[ for a moment there, jack had been thrilled, and relieved beyond belief. there was no saying goodbye to steve, a little less than a month ago. he was there when jack went to sleep, and gone by the morning. he and bucky went around badgering staff and shouting at guards, panicking, refusing to believe he was really gone, terrified it might've been something worse than just being sent home.
selfishly, jack had feared it would come out like natasha and some of the others had - even if he were to come back, he might never remember meeting jack, or the months he'd known him, after. all the times he'd called him family, promised they'd find a way to get him to their universe and save him from returning to shiloh. well, this sure as shit isn't shiloh, but it's still better than where they were.
barely half a minute of flooded relief and joy, and the second thing steve says shatters it, confirming those fears. he doesn't know him.
all the animation in jack's features, in the hold of his body, flood out, leaving him more like a statue, and he sinks back and steve eases him away, moving an extra foot or so to put distance between them, and lean his hip against a counter top, arms folding over his chest. he swallows, clears his throat. ]
Jack.
[ detached, reported. there's a sorrow boiling up in him, and jack does everything he can to swallow it back down and bury it. he hardly even needs to ask this - ] I'm guessing the word 'Duplicity' doesn't mean anything to you, does it?
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selfishly, jack had feared it would come out like natasha and some of the others had - even if he were to come back, he might never remember meeting jack, or the months he'd known him, after. all the times he'd called him family, promised they'd find a way to get him to their universe and save him from returning to shiloh. well, this sure as shit isn't shiloh, but it's still better than where they were.
barely half a minute of flooded relief and joy, and the second thing steve says shatters it, confirming those fears. he doesn't know him.
all the animation in jack's features, in the hold of his body, flood out, leaving him more like a statue, and he sinks back and steve eases him away, moving an extra foot or so to put distance between them, and lean his hip against a counter top, arms folding over his chest. he swallows, clears his throat. ]
Jack.
[ detached, reported. there's a sorrow boiling up in him, and jack does everything he can to swallow it back down and bury it. he hardly even needs to ask this - ] I'm guessing the word 'Duplicity' doesn't mean anything to you, does it?