My Neighbor, Mr. Rogers

Chapter Twenty-One - Field Trip

It's movie night again. Steve is home. He's missed the last several movie nights on account of Bucky. I'm not sure if he's planning on coming over tonight. To be honest, I'm not sure if I want him to. If I give him space, maybe it'll be easier to think of him as just a friend. Absence keeps the heart platonic, right? Yeah, that's how the saying goes.

So I don't text him.

≈o≈

"I was actually planning on staying in tonight." Understatement. I'm already in my pajamas.

"Oh," Carson's disappointment rings through the speaker on my cell phone.

"But maybe later this week?" I offer. This is the second time I've turned him down and it's only because he's had poor timing. I do, in fact, want to hang out with him.

"All right, how about Thursday?" he asks, a bit more hopeful.

"That'd be great! Do you want to meet-" There's a knock at my door.

"Oh, I have to go. There's someone at the door."

"That's fine. We can work out the details later. Bye, Anne!" Carson hangs up before I can say anything back.

"All-righty-then."

I open the door to see Steve and James - who is in a sweater and gloves again.

'I thought he was a master assassin, shouldn't he know what "suspicious" looks like?'

"Hiya boys." I greet them with what must look like a constipated expression.

"Hi Anne," Steve pauses and then nudges James.

James just nods.

"Would you mind if he joins us for movie night?"

'Gee, since I'm not put on the spot at all'- "Of course not! Come on in." I step out of the doorway to let them in. I really didn't mind if he joined us, but more than no notice would've been nice. Glancing down, I curse my choice of jammies.

Appa onesie = classy.

Totally no reason for me to feel weird that two super soldiers have seen me wearing this. Nah.

"Did you guys have any certain movie in mind?"

They're standing by my purple paisley couch, looking out of place.

"It's your turn to pick. I ordered Thai. That work for you?" Steve asks with a polite smile.

"Oh, sure. Let me check my collection and queue and see if anything jumps out at me."
'Hmm. The Fugitive' is really good...

Um, no. Literally, the killer is a one-armed man. Best wait on that one.

'Man of Steel'?

Really funny.

How about 'The Lion King'?

Nope. Mufasa falls to his death.

Hmm...but thinking along the lines of Disney...'

A wicked smile crosses my face. "I have a possibility." I pull out my DVD and get it all set up while we wait for our dinner to be delivered.

"'Frozen'?"

I'm nothing if not deeply passive-aggressive.

"Isn't that a kid's movie?" Steve asks in confusion.

"That's what you thought about 'Tangled' before you saw it."

He looks sheepish and glances to James who just raises his eyebrows.