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New York City is a big place, it’s confusing and hard to traverse. Yet to a city native it’s the easiest thing in the world to navigate. New Yorkers know the ins and outs of the city like the back of there hands. Asking directions is probably the easest in New York, New York, so good you say it twice, or however, that old saying goes.
Now people born in Brooklyn have the same city smarts, hell you have to at some point. Everything happens in the city and people tend to flock there. Now throughout the years, the city changes. It is the city that never sleeps, and never sleeping means continuous growth. Streets change names, trains change destinations, buses stop coming to certain parts, people move from apartment to house, even back to the apartment. Everything is constantly changing. And when you live in the moment, as these changes are being made, you adapt along with them. You grow accustomed to the change and it’s easy to live.
But for poor old Steve Rogers, the man frozen in ice, he wasn’t able to adapt. He missed being able to change with time. No, he was plucked out of the 1940s and thrust back into the world in 2011. All the changes that occurred, he missed it all. And now he was unable to fit in. He felt so out of place, so lost, so alone.
…
Steve’s POV:
Waking up to a different time period was hard. The world had changed so much in 70 years. God, I still can’t believe it has been 70 years. All the people that are not here anymore, at least how I left them. Peggy and Howard. My two best friends, Bucky’s just gone. I don’t know if I can be the person the future wants me to be. I don’t know if I want to play the hero, or the solider anymore.
…
It’s been a few months since I came back. Things have been stressful and eye-opening, to say the least. So much has changed, New York and Brooklyn, my home, my roots changed. No longer do you see the mom and pop shops littering the streets or the classically styled dinners. The simple things, the dimmer colors, my home.
Now it’s all neon lights and cell phones. Man, do they love their cell phones, they constantly stare and always have them. It’s weird, nothing is familiar, other than the landmarks that were there before my time and will probably be there forever lest the city floods and gets covered in water. Having woken up so many years into the future was not something good for him. Like some days or mornings rather, he would wake before the alarm and for the briefest moment think he was back in time. At home in Brooklyn. But realization would hit him as soon as the alarm went off. And life would go on as it normally did.
At the moment I’m walking the streets of Brooklyn in my black non-descript baseball cap and shades. I was told to wear this out an about by S.H.I.E.L.D, a government organization who felt the need to have a long name just to spell out Shield.
They got me out of the ice apparently, along with the help and funding of Howard’s son Tony Stark. Shield has an agent watching me at all times. I can tell most of the time. Technically, he worked for Shield; Kind of. They only called him in on important ‘End of the World’ type stuff or so they said they would. But nothing world ending is happening.
Anyway, I’m just taking a leisurely stroll through the back alley’s of Brooklyn, I think I’m somewhere near the college, ‘Brooklyn College, but I could be wrong, I haven’t really walked all the way over here yet. And I don’t see any student’s. I lost my tail a few blocks away and I’d like to keep it that way honestly.
Yet one of my favorite pastimes is losing the Shield agents that are assigned to following me. Once I would lose them, I'd go down dark alleys or places where people shouldn't go alone and just breathe or relax. It was weird but in those moments I felt calm. Eventually, though I would go back because Nick Fury would call him and "tell/order" me to stop losing his people. And I would sarcastically say sorry and continue to do it.
I look behind me to check if I’m still being followed, I stop walking and turn my head when I get hit in the chest hard. I freeze preparing for a fight yet the weight and the force of the thing knocks me off my feet. I fall landing on my back, with whatever hit me laying on top of me. I open my eyes not realizing I closed them and I see a kid. Apparently, he is the ‘what’ that knocked into me. He was short and kinda small, at least compared to me. He had dropped the books he was holding and a metal box, a computer I think and his cell phone.
The kid groaned and grabbed his head,
“Fuck!” he said as he rolled off me.
I frowned at the language especially for a kid to say.
But before I could talk he spoke again,
“Damn, what are you made out of? It feels like I just ran into a brick wall. Owwww, damn it.”
The kid glared at me as he said this. He slowly stood as I did. I, not wanting to start anything lest this starts a fight.
“Ah right sorry, It was my fault kid I wasn’t looking in front of me.” I sigh as I start to help pick some of his things up.
He looks a bit sorry because he responds,
“Ah no I shouldn’t have got so pissed I was just in a hurry and I did walk right into you.” He says as he holds out his hand,
“I’m Stiles by the way.” I shake his hand firmly and say,
“Steve.” I give him all the stuff I picked off the ground and dusted off my clothes.
The kid now named Stiles was rearranging the books in his hands into some type of order, it didn’t make a lick of sense to me though. He then checked his watch and his eyes comically went wide as the moon, and he mumbled a few choice words that I’m not repeating.
He then looked me in the eye,
“Steve nice meeting you in this quite dark alleyway, okay awkward Stiles, but let's just say we're both at fault and leave it as is, cool? Cause I gotta rush college classes to get to, professors to placate and tests to take. You know the usual, so I got to go like 10 minutes ago. BYE STEVE!”
By the end of that long-winded rant, the boy screams by and rushes off towards the college.
What a whirlwind of a kid. I shake my head and head back on my route and take my time walking slowly through the world. Eventually, the shield agent found me again and I decided to head home. What a weird encounter.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Steve’s POV:
(hehe) = oblivious Steve and I am laughing at it.
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve been down that alleyway. I was called into the S.H.I.E.L.D. building a few times, apparently, something happened in Mexico, but when I offered to go, I was shut down pretty quickly. Furry said two agents could handle it. And I guess that makes it not really world-ending huh. (hehe)
So here I am walking the world again. However, oddly enough no one is following me. I wonder if they are short-staffed considering people flew down to Mexico. Well, it just meant I didn’t have to lose someone who wasn’t there.
So taking the newfound freedom, I decided to go on a run, maybe a few laps will take the boredom out of my mind. I’ve been back and just been told to wait for something that might not happen. So I just jog around central park. It’s a part of my home that didn’t really change, there’s still trees and winding paths that lead every which way. It felt nice also with the breeze that cooled the air and it was a relief to the sun. Overall it was a nice jog. I did 3 laps totaling about 17.3 miles. I slowed to a stop near a vendor and got two water bottles and sat down on a bench.
There were a few people on the bench and older man feeding birds down at the end and younger women near him having a, what seems like, pleasant conversation on the phone. Then there was a kid sitting on the floor in front of the bench surrounded by textbooks, though none of them were the same, studying I think? His face seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place it at the angle he was facing.
I just continued drinking my water and people watching for a bit. As I was getting to leave the kid got up and started closing textbooks and shoving them in his bag.
And he turned to me catching me staring.
He smiled,
“Oh hey, your Steve right?”
I nodded, now remembering where I met him.
“Yes and your Stiles, Studying?” He pauses looking down at his bag full of books.
“Uh no actually just eh researching something for my friends back home. I thought the park rather than stuffed up in my small apartment.” He laughs and puts the bag down and sits next to me.
“So what are you doing in the park?”
I look at my clothes and I realized I’m not sweaty at all,
“Oh, I just ran some laps and decided to take a break.” I see his eyes move up and down my body and I guess he’s doubting my running from lack thereof sweat. (hehe)
He just nods in the end and asks,
“Want to get a coffee? Ah, I meant as friends, cause we are friends, I mean I could be assuming cause this is the second time I meet you. And maybe you hate coffee or you are on a diet. Ahh not that you need one, no you definitely don’t need one. Uh no, I’m rambling, uh coffee?” He said.
I’m so confused and I only caught half of it, but I assume he was asking to get a coffee, and I really have nothing else to do.
“Sure coffee, though I’m not quite sure what you were saying in between asking?”
The kid just shakes his head telling me to forget it. And he walks in a direction blushing, because of something. I get up and follow, and we head to a coffee shop just out of the park. It’s one of those new places that I’d never walk in alone but Stiles seems at ease in there.
We both order coffees and sit down and just chat about mundane things. Stiles tells me he’s going to Brooklyn College and he moved here from California to get out of the small-town life. And how he currently working in this very coffee shop, just not today obviously, to help pay student loans. I tell him that I was sick in the hospital for a year and I’m finally all better and is just catching up on things I missed out on. At least that's what S.H.I.E.L.D. makes me tell my neighbors, should they inquire about my past. We continue to just sit and pleasantly talk even after our coffees are done.
But as Stiles was telling me a story of how he stole his dad's car when he was little once and his phone rings. Some song plays and he looks annoyed at it.
But he still picks it up,
“Scott, what’s wrong now?”
he looks tired, I get the feeling this Scott calls him a lot.
“Why would I carry that with me? I don’t even play baseball, it would be weird to just carry a bat with me dumbass.”
there was a pause then,
“At home was different I needed it all the time and everyone was used to it by then …. Scotty my man I’m not at my place right now.”
There was a loud sigh from Stiles,
“Fine, I’ll tell Peter too, you know he lives here too. You could have just called him. It seems like more of a ‘him’ thing.”
Stiles finally hangs up and turns to me with an exasperated frown,
“I gotta go. Sorry but duty calls.” he looks upset about having to get up but does it anyway.
“No problem if something important happening its good to deal with it,”
I said and Stiles smiled a bit.
“Yeah thanks, anyway, If you wanna meet I work here weekends and Mondays so just stop in and say hi.”
Stiles waves as he says bye and walks away.
It seems whirlwind was the perfect thing to compare Stiles to since I’m always left in the dust of his speedy life. Anyway, I threw out my cup and went back home, I passed by an old antique store and found a few cool things that I bought and overall had a pretty good day.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Steve POV:
I was out and about again today it’s been about a month since I last met Stiles. I wasn’t expecting to run into him again but he was standing a few feet in front of me arguing with a man.
A man who was towering over him. I have no clue what they could be arguing about but the next second the guy punches the kid and then I decide that that's more than enough.
I ran up to stop the second fist and the following kick. The looks ready to punch me but backs off after looking at me. He yells once more for good measure and then stomps off, obviously still pissed at the kid. I help the kid off the floor.
“So this a usual thing for you Stiles?”
I ask the kid, his eye is now turning black. He didn’t answer just prodding his eye with this finger.
He then looked at me,
“No this isn’t normal that guy was an ass though and I told him so, I didn’t expect to get punched in the face though. If Peter tells Scott and Scott tells my dad I’m screwed.”
The kid said talking more to himself in the end.
“You should really put ice on your face or its gonna get worse trust me I know.”
The kid looks skeptical that I get punched in the face but complies anyway because it probably hurts a lot.
We walked out to an older shop that's more rundown and out of the public eye, it's probably been here for 20 or 30 years by what it looks on the outside at least. I walked in with Stiles And ask the guy at the counter where the ice was and he pointed me in the direction of a large freezer.
I bought some ice for his face and we bought two drinks as well.
Now we are headed down the street going nowhere in particular just talking since we haven't talked in a month or so. Just catching up as friends do.
Stiles tells me about his friend Peter who lives in the city and how he knows him from his hometown. He also talks about his father, who he was thinking about bringing down to see the sights.
I told him about my job oh, well not really but close enough to the truth that I didn't have to lie completely. I told him I work for the government, some simple desk work job but government none the less. I also tell him how I went to war of course, not the one I actually was in but the same difference in the kid's eyes. He told me I was young to have already gone to war and back oh, isn't that irony.
After that, the kid was talking to me about how technology had advanced so far and we have things like Iron Man, which I had to get the kids to explain to me what it was. Apparently, Howard's son flies around in a metal suit. The kid told me how he thought it was so cool and I kind of agreed with him the ability of flight was pretty cool. Then he asked me if I could have any superpower what could it be, I honestly answered him go back in time.
Stiles agreed but that would be a cool superpower but he said he'd rather have flight powers. He said going back in time would be cool but he said you could get lost back there and never make your way out which is spoken from a person who has lost someone that they miss so much but knows better than to go back to them in a futile attempt. The kids a better man than I am in some ways.
Halfway through our walk, I felt like someone was following us. at first, I thought it was a shield agent who wasn't very good at his job. but whoever was following us made me tense not like the shield agents normally did. I told Stiles that I needed to make a call real quick and I asked if he could wait for a second while I did it.
He agreed and I stepped to the side and made the call to Nick Fury and I wanted to ask him if he had someone following me because if not I had a problem on that I did not want to involve Stiles in. After a short phone call, he had told me he did not have someone following me and he asked me if I was in trouble which I then answered no because getting Fury involved means Stile'swould be involved either way and that's not what I wanted.
I hung up and continue the walk with Stiles once we got back to a place where there were more people and more shops I told the kid I had to go to the bathroom and I separated and walked away to a store. I checked to see if I was followed but I wasn't and that confused me. Why wasn't my tail falling me? Was the tail on me? Why would someone be following Stiles? I had a few questions to ask the kid.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Steve’s POV:
Once I got back from the store and I lead Stiles down a dark alleyway. I can see the kid getting twitchy well this was kind of twitchy situation.
He pauses before I can continue walking down to the dead end.
“So Steve not that I don't trust you or anything but you got to know this is looking really creepy right?”
I stop and turn around looking past Stiles to see if the person who's following is still following but it seems that's not the case I can still feel the presence there but they're smarter than the average tail.
“Stiles, is there any reason why someone would be following you?”
The kid for his part looked around behind him I'm trying to see if he could see what I was talking about.
“I can't think of a specific reason why I would be followed today but there are a few reasons I maybe, being followed. Am I being followed?”
I nod at that confusing spiel.
“Yeah, I noticed it a while back but I thought he was following me but when I separated from you I realized I wasn't being followed anymore and that could only leave you being followed though I can't have any idea why you would be.”
I give him a look to tell him I'm not going to buy any lies he's about to tell me and that he should just be truthful. The kid for his part sighs and seems to figure out what to tell me.
“Okay, I don't know why I'm being followed honestly. I can give a few guesses to who maybe could be following me but I thought I wouldn't have any trouble in a new town. And I would tell you about it Steve, but uh, Classified! You know since you're in the government I'm sure you know that term. Some things I just can't talk about and sadly this is one of those things. But I'm not in any danger I think.”
I give the kid a weird look, he shouldn't be so okay with being followed honestly I expected him to freak out this is weird. it's almost like it happened before which is not normal no matter what time I come from.
“You're too okay with this why are you so okay with this? There's no way this is a regular occurrence for you, is it? Why is it?”
Stiles’ sighs,
“It's not normal but do you know what the person is now are they still following me are we having a conversation where they could possibly be hearing it?”
I stopped talking and looked around I still feel being watched but I can't pinpoint where I was feeling it from. I tell Stiles as such and all he does is pull out his cell phone and call someone.
Stiles POV:
(The Phone Call)
“Hey Peter, I was wondering if you could do me a favor,” Stiles asked when the call connected.
“Well, Hello Stiles I’m fine thanks for asking.” Stiles sighed
“I need help, Peter,” Peter asked a little more seriously this time
“What big bad have you got chasing you now.” There was movement over the phone and the sound of someone picking up keys.
“I don’t know. My friend Steve” He looks at Steve and gives a small smile.
“Told me someone was following me. And well I was wondering if you could come to get me so he doesn’t have to get involved anymore. Also, don’t mind my eye I’ll tell you about it later.” Peter is starting his car, you can hear it through the phone.
“I’ll be there in a sec, Where are you?”
I told him the street we were near and he said he’d be right over.
Steve’s POV:
Once he's done with it he says that he called his friend to come to get him. And he and his friend would take care of this problem whatever it may be. I offered my help but he just waved me off saying it was no big deal.
Apparently, the friend Stiles has called was Peter. One of his friends that lived in New York with him okay. Well, he told me he owned some fancy apartment up in the city. And he told me how he crashed there sometimes. but he said his friend could help him with the person following the end he was stronger than he looked.
I wasn't expecting the fancy black BMW that pulled up in front of the alley or the man that stepped out of the car. He was a short guy with a clean haircut and a goatee. He had what must have been designer clothes but heck if I know. He was also older than I expected I thought a friend of the kid would also be a kid but he looked older than me but not my actual age of course.
What is Peter got out of the car he walked over to Stiles and seemed to go over a little routine check-up oh, I'm pretty sure he was trying to check if Stiles was hurt or something. But it looked a bit weird from an outside perspective. But they didn't seem to notice.
After Peter deemed Stiles good he turned to me and thanks me for letting Stiles know that there was someone after him and that he would take it from here. Which he promptly stuffed filed in his car and drove away. Stiles apologized while being pushed into the car telling me that he would contact me eventually and that he was going to be okay.
This is the weirdest experience I've had in a very long time. I also didn't feel the presence leave with the kid. Now I'm just wondering if it was all in my head, this is a really weird day. Every time I’m with the kid I have a weird day.
What no one saw was
outside of Steve's vision, there was a dark figure lurking in the shadows. Its eyes glowed red and then it was gone.