Watching glass bottles shatter into a million little pieces is much more satisfying and therapeutic than some people would like to admit. With each bullet fired, Steve could feel the knots in his back loosen, his shoulders grow a little less tense, his mind clear up with each shout from the gun in his hand as he pulled the trigger. 

"Nice shots," Angie beamed after her fellow super-human managed to take down an entire row of deep green, glass wine bottles they'd gathered after running out of the brass-colored beer bottles they'd brought from camp. "But you're still buying drinks when we get back, buddy." Her arms were folded over her chest, her smile so wide that the corners of her eyes crinkled and the dimple on her right cheek showed. So much pride in one expression. So much joy at the sight of the man before her, no longer a little boy who needed defending but somehow still the person she'd called her best friend for years.

It was a sight he hadn't seen in months, maybe even years, as Steve loaded another round of bullets into his gun. It was a look he could remember seeing on sacred occasions. Some events had been important accomplishments in his life, like graduating from high school and his eighteenth birthday when he became old enough to legally vote. Others had been more subtle, little glances that he'd managed to catch when she thought he didn't know her eyes were on him. Little things like picnics on the rooftops as they laughed about stories, when the fireworks would go off on the Fourth of July even though he believed the sparks above were much more interesting, after he'd attempted to sign up for the army despite getting rejected multiple times. 

He couldn't describe the sensation in his chest, the way his lungs seemed to constrict when she was near and yet, at the same time, Angie was all he needed to breathe. How a proud nudge with her elbow sent his stomach into somersaults and yet calmed him down all at once. It was like she was the sun's light, warming his soul and burning his heart simultaneously. Security and fear, assurance and the unknown, the cold of regret and the heat of appreciation, happiness and sorrow all wrapped together like a present tied with a ribbon.

She was everything he needed to live and the thing that was slowly killing him from the inside-out.

"That was a lucky hit," He joked back, because there was nothing else he could do that wouldn't ruin everything that made these moments special. "I bet you can't make that shot again from this distance." She raised an eyebrow at the challenge; an invisible fist clamped around his heart and squeezed his throat.

"Oh really?" The weightless ease that was her voice was the only music he'd ever want to hear and she slid the gun from his hand. It took everything he had, every ounce of restraint in his body, to keep from shivering at her touch. To keep his mouth shut and his heart anywhere but his sleeve. To keep from doing something they'd all regret in the end. "Are you willing to bet on that, Rogers?"

"I'm already buying drinks, I don't think there's anything else I can offer," He smirked and found himself trapped in her gaze before he knew he was a goner. Her eyes had been stunning before, but now with the flecks of gold that rimmed her irises and accentuated the strong blue shade, Evangeline was even more impossibly beautiful. She was...

"Now that's a lie," She pointed out in a friendly voice, though the way she gripped the gun and the little hitch at the end of her sentence gave away what she was really feeling inside; concern. "I'm going to use your gun just to show I'm not cheating," To raise the level of difficulty even more, the woman began to step back farther from where they stood, farther from the fence lined with empty containers that would be her targets. "If I make this shot, you have to tell me what's wrong."

He folded his arms.

"Nothing's wrong, Evang-"

All she needed was a hurt expression to shut him up. They both knew he was already lying, it was lemon juice on a paper cut for him to keep this cheap charade going. Blatantly telling her falsities to her face was only making this situation worse, but Steve couldn't decide which option would be the lesser of two evils: admitting his feelings for her despite her engagement to Bucky or letting his and Evangeline's friendship crumble because of distrust.

"Evangeline, please," He sighed, lifting his hand to rub the back of his neck. "This isn't something we should get into." Her eyes widened and her hands moved to her hips at a near-impossible speed. Realizing the beast he'd just set off, Steve muttered "shit" under his breath.

"This isn't something-" She scoffed in disbelief. "You've been acting weird ever since I got back, and I'm kinda getting pissed over it. Every time I look at you, you seem alright for half a second and then revert to whatever this is!" The woman gestured to all of him. "If we're going to be working together, fighting together, then we need to be adults and deal with this issue before it gets even more out of hand."

"You don't understand-"

"Try me!" With a burst of anger, she chucked the gun as hard as she could towards the glass bottles nearly a quarter of a mile away. As awesome as she felt to see the glass container break on contact, bragging about her new skills at this point wasn't one of her major priorities.

In two big steps, she'd closed the distance between them and grabbed Steve by the front of his suit, pulling him even closer til he was only a couple inches from her face.

God help me.

"You're my best friend, Steve," He couldn't pay attention, not when she was so close. So. Damn. Close. "Friends don't keep secrets from each other. Ever since we were kids, I told you everything. Every thought that crossed my mind, every dream and nightmare that kept me awake at night. Everything, Steve." She stressed before releasing her grip. His reaction caught her off guard, nearly insulting her and her show of emotion.

Steve laughed.

He laughed a short, cold, sarcastic laugh that hurt more than a knife to the chest.

"Everything," He drew the word out, tasting each syllable for the sweet lie that it was. "Out of all the letters you sent me, all the words of encouragement and care and concern, there was nothing," Steve spit the word like it was poison and Evangeline took a step back from him, "Nothing about what was happening between you and Buck. Not a hint. Not a single clue."

"Steve-"

"Cut the bullshit already," He snarled and walked after her, making sure the distance between them remained the same no matter how many steps backward she took. "You have the nerve to say I'm acting strange; I have every right to feel the way I do, to act the way I am, when my best friend kept me in the dark on her relationship with the only other person on this planet we'd both take a bullet for."

"Steve, stop."

"This is what you wanted, right?" Steve growled. "You wanted the truth. Well, here it is, Evangeline. Here's the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."

"Steve, please. You were right, I don't need to know-"

"What's with the change of heart?" He interrupted her, which shocked her even more as his level of aggression only increased with each passing second. This wasn't right. Whatever was happening, whatever Steve was feeling inside was something she'd never seen before. She'd seen him angry, the look on his face when he stands up for something he knows isn't right. Everything about this situation was just wrong. 

It was at that moment when she saw the rustle in the bushes behind him, the quake in the dirt too big to be an animal and too small to be a car.

Then the barrel poked out from among the plants.

"Steve!"

"You want to know what's wrong? Fine! What's wrong is that I've loved y-!"

She tackled him to the ground just as the rifle went off and the bullet zoomed over their heads with an angry roar, digging itself into the side of their truck with a ping. Evangeline didn't waste any time grabbing Catastrophe from her holster, standing straight up and returning the fire. The woman heard someone call her name, but she couldn't tell who over the sound of her gun.

She knew she was down to her last few bullets, though. As she felt her chest jolt with each enemy shot that made its mark, the soldier could sense the dark matter gathering on her knuckles, felt the explosive serum running through her veins. While Steve frantically started making his way towards the truck, where he'd left his shield, Evangeline slid her gun into its holster, her eyes finding the Hydra soldier hiding in the bushes and couldn't help but smile.

This was going to be fun.