This is not the Endgame

Are we growing up or just going down?

When Steve woke up the next morning, he found that many things had happened after the hearing. It seemed pretty well settled that there would be some kind of inquiry into Tony Stark's actions as Iron Man, but being dead, he'd still be escaping the consequences of his actions. Stock prices for Stark Industries had tanked, but it would recover as memory of the scandal faded. There were also questions about what Pepper Potts had known about Tony's activities, particularly regarding Peter Parker, and there was evidence that she had known that Tony was deliberately endangering a child. She and Happy would be on the hot seat for that. In other arenas, people were examining her past; the jump from Tony's personal assistant who followed him around and cleaned up his messes straight to the CEO of the business empire had raised a few brows back in the day, she was smart and capable but it wasn't clear if she had a college degree, let alone an MBA or law degree, and there were calls for an audit to determine if she'd funneled assets from the company to her husband's superhero activities to the detriment of the business. Commentators noted that her promotion appeared to coincide with the beginning of their on-and-off relationship, and it was conceded that even though she had done good work with the board of directors, the optics of it were terrible. Less charitable people were saying she'd earned her promotion on her back. Death threats aimed both at her and Morgan Stark had already started. Steve shook his head. Tony was responsible for Tony's poor choices; Pepper had tried to keep him reined in but ultimately had little power over him, and the child had no responsibility at all. It wasn't her fault. Reluctantly, he made himself a Twitter account. It seemed like the format was best for short statements, which were his favorite kind. His first tweet was to acknowledge the incredible damage done by Stark's decisions, but stressed that his daughter had no responsibility for her father or his actions, and added that people who threatened the well-being of a child should be ashamed of themselves.

It probably wouldn't have any effect anyway.

He met Bucky and Sam for breakfast, and they checked out of the hotel and took the train back home. By the time they reached New York, Steve was done with Fullmetal Alchemist and hit a bookstore on the way home to buy the next volume. And he picked up the first volumes of Berserk, Death Note, D Grey-man, Slam Dunk, Vagabond, Gunsmith Cats. And he got recommendations from the store clerk for anime too, along with an explanation of the difference, including Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, InuYasha, and A Wind Named Amnesia. What Studio Ghibli was. Bucky, who had waited with him while he browsed this new interest, said that he should get a Netflix account. Or Hulu. Amazon Prime.

"You don't have one?" the clerk asked incredulously. "Man, even my grandparents have Netflix, and they're ancient." Steve flushed and handed over his credit card. "Oh, uh. Sorry, Captain Rogers," he said weakly, and moved quickly to bag his new books.

Bucky kindly waited until they were out of the store before bursting into laughter.

"And how long have you known about Netflix?" Steve asked, nettled. "Because you're even older than me."

"Since after the Unsnappening," Bucky conceded, not wanting to revisit the misstep of "Netflix and chill." Or share it with his best friend. Wilson would probably do that sometime; no point in bringing it up now. They walked down the street, making the correct turnings for the apartment building, where Steve had just moved in. As the owner, he claimed a corner apartment, the first one that was mostly finished. There were some details still to go in, and he'd personally selected finishes he liked, higher end. That some construction was still being done was the reason he'd not really unpacked. That, plus he didn't have much anymore, having given away almost everything before going back for the debacle in the past. Bucky was still in his old apartment and refusing to move because he didn't want to box and move his stuff or worse, have to deal with the hassle of updating his address with everything, but he'd agreed to have the wall knocked down and the small studio apartment next door added to his so he could have a one-bedroom apartment. Steve had allowed him to pick out the finishes and details that he liked the best too since he was determined to hunker down. The building was feeling a lot more like home for both of them these days.