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“A philosopher once asked, “Are we human because we gaze at the stars, or do we gaze at them because we are human?”
Pointless, really…”Do the stars gaze back?” Now that’s a question.”
-Neil Gaiman, Stardust
Bucky is thirteen years old when he gets tested. The initial envelope comes in the mail and by the time he gets home the whole street knows that tiny Bucky Barnes is going to learn how to use his powers.
There's a girl across town who can turn a pencil into a mouse. At the end of the street there's someone who can make it snow in July and there's another who can make a potion that's able to cure the common cold. No one believes it, but according to Lillian Smith there's a man who can time-travel.
Bucky can heal; any kind of wound from a tiny scrape to a broken rib. He's only fixed a rib once, when Steve got into a nasty fight with a kid from their school and Bucky didn't have time to call a doctor. Bucky had pressed his hands against Steve's stomach, feeling the protruding bone and closing his eyes. Warmth flowed from his chest and down his arms, making his fingers tingle as it poured into Steve's body. Bucky felt the bone mending itself right under his palms and heard how Steve's wheezing had evened out. When Bucky brought his hands away and opened his eyes, Steve had been staring at him in awe.
"Whoa," he said, bright blue eyes wider than saucers.
Bucky had fought the urge to vomit as he managed, "If you break another rib, I ain't fixin' it for you, punk."
That was only once, but Steve still says that it's the coolest thing ever. Bucky may or may not agree with him.
Steve is there by his side when Bucky takes the envelope from his mother, hands shaking just slightly. Steve's glow nervously brightens, nearly blinding in the sunlight, making Bucky's mother look away but Bucky isn't swayed. It takes some getting used to at first, but Bucky is able to stand when Steve sparkles like a star.
"Open it," Steve says impatiently, the wheeze in his voice getting more noticeable.
"I'm gettin' there, punk." Bucky snaps and Steve doesn't even reply with his usual punch in the shoulder and jerk.
The blood is roaring in Bucky's ears when he tears open the envelope, fingers fumbling for the papers inside. He practically rips them out, unfolding the papers a bit too aggressively. Bucky glances up at his mother, who's watching in anticipation, and sees his sisters peeking in from the staircase. He takes a deep breath and starts to read the words out loud:
"Dear Mr James Barnes, you are now fully eligible for testing at SHIELD Institute. These tests will determine your skill level and prepare you for proper education that will coincide with regular schooling. These tests will last at most a week-"
"A week?" Bucky's mother nearly yells.
"Mom!" Bucky whines, "I'm trying to read!"
When she quits complaining, Bucky goes back to reading. He isn't able to focus as well as before, with Steve radiating heat and leaving dunes of dust on the carpet. Bucky and Steve have spent weeks trying to figure out what the dust is, and Rebecca keeps saying that it's stardust but Steve always dismisses it.
"Having stardust isn't cool, Bucky," he says.
"I dunno, it might be. If it isn't, I'll still like you anyway, even though you are a bit weird." Bucky replies, watching Steve turn beet red and start to shimmer.
When Bucky reaches the end of the letter, signed Nicholas J. Fury, he looks at Steve. He's looking right back, his hair shining a bright gold and his mouth turned into a frown. Dust falls from behind Steve's ear, spiralling down onto his shoulder and sliding its way down his shirt.
"You're gonna be gone awhile," Steve admits quietly.
Bucky manages a weak smile. "Not really. I'll be back before you know it. Besides, you'll finally get to finish all those fights you get into."
Steve just starts gnawing on his bottom lip nervously. But two days later, he gets the same letter in the mail.
______
Bucky and Steve are released three days after testing begins, Bucky carrying books and papers while Steve struggles to carry both of their bags. Steve's mom is there with the Barnes family and all the parents start squealing when the two appear, but it stops when they notice Steve's grumpy expression.
When asked what's wrong, Steve glares at Rebecca and says, "You were right. It's stardust."
______
Against Steve's will, more stardust begins to trail after him and the glow steadies out, leaving Steve permanently as bright as a star. Sunlight appears wherever Steve is, a single beam breaking through an overcast sky and settling over his head. The stars twinkle brighter at night and begin to drift down into Steve's hands, light pooling in his pale palms. Steve always glares at it in disdain but Bucky has never been more fascinated with anything in his whole life.
"Do you even know how cool this is?" Bucky says one night, when they're laying in Steve's bed and stars begin blowing in with the summer wind, settling by the ceiling. Combined with Steve's light, the room is bathed in a milky golden glow.
Steve huffs and turns onto his back, stardust blowing across the blankets and onto Bucky, adding to his thin layer of glimmering light. He doesn't even bother to brush it off; even if he doesn't sparkle at bright as Steve, he'll try his best to.
"It's stupid," Steve snaps at the ceiling. Bucky clambers to sit on one elbow, stumbling to find the words no, Steve, it's amazing and you don't even know it. How could you not know how cool any of this is?
"No it's not," Bucky says lamely. Steve snorts. "I'm serious. Your powers are more awesome than mine. You could, like, shoot a comet at someone and all I can do is fix a nosebleed."
Steve's head whips over to look at Bucky. "Are you kidding me? You fixed someone's arm. Their arm! It was broken and the bone was sticking out and you fixed it. I can't do that. I'm useless."
Bucky studies Steve's face for a moment, seeing the vulnerability in his eyes that rarely ever showed. Bucky sees the way Steve's nostrils flare, familiar to the way they do when he's about to send his fists flying in a back alley fight. Bucky sees the way his lips are pressed stubbornly into a line, and Bucky takes a deep breath.
"It doesn't matter if your powers are useful or not," Bucky says sternly, keeping his eyes on Steve. "Even if you do get beat up more than anyone would like to, you're still my best friend, Rogers. I'm with you till the end of the line, ya hear me?"
Steve is slack jawed, staring at Bucky in a way that makes him oddly queasy. More stars unconsciously filter in, glowing brighter and brighter until the bedroom is almost as bright as the Sun. After a moment Steve closes his mouth with an audible click of his teeth.
"Thank you, Buck." Steve wheezes out.
"You're welcome." Bucky replies before he wraps himself with the blanket and closes his eyes. His heart is thrumming in his ears as he waits. Steve finally takes a shaky, airy breath and settles in too, his cold toes curling into Bucky's legs and it takes everything Bucky has not to smile.
______
Bucky becomes accustomed to being surrounded by stars, gravitating towards each other to form constellations that Steve and Bucky now know like the back of their hand. The way Steve glows like a nightlight is a comfort to him, the calming warmth always by Bucky's side.
Bucky notices the way Steve begins to get freckles patterned in ways that he suspects are like constellations. Whenever Bucky is healing him, he studies the way they stretch across the pale, bony expanse of Steve's body, looking familiarly like the Big Dipper and Orion. Every time Bucky has to force himself to look away and start healing bruises and scrapes.
Steve's stardust is always covering Bucky's clothes and getting into his hair, giving him and everything he owns a golden sheen. It exasperates his mother, but Bucky still never minds it, even when it gets into his eyes and into his mouth. One memorable time Steve shook his head and stardust flew everywhere, and as Bucky squeezed his eyes shut with a yelp Steve started apologizing profusely. Even then, Bucky never minded it.
When he's alone, the sight of Steve's freckles and the way he glows is burned into Bucky's mind. It's normal to think about that, he tells himself over and over again. This isn't some weird fascination. This is normal. All of it is normal.
But when Bucky gazes out his bedroom window, he swears that the stars twinkle and there's a feeling in his gut that Steve is responsible. Polaris shines a bit brighter and Bucky falls asleep thinking about how it reminds him of Steve's eyes.
______
It takes Bucky two more years to realize that this isn't normal, it isn't a weird fascination. This is love.
Bucky is sitting with Steve on his fire escape, laying on his back while Steve draws. Stardust floats around his head like a halo, and stars are already drifting down to him. The whole alleyway is a glowing beacon, a few constellations forming here and there and the stars are spinning slowly in a way that makes Bucky's eyes heavy.
"What are ya drawing? Me?" Bucky mumbles, quirking his eyebrows and grinning when Steve glares at him.
"Who would want to draw your ugly mug?" Steve teases and adjusts the charcoal in his hand.
"Punk," Bucky mutters as he cushions the back of his head with his arms, gazing up at the Big Dipper, hardly visible by the city pollution.
"Jerk," Steve answers in a heartbeat. Bucky keeps watching the flow of stars being plucked by the sky and the way they benevolently spiral down to Steve's fire escape. Steve is magnetic, drawing everything from the stars to Bucky into his orbit and despite protests, Bucky would never dream of leaving it.
Suddenly Steve extends his hands and a star comes drifting into them, starlight pooling into his hands and the glow illuminating his face. Bucky watches as Steve gazes down at it for a moment, the star reflecting in his eyes, and all at once the breath is stolen from his lungs and something gets stuck in his throat. A thrill shoots across Bucky's nerves, leaving him buzzing and making his stomach jittery. As he struggles to regain his breathing, he thinks simply, Oh.
______
Even if Bucky is in love with him, Steve is still the biggest idiot on Earth, which might be exactly why Bucky is hopelessly head over heels. He thinks that maybe Steve likes to get into scraps with everything that moves (Bucky figures out that, yes, he does but it isn't for the reason Bucky expected) and maybe Steve likes to think that if he has enough near-death experiences, then Bucky will have gray hairs by the time he's twenty-five.
Bucky has to check when they're both seventeen and Steve is laying in his bed, shivering and pale, sweat plastering his hair to his forehead and coughs racking his body every minute, occasionally leaving a spray of red on his thin hand. Bucky can hear the rattle in Steve's chest every time he takes a breath and a part of Bucky's mind thinks that this is the last time he's going to see Steve. But he has to stay strong, he has to, not only for Steve, but for himself.
Eventually the apothecary from down the street rushes in with a vial of purple liquid and forces it down Steve's throat. Bucky soothes him as he gags, not being able to resist a grin when Steve manages, "That tastes like dirty socks," and he knows that everything is gonna be alright.
But Steve manages to find a way to get into a sticky situation again, and it isn't by fighting someone ten times his size or nearly dying from pneumonia.
"No," Bucky says automatically when Steve heaves the spotted egg onto the table.
Steve rolls his eyes. "Come on, Buck, it'll be great! The thing isn't gonna come out spewing fire or anything."
"Steve, this is a dragon egg. With an actual dragon in it. A living, fire-breathing dragon with claws and teeth and- Steven Grant Rogers are you tweeting this?"
"Absolutely," Steve answers, not looking up from his phone. "I could be famous for this."
Bucky should have stayed home to study for exams. But someone has to watch this punk's back, so he sighs and grabs a chair from the kitchen table, dragging it to the other side of the room.
"Sit," he orders, pointing at the chair in question. Steve glances up from his phone and his face morphs into the I am a hardcore punk who never follows the rules face.
"Why?" he snaps. Bucky sternly puts his hands on his hips, glaring right back.
"I'm not watching you get your face clawed off by a dragon. Now sit." Bucky waits, tapping his foot impatiently on their rickety wooden floor until Steve sighs exasperatedly and trudges over to the chair, dramatically collapsing into it.
"You could just fix my face, y'know," Steve grumbles as he types out another tweet.
"No, I wouldn't because you'd deserve it," Bucky replies, pulling up another chair beside Steve. Steve settles his chin on the top of his chair, eyebrows furrowed as he watches the dragon egg.
"Jerk,"
"Punk."
They're quiet for a while, Steve busy tweeting away and Bucky reading them, favoriting every single one despite the fact that he highly disapproves of all of this.
me and bucky found a dragon egg #HYPE
breaking news: bucky is a killjoy T^T
we're waiting for it to hatch. nothing yet
what should we name this dragon? bob??? sarah??? suggestions?
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@tropicmonkeys how about naruto. that'd be so cool.
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@tropicmonkeys bucky what if i named a dragon after you would you still be my friend
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@tropicmonkeys no. we're not naming the dragon. as soon as it hatches, we're calling animal control.
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@buckybear why must you do this to me
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@tropicmonkeys you'll thank me later
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@buckybear i'll kick you outta the house that's what i'll do
@buckybear @tropicmonkeys so when are you getting married
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@hawkguy @tropicmonkeys SHUT UP CLINT
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@hawkguy @buckybear uhm expardon
THE EGG IS STARTING TO CRACK I REPEAT THE EGG IS CRACKING
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@tropicmonkeys OFH MTY GDO
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@tropicmonkeys IT'S HATCHING.
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@tropicmonkeys holy shit
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@tropicmonkeys i named it bucky. the real bucky punched me in the arm #rude #whythis #bye
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@tropicmonkeys what is my life
bucky called animal control. i can't keep the dragon. (；´Д`A
i will always love you, bucky the dragon.
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@tropicmonkeys i can't believe this. my mom is gonna kill me
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@buckybear shut up bucky you don't know how to have fun
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@tropicmonkeys punk
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@buckybear jerk
@tropicmonkeys @buckybear i got dibs on best man for the wedding
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@falconwilson @tropicmonkeys SHUT UP SAM
______
Bucky tries his best to keep it hidden, to bury the way his heart gets trapped in his throat every time he merely thinks about Steve, to try not to want too much, but it's hard when Steve is just so Steve. It wouldn't be human to not be full of awe when Steve brings down nebulae and galaxies from the night sky, the spectrum of colors playing out against his face and against the walls. It wouldn't be human to not fall in love with the way Steve himself is a star from the sky, golden and warm and iridescent.
Natasha is the first to notice, when she catches Bucky watching the way Steve's bangs fall across his forehead. She nudges him with her knee from under the table and leans in close.
"You're staring," she whispers simply. Bucky flinches and feels his cheeks heat up, looking down at his lap. His throat starts to close up, leaving him unable to say It isn't like that. He's a good liar, too, he could probably get away with it.
"How long?" Natasha presses, careful so no one else at their dinner table overhears.
"I don't wanna talk about it," Bucky manages to snap, hating the way his voice sounds so tight. Natasha just leans back into the seat, observing Bucky with a quirked eyebrow and Bucky does his best to ignore it.
Steve's hand brushes across his shoulder and Bucky looks up to see Steve's eyebrows furrowed in concern. His glow brightens nervously, just like it did when Bucky got that letter in the mail five years ago.
"You alright?" Steve asks. Bucky musters the most genuine smile he can and shoves Steve by the shoulder, pushing him into Thor.
"Of course I am, you punk. Why wouldn't I be?" Bucky steals a french fry off Steve's plate for extra measure, making sure to take as much ketchup as possible.
Steve retorts immediately, "Jerk," and goes back to arguing with Tony about whether or not he should sell his dad's enchanted sword on Craigslist. Bucky watches the debate for a minute, smiling fondly at Steve.
Out of the corner of his eye, Natasha takes a sip of her milkshake and doesn't say anything.
______
"You should tell him," Sam suggests gently one day, when everyone minus Steve is sitting in a circle at Bucky's house.
"What he said," Clint adds.
Bucky glares at the wall behind Sam's shoulder, trying to even out his breathing and flexing his fingers so they don't settle into a threatening fist. He takes a deep breath.
"Why? It doesn't matter anyway," Bucky says tightly and nervously runs a hand through his hair. This is pathetic, all of this pathetic and if Bucky could have just kept it in this wouldn't be happening.
Tony snorts and glances up from one of Bucky's mom's home decor magazines. "Sure, Barnes, the way you're pining after your best friend is completely irrelevant to everything."
"That's what I'm saying. It doesn't matter, okay? Just leave it alone." Bucky gets up and stomps over to the kitchen, opening the fridge a bit too aggressively and maybe opening a can of root beer a bit too angrily. Everyone watches him chug down half the can in about five seconds, eyebrows raised as if to ask Seriously?
"Bucky-" Bruce starts, but Bucky quickly intervenes.
"He doesn't love me, alright? He doesn't." Bucky narrows his eyes when Natasha and Sam have the audacity to snicker. "What?"
"I beg to differ," Natasha says and Sam nods in agreement, all sage zen master and Bucky really hates the both of them. He then makes sure to never heal any broken noses they ever get as long as he lives.
Everyone remains quiet for a split second until Tony shoots up his feet, putting his dirty sneakers on Bucky's couch and rising above everyone in the room.
"I bring forth a proposal," he announces. "That to settle this dispute between Barnes and his stupid pining, we give Steve a love potion."
Bucky chokes on his own spit. "Tony, that's the most-"
"Do you even know how-" Bruce starts.
"Unethical-" Sam breaks in.
"Ridiculous-" Natasha snaps.
"I would never do that to Steve-" Bucky nearly yells.
Tony flops dramatically back down, rolling his eyes as the words irresponsible and gross are thrown at him, sighing and managing to say over the noise, "You all are killjoys."
He sits forward and looks Bucky directly in the eye. "Don't you want to know what it's like, at least?"
Bucky stammers and blushes, choking out, "I would never do that to him."
Tony throws his feet on the coffee table, crossing them by the ankles and saying simply, "Hm."
Bucky busies himself by drinking the rest of his root beer.
______
Looking back on it, Bucky should have expected this to happen. Tony Stark was infamous for being the asshole who did whatever the hell he wanted, and that counted with even his closest friends. So Bucky really shouldn't have choked on his own spit when Tony suddenly pulls out a vial of pink liquid two weeks after Bucky specifically says not to do this.
Steve is upstairs rummaging for his sketchbook when Bucky hisses, "What are you doing?"
Tony's lips slowly curl up into a smirk. "Settling this once and for all. You know." He checks the staircase before uncapping the vial. "Everyone and their mother is sick of watching you pine after him."
"And giving him a love potion will solve it?" Bruce asks incredulously.
"Way to be hypocritical, Bruce, since you're the one who made this."
Bucky drills holes into his skull and Bruce shrinks back into the couch, struggling to find an explanation.
"I was forced, Bucky, I'm sorry! It was either me or Loki-"
"Which I intervened," Thor adds and Bucky turns to stare in disbelief.
"Unbelievable. You all are the worst people I've ever met. I hate all of you."
"It'll only last an hour!" Bruce says desperately. "I'm sorry, Bucky."
"That isn't helpful," Bucky growls.
"You need to chill, Barnes," Tony says as he starts to reach for Steve's fresh cup of tea, which Sam quickly snatches away.
"No," Sam snaps. "This is wrong and unethical and gross. I'm not letting you do this."
"Why don't you just ask Steve?" Natasha suggests and Tony looks genuinely offended.
"You know how he is!" Natasha and Sam snort, but Tony continues. "Besides, this'll be fun! Come on, guys."
Sam and Natasha almost looks like they're considering it but Sam says sternly, "No."
Tony flops back into the couch, sighing dramatically. "You guys don't know how to have fun."
"You have an awful moral compass," Sam retorts before hesitantly setting the cup back on the coffee table, and for a fleeting moment everything seems fine until Tony surges forward and pours the love potion into Steve's cup of tea.
Before Bucky can start screaming and wrap his hands around Tony's throat, Steve bounds back into the living room, shimmering and billowing stardust, a tiny cluster of stars trailing behind him. Bucky temporarily forgets how to breathe as Steve settles beside him on the couch, already opening his sketchbook. Little specks of stardust fall out with each turn of the page and Bucky forgets about the fact that Tony put a love potion in his drink. At least until Steve grabs his mug and takes a sip.
Everyone lets out a small, strangled noise as Steve swallows. Bucky wants to rip his face off when Steve crinkles his nose and says, "I think I made this tea wrong," but he just carries on as if he didn't just consume a love potion.
"So," Steve starts, settling on one page in his sketchbook. "I don't really have an idea for my portfolio yet but here are some doodles- what are you guys looking at?"
Everyone keeps gaping until Tony coughs and lies straight through his teeth, "Nothing! Keep going, Rogers, this is incredibly fascinating."
"Yeah!" Clint adds, smiling unconvincingly. "You've got everyone's attention."
"He always has Bucky's attention," Natasha mutters under her breath and Bucky kicks her in the shin, but she kicks back hard.
Bucky's rubbing his shin as Steve looks suspiciously at everyone then hesitantly goes back to his sketchbook. For the next twenty minutes Steve talks about his college portfolio without pouncing on top of Bucky to kiss the daylights out of him, going on about his endless love and devotion, et cetera. Thirty minutes in Steve starts blinking hard and rubbing his eyes, and everyone leans forward in anticipation but Steve just clears his throat and keeps lecturing them on color schemes.
"So, yeah," Steve finishes forty-five minutes and a half cup of tea later. "What do you think?"
"Uhm," Bruce starts.
"It's amazing, Stevie," Bucky blurts out. "You'll get in for sure, I know it."
Steve grins and glimmers just a bit brighter, taking the breath out of Bucky's lungs and sending a thrill down his spine. He sees Sam and Natasha glance over at each other knowingly, but Bucky strictly ignores it. It's nothing, they're just being jerks, that's it.
Right?
Even if Steve felt the same way, Sam and Natasha couldn't have possibly known, Steve wouldn't tell them. Would he? No. He would never do that. But Natasha and Sam's snickers and knowing glances-
Bucky doesn't have time for this. He clambers to his feet, huffing, "I'll be right back."
Before anyone can say anything, he runs up the stairs to his bedroom where the window leads up the fire escape. Making sure to grab his jacket, Bucky slips out and starts his ascent up the fire escape steps, resolutely ignoring the thought of what everyone back in the living room is thinking. Eventually he reaches the apartment building's roof, and walks out to the middle of it, settling down next to a heater with runes inscripted on the sides.
It's funny, Bucky realizes when he looks up at the night sky, that he came here out of all the places to clear his head.
Suddenly the stars start spiraling down to the rooftop and Bucky turns his head to see Steve standing in the doorway, lighting up the night with his golden glow.
"That 'I'll be right back' stuff doesn't work on me, Buck," Steve says.
"Neither does trying to sneak up to a rooftop at night," Bucky retorts, which makes Steve snort.
"Jerk."
"Punk." Bucky turns back to the sky above him, trying to even his breathing as Steve sits next to him on the cold concrete roof of their apartment complex. He can feel Steve's heat radiating on his shoulder and Bucky very discretely scoots away.
Steve's fiddling with his ratty jeans when he asks, "Are you alright?"
Bucky swallows around the lump in his throat, not trusting himself to say anything and Steve asks, "Bucky, is this about college?"
He can feel Steve staring at him but Bucky doesn't turn to look back, as guilty as it makes him feel. Hell, all of this makes him feel guilty. So Bucky finds his voice and admits quietly, "Tony put a love potion into your drink."
He winces as Steve starts spluttering. "What? When? Was this just now? Why would he even do that? I am going to kill him-"
"Because he wanted for you to act like you were in love with me." Bucky focuses on inhaling through his nose, exhaling through his mouth to fight the urge to vomit as Steve sits there in stunned silence.
Bucky leans forward and is about to put his head between his knees when Steve manages, "Well."
"I'm really sorry," Bucky chokes out.
"It's not your fault, Bucky." And Bucky hates the way Steve sounds so genuine because he just doesn't get it. He doesn't get that Bucky has been head over heels for him for the past three years.
"You hear me?" Steve brings Bucky back to the moment. "It isn't your fault, Tony is just a dick."
Bucky smiles shakily. "Understatement of the century, Rogers," which makes Steve grin and light up a bit brighter, and Bucky almost forgets that he's tipping on the edge of confession.
Steve watches Bucky for a moment, stars settling around him like an aura. No matter how many times Bucky sees this, he'll always be blown away; he'll always be blown away by Steve. So he takes a deep breath, looks Steve directly in the eye and says, "He did it because I'm in love with you and Tony thought it would solve the problem."
Bucky doesn't even see Steve's reaction, he automatically looks away, breathing heavy. People say that saying something out loud lets go of the weight on your shoulders, but Bucky has never felt so heavy.
"Bucky-" Steve starts, the wheeze noticeable in his voice.
"It doesn't matter, Steve, just let it go. I promise I'll let it go, okay? I just thought you should know," Bucky manages, laughing weakly.
"Bucky-" Steve tries to say again, desperate.
"We should go back inside," Bucky interrupts anxiously, starting to shoot up to his feet. Steve grabs him by the wrist, bony fingers clutching it in a death grip.
"Listen to me," Steve snaps. "Don't just dismiss that, Bucky."
"Why not?" He bites back, and before he can process what's happening Steve takes his face in his hands and kisses him, and it beats every fantasy Bucky ever had. Steve's lips are soft and firm against Bucky's, his thumbs brushing against Bucky's jawline and Bucky can only describe it as every star falling into place simultaneously.
Bucky's eyes are still closed when Steve pulls away, breathing just this side of heavy and still cupping Bucky's face. He opens his eyes slowly and sees Steve shimmering brighter than he's ever seen before, bottom lip caught between his teeth nervously.
They stare at each other for a moment until Bucky finally lurches forward and catches Steve's lips, cradling the back of his head and, with the other hand, exploring the planes of Steve's shoulders and feeling the bones. Steve kisses back just as eagerly, crawling into Bucky's lap and in the process covering him with stardust. Bucky gasps when Steve bites on his bottom lip, worrying at it with his teeth and Bucky pulls him in closer. He doesn't notice that the stars Steve unconsciously brought down are starting to circle them, bathing them in a warm golden light and starting to form constellations. He doesn't even notice when a nebula drifts down next to them, part of the cloud settling next to Steve's head.
Eventually they part, breathing heavy and clutching onto each other tightly, finally taking notice of the stars and nebula orbiting around them. Bucky starts to laugh, but Steve just turns beet red and says, "Sorry."
Bucky reaches up and takes Steve's face in his hands, now freely smiling like the love-sick idiot he actually is. "It's amazing, trust me. You're amazing."
Steve impossibly turns redder and chokes out, "Don't say things like that."
"You are the most spectacular being I have ever met or seen and I love you very, very much." Bucky laughs when Steve swats him on the arm, redder than a cherry.
"Jerk."
"Punk."
______
Later on, Tony will tirelessly say that Bruce's potion actually wasn't junk, to which Steve rolls his eyes and snaps, "Of course it was, you douchebag. If you do that ever again, I'll shoot a comet at you right in the gut."
"I told you that wasn't useless!" Bucky yells. "You could actually do that and you'd get, like, a million more cool points!"
Steve just throws him a nasty look, but it dissolves when Bucky sticks out his tongue and Steve throws back his head and laughs, making a stream of stars blow in through the window.