fossilised | For Steve

Rhodey snorted loudly. "I don't think you've been very good ever in your life, and quit talking like that because it's creepy. He's a person, not a pet dog, and you already know his older self. God, that's weird to say... why did I ever get mixed up in this? I'm just a normal guy."

Bucky had stiffened when the voice came out of nowhere, but he relaxed before Steve when he realised what it was. HYDRA didn't have anything as sophisticated as JARVIS, but they had automated systems that could talk on occasion and he knew about the sorts of technology that were available out there.

"Where is everyone else?"

"All the other residents are currently in compound building seven, Sergeant Barnes, but they can be summoned here within a few minutes."

"No. But we need some painkillers."

He was going to take care of Steve if it killed him.

Hopefully it wouldn't kill Bucky to take care of Steve. Steve would never forgive himself. He was thankful for the rememberance at least. He did need some pain killers. "Is it possible to get something to eat as well?" Bucky's metabolism was probably in overdrive and though he could go without food for days, why make him suffer after he had vomitted out his last meal?

"You'll find plenty of provisions in the kitchen area. If you need help finding it or working an appliance, simply ask."

"Thank you very much, Mr. JARVIS," Steve said kindly, which made Tony groan in the other building.

"Listen, it's not creepy. I just want to trade them out. And build him a suit of armor with a big old flag on the front. I actually miss Iron Patriot," Tony teased Rhodey, who decided to take the higher ground and not open his mouth to rise to that particular jest. Besides, he knew that he was actually poking at Steve's buttons anyway.

Those two had the weirdest love-hate relationship ever and Tony just loved getting under his skin. "Whatever. I'll run over the medication. JARVIS, tell them I'll leave it on the patio and they can get it whenever they get to it."

"I will. Colonel Rhodes. Thank you," JARVIS replied and indeed relaid the message as Steve and Bucky settled into the kitchen going through Bruce's kitchen.

Colonel Rhodes wasn't one of the people that Bucky knew a lot about, he had read his name in passing when it came to Tony Stark, but that was about it. So when JARVIS announced that Colonel Rhodes had left a package on the patio for them, suspicion coiled in his stomach. He managed to push it down, he couldn't keep ruining Steve's life with his stupid broken brain, and slipped out to fetch it while Steve explored the kitchen with its gleaming surfaces and well stocked cupboards.

He came back into the kitchen rattling the pill bottle gently, and set it down on one of the counters near Steve with the lid already popped to help out.

"High grade, be careful, only take one at a time unless the pain is real bad or you're gonna get high."

Bucky then proved himself to be oddly domestic as he crossed to the oven and turned it on without having to think about how it might operate, and grabbed a few things from the cupboards to start chopping vegetables. He probably looked really weird, both to this Steve and to the people watching, the Winter Soldier chopping vegetables and keeping an eye on a scrawny little man as if he were an actual guard dog.

"You don't regret this, do you? Leaving everything for me."

There was so much to read on the food in the cupboard, the packaging all fancy and bright. There were instructions printed on everything and Steve had gotten caught up on the spaghetti. Boil water. Insert pasta. A little salt-- that was just crazy. Pasta took forever to make and how could hard hits of dough turn out properly? He was lamenting over his option to try the pasta out when Bucky returned with a little pill bottle covered in even smaller writing.

"I'll be careful," he promised, putting down the package of pasta for the bottle of pills. Take one three times a day after meals. He set the medication aside and ducked his aching head to find some pots so he could bring water to boil. He was under the sink when Bucky asked the most ridiculous question. He looked up from where he was crouched, face newly washed and eyes only slightly hazed from pain, to smile. "I'm happy with you," he promised. "This isn't the way I saw my life going but neither did I expect to be like the other me so it's not like I feel like I'm missing out. You gave me a way to join the Army, even for a little bit, and that's all I wanted, to serve my country. To be back with you so we could go on that adventure together. This is just a different kind of adventure!"

Pot in hand, Steve stood carefully and looked over the smooth counters. Now he just had to figure out how to light to stove. No. He had to figure out where the stove was first. None of this looked like burners.

A lot of people in life thought that to be able to tell a white lie was a kindness and Bucky was hardly an exception from that, he had never tried to be dishonest but he hadn't been perfect. But Steve never lied and that was a comfort to Bucky now because it meant that he could trust everything that was being said to him. He sure as heck didn't understand it, Steve deserved a better life than trailing after him, but he appreciated it so much.

He smiled and spontaneously leaned sideways to press the lightest of kisses to Steve's cheek, something that made the other Steve's eyes widen in shock where he was watching. They were together...?!

"Let me do it."

He moved to turn on the stove, burners set into the smooth counters in a sleek and expensive design.

"Just tonight, you can do it tomorrow." It was dumb but he wanted to prove that he could do something productive, even something as small as this.

A kiss on the cheek was nothing and no one else seemed to find it all that weird. Well, it was weird that little Steve could soothe Bucky the way that the guy who really knew him his whole life and shared more years with him during the war could not. It was even hard to tell what it was. It happened too quickly and Tony was chatting with Rhodey about suit redesign now that he'd come back from his delivery. Sam was the only one that had seen Steve's face noticeably contort but he kept that to himself. The man was lonely. He missed his friend. He missed being there for himself. Sam couldn't replace that, no matter how much he tried. So that was fine. Had to be.

In the kitchen, Steve had laughed and agreed, watching everything that Bucky did. He questioned JARVIS as to why there wasn't any fire on the cooktop. He wanted to know how the pasta could be bagged like that when it was pretty much a luxury item back home. And then he played with the water dispenser on the fridge for awhile because.... Wow!

Everything was new to him. Everything was different. At least there was no way for him to be bored.

Bucky's meal was one of the best Steve had eaten in a long time. Little blobs of frozen meat and hard noodles and a jar of red stuff turned into an amazing spaghetti and meal all diner in less that twenty minutes. Steve led grace and ate as much as his stomach could hold, each bite a wonder.

"This is real great stuff, pal," he confirmed. If Steve couldn't make someone feel good about themselves for boiling pasta and microwaving frozen meatballs, no one could.

It was a better meal than Bucky had made for himself in a long time. As a Soldier it was all careful portion control and generally for the maintaining of muscle and weight rather than taste, and on the run it was usually freeze dried or fast food so he could be on the go again quickly. He didn't often stay somewhere with a real stove, so this was nice. He ate a lot himself, four heaped plates of the stuff and then put some more pasta on to boil.

"I don't want to stay in here, Steve."

He only brought it up when they had both finished and he had made sure that Steve had taken his medicine.

"They're watching us, I know it. I don't mind..: I'll stay somewhere safe, even in the compound, but no cameras. I'm done with being watched everywhere I go, I want privacy and freedom."

With the mood turning somber again, Steve tried to figure out where these cameras happened to be. They couldn't be so easily hidden, not the kind that he was familiar with at least. They were big and they were noisy and someone would have to come in to get the film and develop it before they could watch it. It was beyond his imagination to think that people could be watching in real time.

"Mr. JARVIS, is there a way to make the cameras here stop recording? Or are there any rooms without cameras we can relax in...?" Steve didn't want to run. Not yet. He was tired, he was in pain. His clothing was horrible and bloody. He wanted to sleep. But he didn't want to be watched while he did it either.

"The bathrooms and both bedrooms of this building are not wired into the CCTV." JARVIS explained, though Steve didn't understand except for the assumption that it meant there would be no recordings made in those rooms. "Mr. Stark has also agreed to disable security feeds from this building for the duration of your stay save for sensitive areas such as the laboratory and rooms with external doors. Will that suit your needs, Mr. Rogers?"

Steve lifted a questioning brow towards Bucky. "Just for today. We can rest and then maybe talk to Steve?"

P"That's fine. Disable them now."

He didn't care if the laboratory was wired into the CCTV because he didn't plan to go in there at all, and he could understand the need to have the exits covered. It wasn't necessarily them saying they couldn't leave, just that they would be aware of it if they did, and that was acceptable. Or... rather he was willing to let it be acceptable because he had to try to trust more and he could see on Steve's face just how much he needed to relax and feel safe.

"Yes, sir. The cameras are now disabled within this building."

Bucky nodded and pushed himself from the table to gather the dirty plates and take them in to put in the sink. He'd wash them up later for now he wanted to enjoy the moments of silence they had together. He wanted these precious seconds of peace, of feeling safe with someone who would never hurt him.

Steve reached out towards the monitor as it went blank before he could help himself and then dropped his hand back, voice a little rough. "Thanks... Tony, thank you for this."

"Yeah no problem. Easy once you figure out the whole dimension hopping. Speaking of, ready to go back? You said Erskine is alive. HYDRA will be making him their next target. We can't risk his research falling into their hands," Tony said, fiddling around with something and not bothering yet to glance up.

Bruce nodded. "It's dangerous. We have to find out where their base of operations is and shut down their ability to go to that particular node. I have some ideas."

"All ears," Tony said before pausing and glancing up. "Not literally. That would be gross. No one would ever love a guy made entirely of ears. Not even Pepper and that's saying something."

While the group discussed their next move, and Bruce revealed a theory about an anchor in the other dimension needing to be destroyed to keep HYDRA (and anyone else) from accessing that node in the multiverse again, Bucky helped Steve undress and ran a bath for him and sat there with him to chat about little things like how to use a remote control and how the dimmer switch on the wall worked.

Steve kept his knees up, attempting to be modest as his arm overhung the tub. The water was warm and stayed warm too. It was amazing. He had to say that he could get use to this future.

Inside the little bag of medicine that Colonel Rhodes had dropped off was an inhaler as well, something that Bucky handed over while Steve was in the bath and told him how to use. With the advances in medical technology since Steve remembered it would be so much easier to manage his various health problems. They might not be curable, though some may be, but being able to alleviate the symptoms would surely be a big help.

The rest of that night was good, not much was said beyond instructions on how to work things, but it was calmer. As was the next day and the next, and still nobody interrupted them except for a little robot that changed Steve's cast from an old fashioned one that restricted his movements and that he couldn't get wet, to a state of the art 3D printed one that sat like webbing over the skin and could be got wet.

It was enough for Bucky, on the fourth day, to feel relaxed enough to strip down to nothing and jump in the pool, which was where Steve would find him if he went looking. Naked, sculpted muscle, and swimming with powerful strokes up and down. The water made the light glint off his metal arm every time he raised it out of the water.

Given that the pool was one of the areas with cameras given the glass roof and two full glass walls that could retract to let in the air in the summer, it proved just how well Bucky was adjusting. Steve was doing wonderfully too, really quick to take to technology and learn all he could. JARVIS had become as much of a companion to him as Bucky, though his emotions toward each obviously differed a great deal. So while Bucky started his swim, Steve finished the cake he had made from scratch as his mom used to and put it in the oven. He washed up the dishes, his arm more flexible now that he had on the webbed cast and the compression of the elbow making the pain so much less than it had been, and threw the towel he used to dry them over his shoulder.

"JARVIS, where'd Bucky get to?" he asked the AI, and was directed to the pool. Steve peeked in slowly, hovering in the doorway, to watch the fine figure of his best friend cut through the water. His clothing was on the edge of the pool and that was what caused Steve to reveal himself--

As if Bucky hadn't known he was there already.

Steve folded Bucky's clothing, he himself wearing a plain white t-shirt and a pair of jeans that had never fit him as well as these did. "How's the water?" he called, trying not to be a complete dolt or so shy.

Bucky had heard him approach, the serum had enhanced all his senses and he could have heard footsteps coming from a fair distance, but he hadn't stopped because he recognised them as Steve's footsteps and that was what was important. He stopped at the shallow end as Steve began to fold his clothing and pulled himself up by strong arms so that he was half out of the water.

A grin flashed across his face, an honest to God mischievous grin, before he simply grabbed Steve by the front of his t-shirt and dragged him into the pool with a giant splash.

"Why don't you see for yourself, pal?"

He smirked, looking for a moment as if nothing had ever happened to change him from the man he used to be.

Steve might say later that he was utterly transfixed by Bucky, that his moisture clad chest and shoulders and the hair plastered to his neck and the grin had distracted him into this plot but the truth was that he wasn't nearly as fast at dodging suddenly grasping hands as other version of himself might have been and he wasn't expecting it at all.

Coughing, nostrils filled with water, Steve pulled himself up to the surface with his toes just barely touching the bottom of the pool. His hands both moved to his face to wipe away the excess water. His hair had flattened oddly to his forehead. Water clung like dew to long blond eyelashes. His shirt was instantly vacuum sealed to his chest. Of course, any amount of allure that ought to have inspired was dashed off by his sputtering and the flinging of water everywhere.

"Buck!" It could have been a similar word that rhymes with his friend's nickname for the way it was gasped out but Steve followed it up with an amused laugh and a splash in Bucky's direction. The water itself was neither too warm not too cold and Steve shook his head like a dog to unclog his ears before he let himself float backward, away from his very naked attacker. "This means war, I hope you know. When you least expect it, there will be payback!"

There was something about the pool which was comforting to Bucky. Perhaps because of all the glass meaning there was definitely a quick, if not ideal, way to escape. Perhaps because of the sound and the feel of gently lapping water. But probably mostly because the Soldier had never been subjected to swimming exercises. They knew he could, that was enough for them, and Siberia didn't lend itself to pools very well. So it felt calming, there were no negative connotations at all.

He followed Steve as he floated away, easily keeping pace by bobbing beside him, the hair falling just shy of his cheekbones tousled from the water and that grin still in place.

"Uh huh, I'd like to see you try." This was good, this was progress. "I think you should just admit that I won that one and not embarrass yourself by trying to one-up a master. Don't you remember who won the great prank war of '29?" Strange that he remembered it, the past floating to the surface just like they were floating now.

"The only reason you won the prank war was because I felt really bad for you," Steve said, not exactly lying so much as revising history a little. He changed courses slightly, eyes on Bucky as the larger man honed in on him. He thought about splashing him again but had a feeling that would get him another good dunk. He was just glad that he wasn't wearing shoes, just a pair of white socks that were already feeling strange on his feet. If he didn't have to keep Bucky at a distance, he would have used his toes to pull them off.

Steve waited for Bucky to scoff at him, arms pulling more water between himself and his pursuer. He had to admit that it was exciting, the conversation and the memories shared and that look in Bucky's eyes. He almost choked on a giggle.

"After gluing you to the bench while you were talking to that girl from your algebra class and making you rip your trousers in front of her, I figured that I had to back off or I'd get you a reputation!"

"You're kidding, right? The second she saw me without my pants, she asked me to go to the Sadie Hawkins dance with her, you didn't win that round at all."

But then, Bucky had been one of the most popular kids in school with both the boys and the girls. He had been smart, friendly, sport, handsome... all around the sort of boy that all mothers and fathers wanted to raise. He had only ever had eyes for Steve as a best friend, though, no matter who else tried to curry favour with him.

"What was it I did before that?"

His brow furrowed for a moment or two as he tried to collect the thoughts that had begun to surface and cling onto them before they drifted away again. "Oh right, I filled your sandwiches with sand, you were so hungry that you ate half'a one before you noticed and then spent all of next period throwing up."

Steve tried to snap and all it did was make the water on the surface of the pool jump a little and he breathed out a laugh. "That's right. You really thought that you were so clever-- But I still won. The glue soaked right through-- I would have loved to have been there when you took your bath that night."

Bucky had met him the next day hardly able to sit. The body hair he had been so proud of had come off with the underwear that night. The memory of it made Steve laugh now until his sides ached. He didn't try to drift away from Bucky. Not right now. Not when he wanted him to get close. These shared memories, this entire conversation, even the fact that they were aimlessly floating in a pool in the future together, put the most affectionate look on Steve's face right then.

"You didn't go to that Sadie Hawkin's dance anyway," Steve recalled. He'd gotten really sick and his mom had to work a double. Bucky stayed with him instead.

"I didn't?"

That part of the memory was still a blank to him, though he could remember that whole school day. He could see Steve stuffing his face with a sand sandwich, he could remember feeling guilty as Steve threw up for a whole class, and then the embarrassment and pain of glue against his skin. But that was it.

He wasn't downhearted, though, that was the most he had managed to remember in a while, so he maintained a smile on his lips as he swam subtly ever closer until he was close enough to grab Steve by the leg and pull him under a couple of times, careful to let go pretty quickly so he never would be in danger of drowning or getting hurt.

"Then I guess I owe you some humiliation, huh?"

"No you st--". Glug glug. There was no help for the disgraceful way he flailed about and even less excuse for the foot Bucky would get to the chest. Simple water displacement would push them apart without any effort at all, no matter one man's strength, and Steve made a break for the side of the pool the moment he could wipe the water from his eyes.

He wouldn't make it. Bucky was too strong of a swimmer and Steve absolutely was not. His lungs had been better with regular use of the inhaler but he was still a gangly thing and when Bucky caught up to him, he let out a laughing howl of surprise and tried to push down on bare shoulders.

If he dunked Bucky at all, it would be only because Bucky allowed him to do it. But there was no shame in that when they were enjoying playing with one another for the first time in years for Bucky.

Bucky did allow Steve to dunk him under the water, but only so that he could twist when he was under and grasp hold of those skinny little beanpole legs to pull him down too. It was good, cathartic and healing, for them both to have a few moments of silliness and laughter.

Finally, not wanting to tire Steve out, Bucky pulled himself out of the pool and sat on the edge with his legs dangling in, not really caring about the fact that he was naked or completely on display. If the cameras were recording here then Tony would get an eyeful of what the serum could really do to a body, combined with a cool robotic arm to add to the pleasure!

"Wow, Steve, didn't anyone ever tell you not to swim in your clothes?"

Tony might be getting an eye full of something way too technologically cool happening with Bucky (he wanted to touch it and have it touch him and he didn't care if that was weird or if his girlfriend would question his sexuality), but Steve was the one currently at eye level with something he did not feel at all comfortable with looking at. He pushed back with his feet from the wall so that his gaze was not level with Bucky's calves, yanked his socks off, and tossed them right into Bucky's face. He was surprisingly accurate. He just didn't have a lot of force behind his throw. Perhaps his accuracy ought to have not been so surprising though considering what Captain America could do.

"Not sure if you recall correctly, Buck, but I've never actually been in a pool before now!" But not having himself weighed completely down by wet fabric might be good. He had to fight to get his shirt off, and slopped it up onto the wall. His jeans were a little more tricky to get one with arm not fully working but he spread them out too without even trying to wring the excess water out. Steves kept his profile to Bucky, not really looking at him.

"Better?" He had left his underwear on. He was going to be proper here. "You coming back or did I scare you with my dunking prowess?"

Bucky spluttered when the socks hit him in the face, though it didn't wipe the smile away from his expression, instead he just took the socks and wet jeans and t-shirt into the next room to shove them into the laundry basket. He knew it would bother Steve to leave them on the side all clogged up with chlorine water.

That challenge had him running back in, though, the sinewy grace of his muscles shifting beneath his skin obvious now that he was nude, and cannonballing right into the middle of the pool to cause a tidal wave to sweep up and over Steve's head.

"You better run, Steve, because I'm gonna make you wish you were never born."

It took all of Steve's strength to pull himself out of the water (he'd been holding onto the wall and trying not to watch Bucky even as his eyes were drawn to his beauty) and thankfully, the concrete around the edge of the pool made it easy for his bare, wet toes to grip the floor without slipping. He wasn't so lucky on the wood flooring in the next room but he skidded right into carpet and darted through the lounge towards the living room.

He was going outside. Bucky wasn't going to follow him out into the grass, right? Not without clothing on? Steve should have anticipated that his lack of shame was more ingrained than just a comfort level, just as he already knew that there was literally no way to outrun a man that could beat a car down the road at full tilt.

The sun felt blissful on his back and shoulders. The grass, warm, tickled the soles of his feet. The patio door swung behind him, left open as he played a game of tag like he'd never been able to before. His lungs didn't seize. His legs didn't give out.

The future was a beautiful place indeed.

Bucky could have caught Steve before he had even hit the next room, but that wasn't what this was about. This was a game, not a real chase, and it wouldn't be any fun if he caught his prey that quickly. Which is why he was stalking Steve rather than chasing him, following at a light jog instead of a run.

He didn't even hesitate before slipping out of the patio doors naked. He had no shame left to make him wonder if this was okay, he had been so thoroughly dehumanised by the Soviets and by HYDRA that he still struggled to think of himself as human sometimes. And a weapon had no need for embarrassment.

"You should just give up and accept your fate, Steve, I'm going to kill you and it'll be so much more painful if you keep running."

He feinted to the left and then darted at his friend, though not fast enough that Steve wouldn't be able to make another run for it if he wanted.

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