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“I have a serious question.”
Bucky looked over at Scott. They were standing in the middle of the new Avengers Headquarters, rebuilt after Thanos had destroyed it only months ago. In front of them was the briefing room, and Sam Wilson was leading a debrief on the latest efforts to put the world back together after such drastic changes.
Changes like Tony dying and the entire half of the population being resurrected after five years of not existing.
And changes like Steve leaving him, reaching the end of the line without Bucky.
“Um, Mr. Barnes… a question?” Scott’s annoying voice shook him out of his stupor of memories.
“Does it have anything to do with the rebuilding efforts? If not I’m not interested in answering.”
“It has to do with the person leading the rebuilding efforts.”
Bucky looked down at Sam Wilson. The Falcon. And now, Captain America. He’d sometimes found the man annoying, looked down on him for steal Steve’s attention, attention that should belong to Bucky. But now it didn’t matter because neither of them could have Steve’s attention anymore. Now all they had was each other. And Bucky knew that was a start at least.
“Ok, what about Sam?”
“Well, when we were in New York, you know, 2012 New York, Tony and Steve and I all agreed on something.”
Bucky raised his eyebrows. “Ok?”
“We all concurred that, well, that Captain America has America’s Ass.”
Bucky’s eyebrows travelled further up his forehead. “Ok…”
“And, so now, I’m wondering. If Captain America has America’s Ass, and Sam is Captain America…”
Scott looked at Bucky expectantly.
“Are you going somewhere with this?” Bucky was not going to give Scott any leeway.
“Well, um,” Scott was very embarrassed now, but he continued with his statement anyways. “If Captain America has America’s Ass and Sam is now Captain America, then does Sam have America’s Ass?” Scott finished talking very fast and immediately looked like he regretted saying anything at all.
Bucky looked at Scott for long moment, enjoying the man’s discomfort. Then he simply said, “Yes,” gave a little wink, and walked away, leaving Scott confused and regretting ever asking his serious question.
...
Sam stared at Bucky and Scott talking on the balcony overlooking the briefing room. He wondered what Bucky could possibly have to say to Scott. Not that Sam didn’t like the man, just, old wounds died hard. And he didn’t really seem like Bucky’s type. In any sense of the word.
“Sam?” A holographic image of Carol Danvers snapped her fingers in his direction. “Is there anything else, or is the briefing over? I have other things to do you know.” But she ended with a teasing smile that said she didn’t really mean it.
“Yes, the briefing is over. Thank you all for coming, I look forward to our meeting next month.”
The holograms around him slowly faded away. The panel wasn’t usually 100% electronic, but Rhodey was off in Africa working with the Wakandans, and Clint and Wanda barely showed for briefings anymore. Not that he blamed them.
God, he hated having to keep it together all the damn time. How had Steve done it? People expected to be able to rely on him. He could barely rely on himself. Clint and Wanda might have the right idea. Go AWOL, not have to care about the well-being of anyone but themselves.
But Sam really did like being there for people. He supposed that’s why Steve gave him the job in the first place. He just wished it didn’t have to be all the time, that he had someone to share any of the burden with.
Well, he might have someone. Maybe. But that thought was too new and overwhelming he didn’t have the time for it right now. He looked up at the balcony again, and saw that only Scott remained. And he looked quite shaken. Guess it was time to go be Captain America.
He climbed the stairs to the viewing room. “You ok man?”
Scott seemed to snap himself out of a stupor. “Yeah uh, great, never better.”
Then he walked out of the room as fast as his legs would go. Sam swore he heard him mutter something like “America’s Ass” but he had to have been imagining things. Still, the whole interaction left him with a weird feeling. He decided (against his better judgement) to go find Bucky.
Bucky, who had been there for him a lot the past few months, and Sam didn’t know how to feel about it. Bucky, who made Sam feel like maybe he didn’t have to handle everything all on his own. Bucky, who might… well if Sam even let himself think too much about that, he wouldn’t ever have the strength to face Bucky again. So he didn’t think about it, and went to seek out his friend. Because that is what they were. Just friends.
...
“Hey man.” Bucky looked up to see Sam leaning against the his bedroom door frame. “Hey yourself. What’s up?” These little chats with Sam had not become a recurring thing, but they happened more often than could just be a coincidence. At least Bucky hoped it was more than a coincidence.
Sam sidled into the room and sat down next to Bucky on the bed. “Well, I just ran into Scott in the hallway.”
“Yeah, what did our favorite insect have to say?”
“You know that Peter is our favorite insect.”
“Peter is an arachnid, and he gets way more attention than either of us combined, so excuse me if he isn’t my favorite.”
Sam laughed and gave Bucky a playful shove. “You’re right of course.”
Bucky tried to ignore the creeping feeling in his gut that wasn’t at all unpleasant and retorted, “So, what did Scott say?”
“Well, he didn’t say anything exactly, he just looked very shaken. And right after I had just seen him talking to you. You wouldn’t happen to know what that was about, would you?”
Bucky looked back at Sam with innocent eyes. “Maybe I do, what’s it to you?”
“Well, I have to make sure everyone on the team is at their best, being Captain America and all.”
Sam looked over at Bucky quickly to make sure the atmosphere of the room wouldn’t change with the mention of his new title. Bucky and Steve had been closer than Sam could probably even imagine. The mention of Steve’s old title was a sore spot sometimes.
But not today. Today, the mention of Captain America seemed to morph Bucky’s innocent wide-eyed expression into something more mischievous. An expression that Sam wished Bucky would wear a whole lot more often. In many different circumstances.
“Well,” Bucky started with a sly smile that made Sam’s head spin just a bit. “Scott had a very serious question for me.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. Apparently, and this is according to Scott mind you, Captain America is the holder of America’s Ass.”
Sam went beet red. Bucky’s smile broadened.
“And so Scott wanted to know if that meant that you, after Steve, were now the bearer of America’s Ass.”
Sam took a breath, then smiled back, trying to calm his uncooperative heart.
“That is a very serious question. What was your answer?”
Bucky stared at Sam for a moment, his eyes teasing and his expression hopeful. Sam stared right back with a matching sentiment.
“My answer,” Bucky whispered, with a little wink at Sam, “was yes.”