"Sir, there is a familiar source of energy around the tower. It has circled the building twice, occasionally loitering on the roof. It appears that the energy source is not making any move to break into Stark tower, and seems only to be curious, but has yet to leave."

Tony Stark, who had been busily welding the finger back onto one of his red and gold gauntlets, looked up sharply, cursing as he hit his head on the lamp he had set over his head so he could have a better view of the internal wires that ran through the reinforced titanium.

"Oh, I think I have a good idea of just what that energy is, and it'd probably explain why the majority of the builders have cleared out for the day due to an unpredictable temperature drop."

The billionaire abandoned his little project and made his way out of the lab, grabbing his coat as he went, giving Jarvis instructions to take him to the roof. The elevator arrived with a 'ding', something that annoyed him to no end, but Pepper insisted on having. He would have to at least program it out of his private elevator, to keep him sane.

Tony stepped out into the brisk night chill, squinting into the brightness of a nearby billboard as it pierced his still-adjusting eyes. Damn, it was cold out here; he couldn't blame the workers for calling it a day a few hours earlier. He eyed the abandoned equipment, all gathered into one corner of the roof. There were gaping holes in the roof, where said equipment was supposed to be installed. Most of it was associated with his Iron man suit, little robots that disassembled it as he walked by, another genius invention courtesy of Tony Stark.

The playboy was just wondering if he should put covers on them to protect them from the elements, when he heard familiar peals of laughter a little bit above him, and he looked up, shielding his eyes from the advertisement's harsh glare.

"Hey kid! Stop buzzing around up there and get down here! Not all of us like being exposed to the cold you know!" Tony shouted from his position on the roof. The laughter stopped abruptly, and the philanthropist had thought he had offended Jack until he felt the biting cold of a mound of snow being dumped on his head. The billionaire coughed and spluttered, shaking himself in a desperate instinctual attempt to be rid of the offending element.

Jack floated down from the sky, still laughing at Tony, but also harbouring the fear that he had gone a little too far with the snow. "Y'know, if I wanted a pile of stuff that makes me feel angry and uncomfortable to be dumped on me, I'd talk to me lawyers and get them to give me yesterday's paperwork. What's up winterboy?" Tony quipped, brushing the last chunks of the powdery substance off of the leather of his jacket and scratching his stubble.

"Did you know that you can't see the stars here? To answer your question, dealing with terrifying mysterious magical beings and moving into a new apartment, the usual." Jack said, sporting a snarky grin, one that Tony usually took as a personal challenge.

"It's called light pollution and smog, kid. Get used to it. You move around often, eh?' The playboy asked, completely ignoring the first half of Jack's answer. Jack rolled his eyes and gave Tony a sour look.

"Yeah, I guess I used to before I was frozen in the ice for seventy years, and then woke up and lived on a gigantic floating ship before being basically kicked out and moving into New York." Jack snarked, trying to catch Tony off guard.

The man merely raised an eyebrow and gave a sly smirk. "So I trust that I'll be invited to the housewarming party then?"

Jack gave an exasperated sigh and pulled out the folded letter from the light grey slacks he was wearing, borrowed from Alex. His friend has said that Fury gave them enough money for clothes and food and rent, and that he was going to take both him and Steve shopping tomorrow. He handed it over to Stark, who read it with only a raised eyebrow.

"That's quite an offer he's got there, with the magically reinforced weapons and all. Are you going to take him up on it?"

Jack rolled his eyes again. "You're missing the point, and North didn't say that they were "magically reinforced", only that he was a skilled blacksmith, so that probably means that whatever he makes will be awesome, but not magical.

"Yes, I've got the results from the tests, and please. I spent enough time with the jolly old Russian to know that whatever he makes will have at least some kind of magical voodoo along with it. He seemed entirely too giddy at the prospect of enchanting things to not do it.

Jack mulled over this prospect for a second, before abandoning it from his thoughts and getting back to the task at hand. "Let's go get them, and while we're at it, I need to go over something with you. I have an idea for North's offer, but I want your input on it."

Tony slung an arm over the spirit's shoulder, pulling him close into his side and ruffling his hair. "Kid, you just made my day."

"So you think that we should make it an inch shorter?" Jack asked the creeping doubt obvious in the tone of his voice.

"How tall did you say your friend was again?" Tony asked distractedly, still fiddling with the hologram at his fingers.

"Uh, about this much taller than me." Jack mumbled, holding his hand a little above the top of his head.

Tony glanced at Jack, before typing in a measurement and looking at the 3D picture with a critical eye. "Yep, I am completely sure that we need to take another inch off of this thing, otherwise it'll overbalance him when he's fighting."

Jack nodded mutely and fiddled with the papers in his pocket. Tony had printed and handed Jack the results of his experiments shortly after the two had wandered inside, but Jack had been there for a little over an hour now, going over the blueprints and measurements for the weapon he was going to ask North to make for him in Tony's lab. Jack wanted it to be perfect, the best one ever made, the best of the best.

The first thing him and Tony had done was brainstorm different magical enchantments that may be really useful in battle. Tony had actually gotten really invested in the idea, getting Jarvis to measure exactly which metals would be more useful, all the different features he could outfit into it, if it could be concealed. He and Jack had actually had a short argument at one point, as Tony wanted to make it himself, but Jack had said no. They bickered for a little under five minutes, before Jack brought up the point that North was skilled in magic and enchantments, and Tony was not, so North could make it better.

Tony hadn't been happy, and was about to argue further until somebody called 'Pepper Potts' called, his phone had flashed with her ID. He had seen Tony wince at the volume of her voice, and had heard her say something along the lines of 'after what happened yesterday, you better best resting, not dicking around in the lab again Tony!', causing Jack to snigger, and Tony to give him a withering glare. Geez, if looks could kill.

Tony spun the image around once more, carefully studying it from all angles, looking for any imperfection or possible room for improvement. "What do you think Jarvis? Anything we could still fix up?"

"If I had to add my own personal opinion sir, I would say that the finished result would be very close to impeccably made."

The billionaire put a hand to his heart. "Oh shush you, don't make me blush."

Jarvis remained silent as jack simply rolled his eyes at the antics of his over-eccentric friend, picking a small build-up of frost out from under his fingernails and flicking it onto the floor, then the little icy pieces up again and quickly stuffing them into his pocket in embarrassment. He didn't want to seem rude by throwing the ice from under his fingernails on the polished cement floor of the lab.

Tony saw exactly what he had done, and sniggered at him while printing the finished design. "Jeez kid, its okay. It's just a little ice, I mean, I'm actually surprised you haven't turned this place into a skating rink yet." The philanthropist said, gesturing wildly around the entirety of the room.

Jack shrugged, floating up to settle lithely on top of one of the machines. "Unless you want to get incinerated, I suggest stop standing on my equipment." Tony called from across the room, where he had wandered over to collect the weapon's blueprints. Jack smiled sheepishly, and settled for crouching on top of his staff next to a cluttered work table.

The billionaire sauntered over, waving the papers in the frost spirit's face. "Here, give these to the big jolly fellow. If he really is the blacksmith he says he is, he should know exactly what to do with these. The list of suggested enchantments we brainstormed are also there as well, that saying that he even wants to enchant them. Make sure you don't lose the results from the energy experiment, the printer's running low on ink."

Jack gave Tony a flat look, and then thanked him for all of his help with designing the weapon.

"Hey, kid, I'm happy as long as you don't freeze the tower, okay? Keep the snow on the down-low this year, and consider the debt repaid."

Jack laughed, thanking his friend again, as they walked back out onto the roof. Just as Jack was about to take off and go back home, Tony said something.

"If you ever need anything kid, you know where to find me. Actually, I might be in Malibu or something, so look it up, but you're always welcome in Stark Tower, okay?"

Jack nodded and waved goodbye as he took off, letting the warm feeling build up in his chest. His friends were far and few, but they were friends, no matter how strange they were, or what kind of problems they came with, he was just so glad to have them.

Jack saw a few papers slip out of his pocket, tugged away by the wind, and snapped back to catch them. He grasped them in mid-air, and sighed in relief. He wouldn't want the design plans for Alex's new Bo to get lost, now would he?

"Hey Jack, where ya been?" Alex asked casually from his cross-legged position on the floor, where his old Bo was spread out in front of him in little pieces.

"Here and there, went to visit a friend. What are you doing?" The spirit asked, peering over his partners shoulder to see all of the individual little black pieces of metal spread out before him.

Alex gave a dramatic sigh, and fell over onto his side, looking really funny with his legs still crossed in the air.

"It's screwed, the soft drink got into the main components and messed up the internal workings. Usually, it wouldn't be a problem. This thing can take a little water, but because the acids in the soft drink got into everything, and dissolved some of the finer little wires and stuff inside it, it's broken for good. We're just lucky we didn't touch it when we spilled the drink onto it. We would've gotten fried."

Jack furrowed his brow, trying to see why exactly they would've gotten 'fried' if they had've touched it when it was wet.

Alex saw this and explained. "This little baby could deliver a nasty little zap if needed, it was a gift for my promotion to a full agent a little while ago. It's probably going to take months to get a new one in, and most-likely a big chunk out of my pay check." The redhead said, looking wistfully at the disassembled pieces on the floor.

This made Jack feel simultaneously excited and guilty all at the same time. He felt excited because he would hopefully get Alex's new Bo, designed by Tony freaking Stark, assembled by Santa Claus, in a lot sooner than SHIELD would, and guilty because it was a treasured gift, and it was broken by sheer clumsiness. It made it that much harder not to tell Alex about the gift. He wanted it to be a surprise.

Jack turned his attention to the plate of strange-looking sandwiches piled up on a purple plastic plate, steaming and warm. "What are those?" Jack asked curiously, circling around them and bringing his face closer to the platter for a better look.

Alex looked over his shoulder in surprise, almost dropping the small piece from his Bo he was fiddling with in his fingers and raised his eyebrows.

"Oh, those? They're called 'Grilled Cheese Sandwiches', I thought that Steve would be hungry, so I whipped them up. They're really easy to make, I'll teach you how to make them later if you like." Alex said nonchalantly, waving his hand and turning back to fiddle with the object at his fingertips.

Jack nodded and picked one up, dropping it instantly due to the heat withheld in the crusty surface. To a normal person, it would've been fine to hold for a good few seconds before it began to burn, but to Jack, it was like touching a stove. It can be related to when somebody's hands are freezing cold, because they've been throwing snowballs without mittens or something, and they put their hands in normally-withstandable hot water, making the heat feel a lot hotter than it usually was. It sucked for Jack, but he was used to it, so he didn't think about it too often.

"Where's Steve?" Jack asked, also kind of wondering why Alex was still hanging out in his apartment. Not that he minded of course, just curious was all.

"Oh! That reminds me!" Alex said, jumping to his feet. "Steve's in his room, go get him and tell him to get ready to go shopping. He needs new clothes. Badly. So do you, we're leaving in, uh…" Alex glanced down at his watch, furrowing his brow for a second before finishing his sentence.

"Ten minutes! So hurry!"

"A little late for shopping, isn't it?"

Alex stopped for a minute, rechecking his watch, and smiling awkwardly.

"Huh, I guessed when I checked the time, I didn't actually check the time. Hmm, we've already gone for a little bit of a nightly walk, haven't we? Then you disappeared. I've still got bucket loads of energy left over from our little nap, what do you want to do?"

Jack thought for a moment, remembering his annoyance earlier at not being able to see the stars. "Have you ever seen the stars in New York city? Do you like seeing the stars?" The spirit asked, his voice slightly curious, but not overly interested. He didn't want to alert Alex to the plan he was conjuring right at this very second.

Alex scratched his nose, before answering his partner. "I was born and bred right here in this city, Jack. The only time I've ever seen the stars was when I was in a foreign country on a mission or something. And yes, the stars are amazing. It's one of the reasons I actually look forward to overseas assignments, why the sudden interest in the stars?"

Jack brought his thumbs up onto the back of the couch he was leaning against, contemplating his answer. "Well, when you're flying above the clouds, there's just nothing like it. It's amazing. In fact, I was just about to go up there right now, if you'd care to join me?"

Just as expected, Alex shook his head vigorously, his flame-red curls bouncing into his face, his green eyes shimmering with a mix of fear and distaste. "That sounds like a great offer, but it's hard for me to even stay calm inside a plane, let alone clinging onto you for dear life a thousand feet above the clouds."

Jack frowned, pretending to be a little disheartened at Alex's refusal. Secretly, he was jumping for joy. It had been a while since he had seen the stars, and he was eager to frolic in their shining light again, not only that, but Alex's refusal was a key element to his plan, which he was about to put into place.

"Go on then, don't wait for me to change my mind. Tell Steve that you're going out though, he freaked out a little when he found out you were out flying."

Jack nodded and rushed out of the room, knocking on the door that he always knew that the soldier kept locked. Ever since Alex had warned him of the dangers of robbery and people who break into other people's apartments in the nights, the soldier had been a little cautious.

Steve opened, glancing at his friend in surprise before stepping out of the doorway, allowing Jack to enter. "Hey Steve, I'm going flying really soon, for maybe an hour max, just letting you know, ok?"

Steve nodded, hesitating for a brief moment, and then closed his door, seeing that Jack had made no move to enter. "Have fun Jack!" The Captain called through the door.

Jack nodded, more to himself that anyone, as there was nobody around to see him do it. He made his way back to his own apartment, and into his room, quickly emptying his pockets of all of the papers and blueprints and depositing them on his dresser. Jack wanted to get this letter written and sent away fairly quickly, but he feared that his scratchy handwriting and limited writing and spelling ability wouldn't be adequate to send to North, so he settled on asking Steve for help when he arrived back at the apartment, if his friend was feeling better. He didn't bother with getting changed, or putting on a pair of shoes for that matter.

Steve had sounded different, Jack realised as he idly thought back to the very brief conversation the two had shared at Steve's door. He sounded like Jack had caught him completely by surprise. He thought that it looked like the soldier's eyes were red-rimmed, but he couldn't be sure. Had his voice cracked? Steve certainly didn't want to stay around to talk, so it was very likely that something was wrong. His friends didn't like to leave a conversation out in the air like that, even if he wasn't very talkative some of the time. Jack decided that he wasn't only doing this to entertain Alex; he was going to do it in hopes of cheering up Steve.

Jack decided to leave via the window, and not bother with saying goodbye or anything. He wanted to carry out all elements of his plan quickly, before he forgot any of the details. Wrenching the thing open, which took a lot of effort on his part, Jack scrambled through the wide opening and into the cool night air. He breathed a sigh of relief as the frigid kissed his pale skin. He truly loved the cold, it relaxed him, helped him, healed him. He'd said it to Alex before, that if he was ever gravely injured, lay him down in the snow, pack in on top of him, and let him sleep for a few days. The cold seeped into his bones, healed him from the inside out. Jack also had a sneaking feeling that the moon was partially responsible, because it was always shining a little brighter whenever he woke up in the midst of the night. The wind was always there to greet him, it's playful currents showing its concerns for their old friend.

Tonight, the wind knew exactly what he wanted, and took him high into the open sky, above all of the smog and light pollution, making him gasp as he burst through the clouds and witnessed the billions of stars spread across the sky. The moon was there also, outshining all of its companions by a longshot, making Jack feel safe and comfortable thousands of feet in the air.

Jack took his time dancing through the pale wisps of moisture of the clouds, carefully studying and committing the many constellations to memory. He wanted to remember every cluster, every little lonely light in the darkness, if he ever wanted to commit a memory to perfect detail so badly, it was what he was seeing right now.

Jack spent almost forty-five minutes, going well past New-York and into the skies of other cities, getting hundreds of new perspectives to remember, and bringing flurries of snow to the brightly lit cities beneath him. Jack sighed, taking one last look at the twinkling lights, and clutched his staff tightly. It glowed a little under his grip, the magic within responding to his own in its own way of sincere acknowledgement.

At his top speed, Jack raced back to his apartment, looking for the signature snaking red metal pipes that littered the roof. He located, and ducked back through his open window, racing into his living room, a little disappointed to see Alex missing. Regardless, the excited frost spirit flew out of his door and straight into his partner's apartment.

"Alex!" He huffed, scaring the crap out his friend who was sprawled out on the couch.

"Get Steve, be at my apartment in a minute, I have something to show both of you!" Jack waited until his friend gave a bewildered nod, and disappeared back into his own living room, quickly shutting all of the open doors, pulling the curtains closed and turning off all of the lights, plunging the room into darkness. He gave his staff a small shake, and it glowed, lighting to room slightly. Jack sighed with anticipation and placed the magical stick in the middle of the room, rubbing his hands together. "Ok, let's see if I remember what North told me." He whispered to himself.

"What exactly did he want again?" Steve asked dejectedly, dragging his feet and sighing every few seconds. Alex looked at the soldier with concern shining in his wide eyes, immediately making Steve straighten up and clear his throat.

"I mean, it's very late. Why does he want us to come to his apartment right now?"

Alex shrugged. "I literally have no idea, he just burst into my apartment, out of breath, told me to get you and meet him in his apartment 'in a minute.'" Alex finished, shrugging again, and placing his hand on the doorhandle. He was trying to play it cool, but in truth, he had been extremely bored, and had been staring at the cracks in his ceiling for the past twenty minutes, blowing at the miniscule pieces of dust he noticed floating about.

He knocked, noticing the lack of light under the door, and his curiosity began to get unbearable. They waited for a moment, before the silver handle turned and the door opened by mere centimetres. They could see bits of Jack's pale white hair poking through as their friend poked his face through, grinning like a madman.

"Ok guys, you ready? Close your eyes."

Alex and Steve shared a bewildered look, before reluctantly letting their eyes slip shut and putting their faith in their strange friend. They both felt a cold hand on each of their shoulder's as the door opened fully, and Jack lead them inside.

They walked a few metres, before the tug on their shoulder indicated them both to stop, which they did.

"You can open them now, just wait a few moments."

Steve opened his eyes and was met with pitch black darkness, and stumbled back a little in confusion. In the dim glowing blue light radiating from Jack's staff, he could see the person in question crouched over it, whispering to himself and started intently at the magical object sitting in the middle of the room.

He heard a nervous grunt from Alex as he shuffled around, and much to his surprise, a line of pure, glowing blue ran down Jack's staff , and the mild glow lit up the room momentarily, before the 2D blue screen turned black, and what looked to be stars showed on its screen.

Steve heard Alex suck in a breath beside him. "Jack ,is thi-"

"Shhh, I'm not done yet!" He explained, still crouched over his staff.

After a minute of waiting the room plunged back into blackness, and a stream of mild curses escaped Jack's mouth. He stood and, and stood beside his friends, whispering a few words.

The darkened living room was so silent you could hear a pin drop, the only sound a soft humming from the staff and the soft breathing of the three people in the room.

Suddenly, a bright flash filled the room, making everybody cringe and shield their eyes. Jack let out a giddy laugh, and stepped away from his staff. It was Alex who noticed it first, his gasp making Steve pause, wondering what was so amazing that it reduced the agent to nothing more than a dramatized breath of air.

The soldier blinked away the remaining light from the flash, and he too, let out a gasp. It was beautiful. The dark room had been turned into the shimmering night sky, the shining stars dotted around the room, suspended in the air. They move around, as if part of a video, and Jack let out a pleased sigh.

"What you're both seeing is my memory, rather, what I saw when I went for a flight before. I'm so happy that it worked."

Nobody said a word, as the memory moved slowly around them. Alex put a hand up, and ran his fingers through the shining pinpricks. Both men gasped in unison as the shining fullness of the moon came into view. It outshined everything in the room, drawing everybody's attention like a moth to the flame. Nobody moved, everybody held their breath, as if in the presence of royalty. As quickly as it came, the moon moved out of view, and the stars began to move around, gently moving up and down as the memory moved about, nearly leaving the two awestruck man in tears, the sheer beauty and realness of the hologram drawing out their emotions, leaving behind nothing but simple awe.

It was hard to remember that they were still in the apartment, because the room around them was so dark, the only light in the room supplied by the stars. If the floor underneath their feet wasn't a constant reminder that they were on the ground, both of the men would've believed that they were among the stars, floating away in the vastness of the sky.

Alex broke the thick silence, laughing with a pure childlike joy, and walking forward to explore the rest of the hologram as it moved about, seeming to move with the stars as they travelled through what seemed the sky, but was really only the apartment.

Steve looked down at Jack, who was leaning his side against his staff, smiling broadly. The spirit looked at Steve from his somewhat slumped position, and extended an arm, broadly gesturing the starry wonderland before them. Steve didn't have to be told twice, and stepped forward to explore the stars, laughing softly to himself.

What seemed like hours only lasted another forty minutes, much to everybody's dismay. The hologram changed as Jack's memory showed him diving down and exiting the clouds, letting the city come back into view.

They watched as Jack flew through skyscrapers, finally entering through the window and running down the hallway towards Alex's room. The spirit whispered a few words, and the room returned to its dull darkness again, the vague shapes of furniture becoming visible once more.

Alex wandered over and flicked on the lights, Steve joined Jack where he was sitting comfortably on the couch, and pretty soon, the three of them were engaged in friendly conversation, chatting long into the hours of the night and early morning.

"Psst, Steve."

"What?" Came the reply from across the room, where Jack could make out a vague Steve-shaped blob from across the room.

"Are you hungry?" Jack asked.

"A little, why?"

"Because Alex has a plateful of 'grilled cheese' sandwiches in the fridge. Want some?"

"Sure, let's do it."

Both people got up from their position on the couch, wandering over to the kitchen, where Jack opened the fridge and pulled out the heaping pile of cold cheesy goodness, setting them on the countertop, and leaving the fridge open for a source of light.

"We're not going to eat them cold, are we?" Steve asked, crinkling his nose in the dim light.

"Well I am, but we can use the microwave thing to warm them up if you need."

Jack saw Steve hesitate for a brief few seconds, before nodding slightly and picking up the entire platter. Jack opened the microwave, and Steve shoved all of the food in, just managing to fit it all in the tight space.

"Okay, now what do we do?" The soldier asked.

"Uh, well these buttons on the side let us heat it up for however long we want to. How long do you think we should put it in for?"

"Well, back in my day, a turkey took a good six or seven hours to cook, but these are a lot smaller, and this thing is supposed to be a lot faster than an oven from the forties, so, uh, an hour?"

Jack nodded his head, punching in the number and wandering to sit at the barstools along the bench and wait.

It was twenty minutes later that a foul smell began to permeate the apartment, and fifteen when a loud explosion rocked through the early morning silence.

Alex Summers bolted out of the armchair he had been snoozing in, looking around wildly for his friend. What was that noise? Where was Jack? Where was Steve? Are they alright? These were some of the questions that rushed through his frazzled brain as he ran wildly over to the kitchen, where there was a gaping hole where the microwave had been, and little bits and pieces of the kitchen appliance scattered across the tiled floor.

"What in the hell?" Alex muttered to himself, getting low to the ground and making his way over to the counter. If there was an intruder in here, there was no way they were getting out without a serious ass kicking, especially if Alex had had anything to do with it.

Alex rounded the corner of the bench, and to his surprise (and great relief) he saw Jack lying under Steve, who was just beginning to get up. By the looks of it, Steve had tackled Jack down when the explosion went off, trying to keep him from harm.

Surveying the area again, Alex noticed that there was some things that wouldn't be part of the microwave scattered across the floor and walls. They were black and burnt, but Alex would recognise his favoured food anywhere. Grilled cheese sandwiches.

In a flash, the ruined microwave, the burnt smell, the guilty look on both Steve and Jack's faces all came together and became clear. He turned his bewildered look on the two who were standing now, Steve looking anywhere but Alex and Jack taking an interest in a piece of twisted metal near his foot.

Alex sighed. "I guess you two need a long lesson on how to use the kitchen appliances, so you don't scare the ever-loving crap out of me next time you want to heat up food."

Jack strolled out back into the cosy living room and joined Steve where he sat on one of the white and grey barstools at the bench, fiddling with his thumbs, eyeing the burnt hole in the wall where microwave had sat.

"Nervous about shirt shopping, are we?" Jack asked cheekily, sliding into his seat, watching as Alex upended the steaming pile of grilled cheese sandwiches into a plastic tupperware container and stashed it away in the fridge for later. Jack made himself a mental note to try one for later, when they were cooler and not as hot.

Steve snorted, glancing at Jack for a second before returning his attention to his thumbs. "Not really, just maybe a little more… ah… wary… about all of the people and all. It's just so strange to see everything so bright and shiny and flashing. Everywhere you look, there's somebody holding a mobile phone, or another automobile beeping at you to move out of the street. Do you know what I mean?" He asked, a desperate glint to his eye.

Jack wanted to tell the truth, wanted to say that even though he had gone through the exact same thing as Steve had gone through, had slept in the ice for seventy years, he was used to it. He was used to watching the world change before his eyes, used to seeing the advancements in technology and trends and how the world evolved. Jack didn't have anybody from the past that he missed dearly, didn't leave any loved ones behind when the ship crashed into the ice.

Steve did, and Jack could see that he missed the past, missed his friends and family with every waking moment, which only made things that much harder on his friend. Jack wanted to be there for him, and was probably the only one Steve could actually relate to about the whole dilemma. Jack didn't want to let him down, or make Steve feel that he couldn't talk to him about his troubles adapting, just because Jack didn't find it too much of a problem. Because regardless, he was there for his friend, the first person he befriended when he woke up, hell, the first person who saw him! Jack still felt overly foreign to some things, like the craziness of the streets or the tall buildings, but things like the 'overly priced loaf of bread' or mobile phones didn't really phase him, because things like the economy and technology were never really things that he paid attention to when he spent his days crossing countries and frolicking in the wind.

"I know right? The world's too busy, there's also a lot more jets and aeroplanes in the air than I was used to." Jack said sheepishly.

"Yes boys, the world sucks, but there are seven billion other people out there suffering as well. Are you ready to go?" The agent asked casually.

Steve and Jack, however, found it quite difficult to move, as their jaws had dropped to the floor. "H-how many people did you saw there were?" Jack stuttered, sharing a glance of confused terror with the soldier beside him.

"Uh, seven billion?" Alex said, throwing a bewildered look at his two dear friends before realisation dawned over his features.

"Oh, uh, that's right. You guys have a lot of catching up to do. Tell ya what, we'll swing by the public library and check out some history books. I'll even look for a fact-book or something, just in case you get tired of reading about the musical trends of the early 80's or something." Alex joked, chuckling to himself.

Steve gave his friend a wary smile, still reeling over the little tibit of information he had just been told. "Thanks Alex, I'm afraid the 'digital ebooks' Fury delivered on this 'tablet' thing just aren't cutting it for me, so some good ol' fashioned books will be a relief."

Jack smiled, nodding distractedly. His mind had wandered elsewhere, back to the figure that haunted his dreams. He hadn't appeared when Jack had passed out on the couch, and Jack can't remember dreaming at all since then.

The spirit was interrupted from his thoughts when Alex clapped his hands. "Alright, it's time to go. We need to buy an entire wardrobe for a winter spirit and a super soldier from the forties, and get a new microwave." The redheaded agent drawled, giving a pointed look in the direction of Steve and Jack, who hung their heads in shame.

"Come on then you two, we've got a big day ahead of us."

A/N: Hey guys, I'm back with another chapter, and with what I consider to be my quickest update in a long while! I hope you guys enjoy, this chapter was more of a bonding/fluffy kind of chapter and it was a little all over the place, so I apologise! I'm looking forward to writing all about the boy's little shopping trip, I promise some laughs. I hope you liked the star scene, and that it didn't sound to weird, I read it over and over again, hoping that it sounded wondrous enough! Thanks for keeping up with the story guys, and don't forget to check out my other story if you have the time! For now, Read, Favourite, Follow and Review! Also, If you haven't seen it already, check out the cover art for this story, it's freaking awesome! All of my heartfelt gratitude goes out to xfireflyskyx for your amazing cover, thanks again!