So, apparently it was really easy for all of you to guess that Sam Wilson is Trip's new friend.

A little note about Sam's family: his parents are indeed Paul and Darlene, and Paul is a Minister. It's also mentioned in the comics that Sam has two siblings, Sarah and Gideon. There's not indication about Sam or his siblings ages, so I took approximated guesses: Sam is 14, Sarah is about 10 and Gideon is about 4.

"Mom," Skye crooned, finding May in the kitchen, standing among various pots and pans, "what do kittens eat?"

"Why?" she asked, leaving the knife on the counter and looking at the little girl.

She shrugged, "Just curious."

"Where are they?"

Skye promptly defended herself, "It's Jemma's fault. She found them."

"Where are they?" May insisted.

"In a box, in the porch. We just brought them home."

May walked to the porch, closely followed by Skye. She found her children leaning over a cardboard box. There were four small kittens there, meowing nonstop, wet and hungry. They were all different. One of them had orange and white stripes all over his body, and his remaining three little brothers were all solids colors: one was light brown, another yellowish-beige and the last one was all orange, although the tips of his feet were white, and the fur that went from his mouth to his belly was white as well.

"Take them to the bathroom," May said, realizing she didn't really have a choice, "I'll go check on dinner and meet you there soon."

On the way upstairs, May phoned Coulson, "Are you close to home already?"

"Uhm, it'll still take me a bit. Why?"

"Stop by a pet store. Buy four collars, ones with bells, and a small baby bottle. Your kids found four kittens."

"My kids? How come they're only my kids when they misbehave?"

May didn't answer him and simply hung up the phone. Coulson smiled and shook his head, adjusting his route to find a pet shop. At home, his wife was bathing cats in the bathtub, thinking of the unimaginable things her children made her do. If she was told several years back that, one day in the future, she'd be married, with six children, and would be bathing cats to please her children, she wouldn't believe it. But she liked it, even though she didn't say it out loud.

When Coulson got home with a small baby bottle and four differently colored collars, he found it strange that none of his kids were greeting him. That was because they were around the small – and now clean and dried – creatures and didn't even pay attention to him when he walked in.

"You bought what I asked you to buy?" May asked, meeting him in the entrance hall.

"Yes," he told her, handing her the plastic bag while he took off his jacket.

The kids helped their parents put the collars on the small cats, while they all quietly chatted, trying to agree on names for the kittens.

"Don't give them names," Coulson warned, "It'll be harder for you when we give them up."

"What?" Jemma and Skye asked at the same time.

May frowned, "You thought we were going to keep four cats? There're already six of you in this house, and that's enough work."

The kids didn't care about their parent's warning, and named the kittens anyways: Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael and Leonard.

It was hard to get them all to bed because they didn't want to part ways with the kittens. Especially Skye and Jemma, who feared that by the next morning, they wouldn't be there anymore. The kittens weren't gone in the following morning, but by then Coulson had already prepared flyers to put around the neighborhood.

In two weeks, Coulson and May had given Michelangelo and Leonard away. One girl from their oldest kid's school, Darcy, took Mikey home. Leo – the kitten – was taken by twin kids, Pietro and Wanda, from a nearby neighborhood. They also managed to get rid of another cat – Ralph – by offering it to the Thompson's kids. And so they were down to one cat to give away, and so far no one else seemed to be interested in having a kitten. Until someone knocked on their door.

"Good afternoon," the man affably greeted, "we're here because of the flyer about the kittens."

"Oh, yes," Coulson said, casting a quick glance at the family, "come on in."

Noticing that there was no car parked in front of his house, Coulson concluded they were from nearby; they might even be the new neighbors everyone was talking about. The man had three children, two boys and a girl who was the middle child. She appeared to be about nine or ten years old; the youngest was about four or five years old, and the oldest boy was a tween or maybe an early teenager. The little boy was still holding his father's hand; the girl walked in comfortably, looking around, and the older boy was listening to music, quite loudly.

"I'm sorry to tell you but we only have this one kitten left," Coulson told the kids, pointing to the chocolate colored cat, "we've given the others away."

"It's ok," the girl said, walking to pick it up, "I like him. He's cute."

"Kitty," the little boy babbled excitedly, letting go of his father's hand and walking to the kitten too.

Coulson warned, "You might not want to approach him so quickly. He's a bit skittish. Jemma," he called, "Donny's under the couch. Can you come to get him?"

"No," Jemma answered from her bedroom, "You're giving him away, so I'm not getting him from under the couch."

Since his daughter wasn't coming to get the cat, Coulson knew that he would have to do it. After a few growls and hisses from the cat, he got it from under the couch and gave it to the children.

"There you have him. My kids named him Donatello, but it's not like he goes by the name anyways."

"You guys like him?" the man asked his children. He got two enthusiastic nods, and then turned to Coulson, "I'm so sorry, I didn't even introduce myself. Paul Wilson."

Coulson shook Paul's hand, "Nice to meet you. I'm Phil Coulson. Pardon me for asking, but are you the new neighbor that everyone's talking about?"

Paul smiled, "Yes, we're the newcomers. Me, Darlene and the children moved in not even a week ago." He pointed at his two youngest kids, saying, "Those are Sarah and Gideon. And that's my oldest, S-" as he turned, he no longer found his son and saw the front door open. "I guess he went outside."

"It's alright. My oldest is outside too. They are about the same age. I'm sure they'll get along."

Casually, the two men walked outside, chatting. Sarah and Gideon were out in the garden too, playing with their new cat.

"Your wife stayed at home?"

"Yes. She was unpacking some things. The kids insisted in getting a pet, and moving can be rough, so we thought why not give them a pet. But since I told the kids it'd be ok to get a cat, she made me come," Paul laughed quietly.

"Wives, I know how it is," Coulson chuckled too. "They say you are going to be the new minister," Coulson subtly added.

"I am, yes. I'll be presented to the community at this weekend's Mass."

"We'll try to be there, but we're not very religious people to begin with. It's not we're atheists though, but -"

Paul interrupted him, "It's perfectly fine. Come if you wish, if not I understand."

"No, we'll be there. At least for your presentation to the community."

The two men continued to talk, about their families and jobs, and everyday things. They were just simply getting to know each other. Paul's oldest child was still listening to his music, walking around the garden. Trip was playing baseball by himself, throwing the ball at the fence and catching it, repeating the exercise over and over again. He saw the boy walking around, swinging his head to the song he was listening.

"Wanna play?" Trip asked.

The boy didn't hear him; the volume of the music in his earphones was too loud and he was too enthralled by it to even notice the boy trying to talk to him. But Trip didn't give up. He threw the ball at him. It fell by the boy's feet, and he bent to pick it up. Trip gestured him to throw it back at him.

"Want to play?" he insisted.

"Uh, sorry?" the boy asked, taking off the earphones.

Trip smiled, "I asked you if you want to play."

"Yeah, sure."

"You're the new neighbors that are moving in down the street?"

"Yeah. And we are taking home your last cat. I hope you don't feel angry if in a few days you hear that it's dead. My brother Gideon thinks the cat is a toy."

Trip snickered, "I won't hold any grudge. My sisters might; they didn't want to give away any of the cats."

The two threw the ball around for a while until Trip found the courage to ask, "What were you listening to? It was awfully loud."

"But it is awfully good," the boy crossed the distance between the two, offered Trip the earphones and pressed play on his music player. "Marvin Gaye, 1972, Trouble Man soundtrack. Everything you need to listen jammed into one album."

"It's funky and very blues-y." Trip commented, a little bit too loudly because he couldn't hear his own voice. "I like this."

The other boy snickered, "Yeah, I can tell."

Trip took off the earphones and gave them back to their owner. He stretched out his hand and introduced himself, "I'm Antoine Triplett. Go by Trip. I bring the noise and the funk wherever I go."

"Sam Wilson," the other shaking his hand, "I mostly bring the noise. And the fun. And a bit of funk too," Sam chuckled.

"So, you haven't got your bearings of the neighborhood yet?"

"No, not yet," Sam affirmed, "My mother's a bit overly cautious every time I tell her I want to explore the neighborhood. She says it's still too early and that we should meet the neighbors as a family."

"Well, since you're taking our last cat, we're gonna have to take down the flyers. I'll tell my Dad I'll do that now, and if you want to come, I can show you around, tell you about the folks you should and shouldn't meet."

"I'm here with my dad, and he's cool, so I'm sure I can go. And if you don't mind me tagging along with you, I even promise to help you take down some flyers."

Trip smiled and clapped him on the shoulder, "Come on, then." As he met Coulson and Paul, he turned to his father, "I'm going to take down the flyers. I told Sam I'd show him around if he'd like to come along," Trip looked at Sam's father, "if you're ok with it."

"I already know the way back home," Sam claimed. "Can I go?"

"Sure. I'll handle your mother," Paul grinned at his son and then gave Trip's shoulder a slight squeeze, "Thank you," he sincerely said, "Sam's new around and he needs a friend."

"I need a friend my age too, sir."

Coulson had to agree; the only friends that Trip had that were his age were his schoolmates, and none of them lived nearby.

"Don't come back too late," Coulson warned as the boys started down the road.

Sam offered one earphone to Trip, "Listen to this one, "T" stands for Trouble. It's awesome."

Trip put the earphone in his ear and swayed his head to the blues jam. He stuffed his hand in the pocket of his jeans and fished out two pieces of chewing gum. "Want one?" he asked, already unwrapping his.

"Hell yeah," Sam said, snatching it out of Trip's hand.

The two chuckled.

How many references have you found in this chapter?

Oh, next chapter... I love it. I'm sure you'll love it too. It features mostly Trip, Lance and Grant and a surprise character. I won't fall for the same mistake and reveal you the initials of the name or else you'd figure it just right again. There are also references of May and Coulson sparring at SHIELD's gym with Felix Blake and Jasper Sitwell.