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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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[woundedwinter]

He's missed that smile. Bucky lays in the quiet and the dark until he can hear Steve's breathing even out and grow slower as he drifts off to sleep.

The bed is still too soft and after an hour of trying to sleep with no success, he slips out of the bedroom back into the rest of the apartment. Bucky tugs down a cushion from the chair and the blanket he normally uses. He mutes the television before turning it on, switching around until he finds an old baseball game. The broad swaths of green and easy movement distract him from the noise in his head and the hard floor beneath him is familiar enough that he quickly drops off to sleep.

They have a job to do tomorrow and he's looking forward to it.

[bottledblond]

If Bucky doesn't wake up to Steve opening the bedroom door, getting distracted again by the television and it's wonders, or the sound of him creeping across the floor, he'll get woken up by a kick.

"I got too cold," Steve says, sounding like he's complaining. It's morning, he'd gotten a really good night's sleep, and he was raring to go. Overnight, a text had come in from Woo with a location and a meetup time and while they had enough time for breakfast, once Steve finds out about the text, he's going to want to go.

[woundedwinter]

He's awake the moment he hears Steve moving and Bucky shifts just enough so Steve doesn't accidentally kick his left arm. He smirks and catches his ankle after the kick, but keeps it careful so Steve doesn't overbalance and fall on his ass.

"Just for that, you get to start the coffee." He pulls himself up and returns his stuff to the couch before padding over to his phone. The text is skimmed over and he considers how much time they have before he'll have to get them out the door.

"Thirty minutes Steve. We got our marching orders." A quick cold shower and he's going through his closet. Tac gear and extensive weapons might not be needed on this mission, but he's not taking any chances. It's all still in the duffle in the back of his closet and he pulls it out, setting it by the door.

[bottledblond]

Steve had been shown how to use the coffee machine but that doesn't mean he's great at it at the start. He manages to figure it out while Bucky is going through his phone and makes a little 'ah ha' sound as if he'd just conquered a small army. The smell of fresh coffee is already brewing when Bucky mentions their mission and Steve's eyes glow with excitement.

He's back in the clothes from two days ago, but he doesn't mind. He used to go a week in the same trousers, sometimes two, and he still looks presentable.

Or he thinks he does when Bucky comes out of the bedroom in that.

Steve has to remind himself to breathe. It's not the first time he's been distracted by the guy but this is different. This leaves his heart fluttering like a bird in a cage.

Bucky's bound to notice him staring like that, though.

"uh," he says, racking his brain. "Uh... any shrunken black shirts...?" His white shirt will be out of place.

[woundedwinter]

Bucky sets down the bag before realizing that Steve is a little distracted with what he's got on. He shrugs and smooths a hand down the vest, "I know. It's probably too much and Sam's gonna roll his eyes, but I like being prepared." And the stuff he ordered for Steve still isn't here but there's also a pretty good chance he fucked something up while trying to order it all in the first place.

"I might," he crinkles his nose as he thinks before stalking back into the bedroom to rifle around for something that might fit him better. "Took me a few tries before I figured the machines out."

There's an old Iron Man shirt Barton had given him but he tosses that aside and settles on a blue long sleeve that had always been too snug in the shoulders to be comfortable. "Here, try that one. Once we get this job done we'll do some real shopping, get you clothes that fit."

[bottledblond]

Amazon only ever delivers when you're away anyway, so chances are, when they return from this little trip, Steve might have a few things waiting for him. He will be extremely impressed by such things, but for now...

"No one's blaming you for being slow. You're adequate in other ways," Steve grins.

This blue shirt will do. It's big on him, but he folds under the cuffs of the sleeves and tucks it into his pants. He looks like he belongs helping out at a tech store or a big box store, but he wouldn't get the reference.

[woundedwinter]

"Punk," he smiles affectionately as he picks his bag up and goes for a couple of travel mugs. "Come on, I'll fill up the coffee here and we can get something to eat once we're on the road." There are heavy duty nutrition bars in his bag but given they taste like drywall Bucky's in no hurry to start in on those.

Steve always looked good in blue. Bucky grins over at him as he buckles in and he programs the location of the meetup into the car's GPS.

"Woo sent over some of the basics, but we'll get the rest when we meet up with them."

[bottledblond]

The basics basically outline 'circus themes' and 'clown-like behavior.' Steve stares at the phone and the text, trying to read between the lines, but that's all that's there, along with Darcy's messages following up that she is 'over' the circus. Steve can't help but scratch his head as he sips on his coffee and tries not to spill something called a breakfast burrito on Bucky's shirt.

They arrive at a little town in central Jersey, several hours later, and Steve jumps out of the car to stretch. Sam and Darcy are already there, standing at the back of a van filled with computing and scanning equipment. Steve doesn't wait for Bucky, he just hurries ahead to see what they're doing.