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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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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."

It doesn't take long for Bucky to follow Steve's motion - he's not about to stay there, lying down, when Steve needs to be upright.

And after that... His face definitely does something complicated, somehow both going soft and suspicious at the same time, like love and worry are somehow warring for dominance - which is pretty much what's happening, here. Because - "I believe that's what you want," he finally says, softly, twisting his hand gently in Steve's grasp to brush a thumb over his lips, touch the corner of his mouth. "I do, Stevie."

But what he doesn't say is that even if Steve wants it... things can change. They very nearly had, before - and Bucky had understood. He had. It's just the way Steve is, and he hasn't spent years trying to fill those shoes without coming to understand a few things. He does not doubt Steve's convictions, or think that Steve is lying to him, or that he doesn't mean what he says, or how he feels. But he does know that Steve Rogers has a really, really hard time walking away from a fight, and one might just crop up that he can't step back from, no matter how much he loves Bucky.

And Bucky understands that. He loves Steve for it. And he isn't going to question Steve about it right now.

So he just sighs - not a bad sound, just an accepting one - and grins lopsidedly, flexing his arm just enough to pull them closer together for a slow kiss on the lips. "I want you to be done losing people, pal. I want to be done with it, too."

And that is absolutely the truth, as well. "So we better get these Agrii on our side. Or - whatever it takes, right?"

"Whatever it takes..."

Steve knows that Bucky doesn't understand. Not fully. He doesn't know what Steve now knows about his future, back at home. He doesn't know what it was like to spend a year swallowing regrets at every meal. Bucky just doesn't know how serious Steve is with this vow. There's no way he could. So Steve is going to show him. Every day and at every opportunity. Steve is going to show Bucky how done he is with sacrificing his love for everything else. He deserves more, now.

He deserves time with Bucky.

The slow kiss was nice but Steve can't help but want more. He grabs Bucky by the front of his shirt and drags him back in for another, deeper kiss that's no faster. Steve wants to enjoy this.

"I love you," he breathes between one kiss and the next. "I love you, Buck. I'm done losing you. I'm holding on with both hands."

And he does. He grips Bucky's jaw in both of his palms to hold him steady as Steve plunders his mouth. He's practically touch-starved from the past year but what he really missed was being able to just feel someone else. To grab and hold and kiss. He'd never been tempted by anyone else, always wanted Bucky, but the need was there growing even as the likelihood of getting him back decreased with the day.

Now he can make up for all of that lost time.

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