#during catfa

[autumnrory]

i really think stucky fandom is the only one i've been in where making another relationship pretty much just as significant as theirs in fanfiction is the norm and obvs it used to not bother me but now it makes me crazy

like. i'm used to another pairing being together but then they break up and the main one gets together and you're like okay cool but stucky writers just muddy the waters and i'm like you know you can ignore them being with other people right this is fanfic you can do whatever you want you don't have to prop up this relationship to prove you're not misogynistic or whatever you can still write stucky exactly as they are without all this extra nonsense

[logansgaar]

Bucky's blue color coding is one of my favorite consistencies with him, as well as how consistent red is with negativity for him.

His blue coat during the war always makes me smile?? Every chance Bucky gets he picks blue.

Blue was still a feminine color back then, it only really became considered masculine and pink a feminine color heading into the 50s. It's just interesting to me that Bucky consistently picks blue, his all blue suit to Sarah's funeral is the equivalent of wearing an all pink suit now.

Steve's costume was designed for him based off the flag and aside from one greyish-blue jacket after his mother's funeral, he mostly chooses to wear muted, warm tones like browns, yellows and reds like other men in CATFA, especially Howard who wears a lot of red during CATFA. In the modern era Steve does also wear a lot of blue, but that could just be because of modern influences idk.

Every time we see Bucky dressed in something he would've chosen for himself pre-war it's blue, and even post-Winter Soldier he mostly wears blue with only once wearing a red shirt (when he was in hiding in Romania, when he presumably didn't have the liberty of being picky.) I'd almost say Bucky associates red as a negative color... Arnim Zola's bow tie he would've no doubt been wearing while he experimented on Bucky, Red Skull, blood, the HYDRA symbol, the Red Room, the Winter Soldier notebook, the red star on his arm, the Iron Man suit, the wall in his apartment in Romania (and arguably his red shirt in Romania too, since he was on the run and then mind controlled wearing it.) To a MUCH less severe degree, his and Sam's hostility with each other follows Sam's whole run with the red Falcon suit. Also lmao the suit he asks the Wakandans for for Sam is a lot less red than Sam's comic book CA suit is, the wings for example. This part is a reach but it's still a funny coincidence.

[luna-rainbow]

So I know the event is @catws-anniversary but this is actually one of my favourite Steve-Bucky scenes.

There's been a lot spoken about their seamless teamwork here -- Steve doesn't even look in Bucky's direction when he tosses the shield at Bucky -- but there is just...so much packed into this fluid cooperation?

Bucky as far as we know in CATFA was a sniper (although in the supporting material it does say Bucky learned boxing before he joined the army). It's only when we get to CATWS we see him being a strong melee fighter. A lot of Bucky's new fighting style takes into account his metal arm -- he favours it for blocking and forceful striking to spare his flesh arm. He's also spent most of his recent decades doing mostly solo work. He had backup support during CATWS to get him into position, but actually on task? He's by himself chasing down his targets.

This is the first time Bucky fights on Steve's side after his time as the Winter Soldier. Depending on how you headcanon Bucky receiving his serum, this would also be the first time Steve treats Bucky as an equally strong super soldier. Bucky's experience, fighting style, physical constitution have all significantly changed since the last time they were on the field together, not to mention Steve's own style and experience have evolved.

Yet they slotted straight back into each other's space, like they had never spent a minute apart in the last 70 years. Apart from the "end of the line" spell-break, nothing else speaks such volumes about their bond.

(Also goddamn CEvans with that beautiful pirouette. No wonder the stuntspeople say they can't replicate his footwork)

[wiyu989]

The Queer Subtext of the CATFA Bar Scene

(Long post, alt text included)

While there are countless examples of evidence to support the idea that Steve & Bucky had romantic tension, none stick out to me quite like the bar scene in catfa

In this post, I will go over the reasons this scene is so important to their relationship

First of all, let’s talk about the heartfelt conversation the two were having prior to Peggy’s arrival. Bucky expressing his admiration for Steve’s bravery, before and after the serum, as he specifies:

This scene displays Bucky’s admiration for Steve, no matter what he looks like. One of my favorite lines.

Not to mention this totally not-subtle remark…

Now let’s talk about the painfully obvious jealousy Bucky showed while Steve and Peggy were flirting. He even started passive-aggressively “flirting” with Peggy while she and Steve were eye-fcking.

Through heteronormative eyes, this may look like Bucky’s jealous of Steve’s new status as “ladies-man”. But if you truly know their characters, you know that’s not true.

As if his jealousy wasn’t already evident enough, look at the death-stare he gives Peggy as she walks away. He is FURIOUS 😭

A new bout of evidence for the queer subtext of this scene was conjured by episode 1 of what if..? when marvel was desperately trying to force feed us steggy, they accidentally confirmed a stucky theory.

In what if, there’s a romantic scene with Steve and Peggy at a bar, and they were interrupted by bucky just before they were going to kiss… sound familiar?

Marvel has been aggressively trying to get us invested in steggy post-endgame, and has done so by attempting to erase Steve and Bucky’s relationship entirely. This is even more evident in the Disneyland adaptation of “Rogers: the musical” adapted from the Hawkeye series.

Now the last topic is, in my opinion, the most evident of Steve and buckys romantic subtext. That is, of course, the song choice of the bar scene.

Throughout the scene, the howling commandos and others can be heard singing “there is a tavern in the town”. How exactly does this confirm stucky? Well let’s look at the lyrics…

Come ON these lyrics perfectly describe buckys POV during this scene. This song choice was no accident in this essay I will 😤

There’s actually a YouTube video that points this “coincidence” out! I recommend you watch so you can see what I mean:

In conclusion? Bucky was undoubtedly in love with Steve and this scene is a certified stevebucky classic

thanks for reading <3

[thatscarletflycatcher]

There's something that has been gnawing at me since I saw some comments on the look-how-they-massacred-them poll for Daniel Sousa -with which I didn't want to engage then and there because I really didn't want to pick up a fight with another Daniel fan, there's few enough of us, but also because the argument was very difficult to articulate.

It is difficult to explain how Daniel Sousa is screwed over by Endgame without making it look like either "he deserved Peggy as a prize" or "he was the perfect prize for Peggy", because it all begins by understanding the experience of WWII and the building of the morale of WWII. Something that Markus and McFeely seemed to perfectly understand in Agent Carter, which inclines me to believe it was specific insistence of the Russos, whose concept of narrative and storytelling is at the level of a belligerent and not very bright 4 year old, that gave us that mindblowingly stupid "happy ending" for Cap and Peggy. Or maybe Markus and McFeely are just arcane creatures, at times intelligent and at times really dumb. Anyways.

Point is that both CATFA and Agent Carter understand that for these characters, fighting WWII is a matter of "each doing their bit", of, as Steve put it in The Avengers, to lay on the barbed wire so the one that comes after you can pass on. And in the process of doing that, you have great loses and suffer great grief. The price of war is immense, and for these people the price of war is the price of freedom (yes, that celebrated Steve speech from CATWS is also sharing in that same spirit. It's kind of impressive how until that awful mess of Endgame, the perspective of Steve as a character from movie to movie is one that addresses how some 1940s things are outdated, but how many others are still relevant and inspiring. It is a surprisingly nuanced take on History, that of course the Russo "Cap is an outdated relic that belongs in the past and should stay there" brothers don't seem to have what's needed to grasp).

In that context, the most coherent tone for Steggy is tragedy. Because that is what happened to many, many, many people during the war. You meet, you fall in love fast, because there is no time. And then suddenly the other is gone, never to come back. And all the promises of youth and life and future the other person represented, are gone with them. People who lived through 2020-2022 have some idea of what it is like for projects, opportunities, and years of your life to just vanish. Now you make that five years, eight months, and to mention "just" the British, 1 out every 100 people live in 1939, dead, and over 350.000 permanently disabled. If you were 20 in 1939, your life would be practically on hold till you were 26. It's a whole lot of grief, and an intense grief, that you don't solve the way you solve a random missing connection in a romcom like Serendipity or The Lake House. Doing so is cheapening and bastardizing the grief and trauma of a whole generation of people in different countries.

So, Agent Carter. Here we have a story focused on a group of people, spies, who, in different fronts and with different outcomes, made it through the war and are now facing this new world they are living in, and all the grief of their respective losses. The focus of the story is Peggy, a woman who, like many others, was allowed a wide range of action during the war, and is now subconsiously perceived as a threat by many of her male coworkers. It's a desperate bid to "go back to the way things were before", and her presence is a constant reminder that they can't.

Sousa occupies a very similar position to Peggy's: he's also a reminder that the war happened and that there is no way back, no magic solution, no pretending. And that's why both are ignored, and displaced, and why both struggle to prove themselves in a subconscious way while living by the continued principle that they are doing their bit. That is their lifeline that keeps them sane and working all throughout s1 of Agent Carter.

That's what we mean when we say Peggy and Sousa are equals, and that Sousa is contented with letting her have the spot; not because he's her inferior or her dependant, but because he's her equal -in intelligence, in ideals, in resourcefulness, in loyalty, but also in their relative positions in the power ladder- and does not feel threatened by her because of it.

(It is in this context, btw, that Peggy's rebuke of Daniel's "rescue" of her in the first episode must be understood. Because she was once treated like any other officer/agent of her same rank, she has knee jerk reactions to both being demeaned and being protected. It's also an important theme of that beginning of the series that Peggy needs to learn to let her friends in, and that she needs their help, and that that doesn't make her too weak to protect and defend them.)

But also, in another way, when we talk about Sousa becoming Peggy's husband, it has to do with the sentiment Krezminsky expresses in the series:

The ship of Steggy had sailed and was gone forever since the moment Steve became the legend in the ice and Peggy "Cap's Girl", this embodiment of the ridiculous damsel in distress we hear in the radio drama that plays on one of the episodes: Peggy fell in love with Steve when he was a scrawny, sickly lad, because she loved the man he was inside, but now forever for the world she is just another superficial, weak girl lusting after the handsome godlike rescuer, the picture of the eugenic dream of the übermensch. In Daniel Peggy loves and finds all the same things she found and loved in Steve, but in a different light, because Sousa is a different person, with a different life story, plus something else: they have both gone through war and its loss and grief, and come to the other side in need of rebuilding and finding new meaning in life and hope for the future.

In a world where the Dark, Tall and Handsome Hero of the Six Pack, Alpha Dominance and Endless Stamina reigns supreme, Sousa as a love interest is a remarkable and -sadly- bold statement about the things that truly matter in finding one's life partner.

So I think here is a reasonable point to start talking about Sousa in Agents of SHIELD. Because here's where someone would rationally say "well, but you see, there he's also chosen as a love interest!", and the reasons why context in AoS changes everything are multiple, so let's go there.

But before that, let me make clear that I do wholeheartedly believe the writers of AoS meant to honor Sousa, and sincerely tried to do their best with what they were given. That doesn't change what the end product ended up doing and saying about him.

Like Peggy is the main character of Agent Carter, so Daisy is the main character of Agents of SHIELD. As much as you can say all the team characters are important and get the focus, Daisy is the one which the narrative insists on making the focal point, as the arcs of several seasons hinge on her, and we are expected to sympathize with her first and foremost in any situation in which she is personally involved. But unlike Peggy, Daisy is a superpowered individual. She's more like Steve than Peggy; she's practically a demigod. She is capable of ripping Earth apart with just her hands. Where Peggy and Sousa were equals in the power ladder in-universe, in AoS the distance between Daisy and Sousa is abysmal. That imbalance is the first thing that leads to Sousa being put in the position of Daisy's Boy. The fact that he ends up in space with Daisy's last minute sister who is ALSO an inhuman does not help things.

As a side note, there's something to be said about futuristic prosthetics in AoS and how they interesect with disability. But I'd rather not get into it because it is a thorny subject and I don't feel qualified to speak of it.

In a different way, Daniel being Peggy's love interest in Agent Carter is balanced out by his having a life of his own and many interactions with other characters throughout the series. He pursues his own lines of investigation, he conducts interrogations of his own, he comes up with plans, he teams up with Krezminsky and with Thompson and in s2 he has downright made a life for himself as chief in California with a fiancé and all. There is a clear sense that he exists as a character outside of pining for Peggy.

In AoS, the opposite happens. Part of it is owed to the writers writing themselves into a corner: to take Sousa out of his timeline, they have to do it in such a way that his disappearance is inconspicuous, which means killing him. They do it the best way they can think of, honoring his alertness and intelligence, by making him realize HYDRA is infiltrated in SHIELD decades before anyone else does. But as a consequence, Sousa becomes the man out of time: there's no future for him, because he has died, and unlike Steve, he's not being brought back because he himself is required. They just save him because they take pity on him and the tragedy of his life. So he has no mission and no significant previous connection with anyone on the team. One of the concrete things in which this is evidenced the most is with the switch from being addressed as chief Sousa to Agent Sousa. He was chief, but between that SHIELD and this SHIELD there's not such a connection by which he can claim that title. There's no subordinates to manage. So he's sort of default-called agent without really being a proper agent.

So the writers choose the fish-out-of-water concept for him. Which is far fetched. This guy lived through wwii in a high spy setting where intelligence has knowledge of powerful interstellar aliens. He's most definitely not bewildered by phone cameras, guys. He would quickly adapt... if, again, you know, he was brought back for a mission. But the reality is that from a Doylist POV, he was brought in to be Daisy's love interest, and the only thing he can offer to her, in this huge power imbalance I have pointed out, is chivalrous manners and quaint WWII style references like when he tells her "Agent Johnson, we are going home"; both can be very charming to a modern woman, but they are things that highlight the cultural and psychological distances that separate them, and make it glaringly obvious that they have barely anything in common.

The series tries desperately to give them common ground in the time-loop episode, with this idea that Daisy is like Peggy because she sacrifices herself for others and to protect others all the time. Which is laughable because, again, in Daisy's condition of beloved main character that embodies the tortured, quasi byronic heroine that we understand to be the hallmark of about one half of the contemporary superhero type, the narrative and the characters in it bend all sorts of ways to accommodate her, not the other way around. Peggy's type is different because it is rooted in that WWII morale/frame I was talking about at the beginning of the post.

As a consequence of all of this, Sousa barely interacts with anyone that isn't Daisy (he has of personal scenes, what? one or two with Coulson, the scene where Jemma gives him a new prosthetic, and then he's given an idea to give to Mac in the finale. I don't remember any other non-Daisy ones), has no unique role to fulfill in the mission (specially because so much of the plan is entwined in Fitz and Jemma's rescue plan that was NOT counting with Sousa) and no personal goal to achieve, which weakens his standing as a character outside the romance plot, and when it comes to the romance plot, he has nothing in common with Daisy, and he brings nothing to the partnership other than... narratively forced love, and chivalrousness.

In the end, Daniel, who was a character and a person of relevance in Agent Carter, is nerfed and turned into a prop for the rushed happily ever after of the main character of AoS. And that, in my books, is being screwed over. That's what makes his becoming Peggy's husband and building a life and a future with her a much better and more preferable outcome for Daniel; he gets to build a life of meaning by his own significant work and significant connections, in his own time and place, with a wife who is his equal and with other people that have lived through the same collective experiences of trauma and grief he did.

[musette22]

oooh Minnie....you know those fics out here that have the characters watching the future and things like that (where they watch their own movies or read the books and react? ) I was wondering if ever Steve and Bucky were to watch their movies (maybe an avengers watch the movies type situation) and they get progressively more confused as Endgame goes on because why would Steve ever leave Bucky? Or maybe they're watching CATFA and during the bar scene Steve watches the scene and realises that Bucky might have been in love with him. And the avengers pause the movie for Steve and Bucky to have a conversation because Steve sees the look on Bucky's face when Peggy arrives.

Oh and Steve reacting to the bank vault torture scene in WS as well as the in CW ....ooh the possibilities.

I'm sorry if I didn't explain myself very well.

Hello my darling! I'm sorry it's taken me a while to reply to this lovely message, it's been a very busy few days! But aaahhh, this is such a beautiful idea, especially the second one you mentioned 🥺 I can just imagine the Avengers, post-TWS, watching the new Captain America movie that's been made about Steve's life (featuring a pair of certain very handsome Hollywood heartthrobs...). And Steve is ready to hate it, as he's hated all the other movies about him he's seen, but he finds that he actually quite enjoys it, more than he thought he would - until they get to the scene in the bar you describe, and Steve huffs out an awkward laugh and says, "Okay, I'll admit this one is pretty good so far, but come on... I don't understand why they've made it look like Buck was jealous or something. Why would they do that? That's not how it was at all, right Buck?"

But Bucky doesn't say anything, eyes remaining glued to the screen and refusing to meet Steve's gaze. The rest of the Avengers are pretending not to be watching what's unfolding between them (except for Clint, who's openly staring at them while munching on popcorn), but the room is collectively holding its breath.

"Bucky?" Steve repeats, willing Bucky to look at him. "You were just teasing, right? You weren't actually jealous." He pauses, feeling wrongfooted somehow. "Were you?"

Bucky swallows audibly, meeting Steve's eyes for a fleeting moment before looking away again. "'Course not."

"You liked Peggy," Steve insists. "You- you were happy for me. Right? Buck?"

Bucky gives a jerky nod. "Sure, Steve."

Steve feels suddenly like he's missed a step on the stairs. "Bucky, what's- I don't understand, why-?"

With a deep, heartfelt sigh, Bucky's shoulders sag, and he finally looks up - and the look on his face makes Steve’s heart go into freefall.

"Steve..." Bucky shakes his head slowly. "Of course I was happy for you. Doesn't mean I didn't also want to yell and rage at her, for coming between us the way she did. For being what you wanted, what you deserved. For taking you from me. Even if you were never really mine."

And once Steve has recovered from the shock, once his heart has started beating and he's found his voice again, he finally, finally finds the courage to admit what he's been keeping a secret for all those years - that he's loved Bucky from the moment he met him and wanted him from the minute he was old enough to know what wanting someone meant, and that if he'd only known, there wouldn't have have been any question about it: he’d have chosen Bucky over Peggy in a heartbeat, in every single way, over and over again.

And as they fall into each other's arms, teary-eyed but happier than they've ever been, the other Avengers wipe away stray tears, sneakily hand each other cash.

Aaahhh I love this, nonnie 🥹🥹 And you're right, the possibilities *are* endless!! So many other amazing scenarios to think about with this particular trope! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with us, honey! ❤️😘

[lnsfawwi]

Evidence 1823847 Bucky makes Steve feminine coded: Grieving

a brief analysis of the portrayal of Steve's emotions in the context of grieving and how Bucky is (again) the person who adds gendered layers to Steve's character.

we can all agree that Steve represses his feelings more often than not. he has to. he was a poor, tiny, sick kid who got picked on or pitied all the time, neither of which was desirable, and over the years it just became who he is. it's not necessarily a bad thing, but emotional constipation is often associated with masculinity because emotions are considered a weakness, especially for a male (super)hero. they either tough it up or use unhealthy coping mechanisms to hide their trauma (anger, drinking, repression, suppression, denial, joke, etc.).

Steve is repressive as hell. he is, by nature, a very emotional person, sensitive and empathetic, but his childhood made him believe that he needed to be as tough and strong and independent as possible. to some extent, Bucky is the same, if not worse, but that's for another time.

Steve lost, well, almost everyone he's ever loved. but how often does he get to actually grieve them and be vulnerable?

chronologically:

after Sarah's funeral, Steve was sad but holding it together. he kept his head down all the time and didn't look at Bucky until Bucky said the wedding vow to him. Steve was obviously playing the tough guy persona. but Bucky cut right through his bullshit and let him know that it's ok to be vulnerable, you don't have to pretend when you are with me. and Steve, the definition of stubborn, actually took Bucky up on his offer. and Bucky made him smile, even just a little bit, on the day of his ma's funeral, with not a sassy joke, but a heartwarming, earnest, gay ass declaration of love and loyalty.

after Bucky died in catfa, Steve was so overwhelmed by the pain of the loss he was crying alone in a ruined bar. he allowed himself to grieve, to break. he thought he was safe because he was alone. After all, Captain America couldn't be caught crying while trying to drink himself to oblivion for the death of a compatriot. and he thought he was safe because Peggy was supposed to be the only person besides Bucky who saw him as who he was. but no. she said 'then don't deny him the dignity of that.' she said to tough it up. see it as an honor for Bucky, your grief is tantamount to decimating his courage and sacrifice. stop being swallowed by grief and get your ass moving.

him mourning the loss of his friends in the first Avengers movie was cut. he was canonly not allowed to be sad.

during the entire Steve sadness errands, he was sad but not explicit about it. god knows how many times has he visited the museum just to see a couple of familiar faces on a screen. did he have to hide in a bathroom stall the first few times he saw Bucky's smiling face, when he heard about the Howlies sharing ridiculous war stories? we can only assume, because how can you make a movie about the greatest superhero and have him have a mental breakdown 30 minutes into the movie? because how could Steve ever let himself be so openly broken without Bucky being there to piece him back together? 'what makes you happy?" Sam asked. 'I don't know.' Steve answered, with a smile.

Peggy's funeral was a crowded public event, he was on camera, he tried to hold his tears back because again, he had a reputation to uphold. Sam and Nat were there to quite literally hold his hands through this. however, Sam's presence was practically ignored and Nat's visit was shadowed by the ominous immediacy of the Accords.

endtrash didn't happen so we don't talk about it.

in a Watsonian reading, Steve consistently mask the true depth of his grief. partly because that's just who he is, partly because that's who people think he is (Captain America).

Bucky becomes the outlier case. Bucky allows Steve to be vulnerable, hell he pushes him to be cus he knows how hurt Steve truly is. and when it was Bucky who died, Steve couldn't hold his emotions back.

interestingly, it was Nat, a woman, who echoed Bucky's sentiment, you can be vulnerable with me, I'm here for you. even so, his response was not directly shown on screen, therefore more a demonstration of their relationship than Steve's emotional state. [a tangent: Cap trilogy Nat was much more of a real human than whatever joss wheden fantasizes about sexy deadly russian spy. she can be scared, uncertain, earnest, annoyingly gossip, and caring in Cap movies and still be the badass black widow as we know it.]

regardless, the point stands that Steve showing his grief is not easy, due to the environment and/or his own stubbornness. and it's ultimately a feminine trait (iterated by Nat's parallel) that best presents itself when Bucky is involved.

I rest my case.

now I don't want it to be an anti-peggy post because what prompted me to write this post was also partly because of the comics, where Thor basically told Steve the same thing as Peggy. but I only want to limit the scope to the MCU so. it's not my fault that stucky was in the narrative but steggy is not.

[numberonestuckyshipper]

I’m sorry idk why I’m thinking of this but at the end of catfa, why the hell was Peggy in the car with Philips? She wasn’t driving or anything, just sitting there and calling out to Steve? Seems like it was just a waste of time, for her to get into the car, then kissing Steve (probably knowing that he wasn’t coming back even if he could because the person he loved the most in the world was dead) she was really useful during the fight and all so why wasn’t she there?

[fandomfluffandfuck]

Hey S! Am I mistaken or are you asks open again? If so, can I request Omega Seb and Alpha Chris fighting mutual sexual frustration and pining during the filming of catfa? Both of them wanting to be professional and nice, but the other smells so good, until they just snap (?) and Seb gets fucked into next Friday. If your asks are closed, you can just ignore me. I know school (college/ university?) is hard. My exams are coming up and they scare the hell outta me.

Hey sweets,

I'm sorry, no, my asks aren't back open yet. It's a little hard to tell with me reblogging my old writing and also doing some short drabbles recently, so I get that, but nah. My asks will be back open for summer.

I feel you with university finals, lol. One of my finals is a drawing that's literally taller than me, and I'm HOURS deep into it with many more hours to go. I don't know how I'm gonna finish it in time 😅

I do love this idea, though 👀 I've always thought there needs to be more omegaverse × RPF crossover. I've written some of it in the past, though, so you might be interested in that:

"Heating Up"

Omega Seb

What if Omega Chris?

More Omega Seb

Omegaverse College AU 1

Omegaverse College AU 2

Omegaverse College AU 3

Knot Obsessed Omega Seb

AND

I would highly recommend this fic that sounds like what you're describing but on the set of CA:CW rather than CA:TFA and with Omega Chris/Alpha Seb, but... shit, it's so hot, read away

"All the things we leave unsaid" by Claudia_flies

[georgiapeach30513]

I really hate comparing people but I saw on Nancy’s page she made a comparison about what Evans was doing on the side during marvel vs hemsworth and I thought that was an accurate AF comparison. And more positive.

Hemmy and Evans are more of a realistic comparison because they are both in the same Hollywood trifecta, get confused for each other and other Chrises, according to fans, both starred as this blonde superhero beefcakes, often being leveraged in films for their physical appearances rather than acting, both went on to do more voice acting for franchises, both have similar audiences due to Steve and Thor, and were referred to as the Chrises whenever the OG 6 was being talked about. Both may have also been pigeonholed in the industry because of this

They genuinely have great rapport and chemistry and especially in the old avengers interviews where they got paired together it was havoc. They were adorable and they still are but they’re both not really taken as seriously as they could/should.

Hems has also tried his part in villain roles which he does well. But he does revert to franchise and cash grab stuff all the time.

I mean, I personally think most of the Sebastian comparisons are people who are Stevebucky fans who can’t let go. They follow both fandoms but some are not fans of both and only fans of one and liek to come to the other to spite like your other anon said. I know this sounds harsh but like I’m not seeing where these two made any sense but I do see Chris and Chris making sense.

Hemsworth fans are much more lighthearted and they love their big goofball despite him probably not on the path to win any Oscar’s. But he’s fun to watch and nice to look at.

Why can’t more CE fans treat him the way hemsworth fans treat their Chris? They’re both love able in their owns ways and as a pair they’re cute too. I also love Steve and Thor together and think their relationship is underrated.

I just hate the SS comparisons because ITS ALWAYS to spite and compete and it’s like, guys enough already. Let it be. Move on. Haha

That being said you are a fan of both so I completely understand you’re going to get anons for both and often it bleeds together. You’re always very pragmatic as well and I dig that.

I agree that Hemmy is a better comparison. But I also don’t understand why we have to compare him to anyone but himself. It’s how we should live life, the only competition you should have is the person you were yesterday.

But you do bring up excellent points on their careers. And I miss seeing those two together. The Seb and Chris competition I don’t feel is going anywhere anytime soon. I’m tabling the conversation. It just makes no sense to me.

I am a fan of both, and I became a fan long before they were in CATFA. I watched Sebastian on Once Upon A Time in live time. I think that has been able to separate the two as actors. They’ve both have had long careers, and they are both taking their careers in different directions. As they should.

[stuckysnugglebutt]

Ok, so I just did a brief A03 search, and I didn't get any hits, so I am presuming this doesn't exist yet.

I'm gonna need someone to write a Captain America and BBC Ghost mash-up. It could be set during CATFA, and the Howling Commandos could be quartered at Button House during R&R in England or between missions for the SSR when they are reporting/coordinating with Col Phillips, et al.

This obviously needs to be a Stucky fic. They could meet the Captain while he is alive and stationed at Button House. This would open up some interesting convos/interaction among the Captain, Stucky, and Havers.

The potential for a time jump to the present day is there as well. Cap (with or without Bucky post WS) could revisit Button House on a mission or to stay at the B&B (or both). Then, he encounters the Captain as a ghost in the present day, which has the potential for a lot of great scenes.

Anywho... there you are writers....a great scenario/writing prompt for you. Go forth and write b/c I need this badly in my life!

[fluffystevefest]

Happy weekend! Thank you to everyone who shared their creations or showed their love and support. Nothing is more of an aphrodisiac than your likes, kudos, reblogs, shares, and comments! 💙

THEME ★ BEDROOM

Day 5: Subtly Shameless Rogers by @mercurial-chuckles ★ Fic: M ★ Pairing: Steve/Reader ★ In the entirety of your existence, you never thought you’d ever experience something like this. Your friends stood there appalled as Steve Rogers was washing dishes in your apartment, shirtless to be precise.

Cuddles in the Aftermath by @endlesstwanted ★ Fic: 100, M ★ Pairing: Steve/Scott Summers ★ Scott and Steve share a tender moment in bed.

Fluffy Steve Fest Rec List Day 5 - Bedroom by @bulkyphrase ★ Rec list ★ Pairing: Multi ★ It's @fluffystevefest day 5! The theme for Friday is Bedroom, and after a short break from following the themes and prompts, this list is back on track! These are a few of my favorite soft, bedroom activity-related fics.

PROMPT ★ SHIRTLESS

Bounce by @darthbloodorange ★ Fic: 100, T ★ Pairing: Steve/Natasha ★ Steve catches his reflection and is curious...

Fluffy Steve Fest Rec List: July 5: Bedroom by @ephemeralbutterfly ★ Rec list ★ Pairing: Steve/Tony ★

shirtless steve in catfa by @meidui ★ Gifset ★ Pairing: None ★

PROMPT ★ PRAISE KINK

Thor's Good Boy by @darthbloodorange ★ Fic: 100, E ★ Pairing: Steve/Thor ★ Steve likes being good for Thor.

steve has a praise kink! by @meidui ★ Rec list ★ Pairing: Steve/Tony ★

PROMPT ★ DISCREET PACKAGING

Delivery for Rogers by @darthbloodorange ★ Fic: 100, T ★ Pairing: Steve/Tony ★ Steve gets a surprise delivery.

A Plain Brown Envelope by @polizwrites ★ Fic: 175, M ★ Pairing: Steve/Bucky ★ After seeing an ad in a men’s magazine, Bucky and Steve place an order.

PROMPT ★ APHRODISIAC

Burning Up For You by @darthbloodorange ★ Fic: 200, M ★ Pairing: Steve/Bucky ★ Steve got hit with some sort of aphrodisiac during their last mission. Luckily, he's got two doting boyfriends to look after him.

stevetony sex pollen fic recs by @meidui ★ Rec list ★ Pairing: Steve/Tony ★

[logansgaar]

In light of the fact that Bucky (Loki and Thor too for that matter, since the Chrises, Tom and Seb have all aged past their characters) should pretty much still look like he did in CATFA in-universe, it's hilarious to imagine Sam slipping up one day and calling Bucky "kid" without thinking and it's mortifying for them both. Sam has a whole list of old man jokes from his time with Steve that he now gets to reuse on Bucky, except goddamnit Bucky pretty much rebuilt his personality after a factory reset from breaking conditioning so the illusion of being old breaks down easier than it did with Steve, his sense of humor is eerily close to genz/clearly influenced by Princess Shuri, and sometimes when Sam is distracted by something else, he does let "kid" drop like he does with Joaquín.

Bucky looks disturbed because Steve probably keeps accidentally calling him "son" and "kid" during their meet ups too, since there's a strong chance he has grandkids that look Bucky's age, and now Sam's doing it as well, he's in his 100s what the hell is going on? Meanwhile this is, based on a calculated estimate on the serums aging rate, what he looks like in-universe:

[luna-rainbow]

The shield-bearer vs the gun-wielder

(Unmarked GIFs are credited to @lost-shoe - miss you 😭)

One frequent interpretation of the Steve-Bucky dichotomy sees Steve as the protector and defender with the shield, while Bucky is the aggressor and assailant wielding a gun or knife or even his metal arm. It's hard to shake that impression when we remember just how savage Bucky can be as the Winter Soldier, whereas Steve notably did not carry a weapon after CATFA. Promotional stills where they appear together reinforce that image, with Bucky often appearing with an offensive weapon (or holding his arm up offensively) while Steve holds his shield defensively.

But the picture of Bucky stepping in front of Karpov made me rethink. Despite Bucky's loss at the new super soldiers' hands a moment before, he is remarkably restrained in what he does as he leads Karpov out of the cage. I am not against the meta that suggested he gained some satisfaction at striking back at the new super soldiers, but he stuck to his goal of guarding Karpov instead of getting swept up in the adrenaline and joining the brawl - as other guards in the background did.

Bucky is a protector. I know there are already lots of meta about this: from the moment we meet him in the back alley, Bucky is using himself as a human shield between Steve and the bully. He puts himself at Steve's back when he's rescued from the Hydra facility and he picks up the shield to protect Steve on the train. Even that one scene of Bucky being a sniper in CATFA, he shot the enemy to protect Steve. As Bucky, his acts of aggression happens when he's protecting someone (usually Steve).

So it's interesting to re-examine the violence in CATWS. Yes, Bucky/Winter Soldier is capable of extraordinary ferocity in taking down Fury and Steve and Nat, but he's also someone who sits there placidly when Pierce's maid startles them. Proactive attack isn't his instinctual state - and that becomes clearer when we see more of Bucky in CACW. He waits until violence is upon him before he retaliates: whether in Bucharest, or in the German airport, or finally in Siberia with Tony.

And on reflection, even in this climactic CATWS scene, the visuals are consistent with Bucky’s modus operandi — he is placing himself as a human shield between his enemy (Steve) and what he needs to guard (the Helicarrier behind him). The trail of destruction he leaves behind on his way onto the Helicarrier is frank reminder of how capable of violence he is, but this moment on the bridge holds a curious stillness. He is waiting, but not as a predator waiting for his prey, but rather like a lone guard’s final stand against inevitable doom. And perhaps — his aim was never on taking the most number of lives on the airfield, it was to disperse and disable anyone who might interfere with the Helicarrier’s launch.

Bucky's focus during the first part of the fight with Steve seems to be more on the drive Steve is carrying rather than on killing Steve. Killing Steve only comes after the Helicarriers fail (which begs the question: was Bucky specifically instructed to stop Steve without killing him and then kill him afterwards, or did Bucky have enough presence of mind to hold back for as long as he could?) Even as the Winter Soldier, Bucky seems most in his element when protecting something behind him.

On the converse, we have Steve, whose symbol is the shield, and I think it misleads (maybe even intentionally on Steve's part) the audience and his enemies into thinking that Steve's strong point is defence.

But it's not. I wouldn't call Steve an aggressor (and I'm not a huge fan of the angry chihuahua fanon), but he is far more proactive in his actions and a lot more aggressive in his attacks than the shield might suggest.

Even this memorable image, which seems to suggest Steve is on the defense against Bucky's raging attack is actually the opposite -- Steve is rushing Bucky from the side, and Bucky's punch serves to stop Steve in his tracks (i.e. it’s Bucky's self-defense against Steve's attack).

Our first meeting with Steve establishes him as a challenger - he challenges the recruitment rules, he challenges the disrespectful guy in the cinema, he challenges Colonel Philips and Hydra and the Red Skull - and eventually, he goes on to challenge Loki and Tony and Fury and Pierce and SHIELD in the modern world.

We don't see Steve carrying a weapon in the modern era (except for maybe brief moments of him using a weapon in Avengers) and it's easy, for the audience but also for Steve’s enemies, to forget that Steve uses the shield as an offensive weapon. Sure, it serves its function as an actual shield, but Steve hurls it as a projectile weapon intended to incapacitate so many times I won't be able to list them all so I'll just let this picture speak for itself.

Even at their first reunion, Bucky is running away to avoid a confrontation with the witness (Steve) while Steve is chasing after him to confront the sniper.

And I think this describes their different traits to a tee - Steve is like the bloodhound with a keen nose for trouble and doesn’t rest until he’s chased it down, while Bucky is like the guard dog who patiently sits by his family until commanded to fight or provoked. That's not to say Steve is always picking fights, but rather he's got an intuitive awareness of where the source of the conflict is and has no qualms putting himself into the fray. It’s also not to say that Bucky is always avoidant or apathetic, but rather he tends to watch and wait unless it threatens those he cares about...and that is probably deserving of its own meta to discuss how their separate upbringings make Steve and Bucky different in their confrontation readiness.

"I thought you were more than just a shield," Batroc says, so Steve clips his shield back on his harness and dukes it out with his fists.

Of course Steve is more than his shield, because the shield is just a piece of disguise for who Steve Rogers really is - someone who's always assessing the world around him (rather than hiding behind the shield) and ready to challenge the injustices (rather than waiting for the fight to come to him).

The real dichotomy between Steve and Bucky is that Steve is a natural challenger, who first picks up the shield to help him undertake a single-man offence on a Hydra base. When he wakes up in the modern world and sees that the imagery of the shield is entrenched with his identity, he uses that symbol to mask his fiery defiance while turning the shield itself into a weapon that works both in offense and defence. Bucky is a natural protector, who had picked up fighting and later weapons for defence and self-defence. Hydra then turned his loyal temperament and his skill set into “the fist of Hydra” - capable of both protection and targeted destruction.

They seem to have chosen (or been assigned) a weapon that is opposite to their instincts, but it’s also why they work so well together as a unit. Steve's convictions and idealism give Bucky the impetus to take up arms, and Bucky's constancy and protection give Steve the confidence to forge ahead.

The man who attacks injustices with a shield, and at his back, the man who defends him with a gun.

[redvanillabee]

during the pandemic i found this hello kitty colouring in page and with quite literally nothing better to do, i coloured it as CATFA!Peggy and AC S1 sweater vest Daniel.

[bedlamsbard]

☆!

Oooh, let's talk about the Steve and Peggy not-dance in Of Home Near 8, since this was a scene I rewrote a couple of times, and the final version is drastically different from the previous versions. (Which I've included here too.)

This scene is set in the Stork Club, the nightclub where Steve and Peggy were supposed to have their date in CATFA. There is a real Stork Club that was around in the 1940s, but it was in New York City, not London. There was also another Stork Club in London, but from what I could find it wasn't around until the 1950s. (It's currently called the Cuckoo Club.) I'm not sure if the one mentioned in the film is meant to be the NYC one or the London one. After angsting about it I just made it a London nightclub, but it's not meant to be based on the real Stork Club or have any real internal geography.

The back of his neck prickled as he began to make his slow meandering way through the crowd, turning his head from side to side as if he was searching for someone. Despite the music and the general festive atmosphere, Steve had the sensation that he was in enemy territory, like the occupied cities on the continent he had passed through during the war, aware that someone – maybe more than one someone – was watching him with their hand on their gun. Even before the past two years on the run he had gotten used to the feeling of looking over his shoulder and not showing off that that was what he was doing; since then it had become second nature.

The first rule of going on the run is don’t run, walk, Natasha’s voice whispered in his memory. He wasn’t on the run again, not yet, but the same principle applied.

This scene is meant to mirror Steve's Wanda-induced vision in Age of Ultron, as Steve later realizes, so this entire section is pulled straight out of AoU. Except that they're just at a regular nightclub with a regular band, not a USO band.

There was a dreamlike air to his passage through the nightclub, in the flare of the women’s skirts on the dance floor and the steady pulse of the swing music, so unlike what he had gotten used to in the twenty-first century. Someone popped the cork on a champagne bottle near him and Steve flinched, startled by the sound and the spray of the liquid that caught the edge of his left hand. Flashbulbs popped nearby, a couple of photographers taking pictures of the dancers and various couples and groups at the round tables, making Steve jerk instinctively away as if they had been muzzle flashes instead.

He turned quickly at the sound of raised voices, just in time to see two soldiers shoving at each other, a third quickly getting between them. On his other side, one soldier wiped spilled wine from another’s shirt, both men laughing, the red liquid looking horrifyingly like blood in the room’s dim light.

I’ve been here before, Steve thought suddenly. Not the Stork Club; he would have remembered that. There was an oddly hollow quality to the memory, unreal somehow, and it was that which let him place it.

Wanda.

Three years ago in South Africa on Ulysses Klaue’s ship. It wasn’t an exact replica of the induced vision – no USO banner behind the band, the music was different, no MPs – but it was close enough to raise the hair on the back of his neck. Which meant –

He turned before Peggy could speak.

He hadn’t seen her before she had left headquarters, but somehow it wasn’t a surprise to see that she was wearing exactly what she had worn in Wanda’s vision – blue dress, silver earrings, a red silk flower pinned to her right shoulder. Whatever she had been about to say died unspoken at the expression on his face; after a moment where they just stared at each other, she said, “Are you all right?”

“I –” Steve hesitated. “I owe you a dance.”

From here on I rewrote this entire section. In the first few versions of the scene, Peggy essentially came to terms with Steve not being the same guy who went into the ice, which is the exact opposite of what happens in the final version. (I'll put both alternate versions of the scene at the end.)

Her eyebrows went up. “Don’t worry,” she said. “Under the circumstances, I’m not going to insist on collecting.”

Steve swallowed. “Maybe I want you to.”

Steve really wants to actually get the dance he's been waiting for for seventy-three years, but he can't do it without Peggy.

Peggy’s eyebrows stayed up. She was quiet for a long few heartbeats, during which the song the band had been playing finished and there was a brief moment of silence before they started up again. Into it, she said finally, “Sometimes I wonder if any of this is real to you. If to you we’re all just – just playactors in some elaborate pantomime like those awful stage shows you used to put on, so you can say or do whatever you want because it doesn’t matter. Lie about her, wear that uniform, say that to me.”

Fun fact: in one of the versions of this scene I put the lyrics of the song the band is playing in, but they weren't as relevant in the angrier final version, rather than the bittersweet previous versions. It's "When the Lights Go On Again" by Vaughn Monroe, linked version is sung by Vera Lynn ("when the lights go on again all over the world / and the boys are home again all over the world / and rain or snow is all that may fall from the skies above / a kiss won't mean 'goodbye' but 'hello to love').

“I know it’s real,” Steve said, swallowing again. The words hurt, but they were meant to; she knew him well enough for that. “That you’re real – you and Howard and Phillips and the Howlies –”

“Do you?” Peggy said. “Do you really? Because sometimes you don’t act like it.”

“This would be a hell of a lot easier if I thought it wasn’t real,” Steve told her. “A hell of a lot.”

Peggy doesn't know what to think about 2018 Steve -- and she doesn't really accept that he's 2018 Steve, instead of 1945 Steve that something completely bizarre happened to.

She shook her head. “I don’t understand you anymore, Steve,” she said. “I used to, or I thought I did, and now – it’s like one man went up in the Valkyrie and someone else came back. I want to understand and I can’t and you won’t let me.”

“Have you even tried?” Steve said softly. “Every time you’ve talked to me since I got here you’ve been trying to catch me out in one lie or another.”

In Peggy's defense Steve does keep lying, it's just not the thing that she thinks he's lying about that he's lying about.

“And you keep lying,” Peggy said. “It’s like you can’t help yourself. You wouldn’t have done that six weeks ago; it’s not who you are. Only now –”

Steve shut his eyes briefly, then opened them again, because if he was going to say this, then he had to look her in the eye when he did it. “Then maybe you never really knew me, Peggy, because I was always this guy. Maybe you only ever knew the guy you wanted me to be.”

“I don’t believe that,” Peggy said. “I won’t believe that.”

Steve swallowed hard. “Then maybe that’s the problem.”

I've put a lot of thought into both Peggy's relationship with Steve and Peggy's perceived relationship with Steve, and what it's like over the course of CATFA and afterwards, in Agent Carter. (Even though this story takes place prior to AC by more than a year, it's a good look at how Peggy's idea of Steve crystallized post-death.) I think Peggy does have a very idealized view of Steve, in the same way that Steve has a very idealized view of Peggy, and in Peggy's case that's very heavily affected by the fact that Steve (apparently) died tragically a month earlier -- well, six weeks earlier by this point in the story. Steve died and everyone treated Peggy like a widow (even though they hadn't really been anything but a 'maybe' and that was on Peggy, not Steve), and she was able to build up an ideal of Steve. I think Steve says elsewhere in this story that Peggy never looked twice at him (as a potential romantic partner) pre-serum and I do think that's true. But I think post-death PEGGY doesn't think that's true, so she has this very idealized view of pre-serum Steve as being "real" Steve -- it's why she keeps the pre-serum photo of him from the end of CATFA in AC and later in Endgame. Distance and not having the actual person there lets her believe that she always felt that way about him and even that post-serum Steve was less "real," especially since post-serum Steve was ~America's golden boy and that woman does not like sharing. And this is the scene where Steve realizes that maybe Peggy really doesn't know him as well as he thinks she does.

A muscle in her jaw worked. She looked like she was on the verge of tears – Steve felt like he was on the verge of tears, though he didn’t know how much of that showed on his face. He wanted to reach for her, to do something to take even a little of that uncomprehending misery away from her, but he had just forfeited any right he had to comfort her. He started to open his mouth, to apologize, maybe, but he couldn’t do that either. She wouldn’t believe him and it would just be empty words, meaningless except as an attempt to absolve himself.

There was something horribly final about it, as if Steve had finally severed some last remaining tie to the life he should have had, to the man he should have been – his own choice this time, and not the one that fate or God or Abraham Erskine had made for him. For a wild moment, all he wanted to do was take it back, to shout that it was a mistake and that he still wanted this, this life, this woman, this person that no one had ever really laid to rest six years or six weeks or seventy-three years ago, the man that maybe he could have been. He wanted his life back, the same way he had wanted it every day for six years.

But it wasn’t his life anymore. It hadn’t been for a long time.

Steve's known it for a while but he's admitting it now.

*

First version of the scene:

He turned before Peggy could speak.

He hadn’t seen her before she had left headquarters, but somehow it wasn’t a surprise to see that she was wearing exactly what she had worn in Wanda’s vision – blue dress, silver earrings, a red silk flower pinned to her right shoulder. Whatever she had been about to say died unspoken at the expression on his face; after a moment where they just stared at each other, she said, “Are you all right?”

“I –” Steve hesitated. “I owe you a dance.”

“I think your – wife – might protest.”

He winced at the slight but deliberate pauses she had put around the word wife.  Natasha had told him about the conversation she had had with Peggy the previous day; Peggy had been avoiding him ever since Howard’s arrival, and now he knew why.

“No,” Steve said. “She knows –”  He didn’t know how to end that.  What this means to me would probably just make Peggy laugh in his face.  He just said again, “She knows.”

Peggy looked at him for a long moment, her expression unreadable, and then she said simply, “I don’t.”

Steve shut his eyes, heavy with grief.  He could have explained, maybe, or at least tried to, but he knew without even saying a word that it didn’t really matter.  He could say anything he liked, but it would just be words now; the chance for anything else had already passed.  He had to try anyway.  “I’m sorry.”

“I am too,” Peggy said.  “Sorry.”  She took a deep breath, as if bracing herself, and said, “It was never going to be me, was it?”

I've put in and cut out the "it was never going to be me, was it?" line through SEVERAL different scenes now; it also appeared in a previous version of Chapter 7, when Peggy confronts Steve after she finds out from Natasha that they started sleeping together in 1945.

Steve swallowed hard.  “It could have been,” he said.  “I wanted it to be.  For a really – for a really long time.”

“When did you stop?”

It took everything Steve had not to look away, to keep his gaze fixed on hers, because if nothing else he owed her that.  He still hesitated before he admitted, “When we got here.”

This version of the scene was written before the Peggy and Natasha conversation in Chapter 7, so it had to be changed.

Peggy made a sound like she had been struck, a little hitching gasp that tore at Steve’s heart.  He started to reach for her and then stopped, knowing that the only right he had to comfort her was that of a friend, and he had never been entirely certain they were even that.  For an instant her gaze met his again, then she took a step backwards, out of his reach.

“It’s not because of her, is it?” she said, her voice hoarse from suppressed tears. “It’s not even because of me.  You’re – you’re really not him, are you?  No more than I’m the woman I was in 1939.”

I honestly don't think Peggy has the level of self-awareness to have this realization here.

Steve shook his head, a brief, compressed gesture. “No,” he said.  “I’m not.  I – I wish I still was.  But I’m not.  I’m sorry.”

Peggy’s nod was just as compressed, barely more than her chin lifting for an instant. “I’m sorry too.”

There was something horribly final about it, as if Steve had finally severed some last remaining tie to the life he should have had, to the man he should have been – his own choice this time, and not one that fate or God or Abraham Erskine had made for him.  For a wild moment all he wanted to do was take it back, to shout that he had been mistaken and that he still wanted this, this life, this woman, this person that she and Howard and the Commandos had all buried six years or six weeks or seventy-three years ago.  He wanted his life back, the same way he had wanted it every day for the last six years.

This paragraph remained the same in all the versions.

You could want anything.  Being able to have it was something else entirely.

*

Second version of this scene (the songfic version).

He turned before Peggy could speak.

He hadn’t seen her before she had left headquarters, but somehow it wasn’t a surprise to see that she was wearing exactly what she had worn in Wanda’s vision – blue dress, silver earrings, a red silk flower pinned to her right shoulder.  Whatever she had been about to say died unspoken at the expression on his face; after a moment where they just stared at each other, she said, “Are you all right?”

“I –”  Steve hesitated.  “I owe you a dance.”

Her eyebrows went up slightly, then her expression softened a little. “Don’t worry,” she said. “Under the circumstances, I’m not going to insist on collecting.”

Steve felt a muscle in his jaw work.  “Peggy –” he said, but he didn’t know what came after that.  He just let her name hang there between them until he finally added, “I’m sorry.”

She didn’t answer at first and the silence stretched out between them as the band finished its current set.  There was a little shuffling as a singer came onto the stage.

“I am too,” Peggy said.  “Sorry.”

For a long moment they just stared at each other.  The singer began to croon “When the Lights Go On Again” and Steve shut his eyes briefly.

When the lights go on again all over the world And the boys are home again all over the world –

“I still owe you a dance,” he said.

Peggy looked like she was going to cry.  “Steve, you’re married,” she said simply. “Or close enough to make no difference.”

Again, I don't think Peggy has this level of self-awareness. It also meant the next scene didn't really work, because it completely stopped the flow of action in the chapter, and this has to be a THINGS ARE HAPPENING! chapter. (The next scene was also cut.)

It was the first time that she had actually admitted it, instead of arguing it with him or using it like a challenge.

“Yeah,” Steve said. “I am.”

And rain or snow is all that may fall from the skies above A kiss won’t mean goodbye but hello to love.

Peggy turned her head slightly towards the stage, her mouth crooking upwards for an instant at the irony of the lyrics.  Then she looked back at him and said, her voice trembling a little, “It was never going to be me, was it?”

“It could have been,” Steve said, swallowing hard. “I wanted it to be.  For a long time – for a really long time.”

“When did you stop?”

It took everything Steve had not to look away from her, to keep his gaze fixed on hers.  He still hesitated before he admitted, “When we got here.”

Again, written before the revised scene in 7.

Peggy made a sound like she had been struck.  Steve started to reach for her and then stopped, his hand still outstretched, knowing that the only right he had to comfort her was that of a friend, and he had never been entirely certain that they were even that.  She took a step back, out of his reach.

Genuinely, I'm not sure that canon Steve and Peggy were actually friends, they had too much other stuff going on with the both of them.

“It’s not because of her, is it?” she said hoarsely. “It’s not even because of me.  You’re – you’re really not him, are you?  No more than I’m the woman I was in 1939.”

I have some very firm ideas about what Peggy was up to before the war and in the early days of the war, pre-SSR.

Steve shook his head, a brief, compressed gesture. “I’m not him,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

Peggy’s nod was just as compressed, barely more than her chin lifting for an instant. “I’m sorry too.”

There was something horribly final about it, as if Steve had finally severed some last remaining tie to the life he should have had, to the man he should have been – his own choice this time, and not one that fate or God or Abraham Erskine had made for him.  For a wild moment all he wanted to do was take it back, to shout that he had been mistaken and that he still wanted this, this life, this woman, this person that she and Howard and the Commandos had all buried six years or six weeks or seventy-three years ago.  He wanted his life back, the same way he had wanted it every day for the last six years.

You could want anything.  Being able to have it was something else entirely.

There was a Peggy POV scene that followed this one that was cut from the final version of the chapter, of Peggy crying in the ladies room and then talking with Rose. It's a scene that has a lot of stuff I really like in it -- particularly how much Peggy just Does Not Get why Steve insisted on staying Captain America -- but it completely slowed the chapter to a crawl and it doesn't work with the angrier final version. One reason I've cut every scene that has bittersweet acceptance from Peggy (there are others!) is that they just don't work, and they don't really ring true. I also think the anger's more interesting -- I don't think any hardcore Peggy fans are actually reading this story, which is probably for the best, but going by AC I don't think Peggy would just accept it. And it adds interesting tension between Peggy and everyone else, even if it's exhausting for everyone involved, including me.