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True to her word Layla gets home a little after four. She hears swearing from the bedroom, so she goes to investigate. The sight that greets her is enough to make her laugh out loud.
Steven is in their room, standing in front of their full length mirror, clothes scattered all around him. His hair is sticking up in every direction, and he has a distressed frown on his face as he argues with, presumably, Jake in the mirror.
“It does matter! He’s never met me for real before, I want to make a good impression,” Steven grumps to the mirror, turning around to try on a different outfit. Upon turning around he is greeted with the sight of a very amused Layla.
“Layla! Hi! Oh dear, is it already four? I must have really lost track of time here,” Steven says, looking around a little embarrassedly. Layla laughs at her husband, walking over to press a light kiss to his lips in greeting.
“Looks like you and Jake have been having a real field day trying to pick out an outfit, huh?” Layla asks after pulling away, Steven looking a little dazed from being kissed by her. It takes a moment before his brain catches up with what she said, blushing slightly as soon as the words register.
“Oh, yeah, a bit.” Steven rubs the back of his neck, blushing harder as he looks around at the mess he’s made. His body goes slightly tense as he pulls his hand away from his neck, standing up a little straighter.
“I had nothing to do with this,” Jake says, crossing his arms across his chest as he too looks around at the mess. Layla laughs again, bringing one hand up to pat at his cheek.
“I’m sure you didn’t,” she teases in a voice that clearly says she doesn’t believe him in the slightest. Jake gapes at her, offended at the notion that he would ever care this much about what he is wearing to go get coffee.
“Lockley, I have watched you spend upwards of three hours trying to pick out an outfit to wear, only to go with the first one you tried on, so don’t give me that look,” Layla says, seemingly reading his mind.
“Eso fue diferente,” Jake mumbles grumpily.
“Sure it was,” Layla replies, patting his cheek once again, before moving to take off her work clothes. Jake immediately looks away, feeling awkward about seeing her undress. Layla laughs at the slight blush that takes over Jake’s face, as she moves to the closet to grab a new outfit.
Steven takes control of the body again, feeling Jake’s slight discomfort at seeing Layla undressed. He rolls his eyes at him, no matter how many times he, Marc, and Layla tell Jake he doesn’t have to feel awkward around her, it doesn’t really matter. He supposes he can’t blame him, he knows he isn’t interested in Layla, or anyone for that matter, in a romantic or sexual sense, but he still can’t help but feel like Jake is being a little ridiculous.
Steven moves to sit on the bed, admiring Layla as she picks out an outfit. He swears he will never tire of getting to see her like this. Layla looks over her shoulder feeling his gaze on her, and smirking when she looks at the awestruck look he always seems to have on his face in her presence.
“Like what you see?” She teases, turning back around to grab the clothes she has picked out. Steven blushes at her flirting, nodding his head excitedly before realizing she can’t see him.
“Yeah, always,” he says, and it’s so earnest Layla can’t help but feel a blush of her own spread to her cheeks. She turns back around, holding her clothes as she walks over to Steven on the bed. She rests the folded clothes next to him, before leaning down and grabbing his cheeks in her hands.
Steven’s hands immediately go to her waist, as he looks up into her eyes. Layla leans down, bringing her mouth to his in a tender kiss. Steven melts into the kiss, moving his mouth against her a little desperately. Layla smiles into the kiss, bringing her tongue out to lick at his bottom lip.
Steven eagerly opens his mouth, letting out a little whine into the kiss. Layla pulls away, pressing one last teasing peck to his mouth, before she walks away completely. She grabs her clothes, before strutting into the bathroom to change, swinging her hips teasingly as she goes.
Steven looks after her, gobsmacked, having to adjust himself in his jeans a little bit at the sight. He is brought out of his trance by a gagging noise coming from the mirror behind him. He turns around and is met with the sight of Jake pretending to gag, pointing to his open mouth with one of his fingers. Steven glares at him, making the other man let out a loud laugh.
“You’re a real tosser, you know that, Jake?” Steven complains, before moving to stand up, only making Jake laugh louder from behind him. Layla steps out of the bathroom a moment later, now fully dressed, smiling at the sound of Steven grumping at his alter.
“What’s he doing this time?” She asks, walking over to him.
“Nothing, just being a wanker,” he says, turning around to glare once more at the other man, before turning his attention back to Layla. She is wearing a fairly casual outfit, just a pair of salmon colored pants, and a tight fitting black long sleeve shirt with a tan tank top over it, but Steven thinks she looks incredible. She also has her hair up, a few strands falling out of her bun, framing her face.
“You look amazing,” he says, looking at her in wonderment, as if it’s the first time he’s seeing her. It doesn’t matter how long they’ve been married, he swears he will never get used to this. Layla blushes again, smiling up at him.
“You look like a mess,” she teases, a silly smile on her face that shows she is only joking. Steven laughs, leaning down and kissing her gently. She leans into the kiss, smiling against his mouth before pulling back.
“Okay, Mr. El-Faouly, let’s get you dressed,” Layla says, walking back over to their closet, leaving an open mouthed Steven gawking behind her. It takes him several moments and a few deep breaths to collect himself, before following behind Layla.
Jake rolls his eyes from the mirror, but watches on with a smile, secretly finding Steven and Layla’s relationship very cute. Sue him, he may not be interested in a relationship for himself, but he’s still a bit of a hopeless romantic, and is happy that his friends are happy, even if it is a little nauseating at times.
Layla picks out an outfit for Steven, handing it to him and pushing him towards the bathroom before he has time to protest. He puts the outfit on, smiling at his reflection, liking the way he looks. She picked out his favorite pair of jeans, and a brightly colored button up shirt. It is also one of his favorites, as it has a goldfish pattern on it, reminding him of their lovely pet fish. She also picked out a dark gray cardigan to go over top, which he happily puts on.
“We look ridiculous,” Jake complains from the mirror. He will never understand why Steven loves these silly patterned shirts so much. Steven rolls his eyes, flipping off Jake with a small smile on his face. Jake stares at Steven, opening his mouth in offense, as he places one hand on his chest, as if Steven flipping him off was an unimaginable crime.
“Dios mío, how could you Steven? I am truly offended. I will never recover from this shame,” Jake says dramatically, making Steven laugh. It wasn’t often Jake was goofy like this with him, so when he was he relished in it. They always messed around with each other, but there was something about Jake acting so unashamedly silly that warms his heart.
“Fine, fine. I’ll at least wear your flat cap, happy?” Steven says, still laughing a little. Jake seems to think it over for a minute, bringing his hand up to his chin as if he were deep in thought, before nodding his head sagely.
“Sí, sí, that will do,” Jake says, sounding completely serious. Steven barks out another laugh at this, overjoyed that Jake is feeling good enough to be messing around with him, even after everything that has happened the past two days.
“Oh good. I’m so glad I was able to please the ever difficult, Lord Lockley.”
Jake laughs along at this, a bright smile lighting up his face.
“Are you two coming, or are you just gonna stay in there all day?” Layla calls out, poking her head through the door, a smile making its way to her face at the sight of a happy Steven.
“Oh yes! My apologies, love, we got a little distracted,” Steven says, looking over at her. He walks out of the bathroom, turning off the light behind him, and grabbing Layla’s hand. “Shall we?” He asks, leading her towards the front door.
He grabs Jake’s flat cap, placing it on his head, before exiting the apartment, locking the door behind him.
“You decide to take up after Jake?” Layla asks, laughing a little bit at the sight of Steven wearing Jake’s flat cap. Steven laughs along, looking up at the hat on his head, before meeting her eyes again.
“Yeah, it was the only way to get him to stop complaining about our outfit.” he says, leading them out of the building to the street.
“Hey! I thought it was a pretty good outfit!” Layla complains, offended that Jake would insult her clothing taste like that. Steven laughs again, starting to lead them down the street in the direction of the coffee shop, hand in hand.
“I agree, my love, but you know how he is.”
“Rude,” Jake grumbles, popping up in the reflections of the shop windows they are walking past.
The trio quickly make it to the café, Steven and Jake growing more and more nervous the closer they get. Layla notices Steven’s previously cheery disposition quickly turning more closed off, so she squeezes his hand and gives him a bright smile, hoping to put him more at ease. It helps some, Steven giving her a small smile back, but he can’t quite seem to quell his nerves.
They walk into the café, Steven lightening up a little but when he looks around. It is brightly decorated, with plants in almost every corner of the room. It’s fairly small, but there doesn’t seem to be too many other people hanging around. On the back wall there is a large fish tank with all sorts of colorful fish swimming around.
Steven immediately pulls Layla over to the tank, already crouching down slightly to look at all the fish. She just laughs, allowing herself to be dragged over, crouching down next to Steven as he excitedly looks in.
“Steven?” They hear from behind them, Steven tensing up slightly before remembering why they are here, and forcing himself to relax again. He and Layla stand up, turning around to greet Sam, smiles on both of their faces.
Sam also has a smile on his face as he looks at the two. His eyes linger on Layla for a moment, almost looking confused, and Steven shifts a little uncomfortably where he is standing. After only a short moment, however, recognition seems to dawn on Sam’s face, as an excited grin spreads across his face.
“Oh wow! You’re the Scarlet Scarab!” Sam exclaims. Both Steven and Layla seem a little taken aback, honestly not expecting that reaction from the man. He seems to register their surprise, quickly moving to apologize. “My apologies, I just didn’t expect you to be meeting my favorite superhero today.”
Steven smiles brightly at this, looking down at Layla with pride in his eyes as she smiles, still looking surprised that an Avenger had recognized her.
“I honestly didn’t expect you to recognize me. Most people don’t without the whole ensemble to go along with the face,” Layla says laughing slightly. Sam laughs along, understanding all too well what she means.
“Should we sit?” Sam asks, gesturing to an empty booth with an abandoned coffee cup, he had clearly left there when he came over to greet them. Layla and Steven nod, moving to sit next to each other while Sam sits opposite them. Layla sits on the inside, knowing Marc and Jake always prefer to have a quick out should they need it.
Steven looks nervously between the two of them, holding on tightly to Layla’s hand as he fidgets slightly where he sits, not quite sure what to say.
“Oh! I called you Steven earlier, it is Steven right now, yeah?” Sam suddenly asks. Jake had told him Sam was kind of awesome about this stuff, but he hadn’t really gotten a chance to see it for himself yet. He still isn’t used to others being understanding about their DID, so the question startles him for a moment.
He quickly composes himself, nodding at the other man and giving him a small smile. Sam smiles back, putting Steven even more at ease.
“Yeah, it is. Sorry, I’m just a little nervous. Layla is the only other person we’ve ever told about our DID, and even she just kind of figured it out on her own.” Steven explains a little nervously. He’s never been one to shy away from conversation, but he is feeling a little out of his depth right now. Sure, he and Sam are friends, but he’s never met him outside of the suit before.
“No worries, man. I get it. That shit can be scary. I remember the first time I told someone I have PTSD I thought I was going to shit myself.” Sam says with a laugh, Steven unable to help but laugh along as well, loosening his grip on Layla’s hand so it wasn’t so tight anymore.
“Hey, I’m gonna go grab a coffee, do you want anything?” Layla asks, wanting to give Sam and Steven some time to talk just the two of them for a moment.
“Sure, love. Just tea for me. Thank you.” Steven says with a smile, moving to get up to let her out of the booth.
“Tell her to get me an horchata, I saw that they make it here,” Jake chimes in, making Steven roll his eyes slightly.
“And an horchata for Jake,” he says, Layla laughing a little and nodding, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before walking over to the counter to get their drinks. Steven sits back down, watching her go, before turning his attention back to Sam, a slightly lovesick smile still on his face.
“How did you two meet?” Sam asks, having watched the small exchange. Steven smiles even brighter at this, before shaking his head and laughing a little.
“That is a very long, very confusing story.”
Sam laughs at this as well, taking another sip of his coffee.
“Tell me about it. I met my husband while he was a brainwashed assassin who was actively trying to kill me. I guess people like us don’t really get to have normal love stories, huh?” Sam asks, smiling a little brighter while talking about Bucky. Steven smiles back, laughing along a little.
“I didn’t know you were married,” he says with a polite smile, Sam smiling a little ruefully.
“Yeah, we don’t tell many people. We like to keep our personal life private, but also we already get so much flack from the media for being a black man as Captain America and a former hydra assassin. To add being queer on top of that, is a lot.”
Steven nods along a little apologetically, but there is no pity in his gaze which Sam is thankful for.
“Yeah. Unfortunately this world is not a kind place for people like us. Some of the things reporters and even just random people in the streets have said to both us and Layla is unbelievable. I can’t even imagine being in an openly queer relationship on top of that.”
Sam nods along, a slight frown on both of their faces now. Steven feels Jake’s presence at the back of his skull, a comforting weight to let him know he’s not alone. They sit in silence for a short moment, before Layla joins them again, balancing three cups.
Steven rushes up to help her, grabbing his tea and Jake’s horchata. Layla says a small thank you, moving to sit down again, Steven following shortly afterwards. As soon as he’s sitting, he feels Jake pressing a little more intently, clearly trying to indicate that he wants to front. Steven goes still, staring at nothing as he lets himself fall back, allowing Jake to make his way to the front.
Jake opens his eyes, not quite sure when he closed them, and quickly looks around to make sure there are no potential threats. It’s an old habit he won’t soon get rid of. He knows Steven can take care of himself, but he just can’t help but be a little protective at times. When he looks back over at Sam and Layla they are looking a little worriedly at him.
Layla gives him a small smile, waiting for him to be fully aware before trying to start any kind of conversation. She has gotten good at telling when they switch, but she can’t always tell who is fronting right away.
Jake gives her a smile back, picking up his horchata and taking a long sip. He hums happily at the taste, licking his lips as he pulls the cup away.
“I should have known it was you,” Layla says with a laugh, taking a small sip from her own cup, “you always look so tense.”
Jake stares at her, placing a hand over his heart in mock offense. “How dare you? I am the most relaxed person to ever exist.”
She just shakes her head, laughing lightly, Jake joining along with a small chuckle of his own. Steven watches along fondly, he likes when Jake is in a happy mood like this. Layla is right, he’s always so tense and grumpy, so when he lets his guard down a little Steven soaks it up like he is a cat in the sun.
Jake looks back over at Sam, seeing a slightly confused smile on his face as he watches the interaction.
“Is Steven okay?” He asks, a little worried, but still smiling at Jake.
“Sí, sí, Nothing happened, he is fine. I just wanted to drink my horchata.” Jake explains, both for Sam and Layla’s sake. Layla shakes her head teasingly exasperated, as she takes another sip of her coffee. Sam just politely nods along.
“Is there anything in particular you wanted to discuss, or is this just a friendly coffee date?” Jake asks, blunt as ever. Layla rolls her eyes, slapping him lightly on the arm and telling him to be nice. “I’m always nice,” he retorts, sticking his tongue out at her before turning back to Sam.
Sam shakes his head fondly, smile never faltering. “I mainly just wanted to see how you were doing, and ask if you had thought about telling the rest of the team about your DID. Obviously you don’t have to, but I wanted to discuss the possibility with you if you were open to it.” Sam explains kindly.
Jake tenses up slightly at the mention of telling the rest of the team, but he is still mostly relaxed. Sam just seems to have a weird way of making him feel at ease. He glances at Steven in the reflection of his cup, the other man giving him a reassuring smile.
“Do you trust them? The rest of the team, I mean.” Jake asks, a little anxiously.
“More than anything.” Sam replies. Jake seems to think this over for a minute, taking another sip of his drink before asking another question.
“Do they know? About your PTSD and that you’re married?”
Sam gives Jake another smile, nodding. “Yes, they do. They were the first people me and Bucky told. And there is not a single one of them that doesn’t also have some form of PTSD or other mental illness. They are some of the safest, most understanding people I have ever met.”
Jake smiles a little at this, looking down at Steven once again, to gauge his reaction.
“I trust you,” Steven says, smiling back at him. Jake gives him a subtle nod, before turning his attention back to Sam.
“I think I would like to tell them. I have to talk about it more with Steven and Marc, but I think we would like them to know.” Jake says, pausing for a moment before continuing, “would you be willing to help us explain it to them, when we are ready? They know you better than us, and they clearly trust and respect you. They might take it better, if you are there helping.”
Sam’s smile grows even brighter at this, as he quickly nods his head. “I would be honored to help you tell them.”
Jake smiles back at him, feeling a little lighter at the reassurance that they wouldn't have to do this alone. He looks over to Layla and sees she is already looking back, giving him a smile as well. He feels completely at ease, all the tension from before draining from his body.
He feels himself start to sink back into the headspace, assuming it is Steven taking over.
Marc startles slightly as he is suddenly fronting. He had been watching quietly from the background, and didn’t expect to be fronting out of nowhere. He looks around a little panicked. He knows where they are and why they are here, but he finds he is still disoriented from the switch.
He feels a soft hand rest over his, and snaps his attention to the person sitting next to him. Layla looks up at him, worriedly, as he stares back at her with wide, scared eyes.
“Hey, what happened? Are you okay?” She asks, searching his eyes to try and figure out which one of them is fronting.
“Yeah, yeah. Sorry. Not sure what triggered the switch between me and Jake.” Marc explains, turning his hand over so he could grab Layla’s and hold on tightly. Layla squeezes his hand back, smiling a little despite her worry.
“Marc?” She asks, just to be sure. He nods at her, and her smile grows even wider. “I’m so glad you’re okay. Steven and Jake have been worried sick.” She says, bringing her free hand up to cup Marc’s face. He leans into the touch, practically melting into her hands as he feels some of the tension leave his body.
“I know. Sorry. Haven't been feeling up for much.” He explains, smiling apologetically. Layla just shakes her head at him, moving her thumb in circles where their hands are still intertwined.
“You don’t have to apologize, love. We all understand. Do you need to go home?” She asks the last part quietly, and he takes a minute to think it over. He looks around the café, it’s nice and he makes a note to come here more often. Despite the comforting aura of the place, and Sam’s easy going nature, he really does want to go home.
It has been a long two days, and he just wants to curl up under the covers with his wife and sleep for a week. He glances a little nervously over at Sam, but he is looking down at his phone, giving them some privacy as they talk.
“Yeah, I think I might,” he whispers back, not wanting to be rude, but really wanting to go home. Layla just nods, leaning up and placing a small kiss to his lips.
“Hey,” Layla starts, Sam looking up from his phone to smile at her, “I think we’re gonna head home. It’s been a long day and we’re both pretty tired.”
Sam just nods, smiling brightly at the two of them. “Of course. I should probably head home anyway, Bucky just texted me that our cat is causing trouble, so I should probably help him with that.”
Layla laughs a little at this, Marc smiling a little, as they get up to leave. Marc stands a little behind Layla, her hand still in his. Sam stands in front of them, giving them both a wide smile.
“It was great meeting you,” he says to Layla, shaking her hand, “and it was great to see you three as well,” he says to Marc, giving him a polite nod, which he returns.
“Tell him it was great to see him as well!” Steven says excitedly from the reflection, smiling brightly. Marc laughs a little at this, before speaking. “Steven says it was great to see you as well.” Marc says, Sam smiling brighter at this. “And, I wanted to say thank you. It’s not easy to get Jake to come out of his shell like that.”
“No need to thank me. I’m just glad I could help.” Sam replies, Marc smiling a little more at this. “Well, I guess I’ll see you around. You can always call if you need anything, or if you just want a friend.” Sam says, Marc nodding appreciatively, before he walks to the exit.
Layla squeezes Marc’s hand one more time, before they are walking towards the exit as well, leaving the café and starting to walk home.
“What do you want to do when we get home?” Layla asks, as they walk.
“Can we watch a movie in bed?” Marc asks, looking down at her as she leads the way.
“That sounds lovely,” she responds, smiling up at him, and Marc can’t help but smile back.