Private
I used to think the same thing. I mean - it's been a long five years, though. To be more specific, it's been a long ten years. A lot of things have happened to turn my mind around on that front.
Where and when I'm coming from, Steve's my best friend. Well - one of them, of course there's you, but Steve is the person I've been around the most for the last, oof. Seven years? Eight? Something like that. Somewhere along the line, I started thinking of him as my partner. And he's got his moments, we all do, but you don't spend that much time around Steve Rogers without him spilling a little bit of moral fortitude on you from time to time. I don't know when I stopped thinking that it might not actually be not a weakness to believe the best in people.
I'd say it was that I saw more of the world, but sometimes the world is pretty terrible. I think maybe it's just that I grew up a little. I know I'm softer now than I was when we first met. Not just you and I, I mean: than when I met all the guys. It's a strange way to think of myself.