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The reporter was being exceptionally crass and aggressive, making him difficult to ignore even as Steve was forced to respond to him. He could vaguely see Khalida wincing out of the corner of his eye every time the man managed to make one of his questions heard (after four months of firm corrections, Khalida had finally managed to convince Steve to stop calling her Ms. Red, though only on the condition that she called him Steve).
“What is your opinion on transgender individuals claiming that they are not adequately protected by the law?” Steve wrinkled his brow, preparing to play stupid old man to the hilt. He had of course familiarized himself with all of the new terms for sexuality and gender identity, and was still impressed by how far people had come, even as he was disappointed that they hadn’t come further.
“I’m sorry, I’m afraid I’m not familiar with that term?” The reporter smirked, rising to the bait, much to Steve’s delight.
“Its when a man wants to be a woman. And gets surgery to be that way,” the reporter added belatedly. Steve almost frowned at the inadequacy of that definition, and had to stop himself from correcting the reporter. Instead he reminded himself of his goal and broke out his best Captain America smile, the one Natasha had said made her feel like she was being punched in the face with patriotism, nuclear families, and 4th of July barbecues.
"Aw shucks we have a word for that now? That would have meant so much to Alice down the hall, she was so lovely, used to bring us a bit of cake every Christmas." The reporter looked distinctly taken aback as he turned to take another question.
Clint had introduced him to the idea of trolling several months ago, much to the delight of all the Avengers, the horror of Khalida, and the growing confusion of the media. It had taken Steve a while to embrace the idea of subjecting the American media to it, as he disliked the element of dishonesty inherent in the practice, but it helped him deal with receiving the same questions over and over again. Besides, though it horrified Khalida, and she would never admit it, it did make her job a lot easier when he wasn’t being outright inflammatory.
And Steve really did owe her after the incident with the Asgardian mead.