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If there was one thing Bucky Barnes had been doing a lot of since the final battle with Thanos, it was catching up.
Sure, he’d had a little bit of time in Wakanda before the whole being-turned-to-dust thing happened, but he’d preferred to keep to himself and look after his farm at that point. The prospect of getting up to speed with over seventy years worth of...well, everything, was a little daunting when he’d only just gotten his own mind back.
He hadn’t exactly been in a rush to fill it with pop culture immediately, although Shuri had convinced him to watch a handful of movies — he had to admit he’d really enjoyed Back to the Future, especially the second one, with the flying cars he was a little disappointed still didn’t exist — and she’d also taught him about “memes” and shown him a lot of videos she said came from a vine. He wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but they were kind of funny and Shuri referenced them a lot, so Bucky had occasionally done the same — mainly because it was hilarious to see how horrified T’Challa looked every time he did so.
Getting turned to dust had put an annoyingly long hold on everything, though, as one might expect. Frankly, when Steve had turned up in Wakanda, all Bucky had wanted was to get the fight over and done with so they could talk about the things he’d been getting educated on — he’d wanted to ask if Steve had watched Back to the Future, or if he knew about using Kermit the Frog pictures as reactions in texting, or…
Catching Steve’s eye as he felt himself start to crumble, Bucky’s last thought was of how many things had been left unsaid between them again. How many times they had to lose each other when all they’d ever wanted was just to go home together at the end of the day.
And then he’d woken up on the ground, dread settling in the pit of his stomach when Doctor Strange revealed just how long it had been since they’d all turned to dust. Five years? Despite the sick feeling in his stomach, Bucky kind of hated how easy it was for him to accept the fact. After all, it wasn’t like this was the first time he’d woken up with years having gone by since the last time he was awake.
The battle itself had been a blur. Chaos and ruin everywhere, jumping in to support anyone who needed it, countless shots fired at the disgusting aliens charging from all directions...then the immediate change of atmosphere when Thanos’ army crumbled, destroyed by Captain Marvel using the gauntlet against he who had created this mess in the first place.
Bucky had immediately turned to search for Steve, dust and smoke mercilessly invading his eyes and lungs without a care from him at all, singularly focused on finding his best friend amongst the rubble and throng of superheroes and their allies in the aftermath.
Finally, finally, he caught sight of him, and within seconds had marched over to a beaten and bloody Captain America and silently tugged him into his arms. It only took a moment for Steve to react and clutch him tightly in return.
“I had so much I was gonna tell you in Wakanda.” Bucky muttered into Steve’s shoulder after a long moment of silence.
“Me too,” Steve hummed, “How ‘bout we talk about it tomorrow, though? It’s been a really long day. Wanna just go somewhere to shower and sleep for a while.”
“Yeah. Yeah, good idea.”
So the next day they talked. About everything — or at least everything of pressing importance. What the past five years had been like for Steve, how Bucky was doing after being dusted and coming back again, the feelings they should have talked about a long time ago…
Everything kind of fell into place after that, with Steve returning the Infinity Stones to their respective timelines, then promptly retiring by passing on the shield to Sam and taking off to his and Bucky’s new home upstate, where they planned on finally living in peace as an actual couple.
Almost immediately, Bucky had brought up the movies Shuri had shown him in Wakanda, and although he was a little disappointed that Steve had indeed already watched Back to the Future, he was thrilled to learn that The Hobbit had ended up getting more books and a whole six movies that he wanted to get into right away.
Honestly, they spent an absurd amount of time watching movies to begin with. Having nothing else to do, really, left them with plenty of time to sit around and catch up on everything. Bucky ended up being rather appreciative of Steve being more up-to-date than he was, because it meant they weren’t both stuck in the dark about what was worth watching or not — the same went for music, and although both of them tended to still prefer the music they’d grown up listening to, Steve generally was a bit more appreciative of “newer” music than Bucky was.
ABBA was Bucky’s one exception.
Bucky loved ABBA, honestly more than he even wanted to admit to Steve. It was like a bizarre guilty pleasure of his. That and musicals, although with how many times he and Steve had discussed going to see shows on Broadway, that was probably the less unexpected of the two at this point.
Of course, he would never admit such a thing to Sam, who he was currently stuck on a mission with.
Somehow, even after saying he didn’t really want to get involved with Avengers missions and so on, he kept getting roped into them after assisting Sam with fixing the whole mess that had come up following him giving up the shield (Bucky wasn’t letting that one go any time soon), so here he was. Not quite a year after Thanos’ defeat, keeping lookout in the rain while Sam talked to some high-risk contact, wishing he could just go home and curl up on the couch with Steve and their pets instead of being out here.
“I’m on my way back out now,” Sam said over the comm, “Seen anything out there?”
“Just a whole lotta rain,” Bucky grumbled, “Would it kill you to give me an umbrella next time? Or maybe a weather forecast?”
“I could bring one of those plastic rain ponchos for you next time if you want. You know, so you don’t have to worry about holding an umbrella. Also, you have a phone that can tell you the weather forecast, use that.”
“Whatever. I’m not drying off before I get in your car.”
“You put your wet ass on my seats and see what happens.”
“Sorry, can’t hear you, I think you’re in a dead spot.”
“Oh no you don’t, you can’t get me with —”
Now, Bucky had assumed that by muting Sam, that would cause the microphone on his own comm to be muted as well. Functioning under that assumption, he saw no issue with humming a tune as he pressed himself further against the damp wall he was leaning against, trying to no avail to avoid the rain that was now absolutely sheeting down around him.
On and on and on, keep on rocking baby, till the night is gone…
The building’s door swung open moments later, Sam stepping out as Bucky stopped humming to avoid being caught out. The other man was already giving him a weird look, though, seeming to stifle a smile as he raised his eyebrow.
“Was that an ABBA song?”
Bucky pushed himself off the wall to follow Sam back to the car, trying to seem casual. “Was what an ABBA song?”
“You were just humming it. You didn’t mute your comm.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Ohhhh, so this is one of those things you don’t wanna admit so you can still be all manly macho White Wolf guy?” Sam teased, “I thought you only listened to forties music.”
“I do. Steve likes other stuff.” Bucky huffed as he attempted to stuff his hands into soaked pockets, to no avail.
“Like ABBA?”
“Probably. I don’t know.”
“Dude, you live together. You’re practically married already. You know what he listens to.”
“So? That doesn’t mean I was singing ABBA!”
“Sounded a lot like On and On and On to me.”
“Well, it wasn’t.”
“Sure thing,” Sam grabbed a towel out of the boot of his car — mercifully parked in an undercover parking lot — and threw it at Bucky, “I was serious about you not getting in without drying off, by the way.”
Bucky rolled his eyes and made the smallest amount of effort possible to dry his hair before tossing the towel onto the front passenger seat and promptly plopping down on top of it, much to Sam’s chagrin. All he could hope was that that stunt would make the other man forget about the whole humming-that-song thing, and for a while it seemed like it had worked.
“I need to borrow your car.” Sam said in greeting when he turned up on Steve and Bucky’s doorstep a few weeks later.
“What’s wrong with yours?” Bucky questioned incredulously, arms crossed but not looking particularly intimidating with Alpine perched, purring loudly, on his shoulder.
“It’s still got your wet ass-print on the front seat,” He deadpanned, “Nah, I’ve gotta go see someone in the city, but it’s a down-low thing. They know what my car looks like and I don’t need that, so…”
“Sure!” Steve cut in before Bucky had the chance to make some other remark. Honestly, sometimes it was hard to believe those two were actually friends. Steve was sure they were meaner to one another now than they were when they’d genuinely hated each other.
It was only after Sam had left with the car that Bucky came to a horrifying realisation. “Oh, shit.” He said, unceremoniously slapping down the knife he’d been cutting sandwiches with onto the counter.
Steve shot him a look with the clatter of the dirty knife onto the clean countertop, but concern was still etched into his features. “What happened?”
“The CD in the car. It was one of my ABBA ones.”
“Right. And that’s a problem?”
“Yes, a huge one. I was trying to throw Sam off because he caught me humming On and On and On during that mission the other week, now I’ve gone and really blown my cover.”
Steve stifled a laugh. “It’s not that big of a deal, Buck.”
“Yes it is!” He whined, “He’s never gonna let it go.”
“He probably won’t even notice.”
Bucky gave him a very unconvinced look, to which Steve responded by leaning in and kissing his pout, really leaving him no choice but to move on from his worries for the moment. He did actually manage not to think about it too much again until Sam returned later that night — well after Steve’s self-imposed early bedtime, which meant Bucky was left to face their friend alone.
Sam tossed the keys Bucky’s way as soon as he opened the door, which he caught and promptly placed on the kitchen table while the dog went to greet the visitor who had already invited himself inside.
“You can stay over in the guest room, if you want.” Bucky offered, so far maintaining hope that nothing would be said in regards to the CD.
Sam gave him a nod. “Thanks, man.” He glanced over at the television, where The Greatest Showman was playing quietly, “Good movie.”
Bucky shrugged. “It’s alright. Nothing like a Rodgers and Hammerstein though.”
“Oh, right,” Sam rolled his eyes, “Singing along with the Von Trapp family seems a lot more your style.”
“I was thinking more Oklahoma. Steve and I saw it when it first came out on Broadway in 1943, just before I shipped out.”
“Of course you did. You and your weird flexes about seeing all this old stuff when it first came out.”
“I’m just saying.”
“So am I!”
Bucky rolled his eyes and gestured vaguely at the couch, “Just go sit down. You want a drink?”
Sam sat down with a huff, “Sure.”
Beers in hand, the two sat in silence as the movie continued, at least until Sam decided to pipe up again with a sly grin. “You know, if you’re into musicals, you should try watching Mamma Mia if you haven’t already. I think it’d be right up your alley.”
Bucky squinted suspiciously, barely even looking at the other man as he said, “Oh yeah? Why?”
“It’s all ABBA songs.”
Oh. OH!
Trying to maintain a facade of nonchalance, Bucky shifted further back on the couch and took a swig of his drink. “Right,” He deadpanned, “Sounds...interesting.”
Sam guffawed, “You know you’ve got your CDs labelled, right? The cover sitting on the passenger seat literally had your name on it, which I noticed when I got back in the car after being blasted out of it by the loudest version of Honey, Honey I’ve ever heard.”
Bucky couldn’t bite back a smirk at the thought of Sam having the shit scared out of him by the loud music when he turned on the car, but even that wasn’t enough to save him from the embarrassment at himself for not having checked the car before letting his friend take it. He’d basically just spoon-fed Sam new ammo to tease him with, and that was unacceptable.
That being said, the moment Sam left the next morning, Bucky was dragging Steve to the couch telling him about this musical he’d found out about and insisting that they watch it immediately.
“I’m never telling Sam, but this is my new favourite modern musical.” Bucky said not even ten minutes into the movie.
Steve just laughed and pulled him close. “Why am I not surprised?”