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“Steve ! Get America’s Ass down here !”
The blond rolls his eyes and approaches. “You’re never going to let it go, right?”
“Nope. Lang has a point.”
“Anyway. What do you want?”
“You’re boring. We’re going at Pride parade and the only out of the ordinary thing you’re wearing is that T-shirt.”
Steve looks down on said shirt and smiles. It’s white and says “Save a horse, ride a supersoldier” on the front, and the back has a bi-coloured version of his shield, with “Stars and Stripes” in multicoloured letters. He also has a rather fitting pair of jeans -Natasha wouldn’t let him go otherwise- and boring shoes.
Bucky has seen pictures of what people wear -or rather don’t wear- for these. Steve’s nowhere near fun enough. He himself didn’t go all out, but it’s still better than his lover. Bucky has almost the same t-shirt, except his is rainbow coloured, with a black leather jacket. He’s also wearing a pair of black jeans so tight they should actually be called tights, and his shoes that almost look like combat shoes but are better looking. Although with the help of Nat, his hair is braided and has strands of every colour they could find. He is also going to wear some face paint, but he has to do Steve’s before.
Speaking of; the blond is looking at him expectantly.
“Yes, I mean it. Ya boring , Stevie. So, come here.” he says, crooking his fingers.
Steve smiles and comes to stand between Bucky’s legs. The brunet lifts his right hand to his lover’s face and pulls him in for a kiss. The other hand makes a thumb up, and three seconds later, Sam and Nat are flanking Steve.
“What?” he sputters.
Sam grins “This is an intervention, man.”
“Yeah, ya boring.”
That makes Steve groan. “Not you too.”
Bucky laughs, and taps Steve’s nose. “She’s got good taste. Now, Wanda if you please…”
The young woman is at his side in an instant, hands full of face paint. Distantly, he can hear someone sniggering. Probably Michelle, drawing in her ‘people in crisis’ sketchbook.
“Let’s begin !”
By the time Bucky is done with everyone, Steve has stopped grumbling. His years of Art school may be very far away, but Bucky still has some leftover memories and was able to draw the flags rather quickly and neatly. Steve’s cheeks are painted with pink purple and blue, Wanda’s with pink yellow and blue and Natasha with white purple and grey, and a black triangle on one side.
Steve is even back to his earlier good mood, because he proposes to do Bucky’s flags, the same as him. They then turn to Michelle, who is wearing her Rosa DIAZ t-shirt, who is still drawing and ask her if she wants some paint too, but she declines. She and Peter are going to have flags around their shoulders, that will be enough.
Soon enough, Tony and Pepper join them, along with Thor, Brunhilde and Loki. The last one is presenting a female for the time being, partially to avoid any panic if the Asgardians get recognised.
They’re all leaving a couple of minutes later. Bucky and Steve take their bikes, the others piling up in cars.
Their group arrives before the march starts and they split up. Steve, Bucky, Wanda, Natasha, Thor and Vision go at the front while Michelle, Brunhilde and Loki stay a bit behind. They don’t want to be recognised so they are going to stay apart from the Avengers. The three ladies all have cape-like flags: Michelle with a pan one, Brunhilde a bi one and Loki has a gender fluid one, with pan flags painted on her cheeks.
The parade starts and with it, Sam, Pepper, Tony and Rhodey who joined them later fly over the people in the streets, trails of colours behind them. They paint the sky for ten good minutes, while Spiderman comes and goes, his trans flag floating behind him.
Finally they stop and all the flying people come back to ground, placing themselves between the people celebrating and the protestators. Peter joins them a bit later, having had to go get out of his suit somewhere hidden. He takes his place next to Michelle and they join hands.
The day goes very well. Some of the other Avengers come up for support around noon when the march has ended, and Peter and Michelle meet up with some friends -one of them Bucky recognises as Ned. Some journalists ask a few questions, but Tony is quick to redirect the attention when it is needed, and a lot of people of all ages come to talk to them or ask for pictures. Steve and Bucky kiss twice in the middle of the crowd, each time under a roar of applause. The first time is jarring, but the second time they almost make a show of themselves. After that, they never stop holding hands.
Immediately after they come home, Tony takes his phone and posts a picture FRIDAY took earlier in the day. It’s from when they were putting paint on their faces. Steve is held by Sam and Natasha while Bucky is painting his left cheek. Wanda is handing the brushes while Vision looks puzzled in the corner of the room. ‘These two popsicles finally got out of their frozen closet. Happy pride everyone!’
Then Peter -on his Spiderman account- posts a picture of himself taken by Thor where he has his flag worn like a cape, then of Steve keeping Bucky in a headlock, the both of them laughing while Sam facepalms in the background. ‘Poor Falcon is exhausted by Stucky’s antics’
Later during the day, a certain princess Shuri of Wakanda posts another picture. It’s one of a sunset in front of a lake. The picture was taken from the side, so you can both see the water and the people sitting in front of it. They are two white men, dressed in a mix of western and wakandan outfits. One of them has short hair and a beard, his legs open in a V, arms surrounding the other person’s shoulders. That second man has long hair and doesn’t seem to have a left arm.
A simple sentence goes with the picture: ‘Congrats to these star crossed lovers for coming out; Happy pride!’
An hour later, ‘#SaveAHorseRideASupersoldier’, ‘#StarCrossedLovers’, ‘#Stucky’ and other variations are trending.