Some things run in the family (Spot and Bucky)

[brooklynishere]

[The school auditorium is busy with families of students, gathered in little groups around the various presentations scattered around the room - much like a science fair, but these are history projects of a far more personal nature. The number of people around each table varies, but most of them have at least got someone.

Spot doesn't. He's sitting in the corner with his project by himself, just like he expected to be. He's still kind of proud of it (not that he'll tell anyone) and yea, it's pretty cool that he turned out to be related to Captain America - but even the other students who thought that was awesome are now busy with their own families.

He doesn't care, or at least he's doing a really good impression of not caring, he'd rather be sitting here on his own than in class anyway.

And by the door, his teacher keeps an eye on the people entering and hopes that her attempts to find someone who might have known Steve have paid off]

Comments

[advanced]

[It's been hard, since losing Steve.

No, that's not quite true. It's been damn hard since he can remember, but it's only got harder now Steve has gone. He was the one that truly believed in him as more than the Soldier, who remembered the man he used to be, and trusted that he could get back there. He's got an official pardon, though it comes with a lot of caveats and hoops to jump through. He's got a military pension, as he's been officially designated as a long time prisoner of war, rather than a traitor to his country. He's supposedly free... but to do what? To spend time with who?

He knows that he technically has family out there. His parents are long dead, of course, but two of his four sisters remain alive. And three of them had children, and grandchildren. He could have tried to reconnect, but he found himself paralysed every time he thought of having to face what was left of his family and tell them what he had done, what he had become. Better that they believe he died a hero, falling from a train decades ago.

He's not sure how this school got on his radar, not truly. Some murmurs about Steve having a family in the official army channels, though nobody had bothered to approach him directly. It seems ludicrous, he knows Steve had been an only child, and had never had children of his own. So whoever this family was, they had to be tenuously related at best, the grandchild of a cousin or something.

So why is he slinking into a school auditorium on a late Monday afternoon?

At least he looks less like a man on the run than he used to, hair neatly cropped short and in clean jeans and a hoodie, dog tags dangling around his neck and thick leather gloves on. He edges around the displays until he spots the one he wants, obvious for its picture of Captain America front and centre. He slinks over, feeling more than a little awkward.]

Good display, kid.

[brooklynishere]

[Spot's mostly just watching the other families and wondering if he could get away with reading a book, he barely even pays attention to the guy who wanders over - small talk with strangers is not exactly his forte, and Spot figures he's looking for somebody else and he'll be gone soon.

Only then he doesn't move on immediately, and now Spot's just sort of watching him out the corner of his eye and trying to figure out which of his classmates he's related to. Maybe one of the students who's got a lot of family here, enough to be boring for somebody stuck on the edge of the group, or one of those students who didn't put a lot of effort in, since there's only so long you can spend looking politely interested in a basic family tree and not much else. The idea that he might actually be here because of Spot hasn't even crossed his mind.]

Uh, yea, thanks.

[Actually being addressed makes him look over properly and he shrugs - typical teenager not wanting to appear over-keen about his school work (despite the fact he actually enjoyed this project, it had been kind of nice to find out his family wasn't universally terrible, that actually he had some pretty cool relations). His gaze flicks around the room and then back to the guy in front of him]

So who you here to see?

[advanced]

[He looks a little like Steve, enough that the family resemblance is there in a faint echo of his jawline, or the exact shade of blond in his hair. Strange, knowing that Steve has relations, he wonders if the man knew about them. If he had found any other relations, any other people to fill the gaps in his life left long ago?

Bucky realises he's been looking at the display too long in silence and it's growing awkward. That's something that happens a lot, though he's trying to be better about it.]

You. I mean, your display.

[Great, now he sounds like some kind of weird stalker.]

I knew-- I met Captain America. I didn't know he had family, that's all.

[brooklynishere]

[As the silence stretches out, Spot's confusion grows. He didn't think it was that difficult a question. Unless the guy had somehow just wandered in off the street, which would be weird, and he did have kind of an intense stare - Spot's not intimidated, as such, but he's getting a little concerned by the time the man eventually speaks.

The answer doesn't make him any less confused, though when the clarification comes he glances over at his teacher and understanding dawns. He doesn't know whether to be grateful or kind of annoyed at the meddling. He settles for figuring that out later and turns his attention back to the visitor]

Oh... well I mean I'm like a... first cousin twice removed, or three times removed or something... dunno if that really counts as family but definitely related.

[And he's trying to sound casual about that, but hey, he's kind of smug about it and a little of that slips in to his words. It's cool, he can't help it]

[advanced]

[Sure, he'd known the kid wasn't a direct relation; hell, he wasn't even a Rogers. But that there was anything left of Steve in the world, besides countless museum exhibits and a legacy that every person thought they knew, had drawn him in like a magnet.

Now that he's here, though, he has no idea what exactly to say. No idea why he's even there. His stupid therapist would probably have a field day if he told her about this - not that he intends to.]

Right.

[Come on, Barnes, you're scaring the kid, say something else.]

Well, uh, you did good. It looks like you worked hard on it.

[brooklynishere]

[Spot's not the most talkative kid out there, he knows this, but he's getting the impression he's a chatterbox compared to this guy - who still hasn't even told Spot his name, he realises. He shrugs at the compliment, glancing down to hide his awkwardness - he doesn't get positive reinforcement from a whole lot of places, so he's not totally certain how to handle it.]

Uh, thanks. ...I did.

[He normally wouldn't admit it, but it seems safe enough in this instance. He hesitates for a moment before deciding to try and steer the conversation himself a little and see if he could make it marginally less excruciatingly awkward. He doesn't know how successful that will be.]

what was he like? Steve?

[advanced]

[The question is both a relief and a problem. A relief because this was awkward as all hell, and he had been regretting walking in, and considering walking out. A problem because talking about Steve was... complicated. Stories of his best friend are tied up in everything that happened, and he doesn't really want to out himself as one of the Howling Commandoes here. Not when that recognition easily leads to questions of how he survived, and the much darker recognition of the Winter Soldier.

He shrugs, but there's a lightening to his shoulders, a lessening of tension that's subtle but real.]

He was the best. People might think it was all for show, part of being Captain America, but it wasn't. Steve was-- he was a good guy, a hero, well before they put him in tights. He always did what was right, no matter the cost to himself.

[brooklynishere]

[Spot likes to think he's pretty observant, or maybe he just recognises some of that fight-or-flight instinct that he shares himself, but he's glad that his question seems to have eased some of that tension - he hadn't been sure if it would be the wrong thing to ask or not.

He listens to the way the guy talks about Steve, thinks about how he corrected himself - he might have amended his 'knew' to 'met', but it was clear that the former was more accurate. This guy knew him before, and Spot's been on the field trip, he's seen the Smithsonian exhibit - not to mention he's been reading plenty about Steve and his history online. It doesn't take a genius to put the pieces together, to recognise the man standing before him in the pictures - he's different, sure, but not so much that Spot can't see it.]

...You're Bucky. Aren't you?

[advanced]

[It's not like he hasn't been asked that before.

He has the same damn face as the man in the museum, after all, and now that he's cut his hair short again he looks even more like Sergeant Barnes of the 107th. It still makes him frown and glance about, as if anyone were going to be eavesdropping on a stranger and a kid at a school presentation day.]

James.

[Bucky is-- It's too personal. It feels too raw to use.]

It's James now. But yeah.

[brooklynishere]

Alright, James.

[Spot nods, he doesn't ask any more questions; it's as simple as that as far as he's concerned. If there's one thing he can absolutely understand, it's having a preference when it came to names - he feels pretty strongly about his own.

The question he does want to ask is the one he isn't sure will get an answer - why James came to see him. It seems like a weird trip considering his fairly tenuous connection to Steve, but then maybe he hadn't been told all the details, maybe he'd been looking for something more... or maybe he just misses his friend. When you have the kind of connection that Bucky and Steve supposedly did, maybe you would want to find any link back to them, however tenuous.]

Welcome back to Brooklyn I guess. You grew up around here, too, right?

[advanced]

[The reaction takes him by surprise. Most people he's met are either star-struck by meeting one of the actual Howlies in a very uncomfortable way, or they want to ask a million personal questions about Steve. Or, worst of all, they've read what redacted public information there is on the Winter Soldier and have put together that he's the same man, which leads to a whole different sort of reaction.

He's not expecting some high school kid to be so sanguine about it, but he definitely appreciates it, and it releases a little more of his habitual tension.]

Uh, yeah. [A tiny smile.] Not that I recognise any of it, it's changed a hell of a lot since then.

[It's so-- gentrified. Nothing like the draughty tenements and downtrodden people of his youth.]

[brooklynishere]

[Spot definitely has a lot of questions, but he knows how much he hates getting a barrage of questions himself, people who want to know way too personal stuff about his life the second he meets them, so he's not going to do the same to Bucky right away. He's curious, yes, but he doesn't want to be an asshole about it]

Yea... I've seen some old pictures, it looks pretty different.

Guess it's not the only thing...

[The whole world's changed since back then, really, Spot can hardly imagine how strange it must be to have to deal with so much change all at once]