over us."

Sam humorously scoffs, shaking his head as he puts the final touches on his no longer damaged wing. "I told her to stop spreading that rumor!"

Joaquin frowns. "So it's really not true?"

"No. It's not. Steve's gone."

"Really? You didn't, like, fly him to the moon?"

"No, and if she was taking any of my calls I'd tell her to stop spreading rumors like that," Sam states, looking at him with a prompting look that Joaquin can't ignore. "How is she doing?"

Joaquin hesitates for a moment, his expression stuttering to a conflicted, tense expression that tells Sam everything he needs to know: Joaquin's hiding something. Joaquin recovers with a quick shake of his head as he pulls a innocent smile on his face. "Fine! Yeah, she's doing fine."

"Really?" Sam prods. "Because you didn't seem so sure there."

"No. Yeah. No. It's- it's great."

"I'm so convinced," Sam deadpans, an unimpressed look on his face.

Joaquin sighs, trying to carefully choose his words to appease Sam but to not break your trust in him. "It's hard. Harder than I think either of us anticipated. It's hard tracking down a ghost, even when that ghost is right next to you. Telling me that Steve Rogers is on the Moon."

"I know," Sam exhales, a slight chuckle leaving his mouth. "That ghost lived with me and is now refusing to take my calls."

"That's not it," Joaquin assures him. For a split second, Joaquin almost tells Sam everything. He's never seen Sam without something akin to a smile on his face, but he can tell that the continually growing distance between the two of you is really getting to the both of you. He's just the unlucky person that gets to see both sides of it happening. "She's disappointed. She wants to know more, but there's only so much to go on."

"Tell her to call me," Sam gently orders, forcing Joaquin to look at his pleading eyes. "Maybe I can convince her to come back home."

"Maybe," Joaquin remorsefully shrugs, because of all the things you were going to do, going back home was not at the top of your list. "But she's pretty invested."

"Yeah, that's what I was worried about," Sam mumbles, packing his things away.

"So where you off to?"

"Washington."

"What are you doing there?"

"Moon stuff," Sam chuckles, shaking his head and rolling his eyes at the tall tale. He remembers when you first came back to Louisiana with him, how you told him you were going to start spreading ridiculous stories about where Steve had gone to see which ones people really believed. He really missed your irreverent, goofy sense of humor.

-

"I'm telling you, I'm going to do it," you promise, laughing as the two of you sit on his sister's porch.

"But why?" Sam laughs, standing up in a huff to re-activate the motion lights.

Even though he knows he shouldn't be encouraging you, there's a pretty big part of him that thinks it's absolutely hilarious too. People just wouldn't stop with the questions about Steve Rogers. They wouldn't accept what was without some grand tale or some dramatic retelling. And as people who both knew Steve, it was emotionally draining.

"Why not?" you counter. "Maybe they'll finally leave us alone about it. Think about it: Steve Rogers is really living underground, protecting us from the mole people."

"Mole people?" Sam sputters out laughing as the timed light turns off again.

"Or- Or!" you bounce up off the stairs with unbridled excitement. "We could tell people he's on the Moon!"

The lights turn back on, but you still remain standing with your drink sloshing around in your hand. He tries to maintain his voice of a reason tone, but he finds himself smiling at his friend dramatically gesturing as you tell him all about the intricate stories you'll make up about Steve. "Who would believe that?"

"Who wouldn't? An alien literally wiped out half the planet five years ago. And then we just show back up!" you exclaim, half your drink spilling onto the grass as you wave your arms around, gesturing to the world around you. "The world's a crazy place!"

"The Moon," Sam repeats, rolling his eyes with another laugh.

-

And more than anything, he missed his best friend. He just missed you. "Tell her to call me."

"I will," Joaquin promises as Sam walks away. Then Joaquin quietly mutters to himself, "If she listens is another story."