Day 10 - What? - Btvs/MCU
Title: What?
Fandom: BtVS/MCU
Word Count: 1234
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I own none of these characters, settings, or fandoms. They are the property of their respective creators and companies.
Summary: A cup of coffee, a punch, and Steve can't complete a sentence. Follows Suspicion?
A/N: Sorry about making you wait. Went camping and was without any sort of service for 5 days. Heavenly.
A/N2: So, this ends what I had originally planned. I really don't have any plans to continue this, so sorry for those who were hoping to see the meeting.
Steve wondered how long he could hang around the front of the damaged cafe before someone questioned his presence as he rubbed at his still aching stomach. The last forty-eight hours had been hectic, especially compared to the last three months of his life. It was probably ridiculous to be standing here at this moment, but he needed to at least try.
He truly hadn't meant to stand Buffy up yesterday. He had promised to meet her with every intent on showing up. Somehow, she had become a lifeline for him in this chaotic time he found himself in. Her presence was soothing in a way that he couldn't quite understand.
She wasn't military, or even former military, because of the way she spoke about her ex and that she had to raise her sister after their mom had passed. However, there were phrases she used and the way she often scanned her surroundings every so often that spoke of something else. At first, he thought she was a member of SHIELD, but the lack of her presence on the helicarrier yesterday convinced him otherwise.
Steve looked at the damage all around him. Maybe it was too much to hope that she would be here today. It was very possible that she had still been here with her mysterious paperwork when the portal opened yesterday. It seemed unreal that it had only been two days since Fury had approached him at the gym and he subsequently made the decision to try and finish the job he began when he sank the plane all those years ago. There had been no time to get word to Buffy even if he knew how. All he had was a first name, no last name or phone number.
A soft female voice from his left and slightly behind pulled his assessing gaze from the street. “You look like you could use this,” a young woman he recognized as a waitress was holding out a styrofoam cup of what he assumed was coffee. She had taken his order several times so he was sure it was to his liking.
“I didn't realize you were open,” he said, reaching for his wallet.
“We're not. Just working on cleaning and repairing. No charge,” she replied.
Steve pushed the offered coffee back to her. “I couldn't take this, you guys - “
“It's a thank you,” she interrupted.
“For what?”
“I saw you. Yesterday. The uniform,” she said shyly. “I know what you did. You and the others. So, thank you.”
This was a much more appropriate thank you than being pulled into a corner and suddenly kissed. “Did you...” he trailed off, not knowing how to ask.
She shook her head. “I live far enough out that my home and family weren't affected. Work... They're like a family to me, so I'm helping, doing what I can.”
Steve got her point and took the proffered drink. “Did you happen to see - “
“Your girlfriend is here,” she said, nodding to someone behind him before she turned to leave.
“I don't have a - “
“Steve!”
He turned to see Buffy hurrying to him minus the bag of paperwork he had never seen her without. A knot in his stomach that he hadn't been fully aware of released at the sight. She seemed to be limping slightly and he swore that there was a ghost of a bruise on her cheek, but she was whole and alive. “Buffy!”
It wasn't until the moment he was hugging her, mindful of the coffee in his hand, that he truly realized how big he was in comparison to her. There were still some days that he was surprised by the size of his own body, not always recognizing the reflection in the mirror, half expecting his original frame. But Buffy always seemed to much bigger because of her personality. Physically she melted into embrace with a fierce hold that bordered on painful.
She took a step back and before he could say anything, she socked him across the jaw. He dropped the coffee causing it to spill on the sidewalk and he took a step back, rocking with the blow. It had actually hurt. How was that possible?
“What was that for?” He sputtered, the hand that had formerly held the coffee rubbing against the now aching jaw.
“Lots of things,” she said defiantly. “First of all for scaring the crap out of me when you didn't show up yesterday.”
Steve grimaced. “Fair enough, but I got called - “
“Oh yes, I know all about that. So are you really him?”
He froze. “What do you mean?”
She scoffed. “Oh please, don't play dumb with me, I perfected that act. I saw you yesterday and when I told Xander and sent him a pic, he flipped out. He swears you're Steve Rogers, the original Captain America. So, are you?”
For being a great tactician and able to adapt plans on the fly, Steve's brain shut down. He wasn't sure what he was allowed to reveal to people and he knew he was on borrowed time. He had a meeting back at SHIELD that Fury insisted the Avengers attended before breaking off to parts unknown. He took a moment to take in her stance, confident and sure, but there was a hesitant set to her shoulders. She wasn't just anyone and he wasn't going to be able to keep living in isolation, so he hedged his bets and softly said, “Yes.”
“Damn it! I knew I shouldn't have bet against his soldier's memories. Alright, then how do you not look like you're ninety or however old you are?”
“I was sort of frozen when I took the plane down, the serum kept me alive somehow,” he said a frown pulling at his lips. “How - “
“Huh, still younger than the last but still not vanilla human either,” she muttered. She ran a weary hand over her face. “Alright, come on, we better get moving.”
This conversation was getting weirder by the minute and he was only understanding half of what she was talking about. “What?” Steve felt more lost than he had when he had first been revived.
“Our meeting with Fury,” she said with a sigh. “Might as well go together so I can explain along the way.”
Finally an emotion other than confusion registered, anger. “You are with SHIELD,” he accused.
Buffy's face pulled into disgust. “Oh, hell no. Super secret spy organizations and Buffy do not mix very well, but our purposes sort of intersected yesterday, so hence a meeting with him and the Avengers.”
Relief flooded through him only to be replaced with confusion again. “Avengers?”
“You seem a little slow on the uptake today. Did the aliens throw you off that much?” She asked with an impish grin. “I promise, I will give answers to all of your questions and more on the way there.”
Steve went with a strategy that always seemed to work for him and took a leap of faith. He bent down to retrieve the now empty coffee cup so he could throw it away. “Lead on.”