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The sound of laughter pulled Steve out of sleep. He shifted slightly, wincing at the throbbing in his sore back – apparently even a super soldier serum didn’t protect you from the ill effects of sleeping practically on the ground. He blinked his eyes open, squinting against the soft sunlight filtering into the tent. It couldn’t be too late, or the men would have come and woken him and Bucky, though Steve was honestly pleased that they hadn’t. While the soldiers he’d met seemed trustworthy enough, he wasn’t sure how they’d react to finding Captain America curled up around his best friend under a pile of blankets.
As he thought of Bucky, Steve glanced down to his best friend. Sometime during the night Bucky had rolled onto his side and had settled with his back against Steve’s chest. Steve had draped his arm around Bucky’s waist and was holding his friend close. Still sleepy, Steve just smiled affectionately at the back of his friend’s head and nuzzled his nose into Bucky’s hair. As his brain slowly started to catch up to what he was doing, Steve froze. Being with another man was illegal, but more importantly, he was invading Bucky’s space without his friend’s permission. During Steve’s internal crisis, Bucky shifted in his sleep, snuffling a bit and pressing back into Steve’s arms more securely. With that, Steve made up his mind and pushed his nose back into Bucky’s hair.
The super soldier wasn’t sure how long he lied there just pressing his face into his best friend’s hair and placing small kisses along his scalp. But eventually he realized that the men were going to come looking for him at some point and Bucky would probably want to be awake when they started moving. So he shifted his hands, wiggling his fingers up and down Bucky’s side and trying to tickle him into wakefulness. For a minute nothing happened – then, suddenly, Bucky shifted and groaned, unconsciously rolling onto his back and into Steve’s hands. His eyes suddenly snapped open and he flinched away from Steve, gasping as he realized what was happening.
“What the – Steve what the hell!” Bucky growled out, voice still thick and rough from sleep. Steve had flopped down onto his back, body shaking with laughter.
“Just waking you up,” Steve managed through giggles. Bucky’s eyes narrowed playfully as he glared at his friend.
“Oh you think that’s funny punk? Well then, let’s see how you like it!” the brunet said in a playful growl, lunging across the blanket and wiggling his fingers across Steve’s ribs. Steve slapped a hand over his mouth, barely suppressing a howl of laughter. A grin began tugging at the corners of Bucky’s mouth as he continued mercilessly tickling his best friend, simultaneously ducking away from Steve’s flailing hands and feet.
After a few minutes of this torture, Steve’s breath started to hitch as if he couldn’t get enough air, and Bucky immediately stopped and just hovered anxiously over his friend, every instinct telling him that it was an asthma attack. But Steve just pulled in a few huge lungfuls of air and grinned up at his friend once he’d caught his breath. Bucky’s shoulders slumped with relief, and he let his torso drop onto Steve’s. The blond just chuckled and put a hand on Bucky’s lower back, rubbing soothing circles there.
“I suppose that serum of yours cured your asthma?” Bucky asked, slightly muffled from his face still being planted in Steve’s sternum.
“Along with everything else,” Steve confirmed. Bucky nodded into his chest but didn’t say anything else and didn’t move away. Steve was content to keep up the gentle circles around Bucky’s spine, even though he knew that they would eventually have to get up.
“I may not be happy that you put yourself at risk with this Captain America thing,” Bucky said suddenly. “But I can’t deny that it’s pretty cool that I can lay on top of you and you don’t even look bothered.” Steve let out a short laugh, hand stalling over his friend’s spine.
“Yeah, the new body’s pretty nice,” Steve agreed. Bucky propped his chin up on Steve’s breastbone.
“You’ve finally got muscles big enough to back up your damn fool mouth, you little punk,” he teased lightly, making Steve lightly smack his back in retaliation.
“It’s called standing up for what’s right, you jerk,” Steve teased back. Bucky grinned up at him, and for a long moment they just looked at each other, lost in fond memories and thoughts.
A loud crash from the direction of the main tent cluster, followed by laughter and swearing, snapped them out of their memories. Both men blushed a little, glancing away from each other shyly.
“Uh, so, I just wanted to say thanks,” Bucky stuttered out clumsily, pointedly not looking at Steve and rubbing the back of his neck shyly. Steve’s eyebrows drew together in confusion.
“For what?”
“Well, you stayed. Most guys, no matter how many times you say you’ve got each others’ backs, will bail as soon as there’s any issue that’s not related to bullets or tanks,” Bucky said with a humorless smile. Steve’s heart squeezed painfully at the thought of Bucky tossing and turning in a tent somewhere, unable to sleep because of horrific nightmares. The fact that he himself had tossed and turned with terrible nightmares of Bucky getting hurt during the time they weren’t together wasn’t important at that moment.
“Well I had to make sure you weren’t getting into trouble, seeing as you took all the stupid with you,” Steve replied lightly, grinning at Bucky when his friend glanced over at him in surprise. Once he was sure he had Bucky’s full attention, Steve’s face became much more serious.
“Look, you’re welcome Buck. And anyways, it worked out okay for me too. You’re not the only one who’s had nightmares,” the super soldier said as honestly as he could manage. A sea of emotions crossed Bucky’s face, and it seemed to Steve that his friend was struggling to put something into words. He waited patiently for Bucky to be ready, and just blinked up at him when his friend huffed in irritation. Bucky sat up, weight resting on his knees as he kneeled above Steve, and just stared at the blond for a long moment. Then, suddenly, Bucky swooped down and pressed his mouth firmly to Steve’s.
For a second, Steve was shocked and mildly annoyed. But he quickly realized that Bucky was obviously trying to express a lot of emotion, and his friend had always been a pretty physical guy. And the one person he’d always been the closest with was Bucky, so it made perfect sense to Steve to relax and hesitantly move his mouth against his best friend’s. Bucky sighed happily and downright melted into Steve’s chest. Steve grinned into the kiss a little bit as Bucky slid one hand into the super soldier’s blonde hair.
To Steve, it felt like they lied there for hours, mouths and bodies slotted perfectly against each other, but eventually they had to breathe. Bucky pulled away just far enough to be able to pull in a soft breath, but made sure to keep his forehead resting against Steve’s and their noses gently bumping together. Steve kept his eyes closed and enjoyed the tingles sparking from every point he was touching Bucky – in other words, the tingles jumping up and down his entire body. He hesitantly leaned up, hoping for more kisses, but missed a bit and ended up with his lips on Bucky’s chin. Bucky made an amused snorting sound and tugged Steve up to his lips. They kissed for a little longer, before Bucky finally pulled away. Steve made a displeased sound in the back of his throat and his eyes snapped open in time to see the soft affection and amusement mixed in Bucky’s eyes. The dark-haired man had settled his weight onto Steve’s waist and seemed to have no inclination to move as he looked down at his friend.
“Why’d you stop?” Steve blurted out, wincing a little at the undercurrent of desperation in his tone. Bucky immediately leaned down to press kisses along Steve’s sternum, murmuring as he went.
“Guys are gonna want to start moving soon. Can’t have them comin’ in here and finding us like this,” he explained. Steve let his head fall back onto the makeshift pillow and sighed.
“I suppose you’re right. Wish we could stay here all day though.” Bucky propped his chin on Steve’s chest and smiled wistfully.
“You and me both buddy. C’mon, let’s go,” the dark-haired man said, pushing himself to his feet and offering the blond a hand. Steve took it and hauled himself up with a groan.
“Oh my back is not happy about that sleeping arrangement,” the super soldier said with a wince. Bucky rolled his eyes.
“Forgive me if I don’t fall over myself in pity,” he replied dryly. Steve shoved his shoulder with a grin, and Bucky shoved back with a tiny smile on his face in return.
The two men dressed in silence, occasionally bumping shoulders or knees together, as if to make sure that the other was still there. When they were both dressed, they simultaneously turned to the blankets and began folding. After they’d carefully folded or stacked up everything in the tent, Steve glanced over at Bucky.
“Ready to face the masses?” he asked his friend. Bucky shook his head.
“No. One more thing.” Steve’s eyebrows drew together, about to ask exactly what that was, when Bucky leaned over and firmly planted his mouth against the blond’s. The kiss lasted barely a few seconds before Bucky pulled away, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.
“Okay, I’m good now,” he said cheekily. Steve rolled his eyes.
“Let’s get going then. I’m sure the men are eager to get back to camp.” Bucky nodded in agreement and followed Steve out into the sunshine.
No one questioned why Captain America and Sergeant Barnes spent every night during that march sharing a tent. Everyone knew they were like brothers and assumed that both men were desperate for a little piece of home. Steve and Bucky never bothered to correct them, not even when Steve brought the Howling Commandos together as a unit. After all, if Steve and Bucky liked to kiss goodnight, cuddle in their sleep, and wake each other up with kisses and tickles, well that was nobody’s business but their own.