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[bottledblond]

Not every universe in the far and wide cosmos is as lucky (however unlucky itself that seems) to encounter Thanos during a time where people live who can do something about it. Steve Rogers, a particular version of Steve Rogers who had only just suffered through his first night of basic training in New Jersey as part of the Army’s Project Rebirth and thus had not yet become Captain America, bent to untie his shoes and saw his hands begin to disintegrate. He doesn’t panic, panicking is for people who do not live like every breath is their last. Instead, he blinks in surprise as the barracks fill with shouting. He has time to contemplate two things. One, he wishes he’d done more with his life. And two, he hopes Bucky will do all right.

He’s still thinking about that last issue when he exhales his last in a universe where Captain America never existed and finishes it bent over in the ruins of the barracks, roof half open to the sky and walls a burnt and ashy gray.

It takes him an hour to get to the road and by then, his asthma is already getting the best of him. He blacks out for the second time ‘that day’ and wakes up staring at the ceiling of what is obviously a hospital.

It just doesn’t sound or smell like a hospital. Sure. People are running around and yelling, but it smells painfully clean, artificially so, and there are machines he’s never seen before connected by wires to his body. He does the thing people should never do and yanks them loose. The machines squawk strangely and frantically and Steve is almost out of bed when two large men in green pajamas force him back.

Nothing makes sense to him for days. People come to talk to him, to find out who he is and who his family is. Evidently Steve Rogers is a popular name, because they bring in more people to talk to him, to ask him questions about his life, but no one has any answers.

He explodes, as he’s wont to do when frustrated, demands answers, but nothing they say makes sense.

By then, the war is over. Not World War II, which has evidently been over for over half a century, but this new war. And Bucky Barnes had been told of his presence. Steve is in bed, arms crossed, looking dour and getting an infusion of something that honestly is helping him breathe better when Bucky bursts into his now private room. It’s been two months

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[bottledblond]

Tony is going to be astounded that there is such a thing as vampire enclaves in this particular timeline. He’s also going to wonder how he could manage to be human now rather than when he very barely remembers being alive. But those are thoughts for another day and time.

Bruce occupies the majority of his mind and he intends to keep it that way.

The jet is quiet as Bruce pilots them across the water. It takes very little time for him to put them down in a slow, rotating circle on the lawn of a fine looking house with ivy crawling up one side and a bricked in garden wall.

“This is beautiful,” Steve breathes. “Buck, this is exactly what I thought of when you were reading the Hobbit to me. Minus all of the dashing waterfalls,” he whispers, momentarily distracted away from the discussion they’ll need to have.

[woundedwinter]

The villa is lavish but still small enough to feel welcoming and Steve's whisper pulls him out of his reverie. He nudges his knee with his own. "Yeah, 's almost like Rivendell."

Maybe when their lives slow down he can show Steve the movies.

Maybe.
They've still got so much to discuss.

Bruce is already discussing ways to get Tony settled into this new world and far be it for him to argue. God knows he didn't want to lose Steve when he was given back to him.

His eyes cut over to Sam. "Let's leave them to it for a little. We all need more solid rest and tone to figure out our next steps."

[bottledblond]

There’s no objection from the scientists. They want to spend a few moments alone obviously and Steve is absolutely not going to argue with that even if he desperately wants to grill Tony about the other timeline. Maybe it would give him a direction to go here. Bucky as a werewolf is an odd enough thought, and that’s even before considering that there’s whole groups of other species of creatures living here.

“I’m turning in,” Sam says, holding Bucky’s gaze even though he knows it upsets him. He wants the guy to cool it with Steve, if only because he can’t risk loosing his allies with the Flag Smashers still out there.

And because the serum is a temptation he knows he has no bios ones discussing even if he has a whole lot to say about it.

Steve wishes the other man a good night before his eyes roll up towards Bucky.

“Can we talk?”

[woundedwinter]

At least this time everyone has their own rooms? When Sam turns in, Bucky meets his look evenly because damnit he's really trying here even if it's harder than anything he's done lately.

The request gets a nod, but they don't say anything until they're back in one of the other rooms for the night. For Sam's sake Bucky will probably find a reason to sleep on the couch or in the corridor. He genuinely doesn't want to hurt him even when he knows there's a vet good chance he's gonna screw that one up too.

"Yeah sure. C'mon."

Take the serum, don't take it, it's a crap shoot either way.

[bottledblond]

“He said the Bucky he was friends with married me. Eh. Steve.” The words come out of his mouth the moment Bucky closes the door to the bedroom at the end of the hallway. Maybe even before the door officially closes.

Should he talk about the serum. Probably. But he’d promised himself that he wouldn’t harbor this secret once the mission was over and it is over. Bucky might hate him, but somewhere, sometime, the guy fell in love with him. Obviously, it was a version of him with strength and power, with a pleasing outward physique.

It doesn’t make Steve’s eyes burn any less as he stares at Bucky in the darkness.

“I... Buck, I know this might seem out of no where, but back at the bar, when I thought we might not make it, I wanted to tell you that...”. Steve draws in a breath. “The way I care for you, it’s the way Tony Stark’s Steve cares for that Bucky. I’m not expecting anything here, pal. But I need you to know.”

[woundedwinter]

Bucky closes the door as Steve starts talking and it only takes his brain a moment to catch up. He had honestly been expecting Steve to want to talk about the serum, so there's a quick blink as he turns around. No time to find the switch as the words start coming and he holds up his hand, trying to slow Steve down, not that he can see him in the dark.

"Whoa, slow down okay?" So he might be stalling a little because that's a lot and he works to find the lights because they need to be able to see one another for this.

His expression is wondering, almost daring to hope when he can finally see Steve's face. "And here I thought you were trying to say goodbye all over again." Bucky sighs. "The way Tony's Steve cares for his Bucky." Married. His smile goes soft and warm as he reaches out for him, "Well I hope you're expecting something out of this, punk. Cause I love you Steve Rogers. I have since we were a couple of stupid kids running around the neighborhood."

[bottledblond]

Steve acts like he’s trying to stand his ground against a bully. As Bucky finds the lights, his shoulders square and his fingers roll into fists. He’s got an almost stoic face, one that looks almost angry but it actually more like concentration.

Bucky’s initial responses make him brace. His whole being prepares for an emotional blow and he breathes a little harder in anticipation.

He does not, at all, expect Bucky’s response and the easy way the idiot confesses leaves Steve almost shaking with relief. His whole faces turns red from embarrassment and he shoves his trembling hands into his pockets.

“That’s— I thought you had better taste.”

[woundedwinter]

Steve stands his ground, jaw defiant and stance ready for anything and Bucky can't keep ignoring the warm feeling spreading through his chest as his best friend tries to brace himself for what he thinks is going to be a let down. As if he could ever feel anything but warmth and affection for the punk.

Bucky reaches out, resting a hand on his shoulder in a familiar and grounding gesture. "I was gonna say the same thing to you, pal."

"I love you too." Because it needs to be said.

[bottledblond]

Love.

Steve isn’t sure what to do with that. He knows he basically said the same thing when he mentioned how he cared for Bucky in a marriage sort of way but things like that you don’t talk about. And you never actually go for.

So this is an odd emotion to wrap his head around.

Feeling it is just easier than talking about it.

Still, the word ‘love’ burns him, turns his heart and his stomach to ash and leaves him breathless. Answering it back, once he aims to, is just as easy. The dream world he sometimes lives in tells him that it proves he means it.

“No. I love you too.”

[woundedwinter]

He loves him too.

Bucky knows he's still a wreck, he can't even sleep consistently in a bed and noises and sounds startle him and constantly trigger nightmares and set him on edge. His thumb moves gently along his collarbone. Somehow through all of this, Steve still wants him.

Sam will probably hate him for this, but for the first time since he was set free in Wakanda, when Ayo said the words and he knew that he was truly free Bucky wanted something for himself.

"So this is the part where I'm gonna do something I've wanted to do for about ninety years," he warns him with a smile, leaning in to kiss him softly.

[bottledblond]

To Steve’s credit, he knew it was coming. He could have read it in Bucky’s body language, but they’d just confessed their love to each other. If a kiss hadn’t been coming, he would have been sorely disappointed.

Steve’s shoulders relax under Bucky’s
Touch. He wants to tell him that he hadn’t known he wanted this until a few days ago, that he’d never thought of himself in any sort of romantic tangle in his life until Bucky opened the chains like that, but there will be time to confess it.

And there will be time to wonder if he’s maybe going too fast. He knows Bucky, up to a point, and they’d only just reconnected, but—

Steve’s world is short. His health always made him understand that if he didn’t move quickly, he’d never experience anything. Ski as Bucky leans in, Steve reaches up, standing on his toes as he joins the other halfway.

[woundedwinter]

The kiss is soft and warm and so fucking perfect Bucky wants to remember it for the rest of his life. Something good to focus on instead of so many years of pain and suffering. As much as he wants more, Bucky knows they can't. Not now. He's still got a host of issues and he and Steve still need time to reconnect, get to know one another in this time and this life.

When he pulls back he's smiling.
Naturally Steve had to be the braver one and say something when he never could.

"C'mon. Let's get cleaned up and get some rest while we can." They still have a lot of work to do.

[bottledblond]

“Five minutes,” Steve insists. It’s easy to nestle himself against Bucky’s body, to lift his chin and settle his shoulder just under Bucky’s arm. He doesn’t mind being smaller than Bucky. He’s always been smaller than everyone. But just because he fits perfectly into someone’s embrace doesn’t mean he’s exactly the shy and shrinking violet.

He’s just had his first kiss and his heart is soaring with all sorts of possibilities. Eyes bright, Steve all but demands another, and it’s still soft and sweet because he actually doesn’t know what else it can be.

He likes the way Bucky’s breath curls on his cheek.

He likes being in love.

And almost five minutes later, on the dot, he lets the other man have his space. “All right. We can go get cleaned up. But I gotta know what’s in store for me if I take that serum.”

[woundedwinter]

The sound that bubbles up out of him is warm and unexpected. He's almost forgotten what it's like to laugh when you're happy. "Anything you want," he promises, bending to kiss him again.

It's been.. a long time for Bucky to put it mildly so he keeps the kisses soft and warm, not looking to deepen them yet. Everything is still new and warm and just right between them.

"We're gonna have to talk to Stark. The serum he made is different than what they pumped into me or what the other Steve volunteered for."

He sighs as they break apart and head for the bathroom. "So you made up your mind?"

[bottledblond]

It’s not like they need privacy from one another. They hadn’t before and certainly done now so Steve just follows Bucky to the bathroom. He’s going to help him clean up from that shot, even if he’s fine and healed.

The determination is back on his face again. “I’ve got a dilemma here,” Steve says. “I want to help you and fight at your side. But if I do, I distract you.” Sam’s voice carries. And Steve is always very aware of when he’s being talked about. “I’m only distracting right now because a stiff wind could kick me over. If that serum can make me strong and fast and resilient then I want it because I’m not giving up what we’ve got going, pal, and you need all the help you can, Buck.”

Nothing Steve says is inherently wrong but the serum has historically come with side effects. Red Skull, the test subjects in Siberia... of course, Steve is still Steve. And as long as Stark didn’t mess with the serum too badly it should do for him what it did the last time Bucky knew him.

[woundedwinter]

Bucky strips out of the tac jacket, checking a grimace at the pull of freshly healed skin. It doesn't bother him that Steve is close as he looks to clean up. He starts the water running as Steve lays out his decision and why he's making it. A vague frown creases his brow because of course Steve heard what Sam said about him.

He leans against the counter, metal fingers toying with the hem of his t-shirt. "We don't have to fight, Steve. You know that, right?"

But if Steve wanted to stay in the fight, to use the serum to change the world for the better, Bucky would stand with him. Sam.. he can't speak for him and he knows he might have just fucked up the only other friendship he had when he kissed Steve.

"The serum will make you stronger, healthier," which is the most important thing as far as Bucky is concerned. "But we need to talk to Stark about the changes he's made first and you need to think about what this means for you. People are going to think Captain America is back. They might expect you to step up in the other Steve Rogers' shoes."

He quirks a smile at him, "Whatever you choose pal, I'm with you."

[bottledblond]

Bucky might not have a visible wince, but Steve absolutely does. He frowns at his friend, and immediately starts in with wet, warm towels to try and clean up the area. New pink skin is already peaking through some of the breaks but Steve is gentle with it anyway. It reminded him of the post-fights he’d used to endure when Bucky would slough around of the ring and needed his lip and knuckles tended.

“I can’t fit anyone’s shoes,” Steve says. “And I can’t be Captain America. No one would even recognize me,” he says. “Tony mentioned that there’s no physical change. They wouldn’t buy it. And no one wants to follow a guy that looks like me.”

He isn’t being self disparaging. He just knows the drill.

“I want to stop these people from hurting other people. No one that gathers technology like this and does business with criminals is up to any good. That’s got to end. And when your fight is done, so is mine. I’m with you. That’s all. I’m with you.”