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Lantern, burning
Flickered in the night, only you
But you were still gone, gone, gone
In losing grip
On sinking ships
You showed up just in time
Steve had been staring in the mirror for a bit too long. What am I doing?
I’m a man on a mission, he decided. Yes, a man on a mission to find his best friend. And save him.
It had been a couple of months of searching for Bucky and even with Sam’s help, little progress had been made. The file from Natasha had been a great start and even better paired with all of Hydra’s information published on the internet. But Bucky was a master at dodging the public eye; if they’d learned anything from their research, it was that. There was only so much they could do with a majority of ex-Hydra agents scrambling to go underground and limited resources without the help of SHIELD.
Steve had been staying with Sam for a little while after his apartment had been wired… and shot out. Sam was more than generous to lend him a spare room (Steve wasn’t sure what percent of his gesture was because they were friends and what percent was Sam fangirling over helping out Captain America for a favor–but Steve was appreciative nonetheless).
He shook his head and glanced down from his reflection to continue washing his hands. They’d figure this out.
“Steve. You’ve got a visitor,” Sam called from the kitchen.
Steve turned off the faucet and wiped his hands on a towel. “Who is it?”
“A friend.”
He knew that voice before he turned around to see Nat. She smiled as she leaned against the doorway. “Hey, Steve.”
Her hair was a little darker than when he last saw her but the length was fairly the same. She was in her usual tank top and jacket but she had a black backpack with her as if she’d been traveling. Nat had that same side smile she’d given him when he last spoke to her, when she gave him the file about Bucky. It had been a few months; He was glad to see that smile again.
“Nat,” he said, walking towards her to sit on the edge of the bed, “what are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same thing. How’s your search going?” She smirked. It didn’t escape Steve’s notice that she’d avoided his question but he answered anyway.
“Turns out there are few people willing to share what they know about a dead Hydra project when there’s no more Hydra.”
“Willing to share? That wouldn’t stop me. If you needed me, you could’ve just asked.”
Steve chuckled. “More like there are few people that value their life over their secrets.”
“Ah,” she sighed.
“What brings you back, Nat?”
Natasha paused. Steve was giving her that look he gave the last time they were sitting on this bed–when she’d asked him if he trusted her. I do now, she recalled him saying. Then and now, he looked at her like she was a puzzle that he was working out in his head. The silence was going on too long. Were his eyes always that blue?
“I left to find out what my next alias would be,” she started.
“I remember,” Steve prompted.
“It’s hard to find a new identity when it feels like you’ve gone through them all,” she smiled softly. Steve nodded patiently for her to continue. Now she was the one looking at him like he was a puzzle. What about him was making her words come out of her this fast? Where was her control?
“So I thought to myself, maybe instead of running to a new place, I could start with something about me. Something I know for certain. I don’t always know where I end and a cover begins but–”
“You wound up back here.”
“Yes.”
There was silence for a little bit as they both processed what had been said. And what wasn’t said (not that it needed to be). Steve looked down at his hands.
“Lillian asked me out, the girl with the lip piercing.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah.” Steve paused. He locked eyes with Nat again. “I said no.”
“Too shy?” She asked. He shook his head.
“Too scared?” He shook his head again.
“Too busy?” He shook his head again, this time with a grin creeping onto his face.
“Too interested in someone else.”