The Trailer:

The boys had been begging to go see Top Gun 3 ever since the first trailer came out the previous month. Cass's friend had shown it to him at school, he'd shown it to AJ, and they apparently made a pact to bother her about it at every possible opportunity. Sarah had seen the first two and thought they were slightly too mature for AJ, but she couldn't let Cass go and not AJ, and she couldn't forbid Cass from going just because AJ couldn't go. Besides, she wouldn't put it past them to get Bucky to take them if she said no. He would never do that if he knew she'd said no, but the boys would probably leave that detail out when they asked.

"Do you think AJ's old enough to watch Top Gun?" she asked Bucky one night before bed.

"I don't think someone's age on paper should determine if they're ready for something," he replied without missing a beat.

Sarah nodded to acknowledge his point. It wasn't age, but experience that determined maturity. "Let me rephrase: do you think there will be any negative consequences—for him or for us—to letting him watch it next weekend?"

Bucky considered for a moment. "No. If I remember the first two correctly, it's mostly language and some implied sex stuff. The violence isn't gory enough to be memorable."

"He does have a big brother who's already taught him all the words he hasn't learned from you," she teased.

"Hey! I don't swear that much. If anyone's teaching them bad words, it's Nick."

That was probably true. The boys tended to gravitate towards him at Gravesen family gatherings when they weren't playing with the other kids.

"If you're so worried, we could go with them and you can cover his eyes and ears when necessary."

Sarah laughed. "He'd never speak to me again. Going to the movies with your parents isn't exactly cool."

"Well I want to see the movie. They do still need rides places, so we have some leverage."

"True. We'll ask them tomorrow. And by ask I mean tell them that their only option for a ride to this movie is to go with us."

"Sounds fair."

~0~

Cass looked affronted for a moment following Sarah's proposition, but AJ was so excited to be allowed to go at all that he immediately agreed, and Cass loved his brother enough not to argue and jeopardize their permission. Thus, Sarah found herself driving her boys to every boy's dream movie. "There'd better be another volleyball scene for the female audience," she grumbled.

"That scene did just as much for me as it did for you," Bucky shot back.

They arrived at the theater, the boys convinced Sarah to get popcorn and candy to share, and they found their seats. She would've been happy to show up late to catch the actual start of the move, but everyone else actually wanted to see the trailers. They were so early that it took ten minutes of ads before the lights even went down. Sarah already knew she wouldn't be interested in any trailer they paired with Top Gun, but it didn't really matter. Andre would've loved them, she thought for a moment. The set started off with a preview of yet another Terminator—seriously, she couldn't believe they were still cranking those out—then some unremarkable standalone action movie. Then, the third trailer opened on an overhead shot of a destroyed landscape. Smoke filled the air and the terrain was dotted with craters and fires. White words appeared: "We have so much to say." Beside her, Bucky cocked his head. The screen switched to show old-timey soldiers running as explosions and gunshots picked them off. Bucky tensed. Now they saw the other half of the quote from the previous shot. "And we shall never say it." -Erich Maria Remarque. Bucky let out a cry of distress and bolted from the theater as an enormous stack of coffins appeared on screen and a soldier tossed a pair of boots onto a pile. Cass and AJ turned their heads to watch him go, then looked to Sarah to see how to react. "Stay here," she told them.

Sarah stood up to follow her husband and overheard from the row behind them, "He probably has PTSD. Lost his arm in the war and got triggered, poor guy. But if he knew that could happen, he shouldn't go see Top Gun of all movies." Sarah didn't have time to correct their false assumptions; she needed to find Bucky. She made it out the door just in time to watch him disappear into the men's room. Sarah got close enough to try and listen inside without looking like too much of a creep. She could just make out the sound of her spouse sobbing. It was an all-too familiar sound for both of them. Last time Bucky heard her sob had been when she bought Andre's preferred deodorant instead of his by mistake.

At a loss, she decided to wait here until he emerged. If he wanted to be comforted right now, he wouldn't have run somewhere she couldn't reach. Sarah waited five minutes, went to the women's bathroom, and came back to silence. She texted Bucky, "I'm outside if you need me," with no idea if he'd even see it since they'd silenced their phones for the movie. "I'm outside if you need me," she called aloud, not caring if a random stranger overheard her. After another five minutes, Bucky emerged, red-eyed and shoulder hunched.

"What do you need?" Sarah asked.

He needed a hug. "M'sorry," he muttered into her shoulder after they'd embraced for a minute or two.

"No," she said calmly. "Remember our rule?" Years ago, they'd agreed never to apologize for any behavior triggered by grief.

"I know," he sighed. "This was just very...public."

"Doesn't matter," she assured. "Do you mind telling me what caused it? Doesn't have to be now, but just so I know."

"That trailer." Bucky shuddered in her arms. "Was for All Quiet on the Western Front. It had to be. The uniforms were from that era...and the quote from the book. It was Steve's favorite book in the whole world. They made it into a TV series, and we watched it together during his last year. Steve's perspective on life, how he viewed his illness...there are parts of him that I never understood until I watched that show. It was amazing. And powerful. Even won a couple awards, I think. But...I guess they made a movie now. And he'll never get to see it."

Sarah hugged him harder.

I just found out that they made a new All Quiet on the Western Front movie this year and I couldn't stop thinking about how that would go down in this universe. The trailer I described here is the actual movie trailer. Funnily enough, it has Daniel Bruhl (who plays Zemo) in it. Also, forgive my blatant disregard for the timeline. I feel like it doesn't really matter what year movies come out in a fictional universe.