#this is what i like to call art school skinny steve verse

[piratekenway]

3 with shake off your blues boy?

cracks knuckles.

I'd direct the big key scene where Steve sacrifices his Captain America body for Natasha, is the thing! I'd put unconscious Red Skull kind of comically knocked out, over there, with a broken nose. front and center tho, are Gamora and Steve: Steve is pacing wildly, trying to figure out how to get Natasha back too, Gamora is sitting down so she can recover from the shock of coming back - I'll tell the actress, pretend you're waking up from a long sleep and your limbs feel a little funny bc you haven't moved them in a bit. this is not a somber scene, this is a serious scene like in TWS where Steve looks at a hundred-foot drop through glass and is just like, yeah, this is gonna suck, but I'm gonna do it anyway, so the mood is determined but worried. there is a chance this will not work.

obviously if I was directing this I would also have completely rewritten Steve's Endgame arc. I would've, from the start, placed equal focus on Bucky's dog tags and Peggy's picture in the compass, with a dash more focus on the people Steve has lost - make him not the therapist for the support group, but instead the person speaking about trying to go on a date with a nice fellow and then stopping and trying to hold it back. (I would also have had him snap at Tony that he left him a fucking phone and he could've called, at any point, and Steve would've come.) he has not moved on! he refuses to! it feels like he's given up on them! and part of that is the fact that he hasn't moved on from Peggy either, not totally.

then - he has hope, and he considers going back to the past and staying there. you see him watching Peggy, almost putting his hand on the door to say hello. and then you see Peggy's husband, a brunette with a quicksilver smile, come inside, and say hello, and they talk about their kids, and they laugh. they're in love. Peggy's office has pictures of her family. Peggy has lived her life, and Steve - Steve is realizing, perhaps for the first time, that he should live his. he kisses the compass one last time. "goodbye, Peggy." puts the compass on the drawer. back to the heist.

back to my fic and how I'd direct it. put focus now on Steve's dog tags, the way he looks at them with love. he tucks them into his shirt - he's not letting them go. he won't sacrifice Gamora either. have him pace, talking with Gamora, and a beat after he says "but it would be so satisfying" about tossing Schmidt off the cliff, he stops. here I'd tell the actor this: you are not considering killing yourself. you are considering killing the best, most powerful version of yourself, to save your friend. remember, you used to be sick, you were scrawny and color-blind, people would not listen to you, you could not stop bullies. in this body, you are strong, you can afford to be brave, you can stop bullies from hurting other people.

now think about your friend. this is the woman who has stuck by you, who helped you find Bucky, who hugged you when Peggy died. she once told you that she wanted to watch the Maltese Falcon. a week ago you guys had plans to watch a noir film festival. once you fell asleep on her while you were watching Citizen Kane, and when you woke up you were under a blanket, and a cup of cocoa, long cold, was sitting on the table. you trust her, you love her, she's one of your best and closest friends. there is no question: she is worth the sacrifice.

the gravity of this scene is sold through the face. Steve's face goes from fear and doubt, to pain (because he loves this body, he really does, he could do so much in this body that he couldn't before), to resignation, to grim determination. then he gives Gamora his shield, and takes off his dog tags - focus on them once more, the way his fingers linger over them one last time before letting go. he isn't planning to die, does not want to, but that's a real possibility here.

have Gamora reaching for him, trying to yank him back, but he's already gone. she has no weapons, she can't do like Clint and Nat and stop him, and she does not know Nat. her sacrifice wouldn't count. Steve's would.

when he dives, play flashbacks. brief images flash onto the screen like yellowed film - Coney Island, Bucky, the beaches of Normandy, the shield flying through the air, Dr. Erskine pouring schnapps. flash cut to Steve closing his eyes before he hits the ground.

have the ground suddenly break like ice, with cold water below. the Soul Stone has a voice - it sounds like Erskine, like Ma, like the Commandos. the voice shifts from line to line. the scene briefly turns terrifying, as hands reach from the depths to grab hold of Steve's ankles and drag him down as he instinctively kicks toward the surface. then the voice tells him that it's original thinking, and that it will honor the deal he's made.

just before Steve blacks out, a hand reaches for him, wrist encircled with Widow Stings. he passes out, then wakes up on the ground, skinny again, and Natasha is alive in front of him.

(post-credits scene: Natasha goes to see Yelena. she whistles a long note. waits ten seconds, then Yelena whistles back, and all but slams into her to hug her.)