Warnings for violence, death, mayhem, and vengeance.
also. um. I think this started out less... depressing. and i'm not entirely sure it fills the prompt? sorry.
...
He's spent so long drowning that he lets himself go blank when he surfaces, staring and staring, shoved to his knees, dragged to a van, and it's not until his perfect hearing catches Natasha's little gasps of pain that he blinks and comes back.
He’s spent so long barely living that he’d forgotten he’s alive.
He’s alive. They thawed him and put him to work, aliens and mad scientists and spies and bad guys, Cap, do what you do best, what you were made for.
Because he was. Made for this. Cooked up in a lab.
He’s alive. breathe in, hold it, breathe out. breathe in, hold it, breathe out. that’s it, stevie, you can do this. breathe in, hold it, breathe out.
So is Bucky. Somehow. Bucky is alive and doesn’t know who either of them is, and – and –
Hill breaks them out, takes them to Fury, and he gets platitudes and apologies and half-assed lies, and he burns down Hydra for the second time (for the same man), and Bucky beats the shit out of him and he beats the shit out of Bucky, trying not to scream I’m sorry the whole time, and then he falls.
He hits the water and he’s gone.
.
He surfaces to medics shouting at each other. He goes back under.
.
He’s alive. So is Bucky.
He has to heal. Has to duck the media and the authorities. Has to come up with a plan.
What he tells his friends and what he hoards in his heart are different things.
Captain America has done his duty. Steve Rogers, though, fell down on the job and he’s finally standing back up, getting back in the ring.
Steve Rogers has been drowning for over 70 years but he’s surfaced, now. He’s finally surfaced. He’s alive.
There is only one thing left for Steve Rogers to do.
.
Sam doesn’t say anything the first time Steve executes a blubbering Hydra operative, already on his knees with his hands behind his head. Sam flinches, though, and doesn’t look at Steve for almost five hours.
Sam doesn’t say anything the second, third, or fourth time, either, because the blubbering Hydra operatives were all involved in the Winter Soldier project somehow.
Sam does speak up the first time Steve points his gun at a Hydra operative begging for her life who had nothing to do with the Winter Soldier project.
Steve listens to Sam’s argument. Then he pulls the trigger.
.
Sam goes home and Steve misses him for a little while. But he’s got his mission. He’s breathing and the world’s in color, and he’s not going through the motions because there’s nothing else to do.
He’s doing this for Bucky. There’s nothing else he’d rather do, except be by Bucky’s side.
.
None of Steve’s childhood scars made it onto his new body. None of his new wounds scar.
His lungs don’t stutter and hitch anymore. He can take a full breath and hold it, never have to worry about his lungs failing.
He almost drowned, when he was a kid. Bucky saved him.
Bucky saves him every time.
.
He’s spent more time drowning than he’s spent alive.
But he’s not drowning anymore. He’s alive. So is Bucky.
And when he finally catches up, when Bucky lets him catch up, they’ll face the world together, alive and alive and alive.
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Cap2, Steve, darkish
Date: 2015-01-12 08:25 pm (UTC)Warnings for violence, death, mayhem, and vengeance.
also. um. I think this started out less... depressing. and i'm not entirely sure it fills the prompt? sorry.
...
He's spent so long drowning that he lets himself go blank when he surfaces, staring and staring, shoved to his knees, dragged to a van, and it's not until his perfect hearing catches Natasha's little gasps of pain that he blinks and comes back.
He’s spent so long barely living that he’d forgotten he’s alive.
He’s alive. They thawed him and put him to work, aliens and mad scientists and spies and bad guys, Cap, do what you do best, what you were made for.
Because he was. Made for this. Cooked up in a lab.
He’s alive. breathe in, hold it, breathe out. breathe in, hold it, breathe out. that’s it, stevie, you can do this. breathe in, hold it, breathe out.
So is Bucky. Somehow. Bucky is alive and doesn’t know who either of them is, and – and –
Hill breaks them out, takes them to Fury, and he gets platitudes and apologies and half-assed lies, and he burns down Hydra for the second time (for the same man), and Bucky beats the shit out of him and he beats the shit out of Bucky, trying not to scream I’m sorry the whole time, and then he falls.
He hits the water and he’s gone.
.
He surfaces to medics shouting at each other. He goes back under.
.
He’s alive. So is Bucky.
He has to heal. Has to duck the media and the authorities. Has to come up with a plan.
What he tells his friends and what he hoards in his heart are different things.
Captain America has done his duty. Steve Rogers, though, fell down on the job and he’s finally standing back up, getting back in the ring.
Steve Rogers has been drowning for over 70 years but he’s surfaced, now. He’s finally surfaced. He’s alive.
There is only one thing left for Steve Rogers to do.
.
Sam doesn’t say anything the first time Steve executes a blubbering Hydra operative, already on his knees with his hands behind his head. Sam flinches, though, and doesn’t look at Steve for almost five hours.
Sam doesn’t say anything the second, third, or fourth time, either, because the blubbering Hydra operatives were all involved in the Winter Soldier project somehow.
Sam does speak up the first time Steve points his gun at a Hydra operative begging for her life who had nothing to do with the Winter Soldier project.
Steve listens to Sam’s argument. Then he pulls the trigger.
.
Sam goes home and Steve misses him for a little while. But he’s got his mission. He’s breathing and the world’s in color, and he’s not going through the motions because there’s nothing else to do.
He’s doing this for Bucky. There’s nothing else he’d rather do, except be by Bucky’s side.
.
None of Steve’s childhood scars made it onto his new body. None of his new wounds scar.
His lungs don’t stutter and hitch anymore. He can take a full breath and hold it, never have to worry about his lungs failing.
He almost drowned, when he was a kid. Bucky saved him.
Bucky saves him every time.
.
He’s spent more time drowning than he’s spent alive.
But he’s not drowning anymore. He’s alive. So is Bucky.
And when he finally catches up, when Bucky lets him catch up, they’ll face the world together, alive and alive and alive.