@iernatโโ || a meme somewhere in this tag || and iโm too lazy to find it rn.
[ guard ] for your muse to step between my muse and danger
Theyโve been on the run as fugitives for what feels like forever. Feels like only so much they can do from the shadows. Always disappearing before their locationโs found. Always in hiding. Whether it be in sanctuaries of distant countries that no oneโs tracked them to yet. Or blending among the masses in overcrowded cities where their faces are a blur among many.ย
Steve tells himself that pulling those who came with him along isnโt going to land them on his list forever. That they are fighting towards something because that something is coming and having their hands tied would only end up with a future none of them wanted. Bowing to whatever threat might come their way and take everything theyโve fought for (and lost so much in sacrifice towards) and crumple it up like a piece of scratch paper before tossing it in the bin.ย
He canโt settle for that. No one who knows him would expect him to. Truly knows him. Down to his bones. Just like the way his current company does. Buckyโs put himself in danger by meeting him here. Heโs safer in lands where no one can reach him. And, yet, theyโve met again--outside that protection--and heโs put Bucky in the position of having to lieย just to see his face. Be near him. Have him close. Because theyโve barely begun to touch up and now this fight has kept those moments so minimal that it isnโt fair.
Steve listens to Bucky spinning a story to whomeverโs coming calling on the phone for him. Listens to the tale he tells to give them one more day, two maybe. If theyโre lucky. And then theyโll part for a whileย (how long, Steveโs never sure). Teeth chew against the inside of his bottom lip and he hears the call end, hears Bucky coming out of the other room. He shakes his head, blue eyes connecting with Buckyโs from where heโs kept his head bowed. A small, sour smile plastered on his lips.ย โThank you. For that,โ a sigh and he deflates,ย โAnd I know I might sound like a broken record but--Iโm sorry you had to do that. That I put you in this position.โ