Bruce is right. About the war especially. If he hadn't done things the way he had, the Commandos would have died. Bucky would have-
He cuts that thought off and gets up to pace a few steps away, then back, clasping his hands behind him in parade rest and then dropping them loose to his sides. He's not uncomfortable, exactly, just... Once the campaigning for bonds was done, the movies made, and he was out in the field with the only cameras being the ones catching shots of him and the Commandos for the news reels... He kind of forgot about the celebrity part of things. He didn't forget his country, or the people in it, the people counting on him and his men - but he forgot that they knew him, forgot that they watched fabricated heroics playing out in matinees, or bought comics with his name on the pages.
"I'm just a kid from Brooklyn," he says, irony in his tone. He remembers saying those same words to the Schmidt, not too long ago.
He smiles faintly. Telling Bruce he's seen kids pretending to be the Hulk, beating the Abomination on downtown playgrounds, probably won't help him feel better. "I made a choice to try and serve my country, and so did you. Maybe it was stupid and impulsive and reckless, but what you're doing now, with where it's put you... You're a hero, as much as I am, as much as anyone in this building. And sometimes being stupid and reckless when you're trying to do the hero stuff is... well, it's what saves lives."
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He cuts that thought off and gets up to pace a few steps away, then back, clasping his hands behind him in parade rest and then dropping them loose to his sides. He's not uncomfortable, exactly, just... Once the campaigning for bonds was done, the movies made, and he was out in the field with the only cameras being the ones catching shots of him and the Commandos for the news reels... He kind of forgot about the celebrity part of things. He didn't forget his country, or the people in it, the people counting on him and his men - but he forgot that they knew him, forgot that they watched fabricated heroics playing out in matinees, or bought comics with his name on the pages.
"I'm just a kid from Brooklyn," he says, irony in his tone. He remembers saying those same words to the Schmidt, not too long ago.
He smiles faintly. Telling Bruce he's seen kids pretending to be the Hulk, beating the Abomination on downtown playgrounds, probably won't help him feel better. "I made a choice to try and serve my country, and so did you. Maybe it was stupid and impulsive and reckless, but what you're doing now, with where it's put you... You're a hero, as much as I am, as much as anyone in this building. And sometimes being stupid and reckless when you're trying to do the hero stuff is... well, it's what saves lives."