Sarah Rogers had precious few books in the house. She'd wanted so many more but that was a luxury she often couldn't afford. The ones on the shelf were often old and had history behind them; long-gone relatives that had cared for them and passed them along with love. But between those old, cherished tomes were a few newer ones as well. The books that she'd, after Steve had grown and developed a taste for trouble, thought he'd needed to read. And one of the first books in that elite series was The Lady of the Barge.
Specifically because Sarah needed Steve to read The Monkey's Paw.
Hearing the curse, Steve turns around fast, alarmed that he could be snuck up on. However, that shock dies immediately as he faces the same ghost he'd been praying for just seconds before.
It's impossible. It's completely impossible. And yet Steve can't deny his own eyes. Not here with no sign of Wanda and her nightmare powers nor Loki with his magic. There's nothing to explain this miracle away save a break with his sanity.
And it is a telling thing that Steve considers that option favourably.
He turns back toward the metal item he'd just touched and lifts it from the spot. There's nothing obvious about it. Nothing that seems magical or special in any way. But as he holds it, Steve remembers the story of the monkey paw. That too bad been ordinary, hadn't it? But that had been a story and this was real life. Still, he remembers his mother reading it to him when he came home brokenhearted and wishing so desperately for his life to be different. He remembers it so well.
Changing fate comes with consequences, the story had told him. Wishes could be dangerous and gifts could come with horrible strings.
And still...
Steve turns back, half expecting Bucky to be gone or replaced with something monstrous. He's not. He's there, just as before, with all the small details Steve's memory had lost with time. He's real. Real in a way that defies alternative explanations. And Steve understands all at once the pleading of the wife in The Monkey's Paw as she demanded to have her wish for her son to be resurrected.
He would have accepted so much less. Steve would have fallen on his knees in gratitude for a shade of the man he'd lost. He would give anything in the world just to bring the broken man he wanted to rescue even some peace. But this?
Bucky sits at the bar alarmed and confused and Steve can't even speak. He says nothing as he walks slowly around the side and toward this strange miracle. His hands are shaking at his side.
Steve stops a foot or so away. His whole body feels like it's trembling and he can't bring himself to care.
If this was his doing, then so be it. If his longing and need cast this wish and brought Bucky here, then fine. And if he was damned for it like all desperate wishers seemed to be, then Steve accepted it gladly. He'll take the curses and the pain because what more could really be done to him? Even for a moment, here, he has Bucky.
It's worth everything, to him. It's worth any and every cost.
"Bucky?" The word falls from his lips already broken before it hits the floor. He has no idea how he even manages to speak at all. But he does.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2022-04-11 04:38 am (UTC)Specifically because Sarah needed Steve to read The Monkey's Paw.
Hearing the curse, Steve turns around fast, alarmed that he could be snuck up on. However, that shock dies immediately as he faces the same ghost he'd been praying for just seconds before.
It's impossible. It's completely impossible. And yet Steve can't deny his own eyes. Not here with no sign of Wanda and her nightmare powers nor Loki with his magic. There's nothing to explain this miracle away save a break with his sanity.
And it is a telling thing that Steve considers that option favourably.
He turns back toward the metal item he'd just touched and lifts it from the spot. There's nothing obvious about it. Nothing that seems magical or special in any way. But as he holds it, Steve remembers the story of the monkey paw. That too bad been ordinary, hadn't it? But that had been a story and this was real life. Still, he remembers his mother reading it to him when he came home brokenhearted and wishing so desperately for his life to be different. He remembers it so well.
Changing fate comes with consequences, the story had told him. Wishes could be dangerous and gifts could come with horrible strings.
And still...
Steve turns back, half expecting Bucky to be gone or replaced with something monstrous. He's not. He's there, just as before, with all the small details Steve's memory had lost with time. He's real. Real in a way that defies alternative explanations. And Steve understands all at once the pleading of the wife in The Monkey's Paw as she demanded to have her wish for her son to be resurrected.
He would have accepted so much less. Steve would have fallen on his knees in gratitude for a shade of the man he'd lost. He would give anything in the world just to bring the broken man he wanted to rescue even some peace. But this?
Bucky sits at the bar alarmed and confused and Steve can't even speak. He says nothing as he walks slowly around the side and toward this strange miracle. His hands are shaking at his side.
Steve stops a foot or so away. His whole body feels like it's trembling and he can't bring himself to care.
If this was his doing, then so be it. If his longing and need cast this wish and brought Bucky here, then fine. And if he was damned for it like all desperate wishers seemed to be, then Steve accepted it gladly. He'll take the curses and the pain because what more could really be done to him? Even for a moment, here, he has Bucky.
It's worth everything, to him. It's worth any and every cost.
"Bucky?" The word falls from his lips already broken before it hits the floor. He has no idea how he even manages to speak at all. But he does.
"Bucky? Is...that really you?"