ever marching as to war

[onlyapassenger]

Bucky hadn't been anywhere near Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked. In fact, he'd been on the other side of the world, escorting Winston Churchill on a transatlantic flight to D.C. to meet with President Roosevelt the next morning. But Bucky'd seen action that day regardless; the Axis had planned a two-front attack, with the Japanese expected

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[prodigaljaybird]

It's the sounds that draw him first. Nothing about the Compound is how he'd come to know it in his first days on the island. It's bent all funny looking, way too much of it is pink, and it looks like Santa threw up on it, but the movies he's used to hearing when he passes the rec room, they don't sound like this.

Jason pauses, mouth frozen in a scowl that has nothing to do with the cold of the flakes falling down and everything to do with their shape, and ducks his head into the rec room.

He's in time to hear Bucky's name called, and there he is, stuck in an armchair that looks all wrong for him, eyes glued to the projection on the wall. "Is that - " Jason starts and pauses, vision and mind momentarily filled up with the man in the mask and shield. Even in black and white, the shades and pattern leave little to the imagination, and Jason recalls what Bucky'd told him on his first day here. I'm Captain America.

"Is that you?"

[onlyapassenger]

He almost laughs, but then Bucky remembers that he can count on one hand the number of people he's told his current identity to, and he stops himself just in time, his tongue held lightly between his teeth. In Jason's case, especially, the question is entirely warranted, which is a strange thing to think about, when all is said and done, but something to has to be taken into account.

Turning to face the kid, Bucky pulls a face, his expression one of feigned disbelief all the same; the truth is, just because it's not Jason's fault that he doesn't know any better doesn't make it any less strange. With a sharp inhale, Bucky finally says, "Yes and no."

[prodigaljaybird]

Jason's mouth quirks, body so close to the projection now that he's near to in the way when he tips a look back at Bucky. "How can it be both?"

Even as he says it, he's near to answering his own question. The man's in a half mask, far more obscuring than a simple domino, but that jawline...it doesn't look like Bucky's. Jason watches the men move about, satellites to the powerful, costumed man at their center, and soon his eyes settle on another face, one that's growing more familiar all the time.

"Is that you?"

[onlyapassenger]

Domino masks are useful only around strangers, in situations that don't call for a lot of prolonged face-to-face communication. Given enough time to stare at a person, it's just not going to fool anyone for very long, least of all someone who's been trained to observe. Maybe they only met over a month ago, and there's probably still a lot of crazy crap they can't even guess about each other, but if there's one thing Bucky knows about Jason, it's that the kid has a sharp pair of eyes. Old as the footage is, when the scene cuts to a teenage Bucky, grinning from ear to ear as he lets his trigger finger run happy, there's really no point in denying it's him on the screen.

"I was a hit with the Bobby sox set, what can I say?"

[prodigaljaybird]

The Bucky in the projection looks so happy, almost goofy in his exuberance compared to the Bucky Jason knows now, and Jason grins, takes Bucky's smile as permission to let the laugh bubble past his lips.

"You're so fucking little," he says, and what he really means is young. "Then who's the one with the shield?"

[onlyapassenger]

His expression sobers slightly, not because Steve is a painful topic of discussion -- he isn't, whatever's gone on between them recently, Steve will always be his best friend, his brother -- but because the mantle Captain America deserves a modicum of respect, and he doesn't want to give Jason an opening to think otherwise. Bucky's itching for a fight, that hasn't changed, but this isn't the place to have it, nor is it the person to have it with.

"Steve Rogers," he says. "The original Captain America, and unquestionably the best. He asked me to hold onto the shield for a while. Never wanted it, truth be told, but he's not the kind of guy you like saying no to."

[prodigaljaybird]

"Yeah," says Jason with a huff of a sound that's not a laugh this time. "Know how that goes." He turns back to the screen, watching the bigger guy move, and he thinks he can see it. He's commanding, even when Jason can't hear the words from his mouth, compelling, and he just looks...he looks good. Like Superman always looked good, righteous, and whatever Jason might feel now towards the Supers, he'd kept that autograph Superman signed for him right up until he died.

He gaze drifts back to young Bucky, never too far from this Steve Rogers' side. "Your buddy, huh?"

[onlyapassenger]

"My very best," he says with a nod, the corners of his mouth pulling outwards in a slight smile. Things were complicated between them, without a doubt, but at the end of the day, they were there for each other, whether the other guy wanted help or not. Maybe they don't always see eye to eye, but it's why they worked so well together back during the War, complimenting one another. Like any good partnership, theirs was one that ran like a well-oiled machine.

"I was trained to be his partner before I ever even met him."

[prodigaljaybird]

Jason doesn't mean to stare, but he does, watching a expression that he wouldn't quite call soft flit over Bucky's face, but certainly one he's not seen before. There's a chair next to the armchair, and Jason moves towards it, drops himself down to perch on the edge and looks back at Bucky.

"How's that work?"

[onlyapassenger]

"Pretty much as advertised," he says, his own attention divided between the screen and Jason. "They shipped me off to England shortly after Germany invaded Poland to train with the British S.A.S, then I trained some more stateside. Once they were sure I could pass muster, I was made his partner. Some of our job was for purposes of propaganda, like this, but we did a hell of a lot more when the cameras weren't running, let me tell you. We fought for the Allies on every front, wherever they needed us most. Course, it wasn't just us all the time -- I worked with a couple different groups, too, great guys, all of 'em -- but most of the more sensitive missions were reserved for me and Cap. He'd give the speeches, be the inspiration the troops needed on the battlefield and off, and I'd..."

Trailing off, he shrugs, his expression gone distant. "Well, I did what I was trained for."

[prodigaljaybird]

Jason's quiet as he listens, a pang in his chest that goes so often ignored swelling into something bigger, something he has to take notice of - that he misses being someone's partner. Being wanted, or at the very least, needed, and he hasn't been either for a very long time.

"You kicked ass," he supplies when Bucky doesn't elaborate, smiling faintly at the thought of it. "Good thing you guys got along," he adds, "sounds like an arranged marriage or something."

[onlyapassenger]

"Steve Rogers is hard not to like," says Bucky, rolling his eyes. "Even the scum who hate him still respect him. He's just that kind of guy, I guess."

His gaze turns back to the footage, and he smiles to himself, just a little. "But you're right. We sure as hell showed the Germans, no doubt about it."

[prodigaljaybird]

"Some guys are like that," says Jason. "Should've seen Superman, he had the entire Justice League practically eating out of his a- " He stops himself in time, the color in his cheeks as rare as the act of censoring himself.

"Hand." Eyes on the screen, he asks in a tone entirely different, respectful, "How long until you, you know. Get taken by the Soviets?"

[onlyapassenger]

Bucky arches an eyebrow. Maybe he doesn't know Jason all that well, but he sure as hell knows him well enough that the self-censorship comes as a welcome surprise. The question, though, prompts his smile to fade, and his expression turns thoughtful, almost hard.

"Few years," he answers. "I 'died' in '45, before the end of the War." Falling silent for a moment, he watches the screen more intently, letting himself get caught up in the memories he once viewed as a curse, a burden. "Sometimes I used to wonder if that--" He nods towards the flickering image of his younger self "--guy didn't stay dead."

[prodigaljaybird]

The projected Bucky does look different than Jason's ever seen him. He's seen Bucky smile before, seen him laugh, but he's never...he's never really seen him let go like he is in the reel, never seen him fight like this, knowing that the man in costume behind him has his back. Jason remembers that feeling, but he doesn't know -

He doesn't know if he's ever been anything other than what he is. If it wasn't death that changed him, wasn't the trauma of the Lazarus Pit. He doesn't know if he's ever been anything but rotten fruit, and Jason doesn't like it, the idea that Bucky could feel like this now, even a fraction of it.

"No way," he says, turning his head with a smile dredged up from somewhere. "Just grew up." His smile turns cheeky. "Got uglier."

[onlyapassenger]

"They never teach you to respect your elders?" asks Bucky with a snort, tearing his eyes from the screen to fix Jason with a dubious glance. The vote of support is welcome, if not entirely necessary; he's long since come to terms with the fact that he isn't good man, but he knows the boy on screen isn't gone entirely. If nothing else, his attitude still makes itself known on the odd occasion. "Smile's same as ever."