Steve Rogers (defrosted) wrote in angellogs, @ 2018-11-23 08:00:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, noah fon ronsenburg, steve rogers (captain america) |
Who: Steve, Noah
When: Current. Backdated a few days to when Thor found out about Angel being sent home.
Where: A bakery near Edinburgh
What: Noah accidentally messages Steve, but Steve's happy to get out of the house for a while. Noah's got some downtime while he's working, and Steve's getting employee discount coffee.
Rating/Warnings: Nothing bad.
Status: Complete
Noah's got insomnia in the family. Soon to be family? He can't resist a good metaphor, considering how bad he is at wordplay. So, he's gotten the habit of messaging the Starkhaven Non-Emergency Chat when he's up late, and it's the sort of situation where someone could take a chair in the cafe part of the bakery and talk. Or join him at the house. Or hit up the library with hot chocolate with a splash of something more as needed.
Unfortunately, "Steve (Just Steve) Rogers" is right near Starkhaven Non-Emergency Chat.
Which means Steve's getting a message at about 11 PM in Scotland, and probably - 3 on the west coast of the US? Time zones.
Time zones. Heck of a thing. Not that Steve needs to sleep right now. He slept last night so he’s sort of not got much chance of falling asleep at all TONIGHT. He’s glancing at the message and sending something back over.
If Noah’s up for non family company, he’s definitely in.
"I'm sorry! What time is it over in your parts? It's eleven here, and I feel like I woke you," Noah texts back to him. There's a pause, and then the coordinates. "If you don't mind - it might be boring, but I can offer tea or coffee, or this weird chicory based drink."
“I was up.” Steve sends back. “I slept last night, so it’s a bit harder tonight. Quirk of my body and abilities so I don’t need as much rest as most people. And that sounds good, Well the coffee part, probably. I’d like that.”
He does want to get out, after all. Things are a little crazy right now.
"Come on over? I've got a bunch of things to chop and waiting on some bread to proof," Noah replies.
It's dark out, in Scotland, and the cafe's mostly shut down for the night. In the back, Noah's got some bread cooling, and he's setting up to soak some fruit to make fruitcake cookies for tomorrow. It's a rush job, and the client's been waffling all day between cookies and scones, which sounds horrifying. The owner asked him to do the fruit, and said to not do more since frankly she's pretty sure the order will change again tomorrow. Noah's wearing some jeans and an apron over a plaid shirt that was purely gotten because the colors were right, and Balthier thought it might get Sebastian to smile.
Steve’s making his way over with the coordinates, and he wonders if he should bring something, but he’s not sure what, considering that they’re going to be in a bakery already so he can’t really bring cookies and, anyway, he decides on offering a raincheck instead, before he’s heading over.
“Hey.” he says as he arrives. “How are things?”
Noah slides a mug of coffee to him. "Not too bad. Client is weird, but I'll likely complain about it at you. Life's been all right. I strained my ankle, and I've got strict orders to be gentle on it, even though it's not as bad as it was."
“Clients CAN get weird.” Steve agrees. “We’d get strange requests for things at the ad agency I did colors at before the war, sometimes, so I get THAT part. Too bad about the ankle.”
Noah waves at the table with the chairs down and the stools. "Pick what you like? I'm sorry for suddenly messaging you." He waves at the phone to show the various list of chats. "Picked your name and not the one next to it. I heard that stuff's been hectic. Want me to talk about anything else with you?"
“Tony’s husband disappeared.” Steve explains. “That’s the sort of hectic we’ve had, but trust me, it’s good to get out from that for a while. I’m fine with being handed problems there are solutions to, even if I have to work at them, but this one, it’s beyond me.” He smiles a little tiredly, but not the sort of tired where he needs sleep, exactly.
“And hmm, anything you like is good.”
"I can imagine. It's easier to help people if you're taking care of yourself." Noah's setting up a board to chop things and digging out some figs to take the tough stem bits off of them. "I could check in? See if there's options for you to get some air? Just need an idea how often and what helps." He waves at the bin that everything's going in. "These need to be chopped, and it's peaceful work to talk to someone while doing it. Rush job. Client can't decide what they want, so the owner asked if I could just get them soaked tonight."
“That’d be a good thing.” Steve says. “I can let you know. Right now, Thor’s pretty sure he needs to be on suicide watch, which, if you asked me, I’d say he should be in a hospital for that, but Tony doesn’t do well around therapy so it’d probably be more traumatic than less.” he doesn’t think it works that way, but…
“I’m going to ask my therapist for ideas too, the next time I’m back. She’s the one who figured out I was burnt out the last time, so it’d be good to avoid it now. I appreciate the offer. It helps to know.”
"Is there - options for suicidal people that aren't as clin -" Noah trails off. "I'm not sure I should be hearing about this. But yeah - therapist might be a good idea. It's not good to - when I got here, I pinned a lot of my everything on Basch, and it's not fair on me or him to do that. It's not a stable healthy situation to be in."
He takes a break and heads over to get his own mug of coffee. "Two minutes on a timer on the bread, so I can join you for a bit. Get weight off my ankle. Would you like to hear gossip about other stuff?"
“You’d think.” Steve says. “I’m not sure what those would be, but it’s the kind of thing to start looking into Monday morning, first thing. Everything was closed when this went down. So it’s been kind of a weird long weekend. But hopefully past the fact we can figure out what to do. And yeah…” he nods. “I think a lot of mine is that I try to solve and fix everything as a way of not dealing with my own stuff. There are issues I have not yet started unpacking. More than Time magazine, I think. Weirdly, here, most of them aren’t isolated though. Being displaced in time AND war stuff are pretty common threads around this place. I have a friend who both happened to in different ways, so that helps. Same war but his ended badly and he spent the last twenty odd years resisting, and getting into and out of bad coping mechanisms but we’re both still here so it could be worse. Remind me if I ever get army people together for a thing to drag Wyatt with me. He’s a nice guy. Could use some self confidence but that’s a lot of people.”
And the rest of that? He’s nodding.
“Gossip I’d enjoy.”
"He's the guy with the damaged ear, right? I've talked to him before, in summer." Noah sips his coffee and leans on the counter. "Sometimes, what helps with crowds is having a way out and an excuse. People sometimes push themselves to go just past what they can take. And - gossip, eh? Balthier's been doing jewelry. Did you hear about that?"
“That’d be Wyatt.” Steve agrees, nodding. “I think he’s managed to remain even more of a innocent snowflake than people say I am sometimes. It’s endearing, really. Like watching someone try to be proper and knowing you’re crap at it so you shouldn’t say MUCH. Although if I ever refer to my deadly enemies as gosh darned, please hit me until I regain my sanity and sense of reason.” He smirks a bit.
“And that’s right. Something for the wedding, wasn’t it?”
"Or check if you're a suspiciously censored duplicate?" Noah smiles at him. "And he made a ring for a couple, and he's - I suspect he's making something else for the wedding, but I asked if he could help me make a crown. Sebastian has one, and I don't feel comfortable with something standard."
“You know. I managed to miss the time people were dealing with their evil twins.” Steve says. “I know Sebastian was around for that if you were curious. And that sounds like a nice thing, really. It’d probably be weird to HAVE one all the time.”
"He barely wears his, but it's more -" Noah digs up the picture and slides the picture of Balthier's latest version, with wild roses and dangling gold leaves for Steve to see. It's a delicate light thing. "The flowers are meaningful, where I'm from."
“Oh that’s pretty.” Steve says, nodding. “I could see that working well for that sort of a thing then. Balthier’s good too. If anyone could pull it off…”
Noah ducks his head a little. "It's - stuff that should handle some bending, so if rough things happen, it should be fixable." Noah closes the image. "He is good. I knew he was good at lock making, but I didn't realize how much patience he had for precise work."
“It can take a lot, trust me.” Steve says. “Not that I’ve done it myself. I just knew some people. Did a couple classes, back before the war, when I could afford them. I met some people into things like sculpture. Really intricate stuff on a jewelry level.”
"Do you think . . . I think Balthier's worried he won't handle a class well alone, or not have the time. Maybe if you two had the time, you both could go to one?" Noah looks thoughtful. "He's one of those people who tries so hard to be fine that you tend to not notice when he is trying to warn you that he's not feeling okay. I don't think it's great, with the . . . he's trying harder, lately, to bring up things before it's a crisis. So I suppose I should be glad of that. And I should change the subject." He nudges his phone. "Check out his set he did for the big theater in town."
“I could do that.” Steve says, nodding. “I probably wouldn’t be at the same level for something like THAT, but if nobody minded being really patient while I worked things out.” He nods at that part. “That IS good, when people bring things up. A lot don’t and it goes haywire.” He leans over to get a look at the phone and have a look.
“Oh nice!”
Yeah, they’d definitely need to be in something where it wouldn’t matter if his stuff was dumbed down.
"We're from a totally different world," Noah points out. "I bet he'd need some simplified stuff too."
He slides the phone and shows Steve how to page through the pictures. "He said it was . . . Art Deco? That was the words here? It'd be Archadian high streets old fashioned at home."
He's setting his mug aside to wash his hands and bring the proofed bread over to the oven.
“Nice.” Steve says, sort of pulled in by those. He couldn’t do HALF of that, so he’s really impressed. “I’m glad he’s got something to do with it here, that sort of skill.”
Noah smiles. "Restaurant. We bake bread for some of the local ones." He heads back over to weigh raisins. "And I think his idea was - it's sort of - hectic work but then you have downtime. And it's peaceful for him."
“Makes sense.” Steve says of that. “If you can make it work like he has, DEFINITELY go for that sort of a thing. It’s probably a great option.”
"I don't really think you'd -" Noah frowns. "You seem clever and bright to me. I wouldn't see why you'd have trouble finding your feet under you. I know you may not feel like doing it right now, but I don't - if I wanted to teach you this, I think you could learn."
He smiles. "And yes, I saw you having a cooking lesson with Balthier. It's just following orders, not creative."
“THAT I’m really bad at.” Steve says. “The cooking. It really feels more like some weird kind of curse, really. But I’m working on it, so we’ve got THAT. But the rest...nah, I’m okay where I am.”
"Then don't say you'll be slow or a hindrance?" Noah smiles at him as he mixes the raisins in with the figs and starts on a tub of candied fruit peel.
“Oh I just meant in terms of levels.” Steve explains, shrugging a little. “So that it might be hard to do a class together though I can try. Balthier’s just really good.”
"I haven't seen any of your art. I've got some of Balthier's art and another friend's art in the house, but I haven't even seen you doodle." Noah smiles at him. "I just know that Balthier said you had some interest in art. And something about Impressioned - Impressionists?"
“I wanted to work for Walt Disney when I was a kid.” Steve smiles. “Got me thinking about other kinds of stuff and characters mostly. I think I might have tried to do comics and stuff, if the war hadn’t needed me to start doing stuff for...I had a few posters for defense work that actually got printed up.” and he laughs. “They should’ve asked me to design my own war bond posters. And that’s ah...people loaned the government money by buying bonds that said they’d pay it back. Not sure any wars have used those since. It feels like a thing I need to google. But before the army I did some of that. And I do like the Impressionists. I’m not a painter, but I can appreciate it.”
"What are they? I mean - how would I know I'm looking at one?" Noah smiles at him. "I'm clueless about all of that art history. I did Greek and Roman architecture this summer."
“You know, I could show you some of that if you all wanted to come around sometime and start seeing the paintings. I mean, okay.” Steve pauses for a breath. “It SOUNDS kind of insane when a lot of the paintings are in different countries in Europe and all of THAT, but technology here? It’s amazing that way. And I was thinking about, well, I DO have a blog that I don’t use for a lot other than rambling at people. I’m pretty sure there are some out there who’d like me to do an art feature instead of just...rambling about this century being weird and things I finally discovered.”
Though he does look thoughtful for a moment there.
“I DID finally try that mall pizza chain from California everyone’s always telling me is amazing, but that’s about the extent of how exciting things get. Something new might be interesting for people.” He does have the most hits on a post about movie theaters and how weird things are now, but…
"Do you like pizza? Aedan sometimes wants it as an indulgence kind of thing, even when cheese isn't sitting well for him. I think Balthier finds it a bit odd. We had flatbreads, but they were different at home." Noah's measuring a couple of big spoons of spices into the fruit and digging out the measuring cup for the brandy.
“Well, a lot that’s not from Brooklyn’s not my favorite. Or the style anyway. The crust is different on those, mostly. Sometimes they change the sauces a little.” Steve laughs. “The mall place is sort of...I get what they’re going for, with cheerful interesting topping choices and all but it’s so...HIPSTER.”
"What does hipster mean anyways?" Noah grins as he puts the lid on the fruit and wipes down the counter before heading back to his coffee and elevating his ankle. "I keep picturing people with slouchy hats that hipcheck people and hold up odd little moustaches on sticks."
‘I mean you’re not all that far off.” Steve looks thoughtful. “It’s a subculture thing, really. Made up of a lot of beards and the hats and avocados…”
"Is it . . . bad? Or more - unconsidered problems inherent in hats with avocados and so on?" Noah sips his coffee and leans on the counter. "Want to split a roll? I could head home after the bread's done, but you're welcome to trail along if you want. I warn you that I'll likely end up watching something peaceful on the television, or in the library, but there's room for you."
“Not really bad. Just ...amusing really.” Steve says, grinning a bit, “Though they ARE a little idealistic sometimes in ways that aren’t always practical. It’s like...someone needs to get them in contact with someone good at business. And that’d be nice, with the roll.”
Noah rings one up and smiles at him. "We can have more, but - I don't know. I've found that stress tends to make people - you don't know if you're hungry, and you tend to only know you don't want something when it's there. So - options, I guess. It works for me, having them. I'd make various odd oatmeals late at night because I knew I could get that down, and the rest I'd add to it was more that my hunger caught up to me."
“I think that’d happen in a lot of cases.” Steve nods. “I’m sort of lucky now I never have to worry about knowing when I need to eat. Or well, not now that I know the signs of what my body’s doing. Before I got the serum, I’d forget.”
"You weren't - well then, right? I don't know much about you, back then." Noah shakes his head. "I've got a policy that I don't look people up unless they're really worrying me. Helps keep my paranoia from having me making files on everything."
“Not at all.” Steve makes a face. “I was sick all the time and tiny and stuck...I hated it.” he frowns. “And people were always so...there were so many awful things I couldn’t fix then. I’m glad that’s past.”
"I think sometimes my brother wants to just - I hurt him, a lot, and needlessly, and I thought I was making good choices at the time. He's got a job now, that he enjoys, and he's been talking a bit about some of his troubles with someone else." Noah nibbles his piece of roll. "We spend time together, and it's peaceful, but I feel like it's all so fragile. I guess I should enjoy that we have it. And that we had a chance for a better future."
“I don’t know who Bucky is anymore.” Steve sighs. “My best friend. I mean, I’ll do anything for him, above anybody else here, and I always would, because he WAS my best friend then and I care about him now, and he still IS, it’s just that we don’t know the versions of each other we were missing all those years. I feel like I mostly stayed the same. That sort of fragility...I get it. I don’t always know how to approach things.”
"I think Basch really wants me to - give him a mission. Ask him for things and let him throw himself into something. And I just want . . . to not be too demanding. It's a hard balance. It's hard to believe when he says something is fine that it's what he means, and I think he does the same back at me." Noah reaches to nudge the other half toward Steve a bit. "What's helped with Bucky?"
“I mean, not a lot.” Steve shakes his head. “Mostly he does his own thing so I’m trying to respect that, checking in when I can. That part’s hard.”
Noah nods. "Is it hard thinking about what you'd like from friends, I suppose? My issue is that he's been gone for so long, and I . . . there's so many habits I have for what feels safe with strangers, and it's hard telling your twin about them."
“I’d guess it could be.” Steve says, thinking about it now. “I’d say it’s a little more like...there’s not much I need, really.” And it’s not his job to take things from people or burden them anyway. He’s here to fix things, full stop.
Noah looks thoughtful. "I'm very good at telling myself I need nothing. Perhaps . . . it might help to talk about that? Like I spent years applying myself to a thing, and -" He waves. "Here I am, at work, late, because it's an emergency, and the client pays well, if annoyingly. Half the night staff is passing around a chill." He's polished off his bit of roll. "Is he bad with children? Would he hate Dmitry? Perhaps Courfeyrac, and you, and I, could go to museums. Perhaps you could meet with Bucky afterwards? It's something you're doing for someone, but also a chance to have something to discuss? You're fixing something? I'm not sure Tony would be up for that sort of thing."
“I’m pretty sure Tony around this would be really really awkward.” Steve says, a little amused. Sort of anyway. “It’s...well. Aedan.” That’s probably enough said right there, right? They had that fling that ended when Aedan was pissed at his boyfriend and Tony got overly attached and...it’s all kind of a lot, honestly.
“And Dmitry’s a thought. Or did you mean Bucky for that? “ Steve looks thoughtful. “If I could pin him down he probably wouldn’t mind that sort of thing. But yeah, avoiding stuff with Tony might be best.”
"I was thinking if Aedan wasn't there, it wouldn't matter would it? It's not like I've ever met Tony." Noah shrugs a little. "I was thinking of suggesting talking with Dmitry and Sebastian about things. We could get you involved. Just talk an hour about anything?"
“I’d be up for that.” Steve nods. “They’re both nice. “ And he wouldn’t mind the talking about things part. “I think I can get an hour or so away.”
"There's these - internet radio things. Might be an option." Noah shrugs slightly. "We've been talking about topics. I suggested one might be sort of - negotiation. I ended up talking about it with Aedan some, when he was having more trouble eating. Sebastian and I work differently, which is sort of neat?"
“That is kind of.” Steve nods. “And I’ve got my share of that to talk about.” He laughs a little at the thought actually. “You wouldn’t believe the stupidity my unit got up to when we weren’t fighting. I mean, ways to blow off steam, right? Still. Dumb arguments.”
"I was in the military half my life. It's interesting being around people who aren't forced to be teams with you." Noah frowns. "I think I hesitate to call on people. Much like how I want to find the right name people want me to use."
“It definitely can be,.” Steve agrees with that much.”But no,I mean, the commandoes.We got each other. Everyone was just really...there were a LOT of strong personalities in that group.” He shakes his head and grins a little at first.
“And oh. That could be a problem if it’s interfering with things in your life.”
"I don't . . . it seems better to use the right titles and names, but fearing the consequences of failing - that seems bad. I've been talking about it with a therapist." Noah's finished his coffee. "Sebastian, I think, has been convinced that anything he wants is a massive indulgence, and the desires of others come first. Which it's not a bad ethos, but - it can be excessive."
“Oh that DOES sound hard taken too far.” Steve nods. “It sounds like a dangerous thing at those levels. It must be difficult, regulating things like that if you’ve got a tendency to go overboard.”
Noah smiles. "There's something good with you. You - listen? And you try to understand where the other person is coming from. But you did just come, accepting that I've got an idea of what might be appealing of sitting here. I like both of those, together."
“I’m glad.” Steve says. “And I do think it’s important, doing that. And good.” He smiles. “It’s good when people don’t think I’m being dense or not paying enough attention.”
Noah guesses, "They look at the muscles and think that the brain's not one of them?"
“That I don’t really have one sometimes, but it’s more…” Steve frowns. “I’m not too stupid to get handed the problems, just too stupid to actually have ideas people support.”
Then he realizes how awful that sounds and frowns. “Uh…”
"I could see that happening before the serum, when you felt trapped." Noah eyes him. "Let me guess, that's - a really depressing way to put things?" He frowns. "I was told something like that - that - the thing I was saying was a pretty bad, and I should talk about it with someone. In that case it was - uh - that I never felt like my face in the mirror was mine. Identical twin, guilt, all that."
“It kind of is.” Steve nods. “I mean, it’s not far from the truth, which makes it worse. And yeah? That’s...that’d be disturbing to have happening.”
"So, let's say it's wrong, and you could have supportable ideas." Noah leans closer. "How could I prove that to you? Obviously it won't be with everyone, and all the time, because no one is that lucky. But - how could I prove it to you?"
“That’s a good question.” Steve shakes his head. “I mean, I think it’d depend on tracking that stuff, maybe.”
"Yeah." Noah taps his fingers on the counter. "I'm a bad judge of things, so perhaps having someone as a second pair of eyes might not be bad. Could talk it over with someone." He stretches his back as he gets up to pull the bread out and gestures. "That's my work for the day. Would you like to come over to the house for a while? Or to take anything home with you?"
“You know, that’d be really nice, actually.” Steve smiles. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Is everything okay enough at the moment with everyone, or…”
Noah's getting his coat and starting to sign out on his time sheet. "I can check in. Do you want to check in at home?" He's messaging the group chat, since he's not sure Sebastian's still up. "Calum and Iomhar may be up, and likely there may be some TV watching while I doze. It will be low key though."
Steve figures he should probably send a text, at least. That’s the best way to do things. “Sounds like a plan. Low key is good right now.”
"And if it turns out something's up, which I doubt it at this hour, I bet Balthier's up, or his siblings are up. We'll manage something to keep you distracted from the troubles of home for a while." Noah's snagging his crutches and smiling at Steve. "Mind helping open the door, and I can lock up?"
“Got it.” Steve steps around to do that. “Anything I can carry, while we’re at that?” He figures that’s probably helpful at least right now. “Using the transporter to get back, I assume or…” He’s a little worried about Noah trying to walk back.
"Yeah. It's quiet enough on this street that I don't feel odd doing that." Noah's checking that he's got everything. "That should be good. I've just got me and the coat tonight. The day old bread's cheese scones, and it's variable if Aedan's craving them. He has had good luck with the other flavor."
Noah is taking it easy as he gets outside, and leans on the railing to help lock up the doors. "Let me give you the coordinates, so we'll drop in at the main house." His ankle's not that bad, but the doctor was worried that he'd twist it again, or end up spending too much time on it, so he's been being careful. Combeferre implied that his odd low iron levels shouldn't hinder muscular healing, but he agreed that Noah should be taking it easy.
“That’s good that the other one works.” Steve says, nodding at that. “And about the street. It DOES feel weird, doesn’t it, sometimes?” Even with people knowing and him not exactly able to blend, it feels weird.
"It does." Noah's carefully working down the steps before digging up the coordinates. "Here you go - let me send these to you. I think a lot of it is that I feel like I'm - I don't know - flashing a weapon. It doesn't feel proper."
“That makes sense really.” Steve nods. “You’re aware it’s not a thing everybody has, right?” At least he doesn’t think so.
"Weapons? Or that sort of bodyguard desire to be careful and lie low a little?" Noah's leaning on Steve a bit, just by the sheer nature of holding his phone steady for Steve to double check the numbers.
“Oh the devices. At least I think it’s mostly us and people who can afford access.” Steve says, punching in the numbers. “And there we go.”
"Yeah. I do know that. It seems - there seems like there could be applications. Like working as a first responder." Noah shakes his head. "Right - let's do this."