Chapter Text
The Smithsonian was closed. Both the American History Museum and the National Air and Space Museum.
Kian knew this and had told his parents as such.
That didn’t stop them from wanting to go check the opening times at the door in person to make sure. Kian was not amused, but Erin and Carter seemed happy enough walking around that the 32-year-old man didn’t complain.
Well he didn’t complain out-loud anyway, he complained quite a lot in his head.
After seeing the opening times sign on both museum doors, his parents finally seemed to accept the fact that both museums were closed, then they convinced Kian to walk back to the Washington Monument to have a little look at it- despite having seen the building multiple times before.
Eventually the three of them stopped at a bench by the Reflecting Pool.
“We should go to a cafe later and get some coffee,” Carter suggested as he leant back on the bench and watched as people walked past the Reflecting Pool.
“And some food, I’m really hungry,” Erin added with a small shrug, eyes scanning across the many people who moved. Her and her husband both enjoyed people-watching.
And there were many people to watch.
Some were walking their dogs, some were walking with friends, others walking alone. There were also the small few who were either jogging or running around the water; though how people had the energy to do so Kian did not know.
“This place is so beautiful,” Kian murmured, watching the way the water in the Reflecting Pool glistened in the sunlight.
“You should come here more often then, only a bus trip away.”
Kian pulled a face. That was true but it seemed like more effort than worth so it was unlikely that he would.
“I can’t believe there are people running, I wonder how far the distance around the Pool is..” Carter mused, eyes darting across the few people that were running.
“I’ll look it up,” Kian hummed in reply, grateful for the excuse to check his phone and see if Bucky had read- or better yet replied- to his text.
Which was unlikely seeing how the message had only been sent an hour ago and Bucky rarely checked his phone.
“The perimeter is 4,392 feet so about 0.832 miles around,” the man answered with a shrug, “though because they’re not running right at the edge of the water I think they’re running further than 0.832 miles with every lap.”
Kian checked his messages. Nothing. He tried to ignore the way his heart sunk a little further and his mind fell a little further into self-doubt.
‘It’s only been an hour, he probably hasn’t checked his phone yet.’
‘Or he saw it and saw how desperate and pathetic you are and blocked you.’
Carter and Erin didn’t seem to notice his slight change in demeanour, instead nodding slowly along with his words, half-listening, half-tracking the people who ran.
There were three main runners.
One: a tall, muscular blonde who (if not evident by his incredibly fast pace, it would be evident by the muscles his sport-wear showcased) seemed to be in peak physical condition.
Two: a shorter (but still relatively tall) athletic black man with what appeared to be no hair, yet upon closer inspection became very short black hair; he too was fast but not as fast as the first man.
And the third runner: a vaguely familiar man with cropped brown hair and an athletic and muscular physique that allowed him to easily keep up with the first runner’s pace. Kian could swear he’d seen the third runner before but couldn’t place him. Maybe he’d been running around the Pool the last time Kian was here.
The three men had been running since the three Solennes had arrived (who knew how long ago they’d actually started) and they hadn’t stopped since.
The second runner was wavering slightly; slower than the other two; but that didn’t stop him from running around the Pool as they did.
The blonde and the brunette were brilliantly fast, easily overtaking some of the other people running or jogging around the Pool’s perimeter.
Doing so with such ease it made Kian which he’d tried harder in gym class back in school (though the memories of the hell that was P.E. quickly eroded those feelings).
Lap after lap after lap. Never slowing, never stopping, their paces unchanging as they ran and ran and ran.
How someone could have that much stamina Kian didn’t know.
It was rather humorous watching them pass the slower man though, if only because of the funny things they called out whenever they did.
“On your left!” the blonde one would yell as he passed on the man’s left.
A call that was quickly followed by the similar: “On your right!” shouted by the brunette that passed the man’s right.
Something that seemed to be normal given the way the man replied with a groan and a frustrated: “Come on!!”
Kian hoped that all three were friends and what he was witnessing wasn’t a case of the man being bullied by two strangers.
Kian and his parents stayed on the bench for a long while, simply enjoying the peaceful atmosphere surrounding the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
‘A long while’ being about ten to fifteen minutes before Erin decided that her hunger was too great to be ignored any longer.
“Do you want to go to the cafe we went to last time?” Erin asked, focus solely on getting food in the next ten minutes.
“Oh no they didn’t have very nice coffee, remember?”
“Oh yeah..”
Kian saw another excuse to look at his phone again and grabbed it with both hands. “I’ll look it up,” he said quickly, looking up ‘cafes near me’ to see if he could find anything that had food to sate his mother and coffee that was good enough to his father’s standards.
Still no message from Bucky.
But he found a nice cafe that met his parent’s standards so it was a half-win at the very least.