NOTHING MUCH CHANGED AFTER THAT. It would be easy to say that the two fell madly in love not long after and fell into a whirlwind of romance that resulted in a happily ever after just two days after their professed mutual like in the back of a dark restaurant, but that was simply not the case.

In reality, not much changed, though it couldn't be said that Sam didn't sit closer to Nicky whenever he swung by the loft with or without Steve, and it couldn't be said that Nicky didn't smile a lot more whenever Sam was even mentioned, which was truly saying a lot, and it definitely couldn't be said that Steve didn't owe Rhett fifty dollars after receiving a text from Sam later that night.

Small changes. But it was the little things that counted, and those little things would stack up over time, but, for now, they remained small.

Sam was lounging around the loft, waiting for Nicky to return, only for Steve to enter the room, immediately grinning at the sight of him, the older man scoffing and turning away, trying to hide on the couch.

"I find it funny that we're the only ones here, you know, since we don't live here," Steve said conversationally, plopping down onto one of the couches and stretching his unfairly large body, "Don't you think, Sam?"

"Don't you have an apple pie to choke on?" the older man asked, his eyes closed as he faced the ceiling.

Steve laughed, and, even with his eyes closed, Sam could see the grin on his face, the same one he had used when they formally met after running alongside each other back in D.C.. It was a smile that Sam had grown to both love and be wary of, but that didn't stop him from going along with whatever plan Steve had; the man had yet to have a plan that he just couldn't agree to.

"How's Rhett?" Sam drawled, trying to gain the upper hand in the conversation, looking over and giving the man a sly smile.

To his surprise, Steve didn't blush and stammer, nor did he give his own grin in response. Instead, he was serious, though not somber. "He's good. Great, really, he's been a lot happier since Hyde was put away."

Christian Hyde was a man who, for all intents and purposes, had been hunting Rhett throughout the decades, given the same serum that he had been given, though much more adept at controlling its effects, unlike Rhett, who had gotten trapped in the 21st century, thus his meeting Nicky. But the man had been apprehended during Christmas just passed, and life had been much more calm.

"I'm still not so right on how Nicky got himself tangled up with a guy who grew up during the same time as you," Sam said, "And I'm happy for him, honestly. You two seem really happy."

"We are," Steve said, glad to not have to acknowledge the first half of Sam's statement, as it wasn't his story to tell, "At least, I hope we are."

Sam sat up at that, sobering instantly. "Hey, did something happen?"

Steve shook his head quickly, eyes widening. "No, we're still good, don't worry. I just—I hope he's not getting bored of me."

Sam couldn't help but snort. "Man, are you seriously worried about that? Rhett loves you, anyone can see that, he gets these heart eyes whenever he sees you, it's disgustingly cute."

Steve laughed softly, staring at his hands. "You think so?"

Sam nodded. "Definitely. I mean, it's not that hard, Steve, have you looked in a mirror? Though, I mean, you're putting Rhett in a really dangerous position."

The blond jerked, raising his head and staring at Sam with clear worry and panic. "What do you mean, I thought we were safe, Tony said Ross wasn't looking for us or anything."

Sam shrugged. "Yeah, I don't think he is, but you gotta admit, when Thor gets back to Earth, there are gonna to be problems."

Steve turned a bright shade of red, his entire body warming in both embarrassment and indignation, hissing through clenched teeth, "Rhett doesn't know about that."

Sam threw his head back, his laugh filling the loft as Steve loudly protested, begging him not to tell. There truthfully wasn't much to tell, but it still filled Sam with an paralleled amount of joy to know that Steve was still not willing to admit that he had had a brief relationship with the god; not much came of it, but it was still enough to have Steve turning bright red.

"There's really not anything to tell," he breathed, finally calming down, rubbing his face, "And I don't think he'd mind if I did."

Steve made a sound in the back of his throat just as the door opened, revealing Nicky and Rhett who were carrying similar sets of takeout bags, their looks of fear melting away into matching surprised grins, and Sam could feel it on his face, but he'd be damned to admit he was smiling the same smile Steve was, because he had spent far too long making fun of the dopey smile to wear it himself.

"Hi," Nicky greeted, vaulting onto the couch, expecting Sam to move his legs, only to find the man raising his eyebrow challengingly. With an indignant huff, Nicky just intertwined their legs, crossing his arms and turning over towards Rhett who was lying down next to Steve, already halfway asleep.

"Long day?" Sam called out towards the man, and all he received was a mumbled reply for his troubles.

"The school had a rally where the teachers were pitted against each other. It got really intense, apparently," Nicky explained, grinning when Rhett whined, burying his face deeper into the crook of Steve's neck, the younger man just rubbing his back.

"You didn't answer your phone, he needed your help," Nicky said to the still conscious blond, and Steve ducked his head.

"Sorry about that, I still haven't really got the hang of phones? I know it's been nine years, but there's only so much I can get in that amount of time," he explained, rubbing the back of his neck, looking over to Sam who nodded in agreement, explaining that, yes, Steve truly was a grandpa.

"You gone back?" Sam asked, addressing Nicky, "To the school, I mean. It's been a while, I missed our reunion."

Nicky nodded. "Yeah, it has. I missed our reunion too. Saw the list, not many of us were coming back. But it'd be nice to swing by, see what changed. You think Fleming is still there?"

Rita Fleming was their show choir teacher, a woman already nearing retirement age when they were in school, though she was still incredibly sprightly for a woman with entirely gray hair and eye glasses thicker than a drinking glass. She had also been the drama director and guidance counselor, so everyone in the school had had some interaction with her at least once during their four years; Nicky had been her apprentice of sorts, at least when it came to counseling.

"You should drop by tomorrow," Steve suggested, then glanced over to Sam, "Though...do you think you're going to get found out is you go visit?"

"I think I have some immunity after that whole thing back down in D.C.," the man replied, "I don't think immunity is the right word, but there's a level of safety around myself. Guess that's a perk of serving two tours."

Steve snorted, nodding. "Yup. It's not like there're any problems once we get back from the war."

Nicky's eyes darted between the two of them, clearly unnerved by the easy tone they used when discussing something so difficult. Though it wasn't as if he hadn't seen this before, Diana and Harry often joked about their depression in the same manner, though it was something he expected of them, not of the two veterans in front of him.

"So," Sam said, turning back to him and smiling, nudging his foot with his own, "We're going back to school."

º º º

"I wanna go home, I don't like this."

Sam laughed as he and Nicky made their way towards the familiar school building in the familiar part of New York that was still home to Sam, but was practically foreign to Nicky, the man only having visited during the week when he took care of the other man, though he hadn't stuck around more than he had to.

Nicky couldn't help but feel like he was back in high school, still the small, scared pre-teen who didn't belong with the older, more mature teens who barely paid him any mind, much to his delight. Yet there was a part of him that was still buzzing with the excitement of the new ideas he had and the thoughts of how he could get the parts, or back in senior year that was excitedly waiting for the next time he would see Terran or the others in the complex.

He didn't like the nostalgia.

"We'll just go in and go out," Sam reasoned, linking their arms together as they made their way up the stairs, heading towards the office, "I wanna say hi to Gale."

Trying not to sigh, Nicky agreed and followed the older man towards the office where they were greeted by an older woman who was typing away at the computer, making notes while teacher aide's sat on their phones on the chairs.

"Hey, Gale," Sam greeted conversationally, grinning over at Nicky who couldn't help but smile back.

"How's it going?" she asked distractedly, and the two men stifled their laughter, coming to stand next to each other. After a few moments, she glanced up towards them and gasped, laughing. "Oh! Oh my gosh, I didn't realize—"

Nicky and Sam laughed as the chatted with the woman, grinning as she explained that she had forgotten they had graduated so many years before, barely even recognizing Nicky until he reintroduced himself and her face lit up with recognition and surprise.

"Sam, I heard about something involving you and—" Gale began, but he shushed her quickly, quietly explaining that he really shouldn't even be here, begging that she not mention his being there, requesting she say the same to other teachers who might catch sight of him.

"We're just here to see what changed," he finished, and Gale, though looking very troubled, agreed, glancing over to Nicky who smiled grimly towards her, typing furiously on his phone, hacking into the social media and private messaging accounts of all the teachers linked up to the private school wifi, making sure they couldn't mention his or Sam's being there.

"Okay," she relented, "It was good to see you boys again." Nicky pocketed his phone, giving her the same response before following Sam out into the hallways, looking around.

"It's just after lunch, she's got drama class," he recited, eyes raised towards the ceiling as he tried to remember the schedule the woman had had back when they were in school, "Let's go around for a bit before he crash."

"Let's go see if the trophies and pictures are still there," Sam suggested, and Nicky followed along, glad that the hallways were, for the most part, empty.

"You don't wanna go visit your old coach?" the younger man asked as they smiled at the hanging pictures of the football team from years before, making their way around, searching for drama and show choir pictures.

Sam shook his head. "Nah, they don't have the same guy. He died a few years ago."

Nicky stopped in his tracks, shell shocked. "Sam..."

"It was a while ago, everyone's alright now," the older man said, giving him a smile, though Nicky's frown didn't let up.

"Don't look at me like that, you're not my therapist," Sam sighed, rolling his eyes and pulling him to his side, an arm slung around his shoulders.

Nicky didn't say anything, just walked with him and smiled when he saw their show choir group photo when he and Sam were seniors, as well as the photos of drama productions, some he remembered working on and others that were new.

"Been a while," Sam hummed, his arm still around Nicky, "You're so small."

"Shut up," Nicky scoffed, but he leaned further into Sam's side, glancing down the hall to the clock on the wall, "We can head down now."

The two made their way downstairs, Sam's arm dropping from Nicky's shoulder as they pulled open the double doors to the auditorium, hearing the tell-tale sound of students working and Rita Fleming helping out.

Sam looked over to Nicky and gave him a sly grin before raising his voice and shouting, "Ms. Fleming, there's a rat by the door!"

Nicky and Sam cackled as shrieks came from the unknowing students while the woman in question loudly demanded to know which one of her old choir students was going to be removed from her will once she died, shouting for them to come out since she couldn't run around to meet them.

A long running gag since the two were in freshman year, it referenced the rat problem the school had had when they first started, and it never got old, no matter how many years had gone by.

"Sam! Nicholas! Oh, look at you two, you're all grown up!" Ms. Fleming gasped as they appeared around the corner, and she rushed over to hug them, Sam and Nicky both needing to lean down slightly, which wasn't something they were often able to do.

"It's so good to see you again," she gushed, turning to introduce them to her students, only for Sam to catch her at the last second, pulling her aside and explaining their situation.

"I'm sorry, you can't tell anyone I'm here," Sam said, "Please make sure that Gale doesn't tell anyone else. Please?"

Ms. Fleming nodding firmly, completely serious. "I promise. But what are you doing back here, and together no less, I never expected you two to reconnect after graduation."

"It's an interesting story," Nicky said, taking over, "But we just wanted to swing by and see what changed. Not much, huh, though the seating's new. How's the booth?"

"We actually got it completely revamped, as well as the backstage," the woman exclaimed, and the two men let out similar shouts of excitement and she laughed, "I can't show you now, but you have to drop by sometime again and I'll give you the tour. Oh, and you have to come see the show we're putting on. You'll never guess what it is." She gave Sam a conspiratorial smile, pointing over towards Nicky.

A slow grin creeped onto the older man's face while a look of abject horror crawled onto Nicky's.

"Yes..."

"No..."

"We're putting on No Place Like Gnome!" the woman exclaimed, and Sam's laughed, grabbing onto Nicky who groaned, nearly falling over.

"Why?" the younger man demanded, "Why would you do that to these children?"

"It's been rewritten, it's pretty good now," Ms. Fleming explained, and Nicky immediately turned towards one of the students who had a script in their hands.

"I'm the lead," the boy explained, handing over the script, "Aren't you the guy who originally played him?"

"Unfortunately," Nicky mumbled softly, flipping through the pages and the sheet music, "You having fun?"

The boy glanced over towards Ms. Fleming before shrugging, figuring that he might as well tell Nicky the truth. "Not really. I mean, the script's okay, I guess, but the new kids are really annoying."

Nicky smiled. "I've heard that a lot. I was always in tech, so I just got to hear the gossip and the yelling from far away. Hang in there. You wanna do this kinda thing as a career?"

Sam and Ms. Fleming shared a look, both surprised by how easily Nicky had fallen into conversation with the younger boy, and especially by how comfortable he was talking to the older man.

"I wish," the boy sighed, "But I don't know if my mom'll let me. Or if I can even afford it."

Nicky gave him an encouraging smile. "Try to apply. Talk to your mom, explain that this is something that makes you happy. And if you ever need any help," he reached into his pocket and pulled out his business card, "Give me a call."

The boy raised an eyebrow. "Why're you helping me?"

Nicky shrugged. "When I was your age, I had no idea if I was even gonna get to college. I had someone to help me. I'd like to return the favor."

The boy grinned and pocketed the card. "You're alright, man. I'm Jason."

Nicky raised his eyebrows. "That's my middle name. Nice to meet you, Jason, I'm Nicky."

The boy's wide grin grew even wider, and it surprised Nicky the way his own surprised everyone else. "My middle name's Nicholas. What's your last name?"

"Green," the older man replied.

"Blue," the boy laughed.

"I'm terrified," Sam hissed, and Ms. Fleming stifled a laugh.

"We better get going," Nicky said, heading back towards Sam, but Jason called out after him.

"You're coming to the show, right?" he asked, wide eyed and hopeful, "Tech week's in two weeks, the show's during that Friday."

Nicky glanced over to Sam, quirking an eyebrow. "You up for it?"

The older man sighed. "Man, I watched you in this show three times, why the hell not. We'll be there. Good luck, kid."

"There is also a choir performance an hour before the show starts," Ms. Fleming added, and the two men grinned brightly, happily agreeing to also show up for that.

So with that they headed home, Sam with his arm around Nicky again, the two happily chatting about what had changed and what hadn't, laughing and joking like they would have when they were younger, if things had been different.

"Who were you talking about when you said you had someone to help you through college?" Sam asked as they hopped onto the train home, standing by one of the poles.

Nicky shrugged. "That guy I mentioned before."

Sam nodded, licking his lips. "Does this guy have a name?"

Nicky nodded. "Of course he does."

Sam sighed; so he was going to be difficult about it. Deciding not to pry, he just gripped the pole, the two standing in a tense silence as they headed back to Brooklyn.

That was the thing about nostalgia. It was a bittersweet release. It was all fun and games until the want became too much.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Of course I ended it sad. We're not quite nearing the end of this, but we're also nearing the end of this, so let's get prepared because things are gonna get...rough.

Also, can you believe that I love to make kid characters who relate to my characters like I'm super attached to Jason Nicholas Blue, and I didn't even plan for him to exist, that's so wild.

Also Steve Rogers is super bi for Thor, thanks for coming to my TEDTalk.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!