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Ever since Joshua had moved to South Dakota, things were somehow more settled. Steve both was and wasn’t surprised. Joshua, as he’d found out in the past few months, was actually much more confident and put together than his first impressions would have led him to believe. Not to mention, Claudia was massively more relaxed than she’d been since he knew her. There was more there, but no one was lying, so he didn’t push.
Joshua’s ideas might be abrasive to Artie, but Steve saw a lot of logic in the things he’d implemented. Having someone who had sense, a lack of paranoia, and the intelligence and compassion to make it work, well, it was more than obvious why they made him a Regent, especially one with oversight on the daily Warehouse operations.
So, when Joshua showed up at Morning Meeting and yoinked the case files from Artie’s hands, Steve wasn’t surprised at all.
“Alright, everyone. We’re going to mix this up a bit.” Joshua scanned through the folders as Steve tried not to laugh at Artie’s consternation. “No, Agent Nielsen. You don’t get a say in this. It’s training day.” Artie started to bluster, but Joshua cut him off again. “Do you want people to use their strengths or not? Because we need to all be able to work with each other. Yes, Artie, that means that we have to go on a case together. This is not that day, however.”
Claudia laughed, which elicited a glare from her brother. “Claudia, don’t even. You’re going to Cleveland with Pete. People leaving the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame have been buying up all of the sequins and fringe in a hundred-mile radius. I’m thinking glam-rock, probably Queen.” Steve laughed to himself as Pete and Claud grinned at each other.
“Oh, man, Claud, I know just the place for lunch. There’s this burger place…” They left the room, still chattering, after Joshua gave them the case file.
“Alright. Fresh from the back bay, we have Harvard, in which literature and history students have been taking their books a bit too seriously. The campus is full of historical figures and literary greats. Artie and Myka, I think you two are just the people for the job. You might want to take precautions. Too bad my neutralizer lab coat’s not ready yet.” Yet again, Artie tried to protest, but Joshua waved a hand, cutting him off. “Agent Nielsen, I thought you enjoyed field work. Leena can handle anything that is needed back here. Now get out there and do your damned job.”
Steve chuckled as Myka led Artie out of the sun room and off to pack. There was always something adorably hilarious about Joshua’s mannerisms in dealing with people. He’d go from formal and Regent-y, to griping at Artie or teasing his sister, and somehow not give everyone whiplash in the process. It wasn’t long before Joshua turned to him, that thoughtful smile on his face. “So. How much do you know about swimming?”
“Do you mean theoretically or practically?” Steve didn’t know where Joshua was going with this, but he certainly hoped it was someone’s goggles and not a beach excursion.
“There’s a kid making the rounds of the college swim meets, and he’s just too good. He’s breaking records that no one thought could be broken. I know shit-all about swimming, and I figured you’d know more than Pete about competitive.”
Steve blinked a few times. “Why? I mean, it’s not necessarily a stereotypically… anything sport…”
He was cut off before he could finish. “No, no, it’s not that. I, er, I read personnel files. Claud, well, she has a tendency of digging things up about people for files. You swam in high school.” Joshua’s tone was a bit sheepish.
“You’re lying. You told her to dig that up, didn’t you?” Steve laughed. “Don’t worry about it, I get why it’s important to have that information on us. And yes, I did. Wasn’t the greatest experience, but I guess I know what I’m talking about.”
Joshua apologized, but Steve just brushed it off as they got up, went upstairs and packed. Travelling was as it always was, except Joshua was actually slightly easier to travel with than Claudia. He was less worried about travel shenanigans and other issues. Not to mention, Joshua was just as easy to talk to as his sister, if not more so. Steve found himself saying things that he hadn’t even told Claudia.
By the time they got to the swim meet, Steve was trying even harder than usual to hold back the crush he’d had for quite a while. Joshua, well, who knew what he thought. Scientists, as he’d previously mused, were notoriously either asexual or straight, and, well, he didn’t want one of his best friendships to go awkward.
They chatted for a while, sitting on the bleachers, through relays, some women’s races, and finally the 400m butterfly came up. Joshua was mid-tale of something that happened at CERN.
“So there I was, in the middle of my office, and Shinji came in…” He paused. “Hey, look at that kid.”
Steve couldn’t help but mentally facepalm at the ‘kid’ comment. The swimmers weren’t really that much younger than he was. “What about him?” He eyed the swimmer, watching quietly for a moment or three. “Oh, he’s totally not raising his head enough. He shouldn’t be able to breathe like that.”
“Yeah I don’t know shit about swimming, and I can tell that.” Joshua eyed him for a moment and winced. “Oh god, please tell me we’re not going to have to pants him. I am not taking off some random kid’s Speedo.”
Steve made a horribly disgusted face. “That is totally above my pay grade. That’s just… no.”
“I’ll give you a raise.” Joshua waved a hand. “Anyway, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Something that kid has is making him not have to breathe. We have to go talk to him.” He stood up, and started down the stairs.
“Hey, Joshua, did you forget that we’re a random civilian and an ATF agent at a swim meet? We can’t just walk into the locker room…”
He was stopped before he could finish by them arriving at the door to the locker room. “Oh, but we can. Watch this.” Joshua walked up to the door, pushed it open and just… walked in. “We just… do it. Generally colleges are not the most secure places on the face of the planet.”
Once they got in, Steve was quite glad that he’d spent a decent amount of time in meditation. Guys were wandering around in speedos and… less, and it took quite a bit for him to keep from staring.
Joshua elbowed him, and pointed out the specific kid. “Hey, eyes front, Agent.” There was a smirk on his face. “He’s over there.” The kid was still dripping from the pool and a shower.
Steve walked over to the guy, leaving Joshua leaning on a locker. “Hey, nice run you had there. Haven’t seen someone go that fast before.”
“Yeah, well.” The kid smirked, crossing his arms. “I’m going to the Olympic trials later this year. I’m the shit.”
“What you may or may not be doesn’t matter. Something that you’re using is making you not have to breathe.” Steve glared at the guy, really glad that Joshua was backing him up instead of Claudia. Arrogance never set well with either of them.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, man. I’ve got the skills to take on all those jerks, even Michael Phelps.” The swimmer turned, but not before Joshua walked over and caught his shoulder.
“Listen , if you’re really all that good, then tell me what your lucky charm is. What’re you using every time you swim?” Steve was actually a bit surprised. Joshua rarely took the ‘bad cop’ role, or so he heard.
The kid tried to pull back from Joshua’s grip, but he only tightened it. “Listen, it’s just a lucky swim cap. I got it from my great-great grandfather. Or something like that. My dad said that he was an ancestor and he invented the Butterfly. You can’t have it, though. Who are you, Olympic Committee?”
Joshua glared at the cap for a moment, before turning his attention back to the kid. “No. I’m not. I’m just someone who knows that you can’t truly win if you have help. If you’re as good as you say you’ll do your next race without it. You shouldn’t need a lucky charm to swim well.”
The kid stared Joshua down for a moment, then swore, tearing the cap off and tossing it at him. “Fine, like I give a shit. It’s just a lucky cap anyway.” As soon as Joshua caught it, he started choking and turning blue.
Steve ran over, pale, grabbing a glove from his pocket and taking the cap from Joshua. “Go away, you little shit. Just be lucky we’re not in the arresting business.” He stuffed the cap in a bag, and Joshua collapsed on him. “Hey, Joshua? You ok? What was that?”
Joshua breathed more than a few times, shakily at first, but evening out fairly quickly. “Yeah.” His voice was rough, breathless, but steady. “I’m ok. Choking sucks, though.”
“Tell me about it.” Steve cracked a smile, and pulled Joshua up. “First day on the job, started choking due to Shakespeare.”
“I know.” Joshua smiled a bit. “I’ve read files.” He coughed, a hollow, dry, cough.
“Of course you have.” There was a long pause as Steve just… looked at Joshua. Before he really realized what he was doing, he pulled him close and kissed him. To his own surprise, Joshua kissed back. Eventually, Steve pulled back. Joshua was blushing furiously. It was even a couple seconds more before Steve found his voice. “Well… that went better than last time.”
“Last time?” Joshua was still blushing crazily. “Do you make a habit of kissing your supervisor in a locker room?”
Steve looked around, glad that most of the kids had already left, either scared off by Joshua choking, or simply gone to another race. “Well, it was high school. Thought the guy would take it better than he did. Ended up with a black eye for my trouble, and barely stayed on the team. The guy ended up kicked off in a few weeks anyway for unrelated assholery. Livvy found him and kicked his ass. She was always good for that.”
Joshua shook his head. “Ah, one of those guys who doesn’t care about things, until it involves them. I hate people like that.” He smiled, though, a comfortable smile that Steve hadn’t really seen on him other than when he was with Claudia. “Well, I can tell you that you’re not going to get fired.” He paused, possibly too long for Steve’s comfort, but he was definitely grinning. “I’d have to fire myself. Now, can we get out of here before people come back?”
“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.” Steve grinned, actually relaxing himself. They left the arena, going back to the hotel. He wasn’t sure where this was going, or even what it was going to end up as, but for the first time in quite a long while, Steve was absolutely certain he was going to make it past the first date.