punched_hitler | ☆ 33 ☆ (TEXT; Private to Bucky

[TEXT: Private to Bucky]
Hey, I need you to hang on to something for me for a little while, if you don't mind.

[SPAM; OTA]
[It's not that there's a new guy on the Barge - there's not. But anyone used to seeing Captain America around might notice that he's conspicuously missing as of Saturday - or, at least, he's not six-foot two and two hundred twenty pounds anymore. He's five-foot four and about a hundred pounds soaking wet, and he's not apologetic about it in the least. Same haircut, same voice, same style of dress (at least he asked for some civilian clothes that would fit), same attitude.

Steve goes about his day the same as he ever has - he goes for a run through the Barge early in the morning, and he shows up for his lunch shift in the kitchens and his shifts in the infirmary on time. He shows up at T'Pol's cabin for meditation, and he's even in the gym sometimes, working out against the bags. It's just that his mile has gone from two minutes to twenty, and he's got an inhaler in his pocket for those times when running or climbing the stairs - he's not taking the elevator, he refuses - gets to be a little too much.

Of course, he knows people are going to notice, but unless someone says something to him first, they're not going to hear a word about it from him. Actions speak louder than words, after all.]

[ooc: If anyone needs a reference, 1, 2, & 3, just with this haircut, still. Feel free to recognize him or not!]

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[It's impossible for Steve not to notice the way Bucky's hunkered down. It's not the same as when he's thinking about bolting - it's different, somehow, which means something else is causing it, and it doesn't take half a brain to guess what. He's watching Bucky's jaw clench and flex, unhappily, when Bucky speaks up and practically startles him.

He glances at the shield, then back frowning a little more.] Yeah, but I'm just gonna have to resort to some different tools, for now. If you need that, you take it, and you use it. Sergeant.

[Yeah, it's ridiculous to pull rank, and they both know it. But he means it. Use it, dumbass, because in Steve's mind, you never lost the privilege to hold it. You never had to earn it.

And he should leave it at that, maybe, but he just can't stop himself from going on, because he still hates the look on Bucky's face, and the way he feels like he's miles away, even when he's sitting right there.] Look. Talk to me. I can see you sitting there chewing on that piece of your mind, so give it to me.

[He's always relied on Bucky to keep him in check. Maybe he never listened, outwardly, but Bucky's always been his common sense. Always told him when he's really put his foot in it. If he's done the wrong thing, he want to hear it. If Bucky just wants to sit there and scream... Steve actually wants that, too. Anything would be better than this.]

[Something in him half bristles with discomfort when Steve calls him that, because there's a reason he hasn't put his uniforms back on. He's an enemy of the state, it feels wrong to be called by his old rank, even if he misses it desperately, too. He just doesn't deserve it anymore, doesn't deserve to feel proud of what he helped accomplish. Not when he was the primary instrument of taking it down.

Steve's next comment finally gets Bucky's wary (more like startled) eyes back on him while he tries to figure out what the hell to say. There's a lot, between wanting to go back to yelling at him and wanting to scream about how unfair this is, or even just laughing it off and trying to get things back to normal, even if that sounds a lot less appealing than the other two.

He chews his lip thoughtfully for a moment, brows furrowed with something like anxiety while he tries to figure out what to say.]

I'm worried. [Seems like a decent place to start, even if the words feel awkward in his mouth. He's not sure if that's exactly what he should have said here, or if it's something he would have said before. If that should even matter.

At least he sounds a little more confident as he continues.]

I get why you're doing it, but I think it's stupid. [But the thought of exactly why he thinks it's stupid makes his throat seal up again, because he remembers what it had been like finding Steve's body, and the idea of it happening again-

He shakes his head, looking away again.]

This changes a lot, Steve.

[That's exactly, exactly the reason Steve hadn't told Bucky that HYDRA had come back. Exactly that, because he hadn't wanted him to feel like everything had been worthless, just because he'd been a part of that monster. Steve meant it when he'd said that not one single thing HYDRA had made him do could undo all of the good that he'd done before they'd sunk their venomous claws into him.

Either way, when Bucky starts, Steve just lets him talk. It doesn't matter, really, what he would have said before. What matters is what he's saying now. He's not surprised when Bucky says he thinks it's stupid - part of Steve knows it is, and he expected Bucky to say so. But he's not sure what it changes, not really.]

What does it change? [He doesn't sound angry, or accusing. In fact, his voice is quiet, like he's afraid the question will make Bucky bolt.] I'm just me. I'm human, like a lot of the other wardens on this Barge. Like a lot of the inmates. That's all.

[It's maybe one of the first times he's ever even said anything that obliquely indicates that he was something else. It's always been this strange, weird point, because even with the serum, he was human. He wasn't like Schmidt, he took pride in that, he didn't think he was some superior race, but it would be imbecilic to say he was the same as everybody else, too. Which is exactly why he asked the Admiral to undo it.]

I know I'm a pain in your ass, but... I know you have my back. Even when I didn't have yours.

☆ 33 ☆ (TEXT; Private to Bucky | SPAM; OTA)

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