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“Hey, Cap, you read me?”
You heard his voice while you were still half-buried in rubble, stopping still while you were trying to help Rhodey back into his armor, soaking wet and choking on dust and smoke. It was almost enough to convince you that the blast had killed you, that everything was over… if it weren’t for the same look of recognition in Bruce’s eyes at the sound over the group comms.
“Cap, it’s Sam. Can you hear me?"
Your heart leapt into your throat, pounded in your ears. A disbelieving grin broke out over your features.
“On your left.”
* * *
The battle was deafening, surrounding you in the smell of ash and blood, the sound of death and determination as everyone around you fought back against claws and teeth and blaster fire. Your knives were caked in blood and grime, and you didn’t have time to wipe them clean. You could feel your own blood drying, itchy and thick on your cheek from a cut below your eye, but you didn’t bother wiping it away, moving from one combatant to the next without pause.
Every spare second, the moment between the body falling and another taking its place, your eyes would flash to those around you, scanning each and every face you sw. Some of them were strangers, but others were those you’d lost, and each familiar face made the vice that had been wrapped around your heart for the last five years sit a little bit looser.
You could almost breathe again.
Shots fired overhead, and the alien you were fighting slumped to the ground, a bullet in its forehead. You looked up, smile tugging at your lips as you watched him – your Sam – swoop overhead, looking every bit the avenging angel as he circled in a wide arc before landing about ten feet in front of you.
The momentum carried him forward, moving in an almost stumbling job before coming to a stop, his wings folding up behind him. Your knives clattered to the rubble beneath your feet.
He raised his goggles, fixing you with an almost amused smile. “Hey, sugar. You miss—”
Sam was almost knocked off his feet as you threw yourself at him. You wrapped your arms around his neck, your body flush against his as you pushed yourself up onto your toes and kissed him.
He froze for a second before you felt him respond, his arms banding around your waist and pulling you into him. Your breath caught against his lips as he lifted you off your feet and you smiled, hands tightening where they clutched at his shoulders.
You hadn’t really thought about what you were doing; but now, the sounds of the battle all but faded away, your mind was overtaken by two simple, repetitive thoughts.
One: you had him back.
Two: you were kissing him.
A quick burst of gunfire way too close to you brought you back to reality, the heavy thud of a body hitting the ground sounding beside you. You broke apart; another alien had fallen dead, its carcass riddled with bullets. You looked up to meet Bucky Barnes’ eye, his expression an almost practiced mix of amusement, impatience, and – mostly – annoyance.
He lifted his gun and fired another round at something beyond the two of you before speaking. “You two mind doing the whole reunion thing after we’re finished here?”
You felt yourself flush, pressing your lips together in an attempt to quell your bashful smile as you turned your attention back to Sam. He ignored Bucky, his own grin lighting his features.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
“To what?”
“You missed me.”
You rolled your eyes at him before bending down to collect your knives from the ground, hurling one of them immediately into the chest of an approaching alien. It fell, its body skidding along the rubble to come to a rest a few feet from you. “You were dead. For five years, Wilson.”
His smirk widened. “Oh, so you were gonna go ‘round and lay one on every other person who just came back?”
“Depends. Are they gonna give me as much crap about it as you are?” you shot back, smirking despite yourself. A blaster fired nearby, and you stopped short as Sam’s wings wrapped around you as a shield, trapping you between them and his body. You heard the shots meet the carbon fiber surrounding you, and you turned to face him again, raising a brow.
“Do it again.” he said, goggles back in place. His bottom lip caught briefly between his teeth, his smile softening to something less cocky, something more affectionate. More real. “Kiss me again.”
Your own smile widened. “Ask me again when the world’s done ending.”