Sam Wilson does what Steve does - (![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} justslower) wrote in ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} avengers_logs,@ 2019-10-26 15:42:00 |
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What: Talking and stuff
When: Shortly after Carol found out Talos was in town
Rating/Warnings: Green
There were a lot of things that Carol wanted to say to Sam. She didn’t want to come across as needing to Talk, but it seemed inevitable. There were things they had to clear the air about so to speak. She owed him an explanation about things, and they should probably figure out whatever was going on between them. Not to mention that he’d been in trouble fairly recently, and while she had rescued him, she wanted to make sure that he was okay.
She headed over to Sam’s place without really warning him that she was coming. Instead she knocked on the door and steadied herself. After she knocked, she picked up her phone and then texted Sam that she was knocking on his door. Okay, so maybe she was still a little weird. The last time that she had tried to work out a romantic life, it had been the 90s, so forgive her if she was a little rusty.
Sam wasn’t expecting company and headed for the door when he heard a knock, pausing to grab his cell phone when the text alert went off. When he saw it was from Carol and that she was the one apparently knocking, he laughed and jogged over to let her in.
“Hey,” he said, pleased to see her even if it wasn’t planned. “What’s up? Everything okay?” They hadn’t really had a chance to talk since she got back from her trip to space and he was hoping that this was a friendly, casual visit and not a ‘something is wrong’ type visit.
It also crossed his mind that this could be a “you’re great, but I just want to be friends” visit, though he hoped that wasn’t the case. They hadn’t defined anything yet and he wasn’t necessarily in a hurry to do so, but he would be disappointed if she wanted to call it quits already.
As soon as the door opened, Carol looked a little relieved to see him. Not that she thought he would close the door on her or anything, but she wouldn’t have blamed him for not wanting to deal with it all. Still it looked like he was happy to see her, and so she smiled. “Hey. Yeah everything’s fine. I just came over to say hi. I realize I should have called, but I got a little impatient and flew over before I had the time.”
She looked a bit sheepish and gave a sorry, for just showing up on his door stop. “I just thought we should hang out. Talk. I have some stuff I should confess.” Which probably sounded really bad, now that she was saying it out loud, but maybe she could put his mind at ease. “Nothing too bad, but it’s still stuff that you should know.”
There. That had to be better, right?
Her words did give him pause and Sam’s mind raced with crazy possibilities. Did she have a kid? A husband? Some kind of terrible disease?
“It’s fine,” he assured her, not minding the drop in at all. “Have a seat. You want a drink? I have beer, water, and juice or I can make coffee or tea.” Depending on what exactly she wanted to tell him, booze might be a good option, but he’d follow her lead.
Sam was going to try not to panic until he knew what he was dealing with.
Nothing good ever came out of ‘we need to talk’ but hopefully she was going to break that tradition. At least she thought. For all Carol knew, as soon as she told him about what Fury and Talos were up to, he’d just be like yeah I don’t want to deal with that - and then leave. She wouldn’t have blamed him. Who needed someone getting up in their business like that?
She came inside and shrugged. “Sure. Coffee would be great. Thank you.” She didn’t really know how he would react, and that probably said something. They needed to know each other better.
Once inside, she followed him towards the kitchen. “So… I’ve got to apologize. Apparently we’re getting harrassed, and it’s kind of my fault.”
Sam glanced when she spoke, momentarily distracted from setting up the coffee pot. “What do you mean?” he asked. Sure, Fury had made some pointed comments to him, but nothing that he would say rose to the level of harassment. They hadn’t gone out that many times, so he couldn’t figure out what she might be referring to.
With the way their lives were, doing the superhero gig, especially involving international and intergalactic travel, it wasn’t all that much of a surprise that they didn’t get to do the normal dating thing.
“So I know Fury has been popping up like a bad penny, but it’s more than that. There’s this giant pain in the butt.. He’s a friend, and Skrull. But a pain. He and Fury have decided that I’m like their pseudo-daughter which is kind of gross, considering that I’m probably as old as them, even if I don’t look like buuuuut,” she explained, with a big sigh. “They’re basically just making sure you’re good enough.”
To which Carol rolled her eyes pretty hard and shook her head. “They’re been doing all sorts of stuff. And I told them to stop, but now apparently they’re teaming up. And they’re lucky I don’t do something about it.”
Which she really should, but she wanted to figure out a way to get back at them. “So basically, I’m real sorry about my two dads.”
“I… take it I’ve passed their tests thus far since I’m still alive and in one piece,” Sam said. He didn’t know this Skrull guy at all, but he had a healthy fear of Fury and knew without a doubt that the man wouldn’t hesitate to maim him at a minimum if he thought that Sam was going to hurt Carol.
That was good, right? “What does the other guy look like?” Sam had no idea what a Skrull was. “I don’t know if I’ve run into him or not.”
Carol wanted to laugh but she wasn’t sure if they were in the joking stage of this yet. “I mean yeah? At least so far yeah, as far as I know.” Especially when it came to Nick, she knew that if he was really not happy with Sam.. then Sam would just disappear and never be seen from again. She was going to make sure that that didn’t happen.
“So that’s the thing.. The other guy? He’s a shapeshifter. He can look like absolutely anyone. His real self looks like a green skinned alien. Kind of ridges in his face? I mean.. It’s not my cup of tea but.” She shrugged. “But when I saw him recently, he was dressed up as Nick. So that’s a thing.” And she was going to strangle him for it.
Well, if the guy could look like anyone, that changed things and definitely put Sam a bit more on edge. “I wonder if any of the conversations I had with Fury were actually with him,” he said. “Or if I’ve encountered him looking like anyone else.”
The thought that this could be him now, impersonating Carol, did flash across his mind, but if that was the case, why would he tell Sam that he could shapeshift? Still, he was going to be kind of paranoid now.
“Is there any way to tell if someone is really who they say they are?” he asked.
“I mean not to freak you out or anything but yeah.. That could have happened. The trick is that Skrulls can only really scan surface memories, so if like if you see Fury, you should ask him about something that happened maybe a while ago.. Talos probably wouldn’t know the answer or whatever,” she said with a sigh. And yeah she could see him looking at her, trying to decide if she was the real deal.
“For the record, I’m me.. And just to prove it.” Carol levitated off the ground a couple of inches. “Skrulls definitely can’t fly, or shoot things from their fists.” She even made them glow, though she wasn’t going to wreck his home or anything.
Carol really hated making him paranoid, but he needed to be aware. “They’re just trying to size you up. But .. for the record? I am absolutely going to find a way to get back at them.”
Sam gave her a nervous and somewhat sheepish smile. He shouldn’t have doubted that she was really her and he did appreciate knowing what he was up against. “They can come at me all they want,” he said with a shrug. “I’m not easily scared off.”
Besides, Carol was worth it. He wasn’t exactly sure where their relationship stood, should probably ask, but he liked her and was content with the way things were at the moment.
“Did you have something in mind to get back at them? And is there anything I can do to help?” As scary as Fury was, Sam wasn’t afraid to help Carol with a little revenge.
That sheepish smile was cute, so she smiled back at him and clearly pleased with his answer. “That’s what I like to hear. I’m glad. I’m still sorry they’re a giant pain in the ass. Though they’re the ones who are going to be sorry.” Oh she was going to make sure of that. For sure.
Carol thought that Sam was worth it too. With most people, she probably would have let Fury and Talos drive them off. Anyone who she really liked.. Usually could tell them both off. That’s what she wanted out of a partner. Someone who wasn’t easily swayed.
“Unfortunately, I can’t think of anything because Fury’s so.. Grumpy all the damn time. Talos is kind of a pushover. But getting them to regret their decisions? That’s harder than it sounds.” She sighed a bit.
“There’s no rush,” Sam said with a shrug. “In fact, sometimes it’s better to wait.” They would probably be expecting something now. If she waited, they could be lulled into a false sense of security. Not that he suspected Fury ever really let his guard completely down.
He reached over and took her hand. “We’ll brainstorm. And in the meantime, I like spending time with you. If it means a little harassment, well, I can deal. And in all fairness, once Steve finds out, you’ll probably be on the receiving end of that yourself.”
Honestly, if his friend wasn’t so caught up in his engagement, there was no way Sam could have kept it from him until now.
Carol agreed with a nod of her head. “You’re right. Waiting is better.” She definitely needed time to catch them unaware. And to plan whatever it was that she was going to do. She thought about just telling them to back off, but they rarely listened to her. And she didn’t want to actually have to threaten violence to get her point across. Even if she did like punching people in the face.
She slipped her hand into his and gave a squeeze. “I’m really glad to hear that. Oooh, yeah you think so?” She hadn’t talked to Steve a lot, so this would be interesting. “And I can definitely handle a lot of teasing.”
So now that she had gotten that into the open, it was time to think about them. “So you wanna like .. go on a real date? Instead of like actually acting like that’s not what we’re doing when we are?”
Sam grinned. “Yeah, I think we’ve probably reached that point, huh?” He had no issue with her being the one to do the asking.
To be fair, Steve would mostly target Sam with his jabs, though he didn’t doubt his friend would want to size up Carol. They would probably end up bonding over punching people or something. Apparently he liked punchy blondes.
“We can plan that soon. How about for now, I call for a pizza and we watch a movie? I have beer.”
“Yeah, I think so,” she agreed. “Pizza and a movie is great. I love pizza and a movie.” It was actually a far better way to spend a date than the other parts. Going out to dinner and all that was fun, but she liked to relax at home when she could. She hadn’t been able to be home and do that for such a long time that it was her favorite thing these days.
She went over to be closer to Sam, so that they could hang out and do all of that fun couple-y stuff. And sooner or later, Carol would meet Steve and hopefully live up to being a good girlfriend to his best friend.