Headcanon of Steve just having isolated moments of utter nostalgia, and the resultant melancholy from it is so debilitating that he has bouts of depression for days...
Like, one day while they're hunting for some random villain of the week, they get caught in a heavy downpour. And everyone filters into whatever shelter is available to keep out of the frigid wetness, but Steve... Steve remains. He stands as still as a marble statue, raindrops pelting down upon him, dripping down his skin just like it had all those years ago.
It's so oddly profound to him in that moment... that, the rain smells the same.
It looks the same.
It even sounds the same!
Then he'll remember his sweet Mama, the Howlies. Peggy's easy, confident smile. Hell- even Phillips. And Bucky. He can feel the blazing warmth of Bucky's strong hands around him, keeping him safe and cosy. The memory is so real that he takes a step forward to touch it.
That he can close his eyes and almost take himself back to the good days.
But then Tony's voice crackles to life in his ear. He's back in the future. Back in the never-ending machine of robotic nonsense. Back in the twenty-first century where the cold never seems to melt away from his skin. Where Bucky is just someone from the history books. And where there's no one on the planet who can remember him from his time.
He returns to his team with a shattered heart, thankful for the rain only because it hides his tears. But they can all see how they're red-rimmed from sheer grief. They don't poke fun at him, not even Tony is that cruel.
Instead, they get him safely back to the Tower where Bruce swaddles him in piles of blankets, Tony makes him a hot cup of cocoa and the rest of the team curls around him and keeps him warm. Safe. Protected.
After a few days of the cuddle pile (because they refuse to leave him alone, especially Thor), the nostalgia doesn't seem so bad.
