sorry, goop.

Books were always there for Steve when he was just a helpless kid in desperate search of an escape, whether it was after they got news his father had been KIA, during the worst of the depression, or when he refused to leave the side of his mother's death bed. Now, Darrow offers all of the escapism a man could want, but he always was a sentimental one. For too long, books and Bucky were his only friends. There was nothing he could do about missing the latter, but far be it from him to abandon the former. Besides, he had time to spare these days.

After milling around the shelves for a few minutes, Steve came across a table display that offered staff recommendations. He amused himself by trying to to match each book to its recommender, starting with the girl with braces behind the cashier who couldn't be more than seventeen, which was pushing it. Hers, he decided, was Unremembered, the thrilling tale of 16-year-old Seraphina, who survives a deadly airplane crash without a scratch. He wondered if the word unremembered would pass the spell check on his city issued cellphone. Next, he picked up It's All Good: Delicious, Easy Recipes That Will Make You Look Good and Feel Great, which the dust jacket informed him was written by an Academy Award winning actress named Gwyneth Paltrow, who also happened to be a bestselling cookbook author. She was pictured on the cover smiling in front of a crate of cucumbers, and Steve was surprised by the striking resemblance she bore to the woman Tony Stark had appointed CEO of Howard's empire. He'd never been formally introduced but they had exchanged looks across a busy room during one of the many debriefs at S.H.I.E.L.D. that followed the battle in New York, and in that one look she had managed to convey that she shared his own exasperation with the younger Stark. This selection he attributed to a young man who looked as if he spent more time at the gym than he did here at work and whose skin was inexplicably tanned for the weather they had been having. Just now he was chatting up a pair of well-dressed women who seemed even less interested in the merchandise than he. Still, they hung on his every word.

Setting the cookbook down, Steve moved on to The Devil in the White City, and despite his best efforts, he could feel his eyes growing wider with every line that he read from the synopsis.

so how 'bout them Yankees?

Who knew that basketball would become so popular? Steve wouldn't have called it, but as he waits eagerly for the start of baseball season, it seems that recent happenings in college basketball are all anyone can talk about. He could always watch the game in elsewhere, but he appreciates the environment of sports bars, even if he's not too keen on the bar fights that inevitably break out between fans of opposing teams.

It took four beers for Steve to start feeling what can best be described as tingly, and even then, he had no trouble getting to his feet and making his way to the men's room. There were but two urinals, so he had no choice but to stand closer than he'd like to the only other man in the room. There they stood in that special kind of heavy silence that manage to feel uncomfortable without even trying, punctuated by the rhythm of a soft stream and then the too-loud flushing sound. One thing Steve was grateful for: it's automatic now. As awe-inspiring and inventive as modern technology can be, for Steve it's always the little things that most impress.

Finally, when they were both hunched over open faucets, Steve decided break the awkward silence. He caught the other man's reflection in the mirror and asked a question that had been bothering him for a while now. "Hey, you have any idea when the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles?"