My Neighbor, Mr. Rogers

Chapter Twenty - Netflix and Guilt?

"Hey Steve, what's up?"

"Good evening, Anne. Do you have three eggs in your fridge?"

I raise an eyebrow. "Is this like, 'do you have Prince Albert in a can?'"

"Um no, I don't think so. I want to make pancakes." He smiles nervously and glances over his shoulder.

"Did SHIELD outlaw breakfast for dinner, or something?"

His head snaps back and he looks at my quizzically. "What?"

I wave a hand at him. "You look really nervous about making pancakes. I don't care what time period you're from, that isn't normal."

Steve huffs slightly and pushes me into my apartment, closing the door behind us.

"What is the matter with you? Is this a 'Mission Impossible' thing? Are you not really Steve but in fact some spy person and you're going to pull off your Steve mask and then brutally murder me in my own home?"

'Huh. Usually don't say that last bit out loud.'

An incredibly concerned look crosses his face. "Anne," he says slowly. "Have you been sleeping okay?"

I cross my arms. "Hey, I'm not the one with pancake paranoia. What's wrong with you?"

He rubs the back of his neck, looking away from me.

'Great sign.'

"You met uh, James, huh? I mean, before today?" Steve glances up at me.

"Yeah." It's my turn to awkwardly look away.

"Well? What happened? Did he do anything?" He's immediately concerned, grabbing my arms like I'm going to run away.

I look back, embarrassed. "Well, I guess he sort of did something. That's why I brought him cookies..."

"What?"

"There was a spider and you weren't home, but he was. I didn't ask him to do anything!" I quickly add. "He overheard my pleading from the hallway and just, took care of it. And it was a monster, seriously. He deserves all those cookies and more."

"Oh." Steve drops his hands, looking boggled before turning playfully suspicious. "Is the arachnophobia thing just a way for you to meet men? Do you lure them into friendships with you on the expectation of saving a beautiful lady?"

My heart speeds a bit at hearing him call me beautiful, but I narrow my eyes in distaste at his theory. "Don't be ridiculous. Spiders are the last thing I would associate with romance."

His expression slips enough to show his return to concern. "You're sure he didn't scare you at all? James, I mean, not the spider."

I shake my head. "He wasn't any more intimidating than Nat when I first met her. Why? Were you expecting him to do something to me?"

"Oh, no. No. He's, um, I just wanted to tell you about him before you met him," he says apologetically.

"Ah. Well, since he's staying with you, I assumed you're friends and you trust him." I shrug.

Steve furrows his brows; but his confusion quickly clears. "Anne, James' middle name is 'Buchanan'," he says leadingly.

I nod slowly. "That's unfortunate. But at least it isn't his first name, I guess."

He shakes his head. "Buchanan – Bucky."

"Oh," I whisper. "Oh!" My eyes widen and I smack Steve's arm in my excitement. "You found him! You found Bucky!" I bounce on the balls of my feet and give Steve a quick hug.