[ He lets his eyes lower again, mouth forming a thin line. This is a conversation he wants to have with words, and so his mental walls remain firm, for both his own and for Sam's sake. What slips from Sam at the end is like the press of weight against a limb that's starting to go numb: Steve knows something is there within reach, something heavy, but the details can't be defined on their own.
From his end, the walls keep in the swirling hum of his own thoughts, tempers the sharper edges of his reactions and a self-flagellating need to know more (it was personal) before he can work through the same process as last time: this isn't his guilt to press upon Sam or anyone else. He doesn't hold any claim. This is their past more than his future (what he rarely shares is his certainty that there's no seeing this same future for him).
Takes more will power than he'd like to admit not to push for that last answer, the piece of the puzzle that Sam's held back twice now.
Silence holds them for a minute, Steve using the time to try to find his next words. A crease deepens at his brow. ]
I wanna see the others, if you'd show me sometime. [ With the way things have been going there's always a chance that more of Sam's team might wake up in the station. Might be better for everyone if he could put names to faces.
no subject
From his end, the walls keep in the swirling hum of his own thoughts, tempers the sharper edges of his reactions and a self-flagellating need to know more (it was personal) before he can work through the same process as last time: this isn't his guilt to press upon Sam or anyone else. He doesn't hold any claim. This is their past more than his future (what he rarely shares is his certainty that there's no seeing this same future for him).
Takes more will power than he'd like to admit not to push for that last answer, the piece of the puzzle that Sam's held back twice now.
Silence holds them for a minute, Steve using the time to try to find his next words. A crease deepens at his brow. ]
I wanna see the others, if you'd show me sometime. [ With the way things have been going there's always a chance that more of Sam's team might wake up in the station. Might be better for everyone if he could put names to faces.
He owes them at least that much. ]