Steve thought about what the mother had said; he was making a difference, as Captain America; people looked up to him still, in a way he hadn't expected. He remembered the kids cheering for him during his USO shows, and the soldiers who had booed him offstage. He realized now that those kids who had loved him, had passed on those memories to their own children; he hadn't been forgotten, he'd known that, but it was finally sinking in that he was still relevant. Just by virtue of memory and idealization, he could make a difference even when there wasn't an army from outer space to fight. He just needed to figure out how, exactly...
Lost in his own thoughts from the mother's thanks, Steve started slightly when Rogue hugged him, but he slipped his arm around her, the position feeling far more natural and comfortable than it probably had any right to, after such a short amount of time. He just watched Rogue, listening to her words and letting them fill him up with pride and happiness. Besides the whole alien army thing, he'd done basically a whole lot of nothing, just playing catch-up to the contemporary world.
Kissing her forehead, Steve said ruefully, "Stopping an invading alien force is about the only thing I've done. And destroy about 3 dozen punching bags." No... he'd done one other thing. He'd gone to visit Peggy. That hadn't turned out nearly as well as the Battle, though; and the City would be recovering from that for years, probably. He didn't know how long he'd take to heal as fully as possible from Peggy's deterioration.
Here was an opportunity, he thought, to question Rogue about what she'd done in the past; not the heartbreak of the war and her imprisonment, but before that, when she'd taught at a school, when she'd been on a team of superheroes herself. Or at least, let her know that it was alright to tell him about it, if she felt like it. "Someday... if you're okay telling me about it... I'd like to hear about what you've done, too. I already can't imagine being prouder of you, but I'd like to hear about it, to prove I'm right."
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Lost in his own thoughts from the mother's thanks, Steve started slightly when Rogue hugged him, but he slipped his arm around her, the position feeling far more natural and comfortable than it probably had any right to, after such a short amount of time. He just watched Rogue, listening to her words and letting them fill him up with pride and happiness. Besides the whole alien army thing, he'd done basically a whole lot of nothing, just playing catch-up to the contemporary world.
Kissing her forehead, Steve said ruefully, "Stopping an invading alien force is about the only thing I've done. And destroy about 3 dozen punching bags." No... he'd done one other thing. He'd gone to visit Peggy. That hadn't turned out nearly as well as the Battle, though; and the City would be recovering from that for years, probably. He didn't know how long he'd take to heal as fully as possible from Peggy's deterioration.
Here was an opportunity, he thought, to question Rogue about what she'd done in the past; not the heartbreak of the war and her imprisonment, but before that, when she'd taught at a school, when she'd been on a team of superheroes herself. Or at least, let her know that it was alright to tell him about it, if she felt like it. "Someday... if you're okay telling me about it... I'd like to hear about what you've done, too. I already can't imagine being prouder of you, but I'd like to hear about it, to prove I'm right."