rogers, steve

“Come on, Bucky,” Captain America is resolved to plead. “Bucky, please, just let me help you.”

It’s several hours after the initial battle, and Hyukjae still feels like hurting someone. After an unfortunate encounter with a very big cat and Romanoff’s tingly toys, both of Hyukjae and Bucky got caught in the end. Of course they got caught, Hyukjae wants to snort sarcastically. It’s not like they’ve been running away from international authorities for years together, or that Bucky has decades of crazy Winter Solder training behind him, or that they brought a whole HYDRA base down all on their own, or that they—

“Bucky,” Rogers insists, “please.”

And , just to top it all, ing Captain America has been making his ears bleed for hours now. Apparently, the brave and unwavering hero of the United States of America has nothing against a bit of whining to get his best friend to open up. Except that Bucky is a stubborn motherer, and now it’s been literally hours, and Hyukjae wants it to stop.

“Can’t you just make him shut up?” Hyukjae greets between his teeth, giving his best friend a hard glare. Rogers stiffens when he hears him, but keeps ignoring him firmly. “He’s giving me a ing headache.”

Bucky only offers him an unimpressed look, and then wriggles his left fingers as if to make a point. His whole metal arm has been fitted under an enormous weight, which could have been the size of a small military tank, in order to avoid any kind of escape attempt. His shoulder is trapped in such an awkward angle under the heavy metal contraption that Hyukjae even releases a sympathetic grunt. All Bucky can do right now is move his fingers just a little bit, and from the way his face scrunches up each time he tries, it probably isn’t painless.

Ambient temperature has been risen up considerably, certainly in a similar effort to quell down Hyukjae’s mutant abilities. It leaves both of Hyukjae and Bucky feeling tired, hot and sweaty, while they start to edge on the uncomfortable side of breathless. Technically, Hyukjae could still freeze up this whole building and more considering the extent of his powers, but that’s too exhausting to achieve. And he won’t let Bucky behind.

“Bucky? Bucky, can you hear me?” Rogers calls again.

“For ’s sake,” Hyukjae sulks again. He clenches his fist, closes his eyes, and then slowly uncurls his fingers. Air humidity freezes and forms ice particles that curls into a tiny sphere above his palm, glowing almost invitingly in the middle of such unbearable warmth. Hyukjae sends it towards Bucky, who lets out a sigh of relief when it melts on his skin. He then focuses on lowering down his own body heat as he takes in their surroundings once again.

No windows. A few aeration vents, though too small to fit Bucky’s frame inside. There’s an armored door in one far corner, and Hyukjae’s pretty sure he could find a way to take it down with a bit of ice, but he can already predict the hundreds of SHIELD agents waiting for them on the other side. No good, Hyukjae sighs.

It seems like they’re in some kind of basement at SHIELD. Or maybe at Avengers Tower, now that Hyukjae thinks about it. The walls are all made of light grey concrete except for a large portion of it, which is actually a sort of tinted window. There’s an observation room on the other side, where Captain America is trying to reason with Bucky through the speakers.

Another man is also there, trying to fade into the décor in one dark corner of the room. It’s the guy who attacked Hyukjae as a tiger earlier; he’s fully clothed this time, and Hyukjae feels very, very disappointed about that. The man is still very handsome though, and there’s something a little awkward and cute about him that makes Hyukjae want to .

“Look,” Rogers says, “maybe if you would just talk to me, we could—”

“Oh, come on,” Hyukjae finally snaps, and he can see Bucky sending him a wary glance from the corner of the eyes. Cat Man startles as well, peering curiously in Hyukjae’s direction. “Man, can you not just take a hint? He doesn’t want to talk to you, so be a good pal and kindly off.”

It’s