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-z-
“Alligator.”
Bucky grins excitedly and looks over, says, “Barnacle.”
“Cheetah.”
A knock on their door interrupts whatever it was Bucky was about to say.
-x-
“Jaguar,” Bucky says, pulling Steve close, burying his nose in the back of Steve’s neck and ignoring how Steve’s lungs were rattling dangerously.
“Koala,” Steve rasps when he has the oxygen to spare.
“Llama,” Bucky says, pretends his voice doesn't crack and that Steve’s trembling isn't worse than any of the other times he’s had pneumonia.
Steve doesn’t answer, just continues to shake apart.
-x-
“Manatee,” Steve says as he pushes his key into the door and unlocks the apartment.
“Narwhal,” Bucky grins.
“Octopus!” Steve counters, setting his keys on the table.
“Penguin,” Bucky says, picking the keys up from the table and putting them on the hook by the door.
Steve pauses, then curses and crosses his arms across his chest. He glares at Bucky before he disappears to take a shower.
Bucky’s just settled in for a nap on the couch when Steve storms out of the bathroom – suds piled high on his head and he screams, “Quail!”
Bucky throws his head back and laughs.
-x-
“Wallaby,” Bucky grins, confident that this means that Steve has lost (finally). Steve’s eyebrows furrow and his lips turn downward into a frown. “Admit defeat,” Bucky coos, crowding Steve against the arm of the couch.
“Never,” Steve says, glares – then his eyes light up. “Xenarthra.”
“What the fuck is that?” Bucky demands, pulling away and throwing his hands up.
“Sloths and armadillos,” Steve grins. Bucky opens his mouth to tell him that that doesn’t count, but then Steve is sliding into Bucky’s lap and his fingers are in Bucky’s hair and he’s grinding down. “Your turn,” he sing-songs.
“Yak,” Bucky groans, "you fucking cheat.”
“Zebra,” Steve whispers before finally closing the distance between them and pulling Bucky down for a kiss. “And you can’t prove anything.”
-x-
“Atlanta,” Bucky says, tracing invisible patterns on Steve’s chest, skimming his fingers over Steve’s harsh lines and jutting bones.
“Boston,” Steve says without bothering to open his eyes. He huffs a small laugh when Bucky brushes over a ticklish spot.
“Chicago.”
“Detroit.”
-x-
“Don’t do anything stupid until I get back,” Bucky orders.
“How can I? You’re taking all the stupid with you,” Steve counters. Bucky just shakes his head, pulls Steve to him – careful not to hold on too long in case someone was watching. “Johannesburg,” Steve whispers just before Bucky pulls away.
“Kansas City,” Bucky grins. "You're making this too easy!" he says as he begins to walk backwards.
“Los Angeles,” Steve calls out, watching Bucky wave.
“We’ll finish when I get back!” he calls over his shoulder, then he's disappearing into the crowd. Steve doesn’t say anything, just shakes his head and prays that Bucky does come back.
-x-
“Manchester,” Bucky’s voice is a hoarse whisper; he’s shaking and leaning as much into Steve’s new bulk as he can. Steve pulls him closer; knows that the other soldiers around him are pointedly not looking.
“New York,” Steve says, hooking his chin over the crown of Bucky’s head and digging his fingers into Bucky’s arm, trying to hold him together.
Bucky doesn’t say anything right way – and if not for the shaking, Steve would think that he was asleep. When he does talk again, his voice doesn’t tremble so much, “Okinawa.”
“Paris,” Steve whispers into Bucky’s hair, ignores the scent of fire and ash.
Someone moving from one end of the camp to the other glares at them.
“Keep fucking moving,” snarls a black man, moving to stand between Steve and Bucky and this other soldier. The soldier leaves. The black man turns to Steve, gives an apologetic smile and then turns away quietly.
Steve learns his name later - Gabe Jones.
-x-
“Sydney,” Steve says, pulling his gloves on tighter.
“Tokyo,” Bucky answers easily.
“Ulm.”
“‘Um’ isn’t a fucking city, Steve,” Bucky says, his voice teasing as he looks up at the sky, hopes the snow won’t get too much worse.
“No, but Ulm is,” Steve says, enunciating the ‘l’. “It’s in Germany.”
“You’re such a cheat, I don’t know why I let you get away with this shit,” Bucky says, peeking over the edge of the cliff they were standing on.
“I can think of a few reasons,” Dum Dum cuts in with a roll of his eyes.
“You can’t prove anything,” Steve says to Bucky as he laughs at Dum Dum’s words.
“Remember when I made you ride the Cyclone at Coney Island?” Bucky asks, changing the subject as he looks at the mountain across from them before turning back to Steve.
“Yeah and I threw up?”
“This isn’t payback, is it?”
“Now, why would I do that?” Steve asks, even as a wide grin splits his face and he looks over at Bucky.
Bucky’s about to say that it’s because Steve is secretly evil and is a dirty, dirty cheat – but then they’re getting word about Zola and that he’s on that incoming train.
So Bucky stores the words away, makes a mental note to tell Steve exactly what he thinks of him once they’ve got Zola secured. Besides, he thinks he’s got a good city for his next letter.
-x-
“Vladimir,” the Soldier’s voice is in Steve’s ear and Steve's body reacts before his brain does – he grabs the Soldier by the throat, flips them so the Soldier is on his back. Steve’s quickly bucked off and then there’s a metal hand wrapped around his jaw and starting to squeeze. “Why did I want to tell you that?” the Soldier snarls, his eyes wide and wild.
“I don’t know,” Steve says, trying his best to talk despite the grip. He manages to kick out, getting the Soldier in the gut before leaping up and back – getting distance between them. He manages to flip to the other side of the bed. “Who’s Vladimir?”
“Not who,” Bucky snaps, gesturing in a sweeping motion – his frustration showing, “but where. Why the fuck did I have to tell you? Why did I need you to know about Vladimir?”
“It’s a city?” Steve chokes – and it’s stupid, he knows, stupid to hope, stupid because in that moment, his defenses all just shatter, just simply fall to the ground. The Soldier, if he were so inclined, wouldn't have any trouble finishing that mission from just six months ago.
“Yes,” the Soldier says, “Vladimir, Russia.”
“Warsaw,” Steve says, his voice hesitant.
The Soldier blinks and then he’s leaping out of Steve’s window.
-x-
“Xi’an,” says a voice that would normally have made Steve jump, but he was exhausted (and possibly dying from blood loss) and all he wanted was a minute to catch his breath and get these six bullets out of his body.
“Hey, there, Buck,” Steve says, feeling light-headed, “how’ve you been?”
“Xi’an,” the Soldier repeats himself, his brows furrowing – as if irritated that Steve wasn't getting something.
“York,” Steve finally says, rolling up and onto his knees, fighting to keep in his hiss of pain. He wasn't surprised to see his bleeding hadn't stopped. “Lovely,” he muttered darkly when three more HYDRA agents came in.
They’re quickly cut down with three rapid-fire shots from the Soldier’s gun.
“Thanks,” Steve says.
“They were the last ones,” The Soldier says as he reaches down with his metal arm and pulls Steve up easily. “Where’s your back-up?” he asks.
“There wasn’t supposed to be anyone here,” Steve says, fighting his instinct to lean into the man wearing Bucky’s very unhappy face. “I was just here to burn it down.”
“They sent Captain America in for a little arson?” the Soldier asks, eyebrow raised. And it’s just such a Bucky thing to say that it startles a laugh out of Steve.
“I love the smell of HYDRA bases going up into flames,” Steve says, still grinning. He hears a bullet fall to the floor after being pushed out of his body, he looks down at it – watches as it’s soon joined by the others. “Fuck, it’s about time.”
“Zagreb,” the Soldier’s voice is a whisper and Steve whips his head around, looking down at the man still holding him upright.
“You’re making that up,” Steve accuses, tone light and teasing.
“It’s the capital of Croatia,” the Soldier shoots back. Then he’s meeting Steve’s eyes and Steve’s knees threaten to give out – because that’s not just the Soldier, that’s Bucky. Bucky is the one smirking up at him, saying, “I’m not the one who cheats at this game all the time, am I?”
“You can’t prove anything,” Steve answers, a wide grin splitting his face.
-z-
End.