fossilised | For Steve

“Buck, you can’t just kidnap people.” But Steve was pretty sure he would just get them both in trouble if he went, too. He was slow, he wasn’t athletic, and there was only so much a lot of heart and bravery could get a person. Then again, that’s exactly what Erskine needed to see when it came to a potential candidate for Project Rebirth. There was a reason he picked Steve, after all. The blond might not know it yet, but this was important for him to do. “I’m going with you.”

And he put his foot down about that, pushing out of the car to enjoy a little bit of fresh air uncongested by the city’s sights and smells. Steve would always be a Brooklyn boy, but he was also a young man who happened to enjoy laying around in soft grass when the sun was warm. They had some time and while yes, Bucky could leave him here, he doubted he would.

On his back, Steve gazed up at the sky and wondered where he’d be tomorrow or the day after. If this didn’t work, he’d have to find another way to get himself over to Europe. Captain America-- That was just one silly option.

Especially now that there was some money to be had to get him to war.

He might be watching the clouds roll by but Steve’s mind was on a romanticized combat situation. There was death and hardship, but he had no idea how horrible it truly was.

It was enviable, the way that Steve could just lay back in the grass as if his life could be narrowed down to a peaceful few hours, something that Bucky found impossible to replicate. He attempted, for all of two minutes, to sit down beside the scrawnier man and just watch the clouds. But this idyllic setting, this company, it all itched with its wrongness. This wasn't who he was any more, no matter how he might wish differently.

So he spent the few hours until night had fallen scouting the area and pulling down branches and debris from the surrounding countryside to cover the car in order to camouflage it from anyone who happened to come by while they were away. He wasn't afraid for himself for tonight, he had infiltrated places with a lot higher security, but he usually didn't have an asthmatic friend tagging along behind him.

Finally, when night had properly come, he came to stand over Steve.

"It's time. You have to stick close to me and let me call the shots."

"You got it," Steve said easily, heart racing in his chest as he followed Bucky down to where they could get entry into the camp. Steve hadn't anticipated the barb wire fence and he looked at it was trepidation before Bucky revealed that he had already cut part of the coiling away so Steve could slip through. The blond gave a thumbs up, even when the cut wire tore at his clothing and scratched his arm. It wasn't bad, just a little blood, nothing to even worry about having to stop to wrap up.

Watching Bucky in action, though, that might need to get him some medical attention. Steve was in awe of what his friend was capable of, sneaking them around, avoiding sentries, even putting one in a headlock until he passed out silently and was left slumped in the shadows. Steve had checked for and found a pulse before leaving him, breathing hard as he stuck close to Bucky as commanded.

Erskine would be alone in a little room with many vials and a lot of alcohol, pacing. He hadn't found the right one, the candidate he knew for certain would make his serum work. He'd been looking for six months now and the Army wasn't willing to sit on it.

In a few days, they'd do their first tests. Erskine was pretty sure it would fail. So he was drowning his sorrows.

Bucky became less himself and more the Soldier as he worked. His expression set into a neutral mask that never even wavered as he choked out guards or silently neutralised security systems - rudimentary, nothing like the fibre optic cameras and pressure pads that he had to get past in the future to get at his targets. The only difference was that he made sure none of his actions were lethal to others.

When he finally found the right door, having recognised Erskine from the photographs he had seen at the Smithsonian, he pushed Steve inside the room and quickly followed. The handle was then bent in a way that prevented it from being opened, the metal yielding easily to a grip fuelled by the serum that Erskine hadn't even given to anyone yet.

"Dr. Erskine," he said, stepping forward to take the lead. "This is Steve Rogers, and he's your candidate for the super soldier program."

No ifs or buts, no choice. He was quite prepared to take the serum himself and give it to Steve if that's what it took. But no, that wasn't right... this wasn't about the strength, this was about giving him the future of Captain America.

Needless to say, but Steve and the doctor were extremely confused at that moment. The 5’4” blond gazed up at the doctor and rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry, sir, this is a little unorthodox, I know, but—“

“You have something to do with the temporal anomalies New York suffered for a few months,” Erskine said, cutting Steve off before he was looking at Bucky. That gaze didn’t hold for long. “And you…you’re the man that lied over a dozen times attempted to enlist in the war.”

How Erskine knew that was one of those confusing, but ultimately unimportant things about this particular meeting. Steve didn’t shrink from the sudden scrutiny. He just forged ahead. “I’m meant to become Captain America, sir. And we don’t have a lot of time. I missed my first opportunity to meet you and there are terrible things about to happen in the war that we need to stop. Can you help us?”

Erskine felt his pulse quicken even past the sedating effect of the alcohol in his system; what had been a terrible night was about to turn around, he had kept going back to enlistment centres in the hopes of running into this scrawny kid to question him further. Find out why he wanted to go to war, find out what sort of man he was... and now he could see it plain as day in front of him, it shone in his eyes and in his stance.

"Yes, of course I can help you!" Stupid, he shouldn't just agree, but he could feel himself being swept along. "But I don't have the authority to help you so quickly, you need to go through basic training and prove yourself before I can submit you officially for this experiment."

Captain America, hm? Why would they name him so much, surely he would be the first of many super soldiers? His eyes drifted to the other man, itching to find out what he had to do with the anomalies too. Something about him was terrifying, however, cold and deadly.

Basic training. “I can do that.” Steve was solemn about it. “But Buck, my friend, he needs to stay with me. We’re in this together.” To the end of the line…and maybe even passed that too, considering what they had been through. “Just tell me where to sign and where to go.”

Erskine needed to tamper with some files first, which meant that Bucky would need to let him out of the room and trust him to return on his own when he managed to get together a few IDs and some bunk assignments. Camp Lehigh wasn’t run like most military establishments. With it’s secretive nature, it was impossible to fall quite so strictly in line with the rest. It was through that reason alone that Steve and Bucky would be enlisted, the latter under the name Bucky Barnes since James Buchanan Barnes was already off at war. It happened all so fast that by the time that Steve found himself in the hallway, Bucky next to him, uniforms in hand, being taken to the barracks, he was glowing and buzzing and so nervous that he was grinning.

This-- This was what his life had needed.

A purpose. A real purpose. That buzz lasted right up until the candidate soldiers happened to see what walked through the door. They had been training for weeks now and all of them laughed at scrawny Steve Rogers when their escort moved aside and stopped blocking him from view.

“Yo, Sarg, you’re serious?”

It was a terrible idea to enlist Bucky Barnes for basic training again, he was too unstable and still didn't have enough control over who he was to make this not a disaster. He had seventy years of training and a lot of serum under his belt to put him ahead of all of these other recruits now too, surely it wouldn't be too long before he ended up killing one of them by mistake.

"Did I say you could ask questions, Jackson? Shut the hell up."

A round of laughter followed this and one of the others playfully smacked the offended across the back of the head, but all of them still looked at Steve with utter judgement. How did this weed get into the basic training program? And not even a normal one, but this specialised and elite camp where only the potential best were sent?

Which was about when Bucky stepped into the room behind Steve, cold eyes immediately focusing in on the ringleader. He didn't even say anything, just stared.

"There goes your spot, Jackson!" somewhat laughed when he saw Bucky but the laughter literally died away the moment steely eyes settled in upon him. So did the laughter of everyone else in the group. For the first time, Steve felt self conscious. He'd never had to defend himself in front of Bucky before because Bucky always stepped right in. And this time, that couldn't happen. Not if he had to prove himself. He just had no way of signaling that to his friend.

Silently, almost ashamed, Steve claimed a bottom bunk left open in between two other claimed ones and made his bed. No one really talked to him, and that was all right. He was going to go out of his way to be friendly. Like he always did.

At least until the flicker for lights out came.

In a way, that was a relief. He did not, however, get any sleep at all. At least no one tried to play a trick on him over night.

That did not make the morning bugle any easier and Steve had to scramble to get ready, following everyone else with his dressing. He ended up having only one Ill-fitted boot on by the time their CO came in.

Bucky did not sleep that night, but he did lay down on his bunk to give the illusion of it, awake well before the bugle call to dress in a uniform that felt weirdly familiar and alien all at the same time.

Their CO for that morning was probably not when Steve would be expecting, mostly because she was a woman. A beautiful woman dressed in an impeccable skirt and jacket suit with beautifully made up red lips and perfect victory rolls in her hair. The tap of her high heels on the floor rang out like bullets, but none of the men tried to ogle her. They clearly knew her already, had already experienced what happened if they did.

She stopped in front of Steve and looked him up and down, her accent smooth and cultured English.

"If you don't mind my asking, Private Rogers, when did the uniform code change to only one boot?"

“Uh…” Oh, that sounded good. How did she know him? Why did she know him? Steve tried not to wheeze as he looked up at her and offered a charming smile that didn’t always get him out of trouble, but it couldn’t hurt. It was a move he stole from Bucky long ago. “I’m afraid that I am out of uniform, ma’am. May I have a moment to rectify that?”

She seemed amused and nodded as her heels clicked her around the room in observation of the entire set of broadchested men she saw standing in front of her. All the rest were familiar, save for one. Barnes.

“And you, soldier, did the barber’s clippers break?” Her accent was sweet and oh so foreign to a man like Steve. He’d never heard anything like it before. He’d never seen anything like her before. As she spoke with Bucky, he hopped around to get the last boot on, but his eyes were focused on her entirely.

She knew Rogers because one of the other COs on the base had come to see her and complain about the runt that Erskine had allowed in for his pet project; and she had to admit, he certainly didn't look like anything special up close. But perhaps the worth was deeper than that, less to do with his muscles and more with his heart.

Bucky, who might have smiled at her once upon a time, scowled as if she were an enemy for questioning him at all. He raised a hand to his hair, and shook his head.

"I don't know, I haven't been to the barber."

"And why not? There is a regulation length on hair for the uniform, so you'll need to head over there now before morning training."

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"No."

Steve turned a pleading eye suddenly to Bucky. He would get himself kicked out at this rate and while Steve did truly think he might be better off doing this alone, they didn't abandon each other. Bucky initially had no choice. A draft was a draft. He had been planning to enlist when Steve managed to get in but... Well that's what happened when you left everything up to fate. Sometimes she decided to do whatever she wanted.

And she hadn't been kind to either of them in heir loves this far.

Steve really did try to do his best to get Bucky to comply but there was only so much he could do silently.

"I'm sorry, private, this isn't up for debate. You'll be in uniform or you're welcome to be out of the program." And court marshaled. Once enlisted, you were Army.

"I'm not leaving Steve."

Bucky didn't back down even an inch in front of her, she didn't intimidate him in the slightest and the only reason he was in this program was for Steve. He wasn't going to let them cut his hair, shape him into an anonymous perfect soldier. Not again, not for anyone. Maybe it was just hair, but it was what it represented right now.

Peggy turned to raise a perfectly plucked eyebrow at Steve, who had finally managed to get his second boot on. "And what do you say about this, Private Rogers?"

Did he endorse this behaviour from a friend? "We're not a summer camp for best friends to play in, this is the army."

This wasn't going to work. Steve had a sinking suspicion that they were going to be in trouble here. Not just kicked out of the program trouble, but real trouble. If they were taken to jail, Bucky would get violent. Steve just knew it. He couldn't let Bucky do what he didn't want to. He said he wasn't going to kill anymore. And Steve had to believe that.

So he squared his shoulders and he puffed out his chest. It didn't really help to make him look big enough for this but he had lied on official forms for months now. He could lie to this woman.

"We aren't enlisted," Steve said, eyes forward and jaw rough. "We're here on a secret mission as part of Project Rebirth." No one dared murmured at that. "What our assignment is happens to be classieid, ma'am. But we don't intend to blow our cover. We need to learn to be soldiers-- to an extent. if this isn't acceptable, please speak with Dr. Eskine. We would really like to get on with our training, though ma'am. Time is of the essence. HYDRA waits for no one."

The name startled her. "How do you know about HYDRA?" she asked, eyes narrowed.

"Classified," Steve insisted. This was working!

Bucky watched this exchange with a blank expression on his face, even as Agent Carter turned her head back to look at him speculatively and then back at Steve. She walked over to him, poised and perfect, and raised one cultured eyebrow.

"You will remain in here, Privates, until I have spoken with Dr. Erskine, is that understood?"

She didn't wait for a response before she turned and walked out again to leave them alone the rest of the recruits already going out for the start of their day's training. It left Bucky just looking over at Steve, expression melting just slightly.

"--sorry. I can't let them turn me into a soldier again."

"We would have found another way to do this if you'd told me earlier," Steve said gently. "But I think it will be all right now. You already had the training. I guess... I'm going to need it more than you, right? Just looooong the way I did in the picture won't do me any good without discipline and-- You can always train me, right?"

Steve sat down on the edge of his bunk and leaned down to tie his heavy boots properly. He looked strange in that uniform, something Bucky had never seen, the smallest uniform on offer still too big for him. Steve had to turn the cuffs of his pants up. And his sleeves too. The dog tags looked too big on his chest. The boots were too big too.

As silly as he looked, he was still making an effort. Steve Rogers never gave less than all of himself in anything he did.

"Will you be all right here, Buck? If we stay I mean."

Bucky looked as if he belonged in the uniform, aside from the hair, he even had the look that a lot of older soldiers got, the ones who had seen a lot of campaigns. The slightly hollow, slightly far away look, that said he had seen too much violence and he might never be the same again for it. Whereas Steve was so obviously green, with those wide innocent eyes and baby-faced charm.

"I've got through worse."

Basic training might not be fun, but he would find a way to get through. Not that Steve needed to know about the 'worse'. He knew that HYDRA had managed to get hold of him, that was it, and that was all that was necessary.

It didn't take long before the door opened again to reveal Agent Carter looking less than impressed. "I don't know where you heard the name HYDRA, Private Rogers, but I expect you to forget you ever knew it. Now get to basic training immediately. Private Barnes, you and I are going to go and see the barber."

Steve stood up. He didn't like authority figures who thought they understood the world when they couldn't look down and see what was right in front of them. He hated bullies. He wasn't going to allow Bucky to be molded into something he didn't like. But Steve also understood that it was better to talk than to fight and so he headed over to where Bucky and his single glove stood, at ease, hands behind his back.

"That's not going to work for us, ma'am." Steve looked up at Bucky with an apologetic smile. "Show her your hand...?"

It might not work. It might get them into trouble. Bucky might have to help him fight his way out of here. If that was the case... They'd figure out another way to get him what he needed. It was too bad that Erskine hadn't come through for them but Steve was used to disappointments. He never fit in anywhere. He never tried to any more. And that was so no one could really effect him.

No one but Bucky. Steve was loyal to his friend to a fault.

Peggy Carter would not be pleased if she knew she was being mentally compared to a bully, when she was just making sure that regulations were obeyed and her job was done right. But that was sadly the way of it for a woman in the military, she had to work twice as hard and was either seen as a ball-busting bully, or a delicate flower who couldn't do anything but make the tea. Her eyes flicked down to that gloved hand. She had assumed it was an embarrassing birthmark or something, he wouldn't be allowed to enlist with a defect that might stop him holding a gun correctly.

Bucky looked long and hard at Steve for a moment, before he obligingly pulled his glove off to reveal the segmented and shiny metal beneath. Her eyes opened wide and she immediately moved to block off the door.

"Explain, now."

"No."

"Damn it, Private, this needs an explanation!"

"You wouldn't believe us. I know the truth and I still wouldn't believe us," Steve said kindly, eyes lifting from the perfectly formed metal. "But this is tied to HYDRA and a similar project to Rebirth. Dr. Erskine isn't the only one with the serum he's working on." Steve had the time line messed up. He didn't know that the doctor would die and the serum would be stolen. Or that Bucky would steal more from a not yet made friend in a few decades.

But he didn't need to. All he had to do was convince his CO that he wasn't crazy.

"I'm the candidate. I'm the one who needs to graduate this program. Bucky is my bodyguard." Wow. It made him sound a lot more important than he was. "Will you help us? We need to get this done with to stop HYDRA."

Erskine had confirmed that he hoped Steve would be the one to get the serum, but that he needed to go through basic training first, so perhaps it wasn't out of the realms of possibility that he needed a bodyguard. He certainly did look skinny enough to need one...

"Even a bodyguard undercover has to look like a soldier," she said, voice softening slightly. "I appreciate the position you're in, but all I'm asking for is a haircut."

Bucky's jaw grit so hard that he looked as if he might chew and spit rocks, before he eventually nodded just once. He didn't want this, he didn't want to be made faceless, but she was right. One haircut, it wouldn't change anything in the long run.

It was never appropriate for a man to wear long hair but it had grown on Steve to see Bucky in it. He liked the fringe that curled across his cheeks and he liked it when it hung wet and damp against his neck. Steve wasn't entirely impressed with the idea of letting Bucky be anything but himself, but this wasn't his call and it wasn't his play.

"Can you-- can it be just short enough not to get him in trouble?" Steve looked ridiculously young, though he was actually a little older than some of the enlisted men in this program.

Peggy pressed her perfectly painted lips together and then glanced sidelong to Bucky and nodded. "We can probably let it go an inch or so longer than regulation," she said with just a hint of amusement and nodded her head for Bucky to follow.

Steve didn't need to be attached at the hip to his friend, but he followed too until Peggy pointed the way for him to go out to meet the others. Steve thought he knew what hell was. But that was until he started basic training.

Would Steve still be sure this was what he wanted even after a morning of gruelling exercise? Or press-ups, sit-ups, assault courses, and running with a heavy pack on? The weight of his dog tags at his chest, real ones with his name and number inscribed on them, not just some dream he had after another lonely night in his cold little apartment.

It was late afternoon by the time Bucky rejoined everyone else. After he had gone to the barbers, Peggy had taken him to Erskine and the General of this base so that the four of them could have a serious talk about HYDRA, his arm, and what the hell was going on. Not that he had given a lot of information, enough to say he had been captured by them once upon a time and that he was here to protect Steve.

When Bucky caught up with Steve it was during a six mile run around the surrounding area. He ran beside him with the ease of a man strolling, as if he could go twice as fast and not feel it. But then, with the serum, he could outrun a car over some distances. He looked more like the Bucky that Steve knew now, hair short and uniform on.

Steve was going to defeat the Axis. He was going to punch Hilter and bring him into custody. He was going to save Bucky and defeat HYDRA and the Soviets. He was going to keep the people of war torn Europe safe. He'd help them rebuild and then come back to America and clean up the corrupt unions and the city governments. He'd help those that couldn't help themselves. No one would ever be cold or hungry again--

This is what Steve told himself as lagged further and further behind. He was not running anymore, but walk-hopping, trying to breathe and keep his feet moving. He was in pain but he was working through it, his uniform soaked and his hair flat against his scalp.

And then Bucky showed up. Fell into easy step with him. Steve felt his lungs loosen up and found a second wind becsuse this was what they were always suppose to have together. Bucky made him stronger. Even if he didn't realize it.

"How--was--it?" he panted, knees up again and arms pumping. "Looking--sharp!"

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