Author's Note: Here's another chapter finally! I'm just posting these as I get inspiration and none of them are going to be particularly long or anything. Read, review, and enjoy!

CACACACA

Steve whistled a small tune to himself as he walked down the pathway. It was actually a rather nice day and he didn't have anywhere pressing to be. He might have an armful of groceries, but they weren't particularly heavy, so it didn't bother him to take the slow, scenic walk back to his apartment.

His whistling eventually settled into light humming as he came into a more populated area. He knew that whistling could get kind of annoying to other people, especially when they had super hearing like he did. Then it got really annoying. And, nowadays, there was really no way to tell if someone was a mutant with super hearing or something similar. Not that Steve had anything against mutants. And he certainly didn't think that they should identify themselves to people or anything. It was just kind of strange to think that anyone on this street could secretly have powers.

Sunlight filtered through the trees of Central Park and Steve closed his eyes to take in the moment. He waved cheerfully at the doddering old lady who was waving so cheerfully that he was surprised she didn't break anything. She might have been just being sweet when she waved at him, or – more likely – she saw the shield on his back and was waving at what she thought to be a hero.

Steve still did his best to carry around his shield wherever he went because there was no telling when something could happen where he'd need it fast. Still, it was slightly irritating that people freaked out at seeing him around with the shield out. He wondered if Stark would be willing to try to make a collapsible one that he could have instead, so he wouldn't have to go grocery shopping so early in the morning to lessen the number of people who could potentially recognize him.

Then again, that was another sometimes-good thing about New York City: people don't often pay attention to their surroundings, so a lot of the time he could walk around in a full Captain America suit and people wouldn't even notice. That wasn't such a good thing during, say, an alien attack, but it was nice for lessened recognizability.

Steve came back into the present when he heard squealing tires and someone shouting something. Exclaiming softly in surprise, Steve jerked backwards and out of the way of the bike that was barreling towards him. The kid on the bike yelled out a quick sorry before speeding back off towards where he had been going. He must have been late or something.

Steve didn't get a chance to muse on the kid's life any further before he heard an ominous ripping sound. Eyes widening, Steve couldn't do a single thing as the paper bag his groceries were in ripped down the middle of the bottom, promptly dropping all of his food onto the ground.

For a long moment, Steve just stared at the collection of groceries on the ground. There were a bunch of small things in there, little odds and ends that he needed for recipes in the coming week. Luckily, none of them were breakable things that would be irreparably damaged by their fall to the ground, but he was still stuck. There were too many groceries that were too small. He couldn't just gather them in his arms and go. He wouldn't make it ten feet before he dropped everything.

There wasn't even anything he could use nearby to collect the groceries in.

Sighing, Steve rubbed a frustrated hand over his face. He'd been having such a good morning too. This was truly unfortunate.

At least, it was unfortunate until an idea came to him. Then again, that idea wasn't much better than just abandoning his groceries. No, Steve decided. He was not going to put his groceries on his shield and walk home like that. The shield-as-an-umbrella incident was still cropping up in conversations at the Avengers Tower and Steve did not approve.

Then again, he really didn't want to just leave his groceries and calling for help to get them home would probably be even more embarrassing. Besides, there were barely any people around this early in the morning, just as he'd been musing all morning. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Maybe it would be completely fine if he just grabbed the items, stuck them on his shield and rushed home. He could always come back out later to enjoy the sunny day. Yeah, that's what he would do. It'd be great. No one would see and it would be fine.

Steve bent over and started quickly and efficiently scooping his groceries onto his shield. He glanced around him carefully and straightened, bringing the make-shift carrier with him. He started jogging down the path, shield held carefully horizontal in front of him. A smile started to spread over his face as he realized that no one was recognizing him and he was fine. This wasn't as bad as he'd originally thought it would be.

Of course, he didn't know that Clint was watching him from a nearby building and laughing so hard he could barely breath.

Author's Note: There we go. This story isn't all that good, but it's fun to write, so whatever. Once again, just let me know if you want to see something specific. Thanks for reading!