FLYBOY » sam wilson

two.

02 x everyone loves a good team-up

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Sam could never get sick of this.

The sky, the clouds and the stars. Living amongst the perfect image that mankind had crafted to idealize gods. He would never consider that a dishonour - the shield, - just a mighty trust factor that he needed to work on. It was on obligation he had held more gravely than his mental health,  so much so that assuming the mantle of Captain America was a necessary commitment. He led the Avengers, pursued conflict and tore down Hydra from the roots. But when the smoke cleared, he would always return to what he truly was: the Falcon.

As a little kid, he had always wanted to fly. His old man had told him that anything was possible if he put his heart into it and really, he wished he had listened. He wasn't a perfect kid, he made mistakes, one too many to count. Between these mistakes were a hodgepodge of troubles and losses, which only got crazier with time. And he learnt that in life, there were people who left and those who stayed. 

He lost his ride-or-die and wing-man in combat. A few years after dire coping, he found to strengthen his resolve at a relief session for Armed Forces veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. He learnt, all on his own, that the road to recovery was for him to open up - as cliche as it sounded - and encourage others at the scope of it. The general consensus included moving on and that was exactly what he had done.

With a little help from his past life, of course, he finally took flight again. Captain America himself had taken him under his wing, trained him to the best of his abilities and made him an Avenger. When Cap couldn't carry the shield of reliability, Sam took it. With an uneasy hesitance and teeming pride, he held it up high.

And there was nobody more proud of him than Tiana Bright. Not a day passed by that he was thankful to have met her. Even if it were the simplest of occasions - Tia had come in for a session, which Sam had fatefully been conducting, to monitor and examine her medical notes for a study in her hospital. They had a sweet run-in, bonded over coffees and two weeks later, she was back for another session. Tia was an adorable one, he had gathered. Everyone thought so; a spritely soul rather than a sophisticated shade.  Two things he captured from her. One, overly passionate. Two, overly talkative. Sometimes, her rambles would make his ears bleed and sometimes, he could watch her lips move until the sun came up.

Which reminded him off the cool photo he had sent her in that afternoon when he was headed to the mayor's office. That girl had the nerve to blue-tick him. 

'Falcon to Patriot. Do you copy?'

'Hey!' A cheery voice greeted him in mere seconds. He heard the soft slam of a notebook. 'Wassup, Cap? How's the fresh suit treating you?'

Rayshaun Lucas was a pain in his ass. At an age where algebra equations and cross-referencing should've been his priority, avenging and taking on the alias of Patriot had become his a-game. And the boy had the nerve to register himself for the New Avengers initiative. Which meant training with this little asshole in the after-dark hours.

Three months had gone by and fifteen-year-old Shaun was as good as new. Refined and making moves his own way, Patriot was ready to be introduced to the world as a New Avenger. There were multiple anecdotes after the alterations to his new uniform - the red and white weren't as original as adding blue to it. He had just laughed along or given them the death glare as they joked.