Excerpt From The One Where Steve Lies About Soulmates And The Winter Soldier Does Not:

excerpt from the one where Steve lies about soulmates and the Winter Soldier does not:

“Somehow it never occurred to me to ask you how Rogers and the old man got along,” Tony Stark says, tilting his head. “You actually remember that? Like, how they talked and everything?”

“‘Course I do,” the asset says. “They got me to watch the door for them enough times, I damn well know how they talked.”

“You . . . heard that?” Rogers asks, looking alarmed.

“I heard every damn thing you said,” the asset snorts, pointing at its ear. “Super-soldier, remember? Couldn’t have missed a word.”

“Bucky, uh . . .” Rogers swallows, and doesn’t look at Tony Stark. “That’s not . . . you remember why you were watching the door, right?”

“Yeah,” the asset says, because it does.

“Okay,” Rogers says, very carefully. “So you remember why . . . you remember why we shouldn’t talk about those conversations, then, right?”

“. . . we shouldn’t?” The asset frowns, not understanding.

“No,” Rogers says. “We–definitely shouldn’t. So let’s just . . . not, please.”

“Holy shit, those must’ve been some fucked-up conversations,” Tony Stark says, his eyebrows raising. “Considering I have literally never heard you shut down your precious little Twin Pop before.”

“Just–not now, Tony, please,” Rogers says through gritted teeth, not taking his eyes off the asset. “You understand, Bucky, right? Just–please. Don’t.”

“Is this because I killed him?” the asset assumes, and Rogers’s face goes even tighter.

“No,” he says. “I–we know that wasn’t you.”

“It was, technically,” Tony Stark mutters.

“Tony," Rogers hisses.

“It was, technically,” the asset agrees. It knows that Rogers tries not to think about that fact, but . . . “He recognized me. I didn’t recognize him.”

“You wouldn’t have,” Rogers says, his voice going tight too.

“I recognized you,” the asset reminds him.

“That was–different,” Rogers says. “I mean . . . of course that was different.”

“Yeah, yeah, soulmate crap, whatever,” Tony Stark says, looking exasperated. “Very romantic, we’re all real impressed, congratulations on your century-spanning romance.”

Rogers tenses. The asset . . . frowns.

“What?” it says.

“Jesus,” Tony Stark says. “Have you two still not had that conversation?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the asset says, still frowning.

“Cap, oh my God, tell the guy already,” Tony Stark says, shooting Rogers an annoyed look. “Everybody else on the planet knows, for fuck’s sake, someone’s gonna hit him with the clue by four sooner or later.”

“Stop talking, Tony,” Rogers says, his jaw clenched.

“What’s he talking about?” the asset asks, just a little suspicious.

“I thought–you were dead,” Rogers says, half-raising his hands in a position of surrender. “I thought you were dead. And I knew you wouldn’t . . . I knew you wouldn’t have minded, if you’d known.”

“What did you do?” the asset asks, narrowing its eyes.

“I told the twenty-first century we were soulmates,” Rogers mutters with a grimace.