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WHO: Agra 10 gets another Captain America, and this one is Bucky Barnes!
WHERE: Starting in the square, then pretty much anywhere you want to run into him around town/the forest
WHAT: Arrival and exploring (NOTE: If you'd like to continue/assume our TDM thread as canon, just go ahead and I'll roll with it!)
WHEN: Bucky's arrival, a few weeks into the first event
WARNINGS: Will mark if any appear!

The last thing Bucky remembers is being on the Bishop with Steve. Then, suddenly - he's in the middle of a run-down square in a run-down city and there's a glowing... thing downloading information into his head.

All in all, it's kinda like any Tuesday in the Fleet. Almost. Except not. Especially not since after things changed.

He's alone - at least, he is at first. Which means he goes looking for Steve, once he realizes he's got no communicator and, honestly, pretty much nothing else, either, except for the plain coveralls he's wearing and the red, white, and blue shield that might be familiar to some.

He eventually finds his way into places like the hotel, the hospital, and the power plant. He's not afraid to poke around, and anyone he spots that doesn't look like a threat will be approached without hesitation.

At first, he's looking for Steve - or for acquaintances from the Fleet. But that doesn't mean unfamiliar people get the brush-off. He'll come right up, ask if you know what's going on, and probably offer help if it looks like you need it.

It's pretty much part of the job, after all.

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Steve wants to laugh. The noise that comes out is something between a sob and a hysterical bark. This sounds like his Bucky. It looks like him. Without meaning to, Steve walks a few steps closer and stops just out of reach. He doesn't trust himself not to grab and yank Bucky in if he gets nearer.

"I'm lookin' for the jerk who I spent some time falling in love with on a spaceship," he starts off boldly. Either this will confirm his suspicion or make set the groundwork for who Steve is now to this new Bucky. Still, his heart is almost pounding out of his chest with the hope and almost certainty that this is the man he lost. His Bucky.

His Bucky.

"Have you maybe seen him?"

Bucky can't help it; he snorts out a sound that's almost a laugh, even as he can see Steve almost falling apart in front of him. And hell - yeah, it's been a long couple of days, but Steve's face... well. Steve did always tend more toward melodrama, but there's something about the look on his face that makes Bucky suck in a breath, and step closer, even when Steve's stopped.

"I mean," he says, lips twitching up a little, "there's no mirrors around here that I've found yet, but... I think I might be your guy."

So stop looking so suckerpunched, is what he wants to say, but instead he just reaches up to touch the side of Steve's face, because he really wants to wipe that look off of it, and replace it with a better one. "Although that might've gone real interesting, if I wasn't."

"Oh my God..."

It's all Steve can say before he's surging forward and pulling Bucky into him, head pressed into the crook of his neck as he just holds his lover and friend. A damp spot starts on Bucky's shirt as Steve silently let's himself cry from the sheer relief of having this man back in his arms. He can't even speak for a long moment as he just assures himself that this is real. As he inhales the scent of home that he'd tried to save from pillows and sheets for a full year. And here it was again.

His whole face is wet and destroyed as he pulls just far enough to press a soggy, salty kiss to Bucky's lips and then shoves his head back where it had been before.

"I never thought I'd see you again. I thought I'd lost you..."

Honestly, the reaction is really melodramatic, even for Steve. It doesn't keep Bucky's arms from closing around him, but it does mean that Bucky's brow is furrowed even as he kisses Steve back, for as long as their lips touch before Steve's face gets buried right back against his neck.

He's definitely frowning, concerned, as he starts to slide one hand up and down Steve's back, planting his feet to stay as steady as possible while Steve just... honestly kind of falls apart in his arms. It twists Bucky's stomach up in a tight, uncomfortable knot, because something isn't right here. Something's off.

"Steve, sweetheart," he murmurs, fingers sliding up to the back of Steve's neck, palm resting flat there. He knows that yeah - it's been a worrying, terrifying couple of days. They're from two completely different universes, and the idea of being torn apart without any say in the matter is shitty. He knows they're subject to forces beyond their control, but... "Come on, you can't tell me you gave up on me after just a couple days, pal."

"A couple of days?" Steve almost recoils to look at Bucky, checking to see if this is a bad joke. The confusion on his face seems to say it all, though. It's not a joke. What it is, Steve can't understand just yet, but he can't care as much as he needs to when Bucky is right here once more.

"It's been a year," he explains. "I woke up one morning and you weren't there. You weren't anywhere. I've been looking for you ever since then, until I got pulled here."

He pushes their foreheads together and Steve takes the moment to collect himself. Part of him wants to just hold Bucky for the rest of the week and not let him go but the rest of him understands that there is a lot for them to talk about, apparently. A lot of time to make up for.

"It was only days for you?"

Well. Doesn't that just feel like a knife to the gut. Bucky probably looks about as surprised as he would, if Steve had pulled out a knife and stuck him with it.

"Wait, what?" he says, voice suddenly strained, almost a whisper. "A year? Steve, that - "

Doesn't make sense, he wants to say, only when does anything make sense, and who says it has to, given that the two of them are from different fucking universes entirely. "I was just on the Bishop a couple days ago, yeah. You were there. We were both there. And then I woke up here - "

Well. "Fuck, Steve. I don't - " even know what to say, he doesn't finish with, feeling baffled and angry and confused. All he does know is, "Steve. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I didn't - mean to leave, whatever happened."

His fingers dig into Steve's shoulders a little, like maybe he can keep whatever did happen from tearing them apart again. "I was there, and then I was here. That's it."

Edited 2019-09-15 19:44 (UTC)

"It wasn't you... You must have been grabbed from an earlier time than me. It's not your fault."

He shakes his head and just tries to collect himself. An enormous part of him wants to be furious at the Agrii for this. They took away Bucky and left Steve to mourn another lost love for a year. They made him regret his decision to stay and linger on with a desperate hope that he'd find Bucky somewhere even though he was sure he was gone for good. But when Steve reaches for that fury he only pulls back desperate relief.

Time difference or not, Steve has his lover back. Bucky is here and Steve can hold him again. Kiss him. How can he be upset with those facts?

He sniffles and rubs hard at his face before putting his palms back on Bucky's shoulders and squeezing them in return.

"God, I love you. I regretted not saying it more. Now I feel like I need to say it every single day..."

It wasn't his fault, and Bucky knows that but, "Still feels shitty," he points out, watching Steve rub at his face before reeling the guy back in, wrapping his arms around him for another long few breaths. They've already been through so much and yeah, maybe it's actually brought them together in the first place, and Bucky can be grateful for that, but he can also be pissed it's stayed just as hard, just as complicated, despite all that. He figures you can feel grateful and angry about the same thing at the same time, no problem.

"I mean, absence makes the heart grow fonder, I feel like I've got it pretty good right now," he murmurs, trying for something a little light and teasing, but he just can't hold it for long.

"I'm sorry, Stevie. God - I'm sorry. I missed you, too, and I know it's not the same, but - " It's not a contest, after all. All he wants to do is make Steve feel better, here and now, even if his resources to do that are limited. He does have one big gun in his arsenal, and he figures now is the time to use it: "I love you, too, pal. You know I do, and me being taken away for a day or a year or a century won't ever change that."

He's still livid over whatever happened. But he can be mad at that and here for Steve at the same time. He's multitalented like that.

"How long have you been here?"

Steve smiles at that and leans in to kiss Bucky a little harder than before. A little hungrier. Both hands knotted into his love's hair and he held on for a short second before breaking away and grabbing Bucky's hand to lead him into his "room". The door shuts behind them.

"A couple of days. Hard to tell; the sun moves different than on Earth."

The room is as clean as it can be with a collection of sticks arranged into an awful mattress. Where a pillow should be was Bucky's coat, folded up and still indented where he had slept on it.

Steve doesn't move towards it though. He just steps back into Bucky's space and loops arms around his waist. Forehead hits forehead and he inhales slow.

"I'm gonna warn you now ... I am not letting go of you for awhile."

Kissing Steve will pretty much never not be nice; it's easy to let Steve lead him off because Bucky obviously wants to stick close, letting Steve shut them into the room he's claimed for his own and -

And if his eyes maybe go a little soft at the sight of his jacket on the ground, well. Steve's still a bigger sap than he is, but it's nice to feel wanted.

Not that that was ever in question; he lets the shield fall to the floor with a soft thunk as Steve's arms come around him, and slings his own hands low and loose around Steve's hips - not trying to be fresh, just trying to show that he's here, and he's sticking around. That, at least, he can do.

"That's fine by me, pal. Ain't a whole lot else here that needs my attention at the moment," he points out, nudging his nose against Steve's, trying to take a little comfort, sure, but mostly to be as solid and reassuring as he can. "All I've hit is dead ends, so far."

Dead ends that, sure, he wants to discuss with Steve. But it can wait, for just five minutes. Steve clearly needs this, and Bucky's shit at refusing Steve things that it's in his power to give.

"Yeah. This place is a puzzle."

He looks at his shield on the floor and smiles warmly. It's too hard to not kiss him again, making up for the year apart, but he's grinning through the whole thing. "I guess we both came over with something of the other's, huh? Yours is a little more useful, though."

Steve can't really wear the coat comfortably and the smell has long faded away. Remembering that, Steve frowns a little and nuzzles his face back against Bucky's hairline. Super senses lets him pick up the human smell underneath the alien dirt and air. It's amazing. It's the best thing he's ever breathed in, including his first gulp of air after the thaw (not that he remembers it).

"You can have it back. I've just used it as a pillow. Sometimes a basket for berries." Steve can almost hear the outrage before it comes so he quickly adds, "I washed it, after. I promise."

Bucky laughs softly, because, "Hey, you gave that to me. It's only partly yours."

But for all he kids... it's Steve's. It's always been Steve's, and Steve can have it back - for good - the second he asks. Bucky's pretty sure he knows that, but if he ever needs to actually say it, he absolutely will.

Besides, there's only a tiny bit of outrage at the idea of his coat being used as a basket for berries. "Well, that's resourceful," he says, tilting his head to give Steve access to nose at his hair, because it's both adorable and heartbreaking and definitely something he can't refuse. The smell of Steve this close, underneath his own sweat and dirt, is comforting, just because it drives home the fact that they're at least both here, and not apart. God, Bucky can't imagine losing Steve for a year - at least, not like that. Not after they'd fought and decided to stick together. The universe can be so fucking awful sometimes.

"You never learned actual basket weaving with that fancy art degree of yours?" he says, instead - knowing full well that no, Steve did not learn basket weaving during his single year of post-high school art classes.

But he's got to tease, because teasing is probably the only way they're going to make it through this.

He buries his nose into Bucky's hair and claws his fingers into it, just holding on. "No..." He laughs a watery sounding shout. "Nah, basket weaving was only given to the girls." He's only half paying attention to the conversation, though. Steve's door is closed and Bucky is here in his arms being the same asshole he always was. His Bucky is back. His Bucky. Steve can barely put an inch between them without his trust that this is real fading away. Slowly, he pushes his face away just enough to kiss his friend once more.

It's a hard kiss. One full of passion and desperation. Some other day it would be the start of them ripping off clothes and falling onto a soft surface. But right now the taste of it is more of Steve's grief than his lust. He closes his eyes and lets one break for a second and then dives in once more. Both hands cradle Bucky's face as they might hold a fragile vase.

Sometime during all of this, Steve's eyes overflow once more and his face is dampened with it. He pulls away, finally, to exhale a sob.

"I didn't... I searched, but I didn't think I'd find..." His inhale shakes along with his head. "There was still so much...So much I had wanted to tell you. Do with you...

"I thought it was all over."

Bucky just lets Steve grip him as tightly as he wants, kiss him as hard as he wants. It's easy to kiss back with just as much passion - easy, and hard, because he hates thinking about what Steve must have gone through, losing him again. Hates thinking about it, but finds that it's all too easy to imagine. All too easy to remember, because maybe the last time he lost Steve, they weren't dating on top of it, but that sure as hell hadn't made it a whole lot easier.

"Hey," he says, softly, sliding one hand up to rub over Steve's back, soothing as best he can without being patronizing. "Hey, pal. I'm here now." He can say he's sorry - and he is - but he's sorry it happened. Not sorry for leaving. Because he's angry it happened, but getting pissed off isn't going to solve this problem, isn't going to make it better. At least, not right at the moment. Later, maybe - but right now, Steve needs him here, and that's what he's going to be.

Bucky glances down at the makeshift mattress (if it can even be called that), and tugs on Steve a little bit, trying to get him to move in that direction. "C'mon, let's sit down," he says, with the aim of getting himself on the ground, and pulling Steve - bigger or not - onto his lap, looping his arms low around Steve's waist, holding him close, not giving him any more room than they both need to breathe.

"I know that's how I'd feel, too," he finally says, quietly, lips almost brushing Steve's they're so close.

It takes a lot for Steve to break down and even more for him to be comfortable around someone enough to let them see it. Right now Steve has the one person in the entire world that he would feel comfortable falling apart with. He settles into Bucky's lap and alternates between pressing their foreheads together and pecking at the other's lips. His face is still wet with more tears steadily falling. It matters so little when he has those hands on his back and Bucky's voice in his ear.

He'll never take it for granted again.

"Don't be surprised if I sleep half on top of you, tonight," he says. And that alone is enough to have him looking at Bucky with a watery smile and stroking at is face with tender touches.

"God. I get to sleep next to you again." Finally his eyes seem to light up with an internal joy. "A whole year and I finally get it again..."

Bucky laughs softly, nudging his nose against Steve's cheek for a moment, before he reaches up to touch Steve's face, too, to wipe at the wetness with one thumb. It won't stem the tears, but still, he hates seeing the hurt on Steve's face, knowing it's both because of him and because of something he had absolutely no control over. "You can sleep half on top of me every night, honey," he promises. "So good - we're sharing a room?"

That was, you know, his assumption. Just nice to have that confirmed.

He lets out a breath, still running one hand up and down Steve's back, watching his face. "What else do you want to do?"

He figures Steve should be running the show, here - if he wants to talk, they'll talk. If he wants to sleep, they'll sleep (though Bucky wouldn't blame him if that's not high on the list). If he wants to take him on a tour of the city, he's up for that, too.

"Kiss you," he says with a laugh while ducking his head. Even though Bucky is in the elite group of people who can see Steve at his lowest point, that doesn't mean he enjoys it. Steve sniffles and then laughs again as he lands on what he wants to do. He nudges Bucky's nose with his own and kisses him slow and deep, one hand curling around the back of his head as he does so. It lasts a shade longer than it probably should but that is what boyfriends are for; kissing for a long, long time.

"Do you remember when I was...what, seven? And I skinned both of my knees when Tommy pushed me in the playground?" Bucky had skinned his knuckles the same day and both of them had been in the bathroom tending to their injuries alone. It was one of the few times that Steve had cried, that time from frustration mostly and despair almost as much as from the pain. Back then it was a shameful thing to do but Bucky... Bucky never made him feel ashamed about it.

"I shoulda realized around then that I was gonna fall in love with you some day." He kisses him again, just a soft peck. "And I do.

"That's another thing I wanna do. Just tell you I love you a whole lot. I spent a year regretting not saying it every second..."

Any answer, smart or not, that Bucky might have given gets swallowed in that kiss. He certainly doesn't mind if it's long - he didn't lose Steve for a year, but it's been a couple days and it's not like he wasn't worried. It's not like he's not happy to see Steve here and now, relieved - maybe a little selfishly so - when he thinks about how it wasn't a year, and how that would've felt.

Thinking about that just has him kissing back just as slow, just as deep, fingers curling into the fabric of Steve's shirt without trying to pull it off, just holding on. Holding him there. Proving they're here. Together.

He laughs softly when Steve breaks the kiss to talk about the time he'd skinned his knees. But, "Yeah." He remembers it. And he remembers Steve crying - quietly, angrily - well, most things Steve had done back then had been angrily. "I remember thinkin' the world owed you a couple minutes to be mad at it," he murmurs, softly. Crying might have been shameful, back then, but to Bucky, it was a sign of bravery, to do it. Not weakness. Especially in Steve. "Nobody I knew was brave enough to cry. But there you were, doing it and not letting it slow you down."

He grins a little, because, "You know, that probably shoulda told me something, too," he admits, now that he thinks back on it. "God, we're a disaster," he points out - but gently, teasingly, as he slips one hand up to thread through Steve's short hair, thumb brushing over his cheekbone, watching his face from as close as possible without going cross-eyed.

And this time, Bucky's the one who leans in for - well, it's not like that long, deep kiss, but it's not quite a peck, either. "I know you do. And if you wanna say it, then say it - but I know you do, even if you don't say it out loud. If that helps."

Because Steve's actions have always been even louder than his words, which have never been quiet, either. But there's really very little guessing with Steve. He does what he means to, just the same as he says it. "You're shitty at lying. Even by obfuscation, pal."

"Bucky Barnes comin' in with the big words," Steve teases. But it's light and friendly because that was pretty much exactly what he needed to hear. Yeah. Yeah, it helps a lot to know that Bucky knows how much Steve loves him. He spent a year wondering and hoping so knowing explicitly helps more than Bucky could ever know. Steve pecks at his lips but that start just leads into another kiss that lasts a hair too long and goes a shade too deep to not be pushing for something more. He's not, but his body is. It's been a long year for that, too. But Steve can't even think about starting it all up, right now.

They have time. Christ, they would have time again, thank God.

"Part of me just wants to lay down and talk about the old days. But there is just...too much that I need to catch you up on."

That doesn't mean they can't lay down, though. Steve tugs Bucky onto the pokey mattress. It's as hard as the ones in the army and because of that Steve sleeps well on it. Right now he wishes for something softer, though, so he could curl around Bucky or let him curl around him. Instead he just settles on his side and strokes idly though his lover's hair.

"Winter is here. Nat, too. There's a lot of people who made the jump. Lotta people who didn't, too." He frowns a little, remembering. "Loki isn't here. Not the one I knew. Which I guess is good news for you."

"Damn right," Bucky teases right back, though it gets lost in the next kiss, mixed though the signals from it may be. He can tell Steve's at war with himself a little, here - Bucky's got the serum, too, or at least some version of it. He knows how easy it is to get ramped up, and he also is very acutely aware that Steve's likely had a year-long dry spell. But he also knows that it's not the first thing on Steve's mind; it puts Bucky a little at war with himself, too, because it would be so easy to just... make Steve forget everything else for a little while (or, if not easy, at least easy to try). But he knows that's probably not what Steve wants - not right now, at this very second, so he keeps his own hips still, and kisses back with just as much passion, without letting it go any further than that, for now.

He definitely doesn't protest when Steve gets them into a more horizontal position; he does sling a leg over Steve's, and curl his top arm around the other's shoulders, thumb stroking at the line of a shoulder blade through his shirt, pillowing his head on the other. He's not necessarily surprised to hear that a lot of people are here from the Fleet - somehow, that just figures, after everything they've been through, and after what Katara told him, too - but he frowns at the last part, and probably not for the reason Steve thinks.

"Steve," he says, firm and unhappy. "You know I don't like the guy. But what's bad news for you ain't good news for me." He doesn't like the fact that Loki and Steve are friends. He's been wondering what kind of long, twisted game the guy has been playing since the second Steve mentioned they were friends.

It doesn't mean he's happy that Steve has lost someone he cares about. It's... annoyingly contradictory, mostly. There is some small part of him that's certainly not unhappy he's not here. But he can't really be happy in the wake of Steve's unhappiness.

Nor can he like what he's about to ask, but he has to: "Have you seen Grant?" he asks, quietly.

Edited 2019-09-22 17:22 (UTC)

Steve's face gives the answer away, he's sure. It's still soft and thankful from Bucky acknowledging that Loki not being here hurts Steve and that isn't a good thing for him. But at the mention of Grant, Steve's whole expression goes tight and sympathetic.

"No, sweetheart. I'm sorry..."

And he is. Grant had been someone Steve had looked for those first days and had been so hopeful that he'd run into. Just like the nameless Soldier that had been his friend, once upon a time. Neither made the jump, it seems.

"Maybe that means that they're back home? Strange enough, that is probably the better option for them both." Going home means that their alternate selves can help them reclaim who they were. Bring them back to Bucky and Steve, hopefully. At the very least, it won't have them here with their autonomy taken from them all over again.

Steve settles in closer to Bucky and traces his cheekbone and jaw with the pad of his thumb before running it over his bottom lip. That's the warning before the other man leans in and kisses Bucky gently and slow. He pulls back still looking grieved.

"He might show up later?"

Steve's expression definitely tells Bucky the answer, even before the other speaks. He's already letting out a quiet breath when Steve confirms it. "It probably is better for them both," he confirms; and he does believe that, even though it's hard to say. Grant had come so far, in just a couple of months, and something in Bucky aches to be there for him, to keep helping him through this however he can, even if he's pretty poorly equipped. He's sure Steve feels the same about Soldat. "At least this way, if they're home, they're not prisoners anymore."

And no one here deserves that, but people like the former Winter Soldiers least of all.

So, even if Grant doesn't show up... Bucky will do his best to believe that it's in Grant's best interests that he doesn't. It doesn't mean he won't worry about the guy, or miss him, but Steve's finger moving over his face, Steve's lips pressing to his, do help, a little - if only to prove that Steve understands, that Steve is here with him. They both know what it's like to lose friends, and never know what happened to them, or if they'll be all right.

"Maybe one a'you is enough for this planet," he tries to tease, lips tugging up, even if the smile is small and certainly forced. His fingers brush through the hair at Steve's temple in return, feeling the short strands slip through his hand. "I guess it needed two of me, if Winter's here."

Not that Bucky feels very much like he and Winter are the same person.

But, "The more Avengers, the better. We know how to make the best of a shitty situation."

"There is not two of you," Steve says forcefully. He even smiles a little even though it's not much bigger than Bucky's. Steve cups his cheek and leans to kiss him softly. "Winter ain't you. He's a friend but I don't feel about him what I feel for you. For that year you were gone...Winter was still there. That hurt a lot more than it helped.

"No one is you but you."

Grant wasn't him, after all. The memories that Steve has of who he'd been before the Fleet aren't him, now. Another Steve could show up and he'd feel pretty confident of their lack of similarities. Steve's not even sure he'd like him, all things considered. Who knew if he'd get a chance to find out.

He leans back and closes his eyes into Bucky's petting. It's a good feeling to just let the other man touch him. It's been so long since he's had this easy affection that he's swallowing it up like a hungry hippo. All things considered, Steve might actually even be happy, right now. Or on the verge of it. He kisses Bucky again and lingers into it, hand running along the other's side and just reacquainting itself with how Bucky Barnes feels.

"I'm so glad you're here. I don't care how shitty the situation is. I'm just glad we're in it together."

Bucky maybe looks a little like he wants to argue. But only a little; it's not like he doubts what Steve's saying. He doesn't. It's just hard to stop feeling like an impostor, especially when he's been feeling that way since even before he ended up on the Atroma's little TV show.

But he doesn't doubt Steve, and he certainly doesn't put a stop to the kiss, or halt his own fingers in Steve's hair when he seems to like it so much. Bucky can get over his own shit on his own, after all. Right, now, Steve needs him to be here, so that's what he's gonna do.

Because, "Yeah," he says, on a slow exhale. "Yeah, me, too. I'd rather be here with you than have every other Avenger but you." He likes his team - mostly - and he likes the Avengers he's met from Steve's team. But Steve is worth a million Avengers or more, in Bucky's opinion, even when their particular skillsets overlap. "We make a good team. Always have. Usually 'cause I can keep you out of the really bad trouble," he teases, tugging on Steve's short hair gently, playfully, before he goes back to stroking it. "I don't know how long we're gonna be here, or if we can leave this place together. But know, right now, that I wanna stay with you, wherever that is, just like I did before. That hasn't changed. It didn't before, and it's not gonna."

Steve has something to say and he sits up to do it. The bed is made of the strongest sticks he found but with two bodies it creaks. Steve makes a note to ask for a mattress no matter what he might get in stead of what he intends. Still, Steve sits up and presses his hand to the center of Bucky's chest.

"I'm done," he says firmly.

"Over the past year... I swore if I found you, I'd be done. And I am. I know you might not believe me but you...this between us? This is my new mission and my new dream. I'm done losing people so.... Wherever you go, I go. No matter what."

He takes Bucky's hand then and kisses the knuckles.

"End of the line. You and me."

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