Chapter Text
Phil flipped through his email as he made coffee in his own kitchen, enjoying the quiet Saturday morning. He couldn't keep his thoughts off the team, though. Steve and Bucky had headed outside for exercise. Clint and Natasha had gone downstairs to help Betty with some sort of weaponry analysis in the lab. Phil wasn't sure what Bruce and Tony might be up to at this hour. He fiddled with his Starkpad, fingers restless on the controls.
"Phil, are you all right? You seem worried," JARVIS said.
"I'm glad that Steve finally managed to coax Bucky out of the tower, but yes, I'm also a little concerned about safety. The modern world can be overwhelming to people who aren't used to it," Phil said. Steve hadn't reacted at all well to his first exposure. Although he had adapted since, it still made him twitchy on occasion. Phil blamed Fury for that. "This is the first time Bucky has been outside easy reach since we rescued him." Bucky had stepped outdoors a few times, but stayed within the tower's immediate footprint.
"Not outside my reach," JARVIS said. "Here, you can watch them run." A grainy image appeared on Phil's screen, showing the two super-soldiers as they loped easily down the sidewalk. After a few seconds it changed to a different angle and a much clearer image.
"Are you ... following them through security cameras?" Phil asked. "Do they know about this?" In his experience, people tended to object to that kind of surveillance. Phil himself never turned off the tower security feed, except for extreme clearance reasons or someone else's privacy request. It didn't feel right, after the way he hacked into JARVIS when they first met, and especially now that JARVIS and Tony had introduced him to the intimate code. Phil couldn't undo the original violation, but he could act to balance their respective access to each other, so Phil didn't hide from JARVIS. He had, however, thought that the only other person so open with JARVIS was Tony.
"Yes and yes," JARVIS said. "Watch, and I'll prove it."
The perspective changed again, this time a frontal view. It bobbed up and then down. Neither of the men changed their pace, but Steve's hand made the OK sign and then lifted in a cheery wave as he grinned at the camera.
"They don't seem to mind you watching them," Phil mused. He filled his coffee cup and sipped thoughtfully.
"Steve says he feels safer with friendly eyes on his back," JARVIS said. "I have telemetry too if you want it." Vital signs stacked neatly down the side of the screen.
"How can you get those readings outside the tower?" Phil asked.
"They're wearing monitors," JARVIS said. "Bruce shared his design for the wrist model. Tony upgraded it for him. Steve noticed the change and requested a copy for workout purposes."
Of course Steve would want that, Phil realized. He organizes most of the physical fitness routines for the team. This tells him more about how well those work.
It was more than just that, though. It was another example of Steve's innate gift for leadership and cooperation. He saw a need and asked his teammates to help address it -- Bruce for the initial design, Tony for the improvements, JARVIS for the data handling. Steve did things like this easily, gracefully, pulling along a bunch of touchy individualists and melding them into a real team. It was utterly beautiful in a handler's eyes.
"Speaking of Bruce, where is he?" Phil asked.
"Fairly close to Steve and Bucky, on their seven o'clock," JARVIS said.
"He's actually out running with them?" Phil said. Bruce strongly preferred not to raise his heart rate if he could avoid it. "When did this happen?"
"It's a new development as of this week," JARVIS said. "I'm sorry, it's hard to get a camera on him. He tends to avoid them, and he's so -- oh, here he comes!"
Bruce darted between Steve and Bucky, slapping Steve on the shoulder as he passed. Bucky swiped at him but missed. Bruce ran lightly up a low wall, scampered along the top, and then disappeared down the other side. The whole pass had taken less than three seconds.
A score popped up beneath the vital signs, showing how often Bruce had tagged Steve and Bucky, and how often they'd managed to connect with him. Bruce was two points ahead. Bucky had succeeded in tapping him several times, Steve less so. Interesting.
As Phil watched, Bruce pounced on them from behind two garbage cans, but failed to tag anyone this time. He was grinning anyway as he dodged between parked cars. All three men seemed to be keeping a careful eye on traffic and other potential hazards.
"Freerunning," Phil murmured. "I forgot about that." It was easy to forget, because Bruce made it easy. He presented the image of a dumpy scientist, and people overlooked just how fast and flexible he really was. Phil recalled the reports, now, from Bruce's escapes in various countries. The race through the favelas of Brazil was legendary. General Ross and his men had been so outclassed.
I wonder if we're underutilizing Bruce in the field, Phil mused. Then he added aloud, "Do Clint and Natasha know about this?" They would love it.
"No, and we're not allowed to tell them yet. Bruce isn't willing to run with them, and Steve promised him a week before sharing the idea," said JARVIS. Bruce and Natasha trusted each other far more now than when they first met, but there were limits. They still had trouble with some new activities. Fast or unexpected movements were an issue too. They worked around that as best they could.
"Because they'll probably wind up taking turns, and Steve wants Bruce to get as much exercise as possible," Phil guessed.
"That matches my conclusion, yes," said JARVIS.
"Well, I trust the team to work it out," said Phil. He went back to work reading his email, but from time to time he tabbed over to the screen showing the three (or two, usually) men as they made a long loop around the tower neighborhood. It felt good just to see Bruce so happy, so playful, for once. Even now he tended to be somber much of the time. The damage from his childhood and his fugitive years cast long shadows.
When they came home, Phil set his work aside so that he could go meet them. They trooped through the common floor into the kitchen. Bruce was panting for breath, soaked with sweat. Steve and Bucky just had a nice glow. Bucky paused for a moment, laying his head against Steve's chest.
What in the world ...? Phil wondered. Then he realized that Bucky was listening to the deep clear sound of Steve's breath, sharing in the joy of a healthy body. Bruce joined them. Bucky looped an arm around him without hesitation, pulling him into a little family hug.
Steve finally shooed them away so that he could root in the refrigerator. He came out with an armload of Gatorade bottles in rainbow colors. As Steve passed those around, Phil pushed away from the threshold and stepped into the kitchen.
Bruce startled. "Uh, Phil ... what're you, I mean, uh, good morning."
"Good morning, everyone," Phil said. "You look like you've been having fun."
"Yeah, it was great," Bucky said. "Steve invited us out for a morning run. I could get used to this." He laced his fingers together, sheathed metal against flesh. "I've missed being able to work out at full throttle."
Bruce tucked his chin against his chest, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. Phil took that as a good sign. Usually Bruce was quick to include himself out of activities, especially physical exertion. Bucky's enjoyment of the excursion also boded well. Tony had trips planned with both of them. Phil suspected that Steve meant this venture as a discreet test of their comfort levels.
"I'm pleased to hear that," Phil said. He patted them as he passed on the way to the refrigerator. Heat rose off their bodies in waves. "Congratulations on your win, Bruce." Phil pulled out a bottle of orange juice and shut the door. It gave him an excuse for being in the kitchen.
"Uh, thanks, I guess," said Bruce.
"What were you playing for?" Phil asked.
"I get jelly beans, Bucky gets sour patch kids, and Bruce gets saltwater taffy," Steve explained as he dug into the divided candy jar that JARVIS had just unlocked. "We each get one piece per point we score."
Phil chuckled. "Well done."
Bucky finished his Gatorade and popped his prize into his mouth. Then he rummaged in a paper bag that they had evidently picked up while outside.
"Redline? Honestly, is that what you were doing while I was running the fire escape?" Bruce said. "You went shopping for energy drinks while I wasn't looking. Guys, this is not smart, that stuff isn't good for you --"
"Yeah, but it tastes great," Steve said. "I know, you told us all the fake-sugar-things are bad. Look, this is a new flavor, with real sugar. I checked."
"That's not actually good, it's just ... less bad," Bruce said. "Now you're getting Bucky into this stuff too? Not helping, Steve."
"I just want to try it," Bucky said. "Now that we're warmed up, we're going down to the gym for a real workout. Could use something with a little kick, you know?" He headed for the door, a cluster of colorful cans swinging from his fingers. Steve grabbed the other six-pack and followed him.
"Oh well ... at least they remembered the warning about artificial sweeteners," Bruce muttered. "Small steps."
Phil gave him a friendly nudge. "You know how Steve gets with sweet things. Just teaching him to read the labels first is an accomplishment," Phil said. "Be patient with them. They're trying to be good. Food is more complicated now than it used to be."
"Yeah, I know," Bruce said, bumping softly against Phil's shoulder.
"So what have you been up to, besides getting out in the world?" Phil asked.
Bruce burbled about yesterday's astrophysics experiments for a solid ten minutes. Phil listened fondly. Bruce might not be very comfortable with ordinary small talk, but it didn't take much to get him going on about science. "... and you probably haven't understood a word I've said," Bruce finished with a guilty twitch.
"I'm high-speed; if you keep talking about this stuff, eventually I'll pick up enough to follow you even if I couldn't do any of it myself," Phil said.
"Okay," Bruce said. Then he grimaced and raked a hand through his sweaty hair. "I should rinse off and then get back down to the lab. Betty's working on gamma weapons; she might need another pair of eyes on that. Plus Tony wants me to proofread the specs for Bucky's replacement arm. We're about ready to start building a prototype. Tony's been collecting spare parts all week, along with tooling some stuff from scratch; he wants to try some different options to see what works best."
"I'll leave you to it," Phil said. Then he headed back to work. It was enough to know that everyone came home safe, neither Bruce nor Bucky too rattled by the excursion outside the tower, and Steve not overwhelmed by the modern city. Slowly but surely they were adapting to their new life here.
Once in his office, Phil worked through the next lesson in quaternary code. He was learning the actual vocabulary now. The objects, actions, and other components were made up of smaller pieces that came together to express ideas. It was intricate, yet elegant, and he couldn't help admiring it.
That reminded Phil of a conversation he'd been meaning to broach for a while now.