"Mornin', Cap!" Clint chirps as he wanders through the kitchen, coffee mug in hand.
Steve stares at him in horror, blue eyes bloodshot, cheeks red, dark circles under his eyes.
"You sleep all right?" I ask him as he staggers over to the dining table and settles into the chair beside me.
The team has spent every single night for the past few months staying up to spook Steve. He's running ragged, hasn't slept at all since we started the nightmare campaign, and is still pushing himself to find Bucky. He's looked across the entire country, hell, he's even searched for Bucky while we're away from the States on missions overseas.
"Another long night," Steve says as he puts his head in his hands and takes a deep breath.
"More nightmares?" I ask, sipping on my coffee.
"The same damn hallucination," he says. "The Winter Soldier just stands at the foot of my bed. And I know it's not real, but I can't help it, I just feel compelled to reach out and see if he's actually there...but he vanishes before I can touch him, and then there's the whispers that come after. It's the same thing over and over again, 'Thank God I fell and it wasn't you.' What kind of a messed up horror show is that? If I had known he would survive the fall, I would have jumped after him."
"What's the problem this time?" Tony asks as he strolls into the kitchen. "More nightmares about your long lost boyfriend?"
Steve frowns, "If I had the energy, I would definitely punch you in the face for that."
"So it's true then?" Tony muses.
Steve rises from his chair, places his hands on the table, and narrows his eyes, hissing, "Don't fucking go there."
"Oh, shit, here we go," I say as I hide behind my hand and look away from the shock jock circus.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of," Tony says as he pours himself some coffee. "I'm just surprised, is all."
Tony's toying with him just to rev up Steve's anger. He already knows about Steve and Bucky. And that's because Bucky told him.
"Who the hell said anything about being ashamed?" Steve snaps at him.
I get up from the table and walk over to the couch, hoping to avoid the incoming fistfight as Tony says, "No one did, but you're getting defensive for no reason whatsoever. It's not like it changes how any of us feel about you, you're still Steve. You're still Captain America."
"Oh, so now you're trying to talk yourself out of a corner?" Steve laughs.
Oh boy...
I take out my phone and send a text.
Tasha: You're going to have to work on anger management with Steve...he's going to kill Tony at this rate...
Bucky: Tony finally said something to him along the lines of "oh so he was your boyfriend," didn't he?
Tasha: How'd you know?
Bucky: Look at the vent over the dining table.
I look up at the vent over the dining table and see a flash of metal through the grate.
Tasha: Thank God Steve doesn't look up often. He'd smash the ceiling if he saw you.
Bucky: I thought that Bruce guy was the one into breaking shit?
Tasha: Only when he's the other guy
Bucky: Hulk, right? I read the files that Coulson and Fury gave me. Cool stuff.
