And back again [open]

[noparachute]

Who: Steve Rogers and anyone
Where: Tony's room and around the city
When: February 23rd
Summary: Steve comes back after staying in his world for about 70 years. Cue making sure that Tony is okay and reorienting himself with Saeng Seong.
Warnings: Steve being a grumpy old man.


[Locked to Tony]

Steve wasn't very happy, to say the least. He thought that he would be getting a little time to himself after the battle in New York, time to maybe adjust to the new era or at least see how much had changed since his frozen slumber in the ice. But no, he woke up in another unfamiliar place without any warning. Of course the unfamiliar place became familiar once his memories came rushing back. Saeng Seong, right. He was... small when he was last here. It seemed so long ago. Steve briefly wondered if any of his friends were still here, how much time had passed in this place.

Oh, and Tony. He was here before. So was Loki- and okay, he needed to see if his teammate was alright and if Loki had done anything since his disappearance. Exploring the city would need to come after.

With that task in mind, Steve headed to Tony's apartment and knocked on his door, trying to remain calm despite the frustration he was feeling. He was getting sick of being transported to places without knowing how much time had passed.

[option a; open]

After being reassured that Loki hadn't done anything destructive yet and getting an explanation on how much time had passed, Steve decided that it would be a good time to walk around Saeng Seong again. Although, barely any time had passed since he was gone, almost the opposite of how it was on Earth.

Figures. A small part of him wished that only three days passed when he took the plane down.

Still, he had to do this. It wasn't like he remembered every single detail of this city... and he just really needed the fresh air. So Steve could be found around the districts, stopping every so often at different shops with a look of surprise. Surprise that it remained unchanged even though he knew it had only been a short amount of time. Or Steve could be seen walking down the street and turning his head at everything in almost a daze.

[option b; open]

Afterward, Steve was just sitting down on a bench in the park, staring down at his folded hands and looking a bit distracted. He needed a little time to take this all in still. Maybe he was overreacting, but just seeing the city almost unchanged... it was just a bit mind-boggling to him.

"Just three days..." Steve mumbled to himself, although his voice was clear enough to be heard. He also was a little angry about everything, but he tried to keep things to himself as he sat there on the bench.

Comments

[hellfire_gouka]

Part of the reason was the situation in the city--he didn't want Steve to feel ill, if he just recently came back and hadn't touched anyone--but it was also due to the previously mentioned fear. He didn't want him to disappear again. But the tears would subside.

He gave Steve as much of a smile as he could manage, though it was still affected by his attempts to stop himself from crying. Still, it was sincere.

"I know a good place nearby. If you're not busy right now, anyway..."

[noparachute]

Steve returned the smile with a small one of his own, he could see that Shinju was trying his hardest to make him feel welcomed and he definitely appreciated it. A friendly face in a familiar city, it helped, at least a little. Better than his welcome party in New York at least. No deception, but guess there would be no reason for one here.

"Not busy. Should actually visit some of these places instead of just staring at 'em."

[hellfire_gouka]

Shinju finally seemed to relax when Steve accepted the offer, holding in a quiet laugh.

"Good idea. It's just a couple blocks down from here," he explained, starting to head in that direction, but keeping his eye on the other man. "It's just a cafe, but they have some good sandwiches."

[noparachute]

Steve started to follow Shinju without much of a fuss, he was a bit hungry and hadn't taken much time to eat anything. His metabolism always made him hungrier than normal too.

"Know which one you're talking about." The little cafe that he sometimes visited when he was here before. He didn't remember the name of it, but he remembered enjoying the food there. "Hope they still have my favorite sandwich there." There wouldn't be any reason why it wouldn't be there, but Steve probably let that comment slip.

[hellfire_gouka]

"I don't see why they wouldn't."

His statement made it even more obvious that he'd been gone a while, in his perspective. He wanted to know more about what happened while he was gone, but he just had to hope he'd be willing to share.

"It'll be on me this time, since you just got back."

[noparachute]

"I still have money from when I was here before." Steve started his usual polite protest, even though he let Shinju buy him food in the past.

"Should be buying you something for disappearing on you like that." It wasn't his fault, but he still felt a little bad for making Shinju upset about his disappearance. His old friend really seemed to care about what happened to him, worry about him, even though he changed drastically.

[hellfire_gouka]

"It's alright. I'm just glad to see you again."

He stopped at the cafe door and opened it for Steve.

"I... kind of feel like I need to be a better friend this time around, anyway." Even if he didn't remember, Shinju couldn't forget the look on his face the morning after he bought a new necklace when he promised they'd look together. It might have seemed insignificant to anyone else, including Steve now, but he still felt kind of awful for it.

[noparachute]

"I can say the same about you." He shouldn't be frustrated with Shinju, none of this was his fault. And after he wished for having at least one friend left, he did finally find one, even if it wasn't Earth. A bitter part of him wondered how long this would last, but he shoved that thought away for now.

Steve briefly wondered what Shinju was talking about, until the memory of the necklace came back to him. Right, they were supposed to look for it together, but Shinju went ahead on his own. Back then, he was really upset, but now, it just seemed like such a minor thing. "If this is about the necklace, I've already forgiven you about that."

[hellfire_gouka]

Shinju looked away, seeming as if he was ashamed for some reason. "Ah... r-right. Thanks."

He was glad for it, that Steve had moved on (and why wouldn't he, after being gone for a while?), but he still felt the regret. Hopefully he wouldn't have anything to be an idiot over this time.

"A-anyway, let's get some food."

[noparachute]

He noticed that Shinju seemed a little upset now, but he wasn't quite sure what to say. Perhaps it was best to just leave that topic alone for now, it was what he did with a lot of issues that he didn't want to think of.

"Okay." Steve wasn't sure how good of a conversationalist he was going to be anymore, wasn't sure how much he wanted to tell Shinju, but he planned on keeping some things to himself at least.

[hellfire_gouka]

Shinju let out a sigh before trying to get back his cheerful demeanor, following Steve into the cafe. He took a seat in a nearby booth, leaning back and leaving the menus alone for now.

"So... how long has it been for you?" It seemed like the best question to ask first, so maybe things would be a little easier to understand for the both of them.

[noparachute]

He sat across from Shinju and took a menu for himself, although he wasn't really paying much attention to what was listed on it. Not when Shinju asked him for that question.

"Years." It was a vague answer and Steve continued to look down at the unchanged menu of the cafe he used to go to. "Decades." Steve was behaving a lot differently than before and maybe he'd try to put up a better front later on when he wasn't still reeling from everything.

[hellfire_gouka]

Decades? Years, he could have understood, but there was no way that decades had passed. Not unless that serum thing affected his memory and body in such a way that time passing was almost nothing to him.

It was clear from his demeanor that that wasn't the case.

Shinju gave himself a moment, trying to figure out what to say. He didn't want to be too forceful, but he wanted to know if there was some way he could help, and he remembered how speaking with Ramza had helped the both of them in easing their troubles.

"You don't really seem like you've been gone decades."

[noparachute]

Steve idly flipped through the pages of the menu as Shinju remained quiet, he understood that it was a little difficult to take in, so he gave his friend time to do so. Hopefully he actually believed him though. It would be difficult to bring up anything else if that statement fell through.

"That's partially due to the serum." It kept him alive at least, when he was frozen in the Arctics. He hoped that it was just the ice that prevented him from aging rather than the serum itself. If he never aged while everyone else did... he didn't even want to think about that.

[hellfire_gouka]

Shinju wouldn't imagine that Steve would lie to him, especially when he was trying to understand what happened. He believed him; he just didn't know the reasoning behind it.

"But only partially." When he was attentive, he could be fairly quick to catch on when it came to things people were implying but not saying outright. He'd just try to work his way towards learning what was bothering Steve so much, other than the time that had passed...

[noparachute]

He remained quiet as he tried to voice what he wanted to say to Shinju. It seemed like he caught his implication that there was something more, which was true. He just didn't want to explain the ice, but he was willing to say something that was close enough.

"I was in a... coma of sorts for most of those years. Only woke up recently." It wasn't like he was going to tell Shinju he was awake all those years, that would be an outright lie and horrifying in its own way.

[hellfire_gouka]

Shinju wanted to take the time for Steve to work through what he wanted to say and for himself to understand what he meant, so he wouldn't rush through the questions he had. He looked at his own menu for a few moments, letting out a breath.

"It must have been difficult, losing all that time," he said, not sure what else to say just yet.

[noparachute]

"I'm dealing with it. There's still things that need my help back home, that's most important." Steve did feel that way. His own issues and problems just had to wait if something came up back in his world. He kinda preferred that, honestly. It gave him a task, an opportunity to be a soldier and help out, which was something that he could still do with confidence.

If a bully needed to be stopped, he would do so. That much won't change.

[hellfire_gouka]

"But for now, you're here. You can find a way to deal with it better than you are right now."

His intonation implied that he thought Steve could definitely improve. It was obvious that what happened was hard on him. He just hoped he wasn't normally like this about it, and that his sudden return was what made him seem so... tense.

"Taking care of yourself is important, too."

[noparachute]

"I can." He didn't really sound enthusiastic about it though. A small vacation away from Earth was fine, but he didn't want to stay here for another seven months. Honestly, getting back here only complicated things more for him. His memory being messed with and how time was affected here. Steve couldn't stop comparing Saeng Seong to New York and just wishing that the same happened in his world.

He was happy to see Shinju and the others, that wasn't a lie. But how long were they going to be here before they left? Or heck, he probably wouldn't remember them again when he returned back to Earth. Steve planned on talking to them still, but there was just a part of him that remained bitter now.

"Don't worry about me." Steve tried to reassure him. "Survived this long, won't let this overtake me now. Just need some time to take it all in." He felt a little bad about waving off his concern like this, but he didn't want Shinju to worry about him too much.

[hellfire_gouka]

"I already am, so don't try to wave it off like it's nothing," he said, giving Steve an earnest look. "I'm going to help you with whatever it is, alright? Even if all I can do is pay for a meal or buy you a scarf."

If there was one thing Shinju was, it was determined to help his friends. He wanted to know what was bothering the man so he could find some way to make him feel better... even if he didn't think Steve could return to the easygoing person he was before.

[noparachute]

It was strange to hear someone wanting to help him this much. Steve didn't know what to say, really. He probably should have known that Shinju wanted to help him though, it had only been three days for him and they were still friends. That was what friends did for each other.

But something was still holding him back.

"Guess I can't stop you, can I?" He tried a small smile, hoping that it would satisfy Shinju for now. "And at least the scarf still fits me."

[hellfire_gouka]

While the smile certainly helped, Shinju wasn't about to let the subject drop completely. He would be asking more about what was on the other's mind soon. But for now, they probably did need some relief from the heavy atmosphere hovering around Steve.

"I guess I'll have to get you a new hat, huh," he replied. "But I can start with a sandwich. What is your favorite here, anyway?"

[noparachute]

"Don't want to impose. But guess my head has gotten bigger, hopefully not figuratively too." Steve hoped that he remained that same guy Dr. Erskine trusted. Well, at least at the core, wanting to help others and fighting for the little guy.

Also, the day his ego reaches Tony's is the day he turns in his shield.

"Nothing special. Just the BLT here."

[hellfire_gouka]

"Not at all. I always look forward to getting things for the people I care about."

Maybe if he could just let Steve know he was here for him, it could help in a subtle way, even if he didn't want to talk about his issues. But he was glad to see that some things hadn't changed; Steve still objected to gifts, for one.

"Always a solid choice," he said with a small smile. "I like their turkey and ranch, myself."