Re: Steve & Bucky & Natasha
Of all the things Steve might have expected to break his concentration - a holler from the crowd, or another attempt from Bucky to distract him - laughter didn't even rate a mention on the list.
The fact that the laughter ended up coming from Natasha Romanoff was simply unbelievable, but it did have the no-doubt intended effect of wrenching Steve's attention away from his target and transferring it to Natasha instead. It took a few moments longer for her words to actually sink in, and by then, she already had the crowd eating out of her hand, spinning a narrative comprised of such outrageous lies that her story actually somehow circled back around to being plausible. Steve blinked - dazed, almost, still not quite caught up on what was happening here - as she touched his cheek, and he didn't resist when she forced him to look at her, swallowing sharply as he caught sight of her eyes. They were positively sparking, radiating disdain, and Steve knew what that meant.
She was stepping in to clean up one of his messes. Again.
It was that realization that got him to release the man - Tiberius, apparently, and Steve filed that away for future reference - because, as was too often the case, Steve hadn't even thought about the consequences of this. More specifically, he hadn't given any consideration as to how this might affect Bucky, and that was... unforgivable. He snuck a quick glance at Bucky, who was obviously wound tight as a spring. Still, he allowed himself to be pulled to Natasha's side, and it was only then that Steve realized the full implication of the lies Natasha was selling. The three of them -
Steve made a garbled noise, but he covered it by ducking his head and lifting his arm to stem the flow of blood from his nose, a move guaranteed to ruin the shirt he was wearing. The crowd was tittering, someone suggesting that Natasha was being greedy, keeping them all to herself, and then Bucky joined in, playing along as he suggested a chat.
It was a chance to escape, and more than that, it was an effective way to spin this moment. Turn it from Steve losing his damn mind over yet another of the Capitol's forced indignities to a simple case of a lover spurned. A temper lost in a fit of passion, emotions running high because navigating a relationship between three people was infinitely more complicated than one between two people, which was complex enough in its own right.
What the hell was he going to tell Peggy.
"All right," Steve muttered, because this was really the only option he had. It'd give rise to some embarrassing rumors, but they probably wouldn't be any more embarrassing than the rumors that were already out there about him. And Peggy would understand. He would make sure she understood.
"Think it'd be best to do that in private though," Steve added, voice slightly distorted, between his nose and the sleeve he still had pressed below it.
That prompted a chorus of catcalls from the gathered crowd, and Steve winced, looking helplessly at Natasha, because he didn't know how to deal with this.
"A private chat, right," someone hollered.
"Make sure to take pictures!" Arabella crowed.
Tiberius, for his part, raised his chin and offered Steve a cruel smirk, as if he could actually take credit for having slithered his way out of a well-deserved beating. "I feel like I did my part, then, giving Barnes here a headstart on fucking up your face."
The people around them roared with laughter, and Steve's stomach turned. He needed fresh air, and he needed it now, but he wasn't going to abandon Bucky or Natasha to get it.