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Steve’s been playing the same damn song on repeat for the last hour. It’s something he’s started up since he came out of the ice. He picks a favorite and listens to it until it drives him nuts. Bucky figures it’s a funny mix of Steve’s serum improved healing (time was he could barely hear records Bucky used to play on the Barnes’ gramophone) and finally having easy access to all the music he needs to test it out. Bucky’s been hearing the same muffled swell of jazz enough times that he joins Steve in the kitchen to see what all the fuss is about. The songs a lot quieter than he expects when he arrives. He’s gotta strain his ears to make out the trembling voice.
Oh my man I love him so,
He’ll never know,
All my life is just despair,
But I don’t care…
Bucky remembers that song from his mother’s record player.
“Is that-“
“Yeah,” Steve confirms, head tilted towards the speakers. Bucky listens too, frowning after a minute.
When he takes me in his arms,
The world is bright,
All right…
“That’s not Fanny,” Bucky realizes.
“Nah,” Steve agrees, “It’s a cover. I guess this is the dame who played her in a movie?”
“Hmph,” Bucky grumbles, crossing his arms as he leans against counter beside Steve.
What’s the difference if I say,
I’ll go away?
When I know I’ll come back,
On my knees someday…
Bucky shakes his head and makes to head back to the living room where classics from his mother’s favorite singer aren’t being tarnished, but Steve stops him with a hand on his arm.
“Wait for it,” Steve urges.
For whatever my man is,
I am his,
Forever more…
The sad, tinkling music makes way for a huge brass band and all the sudden Bucky’s experiencing what he’s heard Sam refer to as an “eargasm”. This lady ain’t Fanny Bryce, but damn she must be somethin’ special if she can sing like that. Every time Bucky thinks the song’s hit its peak she just gets better, and by the time she hits her climactic, soaring note he actually reaches out to grab Steve’s hand, it sends such a tremor through his belly.
The silence in the kitchen after the track ends is almost deafening.
“Holy shit,” Bucky admits at last.
“I know, right?”
Bucky hits the replay button this time.