I Love You, Man

This Could Get Ugly

More bad language words and even more bad Steve

"Well, we love who we love. It sucks," Chris sighed, looking at you and completely serious. When your reaction didn't match the emotion he was trying to share, he was a bit hurt that his efforts were cast aside so quickly by your outburst of laughter.

"Do you have any new material, or do you just regurgitate old movie lines now?"

"Kiss my ass."

"Pass, but thanks for the offer."

"Figures," he scoffed. "If I recall, back when CJ was born you told me that America's Ass was better than mine anyway, even though I still think the drugs they were giving you clouded your...judgement..." he paused, seeing that your tears were about to start again. You had barely just gotten them under control and he nearly ruined it. "Oh, shit. Oh, honey, I'm sorry, the filter between my brain and my mouth must be broken."

"It's always broken, Chris," you chuckled softly. You picked up the glass that held the last swallow of your drink, pausing before it reached your lips; you set it down just as quickly when your stomach clearly told you to as it flipped at the thought of any more alcohol. Looking around you it was obvious that both of you had lost count long ago of how many glasses you had taken down. "Oh well, it's okay. This is gonna happen, right? I just need to figure out a way to get over him. Sounds easy enough, huh?"

"You're really done, aren't you?"

"Aren't you?"

"Hundred percent," he answered almost immediately, and it gave you strength in your resolve.

"I have a low threshold for this stuff, and I don't care who it is. There's no way to justify it, and I don't give a shit if he says it's because of the snap screwing his brain. That doesn't mean you go off and screw someone else just to feel better," you groaned, pushing the glass away from your reach and temptation. "I have to hang on to my principles even when everything else is crashing around me. It's all I have."

"(Y/N), that's not true," Chris reached out for you, but you pulled back. "Come on, you have your son, the team, you know the cast is gonna back you so get ready for incessant texts from Seb and Robert any second now, and...y-you have...me. That's not gonna change. I'm pretty sure those two ruined it for themselves and made us a combined force to be reckoned with."

~~~

"Dammit, Sam, say something already."

"I don't know where to start."

"Well, staring at me like that isn't helping."

"I ain't here to help you. I'm not here for you at all."

"Then why are you?"

"I don't know," Sam said, eyeing the man skeptically. He took a position sitting across the conference table from the Captain, his arms folded over his chest and completely closed off to a man that he had called his best friend for years but now knew nothing of who he was. Steve had run off to the tower that now sat empty, finding the solitude exactly what he deserved. "I guess I thought that maybe you'd have something that would make this make sense to me. Shoulda known better since you're obviously the biggest idiot I've ever known."

Steve took a deep breath and let it out shakily, having still avoided looking directly at Sam for even a second. It was clear to both of them that the shame was overwhelming, and Sam wasn't feeling even a little bit guilty about enjoying it. "Yeah, I agree on that," Steve finally nodded.

"Steve...you know that I have to ask."

All he got was a silent agreement with Steve leaning forward and resting his head on his folded arms over the table top. Sam already knew the answer, he had been told the full story from Bucky long before he got here to get it for himself. It wasn't that he didn't believe what Barnes told him; he needed to hear it from the source. His heart and soul wouldn't believe it fully until it was carried to him by that voice. The voice of his hero.