Work Text:
Sarah was doing the dishes, listening to an Eras Tour playlist. She didn’t consider herself a swiftie (she was a huge Beyonce fan, of course, she loved herself some icons like Janet Jackson and TLC, and some 70s music their parents used to play), but she did enjoy Swift’s lyricism and storytelling.
AJ and Cass were doing homework, Bucky helped them. He wasn’t living with them anymore, Buck and Sam had finally found a nice place not far from Sarah’s, but he would come by every day to help out in any way he could, especially with the kids.
Bucky wasn’t really paying attention to the music, but every now and then he caught an interesting turn of phrase or some wording he found intriguing. The boys finished up and left Bucky to tidy up their mess. A song started playing in the back:
I said, "Remember this moment"
In the back of my mind
The time we stood with our shaking hands
The crowds in stands went wild
We were the kings and the queens
And they read off our names
The night you danced like you knew our lives
Would never be the same
You held your head like a hero
On a history book page
It was the end of a decade
But the start of an age
“Wow,” Bucky thought, “that sounds really, really nice.” He kept on listening to the song, paying attention to the lyrics. They made him think of Sam, they way Sam made him feel, how everything changed after they met, slowly but surely, how different, happier, better his life was now.
Long live all the mountains we moved
I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you
I was screaming, "Long live that look on your face"
And bring on all the pretenders
One day, we will be remembered
Bucky had an idea. An idiotic/wonderful idea.
He said goodbye to everyone and rushed home. He grabbed his guitar, a hobby he had picked up on Sam’s insistence (“with that cool-guy, wild-rocker style you have you need to know how to play an instrument”), and looked for Long Live’s tabs and lyrics. He had a couple of hours before Sam came home, so he got to work.
Sam arrived later on from some training practice with new gadgets developed by Joaquín, and he could hear the music before opening the door. Bucky wasn’t bad at all with the guitar --his singing, on the other hand... But he was adorable anyway.
“Hey, babe,” Sam greeted, coming into their place.
“Hi! I’m so glad you’re home! I made something for you.” Bucky had a huge, proud smile on his face, and Sam kissed him lightly.
“’K, let's see” Sam was grinning widely, trying hard not to laugh at the excited puppy of a boyfriend he had.
“Ok, so, this is a work in progress, ok? But I found this song I really liked and made me think of you, but I’m not finished, ok?”
“Ok, hun.” Sam knew he was so lost in love that Bucky could be just taking out the trash and he would find it endearing.
Bucky started playing Long Live, just the music, but Sam could guess the song easily. It sounded quite good, actually.
And then, Bucky started singing (more like reciting) the second verse:
I said, "Remember this feeling"
I pass the pictures around
Of all the years that we stood there on the sidelines
Wishing for right now
We are the kings and the queens
You traded your falcon cap for a shield
“WHAT?” Sam screamed, laughing. Bucky continued, stoic:
When they gave us our trophies
And we held them up for our town
And the cynics were outraged
Screaming, "This is absurd"
'Cause for a moment, a band of dudes
In vibranium suits got to rule the world
Sam was laughing so hard his stomach was starting to hurt. He wanted to sing along to the chorus, but he didn’t know which changes his boyfriend’s weird brain could have come up with.
Long live the walls we crashed through
How infinity stones shined just for me and you
I was screaming, "Long live all the magic Strange made"
And bring on all the Chitauri, I'm not afraid
Long live all the bad guys we crushed
I had the time of my life fighting Thanos with you
I was screaming, "Long live that look on your face"
And bring on all the pretenders
One day, we will be remembered
Sam just lost it. “I swear, babe,” he said, wiping away the tears of laughter, “T-Swift’s got nothing on your songwriting skills.”