Tour Guide | Steve Rogers ✓

Chapter Thirteen

Quinn Greene smiled as she looked up at the apartment building that was all too familiar to her. After all, you don't forget the place where you grew up very easily. Weeks of begging on her Dads' behalf had finally landed her back in New York on her only weekend off for the next two months. She was of course more than overdue for a visit but new opportunities within her position at the Smithsonian had already started to push her further away from her Dads, Spencer and especially Steve and the Avengers who had returned from Sokovia relatively unscathed, with the threat of Ultron effectively eliminated. 

Since Steve's strange behavior of that last day at Clint's farmhouse, he had almost ignored her entirely, their almost daily calls or texts stripped back to barely once a week. Quinn knew that she was partly to blame and had tried her best to get their friendship back to what it once was but Steve had ignored the majority of her attempts. He needed time and Quinn was prepared to give as much as he needed. 

Quinn pressed the button for the intercom, a faint buzzing sound emitting from the button as her call was registered at the apartment above her. 

"Hello?" A voice called out and Quinn smiled widely the second she heard the sound of Tom Greene's voice. 

"It's Quinn!" She called back through the intercom. 

"Quinnster!" Tom shouted excited back through it, the volume of his voice so loud, it almost caused Quinn to cringe away from the intercom speaker. "Come straight up! We are so excited to see you."

Quinn pushed open the glass door, struggling slightly with her suitcase but soon managing. She tried hard to conceal her excitement from the unexpecting man who she shared the elevator ride with but soon made it to her Dads' floor. Her hand soon wrapping on their polished apartment door. 

"Quinnie!" Jake Greene cried out pulling open the door immediately, pulling his adoptive daughter tightly into a hug. "It's been too long. I can't believe you took a trip to New York without coming to visit us, we won't be around forever!"

"I know and I'm so sorry about that. It was a short, last-minute trip."

"Ah of course. How are they all? The Avengers I mean. I just hope they do something with that huge ugly tower in the middle of the city." Jake Greene continued as Quinn hid her smile.

"Yeah, they're all good. And I think there are plans to move from the tower into a new facility."

"Quinnster!" Tom Greene shouted only now coming into the room, pulling his adopted daughter up into a hug as his husband had done only a few moments earlier. 

"I am so glad to see you both," Quinn replied with a smile that they both returned. 

"And now what about the boy?" Jake persisted with his previous questioning. 

"What boy?"

"Steve Rogers?" Tom clarified. "That was his name, wasn't it Jake?"

Quinn let out a slight groan. "Yes, yes it is. Come on, don't tell me, you don't remember the name of one of my childhood idols."

"You know that we've never really been into that history stuff like you are, Quinn. Not that we don't support it all."

"Yeah, I know," Quinn replied with a smile. "I'm only joking."

"We want to know everything that you haven't told us already, so tell us all about Steve Rogers." 

Quinn looked towards both of her Dads, so glad for an opportunity to just to catch up with both of them like old times. The afternoon and rest of the weekend were filled with Quinn recounting every funny story and memory that she had experienced over the last few months since last seeing them even the ones she had told them before. 

But it was throughout that afternoon when recounting the entire story of friendship between Quinn Greene and Steve Rogers, she realized something that had been hidden deep inside her for too long. 

It was a strange feeling, something that she hadn't felt since the younger blonde was completely in 'love' with Noah from sixth grade. She liked Steve Rogers and there was nothing that she could do about it. 

Steve stood beside Tony, Thor, and Keira outside of the new Avengers facility. The aftermath of the fight with Ultron was now well behind them all and only good things now stood in their place. 

"The Mind Stone is the fourth of the Infinity Stone to show up in the last few years. That's not a coincidence. Someone has been playing an intricate game and has made pawns of us. But once all these pieces are in position. . ." 

"Triple Yahtzee?" Tony interrupted Thor jokingly while Keira only sent him a warning look. 

"You think you can find out what's coming?" Steve asked.

"I do. Besides this one," Thor replied, tapping Tony's chest. "There's nothing that can't be explained." Thor raised his hammer in the air before he disappeared from view, burning a circle onto the grass in front of them. 

"That man has no regard for lawn maintenance," Tony joked, grabbing Keira's hand pulling her towards the awaiting car. "I'm gonna miss him, though. And you're gonna miss me. There's gonna be a lot of manful tears."

"I will miss you, Tony, Keira," Steve said honestly with a smile.

"Well, it's time for me to tap out."

"And I've got to look after Bea." Keira smiled weakly. "You alright?"

"I'm home," Steve replied while Tony only stared at him thoughtfully. 

"I don't know why you don't just tell her, Cap."

"Quinn?" Steve clarified, knowing exactly where this conversation was going. "I tried I really tried, at Barton's house but I just freeze up."

"What are you so scared of?"

"Well, both of you very well the risks that come with the life we've all chosen. Quinn didn't choose that. I couldn't live with myself if she ended up getting hurt because of me. I need to keep her safe and if that means not admitting my actual feelings for her than so be it." Steve replied honestly, all his thoughts and feelings out and clear for Keira and Tony's interpretations.

"If I was you, Cap, I would just do it. Although Quinn isn't an Avenger she can handle herself just fine, the night of the party showed that. Take it from me, you can't keep denying your own happiness forever. And it's clear to anyone just simply by the way you look at her, she's your whole world."

"Thanks, Tony," Steve replied. "Take care of yourselves."

Steve watched the car take down the driveway, looking down slightly at the ground in thought. He had a lot of thinking to do.