This is the Sound of War

Throwing Up Brains Through My Mouth, Yeah I'm Thinking Out Loud

"Heads up Cap, German special forces approaching from the south."

"Understood."

A man stood before him.

Dressed in red, white, and blue, he was patriotic in a way that was vaguely familiar. Alex tried to place the memory while the man remained turned away from him and Bucky. Giving up a moment later, Alex looked from Bucky to the man standing in their apartment.

Bucky's right shoulder was angled forward, a slightly defensive pose, but his face was blank, eyes purposefully clear, just a wisp of panic seeping through when he and Alex made eye contact.

Instantly wary of the way his companion was putting up a front of calm, the small tell of his fingers dancing at his sides visible to anyone who knew him, made his mind start to race.

He didn't understand. Why was Bucky trying to act so calm when there was a stranger in their living room? He could easily be a threat, if his broad shoulders and skin tight costume said anything at all. He could be a HYDRA agent for all they knew. Alex brought a hand down to the knife holster strapped onto his thigh, reaching in quietly. Mr. Patriotic did not seem to know that he was there, he could easily creep up-

Bucky put a hand on his wrist.

They exchanged a look, and reluctantly, Alex put the knife away.

The man turned, his eyes fixated only on Bucky. He did not acknowledge Alex's presence at all.

"Do you know me?" He asked Bucky, and it seemed like he was keeping himself from taking a step towards him.

"You're Steve," Bucky answered, giving nothing away. His fingers moved in the gloves that covered them, like he was also resisting the urge to grab a weapon. Alex's hand twitched.

"I read about you in a museum."

Alex jolted, his mind confused with the pictures that flashed in front of his eyes. Mixtures of red, white, and blue blurred together.

The trains were loud outside, and Alex's ears were ringing, his senses sharpened by his alarm.

'Steve' still had yet to acknowledge Alex, and his hand wanted to hold a knife, still seeing a perfect opportunity. But Bucky seemed to know Steve, or at least thought he wasn't going to kill them, so Alex stopped himself, biting down hard on the inside of his cheek.

"They've set the perimeter," he heard someone say, and assumed it came from the little voice in 'Steve's' ear he had heard before.

"I know you're nervous," Steve said, taking a step forward.

Alex made a noise similar to a hiss, his left hand shooting down to his ankle in a swift motion and bringing back its prize, a sharp blade. He moved from his position next to Bucky, ending up standing in front of him.

'Steve' caught this in his peripheral vision, and studied the way Bucky stopped Alex, fingers feather-light on the boy's bicep from behind.

The touch stilled Alex, the knife raised in front of him, and he trusted Bucky enough to let his hands fall down to his sides, eyes focused on the blonde haired man in front of them. Granted, the knife did not move from his grip.

Steve finally acknowledged him then, training his gaze on Alex instead.

Alex almost fidgeted under its intensity, and the weirdly sincere warmth it put out, but stopped himself. He bit down on his cheek again.