Days bled into weeks, and the soldiers were whipped into shape. there were days when Will would go to bathroom, ball his hands into fists and bite down on his own knuckles to keep the choked sob from escaping the walls of the haunting bathroom. He was overwhelmed, it all was sometimes a little bit too much. After the fear came rage. He was angry at Steve and angry at Bucky, for sometimes he blamed them for the stupid decisions he had came up with.

Will cried out his anger in the darkness of the night in the bathroom, cursing his two brothers for leaving him alone. When they had left, the last pieces of his home were gone with them. How stupid he had been. 

But eventually, William calmed down and tried to focus on the good things. At least he was starting to turn into a man. He still sometimes bent closer to the bathroom mirror, searching for the small hints of a growing beard, but there never was any.

Some days they were left in the forest, split into teams and given instructors what to do. He had been in the losing team once, they were left outside the building for the whole night, forced to clean the pathway clean from water. It had been raining heavily. But William had gritted his teeth, locked his jaw and kept brushing the water off the pathway, ignoring the wetness of his clothes and the way they stuck to his skin, the cold wind had made him shiver. He had been ready to bash Adamsons face in, and William had never been a violent person. An older gentleman who had been in his team had tried to calm the boy down. Explained to him that it was to teach discipline.

No matter the command, a soldier complies.

He still laughed on dining table, trying to make friends along the way. None of them really stuck around though, but he didn't mind. At least Lance allowed him to take part of their card games as long as he could make fun of William. Who, of course, laughed along awkwardly.

Ruben didn't get any more social than Will had hoped, if anything, things seemed to have gotten worse for the short man. He was constantly behind the group, being called away by Adamson more than anyone else. Whenever he'd come back, his face would be white, nearly green and he would ignore William, no matter how much the boy annoyed him. 

Being woken before sunrise, being lined up from the slight slumber and being constantly given smaller and smaller portions of food was starting to turn into normalcy. The punishments that made his calves hurt, made his fingertips calloused and gave him blisters didn't push down the liveliness that again and again forced itself out of the boys heart. He also found his way back to his old habits. 

Stealing. 

It thrived him, especially in the middle of the night after one of his sacred melt downs, he felt alive in those moments. Sneaking in the shadows, sneaking around the guards who walked in groups, whose job was to catch rebellious trainees like William, yet they never saw him. Not once. And that boosted his confidence even more, to steal from the kitchen and sometimes he even found himself in Adamsons office, going through his things out of boredom. 

He didn't sleep much anyways these days. Also, his body was going through rapid changes in those short weeks. There was a mass of muscle on his previously bony arms, and he had found himself more than once flexing his muscles in front of the mirror. 

To his own, mild suprise, he was the fastest man in the group. He thanked the streets of Brooklyn for being his playground. He was changing, and so fast, it was frightening. Until one night, after they had been taught the fastest way to take down the enemy, he was called to Adamsons office. A cold jolt had ran through him, did he know? 

"I was called, sir." William said, his tanned face void of any emotion. Adamson placed down a stack of papers, taking off his round glasses. William wanted to snort, he looked so old with glasses.  "Yes you were, soldier. I have been keeping an eye on you. Your results are remarkable, frankly, I am not the only one who has noticed." the man said, maneuvering closer to the stiff child soldier. Will was confused, but stayed put, unmoving and silent just like he had been taught, waiting for further commands. Suddenly he felt the older mans calloused hands trace the side of his face, making his breath hitch in surprise. He composed himself, still startled and unsure of what was going on. 

"To have such youth still, is so amazing, it is such... a gift." Adamsons voice was sickly sweet, and William was scared that the secret was out. He must know, he must have figured it out! Thousands of scenarios ran through his mind, the most colorful one was the one where Mrs. Davis would give him a good ass-whooping. A cold shiver ran down his back when Adamson traced his finger closer to Will's lips. 

The man was seriously weird. 

"I just read your application. Will Everett Rogers. Will, why not William?" he removed his hand, making the fair haired boy almost sigh in relief. "William is my father, sir." he could see Adamson nod from the corner of his eye. The odd situation was causing William to sweat, he was getting nervous. He had never seen this side of Adamson, ever. He usually just yelled or punched trainees, William included. But he never tried to start a conversation. So why now? and why in his office and not the dining hall or something? 

"I got orders from higher ups, the ones who look the process from afar. They think you are ready, they want you on the field." this time, the surprise couldn't be pushed down. His eyes widened, but his posture never changed. His hands, that were clasped behind his back, were getting sweaty. 

They wanted him on the field, like, very soon.

"Understanda-" the sound of skin hitting skin seemed to echo in the small room, Wills head snapped to right, gritting his teeth as he slowly turned his head back towards the window behind the office chair. "I haven't finish yet, soldier." his cheek was aching, in fact, his jaw was buzzing from the harsh hit. He was hoping it wouldn't swell or turn blue. It was understandable, he had stepped out of the line. "There is a possibility that I can, however, delay the shipping." he said, walking around William like a hunter circling its prey, and he didn't like to feel like a prey. 

"But it requires a little bit of work, from both of us." he said, his voice lower, the sort of tone William had never heard before. And suddenly Adamson was in his personal space again, making him uncomfortable. Don't step out of the line, don't step out of the line, don't step out of the line. "But mostly, it depends how much you can pay up in more pleasurable ways." he whispered in Williams ear, suddenly his hand rested on Williams backside, making the young soldier jump away from the sudden touch. Ah hell with the lines!

He wanted to get out, his heart was beating wildly and he glared at the man who had thrown his head back in a roar of laughter. "Ah, young flesh, so naive. Wouldn't believe it from someone like you though." Realization dawned to William and was gobsmacked by the perverted man. 

Man and man? it was unheard of. "You are... a perverted, rotten man." that didn't seem to sit well with Adamson, because the usual frown was back on his cold face. "A soldier never-" 

"Oh yes, a soldier denies the command from a man who tries to rape him. Also, a soldier wouldn't hesitate to tell his army that the said man has been stealing from them for years." he said dangerously, referring to the letters hidden under the table. Admsons hands were balled into fists, but William was calculating the space between them. He could make the run for it, he could alert the higher upps if Adamons as much as tried anything. He seemed to realize the problem as well. "Lets make a deal. You keep my sins, I'll keep yours, William." "It's just Will." a knowing smile pulled on Adamsons lips, he was satisfied and that scared the boy even more. "No, it's William. Now, William. Get out of this office, keep your head down, pack your things and you'll be shipped off the day after tomorrow."

William had no respect for the man, none at all. So, he left the office without saluting him, without even looking at him. He was still nauseous of what had happened within those short couple of minutes. He held his head up and marched through the corridors, ignoring the fearful  and curious looks of newbies being shoved down the hall. Deja vu washed over him when he could hear some of his team yell at them how wrong their choice had been. 

He went towards the punks, biting the inside of his cheek so hard he had drawn blood. As he sat on the creaky matress, pulling his bootsoff, he noticed the heavy trembling of his hands. The room was staring to go quiet, or at least, he started losing his hearing. He froze, trying to get his breathing right when suddenly a hand on his shoulder made him jump up. "Woah, easy man." Ruben said, eyes wide as he took in the startled look. 

"What?" William almost snapped, to his surprise, Ruben didn't flinch back like he usually did, he was sympathetic. "I... just, what did Adamson want?" he asked quietly, narrowing his eyes to take in any emotion that would possibly be hiding behind those sky blue eyes. William gulped, huffing in annoyance as he sat back down on the lower punk, ignoring Ruben who was curiously peeking down at him. "I'm just being shipped off soon." Ruben almost choked on his own spit "You? What, why?" Will shrugged, pulling off his other boot after he was sure that his hands weren't trembling like crazy anymore. 

Before William could come up with one of his brilliant lies, Lance marched in, holding a newspaper out to his chums. "Have you all seen this? Some genius is marching around in spandex, calling himself Captain America!" he roared with laughter, allowing one of the guys to snatch the paper from his hands. "Captain who?" William asked, escaping from Rubens suspicious questioning. "A star spangled man with a plan." one of the men chuckled, showing everyone the black and white picture on the front page. "This Captain America dude is some random man touring with a punch of ladies. Hey, they'll be here in four days too, anyone wants to see the ladies dancing? I'm so going, it's free." someone said obnoxiously, but William couldn't drag his eyes from the picture. 'Cap Saluts you! for buying War Bonds, see your local post office!' it read. "Hey, look guys, Kapitan America looks so cute, he could be your brother Bony Willy!" Lance said, throwing his arm over his shoulder to pull William closer. 

He shrugged Lances hand off, rolling his sky blue eyes. "This man says he is saving America. With what? Dancing to people and asking them money for postmarks that has his face on? Yeah, sure. I'd be ashamed to be related to someone like that." he grumbled, leaving the group to make inappropriate and childish jokes. William could care less about this Captain America. If he had learned anything, it was that in this age and era, every man had to stand for themselves and only for themselves. The star spangled man with a plan was probably just a man who needed to earn money someway, and William was not the one to judge.

He just wanted to get away from this camp and those awful people. 

***

By the way, cleaning water from pathway while it's raining actually happened, a friend of mine who is in military said they had to do that. So yeah, hope you enjoyed the chapter and some feedback would be lovely, lots of love!