7482/I Still Can't Get Drunk

I Still Can't Get Drunk
Date of Scene:	14 May 2019
Location:	Gravesend, Brooklyn
Synopsis:	Oh no, Steve, both you AND Bucky can get drunk. And regret it.
Cast of Characters:	Captain America, Winter Soldier

---

Captain America has posed:
Sometimes, life's not fair. It might never have been in the first place, or maybe it can be truly and judiciously fair -- only to be scuttled like a pleasure boat on a reef.

An arc of electricity was all it took to turn Steve Rogers' world upside-down. He knew people had been looking at him as he excused himself from the Triskelion premises. How he got the motorcycle up and running was a miracle -- less so than how he got back to his apartment in Brooklyn in one piece. His phone buzzes -- chimes -- rings: who cares. It's a brick of interconnected wires weighing nothing in his coat pocket. A cupboard is left open, a box of old memerobelia left on the counter, and he leaves the apartment again. It's all robotic motion.

Start the bike. Shift the gears. Blend into traffic. Take this left, that right. Park the bike. Kill the bike. Is he still breathing? Why does his heart feel like a charred lump of coal beneath his sternum? Swallow. Swallow harder. Wince. Disappear into the crowd milling around the outskirts of Coney Island.

The sun's setting behind the buildings now. The wind blows off the bay to carry in the scents of boat traffic and the moisture of the water itself. The Captain has his windbreaker up over a Dodgers baseball cap. He's foregone sunglasses. His legs hang over the edge of the pier, beneath the slats, and he's long since lost vibrating feeling in his feet from where the board bites into the underside of his thighs. The bottle next to him is a growler and inside: Asgardian mead. A soft sniffle might be lost in the gusts blowing past him.

Winter Soldier has posed:
It was their favored place, once. For solo meditation or paired commiseration. One of those things that's still there, if revamped and renovated. So Buck's got no doubt as to where Steve's gone.

He doesn't come hot on his heels, though. Whatever his grief, Steve's not an idiot. But as the long shadows are cast over the water, there's the sound of boots and the click of claws on the boards of the pier....and then Buck's sitting down at Steven's left-hand side. Lili comes around the right hand to nose at Steve's arm, helpfully. Not a word from Barnes....just him leaning over a bit to bump shoulders.

Captain America has posed:
His gaze subsumed with the falling lightplay off the bay's riffled waters, it takes Steve a second to realize what's going on. He doesn't move until actually touched, on one side by a firm angled nose and the other by a familiar presence. His chin tucks more and he scrubs at his face towards Lili, since she's less likely to catch the redness of his eyes -- she'll sure scent the mead on his breath. A tongue swipes out at his cheek regardless.

"Thank'm, but dun'need that now," he mumbles at the Shepherd, voice taken to pieces by tension and liquor. His petting of her chest, an awkward backwards twist of his palm required, is well-meaning if heavy-handed. A minute passes and he finally licks at his lips, grants Bucky his profile again beneath the baseball cap's brim and hooded windbreaker.

He croaks, "Why're you here, Buck?" The growler is on Lili's side and he reaches around to take it up. A upwards tilt of the container showcases bubbles of displaced air in proportion to the volume of mead taken in.

Wowzers.

Winter Soldier has posed:
She disbelieves....and manifests her disbelief by lying down and laying her head on his thigh. Beware the power of the eyebrow dots, Rogers, accompanied by big, soft brown eyes looking up at you.

There's no flippant answer to that. No attempt to lighten things with snark. A quick glance betrays that Steve really is drunk - Buck's lips tighten. "You're gonna need a ride home," he says, pragmatically. "And....I figure company might help. I gave you a couple hours to brood."

Captain America has posed:
Steve comes up for air in drinking from the growler and swipes his mouth along his sleeve. A soft burp escapes him, more a puft of lip-flipping air. He lets the growler hang in empty space between his legs and sighs, the sound shivering from him.

"What'f I dun' want you here? What'f just wanted to...to..."

Do what? Drink the memories away? Wash the shards of a broken half-dream from the dregs of his heart? Numb it all.

"Not gonna need a ride home, I'kin ride still. It'll wear offah me soon'nough," he adds in an upswing of tone admittedly belligerent, if quiet still. "Dun need the help." Lili gets the thump of his free palm on her forehead and he pets her with drunken care.

Winter Soldier has posed:
"I'll just do to you exactly what you've done to me every time I've been in a similar situation: sit here like a bump on a log," Buck's tone is level. "And refuse to go. Because if I go now, that means the next time I've got the blue devils because of what HYDRA did to me....and made me do....you have to leave me alone to drown in it. Sound like a bargain?"

Apparently his strategy is to hit Steve right in that nexus of duty and feelings. "I tried to kill her, you know. They kept setting me on her, the way they'd set me on you. More than once. They thought I'd know her better than anyone else. Be able to predict what she'd do, how to take her.....and I think they liked the excuse to give me an extra wipe and more punishment when I failed. My brain kept trying to know her. The last time, she got the mask off, and she knew me, and it nearly broke me, her calling my name."

Captain America has posed:
That proposed bargain wends its way through watery attention and into the muddling of the Captain's brain like a swirl of color through empty space. He frowns mightily as he glances over at Bucky. A pronounced scoff and accompanying dramatic shrug might lack words, but the unspoken statement stands: No way, bub, it's naht how that goes -- Brooklyn accent and all.

The continuation of the him talking keeps Steve blearily focused. His frown melts into something twisted, nauseated, as he listens. In the end, he's looking at Bucky as if betrayed, but by what?

"Those...//fucking bastards//," he spits, literally, going red on the crests of his cheeks. A bit of spittle flies. "Those //bastards//." The curse breaks to something teeth-gritted and pained mid-way through. "Cuzza them, all this." A hard exhale and in-croak of breath. "You 'n...'nd Peggy both, them'n -- jus' -- " His shoulders hop as he takes in a piece-mealed breath and sighs it out hard.

Winter Soldier has posed:
Wow, now that is drunk. Steve swearing like that....damn. Buck's brows climb for his hairline. "Yeah," he says. "We've all paid the price for them and their ambitions. Still are. " He doesn't move from where he sits.

The human hand rubs the back of his own neck, under the tail of dark hair. Lili looks to him, but mostly she's gazing soulfully up at Steven's face. "And I'm nothin' but sorry. Nothin' turned out the way we thought it would in 1941...."

Captain America has posed:
"'m sorry too. Keeps...keeps tumblin' outta control 'nd - 'nd - th'minute think 'm fine -- tha's'all gonna be fine," and Steve holds out his spare hand. He mimes a drink-sloppy bay door opening from a bomber plane and dropping its load. "'s all smoke 'nd shrapnel 'nd no more peace. Y'know what?"

He give Bucky a gimlet, red-limned squint. His voice takes on a ragged edge. "Y'know what, Barnes? I was okay. Fer once, I was //okay//. 'wuz okay with where I wuz 'nd then that fucking device goes off. Told you both notta touch it, but NOBODY LISTENED." Somewhere within the depths, there's still a speck of him not entirely enebriated, and it's this that makes him choke down his own words until he sounds like he's trying to swallow his tongue.

Then comes the laughter. Sickened, fake, one pitch wrong. "'nd now //she's here//." He throws his arms wide, heedless of the bottle held that swishes above Lili's head. "Jus'wha'needed. Thought I could forget but no. NO. Still...stuck in m'stupid HEAD, jus' running around and y'know what's the worst thing? She still smells like her."

He looks to Bucky again, lips pulled white-thin and trembling. "Hairspray. Woulda smelled like that when I'da proposed her because Buck, I... I..."

Words fail him.

Winter Soldier has posed:
Well, there's no good reply to that. So he does what he can do, which is simply to put an arm around Steve and give him a sidelong hug. It's what Steve's done for him, so many times, in an attempt to help him bear the burden HYDRA set on them both.

"Because you still love her and you have forever," he supplies, simply. "I know." There was a girl for him, but she died in the war, shot as a partisan....and that was that.

Captain America has posed:
The growler clunks down beside Lili and doesn't spill. The hand previously guarding it goes into his lap, followed by the other one, and he leans into Bucky's sidearmed hug. With chin tucked, he hiccoughs and swipes at his face with his wrist again.

"'nd it hurts like the knife wound I took in '44. It hurts." His voice twists again into something small and pitiful, confident Id trampled into the mud at the bottom of a bloody trench. "It hurts because what could be won' ever be 'nd I get it, //I do//," he breathes hoarsely, gesturing before himself before clutching his fists tightly shut again, his breathing quickening for a second as the Captain rallies words again.

"She thought I wuz dead. Hell, for all I knew, I wuz. Itza dream 'nd th'shards're cutting me through." He falls quieter yet, his chin thoroughly tucked. "Wuz a fool t'think she'd wait f'me. Stupid fuckin' idiot. Head fulla pencil shavings 'nd attic dust 'nd waking up with her gone, never thought I hadda chance, but now, whazzis bunk wiffer back 'nd -- 'nd -- "

Winter Soldier has posed:
He wraps both arms around Steve, unashamedly, rubs his back with his human hand. The assassin smells like soap and shampoo and smoke and metal....and still himself, too.

Then he's groping in a pocket, and coming out with a cotton hankie - blue plaid. How many of those has Steve used? How many has Steve ruined? He presses it into the bigger soldier's hand, mutely.

Captain America has posed:
Sometimes ruined with blood, this time ruined with the outpouring of regret. Taking the offered hanky, the Captain wipes at his face sloppily. The glisten of failing light lingers on his cheeks.

"But how wuz she s'pposed to know summin like this wuz gonna happen, so iz'snot like I can throw blame. Couldn' blame'er fer summin if'tried. Not like som'ody coulda warned her 'nd said, 'No, no, Agen' Carter, you take'ff th'ring right now or Steve'll go drink himself blind onna pier 'cuz it's just one more //fucked up// thing in'is life now.'"

A loud groan of frustration and he thumps his own thigh muscle hard, the sound of impact audible. "'nd I know they're gonna wanna have me talk to her cuz I know th'Director's gonna want answers 'nd..." His shoulders shudder as he tucks his chin again. "'m 'fraid, Buck. 'm 'fraid 'm gonna say summin stupid 'nd...fuck it all up more."

Winter Soldier has posed:
"No, Steve," he says, gently. "It's not your fault or hers. And yes, yes, they will. They need to be sure it's really her.....but you won't say anything that'll make it worse. I know you. She loved you and you loved her, that covers a lot. She got to live on, but she'll understand that for you and me, it only feels....recent."

That's so much of the sting - to re-emerge like that, after the tides of life have rolled on past them. "Just.....be yourself. She's the most amazing woman we both know. We'll find some kind of way forward, even if no one's happy about it."

Captain America has posed:
The plaid handkerchief moves across his face again. Steve sniffles, still staring at some point down on the water until after-lights nearly blind him out of lack of attention. He breaks the silence again.

"W'always do...find a way...draggin' fucking life behind us." It's gravelly agreement. A loud hiccough and he feels around for the growler bottle again. Lili gets a few opportune pats on the neck and shoulder as he blindly gropes for its smooth and cold surface.

"'nd you dunno how bad I can be m'self. Be at being m'self. M'self kin be worse'n me NOT being m'self. Might be more useful goin'nd talkin to her like this, fer all'care."

Winter Soldier has posed:
"Steve, I do know. She loved you when you were a runty little bastard and when you were a stupidly heroic slab of beefcake. I imagine she'd be terribly unimpressed to see you like this.....but it's not going to shock her out of how she feels, or you feel." Still holding Steve, until he withdraws. Lili endures the grope-patting and merely licks his hand, amiably.

Captain America has posed:
"Di'n't need the fucking reminder that 'm a mess. Y'think I dunno? Too late to stop now," claims the Captain as he finds the growler of Asgardian mead. He lifts it to his lips, takes another few swigs of it, and swallows carefully. His face, open as a book now under the heavy influence of the liquor, reflects the start of nausea at the amount inbibed by a wrinkle of nose and lips.

"'nd dun start at me 'bout it," he adds, pointing from his grip of the growler at Bucky's face with a stern countenance that weaves in place. "Know 'm an idiot for it, but it helps make it all shuddup." The growler's within easy reach now.

Winter Soldier has posed:
So he takes it from Steve's hand, and swigs it. Adam's apple bobbing - that's no mere taste. Then he hands it back. ""Woof, Steve, where'd you get that?" he asks, eyes going wide again. "I don't think you're an idiot. I think if any man in the world needs a drink, it's you. Followed by me. So....if you've got enough to spare, I'd like to be drunk, too. For a while. Like you said, it'll burn off quick."

Captain America has posed:
The Captain takes the growler back reflexively and stops himself from clutching it to his chest in fleeting possessiveness, but only barely. The next sound to escape him is more an honest hiccup than a balked sniffling. He wipes at his reddened nose again with the hankie. Looking down at the container, his lips wrinkle up in the blatant impending sickness of over-drink and he clumsily shoves the Asgardian mead back at Bucky.

"Take 's'much's you want," he mumbles, now dedicating more attention to Lili and those bat-like ears. "Got summuvit from 'sgardians atta Embassy, wuz a gift. Kept it for summin special." He laughs, the sound broken. "Thissiz special 'nuff, duncha think? Past comin' back to haunt us'gain." Every swallow burns. "S'all fucked up." Such a firm pronouncement to be had from him, apparently.

"But drink whatcha wan', nah gonna stop you. 's'sweet f'me now." He licks his lips, grimaces.

Winter Soldier has posed:
"Specially messed up," he says, after another few slugs. God, to feel something that can finally take down that liver and hit him - he's already begun to flush with it. The swallows do burn, but.....this promises oblivion. Who's going to end up taking care of whom? Or will they just end up sleeping it off on the beach above the tideline?

Then he leans back against Steve, head on the blond's shoulder, for a moment. Takes a shuddering breath. "God, she's alive. I didn't kill her. I thought I killed her, the last time...."

Captain America has posed:
A hand covered in stray dog hairs and the wetness of half-dried tears reaches across the Captain's body and makes to patpat Bucky's dark hair. More Shepherd fluff for your do, Mister Barnes, and Steve's entirely unaware of it.

"Di'n't kill'er. Couldn' kill'er. She's tough 's'nails, that broad. It'll take the hand'o God to smite 'er 'nd he still might be 'fraid to do it." His arm thumps heavily around Bucky's shoulders as he remembers that it's a good idea to console his friend -- it'll allow him to shove the mead-soaked tatters of his composure to one side.

"'m sorry, Buck. 'm fuckin' sorry about alla this. Wasn' you, wazza Soldier. I know it. 'm not gonna try'n hold you 'ccountable f'it. Makes no sense t'do't."

Winter Soldier has posed:
As if he weren't already mostly covered in Shepherd fur, these days. Lili sheds like she's supposed to generate a spare dog every week or so. Buck's working on that jug of mead like he's forgotten about breathing. Maybe it's a very good thing earthly booze generally has no effect - he'd be a raging alcoholic, to try and drown what he's been through.

"You never have," he says, and his own voice has begun to thicken. "But it was my body. My hands. I hurt Peggy. Peggy....and so many others." He takes a shuddering breath. "We gotta.....she's....we'll help her. Even if we can't get her home."

Captain America has posed:
"D'you think she'd wanna go home? Back to...to...whazisface." It's the kindest way Steve can think of to address the man responsible for the golden ring. "Now that she knows we're 'live? Or d'you think she'd givit all up f'summin here? We can..."

A sniffle and drag of his sleeve under his nose. The kerchief lies by Lili's feet, patient and sweet dog, and he pets her more because she is soft and present and pettable. "'m gonna help her. You gotta help too, she's...fuck, I 'member tryin' to sort it all out 'nd it was a bitch. We'll help her. We will."

Bucky aimed well earlier for that center core of compassionate duty. Now that the immediate flush of mead is beginning to be metabolized, the Captain's less inclined to wallow -- that, and he's not going to let the blue devils take his friend easily.

Winter Soldier has posed:
"I don't know," he says, softly. "I don't know. You were always the first. 's probably a moot point, Steve. We can't send her back. I don't think anyone out there now can. Would you go back then, if you could? Would I? Show up on May 9, 1945, go try and live the life you meant to? It's a mess, and this century is terrifying. But it's the three of us, however you sort out with her, whatever I've done. I think it's like the war - the only way is forward and through."

Captain America has posed:
Quietly, the Captain agrees, "Gotta keep'n humpin', even if th'gear's gettin' heavy." Wiping his hand down his mouth, Steve then makes a face as Shepherd hairs tickle at his lips. Pffting to himself, he plucks at them until his mouth is clear of the prickly hairs and wipes his hand ineffectively on his thighs. Lili's head was just there, after all, and he goes right back to petting her. The other hand extends for the growler.

"Look, 'm th'one witha stronger stomach'n you, so givit back before you can' drive home. You still wanna drive home? Or izzit like an empty box you stick y'self in 'nd pretend ever'thing's alright? Because I dun wanna go back yet. Iz all...all wrong still. Dun have 'n'answer for shit 'nd dun like it. Jus' humpin' 'long's'all fine'n'dandy, but..." He shrugs, probably jostling Bucky's head where it lies upon his shoulder.

Winter Soldier has posed:
"Sleep on the beach, like I used'a." Oh, that's a great idea, though he did, a time or two, long ago. When the heat was too much. "I wanna be real drunk, hones'ly," Yeah, there's the slur. "Haven't been in years. But yeah, that's the box I stay in, 'cause mos'y I'm safe there. They're good to me."

Captain America has posed:
"'s'a box though, Buck," grunts Steve, huffing out a huge and mead-scented sigh. His thumb slides back and forth on Lili's head, along and against the grain of fur. "But who'm I kidding. 's'your box, 'nd you feel safe, so's good. They better give Peggy a nice box or I'll show up 'nd set some'ody right." It'd be a great growl if it weren't for the weave in place again as his inner ear briefly unseats itself.

"'nd get drunk, fine. Not gonna stop you. You're right. Sleep'n the beach 'nd pretend 's'th'good ol' days. Dog-hot summer or summin. Nobody needs me right now."

Winter Soldier has posed:
Winter Soldier looks at him, for a long moment, "Steve," he says. There's the slur at the start of the name. "I'm someone's dog, or I'm dead. I know it. I made my choice, and they're good people. How do you think this works, when I'm wearing the Soldier's body for good?"

Lili finally raises her head, pricks her ears at him. "Sleep it off with me on the beach. SAnd's soft, breeze is cool."

Captain America has posed:
"Fine, FINE." Steve raises his voice a touch, cranky in passing. "God, I'll sleep it'ff onna sand with you. Gimme it." He yanks back the growler and takes a big swig of it, hands it back. By the harder shove in return to Bucky's possession, the Captain's well and truly done with it for now.

"'nd don't think I'mma idiot, Barnes. I said alla nice things cuz they're nice. Know they're sentiment. 'm sorry, god," he mutters. "'s's a box 's'a cage 's'a prison, I know. Box's better'n dead though, innit? C'mon." He gives the Soldier a look back. "Y'gotta stay safe too. How'm'I s'pposed to remain sane?"

Winter Soldier has posed:
"When were you ever sane?" he asks, good humored, smiling sloppily at Steven. "Not in any lifetime of mine. But....yeah. 's better'n dead," he agrees. His self-imposed half-exile on the Island of Misfit Toys.....but it does seem to suit him.

Captain America has posed:
"Punk," Steve mutters at him for the question, in the full 1930s implication of the smart-off. Still, he finds himself trying to return the smile. It works...somewhat. Maybe his dimples are broken.

"'s better'n dead, yup. Always better'n dead. Folks like you there. May di'n't even yell at us fer th'hole inna wall af'er sparring." Oh yeah, that Bucky-shaped hole into the men's locker room. "Peggy'd..." His growing smile falters...falls away... melts into a line again. "Peggy'd'a had our heads," he finishes lamely.

Winter Soldier has posed:
"She's with us again, Steve," he says, and his voice is soft as the waves hissing around the pillars of the pier. "Peggy. This....Steve, it's gonna be okay. Somehow, it will. The world may need us again. Yeah, she's married, you've got your girl," And it comes out 'goyl', he's that drunk. "But it'll be all right."

Captain America has posed:
"Yeah, it'll -- "

Steve goes white around his lips.

"...Janet. Oh, fuck. She...no, she can' know yet, SHIELD wouldn'a reached out to her. M'phone, where..." He pats his coat and finds pockets empty -- same with his pants. "Goddamnit. 's'in m'apartment. Wait. No, she doesn' know yet. Oh...//god//," and he puts his face in his hands. "'v'got time, can think'f how to explain it all to her." A hard sigh and he reappears again, his brows knitted up into his hairline and hand still half-splayed on his face.

"Why can't things be simple?" he asks the Soldier in a showing of woe so rarely seen.

Winter Soldier has posed:
"SHIELD might not'a. But someone in SHIELD....she texted me, wanting to know why you were outta touch. I just said that you were fine and needed a little time, but...I dind't say anything more. And Steve, what's to explain? She's an Avenger. And she knows very well who Peggy Carter is and how you feel about her." ....she does?

Captain America has posed:
Steve starts laughing. Again, it's not entirely real, far closer to what could be construed as muffled mortification. He ends up clapping a hand over his mouth because otherwise, he'd be howling. Are those tears again? Just forced this time, truly, by how hard he's squinching his eyes shut.

"Ohhhh...god, I can always count on you. Thanksh, Buck." The man gets a hard thump-thump between the shoulderblades. "'nd she doesn' know that I planned to propose to Peggy, no, so le's jus' let me do that conversation, okay? By th'time it comes up, I'll be ready f'it. Not right now though, not...not 'til I speak with Peggy again." His long sigh is resigned.

Winter Soldier has posed:
"She knows. I tol' her all about Peggy when she first came to see me," Buck supplies, voice even. "She made me mad, pullin' what she tried to pull....but i only tol' her the truth."

Captain America has posed:
And that makes Steve stare.

"...she never tol' me you tol' her." By the scrunch of his nose, the man can't decide if he's mortally offended or nearly sick with relief. Someone's already taken the shot. "What'd she try to pull? Th'whole report schtick? Or was there summin else?" Now comes the drunken gleam in his eyes that bodes a discussion to be had with the fashionista, one way or another.

Winter Soldier has posed:
"She tried to feed me that cock an' bull story about doing research on you. And then she got all upset because you didn't get women and blamed it on me....then she made us both tiny. Like...grain of rice tiny. I don't like people doing things to my body without asking," There's that stubborn set to his jaw. "I wasn't mean. I didn't yell at her or hurt her. But she didn't measure up to Peggy and I tol' her so. An' I tol' her about Peggy an' how much you missed her. Peggy.....Peggy's worth ten of her, Steve. I know you like her and you're a good man and you'd never treat a lady wrong, but...."

Captain America has posed:
At each additional bit of information he's given, Steve flinches about his eyes. His mouth flattens more and more until it suddenly curls up to show his teeth. The volume of his words is dramatically louder now as is the slurring of speech.

"Goddamit, Barnes, you //ASSHOLE!// You dun have //half//'n idea of'er worth!" Both hands ball into fists as the man turns at the waist as if to deck the Soldier clear off the pier. Right in the nose, right in the -- and Steve Rogers reels himself in, somehow. Instead, he lets out a strangled sound and biffs him hard in the shoulder.

Really hard.

Hard enough to engender a serious risk of toppling from the pier itself and into the water.

Winter Soldier has posed:
He hasn't been really drunk in ages. Not since the war...and he wasn't much of a drinker then. So maybe that's to blame for his ruined reflexes.....for Buck's knocked right over the edge. Not a sound of protest from him, just a splash. Gone under the water, no bubbles, no sign.

Just like old times, right, Steve?

Lili's up on her feet in an instant, whining. Not so foolish as to jump in after him, but her paws tread the edge of the boards and she whimpers.

Captain America has posed:
"BUCKY!"

The growler rolls off to one side on the pier's pavement, spilling the remnants of its contents in a golden flow of precious liquid, and is prevented from going over into the water by its handle. Another kick of Steve's boot misses it as he scrambles to the edge and stares down beside Lili, his own breathing gone rapidly elevated.

"BUCKY!" he shouts again. "God, no -- STAY!" The command is for the dog, semi-useless, as he then just...slides off the pier feet-first and into the water.

It's still cold and punches the air out of his chest in a bubbling. He swims for the surface and makes it, gasping for air, before diving again, reaching down at anything he can see.

Winter Soldier has posed:
There's nothing. No one in the water. No one floating. But would he float, with that arm to foul things up? Did he hit something in the fall?

Lili barks and whines, but she stays where she's ordered, pawing at the boards, claws scraping.

Captain America has posed:
Steve surfaces, spitting out salt water and coughing. "Buck!!!" Another short dive for him to feel around in the empty space around him and then the next time he surfaces, he's closer to shore. His sneakers touch sand and stir it up around himself as he barely treads.

"BUCKY?!" Panic slurs through the lingering intoxication of the mead. "Lili, HERE! FIND HIM!" Like a dog's going to be able to scent through the water itself, but by god, it just might work -- says the drunk brain. Taking another deep breath, Steve dives into the murk again and stretches out his fingers.

Winter Soldier has posed:
She goes racing back to the end of the pier, running around to the grubby sand of the little beach. But all she does is dance back and forth at the edge of the water.

But finally, finally, his seeking fingers snag on cloth, drag agains weight. That's a metal arm he's found....limp at first. Then fingers lock around his hand.

Captain America has posed:
A hard yank and push-off from the bottom has Steve breaking the surface first. With a grunt, he then brings up the weight of Bucky with him, even if he means sacrificing another half-lungful of air. In a rough estimate of a life guard's hold, he swims at the shoreline with his armful of soaked Soldier. The very second he finds the ground beneath the slowly-rushing waves of the bay, he churns his noodle-kneed legs until they give out on the sandy beach itself.

Coughing up what feels like a portion of the bay itself, he immediately turns to shake at Bucky. "Buck?! Buck, c'mon, di'n't mean -- !!!"

Winter Soldier has posed:
Which is when Buck rolls over onto all fours....and is promptly, terribly sick. The joke's on him.....but the mead's made its departure. He shuffles a little ways to the side, where the sand is nominally cleaner, and simply drops to lie on his face. "Fuck you, Steven Grant."

Captain America has posed:
Crabbing back a foot or so, Steve appears horrified with himself. Another hard cough from him means that his own roiling stomach almost revolts as well, but it's only saltwater instead behind his hand.

"You -- you jus'," he starts and simply quits. Rolling to one hip, he sits there in the sand. Now the breeze off the bay sucks all the heat from him. "'m'sorry, Buck. I'll...make sure you're okay 'nd go. Kin walk home. Cold'll clear my head."

Winter Soldier has posed:
He rolls an eye to look at Steve. "Yeah? You gonna be all right to get home?" Buck seems quite prepared to sleep there, just as he originally declared.

Captain America has posed:
"'ve got the keys for the bike. 's'not goin' 'nywhere 'less some'ody really wants it. Stark's gotta self-defense mech'nism onnit." And lord only knows how that pans out for anyone attempting to hijack Captain America's motorcycle. Wincing, Steve coughs into the bend of his sleeve again a few more times and gives Bucky a hangdog look.

"You wanna cab? Kin call one. Can' sleep right here, you'll be uncomf'table. Lili's only so warm."

Winter Soldier has posed:
"'m fine," Bucky insists. Well, he's above the tide line, at least. "Slep' worse. Worst. Somethin'. Don' get cold, 'member."

Captain America has posed:
"I dun get cold either, but doesn' mean sand isn't gonna get places. Your fun'ral though, if you wanna sleep here. C'mere," and he stumbles to his feet. Then, hooking a hand beneath the Soldier's bicep, Steve attempts to wrangle the man to his feet and carry him along by dint of arm slung across his shoulder. "C'mon, on your feet, les'go."

Winter Soldier has posed:
HE doesn't fight. But he's mostly limp, letting Steve steer him up the beach. Lili's nearly tripping the both of them, as she tries to stick close to their feet.