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“This is a lot nicer than I expected.” Sam says as he tosses his duffle bag onto the ground of the cabin. “I had expected a debilitated cabin in the middle of nowhere covered with a thin layer of dust when Joaquin said a cabin. That’s definitely not what this is.”
Sam opens a few of the cabinets in the kitchen to find it fully stocked with food and all the necessities they’d need for a few days hiding out. He grabs a tin of coffee, locates the coffee maker on the kitchen counter, and turns around to find Bucky standing with his hands in his pockets looking around.
“Want some coffee, Buck?”
“Sure.” Bucky answers with a smile and shrug.
Sam stares a beat too long, takes in Bucky’s casual tone and soft smile. He clears his throat and turns back to the coffee machine. After a few minutes of messing around it with it the machine starts percolating and the smell of the coffee fills the cabin. Sam leans slightly so that he can look out the windows behind Bucky. A mountain range fills the cabin windows, a haze hanging over the range, and clouds fill the sky so there’s not an ounce of blue to be seen.
“A couple days here can’t be too bad, huh?” Bucky asks as he walks over to the kitchen island to join Sam. He leans against the counter, elbows on the island, and rests his chin in his hands. There’s a smirk on his face, one that Sam’s gotten quite used to these days. “Better me than Quill or Scott, right?”
Sam scoffs. “As if they’d partner me with anyone but you.”
“Why do you think that is?” Bucky questions with a tilt of his head.
“Would you let them partner me with anyone else?” Sam levels back at him as he leans his back against the counter behind him. The coffee machine beeps thankfully and Sam turns around. He grabs two mugs from the cabinet over his head and fills the cups. The fridge is also stocked with food so he puts some coffee creamer into his mug but then hands the mug with black coffee to Bucky. Bucky’s still looking at him like he wants to say something but he shakes his head, takes a sip of the too hot coffee.
“You’d probably like coffee the way I drink it, you know. No harm in trying.”
“I’m used to it this way. Why change a good thing, right?” Bucky takes another sip and then turns around to look out the cabin windows himself. They drink their coffee together in silence for a few moments before Bucky sighs and pushes off the island, placing the half full mug down. “I’m going to grab the rest of the stuff from the truck. I want to get set up before nightfall so we don’t have to have the lights on during the night.”
Sam leans back to drink his coffee, watches as Bucky unpacks the rest of their belongings from the truck, the sniper rifle and scope tossed over his shoulder is the last thing to be brought in. Sam stops watching and finishes his coffee, places the cup into the sink. He wanders around a bit and finds there’s only one bedroom to the back of the cabin. It’s a pretty spacious bedroom with a king bed and a sitting area by a door that leads to its own balcony with a view of the mountain range. The bathroom has a shower with a separate clawfoot tub that has its own window with a view of the mountain range as well. If he wasn’t here on a mission, Sam thinks he’d enjoy having a little vacation here himself, and he thinks how Bucky and him never took those separate vacations they’d talked about in a fit of anger all those many months ago.
“Bad news bears.” Sam says as he returns to the living room where Bucky is setting up his rifle and scope. Bucky turns to him then with a questioning look and a sigh. “Only one bedroom.”
“I can sleep out here.” Bucky answers without missing a beat.
“You don’t even wanna fight for it? Seriously?”
“Well, I don’t think we’re supposed to do much sleeping. It’s a surveillance mission. The cabin, right over the hill there,” Bucky turns and points across the mountain range, “that’s where the drop is supposed to happen, yeah? I don’t want us to miss it because we’re sleeping.”
Sam rolls his eyes. “So we are not supposed to sleep or what?”
Bucky shrugs then returns to fiddling with his rifle. “I figured we’d take turns.”
“Nice communication.” Sam rolls his eyes and grabs their duffle bags off the ground to take back to the bedroom. “I guess we’ll take turns sleeping in the big bed then.”
“Hey, I’m communicating now aren’t I? Before the mission really starts.”
He is right. They communicate a lot these days. Wordlessly a lot of the time much to Joaquin’s annoyance and chagrin. A look before jumping out of the plane, a shrug before getting reprimanded by the higher ups for ‘risky behavior’, or a roll of the eyes before Carol returns to town to tell them that there’s another universe ending event coming their way. It’s nice with Bucky, Sam thinks, to not have to say everything he’s thinking or wants. Because most of the time Bucky just knows. They’re almost always on the same page. Well, with most things. Sam groans inwardly as he tosses their duffle bags in the bedroom, rubs a hand over his head and squeezes his eyes tightly shut for a moment.
He wanders back to the living room where Bucky’s already sitting behind the scope, shoulders hunched, neck tense in waiting.
“It’ll be dark soon because of the mountains. I’m going to see what there is to cook in the fridge.” Sam calls as he walks into the kitchen. He turns back to see Bucky throw a hand up in agreement, already focused on the job at hand.
Sam’s a good cook, he knows that he is, but the fridge doesn’t have any of the things he needs to make any of his staple meals. He decides the safest thing for him to cook is pasta. So he grabs some spaghetti noodles from the cabinet and fills a pot of water then starts it boiling on the stove top. It’s quiet as he cooks, he likes the repetition of cooking, something to focus on and blur the edge of whatever it is that he’s feeling in that moment. It doesn’t take long before he’s got spaghetti and made from scratch tomato sauce on the stove top. He turns around to tell Bucky that dinner’s ready but that’s when he notices that Bucky’s already sitting quietly at the island behind him, chin in his hands, and eyes on Sam. Sam feels himself flush, wondering how long Bucky had been watching him, but he doesn’t say anything even under the heat of Bucky’s gaze. Instead, he plates both of them some spaghetti and sets the plate down in front of Bucky with a smile.
“Thanks, boss.” Bucky grins before digging into the dinner in front of him. They eat quietly together, as they often do back in Delacroix. Usually they enjoy a beer or two on the docks at the end of a long week. But this feels different, a kind of different that Sam thinks he might be able to get used to.
“You’re welcome. See anything as I cooked?” Sam asks just to make conversation as he eats. When he looks back up at Bucky his gaze is heated still and his head has tilted slightly to the side, eyes crinkled at the corner from his smile.
Bucky shakes his head, his smile not leaving his face, and just continues to eat. They finish their meal in silence before Bucky stands, takes both of their plates, and rinses them off in the sink. Sam watches Bucky, the lines of his shoulders under his red henley, the small piece of skin showing between his jeans and shirt on his back. He clears his throat and looks away just as Bucky is about to turn around.
“It’d be nicer if we had some beers to share like we do back on the docks.”
“Looks like they didn’t stock any beers for us.”
“Oh well. Dinner was good. I’ll cook tomorrow night.” Bucky says as he wanders back over to the rifle aimed out the window. It’s night now, the only light on in the cabin is the one over the stove top in the kitchen. But it’s not dark in the cabin because the moon is hanging heavy over the mountains across from them. It lights the entire cabin up pretty easily, Sam looks down and notices that the cabin they’re watching has their lights on.
“Someone’s home.”
Bucky nods ever so slightly then leans down to look through the scope. “Just him alone for now though. Nothing interesting has happened so far. You wanna sleep first?”
“Sure, wake me in a few hours?” Sam stands and heads to the bedroom.
“Goodnight, Sammy.” Bucky calls from behind Sam. He turns around for a moment, takes in the sight of Bucky hunched in front of the scope, his spine curved slightly and the stubble scattered across his jaw.
“Night, Bucky.” Sam calls back before continuing his trek to the bedroom. He changes into a pair of joggers and a t-shirt before crawling into the bed. It doesn’t take him long before he’s falling asleep with the glow of the moon filtering in through the windows.
+
“Wake up, we’re shit out of luck.” Sam jerks away as Bucky pulls the blankets from on top of him. He groans and presses the heels of his hands to his eyes. When he blinks open it’s to the soft light of dawn coming in through the window and Bucky standing by the window with a disconcerted look of annoyance on his face. “Look outside.”
Sam stands and stumbles over to stand next to Bucky. He blinks a few times against the light but then he sees it. The snow’s falling down so heavy that he can barely see a few feet outside of the window.
“Oh shit.”
“Oh shit is right. I can’t see a few feet in front of me let alone across the valley to the cabin. You can’t fly in this either. We’re stuck here.” Bucky crosses his arms in front of his chest, that look of annoyance still very much present on his face. He looks tired, Sam thinks for a moment before forcing his mind back onto the matters at hand.
“We’ll have to wait it out.”
Bucky narrows his eyes. “This could go on for days. We could be stuck here for days. Me and you and this cabin.”
“Alright.” Sam agrees, still half asleep, not ready for a fight. “We’ve been stuck in worse situations.”
“Okay, well. I’m going to sleep since obviously nothing is going to happen for at least a few hours.” Bucky grumbles before heading to the bathroom behind Sam.
Sam rubs a hand over his face to try to wake himself up more. He glances at the closed bathroom behind him then grabs his duffle bag off the ground to find jeans and a clean shirt to wear for the day. It’s cold in the cabin, not freezing, but it sends a chill through Sam’s southern warmed body. After changing clothes, he wanders into the kitchen and starts a new pot of coffee. He quickly scrambles some eggs for himself, noticing that Bucky seemed to have eaten some oatmeal if the dirty bowl in the sink means anything. Bucky comes strolling out of the bedroom, freshly showered, with his hair still damp just a few moments after Sam finishes eating.
He sits down in the living room with a huff of annoyance. Sam sighs and pours himself a cup of coffee then makes his way to the living room to sit across from Bucky in the chair by the windows.
“No sense in getting riled up. It’s a little hiccup. If we’re stuck in the cabin then so is the target across the valley.” Sam goes for a reassuring tone but Bucky doesn’t seem to find it reassuring because his eyes narrow and his jaw clenches. The coffee is warm in Sam’s hands as he waits for Bucky to make a smart ass remark back to him but it never comes. Bucky just relaxes into the chair a little and looks past Sam’s shoulder through the windows at the quickly falling snow.
“Christmas is in a few days.”
Sam blinks. “Yes.”
“I don't want you stuck here with me over Christmas.”
“We’d be together for Christmas regardless if it was here or back in Louisiana. What’s it matter?”
Bucky’s cheeks flush a little and he glances back away to avoid Sam’s gaze. Sam doesn’t know what he’s thinking exactly or why he’s trying to pick a fight. Sometimes Bucky does this, he’d get riled up when something didn’t go his way and pick a fight with Sam. Which Sam always knew, he knew when he was being baited into a fight, and he almost never raised to the bait so that the fight would just peter out.
Sam tries not to smirk when Bucky proves him right. Bucky’s shoulders drop from where they were raised to his ears and he turns back to look at Sam. Bucky shrugs in apology at him and Sam just smiles back beatifically.
Sam’s phone vibrates beside him and he grabs it. It’s a message from Joaquin acknowledging that they’re stuck in the cabin while he’s safely monitoring their situation from their base in DC. He notices that he doesn’t have WIFI on his phone like he’d had last night after setting it up. He stands and grabs the remote on the table in front of him to turn on the TV. Just like he’d feared, the TV comes up blank saying that there’s no WIFI connection.
“Well, the internet is out. So, I wonder how long we’ll get to keep power?” Sam asks as he turns back to Bucky.
“We should keep the fire going.” Bucky stands, wanders over to the fireplace, and fiddles with it for a moment before flames come roaring to life before them. “Gotta love a gas fireplace. That also means if we lose power, we’ll still be able to cook.”
“Well, lucky you because I bet you brought a few of your fantasy books with you huh? Meanwhile I did not bring a single thing to entertain me.” Sam grouses as he sits back down and takes a sip of his coffee. He chances a look back outside the window, somehow the snow is falling even heavier now, a thick white blanket against the window that obscures everything a few feet beyond the cabin.
“That’s not true. You brought me.” Bucky says with a wink before standing up. “I did bring a book though just in case you can’t entertain me.”
Sam feels his entire body go hot, he watches as Bucky walks away, stretching his arms over his head and a sliver of the skin of his back showing. He averts his gaze quickly, back down to the coffee in his hand, then takes another hearty gulp even as it burns on the way down. Just as Sam is about to stand up, the lights flicker, and the wind whistles outside the cabin. There’s a loud crashing noise which Sam assumes is a tree somewhere in the distance, he idly hopes that the cabin is built well enough to withstand this type of blizzard. He’s a little surprised that Joaquin hadn’t pulled them out of there the night before, maybe he hadn’t seen the weather, but that was unusual because Joaquin truly thought of everything. The lights flicker again and this time they turn off, the light of the fire the only thing brightening up the inside of the cabin.
“What that’s that, I guess.” Sam says, mostly to himself, but Bucky must hear him because he grunts in annoyance.
“Figures.” Bucky wanders back into the living room to stand besides Sam and look outside. He’s eating a granola bar, there’s a bit of chocolate smeared on the corner of his mouth, which again makes Sam look away as a flush of warmth takes over him.
“At least we have the fireplace and the stove?”
Bucky sighs, wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. “Hopefully we have the water heater too or it’s going to get extra miserable.”
Sam shivers at the thought of a freezing cold shower. But he also knows that they should probably turn the faucets on to a slow drip to prevent them from freezing over in this type of weather. He might be a southern boy but he at least knows that much after his years living in DC. He doesn’t say anything to Bucky, he just turns and heads to the bathroom to turn on the taps to a drip. When he wanders back into the living room, Bucky’s still standing looking outside the window at the heavy snow pelting the windows.
“Reminds me of Russia.” Bucky says softly as Sam comes to stand back beside him. Sam doesn’t know what to say, how to respond, there’s probably nothing for him to say. But he has a small ache in his chest for a moment because he imagines how he’d feel if it was sand pelting the window, encasing them in the cabin, he’d not want to see it either.
“It’s going to get cold inside fast. We should probably layer up.” Sam bumps his shoulder into Bucky’s to jostle him out of his reverie. Bucky turns, forces a smile at Sam, then clears his throat and shoves his hands in his pockets. “I brought a deck of cards with me.”
Bucky raises an eyebrow but doesn’t say anything, he just turns back to look out the window.
+
They end up by the fire swaddled in blankets playing go fish like a bunch of kids. If someone had told Sam this is how he’d be spending the days before Christmas a few years ago he would’ve laughed in their face outright. But he finds that he doesn’t mind it really. Sitting in silence with Bucky is never a bad time for him. Their silence is always companionable, comfortable even, and Sam finds that he’d rather sit in silence with Bucky sometimes than talk to anyone else. Even when they are talking, it’s always fun, their banter back and forth (or as Sarah likes to call it, flirting) always makes the time go by faster. Now, sitting by the fire, their banter as they play cards makes the time pass in a blur. The air gets colder around them, it gets darker outside, but Sam doesn’t seem to really notice because all he can focus on is how Bucky looks when he tosses his head back and laughs at a joke that Sam made. Bucky’s adam apple bobbing in his throat as he swallows after a laugh, the stubble on his jaw, the crinkles at the corner of his eyes that Sam likes to hope are laugh lines.
“It’s going to get very cold soon.” Bucky says as he starfishes out on the ground in front of Sam, cards laying on the ground between them. He turns his head to appraise Sam, his lips upturned slightly in a smirk, and Sam very much wants to kiss him. It’s not a weird impulse for him, he thinks that a lot these days, but he doesn’t know where Bucky falls on those types of impulses so he swallows it down like he usually does. Bucky stands abruptly, the blankets falling away as he stands, Sam tracks his movements towards the kitchen. “There’s stuff for hot cocoa, want some?” Bucky asks without turning around to look at Sam.
“Sure.” Sam shrugs under the blankets around his shoulders. “Could use some food too.”
“I’ll make us some sandwiches real quick.”
Sam stares at the fire as he listens to Bucky bustle around in the kitchen. He’s right next to the fire but he’s still cold, even underneath all the blankets, and he hopes that he can stay warm during the night. Hopes that the gas stays on through the night so that the fire doesn’t go out because he really doesn’t want to think about freezing to death in this stupid cabin with Bucky. Sam doesn't realize he’s zoned out staring at the fire until Bucky nudges him with his shoulder, a concerned look on his face, and a glass of hot cocoa being pressed into Sam’s cold fingers.
“Thanks. Just thinking about how much colder it’s going to get. I’m already freezing.” Sam says as he pulls the blanket tighter around his shoulders using his free hand. He takes a sip of the cocoa, it burns his mouth a little, but he doesn’t mind because it warms him up evenso.
“It’s still coming down in sheets outside.” Bucky nods to the window, the sun is gone now, and if Sam wasn’t wearing a watch and didn’t know it was early evening, he’d think it was midnight. “You’re shivering.” Bucky says while pointedly looking at Sam’s hands.
He is shivering, he can’t help it, he’s never been good in the cold. Another southern boy problem, he remembers his mom bundling him up when it hit fifty degrees in January in Louisiana as if Sam might keel over and not make it home just from the cold. He glances over then to make eye contact with Bucky, they stare at each other for a few moments, and Sam’s struck again with the urge to hold Bucky, to kiss him, just anything and it makes his heart ache with want. Bucky shakes his head, takes a sip of his own cocoa, then leans over behind him to set it on the coffee table. Then he scoots closer to Sam, pulls the blanket away from Sam, and fits himself underneath it and cuddles up against Sam’s body. Bucky’s hand is warm and solid on the inside of his thigh, it makes Sam’s breath hitch, and he knows Bucky hears it because he looks over at Sam with a soft smile.
“It’s alright, Sam.” Bucky’s thumb rubs gentle circles against his thigh, it radiates to his bones, and it somehow gives Sam courage that he hadn’t ever thought he’d have.
“Can I kiss you?” Sam asks, he feels Bucky’s fingers stutter against his thigh before continuing their soft rub against his thigh.
Bucky chuckles softly, turns to Sam under the blanket, and Sam feels Bucky’s breath puff against his lips. “Yeah, Sam. I’ve been waiting for fucking ever.”
And Sam doesn’t need any further invitation, he grabs Bucky’s face with his hands and pulls him in tight to him. He’s warm all over now as he pushes Bucky to the ground, the force of their kiss propelling them backwards, and Sam lands softly atop Bucky with a small laugh that makes them pull apart. He starts to speak but Bucky pulls him back in, his wind chapped lips moving roughly against Sam’s, it makes Sam groan and push in tighter against Bucky’s warmth. Sam doesn’t know how long they kiss, it feels like forever but also like only seconds. He cups Bucky’s jaw in his hands, feels the days worth of stubble beneath his fingers, pulls away from Bucky’s lips and kisses his jaw then buries his face in his neck.
“God, we could’ve been doing this for months.” Sam whispers into his neck, curling himself further into Bucky’s warmth, and he hears the chuckle come from Bucky that makes him pull away.
“Years for me, maybe.” Bucky shrugs, not meeting Sam’s eyes, and it makes Sam’s heart stutter a few beats. He dives back in for another kiss, he tries to tell Bucky it’s the same for him with the kiss, and he hopes that Bucky can feel it. When he pulls away and looks down at Bucky flushed beneath him, he thinks that Bucky knows just by the way his eyes glint softly in the firelight.
“I’m fucking freezing.” Sam pulls the blanket back over them, pulls Bucky into his side and curls an arm around his shoulders to pull him as close as he can. “Keep me warm all night?”
“There’s a few things we can do to keep warm.” Bucky says with a raised eyebrow, hand dipping underneath Sam’s sweatshirt to rub at his stomach. “If you’re up for that sort of thing.”
“Oh, I’m definitely up for that.” Sam laughs and rolls them back over to kiss Bucky again.
+
Sam wakes up to the sun filtering in through the windows of the cabin. He rubs a hand over his eyes, looks down to Bucky curled against his chest, his naked chest pressed against Sam’s bare chest. He runs his fingers softly against Bucky’s back and bites back a laugh when Bucky doesn’t stir at all. It always takes him a while to wake, and he stays asleep even when Sam wiggles out from underneath him. The cabin’s freezing, but the fire is still roaring in the fireplace, and Sam grabs his hoodie from where Bucky had thrown it the night before and pulls it over his head. He pads over to the windows, he has to stifle a gasp from the beauty of the mountain range beforehand, everything covered in snow. The tree branches bowing, almost breaking under the pressure of the snow atop them. The sun’s just risen over the mountains, the sky’s a beautiful purple and pink, it’s so beautiful that Sam thinks it was worth the blizzard of yesterday.
Arms wrap around him and Bucky hooks his chin on Sam’s shoulder, “Morning.”
Sam lays his arms over Bucky’s across his middle, leans his head back slightly to press his cheek against Bucky’s. “Isn’t it beautiful.” Sam says irreverently.
“Yeah, it is.” But when Sam turns his head, Bucky’s looking at him, not out the windows. It makes him flush warm all over, he wants to go home but he also wants to stay right here with Bucky, for as long as he can.
“Oh, it’s like that?”
Bucky smirks, kisses Sam’s jaw. “Yeah, get used to it.”
Sam shakes his head and laughs, turns in Bucky’s arms to pull him tight against him. They stand there hugging for a few moments, basking in the warmth of their new found whatever this is going to be. Sam breathes in the crisp smell of Bucky, laundry detergent and sandalwood, and he knows that he’s so in love with this man that that fact warms him up too.
“Maybe we could stay here for a few more days. Make up an excuse with Joaquin, it’s still not safe to fly. My wings can’t handle the cold. What do you think?”
Bucky laughs, his eyes crinkling. “That’s pretty calculating, boss. A few more days in this cabin, might be a while before we get power back on. Won’t you get cold?”
Sam kisses Bucky once, then again when Bucky tries to pull away because he can’t not kiss him now. “I think I know someone that can keep me warm. If he’s up for it.”
Then Bucky’s laughing and dragging Sam back to the pile of blankets on the ground. Sam thinks there are worse ways to stay warm during the winter than feverish kisses with Bucky Barnes in front of a roaring fire.