102.
Brooklyn, New York City
May 5th, 2012
The War for Earth both gave Steve purpose, and absolutely terrified him.
Donning the suit again, fighting in a team, wielding the shield – it all felt so familiar and so foreign. The rush of adrenaline, the running headfirst into a fight, the pain in his muscles and the stinging cut to his lip all made Steve feel so at home, for the first time since he'd woken up in the 21st century. It almost took him back to his trash can days, fighting in a back alley of Brooklyn.
Meeting in Central Park that morning has just been an opportunity to cement how strange this new world was. Watching Thor return to Asgard through a rainbow portal with Loki, muzzle bound, had been one of the most out there scenes of Steve's life – so far, he supposed.
As the Avengers went their separate ways and Steve donned his new bike, he had the distinct feeling they would not be separated for long.
A phone call from Tony a few days later confirms Steve's suspicions, offering Steve a floor at the newly branded Avengers Tower. A bedroom, kitchen, lounge, and bathroom neatly spaced on the floor, all to himself and for free.
Tony asks Steve if he wants to come over and check it out. Steve declines, says he wants to be independent and make his own way in this new world. Tony persists and Steve finds himself standing in the middle of a modern, spacious, top-of-the-line apartment five times the size of the one he had with Bucky and Isabel in the 40s.
"Some of the others are taking up the offer, Capsicle. Thor said yes to a floor, and so did Romanoff and Barton. For when they are all here and earth-side, of course," Tony tries.
Steve sighs. "I have an apartment, Tony."
"Yeah, in Brooklyn. Blegh." Tony makes a face, sticking out his tongue. "What about when you come over to the big city, hey? What if we just say it's yours and you can use it if you want it?"
Steve senses there's no use arguing. "Sure," he says, with a tight smile. "Thank you, Tony."
"Great, knew you'd agree. Now, JARVIS, say hello, would you?" Tony says into seemingly nowhere, looking up at the roof.
"Hello Captain Rogers, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," an automated sounding voice says, echoing through the walls.
Steve jumps, looking around. "Hello? Who's there? What – Tony, what's going on?" Steve looks startled.
"It's JARVIS. He's an AI." Steve looks confused. "Artificial Intelligence. I made him, he's like a helpful voice and he does things for us. I've connected him up to your StarkPhone, and he's also in your laptop that I'm prepping for you. He'll keep an eye on you, help you out, search for things for you, and you can use him to contact the tower or send for back up. If you want to talk to him, you just call out to him."
Steve looks at the phone in his hand, slightly confused. "You know I still struggle to use this thing, right?" He asks.
"This brick phone Fury gave you, sheesh. It doesn't do much more than phone calls, texting and Snake. Well, thank goodness for JARVIS, then. He can help with that once you get your StarkPhone - much better than this POS." Tony starts to walk away, and turns back when Steve doesn't follow. "Come, Cap. I've got something to show you."
Tony leads Steve away from "his" apartment to a communal floor filled with innovative designs. It looks to be Tony's experimental floor, trialling new weapons and tech for his suit of armour. There are different versions of the Iron Man suit, what looks like a taser for Natasha, a new bow and arrow in the making for Clint.
But then Steve's breath nearly leaves his body when his eyes land on a suit, a Captain America suit, in a protective glass case.
Steve walks up to it slowly, staring.
"Looks better than the awful suit SHIELD gave you, hey?" Tony asks. "That was way too comicy. You looked like a cartoon character. I think this will give off the badass vibes you're after, without sacrificing safety and comfort." Tony continues to talk, rattling off a range of specs and upgrades he's including to the suit, and Steve just keeps staring.
The suit is nothing like the first two. It's modern, with stripes across the front, and a strong and thick tunic that looks like a suit of armour.
Steve's uniform used to be made out of leather – good and hard-wearing, durable and tough to pierce, but it was leather and he most definitely got injured wearing it. This looks durable, bulletproof, and according to Tony has some sort of bullet-stopping, top-of-the-line technology that will stop Steve from taking damage. He won't be able to stitch this suit up around a campfire with the Commandos, but Tony reassures him the suit will be constantly upgraded and repaired.
"Oh, and it's fireproof. Heard about your little plane explosion fiasco from my old man," Tony reassures.
Steve still looks shocked, his mouth slightly ajar, unable to speak.
"Try it on," Tony offers. "It's far from the final version. Bring it back to me when I ask you and I'll have some upgrades to do. But for damage repairs, take it to SHIELD's arms guys, they'll spruce it up and fix any damage it takes. If they don't know how to fix it, they'll give it to me. I'm working on a stealth version too. While the stars and stripes are very patriotic, they don't exactly scream camouflage."
Steve goes back to "his" apartment and tries on the suit. He stands and stares at himself in the mirror for a long while. It feels so familiar and yet so new. He can hear Tony talking to him through the bathroom door, but he doesn't respond. He still can't get over how… strong he looks. He looks indestructible. Powerful. Even a little intimidating, he thinks, built like an Adonis linebacker with extra padding on top of that. A far cry from the kid from Brooklyn.
Eventually the bathroom door swings open, and Tony leans against the doorframe, admiring the suit.
"Your ass looks really good in that," Tony says, smirking.
Steve stares at him through the mirror. "Um… thank you?"
"You saving the world will not be the only thing that makes the news."
Tony proves to be even more helpful in coming weeks.
Tony shows up on Steve's doorstep in Brooklyn a few days later with a box of things.
"I figured you needed some help, Capsicle."
Steve lets him inside. Tony looks around the small apartment, at the changes Steve has made, at the vintage touch to everything. "Cute," he says, genuinely. "It suits you. Very sepia."
Steve rolls his eyes playfully. "I tried to keep as much of it original as possible."
"Like your own personal museum. Alright, old man, prepare to be brought into the future. I came all the way out to hipster Brooklyn to show give you this stuff and to give you the rundown."
Tony gets to work at the dining table. Tony sets up a computer for Steve, with JARVIS included, so he can "Google" things he doesn't know, write and receive emails, "write an autobiography", whatever he likes.
"There we go, the laptop is ready to use. Will be hard for you to fuck this up, Cap. I've got JARVIS on easy mode."
"What?"
Tony smiles. "JARVIS will help you through things. Like an assistant."
Tony spends a while showing Steve around the laptop, and he thinks it sounds pretty straight forward. Helpful, even. YouTube sounds like fun. Google sounds like an online book with infinite pages that Steve can read to help catch up on what he missed while he was in the ice, and to find all the things he ever wished he knew. And he can download files, save them in folders, start to organise his life and his hobbies.
"And when I download more files, will it get heavier?" Steve asks.
"What?"
"When I save files and store them in the laptop, will it get heavier?" Steve asks again, eyes wide with confusion.
Tony just looks at Steve and then hands him a thick book titled Computers for Dummies.
Steve isn't even offended because the book is so helpful.
Steve really likes the internet.
He starts chatting with folks, and its like standing in the alcove of the building chatting to the neighbour by the mailboxes, although you can talk to anyone you want, whenever! And when he's done, he just stops replying or closes the tab. And he can look up the news, or Google anything that pops into his head and have an answer straight away. Sometimes he just sits and strolls around Google Earth, and he found some other website where people share photos of their life to their followers, and another where people post short snippets of their thoughts – some of which is nasty and some is funny and some is downright offensive and confusing.
Steve gets curious late one night and Googles himself, reading through some of the museum websites that detail his life before, during and after the war. It's fun to find flaws in their story. A lot of it is speculated and he wonders what else isn't known about him and people from the past.
He then goes to images and looks through the images of himself. There's a lot in there of Bucky and Isabel – somehow people got their hands on even their personal photos – and some of him walking around New York in the present. "Paparazzi photos", it says. He hadn't even really noticed people following him and photographing him, with all the hustle and bustle of the city.
He stops looking at images when he gets to the fan drawings that take a lot of creative liberty.