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Tony wasn’t sure what to expect when FRIDAY alerted him to a disturbance on Steve’s floor in the tower, but It certainly wasn’t The Winter Soldier casually lounging on their couch, eating popcorn, while Captain America trashed the apartment in a rage.
It became immediately apparent that Steve had no intention of pausing his reign of terror, so he turned and shot Bucky a questioning look. He got a half hearted shrug in return.
“Alabama.” Bucky said, and Tony let out a long exhale because yeah, it all made sense now. He was already mentally calculating the cost of replacing the items the Captain was cheerfully destroying, because Alabama was a problem. He found himself dropping down onto the couch with another sigh. Barnes must’ve been feeling generous today because he handed Tony the popcorn bowl, which he eagerly accepted.
“He’s going to do something stupid.” Barnes told him, and Tony couldn’t help but nod in agreement. This wasn’t something that Captain Rogers could let stand.
Steve had put up with a lot since coming out of the ice. He’d managed to come through everything only slightly more fucked up than he had been before, but the thing that he never quite got over, was the fact that people seemed to think he was some kind of conservative, LGBTQIA and woman hater.
It was something that he hadn’t had a chance to correct just yet with everything that had happened between New York and DC, and in retrospect it was probably better that he’d kept his mouth shut, considering that it wouldn’t have done anything except hurt Bucky’s case when he went on trial.
But Steve Rogers was a socialist, and Steve Rogers was also very, very done. This was too far, the line had been crossed, and it was time for Steve to stand up to bullies once again. He wasn’t going to go quietly and he wasn’t going to keep anything to himself anymore.
Bucky had been cleared of all charges once the videos surfaced. They’d had to call early recesses two days of the trial because people get kept getting sick in the court room. So for once, there was no world ending catastrophe, and the people Steve loved had nothing to lose.
“Call Pepper,” he told Tony after he’d realized he was there and his manners prevented him from being able to continue destroying his apartment with his landlord present. “I want her to get me on TV. Preferably, Fox News. I have some things to say.”
“‘Atta Boy, Stevie!” Bucky encouraged from the couch, still eating popcorn out of his metal hand. “I’ll go with you.”
Steve smiled at Bucky with all the love and loyalty of a Golden retriever, “You hate crowds, almost as much as you hate reporters, Buck.”
Bucky just shrugged at him. “You’re not wrong. But this is important. And it’s not like I’m gonna be arrested or anything,” he furrowed his brow “well, at least not for murder.”
Tony had only overheard part of their conversation, as he had been on the phone with Pepper who had in turn been trying to get ahold of the network, which ended up being CNN, Tony and Pepper figured that Fox News wouldn’t allow Steve enough time to say his piece. CNN had gladly accepted Steve’s request, only countering that they wanted a full interview, not just a small segment. Steve, of course, had agreed immediately.
It was scheduled for the next day, and after the details had been sorted Tony went his separate way, but not before telling Steve that he as going to have a few empty floors converted in order to house women who may need help in the coming months and years.
Steve as awoken by Bucky sometime in the middle of the night, they had talked about what Steve as going to say, and Steve was still furious but felt prepared.
Steve turn half asleep eyes to Bucky and waited for him to find his words-he was doing so much better, but words were still hard for him, “Steve, I want you to tell them I’ll protect them If they need it. The women.” He said, and he hoped that Steve understood what he was trying to say. He knew that people were still afraid of him-and with good reason.
Steve looked a little confused, so Bucky tried again. “I want you to tell them that The Winter Soldier will protect them if they need it.”
“You don’t have to do that Bucky.” Steve said and started running his fingers through Bucky’s hair. He knew that it devastated Bucky how weary people were around him, and how much he wished he could leave the soldier behind and just be Bucky Barnes again. But Bucky shook his head. “I know, but if I made people feel safe, wouldn’t that be doing good?”
“Yeah, Buck, that’d be really swell.” Steve said, feeling like his chest was going to burst with affection and pride.
The day dawned the Steve and Bucky awoke early and went our for their daily run, they now started an hour before Sam so that by the time he got there they’d already gotten the majority of their exercise before his arrival.
“You ready, Rogers?” He asked as Steve lapped him for the first time, honestly, he was the worst. At least Barnes tried to keep pace with Sam, even though he was clearly bored.
“Sure am!” Steve said as he lapped them again, leaving Bucky rolling his eyes and Sam wheezing slightly.
They got to the studio around 11:30, Steve wearing jeans and a tee-shirt that said “She has a heartbeat, too.” Flanked on once side by Pepper in her business attire and Bucky on the other also wearing jeans and a “Black Lives Matter” shirt that Nat had given him for his birthday.
The plan was for the interview to go like this: Anderson Cooper would ask Steve questions for about fifteen minutes before a conservative commentator would come join them and they would debate the most recent abortion bills.
After pleasantries were exchanged it was time for the interview to start.
“Welcome to this very special episode of Anderson Cooper 360! Today we are joined by a very special guest, Captain America himself, Mr. Steve Rogers!”
“Thanks Anderson, it’s a pleasure to be here today.” Steve told him, because Sarah Rogers raised her son with manner, thank-you-very-much.
“So, I have to ask, what made you want to come on my show, Captain? You’re notoriously hard to get time with.” He asked.
Steve shrugged, “For many reasons, I’ve been very protective of my personal life since I came out of the ice. During the beginning of my service, I was essentially a propaganda poster and did the interview circuit more times in a year than most people in my position would do in their whole lives. I just needed a break. But I’m happy to be here, talking to you, because the fact is that for too long right wing America has been using my name to further their agenda, and I’ve honestly just had enough.”
“That’s true, the conservative community in America had been known to use you to bolster their causes, and have claimed on numerous occasions that you stand for patriotism and traditional values.”
Steve nodded along, “Absolutely, and I owe many people apologies for maintaining my silence for as long as I have, but I’m done with that now. Ask me whatever you want.”
“It’s been said on numerous occasions that you believe that marriage should remain between a man and a woman, we have a quote here from senator Mitch McConnell, ‘I believe that Steve Rogers would support our initiative to prevent the perversion of Christian marriage.’”
Steve was caught off guard for moment-he’d had no idea it had gotten that bad, he looked pleadingly toward Bucky, because it had become clear that presenting himself as an ally wasn’t going to work either, and waited for Bucky’s nod in return, he’d figured that it would come to this.
“Well, that would be counter productive, considering I have a husband.” Steve told him.
Steve could tell immediately that his bombshell had landed exactly as he intended it to, and it was only years of professionalism that allowed Anderson to catch his jaw before it hit the ground.
“Wow,” Cooper said, “I think everyone would love to hear more about that, no one had any idea you were married at all!”
“Definitely, well, I got married in 2017, actually, so it’s been nearly two years already, even though it feels like it was yesterday.”
Bucky had to cover his mouth to stop his laugh, because it seemed like yesterday, but at the same time, it seemed like it had been ages. Steve and Bucky had gotten married before he’d gone back into cryo after Siberia, he hadn’t known much of anything, but he knew he wanted to be married to Steve Rogers.
“We got married in Wakanda, which is probably why we’ve been able to keep it under wraps for as long as we have. But I’ve been married to Bucky Barnes since 2017, and we’ve been together since 1935.”
“1934!” Bucky shouted from off stage. He turned to the tech next to him, “and I’m the one with memory issues.” He shook his head at Steve.
Steve sighed. “It was New Years Eve. We’ve been having this argument for years.” He rolled his eyes fondly.
“How did that work in the army?” The host asked.
“Well, we were discrete, but at the same time, I liberated an entire HYDRA base on the off chance that one man out of a thousand might be alive, and it just never seemed to matter. Of course, I lead the first integrated and desegregated unit in the war, so we were all closer than many would have expected, because we were all a bunch of talented people who didn’t quite belong anywhere else.”
“Alright, is there anything you want to say before we go to commercial? When we return we will be joined by conservative commentator, and former senator, Newt Gingrich.”
“Yes, actually, I realized this segment is running long and I just want to clarify a few things, “I support universal health care, and equal rights for everyone. I condemn the racial inequality in this country and the police brutality and firmly believe in affirmative action.”
“And we’re back from commercial. Please welcome our second guest, former senator Gingrich.” He said, nodding to the man who had joined the stage over the commercial break. “We’re here to discuss the controversial abortion bill that the state of Alabama passed this week. Captain, I concede the floor to you.”
“The new Alabama abortion bill will strip women of their fundamental rights over their bodies. If this law is put into practice, corpses will have more rights than women in Alabama. In order for your organs to be harvested after your death, you have to sign a consent form in order for them to harvest organs you’re not even using.” Steve began.
“One has nothing to do with the other. This is all about saving babies.” Gingrich returned.
“Alabama ranks 50th in education, you can’t tell me they give a damn about children. Who’s going to pay for all of these babies that the government demands be born? Because the people demanding unwanted pregnancies are carried to term are the same people who want to cut state funded programs like WIC and Head-Start.” Steve was obviously more prepared for this than the person he was meant to be debating.
“And if this is all about saving babies, what about fertility clinics? The Sponsor of this bill publicly said that they don’t count as people because they’re not in a uterus, because they’re not pregnant yet. Tell me, senator, how this isn’t a war on people with uteruses?”
“Again, Captain Rogers, once a baby has a heartbeat it’s clearly a person, and that’s what we’re trying to protect.”
“Okay, what about Savita Halappanavar? She was a woman in Ireland who died because she was having an incomplete miscarriage and the doctors refused to save her life by removing the baby, because it had a heartbeat? Savita had a heartbeat, too, senator. Why does her life matter less than her fetus’?
“That would never happen in this country!’ The senator shouted and It was clear he was getting angry.
Now it was Steve’s turn to get angry “Jesus Christ! Did you even read the bill you came here to debate? There are no exceptions!” Steve turned towards the cameras “Don’t let this garbage double speak fool you, this bill is designed to be challenged. They want to get this to the Supreme Court and eventually overturn Roe. V. Wade, which, In case you were wondering, Mr. Gingrich, was NOT, in fact, the beginning of women having abortions, it was simply the end of women dying from them!”
“You don’t know that.” He yelled at Steve.
“Yes . I. Do. My mother was a nurse in the 1920s, believe me when I say there has ALWAYS been abortion, the only thing that changed was the mortality rate. And do you know what she always taught me? Behind every abortion is a penis.”
“They most certainly did not have abortion back then!” Steve had figured this would get them nowhere, but he was sure he had made his point. He turned back to the camera.
“If you are a person living in a state in which you cannot get safe healthcare, we will help you. We’re creating a safe space for you, we will support you in anyway that we can, until the rights you are so desperately entitled to you, are returned. We will keep you safe.” Steve promised.
“Captain America is conspiring against the state of Alabama! Who are your partners, Captain?”
Turns out Bucky was still a little shit, who knew, because he whistled and waved his metal hand in the senator’s direction. “That’d be me.” He pointed to himself with a metal finger.
“You are a child and your husband is a war criminal!” The senator started on Steve, red faced and angry.
“You’re a woman hating misogynist who tramples on the constitution!” Steve returned, equally as incensed.
“And now a commercial!” Anderson chimed in.
“Well, I think that went well.” Bucky told Pepper.