Captain America fanfic: "Do you know that courage can wash away your tears?" (feat. Arnie Roth)

[eliyes]

Title: Do you know that courage can wash away your tears?
A/N 1: Title is a line from "Stand Up" by Susan Aglukark.
A/N 2: Near the beginning of the Captain America movie, I leaned over to the friend sitting beside me and said, "They've combined Bucky with Arnie Roth!" She thinks they aged up Bucky to Steve's equal to avoid killing a "kid"; I just figure they wanted to reduce the number of characters to something manageable. Whatever the reason, it made me write this: a tribute to Arnie Roth.


Steve Rogers sat in a hard plastic chair by a hospital bed. The occupant of this bed, Arnie Roth, had been the boy next door of Steve's long-ago childhood: friend, protector, confidant... brother. While Steve had been frozen near the end of WWII and revived decades later, Arnie had traversed the intervening years the hard way. Now, cancer would soon take Arnie away forever -- severing the last living link to Steve's life before Captain America.

Being by Arnie's side always brought back childhood memories for Steve, and today was no different. His face reflected the ache of recallng another sickbed...

"What?" Arnie croaked. Steve looked up, surprised from his meandering thoughts.

"I thought you were asleep."

"Don't give me that."

"Huh?"

"I want to know what put that look on your face, Stevie."

Steve's mouth twisted into a half-smile.

"I was just thinking..."

"Don't strain anything," Arnie quipped, managing a wink. Steve snorted with amusement.

"I was thinking you remind me of my mother."

Arnie blinked in surprise. "...I choose to take that as a compliment," he said after a pause.

"Probably for the best," Steve deadpanned. Arnie laughed -- just a short laugh before he stopped, breathless. Steve got him some water to sip, which seemed to help bring his voice back.

"You remind me of her," Arnie said eventually.

"I remind you of my mother?"

"Yeah. I don't mean the face --" A tiny gesture of his fingers indicated Steve's head. There was a strong familial resemblance, even after the super-soldier serum. "You've got a lot of her... better qualities. The determination, the selflessness -- you've got that. She'd be really proud of you, Steve."

"Thank you," Steve said, eyes stinging.

"Ha," Arnie breathed. "Ain't I the smug one? I know who Captain America's hero was."

Steve sniffed and dashed hot tears off his cheeks, then closed both his hands around one of Arnie's. It felt frail and dry, but he remembered when the proportions had been reversed. Arnie's strong hands had pulled Steve to his feet more times than he could have counted -- usually after being used to lay a well-deserved thumping on the local bullies.

"One of them," Steve told Arnie softly, and tried not to clutch too tightly.

.

A/N 3: I forgot! Thank you, kiffie, for beta reading this, and lizblackdog, for a timely spot of good advice!

Comments

[kiffie.livejournal.com]

*hugs them both*

;o;

[eliyes.livejournal.com]

*hugs you hugging them, gives you a crying towel*

What do you think of the title?

[kiffie.livejournal.com]

I think it works beautifully. :3

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

That was sweet and lovely. God, you must be the only person who's ever written Arnie Roth fic! We just discovered him when I managed to track down all of DeMatteis' CAP run, and was totally intrigued by the subtly gay character.

[eliyes.livejournal.com]

Aww, thank you! And yes, I believe I probably am. I've found a couple of fic involving Bernie, but everyone seems to forget Arnie -- which is a shame, because he's a great resource for exploring Steve's childhood, and also has a lot of interest as a gay character. He's very positive! (And just considering the times he lived through, I get plot bunnies. Did he see the Stonewall Riots?) Plus, I get to claim Cap as an ally, which is no bad thing.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I really loved DeMatteis' Cap run, mainly for Bernie and Arnie, and it's a damn shame it's gone largely ignored. I think the only time it's been brought up recently was to slam the final Skull/Cap fight as being stupid, which makes no sense to me, as I thought it was powerful and poignant. God, I wish I had no life again, so I could devote several posts to analyzing DeMatteis' run, and what almost was with the Black Crow thing! Did you read DeMatteis' own account (http://www.jmdematteis.com/2011/07/stars-and-stripes.html) of that debacle? Fascinating stuff.

[eliyes.livejournal.com]

I have only spotty isues from that time period for Cap, despite my back issue bin vigilance. I guess no one wants to give those issues up? Also: ooh, no, I hadn't read that. Thank you!

[eliyes.livejournal.com]

I just found (via Fuck Yeah! Captain America (http://fuckyeahcaptainamerica.tumblr.com/post/10145725863/wondygirl-arnie-roth-is-steve-rogers-childhood)) a two part post called The Life and Times of Arnie Roth, over on dreamwidth. I am about to check it out, and thought I would pass it along to you. :3 (If nothing else, scans! Of the bits I don't have! will make me happy.)

Part I (http://muccamukk.dreamwidth.org/700301.html) Part II (http://muccamukk.dreamwidth.org/700532.html)