New Avenger (A Steve Rogers love story)

Sam Wilson

Steve is a fast runner, I'll give him that. But he will never be able to catch up to me when I'm at my fastest. Running at my fastest speed was a great feeling, but it drained me of my strength. I rarely ran that fast.

Steve brought me on his morning jog, thinking it would help me with my previous injury. I had to admit, it did help and I needed the exercise.

We were in Washington DC. Steve was letting me stay at his apartment. He decided to let me use his bed, being the gentleman he is, while he slept on the couch. At first I declined, not wanting to invade his personal space. But he insisted and I couldn't help but accept the offer.

We woke up early to run. The sun was still trying to wake up when we started. We jogged...well, more like sprinted along the the edge of a lake. I could see the Washington Monument on the other side.

Steve and I saw another person jogging ahead of us, a man. Steve whispered to me, telling me to say something every time we passed the man. I smiled and nodded. We quickly sprinted past the man, putting him in between us. "On your left." Steve said. I quickly followed suit. "On your right." I said, keeping pace with Steve.

We saw the man running in front of the Lincoln Memorial and sprint past him again.

"On your left."

"On your right."

This time, the man responded. "Uh-huh. On my left and right. Got it."

Steve kept running at his speed, but I decided to slow down and keep pace with the man. "Hi. I'm Alexx Summers." I introduced myself to him.

"Sam Wilson." he panted.

We ran in front of the Lincoln Memorial building again, next to the Lincoln Memorial Reflection Pool. Sam and I could hear Steve sprinting behind us. Sam turned his head toward Steve. "Don't say it. Don't you say it."

"On your left." Steve said.

"Come on!" Sam exclaimed.

Sam gained speed, trying to catch up with Steve. But it was a failed attempt. By the time he passed the corner to run the length of the pool, Steve was already halfway to the Washington Monument.

After the run, Steve found me and Sam sitting against a tree, Sam catching his breath. Honestly, I could run longer. Sam was a black man with very short black hair and a goatee. He looked nice.

"Need a medic?" Steve asked, walking in front of Sam.

Sam laughed. "I need a new set of lungs." Gesturing to nothing I could see, Sam continued. "Dude, you just ran, like, 13 miles in 30 minutes."

Steve looked up at nothing to the side for a moment before looking down at Sam again. "I guess I got a late start."

I smiled and looked at the ground as Steve joked with Sam.

Sam chuckled. "Really? You should be ashamed with yourself. You should take another lap." He looked away for a moment, still exhausted from the run, then looked up at us again. "Did you just take it? I assume you just took it."

Steve ignored Sam's comment and briefly pointed to the image on Sam's grey sweatshirt. "What unit you with?" he asked, putting his hand back on his hip.

"58th Pararescue. But now I'm working down at the VA." Sam replied.

Steve nodded. Sam reached up for Steve to help him up. Steve firmly grasped Sam's hand and pulled him to his feet.

"Sam Wilson." Sam introduced himself to Steve.

"Steve Rogers."

Sam bent over, resting his hands on his knees. "I kind of put that together." he said, panting. "Must have freaked you out, coming home after the whole defrosting thing."

Steve sighed. "It takes some getting used to."

I never mentioned anything about Steve's past, feeling Steve would feel uncomfortable talking about it. And it wasn't really any of my business. I didn't want to pry. But Steve seemed to be somewhat okay with it when Sam brought it up.

"It's good to meet you, Sam." Steve started to turn away, ready to leave. I turned away too, following Steve.

"It's your bed, right?" Sam asked.

Steve turned back toward Sam. "What's that?" he asked.

I turned around again, putting my hands on my hips. This was going to be a conversation that I wasn't going to be in.

"Your bed, it's too soft." Sam began.

Sam and Steve spoke about how their pasts were. They spoke about the beds being way too soft when they returned from practically sleeping on rocks. I didn't cut in at all. I was good at blending with the shadows. For me to tell anything to Sam, I needed to trust him a little more than I did now.

"How long?" Steve asked.

"Two tours." Sam replied. Steve nodded. "You must miss the good old days, huh?" Sam continued.

Steve sighed again. "Well, things aren't so bad. Food's a lot better. We used to boil everything. No polio is good. Internet, so helpful. I've been reading that a lot, trying to catch up."

Sam nodded and smiled before thinking of something. He gestured to Steve. "Marvin Gaye, 1972, Trouble Man soundtrack."

Steve nodded and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small, worn, brown notebook and a pen. He flipped to the page he was looking for and opened it wide.

Sam continued. "Everything you missed jammed into one album."

Steve looked up from the notebook and smiled to Sam. "I'll put it on the list." He wrote the soundtrack on the page in his notebook.

I looked at the page from over Steve's shoulder. He didn't seem to mind. It was a list of things he had missed while in accidental cryosleep. I smiled to myself as I saw that he had put Star Wars and Star Trek as the same thing, but then crossed out Star Wars.

Steve's phone rang and a second later, so did mine. We both looked down at our phones. Exchanging looks, I knew we had received the same text. It was from Natasha and said: "MISSION ALERT. EXTRACTION IMMINENT. MEET AT THE CURB. :)"

"All right, Sam, duty calls. Thanks for the run." Steve pocketed his phone and shook Sam's hand. "If that's what you want to call running."

Sam held Steve's hand. "Oh, that's how it is?" Sam raised his eyebrows.

Steve made a face like he had just burned Sam. "Oh, that's how it is."

"Okay." Sam laughed.

Steve and I turned away and headed for the curb to meet Natasha. Steve and Clint had said that I could call her 'Nat', But I needed to get a little more comfortable around her before that ever happened.

"Any time you want to stop by the VA, make me look awesome in front of the girl at the front desk, just let me know." Sam said.

Steve nodded. "I'll keep it in mind."

A black 2015 Corvette Stingray stopped at the curb, Natasha behind the wheel. She revved the engine a couple times as she stopped. I felt she was showing off the beautiful car.

Natasha rolled down the passenger window. "Hey, fellas."

I continued to hide myself. Natasha and I weren't really the best of friends and got on each other's nerves every once in a while. I knew she was only speaking to Sam and Steve, completely ignoring my presence.

"Either one of you know where the Smithsonian is? I'm here to pick up a fossil." Natasha continued.

I rolled my eyes. Steve and I walked to the car. "That's hilarious." Steve replied.

Steve opened the door and pushed the passenger seat down. I slipped into the back and buckled in.

Sam knelt down to look inside the window at Natasha which made me roll my eyes again. Steve put the seat back up and got in, closing the door.

"How you doing?" Sam asked Natasha.

"Hey." she replied.

Steve looked out at Sam. "Can't run everywhere."

"No you can't." Sam smiled.

Natasha rolled up the window, smiling at Sam and sped away.