My Name Is Bucky [FemBucky&Sam]

Naive

[4 Days Earlier...]

This time, when Sam finds himself back in the slightly rundown Baltimore neighbourhood, Eli is a little more welcoming. He tells Sam to just go ahead, and asks Sam to tell his grandfather he will be there to check up on him shortly. Sam nods, then says his thanks and makes his way around the back of the house, like Eli had also told him.

Sam makes sure to drag his steps enough for the supersoldier to hear, even when he knows he probably heard him long before he even approached. When he spots the older man, Isaiah has his back turned to him while he waters his plants with a small watering can. Sam knows he knows Sam is there, and Sam carefully makes his way through the well-kept garden and stands just a few feet away from him now.

Isaiah briefly glances over his shoulder, his dark and tired eyes flitting to the round brown case in the younger man's right hand. He almost scoffs, but instead turns back to his lilies and grunts out the words, "That what I think it is?"

"It is." Sam simply watches him for the moment. He feels an odd sort of peace standing beside this man.

"Mm-hm." Isaiah does scoff this time when he turns to face Sam and Sam is already unzipping the case for him to see the shield with his own eyes. He understands why Sam is here, and while he is quite touched by the young man's heart, he doesn't want anything to do with any of that shit ever again. "Leave it covered."

Sam immediately pauses, glances up at him in confusion.

"Those stars and stripes don't mean nothing good to me." Isaiah shakes his head as he turns and walks passed Sam and towards his house.

Sam quickly zips the case back up, takes the shield with him as he follows the older man into his house. He watches Isaiah place the watering can down on the kitchen counter before going to pour himself a whiskey. Sam carefully rests the shield against the side of the small couch, then turns to face the other man. He watches him for a moment as he downs the whiskey and then finally, Sam says, "I need to understand."

Isaiah lets out another scoff as he places the glass down on the counter and walks around it to stand before him. "You understand plenty." He nods, smiles rather bitterly. "Every black man does." He shrugs. "Whether you wanna believe it or not-"

Sam almost scoffs, but holds back out of respect. "Don't do that bitter old man thing with me." His voice is slightly pleading.

Isaiah does scoff, however. "If you ain't bitter, you're just blind."

"I don't get it, OK?" Sam tells him, then softly asks, "What went wrong?"

Isaiah sighs. "I used to be just like you." He almost smiles. "Until I opened my eyes." He's glaring to himself then as he says, "Until I saw men in the Red Tails; the famous 332, fight for this country, only to come back home to find crosses burned on their lawns."

Sam nods, tries to look understanding. "I'm from the South, I get that." He frowns. "But you were a supersoldier, like Steve. You could have been the next-"

This time, Isaiah harshly cuts him off. "-the next what?" He scoffs again, louder. "Blonde hair, blue eyes, pale skin, stars and stripes. The entire world's been chasing that dream ever since he got dosed with that serum."

Sam huffs, his voice slightly firm as he says, "Steve did not put you in jail."

Isaiah knows Sam is right. He even nods slightly in response, but then he's moving passed the younger man while asking him, "You working with the Winter Soldier or you two just friends?"

Sam turns to shoot him a slightly annoyed look. "She's not the Winter Soldier anymore."

"Friends it is." Isaiah chuckles quietly as Sam scowls and watches him dig through his bookshelves.