As soon as the words 'transfer orders' leave Natasha's mouth, Steve tenses in realization. His knuckles go white around his glass of Kvass, the twin lines between his eyebrows deep with anger.
He looks at the back of the photo-frame clutched to her heart for a long, long time.
It isn't until her explanation starts to sink in that he looks at her again, face drawn and open like the words mean something to him personally. What she's describing only makes him think of Bucky again, snatches of conversations rushing through his mind, the memory of Bucky's haunted eyes and pleading expression, the nightmares...
He blinks, letting out a small puff of air, and he does what he can to wipe that look off his face. It could be nothing. At any rate, now's not the time to bring it up.
"So when I talk about my friends coming back from the dead, it hits a nerve," he surmises, eyes on his glass. He tenses his jaw once, twice, and shakes his head. "I'll be honest with you, Natasha. Even right now, I'm not 100% sure that the Enterprise is real. I know that there's something off about it, about the whole situation, and my allegiances haven't shifted. My duty, my responsibility, is always gonna be here. But if there's a chance it's real-- if the possibility exists that I was brought there for a reason, that we both were, that I can do some good ... I can't turn my back on that."
no subject
He looks at the back of the photo-frame clutched to her heart for a long, long time.
It isn't until her explanation starts to sink in that he looks at her again, face drawn and open like the words mean something to him personally. What she's describing only makes him think of Bucky again, snatches of conversations rushing through his mind, the memory of Bucky's haunted eyes and pleading expression, the nightmares...
He blinks, letting out a small puff of air, and he does what he can to wipe that look off his face. It could be nothing. At any rate, now's not the time to bring it up.
"So when I talk about my friends coming back from the dead, it hits a nerve," he surmises, eyes on his glass. He tenses his jaw once, twice, and shakes his head. "I'll be honest with you, Natasha. Even right now, I'm not 100% sure that the Enterprise is real. I know that there's something off about it, about the whole situation, and my allegiances haven't shifted. My duty, my responsibility, is always gonna be here. But if there's a chance it's real-- if the possibility exists that I was brought there for a reason, that we both were, that I can do some good ... I can't turn my back on that."