Archive of Our Own ^beta

Steve shifted in his seat, the leather squeaking uncomfortably beneath his bulky frame. The lights were blaring in his eyes, his makeup felt caked onto his face, and he wanted to be anywhere but sitting on the manufactured set on the Fox News floor. Unfortunately, he was on what his publicist called a “PR junket”, trying to make up for a small alien incident where The Hulk had smashed a supermarket. Steve didn’t see why that should mean he was sacrificed to the wolves, but Pepper had insisted that Captain America was the friendly face of The Avengers. He had to admit, Tony or Bucky on a talk show probably wouldn’t end well.

An intern motioned to Steve that they would be live in a few seconds, so he turned his body to face the stick-thin, blue-eyed, blonde haired woman sitting behind a desk next to him. Her face was angular and pallid, though she was attempting to disguise that through copious amounts of blush, which matched her bright pink blazer. As the intern’s fingers counted down, three…two…one…Steve plastered a fake, practiced smile on his face.

“We are so pleased and honored to be joined this afternoon by our very own Captain America - Captain, thank you for coming onto Fox today.” Her voice was as high pitched and annoying as Steve had imagined.

“Thank you for having me,” he said politely, his back straightening up even more at being addressed.

“So, Captain, I can call you Captain, right?” She did not wait for a response. “What can you tell us about that awful alien in the Bronx last week?”

“Honestly, Ms. Spader, not much.” Steve very pointedly did not call the woman by her first name, which he knew to be Maria. “You can understand that whenever an alien finds itself in our city, it immediately becomes highly classified. However, I can tell you that The Avengers responded to the attack within 5 minutes, and no civilians were grievously wounded or killed.”

“No civilians - were any of The Avengers hurt?” The fake sympathy being expressed in her eyes made Steve want to hurl.

“Luckily, no one on my team sustained anything more than a few scratches and bruises, but the invading alien was killed in a joint effort between Hawkeye and The Black Widow.”

“Yes, we must extend our deepest gratitude to the heroes who fight so hard to keep us safe. Speaking of, I was hoping we could hear your opinion on the President’s latest decision to move troops…?”

Steve had been expecting this. Even though he was no longer technically a soldier, everyone always assumed he was on top of every action the military took, and wanted to know his opinion on them. He chatted too casually with Maria Spader for a few minutes, before the host went completely off script.

“Switching gears a little bit, Captain, my viewers and I would love to hear your opinion on a current hot-topic.”

“Oh, ok?” Steve replied, unsure. His publicist had assured him that the interviewer would not ask him about anything other than Avengers or military issues.

“I’m sure you’re aware that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was recently repealed, to the dismay of many Americans and veterans. As the soldier who represents our nation, how do you feel knowing that you reflect the image of gays, and how do you feel about these people being so vocally accepted in the country you fought to protect?”

Steve was usually very good about staying cool and impartial in front of the public, but he couldn’t stop his eyes from widening and his lips pressing into a thin, white line at this blatant homophobia. “Well, there’s certainly a lot there,” he said with a forced chuckle. “Before I get into all of that-” he gestured randomly, “I think I should clarify that I am in no way the soldier who represents our nation. In fact, I’m not even a soldier! I am a veteran, yes, and a proud one, but our soldiers enlisted today - all of our soldiers - are the ones who represent our nation. My current role as Captain America and the leader of The Avengers is disparate from the army.”

Steve paused to take a deep breath before speaking on the real issue at hand. “As for Don’t Ask Don’t Tell….as a rule, I try to stay impartial in politics. It’s not my role to be speaking on what is right and what is wrong when I am just a normal man and so many take my words as more than that. However this is an issue on which I cannot stay silent.”

Maria smiled, believing she was about to get a big scoop from a man born in the late 20’s with late 20’s beliefs. Her smile faded as Steve continued.

“I cried when I first heard that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was being repealed. I am so unbelievably proud of our country and our military for taking this massive step for LGBTQ+ rights. Our queer service members are just as brave and love their country just as much as their straight counterparts, and it is about time that we acknowledge and respect that. In fact - I could make the argument that these soldiers are more dedicated, because they’re actively choosing to enter an environment they know they will be discriminated against in, just to serve their country. I fully support the LGBTQ+ community in their fight for equality, and I especially support those who Don’t Ask Don’t Tell affected. It has never ever sat right with me that the persona of Captain America was so exclusionary to all minorities, especially when I myself do not reflect that persona.”

Maria Spader’s mouth gaped. She seemed unable to take in all of what Steve had just said, or maybe she was choosing to not get into it. Instead, she focused on his last sentence. “Of course you reflect that persona!” She exclaimed indignantly.

Steve looked up at the flabbergasted woman, choosing his words carefully. “I suppose now I can, you’re right.” There was a deafening silence in the studio. Where there had moments before been headsetted employees rushing about, there was a tense stillness. Steve’s publicist and his interviewer wore similar expressions of shock on their faces; if they had been attempting to hide that they weren’t successful.

“Would-would you like to elaborate on that?” Maria asked finally, stumbling over her own tongue.

“Gladly,” Steve said with a smile. “The truth of the matter is that I am gay, happily and proudly so.” He chose not to speak any more, instead sitting back and relishing in the shock on all the Fox employees’ faces.

“Do you, is, is it possible that these…tendencies you claim to have were the result of the experimental science you underwent? Or perhaps your 70 years frozen? Or a culture shock from emerging in a new century?” Maria Spader was desperately trying to provide an excuse for her ‘Captain’ to explain away his apparent homosexuality.

“Definitely not.” Steve said firmly. “I was gay as anything from the time I was a little boy. In fact, I was in a long term relationship before becoming Captain America.”

“With a man?” Spader asked hesitantly.

“Yes, with a man,” Steve affirmed.

“And did you break up after becoming Captain America?” Spader pressed on, figuring that if her interview was to be the one where this devastating news was broken, she might as well get as much juiciness as she could.

“No, we didn’t.”

“So, you-”

Steve interrupted his interviewer, a move very out of character for him. “Ma’am, we were in a war. I loved him very much, but sometimes people get hurt.”

“When you say sometimes people get hurt…did you mean you, or him?” Spader seemed to struggle a bit over the pronoun.

“I suppose I meant both of us, ma’am.” Steve purposely left the question open-ended, not wanting to lie and say his partner had died when he knew for a fact that Bucky was currently sitting in a pair of sweatpants and one of Steve’s shirts on the couch in the Avenger’s compound, watching the interview, but also not wanting to get into whether he’d still been alive when Steve came out of the ice, which would invariably lead to Maria Spader asking him if he’d tried to track down his lover.

“I am very sorry to hear that.” She didn’t look sorry. “Well! I think that’s all the time we have for today, but Captain, you have certainly given America a lot to think about! Thank you very much for coming on the show.” Her voice reeked of insincerity, and it did not escape Steve’s notice that she neither thanked him for his service, as any Fox host would normally do for a veteran guest, nor offered him a handshake, as though she was afraid of catching the gay gene.

“It was entirely my pleasure,” Steve replied, letting only the slightest hint of the unprofessional sarcasm he was feeling slip through his carefully built facade. He also couldn’t resist one last jibe. “Until next time?” He asked, knowing there was no way Fox would have him back now that he was out. Another victory, in his book.

“Yes, well, that would certainly be interesting,” Spader said politely, neither confirming nor denying that Steve would be welcomed back. “Folks, we’ll be back in just a few minutes, but right now, we head to an ad break and thank you for watching Fox.”

The duo continued to smile politely at the camera for a few more seconds until the intern signalled that they were off the air, upon which time both grins turned to scowls. Maria was instantly swarmed by writers and analysts, prepping her on what she was going to say when they were back on tv, and Steve was left to face a very angry publicist.

“What the hell was that?!” She seethed.

Steve sighed. “Cynthia…”

“Oh no you don’t Cynthia me!! You just came out as gay, an aspect of your life I hadn’t even been aware of, I might add, on Fox fucking News. Fox! We were on CNN just this morning, couldn’t you have done it then?! Bonded with Cooper over it or something?!”

“I really am sorry, Cynthia, it’s not like I planned for this to happen. But what would you have preferred?! Me not speaking up on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell? She asked me a direct, homophobic question for gods sakes!”

“No, I suppose not,” Cynthia sighed. “But now I’ve got to go do damage control.”

Steve nodded. “In the car, though, maybe?” He asked, all too conscious of the multitude of Fox employees eavesdropping in on their conversation.

Cynthia agreed, and the two of them walked towards their car. Steve’s head was held high, and a huge weight felt like it had been lifted from off his shoulders. He certainly had not expected his day to go the way it had, but he was so fucking proud of himself for finally standing up and doing what was right. He’d have to apologize to Cynthia many more times - he had a feeling Captain America would no longer be very politically silent.