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

[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?"

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"I don't know." He opens the paper to the article again. "Right now it feels like a reminder that all of them are gone, not a celebration of what we accomplished."

He adds quietly, "All but one, I mean."

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus gives his shoulder another squeeze. "One?"

[mr_gaeta]

Gaeta stays silent, but the same question is reflected in his face.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Agent Carter is in a rest home in Virginia," Steve says quietly. "She's the only one left, besides me."

After a moment he explains to Felix, "We served together in World War II, and she helped found SHIELD, the organization I work for now. We were... very close, back in the day."

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus' hand moves from Steve's shoulder to rub slow circles over his back. "That's quite close, isn't it?"

American geography is still not a thing he's particularly well-versed in.

[mr_gaeta]

And while Steve hasn't aged a day, Agent Carter would have aged every single one of them.

We've both lost our homes; just in different ways.

He hesitates, unsure if his next question would press too much. "Have you been to see her?"

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"It's a little to the south," Steve tells Orpheus, leaning back into his hand. He says to Felix, looking a little ashamed of the fact, "No, not yet."

[golden_lyre]

"Do you want to?" Orpheus asks gently.