Thank you so much for commenting, and welcome to this little filth monument!
I'll try to answer you both here.
Steve both is and isn't thinking of the Asset as his boyfriend. It's very complicated.
In a one sense he realizes that the Asset is a different person than Bucky, but the lines are blurred.
Steve also has some horrible survivors guilt, feels responsible for what has happened to Bucky.
If the Asset isn't given orders to follow it can't find any sense of security. The compounding stress leads to serious health issues.
I have already spoiled this in a previous answer to a similar comment question, but after the fal and saving Steve from drowning, the Asset reoriented it's programming to see Steve as its main Handler and did some research to figure out how best to please him, shortly after that when the Asset first came to Steve it pretended to be more like Bucky, playing the role for Steve because it was under the assumption that Handler Rogers wanted it. He constantly refered to the Asset as 'Bucky' when they fought during the events of CA:tWS after all.
Some months go by, the Asset keeps the act up, thinking that every time Steve smiles it's because Handler Rogers is pleased with the Asset's performance. They 'rekindle their relationship'.
Then some shit stormy events erupts with the little red book in the hands of HYDRA agents, everyone gets out of it alive (except for the bad guys, go figure) the Asset's act gets revealed though, and Steve's heart breaks a little bit more.
After that Steve distances himself from the Asset, horrified at having raped him. The isolation isn't good for the Asset.
After sitting on his hands for a month, watching how Bucky only get worse and worse, Steve breaks and decides he can't watch the Asset die.
Steve becomes Handler Rogers, and the Asset makes a full recovery in a week, but Steve must stick with the program or else the Asset suffers, that includes sex.
Here is where I draw inspiration from a fic by Dsudis called Lying on a Marshmallow, in which Tony faces a similar problem of consent when he tries to care for a recovering Bucky. Someone tells him this.
"Tony, I've been watching you with him, and he's scared a lot, but I really do not think that he's scared of you. He may be compelled to obey you, but the way he's reacting toward you is already showing that he has enormous confidence in your regard for him, your kindness toward him. And that is a choice he's making--or a judgment, if you like, about who you are and how you'll treat him."
------
"[Bucky] is a person; people make choices and judgments all the time. Sometimes those judgments are bad, and sometimes they're bad in ways that are strongly influenced by past traumatic experiences, but we don't take away people's rights to make those choices."
So when faces with the alternative of watching the Asset die and losing any chance for Bucky to recover, he chooses to fuck it.
Though as I hope you have noticed, Steve is making himself into a much kinder handler than what the programming is meant for. As a consequence the Asset is even more driven to obey him, but is slowly understanding that it is allowed to want thing, and even if that is more of Handler Rogers then Steve will do whatever he can to encourage that bit of agency.
Hope that answers some things for you! If not, then don't hesitate to ask! I love answering your comments!
Re: Re: Fill: Asset Management 7/?
Thank you so much for commenting, and welcome to this little filth monument!
I'll try to answer you both here.
Steve both is and isn't thinking of the Asset as his boyfriend. It's very complicated.
In a one sense he realizes that the Asset is a different person than Bucky, but the lines are blurred.
Steve also has some horrible survivors guilt, feels responsible for what has happened to Bucky.
If the Asset isn't given orders to follow it can't find any sense of security. The compounding stress leads to serious health issues.
I have already spoiled this in a previous answer to a similar comment question, but after the fal and saving Steve from drowning, the Asset reoriented it's programming to see Steve as its main Handler and did some research to figure out how best to please him, shortly after that when the Asset first came to Steve it pretended to be more like Bucky, playing the role for Steve because it was under the assumption that Handler Rogers wanted it. He constantly refered to the Asset as 'Bucky' when they fought during the events of CA:tWS after all.
Some months go by, the Asset keeps the act up, thinking that every time Steve smiles it's because Handler Rogers is pleased with the Asset's performance. They 'rekindle their relationship'.
Then some shit stormy events erupts with the little red book in the hands of HYDRA agents, everyone gets out of it alive (except for the bad guys, go figure) the Asset's act gets revealed though, and Steve's heart breaks a little bit more.
After that Steve distances himself from the Asset, horrified at having raped him. The isolation isn't good for the Asset.
After sitting on his hands for a month, watching how Bucky only get worse and worse, Steve breaks and decides he can't watch the Asset die.
Steve becomes Handler Rogers, and the Asset makes a full recovery in a week, but Steve must stick with the program or else the Asset suffers, that includes sex.
Here is where I draw inspiration from a fic by Dsudis called Lying on a Marshmallow, in which Tony faces a similar problem of consent when he tries to care for a recovering Bucky. Someone tells him this.
"Tony, I've been watching you with him, and he's scared a lot, but I really do not think that he's scared of you. He may be compelled to obey you, but the way he's reacting toward you is already showing that he has enormous confidence in your regard for him, your kindness toward him. And that is a choice he's making--or a judgment, if you like, about who you are and how you'll treat him."
------
"[Bucky] is a person; people make choices and judgments all the time. Sometimes those judgments are bad, and sometimes they're bad in ways that are strongly influenced by past traumatic experiences, but we don't take away people's rights to make those choices."
Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/6129145/chapters/14046649
So when faces with the alternative of watching the Asset die and losing any chance for Bucky to recover, he chooses to fuck it.
Though as I hope you have noticed, Steve is making himself into a much kinder handler than what the programming is meant for. As a consequence the Asset is even more driven to obey him, but is slowly understanding that it is allowed to want thing, and even if that is more of Handler Rogers then Steve will do whatever he can to encourage that bit of agency.
Hope that answers some things for you! If not, then don't hesitate to ask! I love answering your comments!
Thank you!