checkin | [hypnos]

[Her room smells like death, a scent that you know intimately enough to recognize it. She spent all last night coughing and struggling to breathe, and sleep, death's closest relative, didn't come to either of you. It's almost time and the both of you know it, so you square your skinny shoulders like you can carry the weight of the world when you go to her.]

"Come here, Sunshine Boy. I want to tell you something." [And you go, your heart pounding like a hurricane in your chest, like it's trying to shatter your ribs and tear free. It would hurt less.] "Your life is always going to be a difficult one, but don’t let that harden your heart." [You promise her. It's a fight that you'll fight for the rest of your life. Soon, she gives up hers, and the humble apartment falls into silence.]

[Her name is Annie, a brunette with chestnut curls and the bluest eyes you've ever seen. She's always at the dances that your best pal drags you to, but you've never seen her dance. You think that somehow makes your chances better, so you spend the better part of an hour gathering the courage that comes to you so easily in an alleyway. You ask her to dance to something slow, something you know your imperfect lungs can keep up with. She laughs. Her friends laugh too.[]

Don't let that harden your heart.

[An arm is flung around your shoulders, a warm, familiar weight.] "C'mon Steve, you don't need her. Let's get out of here."

[There's a certain amount of horseplay to be expected in an Army barrack. Guys goofing off, throwing something from one soldier to the next. You try to get it back from them, try to fight them and tell them that that book was your father's, one of the few things of his that you have. But you're already so out of breath, turning from one to the next, reaching for the precious book when all they have to do is lift their arm to keep it from you. And you know that any second, one of those fragile pages will rip, or they could all pull loose from the spine.]

"Come on guys, we're all on the same side."

Your life is always going to be a difficult one.

[The serum floods your body, and for a few blinding moments all you know is pain. But your shoulders get broader. Your lungs get stronger. It's not so hard to breathe anymore. Things will be easier now.

You lift up the shield just before the tomato strikes it.]

Come on guys, we're all on the same side-

"That's all that's left of the 107th. The rest were killed or captured."

[Your heart stops, and doesn't beat again until you find him strapped to a table, until you can slide your warm arm around those trembling shoulders, lifting him up the way he always lifted you.] "C'mon Buck. Let's get out of here."

[When he falls, your promise to your Ma becomes a lot harder to keep. You realize that it's possible for a heart to be too strong, because it should've stopped beating with his.]

"I'm not gonna stop until all of Hydra is dead or captured."

[And then you have one by the throat, his helmet falling to the ground, the Hydra symbol still gleaming in your periphery.]

Sunshine Boy...

[You wonder if he can smell death too, tinged with enough sweetness to make a person sick at their stomach. He's struggling to breathe, but your lungs work just fine now. And your shoulders are strong enough to lift him right off his feet.]

Your life is always going to be a difficult one.

[Your grip tightens.]

But don't let it-

[Your heart is always pounding when you wake up. And it's always harder to breathe.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's a shame it didn't come. You'd make Gryffindor proud.

You're one to talk. You're like the poster child. Literally. You're an actual poster child. Or ... poster man.

[He groans at the reminder of that.]

I thought after 70 years I wouldn't have to see that many of them. But then they went and made reproductions.

Man, I can't even imagine; that's gotta be like having your 7th grade yearbook picture plastered on billboards.

I bet Natasha's got one. I'm sure she's given it a curly mustache and pierced something on me, but she's got one.

Actually, you know, I got this little toy shield in my suitcase with me, maybe I should be begging you to sign it. Or even better, taking blackmail pictures of you with it for my tablet wallpaper.

Oh no, not you too.

Good luck finding someone from our world who's not hiding their inner Cap fangirl.

[hypnos]

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