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Bucky and he have never had the best timing. Of course, they would get their shit together when one of them was legitimately about to go poof and disappear forever.
No, they didn’t realize the truth when fighting side by side in a legitimate world war. They didn’t realize it when they reunited several times after that. Oh no, don’t get him wrong, there had always been suspicion on Steve’s part. He had spent many of his adolescent and teenage years trying to get over the fact his best friend obviously must not feel the same for him. Now, looking back, it was extremely obvious that Buck did indeed feel the same for him, but it was the period rampant homophobia that had stopped them, amongst other things.
But, that’s why the two of them work.
When Steve sees Bucky take a step forward and his arm begins to turn into dust, Steve leaps forward and manages to grab onto his friend. Weirdly enough, that stops the disintegration. Bucky’s arm somehow reforms itself to his body, and Steve feels a part of him he didn’t even know had broken in that split second mend itself back together.
“Steve?” Bucky asks, plaintively. His face is a mixture of shock and terror, and Steve is about to answer (with what he doesn’t know) when suddenly others around them begin to turn into dust.
One by one, friends and fellow warriors disintegrate. Cries arise from the crowd still on the field, and Steve hears Rhodey cry “Sam!” before Sam turned into dust.
Suddenly, Steve collapses onto the ground, pulling Bucky with him. He hasn’t let go of his best friend, and he’s scared to.
What if something happens to him too? He can’t let that happen. and he doesn’t think he could survive that again
Steve stares into the distance, and he senses his friends gathering around him. Bruce, Nat... Bucky... they’re still here. but so many others aren’t. Bucky ignores everyone else and wraps his arms around Steve, and Steve buries his face into his best friend’s shoulder.
“Oh god,” he mumbles, and there is a sudden, urgent change in the air. They may have lost to Thanos right now, but they’re still here to fight, and fight they will.
Nobody says anything when, all of a sudden, Bucky bursts into tears, and Steve feels his heart once again break into two. It is rare that Buck lets anyone see him cry, and this is what finally gets to Steve. Bucky had told him about how much he loved Wakanda; how much he loved telling the children war stories and doing science projects with Shuri. Now, the very place that had been his safe haven for so long was destroyed, as well as several of those who had helped him return to himself. Steve remembers Bucky telling him about the nights he would sit outside and gaze at the stars, and wanted to call Steve but also worried about bothering him. He had lost Bucky once, he couldn’t lose him again.
At least not without a fight.
Which is why Steve turns and locks eyes with Bucky. The absolute terror in his best friend's usually confident and laughing blue eyes scare the shit out of Steve. He knows, at that moment, that he wants to make sure that Bucky never looks like that ever again, especially not at him.
Bucky, whom he had grown up with.
Bucky, who knows everything about him, and vice versa.
Bucky, who had tried to save Steve from inside his cell phone when they first video called.
Bucky... his best friend.
Buck’s eyes flit down to glance at Steve’s lips, and Steve takes that as a yes to an unspoken question and pushes forward desperately. The two of them are not exactly kissing, but as Tony would say, “pushing their mouths together with no finesse”. Neither of them has had much experience over the last century with this, but Steve feels in his heart that it is okay. Hopefully, they’ll be able to work on it.
They lean back for air and notice that their friends had gone to the field and left them alone. Bucky smiles sappily at Steve, and Steve can imagine that he is gazing back with the exact same expression.
“You always had really shitty timing, punk.”
Steve shakes his head and kisses Bucky [his friend? lover? boyfriend?] once more. “Shut up, jerk.”
They continue to look at each other with what Steve can only imagine is extremely lovesick smiles before they hear Bruce clear his throat from somewhere above them.
“Uh... guys. I’m gonna need some help getting out of this.”
(They ignore him and instead lean back into another kiss, and another one, and another one. They don’t stop until Nat finally hits them over the head and tells them to get up and focus on the present, and that they’ll have plenty of time to finish what they’ve started once they clean up this shit.)
(They may never have the right timing. They may never make the right decisions, but what matters most is that they’re here, at this moment. They’re together. Somehow Bucky is still here even though he shouldn’t be, and that’s what is most important.)
(Later that night, when the two of them finally fall into a bed together from exhaustion and Steve is tracing Bucky’s scars with his lips, he whispers: “I can’t believe I didn’t lose you this time.” Bucky flips them over and connects their lips once again, and smiles. Against Steve’s lips, he replies, “I once told you I was with you till the end of the line. I intend on starting to make good on that promise.”)
(Steve isn’t sure when he’s going to say I love you to Bucky, but he knows it’s going to be soon. Bucky is here with him and making him feel safe, loved, and wanted, even though the rest of the world is at risk. Sarah Rogers had always told him that true love eases worries, not create them. With Bucky, all his worries fly out the window. Or well, they do the best that they can.)