The great American road trip
"No, I've seen Wisconsin. No interest in Indiana. I'd stop in Chicago, but we should go somewhere I've never been before."
Bucky has been a lot of places, but not everywhere.
*
The face Steve makes over the plate of corned beef hash is worth a photo, and Bucky, who has discovered Instagram, takes his chance.
"What did I just eat?"
"What?" Bucky swipes a finger through a daub of ketchup; his plate's long since clean. "This doesn't remind you of army food?"
*
Bucky complains about Garrison Keillor (and just about everything else on NPR), but they listen to A Prairie Home Companion in a field in Nebraska, just sitting on the trunk looking up at the stars.
*
The sea lions in La Jolla are a huge hit. Someone later finds the Vine of Bucky being chased off by one, hooting with laughter, but somehow the video is found to be fake before anyone can launch a manhunt.
*
It turns out the Winter Soldier carried out a mission in Laramie once. Steve pushes even the Wyoming speed limit to get them out of there quick, to put it behind them and out of sight.
*
"Shut up, I tan beautifully," says Bucky, folding his hands behind his head in a motion strategically designed to flash sun in Steve's eyes. "You're the one who's blinding and white."
Waves lap at the sand beyond their folding chairs. The Gulf Coast of Alabama is peaceful in a way Steve hasn't seen a beach in years.
"Yeah, yeah," he says, smiling, and slathers more Coppertone everywhere he can.