His smile was a little crooked, the apology at least there in his eyes for asking permission to inquire. So that thinking hadn't changed, then, as though after their 22nd birthday women were thought to be expired goods. But that was odd thinking to him, a young man who had never had much luck relating to women, especially not the younger ones. Bucky had always charmed, provoking smiles. Steve had lost much of his sense of humor at the orphanage, so he had bored them and been terrible at small talk. After a short time most of it was just noise to fill space to him. So his silent apology had nothing to do with the thinking that youth was a quality required of a woman, but entirely with social politeness. The quality of a person was much more important than their age.
So it surprised him a little when she answered .This woman seemed to be all knives and challenge under the cool, collected soldier exterior. He recognized it, but it would be a long time before he would be able to identify what he found familiar about Hill. It was that steel look after being patronized or cat-called that would be in Peggy's before she would elbow a soldier in the face. It was that bristling uphill fight of a person who would not be dismissed for existing, that would insist on credit for skill over flattery. He'd seen a lot of soldiers with that look, especially in the minorities, and when they freed prisoners from concentration camps, he was always glad to see that look rather than the hollow broken ones.
Steve thought on that, hand to his chin as he calculated what he knew so far and considered Maria's information. So in the last decade and a half at the very least...
"No," he concluded quietly. "I think I would like to continue and learn as much as I can today. There are still a lot of conflicts to cover." And I want to know what's current sooner than the end of the week.