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“Man, what the hell where you thinking?”
“I don’t know!”
“Yeah, I’ve got that much.”
“Sam…”
“I mean, a seventeen-year-old?” – the other man questioned, seeing the brunette curve more into himself at it, shoulders low, face tight with emotion.
“I know.” – he snapped back, exasperated, sighing. – “Sam, I know…”
The blue-eyed man pushed his hair out of his face with his flesh fingers. Metal one deliberately placed on his knees, palm down.
“Please tell me you’re not the one who’ve gone after him. He’s an impressionable kid!”
“I didn’t!” – he retorted, defensively, looking down and away from the other one. – “He just wouldn’t leave me alone! I-… I’ve tried to push him away, Sam. I said all those things and he just wouldn’t listen!... And I like him. God forgive my damned soul, but I do. It’ just-… He’s so good, y’know? The other day, he saw a little kid running around, wailing for their mom at the supermarket, and he just got down on his knees and talked to them all soft and gentle, calming ‘em down and then took ‘em to the front desk to announce the lost kid and find their mother and only turned away when the woman came rushing, y’know? And he didn’t even stop to think about it, he just did it like it was second nature. And it was, ‘cause he’s good like that.”
“Man, the kid thrown an airport panel at you once.” – Sam interjected disbelievingly, getting a soft laugh out of him.
“Well, all the better, then. Means he can fend for himself.”
“It’s just… I know he’s at age, but he’s still so young…”
“Yeah… Yeah, I know.” – he agreed, rubbing his forehead tiredly. – “Ain’t a fan of that either. But when I look at him, it’s like finally seeing the sun again.”
“… Man, he’s not Steve. He’ll never be him.”
“I-… I know that too, Sam. Look-… I miss him, ok? I miss Stevie more than I miss my own limb. And I’d give almost anything to be able to see him just one more time, yes, but I don’t believe anymore that this thing is about him. I'm not trying to replace him. I don’t believe I’d ever be able to do that even if I wanted to, anyways. No one can take Steve’s place. But-…”
“…You like him.”
“Yeah, I do. And he’s so fucking young-…”
“Look, can’t say I’m pleased about it all, but I am relieved you care about it at least.” – Wilson said, sitting back and crossing his arms unhurriedly. – “You being a gentleman, right? Not moving too fast, not pressuring him into anything he's not ready for, not trying to make his mind about-, y’know-…”
“First of all, fuck you for even having to ask that… Secondly-, would you even believe me if I said he’s the one who’ve jumped me?”
“Well… he is 17…And enhanced too. Must suck royally, be a genetically enhanced horny teen.”
“…I’ll say no more of the matter.”
“Ooh…Nice… A man doesn’t just kiss and tell, right?”
“Not a decent one, no.” – agreed him seriously, getting a snort as an answer. – “What?”
“… Such a square…”
“What, you wanna hear about it now? That’s creepy.”
“… Asshole. Of course I don’t wanna hear it. I’m just trying to be supportive of your new crazy bullshit, since it clearly makes you less miserable.”
“Geez, thanks…”
“I mean it. You’re a sad, sad sack.”
“Gosh, they still say that these days? The future sometimes is so disppointing…”
“Like I said: Asshole.”
“Yeah, well, they do say we see in others what we refuse to see in ourselves, right?”
“I hate you…”
“Hate you too buddy... Hate you too.”
“…So, you happy now? Like, for real: he makes you happy?”
“I’ve forgotten how it feels to have things being easy. But everything about him - besides the age thing -, just is. He makes be around him so uncomplicated, and he expects so little of everyone, anything I do or say seems to take him by surprise. And then he looks so happy, I feel like I could get used to it. I feel like maybe I can belong somewhere here after all.”
“Nice sentiment.”
“It really is.” – Bucky agreed, smiling tenderly.
“Yeah, yeah, okay… All this is so sweet it’s givin’ me diabetes.”
“And I’m the asshole here?”
“Well, you stick around by your own choice, man. Can’t complain about what you seek. It’s a take it or leave it kind of thing.”
“You make being your friend so difficult, I have no idea how Stevie managed…”
“Well, he wasn’t an ass like some people I know.”
“You’re still salty about me kicking your ass, ain’t ya?”
“Beaten by a genetically modified, highly trained super soldier. Oh my poor, fragile male pride can’t take it.” – the other man answered mockingly, putting his hands over his chest for effect.
“Y’know this new century really opened my eyes about how stupid some things men do really are.”
“We should know by now that women are the superior race.”
“Thought we were the same race.”
“We are human. They are goddesses.”
“Don’t put them on pedestals, that’s unfair to them too. My ma lived exhausted all the time, taking care of everything. Dad was crap with money, so she had to manage that too, beside all the domestic work and the sweets she’d sale when we could spare some sugar.”
“Ok, fair.”
“I used to think she was invincible, ya know? Like the ideal wife to take care of you and the family. But looking back now, with all the things I picked up? I know she was running thin. She died at her late 40’s, bit after I fell.”
“I’m sorry to hear it. She sounds like a wonderful lady, despite the hellspawn of a child she gave birth to.”
“You really love me, don’t you?”
“You wish.”
“I don’t remember that much from back then, y’know? Mostly things about Steve and the war. But I miss her.”
“Yeah, I know the feeling, missing someone you love.”
“…She used to make the best Crazy Cake. I’d give anything to know how she did it, to be able to take to dinner at Pete aunt’s next Friday.”
“You can look up online, y’know” – Sam replied automatically, stopping then to absorb what he heard. – “Wait, you’re in the ‘meeting the parents’ phase already?”
“It’s just he and his aunt, Sam.”
“You know what I mean.”
“She wants to talk. Probably gather my intentions or make me put a stop to all this, I don’t know. I just want to make a good impression. As much as I can at least, with all this situation and my own bullshit against me already.”
“Well, you genuinely care about him. I guess that’s what she’d worry the most about. That the kid could have being taken advantage off. You’ll do good. You’re a nice guy-… I mean, for an oldass asshole.”
“…I hate you.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re welcome.”