anything is yours if you swallow it

Eddie kills the engine and takes the keys out. “Want anything from inside? I’m gonna go get some more cigarettes and a Pepsi before I rail ya.” “Romantic,” Steve snorts, but he’s already unbuckled and has his shoes off in the footwell. He thinks for a minute, then raises an eyebrow and asks, “Pringles and a Dr. Pepper?” Eddie cranks his door open. “Anything for you, my love,” he says with honesty as he drops down onto the concrete. * Eddie goes on tour with Corroded Coffin, and Steve tags along to sell merch.

Bucky stares at the sandwich. “He told me he didn’t marry her.”

“Bullshit, he didn’t marry her,” Yelena scoffs. “He wears a ring.”

He sighs and holds both hands up in a ‘what can I do?’ fashion, and then wipes his palms off on his pants. “I have space problems,” he says. “I can’t be thinking about Steve kissing Peg Carter right now.”

“America is not HYDRA, and whatever happened, Steve did it willingly,” Yelena says pointedly, watching as he slides her sandwich on a plate towards her. She levels him with her big round stare and raises her eyebrows. “Do not forget that.”

“It’s been proven that I can’t,” Bucky says sarcastically, and then, with a sigh, “Not when it comes to Steve.”

“Going quantum in three, two, one…” It’s been creeping through Bucky but now the feeling is impossible to ignore: the gut rot. The shame. The embarrassment and the knowing that everyone would forever be curious about why Steve left, and why Bucky didn’t go, too? “And returning in five, four, three, two, one.”

Nothing. Sam asks, “Where is he?”

“I don’t know,” Banner says, but Bucky does. He turns away as Banner continues, “He blew right by his time stamp. He should be here.”

Alexei, standing beside Yelena, loudly whispers to her, “I thought Captain Rogers is on moon.”

“The doctors are spooked, man.” Dean looks at him carefully. “They said wisteria vines cling together and choke each other out.”

Sam snorts, and then immediately sobers up. “Sorry.” He doesn’t add sounds about right. “It’s not funny.”

“No, it’s not.” Dean’s back to being mad about it in lieu of Sam’s flippant attitude. Sam doesn’t mean it -- it’s just funny. The Victorian era flower book said wisterias were to be viewed as a warning over passionate love. Not to get too entangled. And yet. “This is going to kill you, Sam. It already almost did.”

The sickness that befell Dennis in Ireland still has him coughing.

“Dude, maybe it’s like, water bugs or something,” Charlie says, throwing his whole body weight down against the bottom of the bar sink. He peers back over one shoulder, direct eye contact as Dennis stares back at him. “You heard about these water bugs? Tardigrades?!”

Dennis presses a hand to his chest. God, water bugs? “Where did you hear of these?”

“These things?” Something sucks, and the sink swallows, and the backed up ring of dirty water at the bottom funnels away. Charlie looks at Dennis seriously, eyebrows two little peaked arches on his forehead. “You can throw radiation at them, and they eat it up like candy.”

Jesus. Dennis grimaces. “How do you get rid of them?”

“That isn’t for me to know,” Charlie says inexplicably. He whips the hose out of the sink and bar water goes flying through the air. Dennis ducks. “It’s not the kind of thing you want to go sharing around, you know? It’s not like, information for the common man.”

Dennis scratches at his chest. Water bugs. “No offense, man, but then how do you know about them?”

“Oh, Mac told me.” Charlie threads the hose back into his tiny tool belt. “He’s got some sources about these kinds of things.”

Which is great for Charlie, but doesn’t really work for Dennis.

“I’m not talking to Mac right now,” he says diplomatically.

Complex Part 2/2

The viability of Mac’s current relationship quickly becomes a prickly topic of conversation.

“It’s disgusting, is what it is,” Frank tells Dennis while they’re counting the bank deposit. Mac has been gone for two weeks. Dennis doesn’t bother looking up from where he’s thumbing twenties. “Next thing you know, they’ll be getting married. You know gays can do that now.”

Dennis snorts. “I doubt that’ll happen, Frank. You’d have to be crazy beyond repair to attach yourself to Mac in such a permanent fashion.”

“Is this Connor guy rich? Maybe it could be mutually beneficial.”

God, getting married to Mac. Dennis can’t think of a worse idea in the world. Every time you’d go into public, people would see the ring, because Mac would want rings, really obvious wedding band rings, and everyone would ask: oh, are you married? How is your wife? And Dennis would have to take time out of his day to explain, I don’t have a wife, you fucking homophobic bitch, Mac is a man, and we’ve been happily married for-

Dennis scratches at his chest. Water bugs. “No offense, man, but then how do you know about them?”

“Oh, Mac told me.” Charlie threads the hose back into his tiny tool belt. “He’s got some sources about these kinds of things.”

Which is great for Charlie, but doesn’t really work for Dennis.

“Think this is the kind of place that would get mad at me for putting holes in the walls?” Steve greets, thunking a box full of t-shirts down on the stage. He makes a face. “Not like the friggin queen’s coming anytime soon.”

In Muncie, Steve got in trouble for using thumbtacks. It ended with Eddie yelling FASCIST PIGS and then getting his polaroid put up on the banned wall.

“Dude, don’t ask me.” Gareth scratches his back with a drumstick as he thinks. “You could probably ask that guy,” he settles on, pointing over to where Eddie and Gene are still chatting away, now cracking jokes and smoking cigarettes by the guitar rack.

Steve looks over at Eddie, back at Gareth, and then back at Eddie.

“I’ll get Eddie to ask him for me,” he finally settles on. Gareth shrugs and watches as Steve drags the box back off the stage and turns around, looking for somewhere to set up his table.