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Sergeant Barnes, Bucky to a gaggle of soldiers he affectionately calls the howling brigade, did not know what to expect of their new commanding officer. He had been told this one was fresh out of officer school, and the non-commissioned men do enjoy bullying those types. He sighed for the third time, irritated at being made to wait for what could yet be another snotty heir to some type of fortune that bought themselves a commission. Some asthmatic little thing with an attitude, he supposed, a runt that’s never held a sword before in its life that expects to order around grown men who among them have seen battle a dozen times and so would barely flinch at a drawn sword. And so what walked out of the officers’ room and headed towards him was not one he was expecting- a blond, blue-eyed demigod, the azure uniform made to fit a body broad and tall, as if the designer of their unit army clothes had this Adonis in mind when they’d thought up the blue and gold braided outfit that hardly suited any of Bucky’s previous superiors.
Bucky felt his mouth go dry as the vision held out a hand to him and in a low, even voice said, “Sergeant Barnes? Captain Steven Rogers, at your service.”
Bucky, as if in a stupor, automatically made a textbook salute and said “sah!”, and only afterwards remembered his captain’s outstretched hand. He looked at the captain’s face in alarm, but the captain only had a pleasant smile on his face as he closed his hand and withdrew it in the face of Bucky’s impromptu salute. The captain drew himself to his full height and returned Bucky’s salute with one of his own. “At ease, sergeant.”
“I’m sorry sir, I had not noticed,” Bucky began, as soon as he put down his hand, nervous he made offense at his superior who earlier he had been imagining and mocking in his mind as some pompous twerp, but the captain shook his head and waved away Bucky’s oncoming apologies with a hand. “Please, sergeant, I should commend you for your propriety instead. I had been too informal. I can see that you would be a tremendous help to me. This is, as you know, my first posting.” Here the captain chuckled, and the sound of his laughter and his pleasing countenance sent a shiver down Bucky’s spine. Bucky gritted his teeth. This was not the kind of meeting he had expected, and this was not the kind of reaction he should have towards his new commanding officer, who he also did not expect to turn out to be.
The captain gestured a hand towards the steps that led out of the old military headquarters, and said, “Walk with me, sergeant.” Gladly, to the ends of the earth if you want, supplied Bucky’s mind unprompted, and Bucky outwardly grimaced at this. The captain unfortunately noticed, and stopped, his face immediately a picture of concern. “Is something the matter, sergeant Barnes?” Bucky inwardly screamed at his own stupidity and fumbled for any excuse. He cleared his throat to buy some time, face coloring from shame, and without meeting the captain’s eye mumbled, “sorry sir, an old wound just smarted out of the blue, sir. Do not trouble yourself sir, it happens from time to time sir.” His captain gave him a look of odd concern, and then nodded. As they continued to walk out of the building his captain said, “Do tell me if it happens again, sergeant. I will see that the army doctors have a look at it. It does no good for our soldiers to be walking around with wounds that still bother them. I have a good friend, a doctor Banner, who could take a look at it if you like.” Bucky, sweat forming on his brow, gave a nervous laugh that he hoped passed for impervious. “Oh, sir, ‘tis nothing. An old war wound, every soldier has one, sir. It aches a bit in the cold, but nothing more, sir.” There was a wry smile on his captain’s face as he looked up to a clear sky and the shining sun. “An interesting wound, then, to ache in summer. Perhaps with an interesting story to go along with it, something you could share with me perhaps in the days to come.”
Oh, there’s more that I’d like to share with you in the days to come, supplied Bucky’s treacherous mind, but this time he was fast enough to not grimace outwardly. He schooled his face into a passive look and stared directly ahead. “Sir.” Bucky said without emotion, the NCO’s handy answer for any problematic questioning officers. He had not noticed his captain watching his face, who smiled again and congratulated himself for getting a sergeant who knew how to act when caught in an outright lie.
“I think we shall get along well, sergeant Barnes.”
Bucky fervently hoped they do, oh how he hoped. “If I might be so bold, so do I sir.”