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“Wake up, Stevie,” Bucky grumbles, palms rubbing at his eyes as he forces himself into a sitting position. Steve lets out a similar grumble, burrowing his face deeper into his pillow. Bucky shakes his shoulder, feeling the familiar shape of his bones under the muscles that Bucky is still not used to.
“Fuck off,” Steve groans, but sits up all the same. Bucky’s already getting dressed, struggling to get his pants up without actually standing up. “Why?”
“We gotta figure out a plan to take a Hydra base, you know the drill.” Steve groans again, flopping backwards and draping an arm over his eyes. “C’mon, time to get up, Captain America.” Steve’s lips flicker into a smile at Bucky’s snide tone when he says the name that everyone knows him by.
“Gimme another hour.” Bucky rolls his eyes and looks down fondly at Steve. Then he leans down and presses a quick, chaste kiss to his lips. As Bucky pulls away, Steve follows him unconsciously, head moving upward trying to find his lips again. Bucky quickly tugs on his boots before standing up and leaving the tent, much to Steve’s disappointment. Bucky smirks at the half-formed words of protest that follow him. He’s greeted to the sight of Dum Dum, Gabe, and Morita sitting around their fire, cooking up some of the Commandos rations. Falsworth and Frenchie are nowhere to be seen, either patrolling the area or still fast asleep. The three turn to look at Bucky as they hear a drawn-out “Bucky!” from inside the tent. The sergeant shrugs and takes merely one step before he finds Steve practically draped over his shoulders, half-dressed. He hears a snort from Dum Dum and half-heartedly glares at him.
“You’re finally up Steve!” Bucky says, grinning and turning his attention to his best friend, more than that, his everything. Steve’s eyes are still droopy with sleep, and he sways on his feet a little.
“Come back to bed, sweetheart,” Steve murmurs, but loud enough that the other Commandos hear. Bucky feels his face heat up, his grin falling as his face undoubtedly turns bright red. His eyes lock onto Dum Dum, of all people, and he can see the less-than-amused expression slowly spread across his face. Gabe doesn’t look surprised, doesn’t show any change in emotion. All Jim does is raise a single eyebrow, questioning their fearless leader. Bucky clears his throat, catching Steve’s attention. He blinks, looking up at the Commandos. Realization dawns on his face, but he doesn’t remove his arms from around Bucky’s shoulders. It’s kind of too late to try to pretend this didn’t happen anyway.
“Anything you’d like to explain, Sarge?” Dum Dum asks, tone edging on hostile. Bucky glances at Steve. He’s red down to his neck, eyes glued to the ground as he fidgets anxiously. Neither of them say anything.
“You two are queer?” Jim asks, but it sounds like more of a statement. Steve makes a sound low in his throat that Bucky is pretty sure no one else hears. His eyes find Gabe Jones who still hasn’t said anything, who’s expression still hasn’t changed.
“I fucking knew it,” Gabe finally says. He looks over at Dum Dum. “I fucking told you, Dugan!”
“Oh, like I didn’t see it too!” he retorts. Bucky is confused, he can tell that Steve is too when he looks up with his brows furrowed. "I just didn't want to believe it!"
“Okay,” Jim says, throwing his hands up. “I’m lost.” Gabe and Dugan continue to banter, until Bucky speaks up.
“What?” he says, because what else is he going to say?
“You’re queer and I called it,” Gabe explains. Of course, at that moment, Jacques and Monty emerge from their respective tents. Frenchie glances at Steve and Bucky, but otherwise ignores the comment. Monty on the other hand, he stops and stares at the two. There’s something akin to disgust in his eyes.
“Why...why would you think that?” Bucky asks, voice quiet. Steve’s arm drops from around his shoulders. He immediately misses the weight. Monty goes to sit by Dum Dum, both leaning away from where the two outed men stand rather uncomfortably, nervously. He knew this was bound to happen sooner or later.
“Your sweetheart,” Gabe finally explains. And it takes Bucky a moment to realize what he’s talking about, how he’s talking about basic and before they were shipped overseas. Back before he was tortured in that Hydra base, but after they were captured. Before Steve joined this goddamn war. “Stevie.” Steve makes a choking sound beside him. “Everyone thought that Stevie was your dame with big beautiful blue eyes and the longest eyelashes you’ve ever seen, but with the worst temper known to man.” Bucky feels Steve’s gaze upon him, but Bucky’s eyes stay glued to Gabe. “But you didn’t use pronouns, you didn’t show us a picture, so I was suspicious.”
“And then you called Rogers here ‘Stevie’ more than once,” Dugan chimes in.
“Je ne pense pas que cela soit trop important maintenant,” Jacques mutters. “Nous combattons une guerre et l’ennemi de mon ennemi…” he trails off, and Gabe nods.
“Je suis d’accord,” Gabe responds. Jacques pats him on the shoulder. Then he turns to the rest of the Commandos. “He says that he doesn’t think this is all that important right now because we’re fighting a war. Plus the enemy of my enemy is my friend, and Nazis are definitely queers’ enemies.”
“You don’t care?” Steve asks, finally speaking.
“Hey, you’ve both saved our lives multiple times. And Bucky made sure I got my rations,” Gabe states, smiling kindly at the two of them. “And I agree with Dernier.”
“I’m with these two on this one,” Morita says, jerking his thumb at Gabe and Jacques. Monty can’t quite hide the disgust that he looks at them with. Bucky is honestly more surprised that some of these guys aren’t homophobic. Jacques begins to dole out some of the food. There’s silence as the food is passed around, Bucky and Steve joining everyone else around the fire. No one breaks the silence, save for a few burps here and there. No one ever said the Howling Commandos were classy.
“If you two want to leave, you can,” Steve says, after finishing his breakfast and setting his tin aside. “Just don’t tell anyone. Please.” Dum Dum and Monty don’t give an answer until they take down yet another Hydra base and the Howling Commandos find themselves walking back to the nearest Allied base camp.
“We’re staying,” Dum Dum says, without any preamble.
“What?” Steve asks, looking over his shoulder.
“We have decided to stay, and we won’t tell anyone,” Monty expands. Bucky feels a weight lift off of him, relief releasing a tension he didn’t know he had been holding in.
“We figured, since you guys are the best fellas we’ve ever met, both fighting and not, there’s no reason to start hating you now,” Dugan says, smirk creeping up. “And I already knew about Barnes anyway.”