(no subject)

[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

Comments

[woundedwinter]

Bucky doesn't consider any agency friendly at this point in his life. He's seen too much and done too much to trust in any larger organization. The Avengers aren't what they used to be and he sure as hell doesn't trust anything remotely related to SHIELD or any of the other various groups that sprang out of it.

For all his complaining about Sam though, he trusts him.

"Ugh, all right all right. I'll leave my damn phone on more often!" There's no real point to it, nobody calls him unless it's a wrong number. People sure aren't beating down his door with job offers.

At least not the kinds of jobs he wants to take.

"Fine!" He cuts the wheel, "I'm going already. Get over here, we're not getting out until you land Wilson."

As Bucky turns he looks over at Steve, frowning at him and still curled up tight to keep down low and safe. His expression softens because this isn't a Steve used to conflict, car chases or anything that's been a part of the last ninety years of his life.

"It's gonna be okay Steve."

[bottledblond]

“He said they’re friendly,” Steve nods, pulling himself back into his seat. His heart is starting to slow down again, but as Bucky pulls over, the black SUV blocks him in and another slides into the parking spot beside Bucky’s driver door.

The blond sighs, just starting to come down from the fear he’d felt when something drops down from the sky.

“Shit!” he yells, actually scrambling into Bucky’s seat before that object stands and his wings extend. “A-A-Angel—“

[woundedwinter]

They're boxing him in and Bucky has to viciously stomp down on every instinct that is screaming at him to act. His expression is flat and cold as he glares out the windows, only startling a little when Steve yelps and jumps towards him.

"Angel? No, no pal it's okay." Bucky's arm is around him but only to keep Steve from falling backwards onto the parking brake. At least that's what he's telling himself.

"That's Sam. Remember, I told you he had mechanical wings, something he strapped on. It's just Sam."

[bottledblond]

He's going to have a heart attack at this rate. Steve gulps down air, his brain finally slapping the explanation now onto the one from yesterday. And yes, now that he;s looking, he can see pretty well that it's Sam out there. It's certainly a relief, though he feels like an idiot for having had to crawl over Bucky like that.

As they sit together, Sam approaches with his hands held out in front of him. "Guys this is a bad look," Steve can hear him say. "Bucky, roll down your stupid tinted windows."

Steve's fingers tighten at the back of Bucky's neck at two women and a man come from the backseats of the two cars. Steve doesn't recognize any of them. One, a shorter white girl with dramatic red lips, approaches Bucky's car door. If he doesn't roll down the window, shes going to cup her hand and look in.

[woundedwinter]

"Give us a second!" He's going to allow Steve to crawl back over to his own seat before opening the window even a fraction. Not just to preserve his dignity but to free up his own hands if something looks even slightly suspect.

When he rolls the window down his expression is flat and cold with only a flicker of irritation evident in his voice. "So why the hell are you following me?" Whatever they're selling, he's not interested. "I already told SHIELD no, I don't know how much clearer I need to be."

[bottledblond]

“Hi. Doctor Darcy Lewis,” the woman says, once Bucky has decided to be a little more personable. The woman pushes up her glasses and smiles at both Bucky and the guy in the seat beside him. “We could really use your help.”

“Our help?”

“Well,” Darcy clarifies, “James Barnes’ help. Not too many people have prosthetics made out of vibranium. You know, we’ve been calling for like two days now.”

[woundedwinter]

She's an absolutely striking woman with dark hair and red lips and for a moment he feels an irrational surge of jealousy even though he knows damn well that this isn't Peggy Carter. He's similarly tempted to tell her no and go back to what he and Steve were doing, but hadn't Steve said that he wanted to help people?

Hadn't that been what he wanted to do all those years ago?

He sighs. "I know, I know. I don't leave my phone on all the time."

"Fine. What do you want?" He's not picking up Steve's old shield. He doesn't want it. As far as Bucky knows, it's still in the Smithsonian.

[bottledblond]

Darcy lightly taps her hand on the door and straightens up, presumably for Bucky to get out of the car. Steve is already at his side of the car, pulling open his door. The other woman and man she returns to smile, the woman more grimly.

“Mister Barnes,” she says, “we recently had an encounter with one of your former colleagues. That situation managed to rectify itself but the hex—“

“See? I told you it would catch on-!” Darcy interjects.

“The area around the anomaly has dissipated into the surrounding towns. We need your help tracking down artifacts. The vibranium in your arm, we think, will let you locate them more easily.”

[woundedwinter]

"Former colleague?" His gaze cuts from her back to Sam. What had he missed while trying to figure out what it meant to live a normal life? "What colleague? What happened?" Bucky gets out of the car but only to circle around it to stand with Steve and Sam.

He plucks a tablet from the man standing with the women and starts skimming through information. "Wanda. Jesus kid," he mutters. Westview. A simple search job, it's not a bad one and doesn't require anything in the way of a fight.

Bucky squints up at them. They're not coming to Banner, which isn't a shock, the guy needed his space. But him? "Look I'm good at finding things, but this is still just an arm, it's not a divining rod."

[bottledblond]

"You'll be able to touch the objects without forcing a phase shift," the man says, after he identities himself as Agent Woo. He doesn't get a handshake from Bucky, but Steve reaches out to shake his hand. The blond smiles, but he doesn't give his name. Either they know who his other self was ....or they don't. He's hoping for the latter. "That's why we keep losing them in the residual magic they give off. They're causing some unintentional--"

"And hilarious," Darcy proclaims, interjecting.

"--side effects on the people that come in contact with them. Captain Rambeau is doing her best to sort that out, but we need new eyes in the field."

Steve's eyebrows arch. "What else are we doing, Buck?" He can't keep quiet. It's impossible.

[woundedwinter]

"Hilarious, huh? Can't remember ever being given a mission that involved 'hilarious'." He taps at the tablet before looking up at his best friend, expression softening a fraction. Steve was right, what else were they really doing?

Agent Woo reassures him that his court mandated therapy would be put on temporary hold while he worked the assignment. Darcy talked a mile a minute and a good several miles over his head about what they'd need. So maybe it wasn't a Stark thing it was a really smart person thing?

"Okay, just give me the mission brief and where and when we need to show up," he relents.

[bottledblond]

"Maybe this is more of a duo thing," Sam steps in, glancing briefly towards Steve from behind his red tinted goggles.

Steve doesn't need to ask what that means. Sam is going to shut him out. "It's just a big scavenger hunt. I don't need super strength for that," he counters, almost with a 'come at me' sort of stance that doesn't really make him seem bigger than he is in reality.

Just his mind.

Sam grins, and wipes a hand over his face. "Sorry, Steve, this is Avengers stuff. I can't let you--"

Darcy chimes in again. "It's going to be fine. I did okay. Still standing. And I'm not super strong either. What did you say your name was?"

Steve's eyes spark a little. "Steve Grant," he says without using his last name. New man, new life, new name. Sort of.

[woundedwinter]

"It can be a duo thing," he agrees. "Me and Steve on the ground, you searching from the air."

And that grin gets a shade cocky when Darcy agrees that it doesn't require Avengers level intervention. "See? She said it'll be fine."

Steve Grant. He kinda likes that and if nobody's figured it out yet, he's sure as hell not going to say it.

[bottledblond]

“Avengers aren’t the only heroes,” Jimmy Woo agrees and nods at those gathered. “All right. You. Phone on. I’ll be sending you the coordinates of the last artifact we found. Darcy— Doctor Lewis, will meet you when we have a time and place.”

Steve can’t help smiling. Even after they take off and leave Sam standing with them, Steve feels triumphant.

“Guessing you decided to stay...?” Sam glances between the pair. He doesn’t look too happy, and Steve can understand why.

The other guy was his friend. He never knew Steve growing up. “For now,” Steve says. “Way I see it, it might be a few years in my future or past if I get sent back. I need everything I can get to be prepared to save my friends.”

There. Keep Sam off of his back.

[woundedwinter]

Bucky likes them already. "Yessir," and the salute he sketches isn't completely sloppy.

He can't help but feel a warm curl of happiness at Steve's response. "His decision, Sam. Not ours. I'll call you when I hear from Dr Lewis."

And for the first time in a very long while, Bucky feels a lot lighter as they pile back in the car. He won't even lock the doors on Sam incase he wants a ride back.

[bottledblond]

Steve kind of wishes he had because he’s not sure he really approves of Sam Wilson’s presence. He doesn’t feel jealousy towards him, the banter he had with Bucky is very different, but he isn’t a fan of the guy trying to separate them either.

Sam is happy to mostly talk himself, ridicule Bucky, or try to make plans.

“I’m just trying to help.”

“Heard that one before,” Steve mutters under his breath and Sam scowls in the backseat.

“Hey. Woah. You know we were like best friends for awhile there, Rogers.”

Steve turns to glance at the other man. “Grant now. And we weren’t. We can be pretty good friends but the best friend slot is full.”

[woundedwinter]

Bucky grimaces because he's gonna have to defend Sam now and that feels ten kinds of weird.

"Hey, after I escaped HYDRA, it was Rogers and Sam that went looking for me. When I was framed for a bombing at the UN, they went after me to make sure local JSOC didn't shoot first and forget to ask questions."

He glances back at a very surprised Sam Wilson. "He's a pain in the ass and he talks too much. But he's also the guy you want watching your back in a fight."

Someone mark the calendar because he's not going to do that again anytime soon.

"Wow. Somewhere in that cyborg brain of yours I'd almost think you cared, Barnes."

"Bite me Wilson. Steve is coming along, end of story."

[bottledblond]

A hotness shoots up Steve’s spine. He knows he’s been mean, but Steve hasn’t been through a war like the other men have. He’s not tempered. That said, he’s still a really good guy, at heart.

“I’m sorry, Sam. I’m used to people not thinking I’m good enough. Not saying that’s what you’re doing, but I don’t want to be the second best Steve Rogers.”

He knows Sam is good for Bucky. He just has to tap down that jealousy of being replaced.

“And... thanks. For having Bucky’s back.”

Sam shrugs. “No problem, Steve. It’s my— Well not pleasure. He’s too much of an asshole.”

[woundedwinter]

Bucky rolls his eyes and casually gives him the finger as he turns them back towards home. "Feeling's mutual Wilson." Both the harassing and the mutual respect that neither of them will ever, ever admit to.

He shifts his attention to Steve, "And you're not a second best anything. You're here and that's all that matters." The world is better with a Steve Rogers in it.

God knows his world is better for it.

[bottledblond]

Sam glances between the two from the backseat as the other man gaze at one another for a few seconds too long. It’s not just an old fashioned thing, Sam is pretty sure.

He’ll have to tease Bucky about it later, if only to see the guy swing on him.

It will be worth it.

Sam takes his leave from the roof of Bucky’s building as Steve gets settled and cracks open his book to jot down notes from today. He does a quick sketch of Sam in his wings too, and is shaking him in when Bucky returns from Sam’s send off.

It’s been a good day. Scary and thrilling. The best.

[woundedwinter]

The conversation on the roof this time had been easier, even if he could see that spark of "I'm gonna start shit" in Sam's grin as he took off from the roof.

In another life they might have even been friends. For now he'll settle for whatever they are.

He closes the door and pauses to plug his phone into the charging cable in the kitchen. Promise kept, he's keeping his phone on all the time now.

"Hey. Sam is on his way back to his place. I think we can make it Jersey way tomorrow unless the Doc has a quicker lead." Bucky is all smiles and far more relaxed. The future is so much easier when he's got a purpose.

[bottledblond]

“Sounds like it’s going to be fun,” Steve says with genuine enthusiasm. For now, his place here is secure and maybe he’s even making some friends. Sure. One used to be the other Steve’s friends but the man and women from SWORD seemed promising.

It beats going to college or working in a shop, he can say that much.

“This isn’t what I imagined for us, but I really like it. It beats coming over Sundays for backyard barbecues with your wife and kids.”

[woundedwinter]

Steve looks excited about their upcoming mission and Bucky can't help but smile along with him. He was always the man with the plan, super strength or no.

Mention of a wife and kids pulls a laugh from him. "Yeah, don't think that was ever in the books for me, but this isn't a bad start to a new life huh?"

[bottledblond]

“You would have picked one eventually,” Steve replies, pulling his book back over. “Or found someone new.” He follows his pencil along the wings in his book, biting the edge of his lips in concentration.

The conversation seemed over for the moment at least until Steve’s stomach interrupts his sketching.

“You’re feeding me too much. It’s come to expect food now,” Steve says, laughing. It’s a pretty good night, and he ends up helping Bucky do meal prep before he goes back to his sketching.

When it comes time for bed, Steve back in Bucky’s night clothes, the blond pushes back from the table.

“If you want to sleep in bed again, I’m all for it,” Steve says, off handedly. He doesn’t realize how it sounds.

[woundedwinter]

"Guess we'll never know," which seems the safest way to leave things while Steve goes back to drawing and he reads over what Woo had already sent him about Wanda and Westview.

Dinner was comfortable and he was happy to clean up with help until it was over and Steve could go back to what he was working on.

The offer is a surprise and he blinks as he pulls his shirt off, leaving him only in his dog tags and shorts. "Uh, yeah sure. If you want me to."