Courfeyrac’s eyes were squeezed shut, as if not seeing what had just happened would make it untrue.
These feelings were harsh and startling. He had thought—well, perhaps he hadn’t thought enough. Courfeyrac was happy for Marius, he truly was. Cosette was a sweet, friendly girl, and if anyone could deserve a partner as kind as she, it was Marius. He felt guilty that it hurt this much; he was Marius’s friend, for goodness’ sake, and it wasn’t as if he was romantically in love with him. But the instant he saw them, his stomach churned and his chest ached as if he were suffering from some kind of petty romantic jealousy.
Of course, he wasn’t. Courfeyrac loved his friend, but not in that way. He loved his friend, and if he was currently struggling with how Marius’s new relationship made him feel—if his stomach had sunk down to his toes, and it hurt him to breathe—then that was Courfeyrac’s problem to deal with, not Marius’s.
And so Courfeyrac feigned a series of harsh sneezes to cover for his closed eyes, and offered Cosette his hand to shake with a warm smile. “Cosette! I’ve heard so many great things about you! It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” He only hoped that Marius was too distracted to notice the feelings hidden behind Courfeyrac’s eyes, which Courfeyrac would simply have to work to quell.
“Jean Prouvaire on the wrong side of the barricade, making good use of his one shot before he gets dragged off to the other end of Rue de la Chanvrerie and killed.”
Have we talked about this scene yet? Because I want to talk about this scene and why it’s important that this is the memory Steve is thinking about right before he has to face the Winter Soldier again.
We all know how out of place and unhappy Steve feels in modern society. The moviedoesn’t make any bones about it. Even though good ol’ Cap exudes positivity, we see how he uses his time. When he’s not at work for SHIELD, he’s grasping at straws, trying to catch up, trying to make sense of how he fits in a world that’s moved on without him. When Steve starts to feel out of place even when he’s playing soldier for SHIELD, Sam tells him that he could do something different, anything at all; but Steve looks blank. Sam asks him what makes him happy, and Steve doesn’t know.
The only thing that keeps him going is knowing that his sacrifice helped save the world. As he says to Peggy, he always wanted to do “what was right,” and at least he can take some comfort from the fact that he helped save countless lives from Hydra by losing everything that meant a damn to him.
That is, until he and Natasha find Zola in the underground bunker and they find out that Hydra is still alive and well – thriving, even – within the ranks of SHIELD.
This is the moment Steve learns he gave up his life for nothing.
So. The flashback scene.
I’ve heard some people say that they think the scene is extraneous. That it’s enough to know that Bucky and Steve were friends way back when, only Bucky doesn’t remember (and if you want more skinny!Steve and scenes of Bucky and Steve being chummy, go back and watch The First Avenger). On the surface, it may seem like this scene is rehashing old territory, but it’s actually telling us quite a bit more than that.
Bucky is walking Steve home after his mother’s funeral, and Steve is obviously vulnerable and shaken. His parents were the foundational figures of his life, and they’re both gone now. Before Bucky can even get the question out, Steve rejects the idea of moving in with Bucky. He insists he can get by on his own. Then he fumbles clumsily in his jacket looking for his key, but he can’t find it. Bucky casually picks up the spare and hands it to him.
This moment.
It’s such a simple gesture, but the camera focuses in on that key like it’s the freaking Tesseract. Why? Why is this moment with Bucky so prominent in Steve’s thoughts? Why not something out of their days together with the Howling Commandos? Or why not something from when they were kids running around on the playground?
This moment is an echo of exactly what Steve’s feeling in the future: lost and alone. Everything that means home is shut behind the locked door of time (or a coffin lid).
But against all possibility, Bucky is alive. And, to Steve, Bucky doesn’t just have the key back home, he is the key back home.
“I can get by on my own.”
“But the thing is, you don’t have to.”
Suddenly that promise is everything. If Bucky is still alive, then Steve isn’t alone. He didn’t make a mistake putting the plane in the water. There’s a meaning for him to be in this time and place, and Bucky is that meaning. That’s why Steve has to believe Bucky will remember, why he desperately doesn’t want to fight him. Steve wants them both to be able to go home again.
Reblogging this because it seems relevant with the recent release of the Civil War trailer. 🙂
eirenical17 