Venus | James B. Barnes✔️

v. 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚒𝚌𝚎

EVELYN HELD the letter Bucky had sent to her, a smile on her face as she made out his messy scrawl that seemed most certainly rushed. She knew he was busy, but he still made sure to write her—to try and ease her worries.

𝙳𝚘𝚕𝚕,

𝙸𝚝'𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚊 𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚊 𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚔, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸'𝚖 𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚢 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚂𝚝𝚎𝚟𝚎. 𝚂𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚞𝚗𝚔, 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚑𝚒𝚖? 𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝙽𝚎𝚠 𝙹𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚎𝚢, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚎'𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚎. 𝙼𝚊𝚢𝚋𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚢 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞... 𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠. 𝙶𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚖𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍.

𝙸 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝙷𝚘𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚒𝚜 𝚐𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚕. 𝙸 𝚠𝚒𝚜𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚍 𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚖𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚍𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝙸 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚔 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚒𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚠𝚎𝚊𝚙𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚓𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚛𝚞𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝙴𝚞𝚛𝚘𝚙𝚎. 𝙹𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚕𝚎𝚝 𝚖𝚎 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚏𝚎, 𝙻𝚢𝚗.

𝙸 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞, 𝚍𝚘𝚕𝚕. 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚢 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚋𝚎. 𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚕𝚎𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚍𝚘𝚠𝚗. 𝙸𝚝'𝚜 𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙸'𝚖 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚊𝚛 𝚔𝚎𝚎𝚙𝚜 𝚖𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚒𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞.

𝚆𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚘𝚗, 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚑? 𝙼𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚂𝚝𝚎𝚟𝚎 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚖𝚎, 𝚝𝚘𝚘.

𝙵𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜, 𝙹𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚜

Evelyn smiled as a tear dropped onto the paper. Hurrying a reply, she decided to tell him that the project is something she had been working on since 1939 when the war truly started before the U.S. was brought into it. She kept it brief, letting him know Steve was in her care, though she did not indulge in Erskine's plan. She hoped it was enough to ease his worries. Writing his name and what unit he was in, she stood just as her door was knocked on.

Calling out for the person to come in, she cursed her voice for breaking slightly. Howard pushed the door open with furrowed brows as Peggy followed him inside.

"What's going on?" Evelyn asked, smoothing out the wrinkles in her skirt with a small smile. "Is everything okay?"

Howard frowned further. "You all right?" he asked before noticing the letter. "That for Barnes?"