OOM: afternoon coffee

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Even people who pride themselves on supporting independent shops end up at Starbucks sometimes.

There's one within walking distance of Steve and Orpheus's apartment -- there are more than one if you're up to walking a bit more -- so Steve brings Felix there, so he can see what it's all about if nothing else.

It's a quiet Sunday afternoon. Steve has his sketchbook, but he hasn't opened it yet in favor of looking through a copy of the Express someone left on the table instead.

Comments

[mr_gaeta]

Gaeta smiles, returning the wave before glancing back to Steve.

"Any chance of a reassignment or promotion eventually?"

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve waves too.

(Yes, he still get the "I'm so ridiculously in love" look after all this time.)

"I don't know if that's the answer. I'm still a captain -- that's a pretty high rank. As for reassignment...I don't know where I'd go."

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus just gets a drip coffee, so after a quick stop to add sugar, he brings it over to their table and sets his guitar aside.

"Why are you going somewhere?"

[mr_gaeta]

"I was just asking him about reassignment options," says Gaeta. "If there are even any to take. Hey, Orpheus."

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Hey, honey," Steve murmurs and gives Orpheus's hand a squeeze.

"I'm just venting my disillusionment at Felix. How was busking?"

[golden_lyre]

"Ah," Orpheus says, nodding his greeting to Felix before squeezing Steve's hand in return.

"It was...profitable." Which is a fairly bland description of what his work generally is.

[mr_gaeta]

"Better than the alternative," offers Gaeta, gesturing to Orpheus with his frappucino.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Pull up a chair, set a spell," says Steve, snagging one for Orpheus.

He tells Felix, "He makes money even when he doesn't put a hat out. People just flock to him. It's amazing."

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus laughs softly as he takes his seat, setting it up nearish to Steve, coffee resting on the table for the moment.

He shrugs at the description of his playing, not shrugging off the compliment, just showing it a fair assessment. "I could not make money if I tried," he says with a faint smile.

[mr_gaeta]

"But only if you actually tried?" asks Gaeta, clearly amused. "What would you have to do, physically beat them back with a stick?"

He gives his drink another stir; everything's starting to melt a little, making it a hell of a lot easier to combine.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve leans back in his chair, smiling, and has a sip of his coffee.

"Pretty much what it takes," he remarks with a glance at Orpheus, and he flips another page of the Express.

[golden_lyre]

"Hey, now," Orpheus says, mock offended. "I can play them to stinginess if I want. I don't have to resort to violence."

He grins then, and takes a sip of his coffee. "Though the stick option is far more entertaining. Maybe I should hire you for that, lovely."

[mr_gaeta]

Gaeta hides a snicker behind his drink.

"Your own personal bodyguard," he deadpans. "How romantic."

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Wasn't there a movie about that?" Steve says absently, frowning at the magazine.

He hands it to Orpheus. "What d'you make of that?"

[golden_lyre]

"Possibly?" He didn't see the movie, at least.

He takes the magazine and glances over the article. "Well," he says after a moment. "That's...new."

[mr_gaeta]

The humor fades from Gaeta's face.

"What is it?" he asks.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"There's a museum called the Smithsonian," Steve says. "It holds...pretty much everything that Americans find important.

"They're going to do an exhibit about Captain American and the Howling Commandos."

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus reaches over a hand to lay it on Steve's thigh, squeezing a bit. "Eventually, being the subject of exhibits becomes less odd," he says by way of comfort.

[mr_gaeta]

Gaeta's eyebrows rise. Intellectually, it's one thing to know Steve's a superhero, famous in his own right; it's another to hear they're making a whole museum exhibit about him.

"Can I see?" he asks, beckoning for the paper.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve hands it over. "I always thought when the war was over I'd be... just a memory, at best. Came to find out they went on publishing the comics and people wrote biographies, and apparently this is part of some big archive project..."

[golden_lyre]

"I think you're going to have to come to accept what a hero you've become, lovely," Orpheus says to him, hand moving from Steve's leg to his shoulder, thumb rubbing gently.

[mr_gaeta]

"'Opening at the Air and Space Museum due to space constraints at the American History Museum,'" Gaeta mumbles aloud as he reads the article. "Huh."

He always got the impression that Earth didn't have enough spacegoing experience to warrant a whole museum.

Gaeta glances up at Steve. With clear sympathy, "I can see how that'd be weird."

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Very," Steve says. "But I suppose it is history ... and people have been pleased to have me around again, as far as I've seen."

[golden_lyre]

"I don't know why they wouldn't be," Orpheus offers, leaning back in his chair.

[mr_gaeta]

"Gods know I can't speculate," says Gaeta, a bit dryly. Folding up the paper, he passes it back to Steve.

And then, after a beat, "Are you going to go see it?"