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[cat_13145]

 

5 times Toro flew and one time he fell.

1.       Toro isn’t stupid. He’s not!

It’s just that it never occurred to him if he could catch fire, then he could fly. It occurred to Pappy, of course, but it took a lot of time to learn.

He’s seen men helping their kids to take their first few steps, or ride their bike, and he thinks that what’s Pappy must have looked like, when he held him up. He remembers them going up and up, and suddenly he was doing it on his own.

He can’t ever remember seeing any one look at him with such pride.

 

2.       The first time he out flies a bullet, it’s a Nazi spy ring. Looking back, he knows the shot was wild and there was no way it ever would have hit him.

That doesn’t mean he’s sorry for melting the guy’s guns. Or Torch looking any less worried and guilty about involving him.

3.       Carrying a person while flying is much harder than flying alone. Aside from the oblivious problems of weight, you have to have good control of your flame, else even through the costume the person you’re carrying will be burnt.

Pappy was very good at this, but Toro…not so much. After a couple of disastrous near misses, Steve, in his very kind way, suggest that perhaps Toro shouldn’t do it. They have enough flyers to carry those who can’t-after all, it’s only really Steve and Bucky-and Toro agrees with him.

That’s until he and Bucky end up separated from the adults and Bucky takes a bullet. He doesn’t remember much. One minute seeing Bucky fall back, his shoulder turning crimson, and the next he’s airborne.

They both get back to the base safely, where a nice nurse tells him that the injury looked worse than it really was, but of course he couldn’t tell that at the time.

It doesn’t matter. From then on he’s the one carrying Bucky.

4.       The first time he flies after the war feels weird. Partly cause they’re in America, and been kidnapped by Robots (and he thinks they have to be robots, because androids like Pappy just don’t try and kill their creators and then try killing up and coming senators. It’s not nice), just makes it feel even more like he’s stepped into a bad issue of Major Victory. But mostly cause no matter what anyone says, the David kid ain’t Bucky and no amount of hair dye and make up’ll make him. He manages to avoid having to carry him, on grounds of speed, but he misses Bucky’s snide comments and Jokes-this new kid is too respectful. When they’re all standing beside Nash’s body, he sees the kid in tears, but he can’t feel anything. Maybe Pappy picks up on that, because he never suggests Toro carry anyone again.

5.       Annie hates flying, and V Battalion doesn’t give him much excuse to do so. But on the day they finally admit that they lost Bucky and Cap all those years ago, he takes tp the sky, forming his trade mark V. People comment a lot about his loyalty to fallen comrades, and Annie doesn’t say anything when he comes home smelling of whisky. She sleeps on the couch, but she doesn’t comment.

He’s grateful. She’s never asked if there was anyone special, and he didn’t think he could lie to her again.

1.       He knows he’s not coming back when he’s going up with the Mad Thinker.

He supposes he should be sorry about all the people left behind. That he should have some last words for Annie, Pappy, Gwennie, Davey, Roger, Heck, even the new Cap could probably do with some advice.

But all he can think about, as the flames get hotter, and hotter, is that in a few moments he’ll see Bucky again.

That’s really all that matters to him. When the darkness finally comes, he’s more than ready for it.

 

 

 

5 dances Roger had and one he didn’t

1.       Most of the boys Roger knows learn dancing at school, and hate it. Roger doesn’t, partly because no matter how badly he pretends he dances, he doesn’t need lessons. His grandmother taught him to dance.

She was small, like all his family, and she’d buried her husband and three sons. But when, on wet days, she put on that phonograph and caught him up and started dancing, he felt like they were both flying. It’s something no one else could make him feel, until he met Brian.

2.       Isabelle is what his mother calls a “modern girl”. Roger isn’t entirely sure what that means, but it involves having your feet stood on a lot. After two Waltzes, when he limps over to the table, Brian offers to cut in. He shakes his head. The Isabelles of this world are not to be inflicted on friends.

3.       Ingrid is the Aryan type, no arguments there. That’s probably why SOE thinks she stands a chance of getting close to their target. Roger’s job is to provide a distraction, jumping in full costume. He can’t help noticing that she’s very light on her feet. And when she offers him a dance, well a gentleman can’t refuse.

4.       Jac’s Brian’s sister, but she’s also a woman. So when there’s a victory swing, or hop, he always does at least one turn on the floor with her. She and Brian are nothing alike, certainly not in the way they move-Brian is a plodder, where as even before Torch, Jac flies-but he trends to think that at least he gets to hold one Falsworth in public.

5.       Sharon Carter is a beautiful woman, and Roger can understand why Steve thought he was in love with her. He doesn’t entirely understand why she thinks, even now that she’s in love with him, doesn’t she know you can’t hypnotise someone to do something that isn’t already in their nature? But when he sees her standing all alone by the fruit punch bowl, with almost everyone trying to pretend they don’t see her...well, he goes and leads her out. She dances like a fighter, but that’s still better than Steve’s partner, who spends most of his time glaring over Steve’s shoulder at him. He’s just relieved that he doesn’t have the armour on. And if he leans a little closer and whispers something in Sharon’s ear, well, Falcon never has to know he’s been played.

6.       And once dance he never got.

He and Brian never dance together. He never leant into his chest, resting his head so he could hear his heart beat. Never held hands in public, heck never even dared sit too closely, in case someone figures it out. As he watches a dark haired boy lead a blond one on to the floor, he prays he’ll get another chance.