(Untitled)

[prodigaljaybird]

Skipping his next to last day of classes is pretty pointless as far as rebellion goes, but Jason doesn't care, he'll take it.

He'd left the hut that morning with an extra burst of speed, one hint of a female voice on the other side of Bucky's door enough to tell him that Bucky was too occupied to care what direction he took off in, and so, when

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[onlyforthedream]

As far as attention getters go, those words shouted at random do the trick. having showered and dropped some laundry in the wash, I'm looking for a half hour to kill before I switch it over to the dryer. Otherwise, I wouldn't be loitering around the compound. The bruises I'm sporting haven't faded enough to escape people's notice, yet. Sketchbook in hard, I move from the hallway to the room where people are frequently watching films or playing video games and stop in the doorway when I see it's Jason. Frowning a little, I move to stand behind the couch to see what has him so worked up.

"I remember when this came out," I say.

"We were already in Europe. I never saw it." I come around to stand by the arm rest, looking from the screen to Jason, the state of his cast and his expression.

"You okay?"

[prodigaljaybird]

Jason startles, head swinging on his neck to find Steve standing over him. It's not often that people sneak up on him, but Jason's thoughts have been loud enough to drown out other voices lately. Sense, too, it seems. "Yeah," he says immediately, kneejerk reaction to pretend that everything's just fine. He'll forget the movie in a few hours anyway, but the marks on Steve's face? Not fucking likely.

With a scowl that's faint by Jason's standards, he returns, "Are you?"

[onlyforthedream]

Jason's one of the more volatile young men I've ever met, and given my line of work that's saying something. I get the distinct impression that the look and tone he's giving me are considerably restrained. I'm not sure if it's because he's been caught watching a Disney movie or if it's something else.

"I'm fine. In better shape than that cast of yours."

[prodigaljaybird]

"It's been six weeks," says Jason, even if he is presently regretting taking on the task himself. It's messy, and each newly revealed inch of skin is even paler than the one that came before it, pasty and gross. Back home he wouldn't have cared, but no way is Lux going to let him near her with a zombie arm.

"And it doesn't hurt, so..." Looking up, Jason gives up on whatever excuse he'd been about to make and just blurts, "You're not going to talk about it either, are you?"

[onlyforthedream]

It would be a little hypocritical of me to chide him for it- God knows I was out of the clinic before I probably should have been, but then, the serum in my veins gives me a little leeway. Jason's decided to leave that part of the conversation behind, however, so I cross my arms, sitting on the arm of the sofa, and raise my eyebrows inquiringly.

"Talk about what, Jason?" I ask, but even as I do I realize he has to have put it together. He watches Bucky too closely not to.

"What happened between me and Bucky?"

[prodigaljaybird]

"Yeah." He waits for it, his small moment of triumph at having guessed correctly, that it's not some amazing coincidence that Bucky and Steve came home marked up on the same day, but it doesn't come.

It's not his fault. As self-loathing as Jason can be at times, the fact that Steve and Bucky fought isn't his fault, and he knows it. But he asked Steve to press, asked him to make Bucky talk about what happened in Russia because if he wouldn't talk about it to Jason, he'd surely talk about it with Steve, but he hasn't. They hit each other instead.

"Why'd you fight?"

[onlyforthedream]

It's not an easy question. Bucky is my oldest friend, my brother, but our relationship is complicated. I had wanted to talk, and he hadn't. That's the simplest explanation.

"Remember when I told you it was difficult to make Bucky do anything? Talking isn't the easiest thing for him, and I am... at least as stubborn as he is. There's a lot on the table, a lot of history, and we're neither of us certain how to parse it out. But things are fine between us, Jason," I reassure him. If I'm honest, not only him.

"Better now, actually."

[prodigaljaybird]

Jason peers up at him. Against all his learned habits and instincts, he trusts Steve not to lie. He's too good for that, decent in a way Jason would have mocked in his old life, but he won't here. He's starting to get it, why the world needs the kind of people Jason will never be, why it needs heroes that will be open, honest people. He won't forgive Bruce for being the kind of hero that won't kill when it needs to be done, but the fact that Steve won't lie is a comfort.

"Okay," he says, accepting it even if he doesn't understand it. "Is that gonna happen every time you want to talk?"

[onlyforthedream]

"Jason," I say, fighting a wince as I rub a hand over the back of my neck, ribs still pulling tight when I lift that arm, "I sure as hell hope not."

[prodigaljaybird]

He might not have winced, but Steve's pound for pound the same size and build as Bruce, and Jason's seen Bruce nursing bruised ribs enough times to know Steve's still hurting. He frowns, but thinks better of trying to dote on the guy, especially since a trip to the clinic might result in him being dragged along.

"Yeah," he says, finally. "Me too. He seems better though, sometimes." Since Natalia showed up, at least until that truth shit followed. As welcome a reprieve it'd been from wondering what they were doing behind Bucky's closed door, it was a relief to see Bucky come home again. "Now that his girlfriend's here."

[onlyforthedream]

I nod, aware that Jason must be at least passingly familiar with Natalia by now- possibly feeling a little crowded, even.

"She's a good friend," I can say honestly, despite the place we were at the last time I saw her before the island.

[prodigaljaybird]

"Seems pretty cool," Jason concedes. He's too young to really notice how much space she gives him, noting only when he doesn't have enough, but they haven't yet managed to piss each other off outright.

His face splits in a sudden grin. "Really hot." Jason already thought Bucky hung the moon - with a girlfriend like that, Bucky's now without doubt the coolest person Jason will ever, ever know. "Do you have a girl back home, too?"

[onlyforthedream]

There's no denying Natalia's beauty, and it's for that very reason I refrain from commenting, only shooting Jason a half wry look as I leave the sofa arm to sit on the actual cushions. At his question, I do hesitate.

"I wouldn't call her a girl," I say, absently thumbing the corner of the canvas sketchbook, still in hand, and digging it into my knee.

"I was with someone. As much as we could be 'with' each other given... extenuating circumstances."

[prodigaljaybird]

"What does that mean?" Jason asks, watching Steve grip his book, but even as he says it, he's picturing something like Bruce and Catwoman, or man, even Talia. The image doesn't fit though - someone like Steve falling in with anyone short of a through and through hero, it just doesn't seem possible.

[onlyforthedream]

"We were... I suppose 'on again off again' is the term. She's an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. It's an important job, and one she loves, and she's as dedicated to her career as a government operative as I was to mine as Captain America. It's a busy, dangerous lifestyle, which makes a relationship difficult enough. Unfortunately, when the government decided being an unregistered hero was a crime and I disagreed, it meant our professional interests were understandably at odds. Even then, she supported me. But I was a fugitive." I can't help but think about the last time I saw her, and wish I could have seen her again before I... went.

"We couldn't exactly share our lives the way you want to, when someone means that much."

[prodigaljaybird]

"That sucks," says Jason, whose frown has deepened throughout the course of Steve's explanation. He never cared about romance before - his old life had been much like Steve's, at least in terms of the mission without end. Girls held no sway unless they were Talia, and then he'd come here, found Lux, and learned how awesome it was to have a girlfriend.

"But she could show up here," he says. "Bucky's did."