open post (steve rogers)

[assembles]

steve rogers / captain america open post.

※ looking for a thread with an all-american super soldier?
※ respond with any character, canonmate or otherwise, and a prompt.
※ open to any format (prose, brackets, commentspam).
※ open to any canonpoint (within marvel cinematic universe).
※ if you don't have any prompt ideas, feel free to throw the ball into my court!
※ you can always refer to the random scenario meme for inspiration.

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[falcony]

[ to call each other out, to say the things he should probably be thinking. since the beginning sam has always offered steve his thoughts, his ideas on strategy, his opinion on next steps. and whether or not they followed them, there had always been the feeling that steve listened. that steve took it into account. it was a kind of trust and respect that sam caught onto, that he likes returning, and maybe that's just one more reason why all this works. steve surrounds himself with people who will call him out, who will speak their mind, and he's not afraid to hear it. that's the kind of person sam wants to follow, and it's the kind he's willing to, for as long as it takes.

the snort from steve has sam smirking, just a bit, to himself. he does have a point. ] And don't think I won't fight her, too. The chicken is absolutely worth it, and I'm telling her you agree with me. [ which might be a stretch, but hey, sam has been given very little out here when it comes to the day to day, so he's starting to hyperfocus. which. might not be the best idea. but it's better than going completely crazy, right?

steve laughs, makes some comment about poker, and sam is already shaking his head and making a face, even before the words are fully out of him. ] Nope, absolutely not. Poker is outlawed after Nat kicked both of our asses last time. No more poker in the safe houses. I refuse to lose that badly ever again. [ sam is quite adamant in his reaction, which could probably be seen as a little overboard or dramatic, but if steve remembers the last poker night they tried too have, it would make sense. or at least makes sense to sam - natasha was absolutely cheating last time, and until he can prove how, he refuses. nope. no more.

which is why he goes out on a limb, speaks his mind even if it isn't an obvious choice on something to do with a free evening. sam offers it, but as he turns to see steve, part of him regrets bringing it up. the look in his eyes is distance, heavy and complicated, and immediately sam knows he's stepped...well. not on a land mine, necessarily, but out on the ice. it's the same look steve had at peggy carter's funeral, which is part of the reason sam can put two and two together. dancing. he missed a dance. god, there's a sudden feeling of guilt under all of this, and all the while sam tries to parse out if this is a 'apologize and change the subject' type of situation, or a 'push a little further'.

so sam takes something of a middle road, shrugging once, even if steve can't quite see it. ]

It was just a suggestion, but I'm a great teacher. If you did want to learn.

[ if steve does look back over to sam, then, it will be to a small smile. encouraging, in a way, for steve to talk if he wants to talk, but without pushing the matter too firmly. he doesn't even know where to begin when it comes to trying to understand what steve has gone through, or is going through, at any given moment. but if the last couple of years have taught sam anything, it generally helps to just be there. to not make it weird. and to keep the conversation going, if it's not the right time.

so if steve doesn't look like he wants to, or if the quiet does go on for a little too long, sam will gesture for them to head out to the living room. suggest that they check the cabinets to see if there might be any board games lying around. ]

[assembles]

[ The last thing that Steve wants it to be used as a bargaining chip in some fight over chicken, and yet he doesn't protest when Sam makes such a bold claim. Surely Natasha will relent just this once, understanding that they need something to focus on here and there, something to keep them going — even if it's as simple as sneaking through a grocery store to get some ingredients for fried chicken. Sometimes that's enough.

Either way, Steve will cross that bridge when they come to it, which will only be when Natasha comes back. That might not be for a few more days, depending on how deep the rabbit hole goes when it comes to hunting down Wanda.

Speaking of Nat, that adamant refusal of poker may be a little over-the-top, but it's also valid. Steve's had his fair share of difficult poker opponents, and yet Natasha was on a whole other level, to the point that it went past the point of being fun in some cases. Well, she had fun with it, but she also understood by now that poker was basically a can of worms among their little group.

Thankfully, there were other options. Like... dancing.

Steve's torn, in all honesty. This may be an old wound, but it's one that's easily reopened, as he's just learned. Sam had no way of knowing that this was a sore spot that shouldn't be prodded at, but Steve also wonders if it's fair to let something as innocent as an offer to dance compromise him like this. The fact is that Peggy would call him ridiculous for this reaction. More than that, she'd probably want him to learn; she'd want someone else to take up that mantle in her absence. (Wouldn't she?)

Naturally, Sam does pick up on his hesitance and continues to extend that olive branch while also offering Steve an out. That level of consideration is something that Sam's always managed with ease, and yet Steve appreciates each instance of it. As much as he doesn't like being treated like he's fragile, Sam somehow is able to respect his boundaries without making him feel as if he's coddled. ]

Well, now I have to ask where you learned. [ Steve's eyebrow lifts up as he quirks a small smile. ] And what kind of dancing are we talking, here?

[ It's hard to imagine they'll be waltzing or anything quite so formal. That sort of thing is part of bygone era save for extremely special occasions. Steve hasn't quite agreed to the offer yet, but he is showing an interest in the subject, so that's likely a step in the right direction. ]

Either way, we should eat before we do anything else, right?

[ He's an awful cook, but he has to imagine this chicken is almost done. He nods toward the stove, wondering if Sam may have gotten distracted for a moment. ]

[falcony]

[ and why wouldn’t he want to be that bargaining chip? sam knows of nothing that could be more honorable, nothing that could be more worthy, than getting his nana’s fried chicken to the table. it would depend, probably, on where it was they decided to run off to - would depend on the grocery store, the supplies on hand - but sam is good at adapting. good at making the most of their situation. good at keeping going. and that is what he’ll do.

natasha was out for the night, probably the next couple of nights, so sam knows the poker conversation has reached its end - but it doesn’t stop sam’s mind from wandering to her. to wanda. to their little family, their little team. he worries, because he can’t not worry, but he knows that steve rogers carries enough concern in that stupid blond head for all of them, so sam doesn’t focus. chooses, instead, to make jokes. to try for ease. to crack into comments and places and lives that none of them want to talk about - not really - so sam goes out of his way to say it first. to talk. to fill the space.

it leads him into complicated territory - because sometimes diving off rooftops brings you to the ground faster than planned - but sam’s good at this. can keep this going. knows, even if they reach an impasse, he can work them all out of it.

and where it concerns steve rogers - god, where does sam even start, if not as a friend? concerned for him, first, without shying away from the fact he was just a soldier, once, even if he’s captain america, now. so sam waits, sam offers both the place to test this unsteady ground, but a path away from it too. because steve rogers is more than just cap, and even if that more is littered with discomforts, it is worth returning to. so when steve offers a half-step in that direction, sam warms to it. smiles. shrugs, easily, like there’s nothing complicated about this at all. ]

Nana herself, actually. Then Mama, then my sister. You didn’t really get the option to pass when a Wilson woman wanted to dance. [ there is half a moment of memories, there. of family reunions, of weddings, of funerals. graduations and memorial day barbecues and everything in between. sam isn’t even taken by the list of them because they are as much a part of him as breathing.

he laughs, though, when steve asks what kind of dancing. soft and simple. ] Depends on the music. Swing, two step, could just be dancing for dancing’s sake. It didn’t always need a name, back home. Why- looking for something in particular?

[ and that was sam pushing boundaries, sam edging back into that potentially tense territory. if steve wanted to talk about it, this would be the last time sam would push. if he didn’t, well, it would be easy to adjust from here - like a flight path, like wings in the wind.

then it was steve’s turn to catch him mid- thought, sam’s eyes going a bit wide as he turns back to the stove. ] Shit-

[ the next few moments are filled with a flurry of movement, of sam back to the stove, to the chicken that was a little crispy, now, but not inedible. sam talks through most of it - comments about how the women in his life would have his hide, how steve can never tell sarah about this, how the chicken should be fine as long as they get some of this sauce out-

and, with a few of those minutes passed by, there are plates. of chicken, of veggies, maybe even some rice. sam did what he could with the meal, and what he could isn’t actually all that bad. and once it’s plated, once steve’s got his own dinner set, sam will stand with his hands on his hips. ]

Well? Try it, I wanna know.

[assembles]

[ It's true that Natasha and Wanda are never far from Steve's thoughts and he'll continue to worry about them until he hears some kind of word, but he also knows that he needs to be patient. Natasha has done her best to instill that trait in him despite the fact that it's not his nature. He isn't the sort of person who can just sit around on his hands when he could be doing something. But this is her world, not his, and so Steve has done his best to wait when she tells him to, when she insists she's got things under control.

He trusts her. It's as simple as that. Just like he trusts Sam to be there for him in this excruciating waiting period, even if that means that they're making a meal together (well, Steve's mainly just supervising) and talking about poker and dancing and whatever else might come to mind.

There's still this sense of guilt, this imperative that he should be doing more, but Steve manages to bury it down and focus on Sam, on the here and now. And of course, Steve also wants to make sure that Sam stays steady through all of this too. He'll put on a strong face just like the rest of them, but living like this isn't easy (their current safehouse aside) and Steve feels responsible for making sure that every member of their little band of fugitives is okay, in the end.

So Sam learned how to dance from the women of his family. He should have guessed, as it seems like that's where so much of Sam Wilson came about, built up brick by brick by this long legacy. Steve's own family had just been his mother and Bucky, pretty much, and he wonders what it would have been like to have a huge family like Sam, to always be surrounded by that sort of love and support. It really does explain how Sam is the way that he is — rock solid, an anchor, and so full of consideration and love for others.

If anyone was going to teach him to dance, why not Sam Wilson?

Of course, then it becomes clear that Sam had forgotten the food and so Steve isn't given any opportunity to answer that question as he rushes over after him, doing his best to provide any help that he can in salvaging the meal. He gets the plates ready, at least, and scrubs out the dishes as soon as Sam's done with them just to make sure that no lasting damage is done to any of the pans. Nothing has burned, there's no actual disaster and Steve can only assume that Sam is being overly hard on himself, but he is glad he said something when he did.

They then find themselves seated at the kitchen table, steaming plates of home-cooked comfort food laid out in front of them. Just from the smell, Steve can tell this is going to be amazing, though it's hard not to feel like he's on the spot with Sam waiting for his verdict. He makes sure to grab a generous forkful with chicken, veggies, and rice so he can enjoy it all in one bite.

And then, after chewing it all thoroughly and swallowing it down: ] I'm not sure why you even have to ask. It's delicious, Sam, just like everything else you cook. [ Maybe Steve isn't the hardest person to please considering the sort of food he'd eaten growing up, but he is being entirely genuine with his words. The fact that he immediately goes in for another bite is probably another indicator of how he likes it. ]