Chapter Text
“You call for an extraction?” Sam asks, because it’s really all he can think to say. He’s still trying to process what, exactly, he’s looking at.
Steve nods. The pigeon near his knee coos, and he tosses another handful of birdseed in its direction. “Unless you can fly us out of here.”
Sam shakes his head. “Wings are down.”
“Natasha should be here in ten.”
“Listen, man,” Sam says carefully. “Do we need to talk about this?”
“About what?”
Sam forces himself not to laugh. He doesn’t know what this is, could be some sort of breakdown thing, some bizarre coping mechanism, and Sam won’t begrudge another man whatever gets him through the day. It’s just…Steve is sitting cross-legged on a rooftop not ten minutes after taking down a pack of HYDRA goons, and he’s surrounded by birds. Pigeons. Doves. Jays. Finches. He’s tossing out birdseed like he pulled it from thin air, and Sam does not understand.
“This,” he says, waving his arm, which spooks a few of the birds. “Can’t take the New York outta the boy and all, I get that, but seriously. What’s going on here? You keep that stuff on you at all times?”
“Oh.” Steve looks around like he’s just now noticing how many birds are on the rooftop. “Clint and Tony thought they'd be funny and start hiding weird stuff in these thigh pockets. Snacks. Photos of themselves. Condoms. Could never manage to get all the birdseed out, but the birds were happy for it, so.” He shrugs. “My mom used to like feeding birds. Kinda reminds me of home.”
“Pulling birdseed out of the thigh pockets of your superhero costume reminds you of home?”
Steve laughs, the first honest laugh Sam’s gotten out of him in a while, and Sam smiles. Happiness looks good on Steve. “You take what you can get, I guess.”
“You’re weird, you know that?” Sam sits down next to Steve. A few of the birds flutter away, only to inch back towards Sam and Steve, bobbing their heads and waiting. Sam drags a hand over his face. “Like majorly, epically weird. I’m not sure I should keep hanging out with you, because your weird is gonna rub off on me and I will lose all my game.”
“You keep telling yourself that,” Steve says, reaching into his thigh pocket and pulling out a handful of birdseed. He offers it to Sam.
Sam takes it with a sigh, laughs when a bird flies up to perch on his shoulder. “Hey, buddy.”
“See? Where else are you gonna find friends like these?”
The comms crackle with static. “Please tell me Steve isn’t going all Home Alone 2 on us again,” Natasha says. “I told Sarah Jane from legal that Steve was cool so she’d go out with him, and I’m starting to look like a liar.”
“Starting to, huh?” Steve asks.
The pigeon coos in response.
Friends like these, Sam thinks, offering his hand to the bird on his shoulder. Yeah, where else?