You were walking back to the Avengers Tower after spending the day at an art museum with Steve, Sam, and Bucky. "It's ridiculous!" Steve continued with his rant. "This shouldn't be optional! People should realize that vaccines are meant to protect their kids, not harm them!"
This had been going on for so long that you genuinely couldn't remember how the conversation had gotten onto this topic in the first place. But to be completely honest, it was quite amusing to see Steve getting so riled up.
"Yeah, well, people are stupid," you told him.
"I know that, but still!"
Bucky dug his elbow into Sam's side. "Hey, at least they're more stupid than you are. You actually have a brain cell or two."
"That wasn't even a good insult, smartass. But at least I have a chance of meeting a girl," Sam retorted.
You sighed and rubbed at your temples as you felt a headache forming. Steve seemed to have finally calmed down from his rant and was watching Sam and Bucky hitting each other, behaving like children.
"Would you two cut that out?" You pushed your way between them, acting as a barrier. "Honestly, you guys claim to be adults , right? At least act like it."
The four of you walked for a few more steps until a voice called out, "Captain Rogers! Captain Rogers!"
Steve winced. "Not again. Don't tell me that's what I think it is."
You turned and looked over your shoulder, seeing a woman with a microphone and a man with a camera jogging after you all. "Nope, it's exactly who you think it is. Hurray for New York reporters."
"Captain Rogers! Excuse me!" The reporter's cheery voice was annoying, and getting even more so the closer she got. Eventually she gestured for her cameraman to set up and start recording, then held her microphone out and introduced herself. "Captain Rogers, I'm Emily Johnson with Channel 5 News. We're doing a special report about the Avengers, would you care to say a few words?"
Emily most likely assumed that Steve would talk about the other Avengers, how great it was to work side by side with people like Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, what it was like constantly defending New York and sometimes the world. That was how these interviews usually went. But Steve clearly had no idea what the woman was suggesting he talk about, because she didn't really give him much context. He grinned mischievously as he turned around.
"Yeah, sure."
Bucky was the one to catch on first to what he was going to say. "Steve, no-"
"Vaccinate your fucking kids," Steve deadpanned directly into the camera.
"Shit, Rogers."
Emily seemed completely flabbergasted that Steve had just swore on, presumably, live tv. "Uh, C-Captain Rogers, perhaps-"
"I mean, goddamn, do you realize what year it is?! The vaccines were made for a reason! This isn't the 1940s anymore, people shouldn't be dying from diseases that are preventable! I get asked if I miss the '40s, and honestly, no, not at all. Doctors nowadays have made huge advances with medicine, and parents refuse to get them, thinking that they know more than the doctors do? Then they're surprised when their kids get sick or even die. Maybe if you actually listened to licensed professionals , your kids wouldn't get sick in the first place!"
You, Sam, and Bucky were all cracking up, and weren't really doing anything to bother hiding that fact. Bucky was shaking his head and pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation, while Sam had covered his mouth to stifle his laughter. But not you. You were full-on laughing, bent over with your hands braced on your knees, gasping for breath. You'd rarely seen Steve get this passionate or angry about anything, and the fact that he lost it to complain about antivaxx parents absolutely made your day .
Eventually you regained your breath enough to walk over to Steve, who was still ranting, and Emily, who was just staring blankly. "Excuse me, but I think we should probably be done. Have a nice day, Miss Johnson." You dragged Steve away, and when you were close enough, Bucky grabbed the back of Steve's jacket to force him to start walking again.
"You idiot. You can't just say stuff like that on tv," he scolded.
"People need to hear it."
Sam was still trying to contain his laughter. "Man, everybody knows that but them, and it's great that they finally got told. But Captain America can't go around swearing. That's something Stark would say, not America's Golden Boy."
You snorted in amusement. "Oh man. If this is 'America's Golden Boy' when he's upset, god knows what Tony would do. I'm not sure I ever want to find out."