𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐋 | 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲

𝟎𝟓. 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐲

𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘'𝐃 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 walking awhile, simply merged with the crowd. It almost seemed like Crystal was afraid to leave the tight space. About ten minutes after leaving the bus stop, she'd allowed Steve to again stand on her shoulder as she walked. However, as the time passed, he only grew more skeptical of her intentions.

Steve hesitantly asked, "Do you know where you're going?"

Crystal nodded her head before vaguely adding, "I have a place in mind."

Steve waited through the following beat of silence before realizing that she'd finished explaining. He urged her to continue. "Do you plan on sharing?"

"You'll see when we get there," Crystal simply replied and continued walking.

"You really don't trust me," Steve noted.

"You don't trust me either," Crystal countered pointedly, as if the statement defended her own actions.

"I have a fair reason for that." Steve gestured to his miniature stature. "Not to mention the other trouble that you've gotten us into."

"We can play the blame game later," Crystal retorted, quickly losing patience, "But for now, I need to change up my look."

"I'm sorry," Steve raised an eyebrow in confusion and asked her to repeat as if he hadn't heard her. "What?"

"I need to change my appearance so we're not so easily spotted in a crowd," Crystal rolled her eyes and re-explained, slowly emphasizing each word. She then added a snide question of her own, "How old are you?"

Steve frowned, but elected to ignore the question meant to start an argument. "And how exactly do you plan to 'change up your look'?"

"I'll go shopping." Crystal shrugged.

"With what money?" Steve questioned.

She pursed her lips in thought before slyly glancing toward her shoulder. "Who mentioned money?"

"You're not stealing." The statement was said in a matter-of-fact tone, but Crystal took it more like an empty threat as she scoffed.

However, she offered an alternative solution as she reached toward her pocket. "Well, I could borrow some money from this wallet that I still have on hand."

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Which you still haven't told me who you stole it from."

"Some schmuck off the streets. He was sort of a creep though," Crystal explained as if that made it alright.

"Let me see the ID," Steve insisted, "I'll see if there's a return address."

Crystal groaned and rolled her eyes before pulling out the wallet. "I don't get why this is such a big deal."

"Did you ever stop to think about whether or not the guy needed whatever he had in the wallet?" Steve asked.

"Yes," she protested and pulled out the ID to show Steve. She quickly added on to her admittance, "And then I decided that I needed it more."

Steve slowly shook his head, almost disappointed, but as he looked at the ID, he struggled to conceal the smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. It looked as if he wanted to laugh, but was trying extremely hard to stay mad.

"What?" Crystal raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Do you know this guy or something?"

Steve finally broke with a gentle laugh. "You stole Sam Wilson's wallet?"

Crystal nodded her head as she closed the wallet, slipping it back into her pocket. "That's what the ID says."

"He's a friend," Steve briefly explained.