New York (Nico and the Avengers)

4. Captain America

Steve's POV

I take a breath before knocking on Nico's door quietly. I don't expect him to be up but surprisingly he throws the door open. "What is it?"

"I was going for a run and I was wondering if you wanted to come?"

"Outside?" he asks and I nod before he says, "That sounds great, just give me a minute, I'm not dressed to go out." I nod because he does need shoes to go for a run. I'll probably need to slow down but I'm fine with losing a run to get to know Nico better. He's just a kid no matter what Natasha says. And if he was raised by HYDRA then he's never had a real family. Maybe we can be that for him, even though we aren't a family.

"I'm ready," he says, shaking me out of my thoughts.

"Great, I should warn you I usually go pretty far so if you need to slow down or go back don't be afraid to tell me,"

"Okay," he says before following me down to the street.

Ten minutes later he's keeping up surprisingly well and I actually speed up a bit. Was he a runner before or is he just really talented? Wait...where is he? I look around and see him on the other side of the park. God, I'm an idiot. He wants to leave, I should've expected him to try to run away. But without his stuff? That doesn't seem very smart.

As I muse over what he's doing I speed up and he notices and starts to really sprint. I speed up and manage to overtake him but he won't stop. I guess he really does want to get away. When he evades my hand for the third time I just tackle him. "Just stop, I'm not letting go," I say when he keeps trying to break free. He seems to realize that he's trapped because he sighs and stops thrashing. "Do you promise to stay if I let go of you?" He nods. "Use words."

"Fine, I promise to stay, is that good enough?" I get off him but keep a close watch and as soon as he's free he takes off again. I kinda expected that.

"Well it appears your word is worthless" I say when I've got him trapped again. "So I guess I'll just have to hold onto you the whole way back to the tower. What were you going to do about your stuff?"

"I threw it out the window."

"Smart, but what if someone stole it?"

"There's a lot of cameras, and it's not worth much to anyone else."

"Smart, have you done this before?" He doesn't answer, like I expected. "Okay, we'll grab your stuff and then go in."

"Why won't you guys let me go? Just say you didn't notice when I ran off and I'll be out of your way."

"You need somewhere to stay, somewhere safe." I add the last but on when he seems to be preparing to argue he does have somewhere safe. I want to tell him our suspicions, but that could backfire a lot. I'll let the spies deal with that.

"Do you want breakfast?" No answer. Alright then. "Do you want anything to drink?" Still nothing but silence. I believe he's being, what's the word, sullen. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Let me go."

"I can't do that, I'm sorry. But I can offer you some healthy food."

"Then leave me alone." He says and walks off. I start my breakfast but he's back before too long, and Natasha is with him.

"Why were you wandering around there?"

"I got lost."

"Why didn't you ask JARVIS for help?"

"...I forgot. Where I'm from the ceiling doesn't usually give you directions."

"Where are you from?"