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Sam had a problem.
He and Bucky had been dating for a month now, and it was going great! Really, he loved spending time with him and how they interacted with each other.
But there was one tiny thing Bucky didn’t know about. That he was asexual.
It wasn’t even an ‘ashamed about it’ thing. Sam was proud to be ace, he had a flag and everything!
But, telling your boyfriend about something about you that would’ve counted as an actual illness when he was growing up is really, really difficult.
Bucky definitely knew something was up, too. He kept asking if something was wrong, if Sam needed to talk about anything.
He didn’t push, either, which made everything worse. Didn’t push for sex, didn’t push for Sam to tell him what was going on. Sam felt like he was fooling Bucky, which he hadn’t felt about his sexuality in years- not since his first girlfriend, in high school.
It fucking sucked.
He’d asked Sarah and Liz (Who were dating now? That was out of nowhere.) on how to tell Bucky, and they’d said ‘Just sit him down and say ‘I’m asexual. Deal with it.’’ Which was not helpful at all. He wasn’t scared of telling Bucky, he was just scared of Bucky not understanding asexuality, saying it was something he could grow out of.
Sam had voiced this to Liz, who rolled her eyes and insisted he wouldn’t do that. Not fucking helpful.
It had resulted in Sam actively avoiding Bucky, and not knowing how to talk to him. Unsaid words floated between them like a dark cloud.
It all came to a head when Bucky finally asked him about it. “What’s going on with you, Wilson? Is everything okay?” he’d asked.
This was the first time Bucky had straight-out asked him what was going on. Sam figured this might be the only chance he ever got to tell him.
“I, um, have something to tell you,” Sam blurted.
Bucky looked… scared?
“Nothing bad, I promise. Just something I want you to know,” here goes nothing, “I’m asexual.”
“I am too!”
That was… the exact opposite of the reaction Sam was expecting. He was expecting some kind of question or backlash, not… whatever the fuck just happened.
“What?”
“What?”
“So we’re both ace. Damnit, why was I scared to tell you?” Sam said.
“You were scared? I mean, I get why, but I thought you already knew.”
“You what?”
“Samuel.” Bucky’s tone reminded him of Sarah, sometimes. They both had the same little eyebrow quirk when they were confused, and had the same no-bullshit-from-anyone attitude. But that wasn’t relevant because apparently all his worrying was for nothing and Bucky was also ace so he had nothing to worry about. “I wore a flag pin. I make ‘ace up your sleeve’ jokes.”
“I thought you were just a poker player!”
He blinked slowly. “I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that. But what you need to know is, I support you. I always will, no matter what.”
Sam really didn’t need Bucky’s approval, but it had power, damnit. He leaned in and hugged Sam, rubbing the back of his shoulder.
“I love you. So much.” Sam said.
“Love you too.”
They sat on Sam’s bed, drinking in each other's presence.