Steve keeps his eyes closed, but heaves a sigh at her words. "I'm sorry, too." The amount of weariness in his words is telling; here is a man who doesn't have it in him to fight anymore. Not at the moment, anyway.
"Have you ever met someone and just known, right away, that they were going to be in your life forever? That no matter what you did, no matter what happened, they'd stay by your side? Nothin' and nobody could tear you apart."
Reaching up to scrub at his hair again in a restless gesture, he finishes with swiping over his cheeks again. He's not ashamed of crying, but knows that he's not a pretty or graceful cryer. Lord knows what she thinks of him right now. But he wants her to understand, at least a part of it. Even if she gets up and walks away after this, she needs to know.
Maybe the idea of soulmates has changed over the many years, but Steve still wholeheartedly believes that, with your soulmate at least, there's nothing you can't share.
"I had that. Since I was barely a kid, I had that. And then... I had two soulmates. I met Marie when I wasn't quite 20. And everything was..." he huffs out a laugh. "Well, not amazing, actually. My life was pretty shitty at the time-- pardon my language. But it was getting better. Even when we went to war, I figured...
"I was gonna ask her to marry me," he murmurs, staring into the distance. "One'a those things you think, ya know? 'When this is over...' But I was. And I know she would'a said yes. But then Bucky d--died... and a month later, I might as well've died, and... I don't know what happened to her." He starts to turn his head toward her, but then squeezes his eyes shut in a grimace.
Because it's pretty damn obvious what happened to her, isn't it? With the spitting image of Marie sitting beside him, he knows. Maybe not the when or how, but he knows she's dead, now. Grief washes over him again.
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"Have you ever met someone and just known, right away, that they were going to be in your life forever? That no matter what you did, no matter what happened, they'd stay by your side? Nothin' and nobody could tear you apart."
Reaching up to scrub at his hair again in a restless gesture, he finishes with swiping over his cheeks again. He's not ashamed of crying, but knows that he's not a pretty or graceful cryer. Lord knows what she thinks of him right now. But he wants her to understand, at least a part of it. Even if she gets up and walks away after this, she needs to know.
Maybe the idea of soulmates has changed over the many years, but Steve still wholeheartedly believes that, with your soulmate at least, there's nothing you can't share.
"I had that. Since I was barely a kid, I had that. And then... I had two soulmates. I met Marie when I wasn't quite 20. And everything was..." he huffs out a laugh. "Well, not amazing, actually. My life was pretty shitty at the time-- pardon my language. But it was getting better. Even when we went to war, I figured...
"I was gonna ask her to marry me," he murmurs, staring into the distance. "One'a those things you think, ya know? 'When this is over...' But I was. And I know she would'a said yes. But then Bucky d--died... and a month later, I might as well've died, and... I don't know what happened to her." He starts to turn his head toward her, but then squeezes his eyes shut in a grimace.
Because it's pretty damn obvious what happened to her, isn't it? With the spitting image of Marie sitting beside him, he knows. Maybe not the when or how, but he knows she's dead, now. Grief washes over him again.