The air in Brooklyn's winter morning has a crystal-like transparency. The last snowflake that fell just two hours ago highlights the footprints on the street. You can still see the falling snow being trampled under your feet.
solid traces.
Behind the brown wooden window frame and slightly cool-colored glass, a burst of steam rose above the cup. It spun deftly in the air and disappeared. Then the aroma of coffee permeated the entire house, and the cup passed through the snow.
My feet, which were a little stiff due to the cold in the street, were also warmed up.
Stark and Steve were sitting side by side on the sofa in the Hell's Kitchen Psychology Clinic. Steve was turning over the charcoal in the fireplace with iron tongs, while Stark was using a hand with a mecha arm to turn the top of the fireplace.
Flip the heated cookies on the grill.
He glanced back at the kitchen, where Schiller was busy making coffee with a moka pot. Stark turned his head back, raised an eyebrow at Steve, and said, "I'm sure Schiller has been much more normal lately."
Already."
"Do you still remember, how long has it been since we had coffee here?" Steve lowered his head and adjusted the position of the charcoal. The firelight reflected on his face, and Captain America's blue eyes were always clearly reflected.
No matter it is morning light, sunset, or firelight, when he looks at those flames, it always seems like he has lit a lamp in a piece of ice.
"He hasn't been this patient in a long time." Stark said in a recalling tone while flipping cookies, "He didn't even have time to stop and make himself a cup of coffee."
"That's always a good thing, Tony." Steve said with a slight Southern accent and intonation when he was relaxing, maybe from his mother, just like people of that era: "We have a date on Sunday.
I went ice fishing on the lake in the afternoon.”
"Ice fishing? Ha, old guy." Stark smiled brightly, shrugged his shoulders, and almost laughed so hard. He looked at Steve with his smiling eyes and said, "I guess Nick also
Go, maybe Natasha, you must be five hundred years old together, right?"
"You said there was less." Steve started to add new firewood to the fireplace and said: "The Russian scientist who has a grudge against you will also go. He just returned to New York recently and was about to get drunk in the laboratory.
Banner announced that no alcohol could appear on the floor he was on. The poor Russian guy lost three bottles of vodka and could only find some comfort among us old guys."
"I guess you didn't plan on inviting me."
"Of course, because we don't want to offend Pepper." Steve raised his eyelids slightly, looked at the dry firewood in his hand and said, "And your uncle Obadiah, he called each of us to ask
When do you plan to get married?"
Stark started to laugh again. He pressed his upper lip downward until the stubble began to turn white, but he still could not close his grinning mouth. Anyone who saw this expression would be surprised to find that
, behind the cheerful smile of this seemingly mature middle-aged man, there is actually a bit of cute shyness of a teenager.
"Let's talk about Schiller." Stark brought the topic back to the original point again and said: "The mysterious voice told us that the doctor who had a profound influence on Schiller may still be alive. I thought he would
I hurriedly searched for him, but he suddenly became quiet, just like a clipper ship suddenly dropped its anchor."
"Everyone has their own anchor." Steve pursed his lips and tilted his head and said, "This is not what I said, but what I heard on the emotional channel. There is a lot of nonsense there, but there are occasional golden sentences.
"
"I still underestimated your old school. I hope you didn't hear it from the radio in the antique store. It doesn't matter. You are older than it anyway... I mean, maybe Schiller remembered something."
"What do you remember?"
"Why do you think the doctor wanted him to be an ordinary person?" Stark withdrew his hand, propped the heel of his palm on his chin, and watched quietly as the heated biscuit split into tiny pieces from the top.
lines, and then he added: "What do you think is good about ordinary people?"
"When I was an ordinary person, I didn't feel there was anything good about being an ordinary person, but when I became Captain America, I often missed those peaceful days."
"I got some teaching materials from Natasha." Stark's expression was a little weird, as if he wanted to laugh but didn't dare to laugh. He lowered his voice and continued: "I didn't let anyone know.
But you know that I am the hope of many people."
"What are you referring to? What textbook?" Steve raised his eyes and looked at him.
"It was from the Soviet Union." Stark bared his teeth and deliberately made a fierce expression. I don't know if he was warning Steve or those who could observe and spy on him from a distance.
.
"Because Professor
"You know what? Tony, you look like a boy in puberty and your dad burst into the room and explained that the porn magazines under your bed were just for studying your anatomy."
"God, this must be something you have done. I will tell Howard directly that I just like beautiful girls with bulging front and back."
"Hopefully he won't say he likes it too, oh, God, as a young man he would, can you imagine? The most serious person on our team at that time was Nick Fury."
"Don't change the subject. The adjective you just used to describe the pile of books cannot be heard by Schiller. They take this matter very seriously, but I do seem to understand something."
"About ordinary people?"
"Maybe." Stark turned over the cookie closest to him with his gauntleted hand again, but it wasn't because he cared about the heat, it was like he wanted to find something to do for himself.
"One of the most interesting and inspiring points of view for me is that they regard the development of the group and each individual in the group as equally important, both for social progress and for people's happiness."
"Sounds very idealistic."
Stark looked up at Steve in surprise, and then said, "I thought you were also an idealistic person."
"I am, that's why I made this comment." Steve showed a smile, and then said: "When you are an idealist, you can understand who is the real idealist and who is exaggerating.
.”
"It seems that Schiller is a beneficiary of this kind of thinking." Stark lowered his head slightly, letting his eyelashes cover his eyes and cover up the meditation in them, and then said: "I guess that doctor is
It was with this thought that I had to save him no matter what."
"Did he also come to save us with this idea?" Steve didn't sound like he was asking, more like he was prompting.
"I also speculated that maybe the doctor's performance was the reason why Schiller chose to be a psychiatrist, using the same thoughts and knowledge to save others."
"He succeeded." Steve said as he nodded.
"...But it's still a little worse." Stark changed his hand to support his chin and said: "When I feel anxious and confused, what comforts me?"
"Maybe it was some of Schiller's plans to push me and the surrounding environment forward, but it was more of a power that Schiller showed as a doctor."
"...a calm force." Steve continued: "What can comfort others is never irritability, madness or eagerness, but the sense of security brought by calmness and strength."
"At that time, he was calmer than us." Stark shook his head slightly and said, "It seemed like he had the answers to all the questions we couldn't figure out."
"At that time, he was more like a doctor. Have you heard Professor
Steve shook his head, but still said: "But it is true that as we became more familiar with him, the more we could see his madness, and then we wanted to cure this madness. From then on, he
It becomes more like a patient."
"But it seems that now he wants to be a doctor again." Stark clasped his hands together, stroked the back of the other hand with one hand, and said, "Because he remembered the one who healed him.
The key to a doctor is not whether the doctor is alive or where he is now, but what he taught Schiller, and why Schiller followed the same path as him without hesitation."
"For the things mentioned in those textbooks?" Steve lowered his head but raised his eyes and asked.
"Maybe it's also to let there be more idealists in this world." Stark's face rarely softened, without the sarcasm that often hung in the corner of his eyebrows, and the sneer that was often stuck in the ravines of his face.
Irritated, he looked into Steve's blue eyes and said.
"The doctor cured him and made him realize how much beneficial changes can be made to the world with sufficient spiritual strength and ideals. So he cured us so that we can have more room to think more.
Something about all mankind.”
"And we should have continued to pass this on, but the craziness he displayed forced us to focus more on him to prevent him from hurting himself, so that we were not actually healing the anxiety of those around him.
and bewildered.”
"So he's back to normal?" Steve glanced up at Schiller behind the island again, and said, "In order for this transmission to continue?"
"More like pretending to be normal." Stark was not so optimistic. He said: "He changed from a patient to a doctor, again."
"Then should we continue to think of ways to treat him?"
"I think it's better to leave this to Professor X." Stark sighed softly and said, "Let professional people do professional things."
"Professor X is a bit too professional." Steve exhaled as if he suddenly relaxed.
He suddenly laughed deeply, and the muscles of his strong arms contracted and trembled. He added the last piece of firewood to the fireplace and said: "Our doctor is coming back, right?"
"Yes, this also means that we have to conduct professional psychological evaluations on time, and I have to pay a lot of mental health management fees for this."
"Thank you for your generosity, Tony. I should see Nick proudly showing off his new fishing rod this Sunday afternoon."
A hand crossed Stark's shoulder and placed a cup of coffee in front of him. As soon as Stark turned around, Schiller had already walked past the fireplace and placed another cup of coffee on Steve's side.
before.
Schiller walked back to the island, holding the last cup of coffee in his hand, and sat down on the single sofa next to the fireplace. He relaxed his waist, let his back rest completely on the back of the sofa, and took a sip of the hot coffee.
, let out a sigh of satisfaction.
"What were you two talking about just now?" Schiller asked.
"Nick's new fishing rod." Steve picked up the biscuits on the plate, put the plate on the table, and said, "Comes from the generous sponsorship of the wealthy Tony Stark."
"And cliché, us," Stark added.
"You guys?" Schiller took a sip of coffee, turned to look out the window at the falling snowflakes again, and said.
"I'm sorry, but I don't offer emotional counseling here, especially when it comes to Iron Man and Captain America."