“Steve……Stevie…”
His eyes found it hard to focus on the voice, he couldn’t keep them open any longer. Everyone, round him was standing, but he had fallen. Why else were there tears pooling around his eyes? Bucky was bending over him, his face smeared with tears and dust. Why was he crying, they had won, hadn’t they?
“Bucky”
“Yes.. Stevie...I’m right here. You’ll be alright. Breathe with me”
Oh yes, he’d had heard those lines before, when he’d found himself out of breath after the bout of coughing. He felt as tiny as before now. And Bucky was back. They all were, yet there was so much pain.
He closed his eyes again for some seconds and saw that familiar face, those pouty red lips, that blue dress, those sparkling eyes.
“Peggy” He wasn’t sure if this was happening in reality. Peggy was dead, wasn’t she? And Bucky was real. Then why was this Peggy so alive and beautiful. No, he shouldn’t keep her waiting again.
“Cap, please” He felt some pressure on his hand and opened his eyes again. Oh, Sam! I wish you would crack some joke, he wanted to say aloud, but the words wouldn’t just come out right. May be then he wouldn’t have to see Nat crying.
He could see Tony faintly, with his armour broken in most places. “You said we were in this together…together, Cap”
Oh it was too much pain. He tried to smile. To tell them, it wasn’t so bad. He was finally going to take Peggy for the dance.
He closed his eyes again and it was so much better.
He was young, and unburdened. The soldier had done his duty. There were lights and smiling faces and it felt like home. And Peggy was right there saying “Don’t be late, Steve!”
This time, he smiled widely as he took her hand.