Reading people had never been a particular talent of Steve's. He had generally decent instincts when it came to picking out a bully from a crowd, but nuance and subtlety had never been his specialties, and he had an unfortunate tendency to take people's words and actions at face value, which had left him woefully unprepared for the delicate dance that was interacting with people in the Capitol.
It shouldn't have been a surprise, then, that despite offering a variety of responses, Steve still had no idea where Stark came down on the is this a sincere offer question. There had been a slump, then a nod, followed by an expression that seemed to say nothing less than, you are an idiot.
Despite his intention to keep this interaction as positive as possible, Steve felt himself bristle.
The implied you're an idiot was there in Stark's voice, too, in his tone and in his words, and maybe in his abrupt move toward the bar.
"Hey," Steve protested, getting to his feet and following Stark over to where he was pouring himself a worryingly full glass of something that smelled potent. "I'm not saying I'm going to march to their house in broad daylight and ask them in the middle of the street if they want to help me overthrow the government." His words were short and snappish, but he hadn't quite moved into full-fledged irritation. Keep it together, don't let this meeting crash and burn. He took a breath, though his mouth settled into a flat line.
"I've got a friend, said they'd ask around for me. They're good at keeping their head down," Steve said, although now that Stark had made his thoughts about that plan of attack known, Steve had to wonder if maybe he hadn't thought it through well enough. If he was setting Peggy up for failure by asking her to do this.... That wasn't an option. Hell, had the two of them really considered how much danger this was putting her in? "I... look, if you've got suggestions, I'm all ears," Steve continued. "You're right, it can't just be me and a handful of people from District Eight. But... I'm not the only one who wants this, Stark, and there might be people out there who already have contacts, who might even have plans in place. I can't pass that up."
Because Steve didn't have a real plan; he could admit that readily enough. And he'd seen firsthand how badly an ill-advised protest could go. But that didn't mean there weren't others out there making smart, thoughtful steps toward a revolution, and those were the people Steve needed to get in touch with if he ever wanted to see something happen.