The wrong mix in the wrong genes

[impaledqueen]

Who| Peggy Carter, Lady!Bucky Barnes, AU!Steve Rogers
What| The Capitol got the trio back together! The trouble is that each member is from the wrong trio.
Where| Tribute Gym
When| Evening, before the parades are brought to the attention of the staff.
Warnings/Notes| Awkward 'you are the counterparts of my best friends' times.

Peggy has been in the gym for three hours and has no inclination to stop.

The growing rebel activity (and the subsequent crack downs by the Capitol) has put her on edge. Everything has been putting her on edge, really. Exercise calms her down and distracts her with the pain of her muscles, so that's what she focuses on as she continues doing pull ups. Her face is flushed and her skin is covered with sweat, but she still has a black scarf around her neck, hiding the scars she doesn't like showing in public.

Comments

[decommission]

Without a mission his days blur together (work, train, work, train, stare at the ceiling in his room and start all over again). There are dark circles under his eyes when he makes it down to the gym, the same ones that have been there for a few days now. His body hasn't been functioning the way it ought to since they pulled him to the Capitol - not that he'd do well with this much lack of sleep if he were at full capacity. The best he got was an hour today in the storage room of the bar, propped up against some crates.

Everytime he closes his eyes his sees Zola in the doctor's holding cell, only most of the time it's not him. It's Peggy or Bucky or that stranger with Stark's name that the Capitol executed, or a smaller version of himself - and before he can stop himself there's a crack -

He runs a hand through his hair as he enters the gym, and when his gaze settles on Peggy he stops, frozen for a second. He swallows.

"Miss Carter." He's already been told not to stand and stare (but his eyes keep wanting to wander to the scarf around her neck, a strange thing to wear here). With the greeting given, his feet start to move and he heads toward some equipment to busy himself.

[travail]

She'd noticed Steve looking extremely worn out lately and hasn't been sure what to say or do, if anything. She feels like she should be reminding herself more often that he's not the same Steve she grew up with. But she still can't get past the whole 'so what?' attitude that unwittingly pops in her head. Why should alternate realities make any difference? She struggles with that when it comes to Peggy too, and for all intents and purposes it should be easier for her to see Peggy as 'not the same Peggy' because she grew up here in Panem, a place so different from her own. But no, it's just as hard because she gets along with her like she got along with the Peggy she knew.

Regardless, she wants to find one of them, Steve to check on him after seeing that pathetic excuse for a nap at the bar and Peggy to maybe just have some company. There's the communicator, that would be the fastest, but she doesn't use it to contact Steve, somehow feeling like it would be even more difficult to hold a conversation with him that way than usual. And Peggy's weird situation with the Capitol makes her unsure about calling her too much. So she decides to go through the most obvious common locations in the Training Center and see what she gets.

She catches sight of Steve on his way down to the Training level and, well, grabs the right attire from the 11th floor to go there and follows him some ten or so minutes after he's gotten there already. She'll walk in, feeling utterly ridiculous and frustrated for following him like an obsessed fan, but sees that it's not just him here, but Peggy too, and stops, assessing the atmosphere.

[impaledqueen]

Peggy has been at war with herself. Part of her wants to sweep the Steve under her wing, and part of her wants nothing to do with him. It's a similar debate as she had over Bucky, but more powerful. She's tried to compromise by keeping her distance while keeping an eye on him, and she hasn't been happy with what she's seeing.

She's always fighting. Go sit him down and make him eat and sleep, you know he doesn't take good care of himself. No, she doesn't know that, because this is a stranger. But he's not really a stranger, is he?

"Mr. Rogers," she acknowledges, noticing how his eyes drift towards her scarf. (You don't want to see what's beneath, she thinks. Nothing good is there.) She pulls herself up over the bar faster than she should, tense from seeing him again. Talk to him. No, don't talk to him. Talk to him. "Good to see you."

Well, she spoke to him, but with such a shallow platitude that she might as well have not. Good job, Peggy. She sees Jamie, and at least it's easier to talk to her. She greets her with a nod before pulling herself up over the bar again. "Good evening, Jamie."

[decommission]

As a Steve Rogers, he wouldn't respond well to anything he considered 'coddling' - he prefers to try taking care of himself first.

As Peggy gives that second greeting he turns away from the weapon rack, eyeing Bucky. Or Jamie. That's new. He doesn't comment on the name change.