fossilised | For Steve

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.

It was strange to play a game of chase where being caught was something the one running rabbit actually wanted. He new Bucky would be gentle about it, not just bulldoze him over. Laying in the grass with Bucky would be the perfect end to the perfect morning.

Instead, Steve ended up sliding forward in utter shock as a flying, red skinned metal man dropped out of the sky between Bucky and himself. Tony was actually still chewing the last thing he had put in his mouth before he heard those dangerous words about Bucky killing Steve and didn't speak right away as he cut off the man's pursuit on his formerly fleeing bestie.

And that was enough time for a now slightly muddy Steve Rogers to kick up grass as he rushed to put himself between the monster and his friend. "Woah!"

Tony almost choked. "Woah yourself, Short Round. Out of the way so I can get on protecting yo--". Tony groaned and dropped his arm, the face plate flying up. "Are you two twelve? Seriously? Are you playing Naked Tag? Is that a game from the 40s I've never heard about?"

And just like that, the good atmosphere shattered. It had been the longest that they had gone in a relaxed mood, the closest that Bucky had come to being a person rather than a hollow shell, and Tony's presence had ruined it. What had been a joking posture of attack now became a real one, with Bucky lowering his centre of gravity and taking up a ready stance.

Being naked didn't matter, he could still tear this suit apart one piece at a time if he had to, and he would if Tony didn't back the hell off right now.

"Step back and away from Steve. Now."

Protect him? What had Iron Man come to protect Steve from? For a moment he almost looked for invaders, before his mind caught up to him and-- oh. They thought he had been genuinely trying to hurt his friend, and how could he blame them? It still hurt, though.

"Hey. Hold your damned horses, Barnes. I'm not the one shouting about killing people. No one is hurting anyone here." Tony couldn't help but grin at Steve though. And maybe waggle his eyebrows as the armor opened and he stepped out through the back. "Fly on home little bird," he said, hands in his pockets as the armor flew off. "Cool huh? I let JARVIS drive. So you're Steve Rogers from before the rippling biceps and the motorcycle curls. Wow. Nice to meet you finally. Tony Stark. You almost were friends with my dad."

He even offered his hand. Because be could. Because Steve couldn't harbor any weird diseases. Probably. He was still dripping wet anyway.

Steve's muscles relaxed and he blinked languidly up at the older man with the really funny beard. "Uh... Um. Oh sorry. This is your house right, thanks for letting us use it. Bucky wasn't going to hurt anyone. Promise. He's not like that. We were just... Goofing off. Sorry, sir."

He did move to shake Tony's hand though.

Edited 2017-02-16 21:00 (UTC)

Bucky stood to attention with every muscle coiled beneath his skin so that he looked like a big cat ready to pounce on its prey. Not that he made an aggressive move towards Tony, or tried to stop Steve from introducing himself, but his eyes tracked every tiny movement and he was clearly ready to intervene if he had to.

"Yeah, thank you."

He at least had enough left in his manners to join in on that, considering that this was Tony's house and they were living in it without paying anything where everything was provided for them.

"How long are you planning to let us stay?"

As he shook Steve's hand, Tony's eyes remained on Bucky. Their dynamic so strange, like Bucky had become a familiar to Steve. Or was his bodyguard in the sense that Kevin Costner was Whitney Houston's. He was pretty sure this wasn't normal, for men to run around so undressed, but he was t going to judge.

Okay. Yes he was. But silently. And only to Cap later in amusement.

Tony held his hand out to Bucky as well. He wished that men shook left hands. Damn. He wanted to see that arm up close.

"Hey. I don't live here. Most of the gang does though. And that's technically Banner's lab and bungalow. A little experimental facility of mine. All new materials. Stuff that can't be easily broken. And you can stay until you want to leave. No skin off my nose. You could move into the main building too if you want. Cap's in charge here. I just build and bankroll the place. Wow. So you're really him. You have the bluest eyes. I'm sorry. That's going to come off flirting. And I'm not. I have a girlfriend. But wow. Okay. So I'll let you guys go back to Grecian tag."

Steve just blinked.

"And I thought people from Brooklyn spoke fast."

Part of Bucky had wondered if what he had seen on the news about Tony Stark was a persona, that his fast-talking self was all an act for the cameras, but clearly not. He reminded Bucky a little of Howard, not that he had met the man more than once or twice during his time as a Commando and even then he scarcely remembered anything from that time in his life.

He did reach out to shake Tony's hand, his own calloused and strong, and the shake itself lasting the minimum amount of polite time.

"Why?" He didn't mean to sound confrontational, but he genuinely didn't understand. "Why would you let us stay here, costing you money, when neither of us contribute to what you're doing?"

And Bucky probably never would be able to contribute, not to the sort of work that the Avengers did. Perhaps he could understand why Steve was allowed to stay, considering Cap was one of the main Avengers, but why him? He was nothing to Tony Stark, just a liability.

"Why?" Tony scratched the back of his neck as he regarded the taller man. "Because you're Steve's best friend. And you're Steve. I'm not going to say it's a family thing or anything like that because we're not exactly family but... Huh. Yeah. Maybe we are."

Steve took a step back towards Bucky, glancing over his shoulder. Tony was strange and boisterous but sort of wonderful too in his own way. He just wished he hadn't busted up what had been so promising! Maybe that was a good thing. Steve wasn't sure what to do with his emotions at this point.

"So yeah. Doesn't matter. Listen, I give tons of money away a day. If you're anything like Cap, maybe you can help us fight the assholes that kidnapped you. When you're ready. And you're Steve. Best tactician alive, right? Okay, the size of your dick is making me really self conscious so I'm going to go. Tell JARVIS if you need anything or come over to the main house whenever you want."

He saluted the two of them and then headed back to the building he'd been hanging out in.

Bucky blinked in surprise at the explanation given as to why Tony left, and even glanced down at his own penis for a moment or two. Why should it matter what size it was? He looked confused as hell when he looked up at Steve again, feeling a little like they had been hit with a tornado.

"...he's sure something, huh?"

Not sure if that's a good something or a bad something, but it was something nonetheless. He turned to go back towards their little building, though, not at all feeling tempted to go into the main house. But maybe Steve wanted to go there? He was naturally a more social person now, and he'd probably like to meet the other people who lived around here and make friends with them.

Bucky didn't, he wanted to hole himself up somewhere safe with Steve forever and try to regain the pieces of himself that he had lost.

Bucky wasn't the only one looking at Bucky's penis. Steve didn't really have much to compare its size to but it was heftier than his own that was for sure. He wasn't sure if he was admiring it exactly or not but when Bucky's eyes met his face, Steve's gaze snapped up. He'd been caught. Immediately left sputtering for a reason, Bucky nonchalantly just headed back inside as if it was nothing.

And maybe it wasn't. Bucky had seen him naked a lot of times before. Maybe too many for most people to be comfortable with but Steve understood his scrawniness and his limitations and had never really fussed. Before now.

Left staring at the muscles along Bucky's back moving as he left him standing there, Steve felt a strange laugh grip him. Tony Stark had been not exactly flirting with him, made a comment about Bucky's penis and the world had not ended. That was empowering to realize.

"Retreat huh," he called off after Bucky. "I win by forfeit!"

Bucky came to a stop in the doorway and glanced over his shoulder, clearly caught between whether Tony's intrusion on their game had ruined it or whether he could slip back into fun. Unfortunately, this being the first time, the sudden addition of another person in the bubble of safety that had become theirs was disturbing enough that Bucky just shook his head and slipped back into the shadows of the house.

Steve could find him pulling on clothes in the bedroom he had chosen as his own, underwear and jeans, but he left his torso bare because it was warm inside this particular part of the building.

"Do you believe him?" He spoke up whenever he heard Steve get close. "That he'd let us keep staying here, taking up his rooms, paying for our bills and food, for nothing? For good?"

Steve sat on the patio furniture for a little while, chin in his hand, staring st the greenness around the little house until he could school back his disappointment. It took a few minutes more than he would have liked. At least he could put a smile on his face (and not drip so much) by the time he padded into Bucky's room. It was not as nice as the bedroom Bucky left him use but still insanely beautiful and spacious and far more luxurious than Steve had ever been used to.

He listened to Bucky's concern, watching him button up his pants and then, when dark blue settled upon him, found himself smiling.

"I do believe him," Steve said truthfully. "He seems to be good friends with Steve. You are Steve's family. He'd want to provide for you, if he could, so you could be safe. And he'd be nearby. It's exactly what I would want in your position. Mr Stark has a lot of money and he's so smart... He built this entire house for one of his friends right? He said so. So yeah, pal. I'm sure he'd let us live here forever if we wanted. But I want to help them, too, if I can. Earn my keep a little. And all from here. Safe. And with you. It's been-- I like that this place is doing for you. I like it when you smile at me."

Though it was always surprising to hear when Steve said something so insightful, as if he were somehow looking inside Bucky's head, it was welcome. It helped when he didn't have to explain things so much, like why this place was helping him out. He liked it too. He liked having a safe space that nobody could get into except for him, he liked being given the time and the security to figure things out in a non-pressure environment.

"I don't want to keep you trapped in here, I don't want this to become a jail. But I'm scared," he said, having lost much of his shame when it came to admitting his feelings in that way. Maybe men weren't supposed to just come out and say it when they were frightened, but they weren't meant to do a good many other things that had become normal for Bucky either. "Out there is danger, pain-- I don't want that for you."

He didn't want it for himself either, but if he could make sure that Steve lived a life of contentment with the smallest amount of pain possible, then he'd consider himself having done something worthwhile before he died. Maybe not enough to make up for what he had done, but something.

"Buck." Steve felt so very undressed right now, physically and emotionally. It was easy for him to talk to his best friend about almost everything but sometimes Bucky couldn't help but make him feel uncomfortable. That was his own issue. Not Bucky's. Not in the slightest. But confronting Bucky's easily understandable and touted fear left Steve looking deeper into a person than most would have ever allowed in the neighborhood where they grew up.

This Bucky was not the Bucky he lost, however. This Bucky was the one he gained. The one that touched his heart and his skin in ways the other had never done in all the years he had known him.

Steve uncrossed his arms from over his narrow, bare chest, and took a step further into Bucky's room.

"I don't know how I'll feel in a week or a month but right now, after everything the two of us have been through, I'm fine staying here. It's not a jail, it doesn't feel like that. We can leave any time we want and for whatever reason--"

"Mr. Rogers, your cake is ready," JARVIS interrupted and Steve smiled.

"How about we do this in baby steps, pal. Maybe we could have someone over for dinner and play some cards? I like it when it's just us, but maybe if you spend time with some of the people that live here, you'll feel better about the situation. I'm sure they're all pretty swell. And it's safe here. In this place, it's safe."

And maybe one day they could work up to visiting the other buildings. And maybe then see the city--

It might take years and Steve was happy if it did. If all he did in life was help Bucky smile more freely, it would be a good life.

It was for reasons like this that Steve was so important to Bucky's recovery. He knew how to phrase things, to suggest new things, without making them a pressure or making Bucky feel bad if he couldn't work up to it yet. He was gentle, kind, and compassionate. He always had been, of course, but Bucky had never been in the position where he had needed to take that compassion for himself before. It had always been him as the strong one protecting Steve.

"I remember playing cards with you."

He shifted so that they could move through to the kitchen and Steve could sort out his cake, a little bit proud that Steve had done something like baking when the ingredients for that sort of thing had been really scarce back in his day.

"We used those awful big beans because they were so cheap and we couldn't afford to bet for money, and you never even noticed that I kept eating them. Your face when you realised you won the pot, but the pot was empty--"

He smiled again, small and nostalgic. It was good, this time with Steve, obviously helping him jolt loose more and more memories as time went on.

"I guess if you wanted to have someone over for cards, I could cope with that."

Or he'd do his damn best.

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