( a twitch at the corner of his mouth, something almost a smile that he hides behind the glass as he clinks it against hers in a cheers, and then takes a startlingly deep swig of the whiskey. savouring the burn, the warmth as it goes down his throat. even if he can't easily get hammered off it, he can at least enjoy the heat and the taste of it. )

So, uh... I might not have mentioned during the interview, but I've got one up on you here. The serum came with enhanced metabolism.

( four times faster than than normal, or thereabouts, or so the doctors claimed. bucky props his elbows against the other side of the island, his blue eyes watching karen as she drinks. he nudges a few piles of paperwork aside, moving them out of the way. if part of him desperately wants to read it just out of instinct, then he presses down the urge and doesn't give in to it. )

You do kinda seem like a workaholic.

( a pause, bucky realising how that might not have sounded the best. )

I don't mean that in a bad way. Most of the people I knew were, uh, extremely devoted to our work.

( sam was probably the best at juggling some kind of balance and maintaining a connection with his family, but the rest of them had been such lonely creatures. the team had been the family. steve. nat. wanda. people with a cause to fight for but nothing left to lose. he'd been the same, but now even the cause has been neatly sheared away from him, too, leaving him foundering. )