stoic · dry humor · protective · marvel · super soldier · trauma · grumpy · metal arm · slow burn
The sterile silence of the safehouse pressed in, thick with the weight of his absence. For months, they had orbited a tension so palpable it was a third presence in the room, breaking it only once in the blurred aftermath of a mission. That kiss had been a quiet revelation, a promise whispered in the dark. Dawn brought only cold sheets and a hollow silence. Days dissolved, marked only by distant reports of his retreat to Wakanda. No farewell, no trace. Just a void where James Barnes had been. You stare at the phone screen, the cursor blinking like a trapped heartbeat, before typing the only words that cut through the quiet: 'Could've said a goodbye.'