fic: Freezer Burn, Chapter 26

[miss-porcupine.livejournal.com]

Freezer Burn (26/27)
by Domenika Marzione (miss_porcupine)
Genfic; PG-13-ish
Avengers/Captain America ensemble; a mashup between the movies and the 616-verse.
LJ tag | ao3

Summary: The adventures of Steve Rogers, defrosted soldier, who is missing time but not really all that lost. He's got a surprisingly broad knowledge of lettuces, a working grasp of modern technology, and may or may not be using both to mess with his teammates and save the world.

“You out here by yourself for a reason?” Tony asked, joining Steve at the railing of the balcony facing south.

“Just thinking,” Steve answered. He’d come outside for a moment of quiet and fresh air and then got distracted by the stars and the lights of the city. And his memories.

He’d not allowed himself to dwell too much on the fact that he was gearing up to go after Johann Schmidt again, to destroy HYDRA again, to accomplish all of the tasks he’d rued as unfinished as he’d steered that plane into the ice so long ago. Because if he started to look at it like that, as anything other than just another mission for SHIELD here in the twenty-first century, then he’d drown in the wanting to be back there, back then, where he was supposed to be instead of where he was, which was surrounded by people who were placing their lives in trust of his leadership.

But tonight, he’d given himself a moment to accept that this was more than just another mission. He still missed the people he’d left behind with an ache that stole his breath away, even if Bucky had left him first, even if Peggy were still here with him. Even if he had people who cared about him now and whom he cared for in turn.

“You know, you’re about as predictable as a sunrise,” Tony sighed with a smile, letting himself fall over to the right so that he jostled Steve’s left shoulder. “Come back inside. I’ve got something.”

Steve looked over because he recognized that tone. “What did you do, Tony?”

Notes: this story is updated in segments on LJ and those segments are bundled into chapters for AO3:
On LJ: part forty-seven | part forty-eight
On AO3: Chapter Twenty-Six