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Steve was born with a star on his right ankle. Precise and sharp in its lines and shape, it covered most of the area, and flashed between the colours silver and red ; it wasn’t a complex soulmark, but at least it wasn’t an ugly abomination. Steve was four when his Mam told him about soulmates and explained how they share the same marking on the mirror side of their body. Then, she told him that his star flashed because unborn soulmates can make marks fluid and changing, and showed him a grey scar on her left shoulder. “Your Pops and I had crescent moons. They pieced together perfectly when we were side to side. When your soulmate dies, your mark fades away and leaves a scar.” She explained, sadly ; Steve never asked her about her own mark, again.
Steve never found his soulmate before the ice, but, somehow, by some miracle, he woke up with his mark intact. It was still in the shape of a star, but wasn’t flashing - instead, it was red with tinted hints of gold and silver. His soulmate was alive, but there was nothing to say whether he was from Steve’s era, dying away in a home somewhere, or a young boy, newly born and innocent in the world. Not all soulmates were romantic partners, some people had platonic bonds with friends or family, but Steve had always hoped his soulmate would be the love of his life. Steve remembered that he and Peggy were only together because neither of their soulmates were born, so he had to be at least twenty seven years older than them, but who was to say exactly? According to Tony, Peggy’s soulmate was her daughter, so maybe his was an apprentice or a kid that he would adopt in the future? Steve should’ve felt lucky for having a living soulmate, but he’d always dreamed of falling in love and settling down with his fated pair. Now, he was America’s resurrected symbol for Justice and Freedom, destined to spend his life alone as he put the lives of others before his own.
“You know, my Father told me that you wanted the star on your shield for your soulmate. It’s your soul mark isn’t it?” Tony asked him. Steve was in his lab, testing out his new upgrades for his shield, but nosiness was in Tony’s nature. Soulmarks were private and personal, so there weren’t any photos taken of his own, but Steve knew that people liked to talk.
“I don’t know why you’re asking if he told you.” Steve murmured, glancing over at him with a neutral expression. Tony didn’t need to know about his broken, longing heart. It wasn’t like he was his soulmate, was it? If he was, Tony would’ve told him already. The man was useless at keeping secrets, especially when drunk, and he never shut his gob.
“There are many speculations regarding, who your soulmate is, but I’ve heard that your soulmate wasn’t born before the ice. I was only curious whether you were in touch with them or not. I’m not judging or anything, it’s your life, y’know, but I know what it’s like to feel unloveable because you grew up watching everyone being adored by their soulmates, whilst you stayed miserable and alone.” Tony admitted. Steve almost missed the way his eyes shied away from his view and glanced down at his right arm.
“I assumed Pepper or Rhodey were your soulmate.” Steve admitted, gulping down a tingle of guilt in his throat. It made sense for Tony to have a platonic soulmate - yes, he and Tony didn’t always get along, but Steve liked to think that his teammate was worthy of his trust, and wouldn’t sleep with everything that breathed if he was madly in love with his soulmate. “I’m sorry. It must have been rough.” The ‘It is for me’ went unspoken.
“Yeah, that’s true, but I wouldn’t trade my kid for the world. He’s my most precious thing. I love him so goddamn much it hurts.” Tony revealed.
“You have a kid?” Steve asked, gasping in surprise and raising his eyebrows at his teammate.
“Peter’s not blood, if that’s what you mean, but yes, my soulmate is an eleven year old genius, who’s too like me for his own good.” Tony chuckled as a warm smile appeared on his face. “We met two years ago at a Stark Expo. I saved a kid with an iron man mask from a drone, but as I was turning away, I noticed his mark. It was… meant to be.”
“I’m happy for you, Tony… really - you deserve to have someone.” Steve murmured, putting down his shield, and offering him a sad smile. “I haven’t met my soulmate yet. I… I don’t think I ever will. It’s too dangerous for Captain America to have one and I wouldn’t know where to start.” Steve told him, sheepishly. Despite feeling left out for not having his true love, he was trying to be content with the idea that he would never have the white picket fence life.
“Don’t say that!” Tony protested, shaking his head and rolling his eyes. “You‘ll regret not having a relationship with your soulmate, regardless of what that relationship would be. All the Avengers deserve to have the freedom to find their soulmate - you too! I don’t know how you used to do things back in the day, but I think I know how to help you find them.” Tony declared.
“How?” Steve asked, furrowing his brows and refusing to get his hopes up.
“Have you ever heard of The Fated Archives.com?” Tony asked. Steve shook his head. “Yeah, figured no one would mention it to you when you came out the ice. The Fated Archives is a website, where you can search through every recorded soulmark in history, and scan your soulmark to see if your match has sent theirs. I can make you an anonymous guest account, and if we find your match, they may have tagged their social media or phone number for you to contact them.” Tony explained, excitedly.
“What if you can’t find them?“ Steve sighed.
“What if we do?” Tony asked. “Be optimistic, grandpa, what’s the worst that could happen? No one has to know, but us.”
Fifteen minutes later, Steve’s right ankle matched the left of one James Buchanan Barnes - a handsome stranger with chocolate hair and electric blue eyes. Steve froze on the spot in utter disbelief and Tony danced around his lab like a puppy as they stalked his Twitter and Instagram, learning that he was a MIT graduate and engineer with a big family and a white cat, who enjoyed running, going to the gym, and photography, but couldn’t cook to save his life. He was twenty nine, single, and Steve’s type to a T. He couldn’t believe it - the universe had gotten it right, after all.
“I thought you’d be more excited, Capsicle.” Tony pouted after the search.
“I am excited, Tony.” Steve protested. “I’m… shocked, that’s all. I don’t know what to say.”
“How about ‘thank you Tony for finding my hot beefy future husband’?” He sniped. “Now, if you would excuse me, I have work to do, and you, old man, have a soulmate to text.” Tony huffed, over the top and dramatic. He tried pushing Steve out of his lab, but couldn’t move him an inch, causing Steve to ugly laugh at the silly man.
“Alright, alright, I’ll go.” Steve chuckled when Tony gave up his sorry attempts. “Thank you… for everything.” He murmured, softly, over his shoulder at the elevator door.
Smiling, Tony shook his head, and turned away, following DUM-E deeper into his lab. (Steve was forever in his debt, and Tony took credit for his love life for the rest of their lives. However, there was always a kind smile behind the bragging and protests, and Steve never doubted that his actions weren’t genuine that day).
…
[05:48pm]
X-XXX-XXX-XXXX: Hello James, sorry this is unexpected, but my name is Steve and my friend matched us on that soulmate website. You have my mark, the red star on your ankle? You don’t have to reply immediately, but here’s my personal number if you want to reach out.
X-XXX-XXX-XXXX: I work for government security, so I don’t have social media, but you can ask me anything, and I’ll reply truthfully. There’s no pressure, but I’d love to meet you in the future. I’m so relieved to have found you. It’s impossible to capture how happy I am in this message, but I want you to know that I’m here for you, no matter what.
[06:25pm]
X-XXX-XXX-XXXX: Hey Steve, it’s amazing to hear from you! You better worship your friend and take him out for a drink because I couldn’t be happier - I’m so glad that you found me! :)
X-XXX-XXX-XXXX: Of course I want a relationship with you, and cannot wait for us to meet. I’m so glad that this isn’t another one of those crappy spam messages pretending to be my soulmate because I’ve been waiting my whole life to find you, and that’s a long, long time - too long! I’ll always be there for you, too, you’re stuck with me now, and, scold me if I’m being too forward, but I can’t wait for our future together!
[06:41pm]
X-XXX-XXX-XXXX: You’re not being too forward at all!
X-XXX-XXX-XXXX: I’ve always dreamed of falling in love with my fated pair and settling down with them.
X-XXX-XXX-XXXX: You can’t scare me away, now.
[06:45pm]
X-XXX-XXX-XXXX: Are you busy?
X-XXX-XXX-XXXX: Can we facecall? I’d love to see you and hear your voice if that’s alright
X-XXX-XXX-XXXX: No pressure
X-XXX-XXX-XXXX: I won’t be mad if you don’t want to
[06:50pm]
X-XXX-XXX-XXXX: I’m free until 8
X-XXX-XXX-XXXX: Send me the link and I’ll join :)
[06:52pm]
X-XXX-XXX-XXXX: Great!
X-XXX-XXX-XXXX: See you soon Steve!
…
The loading screen vanished to reveal James in his kitchen. China plates and mugs, as well as cocktail and wine glasses were displayed neatly on the shelves above the wooden worktop, and a half-filled bottle of fairy liquid sat comfortably beside his sink. The room was surprisingly clean for an engineer. Steve had never met a genius, who didn’t live in their own chaos, and refused to clean it up! After adjusting his phone, James sat down on a stool ; his hair was in a messy bun and he wore a leather pink rockers jacket over a tight black shirt. Steve thought he looked hot.
Steve leant back against his headboard with a lovestruck smile on his face. Minus his book shelf, and the occasional in knacks that reminded him of before, Steve’s bedroom at the tower was too basic. As cold as his blue painted walls, it lacked love and comfort, but Steve never found the time to change it. Whilst his teammates rooms represented their personalities, Steve’s still looked like a show room from a budget home decor magazine. However, his bedroom had a perk - if James didn’t recognise him as Captain America from his voice and appearance, there would be no clues behind him, either.
“Hey Steve.” James greeted. Steve could hear his grin through his words, his voice soft like honey, but deep in pitch like dark chocolate.
“Hi James.” Steve smiled back, feeling like a schoolboy again.
“Call me Bucky - that’s what all my friends call me. Only my Mom calls me James.” James, no - Bucky, told him. “Fuck, how am I so lucky?” Bucky breathed. “My soulmate is so hot.”
Steve let out a small chuckle, and sighed. “Says you. Have you looked in a mirror? You’re perfect for me… although that’s sort of the idea of soulmates.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I should be less surprised that the sky gods got it right.” Bucky replied. “I’m guessing you know about me from my open profile, so tell me about yourself. Anything. I’m not picky on what. You can talk to me for hours and I’ll listen, no matter what you say.” Bucky told him, changing the subject.
Steve decided to start with his childhood, missing out the distinctive details, but never lying (his Mam had told him to always stay truthful to his soulmate). “I never met my Pops, he died in action before I was born, so my Mama brought me up by herself. We didn’t have much, even before she got sick, and I wasn’t in the best of health either. I had a weak heart and bad asthma, and survived too many illnesses and heath scares to remember. All I know is that I didn’t help myself, always getting into bloody fights around Hell’s Kitchen - it was like I didn’t know how to not bring attention to myself. Somehow, I lived to graduate high school, and enrolled at an art school in Brooklyn, but then my Mam died, and I bluffed my way into the military shortly after. Art will always be my passion, but I can’t leave the forces behind - it’s… a part of me now.
My new team is based in New York, and it’s nice to be home, but sometimes it’s… sometimes it’s hard to watch how everything’s changed since I was a kid, and how I’ve changed in return. It’s lonely and isolating, and I wish it wasn’t, but it was. I love my new team, but they can’t replace the people that I’ve lost, and as much as I love Brooklyn, I worry that it’s not my Brooklyn anymore.” Steve sighed, and Bucky mirrored the small frown on his face with his own lips. “When I’m not working, I’m at the gym, running or hiking, reading, painting and sketching.” Steve continued. “Sometimes, my team has movie nights, and the only thing more chaotic than that is when we forget about the last time and try another game’s night. They can be a lot, but I love them. Yes, they’ll never be family like my Mam, but one day, they’ll be close enough to it. I’m lucky to have them.”
“I’m glad you have them, too Steve.” Bucky murmured. “You deserve to have people around you that you trust. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you with your Mam. I would’ve loved to meet her.”
Steve gulped. “She would’ve loved to meet you.” He echoed. “I wish she could’ve seen us happy together. It was all she wanted.” He sighed. “I miss her so much, Bucky.”
“I’m sorry.” Bucky repeated. “I’ve lost my Mama, too.”
“You have?” Steve blinked.
Bucky sighed and bit his lip. “It was… hard.” He pushed out. “Losing her was so hard, especially for my sister, Becca. She’s the only girl, now. She always had Mama, but now it’s only us, our brothers, Dad, and our four Uncles. Christmas and birthdays are the worst. For the first three years, we just cried and ate ice cream.”
“When did you lose her?” Steve asked him, softy.
“When I was twenty two, so… about seven years ago?” He replied. “Wow, that’s… that’s longer than I thought it was. My youngest brother was fifteen. He’s finishing uni now - ‘wants to be an English or Humanities teacher in third world countries. I’m so proud of him, I’m proud of all my siblings - I can’t wait to introduce you to them. My soulmate… I can’t believe you found me.”