1 | Almost Happy ▷ Sam Wilson | ✓

17 - WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE

IT COULD NEVER BE SAID THAT SAM HAD THE BEST FRIENDS.

Sure, they cared about him and made sure he was taken care of and often expressed their undying love for him, but he had never met people more hell-bent on making his life difficult than Steven Rogers and Jennifer Walters.

The onslaught began during his lunch break one day when the client stream was fairly slow and paperwork was nearly all finished.

He had been texting Nicky, snickering at a video the man sent him of his endeavors trying to get a pigeon to sit still long enough for him to take a picture of it to mock the older man who had sent him a picture of another garden gnome.

"Where'd you get this, it's really good?" Jen asked, holding the takeout Sam had gotten her, clearly having just started to eat.

"This guy recommended it to me, said it was one of his favorites," he explained, pulling his phone away from his face to address her, though the sound of Nicky's voice was still able to be heard.

Jen gave him an unreadable smile, raising an eyebrow. "And who exactly is this guy?"

He scoffed and rolled his eyes, shooing her off her perch on his desk. "I hear what you're saying, and it's not like that."

"—I chased after a pigeon to get this picture, you better be offended!" Nicky's voice shouted, particularly loud despite Sam having lowered the volume, and Jen's smile only grew.

"A pigeon?" she asked, and there was something about her tone that let him know that, despite still referring to him as Sam Thomas, she knew better.

"It's a long story," he tried to explain and Jen just nodded, humming as she slowly made her way back towards her office, giving him a pointed look before she disappeared behind her door.

Sam sighed and tilted his head back in his chair; she was never going to let him live this down. Pulling the phone back up to his face, he couldn't help but smile at the sight of a flustered looking Nicky who was still filming, walking and apologizing, possibly to the people who had to witness his little goose chase.

"I ran around a park for you, feel loved," Nicky panted, pausing and bending over, "Oh God, I'm gonna be sick...God, I hate running."

Sam laughed and set the phone aside, Nicky's voice echoing in his ear for the rest of the day.

º º º

Sam was never going to do anything nice for anyone else ever again.

He had swung by the loft, still without Nicky's clothes, which he had forgotten to give back, surprised by the utterly miserable voice that greeted and buzzed him in.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked, stepping inside and catching sight of Nicky who was leaning against the back of the couch, clearly there to greet him, but looking ready to pass out at any second.

"Yeah-yeah, uh, I was over at, um, Baxter Building and, uh...I got, um, sprayed by this weird alien plant-thing, it's not contagious and I'll be fine, this is just similar to a really, really, really bad...I don't know, I'm not that kind of doctor." The man was clearly out of it, babbling and rambling, head tilting farther back, nearly losing balance and toppling over.

"Okay," Sam said, running forward and grabbing him, righting him before placing one arm under his knees and the other around his back, lifting him up and carrying him towards his room.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," Nicky mumbled, burying his face in the crook of Sam's neck, "Mmm...you're warm. Are you-you even trying, Steve did this too, but you doing it, you're not a super...warm."