[Bucky can't stand to meet Steve's gaze anymore, the scrutiny too much like Bucharest and HYDRA to handle. He drops his own line of vision away to one of the various holograms, jaw clenched tight. Everything about this is so intensely uncomfortable, from the syncopated conversation to the noise of so many minds brushing up against his own.
And Steve is... Steve is different from Bucky's freshest memories, but yet a hundred times more familiar to the rusted ones in the back of his head. His voice resonates with the strings in his head and Bucky realizes that maybe-- just maybe-- this actually is Steve.
A Steve that doesn't know anything. He won't need to defend a monster, he won't face consequences. Maybe the distance between them is a good thing. Steve won't get so tangled in a man who can't be saved, who doesn't deserve to be saved.
When Steve speaks again, Bucky glances up and the pulse of we can talk later reminds him of Steve in an alley, trash can lid in hand. He doesn't know how long he'll be able to refuse to answer.
Mission, he reminds himself. There's mission. Focus on the mission.] There's a mission.
[And hopefully that mission takes him out of this room full of people and probing questions.]
no subject
And Steve is... Steve is different from Bucky's freshest memories, but yet a hundred times more familiar to the rusted ones in the back of his head. His voice resonates with the strings in his head and Bucky realizes that maybe-- just maybe-- this actually is Steve.
A Steve that doesn't know anything. He won't need to defend a monster, he won't face consequences. Maybe the distance between them is a good thing. Steve won't get so tangled in a man who can't be saved, who doesn't deserve to be saved.
When Steve speaks again, Bucky glances up and the pulse of we can talk later reminds him of Steve in an alley, trash can lid in hand. He doesn't know how long he'll be able to refuse to answer.
Mission, he reminds himself. There's mission. Focus on the mission.] There's a mission.
[And hopefully that mission takes him out of this room full of people and probing questions.]