apocalypsehowcomm | [Log] Follow Through

Who: Winter and YOU
When: The month of July
Where: Locations in the prompts
Summary: Winter and co are moving! Plus the party thing
Warnings: Sadness probably

I. Christmas in July

This seems like a nice... last hurrah kind of thing. Winter isn't going to be working for ADI after July, so... might as well. Also, these things have a history of being bad, so it seems prudent to show up just in case anyone needs protection.

Instead, it's just. Cute. Winter decorates cookies carefully, mostly with his right hand as his left is still a little glitchy after the electricity snakes. He tries all the food, including the "frozen" hot chocolate, which gets a hand-waffly so-so rating from him, the hot cocoa aficionado. He looks for his gift-partner, someone else with the match to what he thinks might be a bookend, shaped like a bear's butt sticking out of a hole in a riverbank.

It's a nice time, really. A little sad, when he thinks about how these won't be his co-workers anymore in a couple weeks, but nice.

II. Last Days

Winter has officially put in his notice at ADI. He still does his patrols, but a little more slowly then usual. He spends his breaks tracking down people he likes or who he thinks aren't happy here to offer: "We've got a house. We're fixing it up. If you'd like to come stay there."

Or to say, "It's been good working with you." Even if sometimes maybe it wasn't that great. ADI is not an easy place to work, after all.

Or to promise, "We're gonna work on how to get you out," for those people who can't leave yet. Who have needs only ADI can meet.

On his very last day, he finds all his actual friends still at ADI and offers them a farewell brownie. "I'll still be around," he assures everyone, "just not on campus."

III. Construction Work

No longer does Winter spend his evenings after work haunting the gym or the shooting range. Instead, he's off campus, working on repairing a real fixer-upper of a house in a seedy part of down, which has been empty for years, and needs... a lot of work. He might be inside digging in a wall trying to put wiring back together mostly by guesswork and occasional diagrams on his phone. He might be on the roof replacing shingles or digging dead plants out of the foundation, in which case he might wave at a friend approaching or passing by.

IV. Personal Work

He hasn't moved out of ADI's apartment yet-- that's happening on his last day at ADI, July 31st-- so he goes back home to the apartment complex just before curfew for a long bath and to patch himself up from whatever cuts and scrapes he got during the day.

And he's still tinkering with his metal arm, trying to get it back up to full operation after Steele's snakes zapped it to hell and back. So he can be found, sometimes in the lobby taking advantage of the good light on a Saturday morning, and sometimes just at their kitchen table, with plates open and wires exposed and tools scattered around.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Steve nods thoughtfully, eyes on his burger for a moment.

He gets that - wanting to be busy. Useful. Even if it hurts. So he won't argue. He doesn't have the right.

Instead, he just points out, "I'll be there a little longer, too - I mean. I'm moving out when you do. But I've still got things I'm looking for. Maybe one more month."

"Maybe you can see if you can get some more of the pills for me," Winter suggests. "Talk to Mercy while you're there. I will ration them. But I don't want to run out." Especially since the ones that come from ADI are free. He has found that he very much prefers having his constant pain dulled to something he can more easily ignore.

Steve nods - God, does he know about having to ration medication. And he hates that Winter has to do it, now. "I'll look into it," he promises, thinking that if there's some way he can work it so Winter won't lose access to the pain medication... he'll make it happen. He never doubted that they were all willing to pay a price for leaving ADI, but that doesn't mean doing it unnecessarily if there's a way around it, right?

"Tell one of us if it starts getting too bad, though," he adds, feeling like their roles have suddenly reversed. Bucky had always told him not to try to suffer through pain or sickness - and Steve always had tried, anyway. Winter's probably smarter, but Steve still says it, anyway.

"Okay," Winter nods, apparently not going to be a difficult patient like Steve was. Then he lists over a little so he can bump that stupid aching shoulder against Steve's, and lean it there a little. The metal is a little warm, the mechanisms under it slightly overworked, but not painfully so through Steve's shirt. "How much longer will you stay there."

Steve leans back, just a little, offering companionship and support, taking another bite as he considers the question.

"Couple of weeks, maybe," he hazards. "I want to see if I can find a way to help the people who don't look like us leave. But I don't want to get dragged into staying forever when I don't want to be a part of their organization anymore."

He doesn't want to walk away empty-handed. But he doesn't want to stay on in the vain hope of an answer, either. "If I can't figure it out... we'll just figure out something else on our own. Like we're doing with this."

He motions a bit to the roof, the house. The way they're going to make it work, on their own, even if they don't immediately have all the answers. They have each other. That's what matters.

"I'll keep an ear to the ground for other work, too. Outside ADI, I mean."

"Belova says she will have jobs for us eventually, too," Winter agrees. "To help pay for things. Like more grenades." That part's a joke. Mostly. "Though the house will probably take a few more weeks." So don't expect it to be completely finished on the first when they move in, Steve. Move-in ready, yes, but not... finished.

Steve snorts a quiet laugh. "We definitely don't want to run out of grenades." Admittedly, though, that is not an untrue statement. Clearly, you never know when you're going to need one. They've come in handy before.

"Too bad nobody needs hand-painted signs and advertisements anymore," he sighs, actually a little wistful. "I feel like it's harder to pick up part-time work these days." Though admittedly, that's just when the work is above board. Not all work is.

Still, he knows there's a lot to be done on the house, first. "We're all used to living rough. I never expected it to be the Ritz. As long as it's secure and we've got the basics, we'll be fine."

And also, "Maybe I can liberate a few extra supplies from the office, before I get out for good."

"Won't say no to stealing from an entity," Winter says with a shrug. He's not sure what ADI might have that they could need, he's not really in want of staplers and printer paper, but hey, it's worth thinking about. He doubts Steve will be ganking more grenades, or anything, they probably locked those doors after Winter already stole some on his way out.

But the conversation also sparks an old, old memory, though, and he blinks, and frowns, and suggests: "The grocery store might pay you to paint their windows come October. Halloween is coming up."

Steve's thinking more along the lines of break room supplies, because every little bit helps, but he'll have to see what he can get access too before he leaves.

At the suggestion, though, he looks a little surprised - and maybe almost hopeful. "You think so? I mean - I wasn't sure if people did that kind of thing anymore, but this is a smaller town..."

It's not New York, where everything feels too modern, mostly. Things are a little quainter in Gloucester. "I guess I should ask," he decides, grinning over at Winter. "Maybe they'll be so surprised, they'll say yes."

Doing something like that would be really nice, he thinks. Nostalgic.

"I've seen paintings on the windows before," Winter points out. "Someone has to make them." For all he knows they're done by computer somehow, so many things are, but it can't hurt to ask. "It'd be nice to walk by every day and see your paintings, instead of someone else's."

There are a lot of cutouts and things that people stick to windows these days, and those are made with computers (or at least industrial equipment), Steve thinks. But the paintings, he's pretty sure, at least, are still handmade.

Of course, he smiles a little when Winter says it'd be nice to see his work on windows. "I could do ours," he says, thoughtfully. "We sure already have the look of a haunted house down without trying very hard."

Actually - "We should carve pumpkins." If only because he desperately wants to see the results of Winter and Yelena putting their talents to use.

Winter pauses. Frowns. "Carve pumpkins...?" Look nobody has really walked through holiday customs, okay.

Steve blinks. "Oh. Yeah, uh - it's exactly what it sounds like, really," he has to admit, with a little laugh. "People carve faces on pumpkins. They scoop out the insides and put a candle inside to light them up. It's tradition."

"Oh." True, he's seen carved pumpkins. It somehow hadn't occurred to him that they didn't just come that way. "Huh. Sure. We can do that. Yelena and Kate might enjoy it. Kate might even have done it before."

He kind of doubts Yelena has.

Of those two people, Steve does have to admit that Kate is the one who's likely done it before. But he thinks Yelena would enjoy it, too.

"It'd be nice," he says, glad Winter doesn't think it's dumb. Sure, it's something kids do, but he thinks it would be nice. Normal. And all of them could use a little dose of normal, he thinks. "We'll get Martin in on it, too." That man could use some normal, too.

"I'll see if I can find some cheap ones." Since they are on a budget with the house, and all. "Maybe I can get a discount if anybody does want their windows painted."

[Log] Follow Through

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jebus so sorry I misplaced this...

not at allll <3

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